It's beginning to look a lot like...

Our little Peach has her first Christmas coming up and I am so excited I can hardly contain myself. :) So far she has a musical table, "Peas and Thank You" (a Veggie Tales book), and a little turtle shape-sorter wrapped under the tree. I still plan on getting her a set of rubber blocks for her to practice her stacking skills... and something penguin because the child has fallen in love with penguins. I was thinking of a pillow pet even though she's not supposed to sleep with a pillow yet... maybe I'll save that for her first birthday.

On her first Thanksgiving, she got to savor her first lollipop. And when I say savor...

I...

...mean......savor!!

For those of you wondering, no she didn't become a crazy baby and yes she napped afterward. :) Our little Peach is now 8 months old... she's very close to crawling, but that doesn't stop her from being completely mobile. She has decided that she can get places a lot faster if she just rolls across the floor, so that's what she does. She can "crawl" with her legs, but hasn't figured out how to lift up her hand and coordinate movement. Instead, she sticks her butt way up in the air, feet on her tippy toes, hands flat, and then just gives up and rolls across the room to her destination. :) I love it.

She is a happy baby... an adventurous eater, curious of the world around her, loves to laugh and smile at everyone... she's the greatest gift this Christmas season. I know this is a mom cliche, but I don't care: I have the greatest daughter in the world.

Shmorgishborg!!!

It has been a long time since I've blogged. I'm actually going to wait until the end to title it... I also just looked over all my labeled and selected all the ones I should topic this blog around because it seriously has been so long since I've produced any meat and potatoes for you all. So, here we go...

Zoey was the size of a 9 month old at her 6 month appointment... we were told she's so tall, she's off the percentile chart (which was meant for full-term babies, by the way)... so we're always like, "What preemie? Was that a dream?" Hmmm...

She has two teeth now. They came in during the same week, just a couple days apart, when she was 6.5 months old. She also started sitting up on her own around the same time. Teething has been... fun. Not really. Especially since her teething tablets were recalled. Losers. Get it right the first time, people... instead, we've had to resort to Infant Advil (which takes 20 minutes to kick in, which equals forever to an infant) paired with Orajel (she hates it). Some days are downright horrid and I feel awful for her... but lately, it's gotten a tad better. She's a wonderful baby, starting to get mobile in her 7th month, which terrifies me... is my home baby-proofed enough? What is she going to get into now?! And why is she so grabby?! She and I need to have a talk about what belongs to her and what doesn't... something tells me it won't go so well.
My new job... it rocks. I don't know what else to say about it yet except that I. LOVE. IT. I love the people, the work we do, the additional education they offer us for free (InDesign training!)... everything about it is everything I needed to move toward a happier life. We're not made to feel guilty for taking a lunch (yeah, I said it... stupid, eh?)... we're encouraged to play as hard as we work and to love our environment. All this love makes me happy :)

The holidays... oh, the holidays. Zoey is going to be a peach for Halloween. Well, kind of... I dropped the ball on getting her costume made because of everything with the job transition and vacation... so I got a little creative and made her costume. I found a fabulous tutorial online and made her a tutu myself... took about an hour total. I bought a long-sleeve onesie and dressed it up a bit with a couple buttons and ribbon. She already had a peach hat to wear. I also got her some peachy tights, but I'm thinking (thank you cold weather) she's going to end up in velvety brown pants instead, which is just fine, right?! Peaches have brown on them... they're fuzzy... see, it all works out. :) Of course I will post pics after. I'm too proud of my crafting not to.
Zoey is loving oatmeal now... we buy her the kind with fruit mixed in. Oatmeal and apples make her veeeery happy. She also loves yogurt. I think one thing I look forward to the most is Thanksgiving... she's going to get to try real sweet potatoes for the first time. :) I may even puree some turkey and gravy... we'll see. ;)

I am so stinking excited about Christmas, too! I've started looking on Etsy for her first ornaments and I found a birdie one I probably have to have because she has birdies everywhere... but I was also inspired to make them myself. Kristin and I are plotting a decoupage session in the near future...

I love crafting. I finally bought a glue gun today (I know, what the heck took so long?!) and I want to glue everything... this could get dangerous. My cats better not get in the way because I'm half tempted to glue ribbon and embellishments on their fur... but I digress.

2 Christmas Recipes: Biscotti & Donuts

I decided to share two wonderful recipes I have made for Christmas. The biscotti I made for a Christmas eve treat and everyone loved it. It tasted wonderful dipped in coffee or hot chocolate. The donuts I made Christmas morning for breakfast. When I was a child, my grandmother used to make donuts on Christmas morning and dip them in white sugar. It was a great, basic way to enjoy home made donuts. Now, I have a new way and I have to admit, I do like it a lot better. I plan to make these every Christmas morning for Zoey as a tradition.

Pumpkin Spice Chocolate Chip Biscotti

Ingredients
2 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 c. white sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. pumpkin spice
4 tbsp. butter, thinly sliced
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 c. mini chocolate chips
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and pumpkin pie spice. Using your hands, mix and work in butter until mixture resembles fine crumbs.

2. Spoon 1 tbsp beaten eggs into cup; reserve. Add chocolate chips, vanilla, and remaining beaten eggs to flour mixture; stir until evenly moistened. With hand, knead mixture a few times in bowl until dough forms.

3. On floured surface, with floured hands, divide dough in half. Shape each half into a log; flat on the bottom, rounded over the top. Place logs on a cookie sheet. With pastry brush, brush tops and sides of logs with reserved egg. Bake logs 30-45 minutes. Bake time depends on thickness of logs. Cool logs on cookie sheet on wire rack 10 minutes.

4. Place logs on cutting board. With serrated knife, cut warm log crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick diagonal slices. Place slices upright, 1/4 inch apart, on cookie sheet(s). Bake slices 15 minutes to allow biscotti to dry out. Cool completely on sheets on wire racks. (Biscotti will harden as they cool.) Store biscotti in tightly covered container. Enjoy dipped in coffee :)

Chocolate Glazed Donuts
Ingredients

2 cans large buttermilk biscuits
Peanut oil
Cinnamon sugar
1 c. powdered sugar
3 tbsp. milk
1/4 c. cocoa powder

Directions
1. Heat 2 inches peanut oil in a large pot to 350 degrees F. (I didn't have a way to test the temp, so I heated the oil on medium heat and put a donut in to test how fast it cooked. I adjusted the temp from there)

2. Set the cinnamon sugar on a small plate or in a shallow bowl and set aside.

3. In a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and milk. Set aside. This is the chocolate glaze.

4. Lay out the biscuits on a cutting board and with a small round cookie or biscuit cutter (or a film canister works perfectly!), cut out a hole from the middle of each biscuit. Fry them in the oil until golden and then flip with tongs to fry the other side. You can even fry the donut holes. Adjust the temp as needed so the donuts don't fry too quickly and burn.

5. Drain on paper towels, then toss in the cinnamon sugar and ice with the chocolate glaze. If you want to add sprinkles, do it right away because one the glaze sets, the sprinkles won't stick. I did half with the icing and half with just the cinnamon sugar.