Letters to Aleeah

My Little Aleeah,

I can hardly believe you are already two months old!  The time has sped past as Daddy and I have been getting to know you and adjusting to being a family of three.  After so many months of wondering what you would look like and what kind of personality you'd have, its been so much fun to h ave you here and get to discover more about you each day.  You look just like your Daddy's baby pictures, and though you don't have quite as much hair as he did, you were born with a good amount of hair and its been growing a lot.  I love how you have a little swirl in your hair right at the front by your forehead.  Your ears are so tiny and perfect and your right one has a little notch out of it just like one of Daddy's ears; it always makes me think of a cute little doormouse coming to kiss your ear and accidentally taking a little nibble.

You're becoming very graceful and expressive with your hands while nursing recently.  It makes me wonder about all the things you'll do with those hands when you grow up.  Will you play an instrument, be a painter, take dance lessons?

You've also been smiling a ton more these last few days and trying so hard to laugh!  You got the biggest kick out of watching MeiMei lick her paws the other day, like it was the funniest thing you'd ever seen.  Every  morning you wake up smiling, its a great way to start out each day; I hope that's something you never lose.

Another thing I love is how you still cross your ankles all the time, just like you had them in the ultrasound.  Its like your little signature thing.  And in the mornings recently when I lift you up to burp you after nursing, you cross your ankles, bend your knees, stretch your arms way up and scrunch up your little face like you can't quite decide whether or not you're happy that its morning.  Its so cute!

You're learning a lot these days and growing and changing so quickly.  I feel so privileged that I get to stay home and be with you - I don't want to miss any of it!  There's lots of new things to come in the next few months as you continue to grow and your Daddy and i are looking forward to all of it; we're so glad you're our little daughter!

With so much love,

Your Momma

Mama Mantra

My father-in-law gave me this book for Christmas.  I'd had my eye on it for quite a while and though we won't be needing it for Aleeah for several more months, I've found it quite inspiring this last week as I've been looking through it.  One of the things I love is a little blurb they have every few pages called Mama Mantra.  This one especially caught my eye -

"Preparing healthy, delicious

food is my gift to my family."

These are the gifts I'm thinking of cooking up for my family this week:

-Black Bean Soup and baked potatoes (from this book) 

-Chili and cornbread (I go back to teaching this week so we'll be wanting a crockpot meal for those days)

-Taco Salad (I have a new recipe from Michael's mom to try out)

-Minestrone Soup (I've been on the hunt for the perfect recipe for this)

-Apple Pie (since I have apples to use up and maybe a healthier sweet treat will help me stay away from all the dark chocolate I've been consuming!)

What's going on in your kitchen this week?