"The Lion and the Mouse"

I said I wouldn't, but I did. I checked out another picture book because now I am really into them. The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney is the most wonderfully illustrated picture book that I have ever seen. The best part is that Amelia (after listening to me "read" it a few times) thinks that she can actually read the story through sound effects. And honestly, she does a great job. It is great to see her relate the pictures with the story that is unfolding. She was ready to read all her books the moment we got home and laid them all out.

As you know, during my earlier discussed fit, G and Pa made an appearance. Ross was grateful so that I didn't kill him and Amelia was tickled pink. Pa kept her in stitches most of the night and G brought her some ponytail holders that she promptly modeled. I quit sulking long enough to snap some pictures.
Gammy and Gampy came up last night and more fun was had. Ross and I went to look at vans (yes, we are that cool) and ate out. We actually got to talk about the week and I forgot I was mad at him. It was nice. Mom quickly learned that Amelia does the READING and all other audience members simply LISTEN. Bahahah.

Incredible Pizza tonight. Fun. Insane amount of pizza consumed. Amelia loves pepperoni. We won tickets and didn't stand in the loooong line to cash them in. Thankfully, she knew no difference and walked out proudly clutching her tickets. We told her "good job" and all was well. Great night. Exhausted as usual. :)

Cousin Love

Oh how Amelia loves Ingrid. She wants to touch her face and feet sooo badly. This visit she pointed to her knee and said "knee." We all carried on about how great that was, while poor Ingrid is in her carseat thinking help! It is precious to see how excited she gets and she wants to share ALL of her toys with Ingrid. Including a very hard and scary turtle that got dangerously close to Ingrid's head. Whew.

I started out with the warm fuzzy part of the post and will end with the psycho pregnant part. First of all, I have had no pregnancy breakdowns. That is important to know. I was invited to a purse party at my friend Amber's house and granted, it wasn't tea with Oprah, but I was very excited about it. It was my chance to meet new people and I haven't seen Amber since we moved here. Long story short, Ross didn't get home in time for me to go. I ate the birthday dinner that I made pretty much alone (the Buzz kept me company) and by the time Ross walked in the door, I cried and cried and cried. You would have thought that I missed the birth of Ingrid or Christmas morning. Then, I called my Mom and cried some more, mixed with incoherent babble.

I was frustrated that I didn't get to go to the party, frustrated for letting myself be excited about it, frustrated with Ross's intern schedule of total randomness, and frustrated my birthday evening was going NOTHING like I planned. To top it off, I was frustrated that I was being insane. Oh, and Ross's parents came by to play with Amelia during this fit.

Then, to top it off, all my bragging about my first morning without puking backfired as I hurled up the entire supper and a little lunch too. Charming, huh? I went to bed a pouty 29 year old mess.

However, God's mercies are new every morning and we are heading to get some more library books. I love that Amelia loves to read. We have read all morning to get the last drop of stories out of these before we take them back. Life is good and fits are gross.

Good day.

Birthday Guuurl

I am 29 today and did not puke this morning. GO ME. I had five cinnamon rolls and licked the icing container clean. My child slept till eight (with a slight problem from 2-4 where I was on the floor in her room). GO ME. I figure that is it as far as things for me today ha, other than a nap. But, I am delighted to spend the day with my bee.

A ton of sweet wishes have come my way today and everyone knows how much I love texts. However, my awesome friend Amy Carter beat everyone and sent me a text from TANZANIA yesterday at four p.m. She waited until it was midnight in Africa to wish me a Happy Birthday via a very overpriced text. Love her.

And last night the Hahn's took us out for ice cream at the best ice cream shop ever. I had Serious Chocolate Addiction and it was amazing. Even though it was MY birthday, they paid for Ross and Amelia's too :) Amelia cried for Ashhaaa and Belby (Shelby) all the way home.

Some more wedding pics in no particular order...


Amelia dancing with her cousinsBeautiful Mother of the Bride



Ross and I pre-wedding

Guess who is having the most fun?


Shrimp tower-- because I thought it was cool
On another note, AC went to storytime again and LOVED it again. We will be making the fifteen minute drive to this awesome library every Tuesday. She made a pig during the craft and was loving the songs. When we got home she was still mesmerized by him and wouldn't look at the camera.


Mom came up for my afternoon appointment, which went well and that little heartbeat was as sweet as it can be. Thanks for all your help Mom and for leaving your van. We might just trade ya. Ha.

Russellville Trip

We arrived in Harrison on Friday and I got to see precious little Ingrid and when Ross came into town we ate a nice dinner out together. So rare and so fun. Amelia got to see Gammy, Gampy, Meme, Poppy, and Aunt Sherry. Aunt Sherry lives in Texas and Amelia took to her very quickly. In normally takes her a while to looooove people, but Aunt Sherry won her over easily. On Saturday we loaded up for the wedding of the year and headed to Russellville.

Amelia got to swim in the pool when we got there and she was beyond thrilled. She only wants her Floaties on her arms (the precious little ring only lasts for a few minutes) and she doesn't want to be held anywhere but around her waist. This creates the illusion of her swimming like a big girl and that is the only way she wants it.
Oddly enough she became friends with the little boy above, Shawn, (complete stranger) and thought he was awesome and the most fun ever. She is wearing his massive goggles (germ alert) and thinks she is something else :) He really was the sweetest little guy with her.

This picture frightens me, but man did Buzz love it.We got cleaned up for the wedding and Amelia could not help the cuteness dripping off of her.

Literally. Dripping. Everyone looked so nice and we were excited to go celebrate with Kaci and Preston. Look how gorgeous they look! Kaci was a total knockout--as expected.

Meme and Aunt Sherry at the reception.

Mom (a.k.a. my Savior on the trip--or life in general), Amelia, and I
Not gonna lie...it was hot outside (still 90 degrees at 9:30 in the p.m.), but the fun made up for my upper lip becoming a sprinkler. The house was insane. I have never seen a house that big or exquisite. More pics to come.

Overkill...

I have a plethora of pictures and activities to talk about. Technically I should back up to storytime on Tuesday at the library in Springfield (waaaay better experience than our visit to Ozark's storytime), but I think I will start with the Hahn's visit on Thursday evening for fear of overkill.

It was a fabulous time and Amelia wanted to hug Asher most of the night.


Or have Shelby read her a book.

Or dance with Emily.

Basically, anything that did not involve Ross or I was fun to her. Haha. We ate supper and it was topped off with a delicious Oreo pie that Emily brought. I told her not to bring anything, and I hope the next time she doesn't bring anything, it involves Oreos. They are such fun friends and I am glad that we are getting to hang out. Amelia adores all three of them (soon to be four).

Ahem. Amelia bit Asher on the knee during this visit. Ohmyword. He said it didn't hurt and she sat in time out and it was over. But still.......Ahem.

Amelia got a new mouse backpack because Asher has a backpack that she always wants. She couldn't wait to show it off for him. (In the first picture below, Asher taught Amelia how to turn her chair upside down to sit in it...so cool) Isn't the backpack precious??



AND, Asher brought Amelia a new elephant visor to wear the next time we go to the zoo (when it isn't 140 degrees) and she wore it the entire next morning with her pajamas asking for 'Ahhshah."


Friday morning I packed while Elephant Lady ran around like a sweetie pie. She was so good while we got ready to go to Harrison. And that is where I will pick up tomorrow. Naptime.

My Baby Sister

Happy Birthday Steph! You are old now and have a baby :) And, even though you had your baby after I had mine, I know that I will be able to look to you and learn mothering skills, because that is how our relationship is. I have always watched you and marveled at how you handle yourself in situations and often forget that you are younger. The older we get, the closer that gap narrows. You are so beautiful and stunning, but the person you are on the inside continues to become even more beautiful, causing your outer beauty to literally stop people in their tracks. Thanks for being my forever, built in friend whether I live in Sheridan, LR, or Springfield. Our friendship is something that I consider as one of my greatest blessings and the memories we have growing up are etched in the most fun place in my mind. I have always been fiercely protective of you (ha, ha) and you helped me exercise my mothering gene from early on. Thanks for who you are and what you mean in my life. I know this birthday with Ingrid here will be like no other.

Spare Time

1. In my spare time, I sleep. I used to blog, FB, clean (sort of), do laundry, etc. Now, I sleep. I go to bed at 9:30. I do have way more energy to play with Buzz than I did at the beginning of this pregnancy, but after she goes to bed, or when she naps, I am drained. Hoping that gets better soon because I bore myself. And I would like the puking to discontinue.

2. I have felt the baby move three times questionably and one time positively. Forgot how much I love that feeling. In fact, the only thing about pregnancy I enjoy. Other than the fact that a preshy poo baby is in there, obviously.

3. Look at the length of this grass. There could be snakes hiding out.

I was spying on Ross and Amelia from the deck. She is not supposed to sit in this big chair (she has a little one to the left of Ross) but somehow she coerced her Daddy into letting her sit there. Big surprise. Ross has been working so hard and going in at 4:30 every morning and literally has no time to mow. And, the yard could be knee high and I still wouldn't mow. Last night he was determined and started pushing away on his little mower. The neighbor next door was working in his garden and Ross waved. A few seconds later the man disappears and comes back flying down the hill on his riding mower and MOWED OUR WHOLE YARD. What a blessing!!

4. When you are cooking, I bet you wish that you had a little lady to help you organize your pantry. Only I am so lucky though.





"Mom, why aren't you thanking me?"



5. Amelia got to play in the play area at the mall today. And, I was this mom. Sigh.

Me: Why are there huge eight year olds in the toddler play area? They need to settle down and stop all that running. Hmm. I don't really appreciate them yelling out 'you suck' either. Said child runs into Amelia. She falls down bawling. Why, I outta...

Me: Picking up Amelia, furious at the kid who then jumps up on the slide, runs down it screaming, and knocks over another kid. "Amelia, sorry we have to go, those kids are being too rough."

Mom of rough kid: "That was probably one of my kids." Laughs.

Me: "It is actually not funny. They are running around and hurting the little kids and are WAY too big to be in here. I am trying not to yell at them, so I am leaving."

Mom of rough kid: "Well, fine, we will just leave." Calls for her two children.

Me: "Excellent. We will stay then."

Grrrr. Why didn't I keep my mouth shut and not announce to the world why we were leaving? Must. Work. On. Acting. More. Christian.

6. I love when Ross gets home in time to play with Amelia. She asks for her Dad several times a day. Sometimes she gives him the cold shoulder when he gets home, though. Punishment for being gone?



7. Highschool friends are the best. And I got to see mine this weekend. Yahoo.



8. I will save Amelia's shots and new Dr. for another post. And how Mom saved the day--again. Oh, and how we found an AWESOME new library. For now, here is the sweet as sugar girl.

One Going on Ten

Amelia woke up saying "Dora" and I was horrified because we read that book sooo many times yesterday. So, I decided it was painting day and we took our little picnic table outside and Picasso got to work. I let her have a little more umm freedom today when she painted because her rude looks and gruff sighs let me know that I was cramping her style. As if! I usually only let her do one color at a time, but since she is so BIG, she got to do all the colors at once.


Sheer concentration.


She has been asking for some colored streaks in hair for a couple of weeks now and I said absolutely not. Since she couldn't get to Kayla's by herself, she just added these green ones.
She usually drenches the paper in paint and it takes about two days for the picture to dry. I was proud of her for this simplistic approach on one of her pieces today.



The norm---still beautiful.


Okay, so I am proud of my kid--sheesh :) You know what else I am proud of? We have a wonderfully shaded carport with a breeze to do crafts outside. And I get to see Ingrid tomorrow. Proud.

Victory is Ours

We are official Christian County Library cardholders. Hallelujah. They did not have the Dora book still, but we got the Diego one and Dora is in it, so we were safe. Amelia was just as tickled. She could not wait to get home and read them (and practice her gymnastics toe point).

I left annoyed at the lady-surprise- because she tells me, "OH, you can only check out TWO books today since it is your first time." Youmustbekiddingme. I already picked out four--the same very careful process we went through yesterday--and now you are telling me I can only get two. She says, "Well, honey, you can get FIFTY next time." Youmustbekiddingme.

There were no problems though, as Amelia very decidedly picked the two she wanted of the four. (Not my two picks).
We are already having some problems with the above book. It has no words and each time I "tell" the story, it is obviously different as I see something new in the pictures. She shouts NO and wants me to tell it the same way, in the same order, and say the same thing about each pictures. So Ross.

Oh the joys of two little library books. Amelia is one happy lady today. And now, I am off to eat a Klondike bar, and I will be a very happy lady.

Picture This..

You are trying to get ready to go to the library and are sorting through your jewelry to find the perfect necklace. Somehow, you find the time to cheese for mom.




Then, as you add a few more layers and a pearl bracelet, you decide your look is complete.



But, your mom says you must wear clothes with your ensemble and you pop up and tell her how that WILL NOT work.

That was our morning. Amelia was determined to wear no clothes to the library and a million necklaces. We get there and listen to storytime and I am very excited because we are going to get our library card today. Amelia carefully picks out four books and even listened quietly as I explained we were borrowing them to take home. She was prancing up to the front with them and the lady informs me that I have to have the following to get a library card: a piece of mail/bill with my new address on it. Excuse me? Like I just carry that around? What about a drivers license or credit card? This library is not in Washington D.C.--the books are old--it is the foothills of the Ozarks---just give me the stinking library card. The lady apologizes profusely and takes away Amelia's books.

This is when things get ugly. Amelia screams "BOOOOOOKSSSS, NOOOOOOOO." And as the lady puts the Dora book back on the cart to return out to the shelves she screams "DOOOOORRAAAA" with vigor, but to no avail as the lady does not fold. Bless her heart. Traumatic morning. I was telling Meme the story on the phone and Amelia started fake crying and asking for the books. She kills me :)

A few more 4th pictures...