anticipating

In less than 24-hours, Jake will be HERE! We've been apart for 2 1/2 weeks and it feels more like 2 1/2 months.

To deal with her anticipation, Hazel began practicing her hunting skills. It's gonna be a daughter/daddy activity and so she decided that it was time to start practicing. Of course she didn't use a gun, but she still bagged 3 animals!

Look closely at Hazel's shirt and you'll see another thing that she is anticipating... meeting her Aunt Marianne and Uncle Christoph in Alaska! That won't be for a few months, but for now Hazel is content with seeing them on Skype and looking at their photograph.

4 months of bliss

Happy 4 month birthday Hazey Mari! Hazel seems like such a part of me, I can't believe I lived for 28 years without her.

This month, Hazel has focused on ab crunches. She wants to be sitting up and looking at everyone. So, if you try to lie her back in your arms or on the ground, she will work her abs in an effort to sit up. She also has begun cooing! It sounds more like "ahhooo" in the sweetest sing song voice. When she is in a good mood, she will try to hold a conversation. I'll speak, pause, and she'll coo, repeat until mama's heart melts and swoops her up into a cuddle.

She is definitely past the colic phase. However, when she's around a large group of people, she becomes over stimulated and is quite inconsolable. Fortunately, once again the sling SAVES THE DAY and she can stare at her mama or sleep.

It's a beautiful warm fall day in Pennsylvania. As usual, I forced Hazel to have a photo shoot when she wants to be napping, however Hazel takes after her father and is very happy when wearing her birthday suit. The girl sure knows how to work it!

designed for ME

I've always wished that I had a personal designer. I would love to call someone up, describe the perfect pair of shoes/dress/nursery decor, and have them MADE! It would save me so much time because I always have something VERY specific in mind and have to trudge store-to-store looking for something close to what I've envisioned.

My sister does not understand my obsession with owls and birds. Now I have PROOF that I'm hip and trendy and I'm suffering from a MAJOR case of the I WANTS...


Time to warm up the old charge card! Thank you Pottery Barn, I will forever be a loyal shopper (now how about a discount for blogging about this?).

my father's hands continued

FINALLY... I have the pic to go with this old post.


HUGE, right (his hands...and her cheeks)? Last night Hazel fell asleep with her head resting in her Grandpa's hand. Just like her mama used to do when she (I- in case you're confused) got tired after dinner.

Needless to say, Hazel has been getting lots of love since moving across the country! There are still many more people and relatives to meet, but the girl only has so many hours in a day. Since my hubby is away on a hunting trip (a mighty successful one!), I am REALLY appreciating the help I'm getting by living on my parent's property. I'm almost as spoiled as Hazel (however judging by the growing number of gift bags piling up around here, I'd say she's winning by a landslide)! Hazel does enjoy her solo play time, but she also loves to be held or entertained. Without my parents help, I think Jake would have come home from his hunt and found a wild beast in his wife (not THAT kind of wild beast ;)

earned her wings!

All new parents have to wade through the dilemma of encouraging their child/ building their strengths OR pushing them too hard in the wrong direction/ burning them out in the right direction. Jake's been reading some great books on the subject that taught us that Hazel needs to spend x # of hours studying an area to be an expert (clearly I didn't read the books and so I'll stop this paragraph!).

There are a few things that I know for certain that Hazel with master: camping, hiking, travelling, a musical instrument (or 3), and perhaps aviation...

Look who earned her wings by being such a good airline passenger (or because she's so cute and the stewardess adored her)!

Here she is touring Dad's Dog Food's private jet with Grandpa Orris (he's in charge of this here luxury jet). She decided that the next time she flies, she wants to go on this type of plane (3.5 months old and she's already a snob :) !

A low-key spookfest

Hazel and her Grandma Baird :)

Hazel's Shoppe of Horrors wishes you a very spooky (if you consider a sugar-high to be spooky) Halloween!

pimp my crib!

I'm in PENNSYLVANIA! Hazel and I had a delightful flight (99% true) and now we're here... to stay! That reality is a bit much for my brain. My life has been a series of 2-4 year moves for over 10 years, so thinking about living within a small radius for the indefinite is well... a shift to say the least!

For the 2nd night in a row, Hazel has let me lay her down in her bassinet at 9pm without a peep of complaint. I think this Pennsylvania air is good for her! Now that we're here, we need a CRIB! I'd love to get a crib within the week, but surprisingly, I haven't done any research yet. So, I'm gonna hit Walmart, Target, Sears, Ikea... ANY ADVICE? I know many of you have kids, love to decorate, or maybe have seen an inexpensive awesome crib.

I've tried to win hundreds (HUNDREDS) of online contests for baby gear over the past 2 years. I haven't won ONE DARN THING! Hopefully that will all change. I'm entering to win a custom designed nursery from ibabyinteriors. Come on Internet karma, don't let me down (AGAIN!).

an insult in sheep's clothing

Remember the Chicken of the Sea post? That was your first insight into my cooking prowess. It's been suggested that I should change my name to Betty (Crocker) or Rachael (Ray). I think I could easily slide into the name Julia (Child).

Due to our rapidly approaching move, we've been trying to empty our pantry, fridge, and two freezers. I'd rate our success at about a 6.

So, for tonight's dinner (a very special dinner that precluded Jake's LAST night of work), I decided to take a cue from my husband and bro-in-law, Christoph. These manly chefs often open cupboards, pull out random ingredients, and make me a feast (good enough to serve for Festivus for the Rest of Us!).

Here's what I found tonight: frozen ground beef, garden potatoes, homemade tomato paste, and garden tomatoes. Visions of Wendy's baked potatoes with chili floated in my head! However, as usual I didn't start thinking about dinner until 1/2 hour before we needed to eat. I quickly Googled "how to bake a potato" (make fun of me and I might start censoring my honesty) and learned that it takes an hour to hour and a half to bake a potato. I learned that you can microwave a potato fairly quickly, but alas I do not have a microwave. HUMPF!

So, I GENIUSLY sliced the potatoes, drizzled on some olive oil, and threw them in the oven. Then I browned the meat, threw some water, tomato paste, and tomatoes into a skillet, and waited for my hubby to wake up (he works night shift and sleeps during the day). In his usual fashion, his first thought of the day was his stomach. I proudly told him about my creativity.

His response: "Well, that makes me look forward to tomorrow's dinner."

Wow, he must be really impressed by my creativity and resourcefulness! He's looking forward to my next pantry cleaning masterpiece!

Naively, I asked him what he meant. My pride was looking for an ego boost.

His response: "'Cause it will be anything but that!"

Ouch.

In conclusion, I would like to state that the dinner wasn't that bad (oh, he asked me to prepare some noodles 'cause he wanted nothing to do with that topping on potatoes). However, I just cleaned the table and neither of us were members of the Clean Plate Club... a rarity for my garbage disposal husband!

Where my heart is.

The post title may have led you to think that this is ANOTHER post about Hazel, it's not. It's about HOME (duh!).

Over the past few days, there have been some MAJOR decisions made by my family. In a nutshell (a Hazelnut perhaps), my grandparents are moving out of their house and into a stoekli (a Swiss word/concept. It means that the older generation is giving up their home and farm and moving into a smaller abode on the property). This is such a huge change for my grandparents and my parents who are quickly erecting a home for them beside my parent's house. This new home will have many less steps, will not get snow/iced in, and they will not have to continue the huge amount of work it takes to own a large home and property.

When I first heard about this new plan, I was excited. I'm THRILLED that my grandparents are not moving into an assisted living facility. For one, they don't need that yet and two, that would totally change their lives. They will be able to continue their activities and it will be extremely convenient for my parents (and the Kosker's) to pop over for a visit or carpool. They want to jump on this idea before winter really sets in... that's maybe a month away!

Last night as I lay in bed thinking over this new plan, I was flooded with memories that I didn't realize I carried. Crystal clear memories of my grandparents and that house:
*Sitting on my bed brushing Gma's hair as she reads me stories.
*Sitting at my Gpa's feet getting a face massage (have never had a better one!)
*Running down to my Gparents house (I grew up on the neighboring property) and peeking in their bedroom window to see if they were napping or if I could come in (in hindsight that was probably really annoying!).
*Sitting on my porch on summer evenings and hearing them practice their flutes on their outside platform (heaven)
*Going on walks with my Grandma through the woods and running ahead so that I wouldn't have to kiss her and my sister under the kissing tree... and then reluctantly returning when Gma noticed.
*Visiting my Gpa in his garage shop. The smell of oil mixed with Wrigley's always makes me think of him. Plus, he listened to COUNTRY music in that shop... a fact that blows my mind. This is a man who listens to Classical music constantly and can identify every composer/conductor/piece. My mom actually hid the first Rock n Roll album she ever bought 'cause she thought she'd get in trouble!
*Running upstairs to grab the tube pillows and then lounging on the floor while we all watched slide shows and laughed at how young everyone looks while eating pretzels and peanuts out of small blue bowls.
*The Christmas wreath that Gpa hung upside down about 70% of the time even though he tried really hard not to.
*Stopping by their house every morning on my way to catch the bus and seeing Gma in her huge blue fluffy robe.
*Exactly where I was in the house the three times my Gma scolded me (I just realized that I've never heard her yell! What a mom!). I remember what I did each time too and I admit that I deserved the scoldings (and my sister probably deserved the punch too!).
*The kitchen where Gpa would kiss Gma and make her giggle.

I could go on for infinity. I was so lucky to be raised next door to my grandparents. They really helped to raise me. My grandfather played in the pit of the musicals that my sister and I starred in. My grandmother nursed me through every childhood illness. My grandfather babysat us every Monday night and entertained us with stories, old fashioned games, and then sent us to sleep to the sounds of his flute...

What a wonderful life I've had.

So, I'm sad. Soon, their belongings will be moved out of their home. I can describe every aspect of their house with probably 97% accuracy- right down to where Gma has her incoming and outgoing mail sitting. I'm not ready for them to leave their house. However, the memories I have are so crystal clear and plentiful. I wish I could turn back time... except I'd have to sacrifice Jake and Hazel. So, I'll stay in the present and share my memories with Hazel as she makes her own memories with her great-grandparents in their new home.

FALLin for you

Between the intermittent rainstorms and a new fall outfit that she's going to outgrow any second ("oops" says this compulsive shopper who is still figuring out baby sizes), I had to take a few pics when I could... right before nap time. Therefore Hazel was NOT happy and absolutely refused to smile or even stop crying. The best part is that she's old enough to see me from far away, so no matter where I walked (used telephoto lens), she was giving me the stink eye. She's one smart pumpkin!

However, as soon as the torturous photo shoot was over, she was in my arms and calm and went into her bassinet without another peep! That's such a huge improvement that I need to pinch myself (OUCH!).

In the photo, Hazel is sitting with a FEW of the gourds her dad grew this fall! We have an entire tub full of them!