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Check out Sophie’s hair!  Emily must have spent a long time on that “do”!  Lovely Sophie is wearing “Night on the Town” - her favorite outfit!  Marisol is wearing a matching pink version made by a friend.

For more Wordless Wednesday fun visit 5 Minutes for Mom.

Words of wisdom from Michelle…

When my husband and I got engaged, we witnessed a strange phenomenon.  For me, the occasion was mostly filled with well wishes and oohs and ahhs at my gorgeous engagement ring.  My girlfriends and sister immediately began speculating at what kind of wedding dress I would wear and how I would do my hair for the big day.  My husband however, received entirely different responses.  When he shared his news he received jovial, but not quite supportive slaps on the back, accompanied by little gems of wisdom from his married and unmarried friends.  Gems such as, “well, your life is over now!” That’s not to say he didn’t hear positive comments now and then, he did, but not often. 

My husband and I puzzled over this.  It seemed a strange welcome into the married club.  At first we thought, misery loves company, but could all these seemingly happily married men really be that unhappy? It wasn’t until I became a mother that I really understood what was going on.

When I became pregnant with my daughter Maggie, I was overwhelmed with joy and expectation.  I had it all planned out!  My husband and I loved to go out with friends, we loved to vacation, and a baby was just going to add to the fun.  We’d get a babysitter once a weekend so we could have date night.  We’d take two vacations a year.  One for the family, and one just for the two of us.  When I would share my plans with single friends, they would nod in agreement, and promise to visit all the time once the baby was born.  My married with children friends had slightly different responses. 

I’ll never forget how, after I detailed my plan to my then boss (mother of three) she just smiled slightly and said “really, that’s a nice plan”.  She was almost smug and I have to say it irritated me!  Why couldn’t I have it all?  Other people, strangers mostly, began to disperse the “gems of wisdom” that were so generously bestowed on my husband during our engagement. 

Some gems, I supposed at the time, were meant to be helpful.  “Get your rest now, you won’t get any sleep once the baby is born”.  That was a favorite of mine.  Like you can actually save up sleep tokens.  Other gems focused on my body.  Generally it’s considered rude to comment on people’s size, especially strangers.  However, when you are pregnant it seems as though the rules of etiquette no longer need to be followed.  Strangers would reach out and touch my belly without asking.  HELLO PERSONAL SPACE!! And touching my enormous belly was always followed by heartwarming comments.  Comments such as “wow, you are huge!!”, “are you sure it’s not twins?”, or my favorite “you look terrible”.  I’m not entirely certain, but I’m pretty sure that if I tried these comments on non-pregnant women I’d be considered pretty rude.  And finally, the return of “your life is over!!”

I now understood the frustration that my husband felt when he was told over and over that his life was over.  “you’ll never sleep again”, “you’ll never go out again”, “say hello to sweatpants, and goodbye to victoria’s secret”.  It was relentless.  I once again was forced to wonder why people weren’t more supportive!  Why did people want us to be unhappy?

I have three children now, and I think I finally know the answer. 

After Maggie was born, things changed.  Single friends slowly stopped calling to see if we could meet for drinks.  There was no more staying out until 2am.  There was no more sleeping in on the weekends.  In fact, just as people had warned, there was very little sleep at all!  We didn’t take that family vacation until 3 years later, and 5 years later, we still haven’t taken a trip without the children.  My life as I knew it was over, just like “they” said. 

However, the part that everyone forgot to add to their gems of wisdom was that a new exciting life was just beginning.  I don’t stay out until 2am, or sleep in on the weekends.  I do very little for myself, in fact these days showering every day is a luxury!  But the truth is I don’t want to do those things anymore (except maybe shower).  Sure, partly because I’m always tired (a state that your body quickly adjusts to), but partly because I would much rather curl up on my bed with my three lovely munchkins and read Go Dog Go!! for the fifteenth time this week.  My life as a single childless woman was over, and my new life as a wife and a mother had begun. 

So were the people with “gems of wisdom” really trying to make us feel bad about our decisions?  I don’t think so.  I think they were, in their own way, saying welcome to the club.  Not the misery club as it would first appear, but the rest of your life club.  They just forgot to add to the “your life is over” gem that a new fulfilling and exciting life full of unimaginable love and emotion is about to begin.  So the next time I’m about to embark on a life changing event, and someone passes on a valuable gem of knowledge, I will smile and say “aren’t I lucky”.

The Chicago Sun-Times have got a video tour on thier site of the new Chicago AG store.  Check it out.  http://www.suntimes.com/business/1197409,CST-FIN-girl02web-w.article

If you visit please let us know what you think.

Michelle sent me this photo of her lot for Wordless Wednesday.  They are waiting for Daddy to get home from work.  I love the fact that you can only just see Tommy’s head but you can also see his tiny smeary hand-print on the glass.  I also love that Abby the dog is part of the action.  For more Wordless Wednesday Fun visit 5 Minutes for Mom.

American Girl Place Chicago opens this weekend as we previously reported.  The store will be bigger and better than before.  It is a 52,000 sq. ft. all new store at Water Tower Place in Chicago.  Since the original store opened in 1998, 13 million visitors have passed through the doors - quite amazing really.  The new store will have all the attractions you’d expect from AG including a café, photo studio and doll hair salon.

We won’t be able to visit but please let us have your views on whether you like the store.

We just heard that the Kit movie is due to be released on DVD.  Its coming out soon and we’ve been told by familyVideo.com that they will ship DVD on 28th October.  Look out for it!

When I came across this blog and saw the photo of the tee-shirt pictured above I couldn’t believe that it was a home made item.  And the thought that I could actually make something as cool and personalized as this?  Impossible.  Well, wait just a minute… when I read the detailed step-by-step instructions from Andrea McMann, I thought, I could do this!

I am already planning to work with my sister when we are together in a few weeks to create one for our Mum for a Holiday gift.  All of her grand-children together.  My brother’s (should be born any day now) twins will have to wait and make an appearance on next years tee.

Tommy succumbs to a day of running around with Mommy Michelle.  It must have been all that doll clothes packing.  Where are those child labour laws when you need them?

For more Wordless Wednesday fun visit 5 Minutes for Mom.  This is also an entry to the “Sleeping Angel” contest on 5 Minutes for Mom.

I am sure they are sinful.  But how can anyone resist this photo?  I’m inspired to find a cool autumn beach and build a campfire.  I’ll have these Smores from The Crepes of Wrath in my picnic basket.

I can’t believe it’s Halloween already!! Time to start thinking about costumes for this year.  Emily has informed me that she will be Hermione.  This is great news for Nanny (who makes all of her costumes) because she was Hermione last year.  Apart from a new skirt for her much longer legs (provided by Nanny) there isn’t anything that needs to be done.  Nanny can concentrate on Michelle’s lot!  But what about your American Girl Dolls - shouldn’t they get to go trick or treating this Halloween?

We have some great Halloween costumes for American Girl doll this year.  We are particularly fond of this new witch costumefor your doll.  But we have many, many others to choose from.  How about an American Girl Dorothy (from The Wizard of Oz), or a princess, ballerina or doctor?  Come on over and check out the Halloween Page to see what’s on offer.