6 Months

So yesterday was our little girl’s six month birthday.

And I’m having troubles finding the words.

Watching her go from this tiny little creature who couldn’t even hold up her own head (or even realize she had a head) to this:

Well. It’s been pretty amazing.


She’s turned into this fun little person with her own personality. She’s a studier who watches things intently before she decides how to react. You can just see the wheels turning – she’s constantly trying to figure things out:


She has a clear sense of humor – and certain things just crack her up. Like when the baby in the mirror wears a hat:

Funniest thing ever.

Or when mommy wears glasses. That’s pretty hilarious, too.

And her likes and dislikes are also abundantly clear. Likes: Yellow, watching people do things, the lazy river during swim class, peaches, Big Bird, and sitting. Dislikes: Hats, cookie monster, things touching her feet, standing, squash, and her Uncle Andy (just kidding.)

She LOVES her daddy. And her doggie. They are the best.

Also can I just mention that it’s extremely difficult to get a good photo of a 6 month old? She’s CONSTANTLY in motion. As Matt put it – she looks like a muppet when she’s sitting. Flopping all about. So most of my photos are blurry:

and more than a few look like this:


And I have quite a few series like this one:

Sitting is fun!

Uh Oh…

FLOP!

So yeah…Life is a lot different than I pictured it would be a year ago. Different, but also pretty wonderful.

my new fav picture ever.

Boppy Wars

Are you ready for some football knitting?

So kickoff on football season is one week from today and we are getting EXCITED. Matt has been watching all of the coverage he can get his hands on, our fantasy teams are set, and even the baby is good to go:

My mom knit the sweater for her.

Don’t the little football buttons just make it!



My fantasy team is looking good this year… although the competition is going to be stiff this season. We took things seriously and there were hardly any draft decisions made based on player hotness:

Pic from my draft. Funtimes were had.

Although Tony Romo went pretty late since noone wanted him on their team after what he did to Jessica.

So while I’m not really in the business of dying sports team yarns I got a bit caught up in the frenzy and this happened:



And I couldn’t very well dye Sixburgh without also dying Believeland:

EDITED TO ADD: I sold out of Believeland! Thanks guys! I actually had one skein that wasn't listed because I was saving it for me. So since there was demand I listed it this morning. It's the last one, though!



Because although I agreed to raise my child as a Steelers fan (in exchange for Matt agreeing to raise her Catholic. Marriage is all about the compromises) I do still know where I came from.

And since I was on a roll I had to dye the one place that I think should def be represented by its team colors:


Those fans are the most insane I’ve ever encountered. (here’s the post where I tailgated like a Buckeye, and the one with the Ohio State Superfan Hat pattern)

And since I was just in northern Wisconsin for vacation (unblogged) I figured I may as well do a colorway for the cheeseheads, too.


The cool thing about that one is that the landscape matches their team colors. So it works both ways.

Anways I had fun doing this but not enough fun to make this a part of my regularly scheduled programming. So these colorways are limited edition. I’ve listed what I have and when they are gone, they’re gone. Knit something fun for the superfan in your life - available at Destination Yarn!

My only question now is do I use this yarn to knit for Matt or the baby?

It’s ok mommy, I have enough Steelers gear. See how cute this bib is?


I wonder what it tastes like...

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)