Indy Update

Sweet Pea is sick. Fever on Monday and Tuesday, then the fever went away, but a cough and a runny nose took it's place. A little more fever today. Bummer. We took him to the doctor Tuesday, and he had nothing but a fever, so there's not much we can do. For the most part he's okay during the day...but nights have been harder. He coughs, wakes himself up, we go in there, calm him down, and a little later, he coughs again. I hope Sweet Pea gets better soon. But he loves his bath. And Nana Cindy is here visiting, and he loves his Nana.

Just not having his nose wiped. Not one little bit.

I made the Channel 5 News

So, my shopping cart and my big mouth were on the news tonight. I was shopping for party provisions, and they asked me to answer a few questions. They actually show me 4 times, twice from further away and twice talking. I guess snarkiness is newsworthy.

First Haircut

So, after realizing that Indy did bare a striking resemblance to Lyle Lovett, we got him a haircut.He was great. He kept looking around wanting to see what was going on, but otherwise he was completely cool and calm. He looked so teeny sitting in that big chair...sweet little boy.
But he still has his darling chubby baby face, so all is well. He had his 9 month appointment last week and is in perfect health. He's on the skinny side: 3rd percentile in weight and 25th in height. I guess for some babies to be 90th percentile, others have to be on the far side of the scale. Despite that, he loves to eat. He has graduated to table food and loves eating pretty much everything, especially puffs. And he loves dropping food on the floor...thankfully, we have two fuzzy puppies that happily take care of that.

I think Indy needs a haircut

The New House!

We moved the Friday before Christmas, and with few exceptions, we're completely done unpacking and getting settled. I'm really amazed and thankful that we were able to get so much done.

To see the Facebook album of pictures from start (a pile of dirt) to the complete, mostly decorated house, click here.

We even had time to have a little get-together at our house for New Year's Eve. We had 30+ guests, but there was plenty of room to mix and mingle, but as usual, everyone congregated around the food. I made chocolate chip cookies, homemade vanilla marshmallows, brie in pastry with apples, roasted red pepper hummus, ranch dill dip, brown sugar bacon-wrapped lil' smokies...all made in my new kitchen.
Indy played in his high chair and sampled the party food ahead of time. He loves feeding himself, so I gave him a little of whatever I was nibbling at the time, like hummus and crackers.

Including part of my chocolate chip cookie. I'm sure you're not supposed to give babies cookies...But he liked it. :-)

We're moving in two days!

We're moving on Friday. Yup. For real.

We got the final approval from the city today, we're doing the final walk-through on Thursday, then the closing is scheduled for Friday at 10, and the movers are coming at noon!

It seems so sudden...but really it's been almost a two year process from deciding that we wanted to build, choosing a builder, planning a completely custom home, working with the builder to get plans drawn up, dealing with financing and finally starting construction in July. It's been like giving birth to a baby elephant.

So, just in time for Christmas, we're moving. This is how our house is decorated for the Holidays: A beautiful centerpiece of liquor boxes. How tasteful.
Boxes stacked all in a row.
A kitchen brimming...with boxes and bags and tape and other packing mess.
But starting Friday, this will be our new home! It STILL feels like a fairy tale...but soon a reality. :-)

Busy December

It's been a busy month so far, with no sign of letting up. I've been a candy-making making fool. First, I made two batches of truffles, and with my sister-in-law Aubrey, her friend Stephanie (and Indiana) coated and decorated tons of truffles. But that wasn't enough.
Then, I went home and made Rocky Road fudge and two batches of Pecan Pralines. Well, three...but I burnt the first batch. Pralines are super-finicky to make, and only in the midst of it did I remember why I stopped making them several years ago. They will scorch in a second and only ninja-like skills will prevent them from seizing up on you.
I am the praline ninja. I packed up 20 little boxes as co-worker gifts, plus the principals, and more importantly, their secretaries, the copy lady and building maintenance managers. Well, that didn't leave much for friends and family.

So I made more pralines and truffles.
And packed them in cute little boxes, feeling all Martha-y. :-) But that isn't the only packing I've been doing. Because...
The house is nearly ready! It hopefully will be done THIS week. THIS week! We have a tentative closing date set for the 23rd, but perhaps the 27th. Casey's been walking a tight-rope of trying to coordinate the builder, the city and the mortgage company all to get things done. Casey did the landscaping himself two Saturday's ago, and now we're waiting on the fencing and a tree to be put in to get final approval.

So, we've been packing up the whole house. There is nothing left on the walls, and we've almost completely packed up the bedrooms. The kitchen, bathrooms and living room are the last to be handled. Casey promised we could leave the Christmas tree for last.
Indy's been pretty good with all the packing. He's happy most of the time to sit and play, but he did catch Casey's cold which the doctor said not to worry about, but he has been a little fussier the last two days.

In general, he is a super happy baby. He's very friendly and will smile at strangers, but he'll play in his high chair or eat puffs while I putter around the kitchen. He loves when Casey and I sing to him or even better, sing and dance with him. He loves riding on Daddy's shoulders or bouncing or "flying." He loves to eat (as long as the food is warm) and is getting better at hand feeding himself. He just turned 8 months yesterday. My sweet boy. :-)