puppy love

a post with little words.  i can't sum up in only a few letters how it feels to watch my girls explore their maximus, and how he tolerates the fur-tugging and climbing and banging on his head without any resistance.  he is, and always has been, our gentle giant.



and it gets me every time.

making the most of it

you wouldn't know it now, but merely more than a week ago, we did have snow.  maybe just a bit of it, but enough that we captured an afternoon with our friends kellie, blake and anna and had a date with the sledding hill on their property.

it was an awesomely beautiful and cold afternoon.



and while we may have only ventured outside for less than half-hour, we capitalized our time.  lots of trips down the hill, a bit of anna rolling across it, a race between the dads, and several rosy cheeks.



we called it a day and headed back to the house for a yummy dinner.



see how happy this snow makes us michiganders?  hopefully, mother nature doesn't disappoint and brings us more of the fluff.

fun with tupperware

forget the stacking blocks and musical walkers.  push aside the exersaucer and the maracas.  baby's got a new love.  keeps her entertained for a majority of dinner-making or dishes-cleaning time.



makes a mess, but easy to clean up.  gotta love tupperware.

milkman

lookie lookie what was delivered to our front porch this morning...



it was our first day of old-fashioned dairy delivery service.  yes sir, the good ole' milkman.  he brought milk and half-and-half in glass jars, cottage cheese, fresh eggs, and yogurts.  i am giddy.  i love vintage and retro.  and i love glass jars.

so much so that i heated up a cuppa the morning coffee that was leftover in the coffee maker just to try the creamer (deliciously fresh).

and enjoyed the milk in my new favorite gluten free snack- milk poured over frozen blueberries then eaten with a spoon in all its icy glory.  this treat has been enjoyed for breakfast or pre-bedtime pretty much on a daily basis.  it's addicting, and i've peer pressured harper into asking for it now, too.

i think little one agrees that this was an awesome find.  kudos to my friend, katie, for kickstarting the trend.

p.s. update on the gluten free challenge: week 3 and so far, so good.  michael and i have resisted flour crust pizza on several occasions and have traded wheat bread for brown rice bread as our morning toast.  we have lived on blue corn chips, adding them to our salads and soups; corn chex; eggs; cheese; nut thins crackers; rice pasta; power smoothies; fruit and veggies.  we haven't really noticed that we've had to drastically change our grocery items or meals from how we were eating before, but we've felt like we've eaten better (michael is eating 2-3 fruits a day!) and don't eat as much at meal times or overall through the day.  the biggest difference i've noticed is that i have not craved sweets since we began, and i don't experience that early afternoon, mid-day slump.  me likey this challenge. michael likey's that his fave cereal, fruity pebbles, are naturally gluten free, so we've treated ourselves to a box in the house recently.  our mom's group is getting together this week, and the rule is that the appetizer or dessert has to be gf.  my contribution will be fruity pebbles marshmallow squares.  looking forward to sampling.  more to share as this month's challenge winds down and then next month's begins.

sink 'em

this little one?  she's got chompers.  and they're comin' in lightening fast.
 

she is happy one minute, screaming the next, most likely from those darn painful eruptions through her gums.

she's sinking her white caps into anything and everything in sight.  metal furniture.  wooden furniture.  stuffed animals.  mommy's shoulder.  she's ravenous.  visitors beware.  your clothing or digits may be her next victim.

she's learning to fully accept tylenol or motrin without any spillage.

she is a night owl, and is vampiring with the best of 'em.

and we're exhausted.  thank goodness she's got a cuteness factor going for her.



and yes, i am still nursing.  and yes, she has surprised me with a chomp on several occasions.  last night, i think i yelped at such a high pitch that i scared her off from finishing her bedtime meal.  she fell asleep with only her thumb and her lovey.  but don't you worry.  she awoke 45 minutes later, forgetting the last experience, and happily latching on sans chewing for her nocturnal beverage of choice.

gold

make new friends, but keep the old.  one is silver and the other gold.

its difficult to decipher now who my new friends vs. old friends are.  my newer friends feel like we've been friends forever.  but these 3 ladies, we really have.  ok, not forever, but for 10 years since our days in grad school.

it's been 2 years since we've all been together, and we were able to reunite over break when our long-distance friend, tara, flew in from arizona.



pictured left to right- tara with eli (marci's son), marci with paige (hers as well), tara with blake (hers), me with the girls.  we missed our oldest buddy, tara's (on left) son, ethan.  we've known ethan since we've known tara.



we had a fabulous time chatting and gabbing and catching up and gawking at how different our lives are from 10 years ago and how big our kids are getting.  i miss these girls.  to go from seeing each other daily, supporting each other through long hours of clinic and exams and internships, to vacations together, to first jobs, to second jobs, to moves, to children, to second children, we've been through a lot.  to me, these 3, and the memories we share between us, are my gold. ♥

winter wonderland

hey, where's winter?

cause we're snowsuited up and ready for sledding...



and snowmen...



and catching flakes on our tongues.



we keep looking, but so far, it's been sunshine and mild days.



i'm certain we'll see snow sooner or later.  until then, we'll be waiting.



and maybe stripping off our hats for a while enjoying the freedom.





apologies for the number of photos of my little marshmallow in her new puffy whites.  i couldn't decide which ones to pick.

so here's one more.



oh, wait, we did have a dusting of snow while we were on break, and we used every flake in our front yard to make these adorable little snow babies.





and while we wait for mother nature to sprinkle some winter wonderness upon us, we have fun in other ways.  we've played lots of games, including hide and seek.

guess who these little legs belong to...



and the hand...



oh, have you figured it out yet?



it's crosby!  happiness abounds this little girl.  and she's on the move.  officially crawling now.  and cruising.  and we're keeping busy.  more to come.

gluten-ous

glut·ton·ous

adjective

1.

tending to eat and drink excessively; voracious.

2.

greedy; insatiable.

hello january 1.  hello twenty-twelve.  hello once again to the new years resolutions.  and mine are filled with challenges this year.  starting with my friend, danielle's, monthly challenge for several of us in the mom's/recipe club- spend the month of january gluten free.  given that i have been nothing but gluttonous on junk since, well, halloween, i thought it best to give it a shot.  from the "just one more" fun size candy bar, to the stuffing and pumpkin pie on thanksgiving, to my first annual cookie exchange in december where we shared 10 dozen delicious concoctions, and culminating with more food and desserts than one should consume over the several christmas holiday get togethers and christmas gifts from co-workers and parents, my body is screaming for some reprieve.  mind you, i am actually fairly close to my pre-harper weight thanks to lots of running with my friend katie and weekly spinning classes that i started attending in november, but that doesn't mean my overall health doesn't need some tweaking.  so starting tomorrow, michael (he's agreed to try it with me) and i are saying bye-bye to gluten.  stay tuned for updates to this challenge, and check out danielle's blog.  she provides so many yummy and good-for-you recipes and lots of fabulous information for good health.

pre-challenge, though, we spent new years eve at home, quietly enjoying some steak with zip sauce and champagne.  michael, harper and i stayed up til 11:15 watching movies on the blow up bed.  and while i'm certain harper could have made it to midnight and the ball dropping, us parents just didn't have it in us.

we also had some fun with the camera's self-timer and my fabulous little photographer in the making.

one thing i will never change being gluttonous for, however, is my girls, and that's why i post lots of pictures.  and here is the wee one at 8 months...


pulling herself up to standing and being very adventurous...



always smiling...



and cracking us up with her new head tilt.  when she's trying to get your attention, or just trying to play with you, she takes a side view.



these two are starting to interact much more, and i can't get enough.



oh, and then she went ahead and turned 9 months.

she's standing and cruising, and braving it by holding on to something with only one hand.  she's waving and signing milk.  she's eating, but prefers small bits of finger foods to being fed with a spoon.  she's saying dada and mama and nana and yaya and lala.  she's a regular chatty cathy.

she is always happy.  she is always smiling.  she is pure enchantment and deliciousness.

she is a horrible night sleeper, and is often waking us up 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 times a night.  thank goodness she's always happy, cause when she smiles at you at 2 in the morning when you go get her from her crib, you can't help but smile back.  she's got our number and she knows it.

ok, off to check the cupboard and make sure there is nothing else that could satisfy my gluten-ous cravings before the challenge begins in less than 3 hours.  here's to good health, good changes, and an exceptional 2012.

hope your new year was a happy one.