First Friends

Watching Gemma make her first friends is so fun! Her friend Katelyn's mom captured this gem yesterday at daycare when she dropped Katelyn off - she went in to hug her friend!!! Too cute! These two little tots are with each other almost every week day and on daycare BFFs!! Let's just hope Gemma doesn't bite or hit her like she does us and Riley!

Goodbye, Grandma, We'll Miss You

Rest in peace, Grandma (June 3, 1932 - April 18, 2012).

My grandma passed away peacefully in her sleep last week.  We'll miss her so much, but I know she's not suffering any more and she's taking deep breaths of heavenly air.  Lots of Grandma memories came to light over this past weekend during family time for the Rosary and Funeral - Grandma always used straws and had them around the house....she had a little candy dish on her side table in the family room where she kept stale candy, she made the BEST jello salad, she never swore ("oh, sugar!" was the worst you could hear come out of her mouth), she liked her white zinfandel, especially from a box.  She made the most delicious Christmas cookies.  She cooked Thanksgiving turkeys in a bag and her pot roast was delicious.  She always taped checks into cards for birthdays/Christmas/special occasions.  One of my most vivid memories of Grandma is from my 9th birthday at Chuck E. Cheese...I walked into a shelf/stage and cut my eyebrow and was bleeding everywhere and Grandma took the $5 bill out of my hand and made sure to wipe it clean of all the blood!  She also always put a piano bench out for holiday dinners and us grandkids would fight over who got to sit on it.  She also kept cheese balls around which were so good as a kid!  Lots of great memories that will live with us forever.  Grandma, I know you're watching down on us from above....

Ready for the Easter Bunny

Eggs are cooked and dyed!! Gemma says thanks fort cards, Grandpa Tim and Great Grandma Althea! And thanks, Grammy for the egg holder!

Best Pals

Gemma loves Riley. Riley loves and fears Gemma. She uses his fur to pull herself up, grabs his face and pulls/squeezes his jowls, tries to play in his water bowl and eat his kibble. But he always falls asleep at the foot of her crib and gives her kisses every day.

9 Months Old!

Once again, Gemma is almost to the next month milestone and I'm just now blogging about her last month's milestone!  She's been a busy 9 month old!

 We celebrated St. Paddy's Day with cousins at Ava's 1st birthday party.  All these (part) Irish babies were sporting their green so there was no pinching going on!  Gemma got to play with her cousins, Noah and Faith.

 She had her first taste of corned beef and cabbage at Grammy and Nonno's that night, too.  She doesn't look sold on it in the picture below, but she gobbled up the few bites she had.

 She's a smiling, chattering, crawling, standing, cruising busy baby these days.

 One of her favorite places to scamper off to is Riley's food and water bowls - that little troublemaker pulls herself up and tries to eat dog food and play in his water constantly!  Poor Riley thinks he's in competition for his own food.

 She's busy laughing and making a mess every night during dinner, too.

 She's now able to not only pull herself to a full standing position, but also sit back down from that position (gracefully, not just letting go and falling).  She's also cruising now (walking while holding onto something like the coffee table or ottoman).  She's jibber-jabbering away all the time, too.  She's got two bottom teeth and is working on one on the top now, too.  She loves to gnaw on the coffee table, the fireplace, our bed footboard and anything else she can put in her mouth that's NOT made for chewing! 

Can't believe our sweet girl is in the last quarter of her first year!  Birthday party planning is in full swing!

Baby Food Creations

I've been making a lot of Gemma's baby food since she started on solids.  We've gone through lots of purees, but she's now prefering menu choices with more texture and more flavor.  So, I've been perusing baby food cookbooks, pinterest, blogs, etc. to gather ideas.

 One of her faves is broccoli, cauliflower, cheese, brown rice.  See, one of my favorites is brocolli cheddar rice so I thought, hey, why can't Gemma love something similar?  So, I set out to create it.  I started with dry brown rice (not the instant kind).  I boiled that up.

 Then, I washed and chopped some fresh broccoli and cauliflower and put it in a pot on the stove with a little water to steam.

 When it was all cooked up, I dumped it all in the food processor (ah, amazing wedding gift) and ground it all up into a lovely baby mush.  I also added a modest amount of shredded cheddar cheese.  I then divided it into baby food ice cube food trays to freeze for future use.

It came out a little thicker than Gemma can comfortably handle, so I add a little milk (breast or whole cow's) each time I take a frozen cube of it out of the freezer for her to eat.  She's a huge fan.  It's healthy and flavorful!  A few other favorites - Beef Stew (just the regular old recipe in the crock pot, then I ladled some into the food processor and mashed it up for her and froze a few portions), Bean Puree (white cannellini beans, sauteed zucchini, leeks and tomatoes), and Sweet Potato Chicken (sweet potatoes, chicken, rosemary all sauteed up and pureed in the blender). 

Spring is Here!

Spring is here and to celebrate, Gemma had a visit with the Easter Bunny yesterday.  We were pretty sure she was not going to be a fan of the Easter Bunny because she's a little more particular these days about who she hangs with, however she was quite entertained and we got a sweet smile out of her for this photo.  She also is pretty stoked about her gorgeous Easter dress she'll be sporting this coming Sunday, as well.  She even got a new hair bow yesterday to match - oh my!  That little shopper...