Thankful

As I worked on the photos for this post, Anni played on the floor behind me.  She began to whine, the whine that you know needs attention.  So, bending down to the floor, I stroked that fluffy down on her head.  Immediately, her eyes fluttered.  30 seconds later, she was asleep in my arms.  And even though she didn't need it, I sat in the rocking chair and held that heavy, comforting weight of a sleeping baby.  I was thankful.  Thankful that the nugget that caused me to spend most of last year's thanksgiving outside for fear of the deadly oven smell was trying sweet potatoes and grinning to everyone who passed by this year.  And even though the rest of today has made me want to run screaming out of the apartment, I am so thankful for this year, for my husband and baby and for our family that has been there through the frantic, worried phone calls, as well as the joyful ones over things others might find trivial.

This thanksgiving was wonderful.  Daniel and I thoroughly enjoyed our second Thanksgiving and getting to share it with our nugget.    

 This is how Anni "crawls."  When she really wants to move, she starts working her arms and legs so hard only her little tummy is left on the floor!

We even got a holiday outfit for the little one.  I adore it and as it is in my sister's favorite color, it made me smile even more. 

 It was just as good as it looks...

 The first attempt at sweet potatoes was mildly successful.  They needed to be pureed more, and she did her usual "new food freakout," but she ate most of them!

 Despite the fact that her "Stranger Danger," alert went off with her uncle at first, she quickly warmed up to him when he proved himself snuggly and willing to walk with her.  I loved how wonderful he was with her! 

 The joy of sweet, sweet, dessert wine.  It catered directly to the fact that I am the girliest of all drinkers... the sweeter my drink the better.

And what could be better than a bath amongst the pots and pans and pies at Grandma and Grandpa's house?

 Thanksgiving Day was followed by Thanksgiving weekend... which brought with it beautiful friends.  There was even some proverbial whipped cream on the pie in that they are both incredibly talented musicians.  Anni's love of music was wonderfully filled by their music.

 I love Anni's slightly shy but intently listening face in this one.  Emily sang her a beautiful Celtic lullaby... if you want to hear some of her lovely music - check out her facebook page.

And even more goodness followed that weekend... with a bridal shower honoring this lovely bride of this lovely couple (too many lovelies - they really are).  I am so excited to be photographing their wedding this New Year's Eve!

 

So thankful.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just had to wish you all a happy and healthy Thanksgiving!  I promise to share all kinds of goodies from Nugget's first Thanksgiving as soon as we're settled in one place again!  Until then... have to give you a peek at my very first ever pumpkin pie - successful in my book!

Fueling my Family

Recently, it seems I've been running across all kinds of articles emphasizing that what we eat affects our health far more than we know.  While I'm not quite ready to go to major extremes, we're trying to take small steps to ensure that our Anni (and any other future little ones) will have the hang of the healthy thing early on.  Luckily, we were both raised in homes where health is highly valued (my momma's a nurse and Daniel's dad is a doctor), so we know a lot of the right things to do - we just have to do it :).  Despite any hassle it might cause, I'm really starting to see that the health of our family is far more important than convenience.

Fruits and veggies: I definitely inherited the fruit gene from my mom.  If I could... that's pretty much the majority of what I would eat.  On the other side, veggies are a slow process.  Corn is easy... but I'm still working on becoming a good salad eater like the husband.  On the flip side, I like to stir-fry veggies into things which Daniel will very sweetly eat, but I'd like to find even yummier ways of getting vegetables into our diet.

Whole grains: Yep, we're doing it.  We've eaten wheat bread since we got married, but now I'm making sure it's 100% whole grain.  We had started the switch to brown rice and whole grain pasta when I got pregnant last year... but any food changes (and really most food choices) got put on hold for 7.5 months of nausea.  But... we're getting back on the wagon.  Wish us luck!

Homemade Baby food:  We've been doing this from the start of Miss Nugget's adventures into solid food and I love it!  This way I know exactly what's going into her tummy... call me a control freak, but it feels good and it's so easy!  My sister, Katie, even ground us rice (and I think barley and one other grain) to use for the cereal base of things.

Less junk food: We aren't ginormous junk food eaters... but we do like our desserts :).  We gave up our nightly ice cream a couple of months back and opted for the "Sundays and special days" route.  I have to admit this one is hard for me.  I am a huge snacker, so I've been working on finding yummy but not quite as bad for me snacks (a favorite is and always has been celery with peanut butter).  We also don't drink pop, which I think helps a lot.  (Ok, we do drink 7up when we're sick... just can't give up that comfort!)

And while I've always cooked most of our meals, I'm trying to do it more and more from scratch to eliminate hidden sodium, HFCS and other such things that we're probably better off without.  I'd like to work on buying more of our food locally, but haven't gotten that worked in yet.  There's a permanent farmer's market next to Target... so maybe the next time I'm not rushed (ha!) I'll check it out :).

So, there you have it.  Our little fore into the healthy eating world.  What do you do to help your family stay healthy?

Former Fridays

Recently, I decided to digitize the boxes of family photos that have been gathering dust in my parent's basement.  I wanted to be able to document them and organize them while we could all at least vaguely remember stories, names and dates.  So, thus begins probably a multiple years long project of scanning and organizing.  Every Friday I'll share a fun find with you (and the story if there's one I know).

So, this Friday, you get my siblings and I circa 1991.  Aren't we adorable?  My favorite are my two baby brothers - Jake thinks whatever the photographer is doing is hilarious (cutest laugh award!) and Matt is completely bemused.

This was probably our last formal picture in Nebraska and for quite awhile (I remember an attempt at one a few years later that sorely failed...) 

So there you have it...new project and all!  Aren't you excited for the fun to follow?  Of course, I spent an entire summer scanning my alma mater's archived photographs in preparation for it's sesquicentennial (yeah, say that 10 times fast) celebration and had an absolute blast rooting around in basement archives and finding photographs of gypsies and their bears visiting campus... so my idea of fun might be a little different than everyone else's :). 


Story update: My big sister, Katie Z., added some more to the story of this picture:

katie z. said...

And, and, and... Don't forget to mention!! Mom totally made my vest and skirt (although you can't see the skirt), and I think that is still my favorite outfit ever. I made a pin cushion for 4H out of scraps and coveted that piece of fabric FOREVER. I love our mom!

Thanks, sis!

Another update from my oldest sister, Millie:


These were actually taken at the town bank (I'm pretty sure a place with only 300 people can't be called a city).  Also, Jake's adorably huge smile is actually just what he did when we told him to smile.  Annnd... one more little tidbit: the dress I'm wearing was a hand-me-down from both of my sisters.

Thursday's Three Small Successes

1. Caught up on my recent photography projects.  (Working on cover art for a friend's CD as he tries to raise money to pay off debt so he can enter into the religious life plus all my recent shoots in Kansas and Colorado!  You can also always check out my photography blog and leave a few comments!)

2. Baked a cherry cobbler and made it to Thanksgiving dinner at FOCUS without too many issues (other than Anni's eventual exhausted stranger danger breakdown and immediate return home).

3. Made an entirely gluten-free meal for a dear friend from Crossroads.  She is a FOCUS missionary in Denver and came up for dinner.  For those interested, we made White Chicken Chili (making sure to use gluten-free chicken broth), salad and gluten-free cornbread (we ended up using a mix for this, but soon after discovered a simple gluten free cornbread recipe thanks to my sister)!  She also brought delicious brownies (yep, also gluten free).  My husband was in heaven with their fudgy goodness!

And there you have it!  Also, just a little photo eye-candy... just because :).  Anni is loving the mirror concept!

Share your three small successes of this week and check out everyone else's at Faith & Family Live!

A girl and her daddy

Can it get much sweeter?

Favorite Day

Today is my favorite day, I like tomorrow and yesterday, but today is my favorite day.


This week was the big birthday celebration week. It was... wonderful :). Last year at this time I was still getting used to the rather debilitating nausea/vomiting that dominated 7.5 months of my year. The only food that sounded good was Arby's and we even had to leave there because something was burning and made the whole restaurant smell... well... in a way that made me want to puke.

This year... well this year I am mostly healthy and celebrating with a beautiful baby girl and my wonderful husband. (The fact that we were able to go places without me wanting to never leave my bed again was definite icing on the proverbial birthday cake.)

We started out with a trip to the art museum... because I haven't been to one since I was in school getting my art degree, and that's just a little ridiculous. It was also Anni's very first art museum (of many to come, I might add). I loved it. It reminded me of how much I don't know and refueled a desire for (someday) a master's in art history.

The view from the walkway between buildings at the DAM.

And on my actual birthday? Daniel helped me discover my new favorite restaurant. Gaetano's Italian. Not only was it delicious (like, seriously, they made manicotti just the way I like it and they had bread... yummy bread), but they have the coolest history! Check it out on their website. Daniel and I double checked that the bullet proof glass was still there as it claims. I highly recommend this place if you're ever in the Denver area... good food and bullet proof... what else can you want?



And finally, celebrating with Daniel's family this weekend. Football, everyone loving on our Nugget, cake, ice cream... life is good.






Happy Birthday to me.

The nugget turns 6 months old!

Little Miss Nugget has officially turned 6 months old!

Stats:

Length
25.75 in (50% or 90% adjusted)

Weight
15 lbs 2 oz (25-50% or 75% adjusted)

Head Circumference
16.5 in (25-50%)

So, all in all, we've got a big preemie on our hands! The doctor even wanted to make sure our carseat was big enough because Anni is so long (luckily we bought one that goes up to 32 inches).

Anni is really big into vocalizing and fine motor skills right now. Lots of picking things up, shaking them, passing them from hand to hand and definitely chewing on them! (No teeth yet, just lots of drool, one possible ridge and some crankiness.) She loves her feet and rolling really fast to her tummy. She likes to move once on her tummy but hasn't quite figured out how... so we hear the new whine squeak she's got going on a little more often. Her favorite position is definitely standing; she can bear her weight but obviously needs help with the whole balance thing :).

Anni has also started eating solids! She was kind of ambivalent on the rice cereal (ate it, but didn't care too much), but bananas mixed with rice cereal is a huge hit! I think the sweetness helps. She cries when we finish a bowl, so we tend to scrape it out as well as possible! We just do one meal a day (occasionally we skip it if it's just one of those days) and she tends to eat about two cubes of rice cereal mashed up with two banana slices. Such an adorable little oinker! Eventually we need to buy her a high chair, but as she doesn't sit up on her own yet, we figure it can wait a little longer. But while we're talking about it, does anyone love or hate your high chair? I'm all ears!

And that's Nugget at 6 months!

That Halloween Post

Our plans for Halloween sat at a pretty open zero for quite awhile. We figured Anni wasn't going to care too much and we just wanted to relax... so we had settled for a cute hand-me-down Halloween onesie and maybe a Sunday at the in-laws. Then Daniel told me that his office was having trick-or-treating for all of the FOCUS kiddos... and that the only requirement was to dress up like a saint. I didn't plan on going until a wonderfully talented and generous fellow FOCUS wife, Lisa, offered to loan us their Infant of Prague costume for the little nugget. (The reproduction statue to the right is similar to the two little ones we have in our house). Well, being Czech and always loving a visit to FOCUS' headquarters... we agreed :). We then ended up also having her wear it briefly on Halloween to show her grandparents.

So, despite being the wrong hand, I had to say this picture made me giggle a little with her peace sign (see statue). We also added a little blue ball and were on our way. Also, you may not be able to tell in these pictures, but my favorite part of the outfit is some really pretty white and gold lace on the edge of the cape.

Some of the staff and kids that dressed up :). I loved it! Can you pick out any? (Some of my favorites are Juan Diego with the tortilla chips, Moses with one of Juan Diego's maracas, the lost lamb, St. Francis checking out his loot and that cute little Infant of Prague.)

Commence Halloween Day festivities:

Cutest little pumpkin ever! Thanks for the hand-me-down, Katie! We loved it!

There is a sound that goes with this picture... can you imagine it?


Checking out the fall leaves (and, yeah, that's the orange halloween onesie underneath... I might be a little lazy :)).

More leaves! This girl is learning to bring those to her mouth, so we had to play a lot of tug o' war... but she enjoyed herself!


We did trick-or-treat (minus any candy) at one house. They were old friends of the family and hadn't met our little pumpkin as of yet. We lasted about 5 minutes before her exhausted crying sent us back home.

Had to share this. My husband is a wonderful pianist, but we definitely don't have the room for a piano, so he only gets to play at his parents. It is always a treat to listen to him play and I'm hoping Anni gets his skill! (Despite 5 years of lessons... I never really took to it.)

And there you have it, nugget's very first halloween! A year ago we had just found out we were pregnant and I spent the day lying on his parent's couch experiencing the beginning onslaught of exhaustion and "morning" sickness. So funny what a year of difference makes.