Happy half-birthday to you
Happy half-birthday to you
Happy half-birthday my darling Caroline
Happy half-birthday to you!

Or if you prefer, the other song I’ve been singing all day

OMG HOW ARE YOU SIX MONTHS OLD ALREADY?
STOP GROWING! STOP TRYING TO CRAWL!
AND WHY WON’T YOU DRINK FROM THIS DAMN BOTTLE?

You are again (still) a delightful baby, who loves smiling and being smiling at. You’ve enjoyed both the aquarium and the seaport this week, plus Stroller Strides and knitting group – it is SO NICE that I can take you places without major meltdowns. Your teeth are still not through so I expect a few more crying fits before we’re through the woods but they don’t seem to be bothering you as much as this time last month. I could really do without the gnawing my nipple raw though. Not cool.

Although I was expecting you to be as chubby as your brother was, instead you’ve turned into a little munchkin, still fitting into your 3 month onesies most of the time. I’m thrilled, since all your cutest summer hand-me-downs are 6 month sized and I was afraid your leg chub would get so out of control I’d have to pack them all away. It’s kind of nice that you’re still small – it’s keeping me from feeling desperate for a teeny tiny baby again too soon. Also, it makes your already HUGE EYES look even huger in your itty bitty face.

You still don’t like bottles but you did eat some rice cereal so I’m hopeful you’ll like solids better than your brother did. The avocado didn’t go over very well – WHY don’t my babies like avocado?! – but I’ve got a bowl full of fruit to try out this week.

Some of your new favorite things include riding in the big girl seat of the stroller, being worn half on my hip in the Ergo (I should really figure out the RIGHT way to do a hip carry), stealing toys from your brother and play with the dog’s tail. You dislike the sun in your eyes, shoes, bottles, 7:30 pm and getting stuck under the couch.

Mobile baby is hard to keep in the picture

Look, I'm sitting up! Such a big girl!

Whoops. Fell down.

This picture is straight out of the camera, no touch ups at all

6 Month Milestones (from BabyCenter, as usually)

Mastered Skills (most kids can do)
Turns toward sounds and voices – Sounds, voices, music, everything. And half the time she tries to take my nipple with her.
Imitates sounds – I guess? She babbles a lot but I’m not sure if I would say she’s IMITATING anything.
Rolls over in both directions – CAN roll over in both directions, but prefers to just hang out on her belly although JUST TODAY she started barrel rolling to get across the room

Emerging Skills (half of kids can do)
Is ready for solid foods – I dunno. Maybe. She sort of gummed an animal cracker the other day. I’m going to start offering stuff this week.
Sits without support – Yes, although she’s still a little unpredictable with the falling over.
Mouths objects – HAHAHAHAHAHA Yes.
Passes objects from hand to hand – Yes, but I’m not sure it’s exactly on purpose.

Advanced Skills (a few kids can do)
Lunges forward or starts crawling – Lunges and faceplants, although she is getting SUPER close to crawling and can get both knees under herself for several seconds.
Jabbers or combines syllables – Coos like crazy but nothing that I would call syllables.
Drags objects toward himself – Yes, she spins herself around on her stomach then reaches for her toys. I can scatter them around the floor and it keeps her entertained for close to an hour.

Those skills seem sort of weird, right? How is “drags objects” a MORE advances skill that sitting up? Sitting up is HARD.

Sunday:

Monday:

Tuesday:

Wednesday:

Thursday:

Friday:

Saturday:

Our weather has been hit or miss all week, but I’m hoping the thunderstorms hold off long enough today for some outdoor family time and cute father-kid pictures. I need one for my Father’s Day craft project/present. Yes, I know Father’s Day is tomorrow but it wouldn’t really be MADE WITH LOVE unless it was also made at 10 pm the night before. Love likes to procrastinate.

Did you take any camera phone photos this week? Link up with one or lots using the linky below and grab the code (so it shows on your blog too!) over at Amy’s . It’s really fun!

PATIO OVERLOAD!!!!!

Sunday:

All our bricks sitting in the driveway

By the end of the week the toddler was doing stuff like this ALMOST BY HIMSELF.

This is the face of someone who still thinks it is funny to work wicked hard all day. SHE IS GONE NOW.

Monday:

Whole wheat banana pancakes for engery

You have a little something on your face.

Leaf! Mormor! Patio! So happy!!!!

Tuesday:

Three inches of gravel, completely level.

Stuffing his face with mee-yah. Mee-yah! = Banana

You can't tell, but she was the Queen of the Fussypantses this week.

Wednesday:

Caroline did this on purpose and found it HYSTERICAL.

That's a lot of miles on my parent's minivan.

You call it poor food choices - I call it ENERGY FOR PATIO BUILDING

Thursday:

8 am and the start of our work day

Caroline & E enjoy my rock wall, which I built ALL BY MYSELF

Shopping date at Target to look at patio furniture. Spoiler alert: we bought this stuff.

Friday:

BOOM.

Finishing the final construction steps

No mama! Don't make me shovel anymore!

Saturday:

Caroline & I took an early a.m. trip to Lowe's for some new plants

My dad decided he HAD NOT DONE ENOUGH this week so he cleaned and organized our garage. The man simply cannot be idle for even 10 minutes.

Safety first.

We went to the Irish pub in town to celebrate the end of a project (it's a tradition with my parents).

And I started looking at bathroom tiles for our NEXT major renovation. Maybe in the spring.

OMG I’m exhausted. Tomorrow is Little Evan’s monthday and then Monday I’ll have try to get back to blogging but it’s going to take me at least a month to talk about anything that isn’t “HAVE YOU SEEN MY PATIO IT IS SO AWESOME”. I’m going to sit on my hands as far as real finished patio pictures go until I get all the furniture I ordered for out here (I say “out here” because I am writing this RIGHT NOW from my patio, since the house wireless reaches our lounging fire pit area) but I won’t be able to resist bragging a little a lot before then. But I’ve missed my real life and my friends and Stroller Strides and not being covered in layers of dirt all day.

Did you take any camera phone photos this week? Link up with one or lots using the linky below and grab the code (so it shows on your blog too!) over at Amy’s . It’s really fun!

One of the disadvantages of living in an old house is a lack of closet space. Lucky for me, a previous owner did some rearranging and found room in our first floor hallway for a pantry. Bless their heart. Unfortunately, it’s not actually in the kitchen so when I’m putting away armfuls of stuff after making dinner I tend to just toss it onto the shelves so I can make as few trips as possible. Then I have groceries to put away and that stuff just gets shoved onto other shelves and before long I have fourteen cans of chicken broth because I didn’t see the ones behind the nine kinds of vinegar (<—– not an exaggeration. I use a lot of vinegar).

Also, I have pantry months. If you don’t have those in your part of the country, just count your blessings and enjoy not having to wrap up your pasta in Ziplock bags. So while I cleaned and de-mothed and threw out canned pineapple that was supposed to be used by June 2007 I decided to reorganize.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Better, right?

I put a plain old shoe organizer over the door and filled it with anything that fit. Now I can see if I have taco seasoning or cocoa powder without digging through my shelves.

I put the stuff I use the most right at eye level and the stuff I only need once in a while high and low.

I painted the left wall with chalkboard paint (oh how I love chalkboard paint!) and attached chalk to a string so I can keep a running list of stuff as I use it up.

I reorganized items by how often I need stuff – that middle shelf is things I use almost ever night for dinner. Because I put so much on the door I now have enough room to see what I have and stock up on things we use most often, like tomato sauce and couscous. I added the stripes to make things fancy – I’ve been looking at too many Martha Stewart pantries on Pinterest. The stripes reminded me of an old fashioned grocer.

I used $1 baskets and bins to sort things that go together – cookie decorating stuff, tea, seasonings, herbs and spices, my emergency candy (labeled: emergency candy).

I used two $1 shower caddies for onions and potatoes. They’re on hooks so I can take them off the wall and rinse them out when I inevitably forget about a potato and it ends up molding.

I put all my flours and sugars into sealed containers to keep the months out. I splurged and bought large, wide mouthed ones at Target because I HATE trying to pour dry ingredients instead of scooping them with my measuring cups. They were the only part of this whole project that wasn’t either free (I already owned the paint, brushes and tape) or $1 (the baskets and smaller plastic containers).

See that top shelf? That’s apple, peach, strawberry and cherry jam plus sour cherries for pies all homegrown and hand-canned by my mother-in-law. Are you jealous yet? Come over and I’ll make you a pie – after I force you to admire my pantry in person. Yeah, I might be just a little too proud of FINALLY getting this mess cleaned up.

It’s baaaaaaaaack!

I’ve made all of this since last Wednesday – and I took Mother’s Day weekend off for Thai food (my favorite!) and dinner out at Chili’s (don’t knock it – the selection is great and no one gets pissed when your toddler spills his entire cup of lemonade on the floor). I was trying to make up for four straight days of a total lack of motivation where I didn’t even PRETEND I was going to cook anything and we had fast food every night.

Also, I have washed more dishes this week than in the past MONTH. Baking makes a god-awful mess.

Recipes can be found on my Pinterest board, or linked below.

1. Teriyaki tilapia with herb salad, served with garlic rice (the kind that comes in a pouch and takes 90 seconds to microwave) – Real Simple
2. Coconut Chicken Dippers – Kraft Food (dipping sauce made with mayo because Miracle Whip is disgusting)(and the first recipe I ever repinned!!)
3 & 4. Orange-Almond Cake – Martha Stewart (Not as awesome as it looks, although I’ve been eating the leftovers all week so I’m not saying it’s terrible)

5. Carnita-Style Beef with Roasted Peppers and Onions – Tasty Kitchen (pretty good, not outstanding)
6. Baked Penne with Chicken and Sun-Dried Tomatoes – Martha Stewart (toddler & I loved it, but it was a lot of work for glorified mac & cheese)
7. Kale Chips – Things We Make (ok, so, *I* ate some them because they are satisfyingly crunchy and salty, but my family thought they were gross)
8. Strawberry Shortcakes with Mint and Whipped Cream – Epicurious

9 & 10. Banana Strawberry Pineapple Bread – My own recipe, which can now be found on Tasty Kitchen. It’s seriously, seriously delicious.
11. Zucchini and Bacon Three Cheese Lasagna – Kevin & Amanda (PICK OF THE WEEK)
12. Cayenne- Rubbed Chicken with Avocado Salsa – Martha Stewart (10 minutes from fridge to table & super yummy)

I’m adding that lasagna to my short list of favorite family meals. I actually made it with turkey bacon to make it pretend-healthier and it was still delicious. If I was making it for a vegetarian I’d just leave the bacon out altogether and it would STILL be delicious. And not to toot my own horn but my bread is some of the best quick bread I’ve ever tasted. It’s just the right amount of moist and dense without being practically mush in the center like banana bread can be. But the real star is the pineapple, which is like little surprise bites of joy. That’s right: SURPRISE BITES OF JOY. No modesty here people. I’m a damn good baker.

What did you have for dinner this week?