Happy St Patrick's Day

To me corn beef is so salty, a little goes a long way. However, I love cabbage & had to restrain myself this year because of breast feeding. Things are going well again. Some days have been challenging with nursing. It feels like Clare is getting used to her baby foods and at times can be distracted from nursing and others are so easy. I'm taking one day at a time. I'd like to nurse a little over a year but I was very happy when we reached 3 months.
So the corn beef & cabbage. The way I like to make it is boiling the meet in a large pot for a few hours and then in my crock pot I make a stew of vegetables (red & white potatoes, onion, carrots, turnip, & of course cabbage). The vegetables are so easy. They are just washed, chunked up and thrown in with some water. Once they are in no stirring & on low for a few hours (at least 1). Seth prefers his as a sandwich. So great rolls & a piece of Provolone. One year I made the mistake of putting the meat in with the vegetables to cook. Bad mistake for us because it is oh so salty. This year was just right!
Clare & I have gotten to be friends with our neighbors. Alejhandra & her son Gabriel. The two babies are so cute together. Gabriel is just a few weeks older & going to be such a handsome little guy. Russian & Columbian, very beautiful baby & will be trilingual! On Monday we met at the library for Mother Goose time. Clare loved the program, especially the puppets.
For St. Patrick's Day, after making sure Seth wore his green scrubs to work, I watched a little of the parade & then took Clare to a music concert at the library performed by Fiddler's Green. She was so interested in the music. That type of music is my very favorite.

6 month Dr Visit

Last week Clare had her 6 month Dr visit. I really can't believe how fast time has gone & how quickly she grows & changes. This appointment she was 18 lb 6oz. She is advancing to lots of baby foods & we started Chicken last night. Most of it was on her face & bib. She has also started on a multivitamin. It's once a day & my main concern was the fluoride. Nassau county does not have fluoridated water so they recommend the multivitamin including it. However, most of the time they believe fluoride is best when applied topically. So for now we're doing the multivitamin, but I haven't decided if we're going to have her take it daily. There is also an over the counter multivitamin without fluoride the Pediatrician recommends.
Also, the past weekend we traveled upstate to Seth's parent's home in Ballston Spa. It's about 40 minutes North of Albany near Saratoga Springs. We had a nice weekend. Seth met with 2 practices. We took Clare with us to a very nice dinner and then on Saturday we had lunch at The Stadium. Things are looking good in the area. With all the economic concerns it is so nice to hear positive encouragement about Oral Surgery. It's an exciting time for us. Stressful but very exciting!

Visit with Cassie & Jeff

It was so great to see my cousin Cassie & her boyfriend, Jeff earlier this month. It had been such a long time since I'd been able to see her. And what an amazing girl! Beautiful, smart, & lots of fun. Clare loved meeting her Aunt & Uncle. Cassie & Carly were the grade before me in school and talk about brains. Now Cassie has had a very busy 10 yrs. Bachelors in Bio, 2 years in the Peace Corp in Africa, Masters from John Hopkins & is now working on her RN & will be finished in August. I'm so glad we have another nurse in the family! It was great to have them visit & it was Clare's first time meeting a cousin from the Althauser side of the family. We're going to be traveling to Washington in just a few days & she'll be meeting lots more! During our visit we had lunch at one of Seth & my regular spots across the street. A little Greek shish-kabob restaurant. I love the dolma that Jeff & Cassie introduced me to there. Its a blend of rice mixture in grape leafs. Who would have thought it would be so tasty.

Clare sitting up!

Clare has found a much better view from a seated position and has become very good at maintaining her balance & posture once she's helped to sit up. She has been growing like a weed and is now in mostly 6-12 month or 9 to 12 month clothes.
Seth has been busy with his Surgery rotation the past few months. Clare lights up when she sees him!