One.

She's just... I don't... I mean...

Gah. My baby is one year old today. One. That's an entire YEAR. Which really doesn't seem like that long until you start thinking about how many things she can do today that she could not do a year ago. And that a year before that she was not even anything at all.

I just... don't have words. She's just too adorable. I seriously think I could cry, she's been so cute today. I'm not usually the type of person to do those sorts of things, but pregnancy hormones do crazy things to you.

And so, I will just leave it at that. And since I am not so much on the words today, I'll leave a handful of pictures, because I do that much better.

Our family a year ago, and our family now.

Babygirl one year ago, on the day she was born.

And here she is today, picking out pumpkins, and pushing the wagon around,

Last year she was a skeleton. This year she has a few different costumes, one for each event, and the first of those was the spider for the party at Nate's office today.

She's just too awesome. I love her to bits.

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Moar Food.

Made two new recipes since I last wrote. Tuesday I totally wimped out on the grocery shopping front and Nate picked up a delicious frozen pizza for dinner, which I enjoyed immensely. But yesterday I managed to drag my ass out there and so for dinner we had-

Pork Chops with Garlicky Broccoli

I've never made pork chops with the bone in them before, it was a new experience. This is also the first time I've made pork chops that they weren't totally dried out. Plus, the broccoli (made with garlic and soy sauce) was totally delish.

Today was absolutely miserable. Rainy and cold and just blech. Fiona and I did manage to make it out to playgroup, which was fanTAStic, just to be out of the house for awhile, and to be someplace warm. You see, our landlady has this contract with this company, and they come out every fall to check the furnace and every spring to check the A/C. Great, right? That she's so on top of things? She gave me the number of the company to call and set up the appointment for them to come out, and she very specifically said to make sure they check the furnace before we use it. "Oh, of course!" says I. "No problem!"

And then we went on vacation and I kind of forgot all about calling to make that appointment. When we got home from vacation and settled, I realized that oh yeah, it is October and we'll probably be needing to turn the heat on soon, so the other day I called to set up the appointment, thinking they would come out sometime next week. Wellllllll... the first available appointment slot they have is November 4th. Which um.. yeah. It was cold today. It's gonna keep on getting colder. Not particularly thrilled about the situation. The temp in here dropped as low as 64 degrees today, which sounds like a decent temp, but its actually quite chilly. If it gets much colder than that, I might call the company and just be like "uh, is it okay if we turn the heat on before you come inspect the furnace? Or will that totally screw things up?" Cause damn.

In any case, this evening I set Fiona in the living room, turned on the Sesame Street, and went into the kitchen to start some meal prep. She was happy as can be in there, but as it turned out, she wasn't so much watching the show as pulling out a half a box of tissues and strewing them about the room. And playing with my phone.

Trouble.

So the whole idea of making dinner was put on hold until Nate got home, so he could play with her and I could get dinner made. Tonight was yet another first for me. I made steak. Which I've never done.

Steak with Potato-Parsnip Mash

Another new thing? Parsnips. When I came to parsnips on my grocery list, I had no stinkin' clue where to look. I didn't know what color they were, what they were shaped like, or where in the produce department even to look. Turns out they kind of look like whitish yellow carrots, and are extremely tasty mashed up with potatoes and scallions. Another resoundingly successful dinner.

And my friends, that's not all. I also made a yummy smelling marinade from some of that leftover rosemary and some garlic- and tomorrow evening's chicken is already in the fridge soaking it in.

But wait, there's more! The bananas I bought yesterday turned brown SUPER fast, so tonight after the little chickadee was in bed, I decided to make banana bread. Which I have never made before in my life but is starting to fill the house with a delicious smell.

I'm almost starting to get nervous. What happened to myself and who is this little Suzy Homemaker?

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Finally Fall

Well, we've been back from vacation for about a week and a half, which means I've finally got almost all the dirty laundry done, and the suitcases have at least been brought upstairs to the bedrooms... not fully unpacked though. They seem to have somehow refilled themselves with clean clothes... not entirely sure how that works, but I'm hoping to tackle those today.

The big news is- I've started something new. I've started cooking much more frequently. And new dishes, too! Things I've never done before! I saw this magazine, and on the cover it said "Meals for a Month" and it had all the recipes and weekly shopping lists and I was just so impressed that I bought it right there in the checkout aisle. After I bought it and flipped through, I realized that most the recipes seemed easy enough, and like things we would actually eat, so I decided to follow it. Last week I went to the grocery store and bought weird things like bok choy and shallots and chili-ginger sauce. I bought things I have never actually cooked myself, like chicken drumsticks and pork tenderloin. And I followed it. That's right, kids. 1. I actually made 5 new recipes in the last week, and 2. This blog has officially descended to that level of mommybloggerdom where I can only talk about kids and what I made for dinner. So sue me. But first enjoy all the pictures of the yummy meals.

Monday- Tilapia with peppers.

It was supposed to have olives in it too, but we cut those out cause we no like em.

Tuesday - Beef and Bok Choy Stir-Fry

And yes, I made the stir fry sauce from scratch.

Wednesday- Spicy Orange Glazed Drumsticks with Green Beans

I think this was our favorite meal of the week. Very very delish.

Friday- Roasted Pork with Brussels Sprouts and Apricots

This should have been Thursday's dinner, but we were very excited about the post-season starting, and so had a ballpark type meal of hot dogs, pretzels, and nachos. So the pork got bumped to Friday. It was okay, but none of us were crazy about the brussels sprouts. When I reheated the leftover pork on Sunday, I made some homemade applesauce with it and we liked that much better.

Monday- Fettucini with Sweet Potatoes and Ricotta

Another meal that got bumped back a few days due to various reasons. But it was quite yummy and I'm actually eating some of the leftovers now for my lunch.

I have to be honest, I'm pretty damn impressed with myself. I have every intention of continuing with the recipes in the book, though I might stray from them a little bit this week, cause I've got some ingredients left over that need to be used up before they go bad. So I might have to even get creative. This is most definitely a side of me that I've never seen before, and it's pretty interesting.

In closing, enjoy a few pictures of Fiona unloading the dishwasher. She's quite the little helper.

ps. I'm still pissed about stupid Crapelbon blowing that game on Sunday. Friggin' Red Sox, man. They just break your heart. Go Phillies.

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