Happy Thanksgiving!

Sending everyone safe travels and warm Thanksgiving wishes!

Ian and I are in Sewickley, PA right now hanging out with Tim's family waiting for him to arrive.  Tim is expected tomorrow all though we are not sure when.  It snowed all day today.  It was so overcast and gloomy but the snow actually made it beautiful and less gloomy.  Ian also experienced his first snow.  We bundled him up and took him down to the strip district in Pittsburgh.  We bought tons of cheese (Manchego and Humboldt Fog) and the best coffee ever (Intelligentsia).  Then we went to Dozen for savory scones and cupcakes.  

I have a ton of pictures and stuff to post when I return including Ian meeting his grandmother (my Dad's mother) for the first time for her 85th birthday and Ian meeting his Rotzell aunts and uncles.  

All 4's

Ian had his 4 month doctor's appointment today. He bounced back from his four shots much better this time than last.

His stats are all 4's:

Weight: 14 lbs.
Height: 24 in.
Head: 43 cm

Ian is back to being the mini-us we thought he was going to be. His 2 month 90th percentile was a total fluke. He is now under the 50th percentile. His weight is still pretty hefty though so we are going to hold off on rice cereal for another two months.

Ian helping rake leaves

I came back from Pennsylvania yesterday to a yard full of leaves. Today I tackled the leaves while Ian watched. He was less than enthused. Also, my neighbor passed on her son's Uggs for Ian. They are a tad too big for him but they are just so darn cute!

perfect dinner for a cold night

If I could eat one thing for dinner every night I might just choose to eat chicken pesto pizza. It is so good! A few nights ago our friends were over and we decided to make the pizza. We always use boboli pizza crust (just to make things easier) but since we had some extra time our friends made the crust from scratch. It was amazing.

And it is so simple to make: Grill chicken on grill or over stove. Cut chicken up into bite size pieces. Saute red onions until they are a little droopy. Put pesto on the bottom of crust, then layer the chicken and red onions. Top with fontina, parmesan, and mozzerella cheeses (you can just use the italian blend of already shredded cheese in a bag.) Pop in the oven for 15-20 minutes.

Easy peezy.

Blurry Land of Almost

So, Ian rolled over just like my grandmother said he would about a week ago. We all cheered! It was great. I was going to blog about it but then it never happened again.



With a four month old baby I am living in the blurry land of almost, not-quite-yet, and happened once but may never happen again. Everything is sporadic. Hence, I am starting to build up quite a collection of pictures that look like this:


One of the things I am constantly reminded of as a mother is that nothing is absolute, except for God. Therefore, I should be careful when using the words "always" and "never" when speaking about Ian. I learned this lesson late with Tim. (It is not helpful to say,
"You NEVER take the trash out". For some reason that does not make him want to take the trash out more.) However, with Ian it took me about two months to learn that as soon as I told my friends, "Ian never spits up" the next day he would spit up all down my neck, back, calves, and the floor. Case in point is the post below about Ian always taking two naps. Well I should have known better. For the next three days after I wrote that post Ian only took one nap. Go figure.

The one thing that remains constant is my lunch. I have reverted back to middle school. I eat a peanut butter and honey sandwich followed by a cream cheese sandwich. I even pack them in plastic bags and eat them in the car if I am going out to run errands. All I need is a Capri Sun and I will be transported back to sixth grade. Actually, scratch that. My mom gave us water in our lunches. If I had a Capri Sun I would be a much cooler sixth grader.



So Ian is certainly keeping me on my toes and it is fun to try to figure out what new things he may like tomorrow or what new sleeping habits he may acquire. His new thing this past week is drooling and blowing bubbles.

Books, books, books

So recently I have had a lot of shall we say down time. I have not had an extended period of what I am calling vacation since graduating college. Yes I know I have a job of raising Ian but let's be honest here folks: it is not that difficult. So I have had an abundance of time to just read. Several days a week when I am not cleaning Pippin's hair off of everything in our house or feeling like a complete slacker I will put Ian down for a nap and curl up on our bed with a mug of something hot and just read. I just finished the 989 page Truman by David McCullough and I must say I am very proud of myself. I am currently reading Three Cups of Tea which is extremely fascinating and will clear up even the worst case of couch potatoness.

I am also the first to admit that even the heavenly bliss of reading can get boring at points, so I was ecstatic when my sister Emily introduced me to Shelfari which is a way to track what books you have read and which books you want to read. So today I put the little Shelfari bookshelf on the right side of my blog. I was never good at keeping up with GoodReads or other community reading sites like that but this one is great because you can track it right on your blog. So feel free to peruse the bookshelf for some good reads. Also, let me know if you have any book suggestions. I am nearing the end of Three Cups of Tea and will need some new book recommendations shortly. Gracias!

Seven Percent

So a big whopping seven percent of DC residents voted for John McCain. Although it doesn't seem that great he did score better than Bush who only got six percent of the vote in 2004. Ian slept through the entire voting experience. He was up however for a birthday/election party at Bill and Jaime's house. Ian was the sole Republican baby in attendance and had a grand time of debating some serious issues with his peers.

Halloween post

Ok, first thank you everyone for all of your advice and answers to my questions below. You were all so helpful with your comments!!!

So, Halloween has come and gone and I can't say that I am sad about it. I always tense up when Halloween comes as it can be quite a harrowing holiday in our neighborhood. Thankfully we got past the holiday with only one egg and not much money spent on candy.

This year we locked our doors, turned out our lights and went to Jesse and Kristen's house. We drank beer and ate pizza while coaxing kids to come over and take some of our candy. I think they were a little scared by the 10 plus adults standing around outside plus the dogs and the guys playing Baggo in front of the gate. Outside of Jesse and Kristen's house is an elephant and Tim thought it would be funny to take pictures of Ian on its back.


I also met up with my yoga friends and their babies on East Capitol Street. East Capitol was pure madness with hundreds of kids and their parents. My friend calls it "mardi gras for kids." It was great to see how all the girls and their babies were doing. Of course Ian decided that he was really hungry right around the time of the picture.

This past week my mom and grandparents came to visit. We had a great time and I am so excited that they got to spend some quality time with Ian as well. We went to the Library of Congress, one of my favorite buildings in Washington, DC. It was a cold rainy day so we came back to the house and made chicken soup from scratch. I love to cook and it was exhilarating for me to make my own chicken stock and then use it for the soup, which I had never done before. It made the house smell amazing as well. The next morning we went on a freezing cold and windy walk around the arboretum. The sun poked through just as we were leaving. Here are some pictures from the visit.