Easter



The three of us spent Easter at my mom's house - a long-time tradition, scaled down this year. It was nice and low-key. My mom was worried we wouldn't have the egg decorating contest since we weren't expecting a crowd, but it was an unnecessary worry... I'm not the most sentimental person, but I consider the contest (now 30 years old) to be non-negotiable.

 

my brother Jeremy's monster egg
(so happy he's participating again!)



Clara's "penguins" (her eggs are wooden)



Clara's ??? (blue) and "princess"

Scott's Superegg

my Kaa (the hypnotic python from Jungle Book - "trust in
me, just in meeee...")



drawing  monsters and practicing writing her name

reading with Uncle Jer... per usual



Hope everyone had a nice day :-)
Ginger

bouncy castle madness!

there is a new childhood epidemic... the upscale bouncy castle. we've encountered 2 within 3 days time, neither being expected. 

at least when the above video was taken (at the daycare's fall festival), I didn't have to get in. not so lucky at the zoo... (they also had a magician. and country music. it was a weird day at the zoo.) 

I'm pretty sure my brother took this just so he could mock me later.  it's a little remniscent of a wrestling move, no?

I wasn't planning to take my shoes off at the zoo...

the giant smiles were worth it, though. 

now onto much more exciting and grown-up things...

it's Halloween! time to play hide-the-zombie-arm!

milky matters + misc.

First, I've made some edits to the breastfeeding, birth story, and "about us" pages above, so check those out if you're so inclined.

Second, we had a fun trip to New Orleans earlier this week and I'll post some pics soon.

...

As I've written about before, we ended up with a huge freezer stash of milk due to Clara sleeping through the night so early and me working.  When we realized she wouldn't be able to get through it before it expires (in the deep freezer, it's best to use it within 6 months, but it's OK up to a year), I started looking into donating it. The first options I found required the donor to pay per ounce donated, which frankly turned me off.  Luckily I then found out about HMBANA banks and ended up donating 300 ounces to the one closest to me (in Austin). They pay for your blood test and shipping (if necessary) your milk.  It was really pretty hassle-free, and it feels great to donate milk to help sick babies.




Mommy, what do you think you're doing with my Yum Yums??

 

Through this process, I learned that there is a developing milk bank in Mississippi. I reached out to them to see how I could help and was invited to join the Board of Directors. I accepted (of course). It's been quite exciting.

Silly Mommy. I'll help you put it back up.

...



{playing at the park with uncle jeremy recently}



Hope everyone has a great weekend!

-G.

the baby's social calendar

Clara has music and swim lessons every week, and has been invited to birthday parties the last three weekends.  At 9.5 months, her social calendar is much fuller than her parents'. Ha.  Here are some pics from last weekend's adventures, and a couple more pics I'm just behind on posting.

heading out to vote with mama and dada. go dems!

 

(I kind of prefer this in b&w)



toys are boring.
taking mama's pj pants out of the drawer is awesome.

so independent in my new booster seat

at my buddy phoebe's party. this kitty?  dog? bunny is huge!

just watch me phoebe. I have pets at home. I know what to do.

um this isn't soft and furry

George Clooney may think pot-bellied pigs are cool but I find them slightly creepy

cool babies have tattoos

chillin' in the dog-poop-free yard at grandpom's house

uncle jeremy.... when will you learn, even with super fun pine straw to distract me,
I will never let your tower of cups stand.

did you think I wouldn't crawl over there?

Hope everyone's having a great week :-)

G.