Ahhh, hi! I haven’t been much of a correspondent lately, have I? We’ve had a lot going on, and I’ve not spent much time in the kitchen or on the blog. Here’s what we’ve been up to.

First, Hubba Bubba and I FINALLY became citizens of this century when we got iPhones two weeks ago. We can hardly put them down, and Eleanora has already spent quite a bit of time doing FaceTime with her cousin Cooper in Kentucky, who says “baby” and blows kisses at the phone when he sees her. Melt. I’ve been slightly obsessed with the convenience of the iPhone camera, as you will notice later in this post.

We also recently decided to tackle the dreaded Sleep Training Beast. For those not fluent in the esoteric jargon of today’s parents, Sleep Training means, more or less, that your kid is just going to have to cry it out a little until she learns to fall asleep all by herself. I have been dreading this since before Eleanora was born; what mama wants to lay her baby all alone in the crib and then listen her wail? Not me. I want to snuggle her in the bed with us until she is 18 and goes to college.

But when it became clear that our baby wasn’t sleeping as well as she should and was requiring more and more soothing from us, we felt we had to help her out with Sleep Training. I was a ball of anxiety as Hubba Bubba and I talked about Sleep Training nonstop for a week. I read The Sleep Easy Solution cover-to-cover — twice — and took notes. We got permission from the pediatrician (I was so disappointed when he didn’t say, “Sleep Training? You’re out of your minds! You should snuggle her in the bed with you until she is 18 and goes to college!”) and strapped on our gladiator sandals, preparing for battle.

We debated for several days about when to start. I’m a compulsive planner and liked the safe distance of mid-June to step into the arena with the ferocious Sleep Training Beast, but last Monday Mike and I looked at each other and said, “Let’s just do it tonight.” It was like jumping off the high dive. You nervously make the ascent, peer reluctantly over the edge, think about it for a little longer than you should, and then suddenly close your eyes and leap. And you know what? IT WASN’T THAT BAD. Come on in, the water’s fine!

A week later, we have a baby who sleeps 11-12 hours a night, takes three glorious naps during the day, and wakes up thrilled to see us. I would never recommend that anyone do Sleep Training with their baby one millisecond before they are ready, but I can tell you this about us: we are a changed family. Of course, next week she’ll probably start teething and we’ll be back to being up with her all night long. But… we’ll wrestle the Teething Beast when it inevitably thunders in.

Sleeping like a champ isn’t all that Eleanora has been up to recently. She also started eating solids…

… and wearing her tutu, which her Shae-Shae bought her, but today she went poo-poo in the tutu. Sorry, Shae-Shae.

Other things: last week it was my birthday and Mike gave me this amazing, fantastic, lovely cake stand that he picked out all by himself. This guy is good. I love my cake stand and can’t wait to make something to go on it.

For now, though, as we’ve been recovering from our battle with the Sleep Training Beast, the kitchen has been pretty quiet. Tonight I finally put my apron back on for a super simple dinner that is not even worthy of the Recipes page: turkey tacos.

Ground turkey. Spice packet. The spice packet instructions involve water, which I replaced with beer. (Why not?) Tortillas. Cheese. Dinner.

Alright, I’m caught up on the blog. Now I’m gonna go catch up on sleep. 🙂

xoxo,