Bubbie and Gramps and Aunt Jenny come to town!

This weekend we hosted the gang from Michigan (and New York). We had lots of fun together!

Natalie had lots of company on her foam mat:Bubbe and Gramps took Natalie out for a walk:Bubbe and Gramps also brought Natalie some beautiful dresses. Here's Natalie modeling one of them, complete with matching hat. Dressed up all fancy, my little snugglepuppet looks just like a doll!Aunt Jenny was also in town for stories and cuddles.Beyond playing with Natalie, we didn't do that much. We took a walk at our local park. We had a lovely Seder Postponed on Friday night. The Professor grilled his salmon, the Crock-Pot king made us roasted root vegetables, Aunt Jenny made gefilte fish pie, Bubbie made a very yummy apricot kugel, and I tried a new recipe. I made roasted rhubarb - deliciously easy, vegan, Passover-friendly, gluten-free, etc. (Okay, it wasn't so vegan once I paired it with my favorite Washington State ice cream. But, the point is, it could have been). No pictures of any of the food, alas, as it was all eaten up before I remembered to grab the camera. Hopefully, a shot of our table will suffice!(For those traditionalists who may notice something different: we add the orange to the Seder plate in the hopes of true equality and equal participation for all, independent of sexual orientation or gender. We also add an olive to show our hope for peace in the Middle East.)

Pep Rally

Michigan State, alas, is not playing in the men's championship basketball game tonight - but this was not for lack of effort (and cheering) and Mike's part:

For those in the mood for videos with more serious literary themes, I offer you a trio of reading-to-Natalie videos:

April showers

First, a picture of the clouds from the big storm we had here two weeks ago.Serious clouds, no?

Luckily, I had my little snugglebug for some indoor sunshine:

Eight Months Old!

Natalie turned eight months old yesterday.She seems on the verge of so many things - getting her two top teeth (every instance of fussiness we attribute to these teeth, but then they never appear), crawling (we've caught her doing the yoga plank pose in her bed via the video monitor), and saying "mama" and "dada" (she makes those sounds, but hasn't quite figured out that those are words with meaning).Meanwhile, what she does do is adorable. We're still bringing her to bed a for a little snuggle each morning. She'll lie contentedly on her back for a while, alternately petting our faces / pulling my hair / grabbing Daddy's glasses, and then flip over onto her stomach and wiggle around. At this point she's still much better at going backwards than forwards, so she'll promptly launch herself backwards under the covers, and then we have to retrieve her. Totally cute!She's a good eater - her staples are banana and oatmeal, but we also have avocado, butternut squash, applesauce, apple-plum sauce, apple-raspberry sauce, spinach and potatoes, winter vegetable puree, and summer vegetable puree in the mix. She's also getting better at drinking from a cup.She likes stories, songs, and little games. She still doesn't really do peek-a-boo, but she does love any game that involves a stuffed animal kissing her stomach.She takes three short naps per day, or two longer ones, depending on the day.Her attitude toward walks remains, uh, fickle.Last week we also had a visit from Grandma Pat.Grandma Pat played with Natalie while we gardened - this worked only as long as Natalie could neither see us (nor pictures of us) nor hear our voices. As soon as she was reminded of us, she wanted to be with us. Sweet, no? Also, since one of us is almost always with her, we had never had the experience of her missing us - we didn't even know if she knew to miss us. She does!

Grandma Pat and I also went to see "Fiddler on the Roof." I'd forgotten how totally dark and depressing that show is. Wow. I had remembered the larger-historical-context-dark-stuff, but had forgotten all the stuff about the relationships among the characters. Maybe I'll just focus on the music....

The garden was looking great.But then last night it snowed! I know, seriously, right? But we definitely had some damage out there, despite my best efforts to cover the plants. I think the basil, tomatillo, and chili peppers are toast (or compost). Some of the tomatoes might be salvageable, along with some of the squash and eggplants. I guess I'll give it a week and then see what needs to be re-planted. (At least the potted plants are okay, as they were loaded into the wheelbarrow and then re-located to the garage for the night)

In happier backyard news, we finally have Mike's grill set up. (This picture was taken two days before the snow incident, when it was 70 degrees out)This grill was a present promised to him at his graduation. Now that we're settled in the house and there were some good spring sales, we jumped on one. And it's great! (Note the beer; I think that's obligatory for grilling in Texas. You know, except that we only grill fish, veggies, and veggie burgers).

In terms of inside cooking, I continue my love affair with world peace cookies:And Mike has been connecting with his "inner Texan" by learning to make biscuits:
But this remains our favorite little sweet treat:

Spring

Spring has sprung around here. Last fall, days before I broke my arm, I planted tulips, daffodils, and ranunculus bulbs on the top tier of our backyard. The daffodils bloomed first - and the tulips and ranunculus are on their way, too.I also planted some blackberry bushes last weekend. One of them already has a bud!In other projects, we've been cooking some, too. We've had this delicious roasted butternut squash soup twice now. Those are home-made pesto croutons and roasted squash seeds on top!I've also been doing a little baking. I made these chocolate chip bars (omitting the ginger, and adding some spicy hot chocolate). I also made these peanut butter cookies for Mike for Valentine's Day.And we've been having lots of no-knead bread. It starts out like this:
And ends up like this:For those concerned about my waistline, I want you to know that I've also started running again. I had been running in early November, but the broken arm forced me to take a little break. Then we needed a little time to figure out our schedule once Mike went back to work (and for me to build up the confidence to take Natalie out on my own). On days that aren't too sunny or windy or hot or cold, Natalie and I head out around the neighborhood. I walk/run, since pushing her in the stroller is quite the workout. (I've also had a few independent gym workouts to confirm that I am making progress!)The girl remains cute as ever.Her sitting is getting better, and she's started to be able to balance while standing. Here's a little video of her doing just that (make sure you have the volume up if you want to hear her squeal!):

Seven months!

Well, okay, actually that was Saturday. And while I can't say that much was keeping me from getting to this post before now, here it is Tuesday and I'm just sitting down to write. But, we did have a few technical difficulties in taking the above pictures....After the excitement that was six months (plus the added excitement of the recent snowstorm), milestones have been a little harder to come by this month. First, on the topic of the snowstorm, here's Natalie with some snow:Natalie is now a little rolling machine; we can barely remember how she used to hate tummy time so much. Now, we put her down on her back, and the first thing she does is flip to her stomach. Her major strength has come in pushing herself up from her stomach. Instead of resting on her forearms, she now sometimes extends her arms all the way and rests on her palms. No crawling yet, but some wiggling and scooting and schooching.I've actually gone back to my old job, although now I'm working as a contractor, 100% from home with a part-time schedule. It's a good deal! Natalie used to rest on a blanket on the floor beside me while I worked (although mostly I work during her naps and in the evenings). But now she is getting so roll-y that we just bought a second pack n' play off craigslist to put up in the office. Baby jail, here we come!

We've been helping her drink from a cup - she always looks a little shocked when she actually manages to get water into her mouth. Natalie is also still eating (and sometimes resisting) the same things: applesauce, squash, cereal, carrots, green beans, and pears. Her smile can still light up a room.

She hasn't quite mastered sitting, although her trunk muscles are getting stronger, and she now holds herself upright for a little longer before she topples over.

She loves stories, cuddles, and songs.
And we love her!