Well, we have no idea what inspired this but she suddenly decided that tonight was the night she was going to walk! Leading up to this, she had taken a few solo steps, here and there, but tonight she made a major break for it and was loving every minute of it. (So were we!)

Look at these nice guys, taking Maggie around the Philly Museum of Art! I don't know that she was particularly interested in Duchamp or Brancusi but I'm certain she enjoyed the walk.

We headed up to Philadelphia over the weekend so that we could bid farewell to two of our good friends who are moving to Hong Kong. In fact, they are en route today and I wish them the best with lots of anticipation for their great adventure.

Maggie is changing a lot right now. She is very verbal and seems to get the gist of what you're saying most of the time, whilst babbling her own opinions and matter-of-facts. Tonight, she refused to be spoon fed and decided this was a task she could handle alone. Sure enough, she managed bite after bite (with plenty of misses and spills in between). She really likes to mimic actions and has a can-do attitude about brushing her hair or her teeth and reading books. Ohhh the books... she and Graham read 15 this afternoon. (Fifteen!) Then tonight I read her a few more at bedtime. My favorite was a line from a Toby book where the mama mouse says to her little mouse, "Oh Toby, you make everyday special to me." I know what she means.

We're having a Maggie and Momma day, today. There are some weeks when I feel like I barely get to see her and reserving Saturday becomes a necessity. No chores, no errands, just play.

The weather was warmer today, so we headed over to our park for a bit. There are great trails and I looked forward to practicing her walking and helping her gain some confidence. She's so funny. She has been on her feet for months and traveling along the edges of furniture but the thought of letting go of a hand (or couch, or table) still doesn't sit right with her.

I think the park was a great diversion because after just a short time of holding both of my hands (with me walking behind her) she confidently let me take one away. Soon we were walking side-by-side, holding one hand, and marveling at the dogs and squirrels and passers-by. She's still not free-walking but it was a big accomplishment for her and you could see it written all over her face.

As fun as that was, my favorite part of our outing was watching her observe and seeing her response to little wonders like sticks and pebbles. During our walk, she immediately honed in on acorn caps and insisted on stopping and picking them up. Most of them were tossed back but three were handed to me for keeps.

One for Nanna, one for Pop Pop, and one for Dad.

We finally had a proper birthday party for our dear girl, complete with crepe paper, cupcakes, and favors.

We're lucky to know so many nice people that care about Maggie and who decided to spend this day with us. We could tell she was enjoying the sights and sounds of people around her and I know we enjoyed the chance to celebrate our first year as a bonafide family.

It's difficult to remember our life before we were sharing it with this little girl. What did we do all day? What were dinners like when it was just the two of us? What did I plan for and what did I daydream about without Maggie to occupy those thoughts?

Whatever those thoughts were, I'm so grateful that todays are full of joy and lots of anticipation for great things to come.

I stayed home with Maggie today and took her to her 1 year physical while Graham went to work. It was not her usual delightful visit with fun stats and sweet behavior. Over the past week or so, Maggie has been discovering the art of defiance and that if you scream loud enough, the chances of getting your way greatly improve. We have been reasoning that this behavior came along when she started feeling sick and I believed (and still hope) that once these last traces of her cold go away her spirits might improve, too. For now, we'll have to learn how to manage blood curdling screams as the pediatrician checks her eyes and ears and Maggie's brute strength as she attempts to maneuver out of your arms while her measurements are being taken.

Speaking of measurements, her stats showed that she is still beyond the 95th percentile for height but that she has now dropped to the 25th percentile for weight. Sigh... That's not good. I had a hunch that we might not see much of a weight gain due to her recent lack of appetite but, wow, wasn't expecting a drop.

When we left the office, my mind started working through all the wonderful new foods we could try. Something to whet the appetite and get her excited about food again. Certainly, nothing we had in the pantry was doing the job so we scoured the aisles of the grocery store looking for fun new things. We picked out beef ravioli, chicken fingers pumped up with cheese and broccoli, a block of munster cheese, and all sorts of new goodies. I even bought ingredients for dumplings and spent the afternoon wrapping up little wonton pouches of tasty pork. Fifty dollars later, Maggie ate half a fig newton for lunch, another fig newton for dinner, a few bites of Gerber carrots and called it a day. Not the response was looking for.

On the bright side, those dumplings were good. More for me and Graham, I guess.

Did I mention that Maggie turned one? Yep, it's official.

How better to celebrate than with an exploitive collage of cuteness from her disturbingly obsessed mother?

Merry-belated Christmas! We are home from Kansas City and sorting through photos. These are a few I plucked from the pile that hopefully capture our festivities in Kansas City. Sadly, the big family party was cancelled due to some wild snow conditions but we did get to have our own mini party and visits with those nearby.

Despite the looks of it, the week wasn't all fun and games; Katie and baby-to-be were dehydrated and spent the night in the hospital, Maggie was battling an ear infection, I had a stomach bug, and Graham and Taylor came down with their own divergent ailments. Thanks to the snow swirling outside and the icy roads, I didn't feel so bad about taking big naps each day with Maggie and Graham.

I do think, though, that Maggie gave me a Christmas present on Christmas night when I was putting her to bed. Our day was a bit hectic, Maggie was cranky, I was strung out and tired but somehow when I brought her into bed, the most perfect comfort and peace came over both of us. The room was dark and quiet and we both watched the snow flurries outside our window highlighted by the street lights. Maggie smiled a deeply happy smile and I sang the few songs I always do. After a few tickles from me and few quiet babbles from her she decided to pull me in for a the most lovely hug and kiss before drifting into sleep. I am quite certain that it was her way of saying "I love you, mom."

Graham sent our photos. Enjoy!

Today I fly out to Kansas City for Christmas. Can't wait to see these two.

Graham and Maggie have left for Kansas City and I've found myself all alone in this great big house. Whoa is me...

Truly, no idea what to do with myself until I catch my own flight, three days from now. To start, I vacuumed the stairs and salted the front walk. Likely you've heard (or know first-hand) that our area got hit with an incredible snow. Our table outside has collected at least two feet and looking out back all you see are blankets of pristine snow. When I woke this morning, I looked out front and wondered what was making those rolling hills across the parking lot? Oh... there are cars beneath. Right.

I am kicking myself for not downloading photos of our adventures in the snow before Graham left with the camera. For now, all I have is an old one (that I love) taken by Grandma Susie. Isn't she sweet?

Last year, the owner of my firm moved back to his hometown of Fredericksburg and he decided that this would be a great place to host an office holiday day trip. Spouses, significant others, and children were invited and – since I am one of the few that has people to fill those categories – I dragged Graham and Maggie along.

So yesterday morning, we all gathered at Gari Melchers' Home and Studio for a tour, then headed to a cute little French restaurant for lunch (that did not have high chairs... but that's another story), then off to Nick's house for drinks and conversation.

It was good to get out of the normal routine and see a new city. Maggie was trooper, too, and graced us with a great catnap in Nick's room. She was also kind enough to rearrange the bar. Repeatedly.

We're not sure who Bridgette is but Maggie had a lot to say about her tonight.

Tree is up!

I took this series, minutes ago, as Maggie was eating her dinner. As I write this, she is still eating her dinner.

Wow, meal time is truly an exercise in patience at times. Particularly when she feels the need to consider every morsel and every bite before finally taking it in. It's slow going but rewarding to see her happily eating her peas and carrots and bread and cheese.

She's been a bird today. Just full of laughter and humor. We dragged the poor thing around for hours of holiday shopping and I expected her to crash in the car. She surprised us, though, with relentless jibber jabber that had us in stitches. It's great when she know she's making us laugh because the jabber gets louder and she belts out laughter of her own. Such a treat.

One of my goals for the long weekend was to spend time in the sewing room and I was able to steal a couple hours this morning to make this little top.

Deconstructing old clothes is such a great way to make things for Maggie with little effort. This project started with a button-down shirt that I loved but had to stop wearing after I wore a hole into the elbow. All of the ruffle detail was already done for me. I just had to reduce the size of the collar, trim down the width, and sew a hem to cut this down to size. The only extra step was to repurpose the ruffled cuffs by converting them into capped sleeves.

I did forget one very important step: taking Maggie's measurements! You can see how the buttons are pulling across her tummy in the photo. (Darn!) Looks like her cousin, Lucy, is getting a new shirt for Christmas. Kathy, expect this in the mail soon.

Well, Maggie did everything you're supposed to do on Thanksgiving; she dressed up, ate lots of food, and passed out on the couch. Thanksgiving offers a surprisingly great array of baby foods. By then end of the day she had a bagel, some grapes, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, lima beans, a bite of cranberries, a dinner roll, and pumpkin pie. Explains why she felt no different from the rest of us by the time it was all over.

P.S. After Graham saw this post he suggested I make a new category: Maggie and Graham Sleeping. (How many times has this pose appeared on the blog???) Either they take too many naps or I have some weird obsession with photographing my sleeping family.

How could I forget? This arrived in my inbox last week, amidst the piles of work email.

Jen had the morning off and decided to try out a crocheted chick-a-dee. So ridiculously cute and even better in person. (His beak is made from grosgrain ribbon. Fantastic!)

After a long and exhausting work week I decided to devote Saturday to Maggie with no distractions permitted. I've been missing her.

We started our day early, and after breakfast we took a long stroll in our new neighborhood. We saw the geese I mentioned (well the pond, anyway, the geese were hiding) and checked out the mini town center which, as it turns out, has a barber shop, a massage therapist, a print shop, and a tavern. We waved at some neighbors, woof-woofed at some dogs, and then came home and nestled in for a morning nap.

Post-nap brought lunch and our biggest adventure; a walk around our park's nature trail. This turned out to be a great opportunity for Maggie to practice walking and she grabbed onto the back of the stroller to take off. It was so much fun to watch the focus and determination she put into this and the occasional glances up at me to say "hey! Look at me! Impressive, right?" The leaves that her little feet were sifting through also proved to be irresistible and she had to stop every few feet to crouch down, pick up a leaf, and show me how spectacular it was. Such fun.

We rounded out the day by curling up to a movie with dad. We watched Coraline which in retrospect was incredibly frightening and inapropriate for an eleven month old. She didn't seem phased, though, and just sat, wide-eyed, and watched the color and animation, which – if you're familiar with movie – is quite captivating. Thank goodness she couldn't follow the story line. We'll save that for when she's in grade school.

Such a fantastic Saturday. Why can't everyday be so sweet?

My dad sent a big slew of summer photos the other day and I'm really loving this one. She looks so young!

I'm not having the greatest week so far. Nothing too bad, in particular, but when work stops being fun it makes being away from Maggie so much more difficult. It makes me feel quite useless that I have no idea what she eats for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Or that I actually get excited about changing poopy diapers because I so rarely see them. Or that we've lived in this house for two weeks and I still haven't taken her down to see the geese, just steps away at a nearby pond. (Not that she hasn't seen them already with Grandma Susie but I bummed that I haven't taken her myself.)

At least I have bed time. I absolutely love cozying up in a big comfy chair with her, reading quietly, enjoying a bottle, and having her drift off to sleep in my arms. Night after night it just never gets old.

More sheep! And, now, felted bracelets! Contact me or John Still, if interested.

Well, we're finally coming up for air and after two weeks this is the only photo I have to share of Maggie. (Can you even find her?)

Between moving, a crazy work schedule, and a visit from Paba and Susie, our world turned into sudden chaos and we're finally sorting it all out; boxes are being unpacked and blogs are being revisited. We even have some fun things to report:

1. A new house. (Yay!) We decide to put our condo up for rent in order to start renting my parent's townhouse. It's so fantastically spacious with more bedrooms than we need, a big finished basement, and a charming enclosed patio. The absolute best part is that I get to have a dedicated sewing room which feels a bit decadent but so exciting, at the same time.

2. New tricks. (Woohoo!) Maggie is suddenly a very quick study and Paba and Grandma Susie taught her to clap her hands for "Patty Cake" and to raise her arms for "how big is Maggie." (So cute.) She also went to the zoo with Nanna and Pop Pop today and came back making monkey noises. This is the third animal in her repertoire which previously consisted of "eeeh eeeh" for cats and "ooohf ooohf" for dogs. Her ability to communicate and engage is really developing, right now. It's so much fun.

3. Employment. (Hallelujah!) I'm very proud to report that Graham starts a new job tomorrow. The people that he's met and the firm, itself, sound really terrific and I'm so glad that he'll get to put his talents to use again. He'll be working three days a week which means that Maggie will not be completely abandoned by her parents and that my mom will have some well deserved time off.

Now if only we could find time to cook again and stop having ramen noodles for every meal... then things would really be good...