More Birthday Pics

Figured I get this in before my day got totally insane (update, not so much. This has been a work in progress all day). My Mom sent me a bunch of really awesome pictures last night so I wanted to share them.

It's so nice to be on this side of the camera for once!

A little more in depth on Mo's Dr visit. She is now a little over 19 lbs- and it's funny looking at her chart because she's only gained 4 pounds in 6 months. But everything I've read about the 9-15 month range is that weight slows down because they're so mobile, even if it seems like they're eating more... which is definitely true in Mo's case. She now has 3 meals a day at daycare, plus a snack and then usually has a few bites of our dinner at night time! And boy is she mobile. She is my little energetic whirlwind! She actually went up in percentiles for weight too since the past 2 visits. Her height percentile dropped but it's still all good on the growth curve and she's still well above the 50% percentile for her age. She can climb stairs (and has been since Gatlinburg) which is crazy because we don't have any stairs at home. She can also get herself off the bed, off the couch and is learning to climb down from the steps and the slide at the playground. She toddles around a bit but still prefers to crawl, which is ok with me because I love her baby crawl! She's still very chatty, she talks to us, the cat, her toys, anything really and I love her baby talk. Mama, Dada and yea are her main words though. And still no teeth but Dr. Gallagher said they'd probably all pop out at once and could feel them all very close to the surface, which probably explains why she's been a tad cranky lately and we've been inseparable with our orajel. And late teethers just mean there's less time to develop any baby tooth rot too.

Mo playing with Charlie

JJ and Mo doing some cooking!

The food, minus the BBQ. The corn salad was the biggest hit!

We're not sure if she's elated or pooping, or both. 

She loves to stroll around with just one hand holding the stroller and the other holding something else (remote, sunglasses, etc)

The mac n cheeses, prior to broiling

Her new school so far is good. There are some noticeable differences we aren't crazy about; no sign in/out sheets, the directors aren't as front and center (and over the top friendly), and no Shutterfly account. We knew there would be differences though and these issues are all fairly minor or just a result of the location (Times Sq= heavy security vs East Chinatown= not so crazy). Her teachers are great though! I mentioned it yesterday but she already has homework! I love the commute too, I can take her in the morning and pick her up at night very easily, though Bill and I still trade off. The 1 nap thing is an adjustment though, and last night I got home from yoga to find that Mo had already passed out, which made for a very sad Mama, so I'm skipping spin tonight to pick her up and get some quality Mango time in.

Mo's homework. She's going to be learning all about her heritage- Ireland and Chile- this month.

I'm also racking my brain trying to come up with some good, healthy (and easy!) dinner recipes. After yoga last night I made a veggie pizza with my frozen whole wheat dough (after a slight snafu where I mistook my frozen whole wheat apple scones dough for the pizza dough and defrosted that first... yikes! I really need to invest in a good black sharpie). Even with the extra time it took to defrost the correct dough, it was still on our plates within 30 minutes... which is perfect. The day before I did an easy veggie saute with whole wheat orzo. Minus a little chopping it was a breeze to make. I've also signed up for spin/yoga classes for the next 4 weeks so especially on those nights it needs to be fast, easy, healthy, and Bill friendly if at all possible.

After the party we've been left with approximately 5 pounds of BBQ left. I froze back almost everything since the sight of meat after this weekend has left us craving veggies and light meals. The leftovers will make some yummy hearty stews and chili's this winter but for now, especially with this latest heat wave, all I want is light. Bill also hates tofu and is if-y about a lot of veggies I love (eggplant, cabbage), so that makes it all an extra fun challenge. Tonight I'm thinking stuffed peppers, and I may try to sneak in an eggplant bake tomorrow. I also have a lot of fruit left (strawberries, peaches and blueberries) that besides some easy fruit salads, I'll probably be doing more scones and muffins to freeze back this weekend. Any other good ideas for dinner? Help please!

We're also figuring out our Christmas plans. I think we might be going to Florida but now that I've said it I know I'll miss being home (even though we'll be in TX in Oct). I think we'll do what we did last year, with a March or April (Easter?) trip to San Antonio. My parents also LOVED their hotel- the Wyndham Chinatown, that had an amazing rooftop they hung out at every night, so I'm hoping they'll be back soon (and before we move).

Upcoming

• Over-organized me COMPLETELY got the Tom Petty concert date wrong, by a whole week! Yikes!!! So glad I thought to check the concert date this am. So we're going next Wed, 9/10.
• My yoga classes through work ended yesterday so I volunteered myself to help coordinate future dates. I'd love these to happen on a regular basis because it so great to get a good, relaxing workout and not have to travel to get there.
• This weekend... nada, except maybe an ice cream family date. Bill is a little bummed we couldn't make an "adults only" pool party this weekend at Dan and Joy's, but I told him once we have a house with a pool we can have all the parties we want in it :)