One year old

Yesterday was Maegwin's birthday and she is now officially big stuff at one year old.  We had a small celebration with some family but it's really been a week of celebrating.  All the great aunts and uncles and great grandparents have been sending gifts so we've had no end of things to open.
Maegwin looked at all the tags.

She thoughtfully gave one to me to open.

She's still working on figuring out how to rip the paper off.  Maybe she will become an unwrapper like her Mommy.

She was so amazed that things were actually inside the boxes.

We love seeing her get so excited about her new toys.

Gone are the days when she won't smile for the camera.  It's so cute how her whole face lights up.

I wonder if as she gets older she'll feel bad cramming everything into one part of the year.  Maybe we can have an un-birthday pool party in July when she is older.

Finally the time was upon us to celebrate in style.  Maegwin took a monster nap in the morning to prepare for her big day.  She helped decorate cupcakes, insisting that there can never be too many sprinkles.

Then she waited patiently as the cupcake came towards her, beckoning with her wee hands.

She thoroughly enjoyed having her own fire to look at.


She blew out the candle (with a little help from Daddy).

Then the carrot cake eating commenced.

We checked out the icing and agreed it was a good consistency.

Forget hands, faces are much easier.

Cupcakes-for the discerning baby gourmand.

We opened some presents.

Then we went to a really great restaurant called Northstar Cafe. They do all locally sourced and organic ingredients. I have to say it was one of the best vegetarian meals I have had since moving here. All in all it was a great first birthday.

Today we had our 12 month well baby check up and got five shots. Maegwin was so brave! She now weighs 19 lbs 8 ounces and is 31.5 inches long. She is still off the charts on height and very skinny. Next time, one from Maegwin!

Delicious Discoveries

Oh, hi!  Maegwin here again.  Now that I'm a big girl-I was 18 lbs 10.5 oz and 30" long at my last checkup-I've started having lots of solid foods.  Anytime Mommy & Daddy are eating, I want to try it.  So many tastes to explore!  And boy, they sure have a lot of good things.
I had yogurt after my bath-I like the YoToddler apple with cereal but I also like blueberry or vanilla.


It tastes better if you spike your hair with it.
I also like Mommy's bread, curry, steamed vegetables, Daddy's lasagna, Mommy's 17 bean soup, crushers, and just about anything else I can get my little hands on.
The other day I discovered something very amazing. Mommy was eating a small round object she called a "Joe-Joe" and she gave me a bite. It was so good I wouldn't let go. She tried to take it from me but I held on really hard and gave her lip and cried like the world was ending. Nothing would ever taste that good again! She finally said nothing was worth such a fuss and let me have it. Oh, but it WAS worth the fuss.
It all started innocently enough by nibbling on one side.

Then the outer coating started to melt and it felt squishy so I mashed it in my fingers a bit to explore its texture.

It was really fun! But why should my toes miss out on all that delightful squishiness?

I thought, "Hey, this is kind of like fingerpaint!" So I rubbed it up around my eye to look more dashing-like a pirate.

I enjoyed that Joe-Joe until there was nothing left and then Mommy peeled off my pajamas and we had a bath since we were both covered in chocolate.

Now Mommy & Daddy say that Joe-Joes are secret things they can only eat when I'm asleep. Daddy tried to eat them the other day and he put the package back in backwards with the sealed end facing out. That didn't stop me! I just pulled that plastic right out, got my Joe-Joe, and crawled off to eat it. Silly Daddy, I'm a human not a dog!
I also discovered that Mommy uses yarn to make that stuff she is doing. She was knitting on that blanket for Aunt Josie and Uncle Matt (she says she is almost done) and I thought I would help. I could see she had a ball of yarn on the floor that was all balled up. I took it over by the couch where I had spread out my various tools.

I even spread out a wipe so it wouldn't get dirty.

Then I got to work until Mommy caught me but she laughed so it was ok.

That's all for now! This is Maegwin signing off.

My first attempt

at rosemary focaccia:


Not bad, eh?

I'm back-sort of

After a long blogging hiatus I'm back.  We had one of our computers die and it took a while to figure out what was wrong.  We tried keyboards (nope), dvd rom drives (nope-although my computer really needed one because I was using the one from my first HP computer I got back in 2001), and finally a hard drive.  It turns out that Josh's data drive was actually the problem so it's coming out and I have my own computer back.

I also have been so busy with work that when I get home I want to spend what time I have with Maegwin instead of blogging while ignoring her.  I'm on a special project that I really hope will help propel me to a management position or at the very least fill out my resume for when I apply for one.  All is going well so far and I'm getting a laptop and will be traveling to Baltimore next week.  It's just for the day but in February it will be for several days during close to help transition people to SAP.  I'm good at training others and helping with acceptance & transition to new systems so I'm sure it will go well in the end.  Things are pretty tight around here money-wise too so a promotion definitely couldn't hurt.  :p

Back in September (wow has it been that long?) we ventured forth to California for my sister-in-law, Josie's, wedding.  It was an action packed couple of days and it was so nice to see everyone.  We got up at 4 am and my co-worker Todd came and gave us a ride to the airport.  What a trooper!  We were totally out of it waiting for our flight and we breezed through security so we had like two hours to sit around and wish we had just slept longer.

Maegwin was really great on both plane flights despite being rather sick on the way back.  People even commented on what a good baby she was.  When we first landed on Thursday we headed to Mom & Kevin's house to drop off the luggage and then we were off to visit with Nana and Grandpa.  I of course forgot my camera but thank goodness one of Grandpa's friends came over and had one that he let us borrow.  He and his kids also brought a really cute outfit for Maegwin and a coat that she will be able to use all winter.  Thanks, Mohan!
She met Aunt Josie who she thought was so funny she literally laughed for a good ten minutes at her.  We think it's because she looks like Daddy.

Then Maegwin met Aunt Amy-who I made a joke about being short. Sorry, Amy!  Josh says you are a good sport.  hehe

She loved hanging out with Nana (Bisnonna?).

But that Great Grandpa was shifty-he's a character.

We spent several hours there and were so tired when we left that we were literally keeping each other awake driving home. The highway was still full of cars. Ah, California how we miss you!
The next day was all about the rehearsal and the dinner afterwards. I actually didn't take a ton of pictures this day because I was furiously knitting on the blanket for Matt & Josie. I didn't get it done but it was nice to just sit back and visit with people. I did catch Maegwin learning lots of stuff from her cousins Claire & Emma. She looks quite studious, or perhaps she just wanted Emma's cookie.

She also spent some time playing on the little piano that we brought home with us along with a ton of fabric books. Thanks to everyone who let us borrow them. Maegwin loves them all!

We crashed out pretty early everyday but it made it much easier to shower in a houseful of people since we were up at 4:30-5 am before anyone else was making a peep. I also don't have a lot of wedding day pictures but Maegwin loved all the activity and watching everyone getting ready.

We hung out together while pictures were taken. The sun was too bright for us-we've become quite vampiric here in Ohio.

By the time we got to the church Maegwin was sacked out for all the professional photos but I think she looked cute slung across her daddy's shoulder.

I did a reading which I feel like went well and then it was on to the reception. No pictures again-though we have some great photo booth ones that can be found here and here. That's really the only family shots we have so I want to order some at some point.
The last day of the trip was the only one where we had free time for a few hours so we headed out to the city and met up with some friends. Jeremy, Cara, and Mike were all able to come out to brunch. We went to Andalu where there are bottomless mimosas and really fabulous omelettes. I had the gourmand. Yum! I miss good vegetarian food that isn't just "here have a dinner roll and some mashed potatos and corn or this nice iceberg salad".

Cara's boyfriend is nice and looks like one of the guys from Mythbusters! It was so nice to see everyone and we even dropped in on Jared. We sort of cornered him in his condo so he couldn't get away.

Maegwin spent a long time playing with a cat toy there. Then we headed home to pack up and visit a bit more. The next morning we headed out and really didn't leave ourselves enough time. We barely got through airport security and to our gate before they were boarding. Thank goodness for family security lines or we would have missed our flight.


Whew! Ok, that's enough typing for now. I am down to the other border on the blanket so I hope to have it shipped out before Thanksgiving. Really that's better than I did with Amy's wedding blanket and it will have taken a bit less than a year to complete. Laura, no getting married and asking me for a blanket for at least another 10-15 years. Long enough for me to forget and think it is a good idea again. Next blog I promise to share what I've been up to on the knitting front and some photos of Maegwin's first discovery of chocolate covered Joe-Joes. Oh and in other good news this week I can finally wear all of my pre-pregnancy dress pants so I'm very happy to have my work wardrobe back and be the same size I've been more or less my whole adult life.

Maegwin does it by herself

Oh hi! Maegwin here! Mommy has been so busy working and working that she is letting me show you all the amazing things I can do.


Daddy and I like to share nectarines and one day I took it and ate it all by myself. See, what you have to do is grab it and it's best to scare it into submission.

Next you can bite into it and enjoy its juicy goodness.

They are pretty neat if you look inside of them.

Settle in for the long haul, they take a while to eat if you are a baby.

I also learned how to drive the car. I could use the turn signal and everything!

Make sure to put your hands at the 10 and 2 position and have Daddy nearby to push the pedals for you.

Oh yeah, I can also use a spoon to feed myself. It's pretty easy though sometimes I like to turn it upside down more than the other way. Grammy made me the sweater I'm wearing and I love it. It keeps me so warm!

I've been pulling myself up to standing and now I can take steps if I hold onto someone. It's really exciting!

That's all for now! I think Mommy will write about our trip later.

Iowa or bust

Whew, it's been a busy couple of weeks!  Two weeks ago we ventured forth on the open road to the family reunion in Iowa.  The trip took about nine hours and Maegwin was great for about the first seven.  The last two were a bit of a struggle with many stops and one of us riding in the backseat.  Once there though we met up with everyone in the hotel banquet hall and the flashes went off like mad.  It was like the paparazzi!  Maegwin was definitely the star (of course she was the only baby there so she had no competition).  Throughout the weekend she spent time with all of her family and I don't think I had to hold her unless she was nursing or occasionally while sleeping.
She spent some time with her great aunts Jean and Wendy:

She snuggled with her great grandma:

She gave great uncle John some bowling pointers:

She also bowled with Daddy while in the Ergo but someone else has that photo...
She snuggled sleepily with Grandma (sensing a theme here?):

She hung out poolside with the family and took her first dip in the pool:

And she put on a pretty party dress and showed Grandpa how to dance on tables & chairs:

All interspersed with frequent napping at the hotel room:

We had a great time and I'm so glad we were able to make it out.  It's nice that she'll have lots of familiar faces to see in a month at the wedding.

We also had another development over the last week.  Josh came back from the other room to find that Maegwin had developed a new skill:

Oh and not only can she pull up to standing from sitting, she can do it one-handed!