To-do List

Here we go - into the third tri-mester.  Pregnancy is going well.  The baby's been kicking and my the latest craving is for apples and cheese - together.  Have you tried padano cheese?  It tastes great with apples.  Anyhow, before this baby arrives, I'd like to complete the following (in no particular order):

• Re-design this website - ta-dah!  whaddya think?  Doesn't it look better than the last design.  Then again, anything would have looked better than the old design.  Still working on some pages and adding stuff to the right navigation.  It's getting there. 
  
  
• Move this site to a new host provider (gosh, hope the current provide doesn't read this).
  
  
• Put pictures from trip to Spain in 2005 into a scrapbook (this was on the to-do list before Chloe was born.)
  
  
• Make a baby album for Chloe - most of her photos are online.
  
  
• Knit a sweater or two for the new baby.  One of the downsides of not finding out the sex of this baby, is being limited to gender-neutral colored yarn. 
• Try out more recipes.  So far, I've prepared
  
  • Baked Penne with Roasted Vegetables - great dish and so easy - just a lot of chopping. 
  • Tuscan Vegetable Soup with White Beans - Dan loves this one - I've made it twice and it tastes great.
  • White Chocolate Rice Krispie Treats - I never knew how easy these are to make. 
  • Outrageous Brownies - These are good, but next time I'll lower the sugar and omit the un-melted chocolate chips in the batter, maybe add more flour

Yikes, the holidays are upon us - that's its own to-do list. I can't believe I saw holiday decorations in some stores already! Geez with so much to do no wonder I can't get to sleep on some nights.

Happy Anniversary!

Cheers to a wonderful six years!

Two Old

If you ask Chloe, "How old are you?", she happily replies, "I'm two old".  And she'll sing "happy birthday" if you ask her too.

Chloe turned two at the end of September.  As many parents are of their firstborn, Dan and I are amazed at how quickly she learns and picks up on things.  When I cough, she'll come over to me and ask, "Are you okay?".  When Barack Obama or John McCain is on TV, she's quick to point at the screen and say "Obama" or "McCain".  She learned Obama's name first, though in the beginning, every light-skinned black man was Obama (sorry Mayor Fenty).  She knows she'll soon be a big sister and if you ask her if she wants a little brother or sister, she'll say, "Sister!".  If you ask her what the baby's name is, she'll tell you, "Broccoli" - she does like broccoli. 

Chloe has adjusted to big changes in the past two months - a new home (luckily the nearby jungle gym has made this an easy adjustment) and sleeping in a twin-sized bed.  Sleeping in a twin-sized bed was not an easy feat.  When we moved, Dan and I decided not to put her crib together.  We figured, new place, new bed - she'll welcome it easily.  No such luck, after a week of late night tantrums, buying her a new stuffed buddy to sleep with, letting her sleep in our bed and  her pleading "Momma" and "Daddy" at her bedroom door, Dan put her crib back together at 2:30 in the morning.  The funny thing is that a couple of nights later, when Dan was putting Chloe to bed, he gave her the option of "crib" or "bed" and she choose the bed.   I guess she just wanted a choice.  Ever since, she's been sleeping in her twin-sized bed.  Occasionally, she'll wake up in the middle night and we let her sleep in our bed, and we haven't taken down the crib just yet. 

I guess next thing for her to do is to go through potty training.  Bonus points if we can get this done before little Broccoli arrives!