I think that any brand new mommy should read this. Very good things in there.
http://www.hellobee.com/2013/03/27/when-you-cant-see-the-forest-for-the-trees/#more-50476
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Can't Handle It
This is how you end up spending your lunch hour, at your desk literally laughing out loud and trying not to so you won't bother your coworkers.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/mattbellassai/animals-that-cannot-even-handle-it-right-now
http://www.buzzfeed.com/mattbellassai/animals-that-cannot-even-handle-it-right-now
Something New, Something Old
A few weeks ago I snagged my first pair of colored jeans. Bubble gum pink jeans at that. I still feel a little odd wearing such a bright colored pair of jeans out, but I think I really like them, when paired with a neutral on top. So far I've worn them with chambray and this polka dot top. I think I'd also feel comfortable wearing them with any dark neutral (navy, black, grey) or even a oatmeal colored top I love and rely on often.
To spice up the top, I grabbed a REALLY old dark metal floral statement necklace. What do you think? Are the round shape of the flowers too similar to the polka dots? I really like the idea of statement necklaces worn semi-casually, but when it comes down to it, I usually go pretty mild. I tend to like to wear this top with jeans and a fun hot pink faceted necklace, similar to the one below. But I just can't do the pink necklace and the pink jeans.
Top Tooth
We finally have a top tooth broken through. It must've been exhausting work for Little Miss.
Don't worry, I won't spam up my own blog every time Ava gets a new tooth. It just seems like the first one on the bottom and the first one on the top are milestones. Sort of. Anyway, the picture (got that while at work, love) was just too cute not to share.
Ava apparently put this new found tooth to good work last night at dinner, working a mango down to a very clean seed! I was tied up with an event last night, so I missed this mess. I hear mango was everywhere. But Wynston got her all cleaned up and looking gorg. She was a little sleeping beauty by the time I got home. Good job Dad. :)
Monday, March 25, 2013
When Dad's In Charge
When Dad's In Charge - he asks me to make Ava her first bowl of snow ice cream. She LOVED it.
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| "Here we go! Something new to try!" |
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| "Umm this is a little cold but I think I like it!" |
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| "That stuff is GOOD! Have more?" |
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| "Another bite please!" |
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| "Thanks guys. I'm glad we got that snow!" |
Sunday, March 24, 2013
March Birthday Week - Part 2
The weekend of Wynston's birthday, I threw him a birthday party fish fry at the house. Friends and fried fish are all it takes to make him one happy 30 year old!
We had a houseful and a great evening spent with friends new and old. I spent most of the day before the fish fry running around town getting things ready, enjoying the almost 80 degree weather. There were going to be several kids at the fish fry, so I went out and got them all sorts of fun stuff including bubbles, sidewalk chalk, badminton sets, kites and coloring pages which they could enjoy outside if the weather held up. But lo and behold our party day was all chilly, windy and overcast. The kids still seemed to have a fun time running around gathering firewood for a bonfire. I made the kids some "bait cups" which were dirt pudding with gummy worms inside. I may have found one little guy picking out the gummy worms, licking off the oreo "dirt" and when he saw me watching him, he tried to put them back. Ha.
Here are a few pictures. *Most of these pictures are from after the party. I was having so much fun that I didn't do a good job of taking any pictures while everyone was over. Shocker I know.*
We had a houseful and a great evening spent with friends new and old. I spent most of the day before the fish fry running around town getting things ready, enjoying the almost 80 degree weather. There were going to be several kids at the fish fry, so I went out and got them all sorts of fun stuff including bubbles, sidewalk chalk, badminton sets, kites and coloring pages which they could enjoy outside if the weather held up. But lo and behold our party day was all chilly, windy and overcast. The kids still seemed to have a fun time running around gathering firewood for a bonfire. I made the kids some "bait cups" which were dirt pudding with gummy worms inside. I may have found one little guy picking out the gummy worms, licking off the oreo "dirt" and when he saw me watching him, he tried to put them back. Ha.
Here are a few pictures. *Most of these pictures are from after the party. I was having so much fun that I didn't do a good job of taking any pictures while everyone was over. Shocker I know.*
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| A Faux Bois backdrop my mom and I painted, a fish garland (I just have to keep!) and some bobber decorations. This table was FULL of food. |
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| Our "guestbook" which was signed with a fingerprint. |
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| Gonna frame this and hang it in the man room! |
Friday, March 22, 2013
Splash Splash in the Snow!
Yesterday we got about 3 1/2" of snow at our house. It seemed like a good snow for Ava's first "play in the snow". She's probably still too small to truly enjoy this yet. We didn't really change her clothes for a cute picture (umm have you TRIED changing my child's clothes?! good luck), we just stuck a fluffy coat on her, popped a towel onto the snow and set her down. I tried to get her to "splash" the snow, but she wasn't real interested. Oh well, hopefully this is our last snow and we can try again next year.
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| Hottest trend for Spring 2013: red socks, elephant print pants, pink puffy coat! |
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| Splash Splash!...sort of. |
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| Poor girl's got her momma's "bang cowlicks" |
Rustic Dinner
I'm not sure "rustic" is 100% correct for this dinner, but it seemed fitting last night.
I mentioned earlier that I was really missing cooking. Well this week we've finally returned to the grocery store and cooked dinner all week. We've had nachos for dinner, fish and lemony zucchini pasta, shrimp cakes (which were surprisingly good , very dense and filling) with baked potatoes and broccoli, and last night was Kale and Goat Cheese Pizza with Chickpea Soup.
I really wasn't sure what to expect with our Kale Pizza and Chickpea Soup. It was one of those "this is either going to be great or gross" dinners. Turns out it was great!
Instead of making my own pizza dough (I've had very limited success there) I used Pillsbury Whole Wheat Artisan Dough. Totally worth the splurge, since we normally buy generic pizza dough. I repeat TOTALLY WORTH IT. We put a whole bunch of kale on that pizza and I thought "whoa, waaaay too much". Not true at all. It was the perfect amount of kale. One lesson we learned was to crumble and spread out that goat cheese. We had pretty big "discs" of goat cheese spread throughout the pizza, and coin sized bites of goat cheese can be a bit much.
As for the chickpea soup, I would be interested in blending this up a bit next time, but Wynston liked the texture. I also wasn't sure about the bread in the soup, but Martha doesn't disappoint. :)
Both food dishes last night were also a hit with Ava. She was busy munching on chicken, broccoli, noodles and black beans. But she enjoyed our shared bites of chickpeas, pizza crust with goat cheese and kale we gave to her. That girl will eat just about anything!
I mentioned earlier that I was really missing cooking. Well this week we've finally returned to the grocery store and cooked dinner all week. We've had nachos for dinner, fish and lemony zucchini pasta, shrimp cakes (which were surprisingly good , very dense and filling) with baked potatoes and broccoli, and last night was Kale and Goat Cheese Pizza with Chickpea Soup.
I really wasn't sure what to expect with our Kale Pizza and Chickpea Soup. It was one of those "this is either going to be great or gross" dinners. Turns out it was great!
Instead of making my own pizza dough (I've had very limited success there) I used Pillsbury Whole Wheat Artisan Dough. Totally worth the splurge, since we normally buy generic pizza dough. I repeat TOTALLY WORTH IT. We put a whole bunch of kale on that pizza and I thought "whoa, waaaay too much". Not true at all. It was the perfect amount of kale. One lesson we learned was to crumble and spread out that goat cheese. We had pretty big "discs" of goat cheese spread throughout the pizza, and coin sized bites of goat cheese can be a bit much.
As for the chickpea soup, I would be interested in blending this up a bit next time, but Wynston liked the texture. I also wasn't sure about the bread in the soup, but Martha doesn't disappoint. :)
Both food dishes last night were also a hit with Ava. She was busy munching on chicken, broccoli, noodles and black beans. But she enjoyed our shared bites of chickpeas, pizza crust with goat cheese and kale we gave to her. That girl will eat just about anything!
Thursday, March 21, 2013
When Dad's In Charge + 100 POSTS!!
He lets Ava do the dishes.
Plus this is my 100th post!! Woohoo!
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
In Defiance of Winter
It's supposed to snow tomorrow. Ya. Snow post February is pretty much NOT something I'm fond of.
So in defiance today I wore this:
A pretty dip dyed tee made of the most comfortable cotton ever and a hoodie with a touch of neon for warmth. Because even though it looks beautiful outside today, the wind speaks of the supposed snow that is headed our way.
So in defiance today I wore this:
A pretty dip dyed tee made of the most comfortable cotton ever and a hoodie with a touch of neon for warmth. Because even though it looks beautiful outside today, the wind speaks of the supposed snow that is headed our way.
Ready to Roll
Well...walk actually. This girl is ready to walk. And she's also ready for summer.
Here's Ava carrying around her new bathing suit. It's pink with white polka dots, has a fish on it and has a cute bow on the back. Perfect.
But back to the bigger point here, Ava is working very hard lately on getting some real walking going on. For a couple weeks now she's been bravely mastering her independent standing where she looks at you the whole time to make sure you see what she'd doing. Haha.
But in the past few days she's taken a few deliberate steps here and there. Not the "steps to you because I'm falling" steps. Real steps. She took three of them to Wynston on Sunday and is now walking between our couch and ottoman. In a few weeks, I think she'll have this mastered.
Here's Ava carrying around her new bathing suit. It's pink with white polka dots, has a fish on it and has a cute bow on the back. Perfect.
But back to the bigger point here, Ava is working very hard lately on getting some real walking going on. For a couple weeks now she's been bravely mastering her independent standing where she looks at you the whole time to make sure you see what she'd doing. Haha.
But in the past few days she's taken a few deliberate steps here and there. Not the "steps to you because I'm falling" steps. Real steps. She took three of them to Wynston on Sunday and is now walking between our couch and ottoman. In a few weeks, I think she'll have this mastered.
Monday, March 18, 2013
March Birthday Week - Part 1
Sorry I've been MIA for a few days. It's been a whirlwind of activities! I took my first "day off work not dedicated to dr's appointments" last Friday and spent it running all over town getting ready for Saturday's big Fish Fry/Birthday Party. But all the parties are over and we had a really fun week last week. Yesterday was spent resting and grocery shopping, which we hadn't really done in about a month. It was rainy and cold, perfect for staying in, picking up and being lazy.
Anyway. Here's the first birthday celebration we had last week. My dad turned 60 on Wednesday and Wynston turned 30 on Friday. On Wednesday after work we gathered at Red Lobster with my family for a joint birthday dinner. After dinner we all drove to our house to an after dinner "pit stop" for dessert. We'd gone with a car-focused "Life In The Not-So Fast Lane" theme. Very fun. Here are some pictures.
Anyway. Here's the first birthday celebration we had last week. My dad turned 60 on Wednesday and Wynston turned 30 on Friday. On Wednesday after work we gathered at Red Lobster with my family for a joint birthday dinner. After dinner we all drove to our house to an after dinner "pit stop" for dessert. We'd gone with a car-focused "Life In The Not-So Fast Lane" theme. Very fun. Here are some pictures.
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| Wynston and Ava perusing the menu. We still went with our same ol order: Lobster Bisque for Wynston, a salad for me, and the Lobster Pizza to share. |
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| Birthday boys! |
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| Poppy sharing with Ava! |
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| Pit Stop Goodies |
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| "Dip Sticks" aka pretzels dipped in chocolate. |
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| "Spare Tires" and "Motor Oil" aka chocolate donuts and Cream Soda. |
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| A fun little poster my Mom and I made. It's Wynston and my dad in a '53 Corvette. The license plate says "30 is the new 21, 60 is the new 30". |
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| Happy Birthday guys!! |
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| Poppy and his three granddaughters. |
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Happy Girls!
Good things, good things, good things!!
A - Wynston is HOME! He recently went to Maine for a work trip. He was gone 6 days. Every day we talked about daddy, looked at his picture and called him.
He got home last night and was so excited to see Ava. He couldn't believe how much she'd changed in a week. She's not old enough to show a ton of enthusiasm in a situation like this, but she could NOT take her eyes off of him. Once she settled into the fact that he was back she wallered and wallered and wallered all over Wynston. They were in their own little heaven. In fact, they played so hard that Ava fell asleep for a little bit in her high chair during dinner.
B - It's birthday week! I've mentioned it before and I'm excited! We have some very fun plans in the pipeline.
C - We recently found out our "return to St. Louis" schedule for the next year. I'd been dreading finding out how many follow up appointments we'd need. I had heard "several" but wasn't sure what that meant. Turns out that means the 3 week post op follow up which we've completed, another one in late April, and then one at 1 year post op!! I am so excited. It felt like we were living one trip to another. The next trip in late April is on a Monday. So I'm trying to plan on coming up that weekend and doing some fun things with our good friends Brian and Jen. They have a cutie named Wyatt, and he's 5 months old. Oh how Ava and Wyatt will have fun in the future. I hope we take them camping each summer, which is a tradition with us. If anyone knows of fun, cheap things to do in St. Louis, in springtime, with babies, please let me know!!
D - Our first float trip of the summer is on the books. I took zero (yes ZERO) floats last year. Not a fishing float, not a friends float, not even a me and Wynston hitting the river for the day. That is just something that hasn't happened since I started dating Wynston way back in high school. The 2011 summer was packed full of floats. As in 6 float trips. We knew we'd soon start working on building a family and moving into a new home, so we crammed in as many as we could. It was quite a fun summer.
Wow, these pictures make me long for warm sunny days and a pre-baby body. Now that Wynston is home from Maine we are really excited to get back into eating healthy and working out regularly. :)
A - Wynston is HOME! He recently went to Maine for a work trip. He was gone 6 days. Every day we talked about daddy, looked at his picture and called him.
He got home last night and was so excited to see Ava. He couldn't believe how much she'd changed in a week. She's not old enough to show a ton of enthusiasm in a situation like this, but she could NOT take her eyes off of him. Once she settled into the fact that he was back she wallered and wallered and wallered all over Wynston. They were in their own little heaven. In fact, they played so hard that Ava fell asleep for a little bit in her high chair during dinner.
B - It's birthday week! I've mentioned it before and I'm excited! We have some very fun plans in the pipeline.
C - We recently found out our "return to St. Louis" schedule for the next year. I'd been dreading finding out how many follow up appointments we'd need. I had heard "several" but wasn't sure what that meant. Turns out that means the 3 week post op follow up which we've completed, another one in late April, and then one at 1 year post op!! I am so excited. It felt like we were living one trip to another. The next trip in late April is on a Monday. So I'm trying to plan on coming up that weekend and doing some fun things with our good friends Brian and Jen. They have a cutie named Wyatt, and he's 5 months old. Oh how Ava and Wyatt will have fun in the future. I hope we take them camping each summer, which is a tradition with us. If anyone knows of fun, cheap things to do in St. Louis, in springtime, with babies, please let me know!!
D - Our first float trip of the summer is on the books. I took zero (yes ZERO) floats last year. Not a fishing float, not a friends float, not even a me and Wynston hitting the river for the day. That is just something that hasn't happened since I started dating Wynston way back in high school. The 2011 summer was packed full of floats. As in 6 float trips. We knew we'd soon start working on building a family and moving into a new home, so we crammed in as many as we could. It was quite a fun summer.
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| This was on my 28th birthday. It was a fun day. |
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| Wynston had AMAZING hair that summer. I miss his long hair. |
Ava - 10 Months Old
Weight: probably somewhere around 19-20 lbs
Height: long enough that the 6-12 month Gymboree pants are now venturing towards capri territory
Diet: Ava still eats pureed fruit + cereal, steamed and diced veggies like broccoli, butternut squash, sweat peas, edamame, green beans (notice a trend?). Her normal dinner is something like cubed chicken, a whole wheat pasta with some sauce (tomato paste, pesto, dijonaiise, teriyaki), some cheese (new, she loves it), all washed down with a 100% juice/water drink. She loves fruit. Puffs are still a saving grace, and who doesn't love the Maple flavored ones that make baby smell like morning deliciousness. Fewer and fewer 4 oz bottles during the day, and a 5 oz bottle before bed. Ava rarely finishes a bottle these days. The girls is in full swing baby-led weaning. Sometimes I might be found sharing the Trader Joe's White Cheddar Corn Puffs with Ava. Opps. They're really not too bad for you though.
Sleep: Still consistently inconsistent. See previous post for an example of a bad night. But those are not the norm and most nights I can put her down around 8 or 8:30 and she'll wake up by 7 am. We're down to 2 naps a day.
What's Going On:
Speed crawling and whole house cruising.
Independent Standing. You'll find Ava standing, all on her own, arms out in the air, looking at you eagerly with a big ol smile on her face, waiting for you to notice her.
High Fiving with enthusiasm.
Maybe I'm imagining things, but I swear the girl can point out nose and feet on her dolls.
We're working on and seeing improvement with blowing kisses.
Master page turner. Even before you've finished reading the page.
A deep dislike for baths. This is new and I do NOT like it. What happened to my little water baby? We've been out to purchase a new bath toy and a silicone bath cup that fits to her head when I rinse out her hair - so you put it up to her forehead, it curves to fit and keeps the water off her face.
Tongue "clucking". This has actually been going on for a while, probably well over a month.
Lots and LOTS of playtime.
Today is 4 weeks post surgery. Ava looks tremendous. Her swelling has subsided so much and most of her stitches are out. Hair is growing back quickly and this Little Miss just never skipped a beat. It's amazing.
Height: long enough that the 6-12 month Gymboree pants are now venturing towards capri territory
Diet: Ava still eats pureed fruit + cereal, steamed and diced veggies like broccoli, butternut squash, sweat peas, edamame, green beans (notice a trend?). Her normal dinner is something like cubed chicken, a whole wheat pasta with some sauce (tomato paste, pesto, dijonaiise, teriyaki), some cheese (new, she loves it), all washed down with a 100% juice/water drink. She loves fruit. Puffs are still a saving grace, and who doesn't love the Maple flavored ones that make baby smell like morning deliciousness. Fewer and fewer 4 oz bottles during the day, and a 5 oz bottle before bed. Ava rarely finishes a bottle these days. The girls is in full swing baby-led weaning. Sometimes I might be found sharing the Trader Joe's White Cheddar Corn Puffs with Ava. Opps. They're really not too bad for you though.
Sleep: Still consistently inconsistent. See previous post for an example of a bad night. But those are not the norm and most nights I can put her down around 8 or 8:30 and she'll wake up by 7 am. We're down to 2 naps a day.
What's Going On:
Speed crawling and whole house cruising.
Independent Standing. You'll find Ava standing, all on her own, arms out in the air, looking at you eagerly with a big ol smile on her face, waiting for you to notice her.
High Fiving with enthusiasm.
Maybe I'm imagining things, but I swear the girl can point out nose and feet on her dolls.
We're working on and seeing improvement with blowing kisses.
Master page turner. Even before you've finished reading the page.
A deep dislike for baths. This is new and I do NOT like it. What happened to my little water baby? We've been out to purchase a new bath toy and a silicone bath cup that fits to her head when I rinse out her hair - so you put it up to her forehead, it curves to fit and keeps the water off her face.
Tongue "clucking". This has actually been going on for a while, probably well over a month.
Lots and LOTS of playtime.
Today is 4 weeks post surgery. Ava looks tremendous. Her swelling has subsided so much and most of her stitches are out. Hair is growing back quickly and this Little Miss just never skipped a beat. It's amazing.
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| She's gonna kill me for this someday. :) |
Monday, March 11, 2013
What a Weekend
Friday night Ava and I joined my friend Katie and some friends at her apartment for a knitting party. Hanging out with Ava, knitting needles and balls of yarn can be...interesting. She was NOT lacking in items to investigate. Little Miss is also in a phase where no matter how many finger foods you bring for HER, all she wants is the food on your plate. :) Unfortunately my hands were too full to snap any pictures.
We spent the remainder of the weekend with my parents. Lots and lots of playtime, Ava's introduction to a few small bites of the goodness that is Oriental Inn (hometown favorite eatery), and an adorable sink bath. My mom and I also spent some time preparing for this week which happens to be a big birthday week. My dad turns 60 and Wynston turns 30 this week. So if you happen to see either of them, wish them "happy birthday"!
While I got a good nap in while at my parents, Ava struggled with sleep Saturday night. Not sure if she had a tummy ache, teething issues, or a sore throat (which I developed over the weekend, yay). Or maybe it's because we just weren't home. But Little Miss didn't go to sleep until after 10, was up from 1:30 till 3ish, 4, 5, etc. Poor girl. NOT the best way to bring in Daylight Savings Time. I brought her into my bed at the 1:30 event, and can't say that I overly minded snuggling with her that night. :)
Here's some pictures of Ava playing in my old bedroom.
We spent the remainder of the weekend with my parents. Lots and lots of playtime, Ava's introduction to a few small bites of the goodness that is Oriental Inn (hometown favorite eatery), and an adorable sink bath. My mom and I also spent some time preparing for this week which happens to be a big birthday week. My dad turns 60 and Wynston turns 30 this week. So if you happen to see either of them, wish them "happy birthday"!
While I got a good nap in while at my parents, Ava struggled with sleep Saturday night. Not sure if she had a tummy ache, teething issues, or a sore throat (which I developed over the weekend, yay). Or maybe it's because we just weren't home. But Little Miss didn't go to sleep until after 10, was up from 1:30 till 3ish, 4, 5, etc. Poor girl. NOT the best way to bring in Daylight Savings Time. I brought her into my bed at the 1:30 event, and can't say that I overly minded snuggling with her that night. :)
Here's some pictures of Ava playing in my old bedroom.
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| My parent's dog Sophie photobombed this one! |
Friday, March 8, 2013
Wooden Toys
Lately I've been swooning over some lovely wooden toys. Ava and I stopped into a big ol' flea market recently and picked up a box of wooden shapes for a STEAL. They're waiting on a good spray of Lysol and some little hands to find them, stack them and clap them together!
Here are some others I just love:
The Pull Toys, oh the Pull Toys. So many I love. We already own a pull alligator, hippo and goldfish.
Oh my. I could go on and on. All day long.
Also in digging around for these adorable toys, I found Oompa.com. What an AMAZING selection of children's toys. My catalog request has been sent, and I may even setup a registry on there for Ava around her birthday and Christmas. Love their stuff!
Here are some others I just love:
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| Plan Toys Water Blocks |
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| WonderWorld Peek-a-Boo Ball |
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| Melissa and Doug Friendly Fish Grasping Toy |
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| Melissa and Doug Dinosaur Grasping Toy
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| Wooden Canoe Toy |
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| Grasshopper Pull Toy |
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| Come Along Aime |
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| Haba Crab Calino Pull Toy |
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| Djeco / Scouic Wooden Squirrel Racer Pull Toy. I love this guy, and there are others in this collection just as cute as him. He reminds me of the Richard Scarry books I read as a kid. |
Oh my. I could go on and on. All day long.
Also in digging around for these adorable toys, I found Oompa.com. What an AMAZING selection of children's toys. My catalog request has been sent, and I may even setup a registry on there for Ava around her birthday and Christmas. Love their stuff!
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