Baby Steps

I can't believe we're nearly rounding out a year with our darling girl. In the past few days she's started to articulate words, which has been very exciting, and even said "Jesus" out of the blue ("blue," her other word), which was the greatest of gifts to me on Monday morning. She was looking at our collection of statues, pointed at them, and said "Jesus." How crazy is that?! (okay, it came out more like dee-jes, but still.) Also, her habit of saying "mom" has returned after a few week hiatus. It warms my heart, especially after she's been saying "daddy" for a good two months now.

Anyway, here's the latest of our family fun:





She loves this chair and has recently been hearing a lot of "no" and "sit!" as a result of its use.

Oh, snap!

Things have been pretty quiet around our house for the last month or so; and I mean that in a good way. We haven't traveled for over a month and I think all three of us are really enjoying weekends in our home--cooking, cleaning, the farmer's market down the block, a visit from a friend or two, and lately, Bears games. The slow-pace has been rejuvenating after a summer that came and went before we ever got a chance to go to the pool.

I say "quiet" but I certainly don't mean uneventful. Last weekend, on the official date of Maureen's 11-month milestone, she started walking. We'd seen a few steps here and there, but she was determined to get the remote from Joe's hand--so determined that she walked across the living room for it. It took well over a week to capture this video, but here is the proof:



I'll follow that one up with a new trick that caught us by surprise:



It is hard to believe that we're nearly rounding out a year since our little girl was born. She's darn cute and we're so happy she continues to surprise us every day.

All her yammering cracks me up.

Maureen is really flourishing--it has been an incredible few weeks watching her personality develop and seeing her become more independent. Here are a few more videos from the past weeks:


In our last efforts to enjoy summer at our apartment, we dined al fresco and ate spaghetti. Maureen mastered the art of asking for more AND slurping the noodles.



Our friends Dan and Sandy joined us for a picnic at the Morton Arboretum. We ventured into the Children's Garden and found this marble ball/ fountain thing that Maureen loved (it had water on it, go figure that she loved it!) I would argue that the afternoon was probably more fun for us, the adults, wandering through all the kid stuff.



More from the Arboretum. Maureen the rule-breaker--



And this one is just fun. All her yammering cracks me up.

Tupperware Party

I've been a bit concerned that some of the videos we take just come across to you, the reader, as "another baby video" despite how funny it may be to Joe and me. Grandpa Don says this is far from the case, so I will do my best to update a bit more. Plus, things are pretty exciting 'round the house now that Maureen is moving so much. Speaking of, she took a single step over the weekend. It was exciting.

Maureen loves to play in the tupperware drawer as I do dishes, but it caught Joe and me off-guard when she climbed into on her own:

A summer of weddings and giggles

This past weekend was Anne and Phil's wedding--an event we'd been excited about for well over a year. It was so wonderful to take time off of work and head North for a long weekend of festivities. I remember thinking when they'd gotten engaged that our baby would be ten months old. It is incredible to me how much she's grown and become a tiny person.

Sadly, we left our camera at Joe's parents' so I don't have many pictures from the weekend, but here are a few from the past months:

My cousin Bridget was married earlier in the summer.  Here is the beautiful bride escorted by her dad.

We were attempting a family picture here, although I kind of like that my dad ended up in it too.

Maureen crawls...on Grandma's car.

Maureen found the perfect thing for her "western" themed outfit for the rehearsal dinner.
Oh Fleet Farm, you have everything!

Joe took this one on his phone as everyone was scurrying to get ready for Anne's wedding day.
 A seemingly quiet moment--I love it.

Lately Maureen has acted like she's ready for bed, so we attempt to put her down, but she gets a serious second wind--I swear she's gone batty. Here is an example of her entertaining herself.


I LOVE this laugh. She doesn't laugh like this very often--a real baby belly laugh (if there is such a thing). It really tugs at my heart to see the two of them playing together and laughing so much.

We're still here!

As it just so happens we DO still exist, although the lack of posts to this blog seems to say otherwise.

Maureen is crawling like crazy and I'm convinced she'll be walking on her own pretty soon as well. She's been a go-getter even from day one and something simple like leg strength isn't going to keep her from marching across the room.

She's also doing a lot of yammering, has been eating solid foods, asking for more, and clapping. I was able to capture it all into one video:



And here are a few more from the past month:

(Our attempt to deter Maureen from touching the TV and other devices by placing a board in front)

2011 Spring Thaw

Click here to view these pictures larger

Maureen's first Easter

We spent Easter weekend with the Stirtons. It was beautiful. Dreariness all week (alas, such is this unending winter) followed by warm and sunny on Saturday and Sunday. We went to the Vigil Mass and I was so impressed with all the kids (including my own) through the long and late-night celebration--but it was worth it. Food and wine followed for the hours afterward and into the morning.

We decorated eggs.

And smoked salmon.

(which was de.lish.ious.)

And told stories.

We went to the Vigil mass, filled with anticipation.

We hunted for baskets,

and upon finding them we promptly yelled, "Christ is risen, Alleluia!!"

And ate candy.

We took a family picture of our respective families.

Ours was perfect on the first try.

The Stirtons, however, needed a few attempts.

Happy Easter!!!

Royal Wedding Consultant

Now that the hubbub has died down, I will come out with it--Yes. Kate Middleton did in fact consult me about her wedding dress. She wanted to know all the fine details of my own wedding day to ensure that her wedding attire would be fitting for such a royal day.

Now you know.

On being a baby

What I love about my baby girl is that she's fearless. You can give the credit to ignorance or the fact that she is only a few months old, but I love how she could care less about what society says and is entirely focused on what is in front of her.

She doesn't care what the world thinks about her. If her outfit doesn't match or she passes gas (again and again and again) she isn't embarrassed. She doesn't even think it is worth giggling about--she just goes on with life blissfully unaware of the things she can get away with because, well, she's a baby.

She doesn't even care if she gets excited and makes a really loud screech during mass. And I can't blame her. Sometimes chewing on your own hand really does make you get so bubbly you can't contain your joy!

It is the small things, I guess. I only wish I could be this fearless.

Mover and a shaker

And the little one said...

Fresh off the press. This very video was taken this morning:

French fare

This past week I ventured into new territory:

From 2011-01-26

French cooking with Julia Child.
Egh.
I was inspired by watching Julie & Julia for the unteenth time and decided to make the infamous beouf bourguignon.   I've been making some new dishes lately and decided that it was time to go out on an even longer limb to try something completely different.   Plus, Joe loves beef, so really, how could I go wrong?   (aside from falling asleep while waiting for it to cook.  I didn't let this happen, by the way.)

From 2011-01-26

The first thing the recipe calls for is 6 oz of bacon as one solid chunk. Yes, it actually uses the word "chunk." Luckily we live a block from a meat market, so this wasn't difficult to acquire.

From 2011-01-26

A few hours after the bacon is cut and prepared the whole mix goes into the oven.   I wasn't all that impressed with how it looked at this point.

From 2011-01-26

While the beef "stew" portion cooks you braise pearled onions and saute mushrooms. Oh, and the "don't crowd the mushrooms" line from the movie is because the mushrooms can't absorb the fat when they are too crowded. They also will not have the surface room to brown themselves. It was interesting to read the tidbits as to what and why many of the steps are done--for instance, Julia explains that the mushrooms will first absorb the fat (butter) and a few minutes later they push it out (the pan is again wet) and shortly after they brown.  Interesting...

From 2011-01-26

In the end, some 8 hours later (mind you, I was also running in and and out of the kitchen to care for a baby), we had a delicious dinner.

It was wonderful. We both loved it.  Most especially the braised pearl onions.  Wowzer, I didn't know onions could be so flavorful!

Although the whole processes took me a particularly long time due to the baby girl that wanted my attention,  I cannot help but wonder if this was all that much better than a one-pot stew. There were lots of extra steps--but I'm not sure I noticed a difference.  I enjoyed making it, but in the end, was it worth the effort?
Can anyone attest to similar experiences?

In other news, Maureen is growing (15 lbs now!) and continues to be adorable.

From 2011-01-26

Busy Week

In the days after Christmas we had a lot of visitors, which was a ton of fun and made the week pass so much more quickly.

Cousin Peter (pictured below) and his wife Carol (not pictured. Don't be fooled--that is Joe in the picture) came on Monday. They're in for Christmas and New Years from the west coast. Our visits are so few and far between and often overwhelmed by family. It was wonderful to have some one-on-one time with them while they were here.
This is a picture of the cousins & their matching coats. It was apparent that both of their moms 1) continue to give such generous gifts and 2) shop at Kohl's.


Jamie and Justin came in on Wednesday while on their whirlwind tour across the US to visit family and friends. This was Jamie's first time meeting Maureen

 Joe's youngest sisters came in on the train Wednesday night just as we were seeing Jamie and Justin off.  They stayed for a few days and we really did little other than sleep, eat, and a take a trip to the grocery store.  I don't believe anyone minded one bit.




We're so happy to hear all the news of babies and engagements amid the continuing Christmas joy. Congratulations.
Happy New Year and Feast of Our Lady!