happy new year!

a quick post to say...happy new year! after work we will join friends for an evening of frolicking with little ones, eating yummy food and drinking yummy drinks. it is going to be chilly over the next few days, but i'm hoping that we will have an opportunity to get outside and play...a snowshoe perhaps? maybe a ski?

see you in 2009....

smarty pants

aubrey is surprising us daily with her amazing baby skills! we already knew that aubrey has taken an interest in learning the alphabet, and that she even has a few letters that seem to be perennial favorites (she gravitates toward the letters T and M, in particular) but what we didn't realize is that she actually can identify most of the letters in the alphabet.

rewind to friday night, when we were hanging out in the living room, playing with a gigantic "puzzle" that has all of the letters on it, and numbers up to 10. just for fun, i said "aubrey, where is the letter B?" aubrey pondered for a moment, then crawled up to the puzzle piece with the letter B on it, and swatted it with her hand. pete and i exchanged surprised looks. "where is the letter L?" aubrey pointed to the L. we continued this little game for a while, and were amazed that four times out of five, she picked the correct letter! (she got a little confused about some letters...for example, when asked to find the letter J, she chose G...i think that's because J and G make similar sounds.)

pretty impressive for a 18 month old! i guess the "fridge phonics"are starting to sink in.

also- aubrey impressed us with her color identification skills this weekend. we were playing with a toy with different colored pieces. we asked her which piece was blue, red, green yellow and so on, and she correctly identified each color! so although she only says yellow and purple ("purpoh") she has a basic grasp of the concept of colors. we haven't graduated to magenta or puce yet. soon though. : )

aside: we got approximately two feet (TWO! FEET!) of snow this weekend. the really light, floaty, fluffy kind. pretty wild.

18 month stats

okay, so aubrey's measurements this go around aren't very accurate (she was squirming and arching her back on the exam table) so she is probably a bit taller than the recorded number, but here's how she sized up during her appointment this week:

height = 31 inches (i'm guessing she's more like 31.5 inches)

weight = 25 lbs. 7 oz.

she got three shots and was a total champ.

we are on the brink of another snow storm, and are expecting at least 6 inches. this weekend we will be wrapping prezzies, making cookies and fudge, visiting with friends and, i hope, romping around in the snow. i am SO ready for the workday to be over!!!

xoxo j

snow snow and more snow

we are in the middle of a snow storm, yes indeed. they seem to be coming with some frequency these days. happily, this storm is mostly snow, not freezing rain.

things have been just beyond busy at this end, which is why i haven't been posting much. between holiday preparations and scrambling to get some house projects done on short notice, we've been out straight. no time to wrap prezzies; no time to bake cookies. wah! i am hoping to fit some of that in this weekend. along with some sledding, or snow-shoeing. mmmmmm....

aubrey has her 18 month check-up today. i think she's getting a few shots, so i expect she will be cranky this evening. i can't believe my little boopers is 18 months old! her vocabulary is growing, and she is becoming a very good mimic. and a dare devil...she is sporting a few bumps and bruises as a result of stunts gone awry. : )

i am hoping to post some picture soon...and take some new ones, since we STILL haven't gotten christmas cards made up/sent out and i need some shots of aubrey playing in the snow. i'll definitely update on aubrey's 18-month stats later, though.

aubrey

quick post to report that, on december 10, 2008, for the first time, aubrey clearly and intelligently said her own name. : )

(of course, it sounds a little more like Aub-yeey or, Aub-eey, but she does make an attempt to say the "r". it's so cute.)

we're getting some snow today...and a mix of other stuff too, unfortunately. and pete is headed up north this afternoon for an overnight trip (tomorrow he is doing testing up in da middle of nowhere nh) so hopefully aubrey, cabot and i will brave the storm on our own. (i just hope we don't lose the power....)

yellow

hello! we're back from nj, where we ate lots of turkey, pie, and other goodies. aubrey did well on both the ride down and the ride back (the ride back was very loooooong on account of wretched driving conditions). she also was an angel about bedtime and slept through the nite, every nite! hooray! she wasn't much for napping, however. on thanksgiving day, there was so much excitement (mostly involving a mini yorkie who came to grandma and grandpa's for the day and whith whom aubrey was smitten) that she didn't take a nap at all. this resulted in a mega meltdown around 5:00 pm, so we stuck her in the bathtub to relax, gave her a light dinner and she was asleep on my shoulder by 6:30 and went to bed without having her evening sippy cup of milk. and then she slept until 7:30! ah. so nice.

the day after thanksgiving we all took a stroll up to town to check out some local toy shops and have a bite to eat for lunch. then we headed over to the little petting zoo that was set up in a little park in front of the town municipal building. aubrey LOVED seeing and feeding all of the (incredibly fat) farm animals. i found it so amusing...seeing all of these farm animals tethered up in a parking lot in such an urban setting. poor things. at least they seemed to enjoy all of the food that was waived infront of their eager faces by willing little hands. hmmm.

so...aubrey is starting to learn colors! she has successfully mastered yellow, or, as she says it, "yay-yoh." soooooo cute! i'm pretty sure she can also distinguish red, blue and green, but she doesn't verbally indicate which color is which unless prompted. we're getting there!

where did november go?!?!?

i can't BELIEVE tomorrow is thanksgiving! gadzooks! the past few weeks have flown by!

we are making the trek down to nj tonite to spend the holiday with grandma and grandpa. although it will be nice to spend time with family and it yummy food, i am preparing myself for bedtime struggles with miss a, and not getting restful sleep. not looking forward to it, especially since for the last few days aubrey has been sick and waking up in the middle of the night. (it takes me FOREVER to relax and fall back asleep after a midnight waking. gar!) luckily, she seems to be feeling much better, so that will make things more pleasant for everyone.

aside from several recent short (but highly unpleasant) bouts of illness, boopers is doing very well. she has started to say "yah" when she answers a question in the affirmative. however, she is not necessarily a reliable source of information. (example: mummy asks aubrey, aubrey, do you have poopies in your diadee? aubrey answers: yah. mummy checks diadee. no poopies.)

she is really, really cute. i want to bottle up and save her cuteness.

apple hat for miss a

these pictures are a little old, but i thought i'd share them anyway because they show off miss a in her cute little "apple" hat, which is really more tomatoe-ish, but apple seems much more fitting for the season. posting these is a great motivator for me to cast on for another hat for aubrey...this is the only hat that fits her right now (she has a gi-normous noggin'...95th percentile, in fact) and the cold weather is rapidly approaching.

i have been so busy with the new job, pete travelling, and so forth that i haven't had much time to write. things are good, though. aubrey is continuing to expand her vocabulary...her latest challenge is learning to say all of her classmate's names. (she says "ah-eeey" for aggie; "yeeeed" for reed; "bom" for tom; and "jayjay" for a.j. everyone else is a bit hard to discern at the moment, but she's getting there!)

i am FINALLY back in a running routine (i run from my office to pete's, about 3.3 miles, 3 times a week) which is great. before i got pregnant and gave birth to boopers i was in excellent shape. since then...well...it's been a struggle to find the time to get back into it regularly. for the moment i seem to have found a nice groove and i am loving it. running, for me, is a really good stress buster, and boy do i need some stress relief these days!

also, i have been knitting like a madwoman, since everyone keeps having babies. (i made miss a the cutest little socks the other day...socks and mittens are my new favorite little people project.)

i will try to be a bit more regular about posting. promise!

finally...the candidate i voted for WON the presidential race!

in every presidential election i have casted a ballot in during my adult life, my candidate of choice has been the loser. thus, i am so excitedrelievedproudwonderous about last night's election results. watching the 100,000 some odd people erupt in cheers when obama was announced the winner brought tears to my eyes.

i am very tired today, but it's a good kind of tired. ah.

halloween pics

we had a fabulous halloween! there was a halloween parade at daycare. my friend sent us these great pictures, so i thought i'd share them. (her little gal is the doctor...isn't she cute?) here's the crew, rolling out in their get up. see aubrey peeking around the corner?

here's our sweet little chicken! i'm so glad she agreed to wear her costume! it turns out that she wore it ALL DAY and didn't want to take it off! (we even wore the hat to the grocery store over the weekend.) i'm having trouble formatting these pictures, so the one below is all three of us (pete dressed up like wolf man...can you tell?) and the last picture is all of aubrey's little friends lined up.

happy spook day!

it's halloween! hooray! little miss a is going to dress up as a lil' chicken today. that is, if she'll agree to wear her costume. (we have tried putting the little chicken hat on her several times, but she only tolerates it for about 30 seconds and then rips it off with a resound "NO!")

sorry for the lull in posting. it's been so hectic around here with the new job and all. which is going very well so far, and i've been busy which is a good thing. i'm cramming my brain with new information and am hoping that within the next few weeks it will all gel together and i will actually sound competent when i explain things. here's to hopin'.

it has been very chilly up here in vt over the past couple of weeks...we've even seen some snow! we have put the garden to bed, raked up all of the leaves, and are ready for the cold weather. well almost.

aubrey is on the verge of running, and is a free exerciser of the word "no," or, "no no," as of late. she DOES know how to say yes ("yah") but she doesn't use it very often. and why should she, when a grunt and point achieves the same effect? whatev. she's been doing very well with bedtime (i hope i'm not jinxing myself right now) these days. i think this is partly attributable to our efforts to keep her on a regular schedule, and partly due to her new found love of a bedtime companion, "memay." (a/k/a lamby, the sleep sheep.) which has been in her crib since she started sleeping there, but only recently has she shown any interest in him. (her? i'm not sure of the gender.)

in fact, she's grown so fond of memay that he/she often comes downstairs with her in the morning and it's a bit of a battle to have her part with him/her. sometime she also brings her stuffed mouse downstairs with her, but really, its memay who she loves best. i'm just rolling with it.

all in all, things are going well. the change in job is quite refreshing, and it's nice to commute into the "city" with pete and aubrey. i have been knitting like a madwoman...lots of babies being born these days, and i have lots of christmas knitting to accomplish. i will try to post some pictures soon of miss a, the fall season, and warm woolies. when i have the gumption to turn on the computer at home.

no time to write these days

aaaaaaack! things are just beyond busy these days! where to begin?

pete's folks were up visiting us over columbus day weekend, and then some. it was a nice visit...the weather was perfect, and they enjoyed spending time with aubrey. pete's pop helped us finish up some projects around the house, which was a big help. all in all, a good visit.

pete left for seattle for a conference the day his parent's left, and was gone for almost a week. so i was on full duty with missy. all week long she was a royal pain in the butt about going to bed. she is going through a "clingy phase," and i'm wondering if part of the clingyness involves fear of being left along at bedtime? i dunno, but it's been over a week of crying herself to sleep and it is definitely wearing on me. sigh.

my last week at the firm was pretty sh*tty. the partners pretty much ignored me. on my last day the "ladies downstairs" gave me flowers and told me they felt badly for me...for the way i've been treated. i finished up my projects, worked until the last minute, and high-tailed it outta there. i don't feel great about the way things shook out with the firm. oh well. time to move on.

this past weekend missy and i traveled down to the cape and stayed with my grandparents. pete met us on saturday (he caught a flight to boston and took a bus to the cape) and saturday night we threw a birthday party for me mum. she was mostly surprised and a very good sport about the whole thing.

i am at my new gig....sooooooooo different! too much to write about right now. i think it's going to be a very good thing, but i have so much to learn and get up to speed on. and of course...pete is off on another business trip. he left this morning for ann arbor. thankfully, he should be back tomorrow night.

in short, craziness. i sure do hope missy goes to sleep easily tonite. i'm not counting on it, tho. oh yeah, and speaking of the little miss...she has a firm grasp of the proper use of the word "no." we are no-ing a lot these days.

; )

things i'm loving right now

fall is my most favorite season. i love the colors, smells, and sounds of autumn in vermont. i was reminded of this over the weekend when we were working outside in the yard. it's nice to have these reminders every once in a while. keeps me grounded; makes me feel content and in-the-moment. so here's a short list of things i'm currently smitten with.

1. sooop! and roasted things. this was a weekend of lots of cooking. in particular, soup! so satisfying and warming. and a good way to use up things that have lingered a leetle too long in the cupboards/fridge/pantry. and roasted things. in the form of winter squash, root vegetables...free range chicken....yum.

2. recycling yarn. okay i'll admit it...i've amassed quite a stash of wool. however, mostly in smaller quantities. (skein of this here, two skeins of that there, you get the idea.) great for knitting things for the wee folk (of which there are many!) but not so much for the bigger projects. which is why i have revisited a few sweaters (both finished and partly knit) from aways back and begun the unravelling process. saves me a few $ and enables me to tackle a few bigger projects, like this lovely sweater for pete (i'm finished with one sleeve and have started the body) and this beauty for me. if only my hands worked faster and i had a few more hours in the day....

3. goodies from the local food co-op. pete and i make every effort to each as much local food as possible, within our budgetary constraints. we are usually able to buy local dairy and eggs, some local meat, locally made bread and - especially at this time of year - lots of locally grown produce. today i stopped by one of the smaller co-ops in the 'hood and picked up some ingredients for our dinner, and also got myself some lunch, including a chicken salad wrap, made with locally-raised free range chicken and chocolate chip cookies from a local baker. so so so good.

4. aubrey's joyous shrieks and giggles. now that she's over the sicky and not putting up such a fight at bedtime, aubrey's back to her usual happy little self. watching her launch into a big ol' pile of leaves yesterday hooting with laughter was heartwarming indeed.

fall!

the end of the weekend is fast approaching. it's been a busy one, with lots of scrubbing, raking, chopping, cooking, and baking.

saturday we cleaned and cleaned in the am...after getting fueled with french toast and fruit for breakfast. (making french toast with the last of our weekly loaf has become something of a tradition on the weekends.) in the afternoon we met up with some friends at billings farm & museum for the pumpkin and apple celebration. pretty goofery, but fun for the kids. they got to see all of the cows, chickens and sheep...aubrey was in farm animal HEAVEN! (i'd estimate that at least 1/3 of her vocabular involves animals and their sounds.) we also romped on the grass and ate pumpkin ice cream. aubrey wore her newly knit apple hat. (actually, it looks more like a tomato. oh well.)

today was work day! we continued with our mad house cleaning and then hit the back yard to put the garden to bed. i was surprised to see that we still have some letuce, parsley and basil kickin' around, unscathed by the frost. and of course, some chard. and we harvested our last head of broccoli. yum.

while we were outside raking up the leaves and pulling up the plants in the garden, our neighbors came along and gave us a couple of pints of freshly picked blueberries from their blueberry bushes. they are HUGE and taste heavenly! it's amazing they've lasted so late into the season! i'm not sure what to do with them yet. maybe blueberry muffins later in the week. if we don't eat them all first.

fall is such a busy time of year. lots of projects to finish up before the real cold comes along.

aubrey is REALLY walking now. from room to room, across the yard in a blink. she still falls a lot, but she is very determined and usually just picks right up and carries on. also in the aubrey cuteness department...she and cabot have been best buds this weekend! i am so proud of cabot! he usually runs away when she toddles by, but lately he's been letting her pat him, licking her hand...it's so cute!

so far, success.

with the ferber method, that is. all it took was that one night of crying. tuesday night, aubrey cried when pete initially left her room, and the crying quickly dissolved into whimpering and then into cooing. she was quiet within 5 minutes and slept through the night. last night when pete left her room, not a peep. so i'm hoping for a repeat performance tonite.

i'm sure we will have to revisit "sleep training" again. classically, aubrey's sleep habits are disturbed when she's sick; when we travel; when she has intense teething pain. so it goes, i guess.

she is a MUCH happier baby when she gets a regular night's sleep! (and i am a much happier mom when my baby is happy!)

i will try to post some photos later in the week. we are still playing catch-up after such a busy weekend.

the kitchen sink

this post will cover a multitude of topics, in no particular order: biting, scratching, hiting, roseola, weddings, ferberization, rain, and career changes, to name a few.

the past few weeks have been insane. starting with: receiving a job offer from a v. cool attorney and giving my notice at my current place of employ. stressful. especially since i will be the third associate to leave in less than a month's time. yep. it's been crazy on the work front. but, i am excited about my new job for the following reasons: (a) no more billing target, yeeeeehaw! (b) a whole new area of law, and much much less litigation work; (c) pete, aubrey and i will all commute to work and daycare together (saving us $ on gas). i will miss the guys here at the office, but i think it's time for me to move on to something different.

and then there's aubrey. my little toddling terror. so during the last post i was complaining about brattiness, etc. well, it turns out that the brattiness was at least partly due to the fact that miss a was SICK. with roseola, it turns out. high fever for several days, followed by a pimply rash. of course, this all coincided with our traveling plans, as we were scheduled to attend a wedding in maine and an anniversary cruise for my grandparents in boston this past weekend. we got the ok to travel from aubrey's doc, so we ended up going to the wedding, but now i'm wondering if we should have. it rained and rained and rained the entire weekend, which made traveling a bit more challenging and less enjoyable.

on top of being a sicky, aubrey has been terrorizing her fellow classmates (and US) with biting and scratching. she seems to want to bite/scratch the most when she is overtired. sigh. so embarassing to sign a form at the end of the day acknowledging that your child hit/bit/scratched another child. our current strategy: if missy bites or scratches or hits, we put her down on the ground, tell her firmly, "NO [insert inappropriate behavior here]" and ignore her for one minute. hopefully, after a few dozen episodes, she'll eventually get the message.

and...as with all transitions that we go through, miss a is putting up a horrendous struggle at bedtime. we have finally resorted to "ferberization," which i don't like at all, but we've tried everything else with no success. it is maddening because for the longest time she would put herself to sleep with nary a peep, so this feels like a huge step backwards. however, i realize that she is going through a lot right now, with learning to walk and all, and that these milestones can cause bumps in the road in terms of sleep habits.

last night she cried for an HOUR before she fell asleep. (and predictably, every time we went in to "reassure her" she would just get more pissed off.) i hope i hope i HOPE that tonite goes more smoothly.

i just keep telling myself that this is one of MANY parenting challenges i will face over the coming years, and to be thankful that aubrey is, on the whole, a happy and healthy little gal. oh, and she's cute, too.

i hope this is just a phase...

...this brattiness and not sleeping business. sheeesh! aubrey has been a small terror over the past few days. i'm not sure what is going on...i know she is cutting a molar, so that may be a contributing factor. she is also really starting to figure out this walking thing, and wants to gogogogogo (or as she says, "DOOOOH!"), and she wants to do everything herself.

hmmmm...an independent streak, perhaps? not sure where she gets it from.

anyhoo, over the weekend boopers didn't take any meaningful naps, and as a result was in near melt-down mode by dinner time. which resulted in a struggle to get her to go to bed. yesterday, however, she took a nearly two hour-long nap at daycare and was relaxed and pleasant during dinner and in the bath, but would NOT go to bed until nearly 9:30! oh, we tried...three times! finally, on the third try she went down without a fuss.

and then she was up early this morning. what is going on!?!?!?

i really hope it is just a phase. usually she doesn't put up a fight at bedtime.

things are very very crazy around here. some big changes, of the career type. my career, that is. i will go into more detail in a later post. too much to talk about and too little time at the moment.

later.

15 month stats

aubrey went to the doc for her 15 month check-up yesterday. in addition to the three icky shots she received (we decided to go with the chickenpox vaccine, after some initial hemming and hawing), she was weighed and measured. the results:

height = 30 3/4 inches
weight = 23 lbs., 4 oz.

for both height and weight, she in the 50 - 75 percentile range. And she grew almost 2 inches since her 12 month check up! wow!

the doctor was impressed with her language skills, too. i'd estimate that she has a vocabulary of close to 20 words now (although some of them she doesn't pronounce correctly...for example, she says "poon" for "spoon") and understands many more words than that. she's smert.

i am pretty down in the dumps this week, on account of my job. one of my favorite people is leaving at the end of the month to move far far away, and then, to make things even more depressing, i just learned that my very BEST buddy here at work is leaving in a week to take another job. so i will be losing my confidants, and i am really, really bummed.

i hope that the rest of the week gets better. i could really use a boost.

rediscovering a super food, and the onset of chilly weather

i've been having a hard time posting lately...my days have been very busy lately, and in the evenings i don't have any desire to be in front of a computer. not to mention that i am usually pooped by 9:00pm as it is.

so.

doings around these parts: slowly making progress with house improvement. aubrey is taking more steps every day, though she is not quite 100% bipedal. the garden is starting to wind down, though we have been blessed with a glut of zucchini. we've had it in one form or another every day for the past week: on the grill; baked in bread; sauteed and incorporated into barley "risotto."

speaking of barley...i think it is my new favorite grain. i love it's earthy flavor and chewy bite. it seems to go well with so many savory ingredients, and yet is perfectly lovely cooked up with a little milk, maple syrup and raisins.

it is also CHEAP. in fact, it's cheaper than rice at the moment. so i am loving that, and am envisioning more barley dishes in the future.

i think fall is starting to show itself around here. this am the thermometer registered 33 degrees Fahrenheit. we didn't get a frost, but i am glad we decided to cover up our tender arugula, lettuce and chard over night!

back to work! i sure am glad i brought a sweater today....

productive holiday weekend

greetings! i'm back at work after a gloriously sunny and productive labor day weekend. on the list of accomplishments:

• we made four quarts of tomato sauce using our own tomatoes, peppers and herbs, and local organic garlic


• we canned said tomato sauce, my first canning adventure as an adult (i used to watch my mom can peaches, pears and homemade applesauce as a kid)
  
• we painted yet another wall in the kitchen...only one more to go!
  
• i made a fantastic homemade pesto, roasted pepper and tomatoe pie, using a slightly modified version of this excellent recipe.

this, in addition to all of the usual weekend chores. with time for several lovely walks in the sunshine with cabot and boopers. and dinner with friends.

i am so very much enjoying all of the homegrown food we've been fortunate to savor, too. in addition to the tomato sauce we enjoyed with locally raised beef over pasta, and the pesto pie with VT mozarella, we also had our own grilled zucchini and lots and lots of cucumber salad. mmmmmm.

i can't believe how fast the summer flew by. this month is going to be busy, as we button up outdoor and indoor projects. we have two weddings this month, one local and the other in maine, and also my grandparent's 50th wedding anniversary celebration. busy times for sure. hopefully there will also be apple picking in the forecast for september, more bbq-ing with friends, and early evening family walks around the village.

i'll leave you with a few pictures of aubrey, who is busily perfecting her balancing so that she can cruise around the house unaided. don't you love the outfit? a classic example of the "layering" necessitated by early fall weather in VT!

beautiful weekend

some pictures from our hike last weekend. a stunningly beautiful late summer day. here's boopers and pete, shortly after she nodded off in the backpack.












here are the "kids," taking a snack break on the "summit." aubrey WORSHIPS cabot, and it is a rare day when he lets her pet him.





and again. so cute. can you tell that i gave aubrey her first haircut? it was a bit of a challenge, and i'm sure it's not very even, but i got the job done, and it turned out alright.


back to work!

five steps!

i am having a proud mommy moment!

today aubrey took five steps. the most she's taken yet. of course, i wasn't there to see it, but. still. i'm so proud!

blushing. heeee!

old mcdonald...

funny story!

last night, while in the bath (which is the time of day where aubrey sits still long enough to play games and sing with us), we were going through our usual rotation of singing songs, playing with toys, splashing water, and pointing at body parts, when aubrey said, quite clearly, "eee iy, eee iy, oooooh."

pete and i looked at each other. surely, that wasn't a coincidence. but, had we ever sang "old mcdonald had a farm" with her? not that we could recall. this prompted us to sing through a couple of verses of "old mcdonald," during which aubrey happily swayed back in forth.

apparently, on the ride to "school" this morning, she blurted out "eee iy, eee iy, ooooooh" again. so pete asked aubrey's "teachers" whether they had sung old mcdonald recently. it turns out that old mcdonald is the purple room's FAVORITE SONG. so funny!

it is amazing to see aubrey make connections and to get a glimpse at what her thought processes are. heee!

howdy

sorry for the lull in posting. i really have no excuse except that, well, it's summer.

and it's been a very rainy summer. cucumbers are out of controll in the garden, so clearly they are thriving in all of the wet weather. the tomatoes, unfortunately, have taken a beating. we are finally seeing small broccoli heads form on some of the broccoli plants, though. and i think this weekend we will be making a big batch of pesto. and probably pickles.

we are in the middle of some big painting projects: pete took this week off to paint the framed section of the house. and we are about 40% finished painting the kitchen, too. (a bright yellow. goes well with the cherry cabinets and soapstone countertops. at least i think so.) hopefully those projects will get wrapped up in the next week or so.

aubrey is so! close! to full-on walking. you should see her speed along with her cheapie plastic walker! it's one of the cutest things i've ever seen! she's really good at steering, too. so the first independent steps could come any day now.

she is also rapidly expanding her vocabulary, and impressing us daily with her discoveries. the other night, while in the bath, she successfully pointed to her: ears, nose, eyes, mouth, and head. wow! i was floored! we are also very good at identifying animals and making their corresponding sounds. she is especially good at woofing and panting like a dog. she can also squawk like a monkey and mooooo like a cow. ; )

now if i could only get her to grasp the concept behind the word "no." hmmmm....

mmmm...bubbles.

who knew that bathtub bubbles could be so delectible? here's miss a, having just taken a big refreshing (?) gulp of bubbly goodness.

blerg.

that pretty much sums up how i'm feeling right now. you know what its like when you've entered a contest to win an awesome prize and you find out that you probably didn't win the prize but you're not 100% sure and the not knowing is just eating away at you? yep. that's how i feel right now. it sucks.

so to make myself feel a bit better, i'll share a funny tidbit about my brilliant gal: about a month ago, while biding time in home depot waiting for dada to pick out the perfect switch plates and other electronic devices, aubrey and i galloped around, looking for those warning signs that they place at the entrance to an isle that is closed off for safety reasons. these signs are usually equipped with a picture of a STOP sign, accompanied by the words "for your safety." (aaaah. the attorney in me smells liability...for your safety? hah! yeah right.) anyhoo...every time we came upon one of the signs i would stop in my tracks and put my hand up near aubrey's face and declare, "STOP! for...your...safety!" she thought it was hysterical.

recently, on our nightly walks around the village, we've noticed that aubrey will put her little pudgy hand up and say "STAH!" whenever we approach a stop sign. then she cracks up. isn't that so cute? i can't believe she remembers that day in home depot! she is, obviously, a lot smarter than i give her credit for. ; )

summertime photos

one of boopers favorite things to do these days is hang out in the back yard and splash around in her kiddie pool. i don't blame her, really. it's been so friggin' hot out! she really is a little fish...she LOVES the water! a future olympic swimmer, perhaps? we'll see.

new big things to report: boopers is getting very good at standing independently. she practices all the time. it won't be long before she takes her first steps! i'm giddy with excitement for her. (and a little nervous for me...i'm not prepared yet!) she has correctly referred to me as "mama," and pete as "dada." she also can woof woof like a dog on cue. she is soaking it all in these days...mimicing sounds, gestures, faces. i have to be more careful what i say around her!

and the garden is really starting to flourish! in addition to the daily cucumbers and lettuce we've been harvesting, we have zucchini ready to pick! soon the arugula will be ready and hopefully we'll have more peppers on the way. and lots of tomotoes. yum.

and before i forget, here is a picture of moi, with the new hair cut. so far, i'm lovin' it.

recap of the week of jess

sadly, the week of jess is over. sigh. and what a week it was.

i was pretty swamped at work all week. just before my mini vacation was to commence, we got a new case and i was tasked with figuring out how to respond to an EEOC complaint in a very short time frame. i also spent most of my friday trying to settle my first case. not such a big deal, except that i had to deal with two other parties, not just one, and we were haggling over a rediculously small amount of money. yeesh. aggravating to say the least.

our trip to boston was fabulous, in spite of the 95 + degree temperatures. our hotel was gorgeous, comfortable and conveniently located. we had a wonderful view of boylston street and the hancock building from our room. nifty. we did some shopping in the morning and early afternoon. we walked around the north end in the evening. we enjoyed drinks at the hotel bar.

and of course, we ate. we had lunch here and dinner here. highly recommend the latter...their specialty is, naturally, seafood. we had oysters on the half shell and stuffed squash blossoms as an appetizer. i had sea scallops with linguine, lemon cream sauce, spinach and tomatoes as an entree; pete had truffle-crusted skate with grilled peaches and greens. very very good. nice atmosphere, too. i was not so crazy about the former, however. the food was alright, but overpriced for what it was. or so i thought.

it was nice to see my family, and aubrey did just fine on her night away from mama and dada. i haven't heard all of the details yet, but i'm sure grammie spoiled her rotten. (wink wink.)

now, back to reality. it has been pretty much non-stop rain since we got back to VT. things are growing well in the garden...we have a glut of salad greens at the moment, and the cucumbers are in full swing. i think we'll be making pickles soon. and, we have some baby zucchinis! so far so good, although two of them had slightly rotten blossoms on the ends that i plucked off. i hope they survive all of this wetness....

the week of jess continues...

hey! i have some pictures to post! not of aubrey's birthday, unfortunately. those are still stuck on my ancient computer. i do have some pics of her from the weekend, when we celebrated another little friend's first birthday.

here she is, riding on the bouncing horse we gave joey as a present. see how long her hair is getting? i think i might need to trim it soon. but i'm scared.

and here we are with said bouncing horse. this is me before i chopped all of my hair off. i'll try and post a pic of me with the new do soon.

and here she is yet again playing with the birthday boy. aren't they so cute? i can't believe how fast they are growing!

the week of jess

today is my birthday, hooray for me! having had a rediculously long string of bad birthdays (for example: last year i spent my 30th birthday moving from a spacious, clean and modern house to a teeny dirty apartment with a four-week-old infant) i have declared this week the week of jess. the week begins with me taking most of the afternoon off, getting my hair cut really short, enjoying a leisurely walk with baby and hubby, and having a little dinner out, and will culminate in an overnite trip to boston compete with a stay at a swank hotel and involving the consumption of much yummy food and spirits.

i think i deserve a good week. yep. i'll post again soon. hopefully with pictures.

summer days and a plea for honey bees

hi hi.

i am very behind on posting these days. this is partly due to the fact that i've had little time to write, and partly due to the fact that i have had little time to deal with the million photos we've taken recently and that i want to post. we just bought an external hard drive to store our music/important files/photos, and until we get everything off our computer and organized, things just seem to take forever. not to mention that who wants to sit in front of a computer on a beautiful summer day? or evening? not me.

but things are fine at this end. aubrey is growing and cute as ever. she wants to gogogogogo and is a bit frustrated that she hasn't mastered independent walking yet. soon, i think. and an update on weaning: the "girls" are still a bit full, but not nearly as painful. and i haven't had to pump again since the last post. i think we're doin' okay.

the garden is growing nicely...we are harvesting lettuce daily and i think cucumbers will be next. however, i am a bit perplexed by my zucchini plants. they are growing well, and have lots of male flowers on them. but not a whole lot of female flowers. there are a few, but they aren't ripening into fruit yet.

harumph. zucchini should NOT be difficult to grow in vt. i'm not sure if the lack of fruit is due to a lack of female flowers, which hopefully appear soon, or a lack of pollination. i've heard that there is a significant shortage of honey bees in new england, and i'm concerned that that may be one of the reasons i'm not seeing any baby zukes (the one that i spied the other day is missing now. maybe one of the neighborhood dogs?). i am contemplating pollinating them by hand, however, i can't do it until the weekend, because by the time i get home in the evenings the blossoms are closed up. i'm thinkin' a q-tip might be the best device to use. but i really wish there were bees around to do the work for me.

oh yes, and before i forget, i must share my new food love: newman o's peanut butter creme filled nuggets of goodness. where have they been all of my life? yum.

sketchy neighbors, baby veggies, and weaning pain

so this posting will be on an assortment of topics, in no particular order.

incidentally, we had a hot and sunny 4th of july weekend, filled with gardening, splashing around in cool water, hiking among the mozzies, parade watching, and sand, rock, grass and ice cream eating. (well, only aubrey ate the sand, rocks and grass, tempted though i was.) yippee!

sketchy neighbors

we live in a teeny tiny town in VT, right in the village. we are slowly getting to know our neighbors, after a long and snowy winter where everyone was holed up inside. however, we are having a hard time figuring out what is going on in the house immediately to our south. there seems to be at least one responsible adult who lives there most of the time, but not usually on weekends. we have met her and she is very nice. it seems that her younger sister also lives at the house, but i'm not sure where/who we heard that from. she (younger sister) occasionally says hello, but has not introduced herself.

then there are several young men who also live in the house. or maybe there is just one young man. we're not sure...there is always a rotating ensemble of vehicles in the driveway, and the men/man who live there all look the same...black knit ski cap worn almost always (even in 90 degree july weather!), baggy pants, oversized polo or t-shirt. kind of ghetto-style in the sticks, you know? we know there are at least two guys that live/frequently visit at the house, because one weekend younger sister had a little party, and there were TWO guys there...and they suspiciously looked alike. now we aren't sure which one lives there.

anyhoo, on to the really sketchy part: yesterday, at approximately 8:45 am, I watched one of the mystery men exit the house and make for the back yard, cigarette in one hand, and a 24 oz. can of bud lite in the other. um, breakfast drink of champions? yer.

i suppose i sound a bit like a nosey parker, don't i? it's not hard to spy on the neigbors, when their front door is RIGHT outside our kitchen windows.

baby veggies

garden update: we are slowly conquering the weeds in the garden! we are about to harvest our first lettuce crop, and there are baby veggies of all sorts! we have several baby tomatoes growing in the sunshine; a baby zucchini hidden under the leaves; several tiny baby cukes growing happily; a few teeny sweet italian peppers; and lots and lots of basil. we will be making a batch of pesto soon, i think.

weaning issue

so i finally cut out the last breast feeding session yesterday. actually, i didn't do it on purpose...we had a very busy morning and i simply forgot to nurse aubrey (who didn't care in the slightest). i managed to make it through the day with minimal consequences. however, i woke up this morning feeling a little...um...tender. by mid morning, i was pretty uncomfortable, so i pumped just under an ounce from each side. just enough to ease that omigod i'm gonna explode feeling. i am still pretty full, though. very unpleasant, and considering my track record for plugged ducts, i am a bit frightened. i guess i thought this final stage of weaning would be effortless. maybe it is for some folks? i dunno. i hope that the next few days go smoothly. ouch.

finally! a picture!

of the family, just before the consumption of birthday cake. more to come!

still no pictures, but looky: a list!

happy monday morning! i'm back in the office after a lovely - though short - weekend adventure with the rest of the posse.

saturday we packed up the car and headed up north for my good friend's wedding. the morning was a little insane with packing, trips to the dump, dropping cabot off at his overnight accomodations, and an intensely cranky little miss. oh yes, and the arrival of 16 baby chickens, that we are minding over the next week while our friends are on vacation. more on the chickens later.

by noon, we were on our way. we made it up to stowe (where we were staying) in a timely fashion, all things considered. we checked into our hotel (kind of a crappy place, considering how much it cost...we won't be staying there again), got dressed, and headed up to hyde park for the wedding.

which was lovely, despite the downpour in the middle of the (outdoor) ceremony. very laid back, on a really neat farm on the top of a hill. the reception (and second half of the ceremony) took place in a big barn with stained glass windows. neat, eh? the food was good, the band was great, and there was a cool windmill outside the barn that aubrey was fascinated with. we had to leave before dessert and dancing (it was late and missy needed to go to bed) but had fun, nonetheless.

the next day we had breakfast at a favorite little b&b and then spent the better part of the day exploring the stowe bike path, shopping along the way. we had fun at the farmer's market...aubrey loved the live music, and crawling around in the grass. she also discovered the joys of a bendy straw. : )

we made our way back to town and had a late lunch at the "malt shoppe" before heading back home.

so anyhoo, on to the list...

seeing as how aubrey is a year old, i thought it might be nifty (and perhaps useful) to compile a list of things/products that have been invaluable over the last twelve months. so, in no particular order, here are a few things that have made life a bit more pleasant over the last year:

seventh generation diapers and wipes - cloth diapering wasn't really an option with aubrey (although i am definitely contemplating it for # 2, now that we have a house with a washer and dryer and plenty of space) and these disposables really rock. you can purchase them on the cheap through amazon.com.

medela harmony hand pump - i LOVE this little hand pump. i kept the electric guns at work and used this one at home, and i have to say...though it was a bit slower than the electric pump, it sure was a lot more comfortable. and really easy to use. can't recommend enough.

the hooter hider - i love the whimsical prints of these simple but useful gizmos. i always kept mine in my purse for those occasions where i simply had to breastfeed aubrey RIGHT NOW no matter where we were. i have one in this print. so fun.

my fantastic baby carriers - i have already sung the praises of my ergo baby carrier, but i have to give a shout out to the baby bjorn...which was beyond helpful for the first 5 months. when aubrey wouldn't nap for me, carrying her around in the bjorn bought me some relief from her colicy crying.

zutano fleece booties - these babies were the only thing that kept socks on my little girl's feet all winter long. they are easy to put on and they stay on. plus, they are cute and warm. i think i want some adult sized ones. really.

the bundle me - can you tell that i live in a place where it gets freaky cold during the winter? this thing rocked...it kept missy warm and snuggly in her car seat, and eliminated the need for bulky snowsuits and layering when traveling to and fro.

all things haba - i think pete and i like the haba toys more than aubrey does, but seriously, what's not to like? cute, colorful, and nontoxic. we especially like these soft blocks.

wooden spoons and plastic cups - sometimes we drag out our box of tupperware and just let aubrey pull out whatever cups or containers she wants. then we give her a wooden spoon, and voila: we have a happy, entertained baby.

the skip hop diaper bag - i love skip hop. i love this bag. i love that pete isn't skiddish about carrying it around. 'nuf said.

tubby time - not really a product, but definitely deserving of a mention. aubrey has, from the very beginning, always loved bath time. it never fails in relaxing her. so we give her a bath almost every night...even if we don't scrub her, we let her splash around a play with her toys. i am a big fan of tubby time.

those plain old pre-fold cloth diapers - which you can use for just about a million different purposes. i always have a stack ready juuuuuuuust in case.

weleda diaper cream - this stuff is wonderful...it has a non-offensive odor and a reassuring list of ingredients. we are fortunate that we can buy it at a great price though our little cooperative buying club.

california baby everything - we love the lotion, cream, shampoo and body wash and natural bug repellant. love love love their products. great for sensitive skin! and we can get it cheap through the cooperative.

the putamayo kids collections - aubrey loves music, and we love these CDs, which are appropriate for children, but tolerable to adult ears. we have the world playground collection, the reggae playground collection, and the latin playground collection. good stuff. we keep at least one CD in the car to pop in when aubrey is fussy and bored. usually it works like a charm.

bagels - good for cranky, hungry teethers. i give aubrey a hunk of bagel (usually plain...sometimes cinnamon raisin) when we are grocery shopping and she is happy as a clam.

hand-me-downs - we have been lucky to receive heaps of hand-me-down toys, gadgets and clothing. in fact, we have a large tupperware bin filled with yet unseen/unused toys that i think i must raid tonight, to swap out a few toys that have been hanging around for a while. i am a big fan of recycling.

i may have to add more to this list, as i think of more things, which i am sure i will.

and i WILL post those pictures soon.

i know...

...i promised pictures and posting and it's been a while and nada. we did finally download pictures from miss booper's party, but they are pretty big files and i'm in the process of dumbing them down to post/email/etc.

it took us a while to get over the sicky. i don't think i have had a stomach flu like that since i was a kid. it sucked. i am mostly over it now, though bits have lingered longer than i'd like. pete and missy seem to be on the mend, though. except now missy seems to have a cold. aaaaaaaack! this morning she was coughing continuously from about 4:00 am until 5:15, at which point she started to cry and we brought her downstairs for a nurse (yes i am still nursing aubrey in the mornings and i keep saying that i will stop but i haven't yet...). so we all started our day off a bit early and a bit cranky. and today i have my first court hearing, so i had to get gussied up in a suit. hopefully i'll make it through the day with minimal coffee consumption.

this weekend we are headed up north for a dear friend's wedding. should be fun, though we will be running around tonite and tomorrow morning getting everything ready. (travelling with a baby makes things kind of complicated.)

what else? it has been pretty wet over the past week, which has meant that we haven't had to water the garden. it also has hampered my goals of eliminating weeds and planting more greens (i finally found arugula seeds! horray!) the tomatoes, basil, cukes and squash are doing splendidly. we should be harvesting lettuce very soon. something is munching on the broccoli, but i haven't identified the offending critter yet.

i WILL post pictures and such soon. really. i will.

a whole lot of sicky

yes, i am delinquent on posting. yes, i have about 50 pictures from aubrey's birthday party which i need to download and post.

unfortunately, the whole family has come down with a stomach bug. it started monday morning, when we discovered aubrey sitting in her crib covered in vomit. (distinctly the color and texture of birthday cake. poor bugga.) and diarrhea. we took her to the doctors for her 1 year checkup and then kept her home for the day.

then tuesday i came down with the bug. i am STILL not feeling that great. (no more fever, so well enough to work, but not well enough to eat like a normal human.) wednesday pete came down with it. we're all feeling - quite literally - pukey and poopey. blah.

oh yes, did i mention that over the weekend cabot ate 24 plastic electrical outlet covers?! well, he did. so he's been feeling a little pukey and poopey too. grrrrrr.

so, hopefully tonite we will get around to posting some pictures. in the meantime, aubrey's one year stats:

21 lbs.
29.5 "

and aside from a tummy bug completely healthy.

more later.

gearing up for the weekend

hello, friday! what a busy week! last night i decorated 40 + lady bug cupcakes. pete and i have been scurrying around prepping for company this weekend (my sister is arriving this afternoon, and my parents are coming on saturday). the house is moderately clean, the garden is doing well, and happily, our rose bush and peonies have decided to flower...just in time for aubrey's birthday, yay!

miss a has been a little under the weather this week. she has been very stuffy, and has a little cough. it's been a few weeks now. we're starting to wonder if she has allergies, since none of her classmates are sick. she has an appointment monday so we'll see what the pediatrician says. also...she is teething like crazy. we often find her whole hand crammed in her mouth. poor little boopers. thankfully, last night she slept well, with no fussing. and the temperature has been much more bearable for the past few days, which really helps.

so the summer edition of knitty just came out and i really really love this and this. so cute! now i just have to finish the sweater i have been working on FOREVER (only! two! more! rows! left!) and then the secret project and then maybe i'll have the time. after i make aubrey's lil' blankie. and some more baby hats.

incidentally, to make the day go by faster, i've been listening to these while drafting motions. hilarious. (um, yes, i have the sense of humor of a 13-year-old-boy.)

heatwave!

dude, we are in the middle of a killah heatwave right now! temps have been hovering around 90 for the past three days. the high temps, in combination with the humidity, have been a bit overwhelming. none of us slept very well last night, on account of the heat. oh, and boopers has just cut tooth # 6...they are coming at rapid fire speed these days!

in spite of the hot weather, we had a productive gardening weekend. we got all of our veggies planted, and also some flowers. yippee! there is only one small section of the garden that hasn't been planted. in that space i am hoping to direct sow some chard, and maybe some arugula or possibly beets. i am pretty impressed with the number of plants we've been able to squeeze into our garden. so far we have:

10 tomato plants, a mixture of celebrities, cherries, and some variety called "jet star"
3 pepper plants, of the sweet variety
6 zucchini plants
5 cucumber plants
4 broccoli plants
10 basil plants
two massive clumps of chives
one italian parsley plant
one row of mixed lettuce greens

i really must take a picture of it...it looks so neat and tidy! we'll see what it looks like when everything is full grown...it might be a bit of a jungle!

it is going to a very busy week...sunday is aubrey's FIRST BIRTHDAY! YIPPEE YAHOOEEE! we are planning to celebrate with a cookout in the back yard, complete with ladybug ice cream cake. yum! my family is coming up to join us, and some friends will be helping us celebrate as well. anyhoo, this week - in addition to all of the cleaning i must accomplish - i am going to be busy making cupcakes and salads for the party. pete is going to construct the ice cream cake, which i will decorate. (gotta put my art degree to use somehow, eh?) oh yes. and wrapping prezzies.

i realize that i have been extremely lax on posting pictures. here's the thing: my slow little laptop has pretty much zero hard drive space, so downloading pictures has been a bit of a chore. i promise i will do so soon soon soon!

busy times, busy baby

howdy. things have been busy around these parts, and i haven't had much time to post. and i have been so preoccupied with work, secret knitting projects, gardening, etc. that i haven't had much inspiration these days.

nonetheless, here are some quick stats on the little miss:

1. current number of teeth: FIVE. her top two front teeth have broken through, and she has a third tooth on the top, in addition to her bottom two front teeth. life has been all about teething these days.

2. mobility update: no walking yet, but she sure is getting to be a fast little crawler! gone are the days when we would plunk her down on the floor, give her a few toys, and she would sit contentedly for ten or fifteen minutes. nope. now it's all about exploring.

3. we are working on words a lot these days. she is starting to say "da da" and "ma ma" and actually associate those words with us. she consistently says "baby," and occasionally says "uh oh" and "pup pup." we are making some progress saying "duck" (she says "DUH!" but doesn't always get the "ck" out...), and "fan" (she points up and makes the "ffffffff" sound. we're gettin' there).

4. we have mastered the wave and are getting quite good at blowing kisses.

5. we have mastered drinking water out of the sippy cup.

6. boopers is really getting into music, and when music is playing, she likes to "dance."

our garden survived the cold snap last week, with minimal damage. (I lost one morning glory plant, and some squash leaves withered up, but luckily there's new growth.) I planted most of our basil the other day, and cukes and broccoli are more than ready to go into the ground. it's been rainy for the past few days so i probably won't get any planting done until the weekend.

alrighty, back to my work!

close call...

it is customary in the green mountain state to plant a vegetable garden during the weekend preceding memorial day. this is because the danger of frost has usually subsided by the end of may.

not so this year, apparently.

on wednesday morning we discovered that the thermometer had dipped to 34 degrees overnight. upon inspection, however, our plants seemed fine...a few lower leaves on the zucchini plants seemed limp, but otherwise ok. this morning we awoke to find that the thermometer registered 32.9 degrees as the lowest temperature of the morning. eeeek! pretty close call! this morning we inspected the garden and things seemed copasetic. perhaps we got lucky, in that the garden is located in the eastern corner of our property, and gets lots of morning sunshine? i dunno. i'll report later on how our plants fared throughout the day.

i guess it's a good thing that i didn't transplant the remainder of our veggies yet. yikes!

gardening goodness

hooray for long weekends filled with sunshine! we made tremendous progress on our garden, with the help of grandma and grandpa, who were up for a visit.

i'm not sure how much detail i've provided about our garden bed. probably not much, other than that it was filled with hostas. anyhoo, we have a fairly sizable garden, flanked on all sides by a low stone wall. i'd guestimate that it is about...15 x 20? and has two beds, divided by another stone wall: one large rectangle (about 12 x 20 ft), and one skinny rectangle (about 3 x 20 ft).

when we started the weekend out, it was filled with weeds and mystery perennials. a few weekends ago i dug out two massive hosta plants, divided them up, and transplanted them to a few shady spots on the property, including my new "mother's day perennial garden," which i promise to take pictures of and post. there are several large clumps of mystery perennial flowers on the shadier, southern end of the garden, and i dug a few up and moved them to the empty spaces where the hostas once were. so approximately 1/3 of the garden is occupied by mystery flowers at the moment, and we're going to wait and see what comes up and then either transplant them in the early fall or, more likely, transplant them next spring when we figure out where they should go.

we spent a considerable amount of time weeding, spreading compost, and turning over the garden bed. we still have a little more soil preparation to do, but most of it is finished, and we were able to plant 10 tomato plants (thanks to grandpa, who brought them up from nj) and two mounds of zucchini. pete found materials (in our barn) to build a trellis for our cucumbers, so this week we will get the cukes in the ground, and probably also the broccoli. and i'll plant some lettuce directly into the ground. basil plants are just about ready to go into the ground. we have a few small pepper plants and chard plants inside in peat pots, but i'm gonna wait another week or so before putting them outside.

i am pretty durned whooped today. and a little sunburned.

so.tired.

i have never been a big coffee drinker. in fact, too much caffeine makes me extremely anxious, jittery, and occaisionally results in insomnia or cold sweats. yuck. but admittedly, over the past six months or so i have come to cherish my morning cuppa. and this morning especially.

putting aubrey to bed last night was a relatively minor event. pete gave her a bottle, and when he put her down she fussed for a minute. but once he left the room she went silent, and then resorted to singing herself lullabies for ten minutes before drifting off. phew! i was prepared for a battle.

so that doesn't explain why i'm tired now, does it? let's just say, it's been one of the THOSE mornings. for starters, cabot woke us up at 4am, puking up bits of plastic. ??? the commotion caused aubrey to stir (she's an uber light sleeper). having been jolted out of my sleep and sent scurrying in the dark to find the paper towels, i was pretty much totally awake and unable to fall back to sleep. i tried, believe me. but aubrey started fussing at 5am, and then cabot puked again, and then...the alarm went off. and that's pretty much how the morning went.

we think cabot chewed up an electrical outlet cover that was removed by the electricians last week and haphazardly placed on top of a cardboard box that had suspcious dog nibbles on one corner. ew. very gross and some what alarming.

i don't think i mentioned that aubrey said "banana" twice yesterday at school. we tried to get her to replicate it at home last night by showing her a banana, but all she wanted to do was chew on it. ger.

clingy

in addition to being cranky on account of her burgeoning milk teeth, aubrey has been very clingy over the past few days. for example: she will be happily playing on her own, and when i walk into the room or try to interact with her, she drops her toy and holds out her arms for me. she does this with pete, too, but the behavior is more particularly associated with me. mama.

last night we had a dreadful time getting aubrey off to bed. i should preface this by mentioning that for the past week or so, i've noticed that after i nurse aubrey and put her in her crib with her favorite "wormy" (rainbow colored caterpillar that she love love loves) tucked under her arm, she looks up at me as if to say, "really? it's bed time and you're leaving me now?" but she usually doesn't put up a fuss. if she does, it's nothing more than a whimper.

not last night. after i put her down, she instantly broke out in tears. which turned into sobs. i then did what i probably shouldn't have done...i picked her up. she calmed down after a minute of rocking, and then i put her back in her crib. more crying.

"MaaaAAaAaaaA...MaaaAaaAAAaAa!!!!!!!"

she was pissed! i rubbed her tummy for a minute, said "nite nite," and then quietly backed away from the crib.

fifteen or so minutes later, she was still crying, so pete went up and tried to comfort her. of course, this made her really mad, but eventually, she gave up and fell asleep.

i really, really hate it when this happens. i feel bad for aubrey, but i know that she needs to sleep and she needs to figure out how to get to sleep on her own. actually, she knows how to fall asleep on her own...i suspect that last night's fussing was due newly developed separation anxiety. i fear that tonite will be a repeat performance. i'm hoping that this is just a phase and she will get over it quickly. in the meantime, i will be pouring over me books about sleep habits in children to see what the "experts" have to say.

back from grammie's

whew, it's only 10 am on monday morning and i'm already pooped. i guess that's what travelling and dealing with a cranky teething child will do to you.

we spent the past weekend visiting with my family on the cape. on the ride down we spent 1 1/2 hours sitting in boston traffic, which is never pleasant, and is even less pleasant with a restless baby and dog flailing about in the back seat.

it was wonderful to visit with family, but unfortunately aubrey was not feeling her best. she was pretty miserable on saturday, with (i think) an upset tummy and teething pain. and she didn't sleep very well that night, which made everyone pretty tired on sunday. nonetheless, she wowed the grands, great-grands, aunties, and uncles with her impressive crawling, pulling up and verbal skills.

we are back at the ranch, and facing mountains of laundry, a lawn in desparate need of a trim (and a daddy in need of a trim, too...), and lots of cleaning to do in preparation for the arrival of the inlaws at the end of the week. i'm getting tired just thinking about it all.

BUT! you should see our little veggie plants growing happily in their pots! almost everthing has sprouted by now...we have healthy morning glory plants that need to get planted, baby broccoli plants, lots of zucchini and cucumbers, itty bitty basil sprouts and - FINALLY! - pepper sprouts! we are still waiting on chard and lettuce, which i planted a bit later than the others. soon though!

and our lilac trees are starting to bloom. it is so nice to be surrounded by so much greenery!

crawlin' around

so aubrey is perfecting her crawling skills everyday, and roving around the house, hungry to explore. of course, she seems to be the most fascinated by the dangerous curiousities. (Oooh, electrical socket...oooh, heavy vacuum cleaner that will topple over on me....)

i just frantically ordered two baby gates from amazon. and you can bet yer bottom dollar that i am covering every socket and installing locks on our cabinet doors stat.

but really, aubrey is so friggin' cute when she crawls! especially on the wooden floors, which create a treadmill effect due to their slippery-ness. note to self: must capture on video.

aubrey's first birthday is approaching, and although we have been the fortunate recipients of many hand-me-down toys and clothes, i would like to buy her a couple of new toys. i am totally in love with oompa toys and am finding it hard to choose between all of the super cool things that they offer. (i am a sucker for everything Haba.)

happy stander

i think i mentioned previously that one of booper's favorite things to do lately is to practice standing. we aren't quite at the stage of walking while holding onto mummy's fingers...but we are close!

the popeye series, part II

mother's day!

happy mother's day!  today i celebrated my FIRST mother's day!  the day started on a good note when aubrey decided to sleep in until almost 7:30.  sweet. not only that, but the sun was shining brightly and there was not a cloud in the sky.  double sweet! then pete and aubrey gave me prezzies: the fabulous sneakers pictured above (which i desperately need); a lovely dahlia in a clay pot painted lovingly in brilliant orange and blue by the little miss; and a funny book about mommies.  

after prezzies, we all headed to one of our favorite places for breakfast.  engorged myself with eggs benedict and homefries.  and really good coffee.  then we headed home and put aubrey down for a nap.  she slept for nearly TWO! HOURS! during which time we transplanted a bunch of perennials from the veggie garden into a few little flower beds that we are resurrecting.  and pete got our composting contraption up and running.  

in the afternoon, we took a wonderful little hike on the trails right in the back of our yard.  it was our first time exploring the trails so far this year and all i have to say is - dang, we're lucky.  they are awesome.  lots of people use them for mountain biking so they are wide and well maintained. 

and this evening pete grilled us some lamb burgers, which we topped with feta and greens.  and i'm about to tuck into a pint of coconut gelato....yum.  

oh yes, and i just discovered more sprouts!  two zucchinis and a cuke!  mother's day doesn't get much better, i tell you.

forward locomotion...

oh yes, aubrey has figured out how to crawl forward. she's a little shaky on the slippery wooden floors (she usually ends up with both legs splayed out behind her...no matter, she still gets around with her commando-style moves) but on the carpet, there's definitely some forward momentum. CRAAAAAZY! my baby is getting so big!!!

a taste of spring

i love foraging for wild edibles, and fiddleheads are one of my favorite spring treats. unfortunately i haven't had much time to hunt any down so far this season. luckily, a good friend brought some over last night, which we promptly cooked up and added to our mushroom risotto. a lovely way to enjoy fiddleheads. yum!

on the gardening front: pete ordered two apple tree sapplings a while back, and they finally arrived in the mail this past weekend. they are now happily planted in the back yard. hopefully in six years or so we'll be enjoying crisp cortlands and northern spys from our very own trees!

we are still waiting for pepper, cucumber, zucchini and basil sprouts to appear. hopefully any day now. in the meantime our tiny broccoli and morning glory sprouts are on the grow. yipee!