That said, I desperately need to update my links section to the right, but that is going to have to wait a while.

Anyway, I know I skipped last month’s Elanor post. I just didn’t feel like writing it, so I didn’t. (Bad Mama!) I mean, really, I know I write them less for the benefit of my blog and more for my own and Elanor’s eventual benefit. It’s my substitute for a baby book, or, I suppose, my supplement to the baby book.

All of that to say that here’s this month’s. I took the photo yesterday, because we got home from the beach late Saturday night and I was exhausted and it was a very long and fairly chaotic day. So, here it is.

~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Elanor,

Today you are fourteen months old!

March 15, fourteen months old, one day late

You walk all the time now, and at times even run a little. You love to be in motion, to be exploring and discovering everything around you. This has made you impatient with all contraptions that are meant to contain you: the stroller, the Ergo, the high chair, the car seat, most grocery carts, etc. And that makes life a lot more challenging, since, if we have to make you stay in one of those things, you get very upset and let everyone around you know how angry you are.

March 10, running to Papa on the beach

It’s clear that you are your own person now, with desires and frustrations and disappointments, all of which you share with me and Papa and everyone else. It’s a daunting job as a parent to try to teach you how to deal with those things in a compassionate, understanding, and caring way.

March 3, really angry while taking a bath with cousin Jacob

We’ve been trying to get you to sleep more in your own bed, a crib that Mema bought for you, which we’ve set up in our room. You are just so big these days, and you’ve inherited your Papa and Auntie Rachel’s violent sleeping habits, making it tough for Papa or myself to get much good sleep when you’re in bed with us. You will sleep in your bed at least until we come to bed, usually, and sometimes almost all night. It’s a slow process to get you to sleep in there, especially as you will no longer suck on your fingers to soothe yourself (only Mama will do for that job), but I’m in no rush to get you out of our bed entirely. I love snuggling with you.

March 8, sleeping in our room at the Ace Hotel in Portland

You absolutely love all of your amazing Christmas and birthday presents. Your playroom is full to the gills with beautiful toys, and the closet is full of more as well. You are quite spoiled by our family! Your favorite toys include your tea set that Auntie Amy and Uncle Seth gave you, your kitchen from Noni and Grumps, and your bowling set from Mema.

February 14, thirteen months old

Food continues to be a great love of yours, and you eat almost everything, although you weren’t a fan of the clam Papa gave you to try the other night. You adore bananas, and pasta, potatoes, cheese, beans – the list goes on and on. We got you some kid-sized utensils recently and you now love to eat with them, and if we forget to give them to you at dinnertime, you get very annoyed. It’s pretty amazing how skilled you are already at using them.

March 1, eating yogurt with a spoon

You have nearly all of your teeth now, or at least all of them that you’ll get until your two-year molars. It feels like the last eight or so have been coming in for a very long time — about two months. But thankfully it seems like they are just finishing up, which I’m very glad about.

March 10, being cute while riding bikes in Seaside

It’s been so fun to see you picking up more signs. While you don’t say many words yet, you do sign quite a bit. You’ve learned the sign for please, and use it quite often, which is fun to see. You still sign milkies, more, and finished, and you wave hello and bye-bye as well. I was able to teach you please in about a week; I need to be more diligent about teaching you more signs. I think you could learn them easily and quickly.

February 28th, singing Itsy Bitsy Spider (and doing the motions!) with Great Aunt Melissa

Although you don’t say many words, you do recognize familiar people, places, and animals. Papa and I call Audrey the cat by clicking our tongues, and you’ve learned how to do the same thing, out of the blue. You now call any cat, dog, bird, or person you want to see up close in that manner, which is pretty hilarious.

March 13, happy to be swinging

You also recognize our house when we come home. I was walking from the bus stop with you a few weeks ago, and we were coming up the sidewalk. I didn’t tell you we were home, but you walked up the sidewalk and turned up the path to our door all by yourself. I was amazed!

March 11, family snuggle at the beach

The best thing, hands down, that you have learned to do lately is to give hugs. You wrap your arms around my neck and pat my back, and it is, without a doubt, the sweetest thing in the entire world.

February 28th, hugging Papa before he leaves for work

Elanor, you continue to be an absolute joy, and Papa and I cannot get enough of you.

I love you,
Mama

How have things been for the past, oh, almost two months? Yikes! Two months! That’s longer than I thought it would be between posts, but, you know, oh well. Gotta remember that whole “no stressing out” thing, right?

Really, things have been fine at our house. Busy, stressful at times, but fine. Let’s see if I can sum up in a quick and not boring way.

Since my last post, we’ve done quite a bit of traveling. Brett’s traveled for work to L.A., Iowa, and Norway. (Yay for frequent flier miles!) Brett’s mom was here while he was in L.A. and Iowa, and my mom came while he was in Norway. Both visits were quite fun!

As a family, we’ve been to Portland for the United States Barista Championship and to the Oregon Coast, where we are now. We head home tomorrow, which will be nice since we’ve been gone for 10 days, but I have to admit that I’m loving the lazy beach lifestyle, and am not too eager to resume the quick pace of normal life.

Really, nothing else too exciting has happened. Brett did great in the barista competition last weekend, placing in the semi-finals, and as it was in Portland, our families watched Elanor so I could participate in the fun. And it was fun! I got to eat amazing food, drink great wine, and hang out with fun people. I even got to stay out too late at a party after drinking a little too much, which I haven’t done in over two years.

Elanor is more funny and amazing every day. We’ve been trying to transition her into a crib for at least part of the night, since she’s so big that sleeping with her is getting to be a challenge. She inherited her papa’s and her Auntie Rachel’s propensity to thrash around violently in her sleep, which means Mama and Papa don’t sleep much as a result. The transition is going okay; some nights she’ll stay in the crib almost all night, and others only a few hours. But that’s okay with me. I’m not looking for an instant change — gradual is fine.

She’s walking EVERYWHERE, babbling up a storm, signing really well, and looking more and more like her papa every day — I guess I should save some of this for her monthly letter, which I should post in the next few days. Maybe I can write it in the car on the way back to Seattle tomorrow.

We are waiting to hear about some things that could mean some really good but somewhat big changes for us. We’ve come to terms with the fact that change is going to happen in the semi-near future, and being the impatient person that I am, now that I’ve made that decision and am anticipating change, I want the change to happen RIGHT NOW! But that’s not how life works, especially not in this instance, so I am trying to trust God and be patient.

We don’t have a car yet; we are kind of waiting to see how these changes pan out before we take on any more expenses. And that’s okay for now. I do want one in the somewhat near-ish future, but I think it’s more prudent financially to wait right now, so that’s what we’re doing.

I’ll leave you with some pictures from the past few months. I don’t have a ton; Brett took the camera with him on his travels. I’ll save the most recent ones for her 14-months-old post, I think, but here are some from the previous month.

February 4th, swinging at the park

February 6th, watching a movie with Papa

February 7th, being an adorable imp at Fiore

January 25th, Brett making coffee with his co-worker Louie while on the fourth machine at the WRBC when he was in L.A.

So, I will be back sooner than almost two months, I am sure. Hopefully within the next few days, actually. I have Elanor’s 14-months-old post to do, and finally, Brett is ready to do his post about making a french press, which was requested by Annie. (Yay!) We’ve also been making some amazing food lately that I want to tell you about, and I want to share some projects that my friend Rosanna and I are excited to work on.

The bottom line is that there’s a lot going on with us: none of it terribly thrilling, most of it good. I promise, another post about everything is coming soon!

I am sorry I flaked on doing week two of the meal plan, but I’m working on it and will get it up — hopefully — later tonight or tomorrow. We’ve been eating whatever boring things we have around our house or eating out since we’ve been so busy and tired. I’m making something really yummy tonight, though, which I’ll post in the meal plan for this week.

Okay, I have some work to do now, and then we’re going to eat dinner, and then I’ll try to post something. I hope. But the need for sleep may win, depending on how long my work takes.

You are a whole year old! It seems like you’ve been with us forever, and yet it seems like just yesterday you were born.

Brand new, January 14, 2008

You are such a little person now. I love seeing your personality — even when it manifests itself in willfullness and tantrums  — emerging.

One year old!

This past month has been full of more firsts, with two notable ones: you walked on your own and we celebrated your first Christmas.

Walking with Papa, January 3

It was amazing to see you walking! Papa and I were thrilled when you did it. We were both giddy, seeing you take those steps by yourself. And, even more fun, it happened on your Noni’s birthday, which pleased her greatly.

Snuggling with Papa early Christmas Morning, December 25

Christmas was wonderful. We spent the day with our families, who spoiled us greatly. You love all of your new toys. It was high time you had some big-kid things to replace the few baby-like things you had before. You love your pots and pans, your new Cabbage Patch babies, your big fabric tunnel to crawl through, and all of the musical instruments you received.

Playing with pots and pans, December 25

Food continues to be something you love. It’s really fun to see you eating and enjoying food so much. You love cheese, and pasta, and beans, and avocado, and scrambled eggs, and hummus, and plain yogurt. You eat pretty much anything we put in front of you now and you definitely enjoy mealtime. When you see me getting your tray or bib ready, you run over to your highchair and stand at the bottom of it, waiting for me to put you in. You still love milkies, though, and nurse frequently, even though you are eating a lot of regular food now.

Eating hummus and cucumber at Pa and Grandma Sandy's, December 28

You just learned how to drink from a sippy cup within the past week or so, and you love water. Your other favorite beverage, besides, milkies, is coffee. Yes, coffee, and not just the foam from a cappuccino, although you love that, too. You love straight coffee, even the crema from an espresso. It’s hilarious to see you, when you know that there’s coffee nearby and no one’s given you any yet. You get quite upset.

Playing with the espresso machine at Papa's work, December 15

Your sleeping has changed quite a lot over the past month or two. You’re usually taking one nap now, instead of two. And you are going to bed at a fairly regular time, usually between 7:30 and 8. Plus, you are sleeping more at night, too, which has been nice for Papa and me. You’ll also sleep in a bed or pack & play or something, which is very nice. I had almost forgotten all of the months of you only sleeping on us or with us, and it’s so nice that you’ll finally sleep by yourself.

Snoozing in the makeshift sled, December 21

We’re still cloth diapering at a year, and I love it. Well, as much as anyone can love diapers, I suppose. You, however, have come to detest having your diaper change, and almost every diaper change results in a colossal meltdown and tantrum. It’s difficult, but I know it’s just a phase and I need to be as patient as possible and it will eventually improve.

At the Portland Children's Museum, December 27

You aren’t saying much yet in the way of real words. It’s adorable to hear you say your little babbles, like “Bee doop, bee doop, bee doop,” and to hear you talk to your baby dolls or your toys. Even so, we want to be able to understand you and hope more words are forthcoming soon.

Getting splashed at the Children's Museum, December 27

Happy birthday, my darling girl. I am so excited to see you continue to grow and change. Although this year has been extremely difficult, you have been the one consistent bright spot in it, and we are so happy to have you in our lives.

All my love,

Mama

We were sitting in the living room tonight, playing, and Elanor was sitting in Brett’s lap. He stuck  his finger out towards her mouth, and I said, “Brett! Don’t! She’s going to bite you!”

“Oh, no, she won’t.”

“Stop it! Seriously! She can’t think that biting is okay!”

“Oh, come on, Leen, I’m just going to tickle her tongue!”

Please, everyone, roll your eyes with me on that one. Riiiiight.

~~~~~~~

A more substantial post is coming soon, but it seems that every time I sit down to blog these days, I get called away for something else, and then when I do have the time, like now, I’m far too tired to be coherent. I’m going to try to do some work during naptime tomorrow and the rest of this week. Keep your eyes peeled on Friday for my first meal plan post. I’m excited to share it with you! I’m also working on some posts related to Elanor’s birthday, which is, unbelievable though it may seem, a week from Wednesday. Plus, Brett is competing in the regional barista competition this weekend. So, lots to do, but of course that just means lots to blog about, and that is a good thing!

My pregnancy with Elanor and her birth was the first hard/good thing to happen. She is amazing, and wonderful, and definitely one of the highlights of the year: the ultimate good thing. But my pregnancy with her really took a toll on my body, and her birth was long and difficult and painful and not at all the birth I had wanted or envisioned. Still, the good that came out of her birth was so wonderful; knowing her and having her as our daughter is a joy.

The second such event was my heart incident in May. Obviously, the bad part is that it happened in the first place and the good part is that I’m alive. The difficult parts of that event, though, are still echoing through our lives. (That’s another post in and of itself. It’s nothing catastrophic, just new doctors with new theories and new tests to run, following which I may have a new diagnosis. But all of that is waiting on some insurance logistics to get straightened out so it will be well into the new year before I have anything to report on this front.) The fact that I came so very close to death is something that is hard to shake, especially for my mom, I think, and for Brett, too, although he’s somewhat reluctant to admit it.

The third bad/good event happened on Christmas Eve.

As I’ve said, it’s been snowy here in the Northwest for the past couple of weeks. (It’s actually melted now, but only as of yesterday.) Anyway, that much snow is unheard of for this area of the country (I think we had about 12 inches here!), and what’s even more shocking is that it stuck around for two weeks. Generally, the temperatures rise and the rain typically melts it within 24 hours.

The roads have been pretty icky in the city, but they’ve been totally managable. I mean, hey, like I have said before, we know how to drive in snow. So despite our parents’ protests to not come down for Christmas if the roads were bad, we loaded up our friend Robbie’s Jeep, turned on the four-wheel-drive, and left our house about 8:30 a.m. on Christmas Eve, ready to get to Portland and start celebrating with our families.

We were borrowing Robbie’s Jeep because he went out of town for the holiday, and since we don’t have a car, he offered to let us use it to get to see our families in Portland to save the $200 on the rental car if we’d drive him to the airport before we left town.

So, we dropped him at the airport and we were driving down I-5 and were just south of Olympia. The pavement, up to this point, had just been bare and wet, nothing bad at all. I had just taken a break from writing a year-in-review blog post to call my mom to try to firm up our plans for later in the day. The two of us were chatting, and I had just updated her about where we were, how the roads were, and when we thought we’d arrive when all of the sudden there was some slush on the road, in the left lane, where we were traveling. Brett had only been going about 50, and he immediately slowed down. We slid a little, he slowed down some more. He put his blinker on to get into the right lane, going maybe 40 or 45 at this point, and started to get over.

The tires must have hit the snow just exactly wrong, and we started to slide sideways, then the back of the car came around and we started to spin in a circle in the left lane of the interstate.

The back of the car hit the median, bounced us off, and rolled us over.

We landed tires down, facing backwards in the lane we’d just been traveling in. Brett and I both thought at that moment that we’d jumped the median but thank God we hadn’t. We also didn’t hit any cars and no one hit us — a huge miracle.

Elanor had been asleep and she was, obviously, woken up by the screaming and crashing. Brett was able to turn right around and get her out and she calmed down and seemed fine once she was in our arms.

I somehow managed to hold onto the phone the entire time, even as Brett and I screamed and we rolled. My poor mom heard the whole thing happen and was terrified. As soon as we landed I told her, “We’re fine, we’re all fine, I have to go,” and hung up because I needed to take Elanor from Brett. She, of course, was freaked out, and I felt bad just hanging up, but I had to help Elanor more than I needed to reassure my mom.

Thankfully, an off-duty firefighter was a few cars back so he stopped and was able to help us right away, before the state patrol and firefighters and paramedics arrived. Having him there was wonderful and very reassuring. We needed someone to take charge and tell us what to do; the four minutes or so until the emergency personnel arrived seemed long enough with someone there. It would have seemed like an eternity if he hadn’t been. So, to Steve from the Black Lake Fire Department: thank you.

The paramedics said it really didn’t seem like we needed to go to the ER, and having had our fill of ambulance rides for the year since we took several around the time of my heart incident, we agreed with them. At that point we just wanted to get to our families and did not want to spend hours and hours in the ER on Christmas Eve. Brett and I are sore, obviously, but other than that, all we came away with was a few bumps and bruises (my laptop was closed in my lap and hit me in the head; I’ve got a nice bruise from that) and I have a small cut on my cheek from the glass from the windshield.

The state patrol had us drive the car off the freeway, even, which is something of a miracle: even though it’s completely totaled we are okay, were able to walk away, and could drive it off the interstate. My laptop is fine, although the case is scratched, my glasses didn’t break, our camera had been sitting in the back seat and it was fine, too. Even the French press we had in the back for Rachel for Christmas didn’t break. (I was shocked it was in one piece when she opened it!)

After we got off the highway and the car was towed away, we wound up renting a car and continuing on our trip since we were already nearly halfway there and we’d have to drive at least an hour and a half to get home anyway. Before we left Olympia, we stopped at Target and I bought a new carseat for Elanor (the same one, since it seemed to work so well before — the Graco ComfortSport).

We talked to Robbie, the owner of the car, when we were still sitting on the highway. Obviously, we feel awful about it, but there was truly nothing Brett could have done differently. He wasn’t being reckless, and was driving at a safe speed given what the conditions were.

Anyway, the whole thing was terrifying and not a fun way to spend Christmas Eve but we are all okay and we are so thankful for that, and so glad, too, that we were able to be with our families to celebrate. Once we were able to forget about how awful the accident was, we had an awesome time and are so glad we made it to Portland after all.

The bottom line is that we are just so thankful that we’re all okay. We keep jokingly saying to each other that we can only cheat death so many times in one year. It’s been quite a year, and these are only the life-threatening events. I left out all the hard but not life-threatening things: going back to work in April after my maternity leave was over and then that month where I worked full-time, Brett traveling so much this fall, being on a really tight budget, Brett and I enduring some challenges in our relationship with each other, a rodent infestation in our house (yeah, that was really fun…not) — I could go on, but I’ll stop right there. It’s just been hard, and 2006 and 2007 were that way, too: Brett being jobless, having a miscarriage, then being pregnant and so sick and miserable.

We are so ready for a change from that pattern. We both hope, along with our families, that 2009 holds nothing but routine, boring, normal life for us, or at least that the only big events are thoroughly good ones. We are tired of having these brushes with death; although we’re grateful to have been able to walk away from all of them with everything intact, we’d much prefer avoiding them altogether.

I’ll post something about our actual Christmas soon, probably mostly pictures since I took about a jillion of them. It was a very fun time; we felt very loved and blessed by our families, and so grateful to be with them on the holiday. Elanor had a great time, too, and I’m happy that we spent her first Christmas with all of our loved ones — even if getting there was not a fun experience.

The big story here in Seattle, of course, is the snow. I’ve never seen this much snow in Seattle, nor have I seen it stick around for this long. It’s so bizarre and feels like we’re in Maine. I tell my friends here that this is what Maine is like, all winter long, and they look at me with horror-stricken expressions. I guess I don’t mind the snow as much here as I did in Maine, mostly because I know that even though this is a relatively long stretch of snowy weather, it’s nothing compared to a Maine winter, and it will melt sooner rather than later, and we’ll get back to a normal, rainy winter.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about this time last year, about how pregnant I was and how ready I was to just not be pregnant anymore. It wasn’t necessarily even about getting to meet Elanor; it was just that I wanted to be able to sleep and not hurt all the time and be able to walk and just function as a normal human being.

One year ago tonight, I wrote this post. I remember feeling so frightened of what was to come and of all the logistics surrounding Elanor’s birth, and so desperate to just be done. I can totally see that desperation in the words I wrote, and I feel a little sorry for my uncomfortable, pregnant self. I wish I could have let go and enjoyed the last few weeks more, instead of just wishing so fervently for it all to just be over.

I know that at the time I was pretty darn miserable, but in retrospect it seems like such a sweet time, a time of anticipation and excitement, a time of being coddled and babied a bit by Brett and everyone else around me, a time of playing lots of Nintendo, eating pizza, enjoying our then-new digital TV, and a time of just being generally lazy.

And then, of course, was the excitement of Elanor’s birth and the amazing, fragile, frightening, overwhelming love that hit when she was born. I remember doing everything very gingerly and carefully in the first few weeks. Partly that’s probably because I was recovering from a c-section, so I had to be careful and deliberate, but there was also that new parent sense of needing all ducks to be in a row, to have her hat and her blanket coordinate with her outfit, to have a perfectly organized and stocked diaper bag (still free of spit-up stains and looking crisp and new) with me at all times, to have new toys that hadn’t been chewed on and mangled hanging from the car seat to entertain a lump of a baby who couldn’t even see far enough to appreciate them.

I remember taking Elanor to get her blood drawn several times because she had jaundice. I remember taking her to the hospital down the street from us, carefully parking outside as close to the door as possible so that she wouldn’t have to be out in the cold long, then Brett carrying her in the carseat down the seemingly endless hallway to the blood lab with me limping along behind, still very sore from the c-section but determined to wean myself from the Percocet.

After one of these blood draws, Brett wanted to take her down to his work to show her off. She must have only been about four days old; I think it was on my actual due date. Despite being exhausted just from the outing to the blood lab, I agreed. I don’t remember much about that visit other than Brett being so extremely proud to show off  his daughter. That day still sticks in my mind; I think it was the first time that the three of us went anywhere alone, other than the drive home from the hospital. It felt so strange and frightening and wonderful to be out in the world with our little girl. Everyone looked at us, curious to see the tiny baby, to proclaim her adorable, and looking at me to see how I was faring after pregnancy and childbirth. It was like being a celebrity: every time we went somewhere, multiple people would stop us and talk to us about Elanor and how gorgeous she was.

That tiny, dark-haired, sleepy little girl seems like a different person than the hilarious, active, bright-eyed toddler we have on our hands today. It’s hard to make the leap that she was once that snuggly, almost frighteninginly awe-inspiring, wonderfully tiny little being. But she was! And I guess in a year, or two years, or five, or ten, or 20, I’ll feel the same way about the toddler she is now — that it’s hard to imagine that she was ever a tiny little toddler, sporting jaunty, lopsided pigtails, a giant cloth diaper butt, and a gap-toothed, wrinkly-nosed smile.

Tiny little girl, only five days old.

Monday night, standing up and playing with an espresso maching at Papa's work, being full of personality.

See! It’s hard to imagine that they’re the same person, and that huge change has happened in less than a year!

Okay, enough sappy thoughts from me. While I’m so, so glad to not be pregnant anymore, I do miss the newness and wonder and anticipation that was present in my life this time last year, even though it was a really hard time. Oh, what am I saying?! Ha. If I’d seen myself writing this post a year ago, I would have probably laughed and called myself crazy for romanticizing any of that time.

Anyway, despite any nostalgia that I might feel, I’m happy to be here, now, in this moment, with my big, personality-filled girl asleep upstairs. I’m looking forward to waking up with her tomorrow (as early as that may be) and spending the day together with she and Brett. Maybe we’ll go sledding, or build a snowman, or just walk to Fiore for a coffee. Whatever we’ll do, I’m looking forward to spending it with she and her papa.

Today you are 11 months old! You have changed so dramatically in the past few weeks; your development has just exploded lately. I’m not even sure where to start.

Official Ten Month Photo

You are not walking without support, although we are thinking more and more now that it’s coming any day. You will push various items around the house and walk behind them — the bar stools, the ottoman, the dining room chairs, your exersaucer — and you’ll walk if we hold your hand, but you won’t do it by yourself yet. You will, however, stand unsupported on your own, which is one of those many developmental things you’ve just started doing over the past week or two.

Pushing the barstool around, December 5

You will also climb; you climbed this morning from my lap onto the dining room table, and we must be very careful to leave the door to the stairs shut because you’ll head straight over and try to climb them as soon as you hear the door open.

The bath is one of your favorite things. Another thing you’ve started doing recently is you try to climb into the tub when we are in the bathroom. You just love bathie time, and you’ll happily play in the tub for as long as possible. You especially love it when Papa comes in and sits next to the tub and splashes and plays with you. The grin on your face when he puts his face in the water and blows bubbles is huge.

Waking up from a nap, November 26

You now have ten teeth. It’s been a rough month, with you getting three more teeth (including your upper canines — ouch) and you still seem to be working on a molar and your lower canines. This round of teeth was by far the worst ones yet; you seemed much more bothered by them than the previous ones. In conjunction with teething, you’ve had a cold for what seems like six weeks. That, combined with the teeth and Papa’s traveling, has made you one cranky little girl. Thankfully, you seem to be handling this next set of teeth better, and maybe once they’re through, your cold symptoms will lessen a bit and you’ll get some relief in general.

Looking like a big girl with first pigtails, December 12

Papa and I love to watch you eat. Again, the past few weeks have shown a huge increase of what you’ll eat and how much you’ll eat. Before, you would just play in your food, but now you actually eat. I usually just give you a little of what we’re eating, and you usually eat it right up. You love black bean soup, channa masala, olives, any potato product, cheese, cucumbers, tomatoes (which I just gave you last night and you loved), pizza, Annie’s Mac, and, of course, Veggie Booty.

Eating Annie's Mac, December 4

While we were relatively sure you were signing back at us last month, there is absolutely no doubt you are now. Again, in the past week or two, you will sign milkies, finished, eat, more, and hi/bye in the right contexts. One of my favorite things is when you are nursing and you look up at me and sign milkies as you try to grin despite the fact that you’re eating. You want me to acknowledge what you are saying and you keep looking at me and signing it until I say, “Yes, Nor, you’re having yummy milkies!”

Grinning all the way down the Prom on a bicycle ride, November 16

We had a fun month, including a trip to the Walker family house at Seaside. We just spent a lot of time hanging out as a family that weekend, riding bikes on the Prom, walking downtown, and just playing at the house. It was wonderful. We also celebrated your first Thanksgiving this past month. You were very tired by the time we ate dinner, but you managed to eat some stuffing, mashed potatoes, some of your roll, and some peas anyway.

On the Prom at Seaside, November 16

I can’t wait to see what this next month will bring. It seems every day you master a new skill or want to do something new or grow and change in some way. It makes waking up every day so much fun, just to see how you’ll be different from the day before.

I love you, Magoo.

Mama

I just put pigtails in Elanor’s hair for the first time. Oh. My. Lordy.

I’m just gonna post pictures because there’s not much I can say; I’m too overwhelmed by it.

Now, seriously. I mean, I know I’m her mom and all, so I think she’s cuter than most everyone else, but you’ve got to admit the pigtails just wratchet the cuteness up to an almost unbearable degree.

Elanor’s sick again, or is sick still, if you prefer. I feel really sad for her. She’s got a cough and is all sniffly and is getting about four more teeth (yes, again) and is just generally kind of clingy and miserable. She hasn’t been sleeping much at night, either, which is really hard on me. For the first time in our parenting career — not to mention our marriage — Brett slept on the futon downstairs this week, just because Elanor was so wakey and restless that she was keeping both of us awake, and, well, one of us might as well get some sleep, right?

Aside from that, I’ve just been enjoying having Brett home. Thankfully, he’s done traveling for the next while and should be working regular hours, which is quite a treat.

I had a post written about how I’m feeling sort of crumudgeonly and Scrooge-ish this Christmas, but I didn’t post it because I read it again and it was just whiny. I’ll try to figure out in the next couple of days how to write more about how I’m just not feeling the Christmas spirit without being whiny.

Let’s see, what else?

Oh, yes! I have been talking with my sister about eating, and recipes, and meal planning. As a working, single mom to three kids, her time to do things like meal plan is nonexistent. She wants to eat better, both simply for her health and her kids’ health, but also to lose weight. We got to talking about it while she was here for Thanksgiving, and I offered to email her every week with our meal plan, recipes, and a shopping list. I’ve actually been thinking that perhaps I’ll just post it here, meal plan, recipes, and shopping list. Is that something anyone would be interested in seeing on a semi-regular basis? Leave a comment for me if you’d find it useful, and if there’s interest, I’ll post it here.

And, speaking of recipes, I’m going to post one for my sister-in-law, Amy. I’ve been meaning to give it to her for a while, but she’s having guests from out-of-town this week and wants to make it while they’re here.

So, Amy, here you go — the beer bread recipe. I should, however, give credit where credit is due and say that I found this on allrecipes.com. I made one change, which several people suggested in the comments on allrecipes: adding butter on top before it goes in the oven. It’s best fresh, but if you don’t eat the whole loaf at dinner, it makes really good toast the next day.

Whole Wheat Beer Bread

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle beer
• 1/4 cup melted butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease a 9×5 loaf pan.

In a large mixing bowl, combine all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder, salt and brown sugar. Pour in beer, stir until a stiff batter is formed. It may be necessary to mix dough with your hands. Scrape dough into prepared loaf pan and pour melted butter over the top.

Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.