Six Months

Half a year has gone by. Everyone says it goes quickly, and it really does. I have to remember to soak in every kiss, giggle, and yawn. There are those moments I am happy to forget, but most of all I love being a mom, and I love my Poppy Seed.

Recent Accomplishments:

+ Assuming the crawling stance, and when that doesn't work, squirming around to where she needs to go like a tireless inch-worm

+ New "words," like "baba," "mama," and "dada"...we can't wait until she actually knows what she's saying!

+ Trying out cereal, though most of it ends up on her face...or ours

+ Finding new things every day to get into and destroy

+ Making friends everywhere we go with her little miss social butterfly personality

Candy Land Extravaganza

My friend Sadie had her personal shower at my aunt's house and I was lucky enough to go out early with Kaitlin and help her decorate and bake. It was so much fun! We had such a good time together. Thank you Kait for asking me to go, and thank you to Aunt Mary Ann for all you did!

The party theme: Candy Land. We were nearly drowning in sugar by the end of the weekend. Cupcakes, lollipops, molasses cookies, licorice, peppermints, gumdrops, jelly beans, chocolate...

The splendid Lollipop Princess hosts, Christen and Kaitlin

The "Candy Land colored" blanket that my aunt insisted on buying for Poppy to lounge on during the party...so she would match the decor of course.

Queen Frostine's (aka Sadie's) frosting castle...where she opened gifts.

Lollipop Princess on a sugar buzz perhaps?

I finally got to meet my friend Liv's baby boy, Obie. Such a cutie. Poppy must have thought so too, judging from the coy hand on his leg.

A toast to Sadie and to a successful party!

Surprise!

My brother-in-law Luke turned 30 back in January, and Andria planned a surprise party for him at a restaurant. It was a little while ago now, but I have some fun pictures I wanted to post.

Bryan flirting with the cute little guests...Luke's nieces.

My attempt at homemade cupcakes, oh-so-cleverly numbered one to thirty with icing.

I love this picture.

Poppy in her "party pants." We call them that because so far she has worn them to a birthday party and a baby shower, but mostly because they're teal-blue velvet...pretty much a party in and of themselves!

Be My Scottish Valentine

So for Valentine's Day this year, we went to Scotland.

OK, I lied.

But we did go to a Scottish pub downtown. Instead of the traditional upscale Valentine's date, I was more in the mood for a walk on Mass Ave and finding a dim little place with wood floors and no reservations. We found it. And it was the perfect low-key Valentine's outing.

Bry let me peek into a few of the shops along the way and I also found a new prayer journal for myself and a Madeline match-the-tiles-from-memory game from Mass Ave Toys (the cutest little toy shop ever) for Poppy. She won't be able to play with it for about two more years, a practical fact that Bryan brought up, but I just couldn't say no to Madeline, the little French orphan that I grew up on.

Scottish food is interesting. Bryan ordered the Angus burger. It's marinated in Worcestershire sauce, peppered, and then rolled flat.

To eat it takes a two-step folding process.

I had the vegetarian haggis with neeps (parsnips). Not the most aesthetically pleasing dish. Come to think of it, the name isn't very appealing either. But it was good. I really like mashed parsnips. It would have been fun to experience the authentic non-vegetarian version, but lamb hearts and liver are a little intense for me.

It was so good to be together, just the two of us. I hope all of you had a LOVE-ly day as well!

Love at First Sight

Our friends Chad and Heather came over with Beckham the other week, and Poppy seemed quite smitten with him. This is good since he'll be hanging out a couple days a week over here when Heather heads back to work. We're pretty excited to have the cute little guy around soon. As you can see, Poppy feels the same...

She was a little shy for the first, oh, about 2 seconds.

Then went straight for the kill.

Seriously. I had to intervene before someone lost an eye.

Yes, that's drool hanging from her chin. We need to teach her a little something about "hard to get."

Winter Blues...and Reds and Greens

About this time of year, winter starts to get really depressing. It's a cold, dark night covered in ice and Bryan is working long hours (tax season=yuck), Poppy is sick, and I'm not feeling so good myself. And now that Christmas and New Years are over, there isn't much to look forward to except spring.

To cheer myself up, I was looking at old pictures and decided it was a good time to do my Christmas post. I never got around to it during the holidays and now it's February. But don't worry, I have not forgotten the pictures from Christmas 2010.

*S. Christmas*

The itty bitty cousins...aww

*B. Christmas*

Jude and Adrian

Our gift to Mia...A little upgrade for her beta who had been previously housed in a tupperware container

Poppy's platypus from Mimi...Mom and I fell in love with it randomly at an antique store

My dear parents

Kaitlin and I...oh how I love her (almost as much as that platypus)

*G. Christmas*

Modeling her new headband collection

Designed and crocheted by Javon

Also a Javon original

Such a sweet picture of Grandpa Carol and Grandma Louise

*Bry's Family Christmas*

Papa and Nana making Poppy smile really big

And Poppy enjoying her homemade quilt from Nana for the nursery