The past few weeks have been busy, but fun. We had a nice Thanksgiving here at our house. Sue, George and Naomi came down, and so did Sue and Al. John and Mary Tyler surprised everyone by driving up for Thanksgiving from Baton Rouge. I cooked am amazing turkey this year; I brined it with Earl Grey and Lapsang Souchong tea for 24 hours first with lots of lemon and it was fantastic. We also had keeve and BEcky and Max join us as well, and it was very fun. The grandparents were in town for the weekend and got to spend time with Olive. She was very impressed with Grandma's exceptional Peek-A-Boo abilities.

Since Thanksgiving, work has been really busy for me. We have a huge project going on now at the Franciscan Monestary in Washington DC that has a very tight deadline and we are working long hours to try to finish it in time. I have been trying to not be too hard on myself lately, but I do feel like I am falling in to a bit of Supermom syndrome. I'm feeling so scattered; I forget things and I can't seem to get anything done. Last week it took me three days to get a gallon of milk. It sounds ridiculous, but I just could not seem to get to the store to get it. I put Marc's cell phone "somewhere safe" two weeks ago and have no idea where it is. I always thought that Supermom syndrome was for moms with ballet practice and science projects... you know, trying to do things above and beyond everyday. For me, its more like I have to try to not be so hard on myself for not getting the basics done, like laundry and dishes. I feel like if I'm making dinner, I'm not spending enough time playing with her. If I put her down to go do laundry, I'm ignoring her. But if I don't, by the time she's in bed around 7:30 or 8:00, I'm starving and exhausted and we have peanut butter and jelly for dinner again. (Which, I know, in the grand scheme of things is not such a big deal.)
However, despite my feelings of nagging maternal inadequacy, she is doing really well. She has been squealing and screeching like crazy the past few days. All of a sudden, Tummy Time is not the torture is was before. In fact, she kind of likes it. She has even been working on her rollover technique and is getting better and better at it every day. She's started eating more and more solid foods too, which she loves. We gaev her oatmeal and the n apples with blueberries and she was thrilled. We're still working on sitting up unaided, but we're getting very close. Maybe by Christmas.

So, that's what we're up to. Mom's group Cookie Swap is Dec.16th; I'm going to have a house FULL of moms and babies. Should be interesting. I'm really looing forward to it. I think I'll make my chocolate mint cookies this year. More later! Mariah