Armadillo Drama

This is what my side yard looks like... every single morning.

This winter we got this area of our yard sodded with zoysia. The previous owners had put wood chip mulch all over the area and had a playset. The mulch had really broken down and the area was covered in weeds. Zoysia does pretty well in part shade, so we thought we'd try it out. The lack of sun has been the least of our worries. Pretty soon after the temperatures started warming up we'd go out in the mornings to see our sod pulled up and turned over. An animal was flipping it over looking for worms and grubs. After a little research, I determined that it is an armadillo.

At first we started with a havahart trap placed strategically in the yard. That didn't work. Then, I found a co-worker who had a trap from thearmadillotrap.com. That one didn't work either. I kept telling Chip that "we" needed to build a funnel or chute to direct the animal into the trap. I fully meant that he should build it. I have no idea how to build an armadillo funnel.

Then, I got smart. I noticed some temporary fencing at a home construction site. One trip to Home Depot later, and we have the materials to build an armadillo chute.

I am hoping that this stuff will serve two purposes. 1) Keep the armadillo(s) out of my side yard long enough to let the grass put down some strong roots. Then I won't need to keep the pesky pest out. 2) Funnel the armadillo into the trap.

I'm sure my neighbors are going to love looking at this in my yard every time they drive by. I'm hoping the armadillo doesn't just dig under it. Here's hoping we have a rodent to relocate here soon!

How I Cooked It: Carrots

We got carrots in our box from Yokna Bottoms Farm two weeks in a row. The first week I snipped off the green tops and put them in the fridge. When I got them the second week I still hadn't used my previous batch, so I thought... Time for carrot salad. My most favorite carrot salad is this one, heavily modified from two different carrot salad recipes in "The Art of Simple Food" by Alice Waters.
Ingredients:
6-8 little carrots, grated using a food processor
1/2 teaspoon each of ground cumin and coriander
juice of 1/2 fresh lemon
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
Optional: 2 tablespoons chopped parsley or cilantro
Directions:
Toss the grated carrots with the cumin and coriander. Add lemon juice, olive oil, vinegar, and herbs to the carrots and toss gently. Taste for seasoning and add salt and lemon juice as needed.
I served the carrot salad over mixed greens, also from YBF, with the chicken with mushrooms in Madeira wine sauce from Come On In.

- Posted from my iPhone using BlogPress

Photo Session: 8 Months

Chip and I took Lydia up to Collierville, TN  on Tuesday, April 23rd for a photo session with Erin Dahl. I was so happy with the "newborn" session that Erin did with Lydia, and the 8 month session was equally as good. I had multiple outfits picked out, and sent pics of them to Erin so that she could coordinate some back drops and props. I was so excited when I saw the cute things she had picked out for us to use.

First of all, the suitcase that coordinated with Lydia's yellow sweater. I got it on Etsy from the Yorkshire Knit Wit. Love it.

Erin had this adorable lace bonnet for Lydia to wear. Just my style... very vintage!

She also had this awesome teal velvet chair, grey tulle tutu, and pearl tiara for Lydia. I love how it all came together.

Last I put Lydia in this fun summer dress with lemons and blue seersucker on the sleeves. Erin had put together the perfect backdrop and splash of color to bring out Lydia's eyes.

We had a great day at the photo shoot. Lydia was teething and kept chewing on all the props, so it is a feat in itself that Erin got any photos at all. She's so talented!

Babababa

I got some good video of Lydia talking for daddy this morning. Mama and Dada are coming very soon!

The other big news of the day is that Lydia weighs 13 lbs 6 oz. We went for her 9 month check up today. She is still on the preemie growth chart and doesn't even register on the "real" one. We don't mind though because she's doing great!

How I Cooked It: Snow Peas

I've always wanted to try a CSA. This year when Yokna Bottoms Farms offered to deliver CSA shares to FNC (the company I work for) every Tuesday at 3pm, I knew I had to sign up. Cooking in the moment with fresh ingredients is one of my favorite things to do, so I thought it might be fun to share what I've cooked with the veggies from Yokna Bottoms.
So far I've had lots of lettuce and radishes for salads. Yum yum. We've also had an abundance of Chinese cabbage, and I've used it in many stir-fries with pork and noodle or tofu and mushrooms.
This week we had snow peas. Chip is under the weather, so I made Asian Chicken Noodle Soup. The recipe is one I've made many many times, clipped from Food + Wine. In addition to the farm's snow peas, I used four of the many spring onions we've gotten in our box. This soup is so good! Ready in 30 minutes.

- Posted from my iPhone using BlogPress

I Can't Believe It... 9 Months

Napping on an afternoon stroll.

Can you tell which sweater and hat are mom's favorite?

Playing with the baby in the mirror.

This month has brought on so many new behaviors from Lydia. I love this age so much. She's sleeping really well, eating all her vegetables, and is generally a very happy baby.

Lydia still fits in all her 6 month clothes and is wearing a few 9 month things, although they are a little large on her. She is still wearing size 2 Seventh Generation diapers during the day and Pampers Baby Dry 12-hour diapers at night.

Her appetite has really picked up since last month. She eats 4 or 5 ounces of formula when she wakes up. Breakfast is mixed-grain cereal and stage 2 fruit at 8:30 am followed by about 2 ounces of formula. She eats stage 2 vegetable purees mixed with oatmeal cereal at noon, another 4 to 5 ounce bottle at 3 pm, and more baby food at 5:30 pm. Sometimes in the afternoon she feeds herself some o-shaped puffs, but that's mostly for her to work on her fine motor skills, not for nutrition. I'm mostly buying the Earth's Best glass jars of food plus some Sprout foods. I haven't made any of the food myself yet, but I will try it soon. Lydia is cutting her top front teeth right now, so she should be able to handle coarser food any day now.

The big news is that as of three nights ago, we are no longer doing a dream feed at 10 pm! We are feeding her a 6 ounce bottle at 7:15 pm when she goes to bed, and so far she's slept right through until 5 or 6 am.

That wasn't the case all month though. That's definitely a new thing. For the most part Lydia was a wild sleeper this month. Most nights she picked up her fun habit of waking between 2:30 am and 3:30 am to babble a little bit and play with her toys. The good thing about this month's wake ups compared to last month's is that Lydia puts herself back to sleep this month. She wakes up, plays with her "Polly with the Pigtails" doll or her "Jesus Loves Me" owl, then drifts back to sleep. What an angel! The sad part about the nighttime routine is that recently Lydia doesn't want to be rocked to sleep. It kills me when this happens. I love getting to rock her while she drifts off to sleep in my arms. She smells so sweet from her bath, and those sweet baby sighs are the best. A few nights ago she started squirming and crying while I rocked, so I put her in her crib awake where she played with her toys for a few minutes then fell asleep. That happened three nights in a row, which is one of the reasons I dropped the dream feed those nights! I was scared I wouldn't get her back to sleep! Tonight she let me rock her though, so maybe she hasn't totally given up on our little routine.

Her babbling has definitely picked up this month. She loves it when I imitate her. I try to get her to imitate me, and sometimes she will, but generally she just looks back at me confused (and cute). We get lots of squeals and screams and lots of consonants, but no words yet. I think she's just beginning to recognize the word "Walle". She loves Walle and watches him constantly. She wants to be his friend SO BAD, but he still is not interested.

Lydia's efforts to sit up are going pretty well. She can sit on her bottom as long as she's fairly still, but the child is a wiggle worm and will suddenly decide to lunge forward/backward/sideways and fall over. I guess that's how all kids are starting out. I know I need to let her fall and knock her head some so she "learns" why she shouldn't do that, but that's hard to do! She isn't crawling yet, but when we are playing on her quilt she can creep and roll to whatever toy she wants. I keep showing her how to crawl, which I am sure looks hilarious. She'll get the hang of it soon, and I'm sure I'll wish she hadn't!

We've really been working on getting Lydia to nap in her crib, and for the most part, she's taking naps there now. Morning naps are no trouble at all. She goes down in her crib for 30 minutes to an hour. Afternoon naps are a little hit and miss, but when she gets to sleep good she'll sleep for an hour or so. On the weekends I am bad about snuggling with my little napper on the sofa instead of putting her in her crib. But I'm her mamma so I can spoil her like that!  ;P

This age is so wonderful, and my daughter has brought me so much joy! I know this phase won't last forever. Too soon we could be fighting a picky eater, a light sleeper, or temper tantrums, but for now I am trying to enjoy this wonderful period in our lives!