Cauliflower Potato Curry Stew and Reading

Posted on February 14, 2012 by Jenn

Tried three new recipes in the last week from the online Whole Food Kitchen seminar.  This one was from one of the contributors and I wouldn’t recommend it for a Sunday night at 7pm – lots of chopping and prepping (10 potatoes, a whole head of cauliflower!).  R absolutely loved it. I liked it a lot, but was so exhausted from the weekend and all the prep that I think I didn’t really savor it.  Looking forward to trying it again as leftovers.  I have a feeling this is one of those things that gets better with age.

Snapped this picture of M on our (lack of) snow day on Saturday.  Her love for books and the time she can spend looking through them gently makes me a proud mama.  Don’t be fooled though – her favorite book, Pete the Cat – I Love My White Shoes, has plenty of pieces of tape holding it together.

 

Posted in Cooking, Miss M., Reading | 1 Comment

Pockets and Honey Miso Baked Tofu

Posted on February 13, 2012 by Jenn

M finally found an outfit with perfect pockets!

This weekend I tried another recipe from Whole Food Kitchen and we’re excited to have a yummy new flavor for the tofu on our lunch salads (Honey Miso Baked Tofu).

Posted in Cooking, Miss M. | 3 Comments

Climbing and “NO”

Posted on February 12, 2012 by Jenn

It’s evident to me that Miss M is now a toddler. While she stills says “yeah” to a lot of questions, she’s starting to say “no” a lot more when she doesn’t want to do something.  She says no a lot to Izzie, when Izzie is licking her, trying to take back one of her toys that M has picked up, or when she’s pushing M out of the way to get to something.  M is starting to really assert herself.  And climb.  She’s starting to climb.  She’s gotten up on the couch a few times, but isn’t too interested in that.  She can get herself down just fine.  The other day I caught her standing on top of her hamper.

 

 

 

 

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Imitating

Posted on February 11, 2012 by Jenn

In Gainesville, we spent an afternoon hanging out in my aunt and uncle’s backyard on a beautiful Florida day.  All of a sudden M was trying to put her hands down her pants on the outsides of each of her legs.  She was really insistent about doing this and it took us a few minutes, but we figured out that she was trying to put her hands in her pockets like Grandpa Ron.  Problem was, she didn’t have any pockets.

 

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Elmo Sings His Last Song

Posted on February 10, 2012 by Jenn

For Christmas M got several Elmo dolls, and the singing Elmo was her favorite!  You squeeze his belly and he says, “Elmo wants to sing a song.”  You squeeze again and he says, “AHEM.” and then “La” each time you squeeze him, louder or softer depending on how hard you squeeze.  M had mastered this, and would even put him on the ground and step on his tummy to make him sing.  I guess she did this too many times, because while we were in Jacksonville, Elmo sang his last song.  My friend even tried replacing the batteries, but it seems to be permanently broken.  Bummer.  I think I’ll call the number on the tag, since he’s only about a month old.  Interesting thing I observed was my reaction when she brought me the broken Elmo.  I had this brief terror about having to one day tell her that someone or something she loves isn’t going to be around anymore, and it really broke my heart.  I shook it off quickly because she was yelling, “Elmo, Elmo, Elmo,” but I felt such heartbreak at the thought of having to tell my little girl anything negative.  This parenting thing is only going to get harder, I think.  Luckily, she wasn’t too upset.  I just told her Elmo lost his voice.  On the plane ride home she was “feeding” Elmo some cookies, and cracking herself up.  It was so fun to watch her pretending.

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Girls’ Weekend Away

Posted on February 9, 2012 by Jenn

About two and a half weeks ago or so I finally scratched my persistent travel itch.  Please forget that we went to Florida for over a week for Christmas, that’s irrelevant at this time.  There were two bigs things pulling me to North Florida this past weekend. My cousin and his wife just had a new baby, Cameron and my college roommate, Sharon and her husband are expecting a baby in April.  Originally I had planned to be in Gainesville at the same time as my cousin from Boston, but because of work, that didn’t work out.  The flight there was pretty uneventful.  M was awake for the whole first flight but was a good girl and enjoyed the extra seat next to me.  She fell asleep just as we were landing and slept through the quick layover and second flight.  She even slept through the car ride to my aunt and uncle’s and went right to bed when we arrived. It was so wonderful to meet Cameron. His mom is a champ, birthing his 10lb 8 oz self with no drugs!  He slept through most of our visit, waking up only to pee on himself and me while I changed his diaper (I have no experience with boys) and to poop on my shirt on another occasion.  Boys!  His parents looked remarkably well, although it sounds like they aren’t getting much sleep.  Chatting about all the new baby stuff had me doing a lot of reminiscing about those first days with Miss M.  After two quick nights in Gainesville, we were off to Jacksonville to see Sharon and Sarmad.  My dad had driven up from South Florida to hang out with us a bit in Gainesville and was nice enough to drive us over to Jacksonville.  We laid low at Sharon and Sarmad’s, checking out the new nursery, napping (3 whole hours at a time one day!), playing at the park and in their backyard.  It was so great catching up and talking to some awesome and excited parents-to-be.  The plane trip home wasn’t awesome, but also wasn’t really worth complaining about.  She was awake for both flights and was really cranky and fidgety during the second, longer flight.  We were lucky to be able to move our seats and have the center seat open.  All in all it was an awesome trip with awesome company.  I loved spending some quality time traveling with my girl and visiting great friends and family.  Thank you to everyone who hosted us and to those who sat near us on the plane rides!

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Whole Food Eating Day 1

Posted on February 7, 2012 by Jenn

Yesterday the first module of Whole Food Kitchen (12 week online whole food eating workshop) was released.  I still have to read through it more thoroughly, but I jumped right back to the recipes.  Last night I made Sesame Spinach Noodle Salad.  It was awesome!  I had a little trouble finding a few ingredients, made a quick sub on the noodles and it turned out just fine.  I’m looking forward to digging in to this online workshop.  This week there was even a tutorial on how to make your own almond milk!

Posted in Uncategorized, Whole Food Eating | 3 Comments

18 Month Words

Posted on January 31, 2012 by Jenn

Here’s a word count/list (in no particular order) for 18 months – so that someday we can look back on this and remember how vocal M was at this age! And I’m bragging just a little.

  1. Light
  2. No
  3. Yeah
  4. Milk
  5. Please
  6. Thank You (not clear at all)
  7. Shoes
  8. Turtle
  9. Hi
  10. Buh-Bye
  11. Baby
  12. Knee
  13. Water
  14. Hat
  15. Apple
  16. Mommy
  17. Daddy
  18. Up
  19. Get Down
  20. Bass
  21. Cracker
  22. Cookie
  23. Cheese
  24. Peas
  25. Book
  26. Bib
  27. All Done
  28. All Gone
  29. Mole (she likes to touch the mole on my face, so I told her what it’s called)
  30. Owey (for ouch)
  31. Car
  32. Bella (her cousin – pronounced Lella)
  33. Wow
  34. Not Nice
  35. Teeth
  36. Elmo
  37. Pete
  38. Doggie
  39. Kitty
  40. Pretty
  41. Puppy
  42. Cat
  43. More
  44. Hot
  45. Ernie
Posted in Miss M. | 3 Comments

18 Months Old

Posted on January 30, 2012 by Jenn

18 months old on 1/27/12
31 3/4″ tall (55%)
21 lbs (10%)

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First Pigtails

Posted on January 29, 2012 by Jenn

M’s hair is getting long and we really don’t want to cut it.  They look like such children after you cut their hair.  They are officially no longer babies.  Well, I guess she’s not a baby anyway, but I am still putting off a haircut for as long as I can!  We got her hair into her first official pigtails the other day.  It only stayed like that for about two seconds before it started coming out.

Posted in Miss M. | 2 Comments