6 months [11.11.11]

Wow - a half a year has gone by since my baby girl was born.  It's safe to say that she is the happiest baby on the block.  She smiles at everyone she sees and has a hearty belly laugh if you really get her going. It must feel funny on her gums to stick out her tongue because it's always hanging out. Our favorite evenings are dance parties with big brother dancing to Beyoncé and little sis laughing until she can't laugh anymore. 

Just this past week she starting sleeping through the night more times than not.  This is such a wonderful thing for ol' mom and dad.  She also eats her pureés really well.  Meat isn't her favorite thing, but she loves most of the other fruits and veggies. I'd say butternut squash is in the lead for fave food.

She doesn't seem to have any interest in rolling over or being on her belly long enough to crawl, but she loves to sit and play with her rattles. She still loves bathtime and has so many chubby leg rolls. You can't help but squish 'em. The jeans in the pic above didn't last long.  Gotta have stretchy pants for those thighs!

Big brother (now 5 1/2) couldn't be any better. He's wonderful at watching out for his sis and keeping her entertained. He loves her to pieces and so do we.

P.S. hooray for the best fall ever! We've had the most gorgeous weather since the beginning of September. Not looking forward to the cold and ice, but i'll admit i'm getting a little excited for the Christmas season!

october 25

every season, every holiday, every annual event reminds me of molly.

new years eve luau party, 4th of july in the cul-de-sac, halloween parties in college, wearing black for valentine's day, fall wine and cheese party, st patrick's day at too talls, christmas around our mini tree, ash wednesday at the vatican, kenny chesney concerts, homecoming parades and football games, spring breaks in chicago, new orleans and south padre island. 

birthdays.

today molly would have turned 34. 

she loved this time of year - especially halloween.  one year we dressed up as m&ms.  another year she was buffy and i was a vampire. mustard, dominatrix, mail-order bride.. the list goes on. i really need to scan some old pictures in.

i want to talk to her about so many things. the things no one else would understand. (tom had a baby!) but i'm sure she's seeing it all from above. i've had a lot of lessons in biting my tongue, but this is the hardest.

happy birthday, friend. wish you were here to celebrate with us. here's to making it count.

5 months old

baby girl is five months old!

her low gurgely growl has turned into a high pitched squeal. and she loves it. she'll squeal and holler and then throw her legs up in the air and laugh. she's pretty much the cutest thing ever. she loves to watch and laugh at her big brother acting like his crazy 5-year-old self. she sits up unassisted for a minute or two before falling over. her favorite toys are her linking rings, her zebra and her sophie.  she loves songs, reflections (especially her own) and texture books.

on a not-so-exciting note, we found out that she had bronchitis.  she had been congested since the beginning of September, but never had a fever or acted like she felt bad.  at least we were able to get meds so she is better now. she weighed 18 lbs 5 oz at the doc's office!

homemade baby food!

I did it! I made baby food for the first time. And it was SO easy!

While cutting up veggies for the world's most amazing pot roast*, i threw some in baby girl's very own special crockpot. (the potatoes were just overflow - i didn't include those in her puree. however next time she's getting some roast!) I added some water and let it cook on low while I went off to work.



Nine and a half years ago I got a food processor for a wedding present.  And it finally made its debut tonight.  After figuring out how the thing all goes together (instructions are long gone), I scooped out the carrots and green beans and plopped them in the processor.

Why have I never used this thing before?! I am now officially in love with my food processor! I apologize for all the years of neglect, dear food processor.

I added in some of the cooking water to smooth it out. After reserving some in a bowl for tonight, I filled an ice cube tray with the remaining mixture.

Ta-Da! Baby girl's dinner is ready!

It's a hit! Yum! And yes, she eats sans clothes. She does not have any table manners yet.

All gone!

Now that's one happy baby with a full tummy!



Tomorrow I'll put the carrot-bean cubes in a freezer bag to have on hand. Next up: butternut squash from the farmer's market!

Homemade baby food - what a wonderful thing!  Sorry to big brother for never trying this before. Back then I was "cooking" when I warmed up a frozen skillet meal! 

*the pot roast really was the best I've ever had.  this time I put cream of mushroom soup on top instead of french onion soup mix. and luke picked out the roast. i'm still a bad meat-picker-outer.

thoughts from the working mom

to go to work or to stay at home with the kids.

it's an internal debate of head versus heart made by millions of working moms nearly every day. it's a difficult choice with many factors coming into play, mainly finances and mom-guilt. but you must make your choice and be happy with it.

my choice is to work. i do this so my family can have a more secure financial future. there are other benefits too, like socializing my naturally reserved offspring, getting a jumpstart on their education and getting my own grown-up time with friends and coworkers.

with this choice, i must focus on quality time with my babies versus quantity. some things are currently being sacrificed, such as working out and couple time. but family time is priority. my mom worked my whole life and i always felt very close to her - and still am. i never felt second to her job or activities.

life is all about balance. this post speaks to the working mom's soul.

Please note: i am by no means judging stay-at-home moms or moms who work from home. i think it's a wonderful thing to be able to do that. we're all just doing the best we can so let's not judge each other.

kindergarten take 2

Fall kindergarten is way better than summer school kindergarten. After summer school, I was a little worried this summer that E would be super bored with learning shapes and colors and letters again.

It turns out they move at quite a speedy pace in "real" kindergarten. He is learning a letter a day Mon-Thurs and then they review on Friday. They use a method called Animated Literacy where there is a character, movement, song and sound with each letter. They started putting words together the first week using the letters they covered. He is very excited about learning to read a BOOK! They rotate through P.E., library, art and music each week. The favorite? P.E. of course! He likes to play on the "horizontal ladder". Is it not PC anymore to say monkey bars?? Maybe we offended the monkeys somewhere along the way. His teacher really is wonderful. She is expecting a baby in November, so I hope she comes back!

I think he is making friends with his classmates, although it took a week or two for him to break out of his shell. He gets to see Noah, his friend from day care, at recess. The first couple of weeks he was so exhausted from no naps, but now that he is in his groove he is in much better moods in the evenings.

The hardest part for me is not seeing his teacher and his environment every day. You have to trust that he is being nice to his classmates, eating all of this lunch, etc. He got a yellow card one day for talking, but has stayed on green since. This kindergarten thing may work out after all.

4 months!

Emma is four months old! And what a happy baby she is! She is all smiles all day. She "talks" a lot, sounding something like a growl with some squeals thrown in. She has a hearty belly laugh too! She loves to play on the floor mat, holler at her mobile, and have people talk and sing to her.

Her checkup at the doctor weighed her in at 16 lbs 4 oz - 25th percentile in weight and 95th in height. Doc says she'll make a great downhill skier with her "muscular" thighs! Her hair is pretty short on top, but starting to grow in a little thicker. She still has some of her original baby hair in the back.

Emma made her first trip to Illinois over Labor Day Weekend. She did great in the car, only crying the last 10 minutes of the 5-hour trip there. She enjoyed getting to spend time with her uncles, grandma, granddad and great-grandma! She is a very loved little girl.