Mad Quinoa Skillz

Happy leap day everyone!

We're having more success in the eating department.  Look at that!  Feeding himself with a spoon!  And here I was worried that I was going to be breastfeeding until he hit fifteen. . . .

Though, truth to be told, I much preferred eating extra calories to having to shop and cook all the time.  We're still making all his food and I've streamlined most of it, but, goodness, the guy can put it away. 

Breakfast these days is quinoa with apple-prune sauce (pictured.  yum!), lunch is sweet potatoes and spinach muffin (yup, he's finally eating them!), and dinner is some sort of pureed soup--lately, cauliflower potato.  He'll get some banana yogurt for a snack and then nurse a varying amount throughout the day.

We still have a little work to do with chewing.  In the meantime, I'm fantasizing about the day when I can throw a cracker at him and stop his whining.  

Hover-Mom

Monday was beautiful and Finley was not interested in wearing hats, so mom-shade was the only option.  With all the news lately about meddling helicopter parents and how we should all aspire to ignore our children as well as the French do, I was self-conscious.  I swear I'm not coddling my kid, folks. If it weren't for the albino factor, I'd be ignoring him like the pro that I am.

I gave him the camera case so he'd be distracted enough keep his head covered. 

Between that and the dead leaves, he was one happy little dude.

Book Finder

Aren't these covers so much fun? The subject matter isn't too shabby either.  Life on Intertidal Rocks?  Yes, please!  Fern Finder?  Well, who isn't? 

There are others: Track Finder, Tree Finder, Pacific Coast Mammals. . . .  Just search amazon for Nature Study Guides and the world will be your oyster. 

Oh, Hi. I Made Another Skirt.

Remember this post?  Two of those projects have been sitting in the closet, pins and all, for four months.

But give me a three-day weekend, and . . .

I would have ironed out that wrinkle, but . . . we'll get around to that.  First, admire my vent:

heya kiddo

This took a little puzzling, and that's probably why the whole project languished in my closet for as long as it did.  Turns out, vents are easy.

Also, whaddya know?  I went and lined the thing:

Blue!  How fun!  Easy peasy, right?

Why bother loosing weight when you can just make your clothes too big to begin with?

Ha!

It seems that there's going to be a recurring theme on this blog. If anything, I worried that this was going to be too small--not sure where I got that idea since I can't find any sizing info now.  Regardless, I should know better.  All I had to do was measure the waistband and do a little, you know, math.

If you want to try your luck, this was indeed a free! pattern!--the AK Pencil Skirt on Burda Style.  (The instructions aren't the best, hence my vent puzzlement.  I'd look elsewhere if you need your hand held through the whole process).  Me?  Unless someone wants this, I'm ripping out the zipper and trying again.  I haven't found a pattern that I've felt compelled to buy, but I've seen instructions for drafting a pattern from my measurements (oh hey, Burda has a tutorial too), so give me another four months and we'll see what happens.

But That's Not All

These are probably videos that only a mother could love, but that won't keep me from posting them!



I didn't really plan this, but there was a cake vs. pie showdown at the party.  Guess what won? The fix may or may not have been in.



and a little something extra after the jump. Please don't report me to CPS.

A Birthday Party

The party was great, but I'm pretty annoyed. I piled so much on my plate that I didn't have time to take pictures of the actual spread.  This after spending a lot of time obsessing over how to make everything as easy as possible.  Planning and planning and planning....and then tacking on a batch of cupcakes at the last minute because I got nervous about not having enough dessert.

The food looked great, I swear.  And it generally tasted good, too.

There was a loose theme....

Which brings me to an important point of this post: I haven't been writing much here lately because I've been making friendship bracelets like a crazy person.

Once again, no before picture.  Only after.  But there were over thirty, I think (no, not everyone took one, which I figured would be the case, though more guys were sporting them at the end of the night than I expected).  This took me a lot of time.  But I'm crazy and like fiddly things and so I've been knotting away for the past month and generally neglecting my blog, my other hobbies and my family in the process.

Anyway....

I made good use of my sister's photography, as you can see.  Floating Finley heads for everyone! (Seriously.  Unprompted by me, one of the banners got torn up and distributed at the end of the night.)

And there were pictures of the amateur variety also.

 
I couldn't let all my effort with those monthly pictures go unrewarded (I already had most of the frames from a different, unrealized project...maybe I'll get around to hanging some wedding pictures now?).  Also,

I printed out all of Finley's pictures from the last year.  The ones featuring him with friends and family made it onto the wall here.  I think I got a good percentage of the people in attendance, and for those of you that couldn't make it, you were almost certainly represented.

The sweet thing about this is that this picture is an accurate depiction of how Finley now likes to spend a good portion of his time (five minutes constitutes a good portion when you're a one-year-old).  He'll suddenly go quiet--usually a signal to me that he's up to no good--and I'll find him in this position looking at his wall of friends and smiling.  So incredibly wonderful.  I think these may have to stay up for a while yet.

So, the first birthday was a great success, thanks largely to the wonderful people who came. And thanks to Finley too. He's the guy who did the hard work of turning one after all, and he handled the whole day in true Finley style--happy to be surrounded by people who love him and being a general love to them in return.

1 Year

This is our one-year-old!  These pictures are an amazing reminder of everything we've been through. It's so hard to believe that we went from helpless infant to genius almost-toddler in only twelve months!

He's started associating words with things--we can ask him to get his truck, and he'll scoot over and hand it to us.  Same with dog, baby and coquí (thanks Auntie Elizabeth!).  He also can sign for "more" (which also doubles as "feed me") and really enjoys making a "ssssss" sound whenever he sees a pair of shoes.

Genius!

Andy and I can't get over how lucky we are.  (I know every parent says this, but) we have the best kid in the world.  Really.  The best.

One Year

I don't know that I'll have a picture up today, but a picture will be taken.

Party preparation is underway!  It should give me plenty to post about to make up for the quiet of the past couple weeks.

We have a one-year-old. What a trip.

Guess Who Went into Labor a Year ago Tonight?

Ah, pregnancy. I do miss the stretchy pants aspect of it, though.

Exile

Finley has discovered how to open cupboards. The trashcan? His favorite.  He also gets very, very sad when we close the fridge.

I'd feel bad about cutting him off from all of the things that he loves, but he seems to be handling it well so far. 

In other news, it might be time to invest in a hairbrush. 

Super

I should be excited for the home team, but I'm feeling a little ambivalent about Sunday's game. There's no good reason--I'm an ok football watcher, and I always enjoy an excuse for a beer or two. Also, the last Giants/Patriots Bowl was ah-maze-balls.

Maybe it's because I'm still a Seahawks girl through-and-through? Or maybe because there's a time conflict with a certain PBS show I've been devoting myself to?  (Do PBS shows yield to cable in cases like this?  I should check the schedule.) 

Fun story: we had a party at our house for the Seattle/Pittsburgh match-up oh so many years ago which ended with me shutting myself up in my bedroom and tearfully telling Andy that I just wanted everyone to go home.  It wasn't fun anymore.  

It still stings.  I don't get that wound up about the Giants.

Anyone have any exciting football snacks on the agenda?  We've been told to bring nothing but beer, and I'm not putting up a fight.  Next week is nothing but cooking and baking.  Never fear, you'll hear all about that later.

On the Brain

I've been thinking about child development a lot lately and I even started a long rambling post on it that I didn't have time to finish, so I thought I'd just leave it at this for now:


Did you know that humans don't recognize their own reflection until they're two?

Actually, fifteen months at the earliest according to my recent research, which I just undertook because I realized that I'd been spouting off that factoid for a few months without verification.

But, recognize him or not, this is Finley's favorite guy.  He could talk to him for hours at a time.

Also did you know that really smart dogs are as smart as a two-year-old?   Yeah, I'm not taking the time to confirm that tidbit, but I totally read that somewhere once and it gives me comfort to know it when I discover that my little Einstein has been chewing on the lamp (the lamp!  gah!). 

Soup Happened

All of the things that I said would happen did--and even a few of the things that I left unsaid (though not all of them; the mental to-do list is long, long, loooong)! Every time I visit Smitten Kitchen I end up with a ream of recipes to try. This stew is from one of those visits and has made its way in to regular rotation.  I used kale instead of chard and topped it off with poached eggs (sloppily applied, as you can see.  I need to work on my food styling skills).  Afterward, Andrew blitzed the leftovers into pureed oblivion, and because there was no longer any sign of green, Finley inhaled it. 

My thoughts on the rest of the weekend? I need to remember to take pictures.  Also, let's face it: Anna and Mr. Bates are never getting together.

Sigh. Weekend, I hardly knew ye.