Oh, it's a long update

Post started on 9/5...

Is it wrong that I'm excited for fall and winter? Remind me in 4 months that I said I was excited and we'll see what I say. Today was cloudy and, at times, rainy, and it's the first day of college football season for the Huskies. It's the kind of day that makes me want to throw together a big pot of chili...or maybe some nachos. Or, if I'm honest, a big fat huge chocolate cake. Okay, that had nothing to do with the seasons changing but it's what I want.

D is bouncing Amelia on the yoga ball. Earlier this evening he was sitting on the couch with Amelia on his lap facing outward...they were watching the game together. The Huskies scored a touchdown and D yelped in excitement, completely forgetting himself and the fact that this college football season he has an infant. She did not appreciate the raucous.

Fast forward to today, 9/25...

I've been horrible about updating my blog. It's not that I don't want to...I really do and wish I were better at it. It's just that I like updating in the evenings and usually that's when Amelia is most fussy.

Generally she's a very, very good baby. She's starting to laugh and "talk". She especially gets going when D sings to her which he does often. It sounds like she's trying to sing back. Here's a video...



We were in Chicago around the middle of this month and had a really great time. We stayed with D's aunt & uncle in Naperville which happens to be the town I used to live in. I love Naperville...I almost wouldn't mind living there again. I got to eat at Giordano's, Portillos, & Dunkin Donuts (I won't admit how many times I ate there). Oh, and since Chili's went out here in Washington about a year ago I was very excited to be able to dine at a Chili's while we were in Illinois. Oh, chips & salsa, how I've missed you.

We spent some time with my friends which, I'm ashamed to say I didn't get a single picture of. I'm not happy about that. The Monday we were there we met a couple of dear friends of mine at the Shedd Aquarium. The company was great but the aquarium was disappointing. They had several exhibits closed including the penguins, polar bears, and sharks. My friend, Liz, has an adorable little boy named Isaiah and we had fun watching him interact with Amelia. I hope they'll be great friends one day!

1: D & Amelia at the aquarium
2: My friend, Liz, introducting Amelia to her sweet Isaiah
3: My friend, Shirley, trying to get Isaiah to hold Amelia since he kept saying "hold, hold!"
4: Us girls with a worn out Amelia and Isaiah




This is ridiculous - 9/28

I have more photos from our Chicago trip but I never know if people want me posting pictures of them online so I'll refrain for now. You know, as much as I really love comments from readers of my blog (and I really do love them), I more feel bad for not posting more often because I want Amelia to be able to read about her babyhood later in life. I know there are things that I've already forgotten that, at the time, I think "Oh I need to write that down!". So, I'm hoping to be better about updating from now on. For now, here's a little list of things that have been happening lately.

~ I quit my job! I'm now a full time wife and mom and I couldn't be happier. I've recently looked in to joining a couple of local Mom groups just to give me more adult company and for Amelia to have playmates around her age. The church where we are members doesn't have any kids Amelia's age although there are a few who are a few years older.

~ Amelia smiles almost on demand and coos and laughs. It's so sweet. We've been trying to capture as much as we can on our little video camera but unfortunately not many websites allow for videos over a minute or so. And, I'll be honest that once I get the camera in my hand and start recording my daughter I lose track of time.

~ She's grabbing at things. It's so funny to watch her swat at my hair or grab her rattle or little finger puppet. She never realizes when she has actually grabbed on to something, but I would imagine that's coming soon enough.

~ She gnaws on her hands constantly if her pacifier isn't in her mouth. She usually initially resists her pacifier, but ultimately after a few seconds of me holding it in her mouth she starts sucking. And it usually puts her to sleep/keeps her asleep. I've tried to keep her nails cut pretty short since I don't want her scratching at her face and inside her mouth. She's so squirmy, though, and sleeps so lightly that I have to try to do it when she's eating and even that is a challenge. Here she is gnawing on D's thumb...


~ Tummy time is loathed around here. I have proof.
Here she is, happy as can be, looking at the monkey on her play gym. Then, 2 minutes later after I turned her over for "tummy time"...


~ We moved Amelia to her crib at night a few days ago. The first night she slept only 5 hours, the second only 4, and last night she slept 7.5 hours so it seems to be getting better. Now, my kid is a great sleeper. When she wakes up the first time I simply feed her and put her back in bed and she'll sleep at least another 3 hours. I then feed her again, play with her for 30 minutes or so, then she will sleep for another 3 or 4 hours if I let her. I usually do let her just sleep but when it approaches 4 hours I wake her up. I've tried letting her sleep for as long as she wants to during the day before and then she doesn't sleep at night. I learned a very valuable piece of advice recently and that is not to let your baby be awake for longer than 2 hours. After that point they get overtired and need to rest. I've really taken that to heart because Amelia used to get SO fussy at night and now that we've napped her at night she seems so much better. I used to let her sleep intermittently whenever she wanted in the morning then at night when D got home she'd play with daddy and be awake for 4 or more hours...which led to a VERY fussy baby come bedtime.

Seriously - this is why I need a mommy group. I'm quite certain you don't care about my child's sleeping habits.

I put Amelia in a 3-6 month romper yesterday and almost cried when it actually fit. Granted, Carter's brand runs small but the arm length and leg length is about perfect. I have a long, skinny kid so moving up a size for length is generally good but then the waist area is too big.

I'm learning to sew. I should be finished with my first project by tomorrow or Thursday and I'll post pictures. If you're a seamstress please don't laugh. Or, laugh, because I won't be able to hear you anyway. It's pretty pathetic but I'm still rather proud of it.

I haven't gotten used to the idea that I don't work outside the home anymore. I still feel like I have something to do at work or that I should be starting work any day now. It's liberating yet stressful at the same time because keeping up with my house and taking care of my baby is a lot more work than my "job" ever was. I feel like my husband could take away my "stay at home mom" card any time if I'm not doing a good job. Of course he wouldn't do that, but I want him to love coming home every day to a clean house, a clean kid, and a happy wife. That's a lot more challenging than it sounds! But, it's been my dream job for a long time and I'm happy to attempt to perfect my skills. Any suggestions are welcome.

D took down my winter clothes from the attic so I'll be switching them out tomorrow. I got to thinking that it feels like I just put my winter clothes away then I realized that I did just put them away. Right around the first of August. It will be nice to wear regular winter clothes instead of maternity clothes.

Now I'm just rambling and there's no reason to since I'll be updating more often. I have plenty of time to ramble!

(One of the things that "went" with my pregnancy and subsequent birth of my daughter was my writing ability. I can't seem to form many cohesive thoughts. Thanks for reading, anyway.)

I leave you with a few cute pictures...


These were taken last night. Our dog, Tess, apparently thinks babies taste pretty good.

Well, you know...

My big girl!

I have a good reason for not posting more often. It begins with an "A" and ends in "melia".

Just a few things I need to write down so I don't forget.

First, I had a dentist appointment on Monday for a cleaning. When I spoke with the receptionist, she said it was totally fine that I bring Amelia with me. So, I showed up, they put her in her car seat on the side table of the receptionist desk. She was awake and happy - smiling at everyone and being cute. Suddenly, one of the hygenists walks to my chair with Amelia in her arms. She only had to utter, "I started to pick her up, and..." before I saw it. The flowered leg of Amelia's romper was yellow - the yellow that signifies a major blowout. I was torn. Of course I felt that, as her mom, I needed to get up and take care of it. However, if I get up and spend 10 minutes cleaning up my baby then that means the dentist is that far behind, if not more, for the rest of the day. The sweet girl who brought Amelia to me asked if it was okay if she changed Amelia's clothes and diaper. I told her thank you and apologized profusely. Next, one of the receptionists brought me the removable section of Amelia's car seat that was yellowed with poo. She showed it to me then stuck it in one of the diaper disposal bags I had with me. Fortunately, when I washed it that day the poo came out. The sweet hygenist who cleaned up my kid came out and told me that the poo was all the way up her back to her neck. Seriously. I was beyond mortified. She's only ever had a blowout at home when D or I could quickly take care of it. No wonder she was so happy and smiley - she was working on something! Anyway, I apologized to the entire staff and ducked out after my appointment.

I took a plain card with a patterned front and attached a wallet-sized photo of Amelia (the one where she's smiling over D's shoulder) to the front. I then drew a "thinking" conversation bubble above her that said "THANK YOU!" On the inside, I thanked the staff and apologized again for the huge inconvenience. Then I baked some homemade chocolate chip cookies and put them in a box with the card taped to the outside of the box. I dropped them off yesterday and today I came home to find this message from my dentist on our answering machine:

"Hi this is for Jamie. Jamie, this is Dr.[dentist's name here] and I just want to thank you so much for the cookies you brought and the very nice note. So this is kind of like a 'thank you' for your 'thank you'. [chuckle] Anyway, the cookies are unbelievable - I love those cookies and I love the way you cooked them - they're perfect. And also I think that's also very nice of you to be so thankful - that just really made our day and I just wanted to say thank you and we all enjoyed the cookies. There's still a few left we haven't eaten them all yet but you did a great job and we all appreciate it. Okay well, hope everything's going great - have a good day."

I thought it was really nice of him to personally call and thank me, especially since the whole purpose of the "thank you/sorry/I'm embarassed" cookies was to hopefully clear the air (figuratively and literally speaking) after my daughter poo-pooed at his office and took up his staff's valuable time.

Anyway, had to document that...the first time my daughter's bodily functions caused me embarassment. Note, she didn't cause me embarassment - just her bodily functions.

Yesterday Amelia and I went to my inlaws' house so that my mother-in-law and sister-in-law could can some dill pickles.

***Okay, it's now a week later. Oops.***

I need to write about what I have on my mind now, so I guess whatever thoughts I had a week ago will never be recorded. Oooh well! The baby is sleeping and, since she's reverted back to a not-so-great sleeping pattern I figure I should hurry up and post so I can go to bed. Lately she's been sleeping SO lightly. She only sleeps about 4 hours at night and when she wakes up I feed her then she has the hardest time falling back to sleep. Finally, after putting her pacifier back in every 5 minutes for 2 hours I have to get up and feed her again and by that time I'm awake and she sleeps for the rest of the morning. It's been weird. I hope it's a phase and that she goes back to sleeping at least 5 or 6 hours soon. Also, I'm not used to having to be quiet when she's sleeping. When she was real little I could do anything with her in the room and she never budged. D and I could pass her back and forth or put her in the Boppy while she slept and she stayed sound asleep. Now, her eyes pop open if you so much as shift her in your arms or crinkle paper while she's sleeping.

We were in Oregon last weekend. It was so much fun. There are so many babies around Amelia's age down there. A dear family friend threw me a baby shower for Amelia and everyone who was there (with the exception of the hostesses and my mom) was either pregnant or had a baby under the age of 8 months.

Here are the babies!
L to R: Lucy (8 months - she belongs to a friend from high school, Bev), Anna (4 months - belongs to Carrie), Amelia, Madison (2 months - she's 5 days younger than Amelia and belongs to a friend from church, Missy), Kate (3 1/2 months - Lindsay's baby), and Will (3 months - belongs to another friend from church, Crystal).

There are SO many pictures from this weekend and most of you have seen them if you're my friend on Facebook, but here are a few!

Millie smiling at her granny & then one of the two of them (in the 2nd picture it looks like Amelia has a tooth, but nope - it's just her drool glistening)...


Sisters with their baby girls in matching dresses. I have a lot of baby weight left to lose (but I have a pretty little girl to show for it)!

Amelia loves her cousin, Caleb. This picture cracks me up...especially because you can see Kate's fat thighs in the background!


Amelia's uncle Chris entertaining the babies. Poor Anna is teething so she was constantly chewing on something!


Happy birthday to my sweet, loving husband who is a wonderful daddy. I'm a very lucky girl! He bought his birthday gift from me already so he made it easy on me. There is a funny thing to our little family about our birthdays. I was born on 6/1, D on 9/2, and Millie on 7/3. So, 1-2-3! Anyway, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, D! I love you!

Amelia's been in bed now for half an hour so I better go. She woke up wanting to eat so I fed her but she fell asleep and was unwakeable so she's a ticking timebomb. I can't remember the last time I saw her eyes close all the way when she's been sleeping. Poor girl probably hasn't gotten a real deep night's sleep in a long time.

Only a little over a week until Chicago!