I'm back!

I'm a slacker blogger and haven't posted since September--but I have been busy. The Fall was incredibly full of music and life, and then the holidays hit, and then we had a baby! Our beautiful baby, Rowan Margaret, was born at home on January 13, 2010.
We have spent the past six weeks enjoying her, getting to know her, and trying to figure out life with two kids. Sadie has also chosen these past few weeks to learn how to climb everything in our house! AH!
Anyhow, with Andrew's crazy schedule this semester, it has been a whirlwind to say the least. But this week I decided it was time to get back into the swing of things and start cooking for real again (aka no more Kraft mac n cheese). Cooking makes me happy and I've always enjoyed good food, and I have missed it these past few weeks. So I strapped Rowan into the Bjorn baby carrier and Sadie camped out in the kitchen with several toys and books, and I got to cookin'! Andrew was away most of the time, but I am blessed with a toddler who loves to eat almost anything and everything, and so Sadie and I enjoyed my cooking together!

Here are a few of the meals I made this week:

Homemade guacamole dip w/carrot sticks--fun lunch for Sadie and I!

Cottage cheese w/fun red pepper and carrot sticks:

And pork chops and apricot-orange couscous with sauteed spinach and onions:

Hopefully, this next week will be just as exciting food-wise!

Oh right, I have a blog!

So as you can tell, I kind of forgot I started this project. I guess I have some catching up to do!

As most of you now know, Andrew and I are expecting our second daughter, due in mid-January 2010. Very exciting news! Here are some pictures of her:

And here she is, from a different view:

Sadie is thrilled and looking forward to being a big sister:

Hahaha, as if she has any idea what this means : ) She's in for a big surprise!

Speaking of the big sister, she turned one on July 24th! Here are some shots from her birthday party:

We also made our annual family pilgrimage to Ogontz for Choir Camp. Here's what Sadie looked like last year at Choir Camp:

And here she is this year:

She fully enjoyed the attention of 80+ people all week:

We also finally had Sadie baptized while we were up at Choir Camp. It was such a beautiful baptism: Lake Ogontz, friends & family, Sicut Cervus: perfection.

After a busy Summer, we're now entering a busy Fall. Andrew is back to all of his jobs soon, I'm possibly back to school, we're possibly buying a house, and what else? Oh right, we have a one-year-old and I'm pregnant. Never a dull moment here, but we wouldn't have it any other way!

Happy Easter

Well, as with most of our holidays, Easter was quite a busy day (not to mention week) for the Howell family. We started the day with me getting up at 5am to be at choir rehearsal by 6am. Traditionally, the choir sings all three services on Easter morning: 7, 9, & 11am. It's a long day after a long week, but it's fun for the choir to sing all the services (not to mention we get breakfast) and it's great that all three services have music.

Sadie was dropped off at the end of the 7am service by Andrew, who was on his way to his choir rehearsal in New London. Andrew and Sadie had slept in (later than me, anyway) and then dressed in their Easter best before arriving at church. Sadie had not one but two Easter outfits this year!

Sadie then spent some time with me, and then headed to the nursery for the 9am service. She spent some quality time with Great Aunt Wendy, and a special visitor: Grandma Alice, who came just to visit with Sadie. Then Sadie spent the 11am service strapped to Mommy in the Moby wrap, avoiding and then finally giving in to sleep. Mommy sang most of the final service, but not all of it: Sadie loves to sing along very audibly these days, and she still needs a few voice lessons before she can, ahem, sing with the choir.

So by the time we left church around 12:30, we had already had quite a long day. Sadie was running on a mini-nap, and we still had two more important stops to make. We met up with Andrew and headed over to Great Grammy's house for a visit with her, Grampa Stu, Uncle Dan, & Uncle Harry. Sadie showed her tiredness by being cranky and dramatic (no one but Mommy could hold her, the usual toys were not entertaining anymore, etc.). We left after a quick meal because we needed to get to our next stop.

Sadie didn't fall asleep in the car until we were turning onto the Dunhams' street, so we knew we would need to give her a real nap. We arrived at the Dunhams:

greeted everyone, and then promptly put Sadie upstairs for a nap. Much to our surprise, she took at least an hour-long nap, while Andrew and I had a wonderful time socializing downstairs. We enjoyed the usual fabulous Easter fare: grilled lamb, cheesy potatoes, and asparagus with hollandaise, plus a room full of drinks and desserts.

Eventually, Sadie woke up from her slumbers, and joined the party. However, she remained Mrs. Crankypants for the rest of the afternoon--very unlike her usual party-loving self. Everyone has their off days I guess. She did cheer up long enough to enjoy her first taste of asparagus (of course). We persevered until about 5pm when we decided it was time to head home and have a quiet end to our day. We changed Sadie into her final Easter outfit, wished everyone a happy Easter, and headed home.

Sadie had a nice big meal when we arrived home, followed by a quick visit from Grandma Alice (complete with some new toys and clothes!) and a nice relaxing bath. Then it was off to bed for Sadie, who slept very well that night.

The End.

I'm a slacker

I know I haven't posted in a while--I kind of forgot I had a blog. Oops. Anyways, tonight I remembered, so lucky for you!

Sadie is now 8 months old, and has quite the personality (no surprise there). She clearly communicates her likes (food) and dislikes (no more food) to us everyday in new ways. Most recently, she has started growling when she is getting upset or angry. Oh goody! She is also learning to stand while holding onto furniture.

She has a brand new big girl car seat now, which she seems to like slightly better than the old one. It sits her up higher, so she can see more out the windows now. It also has a wider seat, so it's not as restrictive as the old one.

Sadie still loves eating anything and everything. This month we've been venturing into the world of finger foods and self-feeding. Sadie has gotten quite good at the pincer grasp (using thumb and forefinger to pick up small items), and happily gobbles up food by herself. We still spoon-feed her purees, which she gobbles up as well.

She loves food so much that I've already started using it as a bribe, hahaha. For example, a couple of weeks ago I had to keep Sadie with me through an entire church service. To keep her quiet and busy, I brought along some Gerber sweet potato puffs with me to the choir gallery. When she started to get fussy toward the end of the service, I broke out the puffs, and she happily ate the little pieces I handed to her while I was trying to sing the anthem. She was great, as long as I kept the puffs coming.

She is willing to do just about anything for food, and gets very upset when we're eating without her. If we go to a restaurant, as soon as our food comes she begins shrieking until we fork over the food (literally). Not an annoying, whiny shriek; it's a very calculated, high-pitched, attention-drawing shriek: "Mom and Dad, either you hand over that food or I'll attract the attention of everyone in this restaurant!"

Just today, Andrew was simultaneously holding Sadie and eating Doritos. Sadie eagerly watched as Andrew grabbed chip after chip, placing them in his mouth and producing a fabulously loud crunching sound. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore. As Andrew put a particularly large chip into his mouth, he left a corner of it sticking out between his lips as he chewed. Sadie took one look at that corner hanging out and LUNGED forward, mouth open wide, at Andrew's mouth. Andrew sucked the piece in just in time, and Sadie's mouth met Andrew's lip instead of the chip. She pulled back in confusion and disappointment, and Andrew and I burst out laughing.

Sadie eats

Sadie has tried so many new foods in the past few weeks. She loves most of them, and gobbles them right up. Here are some pictures from Sadie's food adventures:

Sadie eats sweet potato-cauliflower puree:

Sadie eats banana-prune mush:

Sadie eats pureed prunes:

Sadie eats mashed banana, her favorite:

Sadie eats a pizza crust:

Join us next month for our trials of beets, peas, blueberries, and more!

Getting teeth and trying to crawl

Sadie has had a busy week. She has been trying to crawl:

but she still hates being on her stomach, so progress is slow:

She also had her first real fever, but she pulled through : ) And mommy and daddy had the joy of taking their first rectal temperature. Poor Sadie! Here she is with her rosier than usual cheeks, uncharacteristically laying down:

Then Sadie wasn't sleeping well at night, which is so unlike her. I chalked it up to her not feeling well, but her fever was gone and she seemed better. Imagine my surprise when I looked in her mouth after church today and discovered that she is FINALLY getting a tooth! She's been teething since she was born, so it's about time!

You can see it in this picture--on the left, you can see the swollen spot where the tooth is starting to break through the gums. And the bottom right tooth isn't far behind.

Looks like we're in for more sleepless nights!
More pictures to come as the teeth poke through!

Time flies

Can you believe Sadie is six months old already? We certainly can't. And yet we are so excited for the next stages--she'll be crawling, walking, and talking soon!

Here she is, just a few days old:

One month:

Two months:

Three months:

Four months:

Five months:

And here she is now, six months old, sitting up, and as happy as can be!