Happy Halloween!

Tara spent a lot of time picking out her costume this year. It's her first Halloween, so she wanted it to be just right.

First, she thought she might go as a sailor... 

 but she decided that the hat was a little too big.

Then she thought she might go as a pumpkin...

but it seems like all the babies are going as pumpkins this year and she wanted something more original.

So after a lot of thought and some discussion with her dad, she finally found the perfect costume. Tara decided that this year she'll be...

Toad! Tara is Toad from the original Mario Brothers. She had lots of fun getting into character (and her mom had a blast making the costume.)

Happy Halloween everyone!!

Casio rockin', cerca 1986

Oh yeah, you read that right. Today we're taking you way back. Back to the days of neon, bike shorts, big hair, and double layered scrunchy socks. We're headed back to the 80's with a little piece of memorabilia from my childhood.

That little black Casio was mine back in the day. I have fond memories of rockin' out to the Samba and Basa Nova tracks. I love that Tara gets a kick out of it too. The video above was taken the first time we put it in front of her. Since then we've busted it out a few mores times and each time she gets a bigger kick out if it. She smacks all the buttons and manages to turn on the various instrument sounds and rhythm tracks. It's a lot of fun to watch. Now all she needs is a head band, a neon body suit and maybe some lace gloves a la Madonna. Anybody got any requests?

Adventures in baking

When I first decided to blog about today, I had visions of a sweet story to tell you about spending a few hours in the kitchen with my girl, baking yummy food and sharing smiles. Doesn't that sound wonderful?

Now let me tell you what really happened. Two days ago I found myself thinking a lot about my time spent in Argentina and decided to make empanadas, a food that I ate regularly there. If you're not familiar with empanadas, they're the South American version of a meat pie, a pastie, a pirogy, etc. They are made in a variety of styles and they are incredibly tasty. So I picked a nice recipe online (this one: Empanadas Medoncinas), bought the few ingredients I didn't already have, and got set this morning to make them.

The adventure started off so well. I had my ingredients, my bowls and spoons, and my sous chef. We were set.

 

As you can see, we were off to a good start.  After a bit of fun time in her bouncer, she went down for her first nap of the day. When she woke up, it all went down hill. For some reason today she needed my complete and undivided attention. She wasn't happy to sit for long in the kitchen, or do any one thing for very long at all. Then she decided to stop sleeping. She took her first and second naps of the day, but magically stayed up from 3:30 until she went to sleep at 7:30. She never does that. Today must have been special.

Have I mentioned that I don't really cook? Or bake? What I can do is follow a well written recipe. But follow it I must. I have no skills in the kitchen, so I read every step two or three times to make sure I'm doing it correctly, and sometimes look things up on the internet as I go. This makes for a slow process even under the best conditions. Down the line, when I've learned from experience, I'm sure I'll be able to speed things up. But today? Today I started cooking at 10:30 am. The empanadas made it into the oven at 7:30pm. Quick math everyone. Yes, that's right. My adventure in baking took a total of 9 hours! It was mix a little here, chop a little there, change a diaper, change an outfit...

 Of course, I decided to make the dough from scratch. I had all the ingredients and it looked so simple, so why not? I have a 4 month old baby, that's why not!

 

No, that's not what you think. I didn't resort to the bottle to make it through. I reached for the bottle when...

it occured to me that I don't own a rolling pin. I don't bake, remember?

Little by little, the ingredients started to come together. The dough spent far too long hanging out in the fridge and I'm pretty sure my moby wrap is covered in flour hand prints, from the time I was actually wearing Tara while trying to cut out the circles for each empanada, but we got there.

Tara eventually consented to a little more time in her bouncer chair (notice the wardrobe change?) From this point on, I lost track of getting pictures. Jeff came home and was helping entertain Tara, so I started trying to add the filling to the dough circles. It's not as easy as it looked! I was so distracted by babycakes that I forgot to put the egg and olives in half of the empanadas.

Even so, they did eventually go into the oven and we did eventually have them for dinner. They may not have been exactly as I remember, but after 9 hours of cooking, let me tell you, they were delicious! I even made the balsamic chimichurri sauce from the recipe, but I didn't get a picture. By then, we were more than ready to eat.

Yummy success! Note to self: it's probably smart to only try this level of cooking on weekends when Jeff is around. I need all the help I can get!

Autumn enchantments

Vibrant leaves, crisp air, golden light, rosy cheeks. I love fall.

4 months old

Dear Tara,

Yesterday you turned 4 months old. You've been here for one third of a year and I can hardly believe it. I know all parents say this, but it really does go so fast!

Today your doctor measured you at 15lbs 8oz and 25.25 inches long. You now weigh more than double what you weighed at birth. You're also very long in the torso, so sometimes even the 3-6 month clothes are a little snug on you. Your doctor even thinks you are showing early signs of teething. You're getting so big!

You did so well with your vaccines today. Some tears when getting the shots and then a little extra sleepy and sad for the rest of the day. I'm happy to help with as much snuggle time as you need.

You've grown so much in so many ways since you were born. You now smile so much, especially first thing in the morning. The first hour and a half of your day are our favorite time with you, because you smile and laugh and just want to play. You usually wake up happy and quietly babble to yourself until someone comes to get you up. Daddy and I both love getting to be the person who gets you in the morning, because you give us the best smile when you see us come into the room.

Early morning swaddle escape

You're working on all the normal developments right now. You don't care for tummy time much, but will push up a bit with your hands when you're lying on your belly. You've almost managed to roll from your back to your tummy, but can't quite manage to make it all the way over. Your arm still gets in the way! You love to stand up and would stand in our laps all day if you could.

You are starting to do funny things, like how you slam your heals down on your changing mat when we change your diaper. It makes you so happy, and you kick with such force that we can hear the "THUMP, THUMP" in other rooms of the house.

You love your butterfly toy that lives in the car. Your eyes go wide when you get in your car seat and realize that you'll get to play with it. You also seem fond of a soft stuffed sheep, which Daddy has named Admiral Von Sheepington. Of course, you can give him (or her?) a name of your choice if you want to when you get older.

You're trying hard to laugh. Right now it's more of the occasional "HA", but we've manged to get a giggle out of you from time to time. There is no predicting what you will find funny. Sometimes it's a random word I've said and sometimes it's nothing more than a smile from Daddy.

You are, for the most part, a good sleeper. You normally only wake up once a night to eat. Recently you've started waking up more often, which means I'm waking up more often. That creates a more tired mommy who is probably less fun to play with, so let's work on less waking and more sleeping, ok? Also, naps. Let's work on naps. You don't like taking them and typically only sleep for 30 minutes. 30 minutes is not enough and leaves you cranky, so let's work on better naps.

You love being outside. When you're upset and it seems like nothing will make it better, we take you outside and suddenly things are OK again. This isn't a new development. One of the first things I noticed about you is that you love to look at the sky. We hope this continues as you grow, because we'd love to do lots of outdoorsy activities with you.

I'm sure there is so much that I'm forgetting to mention. I just wanted to capture a snapshot of who you are today, because you're changing so fast. While I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings with you, I'm also trying hard to enjoy each little moment with you today.

I love you baby girl.

Mom

P.S. I'm serious about those naps.