Bless you, Mama! Bless you!!

The stirring of the leaves this fall has stirred up quite a few thoughts and dreams. A professor that I work with at BSU just lost her mommy. It was quick and sudden. They spoke daily though they live states apart. My good friend just lost her grandmother. My best friend that just gave birth to her second a month ago was out with both kids playing at the park just three weeks after labor. My sister, God bless her as she enters the teenage years, is sticking to her guns in a cell phone battle with my nephew. My mommy will be travelling hell or highwater to get here for Lily Mae's birthday and Thanksgiving. And I just changed the battery in my car.
Wonderful Women, Powerful and Strong.
I am proud to be among these women and so many more. I remember a moment of oneness after 12 hours of labor 2 years ago (November 21st!). It was a oneness with the Earth, with Our Creator, with the natural order of things. I knew for that moment I was doing exactly what I was put here to do. I am reminded of this daily as my daughter smiles at me for no reason, pats me on the back, and gives me the tightest hugs an almost 2 year old can give. It rings true everytime we stroll through Winco and she shouts " Bless you Mama! Bless you!!" just to hear her echo.
We are mothers, we are creators, we are life, we are love.
Thank you, Mommies!!! You are all beautiful women!!!

Fall in Boise

Happy Fall!!! I can't believe I haven't written since July. Lily and I have put the garden to bed for the Fall. We ended up with over 20 pumpkins! I can't believe it! Unfortunately, the apple trees did not produce any edible fruit. Out of the myriad of fruits and veggies that we planted we ended up with pumpkins, broccoli, cucumbers, peas, beans, spinach, cilantro, and cantaloupe. We had so much fun and learned A LOT! Wow! I felt like the Retarded Gardener most of the time, but now I know a ton and can share if anyone needs assistance with their gardens. Here is a tip: Pumpkins are beautiful, but they are also the monsters that will vine and weave through anything and everything that you plant them near. I also understand planter beds now. Good times!


We are still in Boise with no idea about the future. This has been the running theme in 2009. I found peace while we were in Wisconsin in August. Maybe it was the remote location we were in, or the family we were with, or kickball, but whatever it was, I came home feeling a calm about our situation with the jobs/$$$ crisis that we are in. So THANK YOU, Sconnie!!! You have done wonders for the Boise Stauffers!!!


Joshy and Kim were married in Cali at the end of August. Lily was one of three flower girls and she did an amazing job! The wedding was beautiful as is our new sister in law! They are so in love~ and just truly like each other. What a blessing Kim is to our family. We love them!!

I feel that God is moving me down a new path and I have spent the last few months praying, planning, and praying some more. I am going to open a daycare in our home. This is a family tradition of sorts as my Auntie Katherine and my mom have both done this. I have tremendous support from my wonderful hubby and my family. I have slowly started the licensing process and am ceritfied in First Aid and will be ceritified in Child, Infant, and Adult CPR and first aid! This will be a strange transtion and I am not sure how it all will work, but I have faith that this is what I am being led to do right now. I am in touch with my inner Noah~ I will build the arc and God will lead the animals here! I am also in touch with my inner Kevin Costner. I will build it and they will come.

We are still waiting on word from Journal as to Pete's fate. Stand by, we have several bottles of champagne on ice to pop as soon as we learn what the corporate level decision will be. We don't even care what it is, we just want to know SOMETHING!!!!

Thank you all for a wonderful summer! Fall is upon us and we are preparing for hibernation mode. How much fun is fall? I am in love with the seasons~ I am in love with our home~ And I am absolutely in LOVE with my Hubby and our nearly 2 year old monkey!!
We are enjoying the fruits of our last harvest of the year. YUMMY!!!

Who wants to go to South Beach with me??

When I was pregnant with Lily, my body developed gestational diabetes. Fun! I had been dealing with morning sickness for the first 5 months and the only thing I could keep down were some of my delicious brownies on steroids (TONS OF CHOCOLATE CHIPS!!!). This was my first experience with eating RIGHT, not just eating whatever I craved. I was able to lose the baby weight and more within 3 weeks of Lily's birth. Nursing played a vital role. I quit nursing at 14 months (Lily gave it up, without consulting me or my body first!) I continued to eat like I did when I was 21. It caught up to me!! So there you go, everyone whoever said "One day it is going to catch up with you".
2 weeks ago, I began to South Beach-ish. I am still eating eggs, not egg substitute, I am probably overdoing it with some seasoning, but for the most part, I can tell that I feel better. This was never more apparent than last Monday. I decided to splurge and have 1 oreo. 1 turned into 8. Since I had blown it already, I had a piece of bread with peanut butter~ uh-oh!! I felt like garbage for the rest of the day. Your body really can learn to live without processed flour and sugar. Who knew?? Here is a favorite dish of ours right now: (stolen and altered from my girl Rachel Ray)
Chicken with Peppers, Green Beans, and Rice:
2-3 Boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into cubes (or chunks, but that sounds gross)
Rice, white or brown
green beans,( I use canned as it is quicker and cuts down on the cooking time)
1 red pepper, cut into thin strips.
1-2 Tbsp. of veggie oil.

Cook the chicken in the veggie oil. Once it is browned, add the red pepper and toss for about 3 minutes. Add the drained green beans. Toss and cook together for several minutes.

Sauce:
3 Tbsp.of soy sauce
3 Tbsp. of honey (this destroys the South Beachiness, but TOTALLY worth it!)
1 Tbsp of dijon mustard
1 Tbsp of tabasco sauce
Whisk all of this together, pour over chicken/veggie mixture.

Pour the chicken veggie mixture over rice. Sprinkle with chopped almonds.

Pete LOVES this dish. It is delicious and filling. Eat it with or without rice. Either way, it is amazing and doesn't leave you feeling yucky and carbo loaded!!

August on the horizon

Hi there, all!! July has flown by. It seems like just last week we were looking forward to heading to Tahoe for the 4th and now it is nearly time for the annual Klug/Stauffer vacation and Josh and Kim's wedding!!! Lily is 20 months old and is chatting up a storm. This girl LOVES to dance!! She has her mommy's white girl rhythm, but she doesn't care. The garden exploded while we were gone over the July holiday and we have been enjoying the fruits (or veggies!) of our labor.

Pete and Joe won the Idaho State Broadcasters Association (ISBA) award for Best Morning Show for the 2nd year in a row! Whoo Hoo!! Ironic, since they were moved to afternoons several months back. We will be heading to Sun Valley, Idaho next weekend August 1st for the awards banquet. This is also going to give us the much needed opportunity to be ALONE! What? I know, if we have learned anything in the last 20 months, it is that "Pete & Meems time" is a rare luxury these days. It seems that we are always busy with work, church, friends, LILY, and a myriad of other day to day routines, that our time as a couple is in short supply. It is hard to find time, to make time. It is IMPERATIVE that we do, however. Our marriage is the engine that is leading this crazy train of our life. We need fuel to keep the train on the track!
I have found it quite challenging to hand Lily off to anyone for care. I am very much a mother bear. I didn't know I had that in me. Pete claims to have witnessed the transition in the delivery room. Nature is a mysterious thing! Our dear friends, the Sobolewski's will be staying with Lily for the night that we are away. They have been so understanding of my wacky, freaky new mom idiosyncracies since Lily Mae hatched. For them, we are eternally grateful!!!
Over the summer, we have experienced much of what Boise has to offer to the kids in this community. It is a wonderful place to have kids!! Lily has really proven herself to be a fearless child and that FREAKS ME OUT!!! We were at the Splash Pad at Settlers park in Meridian with the Zimps the other day. Lily Mae was in heaven. She was all over the place. There were about 50 kids there, and our monkey was the ONLY kid that had to have her bach (milk) with her everywhere she went!

We also visitied Rafiki, an indoor play area for kids one afternoon with Heather and Chloe Bender. This place is a dream! They have a coffe bar for mom's and the play area is secured with a gate. Who dreamed this up?? All the mom's in all the world!!




We will be in Wisconsin before we know it. Pray for the plane ride! Not sure what we are going to do to keep Lily entertained AND in place for the 2.5 hour ride. Should be interesting. Thanks for reading and sharing in our lives!!

Tori's Wedding in Tahoe

I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer!!!
We just returned froma fabulous trip with the Nalywaiko's! Cousin Tori married the love of her life on the 4th of July on King's Beach in Lake Tahoe. What a beautiful location! Nanny and Poppy had a beautiful cabin that they shared with us, the Franco's, and Joshy and Kimmy (Nalywaiko!!)


Lily was a peach as always. The drive was long, but she did pretty well. We have decided that driving at night is best for her! We will be making the trek again at the end of August for Josh and Kim's wedding. We may need to make a stop in the Reno/Sparks area for a night if anyone wants us!! (hint, hint J Nalywaiko's!)
We made some new friends, got reacquainted with old ones, solidified bonds with our family and all is well!! Our next trip is in August~ Sconnie from the 7th-18th! Looking forward to seeing everyone for the annual family vacation!!

What vacation??

Good day! I am writing this as I sit here recovering from a Mommy fueled breakdown yesterday. I know we have all had them.... the days where everything is wrong and there are no solutions in sight. The days where you feel pulled in 97 directions and not one of them is anywhere you WANT to go. The days where you are running to and fro and your toddler is screaming at you and you are miles away from home when your daughter yells "BACH!!!!!" from the back seat.
With work, vacation plans, and our future all up in the air~ I am OUT OF CONTROL~ and not in a crazy way ( although my family would beg to differ!) I am not in control of anything right now. It is time once again to let God work in our lives and to be patient. I am not a good candidate for this lesson, which is why I am constantly presented with it. All we can do is work through today and to make it as fun and enjoyable as possible. I have always thought that I am more FUN than STRESS, but lately the balance is off.
We will press on~ Have faith~ and trust that somehow this will all work out for everyones benefit! AMEN!!!!

Holy Buckets!!

I haven't posted anything in a while. It looks to be time~ So....What have the Stauffer's Idaho been up to? Well, in a word, LOTS! It looks like I forgot to post about Vegas or the fact that I am now 30, or that Lily is 18 months now, or that Pete has some new responsibilities at work, or that we have muey vacacionoes coming up this summer~ Holy cow, Let's get started!!
First~ The garden is growing!! Whoo Hoo, who knew I had it in me to actually get this done? Well, like everything I approach, it is kind of a fervent rush to get going, then I get a little OCD about whatever it is (see: biting my nails, I got mad and stopped after 30 years 2 months ago. This garden is no different and has proven to be quite a task. Check us out: Here is a list of what we have going on, and yes, we may not have room for the big stuff, but that will be fun to see, won't it?!
Lily Mae's Garden:
Peas
Cucumbers
Broccoli
Spinach
Cantaloupe
Watermelon
Eggplant
Carrrots
Green Beans
+ The infamous apple trees, basil, parsley, cilantro, and lavender.
We've also started our composter~So interesting and fun! I am jazzed Lily is learning about gardening now. She really seems to love it!! She is quite the big help when she isn't smashing the peas into the ground with her hoe!!
Vegas was amazing! I am 30!! Not the crisis I was anticipating so that was nice. We had a ball with Tom, Jess, Heidi, and Corey. Could there be a group more fun? We lounged and partied for 4.5 days. Thank you, Nanny and Poppy for hanging with Lily so we could take a much needed vacation!! So much fun!
The job front: Pete had a meeting of the minds with the powers that be and has taken on some new duties that may or may not lead to a program director position. We are still in a state of flux as far as our future, but aren't we all to some degree? The state of Idaho has also decided to cut benefits for part-time employees so this leaves us in a curious position: Do I work full-time and get full benefits? Do I work part-time and have an entire check go toward benefits? Do we want to mess with daycare? My answer for now is NO! After much angst about these decisions, the truth is I am not ready to have Lily in daycare for 8 or more hours a day. When she is in school, I am sure I will feel differently, but she is still lots of fun and we get a lot done in the afternoons. The benefit cut begins in November, so we still have some time. We don't know what God has planned for us come 2010, so stand by! At least we have some more information to work with now and my anxiety over my lack of control has subsided somewhat.
Summer Vacation:
July 2-5 Tahoe for Cousin Tori's wedding!
July 5-10(?)Nanny, Poppy, and Dylan come to Idaho for a visit!
August 7-18 Sconnie trip including a trip to the AlKlugholic Olympics and St. Germain with the ENTIRE CLAN!!
August 26-September 1 California for Joshy and Kim's wedding! They are precious!!
So it is fixing to be a busy summer yet again but let's all take a moment to be thankful that Lily weened herself at 14 months so we are all free to enjoy ourselves in the coming months!!
Lily Update:


Our new pastor and his family moved to Idaho from Nebraska 3 months ago. We have been blessed to have the Zimpelmann's as friends! Lily loves Lilianne and Michael and they seem to have a ball with her too! It is wonderful to see her interact with other kids. She is very loving and thinks kids are #1. She will hug anyone that is around her size and loves to give everyone a pat on the back. I like to think that she is saying "Good job, Mom!" when I get one ;) We went swimming with Ian and Rachel a few weeks ago and learned that Lily Mae is no stranger to water. This girl was all about it, so we start swimming lessons at the Y today. We have too many water related vacations coming up and I am afraid! We went to the Zoo for the first time last week to the annual Zoo Boise Ice Cream social. It was a blustery day but we made the most of it with Gina, Michael, and Big Lily!
Lily learned to say "No" on Sunday. It is pretty hysterical as are her I WANT TO BE 2Tantrums. This girl is BUSY!!! And somewhat exhausting! We love her!!! And I want to throw in 1 more "I swear this is Philly Mae Spector" Pic: She woke up from a nap last week just like this!!! Out of control hair!!!
We are soo excited to see everyone this summer~ And it looks like we really do get to see EVERYONE!!! Thank you all for blessing our lives with your friendship and love!!! I will post some quick new recipes shortly!

Daddy Packed Snack Bags

As most of you know by now, Pete is now the co-host of the J105 AFTER AFTER Morning Show. With this, our schedule has also changed. It wasn't long ago that we were working out the kinks in our new schedule when Lily and I had wild afternoon plans. Pete dropped her off with me at Boise State at 11:30. We were both rather rushed. He got Lily out of the car, handed me her bach (1 year old translation: Milk), and a snack bag. This is Pete's own special Daddy Packed Snack Bag!!
Cookies and all!
Who loves Daddy the most? This girl!!!
They are practicing their dance for all the weddings we have this year. Its like Dancing With The Stars every night in the kitchen!

Recipe of the Month(??)

Chocolate Texas Sheet Cake ~ Yummm Yummmm delicious! I was introduced to this fabulously ooey gooey masterpiece by a friend at work. She went on and on about how it was better than brownies, and me being quite the brownie connoisseur, JUST HAD to try it out. You know what? I'd eat this cake then a whole pan of brownies all in one sitting!!

Texas Sheet Cake:
Preheat Oven to 400 degrees ; Prep cookie sheet/bar pan
Boil Together:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup Crisco shortening
4 TBSP. cocoa powder
1 cup water

While this is all boiling together:

Mix Together:
2 cups sugar
2 cups flour

Pour the boiled butter mix over the flour/sugar blend.
Add:
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla

Mix then pour onto cookie sheet. Bake 18-20 minutes.

Icing:
Melt together on low heat:
1/2 cup butter
6 TBSP milk
4 TBSP cocoa
2 cups powdered sugar

Let cake cool for just a few minutes then pour warm icing over cake.
It should look very gooey~WAIT until it cools a bit before taking a bite!! I did not and suffered the repercussions of such a stupid act.

The season finale of ER

Wednesday April 15~Lily's first ER visit. The day started out normal enough. While I was getting ready for work I heard some whining coming from Lily's room. It was about 6:45 am. Do I go in? Do I go to work? Pete can get her back to sleep. I go to work. All the while, my mommy gut is telling me something is not quite right. Lily hadn't had a "movement" in the nether regions for about 2 days. Pretty rare for her. Daddy calls me at work around 10:45am. Something is wrong. Lily has been crying all day. Nothing is working. She won't eat or drink. The poor kid needs to go to the bathroom. I get home as soon as I can. Not sure what that will do, but we are always able to come up with a plan when we are together. Lily is warm, naked and warm. She is sleeping??? This baby doesn't EVER sleep!! Unless its dark and she is sure all the parties are over. Strange.
I had to go to my Dr. for a procedure that I had been having tremendous amounts of anxiety about for a few months. I couldn't postpone this any longer. I had to take Lily to Auntie Grandma Myrna for the afternoon. We run to Walgreens. I pump her full of prunes, prune juice (she is not a fan!) and a few baby laxative drops. This should work. I let Myrna know what may happen, hoping that it won't until I get back. It did of course! I get to Myrna's after my appointment and Lily is all smiles, still somewhat lethargic, but smiling for the first time all day. We are all triumphant, "Lily Mae has returned!!" Then she gets her gigi and her brown bear and falls asleep right in the middle of Myrna's living room while we are chatting. This is not right.
We go home, she falls asleep in my lap. She is HOT now. Daddy gets home. Lily throws up. We do what we can to keep her hydrated. She throws up again. I try water. She seems to NEED it desperataly. She throws up AGAIN. She is on fire. We can't get a temperature read. One quick call to Nanny to see if she has any miracle cures and she tells us what we have known for a few hours. We need to get her to the Dr. ASAP!!!
We do, she is admitted. Her fever is 104.4 degrees. We did all we could to keep her calm as she is being poked and prodded. They give her an anti-nausea pill that disolves in her mouth, tylenol and motrin~ She falls asleep. Poor baby is exhausted. Her fever breaks around 1:00am. We get home and pass out. This day sucked for everyone!!!
*My procedure went well. Not as painful as I had anticipated. Had to have some pre-cancerous cells removed. This should bode well for the future. We will see!\
*I learned that Guy Fieri from Food Network was in Boise last month. Watch Diners. Drive-Ins, and Dives on May 11 to see Westside Drive Inn~ My favorite Burger place in Boise!!
* Lily woke this morning cool as a cucumber and chatty. Thank God!! She is very sleepy from this fiasco, but she is well and that is the greatest blessing of all!!
*A HUGE Thank you to Dick and Myrna for watching Lily while she was feeling yucky. We couldn't have made it through the day without you both!!!

Save the Trees!!!

Spring is upon us! Sunday - Tuesday in Boise was just about as gorgeous as it gets here, which is saying plenty as it is a beautiful place in which we live. We had a storm yesterday and today the sun is out again. YAY!!! Winter has been the guest that has waay overstayed its welcome.
Lily and I are becoming gardeners this year. We started a while back on a suddenly sunny day. We have been blessed with 2 very mature apple trees in our backyard. The sad thing is that no one has taken care of them in quite sometime. It is our goal this year to rescue them!


Monday, I began the task during nap time. This is the advantage to having afternoons off now! This is where I am currently at:


Here are some questions I have as we are doing this on a budget of $0.00~
1. What to do with a ton of dirt and weeds, I call them leftovers. Where do they go? Who wants a bunch of dirt and weeds??
2. How big will my muscles get by manually tilling the soil? I feel pretty buff already!
3. Does anyone have a chain saw we could borrow?

Other than this job, things are great! I had a Bunco party at the house last Saturday. We had plenty of wine and food. My advice: When having a party, make it an appretizer function. Who doesn't LOVE appetizers? Fun times!

Winners Table :)

The Losers Table :(

Pete got home in time to play one last game with us! Guess who has a new favorite game!! Good thing his evening consisted of hosting a casino night, so a house full of ladies was just what he needed when he got home!


I will post a new recipe for Texas Sheet Cake. It is too die for~

Dropping the ball

in Boise. We have had all sorts of weather today. Which brings me to a point, I have seriously dropped the ball on this whole blogging thing. I was super excited, but then life happened. Things got out of hand fast in March. We learned shortly after my last post that the Pete and Joe show was to be moved to afternoons. This put quite a damper on the schedule we had worked out with me and Lil in the a.m. and daddy and Lil in the afternoons. Our childcare situation was quickly helped by my glorious bosses. I met with them and they quickly let me know that my schedule could be as flexible as needed. WHAT A BLESSING!! Lily and Pete have the morning shift now, and Lily and I have all afternoon to play! This is not to say that there haven't been many bumps, but our immediate fears of having to put Lily in daycare were to put rest. We figure we can work out any future problems as they present themselves.
Lily and I took a quick trip to California, as it is/was(?) March Madness and daddy is more than entertained without us! Good times~ We got to see EVERYONE!! Almost ;)
Busy, busy, busy. Flying with a 16month old alone is not recommended, but we worked it out.
We learned upon our arrival that Bab's (Babaka, Babushka) had broken her hip and needed surgery. She made it through just fine, but this put a snafu in our return plans. Nanny and Poppy had planned to drive us home, but Nanny flew with Lily and I instead. I had to leave far too much wine at Nanny and Poppy's house ;( Wine that we desparately needed on the flight home!! They will be up in May to stay with Lily for a few days so Pete and I can go par-tay in Vega$ for my 30th!!!So scary, but I am not freaking out nearly as bad as I did at 25.
Lily had her 15 month appointment ( a little late. She was 16 months on March 21st!)
She is tall for her age. Her head is more of a normal size (whew!) she is now in the 95%. Her head had been at an even 100% for the first year of her life. Don't laugh! She'll hate us for years for sharing this! She is super chatty and is on the verge of turning 2, if you catch my drift. Granted , we have had a quite a bit going on, but come on, kid! She no longer goes to sleep like a princess. There is more of a struggle to eat and go to sleep. She is the master of stalling now. Holy moly, is this my kid or what??!!
Her hair is out of control~ Her new name is Philly Mae Spector.


Happy Spring to all! I say this on a super blustery day

Recipe of the week #1

I am going to start a "Recipe of the Week". I spend so much time in my kitchen and the only benefit my family of three gets is extra chub. I figure by sharing some of the recipes I steal and/or create I will at least have shared some of the wealth! For the last 15.5 months it has become imperative that I make meals that are quick and can last a day or two. My favorite thing right now is Rachel Ray's EVERDAY magazine. While I am not a fan of her talk show, I am a huge fan of 30 minute meals!! Her magazine is just an extension of that, every page has a recipe and they are EZ!!! Thanks, Mama, for your year supply ;) We should be good for a few more months!

Today, I am going to post my recipe for BBQ chicken pizza with Bacon~ So yummy~and better the second day for those of you with access to your own counter top pizza oven~I married into mine and it is very handy. One thing to note here: This is super easy when you have parmesan chicken left from the night before. I will include that recipe later. For this instance, let's just say you have 2 leftover breasts~

BBQ Chicken Pizza with Bacon~
Refridgerated pizza dough (Pillsbury)
2 Cooked Chicken Breasts (breaded if you want!)
4 Slices of cooked bacon
Mozzarella cheese grated
Bottled BBQ sauce
Jarred Pizza sauce
Seasoning
Worchestire (??) sauce (I hate this word!)


1. Brush a cookie sheet with olive oil. I use my pampered chef large stoneware bar pan. Lay dough out on cookie sheet, bake at 425 degrees for 8-9 minutes.
2. Chop the chicken into bite sized pieces.
3. In a bowl, combine the pizza sauce, some BBQ sauce, a few dashes of Worchestire sauce, and some seasoning I use italian and some Pappy's garlic and herb.
4. Spread some of the sauce on the crust.
5. Toss the chicken in the remaining sauce. Spread the chicken on the crust.
6. Sprinkle the crust with the cheese.
7. Chop the bacon into bits and sprinkle all over the pizza.
8. Lower the temp of the oven to about 375 degrees and cook the pizza for 12-15 minutes.

Tweak the recipe as much as you like ~ Let me know how you much you love this!

One more thing~

I should be doing laundry or, godforbid, SLEEPING!!! It is super early, but I can't sleep. I want to share this hysterical picture of Lily and hideous picture of me. Not to be posted on facebook!!!! We were taking silly pictures the other morning and this is what happened. NOTE: IT WAS MORNING~ NO MAKE UP AND SEXY IDAHO WINTER SKIN!!!!

Good times!

Bedtime!

From this~

I am just amazed every single night in this house! For the last 15 months, bedtime has become quite the ritual. Of course the routine varies from stage to stage, it never loses its luster. When Lily and I were both new to this world of Mommy/Babyhood, I would look forward to the wee hours of the evening so I could nurse and rock, dozing off every once in while, looking into the face of my gorgeous angel wondering how in the world I could be so lucky. I would take her to bed with me so I could feel her breathing and have the added luxury of feeding her right there when she would stir. It was a wondrous time~

Things sure have changed!! Lily weened herself just at 14 months. I was not as ready as she was, that is for sure! The very next night she collected her gigi* and her brown bear, took me by the hand, led me into her room, stood at her CD player, then walked over to the rocking chair. What? How did I get this girl trained so fast? We watch Supernanny sometimes and wonder why those parents are having such problems with their children. If I've learned anything from that show, it is all about routine. We have that down!!

I put Lily to bed last night with a bottle of milk. It takes all of 3 minutes now. She points behind her head to her bed. I put her down after a song and BIG SLOPPY KISSES, she says "bear" (okay, it is more like "beh", but you get it!) and makes a pillow out of him. She gets cozy and says "Na Na, Ba Ba" with a vigorous wave. I laugh and laugh and say "Night Night" until the door is just shut and laugh all the way down the hall.

*gigi is sconnie for blankie*

To This!!!

1st Post Ever

Well, it is about time! Though we have a facebook account and various e-mail accounts, I have decided it is high time that I start blogging. With Lily Mae changing and growing and learning more every minute, I lose track of what she has learned and when. I hope to organize my thoughts and my family this way and at least keep track of our weeks and months!! As of today, Lily is 15 months and 10 days. She is quite the gossip girl although we don't know what she is saying. I imagine she is quite the trash talker since she mumbles then laughs, then yells and giggles. It is the funniest thing ever! She is running, has learned to put herself to bed, and is a full fledged cow's milk drinker. She loves playing with her Daddy. He says she has quite the throwing arm~Not quite the girly girl, but I wouldn't have it any other way! There is nothing timid about Lily Mae and that is the way it should stay!!