Five on Friday

1. Let's be honest, we're all here for the cute baby. It's been too long since I've posted videos.

She's getting quicker on her feet every day! 

I guess it's good that she will at least try vegetables? 

2. Tomorrow we're getting started on building our own desk! I'm excited. We're using this plan from Ana White. If it goes okay, I think we'll try building this kid's picnic table too. 

3. Apartment living in a rainforest-ish climate poses a problem: mold.  My least favorite chore is scrubbing the mold off the windows every week. But even grosser is how mold grows behind our bed. The first time we saw that, we started saving for a head board. For a second, we thought we could try building our own with another Ana White plan before we realized that it would be a little challenging to build something that large on our balcony. Ha! We do really like this one from World Market though.

4. I feel like people are really confused about our age when they see us out with Claire. The last two times I bought alcohol at the grocery store, I didn't get carded, despite the large sign at the cash saying that you should expect to be carded until you're 27. But a few weeks ago, we went to a conference at church to hear the archbishop and Scott Hahn speak. At the registration table, they tried to give us name tags for the "teen track" even though we were simultaneously signing up our daughter for the nursery.

5. I forgot to share with you guys the tutorial we used to make confetti eggs. They were always sold at our parish festival growing up. Actually, back when Adam and I first met, we ran a "crawfish races" booth at the festival, which wasn't really the best idea for a booth, and have fond memories of confetti egg smashing together ever since.

Five on Friday

1. We live right across the street from the grocery store. We also live on the second floor of  our building, although there is an elevator, thank goodness! Claire and I used to pop over twice a week and just load everything into the stroller basket. But our schedule changed a bit and I was seriously worried the stroller basket was going to break at any moment, so we tried something new. Now we just go once a week and bring the cart across the street, in the elevator, and all the way up to our door. Then we have to walk back and return the cart and then come home to unpack all the groceries. It's a little ridiculous!

2. With Lent starting next week, I've been thinking about Easter lately. I want Easter to be just as special as Christmas in our family and I've been pondering how to best accomplish that. One of the first things we're lacking is any sort of Easter decorations! I'm not a huge fan of the normal bunny and chick figurines, but I want to slowly amass a collection of Easter decor. I purchased this Rifle Paper Co. garland to start with. I've also been thinking about sending Easter cards {although probably to an abbreviated version of our Christmas card list}. You know I'm sucker for Shutterfly's cute designs and, of course, plentiful coupons. The wheels are already turning for a little photo shoot of Claire in bunny ears...

3. Claire has been eating mostly table food now, which we are all loving. I try to just give her what we're eating, or at least a variation of it. She's pretty adventurous, except when it comes to vegetables. Sweet potatoes are the only veggie {and are they actually more of a grain?} that she'll touch. In the video above, she's digging into red beans and rice but carefully leaving every carrot on her tray. She's a funny one. 

4. It's no secret that we watch a lot of tv. We've gotten into a few spy/crime shows over the past couple months. We're pretty big fans of White Collar and are kinda super obsessed with this new show, The Americans. Well, we stumbled upon the first episode on Hulu, but it turns out the rest aren't available online. You guys, I am so, so sad! Almost sad enough to try to convince Adam to get cable.

5. The nursery recently got a new addition - this pretty growth chart from Etsy. I love it and I'm so excited about marking Claire's height on her first birthday. And every birthday to come!

Five on Friday

1. One day this week, I had just planned leftovers for dinner and Claire took a super long nap, so I made a new pillow cover for our bed. I'm always so afraid to take out my sewing machine during nap time. I feel like Claire's bound to wake up as soon as I have everything set up! {I followed this tutorial and it was totally doable for a can-barely-sew-in-a-straight-line novice like myself.}

2. Over the weekend, Adam and I watched the movie, Arranged, which was been sitting in our Netflix instant queue forever. We loved it! It has a really positive message, not about how arranged marriages are great like you might think, but just about how you can get married young and have babies right away and stay home to take care of them and be really happy and not completely crazy.





3. Have you heard about the new Vine app? It is sort of like Instagram except you make six-second stop-motion videos. I was curious, so I made a couple {of Claire, of course.} Wow, it is way harder than taking a photo! Or even just a normal video because you have to edit it as you go. I don't think it's for me. {On the actual app, the videos just keep playing over and over again in a loop.}

4. We were bored one evening and decided to take the Myers-Briggs personality test. I am an ISFJ and Adam is an ISTJ. According to this, we can have a good, but not great marriage. Ha!



5. Every so often, I wish we had whipped cream for a specific dessert, but I don't really keep it stocked in the fridge. Enter, shelf-stable whipping cream at Trader Joe's. It's ultra-pasteurized so you don't have to refrigerate until opening. How cool is that?! {Side note: on this TJ's trip, I only ran in for a green pepper. Oops...}

Five on Friday

1. Another apartment update that I didn't get to share with y'all the other day is our new cabinet in the dining room! It was also a very generous Christmas gift from my parents, thanks to an awesome Target furniture sale. Our holiday/special occasion dishes and table linens are stored inside. It doesn't look like much now, but we also want it to serve as a family altar of sorts. We're planning to get a stand for our family bible and get that painting matted in a bigger frame. Hopefully painting that annoying, pointless light switch the same color as the wall will make it blend it more?

 2. Well, I think we are the only people in America who still have leftover turkey from Thanksgiving. In addition to turkey pot pie and turkey enchiladas, we've also had turkey fried rice and turkey taquitos. We have just enough left to make your turkey soup, Katie! 

3. Another day, another impulse buy at Trader Joe's. I couldn't pass up this combo of my two favorite things. It's...interesting. Adam wasn't a fan, but I think it's definitely worth a try. 

4. Our poor little girl got her first fever this week. We had one rough day, but thankfully she got over it really quickly and was back to her usual antics, like getting stuck under the couch and digging through mama's purse for her keys the very next day. 

5. Speaking of Claire's crazy antics, look at how fast she can scoot down the hallway! When Adam is getting ready for work in the mornings, she loves to scoot her way down there and tap on the door until he lets her in, ha ha!

Five on Friday

1. I couldn't resist throwing that picture in! But, really, the nice thing about being recruited on-campus to work for a company on the other side of the country is that there's a good chance some of your friends will end up working there too. Two friends from the Newman Center will most likely be interning this summer and some friends-of-friends are moving here for a full-time position in the spring! 

2. I've been reading a neat book about the liturgical year by Maria Von Trapp {yes, from The Sound of Music!} that I found in the EWTN archives and uploaded to our Kindle. Did you know that in England the first Sunday of Advent used to be called "Stirring Sunday" because that's when the plum pudding had to be made to be ready in time for Christmas?

3. Speaking of Advent, our friend {and my sister's roommate} Kailin gave us a really pretty advent calendar for our first married Christmas. I'm so looking forward to Claire being able to enjoy things like finding an ornament in the calendar each day to hang on the tree. Eventually, I'd really like to make a second Advent calendar that has a little more spiritual significance, like these ones with a nativity scene or a Jesse tree.

4. Claire loves, love, loves fruit and yogurt, but she's not a huge fan of vegetables. She makes the funniest face when she tries something that doesn't agree with her.



5. We are hiring a real babysitter for the first time tomorrow. Wish us luck!

Five on Friday

 1. Claire's favorite car seat/stroller toy is this little blue dog that plays "rockabye baby." If you have also have a child that is crazy attached to something, you won't be surprised that we've never washed him. Until we got a good whiff last weekend and decided it was {way past} time. Well, after said washing, the dog wouldn't play music for a few days. Then he started playing randomly all the time! Creepy. When Adam woke up to that song at 4:15 in the morning, the poor dog got sent to the storage closet on the balcony until his batteries die.

2. My sister and one of Adam's coworkers mentioned that they wanted to see the new movie about Lincoln and we both thought they were talking about Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter. So, clearly, we need to get out more...

3. We bought a coupon book the last time we were having lunch at Whole Foods and decided we needed to get out of our Whole Foods/Chipotle/Panera rut. It's definitely kicked our butts into gear and made us try new places here in Seattle! On Saturday, we had lunch at a Mexican place as part of our never-ending quest to find good Mexican food outside of Texas.



Can you believe we have a daughter big enough to sit in a restaurant high chair? And feed herself a cheese quesadilla?



4. We also got ice cream at Molly Moon's. So delicious! And so fancy. Like there's not even the glass screen in front of gallons of ice cream kind of fancy.



5. What did you guys do with your Thanksgiving leftovers? So far we've had turkey enchiladas and turkey pot pie. And we're only about halfway through our turkey stash!

Five on Friday

 1. Last Saturday, I went to a conference on vocations and learned lots of good stuff about this motherhood thing from Jennifer Fulwiler! I felt really ridiculous, but I had to ask her to sign this book for me. Also, I drove over the Tacoma Narrows bridge to get there and I didn't die, so that's good. I'm super grateful to Adam for hanging out with Claire the whole day! Although, why did she have to pick that day to nap for {a total of} five hours?

2. Another day, another random purchase from the Target dollar spot that I just couldn't resist.

3. Claire has officially spent just as long in the world as she spent in the womb!

4. We went to visit Adam at work this week to check out his new office. {He used to have an office mate, but now he has the place all to himself.} The picture on the left {courtesy of my sister's cell phone} is from the beginning of August. Claire has changed so much already! Something I wish I had taken a picture of while we were visiting is the room full of refrigerators stocked with free soda. That would be terrible for my Diet Dr. Pepper obsession.

5.  Remember how I mentioned that I was really trying to wake up before Claire so I could prepare for the day? Well, I think we can officially call that a failure. No matter what time she went to sleep at night or what time we set our alarm for in the morning, Claire always wakes up ten minutes after our alarm goes off. We turned the volume way down and even kicked our snooze button habit, but to no avail. It must still be waking her up, because when we don't set an alarm on the weekends, she sleeps in much longer. So, I guess I will be working on my internal clock...

Five on Friday

1. Isn't getting a baby up from a good long nap just the best? Taking pictures of her in random small spaces is almost as fun.

2. I've noticed a trend in regards to my meager sewing abilities. I try something easy, like a pillow. That goes relatively well, so I get overconfident and try something much more challenging, like a slip cover. Then, I realize that was actually really hard, so I go back to something easy, like a camera strap or cloth napkins. But when those go okay, I get overconfident again and decide I can totally handle an article of clothing.



3. In an effort to use things up, I made this banana bread for breakfast last weekend. I am kinda obsessed with the addition of peanut butter! Genius.

4. For the last several months, Claire has been going down for the night around 6:30 to 7:00. Adam usually gets her ready for bed while I make dinner and then we eat after she's gone to sleep. But she's been taking longer naps recently and therefore going to bed a little later, so we have been attempting family dinners. Oh, goodness, they are a lot more work! Not only do we have to eat really quickly while feeding the babe, but I am also learning how to juggle prepping dinner and keeping Claire happy during those so-called witching hours. {It seems like the secret is getting almost everything done ahead of time.} But, it's all worth it for how excited Claire gets when we make the sign of the cross and say grace. So cute!

5. Adam's department at work is moving to a different building, so he's had to work from home the last two days while the new offices are prepared. A small apartment + a cranky teething baby = not the most productive workday. Having someone here all day has made me a lot more productive though! Speaking of productivity, I should probably get to work. Those sheets aren't going to iron themselves. Oh, but wouldn't it be nice if they could?

Five on Friday

1. I posted about my favorite items at Trader Joe's a while back, but honestly, it's rare for me to leave that store without something sweet in my cart. I couldn't resist these pumpkin macaroons!

2.  This election is my first time voting, since I didn't officially become a citizen until right after graduating from college. Although I am pretty passionate about some of the issues, it would be a lot more exciting if I liked any of the candidates. Or if we actually got to vote in person! Washington only does mail-in voting. How lame is that?

3.  Although, I do love how environmentally-friendly things are here. Our apartment complex just started composting and gave everyone these compost keepers to store their food scraps!

4. I always get confused when an actor from Friday Night Lights shows up on Parenthood. My first thought is "What is Luke Cafferty doing on a date with Amber?" Speaking of Friday Night Lights, are you watching Tami Taylor's new show, Nashville? It's kinda fun so far.



5. Proof of Claire on the move! She's currently trying to get into the fireplace, so I should probably attend to that situation...

Five on Friday

1. Having visitors last weekend gave me an excuse for my favorite fall meal - southwest chili {perfect for tomato haters like myself}, cornbread muffins, salad, and apple pie with vanilla ice cream. Y'all have got to try the Pioneer Woman's caramel apple pie!

2. Claire can make it about halfway through Mass before getting fussy, at which point we usually take turns walking around with her. So, on Sunday, I'm walking around with her in the back of the church and I give her a brochure to play with, which she of course immediately puts her in mouth. We're just minding our own business when another parent {who I have never seen before} walks up, takes the paper away from Claire, and says "Oh, I wanted to make sure she wasn't eating that." What?! To clarify, it was really thick paper, so she couldn't actually chew through it. When I pointed the other dad out to Adam in the parking lot, he said that he should go over to the guy and say "Oh, I wanted to make sure you were buckling those car seats correctly."

3. Someone's been really into scooting lately. I am not ready to have a mobile baby! Seriously, though. She's already figured out how to get to the cords behind the tv. We really need to get on the baby-proofing train.

4. Isn't it amazing how God always knows exactly what you need? Claire is cutting her first tooth, which means a disrupted sleep schedule and two grumpy girls in the house. When your baby wakes up from her morning nap at 7:30 am, you know it's going to be a very long day. So, yesterday afternoon we made a trip to grocery store across the street for no reason at all, as we are wont to do on cold and rainy days. While I was taking my sweet time wandering through the aisles, Claire got a strangely huge amount of attention from the other shoppers. Of course, I am a proud mom and think I have the cutest child in the world, but that is not the point of this story. The point is that I just really needed to be reminded of how blessed I am to have such a sweet baby in order to face the rest of that long day. Because you know her fussy side came out again as soon as it was just the two of us!



5. Can you guess what we are going to be for Halloween?

Five on Friday

1. I may have gone a little crazy at Target's cardigan sale this week. I am so impressed with moms that actually try on clothes at the store with their kids. My only shopping strategy is baby wearing. The secret to keeping Claire entertained long enough to do some just-for-fun browsing {and also the secret to her mom avoiding emotional eating}.

2. There are two television shows I watch without Adam - Parenthood and Downton Abbey. A girl's got to watch something while ironing, right? Friday Night Lights used to be on this list as well, but he eventually realized it's awesomeness. Anyway, I finally convinced Adam to watch Downton Abbey with me! Although, the fine print is that I have to watch a show of his choosing. I have a feeling it will be this one.  Judging by the amount of tears he sees me shed during every episode of Parenthood, I don't think he'll be joining be for that one anytime soon...

3. When we were changing our address for magazine subscriptions back in August, we signed up for a free copy of the Magnificat in French just for the heck of it. Two months later, a package from Belgium showed up in our mailbox! We like to fantasize about teaching Claire some French, but that would require us actually remembering some of it. 

4. This post really got me thinking about mothering this week. I have been trying to wake up significantly earlier than Claire to get prepared for the day, but haven't made as much progress as I'd like. One morning this week, I was being a grump because I had yet again failed in my resolution and my sweet husband just couldn't understand where I was coming from. But, I think this post perfectly describes my feelings towards the importance of being ready to face the day.

5. My sister has been very insistent in her demands for a new video of Claire. Well, that silly girl has recently figured out how to smile for the camera. So when I pull out the video camera, she just sits there and smiles. Not so interesting. But to appease the masses {aka my sister and parents} here is two minutes of Claire just doing her thing. And you can find a few more here, too!

Five on Friday

1. My quest for an animal hat came to a happy end at Pike Place Market. Somehow, I don't think Claire is quite as excited as I am about it. 

2. Adam and I trying this new thing where we eat less dessert. Revolutionary, huh? But, of course, I had to bake something for our visitors last weekend and it had to be something special because there's a lot less baking happening around these parts nowadays. Adam was really craving chocolate, while I wanted something pumpkin-y to get in the fall-yay-we-won't-see-the-sun-until-next-summer spirit. So, we compromised with this chocolate pumpkin bundt cake. I was worried the pumpkin would be overwhelming, so I added a cup of chocolate chips. The verdict? Deliciously chocolatey with the perfect hint of pumpkin spice.

3. Okay, fall is actually really pretty here so far.



4. Claire has finally realized how boring I am and has started getting really excited when her dad gets home from work. Her favorite place is on top of his shoulders.



5. The year of faith started yesterday! Are you excited? We used the kick-off as an excuse to finally sign up for adoration at our new parish. We're also getting a portion of the catechism delivered to our email inbox each day. I thought this list of ideas was pretty great, too.

Five on Friday

1. As evidenced by yesterday's post, Claire's good days far, far outweigh her bad ones. But, you know your day is off to a crummy start when Claire is fussing so much at Target {which might have something to do with her mom insisting on checking each and every clearance section, but I can't be sure} that a package of Halloween Oreos near the checkout mysteriously leaps into the cart and is mysteriously opened while still waiting in line.



2. I am so, so excited to meet a few of my favorite bloggers in the coming months! First, Jennifer Fulwiler at this conference in November and then the folks from Young House Love at their book signing in January. One of the great tragedies in my life thus far was missing out on the Pioneer Woman's book tour. Just kidding! But, seriously, if Claire hadn't unexpectedly arrived a few days before, I totally would have been there.

3. Our old apartment was in the first floor of a house. I really miss having a backyard and a basement! Not just for the green space and extra storage, respectively, but for the ability to spray paint. When we moved in here, we had five chairs - four that we bought as a set and another that I saved from the dumpster and painted yellow. The trash-picked chair is still sold at Ikea, so I recently bought another for a set of six. Well, transforming a chair from black to yellow without the power of spray paint is quite the undertaking! This guy needed three coats of primer and eight {eight!} coats of paint. And, honestly, it could probably use another coat or two, but I emptied the entire sample pot, so that's as good as it's going to get. 



4. I think we have decided whether Adam will stay in the workforce or go back to grad school. Neither! Instead, we are going to open an ice cream shop. You see, our town has so many fun independent shops and restaurants, but no good ice cream places. There's Baskin-Robbins, Whole Foods sells gelato and, of course there's a few frozen yogurt shops, but it's just not the same. Something like Dave & Andy's would do amazing here. 

5. It wouldn't be a blog post without a picture of Claire, right? It sounds like this little girl is waking up from her nap, so I'd better get going. Before I go, though, I must tell y'all to watch The Mindy Project. We are loving it so far!

Five on Friday

Absolutely nothing interesting happened this week. After the crazy spring and summer we've had, boring feels pretty good. So, we'll make this post all about Claire. She's the real star of the show anyway, right? 

1. She had her first real friendly encounter with another baby this week. There's a little girl at our church play group that's a few months older than Claire. In the past, Claire has been absolutely terrified of her {they are, um, on opposite sides of the weight spectrum} but this week Claire reached over to pat her face. It quickly turned into slapping each other, which is apparently quite hilarious in the baby world. 



2. Claire is so, so close to sitting up on her own. She is getting really tired of being limited to her back and tummy during playtime. I know she will be much happier when she's finally mastered it!

3. In solid food news, she's now tried avocado, zucchini, peas and squash. And Ritz crackers. So, clearly consistency is our middle name.

4. We figured it's about time for our daughter to start pitching in with the housework. She's already been put to work making the bed. Folding the laundry is the next item on her list. 



5. Well, it is getting colder here and I'm pretty sure Claire is desperate need of an animal hat, so I am off to scour Etsy. Happy Friday!  

Five on Friday

1. Since we moved here, we've been buying this milk at the grocery store. We like supporting a local farm and we think it's cool that they reuse the glass bottles. But, now all other milk tastes really weird to us. If we ever move again, I suppose we'll just have to buy out the farm and make them come with us.  

2. Chatting about baby gear yesterday made me remember a strange phenomenon we saw at the state fair last weekend. All the parents with two little kids ended up each carrying a kid and pushing an empty double stroller! So, question for all you moms of two: how often do you use your double stroller? Don't worry, this isn't any kind of veiled pregnancy announcement. I'm just nosy.

3. I'm pretty sure the marketing team that came up with the concept of the Target dollar section had me in mind. I'm such a sucker for anything priced under a buck. Thanks, Lindsey Jo, for the heads up on the cute goodies there right now! Of course, I couldn't resist the Andy Warhol inspired tomato soup cans either. {Fun Fact: Adam and I went to the Andy Warhol museum on the night we got engaged.}

4. One of my favorite things about our new neighborhood is that we live in walking distance of a craft store. Claire and I may have gotten in the habit of browsing there multiple times a week. She loves looking at all the different colors of paper and fabric. And I do too!

5. Well, I am off to end this nap time on a somewhat productive note by completing my ridiculously short exercise regimen, rather than watching the new episode of Parks & Rec and then pretending to be surprised when Adam and I view it together tonight. Which may or may not have been my first intention.

Five on Friday

1. I can't believe Claire is half a year old already! To celebrate, she got to play in the doorway jumper for the first time. I'd say it was a successful venture. In a day filled with teething and shots, that grin was a quite a rare occurrence. {Grandparents, here's a cute video for you!}

2. Much to Adam's relief, I am finally back in the swing of actually planning meals and not serving frozen pizza every other night. But, somehow my culinary abilities have dramatically plummeted since becoming a mother. I froze some blueberries back when they were in season, so I decided to try Meg's blueberry buckle. Well, it turns out that it's sort of important to actually defrost the blueberries before baking them into a cake. Otherwise your dessert will be bright purple. We'll just say it's in honor of Mary's birthday, right? 

3. For Claire's baptism we gave her a little patron saint doll. I am more than a little obsessed with them, so we had to order one for her new cousin, Estelle. Isn't it the cutest? We chose to include this prayer with her doll. It's one of our favorites.

4. We discovered our daughter finds tape weirdly hilarious when we were hanging up some frames last weekend. Our method of hanging frames in our first apartment was to hold it up, decide it looks basically straight, hammer in the nail, discover that it's actually completely crooked, and repeat. We were very surprised to get any of our security deposit back. Well, we have devised a much improved system this time around. We trace each frame with wrapping paper {not newspaper because it will leave newsprint all over the wall - found that out the hard way, of course}, mark where the nail hole should be on the paper, tape all the paper templates on the wall where we'd like them, hammer in the nails, remove the paper, and add the frames. Ta da! We thought it would be cool to make a time lapse video of the process, but we were too lazy.

5. Well, if you'll excuse me, I have a date with the season premiere of Parenthood and my ironing board. Are you as excited as we are for Parks & Rec to return next week?!

Five on Friday

1. There are three things almost guaranteed to make Claire laugh - blowing raspberries on her tummy, doing sit-ups with her sitting on your chest, and playing peek-a-boo. I say almost guaranteed because as soon as she sees the video camera, she must realize "Oh, it's another chance to make my parents look ridiculous for all of posterity!" and refuses to let a giggle escape.

2. One of the things I love about Seattle is all the fresh, local produce available. This week, I bought some peaches that were begging to be made into a cobbler. I am also loving the nap time that allowed me to make said cobbler! 

3. The whipped cream accompanying that cobbler was actually our second attempt. Last night, we put some whipping cream in the Kitchen Aid and started watching an episode of Monk. Despite our periodic checks, we soon had butter on our hands. So now I have an excuse to make pancakes this weekend?

4. I picked out three shirts on the Anthro clearance rack last weekend and brought them home to get Adam's input. Once the "extra 25% off sale" bells were no longer ringing in my ears, I quickly realized two of them were definite no's. I was on the fence about the third top, but during the two minutes I was trying it on, I somehow managed to spill something on myself. I guess that makes me the owner of a new shirt! At least it matches my favorite {elastic waist!} skirt. Don't tell me you haven't noticed that I'm wearing it in every other picture on here.

5.  Well, I am off to make a very long overdue trip to the post office with a baby in tow. Wish me luck!

Five on Friday

1. What would a blog post be without gratuitous photos of Claire? 

2. The funniest things I've seen on the web this week:

- Three minutes in a toddler's brain {old news, but still hilarious.}

- A Flight of the Conchords reunion!

3. Now that we are mostly unpacked and Claire is taking regular naps, I have finally been getting out of the house and trying to meet new people. So far, we have been to play group at church and story time at the library. Everyone has been really nice, but all the other moms I've met are at least five years older than me. I feel like their little sister sometimes. I know I should thank my lucky stars to have fulfilled my dreams of marriage and motherhood at such a young age and I do every day, trust me. Sometimes I just miss my friends though.

4.  A Walk to Remember is one of my favorite books. In high school, my sister gave Adam a copy as a joke birthday present. He actually read it! Since then, we've had an ongoing six-year debate about the ending. Adam, who hasn't seen the movie, thinks Jamie lives and I, who of course have viewed the movie several times, think Jamie dies. Who is right? Am I just influenced too much by the movie and the book does actually leave things open-ended? Here's what Nicholas Sparks has to say about it.

5.  We have been really fortunate to have gone on quite a few dates since Claire arrived. Our parents watched her so we could go out to lunch for both of our birthdays and to the movies twice in June. My parents watched Claire for a bit one night when they were visiting {Side note: we didn't get out until 9:30 at night and the only thing still open was a bar! Suburban living is going to take some getting used to.} and we went out to dinner twice while my sister was in town. We feel completely comfortable leaving Claire with our families, but I am so nervous about hiring an actual babysitter! I'm sure we will break down and ask one of Adam's co-workers for a recommendation eventually. What exactly is the going rate for babysitters these days? When I babysat not-so-long ago minimum wage was $5.15 in our Texas town, so I usually asked for $5 an hour. I have a feeling that prices have gone up since then!