Tunes

I am a positive person – happy even -- but I gotta tell ya, I find myself very drawn to angry girl music. Alanis Morissette, Fiona Apple, Tori Amos…all have a shockingly high play count on my iPod. I’ve been blissfully happy with Eric for about seven years now so it’s been a good long while since I’ve been jilted by love – and yet there is something about singing Carrie Underwood’s “Before He Cheats” at the top of my lungs while driving in the car…and I’ve never even been cheated on!
So, at work angry girl music doesn’t seem quite so appropriate, so the Pandora station I listen to most is Michelle Branch – it usually picks some pretty accurate matches – but today…well, something unexpected happened. I was doing a bunch number crunching in Excel and only half listening to the music. I liked the song and when I switched over to see who the artist was it was, um. Miley Cyrus. So, yeah, while The Climb doesn’t have the same angst as Jagged Little Pill…it’ll do. :)

Happy Baby

Over the last few months we've had some trouble with Sydney at night - she's been waking up 4 - 5 times and just needs her nuk put back in. We still swaddle her - so there is no way for her to find it herself. We decided this was becoming a sleep prop and before Christmas we took a long weekend and started the arduous task of breaking her of it at bedtime. Things had been going well, but between the craziness of the holidays and her being sick last week the nuk made a reappearance. So this week now that she's better we decided to try to phase it out again. It has gone extremely well and she now goes down without a nuk at bedtime and at naps with pretty much zero fuss. She's been sleeping about 11 hours at night without so much as a peep!
She's been waking up very happy as you can see from the video I took after one of her naps this afternoon.

This video is actually from last month - Syd has a toy cow and chicken (thanks Meghan!) that have become some of her favorites...and some of Richard's favorites too. :)

I Feel Like I've Been Busy

I feel like I've been busy, but I can't really think of anything in particular that I've done...

Sydney turned 6 months old on the 18th - I just can't believe how quickly this year is passing. As a first time parent I find myself at two ends of the emotional spectrum - on the one hand I don't want her to grow up too quickly, but on the other I'm excited for the next stage and the next accomplishment. Below are a few highlights from the last couple weeks.

Sydney has found her feet.

She likes prunes!

Happy Girl.

We've been talking about getting a tv for our bedroom...when we redid the basement two summers ago we moved the tv from the living room downstairs. Prior to Sydney we spent a lot of time down there. Since Sydney, our tv time has been significantly decreased -- we usually only watch after she's gone to bed. Inevitably, just when we get settled she needs her nuk put in and one of us is trekking back upstairs. So, laziness is our primary reason but the basement is also cold and in the winter it would be nice to snuggle under the covers and watch a movie. The thing is, our philosophy has always been that the bedroom should be a sanctuary of sorts and reserved for sleeping and...well...you know. :) So - thoughts on this - will a tv in the bedroom turn on the apathy and turn off the romance?

Then and Now

Then: Mom and me

Now: Sydney

Then: Mom, Kirsten, me, Barb
Now: Matt and Sydney

Then: Mom and me

Now: SydneyThen: Grandma (Liz) Hassler
Now: Eric and SydneyThen: Roger and Eric
Now: Sydney

Then: Eric
Now: Sydney

Merry Christmas

We wanted to take a photo for our Christmas letter and decided to try using the timer feature of our camera. Timed photos are always a challenge - but add a baby and pet to the mix and the results are disastrously comical.

This one could have been really cute, but for some reason the camera took it all fuzzy.

Not too bad either, but Sydney wasn't looking at the camera and Richard is covering Eric's face.
In an effort to get Sydney to look at the camera I tried shaking toys in front of her face. But I didn't get it down in time and that may have caused the overexposure.

So close...this one would have been perfect except in a effort to get me to smile Eric was making innapropriate comments* and so I'm trying really hard not to laugh which makes me look really angry. :)

In the end we ended up having to simplify the picture (sorry Richard). View the final shot in our 2009 Christmas letter.

Rocky Road Cookies Take 2

After seeing my cookie disaster earlier this fall my friend Kyra sent me a silicone baking sheet...so I'm either tenacious or insane and decided to try the rocky road cookie sandwiches again. I followed the recipe to a tee and made sure I creamed the butter and sugar until it was light and fluffy (a step I didn't do as thoroughly last time). It worked! The cookies turned out just like the picture. :) View the original recipe from Rachael Ray.

Milestones

Sydney is growing up fast! Below are a few milestones from the past month:

She has much improved head control...

She can sit up with assistance...and yes, I am a horrible mother with no regard for her safety and allow her to sit on an elevated surface in her Bumbo. I also let her play with fire. :)

One day while driving back from breakfast, Sydney "found her voice" and just starting jabbering away...every since she's been much more vocal and talks to herself quite a bit.

She also ate her first solids (rice cereal) a couple days ago! (thanks for the cute bib Auntie Amy!) The first day she didn't seem too thrilled, but the second day she was very happy and ate up every bit. I'm thrilled as she has always been on the small side and I'm hoping this will fatten her up. :)