Kaili loves being outdoors and she is fascinated with grass. Shane said when he turned his back for a second she had a mouthful of grass, yum. I captured some shots of her playing outside today, she just looked too cute not to.
Today is the start of the March Photo-a-day challenge. I will post my pictures daily on Facebook and post them here every few days. Let’s see how this goes.
Day 1- UP
Time is flying! I really need to slow things down and savor then next two months. I can not believe that my sweet baby girl will be turning one year old in no time at all.
10 months old, what a great age. Kaili went from slowly starting to crawl to cruising around in a matter of a week, she has gotten fast! She loves to pull herself up on anything she can grab ahold of and likes to cruise the furniture.
She is interested in so many things these days, especially animals. She can shake her booty and wave when you say hi! She is still not a big eater and prefers to eat what we are eating. When I cut up food and put it on her tray she doesn’t show much interest but if I give her some of what I am eating she is all over it. She definitely likes her carbs, potatoes, toast, quesadillas, french toast and she loves any sort of cracker product. She also showed interest in curry, chicken teriyaki, pita with hummus and when I gave her a little dab of whipped cream she clapped. I guess she approved!
Our trip to Europe is approaching faster than any trips in the past ever have. I believe it’s because this time, not only am I super excited for our getaway, I am also going to miss my daughter terribly. Shane and I went into marriage knowing we wanted to continue “our” lives together after we had children and I know that I have two roles, a mother and a wife. To keep our marriage healthy, getting away alone is important and I can’t think of a better way to spend our 6 year anniversary than traveling Europe sans child. We can stay out as late as we want, eat whenever we want and we wont have to plan our day around naps. With that said, I know there will be the days when I wake up sad that I can’t kiss my daughter good morning and I am sure I will be {secretly} counting down the days until we are reunited for a fun Paralympic vacation in London.
Shane and I are so thankful for our parents and my Aunt for their generosity. They will be watching Kaili while we are gone and taking her to London without us. I am a little worried about how the transitions will go from one caretaker to the next. Kaili doesn’t get to see Shane’s folks often and that could make for a little separation anxiety on her part. I decided to make some family photo cards to help her learn who is in our family. I figure if I start showing them to her now, it will be a lot easier when the time comes.{fingers crossed}
To make the cards, all I did was print out pictures of family members, glue them on an index card and then label them with the name of who is in the picture. I took them down to Lakeshore Learning to get them laminated. After I trimmed off the extra lamination I hole punched them and put them on a book ring, Voila!
I wish I had known about this photo challenge thing sooner, you would think with all the blogs I follow one of them would have explained it to me. Alas I came across the idea on Pinterest in February and told myself I would take that March challenge. With only a few days before it begins I wanted to share with all of you and challenge you to do it with me. Here it is.
It’s simple. Each day, starting March 1st, you take a picture of what is listed next to the day, so on day 5 we will take a picture of a smile. It can be a baby’s smile, a dog’s smile, your own smile, you can interpret it however you like. Sounds fun right? It’s just one picture a day so it’s not time consuming. Once you take a picture you can post wherever you want, your blog, Facebook, Twitter ect.
Ready, set…we start Thursday!
We spent a fun Saturday with friends for our latest “dinner” party. However this year with two babies we had it at noon. I made Empanadas that I didn’t like very much and Patatas Bravas that were good because of the Tomato aioli. We also enjoyed ham Croquettes that were very rich and delicious, a spread of spanish hams, cheese and olives. Roasted peppers with a mint goat cheese filling, arroz con leche and of course Sangria.
Kaili was a trooper since she was feeling like crud. Sunday she woke up with a cough that seemed to really hurt because she cried after every one. Her voice was hoarse and she was wheezing a little when she breathed. We gave her a warm bubble bath that she seemed to enjoy .
I was concerned enough that we took her to Urgent Care if for nothing else than piece of mind. It wasn’t anything to concerning, an upper respiratory infection and Croup, although not a bad case of it. She was given a steroid medication and we were sent home and told if she doesn’t seem better in a day or two to take her back to Dr. Hansen.
Today her cough seems looser and the wheezing is gone but she doesn’t feel any better from what I can tell. I don’t think the cough is hurting as much but she is coughing a lot more. Now let’s see if I can avoid catching it. Kaili has rubbed her snot on me countess times, ah the joys of motherhood.
{Thank you Chris for the pictures!}
I have had this recipe bookmarked for what seems for ever now. I guess I was waiting for the Lemongrass Fairy to deliver me some fresh Lemongrass. Sure enough the Fairy, disguised as my mom, brought me some down on her last visit. {Thanks mom}
*This recipe is from Bon Appetit.
These are ridiculously good. I encourage you to make them once the Lemongrass Fairy visits your home.
Enjoy!
Somehow I turned another year older in what seems like no time at all. Last year I celebrated my birthday in the hospital on an IV drip of Magnesium hoping baby K would not make a surprise appearance. This year I spent my birthday at home hoping baby K’s cold wouldn’t get any worse. However this year I was able to drink champagne with my cupcakes and that is pretty much the makings of a happy { birthday}. Thank you to my girlfriend for bringing my these goodies, and thank you to my girlfriends who brought me goodies to the hospital last year. I still can’t believe it’s been a year!
Kaili seems to be feeling a little better today, she has had low-grade fevers and a cough. Although today she seems to be enjoying herself more and she also got to meet a ladybug for the first time.
I bought some boneless beef short ribs at our last run to Costco and was trying to decide whether to braise them with red wine or marinate them Korean style. I chose the latter and they were so very good. This recipe is combination of this recipe and this recipe. I also added some Hoisin sauce because everything is better with Hoisin sauce. Both recipes said to grill the ribs for 3 minutes a side but I found that it was more like 5 minutes for rare. Maybe my grill isn’t as hot as it should be, who knows.
Korean Style Beef Short ribs
1½ lbs Boneless Beef Short Ribs
3 Tbs. Dark Brown Sugar
1/2 cup Soy Sauce
1/4 cup Hoisin sauce
4 tsp Pure Toasted Sesame Oil
3 cloves garlic, diced or pressed
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1 Tsp crushed red pepper
1/2 cup green onions, chopped
Directions
Sprinkle the beef ribs with the brown sugar and let sit at room temperature for 10 min.
Combine the rest of the ingredients in a bowl, whisk to blend well. Pour into Ziploc plastic bag. Add ribs; seal bag. Let the meat marinate at least two hours, turning occasionally.
Prepare barbecue to medium high heat. Drain ribs; discard marinade. Working in batches, grill ribs until browned and cooked to medium-rare, about *3 minutes per side.
These paired nicely with sautéed baby bok Choy. Enjoy!
* 3 minutes may not be long enough.
Last year at this time I was just given the green light to be off bed rest. Shane took me to the Apple store and bought me the best Valentine’s Day gift, my MacBook Air. This year, he is working in Ventura and I am spending the most romantic day of the year at home with the babe. So to be festive I took some fun Valentine pictures of Kaili. [Inspiration came from Pinterest, where else?]
A friend from my Meetup group had us moms over to make Valentines crafts with the kiddos. I am so mad that I didn’t take any pictures of the craft making fun in action but I have the end results. She had paint, brushes, poster board and craft paper with the idea of making hand or foot print pictures for family. [I think she has Pinterest to thank for the inspiration too] I have to say I do miss all the creative activities I used to do everyday in the classroom, so this was fun! {for me.} Kaili had fun playing in the grass while mommy did her crafts.
The Art of Thyming 