I've watched "White Christmas" - the season can begin

Let's pretend the previous post was yesterday's.  There.  That was a good post yesterday, huh?

The gifts are all wrapped and under the tree.  Last year I faked it and just threw many gifts in bags.  If a gift was actually wrapped all I did was stick a bow on the front and call it good.  This year I decided that all the gifts should be tied with ribbon and the ribbon should then be curled and cut.  It took me probably a total of 6 hours to do, but I'm happy with the result.  Part of the anticipation is unwrapping the gift.  If it just takes one second flat to do it then what's the fun in that?

I feel like my Christmas tree could use more "oomph" at the top.  I'll have to see about that next year.  Maybe.  I really am not someone who needs to way overdo everything when it comes to decorating.  I enjoy it, but I don't shop for my home very often (or ever).  I think everyone has something that they feel pretty crazy to spend money on and, for me, that's home decor.  I'd rather have a new shirt or, better yet, buy clothes for Millie.

Speaking of decor and Millie, I bought her a stocking.  It's a technicality, really.  We aren't ever here at our house for the holidays so I don't know that her stocking will even be used except for looks.  I forgot to get one for her last year so I bought her a really sweet heirloom needlepoint stocking from L.L. Bean just a couple of weeks ago.

And just for the fun of it, here's her First Christmas ornament from last year.  I love it.

I love looking at photos of the babies from a year or more ago.  I can't believe how much they've changed in what seems like a short amount of time.  Here they are on 11/29/09 (l to r:  Kate, Anna, Amelia):

 And here they are on 11/27/10 (in the same order, only Caleb [6] and Ben [4 months - my sister, Carrie's, 3rd] are sandwiched between them:

How time flies!  The girls are starting to play with each other more and getting into the territorial phase.  Amelia is the youngest - she's almost 18 months.  Anna is the oldest of the girls at 20 months and Kate is 19 months.

I think that does it for me tonight. 

Happy Wednesday!

Screaming Santa Photo

It strikes me as odd that I finally have the time to blog 4 days before Christmas. 

My business keeps me very busy.  I make bows in every spare slot I have available and even those are precious few.  It's still going very well, although I closed my Etsy shop - right now I only sell my wares via my Facebook fan page.  I got a little tired of Etsy's fees and how long it took to create each listing.  My hope is that I will be able to have my own website relatively soon.  We'll see!

Amelia's doing great.  She's at the age where she repeats (or tries to repeat) what we say.  We took her to see Santa a couple of weeks ago, and because I'm such an awesome mom I was kind of hoping we'd get the obligatory screaming child Santa photo.  She sure seemed on her way to making that wish a reality.  She clung to me as tightly as she could - her little arms wrapped around my neck and her fingers digging into my back.  She even managed to wrap her legs completely around me in an attempt to interlock them when I tried to give her to Santa.  Santa just sat there, probably hoping we'd give up and walk away.  I managed to free myself and put my close-to-a-meltdown 17-month-old daughter on Santa's lap.  She was not havin' it.  But then the photographer produced a Goofy stuffed animal and waved it in Amelia's face.  This is what we got:

Thanks a lot, Goofy.  Here's hoping next year I get my screaming child photo.

(I really do love this photo)

The Business. She's a Beast.

It's been two months since I last posted.  To the day.  Odd.
Somehow I have over 760 "fans".  And if I could send free bows to each one I totally would.

But, the business is why I haven't been blogging.  Or cleaning.  Or cooking much.  Or, really, much of anything.  It's pretty much grown into a huge, scary monster that I am afraid I can't handle anymore.  Busy is a blessing, don't get me wrong, and I certainly wouldn't complain.  But I feel an obligation to every single one of my customers to make the best product possible and ship it as soon as possible which is very stressful.

It sounds easy.  You're thinking it sounds easy.

It was easy when I first started and had, maybe, an order a week.  Now I'm looking at my order sheet of orders placed this week and last and wondering how I'm going to ship 16 orders as quickly as I'd like.  The truth is, I'm not.  And I have that disclaimer on my main business page - that it could take 2-3 weeks for in-stock orders to ship.  You'd think that would make me relax a little but it doesn't.  It makes me twitch.  Do you know how quickly 2 weeks flies by?

Christmas is 3 months away!

I digress.  Really.  Because I'm not complaining, I promise.  I could just use one or two of Santa's elves right about now.  He should stop being so selfish and gimme one.


On to other things.  Like my sweet, beautiful Amelia.  She's such a good girl and this age is SO fun.  I don't let my business completely overtake everything in my life, especially her.  We have a great time.  She's hilarious - I'm really enjoying 15 months old.


She can say a lot of things because she tries to mimic everything you say.  Today, she said a word and I didn't understand it (big surprise), so I said "What?" To which she responded "What?  Whaaat?  Whaaaaaat?"  I would be offended that she were mocking me if she weren't 15 months old and learning to speak.


She says "Thank you" ("Tchank Tcho") without prompting.

She says "I love you" ("Ya Ya") and gives kisses and hugs without prompting.

She says "All Done" ("Ahh Duh") as she signs it now.

Give her 100 toys and she will always go right for a baby doll and tote it around with her.

She laughs a lot, but she laughs the hardest at/for her cousin, Caleb.  They are GREAT friends.


The girl will eat any dried or fresh fruit you stick in front of her.  She may be a somewhat picky eater with some things, but fruit is not one of them.

"Default happy" is how my husband describes our baby, and he's right.  She just seems content and easy-going 95% of the time.  She gets that good naturedness from her daddy.  Not that everything is stars and rainbows all of the time - she has her moments.  But, we deal with the attitude and move on.

She will and does walk off with things.  No idea where the remote control for our Blu Ray player is.  She walked off with one of David's favorite pens - can't find it anywhere.  Half the time we can't find our lip balm or remotes for our bedroom lights.  It'd be frustrating if it weren't so funny.


She started walking in mid-August and hasn't slowed down since.  That was the same week we were down in Portland buying our '05 Honda Odyssey Touring.  Yes, a van.  And I LOVE IT.  Seriously, I think people who say they'll never own a van need to drive one around for a week and see how awesome it is.  Remote control doors and rear hatch?  Um, yes, please!  Seats that fold into the floor and hidden compartments in the floor for storage?  OKAY!  The list seriously goes on and on. 



You'll notice many of the photos are from this month. We drove down to Portland last weekend for an early trip to the Pumpkin Patch at Sauvie Island. We had a really great time but many of the festivities weren't out yet - too early. I should mention that my sister, Carrie, made the girls' t-shirts. Cute, right? She's making more to sell in my Millie's Bows comment game on October 1st. See my Facebook fan page for details.

And, just for fun, here's a photo of the newest member of the family!  Meet Benjamin!  My sister, Carrie, gave birth to him on July 28 of this year.  He's so squishy and loveable.  That's my dad holding him.


Happy Friday!

Trader Joe's Woes

Trader Joe's are few and far between around here, but when we were visiting David's Gramma we decided to go to one just around the corner.  David calls it the Hippie Store.  Politically correct?  No.  Funny?  Yes.  Let me say that if you're a TJ's first-timer, you will stand out like a sore thumb.  People who shop there regularly know where they're going.  I definitely felt lost and out of sorts several times...reading all the labels wondering exactly what I'm looking at.  I realize I just ended a sentence with a preposition. 

I was mostly looking for things for Amelia.  Not that I'm super picky about what I feed her, although I do try to give her well-rounded meals and snacks.  She is getting about 5 teeth right now but she still doesn't chew things very well so I'm forever chopping up her food in little pieces which completely cramps my laid-back-mom style.  What's worse is when I spend more time chopping than Amelia spends time even considering eating it.  Tess is a very fat dog right now.  Imagine my complete elation when I stumbled across these in Trader Joe's:

They're teeny tiny ravioli!  Perfect for munchkins with few teeth.  Plus, they're freeze dried so they don't have to be refrigerated or cooked all at once.  I thought I was being all clever when I boiled enough of these to last a few of her meals.  We also bought mini tortellini with pesto filling. Brilliant!

These things are nasty.  Amelia won't touch them.  I tried one and they taste like...well, like freeze dried cheese would taste.  Major convenience fail.  I'm pretty sad about this - I am hoping Amelia will develop a liking to them.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, these...

...are awesome.

They're also $3.50/box which is roughly $.59/package.  Amelia really likes them.

I also bought some hummus which, paired with calamata olives, pita bread, and cucumber, was a very yummy dinner for me tonight.

A few Amelia things:

~  Last night she was sitting and eating at dinner and I was going to be a little longer fixing my plate so David sat down to eat, too.  As soon as I sat down to eat, Amelia clasped her hands and bowed her head.  She knew it was time to pray!  Even though David had said his own already, he said a prayer for all of us.  Very proud moment for us!

~  My dad has always called us girls his "chickens".  Before (or maybe right after) Amelia was born, my dad picked out chicken ornaments for each of us.  I think they're supposed to be ornaments for a Christmas tree, but I took the hook and string off and it became a decoration in Amelia's room.  Every morning when I go get her up for the day she points to it on her shelf and says "Bid, bid" (bird).  Then she does the motorboat thing with her mouth and that is her trying to say "bird" the correct way.  Every single morning this happens - like that bird is the first thing on her mind!  I snuck in her room and took the bird off her shelf so I could show it to you!

~  She has started blowing kisses.  She puts her hand to her mouth and says "Muuuuah!" but doesn't remove her hand, so she's keeping the kisses to herself for now.  She's also started giving kisses close-mouthed which is a little less messy but makes me a little sad. 

~  She took 3 steps on Wednesday, 3 steps on Thursday, and a couple today.  She could be on her way to walking!  Everyone tells me that when they walk is when you have to look out and be careful, but she's been standing and cruising for months.  I can't imagine anything that would be in her reach now that wasn't in her reach before.  I'm ready to be able to take her to the park and let her walk around.  Right now she just sits on my lap which can't be fun for her.  She'll walk about 5 steps next to me while holding my hand so I let her do that while we're out and about sometimes.  She loves, loves, loves going crawling after church at the building.  Grandpa follows her around and cheers her on which is so cute.

We went to a local street fair today.  It was less than I was expecting but still nice to get out and about.   

Happy Weekend!

Not Millie's 1st Birthday

It's never, ever a good idea to drink a large glass of iced caffeinated coffee at 5pm.  Take it from me.  Learn from my mistakes.  Don't walk in my footsteps.  It's 1:20am and I'm starting a blog that is bound to be long and wordy.

First, a couple of things.

We went to see David's Gramma J last weekend.  She hasn't seen Amelia in months so it was fun to see her and catch up with her.  I tried to get a photo of everyone but Gramma wouldn't look at the camera in any of the photos so this is the best one I have of David and Amelia (to the right).

We bought a big, huge bag of Brookside dark chocolate covered acai with blueberry on the 11th of this month (last Sunday for those of you who don't feel like thumbing through a calendar).  It's gone.  David had 3, maybe.  Amelia had 3, maybe.  I'm not a math whiz or anything but I think that means I had more than 3.

Amelia has learned to say "Please" ("psss").  Up until this point we hadn't really pushed the manners thing since she was still learning how to say a lot of things (important things like "bird") and she looked lost when I asked her to say please.  Truthfully, she's probably insanely brilliant and realized that once she started with please she'd never be allowed to stop.  She's also got the head nodding for "yes" and the violent head shaking for "no" down, although both are just games and we are still trying to help her associate what they really mean.  Well, she knows what they mean but I don't think she knows that's what she's communicating when she nods or shakes her head.  Get it?  Okay, moving on.

She's been signing "More" for months now, but in the past few weeks has also picked up "All Done". 

I was going to make this post about her first birthday but I'm actually getting sleepy and we have plans to go to the park tomorrow morning.  Amelia is teething like crazy - I see about 5 teeth trying to pop their way through.  I put her down for her first nap today around 10:45 and got her up around 2pm.  Lest you think she slept for more than an hour, let me tell you that in that time was some crying, then some rocking, then some more crying in her crib, then me changing her stinky diaper, then some more crying in her crib, then me being a sucker and giving her more milk, then her finally crashing around 1pm and waking at 2pm.  I tried to put her back down to see if she'd take a cat nap around 3:15 but no dice. 

Am I crazy or does Amelia look a little like Emma, the guidance counselor from Glee, in this photo?

David and I went jogging today.  Maybe a 1 1/4 miles.  Definitely a mile - just not sure about the 1/4 part...could be more or less.  I say jogging but of course I mean I would jog in 30-60 second spurts then start walking and mumbling about how out of shape I am.  I tried several times to get David to go ahead of me and I'd catch up but he wouldn't - he wanted to wait.  Isn't that sweet?  At the end of our run we had circled the park and were about to go home but I convinced him to take another lap around the park and he did - a 7 1/2 minute mile was his pace.  When we was running with me it was a 12 minute mile.  Lame. 

I put Millie to bed at 8pm which is half an hour earlier than usual.  She zonked out and we haven't heard from her since.  Actually, that's not entirely true.  She squawked a few times but went right back out.  Usually by now she'll have woken up for a bottle or something.  Not that I'm complaining, it just means that she will probably be waking up around 7:30 or 8 instead of 9 like she usually does.  And here I sit at 1:40 writing a blog.  Stupid.  Stupid.

It's almost 2.  All of the photos with the exception of the Gramma J one were taken tonight while David grilled our steaks.  My baby is not such a baby anymore.

Happy whatever-day-it is.

I can't believe I have over 500 fans on Facebook.  I'm supposed to do a huge giveaway so if you have any ideas of what that could be, please let me know.

Super Lame

I'm all about posting the ups and downs of life.  I never understood why one would post only happy things.  Isn't the purpose of a blog to document real life?  Anyway, I digress.  A balance of both is good, I'd say.

My husband is passed out on the couch and has been since about 9:15 tonight.  He has been staying up until around 11:30pm every night and getting up at 5am for work.  I love Thursdays when he doesn't have to work the next day (he is on a Flex schedule where he works more hours during the week and has every other Friday off), but lately he's had to go in for a meeting for about 4 hours, even when he isn't technically supposed to be working.  Thankfully it's not until the afternoon and he gets to sleep in.  Usually we watch a movie together on nights like tonight.  Or, he'll go work on projects and I'll make bows.  Tonight, he went horizontal on the couch and it was all over.  I feel bad for him - I wish he wasn't so tired all the time.

We bought a bag of Brookside dark chocolate covered acai with blueberry at Costco.  They're good.  Too good.  I'm considering buying another bag and stashing it in my freezer so I can have a surplus when Costco doesn't sell them anymore.  I'm getting the feeling they're a seasonal item.  I made the rookie mistake of leaving the open bag on the coffee table the other day.  Amelia sniffed them out, reached in the bag despite my chorus of "No"s from the other room, and popped one in her mouth.  It was like slow motion, me running from the kitchen to stop her and her shoving the choclatey goodness into her mouth.  I told David about it later and he got the mistaken impression that I had given her one.  So, he decided to let her have one, too.

A little dark chocolate won't hurt her.  She's eaten so many blueberries this summer that I wouldn't be surprised if she starts turning blue.  One thing she won't eat:  meat and veggies.  Our pediatrician assured us that she won't refuse them forever, but right now it seems like the only things she'll have anything to do with are sweet things like fruit.  She actually really likes cheese and hot dogs, but if the cheese is shredded instead of cubed it throws her off and she won't eat it.  Crazy girl.

I'm having a giveaway on my Millie's Bows blog.  I'm giving away some cute clippies, so check it out!
Enter Here! ~ Millie's Bows ~

Happy Friday!

Miss me?

Ah, the things that make one think "I should document this". 

**WARNING** This post is about poo...and I don't mean the Disney character.

I saw on the video monitor today that Amelia had woken from her nap.  I was in the middle of something and decided to just let her be since she seemed content.  Probably about half an hour passed and I assumed she had fallen back to sleep since she's been doing that quite a bit lately.  I finally check the monitor and I can tell that her rear is bare.  I didn't look too closely but I grabbed my camera on the way to her room, thinking that whatever was going on would at least be humorous enough to photograph.

I was right.

I'll spare you the photos, but she had decided to see what it would be like to poo on her crib sheet instead of her diaper.  The diaper was virtually unscathed save for a few poo streaks on the outside.  Not only did she deficate on the crib sheet, she played in it and smeared it all over everything she could reach.

Now, I'm a first time mom and have never had to clean up a mess this stinky or on a scale as large as this.  I didn't really know what to do exactly.  I left the room and started to fill the tub.  When I went back into her room I took her shirt off of her and she tried to grab my shirt.  Keep in mind her hands are absolutely black they're so caked with poo.  I realized once I reached the bathroom that filling the tub was a monumentally BAD idea.  Now there were poo particles floating all around her the second I put her in.  So, I started to empty the tub, all the while trying to run her hands under the heavy-streaming water and scrubbing them as much as I could.  I was grateful that I had just cut her nails a few days ago.

I finally got her un-pooed enough that I could fill the tub and give her a normal bath.  That was the easy part.  While I was drying her off I called my mom.  I knew she'd get a kick out of my situation and, honestly, I thought it was pretty funny, too.  It wouldn't have been funny if Amelia was old enough to know better and did it anyway, but she's 1.  Anyway, apparently my younger sister had done the same thing to my mom when she was a baby.  I think my dad called this something like "sweet revenge".  Maybe 28 years down the road I'll get a call from Amelia when her baby smears poo all over the place.  A mom can only hope.

It really wasn't as bad as I thought - cleaning it up.  I put all of her little stuffed animals and her blanket in a bag and also had a separate bag to put my used cleaning items in.  Her crib sheet was soaked in the bathtub while the bumper, rug (yes, some even ended up on the floor), and mattress pad were washed.  Then her sheet and her little animals were washed. 

I'm sure you care about the details.  I just have to say that I would rather clean up her poo than be a Northwesterner without A/C this week.  It got into the mid-90s today and many, many homes in this region do not have central air.  We had ours installed when we moved in and it's so nice.  Although, last night we lost power for a few hours (which never happens) and that was pretty crazy.

I'll catch up with other things soon.  I have to write about Amelia's first birthday party.

Cuteness

Jillian Michaels kicked my rear-end today and I think she plans to do it again tomorrow so I'm not sure why I'm still awake, much less blogging.  I still enjoy blogging even though it's becoming harder and harder to find the time for it. 

Is it weird that I forget how old I am?  I recently turned 29, and my only reaction to that was "What?  I thought I was already 29."  Nice.  Sometimes I feel like I'm in constant crisis mode, but not about anything important.  Mostly just about how in the world am I going to find the right organization storage for all of my craft stuff?  And...how will I be able to make it functional enough so that I can operate my business on a daily basis?  Right now my workstation is my dining room table which always results in an illusion of sorts by sweeping it all off the table and throwing it in the back guest room.  Ta-Dah!  No more mess!  This has to change.  Here's the problem:  I have 250 spools of ribbon. 

My sweet girl will be 1 in less than a month.  I'm working to plan her party and so far just have some things ordered.  This will probably be one of those situations where the date seems so far away but it sneaks up on me and I'm unprepared.  I'm just tellin' it like it is.

I wanted to share some pictures but Blogger is doing the usual messing them up and I don't have time to fix them so how they are is how they are.  The one above is Amelia with her Uncle Jake and Sage the dog at my in-laws' house.  The very top picture is from the same day - her first "whale spout" in her hair.  Aww...

Here's a couple I took on her actual 11-month day.  If you don't know, I have taken a photo of her next to the same pig since she was 5 months old.  It's neat to see how big she's gotten (Amelia, not the pig).  The pig is special because my dad got it for me when I was 2.  When Amelia reaches the 1 year mark I'll post all of the photos.

Tonight Amelia cried out a few hours after going to bed and I didn't have to but I went in and rocked her.  It didn't work to put her to sleep - it never does - but it was so nice to just love on her.  It feels so good when she buries her head in my neck and wraps her little arms around me.  Often on the weekends when David gets up with her she won't eat and instead looks for me to come in and feed her and rock her.  He's really good about getting her to eat and go back down anyway, but sometimes she just wants me.  That feels good.  And, yet I love when David gets home from work and Amelia just wants to attach herself to him and play with him.  I know she's growing fast but in some ways it doesn't feel like it yet.  I'm enjoying every stage.

Must go to bed.  Happy Tuesday.

P.S.  Please go to my store and purchase a FIND A CURE Flower.  $2 from the sale of every flower will go to the Susan G. Komen foundation in honor of a friend of mine who just found out she has breast cancer. Thanks!

Record-breaking badness

I have to make this quick because right now I'm supposed to be doing 556 things and none of those require blogging.  BUT, monumental terribleness happened today and I must record it.  After all, every second that ticks by another brain cell in my head implodes.

Amelia didn't sleep well last night.  I have thought for the last couple of days that I was being a super awesome mom by figuring out a way to get protein in my baby's lunch.  Add black beans!  Problem is, beans are a magical fruit.  Baby's got gas.  She didn't go to sleep until 9:30 last night then woke up at 2am (I hadn't been to bed yet) screaming.  I rocked her and fed her and rocked her some more.  She finally went to sleep and I finally did, too.  I thought she would sleep in a bit but she was awake at 7:45 this morning and wouldn't be put back down.

I gave her a bath then put her down for a morning nap which only lasted 45 minutes.  Not long enough.  I tried rocking her - she was obviously SO tired.  She's been cutting teeth so I gave her a little bit of Walgreen's version of Tylenol.  She loved chewing on the dropper so I let her hold the bottle.  It was in her crib when I put her back and hoped she'd fall back to sleep. 

Meanwhile, I called David's mom and asked if she was free to come over and play with the baby so I could get some things done.  I was feeling a bit overwhelmed.  She said she would be happy to (LOVE her!) and she'd be here after lunch.

Amelia had gotten quiet then all of a sudden started crying.  It was the poo cry.  Sure enough, I walked in to her room and smelled it.  Then I looked in her crib and saw it.  Not poo - reddish pink stuff.  My first thought was "She threw up the Tylenol" but .08 mL is not enough to coat her crib sheet in 5 different places and make my baby a completely sticky mess. 

I found the dropper and the bottle.  Empty.  It had only been half-full to begin with.  I changed Amelia's diaper and stripped her of her sticky, gooey clothes.  I called David at work and he said I should call poison control, something I was planning to do anyway but for some reason called my husband first.

Amelia's baby tub was still in the kitchen from when I bathed her, oh, and hour or so before.  I stuck her in the tub and let her splash around while I ran a wet washcloth over her and called Poison Control.  The guy on the other end needed info from the Tylenol bottle.  In Amelia's room.  I grabbed her out of the tub, wrapped her in a towel and found the bottle in her bedroom.  I gave him the information he needed and he put me on hold while he did some calculations.  I took Amelia in the living room to put a diaper and clothes on her while I waited.  As I was trying to diaper Amelia one-handed, he came back on the line.  Amelia was fighting me and the diaper so I let her air dry while I wrapped up the phone call.  She crawled next to the towel, sat up, and peed.  On the carpet.  Reminded me of those fireboats:

David's mom came over and played with Amelia for a couple of hours while I worked on finishing my lesson for the ladies class.  I taught the class - it was on Homemaking.  I was told it went well!

I should be packing and making bows.  I'm so far behind on the bows I need to make that I feel I'll never catch up.  Most are donations to a wonderful charity but I also have some gifts to finish making. 

Happy Friday!

Starting to Forget

I was so concerned about potentially boring my few readers that I neglected writing about Amelia as often as I wanted to and should have.  Now I'm starting to forget so much about her first several months.  I know we had rough nights (and some rough days), but not wanting to be a downer, I rarely posted details.  How lame.  Life is full of ups and downs - how can anyone read a blog that's all "ups" and no "downs" with any sense of reality at all?  Especially with a newborn the wonderful moments outweigh the tiring, emotionally exhausting ones, but I think they're all worth documenting.

Often we drive past the gas station where, on the way home from Bible class one night, we had to park there so we could take turns soothing an inconsolable baby.  My parents were in town that night and my mom spent a lot of time with me trying to figure out what was wrong with her...I think Amelia was maybe a month old.  Finally my mom, being the rockstar superhero that she is, soothed Amelia with a combination of song and belly rubbing.  I know now that it was painful gas causing my baby to get so upset.
So, I'm here now. I have to get back on the proverbial horse and write about my sweet baby. It makes me so happy to go back and read the few posts I did manage to write when we first brought her home and the months that followed.

Here are some things about my 10 1/2 month old baby girl:

- She doesn't like anyone to touch her hands.  At all.  I was able to put a finger puppet on her pointer finger tonight in Bible class before she slipped her hand out of my grasp.  I think it was just an attitude thing, but when I was holding her tonight I had my hand on her leg and she kept pushing my hand off.

(Picture to the right is of Amelia and her pediatrician.  We love her!)

- She still only has 2 teeth that are all the way through and those are on the bottom.  The white of her left eye tooth is clearly visible but no sign of her two front teeth yet. 

- She loves graham crackers, green peas, cheese, all fruit, Costco hot dogs and buns, and beef.  She's not a big fan of chicken or turkey.

- She loves Tess.  Every morning when she first sees Tess, she claps and says "Hi Teh!"  She's constantly grabbing Tess's toy rope and waving it in front of Tess's face until Tess grabs it and they play some tug-of-war.

- She hugs me every time I get her up in the morning and after her naps.  I love it.  She will give me hugs and kisses any time I ask, and I ask a lot! 

- She's a daredevil.  Climbs on things, including our couch, and loves to be tossed into the air.

- She says "Mama", "Dada", "Bah" (Book), "Teh" (Tess), and tries to say a lot of other things.  She's just at the age where she'll look at your mouth when you're saying something and she really tries to figure out how to say it.  She babbles all of the time.  I can't wait to see what she says next!

- Her favorite games are "Peek-A-Boo", "I'm Gonna Get That Baby", and "I See a Belly!"  She loves her books, especially "Open the Barn Door" because I make the animal noises.  Every time I say "Woof Woof", Amelia laughs.

(Picture to the left is her about a week ago when she fell asleep for the night using her stuffed bunny as a pillow)

- She loves her daddy.  When she hears him come in the door, she crawls over to the gate and claps and bounces up and down.  She wants him to hold her right away and she'll spend until dinner snuggling and playing with him.  She loves repeating noises that he makes.  He'll say "Ha ha ha" and she will repeat it.  They do a lot of "Ah!"s back and forth. 

- She has learned on her own how to uncap lipbalm and Vaseline as well as how to push the button on the wipes box and start pulling wipes out of the container.

- If she is done with something it goes on the floor.  This applies to books, toys, and especially food.  Tonight I gave her pieces of cooked chicken breast dipped in mixed veggie puree.  On the floor.  Then I tried salvaging the pieces (they had dropped onto a clean towel which we had underneath her) by putting a small piece of pineapple on top of each piece.  That did the trick.  My baby loves pineapple, just like her mama and completely unlike her daddy.  The "on the floor" thing has become an issue in the middle of Bible class or worship services when she just lets go of whatever toy she's done holding and it falls loudly onto the floor.  So, we are teaching her not to drop things on purpose.  It's a fine line between purpose and accidental at this age.

- She's not so much a drama queen, she stays pretty even tempered.  However, her whine/cry sounds like the most pathetic noise in the world.  Sometime I'll record it and post it.  There are days when she's not in the best mood and that's all I hear.  It makes me want to saw my ears off with a spoon.

I think that's enough for tonight.  Good timing on her part - she just cried out.  Hopefully (praying!) she isn't really awake and that was just a squeal in the night.  We'll see.  Mama needs sleep.  I planned to get up with David tomorrow morning but I also planned to go to sleep 2 hours ago. 

Happy Thursday!

Snot Rockets

I called Poison Control for the first time tonight.  David and I were in our bedroom - he was getting ready for Bible class and I was on the computer.  The baby was playing with whatever she found lying around.  We have toys and baby-safe gadgets within her grasp in our bedroom for occasions such as this. 

Now, I dig a lot of things out of her mouth on a somewhat daily basis.  Mostly ribbon.  I try, but I miss picking up some minute pieces of ribbon from my bow-making sometimes and if it's even a speck, Amelia will find it. 

So, in the bedroom.  Suddenly I turn and David is digging something out of her mouth, asking why I had a pill on my nightstand.  I didn't have a pill on my nightstand.  Apparently, a stray FenuGreek pill had found its way under the nightstand and Amelia found it.  Nursing moms will know that Fenugreek are herbal pills meant to increase milk supply.  I haven't nursed Amelia in almost 2 months, so obviously I was completely clueless as to how and when this pill wandered under my nightstand.  David retrieved the capsule from Amelia's mouth.  She had biten off the top 1/4" of the pill and that part was still in her mouth.  Fortunately, the capsule still held most of its contents.  I go digging in Amelia's now maple-sugar-smelling mouth for the top part of the capsule and its contents.  She is not happy about having my pinky finger shoved in every crevice of her mouth, but I caught a glimpse of the capsule and am determined to grab it.

I finally dug it out and called poison control.  No harm.  They took my name, Amelia's name, and her date of birth.  I can't help thinking that I'm now on file with CPS. 

David took this week off work.  Here was our plan:

- Get home improvement projects done
- Do a lot of spring cleaning
- Go to the zoo
- Go to the aquarium
- Take family walks every day
- I would get to make some bows while David watched the baby

Here's what actually is happening:

- Millie and I got sick

It's so bad that every time Amelia sneezes, David sings "Snot Rockets" to the tune of the "Hot Pockets" jingle.  You can imagine why.

Is there really a worse way to try to fall asleep than with a stuffy, yet runny, nose?  I'm an advocate of the cry-it-out method, albeit a modified version of the method, but when the baby is sick all of that gets thrown out the window. 

I put her down at 7:30 tonight.  I thought I had every possible base covered.  We stuck to the bedtime routine, I also turned her cool mist humidifier on high, Baby Rub-bed her chest and neck, gave her a dose of Benedryl to help with her nose, and slightly elevated her mattress.  She fell asleep quickly and easily.  I was so relieved.

Fast forward one hour and 10 minutes later.  Amelia wakes herself up by coughing and decides it would be a good idea to stand up in her crib and make a huge fuss.  After a few minutes seeing if she would calm down and realizing she clearly won't, I went in and tried the old "I'm right here, I wiped your nose  - oh, hey look!  It's your pacifier! - but I'm not going to pick you up" routine but she flipped out.  I rocked her.

And rocked her.

And rocked her.

The good news is that she let me rock her.  The bad news is that she didn't fall asleep, she just stared at me and played with my nostrils.

I fed her what equaled an obsene amount of formula for what she's used to at bedtime, but she drank it and wanted all of it (she is definitely one to turn down the milk if she doesn't want it).  I laid her down and she did the thing where she pops right up the second I put her on the mattress.

David got home from Bible class and we let Amelia cry in her crib for probably 10 minutes.  I was hoping she would realize how tired she was and zonk out, but I also was realistic in that the more worked up she got, the more snotty everything got.  Snotty - messy, crusty, snottiness. 
I'm a sucker and got her out of bed where she played in the darkness of our bedroom for about 30-40 minutes.  Happy as a stinking clam.  Fed her another 4 ounces which she sucked down then I put her back to bed.  She fussed for a total of 1 minute then completely sacked out.

I'm pretty sure it was 11:45pm.  Now that I'm on record with CPS I'm sure this will go in my file, too.

I'm scared of how this night and tomorrow will go for us, but hopefully she sleeps well.

P.S.  I'm having another giveaway tomorrow on my Facebook fan page, so stop by.

Wordless Wednesday: Rub-a-dub-dub