Lila's Ten Month Photos

Lila is officially 10 months old.  We've reached double digits.

Some things that Lila likes include brushing her hair with either a hair brush or a tooth brush, looking at books in her room, pulling all the dvd cases onto the floor, standing up while holding onto the coffee table, and eating off the floor.



She has four teeth all the way in and two teeth coming in.

For the most part, she sleeps in her crib from 7:30pm to 7:30am with no waking up, and she naps once or twice a day wherever and whenever she feels like it.

Her favorite foods include graham crackers, goat cheese, cheddar, gouda (ok any kind of cheese), scrambled eggs, yogurt, peas, clementines, and grapes.

Just in the last few days, Lila has started trying to walk while holding onto our hands.

Behold the winds of change.

It's Friday Friday

Another Friday night at the Hutsons'.

Johnny went to bed due to feeling sick (right in the middle of hanging my new chandelier, I might add), so I started the evening with a bottle of wine and Lila's new quilt.  I am now finishing it by watching Twilight.  This is almost as cool as when we used to watch the Ken Burns's WWII documentary on Fridays.  Sometimes I miss spending Friday nights on a sanctuary floor in my sleeping bag next to all my rowers.

I am hoping to have something to show tomorrow for all of our work in the dining room.  All that's left is hanging the curtains.

Fostering Update

A little while ago I mentioned that we were gearing up to become foster parents.  I thought I'd give a little update on how that's going.  So far we have...

killed three forests with the paperwork that we have filled out
completed two online classes about medication
taken a three hour first aid class where the answer to every problem was "Call 911"
completed a thirty hour course on fostering
gotten physicals and passed TB tests
copied paycheck stubs
purchased a lock box and locked all of our medicine in it
installed four new smoke detectors and one carbon monoxide detector
installed three baby gates
purchased first aid kits and put them in our cars

bought a new crib

filed background checks for three different states

and started moving Lila into the guest bedroom.

We still have to...

meet with our social worker

create a detailed floor plan of our house with room and window dimensions

buy a double stroller

place all of our chemicals over 6 feet

and hope that someone eventually looks at our paperwork and approves our initial license.

Fingers crossed we'll be ready before Lila goes to college.

Dinner: Done

I didn't post last night because I was sitting at Chili's, drinking a margarita with my friend Lauren, sans babies.  We had been trying to get our kids together for the last few weeks but sickness had been getting in the way. When our last rendezvous was foiled by the flu, Lauren suggested that just she and I go out some night.  I started laughing because that thought hadn't even crossed my mind.  It was so nice to be able to talk without being worried that someone was going to fall over.

But we can't have margaritas for dinner every night, so one thing that I have done during my 31 Days of Cleaning is organize all the meals that I typically make.  I got a bunch of index cards, and on the front of each card I wrote out a typical meal (ie. Chicken Sausage, Baked Potatoes, Asparagus, and Cooked Apples).  Then on the back of each card I wrote out a grocery list for that meal (chicken sausage, russet potatoes, butter, cheese, asparagus, olive oil, apples, cinnamon, brown sugar).  On Sunday I go through my stack of cards and pick five meals that I want to make that week.  Then on Monday I take the cards to the grocery store and have a ready made grocery list.  So far, I have been really pleased with this system.



I was really pleased with a new meal that I made last night: Pioneer Woman's Sausage, Potato and Kale Soup.  My picture makes it look not amazingly appetizing, so go look at her yummy pictures.  It was easy, fairly healthy (I used nonfat half and half), and goes a long way.  Lila loved eating the potatoes...along with her graham crackers and goat cheese.



We're getting closer and closer with our dining room, coat closet, and Lila's room.  I still have a bench in the middle of my living room, but it's a nice new obstacle for Lila.  Tomorrow I'm planning to buy fabric for the dining room curtains, and I'm hoping to actually make them.  We'll see how long Lila is willing to jump in her Jumperoo.

Unfinished Business

Our house is currently one big pile of partially completed projects.

I have big plans to turn our coat closet into an open benchy area.  So far we have taken off the doors...



...and put a bench together.  That's it lying on its side in the back of the living room.  I still need to paint the inside of the closet, possibly reupholster the bench, make pillows, and hang a picture.



Our dining room paint job is still in limbo.  After sanding off the wallpaper and painting, the texture of the wall still looked a mess, so Johnny patched a few spots.  We just need to repaint those spots now.  Oh and make curtains.

Our Christmas tree has still not made its way out the door, on the top of our car, and to the park.  Geeze, when is it going to get up and go already?

 

Lila's new room is still waiting for Johnny to paint the trim white and finish the super tall parts of the walls.  I could get Johnny to teach me how to paint trim...or I could just close the door. 

And last but not least, I need to make curtains for Lila's room as well as her new quilt.

Needless to say, my plan tomorrow is to attempt to finish at least one of these things.

Peekaboo

I finally did it! I ordered a mini chandelier for above my kitchen sink.  That's not really very interesting to write about, though...and I didn't take a picture of myself ordering it.  So here's a video of Lila playing Peekaboo. 

Where Are You Christmas?

Santa has gone back to the North Pole in the Hutson household.



My goal today was to put away all of my Christmas decorations.  I think I got everything, but it's kind of like when you find an Easter egg two weeks after the hunt...who knows what will still be up come March.



I'm dreading marching the tree to the door and the needly green trail that will be left behind.

Meh...I'm not sure what I'm going to do tomorrow.  Johnny has National Guard so that really limits my abilities.  I want to deep clean my bathrooms, but Lila likes to lick all the shampoo bottles when she's in there, so an extended amount of bathroom time doesn't seem like a good idea.  I think my goal will be to find a new light for above our kitchen sink.  That Chili's light has GOT to go.