Gone Swimmin'

     Since the weather started to perk up a bit, Leona and I had been getting very excited to make our way to the outside world.  Having a baby in the middle of winter has it's ups and downs.  It's awesome to have an excuse not to forge through the icy and snowy roads, but not so great to be cooped up inside for days on end.  Thank goodness we live somewhere where the weather is constantly changing.  After stating that, I'm wondering if that's such a good thing.  Anyway, since Joe and I both had the afternoon off we took advantage of the Plainfield Aquatic Center.  They have an indoor pool with a lazy river, swirly slide, lap pool, etc.  Leona also got to come along and model off her new swimsuit given to her by Aunt LoLo.  Her first experience in the pool went perfectly!  She smiled and splashed just like she does in the bathtub.  She even went along for a ride in the lazy river with mommy and daddy.  After about 45 minutes she had worked up a hunger and decided to eat and nap.  I think we will be making this a regular activity throughout the spring and summer.

Rockin' ready for the pool!

Easter Bunny

Leona and her cousin Olivia visited the Easter Bunny for the first time! They were so adorable and very well behaved.  I was a constant battle to get Leona to keep looking at the camera, however.  Olivia decided that it was a great time to start waving at everyone.  All in all it was so much fun to share this experience with both girls.

On our way to Metropolis to see the Easter Bunny.  Look! It's daddy all nice and cozy in the back seat.  No one said 3rd row seating was comfortable.

Olivia Jane & Leona Janae

Leona Janae

Makin' Whoopie

     It's not what you think...I promise!  Leona and I spent a fantastic day doing some decadent baking.  What did we make you ask?  Sweet Potato Whoopie Pies.  The original recipe calls for pumpkin. However, after spending 20 minutes at Kroger looking for canned pumpkin I was soon informed there was an apparent shortage last season and I would be hardpressed to find it stocked ANYWHERE.  So here I am in the "Great Pumpkin Famine of '09" wondering what in the world am I going to do with all of the pre-measured ingredients sitting on my kitchen counter.  The Kroger employee that updated me on the pumpkin shortage suggested canned yams.  There's pumpkin pie and there's sweet potatoe pie; it just might work.  Here are some candid moments making whoopie pies!

"Ok mommy...There ready for the oven"

"ZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzz"

Pre-assembly

Finished Product

(Photo of a photo from my Pampered Chef recipe book)

I bake, Joe eats...that's how we roll

This just in....The Sweet Potato Whoopie Pies were a BIG hit!  Recipe to follow shortly.

Aunt Kim's BIG Birthday

We celebrated another milestone with the family this weekend; Aunt Kim's BIG birthday!!!!  The whole family got together at Olive Garden for little dinner and conversation.  It was quite an enjoyable affair.

Birthday Girl (the one on the left)!!!

Candid Family

Cousin Kristin: A rare sighting of her eating

 

3 Month Pictures

     On Saturday we had Leona's 3 month pictures taken!  I can't believe how fast my baby girl is growing up.  I know it's only been three months, but to a mother, time is flying by so fast.  When we had her newborn pics done the only time slot left was at 9am.  No big deal, right?  WRONG!!!!  At that point, Joe and I had not really developed a routine where the 3 of us could get ready in a decent amount of time.  So up we were at 5:30am so we could make an appointment at 9 in Fishers.  Not this time, though.   I decided to booked the 1pm slot instead.  That's the funny thing about parenting, you learn from your previous mistakes.  I will say that our "getting ready" time has been cut from 3 hours to 1.5 hours.  We even had time to eat breakfast, clean the house, iron and pack up her outfits for pictures, shop for a cardigan for mom, grab a fast food lunch, and we still beat the photographer.  Shew!!!!!!  Once we got there the first order of business was to get her changed into her cute little Easter dress.  Mistake #1: should have topped her belly off first.  We got some cute shots of her in her Easter dress. 

Easter Dress

Then, we did an outfit change.  She looked so much like springtime with her yellow cardigan (courtesy of Aunt LoLo).  Mistake #2: should have topped her belly off!!!!  She was all in position for some cute shots and then down came the rain.  She looked at us as if she was NOT going to cooperate unless she got what she wanted: mommy with a bottle.  So after a few ounces and a quick cuddle from mommy we were good to go.  She was such an angel. 

She even let me do one more wardrobe change into her tutu that was handmade by MeMe.  Oh, she was so adorable.  It made me so happy she was mine!!  So all in all it was an eventful photo shoot.  Our photographer kept reassuring me that "this was normal."  Anyway, we all got through it in one piece.  I'm really looking forward to her 6 month pictures; I love this photographer!  Pictures to follow of all her outfits!!!

What A Beautiful Mess :-)

     For all those who I have not mentioned this to, Leona doubled her birthweight at two months!!! Don't get me wrong, I love having a perfectly healthy girl, but she can put down almost 20oz of breastmilk between 4pm and 10pm.  So for the last few days I've been really excited to begin her on rice cereal.  Four months was my mark, but given her sudden appetite I sped things up a bit.  Leona turned 3 months 4 weeks today and I decided to go ahead and jump on into the world of solids (well, more solid than breastmilk).  Basically, I just wanted to give her a little extra bulk in the evening so she wouldn't be so ravenous in the evenings for her bottle.  Let me just tell you, the experience was hysterical.

"First time in my highchair! How cute am I?"

     We got her all strapped into her highchair and she looked like such a big girl.  Every milestone she achieves is so amazing.  Who would have known that putting my baby girl in her highchair for the first time would make me so proud.  Not to mention the newest phase of solid foods.

The first bite!

     She was a little unsure about the taste at first, but gradually got used to it.  I noticed that she still does some tongue thrusting, which makes eating with a spoon very unproductive.  Hence why she has more on her face and bib than in her tummy.

  It probably doesn't help that daddy is feeding my gums and not my mouth. I guess it will take some getting used to for all of us. Overall, it was an awesome first experience with rice cereal.  She took about 3-4 tablespoons in the end.  The jury is still out on whether any of that went to her belly. For now, we are doing one cereal feeding a day to help her get accustomed to the idea of using her tongue. I'm definately looking forward to more fun with Leona and her highchair antics.

Our beautiful mess!!!

Isaac's 1st Birthday

This is way late, but I wanted to share it anyway.  My youngest nephew just celebrated his big ONE last month.  The whole fam gathered over at my brother and sister-in-law's house for a homemade lunch. 

Just before the main event

"Not quite sure about this yet...

but, I'll give another go."

"Ok, now I get it..."

Time to get MESSY!!!

"Now that was good...Can we do that again, please?"

Leona napping after a complete meltdown...She slept through all the action