'Tis the Season to go Picking

What a lovely day! And we thought we would get some berries while the gettin's good. We went with our friend, Amy, and her son (Winn's buddy), Josh, out to Chiles Peach Orchard's strawberry patch.

 

When I conceived of the idea, I had this romantic vision of me picking berries in a white flowing linen dress and bringing them to my husband and daughter sitting close by on a picnic blanket under lovely asian inspired umbrella. Schaun would quickly clean them and hand them off to our friends who would dip them in some homemade lemon curd and sit idly enjoying the day. I wouldn't get the tiniest stain on my dress and we'd all have a jolly afternoon. Very Victorian era.

What really happened was barely throwing on some jeans and combing my hair (barely) and hauling ourselves out the patch where it would be incredibly awkward carrying our children on our backs (or fronts...depends on the baby carrier) while we tried to pick enough berries to make our HUGE containers look remotely full. Amy finally released Josh into the patch so he could bash around among the berries. And I finally set Winnie down in the patch where she was content to pick berry after berry and shove them into her mouth in succession. By the time we were done, she was drenched in strawberry juice from head to toe.

After the picking was done we sampled all the strawberry treats the orchard had to offer in its cafe (strawberry donuts, strawberry fudge, strawberry milkshake...very Forrest Gump) and drove our screaming children home for naps. It was a fantastic excursion that we hope to repeat next year!

Amy and Josh - excellent friends and great company!

Josh having a ball running around.

Winnie found the strawberries. 

And more strawberries.

And then there was more.

This is us...no white dress but awfully romantic anyway.

p.s. I did make some freezer jam that was delicious but *gasp* I forgot to take pictures :)

The big 1

You guessed it. Winnie turned one.

It was an absolutely gorgeous day and as soon to be toddlers do, she awoke bright-eyed and crying her eyes out because of a fever. Nice. We gave her Tylenol so she could pull off the party and kept her away from the other kiddies. She did wonderfully and didn't melt down with sadness until late afternoon.

We had a party for her and invited her little baby friends along with some adult friends of ours. Rachel's parents were in town for the festivities and thank goodness for that. Not only was it great having them visit for the week from Connecticut, Rachel bit off way more than she could chew during the planning of the party and Grandma and Pop-pop saved the day by helping with Winnie, grocery shopping and cooking. As we always do in the Florian family, we had a great time planning a party together.

 Of course, Rachel's dad wouldn't let her BUY deli meat "when you can just roast the turkey yourself." So he literally roasted the turkey all night long so it would be ready to make sandwiches in the morning. And yes, it was delicious. My dad is king sandwich maker. I added my own fresh herb vinaigrette and Grandma did the assembly. They were delicious. Schaun was on Winnie duty and at the park early to claim our spot under the pavillion. Things almost came to fisticuffs but his mad negotiation skills prevailed and all was ready for Winnie's birthday bash when we arrived (late).

Gift bags for Winnie's friends...bubbles, balls and treats. Love doing this stuff!

You have to have balloons at a birthday party. Plus Winnie loves them.

Winnie's best buddy, Josh.

Another friend, Mia, indulging in her first cupcake. What an honor! 

 Mom and Dad loving Winnie

 She had a little giggle fest when we all sang happy birthday.

 Then she was confused.

That's right. Winnie's #1.

It Was Only A Year Ago...

...that our Winnie was born. It doesn't seem that she could have been that itsy bitsy but she was. I took these pictures when she was just five days old.  And thought I'd share a before and after of our girl.

 Teeny tiny baby, Winnie Lu.

Teeny Tiny Winnie foot.

Not so itty bitty, Winnie Lu.

A much bigger but not THAT big Winnie foot.

Winnie's First Snows

The first snowfall of the 2010 Winter season came in early December. It was just a light dusting but as brand-spanking new parents, we promptly swept up our daughter and dragged her outside at which time she looked around and looked at us like, "what the heck are you doing to me?!" and took lots of pictures. We (or really I) squealed with excitement of "Winnie's first snow!" like she cared. Maybe someday she'll care that we took all these pictures of her looking dazed and confused. At least she'll see how very thrilled we are to be her parents, right? That's worth something!

We're all excited and Winn says, "This is lame."

THEN a couple weeks later we got a bigger snowfall that stuck around for a whole day or two (thank you Virginia!). That pushed me to finally knit her a cute hat so she could look the part of snow princess and have a warm noggin. Schaun promptly got her dressed and brought her outside for a taste of snow, literally.

So proud of her hat! Made up the pattern (kind of) myself.

She so doesn't want to eat snow.

Why are fuzzy feet pajamas so cute?

For those of you who know Winnie pretty well, you know that she slept in her miracle swaddle blanket (given to her by our friend, Krista) every night without fail starting at about 4 weeks old. Couldn't fall asleep without it.  We called it her straight jacket. Sometimes she even needed to be wrapped in order to be able to concentrate enough to eat. The world is so amazingly exciting to Winnie and has been for months, which makes calming down a challenge, thus the straight jacket. She'd be wiggle worming all over the place then I'd wrap her up and suddenly she'd be still. Miracle blanket.

In recent weeks, Winnie has become more and more restless at night and the stillness effect we used to see started waning. All day long she was trying her hardest to flip over from her back to her tummy, then tummy to back. Wasn't working out so well until last week...after three wretched all-night crying sessions...she figured it out! Winnie started flipping over like a pro and in an instant her straight jacket was retired and the fuzzy feet pajamas came out. Now instead of sleeping all wrapped up tightly she's sprawled spread eagle in her crib (which now has bumpers because her little legs and arms kept getting stuck with all her newfound nighttime wiggling). It's so cute!

She's sleeping relatively peacefully again and we're enjoying it until the next all night developmental milestone practice sessions start!

Eat, Drink and Be Merry!

We've got culinary adventures going on in our house. Winnie's been enjoying and not so enjoying offerings such as sweet potato, avocado, carrots, bananas and cereal. Getting ready to try peas, butternut squash and oatmeal. Meal time is a party with Winnie wiggling every which way while strapped into her car seat, pursing her lips, cracking up when I say "all done?!" rubbing food in her eyes, up her nose, in her hair or my hair for that matter. Laundry is a whole new ballgame as of two weeks ago! I've been channeling my father, "the stainmaster" and doctoring up all kinds of mixes to get the carrot-laden spit up and smudges out of her clothes. I may have to resort to simply stripping her down before meals!  I just love to cook and have been so excited about teaching Winnie all about it. I've had her mixing her formula with me (complete with song and dance), smelling herbs and spices while I'm cooking and sitting with me while looking through cookbooks. You can never start too early!

Avocado delight

Sweet potato drool

As for Schaun and me, we've tested out butternut squash lasagna (yum), cauliflower lentil curry (yum), pumpkin enchiladas (yum...but needs a little work), homemade tomato sauce and turkey meatballs (yum yum yum) and we're gearing up to try to make our own yogurt.  I got the lasagna recipe from my friend, Jill Skidmore, and it was delicious. Really delicious. Other stuff I got on line or made up myself. Schaun outdid himself the other night and busted out a Danish cookbook we got as a wedding gift from friends, Ron and AJ, and made three (count 'em) three types of beautiful and scrumptious cookies. We made an event of eating them along with some lovely orange tea and honey.

Besides what we're cooking at home for our family we get take-out every now and again and two of our favorites are Ariana Grill Kabob House (Afghan food) and La Michoacana (Mexican). If you live in or around Charlottesville, we definitely recommend both.


If you've got any recipe/food suggestions for Schaun, Winnie or me please pass them along. We're always on the lookout!