Embrace the Camera

I've loved this concept since the first time I saw it. The idea is that we moms (and dads) are so frequently behind the camera taking pictures of our children, instead of being in the pictures with them, for whatever reason...be it discomfort with being in front of the camera, or just never thinking to jump in there with our kids.

This whole movement is about creating these memories so that your children can look back and see the moments that you were a part of. As someone who lost a parent as a child, I can say that I truly cherish and love those photos of me and my mother, and of our family together. I love seeing her face as she looked at me, and at my dad and brother. I want my daughter to have those photos to look back on, too.

Embrace the camera today!

Wordless Wednesday

7 Quick Takes: The I'm-so-busy/tired-I can't-even-update-my-blog Version

Sorry folks. I've definitely phoned it in the last couple of weeks. What started out as an effort to expand my blog ideas became an awesome excuse to post a pic and say "Tada! I blogged!", when in fact, no such thing occurred. So. Sorry about that.

1. The kids are keeping me on my toes, and on the caffeine. I reflected the other day that, while I feel very confident caring for three kids, when I have three kids that are mine, I won't get to send them home at the end of the day. Yikes. They are fun, but suck all your energy out by 9am. Still, we're in a good routine now, and everybody seems happy.

2. Amy is 15 months old, and right on target. Her pediatrician actually described her growth curve as "beautiful". She has 28 words, and has suddenly morphed from "Grumpy Toddler" to "Silly Toddler". It's a nice change.

3. I am not doing well on my personal weight loss journey. But I'm still trying, so that's something.

4. Our pediatrician is leaving for another practice. We have loved her immensely (and ironically, she is joining the practice in Olathe where we first took Amy. The doctor we also loved there went to school with and recommended our current doctor. sigh.), and we are super sad she'll no longer be Amy's doctor. Is it inappropriate to give a small gift of appreciation before she goes? Cause I really want to get her a present. And perhaps grab her leg and scream and cry, "Please don't leeeave us!" Well, not really. I swear.

5. Amy was a bee for Halloween. She didn't get the process yet, but she did tolerate a costume with a hood for a couple hours. That was kind of amazing.

6. I'm really missing my family these days. Because we don't know what'll be happening with George's job, we're trying to be frugal and not travel over the holidays. This will be the first time since I got married that I won't see my family for either Thanksgiving or Christmas. Not knowing the next time I'll see them makes it even harder to be so far away.

7. George is taking Amy to a toddler music and movement class tomorrow night, since I'll be working. I think it'll be a good opportunity for them to bond, since she's still a hard-core Mommy's girl. Please pray that it's a positive experience for both of them!

Well, that's it from here. I'll try and be a little more on top of things...like writing posts on the weekend so I only have to click "Publish" later. lol...baby steps, Emily, baby steps.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

So, this first one won't be entirely "wordless", but just a blurb to explain. Enjoy!

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_wordless_wednesday

Why I Love Fall, Episode 1

#1) Apple Picking!

This was the first (halfway rotten...we were too late for the good ones) apple we handed her. She refused to put it down and carried it around the whole time we were in the orchard.

Yep. Four. That was the grand total of decent apples. Pretty picked over, but it was a great place and we'll go there next year before the "last weekend for u-pick".

#2) Breaking out the fall jackets and Amy's sweet new kicks!

#3) Pumpkins!

Daddy helped her pick the very best one!

This one is George's...I told him not to carve it so early, but he was so excited, and the seeds were SO good! We'll wait to carve Miss Amy's for a couple weeks.

Stay tuned for Episode 2! This is my favorite season, and there are still so many "fall things" left to enjoy!

Making Adjustments

Well, we've had a quite a week here! On Monday, I started watching a little boy, Baby T. He's such a sweetheart, and it's fun to have an infant around again! Exhausting, but fun. :)

Amy has been...ok, as far as her treatment of Baby T goes (no, hitting, pushing, or anything harsh), but she's having a really hard time getting used to her mommy being needed by someone else. If I'm holding him, she tries to squeeze onto my lap and wants me to read a book. If he's playing on the floor, she puts herself in between me and Baby T, making sure that she's the one closest to me. She's really hard to deal with if I need to leave the house in the afternoon after baby T goes home, and is resisting at bedtime.

Besides taking care of Baby T, I've been working on a project for a former employer in the evenings...some extra office work he needs done. So, 4 nights out of the week, I'm leaving before the bedtime routine begins so that I can get a couple hours in without getting home too late. George says it's not going well after I leave.

As much as I know I can't coddle her, and how much this extra income means to our family, and our future, I'm really struggling with Mommy Guilt. Where I would have been firm before, I find myself wanting to give in.

I know her reactions are normal, and I know mine are too, but I also know that she'll adjust, and in the meantime...I still have to be the mommy who maintains a level of firmness that I know will be beneficial down the road. God, give me the strength to be a good mommy, even if that sometimes means having to be resistant to the guilt.

It's just hard to see her trying to process the "why" of the new situation, while not having the reasoning to understand it.

I'm going to start watching another 14-month-old on Monday...(we'll call her S. She and Amy are 4 days apart!), and she and Amy seemed to mesh when we met her and her mom yesterday. I'm hoping it will help Amy to have another kiddo her age to interact with, and not just Baby T to compete with. We'll see.

In other news, George will have to go to Minneapolis (again) in a couple weeks, this time for some additional training for his job. Since his company is merging with another, there have been a lot of adjustments, and we haven't been totally convinced that he'd be keeping his job after the end of the year, despite reassurances to the contrary.
So, as much as I hate that he'll be gone for three days, I'm encouraged, because it seems like it'd be silly to spend all that money flying all the techs around the country up to Minneapolis, putting them up, and training them if they were going to lose their jobs.
So, hopefully that's a good sign.

That's it from here! Have a great weekend! I, for one, am looking forward to sleeping in!

runner

there is a desire in me that i've always dimissed.

i have always, secretly, ardently wished to be a runner.

to be able to take off and run, to have that stamina, that endurance.

as a person who worries way too much for my own good,

there is always a part of me that longs to let go.

to be free from the worry.

sitting still usually only makes it worse.

running just seems so...freeing.

just putting on a pair of shoes and going. just going out and running.

and while i have only just begun, i still have to say that

i do feel free. liberated from the everyday,

and most amazingly...very much at peace.

all i have to think about is the next step, taking my next deep breath.

and i think to myself...what if i could do this all the time?

what if i could really be a runner?

but there is a part of me that is lazy as the day is long.

and another part that is a bit defeatist.

and they told me...

running is for other people. you could never be a runner.

but you know what?

i can.

it might take a while, i'll have to work up to it.

but i can.

"people begin running for any number of motives,

but we stick to it for one basic reason...

to find out who we really are."

- George Sheehan

Graham Crackers and Milk...This One's For You, Pop-Pop!

Graham crackers and milk always makes me think of my dad. I couldn't wait to share it with my little miss.

As you can see, it's one of her very favorite things to do! Hi, Pop-Pop!

Update On Our Little Miss

This kid just seems to be growing before my very eyes. I constantly look at her and think, "Holy cow! When did she get so big?!" (possibly followed by a tear or two as I mourn the loss of her babyhood)

Her thigh rolls are getting smaller every day, and the baby chub is slowly disappearing. She's a super-confident walker now, and she "dances" too! SPOILER ALERT: She just stomps her feet really fast. And it's kinda clumsy. But it's so adorable. She's got moves only a mother could love. :)

She's babbling all the time, and can say almost 20 words. Granted, they're mostly the first syllables of words (Ba = Ball, Meh = Milk, etc), but uses them correctly and voluntarily, and her language comprehension is right on track. Her newest word is Door. She applies it to everything that opens and closes. Not always accurate for say, a drawer, or the cover of a book, but she's got the concept down.

Stats:

Weight: 22 lbs, give or take an ounce or two

Height: 29 1/2 inches

I feel fortunate that she's not a picky eater...yet. I'm told it's right around the corner.

We're learning about body parts, and she correctly identifies eyes, hair, nose, hands, and feet. Not always on herself, but always on me or her Daddy.

She's so happy. I love that so much. She has such a joyful spirit, and she's confident and sure of herself in most situations.

I feel so lucky to be able to spend my days with her.

Maybe this time

Maybe this time will be the time I follow through and finish this thing.

Today, I started Couch-to-5K. It's roughly 9 weeks of intervals of running mixed with walking. You begin with shorter intervals or running mixed with longer intervals of walking and gradually work up to running a full 3 miles with no walking.

I don't have a great track record of sticking with programs. I usually get to the point when I begin to see progress and then get confortable and less strict about the routine until I stop altogether.

But there has to be a time for me when I do this. There has to be a time when I don't give up.

Maybe this time.

Workout #1 out of 27: complete.

In the most unlikely places

Read on a friend's page on Facebook today:

"Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life." Proverbs 13:12

I guess all I can say is that this comforted my heart today. I love finding little encouragements like that in surprising places.

Something Good

I find myself in a place of frustration. August...it wasn't a good month. I mean, there were some higlights, but the overall feeling August left me with wasn't great.

I feel like I shouldn't be complaining. I'm lucky in a lot of ways, and I do remember that a lot. In fact, I have plenty of guilt to go around for feeling the way I do. But I feel like I've been through a whole lot of "almost...but not quite" situations lately. I get taken to the edge of optimism...and then just left there to turn around and go back. I spent my whole summer waiting...having faith when the waiting got hard...having faith in a greater plan than mine...and then nothing. No go.

I carry a lot of resentment toward people who live lives of indifference and yet have good things come to them in spades. People who don't give a hoot about others, or about living a moral life. And it seems that everything they want just falls into their laps, no complications, no worries.

Now, I can also probably predict all the bible verses that you might apply to my situation: the rich man and Lazarus, the camel/eye of the needle, et al. And I do know that the road of living a good life isn't always an easy one. I also believe that when you are indifferent to God, satan has as much capability of providing blessings as He does. After all, satan wants to keep you that way, right? Good things can happen to you when you have no faith! You don't need morals to have everything your heart desires!

I get it, I do.

And that's not the life I want, for me or for my family. I will take God's grace and love over worldly wealth any day. And as hard as it is sometimes, I know God's plan is better for me than my own. But does it follow that it's not OK to need something good to happen? Because that's where I am today. I just need something good.

Ocean

One of the things I love best about my daughter is that she's no wuss. She charges into things without hesitation, and recovers quickly and without a fuss if things don't go quite right.

We took her to the ocean for the first time in March, when it was still too cold to swim. She loved having her feet in the waves, but that was the extent of the experience for her 7-month-old self.

We took the easy day trip to Charleston again when we visited my family in August, to the same beach...because we loved it so much. This time, Memaw and Pop-Pop came along. And the ocean was warm and perfect for swimming.

Amy LOVES the water, but I was unsure of how she'd react to water that, you know...does stuff. She's all confidence and joy in the pool, but what would she do when she got a face full of wave?

So, it was just a joy to watch her walk straight on into the ocean. Waves coming at her? No biggie. Face full of salty water? Well, it didn't taste good, but it didn't dampen her spirits. She loved everything about the experience. She splashed, she kicked the waves, she ate sand. I think we adults were ready to go before she was.

I spend so much of my time being fearful of things, that sometimes it's a marvel to me to watch my kid be so fearless. I love that part of her, and I try and stand back to give her space to try these new things. And maybe learn a thing or two from her about experiencing life and just letting go...and letting God.

The things I wanted to say...

but couldn't.

Yesterday was one year since our little miss was baptized. I think from now on, that day will always be a little bittersweet to me, as I rejoice for the gift of having my grandfather baptize my daughter, but also mourn that he won't be here to do that for any more of our children.
So, while thinking of him yesterday, I also recalled the things that were going through my head a couple weeks ago.

I wanted to get up and say some things at the funeral vigil for my grandfather, but somebody (who shall remain nameless) was overtired to the nth degree and running around like a crazy person in the back of the church. So, here are the things I wanted to say to everyone there.

I met my grandfather when I was 8. But you would never have known that. There was never a second of my life that I doubted that he loved me as though I had been his granddaughter all my life. I often say how lucky I am that my dad found someone who loved me and David as though we were her own. It takes a special sort of person to be able to really and truly do that. But a whole family of people? That's a jackpot. I was honored that my grandfather could perform our marriage sacrament when George and I got married, and even more honored that he baptized Amy. Having him be such a special part of those big moments in our lives is something I will always cherish. But remembering, too, all the little moments I had with him growing up...that is something special. He embodied what is means to be Christ to others. And I wish I had told him what a difference that made to a little 8 year old...that he was my grandpa from the first.

7 Quick Takes - August Edition

What do i say about August. There was good, there was bad, and there was just plain sad. It would be too much to write a super-detailed post about, so I went with the quick takes stand-by.

1. I turned 28. I actually didn't remember it was my birthday until my hubby wished me happy birthday that morning. Then I had to think for a minute whether I was turning 27 or 28.

2. We drove 15 hours (each way) to visit my fam in SC. It was kind of sad, b/c we had been hoping to move there, so it was a bummer to be "just visiting". I didn't really want to leave.

3. While we were there, my grandpa, who had been fighting cancer for 4 months, entered hospice (in Phoenix, where he lived). Before we left, he was given 2-3 weeks. He passed away the day after we got back home.

4. I flew with Amy to Phoenix. I hate to fly, but it was important to my family for me to be there, and I wanted to be with everyone. It was exhausting flying with a toddler (especially when I am a nervous wreck of a flyer), but we did it, and I'm glad I was there.

5. We found out Amy is anemic. It's not serious, we're giving her vitamins with iron and they'll recheck her iron levels at her 15 month appt. Doc said it's very common, and the vites should take care of it. Just praying that it really is that simple.

6. I got to nanny for a couple days for one of the kiddos I used to nanny for daily. She's FIVE now. She was 20 months when I started. It was so much fun being able to see her (and her big brother - sadly only for a few minutes at the end of the day) again.

7. Amy's one year check-up was great!! She was 20lb, 12oz, and 29in. Back up in the 5oth percentile for height and weight. Her head is in the 75th, but she is, after all, her father's daughter. ;)

That's about it. Like I said, good, bad, and sad. But we're looking forward to cooler weather here. And hopefully seeing my brother up at ND in a few weeks.

GO IRISH! :)

Splash!

It's a well-known fact around here that water is Miss A's very favorite thing. Ever. Pool, tub, water table, fountains...you name it, she loves it.

After several days of too-hot-to-LIVE heat here in KC, we finally had a nice 80 degree day. Grandma Brown and I took Amy and her cousins, Luna and Alex, out to Crown Center, where they have a fantastic fountain area that kids love to run in and out of. The jets were a little too forceful to let Amy walk through on her own, so I carried her with me while we followed Luna around through the fountains.

We were soaked. It was so fun, and I felt like a kid on those days when the firemen would open the hydrants. It was awesome to hear Amy squeal with delight, and watch her put her hands in the 8ft high fountains.

She cruised around on the benches, and crawled around the perimeter, splashing in the puddles. Then, she let go of one bench and started toddling toward me...and didn't stop!!! She took 10 steps to me, and since that day has been walking non-stop.

The kids were spent, and all of them fell asleep in the car on the way home. Such a fun day.

I know, I know...

Yes, I know I have changed my template about a hundred times this last month. I could say it's because of my terrible lack of decision making skills...OR I can just blame it on the blog websites and the fact that they've had to reformat lately.

Yes. I think I'll go with Door #2.

I don't have much alse to say, so here. I will distract you from the change with photos of the baby. Sorry...the toddler.

This is how most pictures look these days...sitting still? What a crazy idea.

Miss Pouty-Face. So sad.

My girl and her Daddy. She was "saying cheese" for the camera. How cute is that?

One week in cloth

Well, here we are. One week into cloth diapering, and there have been things that have surprised me, and things that have not.

What has NOT surprised me:

1. Poop is gross.
2. I do like the Flip diapers. A lot.
3. It's definitely a laundry commitment.
4. George is still not a fan.

What HAS surprised me:

1. Cleaning poop off of cloth is still better than spending $$ on diapers.
2. I like cloth diapering.
3. Amy is just as comfortable, if not more so.
4. It is not as ick-inducing as I thought.
5. I liked it so much I went all cloth right away, instead of 1/2 and 1/2 as a test.
6. There is more laundry, but it's not hard to keep up with.
7. I don't mind previously owned diapers, although I am pretty picky about what I choose.
8. The investment was much smaller than I anticipated, thanks to #7, and factory seconds.
9. Her room smells SO much better with the zippered wet bag than it did with a trash can.

So, we've had two leaky cloth diapers so far...and those related to my losing track of time (usually around the dinner hour, when I'm trying to do 10 things at once) and not changing her soon enough. At first I was kind of nervous to take her out of the house in cloth, until I realized we've definitely got a couple of hours in between changes.

I actually really, really like it. And I'm happy that I took the leap and did it. I have four different types of diapers, and want to try a couple more. I have my likes and dislikes, and it's becoming clear which work best for my fairly lean kiddo.

All in all, I think the cloth is staying. George still thinks it's a phase. But even though the ick factor is big for him right now, he's still grateful for the money saved. And that's good enough for me.

Can it get any cuter?

A One-Year-Old.

Once upon a time, we had a baby.

First, the sleepless nights felt as though they would never end.

And it seemed like we waited an eternity for every milestone.

But then, we started thinking, "Wait! Stop! Don't...grow up so fast!"

And before we knew it, we had a one-year-old.

The End.

"For me?"

"Hmmm...I think maybe I'll try it."


"Onskmhbfmlsmpf"

Our big girl. Happy Birthday Amy-girl.

7 Quick Takes

Okay. A quick insight into our lives of late.





1. We hosted the Crossroads Pro-Life walkers the weekend of July 9th. We had anywhere from 5 to 12 people sleeping in our house (besides the three of us) over the course of three nights. They were great kids, and it was so fun to have such a full house, and to support such a good cause. Plus, we got to see my brother David, who was super excited to see Miss A, his god-daughter.





2. My friend Susan came to visit the last week in June. She and Miss A were best buds by the time she left. Seriously, I have never seen my kiddo try so hard to make somone laugh! Susan, Miss A, and I had so much fun checking out the Plaza and going to the pool. Hopefully we'll have another visit before it's been another year!





3. I have been working very hard the last 6 weeks to have my house in a constant state of clean. I feel more peaceful when it's tidy. But this goes against my nature (as well as the nature of a toddler), so it's still a struggle some days, but I am happy to say that most days I'm successful.

See? This is my living room at the end of the day.

4. I'm going to learn how to sew. I'm pretty excited about it actually. George's aunt is going to teach me how to use my sewing machine. Hopefully I'll be able to make some things for Miss A before too long.



5. I have not started cloth diapering yet, but it's on the horizon. I'm actually getting pretty excited about it. I think I might phase it in with disposables the first couple weeks (1/2 and 1/2) just to get used to it instead of going cold turkey.



6. We thought we might be moving to Greenville, SC. But we're not.



7. Yet.

Gone and Done It

Well, folks. I took the leap and bought some cloth diapers. The local natural baby store here in town has a diaper swap every 3 months. Moms bring in their outgrown/homemade/excess cloth diapers and sell 'em for cheap. I've perused the diaper swap websites before, but I'm glad I went this route. I could see them, handle them, really know what I was getting prior to buying.

I got a couple different brands/styles. Most moms I talked to at the swap said their collections of cloth are a mish-mash too. I have slightly less than half of what I need for a full two days worth of dipes. I only bought 7, because I didn't want to go too crazy right away. I saved 60% from what I would have spent on all of these new. It's hard not to buy used when you see the savings. The ones I got are totally stain free, and in great shape (not all used dipes are that way). I got there an hour early, since the last time I observed the swap (when buying shoes for Amy), I noticed that people tend to pop in to the store - which opens 2 hours before the swap starts - and start buying before the designated time.

So with Amy strapped into the Ergo on my back, we browsed and bartered. And I walked away with a few to try. So, we'll see how this goes.

4 Flip covers (in which I will use prefolds), 2 one size All-In-Ones, and 1 medium BottomBumpers All-In-One.

What Women Want

As I was listening to Dave Ramsey's radio broadcast yesterday, a gentleman called in asking Dave's advice on what to do now that his wife of 30 years wanted a divorce. He was a former police officer, and had been disabled for 8 years. As Dave is wont to do, he asked why the man's wife wanted a divorce after all that time. He always asks that, because he is a big believer in keeping a marriage together if at all possible. And he always recommends counseling with a pastor or priest, etc. But then...oh, then.

The man proceeded to tell Dave that he had been completely blindsided and loved his wife very much, and that he didn't understand why she wanted to leave him...he was audibly in tears and obviously devastated. I was a little teary myself. Listening to him tell the reasons his wife had listed for her wanting to leave, what I heard was that this woman had been miserable. She had clearly been unhappy for some time. But he had had no. idea.

Now, in this day in age, most people would probably fault the husband here. He didn't do enough to make his wife happy, he didn't consider her needs, yadda yadda. But let me tell you what hit me the hardest. He told his wife that he loved her, that he was in love with her. And she said she just couldn't do it anymore. So I don't think this husband withheld anything from his wife that she needed. His grief was so raw, it was very clear that this was a man who loved his wife, who wanted her happiness. At one point he said "I would have quit that job if I had known she hated it! I would have quit!"

His wife withheld what she was feeling, because that's what so many of us women tend to do, isn't it? We bottle it up and stew about it, waiting for our husbands to read our minds about what we want from them, be it help with children or around the house, emotional needs, or even the things that are bothering us about our relationship. Where does it get us?

And it made me think for a long time after I turned the radio off about the times that I do that. The times I get so. angry. waiting for my husband to realize that I'm angry. But you know, he has no idea. And that man had no idea. And I would bet a hefty sum that she never told him. She just let it boil up until she couldn't carry around that anger anymore. And then she felt like her only option was to leave.

After a couple of minutes, it was clear that this man was losing it. He called a financial advisor but what he really needed was someone to talk to. He had it all built up, and the floodgates opened when Dave asked him why she left. Wisely, Dave put him on hold to set him up with a pastor in his area who could help. But man oh man, it was one of the saddest things I've heard in a long time.

So, if there's something on your heart that's bothering you, share it with your husband. Tell him if you're angry with him. Tell him if you need his help with something. Because if that call was any indication, he has no idea you need it unless you ask. And thirty years is way too long to wait for him to figure it out.

I sniffed an iPad

So, I sniffed an iPad the other day.

Well, no, I didn't actually...but it made for a good draw, didn't it?

Anyway, despite the fact that I have NOT sniffed an iPad, I think I can say with some certainty that if I did, there would probably be something very vital missing.

You see, I am a very olfactory person. Smells just...get to me in a way that nothing else does.

I constantly smell everything, too. (That might be more of a tic, actually - in fact I think a certain someone [MOM] would definitely agree that it is...but we won't go into that just now)

Smells are constantly bringing memories flooding to mind, or certain emotions or connections to another person, place or experience. Maybe everyone experiences these things as intensely as I seem to, but whenever I've brought it up, most times I get wierd looks, so I've always assumed that smells are a little more of a Thing for me.

My point being that I cannot bring myself to get behind the iPad or Kindle, or any other "mobile reading device", because for heaven's sake "What about the smell?" Or lack thereof.

Books have always been my safety, my comfortable place. As a kid I would devour chapter books in an afternoon, and begin another as soon as I finished one. I don't know if it was my way of dealing with grief or whether it is just in my nature to crave that soothing calm that books always brought me. Maybe it was my control in an out of control world. My center...not just to avoid or escape, but just as my own way of regrouping.

So when I smell that book smell...oh, but I just feel like everything is as it should be.

And my favorite thing these days? That my daughter is loving herself some books. She could easily spend 15-20 minutes looking at a book, exclaiming to herself in baby babble whenever she turns a page, pointing with her chubby baby finger at all the things she sees. And she doesn't always want to be read to (although we do plenty of that, too). Sometimes she just wants to be by herself with her books. And I love that. Seeing her take so much joy in something that brought me so much joy is amazing. I hope that she grows up loving books..the feel of them, the weight of them in her hands, the pages full of thousands of words, the imagination they cultivate. And yes, the smell, too. I hope she notices the smell.

A Girl After My Own Tastebuds

I. Love. Raspberries. I remember our raspberry bush in our backyard from when I was four. The smell of them, the juicy red sweetness of them...everything about them is something special. Of course, when you don't have your very own raspberry bush, you have to buy them at the store...and I normally go without them because we all know how pricey one little container of raspberries can be. But these were for my girl.

She had tasted raspberry in her baby food, but she's starting to want to eat more table food, so I saw that the berries were on sale and got some.

YUM!

She loved playing with them as much as eating them...

She played with them all over her face, too.

"All Done!"

Today, after yesterday's raspberry success, we tried another of momma's faves. Plums!

Again, introduced in the baby food phase, and these were perfectly ripe and sweet. She didn't really share much of it with me! :)

Look at that! You can just feel the juice running down your chin, can't you?

She ate them so fast! Last bite!

Next week, we're going to venture into the realm of non-pureed veggies...squash, zucchini, etc.

Yum!

summer days

sitting in an old diaper box...one of her favorite toys

standing!!!

studying her composition techniques

sharing with daddy

man I love this kid.