Growing!

Haven went to Dr. McBride today to finish her 6 month shots and she now weighs 14lb 4oz. Dr. was happy she gained about a pound since last month. She got one shot and one oral vaccine and smiled through both. Toughest kid I know...

boooo! to the bears

7 months old

We had a fun week: Haven was able to be home from "school" this week thanks to Aunt Amanda and Arlie Mae. She turned 7 months old yesterday, started to play around with a sippy cup, and had her very first swimming lesson!

Soulshine Photography

We spent some time with Sara, Marty, and Greta Walsh last weekend and Sara took some beautiful photos of Haven. We're thankful to have memories like these thanks to Sara! I wish I had dressed Haven like a girl that day. :)

sweet potatoes

my little snow bunny & Walsh reunion

New shoes from Grammy

Ready to snowboard

Go Bears

I love my Greta Cody

The purple hat pics are from this morning: she was less than amused that I wanted to take pictures at 6am but she just looked so cute! We also spent Sunday with the Walsh family and our new friends Megan & Jesse. The babies were very interested in each other but didn't care too much about the game. Greta and Haven are only about 8 weeks apart and it's really amazing to see them together.

girls day out

Should I get the glasses and the headband?


Haven is having her very first sleepover tonight...I miss her but I know she had a fun night! :)
The girls went shopping today and Arlie Mae had us laughing all day. She definitely learned to shop from the best! We love her so much....she is a great cousin to Haven. What a fun day! Bears game tomorrow--looking forward to seeing the Walsh's and our new friends Megan and Jesse.

love

I was just reading some family stories from the Cleft Advocate website and came across a mom who had recently lost her 4 year old son. He had a cleft that was linked to a more serious disorder that was life threatening from birth. This morning, as I so often do, I looked at Haven and cried thinking of how indredibly empty my life would be like without her. There are so many unknowns in life--we could be here one day and gone the next with no warning. It's hard to understand why things like that happen to anyone-especially children who have so much left to experience. I've learned that it shouldn't take stories like this make us cherish what we have been given in life, but all too often it does.

stupid sump pumps

Our basement was a bit flooded last weekend after our sump pump failed. I'm home today as ServPro rips up carpet, cleans and disinfects the floor, etc.

Up side is that I love being home with Haven any chance I get. We're having fun even though we're pretty much left to entertain ourselves upstairs to be away from the cleaning smells and our dogs are barking non-stop since 8am so there hasn't been much napping at all.

get a job

anything for a laugh

making baby food

I've learned a few things about myself tonight as I attempted to make 7 different kinds of baby food over the last 3 hours:
1. I don't actually enjoy making baby food.

2. I also don't even know how to use a steamer basket--I cut my finger in the first 5 minutes of this adventure.

3. I'm pretty sure I boiled food that should have been steamed and vice versa.

4. NOT enjoying making your own baby food makes you feel like a bad mom and on a similar note--when other moms make their own and you buy yours--you also feel like a bad mom.

5. I really don't know what I'm doing. Example:food that can turn brown (pears, apples, bananas) needs to be steamed immediately...or it turns brown.

6. I'm ok with buying some organic baby food PRE-MADE and continuing to make some of the easier things. (turns out you can serve an avocado to a baby right out of the skin and sweet potatoes just need to be baked and smashed-score.)

7. I'd like to say that I'm giving up on some of this because of something other than laziness but really--I can't see how spending this many hours on something that doesn't seem any healthier or easier than buying food makes any kind of sense. I can look at labels and choose Haven's fruits and veggies wisely and feel ok about that-even if I didn't make them.


After three hours I have one container of peas (which Haven refused to eat already), TONS of sweet potatoes, avocados, brown pears in the garbage, and green beans that look inedible. I'm learning that being a mother means doing the best you can-in the time you're given-with what you have.

Tomorrow is another day and hopefully it won't involve peas in my hair.

Happy New Year!

We had a great weekend with our family. Aunt Jane and Uncle Rich were nice enough to have all of us at the lake to celebrate. The little ones had fun and it was nice to be able to spend some time with the West family. The girls got to swim, we took a "sleigh"ride minus the snow, and laughed all weekend. We missed Becca, Mike and our little Emma though. Looking forward to an awesome 2011!

Sleigh ride through Culver!