Amelia's Room

Amelia's room is filled several special things.  Her crib was mine.

Look at the pile of homemade blankies hanging off the side and that isn't even all of them.
The paintings above her crib were made by one of Lucas' coworkers.

I knit the bird mobile.

The bookcase was made by my dad for me when I was younger.

My mother and I made the curtains and covered the rocking chair and lampshade.
My dad made the dolly bunk beds

and the doll house.  Well, technically Santa made the dollhouse.

He also made the shelf above her changing table.

And the newest item is a table made by grandpa especially for her.

She's a pretty lucky girl isn't she!

Eyelashes

Everywhere we go we get comments on how long and pretty Amelia's eyelashes are.  I have to agree. 

Jumperoo

Last week was Amelia's first try at her Jumperoo.  I wasn't sure if it was "age appropriate" for her but in the end decided that she has pretty good head control at this point so why not try it out.  She can just barely touch the ground and she looks very tiny in it!  It plays music of course and at first she was really considering that it made her sad.  After she got more used to it I began making supper while she was still decided if she really liked it or not.  After awhile she got mad and wanted out, but when she cries and gets mad she kicks her legs so it would bounce and the sounds would go off.  She would stop crying to stare at it for awhile and then repeat the whole thing all over.  This went on for a good five minutes.  She is really at a stage where she likes things to repeat.  I've tried it a couple more times since then and each time she is liking it better and better. 

Another Fun Weekend

Saturday Amelia went to visit Grandma while Lucas and I super cleaned the house.  It felt great to really deep clean and get rid of so much cat hair!  When Amelia came home we gave her a bath.  At first I thought that she was unhappy and going to cry because she had this strange look on her face, which I've discovered is a look of determination.  All of a sudden she began kicking her feet.  Pretty soon her butt was wiggling along with her feet.  Then her arms joined in and she was rocking back and forth while the water was splashing out of her tub.  Then she'd stop and smile at me.  She continued doing this for about twenty minutes and would have done it longer but her water was cold and I took her out.  Very cool!  We have come a long way since her first bath where she cried the entire time. 

Today we celebrated Kirsten's birthday. 

Here's the birthday girl wearing a flower headband I made for her.  I also made her a basket for her new bike. 

I love how she is staring at Kole! 

After all of the excitement from the party Amelia took a very long nap at home.  Which allowed me to get in some sewing time!  My mom bought me this purse kit from the State quilt show and I've been dying to make it so I was totally thrilled to have a free afternoon. 

Big Talker

My girl is going to talk my ear off when she's older.  She's really been chatty this week.  I think she may have discovered how to make some new sounds.  While I was folding laundry earlier this week she was having a little party with herself and I just had to tape it.

Here she is being chatty.

Last night we had a really bad storm that was making tornadoes.  She didn't really get a good nap during the day and crashed while snuggling daddy around 4.  She was sleeping hard through the storm but we had to go to the basement and she woke up.  Then she wasn't ready to go back to bed for awhile.  So round two for daddy to put her to sleep.  This time she wouldn't stop talking to him.  At first he responded to her but of course that wasn't getting her to sleep.  So then he tried to not look at her and ignoring her.  She didn't like this and reached up and tickled his face until he'd look at her.  He finally had to put a blanket over her face so she couldn't see.

Pretty Girl

Notice anything different about my girl?

If you don't see it here's a hint.

We got her ears pierced today!  I thought she was cute before.  If possible she's even cuter now.  Notice Grandma hiding in the background?  She and Kallie really wanted to come along.  Kallie was my photographer and mom tried to run away because she didn't want to see or hear Amelia cry.  It was another nostalgic day for me as I went along twelve years ago when Kallie got her ears pierced.  This might possibly be a new tradition and Amelia will have to go along when Kallie has a daughter and gets her ears pierced. 

She did a great job testing the ability of her lungs and recovered from it all very quickly.  I think it helped that the lady let me keep her in the Moby so that I could instantly snuggle her the way she likes and she feel asleep not even five minutes later.   

Baptism

Wow!  It's already been a month!  Here's the pictures I promised a month ago. 

Her baptism was such a wonderful event.  Baptisms are done during the church service so we have witnessed several and Lucas and I are both godparents.  It is a completely different experience when it is your own child.  I was so thrilled to be up there and proud to have her become a part of our church community.  She was a very well mannered baby.  She was awake for the whole thing and didn't cry at all.  Another fun tradition in our church is father taking the baptized baby and walking around the church to show her off.  Everyone loved her and she thoroughly enjoyed checking everyone out. 

Amelia's godparents, Josh and Hilary

Grandparents:

Great-grandparents:

Tough Decisions

We've had some tough decisions to make this past week. 

The first one involves Amelia's food.  I've been having a rough time nursing.  My supply isn't there and I'm so stressed out all the time that I just can't keep up enough for her.  It's been very frustrating and I did get help but it only worked for so long.  I was beginning to feel like I'm in a sinking ship and I was going down with it.  This has been the hardest choice to make as a parent so far.  As much as it made me feel like a failure I decided it would be better for us both if I stopped and switched to formula.  I needed to be a better less stressed out momma for my baby.  Not only have I been happier, but she has too.  Maybe it's because she's getting the amount of food she needed or maybe it's because I'm happier.  I'm willing to bet it's both. 

Decision number two involves our kitties.  I have always loved cats and love our two cats we have right now.  It's hard to believe we've already had them for 5 years.  As embarrassing as it is I have to confess they've been peeing around the house.  At first it was just by the back door at our apartment.  When we moved to our house it was the same thing but over time it has gotten really bad.  It's by every door, on the carpets, and all around the basement.  Now they're even doing it in front of us and it's pretty easy to see that this issue is behavioral and not some physical inability to make it to the box.  All I keep thinking about is Amelia will be crawling someday soon and I don't want her around that.  So we found a farm that will take them, and they'll be outdoor kitties now.  I'll miss them, but in the end they are just animals and maybe in the future we can try having cats again. 

3 months old!

Amelia is 3 months old today!  In the past month she has really become a social butterfly and her personality has flourished. 

Trying to sit up

She loves to:

• Play games - peek a boo is a favorite
• Study faces and bright objects
• Blow bubbles
• Drool and suck on her fingers
• Sit up - she'll let you know if she isn't sitting up enough by leaning forward and grunting

She hates:

• Burping
• Laying down
• Tummy time
• Being ignored - she must be a part of all conversation and will join in
• Falling asleep - I don't mean sleeping.  I mean she fights falling asleep and I have to resort to putting a blanket over her face for her to shut her eyes

Father's Day Weekend

We had a very busy weekend as usual.  :-)

Saturday morning Amelia and I had coffee with my dad at Panera.  We had fun and everyone was drooling over her.  She was even borrowed by one of our fellow parishioners to be shown off. 

After that we picked up my friend Julie and went to Maple Grove for her wedding shower.  This was also another fun event and Amelia was passed around to everyone.  She thoroughly enjoyed the attention.  She was a very good girl for the drive and slept the whole way up.  On the way back I did have to stop and give her a bottle but she fell asleep after that and didn't wake up until we got home.

Today we went to church and then out with my parents for a light breakfast as we were going to Steve and Rachel's for lunch.  Today was Kirsten's birthday so we sang happy birthday to her at the party, but we'll officially celebrate next weekend.  The day was filled with lots of relaxation. 

These two couldn't have been any happier.  Snuggling is a favorite pastime for both.  This brought back memories for me because Stevie and I would snuggle like this all the time when I was younger. 

Lucas was also very content.  See how he has the remote?  Also take note of the mug on the table next to him.  There was an endless supply of coffee.  I hope he can sleep tonight...

And finally I have to share a picture of him with his girl. 

We went Swimming

Amelia & I tried to go to the pool with Jennifer, John, and Taylor.  I put Amelia's feet in the water and she cried.  I tried to sit in the water with her and she cried.  I ended up feeding her and she slept the rest of the time.  She was still a very cute styling baby!

Silly People

I shop with coupons.  I'm not talking about getting a percentage discount in the mail for Kohl's.  I spend time every week looking at certain websites and clipping coupons to get the best deals on food and home products.  I do this because we like to eat and Lucas can eat the equivalency of 2-3 people. 

So today at the grocery store the cashier tries scanning one of my $5 coupons and it won't ring up.  He looks at me and says "It won't scan" and tries to give it back to me.  It should have gone through because the coupon before it was exactly the same.  So I say "I don't know why it won't."  His reply is "Me either."  Then he looks at it and says "Oh, today is the 16th, it expired today."  Well now, if the expiration date is the 16th, it means it is still good today.  As if that really matters though, Cubs accepts coupons that are up to 3 months expired.  So then I start schooling him on their coupon policy and finally he calls his manager over to fix it.  I should have known something like that would happen when he was asking me what the red onion and roma tomatoes were. 

It reminded me of the time I was at the Pita Pit and the worker asked if mayo and mayonnaise were the same thing.   Seriously?

Awesome Day

I had an awesome day sewing!  I completed almost everything that I wanted to but I can't talk about my projects as they are all gifts.  It was great to have a day of relaxed sewing and there is discussion of doing it again sometime later this summer.  I think I'll be treasuring these retreats more than ever since my sewing time has gone to zilch.

Amelia also had a fun day with her Aunt Kait.  They had so much fun playing that Amelia only took a few short naps.  She was super tired the next day.  Not only did she sleep all night, she slept the whole morning and part of the afternoon!

I also had an interesting night yesterday activating cell phones.  I pulled out my phone last week and the screen was broken!  So I couldn't put off buying a new one anymore.  I discovered while looking for phones a few months ago that it is actually a better deal to buy them offline.  Not only do you get free shipping, you don't have to pay an activation fee, but this means that I had to activate the phone.  It turned out to not be that bad and I was able to get mom's new phone and mine set up and running.  I like to think that I'm pretty technology savvy, but some of these newer technology things scare me.  I don't know why and the funny thing is it usually turns out to be easy. 

Sick

Last Tuesday night I wasn't feeling so good and went to bed early.  As Wednesday progressed I got a fever that ended up spiking at 103.7!  I don't ever remember have a temp that high.  Thursday my temp wasn't so high and by Friday I was back to normal.  I don't know what the heck I had or what brought it on but what a miserable week! 

My parents came home on Friday so Amelia and I spent the day with my mom on Saturday.  We missed her and she missed us just as much. 

Today I'm headed across town for an all day mini quilt retreat.  I'm so excited to have a day of sewing!  Amelia gets to spend the day with her Aunt Kait.  Hopefully this goes well.  She has already given me a guilt trip one time when I went to pick her up from my Mom and that was only after a couple of hours. 

Tricks

 Here's a video of my girl doing most of her favorite tricks.  Sitting up, nodding her head, sneezing, and giant yawns.  The only things I couldn't get her to do were smile and blow bubbles. 

Amelia's Tricks

Knitting Again

Knitting time has decreased around here since Amelia is spending less and less time asleep.  I did make feet projects for both of us.  Hopefully the mary janes will fit her soon.

Pincher

This baby looks so cute and sweet doesn't she?  You'd never guess she's a pincher!  I guess a lot of  times babies will figure out that they can make the milk flow faster.  My baby has decided pinching the life out of me with those tiny precious fingers is the best way to do it.  She's very methodical about it too.  She'll squeeze then gracefully lift her hand away and repeat.  Sometimes she'll wave her arm around in the air between squeezing.  It looks like she is conducting music!  If the pinching doesn't get her any results she will resort to open palm slapping.  If it didn't hurt so much I might think it was cute.

Camping Weekend

We went camping at Minneopa State Park over the weekend and Amelia did great! 

Right here was the highlight of her weekend.  She got to sleep with mommy and daddy.  She was also held almost the entire time with everyone fighting about who's turn it was to hold her. 

We went for a very short bike ride since I'm still not back in shape.

Hiked down to the falls.

Met with some of Steve and Rachel's friends.  Their baby is one month younger than Amelia and probably has a good 3 pounds on her. 

And Millie learned how to ride her bike without training wheels!  She was very excited and proud. 

All in all it was a great family weekend and we're already talking about our next one.