Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Brewer's Ball

 Quick- what are my three favorite things in life?
  1. Dustin
  2. Beer
  3. Helping others
Ok...maybe those aren't my exact top three, but I do love those things an awful lot. So when Dustin and I got the opportunity to attend a beer tasting event to benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, we didn't hesitate.

We got gussied up in our finest "cocktail attire" (turns out its been a while since the two of us had to look presentable. The day of the event we still hadn't figured out our wardrobes. Dustin was worried about his suit fitting...and I had to use my lunch hour to do some speed shopping) and left Piper with her two new best friends (aka our good friends that graciously agreed to babysit. Holla, Craig and Katie!)

See? Even after a full day of work, and a whirlwind of childcare
and baby handoff, we still manage to look somewhat presentable!

The event was held in a large ballroom type space, that was set up with tables around the perimeter- each one representing a different local pub or brewery. There probably hundreds of beers on tap, as well as some fancy bottled options, and even a few ciders. We happily accepted our tasting glasses and started making the rounds.

 Dustin found a hometown fav.

And I found out I could double fist with no shame. 


We got to know this guy pretty well...

And of course we had to snap a pic for our girl...

If all that beer wasn't enough, there was also a good bit of food there, which was a welcome treat, as I'm not sure I would have made it through all that drinking without a pretzel or two as a base. Fortunately the offerings were a bit more varied than that though, and we got our fill of some delicious sandwiches, some soup that I may have to buy stock in (if only I wasn't too buzzed to remember the name of the restaurant serving it) and of course, some yummy cheeses.


I'm thankful there is only photographic evidence of the first time we hit up 
the braised beef and pork belly slider bar.

 
Oh...and then a  pic of that time we ate chased our fancy sliders 
with cheeseburger sliders.Classy AND yummy.

Tiny glass, tiny plate, tiny pickle!

  And tiny container of cheese? Yes, I'll have several, thank you.


But it wasn't all belly-bustin' and boozin'. Midway through the evening, they showed a video about CF, and a local guy talked about his personal battle with the disease. I teared up a bit as he told his story, and was reminded how blessed we are to have each other, and a beautiful healthy daughter. Celebrating the gift of life and fighting to find a cure to CF? I'll most definitely drink to that.


Sunday, May 20, 2012

Avoca-don't

A few days after Piper's official half-birthday, we embarked on a major milestone event: eating solid food!

For the last six months Piper has had nothing but plain old milk, so we were excited to see how she would take to real live food. And that weekend happened to be Cinco de Mayo, so we thought what better way to celebrate than by letting baby girl try an avocado?! There are about a million different ways to introduce solids, so I won't get into all that crazy decision making here...but we are tentatively giving Baby Led Weaning a shot, which basically means instead of mashing up food and feeding it via a spoon, we are letting Piper take the lead, and try whole foods at her own speed.

So we stripped her down (she does still have a diaper on, despite appearing deliciously naked in photos), plopped her outside in the Bumbo, and busted out the cameras to record the first food magic. Warning: Prepare yourself for unreasonable cuteness.

At first she wasn't sure what to expect:



We put a big old slice on her tray, and encouraged her to try it. I figured she'd be a natural, as pretty much anything that gets within a foot of her ends up in her mouth, but she was a little slow to embrace this new slimey treat. She cautiously and thoroughly inspected it:  


Then when she was brave enough to actually pick it up, she took to banging it around, and offering it up to me instead:


She experimented with mashing it, and dropping it....


...But utterly refused to put it anywhere near her mouth. She was having a ball playing around and rubbing green goodness all over her body, but her hands never even accidentally approached her face. We were totally shocked, as lately her hands have been in her mouth almost constantly. But we resisted the urge to take charge, and let her continue to play and explore.


And eventually....she finally got it in her mouth: 


As you can see- she didn't exactly love it. 


Her faces were classic. She kept looking at us like we had all made some terrible mistake. Surely this wasn't for eating, and could we please help her get this horrible stuff off of her tongue?! But the horror was brief, and after ridding her mouth of the offending fruit (yep- it's a fruit) she went back to happily smearing her treat on anything she could reach (except her mouth. lesson apparently learned.)


So the amount of food actually consumed may have been negligible, but it was a fun first foray into the world of food. She enjoyed the experience, even if she doesn't onehundred percent grasp the "eating" part.

 


Something tells me she'll be eating us out of house and home before we know it.

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

31 Things

After the wild success that was Photo a Day April, and then the big dreams but mediocre follow-through that is currently Photo a Day May, I've decided to ramp it up a bit. (Yes, you read that right...I'm currently failing at my commitment to take one photo a day with my "big girl camera", and subsequently have decided to make an even bigger commitment. That is just the counter-intuitive, over zealous, go big or go home, way I roll.) My new focus: a 31 day writing challenge.

I really enjoy writing, I love "memory keeping" (blogs, journals, photo albums) and I'm a sucker for a class, so when I heard about the online course 31 Things, I was sold.


photo credit: Ali Edwards

The basic idea is to respond to a different writing and photo prompt (based on a single word) each day for 31 days in a row, ultimately culminating in a month of thoughts, stories, snapshots and memories on topics that might otherwise get lost in the blurry shuffle of everyday life. I'm excited about the prospect of being forced to write more, and think differently, but I'm also a little nervous that I've bitten off more than I can chew (again!) and will end up bogged down in a mess of my own making.

But I'm going to try to stay positive. After all, the whole reason I signed up was so I could stretch a bit as a writer, but also simply because it's something I thought I would like doing. So I'm going to do my best, keep it light and strive to enjoy the process of telling my stories. One by one by thirty one.

Sunday, May 13, 2012

What a Mom Wants

I've been thinking about writing a Mother's Day post for a while...but I wanted to share something profound. I was hoping to sit down and have brilliant words of wisdom flow elegantly on to the page, nearly summing up my experience so far, and inspiring others with my life lessons. After all, I've been a mama for six months now...surely I have some smarts to show for it. But as I attempted to actually put my thoughts on motherhood into words I've realized that being a mom isn't synonymous with being wise. (well, at least not yet). So far for me, it's actually been a bit of the opposite.

Everyone says babies don't come with instruction manuals, but I think when they hand you a baby at the hospital, they might as well be handing you an endless book of questions. In my brief experience, I've found that nothing shows you what you don't know like being a parent. I'm only six months into this gig, and I can already fill novels with problems I couldn't solve, messes I didn't anticipate, and answers I don't have. And if that isn't enough, as soon as I gained a daughter, it seems I also acquired a substantial amount of fear, guilt and self-doubt.

But the bright side is that with every failure or struggle or worry I encounter, it brings with it a dose of perspective regarding moms that surround me and a helping of gratefulness for those that came before me. Before joining this sometimes confusing, often exhausting club, I didn't have a clue how demanding, and sometimes isolating motherhood could be. It's tough work, even in the best of circumstances, and all moms have moments when they need encouragement and support.

But the good news is, that while I haven't exactly perfected this whole baby raising thing, it's actually my own weaknesses, insecurities, and limitations that have shed some light on what other women might need as well. And though Mother's Day is a perfect day to lavish your own mom with love (you already called her, right?), it's also a great reminder that there are millions of moms in the world, that could always use a little extra praise. So my challenge to you, is this week, take an extra minute to encourage a mom in your life whether it's a first time mom who is still knee (waist, neck!) deep in diapers, or a veteran mom who seems like she's got it all together. Some ideas to get your started:
  • Tell her she's doing a good job. Mean it.
  • Get real with her. Be willing to be vulnerable about areas of your life where you may not have it all together. Be honest that you rely on frozen pizza at least once a week just to avoid starving. Tell her that your baby struggled to sleep through the night for months too. Confess that you actually don't do it all- and share your cleaning lady's number! 
  • Lend a hand. Hold her baby while she eats, open a door for her when she's bogged with bags, wipe her toddler's messy hands when she's tied up with her other kids.
  • Allow her to be the expert. Ask her advice. Let her turn her experience into lessons for you, while helping her gain confidence in her own authority as a mom. Win-win!
  • Give her specific, and authentic praise. Every mom is great at something, whether its singing kid songs, making awesome classroom snacks, or making hilariously silly faces. Take a moment to notice how awesome she is.
  • Ask to see pictures of her baby. Chances are she offers them up often, but knowing people actually want to sit through an iphone slide show is priceless.
  • Volunteer to babysit. But not in that vague, "call me sometime if you need me" kind of way. Actually suggest a kid-free outing, or a date-activity for her and her man, and offer to watch the little one.
Now go forth and love.

Hey mamas- 
If you need an extra boost of cheer- Piper, her piggie toes, 
and teeny bow are always available. She's thinks you're just swell.

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Happy Half-Birthday Piparino!

6 months?!? 6 months?!? Half a YEAR?!?!

I can't begin to put my feelings on the last six months into words....(well, I actually can begin, and have, but can't seem to finish...). My baby, though still technically a baby, is looking (and acting!) more like a big girl every day. So while I spend some time soaking up some of her half-a-year goodness, enjoy this month's little faces.

(p.s.Check out the center shot for a bonus sneak peek of her two new teeth!)

(p.p.s. that bottom middle picture kills me. But then again, so does the middle right. And the top middle. And all of them. Argh....I have to go smooch her face off right now!)

1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Friday, May 4, 2012

Happy as a Hippo

It's like the story of the hippo...

 The hippopotamus, he is not born going, "Cool bean, I am a hippo." 


No way, José. 


So he tried to paint the stripe on himself to be like the zebra, but he fool no one. 

And then he tried to put the spot on his skin to be like the leopard, but everyone know he is a hippo. 


So at certain point he look himself in the mirror,and he just say... 

"Hey, I am a hippopotamus,and there is nothing I can do about it." 

And as soon as he accepts this, he live life happy. 


Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Insta-update

Happy May Day everyone! 

And with the arrival of May comes the end of the April instagram-a-day event. Here's what we snapped for the balance of the month: 
(see our previous two rounds here and here)

21. Bottle

 22. The last thing you bought

23. Vegetable

 24. Something you're grateful for

25. Looking down

 26. Black + white

27. Somewhere you went

 28. 1pm

29. Circle


I really enjoyed the challenge this month. It forced me to take more photos in general, but also got me to snap things I wouldn't always deem photo-worthy. Now the only thing that remains is for me to decide whether I'll be participating in the next round.

I'm toying with the idea of attempting the next photo a day with my "real" camera- aka the DSLR. I've been struggling recently to pull that guy out...it's just so much bulkier than the iPhone, or even my point and shoot. Both my phone and my little camera take great photos, but the quality is still no where near what my canon can do. Plus, I've gotten lazy- just taking quick snaps here and there, not always making sure they're in focus or properly exposed. There is a bit of a trade off- my phone is always with me, so I do get a lot more pictures of things that would otherwise go undocumented. But by not always taking the time to compose or perfect my shot, I end up with lots of half blurry, kinda dark, a bit grainy shots. Again, it's better than no photo at all, but I hate looking back at photos and feeling disappointed I didn't capture memories as vividly as I would have liked. The Flip side of the coin though, is the convenience of the iPhone. Not only is it always there to snap a quick shot, but it allows instant sharing. Run it through a filter to give it a cool look, and post it on the web in seconds. No downloading, editing, saving, uploading, or emailing needed. It's this convenience that tells me I'll never wean myself from the ease and immediate gratification of iPhotography, but I'm hoping to strike a bit more of a balance with my picture taking- some quick casual in-the-moment shots, and some more thoughtful, high quality photos as well.

Anyone else need some motivation to pull out the big gun camera more often? Or maybe you're not much of a picture taker in the first place and are looking for any level of practice? Tell me where you are on the photo-spectrum...hopefully we can inspire each other!

If you're interested, here is May's list from FatMumSlim:


(P.s For those of you who are either really attentive, or just mildly good at counting, you'll notice I didn't share days 20 or 30. I don't want to throw anyone under the bus [Dustin], but someone {Dustin} had a little trouble getting all their pictures taken, so my pairings ended up, well...not pairs at all, so I skipped posting them here. All the more reason for you to jump on the Instagram bandwagon- don't miss a moment!)