new orleans

Our late night dinner of red beans & rice,
a po' boy and beignets at Cafe Beignet.

Breakfast at the Old Coffee Pot. Great food, great service
and great random outbursts of singing.

Imogene rotated between the stroller, the ergo and being carried. Apparently nobody takes babies to New Orleans. Everywhere we went we got comments, most of which implied that the person had never seen a baby before, ever. Also, most of the excited comments about the baby came from men! It was easy to see why most folks make the trip child-free... the stroller ride on the sidewalks probably gave Imogene whiplash. Rarely did I find a changing table in the bathroom and as a result she has had her diaper changed on multiple public restroom floors, on a ferry and in a cemetery. She did amazingly well for having every nap either in the carrier or stroller, always being woken up by random music or bumps in the sidewalk and staying up hours past her bedtime.

I didn't love pralines, but came away with
a new appreciation for red beans & rice.

street car ride

Back to Cafe Beignet for a late night snack.

Walk through an old cemetery.

Sucre... how can you say no to a place with macarons, cupcakes, drinking chocolate, gelato and coffee.. and free samples?!

Jazz at Preservation Hall. Imogene did as well as you can expect a 5 month old to do at a jazz concert an hour past her bedtime. She and I had to leave as she got fussy right before the music started. We listened from the foyer and she made friends with the jazz singers as they went on and off stage.

Does anyone else notice a resemblance to Russell, the little boy in Up?

Hot & sweaty... it was a humid day!

 Cedar decorated Christmas cookies with Nana the other night. We brought home a 

Christmas rhino and a Christmas dinosaur. He decorated about 4 cookies and progressively ate more and more of the sweets until he just ate the entire cookie at the end.

 So exciting that she can't stay still.

We put up and decorated our little tree. 

Imogene *•* 5 months

This month's photos are pretty much a fail. I may try again today. She was either trying to pick up the paper or play with her feet, which meant she was looking down the entire time!

Imogene at 5 months...
• Can sit up unassisted for up to a minute, but needs a spotter as she falls hard.
• Loves her feet. Probably because she wears socks and shoes most of the time she loves to try to grab her toes when she can sit up and see them.
• Had her first cold thanks to Cedar, but weathered it well.
• Smiles all the time.
• Loves her toys, but only if they are within arms reach. She is very content to stay flat on her back or sitting or standing. She has no desire to roll to either side or to her stomach.
• Poops through her diaper and all over her clothes at least once a day... sometimes we go through 3 outfits in a day.
• And yes, she has a horrible rash under her chin. It all started because of some excessive drool and a double chin. Now it has evolved into a monster of it's own. I am trying everything... moving down the list of safest, most natural remedies to the creams with ingredients I can't pronounce. Hopefully we won't make it too far down the list before it gets better, but we are going on a month now.

Thanksgiving

It is good for the soul to go to the mountains. We don't get to do it enough with 2 small kids. It was a week of firsts... Cedar's... first ear infection, first time sledding downhill, first board game...  Imogene's first cold, first Thanksgiving, first adventures with snow, first Christmas tree cutting. We spent Thanksgiving up in Tabernash near Winter Park. The weather was beautiful! After fighting a fever and cold for 4 days we took Cedar to urgent care a few hours before leaving for the mountains only to find out he had 2 ear infections. Poor kiddo did great going up and down in altitude with his ears hurting. After a day or two Cedar perked up, but passed his snotty cold on to Imogene who now sounds like an old man with a black lung. We have seen the doctor way too many times in the past few weeks! The weekend ended with a detour to cut down Christmas trees and a few car issues for Jake and Rachel which resulted in their car being towed back to the Front Range. Overall a relaxing, but also eventful weekend.

 Bundled up. Even with a cold, she is a pleasant baby. 

 Beautiful sunsets every evening. Unfortunately Rob and I were up early enough to see our share of sunrises as well.

Cedar's first time playing Candyland. Jake is teaching him how to take turns.

Due to the warm weather we had to drive a ways to find some snow. We finally found a summer only campground with a few short slopes. Cedar had a few meltdowns, got a face full of snow, but came away with an overall good impression of sledding.