Peace Like a River

After the drama city of the last post, I just wanted to let you guys know that I'm doing good. And I'm actually starting to get excited for what is ahead!

It has been a whirlwind few days and a BIG thanks goes out to every single person who wrote me such sweet notes and comments upon hearing the back-to-school news. Sabine (here's your shout-out!) wrote me a beautiful message with all sorts of encouraging words on the (once I get over the trauma) benefits of daycare. Brooke told me her back-to-school story, Wendi and Marla are living proof that daycare produces beautiful, intelligent women who love their mother. Shelly spoke positive words into my life. Keight and Joanna gave my boobs encouragement. Both grandmas rushed up to hold my hand, talk me off the ledge, reinforce every reason why this is a good thing. Matt has been a saint, with nothing but hugs and high fives, even when I blubbered my way through the daycare tour, endlessly weighed pros and cons and forced him to listen to every possible scenario of what-if. All of you were so nice.

Before I went for the interview, I said I wanted peace in my heart about whatever decision was made. And I have it. I'm actually excited to dive into this new experience. I think Violet will really thrive in daycare and get exposed to a lot of things I couldn't give her (for one thing, the sheer amount of toys and baby gear they have!) Both grandmas have given their stamp of approval to the place and the teachers seem wonderful and ready to take on the challenge that is called Violet Loughman. And I'll just cherish the moments we have together all the more for our separation.

I'm officially the school's new first grade instructional assistant, meaning I'll be working with all the teachers, rotating into their rooms to help in whatever instructional capacity they need, be it small group work or pulling kids out for assessments, etc. It's a great way for me to get my foot in the door, get a tons of hands-on experience (after all, it's been a good year since I was student teaching), get to know everyone, so that hopefully I'll get my own class next year. It's a brand new position for the school (I think the principal wanted to do more with me that just make me a kindergarten parapro so he created the role). It means I'll get to work alongside my wonderful neighbor who got me the job (and who worried I was going to stop speaking to her as all this rained down on my head!) It will also give me a chance to transition back into the work force in a way that lets me leave all my responsibilities at the door and come home to be a full-time mommy every afternoon. Win win! (The most likely to be measly paycheck is the only downside, but it's not all about the money.) I really look at this as my transition year, with only bigger and better things to come. I think I've landed at a really good place, with administrators who really have my best interests at heart. I think I'd be very happy to stay there a long time, and hopefully I will.

 Violet's new favorite toy? Her toes! She finally figured out she has feet!

I'm so thankful that I have found a situation that I can feel good, nay, excited about! I finally feel like I've earned the many "congratulations" that have come my way. I've still got the anxious knot in the pit of my stomach, and I know Monday is going to be brutal as I drive away from the daycare with nothing in the backseat but a gaping whole where my baby girl is supposed to be sitting. But I firmly believe God brought this opportunity into our lives and I'm ready to go.

PS My boobs got a little pep rally from a ton of supportive moms over the last couple days. Just so you know, I plan to continue nursing as long as I can, in the morning before school and as soon as we get home again. Violet will get bottled breastmilk (as long as the freezer stash holds out, and trust me, there's quite a bit) during the day and then we'll supplement with formula. You know, just in case you were wondering.

So I Got A Job...

So I got a job. It is unexpected. I really didn't think I would have one this year. I'd pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I'd be staying home come August. And by resigned, I mean I was secretly pretty pleased. I like my little life with Violet. We're a good team, she and I.

My Baby Love

 

But a parapro position came up at the school down the street (my dream school, by the way) and so I said sure, why not, pass my name along. And I immediately freaked out. What if I got the job? Life as I know it would be over. I started panicking, in that "don't know what you've got till it's gone" kind of way. I have not been cherishing these moments at home with Violet the way I should have. Up until now, my biggest problem has been figuring out which new recipe to tackle and making sure carpet is vacuumed every other day. If I start working... well, there's the daycare dilemma. There's the stress of being gone all day and still needing to cook dinner once I come home. There's the fact that I'll be missing my sweet baby's face every single second of the day.

I thought we had more time. Summer would give way to fall, Violet would start creeping and crawling (shoot, I'd even take rolling over!) and I'd lovingly document each precious step. I'd write a few freelance stories here and there. The blog would get updated daily. I'd finish watching the West Wing reruns and turn my attention to Say Yes To The Dress: Atlanta. New recipes would be tried and perfected. I'd be a homemaker.

Of course, getting a job was always the plan. I didn't go back to grad school and earn a Master's for nothing. We had Violet when we did so I'd have the summer at home with her before heading back into the classroom. But the crappy economy lulled me into a false sense of security. If there are no jobs to be had, you can hardly blame me for staying at home. Because I like staying home. I like seeing Violet's smile every day. I like being her mommy.

But now I have a job. Parapro in a kindergarten class. I always said the worst case scenario would be finding a job an hour away in a grade I really don't want (have you seen fifth graders lately? Scary). Instead, God sends along the perfect grade at the perfect school just ten minutes away, and I have to take it as a sign. I couldn't say no. I thought it would take me five years to work my way into this school, and instead it drops in my lap. And a parapro position, no less. No lesson planning, no grading papers. I get to leave my responsibilities at the door. It's the perfect way to ease myself back into the working world. (If enrollment goes up, I'll get my own kindergarten class as the full-time lead teacher. I can't even begin to think about this scenario!)

Yesterday morning, I woke up a stay-at-home mom. By10:15, I had a job. By 1:30, we had picked Violet's daycare (daycare... I used to shudder at the dirty word). And every five minutes since then, I've been on the verge of an emotional breakdown. This is going to be hard. Everyone has been saying "congratulations!" and for the longest time, I couldn't even process the word. Congratulations about what? I couldn't seem to remember that this a good thing. It's the right thing (and I really do have peace that it's the right thing). But that doesn't change the fact that I'm scared about the job. I'm scared to leave my baby. But both at once? Not to mention the torture my boobs are about to endure as I basically quit breastfeeding cold turkey. I start Monday. It's not a lot of time to adjust to this new life, and those of you who know me know how badly I take to sudden change. Matt has been a saint, immediately calling into work yesterday, staying home with Violet while I ran around filling out applications, coming with me to Target to buy more baby bottles, encouraging me every step of the way.

Can't get enough of this face.

 

Remember the brave little toaster? I keep thinking of myself as the brave little mommy. This might be one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. So prayers are appreciated. Stories about how your children have thrived in daycare are appreciated. Mental hugs, real hugs, chocolate hugs, I'll take them all. I'm going to do my best to keep it all going. In a couple months, I'll look back to this post and chuckle at how over-dramatic I was about the whole thing and feel astonished that I ever doubted myself. I apologize in advance for dragging you guys through it with me! If life had a fast-forward button, I'd be using it now. But since it doesn't, we're going to take it day by day.

Make Way For Duckie

We have solved the bathtub dilemma (it just took me a while to get photographic evidence). My friend Joanna recommended the inflatable duck bathtub, and it has worked out beautifully. It fits nicely in our master bath garden tub, leaving me plenty of room to perch on the edge of said tub and entertain the bathing beauty. She's into bath toys now, so I guess that will go on the shopping list next time we hit up Target. For now, she's stuck with a lone blue hippo.

I'm just trying to hand Violet the blue hippo, but it sure does look like I'm trying to go all fig leaf with it. Which, in retrospect, probably isn't a bad thing, considering this is now out there for public consumption. But her expression is just too priceless to keep off the blog. Sucks for my kid to grow up in the Internet age, ha! Hey, at least all future boyfriends won't have to go through the ritual "let's look through Violet's baby pictures" ordeal now.

My bathing beauty. Or as her Aunt Danielle described her, the Little Plop. She looks extra ploppy and adorable in this picture, I think. (Someone photoshop my leg out of there, please.)

Pants on the Head

Pants on the Head

Pants on the Head 

Lookin' like a Fool

With the Pants on the Head!

Worth Looking Into

This is off topic, but it was interesting enough that I thought I'd share, in case some of you think it is worth looking into as well. In fairness, I'm stealing these picks from one of my favorite snarky celebrity fashion websites, but don't let that alarm you. Every Friday the Girls do a round-up of interesting things they've bumped into on the Web, and I'm just passing a few tidbits along.

Grab your tissue box. Because this story will take your heart, twist it up like a sodden handkerchief and wring it dry. You don't have to be a mother to be moved by this incredibly brave mom's fight to deal with her daughter's traumatic injury and her perseverance to just face another day. But if you are a mom, grab two boxes of tissues, just in case. On my toughest days, when the baby won't nap and I've been pooped on again and dinner is burning on the stove, this story reminds me that I'm still one of the luckiest girls on the planet to have my Sweet Violet.

And to balance things out, here is an incredibly shallow but utterly hilarious blog about the imagined people who live in the rooms you see featured in your latest junk mail catalog.

Finally, here is a tender tale about the power of a bedtime story. One father vows to read to his daughter every night... and for more than nine years, the two of them do whatever it takes to meet each evening across from the pages of a book. Love. I read this story a couple months ago, but it is still lingering in my mind.

Couch time with Mommy 

VS

Couch time with Daddy

Monday's Child

22 Weeks!

When Grandma babysat last week, she brought up some fancy new hairbows for Violet, and I'm proud to say that the girl has enough hair to wear them! Although I guess you can't really tell thanks to the nature of the dark couch she's sitting on. Trust me, the hair is there.

We had a long, hot, fun weekend. You can read about Friday in the post below. Saturday was spent in outside as the neighbors turned our shared side yard into a water park for the boys, complete with slip n' slide, baby pool, sprinklers, you name it. Violet stayed under the umbrella for the most part, but we all enjoyed the hot weather and the sprinklers that were accidentally on purpose aimed our way. We all shared pizza on our porch and were pretty much pooped the rest of the day. The sun will do that to ya.

Enjoy this last week of July. Come August, I must start wrapping my head around the fact that I have one last grad school class to take before I earn my Master's. I don't know when the class starts, where it is held, what books I'll need, what it entails... only that I must take it, and pay vast sums of money for the pleasure. Boo. However, August also means the start of football season, so all is not in vain. (Of course, that means it's also the start of Fantasy Football season, which is an entirely different jar of pickles altogether. My fellow fantasy football widows, I sympathize with you. Let's start a support group. That preferably meets at a spa.)

Foodie Strikes Again

I have a new mantra. Never bake while your child is awake. Say it with me now. Never bake...

Mexican Wedding Cookies, Ole!

 

Behold, the Mexican Wedding Cookies I managed to whip up, straight from ye ol' Tex Mex Cookbook. I was inspired because we were going having dinner at some friends' house and the cuisine was Mexican and the friends are newlyweds, so there was a whole nice theme going on that I needed to take advantage of.

Looking back, I should have baked while Miss Violet was thusly occupied:

But you can see that the bad mom that I am left her sleeping on the edge of the couch, so I didn't feel quite right about burying my hands knuckle-deep in dough. What I didn't realize, however, was that she was going to nap for two hours this way. So while I was intending to be super productive and, say, shower and make cookies, I ended up whiling away the hours reading a fabulous new book, Let the Great World Spin. A good thing, yes. But it didn't get the cookies made. And then Violet woke up. Grr. I always hate missing out on naptime productivity. My neighbor K walked over some vanilla extract to me and commiserated. She has experienced the same problem. Unfortunately, she had no advice. But it made me feel infinitely better to know I'm not the only one.

Still, the cookies had to be made. I tried my best to entertain Violet. She was in the exersaucer, right there in the kitchen with me. I was singing and dancing around the room with dough in my hands. But no dice. The girl was pissed. Finally she just gave up, put her head down and boo-hooed at her bad luck to end up with a mama who was obviously deranged and didn't love her enough to pick her up already. So I played a fun game of running to the oven to check the baking progress, running back to the playmat to stack her blocks for her, rushing back to the kitchen to pull the cookies out, etc. Good times. The recipe called for tossing the cookies in powdered sugar, which I managed to do one-handed while holding the baby, until I realized that she probably shouldn't be breathing in all the sugar dust. Live and learn.

The cookies, fortunately, turned out great. I know this, because K swears they are her favorite kind of cookie (not necessarily the Mexican ones per se, but apparently every country boasts this type of cookie; in Mexico they just happen to be crescent shaped). I took some over to her as a taste test, and after eating one, she seemed pretty pleased. And I know she wasn't faking it just to be nice because she then proceeded to eat another one right in front of me, unprovoked. Plus, Wendi and Travis (the newlyweds, and look Travis, I actually mentioned you by name! Just for you, you little blog lurker) ate them as well and suffered no ill consequences that I know of. I have to say, they're not my favorite type of cookie - I'm more of an oatmeal chocolate chip type. Plus these are, by design, very dense and dry and if you're not careful, you inhale the powdered sugar as you put it in your mouth and can end up choking a bit. Still, it's another recipe conquered.

But I've learned my lesson. All future baking will take place while Violet is snoozing. Preferably in her bed and not the edge of the couch. Unless I just can't tear myself away from my new book. In which case, I hear Nabisco makes a pretty sweet cookie.

Redecorating

Well, as you can tell I've been tinkering with the blog a bit. It was time for a change. Plus I get jealous when I see all the other fancy blogs out there. I put a new poll up so you can weigh in. I really wish there was a write-in option where you could tell me what should be fixed or altered, but alas, you only options are to love it, hate it, or "eh" it (or I suppose, leave a comment below). Not that I really expect anyone to actually loathe the redecorating, but I must be fair. Feel free to weigh in. Or not. Whatev. (Pretending I don't care when secretly I'll be obsessively refreshing the page to see if the vote tally goes up...)

 The Drool Factory approves of the new look.

Last night, Matt and I embarked on our first official, just for us and not because we're obligated to attend someone else's event, Date Night! It was lovely. I thought we'd just hit up the local burger joint, but no, Matt went all fancy on me and took me out for steak at a place that claimed to have a dress code. Grandma (thank you!!!) came up to babysit, and I'm pleased to say I left a happy baby and came home to a happy baby. There was a minor snag in the middle, but nothing like what the babysitters have experienced before. It took me a while to relax at the restaurant, but a glass of red wine fixed that in short order. The food was heavenly, and we capped it off with a classy run through a McDonald's drive-thru for hot fudge sundaes. Matt and I had a lovely adult conversation, with hardly a mention of diapers or breastfeeding or anything else baby-related. I forgot how nice it is to have a night out like that. All our other outings have centered around events we've been obligated to attend. They've been great, but it hasn't really been a date night. Last night, we could just focus on each other (and not in that stressed, do we have enough money, when am I going to get a job, you need to get the oil changed on my car sort of way). It's important. Before Violet, I made all sorts of promises to myself, like having a date night once a week. Then the reality of finding babysitters, finding the time, the energy, hit me. So yesterday was a good reminder, a good first step, a good glimmer of light through that open window of possibility. I mean, we're in this whole parenting thing for the long haul; it's about time we get ourselves all gussied up and out to dinner for once.

That's all for now, peeps. Have a fabulous weekend!

Five Months!

5 Months!

Five months already. Crazy. She's a good girl, that Violet. So without any official stats, what's new that I haven't told you guys already? Let's see... Violet inherited a walker recently. So far she's only managed to go backwards in it. Hopefully that's not a bad sign. Lukas dubbed it her "office" because she becomes very busy and important with all the buttons and gizmos that make noise and play music. Lately I've been putting it in the bathroom to keep Violet entertained while I shower in the mornings. I also sing to her while I'm in the shower - the repertoire includes Jeremiah Was a Bullfrog, Going to the Chapel and Build Me Up Buttercup.

We're trying the whole unswaddling thing at bedtime again. It's more Violet's doing than ours. Her sneaky little arms have been escaping mere seconds after being tucked away, so the other night we just gave up and left one of them out of the straitjacket altogether. She fell asleep fine. Stayed that way, too. Naptime has undergone a change as well. Now I put her upstairs in her bed before she's asleep; trying to teach her to put herself to sleep. It's not quite as successful as bedtime, but we're getting there. And speaking of sleeping, Violet now snoozes until about 9 a.m. I know. I barely know what to do with myself in the mornings.

Violet's first tummy nap... I've been too freaked out about SIDS to let her sleep on her stomach before this.

Violet loves to touch my face. Sometimes we just lay on the floor together and she runs her hands all over my cheeks, nose, mouth. It's sweet. She's so tiny, yet she knows who I am and wants to memorize my face with her little hands. It's one of those moments I'll try to hold onto and remember when she's a hormone-raging 15-year-old who wants nothing to do with me except to borrow twenty bucks.

 At the pool yesterday in a new bathing suit!

Update From the Tex-Mex Kitchen

Yesterday was Day Two of my quest to cook stuff out of the Tex-Mex Cookbook. And when I put it that way... the quest seems a little lame. Whatever! It's no secret that I'm not an expert in the kitchen, so even attempting a new recipe is a big deal for me. Presenting...

Still working on my food photography skills. It was way more appetizing than it looks.

Chili Mac! The recipe was super easy, helped me get rid of some pantry stuff I've had around forever (ahem, elbow macaroni), and I even successfully upped the ante by making my own taco seasoning. Granted, buying the spices to stock the cabinet made it the most expensive taco seasoning ever, especially considering I could have bought the generic brand packet for mere pennies. But now that I have the paprika, onion powder, etc etc, I can make it anytime for a fraction of the pre-packaged cost. Along with super easy, it was super tasty. Surprisingly spicy. Will be a great go-to dish on a cold, winter night. Matt said he would definitely eat it again, which is pretty much how I judge the success of a recipe. So it's on the keeper list. Next up, I might just have to try those Mexican Wedding Cookies. Baking makes me nervous around Violet, because something in an oven must be paid attention to. But maybe this weekend...

Aside: In the comments, Kristin offered to send me her recipe for Pasta Yum and Chicken Awesome. Um, yes please! With names like those, you can't go wrong! Seriously, I gotta start naming things like this. This is my Cake Delish! Try my Margarita Tomorrow's Hangover! I'll try them (Kristin's recipes, not mine) and report back. And if they're not Awesome or Yum, well, I'm sure the fault will be entirely mine.

 Wearing Uncle Lukas' hat and lookin' good!

In other news, I'm very excited because I just got contacted by the magazine I used to work for, Fayette Woman, and asked to write another freelance story! Yay! I wrote my first one for them last month and I guess it was good enough that they want another one. (Actually, the editor wrote and said I did a "wonderful job" to be exact.) It's weird... I used to be the editor there and do exactly what the current editor is doing now. To be on the other side is a little strange. But the good news is, having worked on the inside for so long, I feel like I know exactly what they're looking for. Plus, if this blog didn't make it obvious enough, I love writing. I'd like to think I'm pretty good at it. I'd love to one day make lots and lots of money off of it. But for now, I'm happy to scribble a couple stories here and there.

It is so nice to have something outside of being a mommy. Not that being a mommy isn't the number one most important and favorite job I'll ever have. But for just a few minutes while I interview an expert or brainstorm an opening paragraph, it's like I have a window open to another world. Through that window, there's a refreshing breeze blowing and colors mixing up together into a delicious kaleidoscope. It's a little reminder that life is moving by outside the bubble of my Violet-world, and that life out there isn't so bad. It's nice to keep the writing skills honed, to know I can still do it when it's for more than just my own pleasure. Writing that first article (due out in the September issue, FYI) was like sticking my favorite writing utensil into the pencil sharpener. What was once a dull, soft point become sharp once again, whittled to a fine edge. It's the same way I feel when I read a really good book. It reminds me that the world is bigger than the four walls of my house and the routine of our day. It's that open window again, the fleeting glimpse, the lingering taste of sweet on the tip of your tongue. We all need reminders like that from time to time.

Will Sing for Food

The good news is, Violet will open her mouth wide when she sees the spoon coming. But so far that's the only part of this eating thing she's figured out.

The Help

So I picked up a new book the other day. And amazingly enough, it's not for book club. I've lamented in the past how the only books I've managed to get through this year have been the monthly picks for my book club, but The Blind Side was so good, I ended up ahead of schedule. It's only the middle of July and I've already read through August.

As luck would have it, my sister-in-law Nicole was interested in borrowing some of my books and offered a swap while she was here: my The History of Love (her book club's pick and one of my top three favorite books ever) for her copy of The Help.

Up until now, I've avoided The Help. Why? Well, I'm a bit of a book snob. If it's popular and everyone plus their neighbor is reading it, every book club is doing it, Oprah is preaching it, Barnes and Noble has a table devoted to it, well, I'm probably going to ignore it. I don't like reading something just because everyone else is reading it. Stupid, I know. After all, if everyone is reading it, it must be good. Still, it took me months to jump on the Twilight bandwagon (and then the last book completely ruined the entire series for me - sorry Twiheads or whatever you call yourselves). I only managed to read Eat Pray Love after it hit the discount table. I like discovering my own books and then recommending them on. I don't like books shoved in my face.

But with The Help sitting around, knowing I have to return it eventually and my current book list up-to-date, I bit the bullet and cracked it open. And you know what? Everyone and their neighbor is right - it's a great book. Of course, the problem with picking up a new, exciting read is that I don't want to put it down. Except right now my life includes something else that doesn't want to be put down. Since you probably know all about it and read it yourself six months ago, I won't go into the details, except to say that it follows the lives of three different women and their struggles and triumphs... (okay, must stop because I sound like a cheesy soundbite from the book jacket).

Besides, I write terrible book reviews. I know why I like a book, how it moves me or makes me terribly envious of the author... I just can't seem to express it properly. Books live in a sacred corner of my soul. I like books that linger with you, even days after you close the cover for the last time. Out of nowhere you'll find yourself remembering a line or thinking of a character as though they really exist somewhere outside the pages of the story. Books you know you'll read again. Know any like that? I'll add them to my ever expanding list. And if I recommend a book to you,  you'll just have to trust me that it is a good one. Rarely has anyone ever been disappointed by my recommendation (at least not that they've confessed to me - probably because I warn them that I'll think slightly less of them for not appreciating a book the way I have).

Future reader! 

(Plus, I hate posting without a picture. Just doesn't seem fair to keep all this cuteness to myself. (Plus I know you guys don't read the blog just to hear me go on and on about books... I know why you really show up!))

What's Cooking?

When Matt and I got married and I finally joined him in Texas, he bought me a cookbook as a welcome gift. Or maybe he was hoping it would inspire me to actual learn to cook. Alas, I took one flip through the pages and ran for the hills.

This cookbook is intense. It teaches you how to make your own tortillas... and lard. When on earth am I going to need to make my own lard? I'm still not sure how to use lard. Or even sure if I want to. So it promptly went onto a shelf, then into a box, then into the back corner of the closet with all the other boxes that we failed to unpack for the next four years.

Then I got a new cookbook stand, and this book is so pretty and colorful, it went on display. Because apparently I like to look at it, just not in it. Just like I enjoy the idea of cooking, then get extremely paranoid and intense once I'm standing at the stove. This weekend, though, Matt happened to pick up the book and started leafing through it. Along with being a cookbook, it's a little walk through time as the history of Tex-Mex is described and names of Texas restaurants are dropped. Pretty cool, actually.

The more he read and told me about, the better it sounded. So with sticky notes in hand, he marked a few recipes that seemed doable. And foolishly, foolishly, I actually decided that I'm going to try and cook my way through this cookbook. Not Julie/Julia style. I have no need to make every recipe (ahem, lard). But I figure, once a week, why not give it a shot? Some of the pages we marked are for sauces or dry rubs, while others are full-blown entrees. There are even a few desserts in there, so I have a nice range to work with. Plus this will help me accomplish my other goal: becoming a homemaker. I figure, if I'm not going to have a job, I can at least make life at home for Matt as easy as possible. He shouldn't have to go to work all day and then come home and cook dinner, vacuum, etc etc. But this is another story. Back to the cookbook.

We started yesterday. First recipe attempt: huevos rancheros and homemade refried beans (actually two recipes - double points!) I knew I was in trouble when the grocery store I went to didn't have serrano peppers. Immediately I remembered why I didn't like this blasted cookbook to begin with. But fortunately Matt located some on his way home from work. I was all set to go, ingredients laid out on the counter, cookbook propped up, and then Violet needed some love. So my goal of cooking Matt dinner turned into watching Matt cook dinner while I attended to our child. But at least I did the prep work, right? And helped clean up. And ate it. All.

Okay, the picture doesn't make it look the most appetizing. But do you know how hard it is to photograph food? Besides, it was delish. My many compliments were heaped on the chef. My favorite part of the evening was when I had to google huevos rancheros to figure out how to serve it (tortilla on bottom, then eggs and sauce... sorry, I've never eaten this before). The sauce was thinner than I expected and spicy (we both made the mistake of rubbing our noses after handling the serranos, even after we washed our hands), but not too spicy once it was paired with the eggs. The beans were flavorful, thick and creamy-textured. The eggs were perfectly runny (and since Matt is in charge of cooking all the eggs in our household, perhaps I should have realized he was always destined to cook this meal). Best of all, we have enough leftovers for me to attempt and improvise a rockin' bean dip for tomorrow.

Tonight's menu (because I'm on a kick now) is Chili Mac. I was going to make the Betty Crocker recipe to  use up some elbow macaroni we have in the pantry until I stumbled across the chili mac recipe in the Tex-Mex cookbook and realized it was meant to be. So I'm headed back to the grocery store today because the recipe calls for a taco seasoning packet or you can make your own taco seasoning and that seems like a challenge I just have to take on. This time I really really want to be the one manning the stove, so hopefully my Little Friend will comply. Next week (or at some point in the future) I'm going to tackle Mexican Wedding Cookies, and this crazy cake flan thing that is supposed to magically invert itself in the oven so while you pour the cake batter in first and then the flan, when you flip it over the flan has mysteriously migrated to the top. I know. Photographic evidence will be required.

We'll see how long I last in this challenge. Two recipes in one day is pretty impressive, though. And recipes two days in a row makes me rather proud. Hopefully the fall isn't just around the corner. Of course, now that I've told all of you my intentions, you can be my cheering (or jeering) squad and keep me going. Perhaps I can even invite you over for dinner one day. We can all try the magical inverted flan cake together.

The Gang's All Here

Every Sunday for as long as I can remember, my mom has cooked traditional Italian spaghetti and meatballs. You probably remember my quest to replicate this dish, met by not-quite-complete success. Anyway, for a large majority of my life, Sunday lunch has consisted of me and Matt, Lukas and Danielle, Tatum, and the other members of my immediate family sitting around, enjoying the food my mother's hands have prepared. We'll indulge in a rather animated discussion. Often we'll all be talking at once, each on our own subject, a merry-making din. After we eat and have lingered long enough around the table, we clear the dishes and adjourn to the living room, where we await the appearance of coffee and dessert (or fall into a food-induced coma, whichever comes first). This is a hallowed tradition and takes place in a sacred circle. Matt and Danielle were invited in by marriage. Tatum is related by love, if not blood, so he's in too. But rare is the occasion that others are brought into the circle, and those that have been there know the honor being bestowed upon them.

Then Lukas, Danielle and Tatum all took off for other parts of the world, breaking up the band. Oh, we try to carry on without them, but we all know it's just not quite the same. But yesterday, with the gang back home, we reunited for one more glorious Sunday lunch. And it was good indeed.

The Sunday Lunchers

 Violet meets Uncle Tatum for the first time. They are equally amazed with each other. Tatum's theory behind holding babies is that you should never assume you alone are enough to keep them happy. Shiny objects help with distraction.

 Violet seems to think Tatum is enough.

 The Tatum Pole. (Get it? Like Totem Pole, but with a Tatum.)

Violet and her godparents. (I can't get enough pictures of the three of them together. They have to last me until December!)

Monday's Child

21 Weeks

Taking Violet's picture this morning was awesome. She performed like a true model. That girl has learned when the camera is on her, for sure. Normally I position the camera slightly out of her sight, then call her name and distract her to get a smile, hoping when I click the shutter that the picture is nicely centered, focused, snapped in time. Today, however, Violet would only smile when she was staring directly at the camera. The minute I put it down, the smile would fade. Hilarious! Finally, a girl who loves the camera as much as I do!

Violet is officially in her 6 month clothes, which is exciting because it means a whole new batch of stuff is about to come out of the closet. She also totally gets peek-a-boo, has been talking up a storm and can reach and grab with the best of them. Matt and I have both had dreams where she's rolled over, but alas that's the only place that skill is evident, in our dreams. She loves to sit up, though, and can manage to sit by herself, unsupported for quite a long time (in seconds). Perhaps she's planning to skip the rolling over phase and go straight to sitting, standing, walking, line dancing...

After the excitement of meeting my brother and sister-in-law last week, we continued the fun yesterday when Violet met her Uncle Tatum for the first time. That post, along with my new mission to cook my way through our Tex-Mex cookbook, will be coming up soon. Stay tuned!

Working for the Weekend

Alright my dears, just a few notes before we start our weekend. First up, hello Stephanie! Welcome to the crowd! That's right, folks, we have a new follower, the lovely Stephanie. She is a New York girl, living in Raleigh, missing Athens, Georgia. The two of us met at UGA during grad school and survived many a class together. We have one last class to go, starting in just a few short weeks, and hopefully it means my friend will get to make a couple more trips down our way before it's all over. She swung by to see Miss Violet on her last visit and it was lovely to see her face again.

Want to hear something crazy? When Violet was 18 weeks old, I had 18 followers. 19 weeks, 19 followers. Now at 20 weeks, there are  20 followers. Weird, huh? Naturally, now that I've pointed out this pattern, I probably won't get any more followers for six months. But you blog stalkers are more than welcome to push the button and join our happy little crew.

EDIT: I scheduled this post to go up Friday night, but before it did, I happened to check in and found two new followers! So, hi Mom! Hi Chitra! (My mom and my sister finally took the plunge, it seems. Good for them! I love you guys!) I know it makes the above paragraph a little pointless... sorry. That's what I get for scheduling posts for the future. Moving on...

When Lukas was here, he showed me this video, made by a friend of his. Genius. Here I was, wondering how I would ever get back in shape after having a baby. The answer: use the baby as the workout weights! Some of these moves freak me out, but the kid never stops grinning, so I have to assume she likes it. Violet, I'm not so sure. If we try it, I promise you'll hear about the results. Until then, enjoy a (hopefully dry) weekend!

Good Golly Godparents!

It was with great joy and much excitement that Matt and I were finally able to introduce Violet to her Aunt Danielle and Uncle Lukas this week. It's been a long overdue moment. But since Violet's godparents live in Santiago, Chile, it has had to wait. Still, it was worth it when the big day finally came.

Uncle Lukas is my favorite!

 No, Aunt Danielle is my favorite!

This visit was everything I could have hoped for and more. First off, when these kids come home there is literally a line of people waiting to see them. Sometimes we're lucky to squeeze in a family lunch before they're dashing off to the next appointment. But this time, we were first in line, haha! It was basically a two-day long non-stop conversation as we caught up on each others lives, talked about plans for the future (plans that will hopefully bring Lukas and Danielle closer to us at some point in time). We reminisced about our childhood. They told us about life in Chile (where they have an awesome drink involving wine and strawberries, and an even awesomer one involving alcohol served in half a melon with a straw. Hello!) They got a snapshot of what our lives are like with Violet, right down to helping give her a bottle and attempting another go at eating cereal from a spoon. They played a little game of "she likes me more... no, she likes me more!". We ate steak and IHOP and browsed in Barnes and Noble (Chile lacks the authentic bookstore experience, apparently).

Uncle Lukas kissing Violet's feet. Let the spoiling begin!

One of my favorite moments from the visit came early Thursday morning. Matt was off at work and Danielle was sleeping in. Lukas and I hung out in the living room, drinking our coffee. Eventually I woke up the little lady and Lukas and Violet got some sweet one-on-one time where she was all smiles and sunshine for him. 

One of the things I miss most about Danielle and Lukas being so far away is just all the togetherness we miss out on. Sure, we swap emails, they send monthly updates, we've skyped. But nothing beats two people you love sitting in your living room, just existing together. My heart aches just a little every time they have to leave, and even more so now that Violet is a part of the family. I mean, they won't be back until Christmas. Violet will have changed so much by then! She has an awesome aunt and uncle that she is going to miss, and there are so many little moments that they'll miss of hers. But they are serving a great purpose in Chile, and as much as I selfishly want them nearby, I'll just keep my fingers crossed that someday we'll share the same area code. Or at least country code. And these two golden days we've shared I will treasure in my heart until we see them again. (Sorry for all the sap, people. Family can do that to me.)

Fika time!

Violet approves of her long-lost aunt and uncle.

Water Baby

Checking out the float with Daddy. So many clouds outside, we hardly need the shade! The water was a bit cooler than last time, but Violet seemed to take it all in stride.

 Here comes the sun! Pool time with a baby sure is different than I'm used to. Now I worry about getting too many rays. Looks like I'm destined for a life of pastiness from now on. But hey, it beats skin cancer.

 Our neighborhood has these Centennial Olympic Park-style fountains behind the pool... pretty cool for a little neighborhood on the Northside, me thinks.

TIckling the Ivories

Violet's future career as a concert pianist hits a bump in the road when she decides her hands, and the keys, are far more interesting to eat than make music with. There may be hope for her yet, however. If you listen closely, she sounds an awful lot like her Papa when he composes music.

Just a Spoonful of Cereal

Violet tries cereal for the first time... A story in pictures.

La la la... Here I am, hanging out in my new high chair/booster seat thing for the first time. Too bad mommy hasn't read the directions that say not to place the device on the table at any time! Oops.  Silly mommy. What's that you say? My bib? Oh, that's just drool.

 Wha....??? Some guy (he claims to be my dad) is trying to shove a spoon in my mouth! And it's covered in... BLECK! What is this stuff? It's... mushy! And... rather flavorless! If I hadn't seen him try it first, I'd be even more suspicious. But he's still standing there, so it must be okay.

Whew, that's over with. This cereal stuff is not for sissies, I tell you. I mean, just look at me! My bib is  filthy! I tried to tell my parents how I felt about this whole mess by whacking my hand into the cereal bowl and spilling it everywhere. But they just think that's funny, for some reason. At least I can relax back in my chair now.

Oh NO! Here it comes again! But this time, the spoon seems accompanied by some funny airplane noise... Hmm. I'm distracted. Perhaps I'll open my mouth.

Ack! Fooled again! That airplane noise really worked! Sneaky daddy!

Eh, not too bad, I guess. Maybe we can try this again sometime once I get the hang of this chew and swallow thing.

The end.