8 Months Old

She is quite the character now! She has mastered the "army crawl" and loves the ability to move from place to place. At our weekly moms' group, she spent most of her time creeping along the floor instead of gigggling with the other kids like she normally does. She had places to go, I guess. Her other new development is that insists on feeding herself. This is quite difficult, as she does not have any teeth. So we attempt to spoon a few bites of pureed food into her mouth, but mainly she prefers that we spoon it onto cheerios or Kashi crackers and let her go to town with those. Maybe a quirk of a independence-seeking second-born child? If Mali doesn't need help eating, neither does she!

Happy Mother's Day

Ward Cam Up and Running

Check out our blog's newest feature--online albums. Click on any of the titles on the right to see our most recent photo fun.

Happy 30th Jonathan!

One year ago today, we were living it up with our friends, The Kurths, in sunny Califorina. But now, neither family can imagine packing up four kids and traveling cross-county, so we settled for a calm day at church and home to celebrate. We did manage a grown-up night-out party on Friday night, complete with staying out until past midnight! But it seems fitting to ring in the new decade in the place that we love best, playing with our girls, and enjoying a dinner of scallops, basmati rice, broccoli, cake, and of course, cheerios. (There's always a baby in the house!)


And it wouldn't be a birthday celebration without taking the chance to say how grateful we are to our husband/daddy. Jonathan's love and devotion to his family is apparent to anyone who knows him, and we learn more from him and his example every day. So, even though our waiter at the birthday party didn't know we were together the other night until we asked for the check, I can't imagine any part of my life without him. We love you, birthday boy!

(And by the way, the cool new place to be is our backyard, complete with a firepit!)

Neighbors and Sassiness

We had a fun send-off party for two of our neighbors this week. They invited us all over a mere few hours before they drove off, so we came with grocery bags and bartered over taking their condiments and perishable foods. We wouldn't want them to be burdened with packing too many bottles of wine, would we? Here's an action shot:

While we were there, Mali was trying to get my attention by calling "Mommy" across the room. When that didn't work, she resorted to "Kaethe, Kaethe!", which certainly attracted everyone within earshot. Especially those of our neighbors that think that everything she does is adorable. Now, we had had a long discussion earlier that day about how Mommy's name is Kaethe, much like her friend, Kaeta, (pronounced the same), so I'm hoping that is what triggered it. Regardless, I hoped we corrected her effectively, although there definitely was a lot of giggling involved.

Five on Friday

Earth Day, Ward-Style

Happy Earth Day! Wherever you may fall on the climate-change political continuum or what your personal carbon footprint is, we can all agree that we're called to be good stewards of the earth. We are by no means experts in that area, but here are our top five tricks that help us be earth-friendly.

1) Breastfeed. Not only is that importantly from an eco-friendly standpoint, it also conserves mom (or dad's) precious energy from not climbing stairs in the middle of the night to prep a bottle. Or buy formula. Check out our friend Karianne's recommendation of a cool nursing cover with an even cooler name here.

2) Buy resuseable bags for carrying groceries. I think they sell for about a $1 each at most stores and we got ours free at Whole Foods a few years ago on Earth Day. They also make for far less trips from the car to the house.

3) Plan out your eating habits. Again, this is a work-in-progress for us, but I've found if we plan our weekly meals ahead of time, we can eliminate extra stops to the store, use up the food we make, and overall eat better. We do try to eat vegetarian at least once or twice a week for the health/financial/environmental benefits. We also love our summer CSA produce delivery. And we never, ever, pass up our leftovers from a restaurant.

4) Drive green. No, we aren't cool enough for a hybrid, but we do love being a one-car family. We sold our second car before we moved to Pittsburgh, and I remember a co-worker at the time telling me that doing so would make us closer as family. He was right--it truly is a lifestyle choice as you learn to adapt to each other's schedule. Admittedly, this is much easier to do in urban Pittsburgh than in other places. We're so grateful for the reasonably priced and accessible bus transportation that allows Jonathan to get to work every day while I get to have the car for errands and socializing. And having a van does make carpooling easy. (We didn't buy it just for the looks!)

5) Have a baby. (We tend to do this every year or so) Save all of the gift bags from the generous presents you receive and use them for gift-wrapping throughout the year. Obviously, some occasions do call for more appopriate and thoughtful wrapping, but for the past two Christmas holidays we've used only those baby-gift bags to exhange gifts with all of the Shunkwilers.
(NOTE--as there are no babies expected in this family before Christmas 2008, we do plan on purchasing gift wrap this year. Or maybe we'll just use those Whole Foods bags)

Five on Friday (The beautiful spring weather edition)

1) I have never in my life been more thankful for warm weather, sunshine, strollers, and parks. Suddenly there are so many more options for (free!) entertainment. Perfect timing, since we just disconnected our DirectTV for the summer, leaving us with four network channels and a plethora of home shopping options.

2) Kellie and I took the girls and Jack to Carnegie Mellon's Carnival yesterday. I had high hopes for the girls loving their first amusement park experience and marveling at the booths made by CMU's genius students. In reality, however, the undergads seemed more focused on showing off their new summer wardrobes to each other than on entertaining my adorable matching-outfit girls. And the most impresive games there were bean-bag tosses. Isn't this supposed to be a high-tech institution? Oh well, at least there was plenty of sunshine to bask in.

3) Mali has really mastered the playground equipment and anything climing-related there. She's in awe of big kids who can swing on monkey bars.

4) Brinn really, really, really wants to crawl, but until then, she's content to giggle loudly in the swings. Where did my little girls get such huge laughs?

5) Warm sunshine somehow makes ice cream taste even better. If that's even possible.

Seven Months Old

She is certainly a charmer these days! She has accumulated many nicknames lately, including Kick-Kick-Kick for how she puts herself to sleep, "The Gripper" due to the tenacity in which she will grab a spoon or washcloth, and of course, "Dee-Dee", D's, or "The D's" which is how Mali has referred to her since she came home from the hospital. We think she was trying to say "sister" but it came out "Dee-Dee" and that simply stuck. I've noticed that Brinnly now responds to that name.

Her onesie says "I Love my Big Sister", compliments of the Kurth family. When I was newly pregnant with Brinn, we thought we would buy Mali a Big Sister t-shirt. Well, I soon found that out that Babies R Us and similar places don't carry "Big Sibling" clothes until size 2. (When I guess is the "norm" for other kids to have new siblings). Mali was wearing size 6 months at the time! So, the Kurths came to the rescue and sent Mali an appropriately-sized Big Sister shirt and this onesie for the future baby, aka Brinnly Ruth, etc.

Five on Friday!

1) Happy Belated Birthdays both to Grandma Deni (Jonathan's mom) and Grandpa Gregg (Kaethe's dad) We enjoyed a yummy mocha cheesecake with Grandpa while we were in Michigan and look forward to celebrating with Grandma Deni when she's here in a few weeks. Love to both of you!

2) Speaking of treats, Jonathan sampled chocolate-covered bacon the other day at work. That's right, chocolate bacon. He claims it was good. Weird.

3) Amalia is now naming letters, numbers, and colors. Her favorite numbers are 2 and 9, making it quite convenient to discuss Daddy's age. (Not for much longer!)

4) Brinnly's new favorite food is mashed potatoes. She ate all of Jonathan's side dish at a Perkins the other day.

5) We are thankful for safe travels as we spent last weekend in Maryland, celebrating the life of our Uncle Carlos who passed away on March 25th. He will truly be missed. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers during that time.

If You Give A Mom A Muffin

(Based on "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" by Laura Numeroff)

If you give a Mom a muffin,
She'll want a cup of coffee to go with it.
She'll pour herself some.
The coffee will get spilled by her three year old.
She'll wipe it up.

Wiping the floor, she will find some dirty socks.
She'll remember she has to do some laundry.
When she puts the laundry in the washer,
She'll trip over some snow boots and bump into the freezer.
Bumping into the freezer will remind her she has to plan dinner for tonight.

She will get out a pound of hamburger.
She will look for her cookbook (101 Things to Make With a Pound of Hamburger).
The cookbook is sitting under a pile of mail.
She will see the phone bill which is due tomorrow.
She will look for her checkbook.

The checkbook is in her purse that is being dumped out by her two year old.
She'll smell something funny.
She'll change the two year old.
While she is changing the two year old the phone will ring.
Her four year old will answer it and hang up.

She remembers that she wants to phone a friend to come for coffee on Friday.
Thinking of coffee will remind her that she was going to have a cup.
She will pour herself some.

And chances are......
If she has a cup of coffee......
Her kids will have eaten the muffin that went with it
Author: Kathy Fictorie

(and thanks to Karianne for passing this on to me)

The rest of our Easter pictures...

...can be seen here.

Five on Friday (The Easter Celebration Edition)

1) Mali's new favorite book is a personal ABC scrapbook made by her Grandma Deni. "A is for Apple"...featuring Mali herself eating an apple, and so on.. What a great Easter present!

2) Brinnly struggled with a virus and teething for a few days, but made a full recovery and then delighted us all with her rolling and giggles.

3) Mali also spent her time in Michigan dying eggs and eating her grandparents out of house and home.


4)While not eating, Mali danced to a singing bunny "Let's go to the Hop" and insisted that everyone else did too, especially Grandpa.


5)My charming husband gets a shout-out for spending part of his guys time out with our best man, Mike, making Easter basket surprises for all of their girls. Kim, do we have good taste in men, or what?

Binky, pajamas, and bunny ears

Necessary ingredients for driving a minivan across four states.

Alleluia

He is risen! He is risen indeed!

Five on Friday

1) Happy, Happy Birthday to our girls' buddy, Jack Ryan. One year ago he was actually a tiny newborn. Now he's about the size of both of my girls put together. Mali made a special phone call to him yesterday. "Hi, Jack. Happy. Love you. Bye." We love Jack's visits and the blue he brings into our pink world. He'll be a wonderful big brother to his little sister who is arriving soon.

2) A friend of the family called a store the other day looking for "nut cups" for a baby shower she throwing for her neice. The clerk replied "you mean for sports?!" We haven't stopped laughing over that one.

3)Brinn is teething and probably fighting some sort of virus. Fever, drool, crabiness are combined with lots of sleeping.

4)Jonathan's mom, Deni, and I are coordinating my parent's new redecorating effort. Think "While you were out", minus the tackiness.

5)A verse for Good Friday: "But one of the soliders pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water come out. And he who has seen has testified and his testimiony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you may believe--John 19:34-35. God's blessings as you observe this Easter weekend.

Spring is here

Holy Week

I meant to write a reflection on Holy Week and especially Palm Sunday, but this week has gotten away from me as we prepare to travel home for Easter. The following is a quote from a blog I read (Serina Toman's )on her experience with Palm Sunday. It's my favorite church holiday too.

"I love Palm Sunday. I love seeing everyone, young and old, swaying their palms toward the sky, toward Jesus, singing His praises all the while. I even love the feeling of dreaded anticipation, knowing something great is coming, but that He must first die. That I must ponder His sacrifice for me, and how much I don’t deserve it. Friday we will mourn, but Sunday, we will sing! He will rise! Easter. My favorite day of the entire church year."

By the way, if you're looking for an excellent children's book on the crucifixion and resurrection, we recommend "The Easter Cave" by Carol Wedeven.

One-half of a year...

She is so grown-up lately! She loves her jumpy-swing, much more than Mali ever did. She rolls over quickly and then smiles for the applause. She also has enjoyed several new foods, but still no luck with bottles of any sort. And once again, she had a better hair day than her sister.

Not completely Pittsburgh

Try this quiz--I think it's pretty accurate. And I'm glad to know I'm still Midewest, accent and all.

You are 69% Pittsburgh.

 

Come on. I know you knew the right answers, but were ashamed and scared to admit it. Do the quiz again, and this time be true to yourself.

How Pittsburgh Are You
See All Our Quizzes

Five on Friday (an occasional series)

1) Brinnly went in for our six-month check-up yesterday. She now weighs 14 pounds, 1 ounce, and is 24 inches long. Everything looks good! She handled her shots very well and somehow Mali came home with a band-aid and a sticker.

2) We had one day of really warm weather this week and the girls wanted to spend all day outside. We finally had to coax Mali in to eat dinner around 7:00 pm. Usually nothing gets between her and food.

3)Mali made big progress in the area of potty-training yesterday. (We'll spare you the details) She ran in the bedroom to tell Brinn about it and later made calls to Daddy and both grandmas to share the news. We WILL be embarrassing her as a teenager with this story.

4)Has anybody else tried out the recipes from Jessica Seinfeld's cookbook? So far we're impressed by muffins, coffee cake, and quesadillas, but after two attempts at "pink pancakes", we've decided that one is a loser. Even when it was around Valentine's Day, there was no way I could disguise the beet puree for Jonathan.

5) Finally, please keep our friend's friends in your prayers. Check our their always well-written blog including updates on Clayton's fight against cancer.

A Visit from Aunt Hannah

Our dear friend Hannah traveled all the way from Milwaukee to spend a long weekend with us. Brinnly was thrilled to finally be able to meet her mommy's former roommate and hear about stories from our single, twenties-something life on the Eastside. Check out our night out sampling a yummy new Ethiopian restaurant:







Thanks Hannah, and we hope for better walking weather next time!

Rollin', Rollin'

Our baby girl has hit a milestone! After a busy morning of hosting our weekly moms-and-kids group (one of those activities planned for kids, but really an excuse for moms to chat), the girls were playing in the living room. I needed to take Mali into the other room for a minute, so I laid Brinn on the floor for a few seconds of tummy-time. When we returned, there she was on her back! I couldn't quite believe it, so we re-positioned her. With the encouragement of me, Mali, and several stuffed animals, she did it again. Isn't she proud of herself?

Five on Friday

1) We had a fun weekend with Kaethe's parents and sister last week, including a stop at our new favorite, "D's Six-Packs and Dogs". It's both kid and parent-friendly! Happy birthday to Kaethe's sister, Kara, as well.

2) Brinnly has been sleep-trained this week. Thank you Dr. Weissbluth! (author of the book "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child"). She's now taking two good naps a day and only waking once per night to nurse.

3) Mali recognized a picture of Regis Philbin today in the paper. Definitely a sign that this weather needs to stop and we need to get outside and away from daytime TV.

4) I really want to update the spare bedroom/office/playroom. Any suggestions how to best organize a multi-purpose space like that?

5) Jonathan thinks the girls look like Siamese twin in the picture below.

A memory like an...

Amalia and Brinnly woke up Friday morning with the surprise that Aunt Kara had come to visit. We hadn't seen her since Christmas, so Mali especially was a little shy at first. She quickly warmed up when she realized that Aunt Kara had brought her cell phone along. (Mali does make quite a few important phone calls throughout the day). She opened Kara's phone...and started making elephant noises. Why? Kara's previous phone had a picture of Mali in an elephant constume for the wallpaper. This new phone didn't have it, and no one else's phone ever has, but our toddler REMEMBERED that specifically about her aunt's phone.

Now we really have to watch what we say and do around her!

Playdate

Five Months Old

Every mother probably thinks this, but these pictures still don't really capture her personality! Her newest development is actually swallowing rice cereal, rather than just playing with it in her mouth and she feels oh-so-grown-up in her high chair. Suddenly, she is aware when the rest of us are eating and enjoys being at our level.

A special treat today--Jonathan's meeting was canceled and he came home early. Mali and Brinn had played all morning with their friend Jack and right after he left, there was Daddy! Ah, the perks of a snowfall.

Five on Friday

Our friends, The Larsons, have started a tradition of posting "Ten on Tuesdays", a list of ten fascinating facts about them that week. I'm not sure we have ten to talk about, but here's a shortened version:

1) My Uncle Carlos is recovering well from a succesful surgery, although he still has many challenges to overcome. Thanks for your kind thougths and prayers.

2) Mali has become quite a girly-girl lately. She loves wearing her cross necklace that her godparents gave her at her baptism and then showing it for others to admire. Below is an after-bath picture of her in her new pink daisy towel.

3) Brinn ROARS loudly when she's excited. Mali likes the fact her little sister can do a decent lion impression.

4) Both of us gave us desserts for Lent, and I guess that means Mali is too, since there will hopefully not be any in the house.

5) We are compltely addicted to politics right now. Even Brinn got to get up out of bed to watch the primary results. (Only because she needed to eat). Thankfully, that was before Ash Wednesday, so we were able to celebrate "Super Fat Tuesday" with White Chocolate Raspberry bars, compliments of my dear friend and superb cookie-baker, Ruth Meyer.