A Momma's wish...

I have two wishes at this point in life.  First, I wish that my baby could tell me what is wrong when she is hurting or not feel well so I knew what to do for her.  Second, I wish that I could stop worrying about what Lilah is eating and what we are eating and just be able to cook for all of us.  But then I remind myself that we are making huge strides on both fronts, especially in the last few weeks.

At 13 months Lilah was getting a little confused with her words.  Even words that she had been consistently using were a little muddled as she tried to figure out sounds and I felt like she was regressing.  I know, I know, no need to panic.  But at 13 and a half months we have made some breakthrough and have a vocabulary of about 5 words!  Dog, her first word, is pretty much the word she uses for all animals.  She is good at saying Daddy or Da! when Shannon walks in the room.  She likes to repeat "Done!" when we ask her if she is done with her dinner.  And she says "dow" when asked if she wants down.  Can you see the trend - she loves her D words!  Her one word she says consistently without a 'd' is nose which comes out more like "NO!"  Now if we can just get to "Mommy, my tummy really hurts" or "I have two teeth coming in and my mouth is sore.  Can I please have some Tylenol?"  Ha!

The food front is going fantastically the past couple of weeks.  We have discovered that if we put some sort of carbohydrate in some sort of creamy or cheesy sauce, throw in a few veggies and some meat and we have an eating machine on our hands.  See even babies know that Macaroni and Cheese is the stuff of life :)  In the past couple of days we have had several meals that we all ate together like a real family.  And it makes me so happy.  Mostly because I am not cooking twelve things between all of us.  Homemade Mac n' Cheese with corn, peas, and spinach was the first big success.  Then there was a stroganoff with ground turkey, mushrooms, onion, and bell pepper over rice.  We tried risotto with butternut squash.  And finally Mexican rice and beans with shredded chicken.  She also loves french toast and banana bread for breakfast.  What can I say, Lilah and I are going to be eating buddies!

So progress is definitely being made on my wishes.  And I am so grateful for how healthy and happy, stubborn and independent, my little girl really is!

A little behind...

on everything!  Well, not really.  I have purchased most of my Christmas gifts, not a single thing is wrapped.  We have a beautiful tree up, with lights on, and it is smelling up the house.  But it only has 5 ornaments on it with a pile of ornaments in boxes where the wrapped presents are supposed to be.  I just wrote cards today - Lilah's thank you card for her birthday (um, that was two holidays ago)!  I have Christmas cards on order and they will probably all just go out together.  I have just come to the realization that while Christmas is only going to get more and more fun with little ones, somehow it is only going to get more challenging pull it all off.  So tonight I am feeling a little behind, and instead of decorating or wrapping, here I am on the computer.  Ah, procrastination.

November

I think that November is going to become my new favorite month.  Over the past four weeks I have come to realize all the wonderful things the month of November has to offer, especially living in Arizona.  October is great, well, because it is my birthday month and now Lilah's birthday month.  December is great because of the holidays, family, friends, parties, food, and drink.  And November used to the the month in the middle that I just skated through.  But now I will look forward to November.   It means the end of the heat.  It means the beginning of winter.  It means beautiful sunny days that we can go outside and play (finally!) after the dreaded heat is over.  It is a month that reminds you to be thankful, something that I never quite understood fully until I had a family of my own.  Enjoy some pictures from my new favorite month. 

Lilah enjoying some of her birthday presents

 A few afternoons outside with Calvin (she could care less if we are with her!)

Out for a family hike at Thunderbird Mtn.

Taking after her Mommy - she LOVES Mac n' Cheese.  Here she is eating her first homemade version!  She was too busy shoveling it in to smile for the camera.

Daddy says Go Raiders!  Hopefully Lilah will make her own mind up on what team she supports :)

Getting ready for winter

 Thanksgiving Weekend  - started off with the 5k (I finished 346 out of 1118 and ran 8:59 min miles)

 Lilah loved being outside with Daddy and Calvin all afternoon, he is going to have a helper on his hands.