First Fall

It was a balmy 96 degrees out when we inaugurated the fall season with a visit to Buckelew Farms to pick a pumpkin. I intentionally picked this date because I thought it would be cooler! But we enjoyed ourselves despite the heat, and it only made BB a little extra cranky.

BB had hay stuck between his toes after taking these photos!

We took a tractor-drawn wagon out to the patch and searched for our perfect pumpkins, both for carving and for photo ops.


Our little pumpkin


This is when BB decided it was too hot to take any more pictures and also why are you forcing me to sit and stand on this hard, orange thing for so long?


This is now sans overalls, right before BB grabbed a leaf and aimed it straight at his mouth as J said "I think he wants to...!" You can see his plan developing.


And this is where they weighed our pumpkins to charge us - here's our 16-pounder!

J dropped our pumpkins off in the car and came back to check out the rest of the festival with us - he walked up as our nieces were picking marionette puppets and I was trying to cool BB off in front of a fan in the stand. Suddenly J shoved his forearms at me and yelped "Look at my arms!" I looked and saw a harvest of little red bumps, and nonchalantly said "Oh your arms are red". He said "LOOK at my ARMS!", and I said something like "What's that from?" and tried to discern some symptoms like is it was itchy? or burning? and all he replied was "LOOK AT MY ARMS!!" His mom, unaware of the flesh-mutilating outbreak, asked him for help with something and he squaked "I CAN'T DO ANTHING UNTIL I TAKE CARE OF THIS!! GIVE ME A WIPE!" He rummaged through the diaper bag and found a wipe and feverishly scrubbed to no avail, and I told him to find a bathroom and wash his arms. He left the stand and I saw him wandering the grounds in circles like he was deranged - I shouted to find an employee, and instead he stopped his father for directions. He finally found a bathroom and came back my rational, easygoing husband. On the drive home I mocked his panic and he told me that at the same time he noticed the rash developing, his asthma kicked up from being out in the fields and he thought "I can't breathe and I have this rash - I'M GOING TO DIE AT THE PUMPKIN PATCH! This is not how I wanted to go out!!" and I laughed the whole ride home.

A big thanks to Granacky for being our family photographer! I tried to return the favor with a shot of the grands

Laughs

BB has joined the cacophony in my life chanting "J is sooooo funny"

Mommy Must-Haves

Sling (or other babywearing device): look Mom, no hands! Sometimes your baby does NOT want to be put down. With a capital NOT. and sometimes you just need both your hands. Voila!

(This is a Taylor Made sling - a hand-me-down from my sis-in-law)

Paci-clip: no more digging around in the backseat desperately searching for the binky with one hand with your baby's sobs piercing your ears and inducing a slew of anxiety-provoking mommy-hormones, with the other hand on the steering wheel, trying to watch the road. While there are many warnings about strangulation hazards when attaching something to your baby with a strap, I think the dangers on the road not having a paci-clip far outweigh the remote potential of BB strangling himself with a 6 inch strap while in eye-shot (in the carseat mirror).


Happiest Baby on the Block: the 5 Ss (calming techniques) were my 5 best friends in the early days. While many of the points in this book come from an evolutionary worldview, I just replaced those ideas with "because God made it that way". A must read for mommies and daddies.


To Be Continued...

All dressed up

Here's BB all dressed up - we had a great time celebrating a friend's wedding at a beautiful outdoor reception. BB even took his first spins on a real dance floor with Mommy and Daddy!

His Highness

First time in his high chair!

Two of a Kind

That's just my baby's daddy.

Wheeeee

Two Turntables and a Rolling Pin

I am woman. I rule kitchen. I make pasta......from scratch.
That's right, scratch! Wicki-wicki *spinning my air-turntables*

I had been thinking about making my own pasta, but I was way too intimidated by the idea. And then I couldn't find pappardelle noodles and I didn't want to substitute with fettucine noodles like the recipe suggested. I decided to finally go for it.

All I used was flour and water, per the recipe found here . I peeked at a recipe from my cookbook to compare, but it had several other ingredients and I decided to keep it simple. I kneaded the flour and water together, and then rolled it out as thin as I could with my rolling pin (which was a major arm workout - I was actually sore the next day!) After that I cut it into strips with my pizza cutter. The pappardelle noodles were perfect for my scratch pasta experiment, because they are about 1 inch wide, easy to cut with the pizza cutter. After I initially cut them, I rolled them out again and was able to get them much thinner than before. Here they are, ready to pop in the water!

And after boiling them (until they float, and then for 5 minutes (and one taste-test) afterwards)

And finally, in our lamb ragu

The noodles actually looked and tasted like real pasta. The whole process took me about 1 hour, from looking up the recipe to finishing the cleanup. I did this during the day while BB was napping and then just refrigerated them until dinnertime. The whole experiment was fun and empowering. And after peeking at the ingredients list on the pasta package in my pantry, I love knowing exactly what is in my noodles - flour and water. Next on the wicki-wicki list - tortillas and bread!

Funny HaHa

The tub is always a joyful place for this little one, and as he slowly discovers that each of his limbs and even his bottom can be lifted and then resubmerged with a subsequent splashy effect, it's only becoming more fun. But that's not even why I'm blogging.

I'm blogging because mere minutes after this photo was snapped, I dried him off, diapered him up, rubbed (overpriced-for-it's-naturalness) moisturizing cream on his skin to combat the eczema, and then lifted him in the air and giggled at his 97th percentile-long-legs dangling off his torso, and do you know what happened next? There, up in the air, my BB emitted his first real laugh. Not just a squeal or a grunty-chuckle (or even a bark), but a real laugh.

Mommyhood is filled with everyday moments of joy, like a splash in the tub or a wet kiss. But there are also moments when life changes right in front of you, and there are only so many of those. Life changed today. And I was there, and there was laughter.

Happy 4 Months BB!!

-He found his feet
-He plays in his crib in the morning, and now we wake up to happy squeals and when we look over the rail, he's smiling up at us, holding his feet
-Everything goes in his mouth
-He can actually get things in his mouth using his hands
-He found his volume dial
-His sleep patterns (his formerly wonderfully predictable sleep patterns) are changing
-He gives kisses! It's true! I noticed on Tuesday that when Justin kissed him, he opened his mouth wider - I began testing it, and now I have proof that he totally gives kisses:

-He remains very long at 27 inches - 97th percentile for length! and 14 lbs 1 oz. - 50% percentile