A Boy, a Baby, and a Box

Talk to you all next week.

MJ's New Stats

Mirra had her 9 month well-baby visit today. We had to reschedule with a different doctor because her pediatrician went into labor this morning and had her baby girl:) Mirra is weighing in at 18 lbs. 7 oz. and is 27 1/2 inches tall. Both in the 50 percentile range. She is not crawling yet but we expect it any minute. She will probably wait until Andy and I are in New Orleans:(

Ratatouille

Cool. I have figured out how to upload photos on the new computer.

Since we have been talking about food I will share our new discovery, inspired by the Pixar film.

Ratatouille
1 eggplant sliced
1 onion sliced
2-3 zucchini sliced
3 roma tomatoes, sliced
garlic, diced
pasta sauce
olive oil
basil, fresh or freeze dried
oregano, fresh or freeze dried
1 sprig of rosemary, optional

In a skillet saute sliced onion and garlic in 1 T olive oil. Cover the bottom of a baking dish with pasta sauce. Layer onions & garlic, eggplant, zucchini, and tomatoes on top of the pasta sauce. Drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with basil and oregano. Place sprig of rosemary on top. Cover and bake at 400 degrees for 40 minutes. This was very easy, very yummy and good for you too.

Spoke Too Soon

Right after I was salivating over our New Orleans fare we get a "bitch call" from Andy's sister and her husband, Diane and Mark. They are living it up in Miami at the Food and Wine Fest and described the events to Andy in detail. Say 'hi' to Emeril for us!

Mmmm

One of our visits with Aunt Anita. I couldn't get the kids to both look at me at the same time.

I looked up the weather forecast for New Orleans. Mid to high 60s. We won't be lounging by the pool but that is perfect for treking around the Quarter, walking off all the fabulous food. Pasta at Maximo's and Sunday brunch at Palace Cafe. Andy is taking me to Bayona's and Mr. B's which are new to me and I'm really excited. Now I'm hungry. I'll go make lunch now....

I WIsh

I wish for snow. I know, those of you in Peoria and Chicagoland laugh. But we have been threatened with at least 15-20+ inches of snow and have recieved very little. All we want to do is go sledding with Drew one more time this winter. We have this good sledding hillin our yard that is not being put to use.

Upon closer look at Drew's Valentine's one was addressed to "My Drew" from a little girl in his class. We thought that was too cute. This is a different little girl from the one he was smooching a few weeks ago.

Officially

Mirra once said 'duck' and has babbled 'da' and mama'. But we have been down this road before and know that is indeed just babbling. We are calling Mirra's first official word 'hi'. She has used it a few times now and in context. I guess it would be hard not to use it in context, but I don't care. "HI" it is. She is not crawling yet but she is thinking about it. Take your time sweetie! We have too many stairs for me to be excited about that milestone.

Everything else is good. We are tired but good. Andy and I were watching a video with Drew about shapes last night. We decided that if a nine-sided shape existed that it would be called a nonagon/nonogon. We couldn't decide on a spelling. We need to get out more, don't ya think? It is a good thing we are going to New Orleans in 9 days. No kids, lots of good food, lots of good music, and a drink or two or ten.

The Honeymoon is Over!

Arghhh! Our sweet little angel baby has turned into a teething demon child. She has been up half the night for many nights now. When she is being held she is squirming and grunting. At times she will decide to scream bloody murder unless she is held by the appropriate person....often me. As soon as I pick her up she stops which suggests she is, at least in part, a big fat faker. It's a good thing she is so cute.

Add to this craziness the fact that Drew has had tummy trouble. The cat whorked on the carpet. And we sent an ink pen through the washer and dryer.

Our sofa is currently serving as a fort, as you can see in this photo. Fun for Drew but really adds to the feeling of chaos in the house right now.



Serenity now!

Good news:
Gram is home from the hospital and is feeling better and Mirra has learned to say "mama"!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I know, Valentine's Day is about a bunch of big, pink, floofy hearts. But Andy always puts forth an effort solely for me (because he really doesn't care about it). For that and a MULTITUDE of other reasons I love him. I am also finding that Valentine's Day is fun because of my kids. I like to make Valentine's Day cards with Drew for his grandparents or teachers. This year I coordinated his party at preschool. We pinned heart-shaped tails on the donkey, had a tossing game, and made Valentines for the kids to take home to their parents. Mirra was very popular with all the kids, though she was unusually cranky today. Drew was so happy to have 'Mom' and 'Baby Sister' in his classroom. After we got home Drew decided to put all his conversation hearts in the Little People truck and haul them around.

Hope you all have a great day.

Setback

My Gram went back to the hospital last night. The doctor thinks she will only be in for a couple of days. Fingers crossed.

Tooth #2

Mirra popped her second tooth through today. Now maybe she will sleep better. I would love to give you guys a picture, but she doesn't even let me see them for more than a millisecond.

This picture is Drew tickling her feet.

Fix It

We have this shelving unit with a door on the bottom. Not expensive. But it houses the kids' books in the living room. Well, yesterday the door broke off. It had been repaired after a break a couple of years ago so we shouldn't be surprised. Drew's suggestion was "fix it....with tape". We have had to repair many books with tape over the last few years so I guess he thinks it works for all manner of things.

I'm an Airhead

I didn't notice all of your comments until yesterday when Andy pointed them out. Apparently I am a technological retard. Anyway, thank you for your comments. I look forward to hearing from you again!

My brother just closed today on his first house. Congrats Bee!

With the exception of the dent in her chin and her long eyelashes, Mirra is a carbon copy of her dad. But I just may have slipped in another gene...Drew discovered that he likes 90's club music (yeah, he's my boy). So the other day we were playing "I Like to Move It" for Drew while Mirra is in her jumpster. Then Mirra starts really jumping and dancing around to the music having a good time. So maybe, just maybe she will be a dancer in addition to a race car driver:)

Think Again

Now let me set the stage for you...I am not really a GIRLY-girl. This is not to say I am a 'tomboy' either. I like pretty things. I just think that pink is an OK color in small doses but is very highly overrated and overused in the material world. I feel the same about hearts. That being said...I have been anxiously waiting for my daughter to grow more hair so I can put some cute little bows in it.

Have you ever tried to lasso a greased piglet? Me either, but I think the experience would be comparable to trying to tie a bow in some very fine hair attached to a VERY wiggly baby. This photo is the result of my efforts. Yeah, it's cute, but I think I will wait to try again when she can hold her head still when I ask her to do so...like when she is 40 and I am too old to give a crap.

Now let me tell you something about my baby girl. I have never seen anything like it but she has the ability to make her eyes sparkle. I mean REALLY SPARKLE when she smiles up at me. It doesn't happen every time she smiles so when it does it is very special.

So I guess the moral of the story is that a sparkle in her eye is much more beautiful than a silly bow in her hair.

Milestones

Happy February everyone! We have had a busy week. Andy's mom visited for the week, which was wonderful. We also went to see the kids' Great Gram Ellington who was staying with Anita. We went to Jump N' Play (indoor inflatable playground) and the Indy Children's Museum with my cousin Nicole and her kids.

The picture of Drew below is him pretending to be Mowgli the man cub. Yes, that is a banana peel on his head. He is learning the months of the year at school and knows his right from left. The letter of the week is 'P' so they had pajama day and wore their PJs to school. His favorite TV right now is Ratatouille and a Dora episode where they pick blueberries (which he has decided to eat. Yeah!) He is awesome to his little sister and helps give her a bink and hands her toys when she drops them. Though he is still learning to share:)

Mirra is 8 months old today. Where does the time go????? The nice thing about older babies is getting more sleep. Knock wood. Mirra's first tooth popped through on Wednesday. She has 3 'words': ga, da, and nah (which she says with much authority). Sometimes she says 'hi a-da' when she looks at Andy. I have started showing her signs. It's early to do that but she is very observant so I figure it can't hurt. She isn't crawling and really has NO interest in being on her stomach as you can see from the last picture posted. She does scoot around in a circle on her bootie though. She often just wants to stand up (with help) which makes us wonder if she will skip the crawling altogether. We shall see....