11 months old

Today you turn 11 months old. Since the day we met, every second with you has been joyous. How can it be that I am the luckiest person in the world to have you, the cutest girl ever, as my daughter? After we put you down to bed at night, as if we haven't had enough, your Dad and I find ourselves looking at pictures of you and getting all mushy and gushy.

I love watching your personality blossom. Every second of every hour of every day you learn, grow, and advance. You've been cruising for four months up and down the couch. But this week, you've started problem solving to figure out how to get over to where I am. From one corner of the room, you step over obstacles, cling to walls, desks and computers until you have made it over to me. Then we rejoice with hugs, kisses and high fives. Here you are walking with your Hippo. This is 4 minutes long and grandparents are the only people expected to sit through it.

Right now you are getting your two top front teeth and they are making you a little fussy. It already looks like you will have a diastema, a trait from your Nana's side of the family and your Dad's. Can we tell from baby teeth? We're not sure.

You've also started to dance. I dance with you all the time, but now when you hear music, your little knees start bopping, or if you are on the floor, your foot goes to the beat. It's just about the cutest thing I've ever seen.

Your vocabulary is also growing. Much to my consternation, I finally had to admit that your first word was Dog. Whenever you hear or see the dogs, you point and say "da". We're still working on the g. You also know Mama, Dada, butterfly, and banana which sounds a lot like Anana, and you can wave hello and good-bye. You have fully grasped the sign for "More" and you almost have "All Done". Just this week I've been trying to teach you how to put O's in your mouth by yourself. Whenever you manage to get one in there, we clap and do a high five. You LOVE the high five.

Just yesterday, I found out something new that your Dad taught you; pursing your lips for kisses. I am completely tickled over this new trick and when I start laughing about it, so do you.

Making Calls for Obama

Since the political fire has been burning inside of me, and we live in a swing state, I decided a few weeks ago to donate some time to one of the Obama/Udall headquarters here in Denver. I'm not sure what I thought I would be doing since I'm too afraid to go door to door and I personally hate getting telemarketing calls from people. In my naive little mind, I thought that somehow I could slip in and do some data entry eat a few donuts and leave. Well that just wasn't realistic. There were NO donuts. I ended up making phone calls my first night there.

After my training, with sweaty palms and dinner plates under my armpits, I sat and listened to people for awhile before diving in. Then I just hammered away, making over 40 calls in an hour and talking to roughly 12 people. Several weeks ago, the main point in making calls was to try and get people to sign up for mail-in-ballots, while at the same time finding out what candidate they were leaning towards. When I went in the second time, we were trying to confirm that people got their mail-in-ballots and reminding them how to get them mailed in or dropped off at early voting centers. Of course while on the phone, if you got someone that was "undecided" you could give them some talking points. For the most part, I got a lot of nice people. As a side note, here is an editorial from David Sedaris on "undecided" voters which is pee your pants funny.

Now, with 2 weeks before Election Day, tempers are high, and people are heated. When I went in last night to make calls, I got a lot of angry people on the phone, something that my delicate ego could not deal with. About 5 calls in, I got a 27 year old male voter on the phone who immediately lit into me with some crap about how Obama won't release his birth certificate and it's under a federal investigation. Luckily I had read up on this issue and was somehow able to remain completely calm (in a sweaty blood pressure raising kind of way) and explain to him that what he was spouting were schmeer tactics that had been proven to be completely incorrect and false. I encouraged him to do some research online at my favorite fact checking sites. I was so direct and on point with him that he backed off and said, "Um, so there's no federal inquiry?" "No sir, his website shows his birth certifcate, it's in Illinois for anyone to view, it's been checked by non-partisan groups, you can find it online, there is no federal inquiry." He then insisted that even Obama's mother was ashamed of him for the lies he has told. It was then that I had to break it to him that this would be difficult as Obama's mother had died of cancer several years earlier. This went on for over 5 minutes as he continually tried to slander Obama's name. His final piece de resistance was that Obama is somehow related to Dick Cheney. Now this one I had not heard. My response to him was, "What are they like 10th cousins once removed? I'm pretty sure they aren't hanging out eating potato salad together at the family reunions." (I was a once removed off.) I followed by asking what difference it makes that they could somehow be related? Here was his argument: "Scoff, well, er uh, it like makes a huge difference." I'm not sure how I managed to hold my tongue and not use DG's phrase "ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS?!?" (Sorry Mom) But in the end, though I didn't change his mind (I don't think he's voting for McCain either.), I felt better that I didn't let this lie continue to propagate itself and that maybe next time, he will try to get more informed. One small little victory at a time.

Giving Back to Children's Hospital

DG's friend Steph is a graduate of Indiana University and often organizes charitable events for the alumni located here in Colorado. Her lastest benefit was an afternoon at Children's Hospital in Denver, creating a Halloween Fun Fest for the kids. We headed out to help her for a short few hours last Sunday.

The idea was to create a fun environment full of ghoulish activities for all the kids and their families to attend, to help them forget, for just a minute that they are in a hospital. She did such an amazing job and I think that it is just so special of her to do this. It took place in the lobby with fun games including, Mummy Bowling, Ring Toss on Witches Hats, Eye Ball Toss, Pin the Nose on the Pumpkin, Face Painting, Guess how much candy is in the candy jar, Pumpkin Painting, Mummy Wrapping, and Cookie Decorating. Everyone was a winner, receiving gift bags and prizes for each game.

Having been in that hospital for two weeks, we saw several programs like this, and I just have to say that I think it is such a good thing that these groups do to create such a fun environment for the kids in the hospital. Hadley and I got to help out with the Eye Ball Toss, and meanwhile, I got some great ideas for kids parties that I want to have when she gets older.

Favorite Baby Books

Hadley loves books. Even more than the fun pictures and colors, right now she loves to be in control and turn the pages. Through the generosity of our friends, she has gotten quite a library of great baby books. Books I never would have even known about had we not received them as gifts. Here are a few of our favorites:

Hadley's Favorites
Fuzzy Bee and Friends - Priddy Books
Aunt Jinny got her this great cloth book that has been Hadley's favorite from the start. Each page has fun textures to touch and grab. And how can you go wrong with a pleather lady bug? My favorite phrase in this book is, "Oh me oh my, I wonder why, I'm such a splendid butterfly."


Three Little Caterpillars - by Dorothea DePrisco
Her Nana got her this book for our trip to New England. From day one, she loved to touch the furry caterpillars on each page, and upon opening the pop-up on the last page, she started trying to say the word butterfly buh-buh-buh. Any book that encourages her to talk is high up in my book.


Buzz-Buzz, Busy Bees - Simon and Schuster
Kim and Jay got her this book for our love of the bee. Little did we know how much this book would help get us through the hospital stay, eliciting giggles galore. We don't leave the house for a trip without this book.


Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? - Bill Martin Jr. & Eric Carle
My friend Roxanne got us this book when we were back east, and all I can say is how did we live without this one? The pages are nice and thick and easy to turn and so fun in their simplicity.


Little Bee Finger Puppet Book - Chronicle Books
What another Bee book? My friend Marie got this one for us, and it's home is in the diaper bag as it travels with us wherever we go. When I buzz in her ear and move the finger puppet around, she is enthralled. So fun.


My Favorites
Blue Hat, Green Hat - by Sandra Boynton
I love all of Sandra Boynton's books, but this one especially because it involves a combination of learning clothing, color, and different animals. The illustrations are great. I think they came out in the 80's but they are so clever that they are timeless.


Olivia Counts - by Ian Falconer
Olivia is a sassy little pig. The illustrations are in black, white and red and feel so complete and urban. I love books that come around full circle.


Goodnight Moon - by Margaret Wise Brown Pictures by Clement Hurd
Mark and Sue got her this book when we were in Connecticut and it is a nighttime ritual for us now. We've started saying good night to everything in the room before going to sleep.


Make Van Gogh's Bed - Julie Appel and Amy Guglielmo
It is only appropriate that my girlfriend Beth from college got Hadley an Art History book as that was my major. Each page has a fun painting, and a texture that she can touch and feel. This year, colors. Next year, the social implications of French Impressionism in the Salon of 1863.


Haiku Baby - Betsy Snyder
DG is constantly bringing new books home from the book sales at the Denver Post. This is my absolute hot off the press favorite. This haiku describing spring is what makes me all warm and fuzzy inside: "in tickly-toe grass, a buttercup offers up yellow nose kisses". Besides the great writing, it is really the layout, illustrations, and the little blue bird on every page that make this book such a gem.


So what Baby books am I missing? Let me know your favorites.

Halloween Theme 80's Prom Nite

Our first Halloween Party Invitation this year was to a themed 80's Prom Nite party. FINALLY an excuse to wear the prom dresses that I have dragged through 3 states and countless moves. Drag those bitches out, dust off the moth balls, and let's do this PROM THEME.

In addition to the prom dress however, I also have my original crenoline, strapless bra, earrings, pearls and sunglasses. Pretty in Pink eat your heart out. TEAL is the new Pink.

It was a hard decision to make over which dress to wear from my Junior and Senior proms, but ultimately Teal won out over the Wine colored one as most cheesy. I'd give myself a pat on the back for the dresses still fitting, but I wasn't the skinniest girl in high school. Oh well, they DO fit.

To complete this look, I wet my hair down and filled it with Gel, scrunching as I dried it for that fuzzy permed look. Then I pulled the sides out, sprayed the heck out of them and dried them straight out. Finally, I teased the hell out of it. No, I didn't give it a hickey and whisper seductively in it's ear. I used a brush backcombing and hairspraying the likes of which I'm still washing out. Unfortunately since I don't have bangs, I'm going to have to work on the Bear Claw effect. I also put on lots of teal eyeliner, green eyeshadow, and red lipstick.

DG is wearing his original Ray Bans (prescription), Vans, tuxedo pants, and a tuxedo shirt I found for him at local awesome costume/vintage store Flossy McGrew's. He greased his hair up in what my friend Kevin calls "The Squiqqy". On Saturday evening, we grabbed Hadley and headed out for our practice night to a Halloween party.

These are the final results. Not pretty. In fact, DG told me I looked like a Cougar on the prowl. Nice.

If I can find my prom photos in the garage, I am hoping to do a side by side comparison later this week. Lucky you.

I Love it When She Smiles

Sometimes I just want to hug her, and squeeze her, and tickle her feet, and whisper loving adorations in her ear. And when I start, I can't stop. So I hug and tickle and whisper, and she giggles and hugs and kisses my cheek. And inside of me I feel all warm and gushy and in love with her. Nothing else matters. I want to tell everyone to go out and get one of these. Internet, seriously, go get a kid. It's the best of times.

Crafting in the Beehive

We've been busy little bees here lately as David signed us up for the Craft Fair at his work. If you are a long time reader, you will remember at the inception of this blog, we entered our first Craft Fair, in which I became a one person sweatshop making a measly 7 IPOD covers.

We've expanded our collection here to Baby Bibs, Burp Cloths, Gift Tags, and Rice Packs.


I was inspired to make bibs after we went to Connecticut and my mother had thrown together a bunch of bibs for Hadley and they were so cute and fun. I made my pattern this week using a brown paper bag. Then I decided to use Amy Butler fabric which is all the rage right now. Her midwest modern line is so hip. And how can you go wrong with a fabric that is shaped like a beehive? In addition to the colors shown, I got the blue/green versions as well. My biggest excitement was that I finally got to use a snap tool that I had inherited from my Nana when I got her 30 year old Viking sewing machine. Adding snaps to the bibs have really given them a finished professional look.

Here is my first "packaged" sample that I made for a baby shower this week-end. It includes two burp clothes, one bib, and a gift tag stamped with a pink bee.


In the "I went crazy at Michael's" category, I also bought a tag stamp to make my own tags for the Craft Fair, and then I realized that other people might want gift tags too. So I've been cutting out a bunch from fun card stock and adding ribbon. I've also made some Christmas tags as well.

I haven't made my rice packs yet, but they will be scented with Lavender essential oil and have a fleece snuggly pouch. I made myself a rice pack over 13 years ago and we still use it. With our recent cold weather, I whipped it out and use it daily to heat Hadley's crib up and warm our bed. I have not decided on official pricing yet, but I'm thinking about 8 tags for $3 and 2 diapers or 2 burpclothes for $12. Any thoughts?

Red Sox Rally Cap

Thanks goodness the Red Sox are still in the League Championship Series, because I've so been wanting to do this post. Though I actually had to ask my mom to tell me when they were winning and losing. (FYI - They are tied at one and one against the Tampa Bay Rays, 3rd game is tonight.) I also wanted to do this post for my friend Amy who loves the Red Sox. I have a great memory of her Dad driving us up to Boston once to go to a game. But we decided to go shopping instead?!?! Sometimes being a girl is like being rolled in frosted flavored lip gloss and dipped in Lee Press on Nails.

I mentioned when we were in Massachusetts that we got Hadley her first Red Sox hat. You know I'm not into sports when the only person I can name from the Red Sox is Carl Yastrzemski who retired in 1983! At least my grandfather would be proud.

But Nana loved Hadley's hat as she is a HUGE Red Sox fan. However, within minutes, she had us all in stitches when we she flipped it around to be the Red Sox Rally Cap. "What the heck is that?" I asked.

From Wikipedia: A Rally Cap is a baseball cap worn while inside-out or in another unconventional manner by players or fans, in order to will a team into a come-from-behind rally late in the game. The Rally Cap is primarily a baseball superstition.

I just like how the masculine hat contrasts with her "Blondie" onsie to produce what I can only describe as a Tom Boy Baby.

Final Installment: New England Vacation Part 3

It's been so long since we got back from our vacation, that I almost forgot that the last stop on our trip before heading back to Connecticut, was to Portsmouth, NH. One of the main reasons we stopped in Portsmouth is that for four years, DG has been begging, pleading, and generally on all fours trying to convince me that we need to move back to New England. Several years ago, in the "get off my back" category, I told him that the only town that I would consider moving back to was potentially maybe Portsmouth. (I also told him I would rather move to Seattle, WA or Portland, OR. Please don't groan so loud Mom, you're hurting my ears.) Since we were in the same state, we had to stop in and say hello to the town and two of my girlfriends from High School, Roxanne and Ellen.

New Hampshire has about 13 miles of coast and Portsmouth is located on it. The architecture is beautiful, with gardens that are even better. An historic seaport town, it consists of roughly 20,000 and was incorporated in 1653. That is old. Older than John McCain. And if you get confused and take a wrong exit in the round-a-bout, you end up in Kittery, Maine.

Seen here is the dock we had lunch on one day. My mother and David opted for the lobster roll. I got salad. NOTE: When you are on a dock overlooking an Ocean, don't eat salad. Eat Seafood. Gawd, party pooper.

Portsmouth is gorgeous, and my friends did a really good job of promoting the area, discussing it's housing markets, jobs, and economic temperature. I just like Denver, in a forever kind of way.

My Wall of Cuteness

Which one of these is not like the other?

Enthralled by a Single Blade of Grass

Forget all those plastic toys from China. Hadley can occupy herself for 30 minutes with a single blade of grass. Or a piece of lint sitting next to her on the floor. Or the remote.

Buckwheat Pancakes

I just did a search for how many posts I have written since the inception of this blog with the word "pancake". I have only written about my love of the pancake 10 times. (NOTE: I've written about poop 27 times.) We are in the process of getting our priorities straight here at Allbeehive, and we need to bump up our Pancake talk, because with the onset of FALL comes my desire to be in the kitchen sipping coffee and baking EVERY week-end.

This Saturday, I finally cracked open my new Buckwheat Flour that I purchased at the Littleton Grist Mill in New Hampshire. For those of you who don't know what Buckwheat is, here is a lovely definition from the Grist Mill website: Our organic, stone-ground buckwheat, from U.S. buckwheat berries, has a nut-like and robust flavor. Buckwheat is gluten and wheat-free. It is the fruit of a plant rather than a grain so is suitable for those with wheat allergies. The picture above shows the back of the building with the wheel that powered the original Grist Mill.


This recipe is an adaptation of Cynthia's Grandmother Ginny's Pancake recipe that I have been using for 10+ years. Note that I need to write my name on the Baking Soda box or else it will wind up dumped on a carpet, used to clean the bathroom, or stolen from my baking cabinet. It used to say "NOT YOURS DG", but since we got married I've calmed down a bit.

Buckwheat Pancakes Ingredients
3/4C Whole Wheat Flour
3/4C Buckwheat Flour
1tsp Baking Soda
1tsp Salt
1tsp Cinnamon
3TBL Sugar
2TBL Cooled Coffee
3 eggs
1 2/3C Buttermilk (or whatever milk you have on hand)
3TBL melted butter

Mix together the flours, soda, salt and cinnamon. In a separate bowl, beat the sugar, eggs, coffee, and milk. Mix the wet and dry, fold in the butter. Cook over medium heat until bubbly, then flip and serve with real maple syrup.

It appears that I'm not the only one in this house who likes pancakes.

Good-bye Old Friend

DG already posted about the awful car accident that he was in earlier this week when someone ran a stop sign causing him to run head on into the car, air bags blowing out galore. Thank goodness DG is ok. Unfortunately, my 13 year-old Honda Civic has been read it's last rights. I know it is only a material possession, but it is still painful.

I purchased that car in 1998, haggling my heart out, getting it for under blue book value. In the 10 years that I owned it, it didn't have any major problems, getting 32+ mpg city and 38+ highway. In today's gas crisis, this car represents all that is good in the world. With 89,000 miles on, it had not even seen it's half life. My dad made fun of the car often, calling it ghetto because of the oxidation of the paint job. The simplicity of this car, is a perfect example of how I am a very practical, non-flashy person.

Having a car accident never comes at a good time, but really right now, we are not able to have a car payment. Unfortunately, the money the insurance company is offering me is trade-in value, not retail value. I've researched replacing this exact car, and unfortunately insurance is undercutting me over $2,000 on the value, not including the hassle of registering a new car, obtaining insurance etc. I'm not sure how this could possible work? I did not choose to sell them my car. I did not choose to give up my car. I do not want a new SUV. I do not want a new Honda Fit, which doesn't even get as good of mileage as this car. I WANT my car replaced. And I shouldn't have to pay any $$ out of pocket for this. Since I am a stay-at-home mom, and I have a fire in me, I plan on fighting this to the end. I am so sick of big insurance taking advantage of us little guys.

New England Vacation Part II

The next part of our vacation was an historic journey through northern New Hampshire to see where my parents grew up and to introduce David and Hadley to where I came from. Literally. Where does the story begin? What are the events that lead up to the story of me? Heritage is a crazy thing.

So we headed off and travelled up through Massachusetts (going through Hadley, MA), into Vermont where David's biggest excitement was that they served Green Mountain Coffee at the rest stops. One of the beauties of travelling through New England, is that you come across small towns like this that look like they have not been touched in 50 years. Here is a wooden bridge in Bath, NH.

First stop on our tour was the "center of town" in Landaff, NH (pop. 378 - no I didn't forget a number) which consists of a church and another building. Located here is a World War II Memorial with my grandfather's name on it.

The next stop was to the Allbee Farm in Landaff. This farm has been in the Allbee family since the 1800's and is where my paternal grandfather grew up. The Allbee Farm is on Allbee Road, you know where Allbee Road and Cemetery Road intersect. And not to be disappointed, the Landaff cemetery IS on Cemetery Road.

About a mile in, the unpaved road ends at the Allbee Farm. How absolutely gorgeous in this barn? Though it is no longer a working farm, the site is pristine. I wish my Grandmother were here to tell stories of meeting my Grandfather and all of the fun they had at the farm.

We spent the afternoon with with my dad's cousin Sally and her husband Cliff who live there. Sally's mother was my Grandfather's sister, and the last of the 5 Allbee siblings to pass away just last year. Sally gave some great family tree info to me. She has all the historical records. It's wonderful to hear her talk, as she and her husband are quite lively with some wicked accents. It's fun to see pictures of her Grandchildren as well with the traditional Allbee features. (i.e. big Allbee teeth and eyebrows). After our visit, we headed out to the Landaff Cemetery to see what is virtually the Allbee family tree with graves going back to my Great Great Grandfather.

Following Landaff, we took a brief tour through Littleton, NH where my father grew up. My grandfather had his own farm there. When he sold the land, they put a highway through it, and built a neighborhood of homes which is where I remember visitng them. In 1996, Littleton was also rated by Outdoor magazine as one of the top 10 places to live in the country. There is also a Vietnam Memorial here with my Dad's name on it. Unfortunately we will have to visit it and take pictures on our next trip.

Our final stop was Whitefield, NH where my mother grew up. This is a very small town of 1,800 people. Can you imagine living in a town so small? That is less people than I went to college with. We lived there until I was 7. I remember ice skating on this common in the winter and going to Blueberry Pancake breakfasts in the summer.

Just on the other side of town lies the Mountain View Grand established in 1865. This is a little gem nestled in the heart of the White Mountains. Aunt Betty has memories of working there as a teenager. Every Memorial Day, the rich folk from NYC would get driven up to spend the entire summer there until Labor Day. Aunt Betty was a waitress all day which included several outfit changes.

The Resort was shut down for most of the 90's, until it was purchased and completely renovated. I would love to spend the entire summer there and watch Hadley run up and down this porch. While sipping on a pre-dinner cocktail of course.

The Lobby, bar, dining rooms, and rooms were just as gorgeous. I am going to be posting for Restroom Critic soon about the beautiful bathrooms.

Our final destination before heading home was a visit to Hadley August's namesake, August Gronemeyer, my mother's father who died when she was 14. It may seem gruesome to have a picture of Hadley near a grave, but the entire time, it felt like she was talking to someone. It was quite cute.