Swing Time

As you may have noticed from some of the more recent posts, N has been using the swing at daycare and at some of our local parks!! At daycare she seems to like the swing because of the great view of the older kids playground she has from it. But I think she's starting to appreciate the exhilaration of the motion as well....


She also is fast becoming a connoisseur of the more gourmet aspects of swinging! She enjoys chewing on them so much I'm tempted to taste one myself!! I wonder how many other kids have soaked this swing in drool...

A Perfect Fall Day in Boulder

When they visit and we take them to Pearl St., our family always asks us, "do you guys do this when we're not here?!" We sure do... Boulder is such a fun town. We spent about 4 hours there Yesterday. First we went to the used bookstore, and got our little bookworm a collection of Dr. Seuss books, (do you believe she didn't have one!?) Then we headed to Pearl. We picked up a sandwich at Salvaggio's and visited a touring show of John Lennon's visual art, (N picked up a colorful book of his children's art to add to her library)

N had her lunch next to Boulder Creek and the library where we stopped for a bathroom break and another little gallery exhibit of some of Boulder's local artists. After that we headed West to Ebin G. Fine Par for a little picnic.

N had some more fun on the swing... she likes looking at all the other little kids playing in the park. Her dad took her for a walk in the cool grass, and then, down by Boulder Creek to take a closer look at the water and some of the bigger kids playing in the rocky shallows.

We were all pretty beat by the end of the day and we went home and took a nice long nap, family style in the big bed. After our break, we dropped the little one off at her grandma's house so we could head back to Pearl St. to celebrate our 5th(!) anniversary with a nice grownup night on the town.

What a great place to live.

Carrots and Sippy Cups

So now little N has been introduced to carrots.... she's not so sure about them at this point. Don't get me wrong.... it hasn't stopped her from emptying her bowl every time I bring them out, she just doesn't seem quite as eager about them as the peas. Next I think we'll give her green beans and see what she thinks of those.
The sippy cup is another story! I put that on the table in front of her and her mouth opens nice and wide!! We just put some water in it. She's able to hold it by the handles, and she can bring the spout up to her mouth, but she doesn't have the tipping motions down quite yet. I giver he a hand with that and she slurps away at it. I think some of it might actually make it to her stomach! The rest dribbles down her chin.

Wednesday Mornings with Dad

Our little moviestar sure does like her mornings with her dad! He picks out an outfit for her, (I always look forward to seeing what she's wearing on Wednesdays!) and they play together while I work a half day. When I get home she's usually having her second nap for the day and we get to have some lunch. This week they took a walk to a nearby neighborhood's park and played on the swing! Check out the sunglasses!

I think Dad enjoys these mornings too.

Merry Biscuit Day to All!

Saturday morning, we woke up and said to ourselves, "what are we going to do today?". Then it dawned on us - Erie Biscuit Day!! We found out that Erie was celebrating its 6th annual Biscuit Day (this used to be one of the last weekends to spend outside as a community before the men went back to workin' in the coal mines). We sure couldn't miss that! We ate biscuits and gravy and tasted stew for the stew contest, (go #5!). There were some local community groups giving out freebees, a cake walk for the kids, a quilt was being raffeled, and there were some local ladies walking around in period garb! N enjoyed some quality people and pet watching from her stroller.

Thanks Erie Historical Society for giving us something do to on Saturday morning!

Pass the Pease Please!

N has officially moved on to "people food", (as we used to call it for Berlin!) Yesterday she had peas for the first time, and she did great! I expected her to make a face at the new flavor, but she just opened her mouth right back up for more. Isn't she clever!? I originally planned to wait for solids for her untill she was six months old, but she is so fascinated by watching us eat that it really seemed unfair to her to wait any longer. I think the first food tipping point came when I was holding her at a party last week and as I brought a bite of food up to my mouth, she opened hers. Poor little thing! Anyway, she loved her peas, and I'm excited to start introducing her to more foods! Stay tuned for Apple Sauce!!


Here are some pictures of our little epicurean! To celebrate the moment, we dressed her in what we'll now call her "My First Peas" outfit! Obviously it was made for this day, and we just didn't know it yet!! (Thanks Lesley for the cute onesie!!)





She did so well with her peas... much better than she does with cereal... she got some on her face, but almost none of it came back on her bib!! Gotta love the "pea mustache!" She's a genius I tell you!!



Open wide...

On your mark... get set.... SIT!

So N is working on a new trick.... sitting! She can do it in a Boppy pillow pretty well now! Sometimes she falls forward, and isn't quite ready to catch herself with her hands... though she's getting close! When she's nice and distracted, (the camera works well for this!) she can even sit without the Boppy! As long as her head is pretty steady, she doesn't capsize!

She's so proud of herself!

Mama Sally!!

We had a very nice visit with Sally and Kathy, (and Sam and Carmel) this weekend! They stayed for two nights and again, we had a chance to visit all our favorite restaurants and Boulder places! We walked along Pearl St. on Saturday night and ate at the Med. There were some interesting new buskers along Pearl that we'd never seen before, and we stumbled on what we think was a gay pride festival, (N's first!) though we only caught the end. Very lively! N took it all in perched in the front of her stroller... she liked to lean on the tray and look around, though she still can't sit up by herself all the way. She looked like a little doll!!

On Sunday we had delicious burgers at the Southern Sun, and then attempted to take advantage of the beautiful weather and go for a hike in the foothills, but turned around shortly when we decided that N wasn't quite ready for her B.O.B. stroller yet. Her head was bouncing all over the place on the bumpy dirt road. We're not quite equipped for all terrain yet. In a month or so she should be able to handle it. Instead of the great outdoors, we opted for shopping at McGuckin hardware store... another Boulder landmark.

We finished off the day with naps, and a late night run for Abo's pizza. What a perfect way to end the weekend! This morning Sally and Kathy packed up the dogs and the car, and are on their way to their southern Colorado cabin for a few weeks.

This weekend I also managed to almost finish my first quilt while they were here... check it out on my crafting blog. N seems to enjoy the colors, the soft textures, and the edges. It's usable as is, but I'd like to get a couple little details added.

Playing the tourist

It's always fun to see your hometown through the eyes of a visitor! My mom's cousin Eileen came to visit from Long Island and we did all the touristy things to do around Boulder; we went shopping at Pearl St., drove up Flagstaff Mountain, toured Celestial Seasonings, and ate at all our favorite restaurants!

We also took a little trip down to Colorado Springs for two nights. It was very nice to get away from housework for a few days, and I think T appreciated sleeping through the night a couple nights in a row! We stayed in Manitou Springs with a view from our motel room door of the Garden of the Gods! Pretty snazzy, huh!?




I've been to the top of Pike's Peak before, but this was the first time I'd ever taken the cog railway! What a cool trip! N did okay most of the 3 hour trip, but she needed to drink going up and down a few times because of the huge elevation and pressure changes!

While in Manitou Springs, we visited the Garden of the Gods a couple times to walk around and tour the visitor's center. The 15 minute movie they show is really very good... I felt much better informed after the 5 minutes of it that N let me watch.

All in all it was a really nice road trip. The last night we were there we visited a great Mediteranian restaurant that featured a belly dancer! The food and service were amazing... we all got two welcome kisses on the cheek from the owner, and N got lots of attention from the staff as well. She really enjoyed the belly dancer, and watched her avidly as she moved around the room. I might have to get myself a sparkly/jingly outfit to entertain her with on rough evenings!!


Check out the rest of the pics from this trip on my Picasa site.

Dinner Time

N is really getting into her rice cereal! She's grabbing the spoon now, and opening her mouth really wide to help me shovel the food in faster... if I'm not going fast enough, she really lets me know! I'm afraid she might have a bit of a temper on her!!

Next we'll be starting some oat cereal, and then maybe wheat cereal... I'm really looking forward to giving her fruits and veggies. She's tasted a few things, and nothing has turned her off yet! Hopefully all that variety and spice I ate when I was pregnant has prepared her for all the different flavors out there!!



I know it doesn't look like it here, but though some food ends up on her face, she manages to eat almost everything in the bowl!! But still... thank goodness for bibs!!

Well... Here goes nuthin!

Welcome to my first ever blog!!

I'm planning on using this blog to keep everyone up-to-date on N's new tricks, as well as on what's going on at our house in the suburbs!

T's always upgrading the house, and I'm always trying some new craft project!! Plus we've been having some great visits with family this Summer, so I've got to get everyone updated on that!

This picture of the three of us was taken at our friends' wedding... N was about 5 1/2 months old here!