Christmas Magic

Happy babies are the best gift. My little Santa Baby enjoying her first Christmas.

Four Months Old!

At four months:

She is starting to laugh, we can't get her to do it consistently – I think she finds us amusing, but not always funny. She rolls from side to side like a little turtle on its shell. And she has rolled over once, from back to front and then back again, but it hasn't happened again since. She babbles all the time, not just coos. Tummy time is getting a lot easier – her arms are getting stronger so she's able to lift her head higher and longer. The drool has just been pouring out of her mouth and she chomps on her hands constantly. She grabs for and holds all her toys without prompting by mom or dad. Her high chair is now set up, so she sits at the table like a big girl for dinner instead of on the table in her bouncer. We celebrated our 6th anniversary as family with a day trip to Hannibal, MO. She is still wearing 0-3 month clothing except for footy sleepers, we had to move up to 3-6 month because she's gotten so long. When she cries, she now cries real tears – it's heartbreaking to see tears stream from her eyes. She's a champion sleeper – at daycare she takes a 2-3 hour nap each afternoon and at home she sleeps at night from around 7:30pm to 6:45am with me waking her at 11 to eat for a half hour.

Lil' Pumpkin

The temperatures may have been the in the mid-80s this past week, but that did not stop me from knitting Colbie a little pumpkin hat for the fall (those fall-like temperatures have got to be right around the corner, right?).

Knitting for babies is way better when you actually have a baby!

No more trying to find something the size of a baby head to model the hats. Nope! I have an actual, real, incredibly adorable baby to model.

Three Months Old!

 

At three months:

She has pretty brown eyes and smiles all the time. She coos and babbles. She's discovered her thumb and loves to suck it, especially in her sleep. She yells at us in her sleep when she's hungry instead of just screaming. She has 6 little friends at daycare where she likes to watch them, though sometimes they'll babble back and forth at each other. Her neck is very strong, but tummy time is still a struggle (though she pretty much just yells throughout it, instead of screaming). She make eye contact with and then bats at specific toys on her bouncer seat or play gym. She REALLY likes mama's orange & white patterned pillowcase. She has giggled one time (that we know of) a week or so ago when dada was getting her ready for a bath and she had a mega poopy diaper that surprised dada. Her daycare teachers think she will be the first to flip over, she's coming so close. She loves to look at the baby in the mirror. Bath time is fun because mama lets her "swim" in the water -- she floats on her back & kick, kick, kicks! Most of the time she'd rather look at Nibbler than mama or dada. But every day when dada gets home and she hears his voice, she smiles big. Her favorite stories are by Dr Seuss and read by dada. She's starting to sleep for 3-4 hours straight at night and loves to sleep in in the morning, just like mama. Every person that meets her can't believe what a happy, good spirited baby she is -- we're very lucky to have her.

Simple Saturday: Burgers & Fries

Kristi, MrsShoo & I made a pilgrimage today an hour and a half away to experience the phenomenon Ththat is Five Guys Burgers & Fries. There's not much I love more than a juicy burger & fries and when you throw a stop to a yarn shop in there, I'll definitely road trip for food.

Though the fries were highly touted, I must say the burger was divine. The only thing that could have made it better was a thick chocolate shake.

Two Months Old!

My baby's already two months old! I can't believe how much she's grown in so little time.
(I'll be taking monthly photos of Colbie for her first two years.)

#apieformikey

I’ve never read Jennifer’s blog, let alone met her or her family, but word gets around the blogosphere lightening fast.

My heart breaks when I catch glimpses of what happened. How her twitter stream went from happy countdown to vacation to bam!

“He’s gone. And my heart is shattered in a million pieces.”

I can’t even bring myself to watch the video clip she posted a few days later of her daughter dancing with her father. Especially as I watched my own Mikey dance with our new daughter two nights ago trying to pacify Colbie just a bit as I prepared to feed her.

Even though I wasn't able to whip a Creamy Peanut Butter Pie up yesterday on the day his life was being celebrated, I made sure to tell my Mike just how much I love him and he means to me while we were out at our first family dinner in a restaurant commemorating my first full week back at work. Then today Colbie and I set to work making pie.

In honor of her Mikey.

...And in honor of mine.

Creamy Peanut Butter Pie (gently adapted from In Jennie's Kitchen)

Serves approximately 8

- 8 ounces of oreos
- 4 Tbs butter, melted
- 4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
-1 cup heavy cream
- 8 ounces neufatchel cheese
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1 cup confectioner sugar
- 1 14-oz can of sweetened condensed milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp fresh squeezed lemon juice
- Hershey's syrup to garnish

Crust:
- Pulse oreos in food processor to a fine crumb.
- Combine melted butter and crumbs in a bowl and mix well until butter coats all crumb.
- Press mixture into the bottom and 1 inch up the side of a 9-inch springform pan.
- Melt chocolate in microwave (start with a minute, stir, and heat more if needed).
- Pour chocolate on top of crust and spread to edges.
- Refrigerate crust until ready to add filling.

Filling:
- Beat heavy cream in chilled bowl until stiff peaks form. Transfer whipped cream to a smaller bowl and refrigerate until needed.
- In same bowl, beat neufachatel cheese and peanut butter on medium until light & fluffy.
- Reduce speed and slowly add in confectioners sugar.
- Add sweetened condensed milk, vanilla extract and lemon juice.
- Increase speed back to medium and beat until filling is smooth.
- Stir in 1/3 of the whipped cream with a spatula.
- Fold in remaining whipped cream.
- Pour filling into crust pan and drizzle with Hershey's Syrup.
- Place pie in refrigerator overnight or in freezer for a couple hours to firm up before serving.

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The strength of the blogging community and the power of social media is amazing. The amount of support shown to Jennifer and her girls is overwhelming.

CNN post | pies around the blogosphere | #apieformikey | heartfelt tribute movie