A Moment In Time

Unbelievable

These past weeks have been like a dream.  Our beloved St. Louis Cardinals rose from barely making it into the playoffs to the World Series champions. Our hometown heroes once again made their fans proud.  As I reflect on how exciting this has all been, I smile. I smile not only because the Cardinals won, but because for a few moments, the biggest thing we had to worry about was winning the next game. And although that was stressful enough, it was a welcome shift in focus. For just a little bit, baseball provided a stress relief to a great many people in St. Louis. Those people will now relish in the win for weeks to come.  I hope Nate always remembers the 2011 World Series and living in St. Louis. I know that I will. Truly a moment in time.

Almost There - 11 months!

Lila, you are 11 months old! How can it be??  How can it be almost a year since you were born?? I know, I know, it just is.

A few of your notables this month:

• You can stand all by yourself. Sometimes you just let go of whatever you are holding on to, and sometimes you just stand up from a sitting position.
• You are almost walking. You would really like to be walking. You have taken a few steps here and there but when you realize what you are doing, you fall to the floor. Nate walked at 11 months, so I suspect it might be soon.  But we'll see. I used to dread it, but now am looking forward to it.
• You are a really happy baby most of the time. But you sure let us know when something is not quite right. Wonder where you got that from?
• You have made some, well let's just say interesting changes to your sleeping habits this month. Dad & I would really like you to change back into our wonderfully sleeping child. Please, I beg you. 
• You are most likely getting another tooth, which could be contributing to the previous entry. 
• You are saying MaMa, BaBa, Bye-Bye, and BotBot (bottle). You still don't say DaDa, much to his dismay. 
• You are so excited when Nate & I pick you up in the afternoons. All the teachers love to watch you crawl over to us and hear all your sounds. It's hilarious.  
• You love books. One of the few activities you will do by yourself is pull books off your bookshelf and read books.  Your favorites are Pat the Bunny, That's Not My Tractor and That's Not My Monster that Mimi sent you for Halloween.  
• You are going to be Yoda for Halloween!  I would really prefer that you be something girly, but Nate insisted since he will be Darth Vader of course.
• You get cuter every.single.day. We cannot get through a shopping trip without several people stopping us to tell me how pretty your eyes are...how pretty your hair is...or just how cute you really are.  It makes me smile.

LuLu Bell, we love you so much. We will celebrate your 1st birthday big next month! 

Dear Cardinals

Dear Cardinals,

Please do your best to win tonight. It would make me so happy.  But if you don't,

my consolation prize will be not having to stay up past my bedtime

to watch you anymore.

Love, Ab

Recipe Monday

[Update] This is very spicy!!  But it is really good! Next time I make it, I will cut the wing sauce with regular bbq sauce. 

We love the Zesty Chicken BBQ in the crockpot, so when I stumbled onto this recipe from Big Oven, I knew I had to try it.  Great for cool days and easy dinner nights!

Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches (http://www.bigoven.com/)

4 frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 17 1/2 bottle buffalo wing sauce divided
1/2 oz dry ranch salad dressing packet
2 tblsp butter
Hoagie rolls or buns

Place the frozen chicken breasts into slow cooker and pour 3/4 of the wing sauce and the ranch dressing mix. Cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours (or longer, which is what I do).

Once the chicken has cooked, add the butter and shred the meat finely with 2 forks. Pile on hoagie or bun.  Splash with extra wing sauce if desired. 

Enjoy!

Happy Birthday Scott!

Happy Happy Birthday to our dear Scotty...

For a few months, I can say he's older than me. Cheers to small pleasures! Scott, we hope your birthday is fabulous and we know it will be because you get to spend it with us. I mean, I assuming that's what will make it fabulous of course:) You are very special to us and hope that on this day and all the rest of the days of the year that you know how important you are to our little family! 

Love, Ab, Nate & Lila

Wake Me Up From This Dream...Or Maybe Not Yet!

Today the St. Louis Cardinals play Game 1 of the 2011 World Series against the Texas Rangers.  Please wake me up from this dream! How exciting it has been in St. Louis these past few weeks.  And my heart fills with joy that Nate is learning about the St. Louis Cardinals and more importantly baseball at school! I hope he always remembers when he was in Kindergarten in St. Louis, the Cardinals played in the World Series. 

And since I'll probably hear about this from my Atlanta Braves counterpart, I hope that Nate continues to love baseball forever.  And that the Braves get to play in the World Series during that same timeframe:)

Ironically enough, this will mark our second child to have had a St. Louis Cardinals World Series played in their first year. The last time they played was in 2006, when Nate was 10 months old. And they are continuing that tradition in Lila's first year, when she is 11 months old.  But sadly, this good luck charm has come to an end and they'll need to do it without a Boyle child being born that year in the future:)

Go Cardinals!

Walking & Hair

I walked in one morning when I hadn't heard any Lila sounds in a minute and found her sitting in her cart. Before I could get my camera, she ended up like this, which was still cute.

 Then, she decided that she would try walking, which she is getting pretty good at most of the time.

 She would really like to be walking and in some ways, I wish she was walking too.

And yes, she is growing out her hair. And yes, it's driving me crazy.  This is where I'm not a very good baby girl mom. But we're in it for the long haul and already have an appointment to even it out (although it's 4 weeks from now, which is the amount of time my hair lady told me to wait). I'm getting better at doing her hair. But it's a skill to be acquired. Who knew??