Jinxyisms

Our Halloween got started with a bang or a bell really, the door bell. The very nice police officer had to ring our door bell probably 20 times before he woke us up at about 3 am today. He wanted to let us know that a not so nice drunk guy had plowed into Waldo’s truck which was minding its own business parked safely in front of our house. He also wanted me to know that Waldo’s truck then crunched my Honda’s rear end. This is how all great days start right?

I got dressed and went outside with the cops while Waldo cuddled Lily and kept her calm. She wasn’t thrilled to be awake so early, I will have to remind her of this next time she decides to play in the middle of the night.

I took pictures outside in the dark rainy street and was so glad I did. Both because now I can blog about it and show you all and because I had no idea how bad it really was till I edited these pictures this morning.

By the time I got outside the drunk guy was either already taken away or in the back of a squad car because I never saw him and I don’t recognize the car as one from my neighborhood so I asked the cop if he lived around here and he said he didn’t know. He must have been going pretty fast because Waldo’s truck ended up with the front right tire on the curb and my car was like 5 feet further forward then where I parked it.

This morning we found out this wonderful human being is uninsured. We thankfully have full-coverage insurance because it’s a good thing they are financed. Waldo is on his way to pick up a rental car. We’ll find out Monday or Tuesday if they are repairable. Man I really hate this guy.

Happy Halloween everyone!!

Lily Bean,

You are now 10 months old, I have to “say” it again, 10 months old. I know I’ve said it before and I’m sure I’ll say it again but it doesn’t seem possible that you are already 10 months old, and yet it doesn’t seem possible that you are only 10 months old. I have no idea how we lived a whole life before you. I didn’t know something was missing but I’m 100% sure now that you were and I am so glad you are here now.

You have really perfected pulling yourself up on things this past month. Its been sort of funny, you have been pulling yourself up in your crib for a while now but you have to be in a sitting position to get to a stand, you just couldn’t figure out how to stand when you were laying down. You could yourself up in the living room if you had been laying down but not your crib. So the other day I laid you in your crib so I could run down stairs to get the laundry. By the way this is really the only reason you are ever in your crib, laundry. Anyway I put you in there on your back so you wouldn’t fall and hurt yourself while I was away. When I got back you were standing up and so darn proud of yourself, as I was. I was also bummed because now I have nowhere to put you safely while I’m in the basement.

You are living through your first little cold right now. I’m sorry I think its my fault. We went to your first little birthday party for a friend and that was a lot of fun, but a couple of days later I got a sore throat and stuffy nose. Luckily it only lasted two or three days but then a couple of days later you started to get stuffy. You are a total little trooper about it though and hardly let it bother you.

As I mentioned we went to your first social event. One of the little girls from our Mommy group turned 1 and we all helped her celebrate. Well you pretty much clung to me 90% of the time because you are a very shy and sensitive little girl. You come by both of those traits naturally and all I can say is I’m sorry and its not the end of the world. Both your Father and I are shy and don’t like big social settings and I’m more sensitive then should be legal. But we both survive and so will you.

A couple of weeks ago you really proved how sensitive you are to Daddy and me. You were in your high chair showing off your two finger pinch skills; eating some organic breakfast O’s. When you smiled at us you opened your mouth and I could see that you had at least 3 O’s in there and Daddy and I started teasing you about it. See you choke on O’s or some other food at least once a week so we were telling you how you had too many O’s in your mouth in a very happy upbeat way. And you looked at us and your face did that heartbreaking, sweet melt into sadness and crying. Oh my god we felt so bad, I couldn’t get you out of that seat fast enough so I could wrap my arms around you and cover you in kisses. Waldo and I talked about it later and we swear that you understood the words we were saying because there was no way the tone could have upset you.

Nothing stands in your way anymore.

I would just like to point out that I don’t love any of your 10 month pictures and after looking at them I was telling your Daddy that I think its time to buy a new camera. All the pictures were just a bit fuzzy. He asked me if the lens could possibly be dirty so I grab the camera and do you know what I found? The lens was covered in tiny finger prints and smudges. You love playing with the camera. I cleaned off the lens and lo and behold the pictures are again as good as can be expected from my armature hands.

You are the light of our days and I can’t wait to see what you come up with next month.

Love,
Mama

Blah abba from Christy Wiggins on Vimeo.

Very concerned baby

A second later

Wow look at my hand

She’s always doing something with her tongue

We had our first snow of the season last night. I was shocked at how much fell, usually our first couple of snows are pretty light.

After Lily woke up from her wonderful 10 minute nap we went outside for her first adventure in the snow.

She started to play with it a little.

After a few minutes she realized that I wasn’t right next to her and she tried crawling to me.

I think she hated her hands being covered more then the snow.

At this point we went inside and got warmed up.

Lily wasn’t much in the mood for pictures today. I don’t know why, usually she loves getting her picture taken.

Mid-day outfit change

We went for a walk in the evening so I put her in her little bear bunting suit. I thought she looked adorable, but Waldo said she didn’t smile once after I put it on her.

I was asked recently about homemade baby food. My response was that I love making it and it is so simple. I know that their are a number of resources on the internet on how to make baby food, this is my take. I use wholesomebabyfood.com as a starting point, it has great lists of what to feed and when and recipes.

I have found that Lily is a lover of all things squash.  This is how I do acorn squash.

Most acorn squash are greenish but this one happens to be orange.  It looks very much like an odd shaped pumpkin.

I scrub it clean and then cut it in half lengthwise. I swear to you cutting this thing open was the hardest part of the whole thing. I had no idea how tough it was.

I then scraped out the seeds. Since making this one I have bought a set of grapefruit spoons at Target. (I couldn’t find them on the Target website. Those things are a life saver.

Then they went into a pan, flesh side down with an inch or two of water.

I cooked them at 400° for about 1 hour.

The flesh was nice and soft and the skin was a little browned.

I scraped all the meat into my little food processor and gave it a whirl. You might need to add some water to get it to puree nicely. I try not to add too much water at this point though. From here on out it is very much like making sweet potatoes.

Once its cooled I spooned it into an ice cube tray, wrapped with plastic wrap and froze it overnight.

I make butternut squash just like this too.

I have a different method of heating these up then most people that I’ve read. We have a microwave but we never use it.

In the morning I take out a couple of food cubes and put them in the fridge in the cup I use to feed Lily. They are usually mostly defrosted by the time I feed her dinner, although this method still works if I forget to take them out, it just takes longer.  Lily only eats solids at dinner, the rest of the day she nurses.

When I’m ready to feed her I turn the water kettle on and put the food cup in a bowl. Once the water has boiled I fill the bowl with water and if the food needs to be thinned I add some of the hot water to it. I stir the food every so often and it heats it up in about 3-5 minutes.

I try to always keep some frozen green beans and peas around for the days I forget to take cubes out. That way I just cook the beans and peas according to the package directions, throw them in the food processor and then feed Lily.

As you can see this takes a few more minuted then opening a jar but I love the whole process of making my daughter’s food. And she loves eating it.

My  Dad keeps asking for pictures of the area where we live.  I figured rather then just send them to him I’d share the beauty with everyone.  These are pictures of my direct neighborhood, I’m still working on a post with the second half of my in-laws visit which will have a lot more pictures of the surrounding area.

I took most of these pictures one evening when we went for a walk.

The front of our house when we first moved in

Looking north on the sidewalk in front of our house

Looking south on the sidewalk in front of our house

A couple blocks over

Our backyard

A neighbors tree

Of course there is a lot more to our town, but these are my current favorite parts.