Friday, June 25, 2010
Color Me Embarrassed
I have had a hard time coming up with blog topics lately. Lydia and I have fallen into such a great routine, and I feel like a blog that reads, "Life is great! Having a lot of summer fun!" might get monotonous after awhile. Here's a fun thing I have not mentioned as of yet.
Lydia loves to color. We gave her crayons for the first time in April, and her main interest was in eating them, not scribbling. Since then, she has slowly gotten into coloring. We took a big piece of cardboard and put it down on her picnic table so that she has lots of space and doesn't mark up any of our counter or wood surfaces and bought her Crayola Tadoodles, clever little gadgets that make crayons easier to hold and more difficult to eat. She's such a budding artist!!
Lydia loves to color. We gave her crayons for the first time in April, and her main interest was in eating them, not scribbling. Since then, she has slowly gotten into coloring. We took a big piece of cardboard and put it down on her picnic table so that she has lots of space and doesn't mark up any of our counter or wood surfaces and bought her Crayola Tadoodles, clever little gadgets that make crayons easier to hold and more difficult to eat. She's such a budding artist!!
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Father's Day Dinner
Summertime in our house means food. Lots and lots of food. Food like this: Grilled watermelon steaks and beer-glazed back beans...
This paired with Robin's embracing of the whole "way-too-a-man's-heart-is-through-his-stomach" notion meant one thing: Robin's Father's Day gift would be a dinner.
Since Lydia is still a bit too young to cook, I took the reins. Using a new cookbook filled with recipes from a local restaurant, Fonda San Miguel, I went to town creating things to celebrate Robin and everything he is to our family.
Black Drum Ceviche
Jicama and Canteloupe Salad with Pomegranate Dressing
Stuffed Zucchini Squash with Salsa Rancheros (I even roasted the tomatoes and made the salsa from scratch!)
and Watermelon Margaritas, made with Watermelon-Infused Tequila. (Yes, I made that, too!)
The Luthers came over for our Sunday evening dinner tradition and Jessica brought over a Tres Leches cake that she also made from scratch.
It was perfect! Happy Father's Day!
This paired with Robin's embracing of the whole "way-too-a-man's-heart-is-through-his-stomach" notion meant one thing: Robin's Father's Day gift would be a dinner.
Since Lydia is still a bit too young to cook, I took the reins. Using a new cookbook filled with recipes from a local restaurant, Fonda San Miguel, I went to town creating things to celebrate Robin and everything he is to our family.
Black Drum Ceviche
Jicama and Canteloupe Salad with Pomegranate Dressing
Stuffed Zucchini Squash with Salsa Rancheros (I even roasted the tomatoes and made the salsa from scratch!)
and Watermelon Margaritas, made with Watermelon-Infused Tequila. (Yes, I made that, too!)
The Luthers came over for our Sunday evening dinner tradition and Jessica brought over a Tres Leches cake that she also made from scratch.
It was perfect! Happy Father's Day!
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Blogging on the iPad
I am loving my iPad. I have yet to find something that I can't do that I did on my laptop. For those that are curious, I ended up getting the BlogPress App for my iPad, the same app I use from my iPhone. We purchased the keyboard dock to go with my iPad, so typing is exactly as it was on my laptop. In order to include pictures on my posts, we upload photos to Robin's computer (which is where our pictures have always been stored) and I sync my iPad to his MacBook, syncing only the most recent album. If I wanted to spend lots of time syncing all of our photos, I could, and there is the space on my iPad to do this, but I have yet to see a need. I have had a couple of moments when I forgot to save on the iPad and lost a blog entry I wrote, as BlogPress doesn't save drafts automatically, but other than that, the transition has gone smoothly, and let's face it, the iPad does look pretty cool.
Role Reversal
With the end of the school year has come a switch in the routine in our house. So far the transition to me being at home and taking care of Lydia and Robin working full-time has gone well. Robin has had enough going on at work that he was ready for this switch awhile ago, and I have been eager to be home more. I am enjoying having more energy to contribute at home--thank goodness for a teacher's schedule.
Lydia and I have settled into a great routine. She is still in daycare two days a week, so on those days, I run errands, go to yoga, meet friends, and enjoy some much needed free time that I have been craving since, oh, March 2009. When she is home, we have settled into a nice groove of breakfast, going for a morning walk/run, taking a morning nap (while I clean up the house, take a shower, and get ready for the day), having lunch and taking a fun outing to the pool, library, or children's museum, coming home for an afternoon nap, my designated do-nothing-to-my-heart's-content time. I read, nap, watch trashy TV, nibble on snacks. It is good. Once Lydia wakes up, we run to the grocery store for dinner ingredients. It's a rough life, I tell you.
I can't help but compare this summer to this same time last year. While we did have Spring together, Lydia was so little that we were really in survival mode. Comparing her now to her at 12 weeks is just night and day. There are some parents who will tell you how much they miss their children as infants, how they wish they could go back. Maybe with time I will hit that point, but for now, I am totally in the "It Just Gets Better and Better" camp as opposed to the "Just Wait Until..." camp. (Say this in a threatening voice, usually following some sort of profession of parenting joy and contentment, and you will know what I mean.) Lydia can play now, she interacts, she expresses happiness and love. We are having so much fun.
Lydia and I have settled into a great routine. She is still in daycare two days a week, so on those days, I run errands, go to yoga, meet friends, and enjoy some much needed free time that I have been craving since, oh, March 2009. When she is home, we have settled into a nice groove of breakfast, going for a morning walk/run, taking a morning nap (while I clean up the house, take a shower, and get ready for the day), having lunch and taking a fun outing to the pool, library, or children's museum, coming home for an afternoon nap, my designated do-nothing-to-my-heart's-content time. I read, nap, watch trashy TV, nibble on snacks. It is good. Once Lydia wakes up, we run to the grocery store for dinner ingredients. It's a rough life, I tell you.
I can't help but compare this summer to this same time last year. While we did have Spring together, Lydia was so little that we were really in survival mode. Comparing her now to her at 12 weeks is just night and day. There are some parents who will tell you how much they miss their children as infants, how they wish they could go back. Maybe with time I will hit that point, but for now, I am totally in the "It Just Gets Better and Better" camp as opposed to the "Just Wait Until..." camp. (Say this in a threatening voice, usually following some sort of profession of parenting joy and contentment, and you will know what I mean.) Lydia can play now, she interacts, she expresses happiness and love. We are having so much fun.
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