Friday, October 26, 2012

Cheerios blackmail

Charlotte has been learning from the dog, and occasionally bends at the waist to eat. She also has a perpetually runny nose. This time, when she lowered her head into the pile o' Cheerios, she came up with a few extras.

She's going to hate me for this in about 11 years... But for now, let's all laugh at her fondly. 

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Transportation

Charlotte and I ventured to DC last weekend so that I could run the Army Ten Miler. This is the first of a few posts chronicling that trip.

(Warning, this is a picture-heavy post)

We flew down. Charlotte was well-behaved, so I did not gate-check her, just the car seat.

As I had not run in at least 3 weeks, I thought a stroll Saturday morning would be good to get the muscles moving the day before the race. So, Dad, Charlotte and I walked to the dry cleaners; joys of living in an urban area! For some reason, she hates being buckled into things. Once she's in them, she's fine, but that sad, sad crocodile tear under her left eye is because I dared to buckle her in.

My friend Rachel and I went for a walk at Great Falls National Park in Maryland, along with half the county. It was a gorgeous fall day, and the place was packed. Charlotte enjoyed playing with my water bottle once we got to the overlook. This was a brief respite from being in the moby wrap (another mode of transportation for her).

We left early Monday morning. My dear mother gave us a ride to the airport. Charlotte decided it was too early, and opted to go back to sleep in the car.

At the airport in her jammy jams. She really enjoyed watching everybody and everything around us. Her mobility is a concern these days. I set her down briefly so I could put on the wrap, and she scooted off towards a Sunglasses Hut.

Unrelated, but I'd like to share my elation that she is finally getting hair.

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Coats of many colors

I have no words. This flowered fleece coat/bear suit is seriously too cute.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Week Five - Year of Less

My goals:
  • Make a meal plan that uses freezer food.
  • Declutter the bookshelves - there are four five six in our house, plus a few deliberate piles. 
  • Make a hugelkultur bed (this is not related to simplifying, but it's a major goal that will hopefully help me do more  with less money, so it's allowed because: "year with less" is pretty close to "year of less").
  • Finish last week's goals.

Considering the circumstances I found myself in this week, I'm pleased as punch with my progress. I cleaned out my sock drawer (and even took the bag to a drop-off!), my car is mostly emptied out (thank you Matthew), I used up some freezer food, and I started the bed. My bookshelves are still filled up, but I'm ok with that.

Charlotte got some sort of virus last Friday that I also got, and we were a hot mess. Snot all over, fluid in the ears type of virus. That seriously limited my motivation to do much, especially since she reverted to waking up every 3 hours for 6 straight nights. 

But! We have done (AND PUT AWAY, I can't even believe it) several loads of laundry, the sink finally got emptied last night, and Charlotte and I are feeling better. And sleeping better. 

I'm taking this week off from new goals, because Charlotte and I are headed to DC on Friday and I don't want to over-extend myself. I'll just focus on my earlier goals. Seems a good compromise!

Monday, October 15, 2012

Fall Fun!

We borrowed a tractor from a friend to do the grading of our expanded driveway. Charlotte helped:


She was pretty excited to be up there.

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Escapee

Because in my heart, I believe strongly that laziness is pretty much the same as energy efficiency, I haven't done much with childproofing most of the house. The living room is fairly safe, though; thus far we have had great success in using a full laundry basket at one door, and her exersaucer at the other to keep her contained.

She continues to surprise us with her observational skills and ability to, oh, learn from what she sees. For example: the cats like to cut through the exersaucer instead of going the long way around.



And now, so does Charlotte.

Friday, October 5, 2012

Week Four: Year of Less

Last week, I wanted to:

  • Weed out too-small Charlotte clothes and put them in a bin.
  • Empty out my car. 
  • Go through my socks and get rid of/rag the threadbare ones.
  • Make breakfast cookies on Sunday and experiment with freezing for the week.

I really need to work on my discipline. Truly, I'm getting much, much better about leaving the kitchen relatively neat every night; I STILL have clean clothes in a basket from Saturday, though. 

It's not all grey clouds and rain puddles, though - I did a few things off-list that helped the house feel more open. Matt even got in on it, and went through his dresser. I dropped several bags of clothes off at a church thrift store, and I'm embarrassed to say that two of those bags had been sitting in our hallway for probably five months. Shameful. Still, they're out of the house, and I'll take any victory I can get.

I don't think I mentioned that I signed up for this Slow Home BootCamp, have I? I haven't actually done any of the tasks, but it's a nice idea and I am feeling compelled to do Task 6 (declutter bookshelves) this weekend. Over the course of the year, I have done pretty well with getting rid of books that don't hold some sort of value to us, be it sentimental or educational or entertainment. But now that Charlotte is moving around and getting curious, I think this is a good time to really be honest with myself/ourselves about what we're keeping and why. 

This week, I want to: 
  • Make a meal plan that uses freezer food.
  • Declutter the bookshelves - there are four five six in our house, plus a few deliberate piles. 
  • Make a hugelkultur bed (this is not related to simplifying, but it's a major goal that will hopefully help me do more  with less money, so it's allowed because: "year with less" is pretty close to "year of less").
  • Finish last week's goals.

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Seven months

To recap:

And now:
 This was literally the only photo I got of her laying on her back.

She was much more interested in walking the perimeter of the basket. She looks so grown-up here, to me.

And in standing up inside the basket.

Seven month likes:
crawling!
playing in water
eating

Dislikes:
holding still
diaper changes (see above)
teeth

Charlotte got her first tooth ten days after she hit seven months. Her second followed 3 days later. She loves eating solids: eggs, meat (particularly steak), veggies, fruits, Cheerios. She is figuring out finger foods, but she takes a chipmunk approach and shoves it all in her mouth at once.

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Helping

I had to work from home yesterday, because my car lost a steering belt. Charlotte stayed home, too, because I had no way of getting her to daycare.
I barricaded us in the living room. Charlotte mostly played with toys, but she was very curious about what I was doing.