Chappy new yearz eve!

To another year full of rainbow stripes and rosy cheeks!

The Cowanclan has arrived home safely from the right coast -- cozy in their new sweaters and socks, under a snowy bungalow roof. The trip home was vunderful and truly relaxing (especially for mama who got caught up on lots and lots of zzzzz's.)

We returned home to piles (literally) of beautiful packages for the bugbug. Present people! You are too kind and we love you muchmuchmuch.

Excited for the year ahead. I've got lots of specific resolutions (I always try and avoid the "eat better!" ones) that I feel good about. (Including things like read - at least - 15 books by year's end and sew a sweater for Harps.)

I see 2011 as a special little year for me -- only one baby, who finally is on a pretty good schedule and not dependent on my bod for food anymore. Should Will give me some time for MeTime, which might not happen much once our family grows. (not yet not yet not yet!)

And on that note! Back to my tea and Ina ep before the other two peeps awaken.

Hope everyone has a happy and safe and cozy new years eve! Muah.

70's sledding

Just picked up a pretty rad app (8mm) for the ifone -- makes all those vids I take look old-fashionedy. Yum!

Here's the divine Miss H sledding (on a pink blowup raft) with mummy and grammy in the front yard. Clay waved from the warm family room.

Christmasness

This is...the best day of my lifez. 

A yummy Christmas around these here Maine parts. Kept it pretty simple and homemade and full of fruit salad and cookies and baby giggles. And now it's a full-on blizzzzzard! And my Chesney's up from her nap! Hope everyone had a lovely day -- muah!

Harpchelz sizing up her handmade doll. In her sweater knit by Gramzone.

Stocking slinky!

Grabbing her knit caterpillar (with a bell in the tail, yo.)

Attacking her "magnet man" as her cuz labeled himself.

Amelia Earhart before and after

A way with words, he had

Home = finding and looking thru old yearbooks.

Aw = this dude dumped me for an older woo-man (15 to my 13) and I was saaaaaaaaad.

Awesome = knowing now he later spent our senior year trying/failing to date me.

I wish I could say that didn't fill me with tiny joy buckets. But it does. Falallalalaaaaa.

Cuzins

Philly is behind us and we're rockin around the Christmas tree in Maine. HJnugget is jetlagged as hell and dada is missed, but other than that - good stuff all around.

And now. For another quart of Dunkin Donuts...

Party in Philly! Our place!

Harper. Vast white hotel bed. Dirtiest onesie maybe ever. Girls night!

(Stuck in city of brutherly love without my bruther or muther or, well, you get it. Fingers crossed for Maine tomorrow?!)

DJ HJ

I spend much of my day trying to get her the hellz away from the knobs and cords and buttons of our media center. But sometimes I just let her go at it.

(she especially grooves to the disco and/or "urban" music stations DirecTV offers...)

(on a plane early Thursday morning for Maine! Solo with the babe! yeehaw! terror!)

Plaid dress, as promised

Crackers. A main food group.

The only plaid photo in existence!

She'll probably rock that numba (along with her snowflake dress) over the next couple weeks. So soon you'll be sick of it.

In other news, I just saw a pair of her sweatpants on my bed and went to put them on. Because they looked really comfortable and maybe big enough?

Also, I'm drinking eggnog right now. My whole life I res-isted, but why oh why? This stuff is l-e-g-i-t.

And now! I knit. I knitnktnitnktntintktnitnktit. Holy knit am I behind on my knitting.

Weekend recap

My kingdom! My kingdom.
(This buys me roughly 7 minutes on the computer.)
(Don't you love her shoulder puffs?)
(Yes, I eat a lot of Kit-Kats. And instant oatmeal.)

I was sick all weekend, so much of this was experienced in a strange and dizzy fog.

However! It was still a durn nice two days.

Long walk around the 'hood with whole fam. Swings and then feeding-the-aggro-ducks.

Open housing at a Victorian I want to eat with butter and sugar sprinkled on top.

The Bean's 2nd birthday party, complete with numz and cupcakes and Harps in a plaid dress.

A date! With a real sitter! And a super delish dinner at a hip localfood place. (And may I add that with dinner I drank something made from cardamom and cream and soda water? And that dessert was hot chocolate with almonds and pepper? And a homemade oreo that was cold and tasted like icebox cake? YES I MAY ADD.)

And then today cc took the early shift. And there was another lil birthday party. And I got a solo trip to the yarn store for bought, well, yarn. And then forced myself to grocery shop and now we have foodz for the week!

*curtsies to the crowd*

Chu have a nice coupla days?

(Do not) feed me I'm yours

Her lips! Really are that pink!

So just like she said 'no thanks!' to nursing last week, she now refuses any food via the spoon. Doh! I didn't think this would bother me, except I used to be able to shove lots of good things down her gullet without her really knowing.

Now each and every item that passes through those little rosebuds is inspected crossing-the-border style. It must touch her hands first and also be either fruit or vegetable or grains. Or drinkable yogurt. (Or formula.)

Meat? Eggs? Cheese? She will place them in her mouth and then ... spitspitspitspitspispitspitspto NO spit. Like really, mum? You really think I'd fall for that joke?

It pains me to consider the flesh of an innocent chicken.

But Harps! Fat! Delicious deliciso fattyness!

No. It's winter now, okay sure, but bikini season is rightaroundthecorner.

I think I'm dealing with a vegetarian here? Potential PETA member? No fur outfits, plz! (I'm talkin to you, MIL..)

Any tales of my-babe-hated-animal-products-but-then-suddenly-loved-them-one-day?

*makes a tofu pancake with a side of alfalfa bacon*

Cupboard something something mother Hubbard

WHERE'S THE TUNA?!?

oh. there. sorry mum.

I think Prince William chose the wrong princess

Is you bowing? You best be bowing. 

My little barefoot contessa.

(Some people say WhatWouldJesusDo? Others, WhatWouldMarthaDo? But in my house/head, it's WhatWouldInaDo? She knows all. As does Harper.)

Here's to a better week, yo

Muma BJA could use one.

(Though it's never too hein around here -- not with those licoricelips to kiss.)

Cupcake baby

'
The house was slow to warm up today, so we were playing in some winter gear.

A front runner in the maybe-the-cutest-hat-evar contest.

Cupcake hat, knit by my aunt Mef.

Look at that cherrrrrry on top!

In other news, I really need someone to tell me something gross/immoral about Chick-fil-a, plz? Because I have a serious problem and I need to be stopped. Clay forwarded me an article about chicken McNuggs a couple months ago that uncovered they're made with...ammonia?! So that halted that addiction.

Halp me people halp!

Some upsides

Current hormonal situation = this picture makes me weep.

Oooo eeee. Mah head is still crazytown from the rapid change in hormones (terrible, terrible word), but I'm slowly slowly adjusting. (Slowly.)

Little H is helping my fragile state by being insanely lovey. She's always affectionate and loves to be held, but is usually too busy for too much McLuvin. These past couple days tho? She'll come over and just sit on my lap and hug me for like...15 minutes??? And then smile and crawl away to eat some computer cords. I don't even know. And she understands "kiss" now, so I can say "give mama a kiss" and she'll immediately swing around and slobber me over and over. (Most used phrase in the Cowan household? "Harps, frenching is for grownups...")

And! She's (I don't want to jinx this, but whatev) finally sleeping straight through the night. Is...this a non-b'milk thing? Is...this what sleep smells/tastes like? I don't even know what to do with myself. I wake up before her and twiddle my thumbs/play a word on WWF. It's confusing.

So yeah. I'm sad, but well-rested and well-cuddled and those are pretty good tradeoffs. It's like she's giving me these little pats on the back to help me get thru it. Mah little angelzone.