Promise to Fill You In!

I promise to fill you all in soon. Things have been very crazy, but we are all doing great in our new home.

xoxo

MOVIN'

Dalia doesn't seem to mind at all.

Yet another reason why the Ergo is dad's best friend. Just 5 minutes before this photo was taken, Dalia was screaming uncontrollably. Daddy put her in this and she was "a ok" for another hour while he packed and got lots of stuff done!

One of the best baby purchases (buy it by clicking on the left link, my favorite baby store here in Chicago) made by far.

Totally worth every single dollar.

Agar What?

We are going to try this bad boy from one of my favorite baby food sites: wholesomebabyfood.com

Adjustments? We don't eat gelatin (it isn't kosher and it isn't vegetarian) so we will use agar agar instead. Applesauce is still out of the picture so I am going to do this with mango sauce and blueberry juice.

Fruited Gel Squares

(I know my baby better than this site and I know she can handle this recipe)

Ingredients:

1/8 tsp cinnamon (optional)
1 cup unsweetened applesauce (or add thin dices of banana, peach, pear, grapes, blueberry etc)
2 cups apple juice
3 small packages unflavored gelatin

Directions:

In a small bowl, mix cinnamon into applesauce and set aside.

Pour 1 cup cold apple juice in 8x8 pan and sprinkle gelatin on top. Heat remaining 1 cup of apple juice in the microwave for 3 minutes or until boiling.

Stir boiling juice into the gelatin and cold apple juice. Stir in applesauce.

Refrigerate for 1/2 hour and then stir to keep applesauce evenly distributed. If you do not stir when in the fridge, the applesauce settles to the bottom, but it still tastes great.

Refrigerate for an additional 2 1/2 hours or until firm. Cut into squares with a knife, or use cookie cutters to cut into shapes, and serve.

Purees Bite the Dust

yes, those are piles and piles of boxes in the background--another starbucks, please

With the exception of some food Grammi got for Dalia to help us on the road while we are moving, Dalia is past pureed foods (at only 8 months). She has been eating chunks with her hands for about a month already, but I have "let go" and allowed her to self feed. It is scary at times (um, she looked at me with a mouth FULL of sweet potatoes), but I know this is an important step in her development and she is ready ready ready.

Example #2:

the smaller the chunk, the more annoyed and frustrated she gets...too much work for not enough food!

Did Ya Know We Were Movin?

Yep. We are moving, again. Washington DC (ahem, Alexandria) here we come.

Why, you ask?

Well Steve was selected (like two years ago at this point) to be a law clerk for the United States Supreme Court with Justice Kennedy. Pretty sweet gig, no? Maybe all those Harvard Law Schools loans are worth it! And after a brief break in DC we will likely be back buying a beautiful home in the windy city. Real estate research is in progress :) Steve hasn't picked a law firm yet, but has a lot of good options.

And what will I do next year? Probably play mommy and take a few private educational consulting families. I did end up declining the free (yes free, actually salaried) PhD option at the University of Maryland (call me crazy, I know). But it wasn't the right thing for me for next year.

I don't need a PhD.

I don't need 5-8 more years of school.

I am not ever sure I want one.

I don't need up-all-nighters writing and grading papers.

I need another year to figure out what I want to do. And no matter what I decide, it will be the right decision for me.

Sidenote:

If you know me you know I am a total clean freak and organization nut. This move is driving me bonkers--boxes everywhere, paper strewn throughout the house, packing tape stuck to the floor, and dishes everywhere. Let us not forget there is a baby in the picture whom requires lots of love and kisses...I can't wait to get to our condo and unpack (this is one of my strong points). At 7 months prego, we moved to Chicago and I unpacked dozens of boxes in two days. Steve came home and the house looked like we had been there for years. Lets hope I still have this kind of energy next week!

The Simple Things

Nothing beats waking up to a little munchkie whose main objective is to kiss you as much as possible. This simple display of affection is the highlight of my month!

Dalia's newfound skill, kissing, is completely adorable and heart melting. I am a mess today--totally teary eyed.

Sleep and kisses in the same week?

Glorious Zzzzzzzzleeeeeeeeeeeeeep

Well hello there, sleep.

It has been quite a long time since we have seen one another!

Finally. We put Dalia to sleep at 10 pm and she didn't wake up until 8 am. Perhaps it was by chance or maybe it is a new trend (can you imagine!) but we are two happy parents. Steve thinks this is our first night of sleep in 8 months, but I know it is his first night of sleep in 8 months. It is my first night of uninterrupted sleep in more like 10 months (lets not forget how many times uber prego ladies wake up throughout the night).

A mommy friend of mine has a little one who slept through the night at 2 1/2 months--she has been getting this the whole time?!

I am very curious to see what happens tonight. All I know is H and I spent the morning making a check-list of things we "must do again tonight" just in case those things helped her sleep through the night.

Some things that we did:

1. kept the air conditioning on so it didn't get hot in her room

2. used the cotton wood baby insert inside her prefold and then lined that with a hemp doubler inside of her wool cover

3. stuffed her with pruny oatmeal and other foods

4. nursed her a lot

Time for some Investigation!

So given our recent week of not so much sleep (well hardly any really, especially if you count "hours in a row" it just might end up being "hour" total) it is time to start investigating the culprit of Dalia's tummy troubles--and sleep troubles...

Ah, just in time for packing/moving/stressful purging of belongings/sorting/cleaning/organizing. Thank goodness Grammi is hear to relieve some mommy and daddy duties! Still, this isn't going to be fun at all is it?

Another Starbucks decaf, please.

Perhaps an allergy or maybe a slight sensitivity to a certain something?

Bye bye bananas, brown rice, and applesauce! Oh brother, did she have two of the three yesterday? And don't I have a zillion mango banana cubes in the freezer (oh, new smoothie options for mommy). Well thank goodness we had a chance to see Dr. Minkus just when we felt like we didn't know what to do!

The best part? Minkus said, "no teeth in sight for the near future." I had a serious are you *&^%$#@ moment! No teeth? This isn't the dreaded "teething" pains? AHHHHHHHHHHHH! Seriously he must be wrong--just this once.

Well, updates will come soon enough! We will get to the bottom of this constipation stuff sooner or later.