Possible Dairy Shortage

Last night, I had. . .(drumroll, please) ice cream. Let me tell you that you have never fully appreciated ice cream until you've had a very small scoop after a 7-month drought.

So far, Carolyn has shown no ill effects. I am cautiously optimistic that our dairy troubles may be over. God is good. (Even if I'm mistakenly optimistic, God is good.)

So, if dairy prices around the nation suddenly skyrocket, you'll know it's just little me (though perhaps not little for long!) up in Maryland, eating ice cream to make up for lost time.

All Rolled Into One

My apologies for the dearth of posting these past 2 weeks. Things have been rather busy here, and most days I feel like I'm chasing my own tail (or, as my mother would say, running around like a chicken with its head chopped off. I assume you have to have seen that to truly appreciate it.). At any rate, to the detriment of my categorical links, I'm going to post one grand update of everything, starting with the house.

All the Trimmings

Our bedroom now has trim! It's been stripped of its lead paint, sanded smooth and smoother, then stained a lovely color similar to that of our floors. I can't even begin to tell you how beautiful, warm, and rich our room feels now. Hopefully, by this time next week, we'll have a ceiling fan in there, too. I'm going to love this house when we get finished!

Ensconced

The living room now has light! Our friend and house-guru Jim (who also helped with the trim and. . .well, pretty much everything that's been done at all) came over one night last week, and he and Kevin installed light fixtures in the living room. The sconces match our dining room piece, and I'm really pleased with the resulting light. It's bright enough to be adequate for reading or handwork, but muted enough to be warm and comfortable. I suspect we will now go through light bulbs not quite so quickly, since we won't need to use the 5-light dining room fixture for all of our evening light!

Carolyn's Menu

Now almost 9 months old, Carolyn's menu options have expanded. You might be surprised at some of the things she likes.

• rice
• oatmeal w/applesauce
• sweet potatoes
• avocado
• carrot
• lemons
• limes
• raw celery sticks
• dill pickle
• peaches
• pears
• bananas

I may have forgotten a couple things. She also likes to chomp on SnapPeas, a baked snack from Trader Joe's. If you've seen the veggie sticks that masquerade as a potato chip substitute, these are similar. Or, think puffy cheetos, but green and tastes like peas. Oddly enough, Carolyn has no affinity for real pureed peas. . .just the crunchy, baked ones. Perhaps it's the shells that never really puree that trip her up.

Crawling!

We have a bona fide creeper on our hands now. Yesterday, she had great fun exploring every corner of the living room. . .and finding lots of cords she wasn't allowed to chew on. Over the past couple weeks, she's been into a lot of things:

Tupperware (okay, so I gave her the Tupperware to play with. It's one of the great things about it!)

Straps--ALWAYS straps!

Magazines

A Little History

This dress was made for me--a few years ago, of course. The fabric for the skirt came from the dress my grandma wore to my aunt and uncle's wedding. See? (I think I told some of you it was from the dress she wore to my parents' wedding. But I wasn't there, you know? I was misinformed!)

At the Park

We made our first trip to the park with friends a couple weeks ago (well, first that Carolyn cares about, anyway). She was not too thrilled with the swings--she's not quite big enough to feel secure in it, I think. The slide, though, got lots of smiles. At first, she wasn't sure. But soon, I set her at the top and waited half way down while she rocked herself forward enough to slide down, with a big grin! We certainly tired her out--it's the first time she's been sleepy enough to fall asleep in the stroller. Usually, she's too interested in what is around us.

Memorial Day Camping

We braved the church retreat this past weekend at the pastor's cabin in New York. It was fun, and Carolyn did really well--except for when we tried to sleep in the tent. She loved the tent, of course. Especially when the thunder storm came up. She was all giggles and squeals of excitement. But the sleeping didn't go so well. Either the noises of the mats on tent canvas, the unfamiliarity, or the general mugginess made for a miserable and fitful few hours of pseudo-sleep before we decided to move back inside. Oh well. . .we'll try again, perhaps when a thunderstorm doesn't necessitate using the fly and trapping in all that muggy moisture.

That's A Wrap!

And that about catches you up. In between all of that, Kevin's parents came for a visit, we bought a crib and matching dresser for Carolyn, I sold the bassinet and furniture we previously bought for Carolyn on craigslist, Aunt Rebecca has been in and out, the weather has been cold, cool, warm, hot, rainy, and all of those again, and I've been generally trying to keep up. We have some videos, too. . .but, really, I think this post is about long enough.

*Edited 9/10/09

Because you should know. . .

how much money they're really talking about.

Belated News

Sorry for the delay--I have videos and pictures to share, but our other computer is on the fritz (again), so they'll have to wait. I suppose I could do the photos from this one, actually. . .I'll think on that.

At any rate, we're all back home after our travels. Carolyn has her first tooth and it has a little buddy just waiting in the wings for a grand entrance. She scoots and rolls with the best, getting up and down on all fours (sometimes hands and knees, sometimes hands and feet). One night in Florida, I went to sleep with Carolyn at a 90-degree angle to me, head by my side. I woke up a few hours later with her kicking me in the ribs. She desperately wants to crawl, but mostly belly flops or pushes herself backward--both of which make her somewhat angry. I tell her she has to keep practicing, but she says she prefers to grab my hands and practice standing up and walking.

We've expanded our foods to include rice cereal, oatmeal, carrots, and avocados. And water. She likes water, particularly if she can have it from my glass, though she does pretty well with her soft-spouted sippy cup (Have you seen those? They're a quite nice intermediate step.)

Mirrors are a favorite entertainment. She loves to chatter and squeal at that cute baby that always seems to be there. Actually, she loves to chatter and squeal in general.

I'll work on those pictures. . . .