Chinese

Chinese is one of the few foods that I compromise and don't really bother to make myself.  Even Amelia loves the rice!

This is what happens...

when you disobey Mommy and think you don't need a nap.

You end up not having enough energy to lay yourself down. 

10 Months

I can't believe my girl is already 10 months old!  I had a photoshoot that I wanted to do with her when she was 9 months old but with the eczema it wasn't going to work and I was more focused on trying to get it cleared up.


I tried to take some pictures with her this week but she wasn't in the mood and this was the best I could get.  Maybe I'll be able to find some time this week to try again.

Walking...Almost

Well now that Amelia has crawling and everything that goes with it mastered she's ready to walk.  The only problem is she really doesn't have that great of balance yet.  She has managed to take one step but usually she will make me walk her to where she wants to go.  She likes to hold onto both of my hands or sometimes just one and I'll walk along beside her.

 She likes to climb up on that white ledge to sit.  Getting down has been challenging.
 

This table was a Christmas gift from Aunt Kait.  She loves to play with it!  She has also discovered it is a great walker and a good way to practice going around and around.  She also decided to crawl under it last week. 

Quilt Retreat

I had the opportunity to go on another quilt retreat last weekend.  I was very productive because I was feeling guilty for not sewing diapers. 

 This is a different group than I normally go with.  This group has a gift bag that we all contribute something to.  It's so much fun to come away from the weekend with a bag full of goodies!  One of the gifts this time was the materials to make this little rolly bag that has heat resistant material inside so it can be used for a curling iron. 

 Next I quilt and bound this table runner.

 Another table runner quilted and bound.

 Larger quilt that also needed quilting and binding.

 This one only needed the binding finished.  Since Halloween is my mom's favorite there were two of these and she got one.

This one was quilted and had the binding half done. 

Amelia got to spend the night at Grandma's house on Friday and then gave her Daddy the business on Saturday night.  She didn't want to go to bed and cried for 1 1/2 hours.  I felt bad for Daddy and she was so glad to see me the next day! 

Besides missing Mommy, I really think she had something else bothering her that night.

You can barely see it but there's a little tooth in there.  She's been working on that for this past week and I think the other front one might be trying to pop up too. 

Diapers

Here is my girl sporting her homemade cloth diaper.  We have officially switched to cloth and are never going back.  I tried letting her wear disposables at Grandma's and Aunt Kait's house but after only a couple of hours the eczema always flared up.  In less than one week of wearing strictly cloth the eczema is finally gone!  Now I'm going to slowly add back in some wheat to her diet, but I'm thinking it still needs to be limited. 

This was the absolute best time to make the switch.  SIL Rachel told me that Jo-Ann Fabrics carries the fabric to make diapers and our Jo-Anns is moving across town which means I got the fabric 75% off!  I was so excited I bought enough to make her diapers in every size she'll ever need plus diapers for future children. 

So my time has been filled with trying to sew enough diapers to last us a couple of days and my sewing room looks like a sweatshop.  I'm hoping to finish a big batch tomorrow. 

By the way, don't you love her shiner in the picture?  She was trying to walk with her highchair on wheels.  Yeah, it got away from her and she's had a black eye for almost two weeks now. 

Computer

Here's one of Amelia's favorite things to do right now. 

And here is what Mommy usually has to say about it.

Tired

All the crawling and standing and getting into everything she shouldn't is making an extremely tired baby by nighttime. 

Sometimes it's nice to end the day with a little Baby Einstein!

Christmas Card

A little late but they're still done and will be in the mail this week.  Yay!

By the way I absolutely love adobe photoshop elements.  With a little tweaking to the picture (or should I say pictures.  Yup this was actually two I put together) we were able to take this picture all by ourselves. 

Christmas Presents

Now that Christmas is over I can finally share all of the presents I made.

I already shared the owl hat I made for Athena.  

Hat for Zach's Birthday

 Hat for Dominic

 Hat for Taylor

 Hat for Kole

 Skull illusion scarf for Zach

 Capelet for Rachel

 Slippers for Kallie

 Monster for Garrett (It opens on the bottom to hide his treasures)

 Jacket for Lucas

 Pants for Johnathon

 Scarf for Rachel

 Tutu for Millie

Tutu for Kirsten

I also made a:
*Broncos fleece blanket for Stevie
*Wooden camera with picture of Dad and Amelia for my Dad
*Photo ornament of Amelia for my Mom
*Bookmarks for my parents with pictures of the grandkids that I took this summer
*Framed poem that I read at Kait's wedding for Kait
*and handprint ornaments from Amelia for her Grandparents

Ugg

Amelia had her 9 month check up last week.  She's doing great!  She's 60-94 for percentiles (weight, height, and head circumference.)  The doctor said she's looking perfect. 

Now let's talk about that raging rash that's been on her trunk for a couple of weeks and just won't go away.  "Oh yeah, that's eczema.  I'll give you a steroid cream but only use it when the eczema is really bad."  And she continues to fill out paper work without saying any more.  I'm thinking:
1. Ugg!  No!  I didn't want it to be eczema but figured it was.
2. So I'm getting this cream I'm only supposed to use when the eczema is really bad.  Why is that and how is this possibly going to make her feel better if I can only use it sparingly. 
3. You're not going to tell me anymore about this?  Like what's causing it?

Fortunately even though I was in denial about it being eczema I still know a whole lot about it.  If I'm not careful and avoid certain things I'll have eczema too.  Instantly the first thing I thought could be causing this was breads & wheat as she has been eating more and more of those lately.  So we immediately cut that from her diet and every time we change her diaper we put a sensitive lotion on the rash.  In two days it had cleared up a lot and not even a week later it is almost gone.  I never did use that prescription cream on her and I'm finding out more and more bad things about it anyways. 

So I'm trying to find some other new foods to give her.  She's had brown rice and lentils and surprisingly she really likes the lentils.  Hopefully this is something she will grow out of.