Impromptu Dinner Party

So, per my usual I made up some errands to run and went to Whole Foods to pick up some stuff for me and Ben to have for din. I picked up a small wedge of Brillat-Savarin Cheese and some pate and a baguette. I also grabbed some fresh ricotta and sage to try to recreate this recipe I saw in some magazine the other day. My plan was to hit Whole Foods and then Starbucks but I decided to stop in the wine store that's between them and picked up a Spanish cava sparkling wine. Got my coffee and was off home again.

When I got home I called Nadia who already had plans with Rob and Anny. We decided to consolidate and have them all over for dinner. So my dinner for two turned into dinner for six. It was good though and we were able to pull it off. I added some cheddar to the triple cream, some olives and a little pepperoni. I had some strawberries and nuts too.

The pasta was good. I don't know where I read it but I think that the fresh ricotta did make all the difference. We ended the night with a little cheesecake I had in the fridge from Trader Joe's. All in all I think it was a success for being kind of fly by the seat of your pants. Then again, I think I might work better that way... not enough time to build up anxiety.

I enjoy entertaining. I love this house and I think that it has a lot of potential for being a home for entertaining. It's just a matter of getting people to come up to Baltimore for dinner. Chase had a good time and loved all the attention... for the 45 minutes that she was up before her bedtime.

Looking forward to doing it again soon.

Sweet Raspberries

Claudia, Oh, Claudia!

Good Mommy, took what like 7, 8 shots today of Chase in the Bumbo so here they are. I was going to slap em all on one page myself but thought what's the point.... you do it!

Here's the framed original artwork, (sorry about the flash) now to get ben to hang it for me.

Some Pictures to Go With That Story

Bring on summer

Fie, the paparazzi again!

Check out those kicks

Good News, The Mall Has a Pharmacy

It's good news because I decided that if the mall has a pharmacy and you need to stop in it, then your trip to the mall counts as a) exercise AND b) errands. But before we got to the mall we

1) Stopped at Staples to drop off a UPS package. I come out of the store, push my cart into the back of the last cart in the row and prepare to walk away when I notice the cart at the front of the row has somehow dislodged itself. I then look on in horror as the cart picks up momentum, jumps the curb, and continues down into the parking lot. I'm seriously thinking about whether I'm going to have to try to stop this cart from hitting some body's car with the car seat in tow. Does it slow down? No, of course not. The cart keeps building up speed as it hurtles across the parking lot. It was ok though I was finally able to ascertain that it was going to crash into a dumpster and not a car and kept on going.

2) At the mall, I redeemed my Gymbucks. I wasn't brave enough to make it to the smash and grab sale last week but the coupon wasn't limited to stuff on sale anyway. I bought her some cute stuff in the next size up for summer. Presumably she'll be wearing the next size up by then. Even though the coupon was for 25 off your purchase of 50 or more and I thought I was careful about what I was buying, I somehow managed to spend 50 anyway. I think it was the sunglasses that threw me over. But come on, a girl needs sun glasses. Ben looked at me the other day as I was showing him something I picked up and he narrowed his eyes and said oh, that's terrible, you wanted a girl all along from the very beginning didn't you? He doesn't understand that there's a whole constellation of dresses out there ripe for the wearin'.

3) Nordstrom keeps the Robeez right at the entrance of the lounge area and I'm sure that it's no accident. I looked at them before she was born and every time I go in there since. Finally I caved and bought her shoes. I thought for sure I wanted the Robeez and it was just a matter of picking the style but these Pedipeds are so freakin cute! I can't stand it. I would have bought them for myself if I could have.

4) If there's no medical reason to take cough syrup by liquid rather than by capsule... why the hell do people do it? Dayquil tastes like it could strip paint it's just ridiculous.

5) Went to Michael's bought a sheet of mat board to finally frame the artwork Danielle had drawn for Chase. It's a windy day... do you know what happens to a sheet of mat board on a windy day? That's right folks, it turns into a giant sail :) AND as a bonus it's exactly the size of my trunk. Fun :)

Sick Sick Sick

Uuugggghhh. I'm dying and my baby still needs to eat, be changed, and played with. Now I can see the appeal of formula. Ben could do everything and I could stay in bed all day.

So Far So Good

So Chase is continuing to sleep six hours a night. I'm so glad that it wasn't just a one time thing. I'm also amazed by how things can change so rapidly from day to day with no warning. She is changing so much. She's sleeping more, and eating less frequently, now when she wakes up from naps she sometimes just sits and chills and looks around. That's something else she does a lot more of. She now swings her head vigorously from side to side and mouths her hands all the time. At night when it's time to go to bed she lies on the changing table while I put her jams on and coos and smiles. I don't know what I would do without the changing table. It makes clothing and diapering her so much easier. Here are some pics of our baby girl.

Everyone loves a boppy

Wait, she can't talk.. she can't say "get away Mike"? Really?!

Oh, Mike!

The Perfect Weekend

Today was a beautiful day! Isn't it amazing how inspiring the right kind of weather can be? I felt like I had enough energy to do all of the projects on my to do list. How come it doesn't last when the weather starts to be nice everyday though?

So we made a punch list of things we needed to do to finish up the theater room and went to Hope Depot for supplies. Lo and behold we bought what we needed and now with a few minor exceptions the project is almost done.

Well wait, let me go back and start from the beginning. Friday we started out by going to the library for Mother Goose on the Loose for singing and all that jazz. We left there to pick up the travel swing I found online. Whenever I get around to putting together my list of essentials I'll put on there having a swing or bouncer on every floor so you always have somewhere to put baby in a pinch. So I get to the lady's house and she's like oh you know, could you use a bouncy seat? I was like I already have one but she went on and on about how her kids loved it and even though it doesn't vibrate anymore they still loved to look at the fish and stuff and on and on so I relented. Of all the thousands of dollars of baby gear that we have what do you think she likes the most? The free bouncy seat that doesn't vibrate anymore. It turns out that as far as bouncy seats go the one we have is very stiff this one (I think it's an ocean wonders one or something like that) is like a glorified coat hanger. So when she kicks her legs it bounces vigorously. Our other one doesn't do that. Anyway we must have done something after that but I can't remember now.

At any rate, back to Saturday. So we went to Hope Depot and got the rest of the carpet tiles and another gallon of paint and miracle of miracles the theater is done! Well, ok, with the exception of some finish work but it's so much more comfortable than it was before. I love it! If only we could get down there to watch a movie. We watched Little Miss Sunshine and Stranger Than Fiction this weekend but neither on the big screen. Both were great movies. I love Toni Collette. We took the dogs to the park too, they loved that. Best of all, Chase slept 6 hours straight last night. She never even woke up and needed soothing. Of course I didn't get to bed til 1 so I still only got 2 hours. I never learn. I think we'll settle on between 8 and 9 as a suitable bedtime.

Today we took it easy, we got a slow start and lazed around in bed for a while. Eventually we got ourselves together (me and Chase that is) and went to the mall for a while and then to Trader Joe's. It was so nice out today it's unbelievable. Best of all for Sunday... we didn't go to Costco! I was feeling a little bit like a slave to wholesale pricing. :)

I Heart Mommy

This one's for you Erin...

It's a Sickness...

The digital camera is a problem for me... here are the latest snaps. I have trouble picking from the thousands of shots I have that are essentially exactly the same.

I have to try to get her in the pink trench again.. it has so much potential!

All of the captions I can think of for these are pretty cheesy. Any thoughts? And of course, thank you for all of the wonderful gifts!

Pics

In Other News...

Things have been busy. Saturday Sarah, Erin, and I hit Iota club and cafe to catch a show. It was the first time I left Chase with Ben for such a long stretch of time and it was the first time that I'd seen my ex-boyfriend-guitar playing-band member in 10 years. Needless to say I had a little anxiety. It was a blast though and I'm so glad that we went.

Less excitingly (well for you not for me) is that nursing bras were on clearance at Target this weekend. I have a good sized stash now. I realized that I was in trouble when I started having pain under my shoulder blade again. I now realize that this is from wearing bras with pitifully little support. My back is happily much better now.

Saturday night and Sunday night Chase slept through her first feeding straight til 4 o'clock. Hooray! Of course I still went to bed at 1 so it's not like it makes much of a difference but hey, if one day I start going to bed at a reasonable hour I might get some rest!

I've been warned about the evils of petroleum based products as well as mineral oil that is the basis for baby oil. Since Chase still has some dandruff the ped. suggested a regimen of head and shoulders and baby oil. So I bought this Burt's Bees Baby Bees Baby Oil. It's made with apricot kernel oil as the base and man does it ever smell good... as if I wasn't ready to gobble her up already. I know I could have just used olive oil bus seriously I didn't want teenie to have at her delicious head.

So it looks like if you only publish once a week you can easily start to ramble. Let me cut this short while she's napping and upload some pics for later.

R.I.P. Paddy :(

It was so sad, but he died peacefully of old age, I guess that's the best you can hope for.