8 Months

This month I really feel like we are seeing so much more of Edith's personality. 

Sleep - I don't even know what to say about this.  We had a really bad string of nights as we were trying to reduce her reflux medication.  What we learned is that she still needs her full dose.  The difference when we try to give her less is a matter of her waking up twice a night versus waking up about every hour or two.  We are still doing between 2 and 3 naps a day.  On the plus side - her morning and afternoon nap are consistently at 9 am and between 12-12:30 every day which is nice for planning purposes.

Eating - she is now up to three meals a day and earlier this week Eddie even shared his morning snack with her (more on that later).  She nurses 5 times a day plus her night time feedings.  With each meal she has some pureed food, but she also has regular food because she does a great job with her pincher grasp.  She currently enjoys feeding herself cooked peas, cooked carrots, Cheerios, whole wheat bread, pancakes, little bits of apple, pear, crackers, asparagus, bananas - we try lots of different foods. Eddie was recently having some goldfish as a morning snack and she was having a fit because she wanted some.  I wasn't sure if she would be able to eat them, but that was just silly!  She loved them (and Eddie was super sweet sharing them with her). I'm really looking forward to giving her more and more food that she can feed to herself.  She actually seems to like that the best.

Moving - Edith is full-blown crawling.  She really wants to stand, but so far she really can only get up on her knees.  I'm pretty relieved.  If she spies an open door, like the bathroom, she will make a beeline.  She likes being around us, so she often crawls into the kitchen (and that reminds me how dirty the floor really is!).

Teeth - she currently has 6 teeth - three on top and three on the bottom.  She tends to be a slow teether and it does bother her.  I keep thinking any day she'll get another one on top and on bottom to even things out, but so far that hasn't happened.

Playing - Eddie and Edith like to play together most of the time.  Edith still likes anything and everything that Eddie plays with, but she also loves playing on her own.  She particularly loves being in the basement by all the toys down there.  She loves her little activity table, and can kneel and reach most of things on it.  She also tolerates the jumperoo - especially if you are really close by or if Eddie is there to help keep her entertained. She also loves to swim.  If you put her on her back (with her head on your shoulder), she'll will kick her legs automatically. I think she is more of a natural in the water than Eddie. 

Other - This weekend my dad summed it up best when he said "well, she was happier more than she was upset." I believe that's true.  She is happy to be moving around, keeping up with her brother and with us, and happy to eat real food.  She loves to be held and while she plays really well by herself, she likes to be around others the best.  She currently likes to "dance" when you sing.  She'll put her arms up in the air and bounce any time you start to sing.  She likes to babble and she even will say "mamamama" usually when she is upset and wants to be held!  She knows how to sign milk, although she doesn't do it consistently.  She also can wave her arm, but again it's not every time.  When she doesn't like something, she is able to express herself so that you know it. Even though she can be very challenging at times, just ones smile from her will melt your heart!

Date Night

Friday night Uncas and I went out on a date.  We go out so infrequently, so it's really a big deal when we do!  My parents came to baby-sit for us and we decided to really make a night of it - dinner, a musical and we even got a hotel room downtown!  I was so looking forward to sleeping in on Saturday morning, but we were both wide awake by 8 am. So we decided to go out to breakfast!  The kids were happy to have us home later that morning.

We didn't do too much else over the weekend, but it's always fun to have JoJo and Grandpa Ron for a visit.  I didn't take too many pictures, but here are a few from the weekend:

Eddie with "BabyDoll"

He's watching Grandma JoJo and Edith

And he is doing "Pony Boy" with BabyDoll *

Post-nap snuggle with Jojo

Hi Sweetie!

Mama and Eddie

Grandpa Ron watching tv

*My Pony Boy - a favorite of JoJo's grandkids

Snowy Day

We finally got some snow here in MN!  I don't think it will last too long as it seems to be melting quickly.  This morning while Edith was napping, Eddie and I headed outside to shovel, play and to build a snowman!

I'm not going to lie, I am sure that Uncas would have built a far better snowman, but since this was Eddie's first one, he thought it was pretty cool.  We decided to come inside and enjoy some hot cocoa and marshmallows - yum!

And to quote one of Eddie's favorite Curious George books "It was the perfect snowy day!"

Makeover

I have wanted to update the look of my blog for a while, but haven't really found the time or energy to do so.  One of my friends offered to help out with my header, and I finally took her up on the offer!  Thanks to Ella for the fabulous job!  I also updated pictures of the kids since they are growing like crazy!  It's nice to have things look a little brighter and fresher around here!

The Cookie

I used to be known for my chocolate chip cookies when I worked and brought them into the office.  My co-workers swore that I had a secret ingredient.  I swore that I didn't, but just followed the recipe off of the bag of chocolate chips.  I actually think my "secret" ingredient was vanilla from Mexico which ran out long ago.  Within the past year, I don't think my chocolate chip cookies have been that great.  I follow the same recipe, but something just doesn't seem right.  I recently saw a recipe for Chocolate Chunk Cherry Espresso Cookies and I was sold!  The base of this cookie is suppose to be THE chocolate chip cookie . . . I just had to try it.

I did buy all the ingredients to make the cherry espresso version, but I decided to try my hand at the original cookie first.  I must say it's pretty tasty, but I'm not sure it's THE cookie.  I might make a few tweaks of my own.  This recipe calls for three kinds of sugar and recommends that you don't use chocolate chips, but chop up the best kind of chocolate you can afford.  While I did buy a lot of chocolate to chop, I ended up using some dark chocolate chips for 10 oz. and then some bittersweet and dark chocolate that I chopped.  I decided that since I don't like chopping chocolate, I would like to try this recipe with just some plain old semi-sweet chocolate chips to see what that tastes like.  The other thing that was really odd is that you set the oven to 360 degrees.  If you have seen my oven, you will know that they markings are almost rubbed off, so I am lucky I can find the 350 degrees mark!  And that's what I set my oven at 350 . . . My cookies baked closer to 11 minutes and I think that was even a bit too long.  I also didn't make all the cookie dough.  As you recall, I just made Valentine's day cookies, so I made a few trays and then froze the rest of the cookie dough. (To do this, scoop out the cookies on a cookie sheet, stick them in the freezer for a little while, and then put them in a bag - you then can bake straight from the oven, although you  might need to add a little bit extra time).

All in all, I do plan on making this recipe again.  Here is the recipe that I used yesterday:

THE Chocolate Chip Cookie (Adapted from Not Without Salt)
2 sticks butter (8 oz)
1/4 cup white sugar (2 oz )
1/4 cup Turbinado sugar (2 oz )
1 3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed (12 oz )
2  eggs
2 tsp vanilla (1/4 oz)
3 1/2 cup All Purpose flour (1 lb. )
1 1/2 tsp Baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 lb. chocolate (use the best quality chocolate you can afford. With a serrated knife cut chocolate chunks roughly 1/2 inch)

Cream the butter and the sugars until very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes on medium high. Scrape down the side of the bowl. Continue mixing while adding the eggs one at time. Make sure each egg is incorporated before adding the next. Add the vanilla. Scrape down the bowl with a spatula. Combine the flour, soda and salt in another bowl. With a whisk to combine. With the machine on low, slowly add the flour. Mix until just combined, taking care not to over mix. With a spatula fold in the chocolate.

Bake at 360* for 12 minutes. They should be lightly golden on the outside but still look gooey on the inside.

Happy Valentine's Day - the cookie edition

I hope everyone is having a great Valentine's Day. As I mentioned in a previous entry, it's a fun little holiday at our house to show our love for each other and to eat lots of candy, cookies and chocolate! Ever since my BBF Lisa showed me how to decorate cookies using royal icing, I have been hooked. I made snowflake cookies and then cookies for my godson's first birthday. And now I made cookies for Valentine's Day.  I want to be sure to document the cookies that I am making, and sadly I didn't take any of the birthday cookies.  This time around I decided to document each step:

First you start with plain cookies

Then you pipe an outline around each cookie

Then you start flooding the cookie with a thinned icing

I experimented with a couple few techniques

Once the flooded icing is dry, you can pipe on words or other decorations

These were for Uncas' work today (the name of a project he is working on)

Two of my favorite Valentines!

Sharing the Love

Mixing the dry ingredients

On Friday the kids and I were meeting our friends Ella and Eliza at an indoor park.  Eddie had received a cookbook from his godmother Lisa for Christmas, so I thought it would be fun to bake something from it and bring to Eliza.  I picked out a couple of recipes and let Eddie make the final decision.  He picked Snickerdoodles.  (I believe it went something like this "I make these".)  So we went about making the cookies on Friday morning.  I wish I had a camera when he gave the cookies to Eliza.  We put them in a cute box with hearts and he walked over, gave it to her and then came back to me.  Eliza seemed pretty happy with the cookies.  I know many people think that Valentine's Day is just a Hallmark holiday, but I think it's fun to have a day to show/tell people that you love them!

Helping roll the dough into balls

And speaking of Eddie - I can barely believe that he is going to be 2 next month!  He is such an adorable little boy. This morning I was changing Edith's diaper and she was crying (because that is what she tends to do at times when she doesn't want to do something) and he bent down to her and kept asking "What's wrong Edie? Why are you crying Edie?" It was so sweet. 

He is also very curious and he now will ask "what's that?" or "who's that?"  It's fun to actually hear what is going on inside his little head.  It's also amazing how much he remembers!  He'll often ask about or mention people randomly.  In fact just the other morning he was asking about Great-Grandma (my mom's mom).  We hadn't talked about her recently, but for something she was on his mind. He also likes to narrate what he is doing or what is going.  One funny example is when he falls down now he will say "I fall down", which might sound differently depending on the severity of the fall.  Everyday it seems like something new comes out of his mouth and it really is fun to watch him grow and learn!