She's Breakin' Outta Her Jammies!

After a couple of months of being a bit on the shrimpy side, Natalie has decided to kick things into high gear. Her appetite and recent growth spurt remind me of when my parents recalled that they could hear us kids growing in our sleep: creeeeeek.

This kid's in near- constant "feed me" mode, gormandizing rice cereal, applesauce, bananas, and peas so far, with more menu items to introduce soon. It's not all going to waste (pun intended); she's much more able-bodied as well. She figured out that she can roll onto her tummy and back again whenever she likes, and, with the right motivation, she can almost do an unassisted sit-up. Would it be freaky if our infant had six-pack abs? Oh, and check out her bottom gum line. She must have been humming "All I Want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth" when we weren't around.

When she's not humming, making raspberries, or the cutest little "tha-tha-tha" song, I think her other favorite sound to make falls along the line of a roar. It's half grunt, half I don't know what, but it's silly.

We hope she keeps this growing thing up for a while. I try not to think about her not being a teeny-tiny, limp noodle in my arms and how precious those moments were. I better start swapping out her clothes in the dresser for ones that fit!

Yee-Haw!

Remember when I was jumping up and down like a three-year old about my shining moment on Craftster? Well break out the bubbly again! My star book tutorial was selected as one of the best of 2007! Perhaps the only thing cooler than this honor is the list itself -- what an inspiring compilation of projects. Surely there's something on the list that will get even the least crafty of you digging through your stacks of scraps. Anyway, I'm thrilled. Yippie!

We Survived! It's a Miracle!

We're Baaaaa-aaaack! Actually we've been back for a while, but I have maybe a whole hour to myself this afternoon to get some long-overdue blogging done. I'm updating the Picasa album simultaneously too, so you'll have to check that out while you're here.

We enjoyed our luxurious 9-day cruise from Fort Lauderdale to Panama, Costa Rica and Belize. Overall, it was a lot of fun and a lot of work. It wasn't quite the raucous, carefree kind of fun you see in the commercials, but it was about as far as anyone could expect to get to that kind of fun while also managing a preschooler and an infant. We're pretty sure that Natalie was the youngest cruiser on board, if only by a month or so. Leah traveled extremely well: on the ship, on the planes, and on the tours. She soaked in everything she could about what we were doing, what we were seeing, and what we were going to do next.

There were a handful of things about the cruise we did not enjoy, but I'll keep this post positive because it was an unforgettable and ultimately fun experience. Here are some highlights:

1. Being WARM in January!
2. Being treated like royalty practically everywhere.
3. Watching people dressed to the nines having to steady themselves as gracefully as possible while the ship careened over massive swell waves.
4. Hearing all the accents (New York, Tennessee, French Canadian).
5. Sitting down together every night for a four-course dinner.
6. Folded towel creatures in our room every night with turn-down service.
7. Room stewards positioning Leah's little dolly on her pillow every night -- so cute!
8. All you can eat Ice Cream! ALL YOU CAN EAT, BABY!
9. Warm Chocolate Melting Cake -- Our dessert of choice night after night, and heretofore renamed: Dub-CMC. To die for (if not to die from)!
10. A little "healthy fear" at getting stuck on a one-and-a-half lane road in the middle of the Panamanian rain forest.
11. Watching Leah play in the pool with her Grandma, again, and again, and again.
12. Hot chocolate, lots of wind, and a dark, spooky ocean in front of you while standing as far fore as possible on the top of the ship.
13. Seeing Leah haul her wheeled suitcase around the airport like a pro.
14. Watching Matthew's brother Nathan perform as Sir Elton John in a themed talent show.
15. Wincing at really bad karaoke (not Nathan, he was GOOD!).
16. Cheering on Matthew and Nathan at the craps table.
17. Waking up in a new country.
18. Slipping down a muddy canal in a tour boat in Costa Rica.
19. Snorkeling the barrier reef off Belize.
20. Doing the whole thing with family.

I'd be up for another cruise... in a few years, either sans kids or when they're old enough to sit on a plane without a booster seat. For a brief slide show of the trip, go to the album on the left. If you want more of the dirt, call or write me. I think that, finally, we're on solid ground again.