this article is great – now i don’t feel so bad about the pets and not vacuuming every day!
for all of our relatives in florida and more temperate climates January 28, 2009
the winter storm of 2009 is here, at least according to our newscasters. i’m always one part amused and one part concerned about the ridiculousness of sending reporters out to do live reports about the weather, in which they tell everyone to stay inside unless they absolutely have to go somewhere. it’s almost as silly as having a reporter do a live shot in the dark outside of a courthouse for the eleven o’clock news to talk about a case that took place when it was actually daylight, hours earlier. really? does this contribute anything to our understanding of the news? am i just being overly critical?
anyhoo, i hope you’re all staying warm and cozy today!
independence day January 26, 2009
as mentioned below, this has been the month of really starting to eat solid foods. aside from keeping a box of multi-grain baby cereal on hand, we have yet to buy “official” baby food, and i doubt that we ever will, especially since she should be able to have finger foods soon. we just mash up whatever she’s having, and sometimes i’ll throw it into the mini-blender – like i did tonight with her first green beans. so far, her favorite dish seems to be lentils and rice. but that might also be because she’s had them a lot lately, ever since i made them for dinner but they weren’t a hit with daniel, so i blended the leftovers and put them in the freezer. she also has a lot of bananas, avocados, applesauce, whatever veggie we’re having, and the occasional chicken.
as you can see, she likes to “feed” herself. she gets to about half the time, depending on my messiness tolerance on any given day. 🙂
you can also see our overflowing recycling in the background. apparently, it’s time to trek it down to the middle school.
seven month update
alex turned seven months old yesterday, and some highlights of the past month have included:
-mastering sitting up on her own
-rolling/scooting across the floor
-eating solid foods on a daily basis
-drinking water out of a sippy cup
-starting to sound like she’s actually saying “dada” and “cat” at the -appropriate times
-going to the church nursery on a weekly basis
-going to lap time at the library on a weekly basis
-responding with glee to her dad and the cat and dog
-using her own original sign language to tell me when she wants to be picked up
-recognizing animals in books (i think) – as in, she’ll meow sometimes when she sees a cat in a book, like she does when she sees our real cat.
crawling is coming soon, i can feel it! i guess we should get a couple of baby gates, eh?
seven months, one day old
today alex got a parcel in the mail from her great-aunt, my aunt melissa. along with a cute framed teddy bear cross-stitch and a book for me to read was this gorgeous handmade quilt! what i love about it is that it is big for a big-kid bed, and she’ll be able to use it for years. my aunt melissa has always given great handmade gifts. we use an afghan that she made, and i have memories of numerous gifts when i was child. she also was the first person to teach me to crochet – she taught me more than once over the years! in addition, i always loved to hear stories of her travels to places like europe and alaska when i was growing up. thank you so much, melissa, and know that we will cherish this gift for years to come!
how does your garden grow?
i’m not really a gardener. i think my mom tried to get me interested when i was little, but i always preferred to stay inside and read instead of weeding things outside. since we moved into our house with its spacious backyard, i’ve had the desire to grow things, but very little discipline and time. (not to mention that i was a children’s services caseworker and a grad student for most of that time.) one year i planted a few pepper and tomato plants, but alas – the tomatoes never grew, and days would go by with me forgetting that i needed to water things.
i’m determined that this year will be different, though. i’ll be at home, alex will be big enough to play outside while i tend to the garden, the huge tree that blocked the sun is gone, and my dad is building square-foot gardening raised beds for me.
here’s where i need your help. does anyone out there have square-foot gardening experience? more importantly, who has experience growing things in columbus? what’s the best resource for knowing when to plant things here? i have a vision of growing some of the following:
leaf lettuce, spinach, peas, tomatoes, various peppers, maybe strawberries, carrots and squash.
speak your words of wisdom!
January 13, 2009
happy new year, new week and new day!
we’re figuring out what the new normal is here now that the holidays are over and the days mostly belong to me and alex. i’m also trying to figure out how to engage with the larger world outside of childrearing and recipes. are there any insights out there on how to do this successfully?
yesterday the little girl and i finally made it to baby laptime at the library with sarain and mink, and i was actually a little sad that it’s taken us this long to get there! for sure, it will be staking out its rightful place in our weekly schedule. i love the main library downtown, and the children’s staff are super-fun and capable. we also ran into a mom from our childbirth class with her little girl, resulting in one more family to add to our playdate list. today, i switched to the bigger carseat (not due to alex’s weight, but her super-tall length that results in her legs hanging out over the infant seat) and that meant that when we went to the grocery store, she got to sit up in the cart for the first time. whew – we have pretty exciting times around here! truly exciting is the possibility that alex and i may be making the trek to d.c. next week for inauguration festivities. in case our driving companion can’t come (they’re figuring out now if they’re able to make the trip), is there anyone out there who would like to join us?
that is all.
joyful girl 