Mohawk

So the boy cousins in my family love mohawks...I thought that my daughter should enjoy them as well!

And in true rocker fashion, she is playing a musical instrument that needs a lot of banging.
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Also, after looking at it, I don't know that polka dots and mohawks really go together :)

I-Spy Swap

Care over at Obsessively Stitching posted the first 5 i-spy swapers. This gives me a look at the first 50 of my future squares. I can't wait for the rest of the fabrics to arrive in my mailbox and I can begin my first quilt. If you want to check out the fabrics she has posted thusfar, check them out and let me know what you think!

Breakfast of Champions

She ate some pancakes & blueberries for breakfast the other day. She enjoyed playing as much as she did eating...

Eight Months Old

(She puts everything in her mouth)

(she loves to eat the sign)

Today my little one turned eight months old. She has been sleeping better than at 7 months and is eating like a champ. She finished her last week of swimming with her Daddy on Tuesday nights this evening. I know that I will miss this time. She is currently struggling because she has an opinion about what she wants and doesn't want but only knows how to express her opinion in whines an cries. This gets tiring on mommy by the time daddy comes home.

She is still not crawling, but rolling well and getting on all fours, rocking back & forth. It's fun and exhausting to spend every day with her.

Welcome summer

So today after our daily trip to the grocery store for dinner stuff (I chose corn, ceaser salad and copper river salmon) we made a detour to the park. The swings are something we've only tried once before in January. It sure brought on some smiles!

Weed prevention

So this year my mother in law let me in on a little secret...how I can prevent weeds in my little city garden. We use this little space to grow herbs, tomatoes and something else. Last year it was lettuce. This year it is peppers.

So here is the secret....newspaper and mulch. The pathway between the herbs and the tomatoes is small but a lot of weeds grow in that small space! So what I did was lay down multiple layers of newspaper underneath my stepping stones, hose those down, and then layer it with mulch. It was pretty easy. I just hope it works. Joe says it looks pretty professional. What do you think?

Hopefully if and when we get to sell this house this will help. A few other outdoor projects left ahead of us. I also put sand in the cracks in the patio to prevent weeds there. But that photo isn't as pretty :)

Some of the other outdoor projects include:
- powerwashing the outdoor kitchen and deck
- cleaning the grill
- cleaning out the outdoor fridge
- replacing the canopy
- replacing the hot tub cover
- replace the lattice that the dog and Joe destroyed playing hockey
- and a really ambitious one: painting the deck and the front deck

Ok, that has nothing to do with weeds. Just wanted to put it in print so we don't forget

Jarred baby food

So I have been making all my own baby food, but I had purchased some fruits because frankly I think that fruits are harder to make then veggies. So this morning my little one tried peaches for the first time. She seemed to enjoy them and ate well. They did not sit well with her though. She was spitting up to the point that it was almost throwing up then all afternoon. Joe and I both felt so bad for her. She ate her dinner of oatmeal and sweet potatoes like a champ...in fact she ate way better than normal. So I learned my lesson -make my own food and donate the jarred stuff!

Be the match

So for a long time I have wanted to register as a bone marrow donor. I ran the marathon for the LLS and thought that this would be my next step in my dedication to this cause and this horrible cancer that surrounds me. I feel like I know so many people. So after reading this blog post today, it reminded me that I needed to register. I just did! It took about 10 minutes and I feel like by registering myself I will be doing my part. If you want to register you can too at http://www.marrow.org/JOIN/FAQs_about_Joining_the_Registry/index.html

What a wonderful weekend

So this weekend started off a bit rocky. My in laws were in town and our little one started off not her normal happy self. This put me on edge and I decided that Joe and I needed to take our sleep deprived selves on a break from our little one. So we went out for a very nice dinner and reenacted what life was like before she was born. Again, she didn't sleep well on Friday night but we had some help on Saturday morning so we both got to sleep in.

Saturday started with a good morning nap and then we were off to the zoo. We weren't the only ones as I heard the attendance was over 15,000 and the traffic reflected this. Munchers (Joe's nickname for her) was great as we took a long detour to avoid the traffic. Once in the zoo she hung out for a bit in the stroller and then enjoyed the rest of the day in the carrier.

Saturday night was a bit tense. Joe and I decided that since we had help, it was time to work on sleep training. She spent a lot of diner crying in her crib as she was going down to sleep as well as normal. Then she was up every hour or so from 9 to midnight. Then around 2:30 she was up again. And we again tried the Ferber method. Joe and I each only needed to go in once until she was able to fall back asleep. She didn't wake up again until 6. This made me happy.

Sunday I got enjoy some solo errand running - target, Joann's, game stop for Joe....so nothing crazy, but so nice to go by myself! And then yesterday we got the garden all planted - this year I planted corn, carrots, Brussel sprouts, red peppers, hot peppers, tomatoes, beans, peas, and my normal herbs (the strawberries are already growing). Needless to say...it was a busy few productive days, but nice all the same.

Long time no blogging

So I feel like its been forever since I've blogged about anything. For awhile I was blogging on a daily basis via my cell phone and mobile blogging. Then I stopped because I felt like I had nothing to say, then I had too much to say. I sat there and lay awake in bed and composed blog posts but didn't. So here are is a brief summary of some of the blog posts I thought about writing:

- Our little one is eating - some nights better than others. She loves to feed herself. She only sometimes like eating from a spoon while I feed her. She got pork for the first time tonight. My mother in law made a pork roast in the crock pot and we broke it up into little pieces and let her feed herself. In summary - some of the food she eats nowadays (or at least has tried):apples, pears, bananas, avocados, sweet potatoes (her favorite), acorn squash, butternut squash, yellow squash, zucchini, peas, green beans, yogurt (yo baby brand), rice, oatmeal, puffs - most flavors, and new this week yogurt melts and pork. Soon to try chicken and turkey also.

- Little one is seven months old and rolling like crazy! She is starting to rock on all fours, but no crawling yet

- Happy Mother's Day to my mother and I enjoyed my first mother's day. I got to spend the weekend with my mom and and my came back home to my husband having made me a fabulous dinner!

- I went home to NY/CT for mother's day weekend. We went to the zoo for the first time and I got my fill of some of those foods that I love from home - Dominic's, Pepe's & Colony pizza,and lobster - it was only $4.99/pound in CT so we went a little overboard - I wish I had photographed that!

(at the zoo with cousins)

- We bought a "swagger wagon" (aka - a Toyota Sienna & I love it!)

- Little one slept through the night for the first time in a long time last night after some long horrible sleep nights after she got her first tooth last week. CIO and sleep training do work. Let's just home it wasn't a fluke and tonight is just as good!

-I got the opportunity to participate in a i-spy swap. I can't wait to get the fabrics and begin an i-spy quilt for my little one's first birthday

-I was featured as a guest blogger again on Baby-to-Go. This time to talk about strollers. Harm said she thinks I like my stroller more than my husband. Some weeks I get to spend more time with it than with him so it depends when you talk to me and what his work schedule is like :)

All of these could have been expanded into long posts, but for now...and until later. Goodnight :)

Sleep in Sundays

So Joe and I a few weeks ago decided that Sundays would be the day that one of us would get to sleep in. We trade off Sundays and today was my Sunday. Poor hubby! My little one did not want to spend a morning away from mommy and with daddy only. He tried doing everything in his bag of tricks but she wanted none of it. By the time he brought her in to me, she was exhausted and so was he....both ready for a morning nap. Even though next Sunday is mother's day, he will get to sleep in again since I will be traveling home from my visit home to Connecticut. The following week my in laws will be here so we will both get to sleep in on Sunday. Who knows where we will be the Sunday after that. I may cash in and take my Sunday again...we will see where we are sleeping wise with the little one.

On a separate note, we went mini van shopping today. I can't decide between the Toyota Sienna and the Honda Odyssey. Anyone havoc any advice for me based on their experiences?