Big Sister!

By the way...

a bit of clarification on the last post...Ben of course sees and smiles at PEOPLE quite often too...I just wanted to show the OTHER things he smiles at....

Views That Make Ben Smile

Here is what Ben sees from the places he smiles most.

The reason there is very little color is because apparently that's about what babies his age see...theoretically and in general. I did not run the photos by Ben to make sure they were correct...and how would he know?!

Okay, so here's the first one. It seems like he's below that shelf, which seems a bit precarious, but he is not actually below it...just FYI. This is in our bathroom, and this is what he looks at most of the time when I am taking a bath. This particular angle is his favorite.

Here we see what he sees while I am holding him in bed. The black-on-white must please him, because he grins at the wall every time I put him up there.

Here we have the view when he is in my lap, but not nursing. He finds the curtain and the couch pattern hilarious.

Here we come to the view he has while in his swing. The fish spin, and there are lights. This pleases him, sometimes. At other times, it enrages him.

And here is his view when he is eating, which is often. I actually am usually looking down at him, but that picture did unflattering things to my chin. I don't mind if he sees that, but you don't need to! He most likely sees a bit more boob, as well. That is also unnecessary for your viewage.

at 8:43 am

Today is Ben's 2 month check up! The good news is we can find out just how plump he is! The bad news is he has to have shots...poor kid. Actually, Kaia is due for one, too, but I haven't made her go in yet...need to do that.
Ben was fussy until after midnight last night. He's not quite colicky, but close. I am looking forward to be done with that particular phase.

A few "snapshots" of what's around me:

My hair is quite wild and in my face.
My coffee is cold.
Ben is smiling up at the fish on his swing--wait, no, he's fussing...oh! he's better now.
Mike has just went up to the bathroom.
It is FREAKIN' COLD outside. 34 degrees according to iGoogle.
It has become almost impossible for me to go bra-less and not end up with milk stains on my shirt.
Ben's eyes are opening and closing in time with his swing.
I really REALLY want to go back to bed.
This post is going nowhere.

Goodbye.

Glimpse of Two Days

Here is Kaia, yesterday, playing with a train that I have been saving, and forgot about.

Notice the paper track she cut out.....

And here is Ben today, taking his nap. He fell asleep while Kaia was reading to him. Yes, I know he's supposed to be on his back, but he is right in front of me, and I am keeping an eye on him!

O-G-N-I-M-A-L-F!!!

While Kaia was doing dishes:


Kaia: "top top top top....top....p-p-pot...top pot...hey! Pot is top backwards!"

me: "yep"

Kaia: "What's 'flamingo' backwards?"

a very quick quickie

Had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I have so much to be thankful for, and so little desire to write a post at this time....but love and kisses and hugs to all those people I love--

you know who you are.

Written while being elbowed and begged for breakfast

I love getting up early in the morning. Now, before, if you know me, you suffocate while trying to hold back the laughter, or strain your neck searching for flying pigs, let me explain.

I DON'T usually get up early. I LOVE TO SLEEP IN TOO. If I don't have an early morning commitment-that I can't get out of-then it's next to impossible to get up early, if I don't choose to.

What I love are those mornings when I wake up early and just....want to get up. It was 7 am this morning when that happened, and I have had breakfast, drank some coffee, and read my favorite blogs.

I have also cuddled a bit with my daughter, but that has turned into her complaining about me being on the computer and begging to be fed. Sheesh, kids these days! Sometimes she even asks more than once a day for food!

Plans for this day include shopping for Thanksgiving pie and veggies with Andrea, doing dishes and laundry (though what day doesn't include those two!?), buying snow boots for my daughter, and sledding down our back hill with Kaia. All in all, a good plan, don't you think?

"No, but I'm quite fond of my llama"

Kaia found my mini-dictionary, which is about an inch big. She was reading some of the words in it-in fact, we were all playing a game and we kept having to remind her when it was her turn. I asked her to look up a word and then use it in a sentence. The first word she looked at was interrogate. I told her what it meant according to the dictionary--to ask questions of. She said:

"You mean like 'Do you love your goat?'"

Now that would be an interesting interrogation.

Chocolate Sandwich Cookies

Sometime after we move, I am going to actually start the cookbook for Kaia that I already have the supplies for. In it will be all her favorite recipes, in the hope that when she moves out, she will then have a large collection of things she likes and knows how to make. Today I decided that pictures would be awesome in it, at least of the finished product. Then I decided that I may as well also take pictures of the process, a la http://www.thepioneerwomancooks.com/ and post the recipes for all of you! so we begin:

Here are all the ingredients.

A few side notes: the recipe only calls for 8 ounces of cream cheese, so it may be easier to simply buy an 8 oz. block. It's up to you.

Also, the plastic container is powdered sugar-I didn't have a pretty box of it to put in the picture.

As you can see, this recipe calls for very few ingredients!

So! To begin! In a large bowl, mix TWO boxes of devil's food cake mix, 4 eggs, and 2/3 cup of oil. As you can see, I don't use oil, I use melted butter. Again, up to you.
Mix on low, then medium until thoroughly blended.
The batter will be THICK.
Either roll into one inch balls, or cheat like I do and use a cookie scoop!


Flatten with something...I used a measuring cup.

Put in pre-heated 350 degree oven for 9 minutes. Remove from oven, let sit for a couple of minutes, then cool on cooling racks. While cooking and cooling, make filling!

Blend together 8 ounces softened cream cheese and 1/2 cup softened butter.

Blending....


Add 4 cups of SIFTED powdered sugar. Sifting removes lumps. If you don't have a sifter, or don't want to sift, that's your choice. :-)

After every cup or so, blend in....Add 1/2 tsp. vanilla....

And beat until creamy!
Should have consistency of frosting...cause that's basically what it is...cream cheese frosting...we are just going to use it as filling....

And here we have our cookies...about to be removed to finish cooling....

place about this much filling on the bottom of one cookie...you may want to put more, I had left over filling, but what I used was a good ratio, in MY opinion, of cookie-to-filling.so, yes, about so much....
Place second cookie on top and while pressing down, spin the cookies a bit...will help spread filling.

Feed to hungry beasts of all ages.....

Here is the finished product!

...don't worry, the recipe made more than this - about 20 or 30 sandwiches (so 40-60 cookies, sorry, didn't count)

The original recipe called for coloring the filling red and green...looked very pretty, but I try not to use artificial colors like that when I have the choice....once again, up to you!

:-)

I'm in love....

Okay, I just started a Flickr account, and found something that makes me LOVE IT.

So, something I didn't know, is that when you change the name of a photo, something still keeps track of when it was taken (!!!!!!)

On Flickr, it will tell you when each photo was taken even if the title of the photo has been changed! What a wonderful thing to include!

I absolutely adore Flickr.

Want to see my pictures?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/11894420@N06/

ever feel this way?

Kaia showing off her winning grin

And here's my eldest child....what wonderful kids I have!

Littlest Pit Crewman

Attention Uncle Mike and Aunt Carol! Ben is READY!!

Well, sort of.....

but isn't his new hat too cute!?! Found it at Goodwill today and couldn't resist.

Now when we watch you race, Ben will fit right in!

me and my boy!

Isn't he just too sweet?!

FINALLY!

Forgot to mention!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Not only did I get a smile yesterday, I got SEVERAL!! He's being very smiley! I love it!

sleeping progress

Ben slept for 4 hours last night! Possibly more, I'm not exactly sure if I fed him around 12 or 12:30....then he slept until 4:30!!

I'm still tired, but I feel more awake at this time than I have in a long time.

Oh! AND though he still was in bed with us, he was sleeping without me holding his hands!

independent sleeping here we come!! slowly....

do you ya have to do around here to get a smile, anyway?!

Ben has smiled at Mike. He's smiled at Kaia, Andrea, Andrea's mom, several ceilings, the couch, and the window in the living room.

He has not smiled at me. What am I? Chopped liver?

Oh...no....I am just the Milk Dispenser. :-)

no really, THIS time I'll actually do it!*

have I ever mentioned my lack of follow-through-ed-ness? No? But you know anyway? How'd you guess? oh....the DOZENS of posts that start "I have a new goal!!" then you never hear about how it went? that's cause it didn't. Went. Go. whatever.

I really mean to follow through on things. I have gads of enthusiasm for everything I start. then....

It's not that I am flaky. Well, obviously I am, but not deep down. I am actually quite a reliable person when it's important.

I don't lose interest....I don't get frustrated. I FORGET. out and out, complete amnesia. someone will bring up a goal..."so, how're the simplicity lessons going?" and I will look at them, blankly at first. then it will hit me what the hell they are talking about. "OH!!! RIGHT!!!" I will shriek, making them regret mentioning anything. "umm...yeah....well....I forgot...."

"Oh..." they will say. "You seemed so enthusiastic about it."

"Yeah....I was....I mean am....well...yeah...." I will lamely mutter.

I would prefer to think of it as an endearing quirk than a horribly annoying fault. I guess that depends on how much you love me, eh?

*can't you just smell the sarcasm?!

ugh.

yeah, so obviously the whole posting every day thing hasn't really happened. I'll figure out how to unsubscribe tomorrow since I've broken the one and only rule. right now I have to clean baby puke off of the couch and throw all my clothes in the laundry.

was a fun day today though. will (probably) write about it tomorrow.

So...GUESS WHAT?!?!

Mike just received his first job offer. He's waiting to see if the other company he's interested in gets back to him, but.....

West Side of Washington, HERE WE COME!!!!! I am so excited, and relieved, that he got the offer. It's at one of his first choices too! Now the Moving Planning can officially begin...

DA DA DUUUUUUMMMMM.

I have a list of 5 possible apartment complexes I am most interested in. I figure I'll go over at the beginning of December to look at them and see which will be available. At that time I'll also get a local phone book so I can start to research everything else...Internet, phone, electric, etc. We already have Kaia signed up for school, and I've located the local Whole Foods Market. When we get there, the first couple months will be hectic, finding a doctor, dentist, chiropractor, and getting caught up on all those things for all of us. Unpacking....ugh, I hate packing....I love unpacking though...putting everything away in it's place, pretending to myself and anyone who'll listen that THIS time things will STAY there!

The only downer, and it's a big one, is how much I will miss Andrea, John, Katia, and Liam. Living in the same area as they do has been awesome. It's not often you meet people who you know are going to be friends for life. I've already known Andrea for 21 years, and John for over 11. We will definitely be visiting as often as we can (Silverwood, guys?!) But not living close to them anymore is going to be very sad.

wow...my head is just whirling with things I need to do...most of which aren't practical to start until December at least....

Yay, Mike!! Honey, you ROCK.

After the bath....

Sibling Time

I was about to take Ben back downstairs, when Kaia called to me-

"Mom!! I want Ben to come watch me play!"

"You know he can't play WITH you, right?"

"Yeah, mom, I KNOW"

"All right, I set him up in his buzzy chair in here. Call me when he gets fussy."

"Okay! Cool!!"


about 10 minutes later-

"You two okay up there?"

she yells down, "WHAT?"

"I said, are you doing okay with Ben?"

"YES! HE'S ASLEEP!!! SO BE QUIET!!"

alrighty.

But isn't cool?! My kids are having fun together! sort of...kinda....

A belated Halloween post....

I know it's a bit late to be writing about Halloween, but I didn't want to miss it! It's Ben's first!
First, here's Kaia, as the Little Bad Wolf...my mom made the costume, isn't it awesome! Kaia had a blast wearing it, the growling almost got out of hand.... :-)
And here is Ben....you can't see the full effect of his cow costume, because the other pictures of him aren't the most appealing, and you must only see him at his cutest! So here he is, half of a cow, with a bit of a horn problem.... And here are Batman and his Pirate companion. Not my boys, but so cute I had to add them...would have added the Pirate's older sister, also a Pirate, but there weren't any pictures of her in full regalia....both of us moms weren't the best this year at picture taking, the evening was a bit hectic.
It wasn't even close to as cold as it has been, which meant Ben and I could go with everyone! Strangely enough, this year was also the shortest time we've spent out too....but all the kids got plenty of candy, and the stew dinner before heading out was sublime! Rolls with butter are also one of life's wonderful things......

Day Three *cough*twoforme*cough*

apparently I need to just not commit to writing. It makes my brain go blank. I have no interesting, insightful, or humorous topics to write about today, I am sorry.

here are a few random thoughts, however, for your perusal.

--Today we went to Andrea's. Mike went too!

--I am not sure I can nurse for a full year, unless he stops the daily frenzy in which he eats CONSTANTLY for varied lengths of time.

--I want to get rid of my chemical cleansers-how the hell do you dispose of them?!

--we might know soon where Mike will be working.

--Symphony chocolate bars are the way to my heart.

--also, cake.

--Kaia has a Strawberry Shortcake game. We are all flummoxed on how to get them back to the damn cookie party. It's very very annoying.

--I want to go take a bath, and this isn't very interesting anyway...so....good night!

oh for heaven's sake

I failed on the second day!!!! I totally forgot to post yesterday!!! I suck at NoBloPoMo.

you go! you rock! you're a girl!

Happy first day of NaBloPoMo!