Meeting the Great-Grandmother

Little Vivs was named for her great-grandmothers.  Today she got to meet the original Vivian for the first time.  It was love at first sight.  Lots of smiles on both sides, which was sweet to see.  Now we just need my dad here to take some 4 generation pictures!  :)

Three generations!  (And, yes, I have started WW to get the baby weight off.  Ugh...)

 The Vivians

 Love this shot

 Holding great-grandma's hand.  She didn't want to let go.

 I also love this generational shot taken by Daniel

Simple Pleasures

I am sitting by the light of the Christmas tree enjoying a cup of Christmas tea while Hubs is asleep upstairs with the dogs, little girl is asleep in her swing with the cricket white noise playing.  Peaceful.

3 months!

V decided that for Christmas she would give us the gift of not sleeping or napping pretty much the entire day.  So this evening we decided to make the best of it and take her 3-month-old pictures, complete with Christmas BabyLegs.  (You can bet I was SUPER excited that the 3 month mark fell on Christmas day!)  :)

So, like, this morning, I came downstairs and there were all these presents under the tree...

 So happy that today is my three month birthday!  (Notice my lumpy cloth diaper bootie, too.)

 What?  How was I supposed to know that napping was important?

 This one may be my favorite of all time.  It looks like she's giving us the "up yours" gesture.  ;)

Merry Christmas! 

Homemade Christmas ornaments

Mom and Dad got us a fun little Christmas project for Vivian.  We decided we would wait until she was 12 weeks old (exactly 1 week before Christmas) to make it.  Here's how it turned out:

With the doughy stuff for the ornament

 The pressing of the hand

 How the heck do I press her hand in and get it out without her grabbing onto the mold?

 Noooooooo!  I don't want to press my hand in that gunk again!

 All is well with a Christmas book.  (Pardon my posture, I wasn't feeling great.)

Chickenhawk

Remember this guy?

V has a little spiky patch of hair on the back of her head that reminds me of him.  I sometimes say "I'm a chickenhawk!" to her when I see it.  I was finally able to capture it for comparison.

Our Little Elf

While she doesn't live on the shelf, we do think she is a festive addition to our family this season. :)

Nakey baby

Things are much improved since the first bath.  And I just had to post this cutie pic.  ;)

Giving thanks

So much to be thankful for this time of year!

Family visiting from out of town

 Baby giggles and smiles

 Watching football with Daddy

 Our little family's first Christmas (and baby's first Christmas ornament)

 Hoodie time with Aunt Jenni

 A festive house  (This makes me SO happy)

 Presents under the tree from Grammy and Granddad 

(she totally has my genes - reaching for the presents and staring in awe at the tree)

 22 days until Christmas!  Be thankful and merry!  :)

What my life has been reduced to

I was finally able to take a shower today at 5:30 p.m.  After Daniel got home from work.  Oh, and I got to brush my teeth, too.  Seriously - it was all I could do to keep the baby entertained today and get in a half-hour nap.  The things no one tells you about having a newborn...

One month

Well, folks, we've managed to keep the baby alive (and somewhat well) for a whole month.  It's unreal.  In that month, we've fed her at least 5 million times (or maybe it just seems that way at 2 a.m.), changed countless diapers (I leave the really bad ones for Daniel...ha...), played a lot on the play mat, shushed, burped, bounced, jiggled and kissed at least a million times as well.  It's been hard but she is worth it!  Here are her official one month photos.  I should also mention that she LOVES the changing table on the pack n play, hence the first picture.

First bath

We were excited when V's umbilical cord fell off this week because it meant she could have a bath in her cute whale tub.  Maybe it was not quite the hit that we hoped it was going to be...

Guys, I am really not enjoying this

Mom washing my hair while Dad looks on

Things are a little better if I can look in the mirror

Being dried off by Dad.  I also found my clean fingers to suck on, which helped a lot.

Clean, warm and snuggly.  

I am zero!

With my official zero Picky Sticky.  And, of course, my stylin' BabyLegs and Mary Jane socks.  

Milk coma

My daily attire - pjs and a cute hat

With Grammy and Grandpa.  I am officially loved and spoiled.  :)

Funniest Face!

Seriously, she cracks me up.

 

Mah Belly(button)

For posterity's sake I have to post that, as of 39 weeks and 6 days, my belly button has not popped out.  Although it is a little deformed from the baby in my belly...  :)

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Since we are all in the Fall spirit around here (Hubs perhaps begrudgingly), I decided to use our leftover pumpkin from our pancakes to make some cookies. This recipe came up on The Pioneer Woman's site and it sounded the best of all the recipes I found, so we decided this would be our foray into the pumpkin cookie world. Hubs does not like the combo of sweet/salty and I'll admit that I wasn't much for putting salt on top of my cookies, so I decided to add Fall sprinkles to the top instead. Here are the results:

I'd like to send a shout out to HomeGoods for their fabulous selection of Fall sprinkles.  As you can see, we have the colorful leaves, pumpkins with chocolate sprinkles and the fall color sprinkle medley.  They are delicious!  I will definitely be making these cookies again.

Cloth Diaper Giveaway!

The Cloth Diaper blog is giving away over $1000 in cloth diapers!  To enter, go to http://www.clothdiaperblog.com/cloth-diaper-blog-super-stash-giveaway and check out the multiple ways to win.  (And, yes, I'm also trying to win some cd's for our new little one.  We're trying to be as green as possible when it comes to diapering!)

Slow Cooker Vegetable Beef Barley Soup (aka Our Winter Staple because it's easy and delicious!)

This makes quite a bit of soup - enough for dinner, leftovers another night and a couple of meals in the freezer, too.

1 1/2 lbs. beef stew meat
1 cup 1-inch pieces green beans (frozen)
2/3 cup uncooked barley
3/4 cup whole kernel corn (frozen)
1 cup mixed veggies (frozen)
1 (8 oz.) can tomato sauce
1 1/2 cups water
2 (14 1/2 oz.) cans diced tomato w/garlic, undrained
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. salt
3 1/2 cups beef broth (I use low sodium)

To prepare: Mix all ingredients together in a 3 1/2 to 6 quart slow cooker. Cover and cook on low heat setting 8 to 9 hours (or high heat setting for 4 to 5 hours) or until vegetables and barley are tender. NOTE: Fresh vegetables may be substituted for frozen. I usually add additional frozen mixed veggies and corn to the soup. Serve with warm, crusty bread. :)

Why I love Chick-Fil-A

(Or perhaps I should say "why I love small children.") I was at Chick-Fil-A yesterday eating my yummy sandwich with extra pickles and drinking my lemonade with no ice when a little boy and his family came in. Clearly, he was very excited about being at CFA because he bursts in with a, "And they have a PLAY area here where little kids can run around and PLAY!" He proceeds with additional commentary on the play area while his dad orders their food. (I should mention that I am sitting at a table on the side of the restaurant by the windows with my back to the door, so I have a pretty good view of most of the restaurant and the play area. Seated near me in a booth are two guys and a girl who look to be in their early twenties and mostly bored with life.) Next thing I know, this head pops up over the booth near the guys and girl. "Hiiiiiiiiiiii! Can I come sit with you?" I am trying not to crack up at this kiddo who is SUPER excited to be here. One of the guys actually says, "Sure Dude, come on over." The dad then tells the little boy to sit down, eat his lunch and stop bothering people. As the little boy is "eating," I continue to hear commentary about the chicken tenders, french fries and the play area. Man, I wish I had such enthusiasm for life! I love kids.

The Nursery!

You may or may not know that I am pretty anti-all-pink when it comes to baby girls. Don't get me wrong, it's a fine color, but I have never really cared for pink. (I know this will come back to haunt me when all our daughter wants is a super pink Disney Princess room...) So for now, our little girl gets turtles with light yellow and blue-green walls. I loved the bedding and tried to make the room girly and comfy without being frilly. Here are the results:

The crib


Close up of the sheet and bumper


The glider with very soft blanket (OK, I know it's not a turtle but it was a shower gift and it is SO cute!)


Dresser with changing pad


Looking into the room


With the lamp that we (finally) found that we liked

Fall is coming! (OK, possibly wishful thinking...)

We got a lovely butternut squash at the Farmer's Market last week, so I decided to find a good recipe that would incorporate this yummy fall staple! I made this dish last night and it was delicious. I will say, cutting a butternut squash is quite a challenge. I microwaved the squash for three minutes, after poking it with a fork a few times. Once the squash cooled, I was able to peel the skin and cube it much more easily. Also, the store did not have pork shoulder so we used pork tenderloin instead. I would actually recommend using the tenderloin, as it cut the cooking time by 1/2 hour. The recipe calls for an additional 1/2 hour of cooking once the squash is added but I added the squash during last 1/2 hour of the 1 1/2 hour cooking time. It was delicious! We served with cornbread, as suggested. And it really does taste better the next day after the flavors have had more time to settle.

Side note - I may add a little cinnamon next time I cook this. Yum!!

Chubby Cheeks

So, we had a scare a couple of weeks ago. I went to the doctor and the baby was measuring small, which could mean nothing or could mean she's not developing correctly or that there was low amniotic fluid. All this meant that I had to go get another anatomical ultrasound last week. My fabulous sister flew in to go to the appointment with me and, thankfully, all was well! (Not to say there weren't lots of tears and prayers in the interim...) I thought I would leave you with a picture of our little girl. She's head down and was a squirmy worm throughout the ultrasound (she did NOT like being pressed on!) and she was moving her head for this picture, hence the weird nose, but check out her chubby little cheeks! :)

Cloth Diaper Giveaway from Mom's Milk Boutique!

I have ordered a cloth diaper sampler pack, detergent sampler pack, nursing bras, nursing tank and baby legs (in a CHRISTMAS pattern, people!) from Mom's Milk Boutique. Their service and shipping is phenomenal (standard shipping is free and my orders consistently ship the next business day) and now they're doing a cloth diaper giveaway. Hurry and enter here - the contest ends tomorrow!

New light fixtures!

I am so thankful that Daniel is able to do handyman stuff - it will save us a lot of money in the long run! Here are all the light fixtures he spent his Saturday replacing. The house looks so much better. Bye, bye brass ugliness, hello brushed nickel loveliness! :)





And gratuitous dog shot. ;)