(Contented Sigh)

Aah, it's birthday week. Best week of my year. I have tried to keep the week free of non-essential appointments, jobs or errands and plan to pamper and enjoy myself to the extent a mom of three on a reasonable budget can.

Here's what I have lined up so far, plus I have a few more ideas I might squeeze in.

Today, Poppy and I had an unprecedented free morning. After all the drop-offs, we couldn't go home because it was the cleaning ladies' day (already a great way to start birthday week), and we like to stay out of their way. So we went out to breakfast at a bakery I've wanted to try. Watch the VGP for a review soon, but here's one word for you: beignets. Then, with an hour to burn before picking up Ginger, we browsed at Barnes & Noble. (Browsing? What's that?) I flipped through some design mags, while keeping Poppy stocked with Cheerios, and ended up in the DVD room - they are having a buy-2-dvds-get-the-third-free sale. So I got three kids' shows to hold in store for desperate snow days or long road trips (Strawberry Shortcake, Knuffle Bunny and Madeline's Great Adventures.)

Tuesday - nothing planned yet - maybe a normal day? Or maybe something awesome because it's birthday week.

Wednesday - MY BIRTHDAY! Special snack to preschool (not for my birthday, it just happens to be our assigned day), special cookie-cutting kindergarten activity after school for 100th day of school, Dessert Club (rescheduled from snowy last week.)

Thursday - ED's BIRTHDAY! MOM's BIRTHDAY! Georgetown Cupcake? (Holy crap, did you know they have moved to a bigger space and have a reality show on TLC? It's obviously been too long since I've been there. But I can vouch, they can back up all the hype with the goods. Those cupcakes are SO GOOD.) Out to dinner as a family.

Friday - Our new door, the one we responsibly got ourselves for Christmas, is installed. Crossing fingers we like the color. Girl's night out to another bakery I've been wanting to try.

Saturday - Maybe use my SpaFinder gift certificate for a massage? I need to make some calls. At night I am taking Ed on a birthday date - it seems to be my turn. Our birthdays and anniversary are 6 months apart so we kind of take turns planning the date but we always forget whose turn it is so it's just whoever has an idea. This year I did and I would love to tell you about it but sometimes Ed graces my blog with his presence so mum's the word. But I guess it doesn't give too much away to say we're going to dinner and then something else.

Sunday - Family party with Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Janet. Very nearly the same as the family party we had last week for Ginger. But instead of pepperoni pizza we will probably have something like steak and potatoes. And I'm thinking Italian cream cake? We shall see.

Of course we always stretch Birthday Week into Birthday Month but I can't really sustain the life of leisure that long, so things like grocery shopping, Costco, the cleaners, laundry, making dinner, etc. will have to resume. But for now here's to a week of contented sighs.

The 4-Year-Old

Ginger has turned four. Creating her baby book over the last year has given me the needed outlet for sentimentalism so this post will just be about her now and her birthday. We love birthdays around here.
There seems no avoiding at least three celebrations for each kids' birthday - school party, family party, friend party. Some families combine them but we haven't gotten that smooth yet.

So last Friday we sent chocolate chip cupcakes to school, with balloon toothpicks inserted. (Watch the VGP for the birthday recipe lowdown.) She came home wearing a crown with hot-glued plastic jewels on. Sunday was the family party - triple layer dark chocolate cake, chocolate ice cream, #4 candle, and too many presents (so sue me. Diego pillow from Grandma and Grandpa among the favorites.) Her little peewee group friends from last year are all spread out at different preschools this year, so she wanted to have them over for a party/reunion. That's next weekend and that will be a different post.

I have this idea to interview each girl on her birthday, to take a snapshot of her interests, language, and preferences, but I'm still figuring out how I want to do it exactly. Last year I interviewed Hazel on her 5th birthday, took notes on some scrap of paper, and promptly lost it. This year I interviewed Ginger - tonight - and decided to blog it as record-keeping. So here it is. (My occasional comments are in parentheses.)

How old are you? Four.

What is your favorite color? Blue. Actually, all light colors.

Who are your favorite friends? Jack, Lizzie, Charlotte, James and my friends at school. And I love the Strattons. Every friend I have. And every cousin. (That just about covers it.)

What do you like to do? Draw, do puzzles and watch TV. And be in the bath. (Also computer games, sorting colored rocks, pretend and real cooking. She likes to be where I am, either doing something together or at least side by side.)

What shows do you like? Dora, Diego and Mary Poppins. My favorite channels are Nick Jr., Sprout and Qubo. (And she loves the Wiggles.)

If you could make up the funnest day, what would you do? Play games, have parties, and have two baths - one in the morning and one in the afternoon and one at night, that's two - and stay in the bath a long time and have twice as much toys and go to the playground or the gym and playing with Poppy for a long long time in her room.

I thought you wanted to give Poppy to another family (this was confided earlier this afternoon amid tears during a blood sugar crash.) Well I just realized she's really really fun.

What's the difference between boys and girls? Girls talk like this (normal voice) and boys talk like this (deep voice.) And old people talk like this - "Now, go on now." (gravelly deep voice - Hazel starting to giggle.) And Moms and Dads speak mom-ish and dad-ish (Hazel giggling greatly now.)

What foods do you like? Pizza, chocolate ice cream, chocolate cake, meat, and of course all different kinds of cupcakes. (Also chips & salsa, hot dogs, cherries, cereal, broccoli, chicken nuggets and eggs.)

What places do you like to go? On walks with our family, the theater where we saw Mary Poppins with Dad, Grandma's house - both Grandmas, the Strattons' house.

(At this point Hazel was dying to be part of the interview and wanted to ask a question) Ginger, what is your favorite time? When it's time to go somewhere fun, time to brush teeth (really?), and bathtime.

What are your favorite books? The Kiss that Missed (she just got it yesterday for her birthday), Knuffle Bunny, Library Lion and Hazel's and my baby books.

What toys do you like to play with? Cars, Blokus and Zingo. (Also dolls, blocks, toy food and new wooden train set.)

Tell me about your favorite animals. I like the stingray best because it stings with its tail and it's really amazing. And the starfish is really cool because he has eyes on each of his legs and arms. And the legs grow in if he loses a leg and the eye grows in with it. (Preschool just had a visitor "expert" from an aquarium.)

What do you want to be when you grow up? Either a doctor or a teenager.

You know you can be both - a teenager first and then a doctor. Um, well, Mom, I'll think about it and let you know what I choose. (In that case I prefer a doctor.)
I would have liked to ask more thought-provoking questions that reveal the workings of her mind, but I didn't have any off the top of my head. Suggestions? This could be a several-day interview. I'd love to make it really worthwhile.

"Just Like a Real College Person"

Hazel is obsessed with college. She's five. BUT. Last fall our favorite babysitter went away to college so we had some explaining to do. We gave her the five-year-old version, from admissions to graduation, and her mind opened up to life beyond kindergarten. She would occasionally ask me a question about college in general ("What do college people like to eat?") or my time in college ("Mom, did you miss me when you were at college?"). Because of her fascination, I've started telling more stories about my college years and she is always interested.

Then in December her oldest cousin, a high school senior, was accepted to William & Mary, and there was a lot of hubbub around our house about it. Good for him, we're so proud, can't believe he's already 18, he'll be closer to us, it's so exciting, etc. After Christmas, that cousin and the rest of his family came to visit, and the girls referred to him exclusively as Mr. College Man* (and still do.)

Hazel, with her very tender heart, is especially focused on the aspect of college as the first time a child leaves home for good. Leaves. Goes and lives somewhere else without their family. She is emphatic that she wants to go to college in Virginia so she can always be near me. I just smile and let that idea linger as long as it will (can I get that notarized?)

Last Sunday during church Hazel nudged me, and with tears in her eyes showed me this picture she had drawn:In case you can't tell, it is her leaving for college, and all of us so sad because we will miss her. I pulled her close to me and let the tears run down her face. I kissed her head and told her not to forget her tender heart, so she added it in. Just between you and me, I don't need this. It is hard enough to watch her go to kindergarten, to have friends I don't know, to go up a shoe size. Every growth is heartwrenchingly bittersweet and I'm just not ready to think about that most poignant of days when she will go off, grown up, and be glad to be gone.

But I don't tell her that. Don't have to; she knows it. It's all there in the drawing. I just hug her and tell her I'm glad for the time we have (12 more years and ticking away), and tell her how fun college is.

So the next day I was cleaning the kitchen and I asked her to clean the sink in the nearby bathroom. I gave her a spray bottle of cleaner and some paper towels. She asked to have her hair up in a ponytail. She moved out the stepstools and all the stuff on the sink and started spraying and wiping. "Hey Mom," she said, "it's like I'm in my own apartment!"

"Uh, yeah, I guess so."

"It's like this is my apartment and I'm cleaning it. Look, I'm just like a real college person!"

Of course anyone who lived with roommates in college knows that's not at all like a real college person, but at the moment it was profound. She gets it, she has a vision for her life, a real vision. She's moved out of I-wanna-be-a-princess-butterfly to I-wanna-be-a-college-person. And with role models to look up to, time to work through her feelings, a ponytail, a paper towel and spray bottle in hand, I guess she's on her way.

*My sister wrote a super blog post about her son turning 18. Not sappy stuff, very practical, about what an 18-year-old needs to know about being a grown-up. An excellent preview for those of us in the early childhood trenches.

New Tricks. As Promised.

As mentioned, the Popster has some new tricks up her sleeve. It's like a trick explosion around here, and they're likely to be old news by her 9-month mark in nine days so here goes.

Trick #1 Clapping - This was her first learned trick a few weeks ago and she is an expert at it. It was her favorite trick for awhile but has been surpassed by #3.

Trick #2 High Five - At first she seemed a bit amazed each time we praised her for touching our hands, but she soon caught on and is a high-fiving maniac. If she likes you.

Trick #3 Saying "Hi" - She picked this one up fast fast fast. When we enter or leave a room, say "hi" with a wave, "bye" with or without a wave, or "goodnight", she waves big with her elbow and/or wrist and says "Aye" or often "Aye Dada" because we model "Hi Mama" or "Hi Dada" a lot. Sometimes we get "Bye." She usually does it unsolicited these days and loves the reactions we give her. It is dang cute to see such a little critter waving "hi."

Here are some videos of the above. (I upload videos to the computer just seldom enough to have to relearn how to do it each time. We have gotten a new main computer since last time, without the software I usually use, so I'd like to give myself props for figuring it out. Note to self: I either need to write myself a tutorial or upload videos more often.)



Now to the BIG TRICK:

Trick #4 Crawling - Poppy was on the verge of crawling for about 6 weeks. She was mobile in an unpredictable way during that time. I would put her down and she would somehow move from one place to another several feet away but I could never exactly nail down how she did it; there was no one maneuver but rather a complex choreography not unlike THIS.

But two days ago she got it. She put it all together and moved those knees and hands in sync and voila, we got this:



The next day (yesterday), she was going the distance. Check it out, that's a workout moving forward along hard wood floors. But she is a genius, you know.



Upcoming Tricks - She is well on her way to signing "more" and "alldone", and pointing on cue to nose, teeth and ears. And she has cut her third tooth. Genius, I tell you!

Goals Schmoals and Other Stuff

Aah, New Year's resolutions. Don't do 'em, never have. I don't even like goal-setting, thanks to the backfiring efforts of the Young Women's program. My life has ebbs and flows of productivity, motivation, and energy, and those can never be tied to the calendar, so, as a friend put it, "I just try my best every day."

But this year a small crest of motivation happens to coincide with the turn of January, so I've got a couple things to write about. Some are changes, some are accomplishments, and some are just things I feel like mentioning.

Zero to Two-and-a-Half in Just Over a Year - Last night I finished Ginger's baby book. I was going to finish it in time for Christmas but that didn't happen. Before that, I was going to finish it before Poppy was born. Oops. Hazel has a book I made about her first year, and both girls love to look at it. I like it, too, but all I see are what I wish I'd done differently. So before Poppy was born I started a rather ambitious, comprehensive book for Ginger, got about 80% done, then stopped. I did a final push these last two weeks, hoping to get it done in time for Ginger's FOURTH birthday on the 23rd of this month, and finally stayed up until 1 am last night to finish, upload and publish (on Blurb.)

Since I have four years of pictures it was hard to know where to stop, so I asked Ed for his opinion. "Two-and-a-half," he answered definitively. "That's when they stop being a baby." I said that sounded good, and it turned out to be just right. Not only was that about my breaking point last night, but also around that age Ginger started to look less like a toddler and more like she does now. Wish you could see the book? Don't worry, if you live within striking distance of me you will see it sometime. I love to show off my Blurb creations. But if you don't, here's a 15-page preview (the whole book is 98 pages.)

Eat My Veggies - It's no secret, I've got some weight to lose. I did great a few years ago, then tapered off a bit, then got pregnant, then fell into survival mode and all food-tracking went out the window. I don't feel ready for a program, or worse, a diet, but I do feel ready to do something. Which is why my Jan/Feb issue of Cooking Light was so perfect to read. This year, the entire Cooking Light staff is making and taking a 12 Healthy Habits Challenge (12HH.) Each month they will do a feature on a different healthy habit they are all adopting, with features on a few specific people. The January habit is to eat three more vegetables a day. Which, if I am honest, some days would bring my total to four. OK, three.

But as I read, I felt inspired. It's a baby step. It's totally achievable. It only takes a little more time and effort (face it, produce is a little more work than Ritz crackers.) It's hard in the winter to find something good, but not impossible. I told the girls about this goal, and then explained what a goal is, and they shocked me by jumping on board. "We want to do the goal, Mom! Give me some broccoli!" I exaggerate not. So that's it, the girls and I are eating more veggies and fruit, too. And anyone who has changed eating habits knows that success begets success and healthy eating begets healthy eating. No one has told me I can't have See's peanut brittle or that chocolate swirl bread that just came out of the oven. I just have to eat more veggies. EAT MORE - that's a goal I can work on. (By the way, I've lost 1.5 lbs in two weeks with my new habit. Baby steps.)

Healthy Glow - As with my health habits, my dedication to skin care has been variable over the years. I'd get on board with some great - and expensive - regimen, then back off when I got sick, too busy, or too poor. I used to have great skin. Until I didn't. Not sure when that happened. Sometime during the fog of the last five years, maybe? Fact is, I look terrible. I'm splotchy, I'm wrinkly, I'm puffy. I'm AGING! I do wash my face and moisturize with an SPF 15, but that is it. When one of them runs out and I enter the face-stuff aisle at Target I glaze over. I know I should be using some of this other kind of stuff, but who knows what it all is?

This week I took charge (a little.) I like Olay products so I went to their website. I took their very nice survey/tutorial that is supposed to "take the guesswork out of skincare" (thank you!) and offer suggestions tailored for your skin. You answer friendly multiple-choices about your skin type, priorities and concerns and they tell you the products you should use and how. Kudos to their techie, by the way. Loved the web experience. I was already committed to improving my skin by complicating my regimen, but I didn't know how. I took the suggestions, bought the products, and at least feel like I'm taking a little better care of myself. It's only been a day, so I can't speak to the results, but it can't be worse than what I was doing before. Or rather, what I wasn't.

New Tricks - Poppy has developed some serious new tricks in the last few weeks. She's changing so fast I don't think we can wait for the 9-month post. But I don't want to give it all away in a listy post like this. Just a reminder to myself to post some vids of this amazing little munchkin.

Family Circle - Who else out there gets this magazine? At first I started getting it for the recipes - they have some pretty good ones, especially quick-easy-healthy-yummy dinners. Then I started reading some of their health/beauty/shopping features. Interesting enough. Then I started to read everything else, like their feature articles, and I realized they have been holding back.

You see it on the checkstand, it always has a fabulous-looking food on the front, like cinnamon rolls or lasagna. Admittedly, that's why I bought it. Must be what sells it. But now why I get it is for the articles. Family Circle is geared towards families of tweens and teens, and the articles reflect that. Topics include bullying, discipline, lying, sexting, body image, college preparedness, summer jobs, volunteering, and everything else parenting through adolescence brings. Serious stuff. Stuff that is not otherwise on my radar. Stuff I have never thought about. Stuff that is going to sneak up on me sooner than later and pull the rug out from under my naive feet unless I get a clue. I know nothing can prepare me entirely for the unique job of raising my girls, but a monthly reminder of what may lie ahead helps. You should see Ed's face when I tell him some of the things I read. And I thought I was naive.

I guess that's it for now. We are having a sick day/snow day at home and I have made everyone take a nap. Which means now I am going to, too!

Email to Ed

(I really did send this to him. After 10 years, I'm giving up subtle entirely.)

Dear Mr. Hickman,

This is to remind you that your wife's birthday is 28 days, or 4 weeks, away. She has maintained, updated, and prioritized an extensive wish list that you may take advantage of. Know that items rated "highest" are most wanted, "high" are also much wanted. Some items are noted as "4-for-3" which means if you order any 4 of them, you get the least expensive free. Amazon is known for quick shipping but you should order birthday items at least 1 1/2 weeks ahead of time to be certain. Your wife also loves chocolate and has spelled out her ideal gift box in this blog post, which also includes the link to order it.

It is recommended that you set yourself a reminder for January 21 or 22, which is about a week and a half before her birthday, to do some thinking and shopping. Please flag this email for quick reference. Furthermore, know that any items obtained in exchange for the Christmas gifts you said you would return count as Christmas gifts, not birthday or Mother's Day gifts. Your timely attention to that issue is greatly appreciated.

Finally, Valentine's Day is a mere 12 days after your wife's birthday. It is a time to ponder and express your love for each other. Some of the gifts on her wish list may do that better than others. Flowers and well-thought-out acts of kindness are also good ideas on that day. January 31 is a good day to start thinking about Valentine's Day. It is common to not think about February dates while still in January, so another Blackberry reminder is recommended.

Thank you for your attention to these crucial matters.

Sincerely,
K. Hickman
Hickman Family Administrator

Poppy's 8-Month Haiku

So close to crawling

Solid, loving, curious
Yelling like crazy

Christmas at Our House

I know we're decorating amateurs (one step up from lamos) but here are some shots of us trying to get in the spirit. Seriously, I do try.

Our nativity set is by Willow Tree. I know lots of other people have it. Someone recently told me, not knowing I own this, they find it creepy the figures are faceless. Doesn't bother me. I love this set; the postures bring me comfort but most of all I love that Mary is holding baby Jesus - in other sets he is almost always lying in a manger. I also know this set has more pieces but I kind of like this simplicity.
Again, love my photo ropes from Photojojo! Holds all our Christmas cards with magnets, and I hang the ones the kids know lower so they can look at them, which they love to do.
Year by year I am slowly transforming our ornament collection, from odds-and-ends hand-me-downs to ones that we pick out and have meaning for us, plus a few heirloom favorites from growing up. How do you like the triple-scoop ice cream cone ornament in the middle there? Ginger and I picked it out at Kohl's. I also got an awesome globe one at Crate & Barrel. But my favorite? In the Michael's dollar aisle I found initial ornaments for $2 each, and they even had all of our initials! Sorry I didn't take a picture. I'll try to remember to go back and do that.
And per Tona's request on this VGP post, here's the cupcake Dessert Club ornament my Mom made. By the way, you are following me on VGP this month, right? I'm doing a post a day. And it's all really yummy stuff. Come visit.This advent tree is the girls' FAVORITE part of Christmas preparation at our house. Alternating days, one hangs the ornament, the other choose the hook it will hang on. They remember every day. Plus it's great for counting and subtraction practice. THANK YOU to amazing KAT who MADE this for us!!!
The wall by the front door is adorned with Christmas (and a few Hannukah) crafts that have come home from school. So much cuteness.
The Little People Nativity Set is, can I just say yet again, the best Christmas present we ever got!!! We keep it packed up with the Christmas stuff so it only comes out once a year for about a month and the kids love, love, love to play with it. Truly it is a gift that gives every year. The play has developed over the years, from just holding/hitting/chewing to complex set-up and storytelling, and that is what makes it so wonderful, for all ages. Sometimes we also pull it out in the summer for a short time when we are desperate for something new. One year I will get my act together and buy one of these for the nursery at church.Our first substantial snow, a few inches at least, came on December 16, Hazel's last day of school. Luckily just a few days earlier I had gotten out the snowboots to see if everyone's still fit. After that, they insisted on wearing them everyday. Which worked out pretty good.On December 17 we attended a Christmas pageant at Ginger's preschool. I was totally sick so I let Hazel take the pictures. Ginger's class were reindeer and the entire thing was as adorable as you could imagine.And finally, does anyone else's wrapping station look like this? I'm adding "wrapping room" to my dream house list.
I'm trying to compensate for the craziness of the last few weeks and months by planning the chillest, calmest, low-keyest Christmas ever. My parents will come over for a fairly regular dinner Christmas Eve, followed by some kind of relaxed Family Home Evening. We probably won't even follow our traditional program of readings and songs. Maybe we'll read some of the kids Christmas books or let them choose some songs. There will of course be dessert. Christmas morning will be jammies, some kind of leisurely breakfast buffet, the aforementioned bouncer, and present opening. Something simple for dinner. Maybe a family walk or drive. Maybe a movie night. All I want us to do is CHILL.

Gifties

Hi, is this month getting away from anyone else? Why does it go so fast? I was so ahead, and then one week later I was so behind! Maybe it has something to do with trying to prepare for a massive major holiday while also plowing through normal life. Maybe it has to do with being THE MOM, which means there is always so, so, so much to do. Maybe it has to do with variable health conditions around here, including a round of strep throat and my own occasional blinding pain due to nursing issues. It might also have to do with unpredictable night sleep, completing 3 years worth of continuing education units in just a few weeks so I can maintain my SLP certification, shopping/wrapping/shipping for 18 people, and shuttling kids to playdates, dance class, schools and lots of doctor appointments. I don't know, it's baffling.

But. Time to talk about gifts! I always love to hear what new coolness people have come up with for their loved ones. Unfortunately many of mine (except the kids) read this blog so I'll have to be general.

First of all, Ed and I have decided to be "practical" and get ourselves a new front door for Christmas. It's true, we need one badly and not having an Arctic draft blowing through our entire downstairs would be the ultimate gift that keeps on giving. It took me some time to mourn the element of surprise this decision lacks, but I am a grown-up now and that brings ups and downs alike.

But the kids are getting fun stuff! I tried a new tactic this year; I think it kind of worked. Usually I start buying early, and end up with entirely too much stuff for the kids. This year I wouldn't let myself start buying until December; by that point, I had been working on lists for months so I was able to pare down and pick only a few choice things.

Girls

• Slippers, nice ones (Ginger - sheep, Hazel - polar bears)
• DVD's (Ginger - Muppets Christmas Carol, Hazel - Toy Story 3)
• Super froofy pettiskirts from Costco (Ginger - blue, Hazel, purple)
• Books, PJ's, and matching Wiggles T-shirts (Ginger's request)
• And their BIG gift this year is this inflatable 2-person bouncer. We're going to inflate it Christmas eve and have it waiting for them in the living room Christmas morning. The homeowner in me hates how big it is, especially since there's no good place to put it, but the Mom in me is thrilled to have something for them to JUMP on - maybe we won't break a couch this year!

Stockings

• fruity Tootsie roll banks
• mini clicky instruments from the Michael's dollar bin
• CD's (Ginger - Backyardigans, Hazel - Justin Roberts)
• Firefly toothbrushes
• Bubble bath (Ginger - gingerbread, Hazel - peppermint)
• measuring tapes (the real ones, heavy metal, from Home Depot - they love to play with the one from our toolbox)
• Band-Aids (Ginger - Cars, Hazel - Dora)
  

Teachers

• There are eight kids in Ginger's preschool class. Luckily one of the other moms got us organized and collected for a group gift - $10 per family for a Tysons Corner (mall) gift card. Who wouldn't love $80 to spend at the best mall around?
• Not quite so organized for the kindergarten class. Hazel has two teachers so I perused some of the comments in my past gift posts, and went with simple but hopefully useful: movie passes, two each. They'll like those, right?

Poppy
I wasn't going to get Poppy anything this year. There's just nothing she needs but to play with the wrapping paper and bows. But in the end I broke down and got her exactly three things:

• Put and Peek Birdhouse by Manhattan Toy (she's ready for that fun fill-and-spill stage)
• Baby Einstein Take Along Tunes (her favorite lights and sound phone, which is discontinued, is on the fritz)
• Pink Monster Hooded Bath Wrap (it's time to admit she is too big for those baby towels)
• Nothing for her stocking. In fact, she doesn't even have a stocking. We hung up my old childhood one for her. I'll make her one next year. Or the next year. Actually, we just discovered today that she likes grapefruit. Maybe we'll put one in her stocking.
  

Unfortunately I can't go into what I got the aunts, uncles, cousins and Ed, but I think I did well this year. We pick families on each side, so we had my sister Tona and Ed's brother Preston. I conferred with Tona - she has kids age 10-18, and this year it's all about gift cards. I remember being a teenager and that truly is the most appreciated gift, and also the easiest to get, so that family is done. (Do you think I can pull it together and package them this way? We'll see how the week goes.) And Preston has four kids, the three youngest of which are about our kids' age so that was easy to come up with. And for his 10-year-old, I consulted Tona's 10 and 13 year olds for recommendations and they had good ones. Done!

Finally, I was browsing around on Design Mom tonight and thanks to her super suggestion, I ordered this for my grandma in her 90's - just in the nick of time for Christmas delivery! Grandma lives in Oregon and I have only gotten to see her a handful of times in my life, though we have written. How pathetically sad that I have never sent her a Christmas gift. That is going to change starting now.

So now let's hear it from you - what are you getting your kids, your spouses, your relatives, your parents? Any *big* gifts this year? I could especially use ideas for your husband's stocking. I might be short a few things.

To Have the Fug

I just passed through the kitchen and found this note on the counter:I figured it's just another of the thousand papers laying around the house that Hazel has written or drawn on, and picked it up to throw it away.

But I couldn't. Because it was taped down. Taped to a goody plate some friends had brought us earlier today. Ed looked over and laughed at my confusion. "Hazel have the fug? Ginger to have the fug? What does that mean?" I asked him.

Earlier tonight, just after dinner, the girls asked if they could have something from the plate for dessert. We opened it up and I told them all their options. Ginger chose a peppermint taffy. Hazel had a chocolate cookie. And then they both said they wanted the only piece of fudge tomorrow. "Yeah, well, that's only if I don't eat it," I told them.

Hazel took it to heart. Later , she was clearing the table under Ed's direction and told him she had to go do something quickly. A few minutes later she came down from the office with this sign she had made, and asked Ed to tape it to the plate for her. Because she knows her Mom well. And because there is no messing around when it comes to "the fug."

Poppy is 7 Months!

Well here she is, our big baby on the downhill slide to 1 year. Hallelujah. This age definitely brings its own challenges but I'm super glad to be out of the newborn era.

So. Poppy has changed a ton in the last month. First, she actually sleeps most of the night most of the time. Progress! Next, she cut her first tooth (bottom right) on November 17 and loves to feel it with her tongue and fingers.She has also made the executive decision to skip baby food and go straight for the good stuff. Despite having only one tooth, and a tiny nub at that, she insists on having whole crackers, bread heels, carrot sticks, whatever we will give her that is not fed by a spoon. I've scoured the grocery shelves and come up with some unexpected solutions - more on that in a future post.

Poppy's current nicknames include One-Tooth Wonder, The Great Pooparoopa and Ruggabugga. Because she is often found face down on the rug. This kid is ready to crawl but just not there yet. She sits for awhile, then spots something out of reach and dives for it, usually ending up on her face or in a split configuration any dancer would envy. We're just glad she's not crawling yet, and hopefully won't until after Christmas (all those low hanging ornaments are just too great a temptation.)

Here are a ton of pictures. She has a crest of hair that stands up straight unless I hairspray it down (which I only did once, for the photo shoot. When her hair is wet down in the bath the girls say she looks like a boy.) You can see it well in these pictures:
Favorite toy: the remote -
Chewing on her "mini me", our baby doll Zoe -
I just LOVE this hunched over concentrating posture they do at this age. Often accompanied by a focused groan -
And, I never, ever, ever get tired of this smile:
That's our 7-month-old!

Pics from the Shoot

It's already been a month since our family photo session with Alia Cardwell. But I am finally posting some pictures. It was hard to choose, but here is the very narrowed down set.