Mama love

 

Brush brush

Now that Vivi is sporting two shiny little teeth, we bought her her very own tooth brush to keep them clean. She thinks it's pretty funny to brush at the same time as us.

 

Catch up

I was having trouble signing in to blogger through our picture program, which makes it easy to upload pictures, but everything is fixed now and I have a lot of catching up to do!

My friend Shante had a baby girl a couple of weeks ago and she was born just a few ounces heavier and an inch longer than Jenavieve, so we offered to lend them our preemie clothes. Shante was really excited since Giliana was swimming in her newborn clothes. I pulled them out to put them in a bag and couldn't believe how tiny they were! It seemed impossible that a person could be that small. When we went to visit I got to hold Giliana and she was just sooo tiny! It felt vaguely familiar, but I still couldn't believe that Jenavieve had once been that small.

The baby's name is Giliana Giselle, so they call her GiGi. It was funny to have GiGi and Vivi together :)

 
 

Cheese!

I just wanted to share this picture because it is the goofiest cheesy smile I've ever seen!

This was her first night eating whole wheat cous cous instead of mushy brown rice or oatmeal. She liked that she could pick it up (and flip the plate all over her lap) Plus it's super quick to make so it's easy to add to a meal. She's doing really well with chewing her food, and with dipping the spoon into her food and getting it into her mouth repeatedly...until she gets tired of that and starts using her hands, and eventually just picking up the plate or bowl and licking it off.

Pretty soon we'll start giving her little pieces of pasta and whole pieces of rice. She's on her way to solid food!

 

Play bottle

While doing laundry (hence the laundry in the background) I gave Jenavieve a basket of toys to keep her busy. She made it to the bottom of the basket and found a bottle that came with one of her dolls. She knew what it was and knew just what to do with it, but kept pulling it out of her mouth and looking at it, then sucking on it again. She was very confused!

Macy's 2nd Monday January

I took Vivi, Kaylee and her friend Clara to The Henry Ford for their Macy's 2nd Monday event. Last month I took Vivi and Kaylee for the first time and we had fun. It's really cool, they have stations set up for crafts, and they opened up one of the old trains for story time, and there are lots of adult volunteers around to talk to the kids. The December one was super busy, probably because Santa was there, but this time it was pretty empty so they had plenty of room to run around. We were walking toward the cafe for lunch when we started seeing a bunch of kids coming in the door carrying Mickey Mouse dolls. I asked someone what was going on and she said they had a limited number of them at the door for people that participated in the Macy's 2nd Monday event. We were right there so we headed out and all 3 girls got a Mickey. It says Maycy's Holiday 2009, so they must have been leftovers. They also had a Mickey alarm clock attached to them, so it was a pretty good freebie. What they didn't think about was how the moms were supposed to heft a pile of Mickeys around :) It seems like the stroller is never big enough...

They all had a great time and asked if they could come back on Wednesday. I can't wait to go back next month!

Listening to stories on the train














Posing with their Mickeys




























Playing school in the old school room

Teeth!

Jenavieve's second tooth popped up on Monday, exactly a week after the first one. They're really growing in quick!
 

Snowy day continued

All done!

Vivi's first snowy day

Last weekend it was so nice and snowy out so we took Jenavieve to my parent's house to play. She didn't quite get it.

This is the duck sled I had when I was little

8 months

Recipes

Okay, so I've pretty much stopped updating the recipe blog. It's not that we aren't cooking, we are, it's just that we aren't taking the time to make it look nice on a plate and take a picture while there is an 8 month old flinging yogurt in the vicinity.

I thought about updating the blog with just the recipes we've been using, but I don't think very many of you read the recipe blog anyway. So, if I find a really good one, I'll just share it here. I'm currently snacking on Spicy Sesame Peanut Noodles. We substituted chili lime sauce for the cayenne pepper and added soybeans, and it is one spicy meal! Not too spicy, the spice is flavorful, but after a while your mouth does start to feel the burn. It was quick and easy though, and can be adjusted to your taste.

Another recipe I have to share is Pierogi Casserole. If you like pierogis, or any cheesy comfort food, you'll love this, and it was super easy! The sauteed onions really make it yummy.

I also just realized I forgot to post her 8 month bear picture...but I'm not on the computer that has the pictures so that will be tomorrow's post. With a second tooth ready to pop through, we've spent most of the week cuddling and not doing much else. Except multiple trips to PetSmart because the fish we got her for Christmas keep dying. We're down to 2, but the one keeps tricking us and floating upside down and then when we get the net to take her out, she swims away...so either she's dying or just has a strange personality..I'll let you know which later this week...

Playdates and first tooth

Jenavieve and I have been spending our free time being social. We joined a couple of play groups and we're having a lot of fun. Whenever Jenavieve sees a baby now, she wants to play with it because that's what she's used to doing at play group. One of the groups is for moms of younger kids in Novi and the surrounding areas, and the other one is called the June Bug Babies, for first time stay at home moms (and dad) with babies born in the summer. The Novi group mostly does things for older kids but they had their first baby play date in December and it was really fun. The babies ranged from 4 months to a year and it was cool to see all the different stages. One baby was crawling and 2 were walking, and a couple had teeth. The first picture below is of Jenavieve and her friend Cameron, who was born the day after her. They enjoyed looking at each other, and Jenavieve likes touching other babies' faces and hair.

The June Bug Babies members are a bit more spread out. So far we've driven to Sterling Heights and Troy, so it is a drive, but I have more in common with them because they all stay at home and a lot of the Novi moms work. The 2nd picture below is Jenavieve and Ethan, who was born the day before her. It is pretty cool to meet other babies that are so close in age to her.
































And, big news, Jenavieve didn't sleep very well Sunday night. In fact, none of us slept very well. She woke up very stuffy and angry and felt a little warm, so I thought she was getting a cold and called in to work to have them get someone else to watch Kaylee. After aspirating a ton of gunk from her nose and wondering why she was still awake and crying 2 1/2 hours after waking up, I offered her a pacifier and she pursed her lips together and turned away. I got suspicious and stuck my finger in her mouth, and sure enough, there was a poky little tooth sticking out! Once I knew what was wrong I got out the Hyland's Teething Tablets we had bought for this very occasion, and within 5 minutes of eating 2 of them she was asleep. She was pretty cranky all day Monday but was feeling much better this morning, so we were able to go to our play date at Charlie's house, and back to work tomorrow. We haven't been since before Christmas, Jenavieve will be excited to see Kaylee!

Vivi's first movie

We went to see The Princess and the Frog today in the theater. We wanted to take Jenavieve so we could tell her that she saw the first black Disney princess movie in the theater, but obviously didn't want to take her at a crowded time just in case she didn't do well. The only time we let her watch tv is the 10 or 15 minutes I spend doing her hair a couple of times a week, and even then she only spends a total of 5 minutes actually looking at the tv, so we weren't expecting much.

We decided that a morning showing would be best, and that a lot of parents wouldn't want to take their kids to a morning movie on new year's day. We were right, there were 2 other families there, both with kids under 5. We sat in the handicap section where there was a big space of floor in front of us. She sat on the floor and watched for awhile, then got tired and Eric bounced her off to the side until she fell asleep. When she woke up she pretty much watched until the end. She got a little fussy sitting in the seats so she and Eric stood on the side to watch the last 15 minutes.

We really enjoyed the movie, the music was really good and it's nice to see a princess who works hard to get what she wants instead of dancing through the woods with squirrels singing about how true love would find her. Princess Tiana made her own happily ever after :)

Watching from the floor














Popcorn!