7 months to the day...

Miss Nugget is 7 months old!  She decided to celebrate this momentous day by figuring out how to roll, with ease, back onto her back after rolling to her tummy.  It may not be crawling, but we definitely have a moving baby!  I have been reminded again lately that although she is growing (amazingly well!) on par with others born at the same time, her preemie-ness does mean she might not have certain skills down quite as quickly as her peers.  I'm learning to be okay with that: she'll get it eventually and in the meantime we've got a healthy, thriving little girl.  Really can't ask for more.  Now for the munchkin's stats:
Weight: 16.4 lbs (25-50%)
Height: 27 inches (50-75%)
Head: 17.75 inches (50-75%)

Her current favorite game (other than rolling across the room), is definitely peek-a-boo.  She gets incredibly proud of herself when she pulls the blanket over her face on her own and gets us to play.  She has taken quite well to new foods (sweet potato, prunes, peaches and oats), although we have had to adjust her eating due to some tummy issues.  We're hoping those solve themselves soon so we don't have to go in to the doctor any extra.  With the onset of flu and RSV season, little one has had to add a synergis shot once a month (preemies are even more prone than term babies to this nasty illness).  While it has been a huge headache to get organized, I'm grateful for it: I do not want to see my baby in the hospital again.  Plus, our home health nurse is an absolute sweetheart (and completely understanding when we didn't have the medicine when she came... no one told me they were sending it to us!).

So, there you have it.  Nugget is a whole month older, and a whole month sweeter! 

St. Nicholas Day

Growing up, St. Nicholas day was a long-standing tradition in our household.  On the eve of my big brother's birthday, our stockings were hung on hooks throughout the house (I know many families use shoes, but we have always used stockings per Czech tradition).  We would always get chocolates and a piece of fruit (my siblings usually got apples and I always got an orange - personal preference, in those cases) and often a little book or trinket. 

This year, all three of us were sick the day before St. Nick's feast day, so I wasn't able to make my sneaky trip to the store (my insides wanted to be on my outside... seriously).  Luckily, the next day, St. Nick made sure we remembered him anyway (thank you, dearest husband!).
 
 Our stocking hang on the wall with care (no fireplace nor hearth in our little apartment, but this seemed to do just as well).

 

Daniel did good mixing both the symbolism of the day (gold coins as well as the orange to symbolize the money purse St. Nicholas left for the three daughters) and satisfying my sweet tooth (everything else).  He even found a simple little $1 book for Anni; she was mostly interested in chewing on it.  Maybe next year we'll find a good children's book on St. Nicholas to read to her.

 

 

Happy Advent!

Happy Birthday, Charlie!

Little Charlie - around 2 yrs old.

 Happy Birthday to my dear Charlie!  Charlie is my (first) nephew and the first grandchild of my parents.  I was in high school when he was born, and I still remember the days of going over after school to help watch him.  My sister always kept popcorn for me to pop, and then I would do homework while he napped (in between checking him every few minutes to make sure he was breathing... guess not much has changed there ;)).  Charlie is fantastically brilliant and fun.  He has regularly filled me in on the workings of the human body, as well as the intricacies of WiiFit and has kept us giggling since day one.

Charlie - 7 years old

A year and a half ago, Charlie was diagnosed with aspergers.  Luckily, he has amazing parents who have worked hard to learn the best ways to help him grow and thrive... and it helps that our whole family seems to have a lot of the aspects related to aspergers.

I wish I was there to celebrate with him today, but I figure a blog post and a phone call will have to do.  Happy 8th Birthday, Charlie!!

Former Fridays [Happy Birthday, Tom!]

So...I know I missed last Friday.  Thanksgiving kept me happily busy with family, food, showers, etc.  However, I think you'll agree that this weeks picture is worth the wait.  In honor of my older brother's 27th birthday coming up in a couple of days, I had to dig through the box and find a suitably adorable picture of him.  This photograph is from the summer of 1984.  Isn't he the cutest, chubby baby boy?  He was even a blondie for a few years.  Now this was before my time, but I bet I'll hear back some good stories from my sisters about baby Tommy.

Thursday's Three Small Successes

1. Cleaned the apartment!  Like, really cleaned: dusting and vacuuming (the two things that tend to get left behind) as well as the normal necessary picking up.  Now, it's definitely not perfect.  I seem to have a knack for little piles that have no home.  But, I have to say, the place looks good.  Today is absolutely beautiful out, so I opened windows, cracked the door to our porch and am letting the sun shine in!  It's a beautiful thing.  Plus, along the lines of feeling like a good housewife: I have dinner all planned for tonight.  Totally random - but I have enough leftover ingredients (from several other meals) to make a small lasagna... and since it's just Daniel and I (Nugget isn't quite ready for lasagna), it'll be perfect!

2. Got all caught up on photos, ordered everything I had in the queue and blogged about all the recent shoots.  

3. We planned a few things for us to do for Advent!  While Anni isn't big enough to do a lot, we made plans to pray for one of our mission partners each day as well as to continue our tradition of lighting the advent wreath and saying corresponding prayers.  It's going to be a great month! 



Happy Thursday!  Hope you're taking time to recognize all the wonderful little things you do!