Into supper

When food is tasty, why just put it INSIDE your body?

8 months

My sweet baby Sarah is 8.5 months already!  I can't believe how fast it has gone.  She's been a little behind Teresa's learning curve... thank goodness... but is picking up quickly.  She army crawls all over the house, has learned to open cupboard doors, pulls herself up to kneeling, & goes through fits of babbling.  Most recently, she's lost interest in pureed baby foods.  She still doesn't have any teeth, but those gums are seriously impressive at mashing!  I've been introducing a lot of new foods.  Here she was enjoying her first avocados & she devoured them!  The next meal she wouldn't even touch them.  Silly baby.  We will try again!  She is also a little Houdini at escaping from her high chair, belt & all.  Though she hasn't done it yet, I fear she will hit the floor head first one of these days.  Not a lot of fear in this one!  Maybe that's because she has SO MANY attentive eyes?  You think that would be a bonus!

Gimme some of that

 It has begun!  Sarah has enjoyed her first tastes of sweet potatoes, peas, & carrots.  LOVES the sweet potatoes, dislikes the peas, indifferent to the carrots.  The big kids are just as excited about feeding her as she is about eating!

I've never started a baby this late eating solids & I've always started with cereals... so this is rather new.  She's taking to it pretty quick! 

Growth spurt?

Teresa has been quite the little lady lately.  She can go from her giggly, bubbly, bouncy self to a screaming tantrum-throwing monster in about 2 seconds flat.  We thought maybe it was her impending loss of the role of baby just around the corner, but now I'm wondering if it's not simply another growth spurt. 

She BEGGED me to get the "princess soup" at the store, then BEGGED me to make it for lunch, & then after looking at all the fun noodle shapes REFUSED to eat more than a bite.  She's a stubborn one!  After Darren & I had both finished lunch & cleaned up the kitchen, she still wasn't really even close to done.  So, she was told, "Don't leave that chair until you finish your soup."  After almost 10 minutes of quiet from the kitchen I went to check out the situation & found this.  Well, she obeyed that last part anyway!  

A birthday celebration

February 15th marked our baby Zachary's first birthday in Heaven.  We miss him so. 

On his birthday we spent lots of family time together: morning Mass, (school for the big kids), watching a show at home, bowling on the Wii, lots of hugs, & going to the first Fish Fry of Lent.  It was good, but still rather quiet.  So, when we had gorgeous weather on Sunday afternoon, we decided to make this day the big celebration.  First we stopped by the cemetery to say a prayer & sing him "Happy Birthday". 

Then we headed out to a beautiful park for some hiking.  We made our first trek out to this old log cabin.

We enjoyed watching all the geese that had gathered on the pond as they went from the ice to the water to the land & back again.

We climbed up the big hill to see the statue & ran down as fast as we could.  Amazingly, no one wiped out!

Then it was fun on the playground time.  Teresa really enjoyed the "noodle slide".

The big kids were collecting coffee bean pods from all around the area & making their own little stash.  Too bad we don't drink coffee...



After a full day in the beautiful February weather, we warmed up with a tasty dinner out.  All of the kids were good!  Whatever version of Muzac they had playing was very pleasing to all.  Rebecca spent almost the entire time dancing in the booth as she ate.

 

Andrew gave in & let me take a picture of him grooving as well.

Teresa of course welcomed all chances for goofy photos.  ;)

 

What a happy day!  So sad that he couldn't be with us to celebrate, but so thankful that we have each other & that he is looking out for us from Heaven. 

Happy birthday, Zachary Matthew!

Tuesday

Two of the gals in my Bible Study have husbands that work together. In their travels they happened upon Grandpa Jake's restaurant in Sutton.

It's your standard small town hole-in-the-wall bar with an extra "restaurant" room open on Tuesday nights to serve delicious italian food. The chef owns another place in a Mennonite town nearby where he can't serve alcohol... so he come to Sutton once a week so his pasta can be enjoyed with wine!

So, on a TUESDAY evening seven couples met up with Fr. Holoubek & had a fabulous dinner. Totally worth the drive, especially since driving together was part of the fun!

Thanks for organizing, Steph! We had a great night out.

Poker

Teresa used a fork for the first time last week. I don't know why it hadn't crossed by mind sooner. She loves it! Tonight as she was gesturing to the table for what she would like next, I ran out of foods to give her. Turns out it was Daddy's fork she desired. She proceeded to eat bread, apple chunks, & leftover banana puffs all with a fork. It's official; Teresa is a proficient poker.

Our little ham

covered in spaghetti
This is her new favorite goofy face. Anytime she sees a camera especially. Christmas photos ought to be interesting!

Fabulous facial

Teresa used a spoon successfully for the first time this week!
Didn't you know that yogurt is great for the skin?