Day Three

It feels like day forever honestly. The good kind of forever. The, "OH, it is only our second anniversary? Feels like we have been married forever." Forever as in what did I do without you?

Went on a play date with Chandler to the park, but Amelia was not impressed. Chandler can walk and she cannot. That pretty much sums up her unhappiness. It was fun to see Chandler and his mom though.

Amelia loves to play with her stuffed animals. So precious. Today she would pick one out of the toy basket and play with it and it was hilarious to watch when she was done with one and decided to play with the next.

Amelia spent a large chunk of the day standing at her bookshelf pulling books off. This makes me a nervous wreck because she also wants to let go completely and I can just see chin meeting shelf. So, I just sit behind her ready to catch her.Her little leggings are so cute. I am so glad colder weather is coming because she looks adorable.

Ross got home early today and we went on another walk. Honestly, I don't know if I will ever get tired of pictures of Amelia, Ross, and her Amelia-pack.

Day Two

Today was wonderful and lots of playing and book reading took place. However, I want to focus on sleeping and Amelia's inability to do so alone. We are currently on the third rocking and placing in the crib and it is not even nine. Hmmm.

Nap time was a joke yesterday and today. Seventeen minutes in her crib this morning. Seriously. That was with THREE rockings and placing back in. I counted the time for that too. She was so sleepy that she was asleep the second I picked her up.

Leave her in her crib you say? Well she pounds her head on the side of the crib. Or, she stands up and tries to pull her mobile down. Not safe.


Amelia decided if she wasn't going to be held that she didn't even need a nap.


Anyway, we are getting serious about this sleeping issue. She is getting too big to hold and rock all night. And, I am getting too tired to do so :) I will keep you updated and hold myself accountable. (ish)

Kayla is in labor right now this very second as I am typing. SO EXCITED. I asked her to wait and be induced when I came home this weekend, but I guess I will get over it.

What beautiful weather! Buzz and I took a long walk and had such a wonderful chat while we were out and about. She is such a sweet girl.

I love The Biggest Loser. Love it. And The Amazing Race. Two greatest reality shows ever. And I love The Office. It is my only non-crying show. Ha.

Day One

Stay-at-home mom. Something I never thought I would be. To be honest, something I never wanted to be. A mom--yes. But staying at home? Creatively stifled? Non-productive in a worldly sense? That's when it hit me. All of these thoughts are according to the WORLD that I so desperately seek approval in. Even me. Even with my, "I don't care and I will do what I feel is right" mentality, I still do care. We all do on some level. We are humans.

But this morning as Amelia and I played before her nap, I knew this was right for me at this time in my life. My mother wins the prize of motherhood. In fact, this weekend she was called, "so nice that she needs to be in Pleasantville," by one of my friends. And she was a working mom. Always worked. Still working. My point is, I don't think that by staying at home that I am achieving a status of SUPER MOM. I really don't. This is just what I feel, and what Ross feels, that I need to be doing right now. It will be tough---money will be tight (to non-existent)----fatigue will still strike (maybe even more so) --but, the decision is liberating. Last week I was very sad to leave my school. I cried and questioned the decision. However, today, the Lord has given me a peace.

Love my Girl

Mom and Dad came down this weekend and we had a blast. Yes, Dad and Ross went golfing, so lets just get that over with right off the bat. Mom rocked Amelia and rocked and rocked ha.
While Dad and Ross golfed, we had girl shopping day at Target and Amelia did great riding in the cart. Towards the end of the trip she wanted to be held, but she did great then too. She scored these sweet new pink boots out of the trip.
We went on a walk because the weather was so nice and Amelia thinks Gampy is hilarious. She laughs at everything he does and says. He took these pictures of her and I love them.
We blew some bubbles on the walk and I thought Amelia would love them. However, she was only mildly impressed. If even that..We got to go on a date Saturday night and Mom and Dad kept Owen so that Amy and Kyle could join us. We had fajitas and Cozymel's and it was so delish. Then, we went to see The Informant. Dinner and a movie is rare for new parents. Really rare. We had such a blast.
Great day here and I hope a great day wherever you are :)

Happy Seven Months

*First of all, that last post included some of my favorite comments ever. Great job rhyming commenters :)

Okay, on to the birthday girl. She is more beautiful than ever. These blue eyes have captured our hearts and seven moths later we are completely changed. Completely.

At seven months, Amelia is pulling up on her own and standing with quite a bit of balance.

She is rapidly crawling everywhere--I definitely can't leave the room when she is playing. She sleeps on the couch with me. I know, I know. We are still working on the bed. No, I am not joking. We are still working on it :) Amelia still loves books, but it is a little harder to read to her these days. She wants to hold the book by herself and twist it upside down. Her favorite books have flaps and sound effects.

Amelia is a happy gal and no matter your mood or day, this smile makes everything okay. She has just started squinting her eyes and nose for her silly smile.


She weighs 14 pounds and 15 ounces (a tiny tooter) but is strong. Here she is pulling up in her crib and as you can see, she is pretty proud of herself.
Amelia says "dadadada" constantly, but no "m" sound to speak of. I love to hear her babble a little conversation.

This was my last Monday at school. The Lord has truly revealed to me that this was his orchestrated plan. The man that was hired to take my place the rest of the year met with me today and revealed how he had been praying for a way to get into education, but couldn't justify quitting his nice paying advertising job. As he struggled with this, he was laid off and this job literally fell in his lap. I was almost in tears when I heard what an answered prayer this position was for him.

Seven months. Thankful. Undeserving. Humbled. Elated.

Prayers for Amelia's friend Walker who just had his six month birthday and is at Children's having a ton of tests run. Amy is such a strong mom, but she would appreciate your prayers too. Walker is having some seizures, but the source of them is undetermined at this time. We love you Walker.

One of those days...

Some days you get to wear a tutu just because your name is Amelia Claire.


You can still crawl.



Or play with your favorite ball.

Even just hang out and say, "Hey Ya'll"

Dress up gets me ready for costumes and fall.




Okay, that's all.

Big, Bigger, and Biggest

Big:
Amelia Claire now PULLS UP on things completely by herself, i.e. the couch, pack n play, crib, foot stool and people. Before, I was helping her stand up, but now she is doing it all on her own. It is so cute to watch her stand there by herself and then get the guts to let go totally ha ha. That lasts about one second before she topples. Oh, and these are Ross's shoes from when he was a little lad. How cool?!


We finally got to go home to Harrison after five weeks and Jen, Robert, and Jared came down from Springfield to see Amelia. There was a lot of family and a lot of baby talk. Amelia handed all of the attention beautifully. She got a little fussy on Sunday and started running a slight fever and I was terrified that it was her ears again, but after having them checked out on Monday and getting the all clear, turns out she is probably just teething.

Fun with Poppy---standing of course



Ross had a birthday! He got some great presents and it was his first birthday as a daddy. I love him so much and I am so proud of how great he is doing his Senior year. Plus, he is so stinking cute. That certainly doesn't hurt.




Bigger:
I got a new phone. Sigh. Such a sad day when Mean Green decided to no longer turn on. The man at Verizon was in total shock when I pulled my phone out and said, "Can you fix this?" They could not fix him, had no parts, had no charger, blah blah. I got a new phone and honestly I love it. I hate to even admit that because I feel like I am betraying my friend of ten years. According to the computer, Mean Green was purchased on May 20th, 1999. Presh.


Biggest:
So, my main reason for not blogging is that I was sorting out a LOT of things and now that they are sorted, I can breath and blog. I am quitting my job. Whew. There are many things that went into this decision and I am ecstatic, but at the same time, I am fighting this need for justification. I want to list all of the reasons that it made sense for me to stay home with Amelia for this year. However, I am not going to. This is the decision Ross and I made and I am grateful for your support.

Did that sink in? I am going to be a stay-at-home-mom!! Dare I say that at one point I could not comprehend how ANYONE could stay home all day with their children? Yeah, isn't life funny? I love teaching and am very passionate about it. Hopefully the Lord will open up the door for me to return to teaching in His time, but for this year, I am teaching Amelia and I couldn't be happier.

What a load off. My last day is September 25th. Thanks to everyone who listened to me talk it through and talk it through and talk it through.

Quack, Quack

Amelia has been checking the blog for your comments. She is so advanced.


Saturday morning we decided to take another venture down to the lake to see if we could feed the ducks. No luck the last few times, but Amelia loves it outside either way.

Well, they were there and they were pumped and ready to eat. They were very tame and came right up to us. Amelia was obsessed with them; she stared and stared and stared.
It was a beautiful morning, about 70 degrees and I savored every step of that walk as our family of three. Amelia savored most of it, but got so tired on the way home.Later that day, Mom and Dad came down and Ross and I had a date night! I definitely took our time for granted before Amelia. It was so nice to be with him Saturday evening. We went to Schwill's wedding on the Rivermarket and it was beautiful. As an added bonus, we stayed at the Embassy while Mom and Dad kept Amelia at our apartment. Score.
Tomorrow, Ross takes the second part of his STEP II exam. He and Aaron left for Houston Sunday morning. I know he is so ready to have this entire test over with. Amelia and I stayed by ourselves last night for the first time and we did very well minus one security alarm malfunction. I didn't crumble into a pile of fear...thankfully.

Amelia got a new toy from Gammy and Gampy to practice standing and she loves it. I seriously cannot believe she is standing already.

Such a great last few days. Amelia's cough is improving and I am wiping her nose less. Thank you for your prayers and concerns. I pray she continues to get well and feel better. I am feeling wonderful thanks to my medicine. She has done excellently transitioning to all bottles and that is a blessing as well.