mmmm Olives!

Another finger food to add to the list, kalmata olives. I thought it would be fun to see her reaction, then she happily ate 4 olives! She has good taste I think :)

It's A.....

......BOY! Andy and Becky's baby of course. Looks like Sargent and Sons Farm is still a go!

I have two rubbermaid tubs of girl clothes I was ready to give Becky. Oh well, they will stay in storage for now.

9 Month Pics (better late than never!)

Yeah yeah I know we are over a week late but here are some pics of Tessa at 9 months. Taking her 'portrait' on the couch used to be easier, but now is nearly impossible as she wants to crawl off the couch, grab the camera and eat it. But I got a couple of good shots!

Sorry for the red eyes. Jeremy moved things around on my computer and I can't find Picassa to fix it (I blame him for all technical malfunctions in the house). By the way he has agreed to a food blog, so stay tuned!

A Weekend Visit

We had a very nice weekend. On Friday we drove up to Elkhart in Northern, IN to have a little visit with my Gramaw and Grampaw Sargent (Tessa's great grandparents). It was great to see them, and I think they were thoroughly entertained by Tessa's babbling and playfulness. Jeremy cooked a nice lunch for us all and we headed back Saturday evening.

The best part about the 3 hr car ride was using my new Ipod. Yes it's true, I've finally entered the 21st century and got my first Ipod for Christmas...thanks Clay! Using Jeremy's music library and my Itunes gift card I have a very nice playlist, so that's fun. Here are some pics from our weekend...

Tessa wanted to show off the little pink bug shoes my Mom got her. They are shoes but she thinks that they are just cool new toys that she can pull off of her feet and chew on. (I'm not sure why her face is covered in food in this pic...it always is) I got called out of the church service for the first time because Tessa was having an epic meltdown in the nursery. When I was there she was fine. I think after all this time she if finally starting to figure out that when she's in there I'm not. This seperation anxiety thing is a phase I know but exhausting for me, especially when we're just here at home and I just go into the bathroom and she loses it. We play peekabo all the time, that's supposed to help, but we'll see. When she's in the nursery on Wed. I'm just going to tell them she may cry, come get me if she screams. I guess it's good to be needed :-)

Permission to Harass

I've been telling Jeremy he should start a food blog chronicling all of his experiments in the kitchen as well as the fun and fancy food he gets to eat while travelling. Plus he's all into reading foodie books nowadays and thinks he's a culinary expert. But he's ignoring me.

So I think we should start an email writing campaing. Send Jeremy an email if you'd like him to author a foodie blog. Harass him!

:-)

9 Month Check Up

Today Tessa and I went to the doc's for her 9 month well check. Doc says she looks perfect and is right on track developementally. Her stats were:
-- 19.9lb (60 %tile)
-- 29.5in (95% tile)
head circumference in 95 %tile as well. So once again she is tall and skinny with a giant head. No shots today, not until her 12 month checkup. And that was that!

Tessa's 9 month old life is pretty good. She enjoys:
-- scooting around on her arms and touching everything she can reach, eating carpet fuzz and 'chasing' the dogs
-- cruising the kitchen in her walker and tugging towels off the stove, playing with spatulas and measuring cups and again 'chasing' the dogs (I've tried over and over to catch this on video..one of these days)
-- babbling to everyone and everything, mostly saying 'da da' or 'ba ba' or 'nay nay nay' when she's mad. Ocassionally I'll catch her whispering to a toy like she's telling it secrets
-- finger feeding herself little pieces of bread, cheese, soft carrots, etc. About 50% actually lands her in her mouth. She also loves getting drinks from her sippy eventhought again not much liquid actually gets swallowed.
-- going out to stores and restaurants where she can look around and meet new people, especially if they fuss over her.
-- screaming bloody murder when I put her in her carseat or even worse when I leave the room and she can't see me. She's got a scream that will make your ears bleed but oh well...hopefully it's just a phase.

I haven't yet taken her 9 month 'portrait' but here's a good pic from the OTP party the other day. Of course she had her party headband on!

Ralphie!....

....I can't move my arms Ralphieeeeee!!

ps- I'm happy to brag that I got this snowsuit for $10 on ebay

We Cleaned House

Well not the actual house- the actual house is still recovering from the OTP post Christmas party on Friday night. We cleaned house at the MLK Day sales at Kohls and Old Navy yesterday.

Old Navy had alot of kids clearance that was an additional 50% off so we're talking cute tops for $4! So Tessa has all of her clothes for spring and summer as well as new pjs, shoes and jeans. In theory there should be no more baby clothes shopping for long time...if I can resist the cuteness!

Both sales run through tomorrow so don't miss out! (do I sound like a commercial?)

Below is a good picture of Tess and if you squint and look at her bottom gums you can see that tiny white tooth. The one right next to it is coming in too.

A Warning....

...to my fellow baby girls out there. Head bow + stocking cap= possible temporary blindness while snoozing in the car. Beware ~ Tessa

Better Health All Around

Well I am happy to report that everyone in our household is very healthy for the moment, including Rosie who had her own digestive issues directly following Tessa's (Jeremy tried to play Dr. House and see a corelation but there was none).

Tessa saw the doctor on Monday morning to follow up on the fever she ran all weekend and everything was fine. She had actually gained two pounds from her puny weight at the ER so she's eating and nursing alot better and is reported to be on the mend. Whew!

I'm happy to report that Jeremy and I are feeling pretty good too, thanks to our new eating habits on the 'core' program of Weight Watchers. It really focuses on eating fruits and veg, whole grains and lean meats and I can definitely say both of us have felt the difference in energy eating those foods. I really believe that there's some truth to the idea of processed packaged foods dragging down your energy, at least in my experience.

So all is well. I realize that our posts recently have been text heavy and picture lacking so here is a pic of Tess with her favorite new Christmas toy..it plays songs and lights up!

And lastly I just have to say yay! that American Idol is back on the air. Finally something to watch and no writers to strike! :)

You Know You're From Indiana When...

I don't normally pass along joke things like this but I really liked this one because I could relate to almost every item listed, either from growing up in IN or living here now. For our out of state readers and family, I'm hoping this will shed a little light on why we are the way we are ....

• You think the state Bird is Larry.
• You can say "French Lick" without laughing out loud.
• There's actually a college near you named " Ball State ."
• You know Batesville is the casket-making capital of the worldand you're proud of it.
• Your feelings get hurt whenever someone points out the acronymfor Purdue University is PU.
• You know several people who have hit a deer.
  Down south to you means Kentucky .
• You have no problem spelling or pronouncing Terre Haute .
• Your school classes were canceled because of cold.
• Your school classes were canceled because of heat.
• You know what the phr ase "knee-high by the Fourth of July"means.
• You've heard of Euchre, you know how to play Euchre, and you are a master of Euchre.
• You've seen a running car, with nobody in it, in the parkinglot of the grocery store, no matter what time of year it is.
• Detassling was your first job. Bailing hay, your second. Or you could stack hay, swim in the pond to clean off and then have the
  strength to play a couple of games of hoops, all in the same barn lot onthe same day.
• You say things like catty-wampus and kitty corner and know what they mean.
• You install security lights on your house and garage, thenleave them both unlocked.
• You carry jumper cables in your car regularly.
• You drink pop.
• You catch frogs at the crick.
• If you want someone to hear you, you holler at 'em.
• You know that baling wire was the predecessor to duct tape.
• You know that strangers are the only ones who come to your front door.
• Kids and dogs ride in the passenger seats of cars and thebacks of pickups.
• You think nothing of driving on the roads and being stuckbehind a farm implement in spring and fall. You just hope it's not a hog truck or a manure spreader.
• High school basketball games draw bigger crowds on the weekendthan movie theaters, IF you have a movie theater.
• Driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow.
• The local paper covers national and international headlines onone page but requires six for local sports.
• You can repeat the scores of the last eight NBA games, but unless the MVP is a Hoosier, you are not sure who he is.
• You can see at least two basketball hoops from your yard.
  You can name every one of Bobby Knight's exploits over the last fewyears.
• The biggest question of your youth was IU or Purdue.
• Indianapolis is the BIG CITY.
• Getting stuck by a train is a legitimate excuse for beinglate to school or work.
• Everyone knows who the town cops are, where they live, andwhether they're at home or on duty.
• You've been to the Covered Bridge Festival. And you took backroads to get there. Why sit in traffic?
• To you, tenderloin is not an expensive cut of beef, but a big,salty, breaded, & fried piece of pork served on a bun with pickle and onion.

Since When Do I Have a Picky Baby?

While we were travelling in December Tessa experienced alot more table food and this stomach flu has thrown off her appetite too and now I'm having a hard time getting her to eat her baby food! She's even refusing some of her favorite things like avocados and bread.

All morning I tried to get her to eat pieces of banana, applesauce or wheat bread and she refused. So I sit down with my lunch- a whole wheat pasta tossed up with mushrooms and onions- and she starts begging. She just wanted my food! So she had mushrooms and tiny pieces of pasta for lunch. It was super garlicy so I hope that doesn't bother her tum!

I think it's great she's eating table food so easily but it's hard for a couple of reasons...first off she has no teeth yet (one is on the way!) so things like meat and some veg still need to be pureed eventhough she doesn't care for pureed stuff anymore...and also we use alot of garlic and spices in our cooking that I don't think she can have yet. Hmmm

I think I need to be more creative in make her some more grownup food that's not too grownup. Any suggestions?

To follow up on my last post- Tessa is doing alot better but still on the mend. She seems to be feeling okay but has been running a temp all weekend so we are going to visit the doc in about an hour to make sure everything is okay. I'll keep you posted!

A Long Couple of Days

Well Tessa and I are tired after an adventuresome couple of days. To keep this blog from rambling on I'll keep our events to a little timeline here:

--Wed morning we went to stroller aerobics and Tess had a major puke all over herself, her stroller and the community center carpet. It was pretty massive and projectile, and the nice ladies in my class helped clean her up even though I told them they didn't have to.

--I figured she had just eaten too much breakfast but she perplexed me by throwing up her lunch. She was telling me was hungry (she has perfected the pulling on my shirt technique) so I fed her again she barfed again that night. Uh oh...sick baby

--So I called the doc who said we needed pedialyte. Jeremy is out of town so we ran up to Walgreens in the rain to get some. So she drank some that night, dry heaved in the night and slept restlessly. Can I take a moment to ask- why does Pedialyte come in grape flavor if there's a good chance the kid will ralph it all over the carpet? Just curious....we chose apple.

-- Yesterday morning she seemed okay so I nursed her. Big puke. Called the doctor and they couldn't get us in so we went to Prompt Med clinic. She puked all over the clinic office. The doc there said of course she had a stomach virus, there were no drugs for it and just make sure she drinks something, that's the most important.

-- So all day yesterday I tried to get her to drink pedialyte, water, or nurse but she wasn't having any of it. For those of you who have witnessed her love affair with her sippy cup you might be surpised by her adament refusal to put it in her mouth.

--The nurse had told me if she hadn't drank any liquid by 5pm to go to the ER for an IV. 5 oclock came and not a single drink. Oh boy. I packed up snacks for me, toothbrush etc and pedialtye knowing I would be there a long time.....and boy were we!

--Our ER visit was LONG and tiresome and in the end maybe not neccesary. We waited 3.5 hrs to get back to a room, 1 more hour to see nurses, and 1 more hour to see the real doctor. In the waiting room she slept and I kept trying to get her to drink thinking maybe we could leave but she wouldn't. I just hate that impatient feeling of 'maybe they will call us next'...and it's another hour. Luckily Dad stopped by on his way home from work and hung out with us in the waiting room...it was nice to not be alone (Jer's out of town). Thanks Dad!

-- In the hour we were waiting in a room Tessa decided she was ready to nurse and went for a full feeding, wet her diaper for the first time all afternoon and promptly started smiling and being happy. So by the time the nurse came in all was well. Of course.

--They waited a while to make sure she didn't puke up that milk and determined she wasn't dehydrated after all and we could go home. That was 5.5 hrs after we first got there. When we got home she nursed again and twice already this morning...so apparently she's over it. She's happily playing with her toys now and oblivious that anything happened.

The End :)

Finally That Ticker is Movin' Again

My weight loss ticker that is. I guess it was a little stalled during the holidays but we are back on track around here. I switched to Weight Watchers "core" program and really like it so far. Basically you don't count the calories ('points') but focus more on whole grains, veggies and low sugar lifestlye. There is so much produce in our house it's unreal. We are like a farm fresh produce stand here...but that's good. Jeremy and I both feel we have more energy already and we like cooking with fresh ingredients.

The main reason I switched programs is because my weight loss has been a little stalled as Tessa is nursing less and it's hard to figure out how to adjust the calories. My WW leader said there is no hard and fast rule on how many extra 'points' you get as they nurse less. Anyway, just seemed to complicated to figure out so no more points for now.

We've been experimenting with new recipes and have discoved some weird couscous like grains like Quinoa. It's actually really good. Jeremy made polenta pizza the other night which was also surprisingly tasty. I'm impressed.

Some CO Pictures

Hi all! Well an update on my technological difficulties is that I am now typing on a new laptop. The old one had a major meltdown and could not be restarted so there you go. We didn't really need the expense right now but I really like having a computer when Jeremy is travelling. Besides how would I keep up on my blog without it?! The especially stupid thing is that I had all of my pictures saved on the desktop of the old computer...so Jer had to buy a converter thingy to strip that info off so we don't lose them permanently. I should have known better. I bet my old IT guy Tom is shaking his head right now.

Anyway below are finally some pictures from our CO trip. Jeremy and I didn't take many in Denver so this is mostly from Jerry's collection of Boulder photos. Between him and my Mom with their super fancy cameras, this child will have some great photos from now on in. Who needs professionals?

We are finally back to normal and settled in. All the Christmas stuff got packed away into munchkinland and most of the new presents have homes. Today it's a whopping 60 degrees in IN!! Crazy! Tess and I went for an hour long walk today....outside!

Tessa wanted to show off her present from Auntie Jessica. Pretty awesome huh? He lives in the bathroom now and she rides him while I get showered and dressed (because he has a handy baby seat to keep her restrained). I called him her noble steed but she reminded me that that's Hayden's title.

Technical Difficulties and New Happenings

Hi all- we are home from our CO trip! We had a great time visiting Jeremy's folks. Lots of fun, lots of great food and lots of grandparent baby snuggle time.

I have some photos to share but guess what happened this morning? My computer had a major meltdown and won't start up again. Apparently in computer years, a three year old laptop is ancient and it's down for the count according to Jeremy. It has had lines on the screen for a long time, perhaps the first sign of trouble.

Anyway, the IT guy (Jeremy) says it's beyond repair and is out at Best Buy right now buying a new one (I'm typing this on his work computer). If we'd have known this was going to happen perhaps we would have held out on that new fridge but oh well...hindsight I guess.

As soon as I'm up and running again I'll post pics from CO.

In the meantime I should mention big things have been happening in Tessa's life. First of all it's time to say goodbye to the pumpkin seat as she has finally moved into a big girl carseat. It's super cool because it also converts into a stroller by popping the wheels out. We road tested it on our trip and it's SO nice for travelling and the airport.

Also we have moved her crib down a level as she has figured out how to pull onto her knees in her sleep. She's been scooting around her crib for sometime now but last night she woke up and I found her on her hands and knees, eyes still closed, thumping her head up against the rails. Must have been a crawling dream!

And lastly but perhaps most notable, Tessa has finally sprung a tooth! This happened sometime on our vacation and I didn't even realized until I was feeding her some little pieces of bread and she bit my finger! (better my finger than her milk resource) For a teething baby she is surprisingly happy, so I didn't even know it was happening. It's a bottom front tooth...can you believe she's all grown up with teeth?

That's all the news from the homefront. We are busy unpacking, de-Christmasing and settling in. Ciao!