gladys, blistex and the binkie

most of you probably know that gladys knight is mormon. she got baptized in 1997. anywho- her and her choir now travel around performing, and they came to our stake this weekend. it was really amazing. we weren't sure what to expect but they totally impressed. all i kept thinking during the different solo performances was, "why aren't these people on american idol!?!?" gladys and her husband spoke for a little bit too and they did a great job. she seems like a really sweet lady. they had 4 performances-- 2 on saturday and 2 on sunday. we went to the sunday night one and got their an hour early with our tickets. the line was already wrapped around the outside of our stake center. LUCKILY my mom was with all the public affairs peeps helping with food, etc. and she came and found us and smuggled us into VIP seating. so we were on like the 5th row...a far cry from where we saw some of our fellow line-goers...way back to the quadruple overflow aka the stage in the gym. so we really lucked out.  plus, my mom and gladys are like family now. i guess gladys plays tennis and sent word to our stake president's wife that she would like to play while she is here... fast forward through a bunch of secret scheduling and my mom and a couple other tennis playing ladies in the stake are playing with gladys and some of her entourage 3 of the afternoons they were here. my mom is the one in the white nike hat. adam keeps asking when we are going with my mom to vegas to stay with our new BFF gladys. pretty funny/cool if you ask me. 

moving on. for one reason or another, olivia seems to be catching the first few minutes of her nap in the car these days... i guess i cut it too close to naptime while i'm out and about so we have been doing a quick transfer to the crib once we get home. on this particular day she was busy playing with my chapstick, pretending to put it on since i have been doing that 100x a day lately to cure her endless chapped lip/face from the binkie and the cold weather. anyway, apparently she was pretty tired and totally zonked out mid-application. i looked back at her once and looked back again literally 5 seconds later and she was asleep... like this. can't let go of that blistex!!

last, the binkie. oh, the dreaded binkie. don't get me wrong- all in all, i am thrilled that she took a binkie as a baby. it has been a lifesaver many times. but i have been thinking about taking it away. i hadn't really gotten serious about attempting it until the doctor mentioned it the other day. she is more addicted to her blankie though (if that's possible), so i thought i'd take the advice and maybe try to limit the binkie to bedtime. we can tackle the blankie before kindergarten has far as i'm concerned. needless to say, i'm failing miserably. today she went without it for a whole 4 hours before she had a total meltdown. unfortunately she knows all my hiding places so far (i need to step it up) so when she weasled her way out of my arms this morning mid-tantrum, she did the funniest little sprint over to my purse on the couch and dove in to snatch up the binkie. sure enough, she found it and she was silent. UGHHHHHH. i'm a weakling. my mom laughed about this scenario and said maybe tomorrow i should just shoot for 5 hours without it, and so on. then maybe within like 20 more days we'll be binkie-free, right?!