Leah at three

Ladies and gentleman, my daughter.  The newly-minted three year old.

I adore this little lady. 

It's gut check time

It's spring, which calls for the obligatory "Casey is out of town" post. 

(Sidenote: We've actually been really lucky, because he's hardly been gone at all since last June.  Mostly because we were afraid I was going to pop a little early and he'd miss it - which of course didn't actually happen...)

House updates: we're about 75% of the way finished with a number of projects.  Living room, kitchen, hallway, Logan's room.  Someday, we'll actually "finish" them and I'll post pictures, but not today.

Leah's birthday: I can't wait to celebrate our little lady. With hubby out of town, there have been a lot of late nights (early mornings, middle-of-the-night wakings; you get the picture) for the momma.

It's all kind of a whirlwind, but we're getting through it.

A few projects are happening in preparation for the little's birthday, so I thought I'd share.

I'm all about simple projects.  Simple and inexpensive.

And hopefully impactful in a room.

::Scissors, tissue paper, and ribbon or string. 
::Fold your tissue paper in half and cut into the desired rectangle.  Mine are 6 x 9.
::Cut notches into the bottom of the rectangles to create the flag effect. 
::Cut your ribbon or string.  Just measure the length of where you want the banner to hang and add an inch or two.
::Tape the back of each flag to the ribbon

And that's all she wrote! 

T-minus three days to birthday.  It's gut check time. 

Six.

A few of the things I want to remember about my little big guy at six months:

• He loves to bounce in the jumpy swing.  He very clearly recognizes the word jump.
• He absolutely adores his big sissy.  Any time she gets near him he just grins.  Even when she's being, well, three, and it ends more roughly than I would like.  It doesn't phase the kid; he gives her the puppy-dog iloveyou eyes. 
• He understands so much language.  It's neat to watch the words he obviously knows.  Some of my faves include: kiss, listen, Logan, Mommy, Leah, Sister, Sissy, spoon, hungry, I love you, bed, teddy, book and milk. 

 

• He gives the world's best kisses.  You've heard the expression sucking face?  He literally does this.  It's completely, disgustingly, wipe-your-mouth-out gooey, but I absolutely adore it.
• He has reached a phase where he screams - a high-pitched, glass breaking kind of scream that absolutely rattles your soul - for no apparent reason.  Let the record show: it is not my favorite thing.
• He has tried several foods, including: carrots, squash, avocado, banana, pears, broccoli, cauliflower, potato, peas and corn.  Favorite?  I'd have to say the broccoli/cauliflower mix.  Sister loved this one, too.  Interestingly enough, he's not a big fan of pears.
• Still nurses many times a day.
• Finally, finally takes the paci at night.
• Finally, finally sleeps more than two hours at a time.  In fact, literally in the last week his sleeping has all come together thanks to a combination of solid foods, moving bed time one hour earlier (and I knew this months ago... why, why didn't I try it then??) to 6 instead of 7 and finally deciding to take the paci at night.  Thank God.  Seriously.
• He is still my sweet, giggly little man.  I adore his belly laughs.
• He can mostly sit on his own, but he doesn't have much interest in it.  He's much more likely to kick his legs and tip himself over.
• Has finally come around to tummy time.  I even caught him sleeping on his tummy a few days ago (nevermind the fact that I almost had a heart attack, because this is the first time he's done it). 

Remember when I was worried about having a boy?  Yeah, me neither.  It's amazing how someone can fit so perfectly and completely into a family, and into the very fabric of my being.  This little boy has captured me, mind, body and soul.   

I couldn't love him more. 

I do what I want.

Sup?

 

That's right, I'm about to be three later this month.

 

Deal with it.

 

I do what I want.  I'm a three year old girl.

Six, a cupcake, and some words

It's official: This has been the fastest six months of my entire life. 

This time thing, it's an epidemic.  It just keeps moving forward before I can grab at any little pieces. 

Do you see this adorable little blue-eyed chub?  He is six months old.  How did that happen?! 

And, in typical fashion, as per the tradition started 2.5 years ago when a certain little miss got her first taste of solid foods in cupcake form, we had to celebrate. 

 

One of these items may or may not have been re-gifted.  And I may or may not have forgotten just how obnoxious this particular toy is...

 

I'm slightly obsessed with taking pictures of his hands.  I think it might be because of the way it looks like there is a rubber band around his wrists.  Don't worry, he's just that rollie pollie. 

 

At first, it was more about the squish factor.

 

 

Before too long, though, he got the hang of it.  

 

 

Logan has mastered the signs for both "hungry" and "more."  To be fair, it's because those are the only ones I've taught him, although they do come in extremely handy.  And this guy?  He's not afraid to use them when a cupcake is at stake.  A child after my own heart.

 

Happy half birthday to my beautiful little peanut.  I wish you'd slow down just a bit!

A little friend for life: An anatomical love story

Pop culture would have us believe that great chasm exists between boys and girls.

At the ripe old age of almost 6 months, that gap seems not so much chasm-like, but more like the fence that divides two yards: although it runs through two different households, the grass is still grass on both sides. 

Logan's babyhood has been remarkably similar to his sister's.

Except for one thing, and it involves... well, his thing. 

Leah went through a very brief phase of exploration which was unquestionably linked to the fact that we were naming all of her anatomy.  Elbow, shoulder, ears, fingers, knees.  For a week or two, when I would change her diaper, she would look at me curiously as if to say, "we haven't talked about this one yet."  It was an indictment, really; just shy of an accusation. 

My sweet baby boy, on the other hand, has reached this phase all on his own, and it is in no way due to the fact that we've been naming body parts.

In fact, I worried last week that he'd given himself pink eye due to that curiosity.  I can't keep those little fingers out of there during diaper changes!

Part of me wants to yell: stop that!  If you play with it, it will turn green and fall off!  (I hear that's a good deterrant, no?)

The other part of me just chalks it up to boys being boys. 

Because this kid of mine?  He grins like he's won some kind of prize and looks as pleased with himself as if he's just ushered in world peace every time he reaches down and finds that his little diaper buddy is still, in fact, there.

Good grief.   Boys.

P(r)esto!

If you've seen me - especially since having my second - you know that I'm no stranger to food.  Although I'm trying (for whatever that's worth) to diet, it's more the kind where I try to only have two servings rather than three.  Score one for self-restraint.

But I digress.

My husband - the man who weighed the same from the time he turned 15 until last year - is in love with tortellini and pesto.  In his long-ago single days, it was one of the three meals he survived on in rotation (the other two being quesadillas and out-of-the-box instant mashed potatoes.  Yes, I also resent that he doesn't weigh 300 pounds). 

Luckily, with whole-wheat tortellini, this isn't a bad diet food.  Particularly if you can limit yourself to one serving instead of two... but good luck with that.

 

Pesto Sauce (enough for 16 oz tortellini):

2 cloves garlic

1 1/2 bunches fresh basil

1/3 cup pine nuts

1/3 cup parmesean cheese

Juice from 1/2 to 1 lemon

salt and pepper to taste

In food processor - puree garlic, basil and pine nuts to coarse chop.  Mix in parmesean cheese.  Slowly add olive oil until well blended.  Add lemon, salt and pepper to taste.

The best part about this recipe is that you really can't go wrong.  It's super fast, easy and there is no such thing as a mistake. 

And also, it's one of the few recipes that guarantees Casey is going to eat more than I do.