Chop & Bop

Tess and I had such a fun day at Nana and Papa's house yesterday. Tess went over for some good grandparent time and I went over to "chop & bop" with Wendy!

This nutrition plan Wendy and I are on requires an inordinate amount of vegetable chopping throughout the week. I hauled over all my veggies for the week and we chopped away in her beautiful new kitchen. If you have to chop bushels of peppers, onions and carrots, now that's the way to do it!

After dicing up a week's worth of veggies, we put Tess down for a nap and headed to downstairs to their new gym for our "bopping" session. Now, if you have to exercise, that's the way to do it! We pushed each other through a good workout (Wendy's a fierce competitor!). That afternoon we picked out French art for her house and Tess got in her grandparent time. We had such a good time, we may do it more regularly.

These pics are from this past weekend. Tess is starting to pull up on things more. She's usually pulled herself up on her crib when I get her in the morning. Using this skill, she's found access to many things she's not supposed to have. Her favorite--don't ask me why--it's SO GROSS--is her nose bulb (that little squeegee thing you use to suction all the goobers from a baby's nose). She adores sucking on it whenever she can get her hands on it. Yeah, pretty gross.

Here's Tessie enjoying a weekend of spaghetti, ice cream and football with Dad. Now who does that remind you of?

On Sunday, Tess wore her early birthday gift from Nana & Papa. It's size 12 mos. and supposed to be for her first birthday, but it already fits her like a glove! The little ballerina got so many compliments, including "She's sheer perfection!" I couldn't agree more!

Into The Sea With You!

There are no happy endings, because nothing ends.
~Schmendrick

Down in the Dumps Without Our Dip!

Dipsy took off yesterday, and we're missing her greatly! She was here for a week, but it went by SO fast! I get to see her on Friday for my brother Ryan's wedding, but it's just fun to have her HERE!

We were able to cross off all the things on our "To Do" list, except for one thing: find mom a long- sleeved black shrug for a cute dress that she wants to be able to wear in the winter.

We looked all over town for a shrug, ANY shrug! Wow, I guess shrugs are currently the leprosy of the fashion world. They clearly have been shunned from any retail outlet in a 25 mile radius. It wasn't for lack of trying, but we weren't able to check that one off our list.

Things we did get to cross off our list:

• Teach Tess to sit up (that was easy enough!)
  
• Buy bins, sort & store away all of Tess's newborn clothes. (What a chore! But so nice to get her room back under control--I was swimming in her clothes!)
• Pick out and install hardware for my kitchen cabinets.
• Visit Wegman's (my new favorite grocery store)
• Shop for wedding outfit & shoes for me
• Raid the JC Penny outlet (my mom's favorite!)
• Check out local gym costs & child care
• Get our hair done
  

My new cabinet knobs & pulls

In addition to all that, Mom was a good sport and ate what was on my meal plan for the week. We exercised every day (Mom even came to my exercise class), and we did a whole lot of cooking (instead of a whole lot of eating out--what we usually do!). Mom was even brave enough to try Chocolate Soy Milk (I think we have a believer!). She lost 1 1/2 lbs. and I'm down a few more too! Woo hoo!

Bundled up for a brisk walk on a brisk day!

On Sunday, Wendy & Keith invited us over to watch Conference in their fabulous, warm and comfortable new refinished basement. They've been through quite the ordeal living through months of remodeling, but their new kitchen, basement and bathrooms are GORGEOUS! Tess & Ry are going to stay over there while I'm out in LA for the wedding. They should have a great time!

Getting in some Papa love.

And a couple pics that Dipsy took.

These pics are from lunch today. I was out running errands and had to do a Subway stop. I tried Tess in a restaurant high chair for the first time, and boy was she in heaven! She thought she was hot stuff! She kept banging on the table, laughing and giving cheesy grins to anyone who would look her way. She loves that kind of attention!

Baby Bootcamp With Drill Sergeant Dipsy

Dipsy is here again for her annual Spud Harvest visit!

Dipsy comes this same week every year, and it's funny how all the same events reoccur during her visit year after year:

• General Conference (so she has never once been to our ward);
• car inspection for tried and not-always-true Toyota (I just typed "tired-and-true"--Freudian slip);
  
• the DC Book Festival;
  
• shopping for presents for the same people that have fall birthdays; and
• cool autumn weather that makes for nice walks outside.
  

We LOVE having her here and we always look forward to this time of year!

One new item on our to-do list this year: get Tess to sit up. Well, I'm pleased to report that after a single day of Baby Bootcamp with Dipsy, Tess has achieved success!

Look ma, no hands!

I think Tess was just saving up that trick so she could hear a big "TA-DA" from her Dipsy. Dipsy is always an appreciative audience!

My big girl!

I'm so proud of her, but this growing up stuff is hard. I kept urging her on, "Come on, Tessie, you can do it! You can sit up!" And the first time she did it, I just thought, "My baby! Oh, I just don't want her to sit up!"

Ashes, ashes...

Since she was able to pick up sitting skills so quickly, she decided to follow in Fuzz's footsteps (or maybe crawling skid marks?) and work on the stairs. She hasn't made it up a stair yet, but she did some good work on pulling herself up.

And--this is SO GROSS--she seemed to find renewed strength from an unlikely source:
licking the carpet! Oh, she was totally grossing me out!

Carpet-Lickin' Good!