A Month in the Making

Our new computer has arrived! Which means there are no more (good) excuses for not blogging. Here is what you missed in the past month in photos:

There was a strong interest in arts and crafts. Painting, Coloring and Playdough! Oh My!

Playdate with Tillie's BFF: Eila!

The First Big Snowstorm!

Matilda learned how to walk in the snow...

Eat the snow...

Make a snowball...

And catch a snowflake on her tongue.

She was also a big helper in getting the Christmas decorations up...

Other than that, you missed about a solid 2 week window where Nate, myself or Matilda was sick and those are pictures no one wants to see. 

In Check

Parenthood doesn't provide you with any certainties except that just when you think you have something figured out, it is certain to change.

We have always been so incredibly lucky to have a very good little eater on our hands. I still maintain it is luck, while Nate likes to take some parental credit for her palate. I think the reason I prefer to take zero credit is because when she turns into a picky little monster like I was (and I promise you she will some day), then it isn't a failure on my part. It is with great care that I always say "Matilda will eat any steamed vegetable for now" because I know my time before the full-on mouth lockdown is limited.

This weekend, Matilda was the unfortunate recipient of my terrible viral infection and went on a full-on hunger strike. Saying "no" to literally any food or liquid we would put in front of her. The child had to have been starving. I often forget that she is, in fact, a human. And I haven't wanted to eat anything in a week, so why would I expect her to?

Anyway, for the past year since Matilda has been eating food, we have taken care to pack a fruit and vegetable for every single meal, hoping to ward off future pickiness, and as I mentioned--to date--have been successful.

As I watched her adamantly decline food option after food option, I quickly realized the utter desparation that parents whose kids don't like to eat must feel, because you just want them to eat something. ANYTHING. And if Matilda said no to every thing we put in front her except for fig newtons, my guess is we would become stockholders of the Fig Newton company.

It's always good to have these parenting moments that keep you in-check, grounded to reality and appreciating what you currently have in the moment. Sure, our kid continues to wake-up at a god forsaken hour in the morning, but we haven't (yet) had to have all-out food fights for every meal (for now). So I will be grateful for that, and keep my fingers and toes triple crossed that when Matilda recovers from this cold, so do her tastebuds.

But I will say, if Baby GH can read this blog through my womb, I will make her eat a little less cauliflower in exchange for a few more winks of shut eye.

Scrumptious LIttle Moments

The Toddler years....
equal parts amazing and pull-your-hair-out tiresome.

But for some reason, there have been so many small reminders this week that have come across my computer screen, eyes, ears, etc that life is short and to make the most of it each and every day. I struggle with truly embracing the here and now because of the plan ahead nature of our lives.

But for tonight, I pause and soak up all the greatness that is Matilda Mae at this age.


...watching her 'hide' and then sneak looks at you while you are looking for her

...listening to her expanding vocabulary which grows every day (night night, banana, all done, star, moon, and snow all came out in the past week)

....seeing her 'read a book' to herself for the entire car ride into work, and then not want to let it go so we carry it all the way into daycare.

...her saying 'bye-bye' the second she sees anyone putting on a coat or shoes

....the excitement she has while trying to hide her bath toys from us and then act all surprised when she 'finds them'

...her wanting to 'ring around the rosey' with everyone, as much as possible. Even including her stuffed animals.

...every night when I pick her up from daycare, she immediately reaches for her daily sheet, and wants her litle lunch bag, and then proceeds to carry them through the entire building and out to the car. (note--this can sometimes be both amazing and frustrating..:) )

....she will snuggle into our laps and read books forever. And when we close the last book and go to put her down for her 'big sleep', she rests her head on your shoulder and gives you a last snuggle for the day.


That last snuggle is the best. The one that says "I love you, Mom." even though she can't say it yet.

A Very NYC Christmas

Our household continues to be computer-less. Well...I mean, personally computer-less. Which means that I continues to be picture-less for the blog.

And I have been despairing as I want to share lots of great pictures of Matilda, some recent recipes we have tried, and most importantly of the great trip I took with some friends last weekend.

Lucky for me, my friend Summer also blogs, and her version of our trip will be far more entertaining and better written than what I could have done myself. I'm sure I have written about this in one of the past recaps of our two 'everything-holiday-NYC-trips' but every time we go, I can't help to stop to think how fortunate we are to have fate bring us together with new people in our lives.

Summer was the person that hosted me the night before my interview for the General Mills position (almost 8 years ago to the date), and we instantly bonded over our love for the holidays. And it is amazing to me to think that two weddings, four kids, and lots of life that has been shared between friends could start because of such a small shared interest. And every time we are in NYC, I can't help to think back to that night, and that I was so focused on the interview the next day, that I didn't realize I was sitting across from a future lifelong friend.

Anyway, I digress. This trip holds a very special place in my heart because of the spirit of the holiday and spending it with friends you love. Everyone should have this type of tradition, and if the holidays aren't your thing, find your thing and do it with friends.

Check out Summer's recap of NYC 2012 here: http://lot10lindengrove.blogspot.com/

When we went in 2010, I was about 12 weeks pregnant, threw up once in the hotel room because we went like 15 hours without eating.

The 'without eating' problem didn't happen this trip, but I will say being almost 24 weeks pregnant this time around brought very sore feet, and a weird racing heart one day every time I stood still. Nothing a little grapefruit sorbet couldn't cure (thanks for finding Marie!!).

And once our computer gets fixed (i.e. we buy a new one) and we get our old hard-drive tranferred ( and by we I mean Nate), I will share the pictures that Nate was sending me, because he took full advantage of his daddy/daughter weekend. And it melted my heart.

Uh-Oh

Uh-oh #1
Has it really been a week since my last post? Shit.

Uh-oh #2
Our computer is literally fried--i.e. when you try to turn it on you get a black screen with 6 sharp beeps. So any photos to be posted of Matilda, or my amazing girls weekend in NYC this past weekend, is not happening.

Uh-oh #3
And the reason for this post---my friend from work whose son attends daycare with Matilda sent me this picture today:

This is not supposed to be happening yet. Nate has not had a chance to go through years of extensive training from my father on how to become "Skeletor" and scare the boys away. I am here to tell you that he is not ready to play that role.

And the technique you see here is frightening. Eyes closed, head slightly lifted up as to play hard to get. Tillie going in with her arm for some extra bodily contact.

Here is the good news. The fellow Tillie decided to 'make nice' with is a fellow Badger--score major points. Is a Packer fan--additional points. Like to play with Tillie and I when I go to visit. Excellent. And he is pretty cute. :)

Now, if only she could pick just one, because word on the street from her daycare room--she is the kisser/hugger, and most recently 'back-rubber' since she sees Nate giving my backrubs a lot. Although, her backrubs are a little aggressive and may be actually look like she is pushing kids down.

We are working on gentle. Clearly, we also need to work on personal space bubbles as well.