Food Glorious Food

So the big development round these parts lately is food. At her 4 month appointment my pediatrician said that some kids come in at six months exclusively breast/formula fed, while others are eating 3 solid meals a day. Both are fine. So as with anything even remotely ambiguous in parenting that means that people have OPINIONS. When to start it, what to start, how much to give… Lots of things to fight about. So I over googled and became convinced that I would screw her up for life if I choose poorly. Right. So we decided to follow the #1 rule in parenting: Trust your instinct.

The “Yeah. She’s ready” moment came appropriately enough at the Feast.

Yes. She was out waaaay past her bedtime. But that’s another parenting topic for another day.

She tried to grab and eat anything and everything that Matt was eating. No question about it she wanted some delicious pasta for herself.

So the next day* we did this:

What the….

Tastes like the boob food…

But it’s solid…


very curious...

Starting out she just got rice cereal which was pretty tough on her system.** After a few days we added a feeding of oat cereal and that helped things out. Her absolute fav though?

Oat cereal mixed with pear juice*** That is just delicious!

So now that she’s gotten the hang of things and her system is used to solids it’s time to branch out. I think we’re going to get crazy and try sweet potatoes tonight. Can’t wait to see what she thinks!

What is happening in that high chair? This is very interesting...

Edited to Add:

Sweet Potatoes were a huge success!!!

Now I just have to wait 3 days and we can try... carrots? Perhaps Bananas? So many possibilities!

*one day before her 5 month birthday in case you are in the obsessive googling mode, too. I think I probably should have started her a bit earlier, though. Right as we started trying the food thing she stopped sleeping through the night. She was waking up hungry – like screaming her head off trying to latch on through my shirt hungry – every night. So we added a second cereal feeding in quicker than we should have. It worked instantly. The night we added the extra cereal she went back to sleeping through and waking up her happy self. So don’t listen to the lactivist bullshit that says that food won’t help and that you should still only breastfeed even if your kid is waking up screaming hungry. It TOTALLY solved that problem for us.

**You know what’s fun? Having a kid that doesn’t poop for 5 days. Yeah. She wasn’t even a baby anymore at that point. She was a bomb that could blow at any moment.

**OOOOH the juice thing. Yes. I give my child juice. Which according to the google OMFG you’re giving your kid SUGAR! CHILDHOOD OBESITY! You FAIL! Uh huh. I’m sorry but I’d rather have a kid that gets ¼ oz of juice a day than one who is crying because she’s so constipated. Not going down that road ever again. And you know what I’m sure causes way more cases of obesity than a few drops of juice? Not understanding the concept of moderation.

Party like it’s 2007

So remember when this blog was all about our rockstar Life in Cleveland? When we did fun things like pubcrawls and had stories about leaving our cell phones places and checking out swanky local restaurants? Right. Those days may be mostly behind us but every once in awhile we can still party like it’s 2007.

Friday we had a big step in the whole baby thing – she stayed overnight at her grandparents’ for the very first time. It was a bit nerve-wracking since she’s only 5 months old… but you know what? It was good for everyone involved. It’s good for her to be that comfortable with her grandparents. It’s good for her to be able to not be with us at all times (at some point she’s going to be invited to a sleepover somewhere, right?). And I have no guilt in admitting that it was good for us to have a full night out with friends. Even if I did have to have them remind me several times not to call and check in with the baby….

I was fine, mom! Grandma & Grandpa’s house is the best ever! They have a fish tank and a really big doggie!

So the first place we hit up was Redd Stone. I’m going to go ahead and make the statement that their patio is the Best Place to Drink Outside in Cleveland. It’s this great, multi level, brick space underneath old trees complete with a fountain. Very, very cool.





As were the pomegranate martinis. And their summer burger w/ guac and red peppers was pretty decent, too.

But once we ate dinner we got fidgety and decided to migrate to the Stone Mad:

They also have an outstanding patio but it has a completely different feel. It’s all made out of handcrafted stone so the whole thing is hard surface. Even the benches are stone:

Although they do have a firepit:

And I’m pretty sure fire beats trees.

The Stone Mad does win for the Best Bathroom in Cleveland. No, really. Not even kidding. The tilework is amazing. Complete with sparkly unicorns:

Uh huh.

Also sparkley and fantastic?

Sarah’s shoes.

So then we decided the only way to beat the best bathrooms in Cleveland was with the Best Drink in Cleveland. And for that there is only one option. The Velvet Tango Room:

For me the best drink in Cleveland, hands down, is the Moscow Mule. Although Carolyn would heartily disagree while sipping on their frosty and delicious Gin Fizz. That, however, doesn’t come in a copper mug:

Fuzzy pic b/c you don’t use a flash in a place with a live pianist but if you look closely my mug is copper. And filled with ginger and vodka amazing.

But I have to say the best part of the entire night was surprisingly not vodka flavored:

Our little girl slept through the night at her grandparent’s house.


Yay for happy babies!

We're Going to the Zoo Zoo Zoo

So wait what now? It’s August already? Really? This summer is flying by… between out of town visitors, vacations, trying to get Destination Yarn going, and oh yeah taking care of a baby Life in Cleveland has been CRAZY. So rather than try to back blog everything I’m going to narrow this post down to my new fav. place in Cleveland:

The Cleveland Metroparks Zoo.

1. clevelandmetroparkszoo_1-28, 2. IMG_0776, 3. Rainforest Building - Monkeys, 4. Look! Lemurs!, 5. Cleveland Zoo - Flamingos, 6. Shark Panning, 7. Wolf, 8. Happy Fish :), 9. Koala named Bulkee

We first went with Matt’s sister and her husband when they were in town:

And I ended up buying a membership. Best idea ever. We’ve been several times since. And I’m not sure how our zoo compares to other cities as far as rankings or whatever but I think it’s spectacular. So does the Girl:

Checking out some wallabies


She hates the hat but loves watching the creatures move around.


Monkeys are fun... Just like her doggie.

But her favorite part of the zoo? The Aquarium:

She LOVES watching the fish and I have discovered that the benches behind the shark tank are a great place to discreetly feed her. Even though thanks to watching too much shark week they TERRIFY me…

To this shark my child is a snack. Pic from here.

I think the best part is showing her animals that we’ve seen in the wild… like the macaws:

Pic from the Amazon Rainforest in Peru

Pic from the Cleveland Zoo.

That has even inspired a new colorway: Scarlet Macaw.


Which is not exactly a destination but certainly is inspired by travel.

So yeah… Life in Cleveland is good:

Family pic from our first visit.


All funned out.

It's just a bit wild right now. (har har har)

The best sounds ever.

So we’ve had a sweet HD video camera since Christmas but I haven’t downloaded anything that we’ve shot. Until now. Because this? Is just awesome. This was literally the second time she ever laughed. In her life. Crazy that:

And in case that wasn’t enough for you:

Best sound ever.

Oh and as a footnote saving HD down to mpeg is a giant pain in the ass. Also I think I will be using flickr for my video sharing needs because youtube kindof skeeves me out.

On Notice

So currently I have 3 unfinished posts hanging out in my blogger. One on our trip to the beach, one on cross dressing a baby complete with a hat pattern for a baby boy, and one on some fun firsts – fourth of july, out of town trips, feet discovery, etc.

But once again there is no way I’m going to be able to finish any of that.

Instead I’d like to put a few things on notice:

And just so the post isn’t a complete waste how about an adorable picture of her in her America Day outfit:



she still has the red hair and blue eyes earning her the nickname "Little Miss Recessive" Wonder how long all of it will last?

America the Beautiful

O beautiful for Spacious Skies,


For Amber Waves of Grain,


For Purple Mountain Majesties


Above the Fruited Plain!


America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood

From Sea


to Shining Sea!



This limited edition series of semi-solid yarns inspired by America the Beautiful is now available at Destination Yarn.



Have a wonderful Fourth of July everyone!