Milking It

Okay..last real week of freedom and man I am milking it. Visiting with family, eating tons, hanging out with friends, and spoiling Amelia before daycare. We came to Harrison on Sunday night and what a blast I have had during that time.

First up was a birthday party with my family on Monday. Steph and I have had joint birthday parties our whole life and still, at 28, I look forward to it. It is so much fun having our birthdays so close together. Mom prepared a Mexican feast and the chocolate cake and ice cream were delicious. A great night.

Sweet Meme and her girls

Wishing..wishing..
Cute couple in purple

Amelia wants you to check out her bracelet that she wore to the party.
My sweet hubby. There were a few birthdays in there (22,23,24) where I made a wish (although realizing all the while how fleeting and fru-fru 'wishes' actually are) for a husband that loved the Lord and loved me as well. It was on those birthdays that I honestly wondered if there would be a man out there for me with all the qualities that I felt were important and non-negotiable. I am so thankful for the wisdom of the Lord and somewhat ashamed by my moments of doubts as I stand holding hands with Ross. The next day was a birthday dinner with the girls. We went to Devitos (my favorite) and had a glorious hour and forty-five minute dinner with lots of laughing. Laughing that actually seemed to be quite loud in this fine dining establishment. I have been friends with Stephanie for 25 years, Allison for 23 years, Amy for 14 years, and Sherrill for 10. Wowzer. We know everything about each other haha.

Actually, I don't know the name of Sherrill's baby. She won't tell. ANNOYING. Come on Sherrill...tell!!!
Amelia, Mom, and I went to the park and she loved swinging again. We went with Owen the first time (no pictures, darn) and this time she was a pro. She swang 25 minutes without making a peep.


We had so much fun. I was telling Brandy that I will never be half the mom that mine is and she said, "Yeah..I don't know if you ever could be." Ha. I love that honesty. She followed it up with, "But, at least she is your child's grandmother." So true Bran. I am so lucky and Amelia will still get all the benefits of my mom and dad's amazing-ness.
Amelia has now eaten pears, applesauce, sweet potatoes, squash and green peas. She prefers pears and squash. I am so proud of how well she is eating. It makes her seem so old to eat out of a spoon!


Okay, blogging isn't really keeping with my theme of milking my time here at home, so I will be back later. Ten year class reunion tomorrow night! Awkward????? Not really sure how it will go down, but I will be there.

I will leave you with a picture of Amelia in her first pair of jeans. Thanks Sarah!

The Amelia Pack

Nerd alert: we call the backpack an Amelia Pack so that she won't get confused. See, we wear the backpack in front because we feel more secure that way, and it seems confusing to call it a backpack when you wear it in the front. Wow. We need help.

We took Amelia in her Amelia pack down to feed the ducks this morning. They wouldn't come over to us--RUDE--but she still had fun and made the 45 minute walk like a champ.



Another blue outfit was in the line-up for today. The sweetest blue halter dress evah.

She definitely has the back for a halter. :)


Ross is still studying like a mad man for his test on August 7th. It is a doozy and he not only needs to pass, but he needs a fairly good score to be considered for a good residency. Today I almost begged him to stay home and not go study, but some ounce of maturity took over. Just an ounce though...

Hello?

Sheesh. I haven't had internet for daaaaaaaays and I had an entire tirade to share, but I have decided not to. This is mainly because I am already over the lack of professionalism and service that AT&T offered me.

So, on to more important things. Such as...Miss Amelia Claire Halsted turning 5 months old. She is as cute as ever. See?

As if you even doubted...

At five months old she is trying to sit up on her own, crawling backwards, loving her Exer Saucer, and drumming on everything in sight. She has eaten squash and peas and loved them both. I am nursing in the morning, formula during the day, and nursing at night. She is melting my heart on a daily basis. As I type this, she is SLEEPING IN HER PACK N PLAY. Do not get too excited, as she has only been in there for 26 minutes. However, I just wanted this moment to be documented. In reality, she is still pretty much sleeping with us in the chair, but we are slowly working on making progress.

Amelia shares the 21st with her Aunt Stephanie (and Deacon--Happy 11 months). Happy Birthday Steph! We will be home in a few days to celebrate. I pray that if the Lord blesses us with another girl that her and Amelia have the relationship we do. It is almost daily that I thank him for my built-in best friend. Every day at home growing up was like having a friend over to play and spend the night. I know you are not a fan of moosh and goosh, so I am done now.

Okay, okay, more pictures. Here she is hard at work spinning her chickens.



Mom, are you getting this?

Pretty girl in her swing
Today we went to Target and I had Amelia in a cute little blue outfit with a blue bow. A lady stopped me and said, "Is that a little girl? In blue?" I said, "Um..yes. We are bucking the system." She said, "Good for you. Little girls can wear blue if they want."

Here is Amelia in her blue doing yoga. Don't you wish you were as fashion forward as her? Wear something this week just because you want to.
I went home this weekend for Kayla's baby shower. It seems weird that she started out just doing my hair, but now is a great friend. She is so cute pregnant, even if she won't decide on a baby name.
Is this a hodge-podge overload? Are you even reading or just looking at the pictures? Hmm. More tomorrow. Oh, and at some point during this post, Amelia awoke. I rocked her and put her back in the pack n play. There she resides. For now. :)

Busy Week

So, Amelia has had a lot of firsts this last week.

#1--First time in her ExerSaucer. She loved being able to stand up on her own and playing with all the toys. A success! The girls from church got me this and I am so glad that she is enjoying it.


#2-- First time on a big play mat. I usually just lay out a blanket for her to play on, but Owen is quite the sharing man and he let us borrow his play mat. Success dos. It is a big hit around here.



#3-- First time in our apartment pool. This girl loves the water! Ross got in first and said, "Yikes..it is cold." However, Amelia got in and said, "Nope, feels awesome Dad."
#4-First time to eat solids. She loved peas!!
Whew. What a lady, huh? Sunday was going to be her first time in the nursery. Ross and I had prepared ourselves the whole way. "It will be good for her." "We have to get her used to it." On and on. However, I get to the nursery window and there is one woman in there and two thirteen year olds. Nope...a tiny teenager will not take care of my baby. So, Amelia sat with us during church and did wonderful. Here she is Sunday morning in what might be my favorite picture of all time.



We went over to see Owen on Monday and he was so sweet. I wish I had gotten a picture of him holding Amelia's hand. However, I just got this picture of Owen looking precious and Amelia looking at me to make sure it is okay.




Yesterday she was already kind of sick of the play mat I guess because I went to get a drink and came back and she thought the carpet was way cooler.
To sum up things here:

Vacation, Part II

So, we arrived in Harrison for the second part of our vacation and I got that same smile I always do. I love that town and so many of the people in it. Warm and fuzzy moment. But, it seems appropriate to mention here how blessed I have been in the past year with new friendships. I am so thankful for Mom's not so gentle shove for us to get involved in a small group.

Anyway, Harrison. Jared was at Meme and Pop's for the week, so that was a double bonus to get to spend time with him. We played Cosmic Cows (Ross and I dominated) and we played Animal Trivia (I did NOT dominate). It turns out that I know very little about animals...

Jared was so great with Amelia and set off pretty smoke bombs for her to watch and helped get her pool ready for swim time.


Derek and Steph were in Chicago most of the week we were home, but got back in time for July 4th and in time for Derek and Ross to golf TWO ENTIRE DAYS. Hmmm. I was so ready for them to get back and for them to see Amelia. Can you imagine if they were your aunt and uncle? Such cool cats.
We had a cookout on the 4th and it was quite the shindig. Meme and Pop, Mom and Dad, Ross, Amelia, and I, Steph and Derek, Barbara and Darrell (Ross's parents), Daniel and Glenda (Derek's parents), and Darren and Melissa (Derek's brother and his girlfriend). FUUUUUN. Dad was a grill master and Mom had enough food for 100 people.


This happened one morning and I am proud to announce that I did not go to the basement.
I know everyone in the United States knows of my intense fear of storms, and that fear will always be present, but the Lord has been blessing me lately with a healthier dose of sanity when it comes to storms. Now, I will say that I was pacing around while this blew in and that I was NOT the photographer of this photo.

(Oh and I wouldn't go to Branson with Steph because it was supposed to storm again... So, on second thought, maybe I shouldn't be QUITE so proud).

Amelia and her G on July 4th

Amelia was pleased that her daddy picked out this July 4th top so that she would have an outfit change. Pretty darn sweet.
Then, it was time to head home so that Ross could register for his SENIOR YEAR!! I am so proud of him and his Senior Status. He is studying for Step 2--a very important test that residency programs will look at the score on. Fingers crossed.

More from The Rock later. Love.

Oh, wait. One more picture. I love this picture of Mom with Amelia. She looks so pretty.

Interruption

Okay, no Vacation Part II yet, but Amelia had her four month shots yesterday and I have GREAT news. She did not have the reaction that she had last time. Thanks for the prayers family. She was in a great mood this morning when she woke up and I am sure that was thanks to her peaceful night of sleep.

In honor of her great shot experience she rocked a mohawk during her bath last night.



Before the doctor:


At the doctor:


We had to wait over an hour and it was nap time, but she was all smiles. Ross kept her entertained with lots of songs and books. He was awesome :) I didn't take a picture after the shots this time because she was so sad.

And here are the stats at 4 1/2 months:

13 lbs 3 oz-- 40 %
24 5/8 inches-- 50 %
16 inches (head)-- 35 %

Vacation, Part I

Well..I took a blogging vacation and a real one. It felt good, but now I'm back. I shall start with the car ride to Branson.

THE DRIVE
I was super nervous about the drive because by the time we get to Harrison, Amelia is usually sick of the ride. Asking her to go another 45 minutes seemed to be pushing it. However, in true Amelia fashion, she was totally unpredictable and slept almost the whole way.

This was her face when she woke up and I thought we were in for it.


YIKES!!! But, after a yawn and some stretching...



She was the happiest girl ever. Whew...disaster averted.
Oh, and we were the happiest parents ever.

CABIN
We dropped Amelia off at the cabin with Mom and Dad and I was more upset than I thought I would be. Ross even surprised me with a, "Man, I already miss her," when we pulled out of the driveway. This is just another contradictory moment in parenting. We were looking forward to a few days of just "us" and the minute we leave her, we are yearning to spend time with her. Whew. We went to eat that night and saw babies everywhere. I spoke to complete strangers and told them that I had a little four month old precious girl with her Gammy and Gampy. Like they cared...

You can tell that she was neglected at the cabin.

We barely got there in time to see her swim in a big girl pool for the first time. (with a new bathing suit and new floaty from Gam and Gamp)


It was a good call to have her that close by for our first trip away and I am thrilled Mom made that call. We snuck over to see her a few times, but definitely were doing much better by that second day.

I won't speak much of the Powdered Formula Disaster except to say that I got a distressed call from Dad saying that Amelia wouldn't take her formula. We rushed over there so I could feed her and sat around wondering what we were going to do. I pumped so that Mom could have it that night, and then a miracle happened. She loved the new formula Dad bought. It is the pre-mixed Enfamil in the can and she lapped it up. YUMMY. I am giving her one bottle a day here at home to keep her used to it.

HILTON
We get to the Hilton and they do not have our reservations. Nope, no Halsted. Sigh. Nothing under Heather or Ross..nothing under Halstead, Halstedd, you get the point. I wouldn't have panicked, but Ross was in charge of the reservations.

"Sir, could you have booked them at a different Hilton?" HELP. Anyway, they finally found them and we were good to go.

Our room was great and the bed was wonderful. So pillow-toppy-soft. This is probably due to sleeping on the couch the better part of four months, but still. We lounged by the pool, took a mid-afternoon nap, stayed up late, and slept in. Glorious.

ENTERTAINMENT
We went and played mini-golf and Ross beat me...badly. The course was awesome and it was open until midnight. I didn't really care that I got beat because I got a delicious chocolate-chip ice cream cookie anyway. (Yes, I realize how scary the ice-cream picture is of me, and I don't care).
We went to see SIX perform and they were incredible. I loved, loved that show almost enough to buy a Branson SIX t-shirt. We also went to see the Haygoods perform and they were pretty good also. Did I mention that SIX was an incredible show?

Hmm..I almost didn't put this, but I must. We went to watch The Hangover at the movie theater and it was so inappropriate. But, it was one of the funniest movies that I have seen in a long time. So, it was inappropriately worth it. Mom and Dad bought our show tickets and our movie tickets for our anniversary. We win.

Monday morning we drove back to Harrison to start the second part of our vacation. Pictures and post in the works.