Lighthearted Moment

Margot braces herself as she tries to stand up.

8 (and a half) Months

  At 8 months, Margot is a girl with an agenda. Lately, she has been more determined than ever to move herself around. Rather than crawling in the traditional way, Margot has developed a creative interpretation of the concept of crawling. She wiggles, kicks, rolls, and throws herself into baby down-dogs, with her little bum high in the air. Sometimes she'll lie on her side with one leg in front of her and then quickly tuck her legs under her belly and attempt crawling on all fours again. 

 Like I said, creative interpretation.

Margot has also been practicing standing (with help, of course) and seems to be getting more and more steady.  While it's fun to see her discovering the strength of her legs, I hope she takes her time with this one. We're in no rush to see our little baby move any faster than she already is!

Garçon! Garçon!

Tonight, as Margot got ready for her dinner, she decided to use her spoon as a drum stick. You see, she was protesting the slow service chez Bistro McDonald.  The wait staff leaves much to be desired, apparently.

 Over the past few months, Margot has expanded her culinary horizons to include gourmet options such as tomatoes, carrots, spinach, potatoes, peas, apples, peaches, bananas, yogurt, prunes, all types of squash, avocados, and of course SWEET POTATOES! 

(This seems to be a popular choice among the <1 year set.)

After dinner, Margot is saying: "Victory is mine!"

Happy Soul

Tuesday was a big day for the McDonald family. We had been looking forward to it for months; basically since Margot was born, actually. We met with a team of doctors across four different departments to discuss how we should proceed in repairing Margot's cleft palate.  After we met with the doctors/specialists individually, they all met together and shared their opinions about Margot's development with one another. We'll get that report soon, though we already know that Margot is healthy and right on the mark developmentally.

I had fears that something unexpected would happen; that we'd developed a false sense of security thinking everything was ok. Thankfully, every doctor we saw had positive things to say about Margot, and our fears subsided. We scheduled her surgery for November and will work on weaning her off the bottle between now and then.

This experience is introducing Tucker and me to a new dimension of parenthood.  We knew that Margot's well-being was our responsibility, but to have your baby endure surgery and an over-night hospital stay is pretty tough, to say the least. The recovery period is expected to be about two weeks and we're making arrangements for Tucker or I to be home with M during that time. It's nice to have some time to prepare ourselves!

It's hard not to be constantly asking myself how this all happened, and wonder what went wrong. As I told some ladies in my running group, this is yet another lesson in learning that no matter how hard you try, sometimes there are things in life that you cannot control, especially as it relates to your child. I know I did my very best in carrying Margot, and I have to leave it at that.

We're so thankful that Margot's palate is repairable. She truly is the most gorgeous, bubbly, and sweet little person I know.  One of the nurses said Margot was a "happy soul", and I couldn't agree more. We are so blessed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Go Wildcats!

 

The school year begins on Monday. It's hard to believe that the summer is ending, yet I'm looking forward to seeing my kiddos. As counselors, we travel with our students as they move up in grades which I love for the sake of seeing them grow. This year, my chickens are in 8th grade, so there will be a lot of discussions about high school, and moving on.

 

Here is my lovely department! Rosa (our Registrar), Jackie (grade 7), Jessica (grade 6), and me.

 

All three of these ladies speak Spanish (and Jackie speaks a little Korean!), leaving me as the sole French speaker. I have to say that I love working with these ladies. Everyday is something new!

 

OBX

Tucker, Margot, and I spent last week in Nags Head, NC with some good friends. We rented a house in the Outer Banks for 7 days with Ty, Liz, their little girl Emma, Amy, Eric, and their sweet dog Abner. It was an incredible week.

Here was the view from our front deck. Not bad!

The week was filled with long afternoons on the beach, dinners out on the deck, early mornings with the girls, running, fishing, board games, as well as a few happy hours in between. It was heaven.

Emma, Ty, and Liz

Our resident busy-bee, Emma.

Amy, Eric, Me, and Margot

We played an on-going game that started with "You know you're in the south when...." and found lots of things to fill in the blank. One of these was a new discovery: Wickles! (aka pickled okra)

Every morning, we set up what we lovingly referred to as our "shanty town"; our transient little beach village for the 9 of us.

  

Margot and I had our go-to spots in the shade. Having this tent was basically a game-changer for both Margot and me. No sunburn for either of us!

Emma and Margot, hanging out in the shade. Pals forever.

The view from our back porch, facing west.

Here is Abner (the oldest child in the group), showing off his gentle disposition with Margot. She pounded on patted him, and tugged at his ears, and this guy didn't even flinch. Whattaboy.

On Wednesday, Amy, Liz, and I had a girls-only/baby-free afternoon. We ventured up to Duck and had lunch at The Blue Point. Later, we rented jet skis and zipped around the bay...for about 5 minutes. Our fun was halted by a thunder storm which you can see was on the horizon in the pic below. 

On Friday, we drove down to Cape Hatteras to check out the famous lighthouse and grab some lunch.

View from the top of the light house.

It was a wonderful week. Next year, we hope to do more of the same and maybe add a little sailing and dune-hiking into the mix!

Week In Review

I have felt a bit like I've been all over the place this past week. Here's a quick review...

A date night with Tucker at Newton's Table. De-lish! Our third date in 8 months....we need to work on that.

Some smiling and clapping in honor of Eric's birthday on Saturday. Woo hoo!

Sunday Brunch with Priscilla at Elysian Cafe in Hoboken.

Great food and great conversation, as always.

Tucker and Margot, before school/work one morning.

Tubby time!

Margot's newest interest is climbing out of the tub. What happened to our lazy baby who liked to relax ?!

We have a big adventure coming up next week.

We'll post pics soon!

Another One {Is About To} Bite the Dust

Last weekend, I headed to New Jersey to celebrate my friend Stokie's bridal shower. It was a surprise  and Stokie showed up looking gorgeous and ready to celebrate. Though it was a HOT day, we all had a great time catching up, discussing the wedding (to be held on St. Kitt's in December!) and watching Miss Stokes open her gifts.

For me, the irony of the day was in Stokie's excitement in opening her gifts. The same girl who said "I don't want a shower; I have everything I need" was fist-pumping when she opened her new garlic press and squealing over her new lobster pot. Yeah, this whole "getting married" thing is pretty fun.

The way I see it, showers are a way for all of your friends and family to show you their support as you begin to build your life with someone else. Creating a home is no small feat, and it's nice to have help from those who love you.

I missed this portion of the celebration with Stokie's hometown girls...bummer.

As Saturday proved, there are a lot of people who adore Stokie and it's fun to be celebrating her now as she takes this leap into matrimony.

Here's to Dan and Stokie!

Olympic Inspiration

 On Saturday morning, Margot heard about our local Olympian, 15 year old Katie Ledecky, and she got inspired. She demanded that her daddy put her into her new iPlay swim suit, (the most aerodynamic of the lot) and put her into the backyard pool. Tucker dutifully followed her orders.

The cool water was not quite what she expected though. It's a little different than the warm bath water she splashes in every night. Her first training session was a short one as she started to tear up 30 seconds after sitting in the water.

Oh well. Maybe fencing will be her thing?

A Thought For the Weekend

"When you are exasperated by interruptions, try to remember that their very frequency may indicate the value of your life. Only people who are full of help and strength are burdened by other persons' needs. The interruptions which we chafe at are the credentials of our indespensability. The greatest condemnation that anybody can incur - and it is a danger to guard against - is to be so independent, so unhelpful that nobody ever interrupts us, and we are left comfortably alone." - Anglican Digest

Girlfriends

We went to visit our friends Dan and Julie on Sunday and Margot got to spend some quality time with their girls, Ella and Kelsey. This was the first time that these three actually

got to "play" together.

 Ella loved giving Margot hugs. Pretty heart warming!

Of the three, Ella is the oldest and she is gentle, kind, and patient with her little sister and Margot.

It will be fun to see these three grow up, and see the women they become!

A Round of Applause for Margot

Margot is learning how to clap. Yep, it's pretty darn adorable.

She gets very excited about clapping, and then gets distracted by her hands and wants to chew on them. The four teeth that are now poking through are keeping her busy.

 Then of course, sometimes she just likes to be on her belly so she can wiggle around.

Could she look any more like her daddy??

Talk and Roll

Margot had a lot to say while she wiggled around yesterday.

As you can see, she's a determined little girl. 

Her audience (composed of Tenny and me) was captivated.