13 months

I can't believe I let this one slip by. My beautiful girl is 13 months. She weighs about 22 pounds, walks everywhere and is the BIGGEST goof ball EVER. She likes to laugh, pretend she is talking on the phone and lately she puts a kitchen towel over her head and tries to walk around. I don't love that one but she thinks it's hilarious.
She is breaking four molars at once so there are a lot of whiny moments and lots of needing to be held. I hate that she is in pain and I want to hold her whenever she wants me to because I want her to feel better. When I do finally put her down she instantly falls to the ground with wails and sobs; DRAMA! It doesn't generally last long, especially when she realizes that it isn't getting her anywhere. She knows and says more words everyday. She loves to point out dogs and her nose and we've spent a lot of time talking about what sounds animals make; she tries to mimic me and she does pretty good.
The weather is finally getting better so we can walk after dinner and take trips to the park for turns on the swing.
We are having fun!
On Saturday I finally brought her into the pool with me at the gym. She LOVED it. She was a little weary at first but warmed up quickly. The hardest part was getting us both showered and dressed. I'm sure that will get easier with practice.

xo
S&C
(I wrote this a few days ago and have been waiting to put a pic with it... might as well wait forever!)

Mother's Day

What a great day! At the very beginning of the day I got a gift that I didn't ask for and didn't even know I wanted or needed.... we slept until 8am! What a difference those last few hours make. I had to get up at 5:30 to feed Calli but she fell back asleep right away and cuddled with me until 8. Loved it.
Hubby and baby girl took me out to eat at our fave neighborhood spot and then we went to the park for swings, slides and a peek at the waterfall.
I also got to spend some time with my own wonderful mother for some retail therapy and a quick dinner with my sister and her family.
What more could a gal ask for... oh yeah... flowers, chocolate and a special steak dinner! Yup. On top of all that it was the first GORGEOUS day of the year. Wonderful.

Meal Planning

Lately this has been the most difficult thing in my house. Calli is getting bigger and eating the same kinds of food that we eat but I can’t seem to get it together to make one meal that we all eat. Some of the difficulty comes from the fact that we all come home at such different times. Calli gets home at 3:30 and isn’t generally ready to eat until 5:30ish; it all depends on if she needs a cat nap. Hubby gets home somewhere around there and is usually ready to eat around 5:30ish; usually depends on if he needs a snack before that. I get home anywhere between 3:30 and 5:30 depending on if I am doing the pick-up that day and if I have class or an evening event and I can eat whenever.

There is the problem right there… they are all ready to eat the minute I get home and at this moment in time and I don’t have a plan in place; so what happens is that I scrape something together for Calli to eat and hubby will either already have eaten some leftovers or will make something else for us to eat (Calli usually doesn’t eat it because she will already have needed to eat or it is too spicy for her). THIS NEEDS TO CHANGE. When I have time and my sh*t together I usually make some bigger meals on Sunday or will roast lots of veggies and have them available to fill out any meal during the week. As of late (because of class, shooting weddings, baby’s birthday, Easter and other various obligations) I have not had any weekend time to prep and have resorted to eating popcorn or my favorite tortilla chips with melted cheese for dinner.

I have some ideas on how to do it but I don’t quite know how to get started and to sustain it. My dream is to have a dinner plan for the whole week that we stick to so that whoever is home first can start it and we can eat as a family all at the same time at the dining room table. I realize that this is probably not going to work every night and that the key is being flexible and up for anything (I am not sarcastic when I say that I love tortilla chips with melted cheese and salsa for dinner).

So bloggie  friends… I ask you… how do you do it? What works for you and what do you find challenging for family meals and planning?

Thanks peeps. Xo

S