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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I may be a bit of an alarmist...

So, I may have been a bit premature in the whole "OHMYGAH THE BABY IS ABOUT TO WALK EVERYWHERE!" excitement from about a month and a half ago. She continues to work on those ambulatory skillz, but has yet to manage more than a couple steps at a time. She much prefers to just stand up in one place and pick things up. Like shoes. And stepstools. And entire baskets full of blocks. And tables. I kid you not, we were at a friend's house and she tried to pick up a little nosemakey, lightuppy table and managed to wind up flat on her back with the table upside down on top of her. She did not like. I thought it was hilarious. And then I checked to see if she was okay. Or the other way around. Whichever makes me not a bad mother.

I've started jogging again. Slowly. But I have started. And I've gotten pretty regular with the walking, as well. I'll be in shape eventually. I weirdly weigh less than I have like, ever, and yet somehow I am still far far FAR from being actually fit. Meh. I'll take it.

The child is currently suffering from a cold, which means she has this cough that makes her sound oh so pitiful. I've got a warm steam vaporizer in her room, so its basically a sauna. IT helps her sleep, so I like that.

And speaking of sleep. We have been sleeping through the night these days, probably about 4 out of 7 days a week. Which is fairly fantastic. And even the days she wakes up, its just for a quick snack and then she's back out.

Of course, we're going on vacation next week and that means all her good habits will probably be shot to hell, but hey. That's what vacation is for. And on that note- I'd better go get some laundry done if I want to be able to actually bring clothes to the beach with us...

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Hurray! Yay!

Baby is 10 months old today. Ten months. Holy crap.

And yesterday she finally learned how to clap. I think it's the Rocknocerous shows we've been going to.

Not much to report- it's been a quiet weekend. We finally got into watching LOST, and that's basically all we did all weekend. We borrowed the first season from a guy Nate works with like a YEAR ago and we finally watched it. Now we have to wait for him to lend us season two...

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Awesome Thursday, continued.

Well kids, it's been less than a week since I've been here. I'm improving, see? Of course, what I really should be doing now is going to bed... but one thing at a time.

For now, I give you a few glimpes into last Thursday. After the previous blog post, the one I made on Thursday morning, my day just kept being awesome. Played with the baby, took a whole mess of photos, including the ones you're about to see. Because yes. This is primarily a photo entry. Like it.

After lunch, the child thoroughly inspected the dog's water dish. After she tipped it over the first time, I didn't even bother to refill it, and it's a good thing. Because this happened-

Then, she ate a coffee bean-

and got into all the pots and pans.

After that, I knew she could not be trusted while I cooked dinner in my new wok (!) so she was banished to the high chair, occupied with a tray full of cheerios, and I set to work making some chicken stir-fry for dinner. And taking pictures of the aforementioned dinner. I couldn't resist.

An empty, brand new wok, a semi-impulse purchase from Ikea.

And a baby that says "Why I no can help, momma? I iz a good cook!"

May I introduce my assistants, Mr. Rice Cooker and Ms. "Stir-fry sauce" Packet?

Check it out, Booden. And you think I can't cook to save my life.

They totally smelled what I was cooking.

And pup patiently waited at Nate's feet, willing him to drop something.

fin.

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Thursday morning.

I forgot how much of a morning person I am. After I left my job last summer, I have been pretty much reveling in sleeping late whenever I can. Which happens more than you would think. People always were telling me how early babies get up in the morning, how horrific it is when they wake for the day at 5am, blah blah. Of course, I half don't want to say this out loud, but my baby is actually rather considerate when it comes to the mornings. Sure, she's still waking up twice a night on average, but in the mornings? 8 o'clock is early. Yesterday we all slept until 9:15. (Nate is also able to sleep late, since he doesn't have to be at work until 10)

But last night baby was pretty cranky and fussy and tiredish, so I put her down a smidge earlier than normal. 7:30 instead of 8:00. Which meant that by 7:00 this morning, she was awake and ready to start the day. I was not so keen on he idea, because I stayed up stupidly late, as usual, doing what I don't know (ok, yes I do know. I was folding laundry and browsing the interwebs and watching Stewart/Colbert and Michael and Michael Have Issues which is actually a pretty funny show and also flipping through porn my Ikea catalog) but ANYWAYS I was up until like 1:30, so suffice it to say that I was not actually all that interested in getting up at 7am, especially since I knew that I had finished all the coffee two days ago and hadn't bought more because I developed some sort of weird grocery store aversion since the baby was born. But that kid was in there crying, so I got up and was surprised to find that I was actually okay with being awake and out of my bed. So I nursed her, changed her, brought her downstairs for her second and third courses of breakfast (ahhh yes, I'll start with an order of the mother's milk, then for the main course I'll take a tray full of cheerios, and then let's see, I guess I'll finish with some of your finest canned peaches, cut up into very small bits.)

By the time Fiona had finished her breakfast (No breakfast for me at this point in the story, stupid thyroid meds. Making me wait an hour before eating anything.), I had made up my mind to run to the grocery store for a. Coffee, and b. Lunchmeat. Because poor Nathan has peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch way more often than any 27-year-old man should.

I could have thrown on some sweatpants and run out the door. But I did not. Thanks to countless hours spent watching WNTW (That's What Not to Wear, for those of you who aren't in the know) I am very cognizant of the fact that you are supposed to wear actual clothes when you leave the house. Even to the grocery store. So not only did I get dressed (in a skirt, no less), I did one better. I also did my makeup. That's right. By 8am I was dressed and accessorized and out the door with makeup on, feeling fabulous. Thank you, Stacy and Clinton. It's my very own "Chic mom-on-the-go" look.

So out the door, trashcan dragged to the curb, baby in carseat, and go.

And you know what? I don't actually mind grocery shopping at this time of day. There are a thousand open parking spaces, there was nobody in line at the deli, all the employees were friendly and nice and not at all frazzled and annoyed and world-hatey yet (I'm looking at you, employee of the month), there was no line at checkout. Only two people gushed over the baby, instead of the usual 4 hundred. (I'm not going to go into it, but that's pretty much why I avoid the grocery store. I can't handle all the attention I get because of the insane cuteness of my child. I know, I know. I'm all kinds of messed up.)

Did my grocery shopping, got home, brought the trashcan back in from the curb (good thing I didn't leave it for Nate to do, cause our trashman comes way earlier here than at our old place, and they're weird about not letting you put the trash out the night before), put away groceries, put the baby down for a nap, made lunch for the boy, ground coffee, brewed coffee, made out with the boy, set out doughnuts, cleaned up from making lunch and the baby's breakfast, said goodbye to the boy, poured myself a cup of coffee and sat down to blog about all of that.

So. I believe that that answers, once and for all, the question of whether or not I am a morning person. I am. Could you imagine the things I could accomplish if I got up this early every day?!!?!?

Fun dangly earrings, huge cup of coffee, apple cinnamon donut.
It's a good day already.

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