19 days and counting. . .

Playing next to a sick Momma on the floor is still fun.

I have been sick.  For weeks.  For over half of the month of February I have been fighting a stupid cold.  I had the "I need to stay in bed" type of cold for about 10 days and have had the "I feel OK getting out of bed, but my head still hurts, I'm still coughing, and my nose won't stop running" type of cold for about a week now. I'm really sick of being sick. But I have a few observations to share with you.

One of the worst "side effects" of being sick is that I've lost my voice, and consequentially can't sing.  Which ordinarily wouldn't affect me, but it means I can't sing to my baby, which makes our bedtime and nap time routine a little off.  I miss singing lullabies to Eliza.

My husband likes making the bed.  A lot.  There were several days I stayed in bed and Shawn stayed home to take care of Eliza and I.  I would get up to use the bathroom or get something to eat and return to find that Shawn had made the bed.  Which is awesome, I love a made bed too, except when I'm getting right back into it because I'm sick.

Scooter loves tissues.  He loves to eat tissues.  Only used tissues.  And when I'm in bed for a week sometimes the tissues don't make it to the garbage can (which we keep in the closet on top of Scooter's kennel so he can't get into it) immediately after use.  And Scooter would lie in wait for me to get out of bed for a minute so he could steal the tissues off of my nightstand and eat them.  Gross!  Even now when I'm trying to be so diligent about putting the tissues right in the trash can he manages to find them, take them to our bedroom and eat them on my side of the bed. I'm constantly finding little bits of partially eaten tissues.

Well, March will be here by the end of this week, so here's to a healthier March!  (And a hopefully less snowy one as well!)

Lately. . . Food

Lately I've been trying a lot of things on Pinterest.  Like this Roasted Cauliflower.  So good I made it two nights in a row.

Source: magnoliadays.com via Annie on Pinterest

And tonight I made this Chicken Salad with greek yogurt instead of mayo. Yummy! (Oh, and sunflower seeds instead of almonds of course.)

Source: damndelicious.tumblr.com via Annie on Pinterest

Oh, and this Chicken Cordon Bleu is AMAZING! Probably the best recipe I've tried on Pinterest.

Source: whitelightsonwednesday.com via Annie on Pinterest

Seven Months!

Dear Eliza,

You are seven months old!  You are amazing and growing by leaps and bounds!  Just this last week you started crawling!  You've been doing the belly scoot and roll thing for a while but now you are hands and knees crawling everywhere! You are also so good at getting around in your walker.  You used to just stay in the kitchen, but now you go everywhere.  Lately your favorite place to explore is the hallway, and you'll follow Scooter wherever he goes. You haven't quite figured out how to pull yourself up to sitting or standing.

You love solid foods.  You love your cereal, sweet potatoes and yams.  You tolerate bananas.  You hate peas.  I think today we might try carrots.  We've given you a few of those baby puffs to try to eat, and while you can pick them up, and you know they go in your mouth, you haven't figured out how to put them from your hand into your mouth.  You grab the puff with your whole hand and lift it to your mouth, but won't open your fingers.  You'll catch on soon I'm sure. The first time we gave you puffs you picked them all up one at a time and dropped them in the highchair next to you.  You still love to nurse and have a great appetite as long as Daddy and Scooter don't distract you. You love your sippy cup filled with water, but haven't figured out that once you get the water in your mouth you are supposed to swallow it.  You prefer to just gnaw on the cup.

You love getting out and exploring new places and meeting new people, but you also need to take your time and look around for a while.  But once you are done looking around and get comfortable you are full of smiles and giggles.  You have started clapping!  You will clap in response to anyone who claps for you!

You had your first real illness, a sore throat.  But you are still a happy little girl and the only way we knew you were sick is because you woke up in the middle of the night screaming and tugging your ears.  Momma and Daddy decided to take you to the pediatrician who said your ears were fine, but you had a sore throat.

You like books and reading with Momma.  You like to try to change the pages.  You like tearing apart magazines.  You love your stacking cups and try hard to stack them like Momma, but usually just knock them down. You love exploring the house more than playing with toys, unless it's Momma's phone, which you'll play with happily for half an hour.

Lately you hate napping.  Momma has to trick you into taking a nap, but if you know it's coming you cry and cry. You're also not a fan of having your diaper changed, unless it's Daddy doing it, and then he sings to you and makes you laugh and squeal.

We love you and can't wait to see what's next!

Love,

Momma