Martha Stewart Cookie of the Month

This is what this girl does for entertainment when her husband's away and her baby's asleep. Very similar to this picture taken in June 2005, minus the wine.

Every Little Thing She Does is Magic

I'm a sucker for a picture of a baby sleeping.

Sewing the Seeds of Love

Cecilia in the cat bed, January 2009, 13 months old
William in the dog bed, March 2007, ~13 months old

I've been thinking a lot about Melissa and Brant and William. Brant was diagnosed a couple weeks ago with stage 4 cancer, and he has already started chemotherapy. It's hard not to think about him, worry for him and his family, pray for him. He started a website so we can keep up with his progress without calling 50 times a week, and so that he doesn't have to retell the same story 250 times a week. He could use some good vibes sent out to him in the Bay Area.

I find these pictures so interesting because they are so similar. The first one John took just a few days ago and the second one I took almost 2 years ago, but the idea is the same. I remember when I was out there visiting Melissa shared with me that she was tired of William grunting at her and pointing at stuff, and would be happy when he could say a few words. That's exactly how I feel on an everyday basis. I'm ready for her to talk a tiny bit. I'm also ready for her to eat more things than just cheddar cheese and grapes. O.k., there's a few other foods in there, but most things she hates. I try to offer her new foods at almost every meal; apples, pears, baked potato, green beans. She's not going for it. I keep telling myself this is a phase and someday sometime somewhere along the way she's going to eat something different, and maybe years from now she'll eat all sorts of goodies. I believe this to be true. Don't you dare tell me some kids are just picky eaters and she may never like very many foods. I won't hear of it.

She Didn't Like It

We took her out there this morning, and she wasn't buying it. John called me "Mean Mommy." We came in and took off the snow suit (thanks for the hand me down) and she immediately took a nap. I think she was just tired, and I had bad timing. I'll try again this afternoon.

Good, me neither.

Anybody sick of these sunrise pictures of my favorite tree?

From This Angle It Looks Like Elmo Is Swallowing Her Whole

Shoe Debate

In another heated discussion over here, we disagree on shoes. Pressing, I know. One of us (it won't take much to figure out which one) thinks that since they still sell shoes like K-Swiss tennis shoes, and Doc Marten combat style shoes that this means they are still in style and acceptable to wear. The other one of us disagrees. So, we'll slap it up here old school style and ask you, our dear friends and relatives, and the occasional random person...

Online Surveys & Market Research

Online Surveys & Market Research

Just so I'm clear, these are the K Swiss he has in mind, and


these are the Doc Martens he has in mind.


Anyone want to change their answer?

Front Facing

another

Here's another picture from NYE; Cecilia pushing Char around on her new little car she got from Melissa for Christmas. They really did have a great time together.

Yes We Can!

My mom, staunch Democrat that she was, would be happy about tomorrow.

Happy Birthday, Mom.

New Year's Eve

Sara and Chuck and their 2 boys Char and Alaric came up for New Years Eve and spent the night. I will have so say I was nervous about making it until midnight, but John and Sara and I made it until 2 a.m., and I wasn't even drunk. We had a great time, and so did Cecilia. Their boys are so cute with her. When they left in the morning, we stood at the front door and waved goodbye and watched them pull away and I closed the door, and Cecilia cried and pointed to the door. It was as if she was sad they were leaving, which made my heart melt. That is the first and only time I have seen her display emotion about anyone other than John and I. It's so good that they get along, sometimes it hard to have friends where the parents get along and the kids get along too.

Happy New Year Everyone, 17 days late.

Possibly My Favorite Picture EVER

The kid on the right is none other than my John, in 7th grade. I think this was a talent show, and they made those guitars themselves. It was an air band, or they lip synced. Below is a picture of the real band, Stryper. This picture here my friends, is gold, pure gold. It might result in me sleeping on the couch or worse, but I think it's worth it. If I didn't love him so much, I wouldn't delight in such pictures, right? I'm doing it for you, my blog readers, and sacrificing my own comfort at home for a period of time.

4 Years

It was four years ago today that I started this blog. It's funny how I used to have sewing projects, beer making projects, nights out of the town, etc, and now most of my posts seem to be about one small little girl who has filled my heart. Wouldn't have it any other way.

The collage isn't perfect, but it's my first one so be patient. If you disregard the last row of pictures, it's my favorite pictures of Cecilia, one from each month in 2008. I have no doubt that 2009 will be even better.

Jammies

I'm a sucker for this kind of thing.

This Morning

Same Tree, Different Day

Bottles and Cans

All we need to do now is teach her how to properly hold a wine glass, and we've done all we can do. We have prepared her for life.

p.s. click on the word "bottles" for an earlier of version of something similar

Another sunrise picture of my favorite tree. (There's two different links there.)

I'm just carrying on an old family tradition

One of our family traditions is to make these cut out sugar cookies and decorate them one by one. We have these super old cookie cutters that are one of our family heirlooms, and so we usually go over to Joe and Amanda's house to decorate after they have already rolled, cut out and baked the cookies. They do the hard part, we do the fun part. The recipe is huge, this year I think it made 91 cookies.

When I was young, like in junior high, I used to have girlfriends over for a slumber party and we'd stay up for as long as we could decorating cookies. Last year for Christmas Sara gave me some new cookie cutters because I was a mom and she had fond memories of my mom making those cookies.

I had no idea what Cecilia would do this year with the cookies. Some of the designs can get pretty intricate. I can remember one year, maybe the first year John was along for this family tradition, Tom was just learning to say "please" and he must have said "please" 5 hundred times that night, for the icing, or sprinkles or whatever. It was cute. Cecilia took to the tradition like a natural. I gave her one cookie and put some icing on it, and she ate the cookie right away. Later, she found the top of the portable high chair and started licking the icing. She makes me laugh.