Lifesong

Sweet, Sweet Baby

Avery LOVES to ride in her little car (that we actually purchased for Ansley ages ago) when we go for walks now. She thinks she's big stuff!

We think she is, too.

Quilt

Someone thinks that I made this quilt for her.

I actually made it for Avery. It matches the colors in her room, and I thought it would be a sweet quilt for her to use. It would make a really cute bedspread as well. Hmmmmmm.

Next up will be one for Ansley and Christian, since they are begging me to make them one. But that will probably be a few weeks off, at least.

Top Ten on Friday

1. These days are BUSY. I'm not sure if I've said that. I alternate between just wanting a break, to soak in a hot tub without hearing "MOMMY!" and flip through a magazine without it being ripped from my hands by chubby baby fingers, and knowing that these days will be over SO QUICKLY that I need to enjoy them now. But every so often, that need for rest wins. So I lock myself in a closet with Southern Living and enjoy my 30 second break.

2. I'm not complaining, though. I really am enjoying these days, it's just much busier than it used to be. For instance, you ask? Okay. For instance, I used to have babies and toddlers that napped, so there would be a whole span of time known as Quiet Time every afternoon. Also known as Where Mama Gets Her Sanity Back. But those days are gone. There is no Quiet Time in this house. Ever. (There are also no napping babies or toddlers, for the record.) And for instance, we used to have days where nothing in particular had to be done. We could play, or run to Target, or go to Chick Fil A. Nowadays, with two in school, it's not as likely that we will run to Target or Chick....well, okay, yes on the Chick, no on the Target. But you see my point. I suppose each season brings these changes and we just adjust to each one. But I would like to bring back the Quiet Time Season.

3. We have entered the I Just Want To Soak Up All of Your Babyness Stage.

Oh, yes. There it is. This is the age that I just want to slow down time and bottle it up and capture it forever. This baby is just so stinkin' sweet, I can hardly stand it. Look at those hands! And that little nose. Oooooooohhh the cuteness of it all!

4. Fruit flies have just appeared in our kitchen. They are really annoying. I did maybe possibly find that they were after a rotten pumpkin, but after throwing the pumpkin away, they still didn't go away. Ansley comes in the kitchen a few days ago and says "Whatcha doing?"

"Making a fruit fly trap" I say.

"How do you know how to do that?!" she asks incredulously.

"Because, Ansley, YOUR MAMA IS GENIOUS."

"You mean you googled it?" she responds.

Funny. Very funny. Yes, I did google it. And it said to get a jar and make a cone, and tape it in the jar with a banana at the bottom of the jar. And they will come.

And, wow, they did. I trapped like 20 fruit flies in 2 days.

Then the internet says to take them outside and release them.

Yeah, sure, that's just what I did. Released them. Of course. Just like all the other bugs I find in my house.

5. Sometimes school gets done like this.

The End.

6. Avery is back to her normal baby self on Day Five of antibiotics. YAY!

7. I have made Pioneer Woman's pumpkin muffins twice this week and I don't even feel bad about it. They are THAT good. Delish. With a side of have mercy.

8. Christian can remember when something happened based on what letter he was working on that week. It makes me laugh. And be sort of amazed at that kind of memory. I can't even remember what I had for dinner last night. So he will say "Daddy ordered The Clone Wars when I was learning "K"" or "I started playing soccer when I was learning "M".

9. The Halloween costumes were ordered this week. It's always such a fun memory, getting all dressed up and getting candy and having friends over.

10. Mimi's Moving Day is November 5. She will become an official Knoxvillian. We are very excited that she will be right down the street! We are just praying for a smooth move and settling in process.

Eight Months

At eight months old, your personality is starting to emerge. I feel like up until recently, you've kinda been this needy noodle baby, no offense. But you ate and slept and looked around. Now all of a sudden you have your own opinions, and you want the toys that you want, and you're happy or sad or mad all in the span of an hour. You know, like a regular little human.

Oh, my, you are sweet. So smooshy.

Still super white hair. And your eyes are going to stay blue.

You had your first ear infection, and are on antibiotics. For the record, an ear infection apparently did you in. And almost did your Mama in. You were not sleeping (at night, of course - you never sleep during the day), you were not eating, and you were doing LOTS of screaming and pulling on your ears. You better believe next time I will see the signs early and be on top of it much faster than I was this time.

You are a good eater. You are starting to eat cut up foods instead of baby food all the time.

Here's what you are not: you are not feeding yourself, you are not rolling over from your back to belly, you are not sleeping on your belly, you are not napping well.

Here's what you are: you are seriously cute, you are very smiley to strangers, you are sitting up and playing with your toys, and you are very loved.

You have two teeth. They sprouted up without me even knowing. If you were fussy, I guess it just blended into the normal ebb and flow of our family.

Overnight you seem to have taken a great interest in books, puzzles and stuffed animals. You most often play sitting up, but I'm trying to put you on your back some so you will roll over. You have no interest whatsoever in crawling, scooting or any such mobile activity. You stay where I put you.

We have started this phase. This is the If Mommy Disappears From My Sight, There Will Be Much Screaming. I remember this phase with each of my babies, so I know it passes, probably all too soon. For right now, I'm your whole world, and when I'm gone, you let us all know (loudly) your displeasure.

Probably the hardest thing about you as a baby is that you do not nap. I actually never knew such a thing existed, but I'm coming to believe more and more that it is a part of your personality. You fight and fight them, and even when I KNOW you are tired, you cry and cry in your crib. It is pretty tough nowadays to get a whole lot done, and I always feel behind. I blame this on the fact that I just don't have a several hour time block in the day to concentrate on laundry, dishes, cleaning......but it's possible that this is just an excuse. I guess time will tell.

You nurse 4-5 times a day. You usually (when you don't have an ear infection) wake up at 7 am, and if you aren't awake I wake you up. You nurse, and then fall back asleep until around 10 am. This is precious time, when I can get lots of school done with the kids, knowing it will be my only time all day that you will nap peacefully.

You are happiest when you wake up in the morning. You kick your legs more than any baby I've ever had. We joke that your abs should be in excellent shape, because you do the bicycle legs several hundred times a day. You kick your legs when you are playing, when you are excited, or when you see someone you haven't seen in awhile (say, a few minutes, or when Daddy comes home, so most of the day). It is really cute.

You clap your hands. You just discovered this this week and it is so cute. You make a concentrating noise when you are playing with toys, kind of like a constant hum. If someone claps their hands, you clap, too. It's adorable.

So crazy that you will be one in less than four months. These days are flying by, despite my attempts to slow them down.

Loving these days with you, sweet girl.

10:35 am

This baby loves stuffed animals!

This Boy

This Boy is just sweet.

His Daddy doesn't really like for me to say that, but I can't help it. It describes him perfectly.

He is sensitive. He cries easily. He can easily be overwhelmed by his emotions.

Hmmmmm. Sounds like someone I am intimately acquainted with.

He loves his Mama. He can be a picky eater. He loves sweets. He has a big imagination.

--

Christian comes walking in the kitchen while Ansley is at her co-op, and his nose is bleeding.

"Christian!" I say. "What happened to your nose? It's bleeding."

"Ansley hit me." He says.

"Ummmmmmmm, but she's not here."

"Oooooh yeah."

Lying? Well, yes. But I had to laugh at how easily the blame goes to his poor sister. But on this day, I knew that it wasn't her!

--

Sitting around the lunch table one day, we start talking about getting older and marrying.

"Mama?" Ansley asks. "What will you do when I grow up?"

"Hmmm...." I respond. "I guess I will have Christian and Avery to raise."

"But what about when they are gone, too? Then what will you do?"

I put on my best acting face and say, with much dramatic flair (although there may have been some truth) "I just don't know what I'll do when my BABIES are all grown up!!"

Ansley starts laughing, and I chuckle, and then we both look at Christian and realize he's crying.

And I don't mean tears trickling down his cheeks. I mean full-out, my world is ending sobs.

"What's wrong buddy?"

It took a few times for him to get it out in a way I could understand, between all the sobbing.

"I just....don't even like....to think about it! I want to always be ...... here and stay your little....booooyyyyyyy!"

Oh, my. What does a Mama do with a heart like that?

--

This Boy loves his sister. Oh, I know he loves Avery, and I'm sure they will grow to have a wonderful relationship, but he really loves Ansley. They play and play and play, and most of the time, very well together. Christian would give Ansley his last bite of cookie, suck up an injury so she won't get a spanking, and share his most favorite Lego creation.

This Boy talks non-stop. NONSTOPNONSTOPNONSTOPNONSTOP. Just giving you a small taste of what that's like. I notice it especially when Ansley is at her co-op, because he talks to me all day long. He asks so many questions and has so many thoughts and likes to express them.

Sometimes it's overwhelming, but I try to really soak up this four and a half year old, and enjoy his chatiness and sensitivity. What if he's a silent 13 year old who I can't get a word out of? That would be really surprising, but I just want to make sure I encourage this little boy who loves to share his heart with his Mama.

I pray it's always that way.

2:37 pm

Sometimes I wonder why God gave me this passion for cooking and baking things, yet absolutely no desire to exercise.

These are the things I ponder while I stuff myself with pumpkin pie, pumpkin bars, pumpkin muffins and the like.

Our after school treat today. I only get one chance a week to make an after school treat, so it has to be good. These fit the bill. YUM.

A Fall Festival

We headed into the mountains this past weekend to attend a Fall Festival that we heard about back when we saw the peacocks, and made a mental note to come back. It's such a fun place, although after we had driven up there we learned it was quite pricey. We went anyway, figuring it was our donation to the Appalachain Museum.

It was very educational. The kids got to see people weaving baskets. Up til now, they didn't know people actually made baskets. They were quite intrigued with this process.

They had lots of cabins, churches and schoolhouses to tour from the 1800's. It's always really amazing to try and imagine people living this way, with such a minimal amount of stuff.

Checking out an old schoolhouse. The kids liked seeing the teacher's desk, which was nothing more than a small podium in the front, and the very uncomfortable benches lined very close to one another. There were also schoolbooks from the 1800's and spelling lists. Such a fascinating time!

Learning how to wash clothes the old fashioned way. It's funny how much they enjoyed this. And it made me wonder: at a fall festival 150 years from now, will they have a washer and dryer set up with kids giggling, saying "THIS is how people used to wash clothes?! How TERRIBLE!"

The bed inside one of the cabins. Comfy, huh? If John had been a pioneer, he would have had a lot of trouble on the sleeping front. Especially considering the bedroom was the family room, which was also the kitchen. And I shudder to think where the bathroom was. We never saw one.

The best part of any festival is the food, right? We had BBQ and hot dogs for lunch, as well as pinto beans and cornbread, where I learned, sadly, that all pinto beans are not created equal. But this cobbler? Well it made up for it. It was Pumpkin Crunch with homemade ice cream. It was DELICIOUS. I know I go on about pumpkin stuff, but John even loved it and he's not a huge pumpkin fan. It was just GOOD. It was a Dutch oven cobbler, literally cooked in a .....why, yes, a Dutch oven, with charcoal on top. I don't know if that made a difference, but it was just so tasty.

It was almost worth the expensive price of admission. Almost.

After the festival, we headed over to our friends house for dinner, and had a great evening chatting and laughing. It was a full day, and our kids were exhausted by bedtime, but definitely worth it!

Thirty Three Weeks

That's almost eight months, for those that aren't quick in math, like me.

I find it hard to believe that eight months have passed since this sweet girl entered our lives.

This is Ansley's outfit, for the record, given to her by neighbors in Atlanta. It was one of my favorites, and it looks just as cute on Avery. Although since it's a different season, she won't be able to wear it too much longer.

Avery is eating three meals a day, and she loves her food. She has yet to encounter a food she doesn't like. She loves yogurt, fruits and veggies. She's starting to feed herself crackers. Her all-time favorite is mango pieces - she LOVES them! But she can't feed herself just yet - the pieces are too small.

She loves to squeal and babble. Well, John says she knows exactly what she's saying since her favorite babble word is "dadadadada". Ansley and Christian are starting to work on teaching her their names. We are teaching her sign language for a few words, and she pays attention. She says something that sounds like "ahhhhhhh doh" which I totally think is all done, but it's hard to say.

She nurses 4-5 times a day, and can easily go for 4-5 hour stretches during the day. Her biggest nursing times are first thing in the morning and at bedtime.

She is my worst sleeper. She's just a terrible napper. She takes one nap a day, usually for 30-45 minutes, with an additional 30-45 minutes of crying. My kids have both napped almost to the day until they were three years old, so I figure we have just over two years for napping. Surely she will learn how to nap in two years, right? She has also been waking between 4 and 5 am the past several weeks. I know it's not the worst thing that's ever happened, but our kids have just never done that, so it's hard to know what's going on. I tell her it's a good thing she's so cute, otherwise I might be tempted to trade her in.

She has never taken a bottle. Well that could also read I never tried to give her a bottle. I've done that with all my kids as well. Pumping is just such a hassle to me, so I just nurse for a year. I really haven't minded it at all this time. I think I felt a little more consumed by it ("I can't do anything!") with the others, but I'm just really savoring this little one this time. Sure, I can't go out with the girls or on a date with my husband before 8, but to me it's totally worth it. And seriously, four more months of nursing and then she's done!? Sniff. It's REALLY going fast.

Some of my favorite things about her in this season: when I get her in the morning, she is just SO happy, she starts kicking her legs like crazy and has the HUGEST smile on her face. And, when I pick her up, she pats her little hand on my shoulder, over and over. It's the cutest thing.

She is not crawling. She has no interest in crawling. She is just starting to get really stable sitting up. (Christian was already crawling at this age, and Ansley started crawling at eight and a half months.) I'm not concerned at all, it's just interesting to compare. She is not rolling over from her back to her stomach yet either, so she is always asleep on her back for naps and at night.

She is very happy. She smiles often. She loves to watch Ans and Christian. She giggles at them all the time. She is obsessed with watching Kota, and will strain her neck to see around me if she comes into the room. She loves ceiling fans. She loves stuffed animals. She loves to chew on things. She has no teeth.

She has had one meat: chicken, and she liked it. We are introducing a sippy cup to her. She is fascinated if you are holding her and drinking something. She wants to drink, too. I've started giving her little sips of my water and she thinks it's the best thing.

She gets fussy when she is tired, which is surprisingly not as often as you would think for a baby who never naps. And she can get fussy when she is put down. She likes to be held, and there is a lot of holding around here. Ansley is still my mini-Mama, and she is VERY helpful and attentive to Avery.

School is a little more complicated to do, but I try to get a lot done in the morning while she is still sleeping. She usually wakes up between 9:30 and 10, and by then we have gotten a lot done. It's mostly more complicated because she is so babbly and squealy that it's hard to hear if we are doing our reading time. Not so much because she's fussy. She's pretty entertained by her toys, and often not by baby toys but by the kids toys (bigger toys, of course).

The three kids play really well together in the playroom, and it's so cute to see them playing and interacting with Avery. She is usually sitting right in the middle of them, while they chatter and play their imaginative games. So sweet!

She is starting to fuss when I disappear around a corner. I remember this stage with Christian, where it's part cute that you are their whole world, and part frustrating that you can't get anything done without some tears. But for now, it's mostly cute, since it has only just started.

In eight months, I can hardly recall what life was like before her. She is such a sweet addition to our family, and I love seeing how much the kids love her. I like to imagine sometimes how fun it will be to see all three of them playing, but for now, I'm just trying to slow down and savor her baby-ness. Especially since I know it's on its way out. 

The Best Pumpkin Pie. Ever.

Sorry for the delay. I think I have gotten more emails and comments about this pumpkin pie (when I posted in on Facebook) than anything else on my blog ever. Maybe I exaggerate by a few, but ya'll are seriously on to something, because this pie is DELICIOUS.

I know everyone has different tastes, and I may love tomatoes and you can't stand them, but I really think this is the best pumpkin pie I've ever had. There are so many things that just make it pure genius. Like the topping - ever think to mix Cool Whip with cinnamon and ginger? Me, either. But it's GENIOUS. And delicious. And, surprisingly simple to make. Not the topping, the whole pie. I was all prepared with my lil pumpkin from the store that Christian was begging me to spare, and thankfully, this recipe called for canned pumpkin so his little pumpkin's life was spared.

Well, that day. I did use him to make pumpkin soup the next week. And that was seriously yum too. I have an obsession this time of year with pumpkin, can you tell?

Enough rambling, on to the recipe!

PUMPKIN PIE SPECTACULAR

I know I posted this picture already, but it just makes me all sorts of happy. And I probably would be busting on out with some pumpkin pie this evening, but I made Giant Oatmeal Spice cookies this evening, so it's curbing my obsession. Momentarily.

I had this same problem last  year, this need to bake, and I blamed it on pregnancy. Poor Avery, she was wrongly blamed. It's FALL! Fall does it to me every time. The air gets cooler and I feel the need to stuff my face with sugar and Cool Whip. Strange.

Back to the recipe. For reals this time.

2 cups crushed gingersnaps (about 40)
1 cup pecans, finely chopped
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 15 oz can pumpkin
1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
2 large eggs, beaten
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp ground ginger
Pecan Streusel
7 thin ginger cookies, halved
Ginger Spice Topping, ground cinnamon

1. Stir together crushed gingersnaps and next 3 ingredients. Press mixture on bottom and sides of pie pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Let cool completely on wire rack (about 30 minutes).

2. Stir together pumpkin and next 6 ingredients until well blended. Pour into prepared crust, making sure you spill some so you can lick it up. I'm serious, I would lick this batter off my counter, it is that slap-your-Mama good. And you know me and germs, so that's saying a lot. Who knows what lurks on my counters? Place pie pan on aluminum foil-lined baking sheet.

3. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Sprinkle Pecan Streusel (we're getting to that. Don't leave this part off. It is DIVINE. I wonder how many synonyms I can come up with for DELICIOUS?) around edge of crust. Bake 40-45 minutes or until set, shielding edges with aluminum foil during last 25-30 minutes of baking, if necessary. (I wasn't sure if this was necessary or not, but I did it anyway. I didn't want to ruin PUMPKIN PIE SPECTACULAR. You won't want to, either.) Insert ginger cookies around edge of crust. (I left off this part because I didn't want to buy a whole pack of those Anna's Ginger cookies from World Market just for a decorative effect. My family is into taste, not looks.) Let cool completely, about an hour. Dollop (I love the word dollop) with Ginger-Spice Topping; dust with cinnamon.

PECAN STREUSEL:(Wow, streusel is a tricky word to spell)

Stir together 1/4 cup all-purpose flour; 1/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar; 2 Tbsp melted butter; and 3/4 cup pecans, coarsely chopped.

GINGER-SPICE TOPPING

Stir together 1 8 oz container frozen whipped topping, thawed; 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon; and 1/4 tsp ground ginger.

Then sit back, and enjoy the most deliciously divine pumpkin pie ever. And then let me know if you made it and how you liked it. I don't think you will be disappointed!