WFD 8/22 and 8/23

At a friend's request, I am posting last night's dinner (even though it was pretty basic and didn't require actual recipes--I think he just wants to make it on my blog. Here you go, Matt!) and tonight's dinner.

Last night, we brought dinner to the Glatzels' new home in Edina. They just moved back from Milwaukee, and we're THRILLED to have them closer again. We brought barbecued chicken, corn on the cob, baked potatoes, and watermelon. Kind of a quintessential summer meal (especially since the corn and watermelon were from the farmers market!).

The chicken was just the Gold 'n' Plump "best of fryer" (which I always thought was just a whole chicken cut into pieces, so I bought two packs; each pack, among the other chicken parts, had three breasts. Poor chickens...). I baked the chicken at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes. Then I slathered it with barbecue sauce and Dan grilled it over pretty low heat (otherwise the barbecue sauce burns and you have very black, crispy chicken) for about 20 minutes.

Tonight's dinner is penne a la vodka. Which reminds me, I need to buy some vodka. :)

1 pound penne
6 ounces prosciutto, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 can whole tomatoes (drain and reserve juice), chopped
1 cup half and half
½ cup vodka
¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil (or 1 tablespoon dry)
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup parmesan cheese

Cook pasta.
In a large skillet, over medium-high heat, saute prosciutto and garlic in olive oil for 2 minutes. Add tomatoes, ½ cup (or more) reserved juice, half and half, vodka, parsley, basil, and salt. Bring to a boil for 5 minutes, stirring often. Add the parmesan.
Drain pasta and toss with sauce.

WFD 8/17

Spicy Cajun Shrimp! This is one of Dan's favorite meals (and I really love it too), but I hardly ever make it! And of course, every time I do, I think, "Gosh, I should make this more often!" It's not difficult at all. It's just a matter of having all the right stuff around. :) I'm including a really easy recipe for a green bean side dish. It's just what we always have with this meal!

Spicy Cajun Shrimp
3 pounds shrimp (peeled and deveined)
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
½ teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper
½ teaspoon dry thyme
½ teaspoon dry basil
½ teaspoon dry oregano
⅓ cup butter
1½ teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce¼ cup beer, room temperature
1 cup tomatoes, dicedView full recipe

Combine seasonings in small bowl. Combine butter, garlic, Worcestershire sauce and seasonings in large skillet over high heat. When butter is melted, add tomatoes, then shrimp. Cook 2 minutes, stirring evenly. Add beer and cover; cook 1 minute longer. Remove from heat.

Serve with saffron rice.

Green Beans and Pine Nuts
2 quarts green beans
¼ cup olive oil
½ cup pine nuts, chopped

Boil beans in salted water for about 7 minutes. Rinse in cold water and drain. Mix with olive oil and pine nuts. Serve luke warm.

View full recipe

WFD 8/10

Last night was family dinner night, and we gathered here for pizza on the grill. It actually ended up being a disaster. But I want to try it again sometime. So I really have no great pointers when it comes to the grill, but here are some other tidbits:

• You must buy your pizza dough at Trader Joe's. It is $.99 for a ball of dough. You can't beat that! They have white and wheat, and I know in the past they've also had an herb dough. The only problem is that the directions say to bake the crust/pizza at 350 degrees, and that was not NEARLY hot enough. Crank it to 400. Also, bake the crust for 5-7 minutes before adding toppings. Then continue baking to finish the crust and melt the cheese.
  
• Our favorite combination was pesto instead of sauce, chicken, and mozzarella. (Mom also added eggplant, mushrooms, and caramelized onions to her end).
• My personal favorite was (and always is, really) sausage, green peppers, and mushrooms. Mmmm.

We'll try this again someday! I think we learned a lot. :)

p.s. Leah is 13 months old today. But just like I did with Jack, I'm taking a break until 18 months. Then I'll probably write a letter every year. It did feel funny to write 8/11 today. I said, "Leah, you're 13 months today!" and Jack said, "Holy cow!" 13 months must sound really old. :)

WFD 8/3

WFD=What's For Dinner ;)

Last night was National Night Out. Since my neighborhood doesn't do anything, and Dan is out of town for work, and my parents' neighborhood DOES do something, we headed over there for the festivities. To contribute to the potluck table, I brought one of my favorite things to make in the summer. It's a pasta salad with pesto, and it's the besto. (Hahaha).

This is the perfect time of year to make lots of pesto and throw it in your freezer because basil is SO STINKIN' CHEAP at the farmers market! A couple of weeks ago, I got three HUGE bunches (they pretty much filled a plastic Target bag) for $3.

So, here's a simple recipe for pesto:
1 garlic clove
1/4 toasted pine nuts (I've also used walnuts)
3 cups packed fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
salt and pepper
Roughly chop garlic and add to food processor, along with pine nuts, basil, and about 1 T olive oil. Pulse until ingredients are finely chopped. With machine running, add remaining oil in a slow, steady stream. Add parmesan and pulse to combine. Season with salt and pepper. This makes about 1 1/2 cups of pesto.

Now, on to the rest of the salad:
1 lb bowtie pasta (Barilla is the only brand that I've found that sells bowtie pasta in a 1-pound box. Other brands sell 12 oz).
1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
1 cup crumbled feta cheese
3/4 cup pesto
Cook pasta. Drain and run under cold water. Combine pasta and pesto and stir until pasta is well-coated. Add feta and tomatoes and mix. Enjoy!

What's for dinner?

So, blogging every day in March was fun, and it made me blog a little more regularly afterwards. For like a week, anyway. I decided I needed to come up with something else to blog more frequently. So at least once a week, I will post about something we had for dinner and include recipes. It will get me here at least once a week, and it will force me to make something "good" for dinner a little more often. :)

This week's entry was actually last Friday's dinner. Fajitas! And the recipe for the marinade is from Chili's--my mom had it in a cookbook full of restaurant secret recipes. We served them with corn salsa, which is a recipe that my aunt made up when she was visiting a few years ago. It's hard to stop eating it. :) Enjoy!

Fajitas
4 chicken breasts or one flank steak
3 bell peppers
1 onion
marinade:
1/4 cup lime juice
1/3 cup water
2 T oil
1 garlic clove, pressed
3 T white vinegar
2 t soy sauce
1/2 t liquid smoke
1 t salt
1/2 t chili powder
1/2 t cayenne pepper
1/4 t black pepper
dash onion powder

Mix all marinade ingredients and add chicken or steak. Let sit in fridge for at least a few hours. While meat grills, saute onion and peppers in a little oil. Serve with fajita fixings.

Corn Salsa
6 ears fresh sweet corn, cooked
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
1 red or orange bell pepper, finely chopped
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
juice of 3 limes
salt and pepper
cumin, to taste
hot sauce or cayenne pepper, to taste

Toss all ingredients together and enjoy with tortilla chips!

one year

My sweet baby girl,

As of 5:53 this morning, you have officially been alive in this world for one year. Good Lord, that went fast. This whole week has been a lot of, "Last year at this time...." It's been fun remembering last summer and how exciting it was to FINALLY start feeling contractions a week after my due date. And then how frustrating it was to have them stop. Twice. And then how great it was to finally go to the hospital and know we were so close to meeting you. And then how amazing it was to finally have you OUT of me and to see your sweet face and kiss you and hold you and say, "Thank you for being born!"

This year has been a lot of things. It has been overwhelming, getting used to life with two kids and all of the challenges and joys that come with it. It has been exciting, watching you grow before our very eyes and learn new things. It has been tiring, with many sleepless nights, early mornings, and skipped naps. But it has been awesome. I never knew my heart could feel like this!
It is so crazy to look at pictures from those first few days and think, "Were you really ever that tiny?" And really, since you were 9 lb 13 oz at birth, the answer to that question is, "No. You were never 'tiny'." :) But you did fit into my arms a little differently than you do now! And it's really wild to think about how tiny you felt in the Moby wrap. I can't imagine trying to get you into that again! I should try just for the fun of it.

It's really fun to watch you eat new things, now that you are allowed to eat almost everything. You still have your favorites--yogurt, avocados, bananas, cheese. And as of your party yesterday, cupcakes are climbing the list of favorites! Wow, you sure enjoyed that thing. You had frosting everywhere! Hair, ears, toes. What a treat! Cupcakes and potato chips. I'm a pretty awesome mom when it comes to nutrition. :)
It's interesting how birthday parties become increasingly more exciting with every year. Jackson is already planning a Batman party for next March. But you? Today was just any other day! You didn't care what everyone was here for. And you certainly didn't want to waste your time opening presents. It's a good thing people are understanding. :) You did get some lovely things. New toys are always exciting. And new clothes! Gotta love it.

Jack was sure that you'd start saying "Mama" by the time you turned one, but it's not happening. Everything is still "dada." Except that you never actually call Daddy "dada." "Dada" means "bye bye" and "thank you" and when it's yelled across the house it means "Jackson." :) It's crazy how we can totally tell what you're saying even though you're just repeating the same two syllables. Or maybe we're all just delusional and you're not actually saying anything. Nah, you're a genius!

When Jack was a baby, we got to the point where we couldn't remember what life was like without him. "What did we do before we had this amazing baby in our lives?" After you were born, it didn't take long for us to say, "What was life like with just one?" You so quickly made such an imprint on our lives and were clearly a vital part of our family. And even more now, I cannot even imagine what our family would be like without you in it! It certainly wouldn't be as exciting. You have added so much in your one year here. God sure knows how to bless a family.

I'm so thankful for you, sweetheart! I look forward to the next year and many more after that. It makes my heart happy to watch you grow!

Love you so much,
Mom

My girlie girl!!!!

Leah got her first birthday present in the mail today! It was from her cyber-buddy Jagger (whose mom I am friends with through a small group on Babycenter). Check out my girl! She LOVES this thing--she walked around the house like she was made to wear tutus. :)


So pretty!!!And a matching headband? Too much!

Lucy was very interested in the tutu. :)

eleven months

Leah,

This is late. I'm sorry. If you could comprehend the craziness that has defined the last couple of weeks, you'd understand. But let's move on. :)

Being 11 (+) months means that my next letter will be your ONE YEAR letter. That's just impossible. Well, maybe it's not entirely impossible. I mean, sometimes it feels like FOREVER since you entered this world and turned our house upside down with sleepless nights and everything else that comes with a newborn. But on the other hand, it feels like just yesterday that we finally got to meet you and hold you and know that our family would never be the same.

So, you went from taking a few steps at a time to practically running around the house. Nothing is safe from you now! I can hardly turn around without noticing that you're halfway down the hallway, heading for the bathroom. Ah, yes. The bathroom. Pretty much your favorite room in the house. I mean, where else can you unroll the toilet paper (and eat it), dig through the garbage, empty the tub toys, and rifle through the cleaning products under the sink? Seriously, it's no wonder that door stays closed most of the day. And the toilet paper is usually on the counter instead of where it belongs. And the garbage is on the counter. Lovely. :)

The cutest thing you're doing right now (besides walking all over the darn house) is waving bye-bye. It's accompanied by "da da," which means, "bye bye." (Never mind what your daddy thinks it means). I'm officially calling "da da" (bye bye) your second word, after "Kkkk" for kitty. :) A recent third is "Hi," which has just made its debut in the last few days. And you have a word for Jack, but I haven't quite pinned it down yet. You're usually calling him from another room. It's pretty cute! You also sing--usually in the car. It cracks Jack up, which cracks ME up, and makes the car ride quite enjoyable.

I feel like I should leave this letter short and sweet to make sure I have lots of things to say in your 1-year letter, which will be here before we know it. I love you, babe. See you in the morning. :)

Mom

The countdown begins!

Today is May 22nd, which means that in exactly one month I will turn 30.

One more month left in my 20s! Woo hoo!!!

ten months

Baby Leah,

Just how long will it be okay to call you that? Because everyone still does, you know. Even though you're quickly exiting this "baby" phase! Oh well. I think it's cute. And you're still my baby! Maybe you always will be my baby! You could be 35 years old and still be "baby Leah." So get used to it, chica.

This month has been characterized by ILLNESS! And it's not over. It all started with a diaper rash. At your 9-month appointment, Dr. Benson took a look and said, "Hmmm....that looks yeasty." So we used some cream left over from my misdiagnosis of thrush to get rid of your "yeasty" rash. And it worked wonderfully! But we had to be in disposable diapers for a while, lest the cream ruin your cloth. We were just about done treating your rash when we all ended up with an awful stomach bug. Jack started it. And like the wonderful mother that I am, I taught him to share, and he did! Dad got it next, then me, and unfortunately, then you. Needless to say, we continued with the disposable diapers for about another week. Your poor little tummy. Once that was all done, you started getting a runny nose. Then you had a fever. Then you developed a cough, which you are still dealing with. Luckily, it's not affecting your sleep much (other than the occasional "shorter than it should be" nap). So when this little cold is gone, I'd really like you to be all better for a while. Okay? And I think you'd enjoy being healthy too, so it's a win-win.

You weighed in at 20lb 10oz at your 9-month appointment. That means you're off the charts for length and in the 80th percentile for weight. It's the first time you haven't been at the top of the curve for weight, so it feels a little weird. But the doctor assured me that you're still growing just fine. It's just weird because Jack was this size at FOUR months. Yeah, your brother was a porker. :) You certainly aren't slowing down in the "eating" department. You still love food SO much. Particularly dairy--cheese, yogurt, cottage cheese--so it's a good thing that little stint with the milk protein intolerance didn't last!

How big is Leah? SO BIG!!! Yes, this is your new trick. :) Along with clapping and going night-night (tilting your head over like you're sleeping). Yup, you've got a slew of party tricks! It's fun. And you're so expressive. You talk all the time. Not with words anyone can understand, but it's still darn cute. And I'm sure you are trying to tell us something very important. So keep trying--we'll hear it one of these days.

Sunday was Mother's Day--my fourth, but my first with you! It was a lovely, relaxing day. I'm sure to you it just felt like any other Sunday. But SOMEDAY this day will be marked with you making me breakfast in bed and showering me with affection. ;)

Frankly dear, I'd love to write more, but you are crying at my feet. It's rather pathetic, actually. You don't need anything. You just want me. And that's just fine with me! That's what I'm here for. Happy 10 months. And don't even remind me that that means one year is only two months away. It's going too fast. :)

Love you, babe.
Mom

We're pretty sure he's gifted

Last night after dinner, we all went outside to let off some steam. I walked Leah around and Jack and Dan played baseball.

As Jack was retrieving a ball he had hit, he found a stick in the shape of a lower-case "y." He said, "Mommy! This is the letter from in 'I love you'!" I said, "Yup, that's the letter 'y'!" And Dan looked at me like, "Who is this kid?"

They proceeded to play baseball and I went inside to feed Leah. Before I knew it, they were calling me back out because they had to show me how well Jack was hitting. He is insane! It's just a big wiffle ball and bat, but that thing SAILS! He was quite proud of himself. He's actually better at hitting what Dan pitches to him than he is at hitting the ball off the tee. Goofy kid. :)

Jack says funny stuff

But this is nothing new, right? Two gems today:

1) I got home from Target and the TV was STILL on. I told Jack that the cartoon would be ending in five minutes and he would have to turn it off. The end came and I could tell it was on a commercial, so I told him it was time to turn off the TV. "No, the man said, 'Don't go away!' It's not over, Mom!" Gotta love a little subliminal messaging. :)

2) While Dan was running errands this afternoon, I sat down to nurse Leah. When she opened her mouth, I could see something on her tongue. I said, "What did you put in your mouth?" and tried to fish it out with my finger. The commotion got Jack's attention, and we finally got a tiny piece of paper off her tongue. Then Jack said, "Well, it's a good thing your booby was right there!" It made no sense to me, but I guess he thought it helped with the paper in Leah's mouth. So I continued nursing and he continued talking about my breasts. I was mostly not paying attention, until he ended with, "You have the biggest boobies I ever saw!" It cracked me up, but I didn't want him to think it was inappropriate to say because he was so innocent about it. I mean, when you have a 10-month-old sister who has been breastfed since birth, breasts are kind of normal around here. :)

I was on such a roll....

.....and then life got in the way. Let's see....

We've all completely healed from the stomach bug. Although now Leah has a runny nose and little cough, and I seem to have a sore throat that I'm hoping ends there. But it probably won't.

Jack goes through at least a half ream of paper every day. Okay, that might be exaggerated, but not by much! This kid draws ALL DAY LONG. It cracks me up. He is SUCH a perfectionist (gee, where does he get that?) and kind of freaks out when he messes up. Which, in his opinion, he does quite frequently.

Leah is taking more and more steps these days. She is kind of hilarious when she does it. If she doesn't get her balance first, she looks completely drunk. Too funny. I love this early walker stage. :)

I'm sad that our lovely spring weather has turned chilly again. The high tomorrow is 48 degrees and it's supposed to rain all day. Yuck! Give me a NICE May day so I can take a nice walk with my kids!

It's time for bed. I can actually hear it calling my name. :) But I promise to write something more interesting this weekend!

No, Donald, YOU'RE fired.

I don't usually enjoy The Apprentice, but I tend to get into the celebrity version. This season is down to the final seven contestants, and it's actually getting quite fun. (I mean, if nothing else, it's just fun to listen to Sharon Osborne and Curtis Stone speak!) Plus, there's nothing else on TV on Sunday evenings, and it's just what I usually end up watching.

The weak link, in my opinion, is Donald Trump. But since he's kind of the reason the show exists, I just have to deal with him. Including when he makes a fool of himself and the English language.

Last night, in the boardroom, Cyndi Lauper said, "I feel bad," referring to her earlier criticism of the other team. Trump quickly corrected her and said, "You don't feel bad. You feel badly," at which point Cyndi apologized and said, "I feel badly."

Donald, I don't care if you're a gazillionaire--you just came across as quite uneducated in front of many, many viewers. For shame. You, sir, are fired.

Read about action verbs vs linking verbs here.

YUCK!

Warning: bodily fluid post ahead.


Last Tuesday night, just as I was finishing getting ready for bed, I heard Jack crying in his room. (Sometimes he wakes up and wanders around aimlessly because he's not totally awake). I went in and grabbed him and took him into the hallway so Leah wouldn't wake up. Well, he was covered in his own puke. Poor thing. Jack hates puking almost as much as I do. And I REALLY hate puking. I stripped him, washed him off, brushed his teeth, and got new jammies on. He was sure he was done throwing up, so I put him in our bed and Dan lay down with him while I went in and stripped his bed and started laundry.

Pretty soon I heard Dan call for me. He had puked again, all over himself and our bed. Lovely. I stripped him again, washed him off, stripped OUR bed, and returned to the laundry room while Dan got him in more clean jammies. I got laundry going and went back upstairs with clean sheets for our bed. We got them on, covered Jack's side with towels, and got him settled down again. We also found a bucket and begged him to try to make it to the bucket next time. :)

The rest of the night was uneventful, but he ended up throwing up twice the next morning. We laid pretty low all day Wednesday. He didn't eat much, but he also didn't puke anymore, so I figured we were out of the woods. He slept great in his own bed, but woke up Thursday morning and got sick AGAIN. Luckily, the rest of Thursday was pretty normal for him.

Friday afternoon, Dan called to say he was not feeling well and would be coming home early. He walked in the door at 4:30, made his way to the couch downstairs, and was there until the following morning, only leaving to use the bathroom (it seems the bug was giving him "other end" issues). By the time I got the kids in bed on Friday night, I didn't feel quite right. I decided that I better run to the grocery store for some necessities while I still felt human. When I got home, I also washed a pile of dishes so they wouldn't be sitting there all weekend.

By the time I climbed in bed, I was sure I would be up sick in a matter of hours. Well, I wasn't, but I slept terribly. When I woke up Saturday morning, I felt like I'd been hit by a truck. I nursed Leah, handed her off to Dan (who was already feeling much better) and went back to bed. I napped, nursed, napped, nursed. I got out of bed a couple of times, but quickly felt like I was going to fall over because I was so weak. I ate a couple pieces of toast in the afternoon and some soup for dinner. I tried to go to bed early, but the day of naps kept me up a little later than I wanted.

Sunday morning, I felt a lot better, Dan felt a lot better, and Leah had diarrhea. Shoot! She could not escape unscathed. She was a little more cuddly than normal, but didn't seem to be too uncomfortable. We decided to brave the outside world (maybe just so we could get out of the house) for lunch. As we sat down to eat at Noodles, Jack said, "My tummy hurts." Oh, great. I told him that if he felt like he was going to throw up, he had to tell Daddy really quick so they could go to the bathroom. Thirty seconds later, "Daddy, I need to go to the bathroom!" Sure enough, he was sick again.

Seriously! We just need a break! I feel the need to bleach everything in my house. I feel like my washing machine has been working non-stop since Tuesday night. Let's hope that this is the end for all of us!

The truth comes out....

Yesterday, I was tidying up the living room because Stephanie (breastmilk recipient) was coming over with her boys. Jack came over to show me what he was coloring, noticed I was cleaning, and said, "Who's coming?"

Yup. I only clean when people are coming over.

Not really, but it made me laugh really hard!

Mmmm.....croupons

Jack LOVES croutons. And he calls them "croupons," which is just cute. Whenever we have Caesar salad, he jumps up on the dining room table and steals the croutons out of it. And since those bags of Caesar salads don't put enough croutons in it to begin with, we had to buy Jack his own back of croutons so he could have a few when we had our salad.

Last night, we had pasta and a Caesar salad. Jack started crawling onto the table to steal croutons, and I told him to get down. He asked for his own, but they are gone. He got mad and REALLY wanted some croupons! So I told him that he could have some croutons if he ate some salad. He seemed okay with this idea, so I put some in a bowl for him with some croutons, and he totally ate it!

The best part was this morning when he brought it up again. "Mommy, were you really surprised when I ate salad last night?" Yup, I was. :)

He thinks he's hilarious

Jack: Knock, knock

Me: Who's there?

Jack: Leah

Me: Leah who?

Jack: Leah wants you to open the door and give me grapes! (Followed by uncontrollable fake laughs)


Jack: Knock, knock

Me: Who's there?

Jack: Daddy

Me: Daddy who?

Jack: Daddy wants you to open the door and give me apples! (More fake laughing)


I'm not sure who taught him about jokes (not me!), but something tells me he doesn't quite get it yet. :)

He melts my heart!

My friend Rebecca was helping out in Jack's Sunday school room yesterday and passed along this gem of a story. :)

"I have to tell you something precious Jackson said. One of the little girls came in and her name sounded like Erin. Jack said, 'Erin is my mom's name!' Then he said, 'Well, I call her Mommy, but my Dad calls her Erin...(pause, smile)...or honey!'"

Honestly made my day. :)

nine months

Dear Leah,

I think nine months is kind of a special age because it means you have now been outside my belly as long as you were inside it! That's kind of weird, actually. I feel like I was pregnant for a year and a half, but I'm pretty sure you were just born like last week. Why does time go so quickly when you want it to go a little more slowly so you can enjoy it? Not that I'm not enjoying this, because I am LOVING every moment. But I look at pictures from just a few months ago and think, "Who is this baby?"

Right now you are sitting in the high chair as I type this. You're being quite a little piggy, actually. Lately you've been a little more difficult to feed. You just aren't as interested and you constantly turn your head away like you're done after just a couple bites. But today's lunch was a different story! You had a bowl of applesauce, a piece of toast, and finished off your peaches and yogurt from breakfast. Hungry girl!

Okay, now it's four hours later and you're with me again--crawling around on the floor and I try to finish this. Actually, I'm a little frustrated. The computer has lost the internet multiple times and even though Blogger SAID it was auto-saving, it wasn't. And darned if I can remember what I wrote about four hours ago! Oh well. You're being cute again--what's new? You found a piece of Jack's apple from his lunch and have been sucking away on it under the dining room table. That's your new thing--eating bigger pieces of food by taking bites of it yourself. Your favorite is toast, but we might have to add apple slices to the list! You also keep coming across your blanket (which is normally in your crib for naps and bedtime) and lying down with it. So adorable. Then you motor over to Lucy and scream at her. And you find a toy you forgot you had and spend a whole 20 seconds playing with it. You're a busy little girl!
I am very much looking forward to this summer with you! It's bound to be more exciting than last summer. :) Maybe we can leave the house for more than 15 minutes at a time! I already know you loving the stroller, so walks will be a blast. But it will be really fun to try swimming and stuff too. We have to take advantage of nice weather, because before you know it, we'll see snow on the ground again! :(

Oh, you're clapping! It's just the best. We're working on "so big," but you're MUCH more into clapping. And you totally know you're doing it right too. Maybe it's all the encouragement you get from us because you're so darn cute when you do it. :) And then you flash that toothy grin and it gets even cuter!

It blows me away how much you change in just a month, but it's so much fun. You're simply delightful! It also blows me away that we're only three months from your first birthday. Insane. But man, with one year under our belts, there's not much we can't do, so bring it on!
Love you, dear.
Mom :)

And now, for your viewing pleasure, Leah through the months!


One month

Two months

Three months

Four months

Five months

Six months

Seven months

Eight months

Nine months