Flashback Friday

Remember my "biker kids"?

How about a biker kids flashback, circa... oh 1984 or 1985?
(Note in the above picture:
candy necklace, super-scraggly hair, Detroit Tigers t-shirts...
Ya... dad was babysitting.)

And one last pic of me with my very first baby.
I was quite the little mother, eh?
Love you, Case!

Shout Out To Craig

Thanks for doing the dishes last night, babe! Love you!

12 Month Well Check

Sophie and I went to her 12 month well check this morning. Here are her stats:
Weight = 21#8oz (50-75th percentile)
Length = 29 1/2" (50-75th percentile)
Proportionate weight/length = 50-75th percentile
Head circ = 18 1/2" (75-90th percentile)

All those percentages are just a graphed comparison of Sophia to other 12 month old baby girls... and they tell me that she is right in the middle or slightly above it. More important than those numbers, is the fact that she has stayed consistent on her growth lines since about 4 months (after dropping down from unusually high percentiles) and is proportionate weight for length.

Physical exam looks great! Eyes, ears, throat, etc. - all clear. Sophie looked curiously at the doctor and didn't want to sit still, but she didn't cry or look scared. Dr. Carmen said that by 15 months (her next well check in July), Sophie should be saying 10-20 words (wow! how exciting!) with an even greater literary understanding as realized by her ability to follow simple commands like "give mommy the ball" or "turn the page". Other milestones by 15 months will include pointing to things, turning book pages, walking, etc.

Dr. Carmen told me to avoid peanuts, shellfish and honey until age two...(not sure we'll follow that, as I think it's more imporant to make restrictions on a case by case basis and Sophie is not at higher risk for food allergies) but all other foods are okay and we're definitely taking advantage of that. I think I'd like to introduce citrus pretty soon - don't know why we haven't yet.

Sophie got her finger poked to test lead and hemoglobin today (with no tears or reaction - just watching again with curiosity):
Hemoglobin = 11.5 (that's good)
Lead = negative (that's good too!)

She also got three shots today (with tears right away that stopped as soon as I picked her up): Varicella, Hep A and Pneumococcal Conjugate - in case you wondered :)

I fed her cereal and yogurt in the car and then she joined Will at the babysitter's while I went off to work. We go back with both kids in July for a 3 year and 15 month well check respectively.

What's For Dinner? Week 4

Sophie got her first taste of whole cow's milk on Wednesday last week. She loves her cup and anything I put in it so this went over very well.
I have three more Weelicious recipes on the menu for this week. The first is fajitas (http://weelicious.com/2009/08/18/skirt-steak-fajitas/) with some of our leftover fruit for fruit salad. I omitted the tequila in the marinade and also presliced the beef and sauteed it instead of cooking whole. Since I had a lot to do this past weekend for the party, I sliced the beef of Thursday evening and put it in a freezer bag to freeze till Sunday (or till I pulled it out Saturday night). Then when I was cutting up all the fruits and veggies for the party, I sliced up the bell peppers and onions and put them in a separate sealable plastic bag. Sunday, when we were hanging around the house all day, I mixed up the marinade in the morning and then assembled everything that evening.

I topped mine with cheese, sliced avocado, salsa and a smear of sour cream on the wheat tortilla.

The second menu item (for tonight) will be Mac, Chicken & Cheese Bites (http://weelicious.com/2010/01/21/mac-chicken-cheese-bites/) and steamed broccoli as a side. They were easy to make. I baked the chicken while making our fajitas and then assembled everything else after the kids went to bed last night. I had some extra after filling the mini muffin pan so I just made three bigger "muffins" in the regular tin. Tonight I will just pop them in the oven while I steam the broccoli (which is already washed and cut up). I liked using the white cheddar cheese for these bites and I added some of my white pepper too 'cause I love pepper on my mac 'n cheese. I'll let you know how well they go over.

And finally, Balsamic Chicken (http://weelicious.com/2009/06/03/balsamic-chicken/) with a green salad on the side. I love any recipe that calls for balsamic vinegar. Marinades, salad dressings, even as a thickened syrup or cream over fresh berries for dessert. This one uses balsamic vinegar, olive oil, dijon mustard and garlic for a marinade - simple and perfect. I'll probably just grill these on the Cuisinart grill either open faced or George Foreman style. I plan to mix up the marinade tomorrow night and cook them on Wednesday.

One more thing on my list for the week is my grandma's raisin bran muffins. Grandma Verna shared this recipe with me and they're so moist and yummy. It makes a huge bowl of batter, which can be stored in the refrigerator for up to six weeks! Or baked in bulk and they freeze nicely. Will likes these and I like to pack them with my yogurt for a snack at work.

Then on Friday, we have dinner plans with Craig's family for Grandpa King's birthday.

What We Did Today

Possibly my favorite kind of day (if we're stuck inside):

no agenda, only a few odds 'n ends to accomplish at no particular time, good food, jammies, lots of play time.

Played with our Melissa & Doug food... A LOT!

I'm going to remember this as a great gift for some other upcoming birthdays.

It is definitely a hit.
Others people have described this to me before, but it's hard to understand until you see it.
What a super cute concept, with cutting board and wooden knife!
Played with the Mylar balloon - floating up, pulling down, repeat.

While daddy vacuumed the dining room, Sophie got some fun practice with furniture walking. She has really good balance and coordination. I don't know why she doesn't want to stand or walk. But I'll hold tight to this baby phase awhile longer.

After I assembled the marinade for our fajitas for dinner, Will got to taste the already-squeezed lime. He loved the sour taste.

Once Sophie woke up from nap, Will climbed in bed with her and the two of them jumped/bounced like it was the greatest entertainment ever.

I love these.

This is what it looked like all day today. Thunder storming off and on.

I think that makes "indoor days" more exciting.

We were hoping to squeeze in a bike trailer ride between the rainfall,

but that was a no go.

Practiced counting on Sophie's new wooden bead toy.

Played with the train table in the basement.

Crawled around on the floor.

Read lots of books.

Sophie was very clingy to me today, and whiny when I wasn't near.

Here she is with daddy watching me cook dinner and trying to figure out how to get in the kitchen.

I finally gave in and let her in the kitchen with something to keep her busy.

Watching the chicken bake for tomorrow's dinner too.

I (of course) appreciate the sunshine,

but I definitely don't mind being holed up with my family on days like this.

Here's what we are reading this week...

So after another trip to the library yesterday morning, we have a whole new set of books to read for this week. The Saturday morning outing during Sophie's first nap seems to work out well for us and we can make it there and back with time to spare before she wakes up (Craig is, of course, home). Both times that we've gone now, Will has worn underwear and done very well staying dry away from home. He even peed on the potty at the library (his second time ever on a public potty) since that was our 5th stop of the morning.

Will got to see how we return books in the book drop and got some more practice in how to behave at the library, i.e. not just grabbing books off the shelf without asking, speaking quietly, sitting quietly with a book while mommy hunts for new books to check out. (I'm sadly an idiot when it comes to library filing systems, but I'm working on changing that. It can't be that hard right?)

So here's what we checked out this week. We've read them all today several times:
1) Llama Llama mad at mama
2) Llama Llama red pajama (He'd heard both of these before, but not from me - this was my first time reading them and I love them! I know there's more and I want to check out other work by this author. I like her.)
3) Jamberry (Very cute, very imaginative with detailed illustrations.)
4) Henny Penny (Not my favorite - I'm not crazy about the wolf wanting to eat the birds)
5) On the farm (Will's favorite, of course)
6) Lilly's purple plastic purse (This one's a little longer and he barely had the patience or interest for it... but it's super cute and funny if you have a chance to check it out.)
7) Blueberries for Sal (A very old story - original copyright 1948 - but we both loved it.)
8) Is your mama a llama? (Lots of llama books this week! This is definitely my fave. Cute and rhymey.)

The underlying theme of all of Will's "favorite" books is always going to be:
a) animals - any type, but specifically farm animals
b) something about a mom and baby and maybe how they need to come together again... I think this is why the Diego shows are so popular with him - it's always Diego "rescuing" a baby animal of some sort and helping it find it's mommy again

So if there's a story that combines the two (i.e. Blueberries for Sal), it's going to be a hit.

I'm enjoying these library visits. I'm learning my way around there and we're getting some fresh reads for the week without spending a penny. Plus the "new" (well, new to me since I never go) check out system at the library rocks! It's super easy and fast!

Sophia's 1st Birthday Party!

Ahhh, so much better. The lack of exhaustion that is. Sophia's party was fun and mostly stress free. I stayed up a little late Friday night getting food prepped and some of next weeks meals started, but no matter how much you do in advance, there's just always last minute things that prevent you from looking like you have it all together. Ha! At least for me anyway. When guests arrived, I was finishing up the baked, pita chips and making the punch.

Earlier this morning, during Sophie's first nap, Will and I ran out for some errands. It was nice spending some one on one time with just him before the chaos surrounded his sister. We had five places to run (gas station, grocery store, bank, bakery for birthday cupcakes and - saving the best for last - the library) so we made a point to call them "first", "second", "third", etc. - haha! I will make a lesson out of anything. It was cute hearing him say "and then we're going to the grocery store second". Will is very good when we're out like that and I know he enjoys the time just the two of us - he told me "I love you, mommy" about a million times. Sweet boy.

Back at home, Sophie models her soft, pink, birthday crown from Grandma Riedeman. (Remember, she's in the phase of pulling off ALL hats and hair clips now, so this didn't last long.)Will wanted to wear a hat too so he ran to get his fireman's hat.

The day timed out pretty well. Craig fed the kids a good lunch and then they went down easily for a nap. Meanwhile, I even took a short nap myself (and I really think that made a huge difference in my energy level at the end of the day) and got to shower and begin setting up while they were still sleeping. Here's the buffet with the desserts and a few of Sophie's birthday cards. Craig picked up some fresh lilacs from his parent's house to brighten up our decorations.Oh! The little birds nest treats turned out so cute I think! And they were super easy! The directions are from Family Fun (http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/hummingbird-nests-847672/) and they made for a festive addition to our theme. They're really just coconut and chocolate, so I think they taste like an Almond Joy candy bar.

Here are the cupcakes I ordered from the bakery (being supervised by Penny & Joy) - half of them have the owl picks, and half are topped with jelly beans.

I set out our favor bags on top of the wine rack with the cute owl card from my mom.

I considered a banner of some sort, but didn't really know what I wanted and didn't see a good place to hang one in our house. So instead, I used these (photo?) clip stands to display a "Happy Birthday, Sophia!" message on the food table.

Can you see the little, branchy wreaths under the small bowls on either side of the flowers? And all the food was out in white, square or rectangle dishes.

I found a recipe online for Bee's Berry Punch (sorry this picture was after a few cups had been filled so it wasn't quite as pretty) and it consisted of ginger ale, cranberry juice, pina colada mix, frozen mixed berries and raspberry sherbet. Mmm!

Sophie's personal smash cake, compliments of Great Grandma Konesky. Grandma even made a healthier option by my request: a banana cake (made with applesauce in place of the oil) and cream cheese frosting. For more ideas on healthy first birthday cakes, check out: http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/tipFirstBDay.htm.

What a difference from Will's first birthday when he was the only child around! It was so nice having lots of little ones here to make the party more "entertaining". And they were all girls! Our breakfast nook was loaded with car seats! :)

I like to take a picture of Craig and I with the birthday child. We have a nice one from Will's second birthday. And I love Sophie's party dress!

Some of our guests:

Great Grandpa & Grandma Konesky, Mya, Stella and Amanda

Great Grandpa King, Nana & Molly (who's due in six weeks!) Will LOVED having some playmates at his house:

Addyson & Cora - two super adorable little ladies! Sophie with Nana & Papa

Sophie with Great Grandpa King - (still fascinated with my mom's water bottle)

Aunt Kelly with baby Celia

Aunt Casey with almost-11-month-old Stella

Papa has his hands full with the twins!

Uncle Zach - extreme close-up

Uncle Taylor & Aunt Amanda

Uncle Steve & Aunt Kelly

My mom holding Cecilia, who's looking lovely in lavender.

Will & Addyson hop on the rocking horse. Casey & Wes brought a Mylar balloon, which was all the rage with Will. He carried it all over for most of the party.

Addyson is the daughter of one of Craig's best friends from high school. Isn't she adorable? And this was after a couple hours of hard-core play time.

Sophie with Auntie Amanda

I love this one of Soph with her Godmother, Kelly.

Addyson and Sophia coordinated so nicely! Soph is such a lady, eh?

Grandma and Papa Riedeman got Sophie one of the best gifts! It's tough coming up with "big" presents for the second child. We already have a wagon. She'll probably use his tricycle. We don't have room for a doll house or a kitchen right now. But wait! I found this cool (easy-store-cause-it-folds-flat) picnic table that will be perfect for birthday parties and outdoor summer lunches for the kids! The (approximately) 2-year-old crowd found it very helpful today!

I love Cora's expression in these next two.

Look Grandma! Sophie climbed right up onto the table all by herself to eat her graham cracker! No one helped her into this position at all. She's such a monkey.

After everyone finished eating, Will helped me pass out the party favors to the kids. Here's Stella with her butterfly hairclip and mini owl doll.

Then Grandma and Papa Riedeman came through again with a special gift for Will to open while Sophie opened her presents.

Woo hoo! New race car underwear!

Unfortunately, Sophia had absolutely ZERO interest in opening presents once again.

So I had to enlist the help of two slightly more seasoned gift-openers: Addyson & Cora.

Watching gift opening. I'm guessing Casey stuck Mya's hairclip in mom's hair 'cause it matched her shirt? :)

Missy Mya with her mommy.

Sophie was still mostly entertained by climbing all over the picnic table. She loves it!

Then she came over to show me her sippy cup. Oops! She needed more water. :)

Would have liked to zoom and crop this one (Uncle Taylor was the photographer here) but it's a nice pic of Craig watching the gift opening.

Fighting to set herself free of this gift madness.

Showing daddy her new pillow from the Rethman's for her big girl bedroom.

Will checks out Sophie's new bike helmet (for the bike trailer) from Taylor, Zach & Amanda.

The little girls playing in the tissue paper.

All done! Thank you, everyone!

Craig & Taylor - lounging.

Will - just finishing a (very messy) special cookie that we picked up at the bakery this morning. I didn't have a party favor for Will so I got him a cookie with an elephant frosted on the front of it. Addyson helped him eat the other half and the kids were covered in blue and gray icing.

Finished with gifts and ready to get changed out of her party dress and into something she can get messy while eating her cake. (Sophie made several wardrobe changes today!)

Okay, so this is the beginning... she appears to be enthusiastic and excited about this. Everyone is singing Happy Birthday while daddy delivers her cake and makes sure she doesn't burn herself.

Will runs up to help blow out her candle.

And we attempt to don the hat for this event. A first finger full of frosting...

...and a taste...

...and I'm sorry, folks, but that's where the cake festivities end. She refused to take another bite! I don't think she was afraid to get her fingers messy, because I even cut a smaller piece out and offered to feed it to her. And Will and I can attest to it's tastiness, because we ate some later. I think she was just getting tired (it clearly appeared that way) and maybe it was too sweet for her right then? Mommy got several teases from the grandpas for "only ever feeding her healthy stuff, and now she refuses the sweets"... wow... how awful of me. :)

So instead, she ate some dinner: peas, black beans, bagel and watermelon and scarfed it down. Hehe! :)

Will and Addyson seem to mutually love puzzles. They played with puzzles the last time Addyson came to visit too!

Cora jumps in on the fun.

Papa comes to chat with Sophie about her special day.

Meanwhile, the Rethman girls eating their supper with an audience (LOL) on the kitchen floor. :)

Great Grandma comes to kiss Sophie goodbye.

After cake/dinner (she was soaked with water) and before bath, Sophie switched to some long sleeves and pants... and climbed all over the picnic table again.

She spies Aunt Casey making faces at her over the table top.

Stella is amazed by the inside of a shiny, gift box.

Trying on a new bucket hat and holding her balloon.

Then after bath and saying goodbye to the last guest, Sophie was ready for bed. It was a long and fun day and she conked out as soon as she lay down at 7:30. I love these few pictures of Sophia with her daddy, sitting on the kitchen floor, recapping the day.

Will conked out too right after laying down (which is unusual for him) around 8:15. And then Craig and I cleaned up the house and ordered pizza for dinner. All in all, it was a great party. We didn't even mind the rain.

Here are a few pictures of Sophie's presents. So much for not needing clothes, huh? But they are all SUPER cute and at least some are several sizes bigger for the future.

An owlie bank and pillow and a Little Miss book from the Rethman's, Melissa & Doug wooden "cutting food" (so cool!) from the Mann's, a plush book and puppet set from Grandma & Papa Riedeman, some more Sandra Boynton books and a cool colors book from the Pearson's, a bike helmet Taylor, Zach & Amanda. Sophie also got some sun hats, savings bonds and money for her college fund from her very generous family.

And lots of cute cards, including one that plays music (which both Will & Sophie rocked out to).

So having done it both ways now, I think a smaller affair is MY personal favorite and seems to be easier on the birthday child. I actually don't feel like my exhaustion level is maxed out right now and that's the polar opposite of how I felt after Will's first birthday. Towards the end when a few guests started leaving, Sophie started to "come out of her shell" a bit and have fun playing. The bigger the crowd, the more overwhelmed the child. It was a fun day.