Doing my part

Mommy says that everyone has to chip in while Daddy's gone. I helped out by feeding myself while Mommy took a shower. I made sure not to drop the bottle and to drink all my milk. I can even multitask and play with the toys (with my hands AND feet) while I eat. Aren't I so smart and helpful?

Home

After several busy weeks and a long trip to South Dakota, it is good to be home.

Well, not all of us are home. Matt left Saturday for a week and a half officiating the US Pro Cycling Challenge in Colorado. This is what he spent today doing:

Measuring bikes for the time trial

For the Moses girls, though, it is a relaxing week in the sun and woods. The days have been sunny, warm, in the 80s; the nights, crisp and cool and moonlit. We've walked barefoot in the grass and eaten dinner on the deck. I wish Matt could have seen how happy all four of us were on Saturday afternoon: V in her pack and play, contentedly turning the pages of her book over and over. Me, laying next to her in the hammock, eyes closed, soaking in the sun. The pups, laying on either side of the pack and play, noses to the breeze. We've taken walks and worked in the garden. V helped me harvest garlic. I got the pitch fork and she stood next to the raised bed, hands on the wooden frame, fingering the marigolds while I picked garlic. V loves picking grass. She'll rake her fingers through and grab large handfuls. Trying to teach her not to put them in her mouth is another task!


While Daddy's gone we have other family members to help take care of V and let the pups out during the day (thanks mom and dad!). At times I have really needed that help with a busy 8-month-old. She is lightning fast ... I open the dishwasher, and before I can put a plate in, she's trying to crawl on top of the door. I open a cupboard door, and she scoots to see what's in it. I feed the dogs, and before they can start eating she is there to grab a handful of dog food. She has learned to crawl up the two steps between our living room and dining room, and knows where all the cords are. For awhile on Sunday I had to put up a baby gate to keep her in the kitchen ... for my own sanity.

Daddy, she locked me out of the laundry room!

We sent that picture to Daddy in Colorado. Thank goodness for phones that let us send photos, videos, and text to keep in touch.

And, when Matt is gone, I get to break the rules and snuggle with the dogs in bed. As it's now late at night and I have yet another early morning tomorrow, it's off to bed for all the girls!

Winner

Winner, South Dakota, that is, where the weather was beautiful, the sunflower fields bright, the sounds of grasshoppers and crickets peaceful.

And where we witnessed the wedding of Matt's friend Kyle and his bride Kati Jo.

It was a very different type of trip for Matt and I. Normally we’d do the 9-hour drive in one day. We’d get up early and hit the road, stopping for bathroom breaks and to grab fast food. Traveling with an 8-month-old, the trip got stretched over two days, as we had to leave later in the morning, take longer breaks, and be tucked into a hotel room by 7:30, bedtime for the little girl.

V is such a little darling. Being stuck in a car seat and sleeping in strange places must be tough for her, but she weathered it all with surprisingly little fussiness. She loved exploring new places and watching the kids, and charmed all the guests with her cuteness. She and I hung out a lot together while daddy was doing wedding stuff.




And at the rehearsal she played nicely with her toys (and puffs) at the back of the church:





We're both so glad we were able to be there for the wedding, and Matt was honored to be a groomsman. We agreed we've never seen Kyle smile so much, and we look forward to watching their life together grow.

The happy couple!

Wedding happiness is contagious. It's impossible to be at a wedding like this and not be happy! Since Matt and I got married, I have found that other people's weddings take on a new meaning. As I listen to the readings, vows, and words of love, I find myself reflecting on my own marriage and renewing my commitment to the vows Matt and I made four years ago. At Kyle and Kati Jo's wedding, the pastor seemed to be reading my mind when he asked those in the audience who were married to do this same thing as the bride and groom said their vows.

Here is V and I at the wedding dinner. Daddy had given her a deck of cards and thought it was funny that the joker was facing out for the camera.


For this trip, I had to adjust to spending a *lot* of time in hotel rooms. I'll confess this was difficult for me, and there were times I felt cooped-up and bored. Victoria, on the other hand, was enamored with the hotel rooms. I never knew a regular Super 8 could be so interesting…toilets, pipes under the sink, lamp cords, the mini fridge, luggage racks.

And plastic bags.

Love this photo!

I mentioned this before, but I really do love those sunflower fields. If I was a farmer in South Dakota, I'd want to look out on these happy faces every day.



On the drive home, we stayed overnight in Chanhassen at the same hotel Matt and I (and our weddings guests) stayed at for our wedding. I love the copper fireplace in the lobby, and seeing it made me think of this photo:



So I asked Matt to take a picture of V and I in the same place:


Whether it was the strange hotels or sleeping in her pack and play, Victoria had started waking up in the middle of the night. Matt never sleeps well in hotels. Hannah, who stayed with my bro, probably didn't sleep as well being away from mom. And I suspect that even Piper, who stayed with my parents and got to sleep in bed with them, is happy to be home. So while we are so glad we went, tonight our whole family is happy to be back home.

In four months ...

This week my brother stopped over for a visit, and he casually remarked to Matt and I, "in just four months V will be one year old!" I think my world stopped a little bit as it hit me (yet again) how fast time is flying. It couldn't be true, could it?


And then I looked at Victoria, and everything about her says "of course it's true mommy! I'm a big girl!"

She is perfecting her crawling, and her mobility means she now insists on hanging out with mommy while she cooks in the kitchen. Since she still falls sometimes while trying to stand, and still bangs her head on the floor occasionally when she gets tired and decides to stop crawling, it worries me more having her on wood floors than on the carpeting ... but she insists, and, to be honest, having her in the kitchen at least means I can keep a closer eye on her.


(the puppies have to share the floor space ... )

She pulls herself up to standing quite well and has started to move one leg back and forth, just waiting to take that first step. Her favorite things to play with include plastic bags, straps (i.e. on purses, dad's belt, etc), and tags (every little tag on her toys has been examined thoroughly). Lately she has been going after the dog toys and enjoying the big plastic utensils mommy will take out of the kitchen drawers for her. She has a toy table handed down from cousin Madi that she loves. As a testament to her fine motor skills, she has found the tiniest button on the table: a sensor that triggers sounds when a little door (which is missing) is opened and closed. Even though the door isn't there, she found the tiny button and will press it again and again with her little index finger, so I hear "open" and "close" throughout the house. Moving and exploring is her favorite thing right now, and her curiosity about the world (although it can be frustrating and exhausting) is something that both mommy and daddy have fallen in love with.

She has started eating finger foods and loves "puffs" so much she will go crazy when she even sees the container. We love this because we can feed her cereal or veggies or whatever else, then give her puffs to feed herself and keep her entertained while we eat our dinner. Her little booster seat travels with us wherever we go.

(and the puppies love the finger food stage. Several of those puffs go overboard at every meal! She will even inadvertently "hand" them over to Piper, who then wonders why we won't let her take the puff out of the outstretched hand.)

She knows her name as well as "mommy," and "daddy." If we call, "Victoria," she will look at us. If we ask her where mommy or daddy is, she will look for us!

In the past week we have been very successful at putting her down to sleep every night. I'm not sure if this is because she's learning to let herself relax more, or mommy finally figured out the right tricks ... but we're sure hoping this trend lasts.

She spends a lot of time outside with us, mainly because we have so many tasks we need to accomplish. On a normal weeknight, V and I come home from work/daycare and the whole family goes outside to work on tasks and enjoy the weather. One night this week I needed to pick green beans ...


It's definitely more difficult to do this when you're holding on to a squiggly 8-month-old, in case you were ever wondering. Matt was trimming the yard at the time, and the only way I could get V to cooperate was to give her a few green beans to "chew" on while she "helped" mommy.


Later that night after V went to bed I blanched and froze all those beans! It makes me happy I can still do stuff like that even with a baby.


And it makes me happy knowing that this little one will grow up with lots of homegrown vegetables. Yes, she will know where carrots come from!

One night Matt wanted to take a pic of V wearing the little onesie his company gave us when she was born ...


and V quickly found daddy's lens cap laying on the floor!


She sure is a beautiful, amazing, challenging, perfect, frustrating, determined, engaged, (did I say perfect?) baby girl.

Christmas in July

I have these two cousins, Brooke and Sarah ...


It may be hard to believe now, but these two were little girls once. They played school and rode bikes and insisted on eating macaroni and cheese every day for lunch. And since I babysat them in the summer (and many Friday and Saturday nights during the school year too), I got to be part of so many adventures and fun times with them.

One summer, the girls wanted to "play Christmas" all the time. They'd take a blanket and drape it over a box or a piece of furniture and pretend it was their "Christmas tree." Then they would find things around the house they would "wrap" in other blankets to give each other. They'd sing Christmas carols and turn off all the lights to pretend it was Christmas Eve. So imaginative! This went on for several days until I decided we should do it right ... and then hopefully move on to something else ;). So I made a deal with them: "if we do a real Christmas, then will you be done playing Christmas for awhile?" Their mom, my aunt Teresa, was a great sport about this too. She took out the tree top so we could make a mini Christmas tree. The girls and I planned out a special lunch (I think it involved hot and spicy ramen noodles, and I also remember these tortilla pinwheel things Teresa made), we spent all morning baking Christmas cookies, and I brought them real gifts in real wrapping paper. We drank sparkling grape juice and hot chocolate, sang carols, and watched Home Alone. It was a blast. So it was no surprise that the next summer, they asked to do it again. A tradition was born. Every year, we celebrated Christmas in July.

Fast forward to 2011, and Sarah is getting married!! We decided to throw her a bridal shower, and it just happened to be in July. When Sarah sent me an email a couple weeks before the shower telling me she was at working listening to Frank Sinatra, and it "made her think of Christmas in July," it was only natural for me to take the idea and run with it. Before the end of the day we had agreed to surprise Sarah with a Christmas-themed shower.

It was about 80 degrees outside (this must be what Christmas in California feels like!), but inside there were carols ... and a tree, decorated with tulle and wedding bells!


Sarah's reaction was priceless when she walked in the door and stood dumbfounded at seeing the tree in the living room.

Brooke and I gave Sarah an "our first Christmas" ornament for she and Evan to hang on their tree this year ...


And since my family has a tradition of a fondue dinner on Christmas Eve, I thought I would share this tradition with Sarah and Evan by giving them a fondue pot.


My mom gave Sarah the traditional crocheted afghan ...


I just thought this picture of Sarah modeling the potholders was cute. Although because they're red, maybe I can claim that's part of the Christmas fun too??


This shower was one of the most fun I've ever been involved in. I had so much fun not only with Christmas, but also with one of the games I created ... one of the tv shows the two of them had to watch every morning as children (in addition to "Days of Our Lives" -- real appropriate tv watching there!) was The Price is Right. We created our own Price is Right game, with Sarah keeping all the items up for bid. We had great food, delicious champagne, and a wonderful, fun group of people. As the shower wound down, Sarah's fiance Evan came to say hi to everyone.


These two are getting married Labor Day weekend, and we are all so happy for this wonderful couple, and can't wait to celebrate with them!