9 months already!

MacKenzie,

Today you are 9 months old and what a wonderful age it is! This past month has flown by and you are an amazing little girl who gives us plenty to brag about.

You are moving around, but I wouldn't call it crawling or scootching. If I get a chance I will take a video of it because it is hard to describe. I would call it more of a wiggle with purpose that happens to travel you around the room. You have gotten very close to crawling in the past two days and pretty soon Mommy is going to have to be very diligent about where you are. You are also getting better at pulling up and Grammy KiKi assisted you in taking little prancing steps the other day. We don't know that the crawling stage will last very long with you. You love to play and have gotten to the point where you will take your stuffed animals and give us "kisses" with them just like we give you. For some reason that has been a very favorite developmental milestone for Mama. Speaking of milestones, you have said your first word and Daddy was very disappointed. I told him I was going to ensure that at least one kid of mine would say Ma-ma first and you did. It is very cute and I am so happy you do so. You have started saying Da-da more consistently which is helping to ease your Dad's broken heart (just kidding). Last time I wrote a month letter to you I reported you had no teeth. Just a matter of days later your bottom two teeth cut right through with very little problems and you are now cutting your top two.

You love the water still and everyone loves to help you play in the pool and watch you splash and stick your tongue out to catch as much water as possible. You love animals, especially dogs and will laugh at them in person or on t.v.. You are enjoying sitting in our laps more while we read a book for you and sometimes you will even just spend some quiet time resting in our laps while looking around. You play with your stuffed animals more than anything else, but you really love real technology and will lurch for whatever is within eyesight. You babble a lot, which catches a lot of people by surprise at first. Many times Mommy can hear you on the monitor in the morning and you will be sitting up in your crib talking to yourself or your blankie.

You have the strangest sleeping habits, you are destined for bad hips. Many times we find you folded over like a clam in your crib, like you were sitting up with your legs in front of you and you folded over in half as you drifted off to sleep. You have also been tucking your legs underneath you like in a deep prayer. You move around a lot in the night, but hardly ever cry out so we are not sure if you get up and move or if you do it all in your sleep.

You are a great eater, but not of baby food purees. Mommy bought several books to make you food over the summer, but you are insistent on eating real food and do a great job of chewing it up. There are very few things you won't eat, the only thing I can think of that you have refused recently is the Bratwurst Daddy tried to feed you last night. I do want to try to work more on you feeding yourself over the next few weeks so hopefully next month I will be posting all about how you feed yourself!

We haven't done too much exciting this month, visited some family for lunches and things, went up to College Station, lots of trips to the grocery store, Target, and the gym. Mommy is looking forward to the fall when the weather is cooler for taking you places.

No pictures yet, we are headed to see family this weekend so the cameras and cards are all packed, I will post lots next week along with your stats from your doctor's appointment on Monday.

There isn't much left to say except I love you and you are simply wonderful!

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

PIzza place, but that review will have to wait

Last night I was able to leave the land of freezer food and headed out with a friend since both of our hubbies were working late. We decided on Russo's New York Pizzeria for dinner. I have dined there several times, but the pizza will be a later post, I have to get a good picture. Last night I indulged in pasta. I ordered the Baked Ziti over the Pasta Puttanesca at the waiter's recommendation. Bad Waiter...Bad, Bad Waiter. It was a little bland and not nearly as cheesy as a good Baked Ziti should be. Their tomato sauce was nice and light, but it left me wanting something heavier for a classic baked dish like ziti. The menu says the pasta is homemade, but I doubt the penne in the ziti dish was anything but boxed. I found myself looking longingly at the gnocchi with bolognese across the table and the pizzas ordered at the table next to us. On a plus note, their salad's are delicious. I got the greek with the balsamic dressing at it was exactly as it should be, crisp lettuce, ripe tomatoes, crisp cucumbers, tart olives, a smattering of feta, and a drizzle of light and tart balsamic dressing. So the pizza will soon be included in my pizza quest, but I will avoid the pasta for awhile.

HORRIBLE HISTORIES - Alexander The Great

Just a little nugget of history fun that makes me laugh...

A bit of a rut...

Two asides that will come together...

Aside #1-

I used to subscribe to several culinary magazines that I would get really excited about. I also used to use my printing allotment at Texas A & M for the purpose of printing off recipes from the internet. This has resulted in a 3 inch, 3 ring binder stuffed full of recipes I am sure I will never get all the way through.

Aside #2-

Matt and I have decided to clean out our freezers. Both the inside freezer attached to the fridge and the deep freezer have several meals that need to be consumed. This means no new recipes with pictures for the next couple of weeks.

Bringing the two asides together-

I do not want to leave anyone out in the dark, thus I will pick a few random recipes as often as I can and post them here. If you wish to try them out...great. If not...fine. If you do try them out please comment about them after the fact. So...

Carne Asada

8 poblano chiles

2 bunches green onions (about 12), dark green tops trimmed

2 pounds skirt steak, cut crosswise into 6 inch wide pieces

4 garlic cloves, minced

Coarse kosher salt

Corn or flour tortillas

2 avocados, peeled, pitted, sliced

lime wedges

salsa of your choice

Prepare grill on high heat. Grill chiles and onions until charred all over, about 3 minutes for the onions and 5 for the chiles. Transfer onions to a plate and cover with tin foil to keep warm. Transfer chiles to a large bowl, cover with plastic and let stand 15 minutes. Peel and seed, cut into 1 inch wide strips. Transfer to onion plate and keep warm. Rub steak with garlic, sprinkle with coarse salt and pepper. Grill until cooked to desired doneness, about 3 minutes on each side for medium. Transfer to cutting board and let stand for 5 minutes. Grill tortillas until warm and slightly charred, about 10 seconds per side. Cut steak crosswise into strips, transfer to onion and chile plate. Serve beef, chiles, onion, avocado, and salsa wrapped in tortillas with lime wedge (and a Corona) on the side.

And just for the heck of it here is something completely different:

Italian Chicken and Vegetable Soup (by Paula Deen)

2 tablespoons of olive oil

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into bite sized pieces

1 small onion chopped

1 cup sliced carrots (about 3 small)

2 1/2 cups sliced zucchini (about 2 medium)

2 (14.5 ounce) cans diced tomatoes with basil, garlic, and oregano

2 (14.5 ounce) cans chicken broth

Grated parmesan for topping

In a large pot, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook for ten minutes stirring frequently. Add onion and carrot, and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in zucchini, tomatoes, and chicken broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Top with parmesan and serve with crusty bread if desired.

hmmm

I haven't felt like I have had a ton to write about lately...so I will share an interesting piece of history with anyone who muddles through...

By the way, this information comes from Ann Millen who works at the United States Holocaust Museum and Memorial. She spoke at HMH's Max M. Kaplan Summer Institute this past week about Nazi propaganda.

Ann showed us this poster (because of copyright rules I can only post it through a link) and we analyzed it. Take some time to do so yourself...go ahead...I will give you a minute or two...

What sorts of things did you find?

We discussed the couple looking in different directions, the obvious power the man has over the woman, the nourishment of the child at the woman's breast, her dressed in the heritage of the Greek's, the eagle in the background signifying German heritage, we had a particularly enlightening discussion about the sexual undertones in the positioning of the woman and the man...the list goes on and on... And in case you didn't look at the title off to the side, it discusses that this is supposed to be the depiction of the "pure" Aryan family.

We then stopped and looked at the age difference between the man and the woman. The man seems to be much older than the man and this is when Ann slaps a big historical irony right in our faces. This poster was published in 1938 and a very popular actor of the time was Leslie Howard (of Ashley Wilkes fame in Gone With the Wind). Supposedly this man was modeled after Leslie Howard to depict the perfect Aryan father...only problem with that is...Leslie Howard and his family was...any guesses...Jewish! Which means that the Nazi propaganda machine did not research their subjects very well. I love the irony.

For additional intrigue, after the outbreak of the war Howard moved back to England to help the British cause against the Germans. One of his main tasks was to "tour" around Europe as a celebrity and spy while he was there. His death is something of a mystery because his plane was shot down under unusual circumstances. Some say the Germans found out about his spying and thus killed him, others say that he and his bodyguard were mistaken for Churchill and his bodyguard and were shot down by mistake. Who knew that little old Ashley Wilkes had such a role in World War II!

Ok. History nerdiness got the best of me, but this is the kind of thing I get really excited about!

Teeth!

So no pictures this time guys, but we have two little teeth pushing their way through MacKenzie's baby gums! Sunday morning at church I put my finger in MacKenzie's mouth in an attempt to get her to stop squaking (how do you spell that word?) as I got up to feed her and noticed something sharp! We pried open her little bitty mouth and saw a little tooth peeking up at us. We were super surprised considering she had not been unusually fussy or upset. The next day as we continued to measure her teething progress we noticed there were two little teeth buds pushing through, what a super baby to be cutting two teeth at once and hardly even fussing about it! So I no longer have a toothless baby....they grow up so fast!!! The reason there are no pictures is not for a lack of trying to see the little tooth. MacKenzie is very protective of her new teeth so we have only been able to sneak a few peeks at them ourselves...rest assured that I will post pictures as soon as we get them!