Old Town Alabama

We are settled back in Montgomery for another two-ish weeks. Thankfully C seems to have settled back down now that we are "home". She's sleeping and napping better and although no new teeth are evident, her horrendous teething symptoms have subsided for the moment.

 

J is back at school and working long days with more to do once C is in bed and we are "free" for the evenings. They just condensed the course from 8 to 5 weeks and it's been busy and intense. He did have a good day earlier this week visiting Ft. Benning in Georgia and getting to see how the Army conducts their version of the school J is going through now. Next week is supposed to be a lighter load, so we're both looking forward to that.

 

J carpooled the day he went to Georgia, so I got the car! C and I met another spouse and her little 14 month old girl for lunch at Panera. It's nice to get out of the apartment. Especially since the weather all week had been mid-70's and everything is within a 10 minute drive.

 

Then the next day this same gal called me up and asked if we wanted to ride along to walk around Old Town Alabama. It's an open air museum of sorts right in downtown. There is a big park and playground. C had her first ride on the swings. She loved it. I enjoyed looking at the old restored buildings. I don't think C cared much about her first trip to a museum, but she didn't cry. She really loves being outside so it was fun for her too. And there is no way we'd be spending all this time outside back in ND right now. We didn't see all of the museum, so we may try and go back.

 

Here are the pictures that I took.

 

Thanksgiving 2014

C's first Christmas was spent in very typical Air Force fashion; away from home and with dear friends (also known as our AF family). It was a little on the rough side because she was teething pretty bad. A week later she still has no new teeth, but at least her symptoms have abated somewhat and she's sleeping better. For the moment anyway!

 

Since we were driving 3 hours away to Mississippi the only prep work I had was to bake grandma rolls. Gladly! (And pack a few nice bottle of Napa wine in the car.) I'm happy to report that I made the rolls work with no mixer, sans my trusty roasting pan and in a strange oven. I made sure that C took good notes. It's never too early to pass on sacred traditions to a new generation. Making those rolls sure did make me miss my Grandma though.

 

Grandma P has been gone almost a year now. I know she is rejoicing with a new pain free body in heaven and that I will get to see her there some day. I'm glad for her. But every once in a while something unexpected happens; my breath catches and I am overwhelmed with a memory of her and how much I still miss her. I've looked at C and been so unbelievably sad that they never got to meet on this side of heaven. I like to think that they met in passing; one coming into this world and one leaving it. The smell of that roll dough last week made me miss her so much. I miss the smell of Estee Lauder's Beautiful, and chicken and noodles and the sound of gospel hymns and getting handwritten letters in the mail and a million other things. I'm so thankful this year to have had such a wonderful, God fearing and loving Grandma in my life. And I'm thankful that even though I miss her here, she is spending this holiday season exactly where she would want to be, singing with the angles in heaven and free of the pain and sickness of earth.

 

So back to Thanksgiving.

 

We drove to Mississippi Thanksgiving morning, thus missing the parade. J could have cared less. We arrived just before noon and right in time for the big dinner and football. The rolls, of course, were a hit and all 30 were devoured in about 24 hours. In fact I ended up baking a second batch so Lynn could learn how to make them later that weekend.

 

Aside from watching a lot of football we helped decorate their house for Christmas that weekend. C didn't really care too much about the pretty lights. But I had fun! J even helped Mike put the lights up on the house outside. We ate lots of leftovers. We watched Christmas movies. We even snuck in a game of Hand and Foot after C was in bed.

 

The big game for Ohio State is always that weekend, and of course we watched it. Auntie Lynn bought C a brand new Ohio State outfit with the most adorable little tutu! Am I a bad mother for not taking a single picture of her on her first Thanksgiving but taking half a dozen to commemorate her first Ohio State v Michigan game? (I blame the teething!)

 

We left first thing Sunday morning and were home in time to grab some lunch and watch Sunday football so J could work on school and C could nap at home. Poor duck was pretty miserable with her teeth that day though. Why can't they just pop through instead of taking weeks and making everyone involved sad?

So, we had a lovely long holiday weekend. I'm so glad we have such dear friends who welcomed us in for Thanksgiving and let us steal some of their Christmas too since we don't get to decorate our house this year. It was really nice for J to get a break from school. I guess next up is Christmas! I'm praying for dormant teething symptoms and that everyone manages to stay healthy between now, the travel to Ohio and Christmas!

Sweet Potatoes

November 15th C ate her first food; Sweet potatoes. She wasn't sure what to make of it. Mostly she made horrible faces while continuing to shove the potato in her mouth. I'm fairly certain that she didn't actually swallow anything.

 

Since the sweet potato she has tried avocado, pears and apple. The only thing she's really seemed to like is the apple. She also choked on the apple! Luckily it wasn't anything that a pat on the back from dad didn't quickly fix. But it scared us nonetheless.

 

Mostly we've been giving her "finger" food and letting her play. I did buy some organic purees and I think I may try some of that later this week.

 

And here are an obscene amount of pictures of the sweet potato! :-)