Health Update

Miss Eliza is slowly on the mend. It's been a long three days, though. She's sleeping a lot, not eating that much, and still quite prone to frequent diaper changes that involve all new outfits. I'll not go into more detail than that, which you all should probably thank me for! Saturday was very snowy around here as well, so between her and the snow, we canceled all our remaining plans and stayed home. We put up the Christmas tree while she was sleeping and it thrilled her to no end when she came out and saw it. She has a small tree as well, decorated with all the ornaments everyone made for me at my NJ baby shower (did I say that already in an earlier post? My brain is so fried). She has taken a few ornaments off the big tree, but all the breakable ones are out of her reach, so it's okay. Her very favorite thing is the M&M tree lights we have (disclaimer: not my auction, just wanted the picture!). Sadly, the M&M's come off pretty easily, so I spend most of my time taking the small plastic figures away from her.

I hope everyone is getting into the Christmas spirit. We're trying!

This picture of Eliza isn't great, but she had dedicated herself to cramming everything she possibly could into her horse's saddle. It was really quite impressive.

Sick Baby

It seems incredible that we have made it 14 months with no real sickness aside from the odd cold here and there, but our run of luck is over.

Last night, we put Eliza to bed and she had a pretty tough time settling down. We figured it was because she'd already slept a lot during the day and we had a friend over, so life was too exciting to go to sleep. After about an hour and a half of intermittent crying (never anything huge), I went in to check on her. I thought maybe she was teething, so I brought in some Motrin, which she happily took. When I picked her up to rock her, I noticed her pajamas were a little wet. THEN I felt that they were, for lack of a better word, chunky. Oh dear.

I called Mac in to help and he changed all the bedding, right down to the mattress pad, while I changed her pajamas, her onesie, her diaper (she had diarrhea as well), and the changing table cover. I gave her some water, rocked her for a while, then put her back down. She fell asleep quickly and slept through the night. A little restless early this morning, but okay.

We got her up at 7:30 (late for her) because we were supposed to go look at kitchen appliances. She only wanted milk and a little banana at breakfast and seemed pretty dazed still. After breakfast, she wanted to brush her teeth of course, so we headed into the bathroom to do that at which point everything came right back up on me, on her, on the sink, on the floor. Twice. Good times!

Needless to say, we canceled our appliance appointment, got everything and everybody cleaned up, dispatched Mac to the grocery store for BRAT foods, and settled in for a day of sick baby. She's sleeping again now.

Hopefully her parents are coming to pick her up soon. :-)

The Literary Look

In homage to Eliza's literary forbears (Elizabeth Bennett, Harper Lee, Eliza Doolittle, my mom the journalist), we're trying yet another template. Consensus was that the last one was indeed too much pink. Thoughts?

New look, same name

I was playing around with Blogger's templates and thought we'd try out a new look. Too much pink?

What's in a name?

What? Two posts in the space of about five minutes? What gives?

Well, I have realized that the title of the this blog - Pinky and the New Mommy Brain - is no longer entirely accurate, as I am no longer a "new" mom. Some days I feel like quite the seasoned pro, actually. Then I quickly revert to "when are her parents coming to pick her up?" mode. But be that as it may, I am wondering if perhaps we need to rename the blog. Do you, dear readers, have any thoughts on the matter? Or any suggestions? Somehow "Pinky and the Mommy Brain" doesn't seem as funny, but maybe that's just me.

Four out of five dentists

Eliza is obsessed with her oral hygiene today. Don't ask me why. Usually she brushes her teeth (and if you think by "brush" I mean chew on her toothbrush and drool all over the place, you'd be right) after breakfast and just before bed. Today she has insisted on brushing after every snack and lunch as well. And I mean insisted - screaming and crying if we head anywhere but the bathroom after she gets out of her high chair. I guess there are worse things to be obsessed with.

Oooh, a toothbrush!

I am SO brushing my teeth!

GAAAAHHH - INSANE TOOTH BRUSHING BABY!!!
Also, a quick apology for the delay in approving the most recent comments. For some reason, Blogger neglected to email me and let me know I had any!

Fashion Show

Eliza has gotten some great outfits from people and now seems like a good time to showcase them. As always, huge thank you's to all!

First off, from her birthday we have a stunning ensemble courtesy of Carolyn. The embroidered jeans are hipper than hip and she's all that in her pink hoodie. You can see this was taken back in the warmer days!
Another birthday gift came from Aunt Barbara and Uncle Bob (my godparents). This gorgeous yellow sweater has smiley face buttons that Miss E. just adores. And who wouldn't?
We also got a huge box of stuff from Cynthia. I haven't taken pics of all of it yet, but here's a sampling. Black and white gingham overalls with a rose embroidered top:
Seriously purple overalls (Daddy loves these - go Williams) with a matching lavender onesie:
More overalls, this time in red, with a festive holiday shirt (click on it to see bigger):
Another view of the overalls, so you can see the fabulous plaid pattern on them (as Heather pointed out, it must be nice to be a baby and not care about wearing plaid pants that make your hips look huge!). She's also modeling her heavy winter ensemble, courtesy of Target.Nice to see that she's trying to earn her keep by helping Daddy rake leaves.

Where's Waldo?

I've gotten a lot of notes from people asking where was Aunt Leslie in all the pictures from cousin Jack's visit. Did she really come? The answer is yes, she did, but I, as principal photographer, was mainly concerned with getting pictures of the cousins. In hindsight, we should have taken a picture of the two sisters with the kids, but alas, we didn't. She WAS in a picture that we posted...she's the one pushing Jack's stroller in the pic where they are holding hands, but since her head is cut off, I don't suppose that does anyone much good.

Anyway, here is the only picture she is in, trying to help Eliza understand the drumming chaos that Jack and Mac are up to.


Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Eliza enjoyed her stuffing, but wasn't so enthused by the turkey. She definitely enjoyed dessert...brownie trifle from Heather's oh so yummy recipe!

Mini Me's

These are our friends, Mark and Katie. This picture was taken at our wedding...I have no idea why I don't have a more recent picture of them, but I don't. Anyway, Mark and Mac went to high school together, so have been friends for a long time.

Mark and Katie just had a baby girl, Alice, and last week little Alice and her mommy came over to play with us. Pretty fair to say that both these little girls look just like their daddies...a couple of little mini me's!
(It's amazing how much babies grow in a year, isn't it?)

Deceptively Delicious

Deceptively Delicious is a new cookbook by Jessica Seinfeld, wife of Jerry. Apparently she was on Oprah and talked about it, but I, oblivious as always, missed it. However, suddenly this book kept cropping up in every food conversation I had with anyone, especially our various babysitters. Eliza had just entered into what I'm sure is the first of many phases of finicky eating, so the principles behind the book caught my attention. Basically, it's about sneaking healthy food into "regular" food so that kids will eat it. Think lots and lots of purees. I'm sure it's mostly geared toward the older picky eaters in the world, but since we were really moving away from any and all baby foods, I decided to pick up a copy.

One of the best decisions I've ever made.

Seriously, we've tried several recipes at this point and haven't hit a dud yet. Eliza has loved all of them: macaroni & cheese with butternut squash; pink pancakes made with beets; twice baked potatoes with cauliflower puree; and most recently, turkey lasagna with sweet potato and cauliflower purees. She's in a no-meat phase, but happily chowed on the turkey at lunch today. It was amazing. As an added bonus, this stuff all tastes so good that Mac and I eat it too (well, we were a little "eh" on those pink pancakes, but we don't like beets, so what can you do? I froze the rest and Eliza still loves them). Nice to know that when she is old enough for family dinner, there will be food we can all eat!

I also count us lucky that Eliza already enjoys many interesting foods, like quiche and broccoli (preferably with cheese). She also appears to realize that American cheese is not, in fact, cheese and should not be eaten. She'd much rather have some cheddar or muenster or those cute little Babybel cheeses. Yummy! And the girl does enjoy a grilled muenster cheese with avocado. Who wouldn't?

For those with kids, go buy this book. For those who know someone with kids, buy them this book. I think that should cover everyone. :-) If you want to sample a couple of recipes, Oprah has those too!

Now if only there was a comparable guide to good napping every day.

And since we weren't blogging when Eliza first started solids, here's a pic of her first "meal" - really watery cereal (rice?). Such a baldie!

Self Image

Call me crazy, but I think maybe, just MAYBE, Eliza knows she's cute.
She definitely knows how to work it these days.
And speaking of working it, sometimes the mamas can get in on the action too. This is me with Gen (mother of Sam) and Heather (Connor's mom) all dressed up and looking good at the Infamous Commonwealth gala last week.

Jack Attack!!!

This weekend, Eliza met her cousin Jack! Jack and his parents (Aunt Leslie and Uncle Friz) flew in for a whirlwind visit, arriving Saturday night and leaving Monday afternoon. Sadly, the first part of our visit on Sunday was spent at Navy Pier and the Children's Museum where a grand time was had riding the carousel and train and playing with all the cool stuff in the museum...but no one brought a camera. Oh well. Next time.

So on to Sunday post naps, where Jack took an immediate shine to Eliza's drum set. Here's the handsome devil:

And then Eliza wanted in on the action:

Jack and Uncle Mac, too cool for words!

A whole lotta noise!

Eliza wasn't sure what to do with all these goofy guys.

On Sunday, we all walked to the park, where Eliza and Daddy experimented with a tire swing.

Jack and Uncle Friz rode their mighty steeds.

And Eliza learned that slides are lots and lots of fun...she signed "more" as soon as she got to the bottom.

Cousins swinging along.

After lunch, Eliza walked home with two handsome fellows...
...who can lift her REALLY high!!!

And here are the happy cousins, holding hands (although Eliza's foot is blocking the view a little). Awwwww!!!!

Happy Halloween!!!

Happy Halloween, everybody! I'm counting this as Eliza's first Halloween because, let's face it, last year she was neither aware of it nor enjoying it, as this photo shows. She had already outgrown her "Baby's First Halloween" outfit, but I jammed her into it anyway. She reciprocated by looking a bit like Dr. Evil.


So, this year, much more fun, if not any more photogenic. We went to Lincoln Park Zoo on Saturday for their Halloween celebration (one of the sad things about living in a city is that kids can't really trick or treat, so there are lots of these kinds of events to go to instead. Fun, but really crowded). Here's our ladybug, eyes half closed in a picture b/c she is her father's daughter.
She walked the whole time by herself, sometimes not even holding anyone's hand, which made it that much more challenging to keep track of her in the crowds!

When it was all over, she showed off her big girl skills by pushing the stroller along on her own.


And another one for the desktop wallpaper collection...

On Halloween proper, we went to a playdate at Kerri's, where we met up with an awfully cute cow outside (Connor):

Inside, it was pretty much impossible to get a good photo of anyone, so here is the bug again, pondering the mysteries of a block:

CHAOS!!!

There were some guests at playgroup this time, including Alejandro - the lion with the reflective eyes in the center of the picture. He gave Eliza a goodbye kiss that rendered her absolutely Marcia Brady "I'll never wash my cheek again." Look out, Connor!

A Taste of Fall

Last Saturday, we went to a pumpkin farm south of the city. For the occasion, and because she's a big girl now, we turned Eliza's car seat to be front facing. She couldn't be happier to ride in the car now!


Once there, we went right for the "petting zoo," which really meant give the goats some food and try not to get bitten! Eliza got licked once or twice to her great delight, but we pretty quickly used up our allotted supply of whatever it is that they gave us to feed the goats. We also investigated the llamas, but when the guy next to us actually got spit on (they're nasty creatures), we quickly found other things to do!


Eliza really enjoyed the playground area, where she could stomp around the grass and ogle the older kids. Here she is inside the small train, where I caught this photo about two seconds before she would have gone careening off the edge of the caboose!


And of course, the pony ride!!! I think I was more excited than she was, since I still have that horse obsessed girl that I was living inside me. At this point in her life, I think Eliza prefers her rocking horse from Nan and Gramps. But doesn't she look cute???


Next up, some pumpkin trivia. Post your answers and we'll let you know if you're right!


Checking out pumpkins with Daddy. Which one to choose? And apparently pay with using Mommy's wallet.


You call it corn; my people call it maize (does anyone remember those commercials?).


Off into the sunset with Daddy.

In and Out, Open and Close

Dear readers, it was recently brought to my attention by one of you (who shall remain nameless) that it's been over a week since I posted anything. I am flattered that some of you are so dedicated and to prevent such WAILIN' (hint) in the future, I will try to post at least once a week, maybe twice.

So to that end, Miss Eliza has reached the developmental stage of being fascinated by the whole concept of opening and closing and that things can go inside other things. She spends her days opening and closing the door to her bedroom, to my bedroom (although not as much now that she's closed herself in alone a couple of times!), to the kitchen cabinets. She also likes to do this with the lid of her beautiful toy chest...thank goodness for safety hinges. It's all a little unnerving as I picture small fingers getting smushed, but she's only had a couple of small pinches, which may have been enough of a warning for her as she seems much more careful these days.

Along with opening and closing comes in and out. If there is a container around that could have things in it, she will find things to put in. If a container already has things in it, she will take them out. We recently bought some wooden clothespins (not the hinge kind) from the craft store and they now reside in a large Tupperware container where she can sit and put them in and out to her heart's content. And she does. Sometimes her blocks go in there too. And her shoes. And her sippy cup. It's very funny.

We also bought a "chunky" wooden puzzle, where the pieces are large wooden animals that go into spaces painted the same. She gets the general idea, but lacks the motor skills to put them in, so she takes the pieces out, then hands them to me. I put them over their designated spaces and she "helps" me press them back in. She loves it.

Yesterday, we received a wonderful present from Aunt Anna, Uncle Bryan, and Benjamin...a drum with other musical instruments stored inside. This meets many needs - in and out plus making noise in rhythm (a weekly occurrence at Wiggleworms, of course!). She was so excited by this one that she protested vigorously when I put it away for bedtime. I bribed her with a bath, though, which made everything better. It's the little things in life for this girl!

We went to a pumpkin farm over the weekend and I will try to get the pics off the camera and onto the blog soon!

Christine, I hope this satisfies your blogging needs...oops, did I say that out loud???

Blog Action Day

I don't consider myself a "real" blogger - as in, someone whose blog is read by other bloggers and someone who wants their blog read by other bloggers. I don't go to conferences or comment on anyone else's blog besides a couple of other mommies that I know personally. I don't advertise this blog to anyone who doesn't know Eliza. But I do read lots of other blogs, mainly about parenting, and learned that today is Blog Action Day.

It is defined thusly:

On October 15th, bloggers around the web will unite to put a single important issue on everyone’s mind - the environment. Every blogger will post about the environment in their own way and relating to their own topic. Our aim is to get everyone talking towards a better future.

So, okay - I can blog about the environment today. It's something that has always mattered to me in that vague, crunchy, yay it's Earth Day kind of way. But since having Eliza, it suddenly matters so much more. That whole thing about not inheriting the earth from your parents, but borrowing it from your children actually means something to me now. I fear for what kind of world we are leaving her. Was it selfish to even bring her into it? I worry.

And I know we're not as "green" as we could be. I try in small ways, most of which drive Mac up the wall. I turn off lights now. I have taken the pledge to not drink bottled water for a year (!) and only use my Brita filter and Nalgene bottle (scroll down to the bottom of the blog and you can take it too!). We've replaced as many bulbs as we can with compact fluorescents (although haven't moved onto our dreaded flood/recessed lighting). Our neighborhood now has blue bins and I recycle just about everything. I bring plastic bags back to the grocery store where they have recycling for them and try to bring my canvas bags with me as much as possible. Sometimes I forget and then I'm annoyed with myself. We're slowly transitioning all our cleaning products over to Seventh Generation or something comparable.

Like I said, we try. But we have an SUV, for as much as we try to pretend our beloved CRV, Clark, is anything but. We use disposable diapers for Eliza - again, I do a little bit of green living by at least flushing the solid waste before I throw out the used diaper and I know that there is equal issue with the cloth ones as far as environmental impact (let's face it, babies are hard on the environment!), but there is still that guilt. We leave too many appliances on all the time, which apparently are energy vampires, consuming resources even when not actively in use.

I'd like to think our little actions help, that each drop in the ocean will swell the tide. But I also know that bigger changes need to come from bigger sources, like corporate America and our own government. So should I become more of an activist? Or am I just trendy green with my Nalgene bottle and self-righteousness? Probably the latter.

I'm not sure what I accomplished with this post, but at least I did my little bit to be part of Blog Action Day!

And now here's our girl last week enjoying her leftover birthday cake. Let's leave her a nice place to live, okay?

Crabby Birthday to You

For reasons unbeknownst to anyone but herself, the birthday girl is in a FOUL mood today. She woke up crabby, napped crabby, rallied a bit for Wiggleworms and lunch with Connor and Heather, then completely melted down at the end of lunch. The jury is still out on the rest of the day, but hopefully it will improve.

In the meantime, let's hearken back to a happier birthday celebration, which occurred on Saturday. She was a bit crabby then too, but at least we knew why - our downstairs neighbor had all his windows replaced and the majority of the banging took place during morning nap, significantly curtailing said nap. Ah well. She rallied. Several times.

Here is the birthday princess in her dress from Disney World.


This is cake #1, i.e. the grownup cake.


This is cake #2, also known as the Smash Cake. Exactly what it sounds like.


At first she wasn't quite sure what to do...
...then quickly discovered the butter cream and chocolaty goodness that was hers for the taking!

The end result:
Many presents were brought by people who refuse to follow directions (except Rich, who does what he is told). She didn't quite understand the concept of unwrapping them, but thought the paper itself was quite delightful!
Overall, she had a great time, as did we. So let's forget today's crabbiness and all smile with the birthday girl in a picture that should be everyone's new wallpaper.