Life With Karma

Visit to Colorado: Wedding time!

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Wed, 30 May 2012 10:33:00 +0000

Kevin's cousin Eric got married to Chelsea at the Phipps Mansion in Denver. We were a little worried it was going to rain, but the weather held out and even turned into a lovely evening! Chelsea and Eric are so cute together and we are so happy for them.

How cute are our nephew and niece? They weren't even the flower girl and ring bearer, they just wanted to walk down the aisle holding hands!

The bridesmaids:

The groom waiting for his bride:

Lovely bride!

I love this one:

Making promises:

Quite the kiss!

Congratulations Eric and Chelsea!

Visit to Colorado: Part I

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Mon, 28 May 2012 15:20:00 +0000

I have a lot of posts planned for this week because... Nora turns one on Saturday! I have a lot of photos to share from our trip home and from her party, plus her birthday video.

A couple of weekends ago we headed to Colorado for a family wedding- one of Kevin's cousins. It was a great chance to see family (though sadly, my dad was out of town that weekend, so we missed him). But Nora had a great time being the center of attention. Her Nana was very excited to have lots of time with her (my mom watched her while we attended the wedding). And it was the first time in Nora's life that I was not there for her bedtime (well, Kevin did bedtime once, so I guess it was the second time)- it actually went just fine. My mom's a pro, of course!

Nora wore her crab outfit in honor of our travels from Baltimore (I love this outfit!).

We also all went to have lunch with my friend Emilie, who's pregnant with her first. She got a taste of what lunch out is like with an almost one year old (that is to say: messy).

We got all dressed up and took a couple of pictures, then headed out after saying goodbye to Nora and my mom.

Next up: the wedding!

Favorite Baby Items 9-12 Months

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Sun, 27 May 2012 02:05:00 +0000

First, I'd like to point out the new tab "Baby" at the top of my webpage, which takes you to a "Baby" page with all my relevant posts about pregnancy, recommendations on things to buy, schedules, Nora's monthly posts, etc. It's nice to have it all in one spot!

Now on to our favorite items for the last 3 months. Many of the items from 6-9 months are still favorites, including:

1. LeapFrog Musical Table. Nora still plays with this at almost 12 months old, though it's starting to lose its appeal.

2. Tolo Toys Shape Sorter. Nora still loves this toy, and can now even put the shapes in herself (she tries each place for a given shape until it fits).

3. Fisher-Price Booster Seat. We use this for our main highchair, and it's great because it's relatively small and doesn't take up a ton of space, can be transported easily, and can be cleaned up easily.

4. BABYBJÖRN Baby Carrier . Kevin uses this front carrier all the time to take Nora grocery shopping- he says he's going to use it until she's right at the weight limit (this is going to be very soon). Nora has always loved looking outward in this carrier and we've had a lot more success with this carrier compared to the Ergo (though at this point, she's too heavy for me to carry in the Bjorn).

She did grow out of the Halo sleep-sack that I had and now with the warmer weather she's just sleeping in footie or two-piece pajamas. Sometimes during nap-time I throw a blankie in there with her but she moves around so much at night it wouldn't stay on her anyway.

Now onto the new must-have items:

1. I wrote about the ZoLi Sippy Cup last time and while I still like that cup, especially for teaching your baby how to drink out of a straw, the main problem with it is that it's not spill-proof. So I recommend this Vital Baby Straw Cup instead. It is spill-proof, comes in three great colors, and has a hard plastic straw that is much easier to clean than the ZoLi straw. I'm hoping this is eventually what she'll mostly drink from- the only problem now is that she will only drink water out of it and refuses to drink milk (I'll post in a couple weeks about the bottle to cup transition and how it's going).

2. Push Walker. When Nora first started cruising, I got her this Melissa and Doug alligator push toy and it's great because it moves fairly slow on carpet and it's SO cute. She started putting her stuffed animals on it and pushing them around, and I really think it helped her get better at walking. My mom and dad also have a Vtech activity walker at their house (see photo below)- it was too fast for her a couple of months ago, but when we were there last weekend, she pushed it everywhere, and she loved all the buttons to push (though be prepared to hear "I'm the monkey. I want a ride!" every 5 seconds).

3. Waterproof Bibs. We actually never really used the small cloth bibs, maybe because Nora wasn't much of a drooler. But for messy finger foods (and even purees), these bibs are essential for easy clean-up (though food still manages to get everywhere...).

4. Books. Now one of Nora's favorite things to do is flip through books. Her favorites the last few months have been: (a) Brown Bear, Brown Bear; (b) Tails (an awesome touch and feel book); (c) Pat the Bunny (wow, we read this book A LOT in recent months- now I see why it's a classic). (d) Ten Little Ladybugs.

5. Wooden puzzle. Nora already likes puzzles, like this one I got from Melissa and Doug. It's cute, and she likes the wooden knobs! She can't put them all in yet, though she can usually figure out the circle and square pieces.

6. Robeez baby shoes. These are for pre-walkers. Nora fit perfectly into the 6-12 month size since about 8 months old, and these are one pair of shoes she can't figure out how to get off. Plus they're made to have very soft soles and be best for a baby not walking yet who needs to mostly be barefoot. Now she's growing out of them and I'm just going to get early the "early walker" shoes instead, but I really liked these.

7. Convertible car seats. We actually switched her into her convertible carseat ~8 months old because she wasn't a fan of being so reclined in the infant carseat (though we've been using our wonderful Chicco Keyfit 30 infant carseat for traveling, as it's lighter and easier to install on the go- and she hasn't technically grown out of it yet, though she's close on the 30" height limit). The problem with the convertible carseat is unlike the infant, for which you can buy a base for each car so that you only need one seat, the convertible carseat stays in the car, so if both mom and dad need to be able to pick her up from daycare as in our situation, you need two convertible carseats. We got the Britax Roundabout 50 at a steal ($100) from Target for Kevin's car, and we were kindly gifted the Britax Marathon 70 at Christmas. Both are great seats with high ratings and Nora likes riding in them a lot more than the infant car seat.

8. Sassy toy car. This is one of Kevin's favorite toys, but now that Nora knows how to roll it, she really likes it too!

9. This ball popper is lots of fun, though I do spend a lot of time retrieving the balls.

10. Stuffed animals. Nora likes carrying around various stuffed animals and giving them kisses. She really likes her stuffed dog and her screech monkey that actually screeches (true story).

11. Twilight Turtle. Nora had no interest in this until probably ~9-10 months, but now she loves to push the buttons and turn the stars on and off. We turn out the lights and she points to the stars and moon reflected on the walls- it's so cute and I love to encourage my little astronomer. I wish I had this growing up- it even has real constellations!

There are more recent toys that Nora has enjoyed that she got for her birthday last week, but I'll hold off on posting about those for now.

Edited to add: Oh! I forgot one! My cousin recommended to me this thermometer, and it's great. We had been using the rectal thermometer because it's very accurate and easy to use on a newborn, but once the baby is mobile it gets difficult to say the least, especially if you have to take off their diaper every time you need to check their temperature. This temporal artery thermometer you just swipe across the forehead. It seems pretty accurate- I think it measures about .5F cooler than our normal thermometer.

Busy Busy

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Tue, 22 May 2012 00:52:00 +0000

I apologize for lack of posting last week. Work and life has suddenly been very busy. We were in Colorado over the weekend and it was so much fun to see everyone- Nora had a blast (we celebrated her birthday with everyone out there- pictures to come soon!). So random thoughts for the day:

1) I have a ton of things going on at work and I've been battling some motivation problems. Well, it varies a lot- some days I'm really on top of things and it feels like I knock things off the to-do list really fast. Then some days it feels like I can't motivate myself to do anything! I'm not sure what is up with that. I think when I get a little stressed I respond by procrastination, which is not a very good tactic.

2) Kevin is in his emergency medicine rotation and it is going pretty well. He has one more week and then next week after Memorial Day he start Ob-Gyn. It will be a summer of babies for him! But that is his last core rotation. I can't believe we have less than a year until we find out about residency!

3) I'm trying to figure out how to control Nora's crazy hair. I want it to grow out- I don't really want her to have bangs right now, but her hair is constantly in her eyes and she pulls out any hair clips as soon as I put them in. I got little rubber bands to put her hair up and she came home from daycare with this awesome braid! (sorry for poor picture quality- bad lighting in our house). I was so impressed that they managed to get her to sit still long enough to braid it- I can barely tie it up in a little ponytail on the top of her head.

How cute are the little curls around the sides? I think she must get that from Kevin- his family has curls... (and yes, she's chewing on some string here):

4) Our house desperately needs to be cleaned. I called a lady today about getting a deep clean, since cleaning has fallen by the wayside as a working mom. I should really have someone come out more regularly.... but I've been procrastinating. See #1.

5) We also desperately need to prune the tree in our backyard, but there are wires above and I don't want to deal with all the branches, so I've been trying to hire someone to do it. Well apparently there are about 50 billion tree pruning places in Baltimore and approximately zero of them return any phone calls. Come on, tree people! I want to give you money! It's just a little tree! Why won't you call me back? (maybe because it's a little tree?)

6) Nora took her first steps! BUT, she's only taken another two since she took the first ones a couple of weeks ago. Apparently she wasn't impressed with walking as a means of transportation. Crawling is much faster. Well, I always thought she was a cautious baby, so I think she's just really making sure she has good balance before she starts walking more. She is now excellent at standing unassisted so I know she has it in her. :)

My first Mother's Day

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Sun, 13 May 2012 10:03:00 +0000

There are so many moments of being a mother the first year of your baby's life that take your breath away. The sweet smiles; the looks of adoration only for you; the sense of this little being completely and totally trusting and relying on you; the wonder of everything new seen through their eyes.

But it's been scary at times too. I've often felt like I have no idea what I'm doing. When she was first born sometimes she would cry and cry and cry and after I tried everything I could think of, it would be so frustrating! I felt like I'd failed her.

Luckily I've gained confidence this past year, and though I'm never going to be one of those natural "I love babies" types, I'm head over heels for my own. I think everything she does is wonderful and exciting (I'm sure this is perhaps annoying to everyone else around me, but I can't help myself). She is the most beautiful baby I've ever seen. She is clever and creative and sweet.

But as she starts to grow up, I worry about how I'll be as a mother. Will I know how to handle the terrible twos, or the awkward middle school years, or worse, the teenage years? Will I know how to help her when she's sad or hurt because of something outside of my control? Will I know what to say when she starts to feel society's pressures about body image and how can I instill in her a sense of self-confidence and self-worth? How the heck will I talk to her about sex and relationships and how to respect yourself? These things are on my mind a lot lately. Because babies are forgiving. If you can meet their basic needs and if you love them as best you can, that's enough. But little girls? and young women? Their mothers are always the very best example of how to be a strong woman and a successful adult.

My own mother (above, me in her arms with my sister in front) managed to do all these things successfully. So I will try to emulate her. Because I'll be honest, I'm crazy scared that I'll fail. If I've learned anything from the first year (or from my mom), it's this: she may be screaming, she may be crying, but if there's anything a girl needs to make her feel better, it's knowing her mama is there for her, no matter what. I think I can do that.

Picnics in the Park

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Tue, 08 May 2012 10:17:00 +0000

I'm not sure if the little movie works if you're reading this via email or RSS reader, but if not, you should click over! I had some fun at gifninja capturing Nora giving her dad a hi-five.

We have been going to Fort McHenry a whole bunch recently (well, not this last weekend because Kevin was on Emergency Medicine rotation, but hopefully we'll go again soon!). It's definitely our favorite place for picnics! It's right on the water, there is good people-watching, lots of trees and grass, and it's free... we love it there! Here are some pictures of our various picnics:

1) I love this picture because it looks like Nora is a balloon and Kevin is releasing her into the sky. Don't float away, baby Nora! Haha. And yes, my breath stops every time he does this.

2) Daddy hugs! Sometimes she already acts like a teenager.... "Dad, you're embarrassing me in public..."

3) Exploration time in the grass. Nora loves crawling through the grass. And then picking the grass. And then eating it.

4) Pictures by the water. Nora is clearly not digging the photo opportunities in the park. We were disrupting her crawling.

5) And one more water shot- how perfect is the boat in the back? It kind of looks like we're standing in front of one of those screens with a picture on it.

6) Daddy's glasses! Nora loves Kevin's glasses and pulls them off every chance she gets.

What's your (zodiac) sign?

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Fri, 04 May 2012 10:40:00 +0000

Okay, so I have to start by saying I don't believe in astrology or zodiacs, because I think you can always find something in common with the description of your "sign"- people will always find some relatively positive and generic characteristics in common with themselves, because people they like finding similarities and "reasons" for why they are who they are.

But, it's still fun. :) My sister who is living abroad in Taiwan was telling me that this year is the year of the Dragon in the Chinese zodiac, and the Dragon is the most desired zodiac sign of all, so many people in the Chinese culture aim to have a child with this sign. For all my friends who are pregnant right now, here is what I found about the Dragon sign:

"The Dragon is the mightiest of the signs. Dragons symbolize such character traits as dominance and ambition. Dragons prefer to live by their own rules and if left on their own, are usually successful. They’re driven, unafraid of challenges, and willing to take risks. They’re passionate in all they do and they do things in grand fashion. Unfortunately, this passion and enthusiasm can leave Dragons feeling exhausted and interestingly, unfulfilled. While Dragons frequently help others, rarely will they ask for help. Others are attracted to Dragons, especially their colorful personalities, but deep down, Dragons prefer to be alone. Perhaps that is because they’re most successful when working alone. Their preference to be alone can come across as arrogance or conceitedness, but these qualities aren’t applicable. Dragons have tempers that can flare fast!" (source)

Kevin and I are both Monkeys, which I makes me happy, given Kevin's love of monkeys. :)

"The Monkey possesses such character traits as curiosity, mischievousness, and cleverness. Forever playful, Monkeys are the masters of practical jokes. Even though their intentions are always good, this desire to be a prankster has a tendency to create ill will and hurt feelings. Although they are inherently intellectual and creative, Monkeys at times have trouble exhibiting these qualities. When that happens, they appear to others to be confused. But nothing could be further from the truth as Monkeys thrive on being challenged. Monkeys prefer urban life to rural, and their favorite pastime is people-watching."

Well, I hate practical jokes, but both of us thrive on being challenged and like urban life over suburbia. Kevin does enjoy a good ol' cubical prank. Overall, I don't think it matches Kevin or I terribly well. Frankly, I think aspects of the Dragon sounds more like me.

Nora is a Rabbit.

"The Rabbit symbolizes such character traits as creativity, compassion, and sensitivity. Rabbits are friendly, outgoing and prefer the company of others. They also prefer to avoid conflict. In confrontational situations, Rabbits approach calmly and with consideration for the other party. Rabbits believe strongly in friends and family and lacking such bonds can lead to emotional issues.
Their serene nature keeps Rabbits from becoming visibly upset. Because they’re serene animals, Rabbits are easily taken advantage of. Their sensitive nature makes them shy away from aggressive or competitive situations. They’re overall conservative and not interested in taking risks. Classy, sophisticated, expressive, well-mannered and stylish, those born under the Sign of the Rabbit enjoy leaning about cultural issues and learning about people from other countries. Rabbits are most comfortable being home, and their homes are always neat and organized. Rabbits should work at building more self-confidence and self-worth so they can feel more secure. The desire for remaining in safe, comfortable environments keeps Rabbits from taking risks which sometimes causes them to miss out on good opportunities."

Well, so far she does seem somewhat conservative- she doesn't usually take risks, although her opportunities have been limited as a baby. :) I hope she will like learning about other cultures and traveling.

What is your zodiac sign? Does yours match your personality?

Nora: Month Eleven

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Wed, 02 May 2012 09:29:00 +0000

Dear Nora-

You started understanding so much this month. This meant a lot more fun, as we could interact and play games- but also a lot more little battles, and we realized the start of discipline is right around the corner (I got two books to read on the subject, which I'll have to talk about later). You are such an incredibly sweet girl (you love giving cuddles and hugs, and being silly and giggling), but you are also stubborn like your momma. You already like puzzles and problem solving- I wonder if you'll continue to be analytical as you get older. We love watching your personality develop!

Sleeping: The first half of the month was awesome- good night sleep, good naps (better than we've ever seen). Then there was a terrifying week where you refused your second nap, both at daycare and at home- I was worried you were dropping it super early (I guess typical age is ~15-18 months?). This last week you were back on track at daycare, but have been fighting naps at home. Hopefully you keep with two naps for at least a couple more months!

Eating: At the beginning of the month, you dropped a bottle, so now you get 4 bottles (6oz each). Though you often don't finish all of them, so you probably get 21- 24oz of formula a day. I've started to think about how we're going to wean you from the bottle this month! I'm a little scared and a little sad- some of our best snuggles are during bottle time.

You are a great eater despite your lack of teeth and have been trying all kinds of things this month. You have 3 meals and an afternoon snack. We stopped purees, so a typical day of food looks like this (adapted from my pre-toddler meal ideas):

Breakfast- sliced blueberries/strawberries/cantaloupe, 1/2 yobaby yogurt, and 1/8 frozen whole wheat waffle OR mini-omelet/scrambled eggs (I tried egg whites this month and you were fine, so now I give you the whole egg).

Lunch- usually pasta + some veggie (broccoli/sweet potato/cauliflower) + some protein (beans/chicken/meatball), covered in either tomato sauce or carrot puree. I also sent some white bean tuna salad with you to daycare once and you loved it! Sadly you can't have tuna more than 1-2x per week....

Snack: Some combo of graham crackers or regular wheat crackers, cheese slices, peas, pears/mandarin oranges, squeezie food pouch

Dinner- whatever we're having, plus frozen avocado and some fruit. You eat lots and lots for dinner- I share my plate with you and I feel like I'm on a diet! You point at my plate and grunt when you want more (and whine when I'm not fast enough). I can see manners haven't quite developed yet.... :)

Your favorite foods right now are avocados, blackberries, peas, and pulled pork. When I get the pulled pork bowl from Chipotle you're in heaven!

Weight: We were at the doctor's last week for an ongoing ear infection (which didn't respond to the first round of treatment), and you weighed 22 lbs 3oz with clothes on, so ~22 lbs. You've been growing about a pound per month for awhile and it looks like that hasn't slowed down yet. I was thinking when I was rocking you the other night- it no longer feels like I have a baby in my arms, but a little kid in my lap. :( A really cute little kid though!

Diaper Size: Just moved from the size 3s to the Cruisers size 4. I'm not sure yet if I really like the Cruisers though- might have to play around with other styles/brands.

Clothes Size: You're definitely in almost all 9-12/12M clothes and even some 18M clothes fit well. I thought you would have a lot more time in the 12M clothes, but you're growing so fast!

Teeth/Talking: Still no teeth, but I swear your bottom gum is looking bumpier. Maybe wishful (or not so wishful) thinking? As far as talking, no words with meaning yet, though on certain occasions it does seem like you use mama/dada correctly, it's just really hard to tell since you use those words for everything else, too. You also started using "t" and "g" consonants this month. Sometimes I think you're trying to say "kitty" ("eee! ee!" while pointing at the cat) or "cat" ("dat!") but again you also say those "words" to other things so neither Kevin nor I are willing to call it a word yet.

Milestones/Firsts: First Easter. This month was all about cruising- you got much better at walking with your walker and moving along furniture. You also can stand unassisted for up to 30 seconds at a time. It's hard for us to tell how long it will be before you are walking- anywhere from a few weeks to a few months!

Also about a day after you turned 10 months, you dropped the army crawl for good- and it's been all hands and knees since. You started off a bit slow, but now you can even chase down the cats on your hands and knees (they're not going to know what hit them when you start walking and running). You also quickly mastered the staircase with close supervision (going up- we tried to show you how to go down backwards and you were not a fan).

But the best development this month for me was how much more you seem to understand now. You actually seem to understand us when we talk to you, and if we say things like "where's the kitty?" you know where to point, or "goodbye!" you'll wave. During patty cake, you clap your hands and when I say "throw it in the oven" you throw your hands in the air. And when we sing "If you're happy and you know it", you usually clap your hands at the right time (you learned this at daycare). You also understand "no" and I have to try really hard not to smile when you slowly reach your hand out again towards the object in question while looking at me to see if I'm serious. You have become very good at communicating with us through pointing. You also started to blow kisses- I think my heart melted. :)

Likes/Dislikes: Oh man, the changing table was a battleground this month. I would try changing you on the floor instead but I think it would just be worse because it would be even easier to roll than on the sloped changing pad. You really *hated* being changed this month and would immediately cry and try to roll over as soon as the diaper came off- and you're a strong kid! Even strapped in or trying to gently pin you down , you would manage to roll half-way- resulting in some very messy diaper changes. Distraction was the best method to prevent this, but unfortunately it only works for about 1 minute. I'm going to have to get faster at changing diapers! (if anyone has any suggestions, let me hear 'em!).

You have started to really like books and you will actually sit and listen through the whole book now. Some of your favorites are Chugga Chugga Choo Choo, Dear Zoo, Brown Bear Brown Bear, Pat the Bunny, and Moo Baa Lala. Your favorite toys are your push walker; your stacking cups (which you have actually started stacking!); this stuffed monkey that makes a monkey sound when you push on it, as well as many of your stuffed animals (you put them on the front of the walker and push them around); shape sorter and a wooden puzzle; and a new magnet toy for the fridge that we got you. And anything that looks like a cell phone you put up to your ear (your toy phone, actual cell phones, and remote controls- though you learned which button turns the TV on so now it's being used for turning the TV on and off).

You are suddenly terrified of the vacuum and dustbuster (even a month ago you could have cared less if we were using it- now you start shaking and crying the second it's turned on). I'm not quite sure how to help you get over this new fear, but it does make cleaning a little difficult!

One of my new favorite pictures of you.

We sure do love you, kiddo! How does time go so fast? How can I make it slow down? How are you already wearing real shoes in that picture above? With toddlerhood on the horizon, we know our days of you as "baby Nora" are coming to an end. While we're excited to see what the next stage has in store (maybe not so excited for the toddler tantrums), we hope we remember and enjoy all these baby moments we have left.

A Reason for Blogging

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 22:00:00 +0000

There are several reasons why I blog. First, I read a lot of blogs, and I like connecting with other people through my blog. Secondly, I admittedly like having a place where I can talk about myself and my life, and my viewpoints, without feeling narcissistic- since I feel like people choose to come and read what I post, and if they don't like it, they won't. Thirdly, I love getting comments- it really really brightens my day (thank you so much to all my regular posters! I truly appreciate it!). Fourthly, I like that I can share pictures and stories with friends and family who live far away, and let them know what's going on in our world (the one downside being, they often know all about what I'm doing but I have no idea what they're up to! Unless they blog, of course).

But the main reason is that I like having a place to document our lives- with pictures and stories of the most important events, or more often day-to-day life. The thing is, on the internet, nothing is really forever. What if blogger crashes, or I get a virus? I would hate to lose all my posts and stories and pictures. More importantly, 10 or 20 or 30 years down the line, will I still have access to it? It's hard to know. So I started investigating ways to turn my blog into an actual, physical book.

I'm surprised there aren't more and better services out there for just this kind of thing, but I've been using blurb.com (Blog to Book option) and I've been pretty happy with how it's turned out (our last name has been blurred here- and I was using a narrow focus- the pictures on the sides are very clear in real life).

So far, I've made a book for all my posts from 2008 and 2009. I just started 2010 but it will take awhile because that year I wrote the most posts I've ever written. I've been doing the soft cover option but they also have hard covers. Each book is close to 100 pages and cost about ~$40-45 each (expect to pay quite a bit more for a hard cover book).

I do wish that Blurb was a little more blog-friendly in terms of pictures- it will load all the posts for you, so that's nice, but the places allotted for pictures are quite small, and their designs don't usually read down vertically like a blog does. However, they do allow you to custom design pages- but this can take awhile.

Still, these books mean a lot to me- and encourage me to keep blogging. Kevin and I have already greatly enjoyed going back and reading about all our adventures in 2008 and 2009. And now I hope to make a book for Nora, too, for all her first year posts- which I'm excited about. :) Anyway, I wanted to recommend this to fellow bloggers out there as a way to preserve and remember your work!

*I was not asked by Blurb.com to write a review, nor was I offered anything in return for this post- this is my own personal opinion of their product.

Easter photos (finally!)

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 09:41:00 +0000

Okay, so Easter was like two weeks ago and I'm just getting around to this post. We had a lovely day at Sherwood Gardens and brought a picnic- Nora enjoyed looking at all the dogs and kids and we enjoyed looking at the lovely huge houses that surround the park and all the tulips. Though the tulips weren't nearly as good as last year because it's been so dry around here.

I had all the plans to take pictures of Nora in a cute Easter dress, but the day of Easter she was kind of grumpy and refused to smile at all (turns out she had ear infection #3, so she was feeling under the weather). So we got a lot of pictures that look like this:

Haha. Poor kiddo. The pictures we took the day before at Ft. McHenry turned out much better. Still, we got some pictures of her with each of us and I think the warm spring day was good for all of us!

She had fun with the Easter basket, though we were bad parents and, um, sort of didn't hard boil the eggs beforehand because we just grabbed them as we ran out of the door for a photo prop. Luckily she didn't manage to break any of them though one did crack. :)

Random Things

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 09:44:00 +0000

Whoa, busy week! I have a whole folder of adorably cute photos to process (because I take about a gazillion and then go through later and delete the crappy ones and crop and brighten the rest- yay digital cameras), but I haven't had a lot of time to do it. So here's a list of random things:

1) This, right here, is my favorite tabbouleh EVER. It's from Byblos in Federal Hill (read my review from a long time ago here). We love this place- it's the only place I've ever gone where the owners know who I am and ask about Nora. But even if they didn't make me feel like I'm at home in their store, I would love their food. The tabbouleh- I don't think I even really liked tabbouleh before this place- is bright, lemony, moist, fresh- yum! The parsley is not too overwhelming like it sometimes can be. I also love both the regular hummus and the country-style hummus. The beef schwarma platter is another favorite.

2) Nora likes to try to balance stuff on her head. She's actually pretty good at it! You can see her focus as she tries not to move her head too much... (sorry for the slightly blurry photos). She looks like the tin man here. :)

3) Kevin made these little gems a few weeks ago. Homemade sea salt caramels. I'm hoping he'll blog about it sometime- he says he's perfecting the recipe. Lunch club at work really really enjoyed them!

Life These Days...

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 09:07:00 +0000

"I have to act fast. That Momma, she's always watching me."

"Okay. NOW! I can finally get into that drawer!"

"OH. Um. Hiiiii..... I was just....umm.... putting Daddy's socks away.... "

Review of Eatbmore.com

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 10:09:00 +0000

One thing that has been different since Nora was born is that it's a lot harder for us to go out to eat. Aside from the fact that we're both a little terrified she's going to scream the whole time, it also would be a lot of work loading up everything she needs, and then we'd spend most of the dinner entertaining her and making sure she has the food, drink, etc she needs, which is fine at home but seems like too much when you're paying for a nice dining out experience (perhaps this will change with our second child. Clearly first time parents here! I'm now always a bit amazed when I see families out at restaurants with babies and toddlers).

Anyway, I was contacted by eatbmore.com to try out their new ordering-out service for Baltimore, and though I don't often do promotions on my blog, I thought this site sounded like it fit our lifestyle nicely right now. The website brings together restaurants that do take-out/delivery for your area of the city, and allows you to browse various menus, and then order online. Very handy! Kevin and I were happy to see some places we haven't tried and didn't even know delivered to our area. Most places have a minimum order required of ~$10, and some have delivery fees of $1-$3, but that's pretty typical for delivery.

We picked Kyro Pizza, which had some great menu selections- very innovative pizzas and sandwiches. I'm not really sure we would get delivery from them again, mostly because we didn't do a great job picking out items that keep for delivery (like fries and wings), but I'd consider eating there if I were near their restaurant. Anyway, I'm not reviewing the restaurant here, so what are things I liked/disliked about the website?

Liked:
1) Nice to have a bunch of restaurants and their menus in one location.
2) Ordering online is convenient and fairly easy.
3) Restaurant choices are pretty good.

Disliked:
1) There is a form that keeps popping up asking you to type in where your address to make sure the restaurant delivers to you- before you can see the menu. This makes sense the first time, but it doesn't remember the information so every time you look at a new menu, it asks again. I'm not sure if it does this if you have a "log-in" already established.
2) It would be really nice if there were some kind of time estimate for how long your order is going to take once you submit the form. You get an email saying the order was placed, but then we were kind of like...."is it going to be half an hour from now? an hour? two?". It would be nice if the restaurant could somehow send you an email estimate for delivery, though I understand that could be tricky to implement.
3) One of the restaurants that was on the list didn't actually allow any online ordering, which is kind of the point. Not sure whether this was just a temporary glitch?

Overall, though, we actually liked the service and would likely use it again if we're trying to come up with food for delivery. It is definitely convenient and easy to use. I would recommend it to Baltimore locals!

*Disclaimer: I was offered a $10 coupon by eatbmore.com, but this review is my own honest opinion of their website and service.

Happy Easter!

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 14:19:00 +0000

We're not doing anything too exciting for Easter, as Nora seems a little too young for an egg hunt. But, we might go look at the wonderful tulips at Sherwood Gardens (where we visited last year when I was 34 weeks pregnant) today and take some more pictures of Nora in another adorable Easter dress (this photo is from our picnic yesterday at Fort McHenry).

Happy Easter to you!

Kevin's Favorite Recipes - Mac & Cheese

noreply@blogger.com (kevin) — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 12:00:00 +0000

It's been awhile since I've posted one of my standard recipes, and this one has been one of my favorites for years now. There are several reasons I love this recipe. First of all, I can have it on the table 30 minutes after I set a pot of water on to boil. Second, the ingredient list is so easy that I can grab everything I need at the grocery store without having to check the recipe, so I pick everything on the way home for a last minute dinner. Finally, it's delicious and creamy but it came from Cook's Illustrated "The Best Light Recipe", and it's much healthier than most other Mac & Cheese recipes you'll make at home. I took off one point for taste because it doesn't make great leftovers, but fresh off the stovetop it's delicious! As far as cost, it requires an entire block of Cabot cheese, making it a little pricier than a box of Velveeta shells and cheese, but well worth it.

Taste: 4/5
Convenience: 5/5
Health: 4/5
Cost: 4/5

Ingredients:
3/4 lb elbow macaroni
1 (12 ounce) can reduced-fat evaporated milk
3/4 cup 2% milk
1/4 tsp dry mustard
1/8 tsp garlic powder
Pinch cayenne
2 tsp cornstarch
8 ounces of Cabot 50% light cheddar cheese, finely shredded

1) Set a pot of water over high heat to boil. As soon as it boils, add a tsp of salt and the pasta, which should cook for about 8 minutes.

2) Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, mix 1/2 cup of the 2% milk, the can of evaporated milk, the mustard, the garlic powder, and the cayenne and heat over medium, whisking constantly. When it comes to a boil, reduce to a simmer. Whisk the cornstarch with the remaining 1/4 cup of milk in a separate dish, then add to the saucepan.

3) Continue to simmer the mixture, whisking constantly, for about 2 minutes or until it thickens. Remove from the heat and gradually stir in the shredded cheese until the mixture is completely smooth.

3) When the pasta is done, drain it and add it to the cheese sauce, mixing until completely combined. Let the mixture sit in the pan for about 5 minutes to thicken, then serve!

PS: Since you made such a healthy choice with this dish, you can go ahead and blow the leftover calories on our favorite cornbread. If you divide this cornbread recipe by 4, it cooks in a loaf pan with just the right amount for 4-6 servings.

Nora: Month Ten

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 10:18:00 +0000

Dear Nora-

I keep thinking to myself, "I am really going to miss this stage. It's so much fun!" but then you do something new and it's even better. I imagine at some point I really will miss the baby stage (but maybe not the newborn stage- ha!) but right now I am enjoying all your new discoveries and new personality traits that make you into more of a little person each day.

Sleeping: Your naps are definitely better than they used to be- usually an hour or so each (one mid-morning, one mid-afternoon). Nighttime sleep has been good, too, although you've been going through a bit of a frustrating phase where around 4am you start crying out every 15 minutes- then go back to sleep- then cry out, etc until you either wake up way too early or you fall asleep again until 6:45a or 7a. Either way, it means your mom and dad have been woken up very early for the last few weeks! I've been trying to figure out whether you get too cold/too hot, whether the sunrise starts to bother you, etc... not sure what causes it.

Eating: You have started reducing the amount of formula you want to drink, so now it's more like 24-27oz per day. You still are offered 5 bottles per day (see your recent schedule here). But, I think one bottle will be dropped in favor of snack time. We'll see how it goes this week.

Food-wise, I'm starting to sense some pickiness- or maybe it's that you finally realized you don't have to eat what we give you if you don't want to. Like I made you some roasted butternut squash chunks (you used to love squash puree) and you would just spit them out once you realized what it was and throw them on the ground. You *love* avocado, cheese of pretty much any kind, yogurt, yogurt melts... I'm getting the sense you like things that taste creamy? Surprisingly you don't seem that crazy about bananas, though. You also like certain kinds of meat- shredded pork, ground chicken meatballs; steamed cauliflower; blackberries; egg yolk omelets (with cheese of course); pasta. I'm going to have to think about how to get you to eat more veggies and fruit, as the carb/protein/fat categories seem to be your favorite. It was definitely easier with purees!

(you get crazier hair more often now that it's started growing out! I think it's cute though)

Weight: not sure since you don't have an appointment this month. I'd guess around 21 lbs, though. I think your weight gain will start to level off with all your new movement.

Diaper Size: Still working on the box of size 3s. I want to try out a small box of Cruisers size 4 to see how those fit.

Clothes Size: Moving into 9-12M clothes, and even some 12-18M tops.

Teeth/Talking: No teeth yet- you are a toothless wonder. I'm just glad we haven't had to deal with teething yet! Also, one of the most exciting things this month was that you finally started babbling a couple days after you turned 9 months old. One day you went to daycare not babbling and when I picked you up it was suddenly "dada, baba, nana, lala, rara, bla bla, mama"- all sorts of consonants! Your favorite thing to say right now is "dada" (though everything is "dada" right now). It's very cute.

Milestones/Firsts: First fear (never would have guessed it would be a laughing cow).

Babbling was a big milestone, but you've also been working on moving. You have gotten very good at pulling up on everything. You don't cruise that much- usually just a foot or two in either direction. I think you are a cautious baby right now. Like you carefully learned how to go back down to your knees when you first started pulling up so that you could get back down. While you like exploring and testing new boundaries, I also get the sense that you like to feel secure while doing so- by holding on to me, for example. You did stand up unassisted for like 10 seconds at the end of the month while your dad and I were watching- we were amazed! You haven't done it since though. You also have started doing the more traditional crawl for further and further distances, instead of the army crawl.

You were so interactive this month! I have to admit, I love the new two-way communication. You became a big fan of "How big is Nora? SOO big!" (then you lift your arms up over your head and laugh- see photo above). You especially like this game during dinner. You also learned how to play peekaboo this month (all by yourself, instead of us having to "hide" you), which you think is an excellent game. You wave bye-bye and hello to people at the right times (even to your Auntie Erin on Skype), and you love pointing at things- the ceiling fan is still your favorite thing to point at- but you've started to use pointing more and more as a way to communicate what you want. One thing that was funny at the end of this month- you have a couple toys with buttons that make sounds when you push them, but it's often hard to push hard enough to make them squeak. But you figured out that Mommy could push it hard enough! So now you grab my finger and place it on the squeaker. And in the the last couple of days, you finally learned how to clap your hands together. :)

The other fun trick you learned this month was how to put the shapes in the shape sorter (video here- with a little guidance of course). We were really impressed with your skills!

Likes/Dislikes: You've started to like books a lot more- especially ones with "lift the flaps" or things to touch. And you have gotten better at turning the pages. It's especially fun to pull the books off the shelves. You like when Daddy kisses your neck, or when we blow raspberries on your stomach. You like chasing the cats, and pulling all your old bottles out of the storage drawer in the closet (see photo above). You love shoelaces and magnets.

Your least favorite thing right now is probably getting your hands and face cleaned up after eating. And having to stay still for a diaper change. Both those things elicit major drama. Also, taking away something you're not supposed to be playing with can definitely bring on the waterworks.

It seems like there is something new you understand every day. With these changes comes great joy for your dad and I but also a sense of growing responsibility- to make sure that the things you are learning and picking up on are positive, healthy ones. We want the very best for you!

Help with Meal Ideas for Pre-Toddler?

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 09:48:00 +0000

So, I've been brainstorming ideas for Nora's meals now that she is going off of purees. I'm hoping to come up with some kind of "meal plan" especially for breakfast and lunch so I can prepare everything the weekend ahead of time and have it ready to go during the week. Here are some ideas I have so far:

Breakfast:
Kashi whole wheat frozen waffles
Yobaby yogurt
Toast + cream cheese
Diced fruits- banana, berries, cantaloupe
Egg yolk omelet w/cheese and avocado
Whole wheat pancakes (plain or topped with ricotta; banana or blueberry)
French toast

Lunch:
Steamed veggies – squash, carrots, zucchini, broccoli
Bread w/cream cheese, tomatoes, and avocado
Roast chicken or turkey meatballs
Tuna or chicken salad
Hummus – something to go with it?
Cottage cheese
Tofu- scrambled? with veggies?
Squeezie food pouch (she likes sucking on these)
Pasta with cheese and peas

Snacks:
Puffs, cheerios, veggie puffs
Cheese slices
Diced fruit
Crackers or graham crackers; plain quaker rice cakes
Hard-boiled egg

Dinner (she'll usually eat what we're having unless it's really spicy; then I need backups):
Chicken nuggets (not a fan of these so far but maybe when she gets more teeth)
Pasta + cheese or sauce, meatballs
Steamed broccoli/cauliflower/carrots + peas
Avocado slices- frozen or fresh
Roast chicken
Grilled cheese toast
Tofu- baked? stir fry?
Sweet potato fries

Does anyone have any other ideas? Or suggestions for planning meals for a soon-to-be toddler?

8-10 Month Old Schedule

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 10:30:00 +0000

I shared our schedule when Nora was 4 months old. I thought I would share Nora's current schedule, as things are looking to change around here pretty soon, with Nora eating more and with me wanting to slowly start weaning her from the bottle (her pediatrician suggested we have this done by the time she's one). Though it makes me a little sad because it's our snuggle time. But this is the schedule she's been on for at least the last two months- it felt good to have some regularity! Babies change so fast, it can feel hard to keep up.

7am: Wake up. A lot of time she wakes up before this but we're trying to enforce the "no coming out of your crib until 7am" rule (unless she starts crying. Right now she just talks to herself for like 20 minutes). Mostly because otherwise she kept waking up earlier and earlier. She has bottle #1 right when she wakes up.

8am: breakfast. Usually yogurt and something else, like egg yolk omelet or whole-wheat waffle.

8:30a: on weekdays she heads to daycare.

10a: Bottle #2. Usually immediately followed by her best nap of the day- a little over an hour (actually an improvement from a couple months ago when all her naps were 40 minutes or less).

12p: Lunch. Usually a puree plus some puffs or cheerios (this will soon change though as the puree days are coming to an end very soon).

1p: Bottle #3.

2-4p: Somewhere in here she takes her second nap of the day- usually lasts from 30 minutes (at daycare) to an hour (if she's at home).

Nora during naptime. This is the blanket one of her great-grandmothers made. So precious!

4p: Bottle #4.

5p: She gets picked up from daycare

6:30p: We all try to have dinner together. Nora gets mostly finger foods- usually avocado plus some other veggies, then part of whatever we're having. Sometimes a little puree too to round it out.

7:30p: Bathtime (every other night). Kevin's in charge of this one! I pick up her room and lay out her jammies in the meantime.

8p: Bottle #5 and sleepy time.

Something to remember

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 14:00:00 +0000

... when I look at all the piles of crap and laundry that I have to do.... or when I'm tempted to try do get things done during "Nora time"...

Babies Don't Keep

by Ruth H. Hamilton

Mother, O Mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing, make up the bed,
Sew on a button and butter the bread.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She’s up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I’ve grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,
Lullabye, rockabye, lullabye loo.
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo

The shopping’s not done and there’s nothing for stew
And out in the yard there’s a hullabaloo
But I’m playing Kanga and this is my Roo
Look! Aren’t her eyes the most wonderful hue?
Lullabye, rockaby lullabye loo.

The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow
But children grow up as I’ve learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!
I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.

Colorado Weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 01:13:00 +0000

We went home a couple of weeks ago to celebrate the life of this wonderful lady, and while it was a somber occasion, I was reminded once again of how wonderful it is that Kevin and I both have such wonderful families. I really want Nora to know all these amazing people in her life.

Nora did pretty well at the traveling, though it's definitely getting harder every time we fly- she is very active and it's hard to entertain her on our laps for a 3-4 hour flight. She did sleep though for at least part of the flights which helped. She also flirted with all the other passengers, so they didn't seem quite as annoyed when she did a few shrieks here and there.

Saturday we went to the beautiful memorial service- it was very touching, and I think Kevin's grandmother would have loved all the music and speeches in her honor. My parents watched Nora for us, and then met us for the reception following the service.

We went on a walk Saturday afternoon, and then Saturday night, we celebrated my dad's birthday- I was glad we could be there to celebrate with him. He made great drinks (as always), and we had a yummy dinner that my mom made (Kevin made great mashed potatoes). And we got some good photos while the light was still good.

My new favorite picture of the three of us:

Sunday we went to have brunch with Kevin's side of the family. It was so fun to see our nephew and Nora interact, and her other "cousins" (Kevin's cousin's children). I know in a few years they will have so much fun together. And she got lots of attention from her other grandparents and aunts and uncles.

A really terrible blurry photo but I love it anyway- Nora's cousin giving her a hug :):

I meant to take more pictures in better light, but it was dark before I remembered, but I still like this one even though there are some flash issues.

Monday was the burial service, which was family-only and quite touching. I will miss Kevin's grandmother a lot.

Anyway, that was our weekend back home!

Favorite 6-9 Month Items

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 20:57:00 +0000

First of all, see my favorite newborn items and favorite 2-6 month old items. The items for 6-9 months are mostly the toys that Nora plays with the most, but I've also included a few practical items.

1) LeapFrog Learn & Groove Musical Table. We replaced our activity mat with this activity table, and it's been great for letting Nora practice pulling up and standing. There are two different settings- jazzy music and "learning" (abc's, numbers, shapes, etc). Also, we still on rare occasion use our Jumperoo (and we definitely used it quite a bit from months 4-7) but Nora doesn't like being confined in there much anymore so I'll likely pack it up or sell it.

2) Tolo Toys Rolling Shape Sorter. I love this toy, and so does Nora. The shapes are also rattles (and some of Nora's favorite things to chew on), both sides come off to act as lids, and the toy is very durable and will likely be entertaining for months if not years ahead. Nora has already started understanding that the shapes go inside (she actually has started to pick up all her toys and try to put them in there), although she can't quite match shapes correctly yet.

3) Books. That's Not My Bear/Monkey. Chugga Chugga Choo Choo. Dear Zoo. Nora loves the "touch and feel" and "lift the flap" books right now. And trains. So what if she doesn't read books right side up? She clearly is a creative thinker. :)

4) Zo-li Straw Sippy Cup. I mentioned this in her 9-month update, but this cup is great! So easy for her to use, and I like that straws encourage better mouth development.

5) Stacking Cup Set. We have this one from green spouts so the cups are BPA, PVC, Nitrosamine and phthalate free (not many of her toys are that green-friendly). They also have little holes in the bottom so they can be used during bath time. She plays with these all the time!

6) First Years Ignite Stroller. We were using the Snap N' Go with her infant carseat, but now that she's in her convertible carseat, we needed a light umbrella stroller for traveling. I picked this one based on reviews and it worked well on our recent visit to Colorado! The storage space underneath is my only complaint- too hard to access. But it folds easily, seems durable and comfortable, and is reasonably priced.

7) Car Seat Travel Bag. I debated buying this, but in the end I'm glad we did. I figure we'll use it quite a bit with all the traveling we have to do with Nora this year. It allowed us to protect the carseat when we checked it through to our destination. It also gives you a bit of extra storage space for your travels. :) I probably looked totally ridiculous wearing up but the backpack features allows you to free up your hands.

8) Formula Dispenser/snack container. We've used this container quite a bit when traveling with formula. It has three separate compartments that you can premeasure the formula into and then a convenient spout for dumping it into the bottle. I also use it now to send little snacks to daycare, like cheerios.

9) Wiggly Giggler Rattle. Nora likes shaking this toy- it's pretty funny too, given its resemblance to the "shake weight".

10) Bottle cleaning supplies: a Bottle Brush and a Silicone Drying Mat. Since I have to wash bottles every day, I do them by hand rather than in the dishwasher. The bottle brush is essential, and the mat makes for a nice place for everything to stay organized and dry off.

11) Flower hair clips from Celeste and Company. You'll notice in two of the pictures above she's wearing them (and probably many pictures in the future)! Her hair is starting to grow out and I don't want to cut it too much (I'd like her to have longer hair and no bangs right now). These clips stay in pretty well (better than some others I've tried), considering her hair is super thin. She pretty much wears them every day now to keep the hair out of her eyes. I want to get a few more different styles!

Items I've previously recommended that we still use all.the.time:

1) Levana Video Baby Monitor (despite bad reviews on Amazon we've generally really liked ours. I think I would like pretty much any video monitor though- the video is the important thing!).
2) Homedics SoundSpa Machine
3)Fisher-Price Booster Seat.
4) Glider from Room & Board.
5) Sassy Ring O' Links.
6) HALO SleepSack Micro-Fleece (though once it gets warm enough, we'll stop using it).
7) BOB Revolution Stroller.

Like Father, Like Daughter

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 10:59:00 +0000

Remember when I posted this picture during Nora's first month?

Well.... here are the 9 month equivalents. How are they so alike already?

And just a really cute one:

p.s. Happy birthday to my Dad today! He's someone I hope to emulate as well. :)

Swing Low

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 10:50:00 +0000

A couple weekend ago we took Nora for her first ride in a swing! She didn't really like the swing as a newborn, but she seemed to like this experience a little better (and what better view in Baltimore than that from Federal Hill park, with lovely views of the Inner Harbor).

I can't wait until the weather is more consistently nice outside and we can take Nora to the park more often- especially when she starts walking.

9 months in, 9 months out

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 13:53:00 +0000

Nora has been "out" as long as she was "in"- she was born at 39 weeks, and it's now her 39th week out in the world.

Nora: Month 9

noreply@blogger.com (Amy) — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 10:34:00 +0000

Dear Nora-

You have now been out in the world for as long as you were in my tummy. The time has raced by- or as someone so wisely put it, "The days go slow but the months go fast."

This month you started to become such a little person. This was the month for standing up, taking assisted steps, and interacting in all kinds of fun new ways (waving! pointing! hi-fives!). I'm not even sure how you learn all these things, but it is clear that even when it seems like you're not paying that much attention, you're soaking it all up.

You got a nasty virus this month but you were such a little trooper. Thoroughly unhappy for about two days but much happier after that!

Sleeping: You have been a great sleeper this month for the most part. However, you are waking up earlier than you used to- usually you sleep from 8pm to 6:30 or 7am. The benefit of this is slightly longer naps during the day. You take two naps- one is still only half an hour, the other is usually an hour or sometimes on really good days 1.5 hours. You did have one night when you were sick where I think the throat ulcers were hurting and you just cried and cried, even after we gave you medicine. Sucking on ice cubes helped a little though. I felt so bad for you!

Eating: You still have (5) 6oz bottles per day- sometimes you don't finish all of them, so you probably drink 27-30oz per day. I've read that you should start to drop the formula amount to 16-24oz by 9 months, but you love your bottles! Perhaps once you start eating more food this will happen naturally.

That being said, you are eating a lot more now! You have an excellent pincer grasp and have also learned how to open your fist and "smush" the food into your mouth. You love feeding yourself, though I still give stage 2 or 3 purees as a "base" for most meals and then offer a variety of finger foods to go with it. For breakfast, you usually have yogurt (you *love* YoBaby), cheerios, tiny pieces of toast, or an egg-yolk omelet with cheese (you love cheese too!). Lunch is usually 3.5oz puree at daycare, though I send puffs and yogurt melts for you to eat too. Dinner is usually when you have the most finger foods- you've tried tofu, broccoli, baked sweet potato fries, spaghetti and meatballs, black beans, pulled pork, sliced peaches, blackberries, blueberries, mandarin oranges, rice, quinoa, and different kinds of cheese. You almost always have some frozen slices of avocado- can't get enough of that! And sometimes half a teething biscuit for dessert.

Oh, you mastered the new Zo-li Straw Cup that I got you in about 5 minutes. I was impressed! I really like the straw cup because you don't have to tilt it back at all, and the straw is weighted so it stays down in the liquid (look for it coming up on my Favorite 6-9 month items!).

Weight: We don't go to your appointment until next week, but at the doctor's visit last week when you were sick, you weighed about 20 lbs even. I switched to the convertible car seat this month and I'm very happy about it. No more lugging the infant car seat around! I think you like the seat better too because you sit more upright in there.

Diaper Size: Pampers size 3. You have another 100 or so of these left- then I might try size 4 on you.

Clothes size: Still mostly 6-9 months, but some 12 month tops. I think you'll start growing out of some of the 6-9 month clothes soon though!

Milestones/Firsts: First communicable disease (ha). First Valentine's Day. First time in a playground swing. First pair of sunglasses.

At the beginning of the month you were able to pull up to your knees but not really any further. By the end of the month, you are quite good at pulling up to your feet! You also started standing and pushing a box of diapers slowly around the room. You spend a lot of time standing and strengthening those little legs of yours these days. You also army crawl, quite fast, all over the place. I'm wondering if you'll just skip the traditional crawl altogether- you often start on your hands and knees, take a few "steps" on your knees forward, and then slide onto your belly where you can go much faster.

The really fun milestones this month were (1) you started waving (see photo below)- you love to wave hello and goodbye. I love picking you up from daycare and the over-the-top excited waving that ensues- no one has ever been happier to see me than you, every single day. On the flip side, some separation anxiety kicked in (or maybe it's been there for awhile)- on occasion this month you started crawling after me and crying when I left you at daycare- so sad! That does not make me feel good in the mornings. One of your favorite teachers also said that you started crying when she left for the day (she's on the early shift). Poor kiddo. (2) Though you actually haven't done it now for a few days, you started pointing at things with your index finger. The fan, the cats, things in the books we read you. Very cute! (3) Just in the last couple days, usually in your highchair, you put you hand up (like you're trying to answer a question). I started "clapping" your hand with mine and saying hi-five- now you do it just to get the hi-five! It's adorable and you crack up every time; and (4) you figured out how to turn the light switch on and off. We play that game a lot!

Likes/Dislikes: You have so many cute personality quirks- you like instruments that make lots of noise, like drums, rattles, tambourines. You like peek-a-boo and you tried this month to even hold the blanket up yourself (though you can't quite do it yet, but the intent is there). You have ticklish feet. You like using mom and dad as your personal jungle gym. You are fascinated by tape and stickers. You like looking at mirrors- you stare at mommy in the mirror, then at mommy in "real life", then back again, like "how are you over there and right here at the same time?" You like bathtime with Daddy and splashing all over the place in the big tub (usually. Not always a fan of the hair-washing part). You like pulling your books off the shelves and occasionally listening to me read you one (your favorite right now is Chugga Chugga Choo Choo). If we put you on the bed or on our laps, you like falling backwards- not sure why, you just seem to think it's really fun! You're obsessed with my hair.

3 months to go until your first birthday! I can't believe it! You only get more fun as time goes on; you are our deepest joy.