Zoo Zeal

This little lady hasn't been to the zoo in a while and she wanted to know why.





I told her it had not been nice enough, but that it would be seventy nine degrees on Wednesday AND Daddy was off in the morning and we would hot foot it to see the animals. She was pumped this morning and wore leopard print for the occasion (and brought her monkey). However, Ross read the schedule wrong and was not off, so he was heartbroken and I told him to get a brain.



Girls day at the zoo was a blast and each visit Amelia is more and more into the animals. I can't ever get a picture of her actually with the animals, but I got a lot of her reactions. Here she is quite amazed that we saw the giraffe this close.

She loooooved the little otters and the show they were putting on for us. They continually made eye contact and kept flipping around in their tank. So cute. I let her get out of her stroller and she stayed glued to the glass.
When we saw the monkeys, she was pretty keen on petting her monkey we brought from home. Pretty sure she made the connection. What am I saying? My child is a genius. :)

Guess who even made a surprise visit on his lunch break? The brainless one. We were happy to see him and delighted UAMS is right by the zoo.

Amelia took off her shoes and got comfy on the way home and is snoozing before some more fun. A snooze sounds nice...

Take That Elmo

So, imagine my surprise when my dear friend T.Bennett sends me this picture.

Amelia got her picture taken with Elmo :) This really made my day and as I told Bennett, she is a true friend because she knew how hacked I was that they were making me pay to use my own camera. But, I won't get into that again and will focus on saying thanks for this lovely picture all the way from Texarkana.

A Minute To Win It

I love rhymes. And, I love this new show. It is fun and Ross tries to do the challenges at home and I pee in laughter. Fun. Oh, and I have never thought that a word repeated counts as a rhyme. Have you? Good. I love it when we agree.

Amazing Race is great this season--the cowboys are my fave. And, Survivor is at its peak greatness right now. Biggest Loser is also getting good and more tears fall each episode. Tears of "way to go for losing so much weight and pushing yourself." I love television.

On to this weekend... We packed everything into Saturday and just hung out today. Worked out well. First up was the Clinton Library Easter Extravaganza. Thanks to Amy for letting me know about it. It took a little bit to convince crowd-o-phobic Ross that there would not be thousands of people taking advantage of bouncy lands, a petting zoo, funnel cakes, and music. For some reason he believed me. But when we showed up downtown, there were in fact thousands of people.

Amelia did not care and had the time of her life. Allergies and all. Or a cold. Or whatever this crap is. She loved the petting zoo the most.



The camel was her favorite (petting it above). The goats were mine; even though one stole our cup of food and ate it. Cup and food.

She also loved the music area they had set up with drums and drumsticks. Elmo made an appearance and she had a love attack. She wanted Elmo to hold her. No pictures because they were charging TWO dollars for you to use your OWN camera. I almost got in a fight with Elmo and his body guard, but decided against it. She also loved the Easter Bunny and the fountain. Basically, she loved everything about the day.

We ate lunch at Applebee's with a gift card so the score at one o'clock was still FREE. Amelia was great at the restaurant and we got her down for a nap around two. We scurried around to get things ready for our cookout that evening and it went great. I love our LR friends :)

Today Amelia went to the nursery at church and um it didn't go so well. She coerced a worker into holding her the entire service. The lady said, "Every time I tried to put her down to play she screamed bloody murder." Sigh.

Tomorrow Ross starts his LAST rotation as a Med Student. Weird.

OGATSBHBWM is moving along. God is doing the moving. I will not say any more at this time. I have learned my lesson for now :)

Happy Birthday Poppy! and Various Other Sundry

Today my Pop is 79 years old! I usually don't say or type his age because I like to envision him as about 60. It is just a game that I play with myself. However, today I will celebrate the fact that he is 79 and still every bit of that 60 year old that I remember.

Pop, thanks for loving me and my family and being interested in every bit of our lives. Thanks for your example of courage and your persistence to live life fully. Thanks for always being so much more than a grandfather and for being a hands-on, game playing, tractor riding, new duck buying, treat providing Pop. Thanks for your advice and wisdom.

We hope you have a very happy day and we love you loads. See you for your party next weekend!

Oh, and dear Pop, can't wait until you can play outside with me more. Love, Amelia

Amelia and I had craft time yesterday and we made these very cute, but not quite like the picture, egg carton chicks.


We had fun and Amelia was very into using the paintbrush. Note to self: finger painting works much better than a 13 month old's brush control.

Brandy stopped by for a visit with a rockin new hairdo and a ton of love for Amelia. It was great to see her and have a small play break.
Mom and Dad made it back from Sin City. Mom will probably not appreciate me calling it that, ha. They deserved a trip away more than any two people I know. Okay, well except maybe Ross and I. Can't wait to hear more about the Cirque shows. :)

Jinxy

Since I posted that Amelia was making progress on sleep she has woken up SIX times before one in the morning. Hmmm. Last night was especially er trying. Geez louise why won't my kid just sleep? We have her pack n play right by our bed as we work on this, but it is a slow process. Snail slow. She is at the point where she understands now that we want her to sleep in there, so I might have to let her cry some. Gasp.

This is her new, "I am a stinkpot" face.

I picture her secretly doing this face underneath her mountain of tears when she is proclaiming that she can't sleep by herself more than two seconds at a time.


On another note, she is more than delightful during the day than ever. Her lack of sleeping does not affect her mood during the day, so I work very hard not to let it affect mine. For instance, she found an hour worth of joy carrying around her new lunch box yesterday.



And she has more than enough energy to run around and play chase outside.

We have been enjoying the sunshine. And our baby. Sleep or no sleep.


However, Operation Get Amelia To Sleep By Herself Before We Move or OGATSBHBWM will continue to be in full force with perhaps some more intense gameplans employed.

I will keep you posted.

Thirteen Month Update

Here is the lowdown on AC these days:

Sleep: Amelia has started sleeping in her own bed (with rails) during naps. I rock her first and lay her down. She usually sleeps 2 hours or so and sometimes wakes up to be held; however, she is doing so much better being a big girl.

At night she is going to bed around 8 and being rocked for a while. I then cross my fingers and lay her in her pack n play. She has been staying in there for about three - four hours and usually wakes up once or twice. Ross has much more success patting her back to sleep than me. She ends up in our bed for the rest of the night, but we are elated at this progress!! Next up--making her stay there all night. Hardy har har.

Comforts: She still has a bottle at night and is quite attached. Within the next month we will take it away. :( She still has a pacifier in the car (yes, there are still carseat issues) and at nap and bedtime. She loves it, I love it, and I am in no hurry to get rid of it.

Food: Another area of big strides. She has started liking grilled cheese, chicken fries, and a few baby foods with meat in them. Slowly but surely she is eating a little more. We will just keep trying new foods over and over. At her checkup today she weighed 20.1 pounds. Tiny tot.

Teeth: She has four on top and four on bottom and we were enjoying the few weeks of no teething, but she is gnawing away again, so more must be on the way. I thought nothing could be as sweet as a gummy grin, bus she looks just as precious with her toothy grin. Teething is a nasty process anyway you cut it.

Books: She has become more independent lately and wants to read her own books or have them read to her baby and then she just happens to listen. Her favorites vary by day, but mine are as follows: How Do I Love You?--Butterfly Kisses--The Best Nest--Dr. Duck.


Songs: Amelia is really getting into songs with motion lately. She still loves Pat-a-cake, and her new favorites are If You're Happy and You Know It, I'm a Little Teapot, and The Wheels on the Bus. But, her all time favorite song ever is Five Days Old by the Laurie Berkner Band.

Friends: Amelia loves hanging out with other kids that she knows. The key there is that she knows. She definitely is like her Dad when around new people and it takes her a while to be herself. We got to see Owen twice yesterday :)

This motherhood thing is crazy fun.

catching...my....breath

We bought a house.

Let me back up. On Thursday, we matched Springfield. We drove home and celebrated. I saw MaryBeth and Alex. We stayed up laaate.

On Friday, Mom and Ross looked and looked and looked at houses. They narrowed the list. They drove. They looked some more. I played with Buzz, Meme, and Pop in the gorgeous weather. I owe them big time for those fourteen hours. They came home drained.

Saturday came in a frigid fashion and we (with an entourage of Mom, Dad, Steph, Barbara, and Darrell) went and saw the two winners of the previous day. Amelia stayed with Meme and Pop. I picked my favorite. Everyone agreed or at least supported. I had a breakdown of the emotional sort. Decided moving again was too stressful. Cleaned up my act. Loved our Realtor. Made an offer. Ate and drove home.

Saturday night was the counter offer and this morning we accepted it in the middle of a March snowstorm.

My baby turned thirteen months old today. We drove home. I unpacked and cooked supper.

Three days. I am running on fumes and excitement. Thanks to some awesome people all that was able to happen. Trying to catch our breath. Did I mention that we bought a house?????????


Lived in a dorm four years. Rented for seven. Ahhhh. It feels soooo nice. Hoping the inspection goes well or breakdown #2 will be upon us. Night.

Matchadiddledee

So,

amid a swirl of excitement,

anxiety,

joy,

and

a pee dance--

came the news that we matched SPRINGFIELD, MISSOURI.

The prayers were felt. Thank you from the depths of my relieved little heart. Ross is thrilled that he got his first choice, and I am so proud of him for accomplishing his goal.


It was joy times three in our corner of camp.
What a day--I am still flying high and so thankful that we know.

The Luck O'the Irish

Amelia made her dad a finger painted message from the heart yesterday (with a little help from Mommy). She was beyond proud of herself.

My little drama queen was horrified when I didn't have on green this morning.
So, I slipped on some green shoes and she was much more at ease. Oh, and are these pear pants and shirt not the cutest?


Thank goodness I got with the St. Patrick's Day spirit because she was dangerously close to calling a leprechaun to report me.

Which reminds me of the saddest story. Don't worry, it isn't real people sad, just Heather sad. Apparently a relative of someone my dad works with has a down syndrome son who is around 19. He is okay to stay at home while his mom works, but she comes home to check on him at lunch, etc. Anyway, he called her the other day to tell her that he had caught a leprechaun. She dismissed it until he called her two more times raving about this leprechaun and she decided she should go home and check it out. A (small person) Jehovah Witness (with red hair) was tied to a chair in their kitchen. "See, a leprechaun!!" I can't believe that I just put this story on my blog. Or, that it happened.

EDIT: I received a text saying, "Is it sad that I don't think the Jehovah's Leprechaun story is sad? I laughed out loud and wanted pictures!!" Let me clarify and say that I am definitely in the minority of finding this story sad...although pictures might help the humor and believability.

Ross proposed to me on St. Patty's Day. So clever and cute and a permanent reminder that I am forever lucky to have him. It was a splendid day and I was totally surprised. The ring box was even green. Ah, me sweet lad.

Tomorrow. Is. The. Day.

Guess What?

This little girl's dad found out some exciting news today.

We matched!! This means that a program definitely picked us and now we just have to wait until Thursday to find out who. This is a big relief and we are so excited to know that we aren't just swirling out there trying to scramble for a spot--ours is secure. Adam and Aaron both matched as well, so we went out for a celebratory lunch.
While Amelia and I were waiting on the news we took a long wagon ride in this beautiful weather. She is now coughing up a lung. Not sure if the two are related or that darn bronchitis still has a hold on her. Either way she is a trooper and does not act like she feels anything other than fantastic.

Last night she helped Ross put together her new bed rails. She had a blast handing him the pieces and was feeling very important. Today, she decided to try it out. Check out this picture. SHE IS ASLEEP IN HER VERY OWN BED. That's right. A nap alone my friends.

Pretty big news, huh? Thanks for all the prayers.

Consistent

I hate titling these posts sometimes. When I go to type in a "title" it picks up every other title I have ever used and over half the time I have already called a post by the title I am about to type in at that very moment. So, of course I can't use it. Grrr.

This weekend went by fast but was oh so fun. Mom and Steph have been working their tails off on Bergman's Beauty Review and Saturday Amelia and I went up to check out the decorations. She ended up providing a distraction of cuteness, but no one cared. Aunt Steph welcomed the break I think.




Amelia was quite delighted that there were balloons being used as decorations. She had a great time running around on stage.
Then, Amelia took a nap with her Memer and I was off to get fitted for my new glasses. Jessalyn got them for me and I loveeee them. I haven't had new glasses in six years and these are actually a prescription that I can see out of!




After Amelia was up and ready, it was time to leave for Walker's birthday party. I was overly excited to see Amy.


The party was farm themed and it was a blast. Amy made chicken quesadillas and guacamole for everyone and it was so delish. Amelia actually ate a quesadilla and I almost fell over in shock. Perhaps it was the commotion or the other kids eating them--don't know. I just know that it was a welcomed change. And, I know that I am not expecting her to repeat that performance. Anyway, we played and played, ate, and left late. Happy First Birthday Walker!




There were adorable farm treat boxes that we got to take from the party and Amelia was very intent on taking each item out this morning before church and hoarding it away from me. I have to admit, the heart bracelets were very cute, so she better guard them closely.

Meme and Pop came over to tell us goodbye and her and her and Amelia had a tickling session. We waited until she was verrrrry tired and it worked. She slept the whole way to LR! Time change=messing with me.

Goodnight.