Would you like some cake with your whiskey?

I bought this pretty guy before Halloween...
Mainly because I was so excited to chop him up and cook him...

I didn't know one pumpkin would make so much puree. I utilized one cup for the cake that follows and another 10 cups of puree is sitting in my freezer. Baby food, maybe?

I also made some of these...

It all started when I found a recipe for pumpkin cake with whiskey-whipped cream topping. I knew that would be a hit with the group I cook for, so I have been so eager to make it. Rebecca flew in Wednesday night for the Marine Corps Ball this weekend, so everyone came over Thursday night for dinner. Inside the cake are raisins which you soak in whiskey for a hour. Then, you whip cream with 2 tablespoons of whiskey. Only, I didn't think there was enough whiskey, so I added another tablespoon. Only, I STILL didn't think there was enough whiskey, so I poured some more in straight from the bottle. The cake was amazing and you have to try the recipe (I will post it soon). The whipped cream, however, is another story. Shaun said the cake was an alcoholics dream come true. Was that a compliment?

Can your baby do this?

If they can, then I don't want to know about it.

An email conversation with Daniel

My email:

I'm mailing you your dog, so start looking for her in the mail. I only have about two weeks worth of food to send with her, so I hope it doesn't take any longer for her to get there. She can just eat boat food after that.

We came home from our nice trip to Wilmington, and I went to let Roxy out. When I opened up the door I noticed that (brace yourself...) she ripped up all the carpet under the door. There is about a foot long strip that is partly missing with a whole bunch of coarse carpet threads sticking out. You literally can see straight down to the mat the carpet is thread through. I would send you a picture, but I don't want you to reach through the computer and throw her against the wall (*note to readers - Daniel has been known to do this before). I don't even know what to do with her. Honestly. We are obviously going to have to replace the carpet in that room (or at least a strip of it, if you can do that) when we leave. I don't know if it is just really cheap carpet (she has never done this before) or it just became very weak because she has been pulling it up for a while. From what I am guessing, she tried to claw her way out when I close her in there.


Daniel's Response:

My POOR PUPPY DOG!!

She just misses me and doesn’t know how to show it. I hope you weren’t too hard on her. She just needs a few hours of playtime with her dad.




He better not be like this with our children.

How did this happen???

Like I said before, Emily is on the verge of becoming mobile. I know she isn't crawling, yet, but I want to know how she managed to get herself stuck under her chair. I placed her on her blanket to play with her toys while I did the dishes, and I heard her getting quite upset. When I went to check, she was in this position...
I love when babies take bad pictures...

If you look closely, you will see she has one of her legs over the front kickstand of the chair, while her head and body are under the chair's leg. How did she manage this?

I sure wish I was there to witness this! Don't you?

Rice Cereal

We recently started rice cereal, and boy was it an exciting day. Our pediatrician told me I could start Emily on it anywhere between 4 and 6 months. Do you know how long this is in a baby's life? I was hoping for some more guidance than that, so I consulted with a few mother's on knowing the right time to start – they can't seem to get enough to eat, they can sit up on their own, they become very interested in what you are eating. Someone please tell me if they know any 4 month old babies who can sit up on their own? In the end, I decided to wait until she was 5 months old.


Everyday around noon we sit down in our new high chair and eat some rice cereal. I give her about 10 little spoons of it, and only about 25% of that amount actually gets eaten. She really isn't getting any nutritional benefit from it. It's more just for her to get use to eating off of a spoon. She seems to enjoy it, and Mommy loves the photo op!

These are from another day...

Milestone reached: Spinning

What?

You haven't heard of this as a baby milestone?

Well, actually, I haven't either. It definitely isn't in any of our baby books, but I have no clue what else to call it. Emily isn't crawling, that's for sure, and she isn't even scooting. She has no clue how to get her big, fat tummy off of the ground, so you can imagine how this causes some problems in the mobility department. She has, somehow, figured out how to spin around in a circle while on her tummy and pick up distance. Sometimes she evens moves a foot, or two, while doing this.

My next door neighbor hosted a jewelry party tonight, and Emily and I were in attendance. There was another mother there with a son who was 4 months old. He has figured out how to scoot everywhere on his back. She literally put him down on the ground, and before we knew it, he had moved about 10 feet, all while on his back without using hands! I couldn't believe it. I guess they all have their own way of moving before they learn to crawl.

Oh... and while on his back, he scooted towards Emily and they reached out for each other and held hands. Just don't tell Daniel!

We love swing states...

and North Carolina didn't fail us today!