Category Archives: blogging

is she yelling at me???

This is another funny one … this girl makes some great faces!

IMG_2629e1

my now giant heart …

Oh, what a night we had last night! First, Lily and I spent the day at my parent’s house. It was so nice to get a chance to spend time with everyone without an agenda; we had a GREAT day! Lily practiced sitting up and can now successfully sit with her hands in front of her before toppling over! I love it.

So, last night rocked. I put Lily in her crib for some alone time (She really does want her alone time each day!) and decided to hang out for a few minutes and watch. Boy, am I ever glad I did! She’s been into putting her bib over her face to block the light – while the lights were off in her room at the time, there was light coming in from the television in the next room and from her aquarium on her crib (Yes, that little bit is enough to cause her to cover her face.). I didn’t think much of it when she covered her face, and I said the typical “Peekaboo!” when she uncovered her face. “Peekaboo!” will normally get a giggle out of her the first few times, but that’s been the extent of it. Well, last night changed that! When she uncovered her face that first time, and every time over the next 20 minutes, “Peekaboo!” brought huge laughs from her! She completely controlled the game; she covered her face, then uncovered her face to see us, laughing hysterically every single time! It was AWESOME!

I’m certain my heart grew at least 100 times larger last night. Every day with this girl is a blessing, and I only wish I could spend every waking moment with her.

long lost me …

I’m still here, people. And this will be a quick update! Seems things have gone crazy lately. Really. Busy is a fair understatement. IMG_2641e1 If you’re awaiting an e-mail, phone call, or other, forgive me! I’m still the same ol’ “off” self I’ve been for the past few years, and it seems this funk is going to last forever. Oh well, many things have changed, most of which have not been good and driven me further down, but it is what it is. Anyway, onward …

First and foremost, our girl. Lily is growing like crazy. While she hasn’t done anything totally new lately, her skills are getting better by the minute! She’s rolling from one side of the room to the other, passing things from one hand to the other with little effort, responding to her name, and starting to inchworm with the best of ‘em.

She’s started real food every day! She’d had some here and there, but I had a hard time figuring the best time to feed it to her each night. Until she’s eating multiple times a day, it’s something I’m not willing to let our daycare provider do; I may be a working mom, but I’m still a MOM, and that’s my #1 job – thank you very much. Anyway, I was determined to make it work. When she was seriously hungry wasn’t good, but it didn’t seem to be working out when we first got home, either. We’ve got it, though, and she’s successfully enjoyed over a week of sweet potatoes, carrots, and just last night, tried and liked squash!

IMG_2569e1

I also started her in her high chair last night, and thankfully, she loved it! She’s sitting up with help, and I’m hoping this helps her along in that area, as well. Yep, she’s sitting up with help! She’ll go a few seconds by herself, and makes some serious effort to remain upright, but just doesn’t have the strength yet.

Otherwise, things are the same. We’re looking forward to Halloween – three costumes should make for an interesting few days, huh? I’ll check back in soon!

alphabitty moments – G

These Alphabitty Moments layouts are so much fun! MamaBear at 4 the Love of Family kicked off the fun to keep record of the little things our children do. She, along with the other weekly participants, have some amazing ideas and cute memories … you really should check it out!

I really struggled with something for the letter G. Because Peanut is only 5 months old, there’s often little she’s learned or done thus far. Watching her last night, it came to me, and it’s just perfect! So … this week, the letter G is for grip! That little girl has been grabbing, gripping and holding on to everything lately! I love watching her hands work as she learns to pick up, hold and pass things. This is such an awesome time – one that I don’t want to forget!

g_small

Psst …
Want to see all of the Alphabitty posts together? They can be found here …
Want more information on these Alphabitty Moments? Yep, it’s awesome! That information is here …

alphabitty moments – F

These Alphabitty Moments layouts are so much fun! MamaBear at 4 the Love of Family kicked off the fun to keep record of the little things our children do. She, along with the other weekly participants, have some amazing ideas and cute memories … you really should check it out!

So, without further ado, F is for … the fair! We ventured out to two local fairs this year – one was a local fireman’s carnival, and the other was our county fair. We had fun at both, and I’m sure the coming years will be much, much more exciting!

f_small

Psst …
Want to see all of the Alphabitty posts together? They can be found here …
Want more information on these Alphabitty Moments? Yep, it’s awesome! That information is here …

alphabitty moments – E

These Alphabitty Moments layouts are so much fun! MamaBear at 4 the Love of Family kicked off the fun to keep record of the little things our children do. She, along with the other weekly participants, have some amazing ideas and cute memories … you really should check it out!

So, what’s the theme for this week (Eh, I’m a few weeks late …)? E is for expressions! That girl makes some funny faces, and they’re getting funnier as every day passes! Some of our favorites made this page, though we have so many more!

e_small

Psst …
Want to see all of the Alphabitty posts together? They can be found here …
Want more information on these Alphabitty Moments? Yep, it’s awesome! That information is here …

for a laugh …

… check out this one! I have no idea what the face is about because she wasn’t scared, I must have just caught her at the perfect moment. Hilarious!

IMG_1946e2

5 months!

We just got back from an amazing weekend in Pittsburgh – nothing special, really, but it was nice to get away and not worry about anything!

On Sunday, little miss celebrated her 5 month birthday and gave us this awesome pic:

IMG_1928e2

That’s my girl! We truly are blessed – she’s so happy and simply amazing! I don’t think there’s anything new to report at month 5. She’s trying to sit up when we hold her, but is not doing so on her own. Seems we have taken two steps back at night – while she was only waking up once a night for a while, she’s going through some kind of “bottle on demand” phase and thinks she can eat whenever she wants. Needless to say, sleep training is ON in our house! Seems sleep training is harder than the regular sleep deprivation of constant feedings, but if the outcome is good, I’ll take it!

IMG_1887e2

Fall is such a busy time, and the coming weeks are certainly no exception. We have some fun things planned over the next few weekends, so we’ll be sure to update with photos. I’m falling behind on lots of things I’m supposed to be keeping up with, so forgive me – while this new life is SO full of rewards and heart-warming excitement, it’s also terribly draining and hectic … whew!

Happy Monday!

Album Review: Joshua Bell, At Home With Friends

I was given the opportunity to review Joshua Bell’s new album (Released yesterday!), At Home With Friends, and am so excited to share with you how much I loved it! jb_cover First, however, here’s a look at the tracks on the album:

Album Track Listing:

  1. I Loves You Porgy featuring Chris Botti, trumpet
  2. Come Again featuring Sting, vocals
  3. Oblivion featuring Carel Kraayenhof, bandoneon
  4. Cinema Paradiso featuring Josh Groban, vocals
  5. Para Tí featuring Tiempo Libre, various
  6. My Funny Valentine featuring Kristin Chenoweth, vocals
  7. Maybe So featuring Edgar Meyer Sam Bush and Mike Marshall, strings
  8. Grieg: Sonata No. 3 featuring Sergei Rachmaninoff (Zenph re-performance)
  9. Eleanor Rigby featuring Frankie Moreno, piano & vocals
  10. O, Cease Thy Maiden Fair featuring Nathan Gunn, baritone
  11. Il Postino featuring Carel Kraayenhof, bandoneon
  12. Left Hand Song featuring Regina Spektor, piano & vocals
  13. Chovendo Na Roseira featuring Dave Grusin, piano
  14. Look Away featuring Edgar Meyer, bass and Chris Thile, mandolin
  15. Variant Moods: Duet for Sitar & Violin featuring Anoushka Shankar, sitar
  16. I’ll Take Manhattan featuring Marvin Hamlisch, piano

Joshua Bell has an extensive background. He’s been in the spotlight since age 14 and has recorded more than 30 albums since. Learn more about this Grammy Award winning artist on his website.

I really enjoyed this album. The instrumentals were extremely well done and fit together nicely. The album offers something for everyone; there are pieces that have a romantic feel, a couple that are upbeat, some opera style pieces, compositions you might hear in a coffee shop, and one with a European flair. jb_pr A wide variety of instruments are also represented, adding to the blended yet unified feel of the album.

There were several tracks I thoroughly enjoyed, and two that just weren’t for me. I loved:

  • 1. I found this track to be calming and peaceful.
  • 2. Well, because I adore Sting, this one was a no brainer.
  • 5. This is such a fun track. It’s got an upbeat Spanish tempo. It sounds playful and seems to tell a story.
  • 11. While listening to this track, I feel like I’m walking down a small cobblestone street somewhere in Italy.

And to be fair, these are the two tracks that were well done but just weren’t my style:

  • 6. While this is well done, I prefer the original … it’s just how I am (more here).
  • 12. I like Regina Spektor and expected to like this track. I’m not sure of exactly just what it was, but something didn’t work for me.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed the album. Joshua Bell is amazing … but from his amazing biography, we should know that. If you’re looking for a dinner party, background music type album, I highly recommend Joshua Bell’s At Home With Friends.

Want more? Here’s a link to Joshua’s website, as well as his Facebook fan page. Widgets more your thing? Then you must check this out, too! Joshua will also appear on the Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien on October 2nd.

Enjoy!

Note: As mentioned above, I received a copy of At Home With Friends from One2One Network in exchange for my review. The opinions expressed above are mine and mine alone. If you want to know more about my thoughts and policies on product reviews, go here.

word of the week: 09.28.09

books

I’m thinking a lot today about my “life story” – what I’m creating through my everyday interactions and how I can make it more meaningful and interesting. That led me to this week’s word of the week:

introspect: [v: in-truh-spekt]
Consider one’s own feelings and internal state.