we're committed to our playdates.

the baby and I have been traveling across Texas together! our goal was to end up in Lubbock to visit Aunt Bethy and Eleanor (and Uncle Jer... he got home before we left!), but along the way we got to stop off coming and going to see Marmee and PawPaw and Uncle Kevin, Aunt Linda, and Mo. it was really a great trip - Magz couldn't have traveled better, really, and I think breaking up the travel days really helped both of us. here are some photos taken on the trip:

Beth participated in a craft fair on Saturday... she sold lots of cards!!

see how pretty they are?? tell your friends!

on the way to the pumpkin patch...

stopping off to go to church with the fam in Abilene and hang out awhile before heading to Hico for the night...

the best thing about this trip, other than seeing our dear friends and family, was getting to spend some time just 'being' with my baby. when I'm home, there are always chores to do, work to do, whatever - I really treasured this time to just hang out and enjoy her.

go go, travelin' baby!!

more to say, but it's time to put this girl down for a nap and turn my attention to the laundry and vacuum cleaner. happy tuesday, all!

-m.y.

four months today!

four whole months. wow. what's new:

*ROLLING OVER FROM BACK TO FRONT . very exciting! I think one of my favorite memories will be her rolling over that night at church, and a little crowd of our church family cheering around her. we haven't figured out how to roll back yet, but it's a good, solid start. she also pushes up on her arms well and somehow manage to scoot around a little.

*because of the rolling over, Magz is sleeping on her stomach some and really seems to like it... she's able to put herself to sleep easier and I think she sleeps sounder.
*drooling a lot and trying to a) grab things so she can b) finagle them to her mouth to gum & taste them.

*more and more 'talking', playing, and real laughing.

*she's really getting so much stronger - Magz has always had a strong neck, and she's able to hold her head and upper body up really well.

*she's so much more aware of what's going on around her.

*we're still mainly breastfeeding on-demand with the occasional bottle to supplement or take care of business while mama's at work.

*sleep is a funny thing. not funny like ha-ha, more like a mystical, comic conundrum. we were sleeping longer stretches and have reverted to shorter ones the past week or two. oh well - last night we had a 4 hr and then a 5.5 hour stretch, which is better than it's been, so I'm just chalking it up to changes and growth spurts and a full moon and who-knows-what.

*still standing like a champ. I'm going to go ahead and add bouncing, too - during our playdate yesterday at the Moh's house, we got to try an exersaucer. observe:


she LOVED it. seriously. she'll probably have one of her own by the end of the weekend. thanks for hosting us, sweet friends!! we had such a good time and we love the photos!

and here are photos from today. four months. gosh.

much love and happy weekend.

p.s. marmee, watch your mailbox Monday. :)

-m.y.

photos from the weekend...

first off, we're about to outgrow these killer, adorable pjs:

I know. the little pandas on the feet send the whole thing over the edge.

now that Magz is rolling over, she's loving holding herself up and kicking around. I know she'll be mobile before we know it. gack!

we went to the Renaissance Festival with the Franks and had a really good time. observe a few of the snapshots I got:

turkey leg!

margaretann at the beginning of the day. bring it.

tee-hee. jesters.

pretzels and a knight!

pretzels and more knights!

scary:

taking it all in:

I love the surreal quality of the weird tall men:

wild. and yes, this man had breasts. please, we saw it all out there.

this was a sweet scene I observed while discreetly feeding the baby on a nearby bench. a somewhat crusty-looking man was lounging under this tree, and then he was pounced upon by two adorable little girls:

surfing on daddy's tummy:

face painting = white hot. that's my hat-hair btw, don't judge.

happy with auntie tricia:

bellydancers!

Franks!

Bellz!

by day's end, we had one pooped baby on our hands.

and since we obviously have a soft spot for photographing delicious sleeping babies around here, this was a deep, deep, long Sunday nap, the kind you wake up from flushed and grumpy:

I had the thought to write my to-do list for the week - or at least my goal list - but just thinking about it makes me yawn. oh well. :)

-m.y.

it's friday! get your funky milestone on...

have a good weekend, everyone!






-m.y.

blogging from Hico. holla!

this post has been in draft mode for the past few days, so I figured I'd better get it out into a real post before things pile up on me too much.

I've been reading Boundaries With Kids by Drs Cloud and Townsend, and have found it SUCH an interesting read. if you've not read this Boundaries book of theirs, you really should. the topic of boundaries is a little fascinating to me - I feel like I've learned a lot about them, having and recognizing and protecting both mine and others' and being quick to acknowledge when something's been crossed, but it's very clear to me that I still have some work to do. one of the most sobering points the book makes is that our children will absorb whatever we model (yikes!) and will only internalize values and behaviors as their challenged to... or as we lovingly allow Magz to be challenged by life and learn take responsibility for herself. It's very much my hope to grow this girl up and equip her for life as best we can, and I'm so glad for books like this.

A little note on the work front: I have been stressing about a gig I was asked to audition for by a company in Los Angeles. if I booked it, it would have meant a sort of travel that would be... well, big. hard. for me, I mean, as a breastfeeding mother who really doesn't want to stop breastfeeding yet. or be out of town and away from my baby for recurring two or three day stints at all, even. I auditioned, knowing I could still turn it down, because it was sort of an honor to be asked and I'm torn between the financial reality of making money for our household and currently desiring to roost more at home and work around H-town. I felt fairly positive about my chances... more often than not, in situations like these I get the work and am forced to make decisions. well, I got a very nice email the other night that essentially said thank you for playing but we've cast someone else, maybe we can work on something else in the future. which was great, fine, I got to thank them for the opportunity and breathe a sigh of relief. but if I'm honest with myself, there WAS a twinge of 'really, you're not hiring me? hello, what's your damage?!' ah, the actor's ego. even if I don't want the job, I still want them to want me. :P

now we shall commence the photo portion of the blogramming:

playing with mama and our toys:

you should hear the drama that happens between the bear and the gloworm when Daddy's in charge of storytime. no really, you should.

wearing sunbonnets at the Midtown farmers market:

we had a lovely, LOVELY baby shower for our friend Tricia who is *sniff* moving all the way to Ohio soon. BUT, she'll be back to visit and bring us a baby to love on. in the meantime, it was tons of fun to shower her with presents and a pretty party! I signed on to bring sweets, so I made mini-vanilla cupcakes and no-bake bird's nest cookies. observe the huge ingredient list below for the cookies:

actually, that ingredient photo isn't really complete. since I used pure peanut butter, I thought maybe the person who wrote the recipe meant the regular kind with added sugars and things, so I drizzled some local honey in the mix, too. these were seriously the easiest cookies I've ever made - behold my impromptu 'double boiler':

behold the finished product on the table with minty malted milk ball 'eggs', along with Tiff's lovely fruit kabob flower pot and those cute paper birds. when I make these cookies again, I'll purchase more chow mein noodles - the trick to getting them to look right and avoiding gobs of chocolate (that resembles poo, let's say it) is to use a lot of noodles so they come out looking 'twiggy':

the sweet centerpiece... some of my little cupcakes are back there on the tiered plates. when I make THEM again, I'm going to ice them thicker before topping them with the toasted coconut:

the second table and sweet girly 'girl' letters:

little notecards for writing blessings for the baby:

pretty, isn't it?!

everyone had a really good time. these two were obviously partied out:

hubz brought this treat home, and I LOVE it.

LOVE.

I'm sorry I drank the last one, mr. bell. it's a character defect.

tummy time a few days ago. getting stronger!

this is the place where Magz usually takes her best (read: longest) naps. it doesn't always work - sometimes she's going to micronap no matter where I put her unless, of course, I sit there and hold her - but the combination of the angle of the couch and the blanket keeping her arms from reflexively flying up is a good one, and if she wakes up there's a good chance she'll be hypnotized by the ceiling fan and fall back to sleep:

and this one is my current fave, taken at Hermann Park.

'ho ho,' she says. 'a lovely park! how droll.'

nighty-night.

-m.y.