Sip, Sip, Sippy

Ingrid has been enjoying her sippy cups for quite some time now. But she just now mastered her straw sippy. And she is in love. We tried the straw cup a while back and she had a hard time with it because she wanted to tip it up all the way. At first she just pretended she was getting something to drink and would say "AHHHHH." But that soon got old and she was a little frustrated.


I pulled the straw cup back out last week and she loves it. I think she likes the fact that it is so much bigger than her other cups too. Ing will tote it around all through the house and try to find secret spots to sit it. She thinks this is hilarious.



My little baby is not so little. She will be ONE in seven days! EEEK. She is drinking whole milk and prefers finger foods to baby foods. She will still eat baby food, but wants something on her tray so that she can feed herself also. Time is zooming by. So fast.

Sprinklings

Derek has been watering the lawn like crazy since we haven't been blessed with much rain lately. He waters it with the sprinkler and works out quite nicely. He's such a good yardworker. Saturday was brutally hot and he decided to run through the sprinkler with Ingy boo. She was up for it without a doubt!

The first sprinkling.

She loved it! And was ready to run full force through the sprinkler.


This is too much fun!


Whew. That will make a girl wet and worn out. But it was a blast. Thanks, Dada.

Friday Fun Day

I absolutely love being at home with Ingrid. This has been the best summer of my life. I used to love my summer days of lounging around with nothing to do but watch T.V., lay out by the pool, workout, and relax. And don't get me wrong--a day or two of that would be welcome!--but I would never, ever go back to that kind of summer after spending this time with my girl. I love it. We started off our Friday with breakfast at Neighbor's Mill to send our friend Sarah off for the summer. We had good weather on Friday too. A nice cool breeze was blowing and we spent a lot of time outside. Ingrid is such a good girl.

Does this hair look familiar to you? Hint: MINE has never flipped with this much vigor!

Is that Dada coming home right now??

Walking--a little!  Ingrid took 6 or 7 very controlled steps on her own this day. Yippee!

Flying high.

My girl is all smiles. Unless you tell her no. Three times. :(

Sad picture I know! She perked back up very quickly though. We headed to Old Chicago that evening for some pizza. We took Ryan with us and had a great time. Despite a waitress who was below mediocre. And the fact that my food came after the guys were finished with their pizza. And that Ingrid was done with her food before anyone was served theirs. Hahaha. Sounds fun, right? It really was though. Ing was a champ. She nibbled on puffs, cheese, and pizza crust and sipped her water the whole 90 minutes we were there. I was proud of her. I got some yummy Orange Leaf yogurt afterwards. Hooray for fun Fridays.

Vacation Part 4: Out on the Town

Four dinners out. Four relaxing nights. Four delicious meals. Four best friends.

Our nights out to dinner were so wonderful. We went when we wanted, ordered what we wanted, and stayed as long as we wanted. What a luxury! I loved my meal at all four restaurants. They were equally delicious. But--someone decided we needed to rank the restaurants and we had to factor in all the elements: meal, atmosphere, waiter, etc. I'm sure you can imagine, this was a difficult task for me. I didn't want anyplace to be ranked 4th! But I had to do it, so here are my rankings:

#4 Hardrock Cafe: The restaurant was celebrating their 40th anniversary and they were playing great 70s music videos. It was a really fun night. I had a huge chicken nacho platter and I loved it. I ranked HRC 4th just because of what I ordered. I can get chicken nachos lots of places--so it didn't stand out as a great vacation meal.


#3 Hog's Breath Saloon: Oh my word. This meal was to die for. Crabcake appetizer with delicious dipping sauce. Grilled mahi mahi with hushpuppies for the main course. It was so good. The only problem here was the lady sitting directly behind me was SO LOUD. Obnoxiously loud with strange, strange questions to her niece(?). She killed the awesome atomosphere of Hog's Breath. But my meal was so, so good!



#2 Bonefish: This was the only restaurant that I had never been to before. It was a tad fancier than the other places we went. I loved the atmosphere. We got a spacious booth (I was thankful because the place was packed!) Our waiter here was the absolute best. I loved him. He was witty and on top of it. For example--
Robbie: "Care for any dessert tonight?"
Heather: "We are so full!! Does anyone ever order dessert?"
Robbie: "The ones who do, SHOULDN'T!!"
Hilarious. And my food was wonderful here too. Garlic whipped mashed potatoes topped with a grilled chicken breast. Wilted spinach, goat cheese rounds, and artichoke hearts atop that. AGGGHHH. It was divine. We also got an appetizer of Bang, Bang Shrimp. Sweet and spicy and served with chopsticks. Yum!


(derek's signature "crazy lou" pose)


#1 McGuire's Irish Pub: The atmosphere in this place was the best! It was super, duper crowded and we thought we were going to have to wait forever. Then the hostess offers Derek immediate seating upstairs. Upstairs? Last time I was here I didn't even know they had an upstairs!! We headed up the stairs ladened with dollar bills (They are stapled to every square inch of the restaurant! Most are signed and dated.) There were open air windows squared out of the concrete walls with a breeze blowing in. It was heavenly. Our waiter left much to be desired, but the food made up for it. Heather and I split a caesar salad, filet mignon, and BROWN BREAD drizzled with honey. Ohhhhhh--it was so good. I hadn't had a filet mignon since my tenth birthday in Washington, DC. McGuire's Wins!




One last pic. When we stopped to get souvenirs for the girls, we happened to be right across from TGIFridays. This is where Derek and I celebrated our engagement 5 years ago last Tuesday!

Vacation Part 3: Playing Dress-up

I love dressing up. And by dressing up, I mean any clothes that exclude the following: jeans, t-shirts, yoga pants, and sweats. One of the best parts of vacation is "dressing-up" for dinner each night! As I already mentioned, the first night I was dying of a hunger attack, so the hair stayed wet and piled up into a bun. But i got to wear my new green shorts with the stretchy waist band (maurices), cream and orange striped silk tank (tj maxx), and brown wedges that slightly resemble MIA circa 1990s (rack room shoes).

The second night I wore my long mustard yellow dress (target) that showed off the baby bump nicely. I borrowed Heather's belt because I could only find one of mine. I thought I had taken the time to actually pack belts and knew which belt went with which outfit. I couldn't find any of them--until I was repacking to go home. They were all there. Agh.

On the third night I busted out my Kohl's clearance wedges I got ages ago. I love those shoes but don't ever wear them. I actually took them off and changed when we decided to go to Hard Rock Cafe' because I didn't want to be overdressed for the laid-back atmosphere. At least I got a pic! This dress is one of my faves because it's so comfy and has pockets!

Somehow I have no outfit pics from the last night (I think Heather was hogging them all with her camera). But I couldn't leave Florida without thinking of my little Ingster. What is the classic clothing souvenir bought by millions on a beach vacation? Airbrushed t-shirts of course! D and I just had to get her one. It is as cute as can be. A perfect fit too.

Vacation Part 2: Bocce Ballin'

On our trip we had no set agenda. Nothing planned. Nowhere we HAD to go. We got to stay out of the beach as late as we wanted. And we took full advantage of that. (Except the first night when my hunger and low blood sugar made us eat dinner at 5:30!) One evening we broke out Bocce Ball. I love this game! I'm not the greatest--but sometimes I hit a lucky streak. I was feeling confident so I declared a boys vs. girls matchup. Not my smartest move. The guys mutilated us. But we had so much fun. I have a really good picture of Heather rolling in the sand practically peeing her pants in laughter, but since I got in trouble over the excited face in the last post, I'll refrain from making it public. Growl.

Look at that form! He must be a professional Bocce Baller.

He also thinks I need help with my game. I don't.

A rare victory set.

We are not sore losers.

I hope I get to play lots more games of Bocce at backyard cookouts this summer. I will win a game. I will.

Vacation Part 1: The Beach

Last week I left my baby girl for a much needed relaxing vacation to Florida. My plan was to rest, relax, sleep, read, and eat. I did all of the above. I knew I would miss my Ingrid Catey Bear but I had no idea how much. It was HARD. Very, very hard to be away from her for that long. But I knew she was having fun with her Nana, Grandpa, and Uncle Darren, so I tried to let it go. Tried. haha. Derek and I headed out with Heather and Ross around 11 PM (after Derek's 10 year High School reunion). The guys drove the whole way and Derek made an awesome playlist just for the trip. He got requests from each of us about a week before we left and purchased lots of songs on iTunes so we could jam to our faves. It was so much fun. We arrived in Destin to beautiful weather--clear skies, 90 degree heat, and a warm ocean breeze! Heather was the most excited upon arriving.



As soon as we checked into our condo, we didn't waste any time. We were ready to hit the beach! How could we not? This was the tempting view from our balcony.

But sun safety first--Derek and I piled on half a bottle of sunscreen before catching some rays. Seriously--by the third morning, Derek and Ross had to run to the store to buy more sunscreen. The four of us had drained three brand new bottles of sunblock. That's what happens when your skin is as white as ours.  (And I felt super "dark" since I had been self-tanning at home for two weeks prior.  LOL)


This is the resting, relaxing, and sleeping part I mentioned. I also got to read two wonderful books courtesy of Heather. Heaven is for Real and The Room. I strongly recommend both. I loved them so much.

I got a few 16 week belly shots in my suits by the shore.

This was the first trip the four of us had ever taken together and it did not disappoint! We had more fun than I even dreamed. So many laughs--I think that's how I didn't gain any weight on the trip--haha. Too many calories burned from laughing my head off. I can't wait for many, many more trips with my sis and brother-in-law!

Did I mention that we missed our girls?