Who will pack their knives?

Molly can't wait for the Top Chef finale:

If Mike Isabella wins, Molly will be dumbfounded.

If Blais wins, she'll cheer!

Garlic and Sapphires -- by Ruth Reichl

Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise by Ruth Reichl
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A delectable read! Go behind the scenes with Ruth Reichl, the former restaurant critic for The New York Times, as she dines in disguise at New York's finest (and most famous!) restaurants. Daniel, 21, Lespinasse. Reichl describes every bite in such glorious detail, you almost, almost, feel like you're there. She even includes some of her reviews, which are so interesting to read knowing the back story. Anyone who loves food, or reading about food, or watching shows about food will probably love this book. Bon appetit!


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Dadadadadada

I was starting to think that Molly's first word might be 'Mama.' She's been making the 'mmmmmmm' sound for a while, especially when she's hungry or tired. But now that she's learned how to babble, 'dada,' it's all she wants to do. Jason posted this on our Shutterfly site. She really only says it at the beginning of the video, but you get the idea:

Paying the price

The B is back and Dana was in town, so of course I had to go out Sat night. We had an awesome dinner at Paris Club (French small plates), and then hit up a few bars in Old Town to watch basketball and hang with some of our friends from high school. Fun times, but I feel like I'm starting all over again when it comes to going out. I was SO tired on Sunday morning when Molly woke up. It's now Wednesday, and I still feel like I'm paying the price! Totally worth it to be out and about with my girls :)

Me and D!

B and Me!

Mommy's lady luck

Not the best pic, but at least you can see my Irish princess in her St. Patty's T-shirt!

I'm home watching basketball (go UC!!), but hope everyone else has fun drinking green beer and celebrating!

Reach for it...reach for it...

Molly is trying SO hard to figure out how to move.

She goes from sitting...

...to kneeling...

...to leaning...

...to reaching...

...to thinking...

...to crying...

...to pushing...

...to sliding...

...then slithering...

...more crying...

...and finally, to flying!

We had such a fun weekend with Marsha and Steve. Molly was a little under the weather with a cough and runny nose, but she still managed to play, laugh, and show off all the new tricks she's learned since Christmas.

She'll have a captive audience this evening, too. The B is back from India today and very eager to see her little niece. And I'm very eager to see the B. It's been 2 months -- I miss my sister!

8-month update

So what has Molly been up to? Well, she's not crawling yet, but I think she'd like to. She squirms and scoots and bounces and walks her little hands forward, but just can't quite figure out how to get where she wants to go. That's okay. I'm sure she'll be moving soon enough!

She still loves bouncing and singing and now we've added "pat-a-cake" and "peek-a-boo" to the repertoire. She also has an obsession with tags. I'm not sure why, but no matter what toy you put in front of her, she will find the tag and stick it in her mouth. 

Eating is still going well. Molly loves her veggies and is getting pretty good at popping sweet potato puffs in her mouth now too. She still treats the sippy cup like a teething toy, but now that they've started working on it with her at daycare, she'll probably pick it up pretty soon.

What else? Molly likes getting up in my face and grabbing my nose, chin, lip, or ear. Sometimes I'm even lucky enough to get a big, wet, open-mouthed "kiss." In general, she seems like a pretty happy kid. At least, she is when she's with us!

Fugazi is one of Jason's favorite bands. Molly is SO Wicker Park cool!

Nice posture, Molls!

Who's that lady? 

New look

Out with the old and in with the new! I've applied a new template to my blog. Like? It might take a little getting used to, but I think it looks pretty good. The hummingbirds are cute at least :)