Mama Mia!!

We've been trying out some finger foods with Arden the past couple of weeks. She loves this new step! After a few slippery failed attempts with banana and avocados, she's found some favorites. We don't think there's a lot of actual eating going on, but she's having a grand time playing with everything. Steamed, sliced pears are a hit, which I think she can actually mush up and chew a little bit. Penne pasta she likes to play with and shred. Carrots are ok, bananas and squash are fun to mush in her hands. But the real fun was with some linguine the other night! What a challenge, but a fun one! Then Dad put it on her head which confused her at first ("what's this sticky stringy thing on my head?") but then she was mesmerized for quite sometime. Again, not much actual eating but it's a process. And made for some adorable pictures.

We Are Officially Celebrities!

Arden & I made the local ABC news tonight! Some people know, but some may not know that I've been donating some of my breast milk ever since Arden was about 3 months old. Wake Med here in Raleigh has one of the 9 milk banks in the U.S. and the only one on the East Coast. When Arden was so sick when she was first born that she was put in the NICU, I was unable to breast feed right away. She was lucky enough to be able to be given donor milk instead of formula. Therefore, I always wanted to donate back to the bank. And since I've always had the supply to do so it was a no brainer. The bank called me because they were having the news channel come to do some publicity to raise their donor numbers so they asked us to come in for interview.
Arden was super well behaved until the actual interview when she started to squirm in my lap quite a bit. Need less to say, the editing of the piece didn't have much footage of us, but there was some. I couldn't find the actual video segment online but here is the article from the story, which is the segment's script verbatim. Please send all autograph requests through our agent ;-)

Arden Goes Commando!

It's official, Arden's mobile! Just in the past week she has started crawling on her forearms. Not true crawling but she can move! We've been baiting her with a toy (the Grua's sesame street figurines are her favorite!) We stack the toy on top of a block and she crawls over to it, determined to knock the toy off.

And of course there is video to show this feat!

A Walk in the Woods

In my continuing efforts to get back to my pre-preggo body, I've been walking regularly, and then have also started running in the last couple of months. Yes, I said running. I know, I never thought I would run again after highschool, and I by no means enjoy it, but it's a means to an end for me. And my body has held up fairly well doing it, so that's good. And it seems to be working. We are fortunate enough to have greenway access in our neighborhood (one of the few things going for our neighborHOOD). The trail is wooded follows a creek and takes about a mile to get to Shelley Lake which is then a 2 mile loop that I usually run, and then walk the mile back.

I meant to take pictures during the peak leaf changing time because it's really pretty, but it didn't happen. It's really a nice walk and is very meditative for me. I try to do it least 3 times a week, weather permitting. But even when it's cold I just bundle Arden up and she takes her nap this way.

It's amazing to me the looks some people give you when I'm walking with her in the cold, like I'm a bad mom for taking her out in 40 degree weather. "Hello- what do you think Moms in New York and Chicago do? We live in the south, it's not that cold people." Someone once told us that it's important to teach your child to fall asleep anywhere, to give yourself more freedom. She's got the stroller sleeping down pat, she's usually out within 10 minutes of walking.

Mom's Birthday Weekend

We headed to my parent's place last Saturday to celebrate my mom's upcoming birthday (it was this past Monday, February 4th) Dave plays ultimate most Saturdays so we left at Arden's afternoon nap time on Saturday and got down to their place around 5 pm. Arden actually only slept for about an hour of the 2.5 hour drive but she was reasonably well behaved for the remaining part of the drive. She did get kinda bored towards the end, but there is hope of making the longer drive up to Maryland again in the spring hopefully. And Dave and I still have hopes to eventually make an even longer drive up to Pennslyvania to see he's relatives sometime in the next year. Everything revolves around Arden's sleeping schedule. As much as I wanted to be a "laid back" parent, I really do see the need and benefit of keeping her on some sort of schedule for all of our sanity!

Saturday night we had a nice dinner with my parents and watched a movie. Then Sunday we headed to Sunset beach, the southernmost beach in NC.

The weather was unseasonably warm so we were able to walk for a bit and enjoy being on the beach in February! Then we headed home and had a nice birthday dinner with Mom & Dad, complete with chocolate cake of course!