It Walks! It Sleeps!

She's walking.

She has taken baby steps before, but never more than one or two. Yesterday, she took four. To Mowgli. They were playing with nail polish (not as bad as it sounds) and he stepped back. She stood up. He stepped back again, as if he's been watching us as Jason and I have been doing the very same thing for weeks now. He knew the drill, and it worked. She took four steps over to him, slapped pet him, and sat back down. Now Baby Girl is all confidence and a half. We are so tres proud of her, but can't help but think we're in much more trouble now than ever before! Baby girl is mobile!

Also, I hereby give my overwhelmingly passionate endorsement to Sleep Training. Lily is now a self-soother when it comes to letting herself fall asleep, and she hasn't woken up pre-7am in a week! Lily is well rested, Daddy is thrilled for the extra Z's and Mommy doesn't need nearly as much paint to cover up the circles under her eyes! Win-win-win!

Top O' The Mornin'!

Hope y'all had a fabulous St. Patrick's Day! We played it pretty low key over here, but I made sure we started the day off well within the theme!

Legit bowl o' porridge, y'all. Takes forever to make but totally worth it!

Picture o' the Lassies

Reading a bit o' Southern Living

Bit o' Mowgli lovin'. Kiss me, I'm Irish!

Too much o' the green milk will do things to a wee one!

Hope everyone had a merry and safe celebration!

Tuesday Tortilla Soup

Tuesday nights do not produce some of my best work (or effort) in the kitchen. So tonight I made what is possibly the easiest, cheapest and no-hasslest (just go with it) tortilla soup ever. Wanna see how?

First, assemble the Team. This is the most common view from the stove at our house. Even if you're just making coffee. The Team is there for food you.



Team Support is tres important when being lazy in the kitchen and trying to be sneaky about it. Brown and drain a pound of ground beef. Then check back in with the Team:



Lookin' good. OK. Then add:

1 can Tomato Soup
1/2 cup salsa
1/4 cup water
1 cup shredded cheese
5 tortillas ripped into pieces. Take out your Tuesday frustrations on the tortillas. They can handle it.

Now stir it all up. Keep it on Med-Low until it bubbles. Serve it up with a dollop of Daisy and Diet Dr. Pepper ("Diet" 'cause it's healthier, of course.)

Early March

So here's what's been going on in our neck of midtown:


We got a new couch! His name is Beauregard.


Last weekend, Mommy worked at Southwoodstock. It's a Woodstock-inspired annual community event benefiting the Catholic High School. We had artists, musicians, amazing food, family activities and, new to this year's event, dancers! And guess who got 'em there? We had a dance troupe from a local studio perform, Irish step dancers to get the crowds psyched for St. Patty's Day, and a very special performance from the Tallahassee Ballet. Fabulous! Lily came to supervise:

"What are you doing, taking pictures? Get back to work, Mommy!"

Fan Favorite, Braidan and family came, too!

We're all gearing up for St. Patrick's day over here, and to prepare for all that corned beef and cabbage, look what Lily has been working on! Yay!

A note on Sleep Training: The first night was rough. It took about two hours of us going in every twenty minutes to soothe her cries and dry her tears. But last night, night two, it only took one twenty-minute shift to get the job done! We'll see if it's just a fluke after tonight!

Dear Santa...

Kisses! Love, Kayleigh

We Done Got Played

Writing this post with one hand while desperately clutching my coffee cup in the other, trying to summon the energy to raise it high enough to drink out of it. At 12 months and two weeks, we are back to square one, y'all.

It has gotten progressively worse over the past few days but last night was the breaking point. Lily has been fighting sleep more and more lately. At first it was going to sleep. It took forever. Then she began going down OK but staying asleep started to get tricky. We figured now that Baby Girl has FIVE (5) teeth coming in at once on the top, she was just feeling her growing pains. Motrin has become the chic new nightcap. But, then, if she were in pain, the pain wouldn't stop simply because we hold her, right?

Last night, from 11pm to 4:30am, Jason and I reverted back to our Zombies With A Newborn Mode and took turns stumbling into Lily's room, rocking her back to sleep, only to put her down into her crib and have her shoot up like a cannon and start yelling again. During this time frame, the only time the girl slept was when she was in our arms, and the only time we slept was when the other was on rockin' duty. We would listen on the monitor and wait. 5 minutes. Go in. 10 minutes. Your turn. Then 20 minute increments of time before we went back. She would cry and yell and call out for us by name: "Mama!" (read: shame). "Dada" (read: shame). And then coo and purr the second we walked in. Happy as a clam.

We figure if this were really all about teething, the pain would still be there whether we held her or not. We figure if she were afraid of the dark, the worry would stop when the night light was put in. Y'all, the girl played us like fiddles.

Tonight we're starting early (so hopefully the neighbors won't call in a complaint!) and try a healthy mix between the Ferber method and the Focker method (see "Meet The Fockers". That's right, I went there) in an attempt to get our star sleeper back on track. We can learn a lot from the movies. Really.

Wish us luck! It's gonna be a rough day!

Lent - A Love Affair On "Pause"

Giving up Craigslist. Lord, give me strength.

On any given day, I can decorate an entire house in my head using the fabulous finds on Craigslist. Don't knock it, y'all. The Home and Garden network began with "Flea Market Finds" and will eventually get around to "Craigslist Creations". Mark my words.

Usually, Jason comes home to a "hey, honey" a "how was your day?" and a "here, take the baby" shortly followed by a "ooooo and look what I found on Cragislist". Many of our furnishings come from this magical place of capitalistic reuse and recycling and I don't mind in the least creating a first-rate home out of a second-hand house. This beautiful system, however, has its downside. I've been going a tad bit Craig Crazy lately, and so I have decided to give it up in an attempt to become more thankful and content with what I already have. Why buy and re-paint someone's old lamp when my (not particularly exciting almost painfully boring) one works just fine? Does my entertainment center really need to match the bookcases (yes). Is a new coffee table really necessary? Well, of course it is, but hopefully come Easter my answers to these questions will have changed.

My affair with Craig is now officially on pause. No more browsing which leads to thinking which leads to planning which leads to rationalizing which leads to justifying which leads to my irrational justification of why it is necessary to make a purchase because if it wasn't necessary I would not have been browsing the in first place! Phew. Big steps here, y'all. Do I get a chip or something?

Many blessings to you and yours during this time of sacrifice and reflection. Catholic or not, may you come to find something you didn't know you were searching for, or find that what you were searching for you have had all along (there's no place like home, there's no place like home...). May you discover a strength in you you might not have known you possessed. This is the reason for this season - to strip down the excess and discover the value of simply living (both literally and in regards to the fabulous magazine). Be ready to celebrate these findings come Easter! I'll be there with Peeps!