Sunday, January 30, 2011

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Sugar and Spice, and Everything Nice

Maddie loves to make cookies! We made Oatmeal Raisin Chocolate Chip cookies, and they were a huge hit.






Maddie climbed up on the chair and helped stir, but preferred tasting to helping.





They were good cookies, see?





Someone taught Maddie how to dunk.











Maddie really only like the chocolate chips, so she tries to break the cookie apart to get to the chips.

Friday, January 28, 2011

A trip to Niagara Falls

Last weekend, Rob and I took a trip over to Niagara Falls to see the flowers. Nothing breaks up the winter blues, like seeing some beautiful flowers.

Though we've been here often, Rob and I both agreed that the conservatory has never been this fun before:






By the way, Maddie was color-coordinated with the flowers purely by chance.

She loved every flower!





























But best of all, she just ran around and had fun:







Sunday, January 23, 2011

Saturday, January 22, 2011

The Snowy Day

What do you do on a snowy day?


Look out the window...



Run up and down the hallways...


Color (while wearing boots, just in case)....



Wear a let it snow t-shirt and ballerina pants, of course!

Friday, January 21, 2011

Eureka!

Our love for Elmo has reached a new level:





And they're organic. Thanks, Rob! Good find.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Mommy's Little Fauvist

Maddie loves to color and she has her own style of Fauvism. She chooses bright colors and makes furious scribbles across the page:





Then she rips the paper off the top, and moves on to the next piece.


But look what happens when you give her a pen:


You tell me that's not script.

Friday, January 14, 2011

January

I know, there's nothing like launching a beautiful new webdesign and announcing it by shouting off the rooftops... and then not writing anything. (Whimper, whimper.) There's something about this January that has just left me uninspired. Traditionally the first few weeks of January excite me. I usually spend New Year's looking at all my magazines from the past year, ripping out any articles or ideas I would like to try, and purging the old to make room for more. By the end of that process, I usually have a pretty large stash of projects that I start planning. Plus, I always make a ton of resolutions, some easy and some difficult, which help me start the year off focused and energized.

This year: Nada. I am pretty blah about this whole month. And I already forgot my New Year's resolutions.

I am not going to write much about my sleep training efforts. If there's one thing that I have learned as a parent, it's never discuss because you'll jinx it! Let's just say, I'm writing this at 9:00 at night. Not perfect, but things are proceeding kind of as planned.

For those of you struggling with the winter, here's a little something to remind you that there a fun things about cold and snow. Like this:





Some people just can't wait to get out in the snow. Maddie loves to look out the window at it. And she's standing under our winter craft project: paper snowflakes! The best part of a snowy winter day is craft projects with the one you love.

Monday, January 10, 2011

New Year, New Look

Do things look a little different to you? Yup, that's right I made a few changes. It's been pretty clear that for the past year and a half this blog hasn't really been about me. It's about something just a little bit more important... or someone. Hope you enjoy the new look and the old me.

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Day One

So far so good Dare I commit that to writing?? No further comment.

Friday, January 7, 2011

Oh, life... It's bigger than you...

Yes that is an REM song, that just happens to have been going through my head lately. And seems appropriate to this topic.

I have a beautiful daughter who just turned 19 months old yesterday. She is lovely in every way. She does not sleep.

My day today has been nothing suckage and bitterness because of this factor. It has been one week since I had a decent night sleep (defined as six hours, not necessarily sequential). Last night I got two hours. I got up 12 times between 10 and 2... And then I lost count.

I have to be fair to Maddie. Last night was not her fault. Apparently every snowplow in the Western hemisphere routes past our apartment and Maddie was woken at least every fifteen minutes by one. Plus Maddie chewed through her pacifier and that did not help.

So in my sleep addled mind I've decided to tackle all these problems. The next month will include no more bottles, pacifier weaning and hardcore sleep training. When you see me on the street I suggest you turn the other way-- this is not going to be pretty. Stay tuned for the apoca.. I mean aftermath.

***seriously, did anyone hear about the mass kills lately (whole species of birds and fish dropping dead all over the world)? The end may be near. Good side: sleep training would be preempted. Bad side: um, do I need to say something here? Obvious, right?

Anyway, wish me luck (and sleep)!