Zombie

Amelia seriously loves monsters. It is kind of strange. She wants to see mons mons everywhere we go. And of course, each store has delivered with tons of Halloween decor. Since she keeps waking up a zillion times a night and demanding I come in her room, Ross had a great idea. "Maybe we should get a scary monster that lights up and makes awful noises to help get her back to sleep." LOL. I laughed so hard because that would probably work.

Storytime continues to be so fun. The lady in charge does such great songs and Amelia's current favorite is "Finger Pop" and we sing it constantly. I love how she sits on her carpet square and listens to the story and I so hope that she loves literature forever. Here is a pic of her and Lynna, neither one looking at the camera, but cute anyway.

Oh, we sang a new song about a train on Wednesday and Amelia stood up and screamed, "NO, NO," before I could stop her. She obviously was not a fan and covered her ears during the song. Hmmm. Diva.

I go to the doctor tomorrow for a regular appointment and another ultrasound to see what I am having. Hopefully we will get a clear shot so that we can start planning a nursery. Hopefully! Either way, I just love getting a peek of my little one and we continue our prayers for a healthy pregnancy. Amelia has started wanting me to lift my shirt constantly and "look" at the baby. She feeds snacks to the baby (tries to cram them in my belly button) and gives the baby toys and pats and tickles her. It is beyond precious. She told the worker at Kohls, "Mommy baby stomach."

It was really cool outside on Tuesday and Amelia swang in her new swing for two hours. I was bored OUT OF MY MIND. I constantly asked her if she wanted to get out and play something else and she didn't. We kept swinging and singing and every doll got a turn to ride about 400 times each. And yes, we swang in Dora pajamas, a jacket, funky purple socks, and a pink and white hat. Fashionista.


Then when I pried her out of swing and let her run around and play for another hour and let her go back out when her Daddy got home, I must have overdone it. She woke up with a snotty nose and watery eyes. Eeek--allergies. I don't have allergies and never even think about not letting her stay out when there are high allergy counts. Poor little one has had to stay in the last two days and I got her some allergy medicine to try.


Ross has almost survived his first week of crazy Inpatient Medicine--only to be greeted with a full weekend of call. Poor guy. Counting down until his first vacation in a few weeks. We are going on a road trip to visit sweet little Caleb (who is still in his Mom's stomach) and to see the Carter's. I am so excited.

Buggin Out

Amelia loves bugs. This has not been my influence. She came out of the womb loving bugs and loving bug books. G got her a bug catching kit and she has been obsessed with trying to get bugs in it. Can you see the one little cricket in there? Ha.


Her and her dad have been on bug catching sprees. This morning she wanted me to go with her and I reminded her I don't do bugs. A dramatic fit ensued, but I didn't cave. Seriously, I am not going bug hunting.

She chose to be a spider for Halloween. The costume was in the boy section, but that is what she asked to be. She can be Charlotte from Charlotte's web. Maybe Ross can be Wilbur lol. Speaking of Ross, he started a new service yesterday and it is the pits. He is so busy and didn't get home until 7:20. WAH. Mind you, his day started at 4:30. Amelia looked for him from about six on. We had to eat supper without him and she kept pointing to his chair saying, "Dad? Gone? Work?" This service lasts a month and I am already counting down the days until it is over.

Amelia was up for two hours last night. No fits or crying. She was being a donkey. And talking to her pacifier in another language. I am going to take a nap.

Guess Who?

Guess who this masked woman is?



Just Amelia, loving all the Halloween decor at Walgreens. Especially the "mons mons." Seriously, THIS doesn't scare her, but the nice ladies at MOPS do? I love my kid.



And loving that red ball that we may or may not have bought in secret as a bribe for next Sunday to see if she will go to the nursery without crying. Noneofyourbusiness :)

Also, guess who got new leg warmers and a leotard for Open Gym? Yep. And she's pretty darn proud of herself. She kept standing around before we left popping her leg lol.


A gymnast for sure, right?



Gym was a blast and Asher and Lynna were there, which equals even more fun. Sometimes it is hard not to push your kid too much, and I am sure this gets harder the older they get. Amelia is more timid than either one of her friends here (and younger) and today I was proud of myself for letting her do what equipment she wanted and not asking her, "Don't you want to do (fill in the blank) like Asher?" This prayer in my devotional book is really helping me with just letting Amelia be Amelia.

Father, you know I want to teach my child according to your principles. I don't want to move ahead of you and I want my child to have room to grow in her character development. Let me stand back when I want to overcorrect. Amen.

It was a beautiful day after gym so we had a picnic at home and played outside. Amelia would not remove her leg warmers or leotard. So, we left them on.
Thanks to Gammy for gym outfit!

Ohmy

What a ride. After the stomach bug finally left our house last week, we had to go to the Emergency Room. Yikes. Oh, and then we turned around and came home without going in. Yikes.

Amelia is not a good sleeper. Never has been. She still wakes up three-six times a night and I always have to go in her room and pat her back to sleep. Sometimes I lay on the floor beside her to get her to doze back off. It's not that big of a deal because I am used to it and she is so precious during the day that this is a trade-off :) She had been sleeping quite restlessly the last few nights, but on Thursday night she woke up screaming and crying and I couldn't pat her back to sleep. I picked her up and she continued to cry and scream. Within the first five minutes I was nervous because this was so uncharacteristic. I turned on every light in the house and offered her food, drink, toys. I tried to rock her. She was crying and screaming all the while. I tried to take her outside to sit in her special chair on the deck. I tried to rock her. Still screaming. I asked her if her stomach or teeth hurt and she said no. It was so pitiful. Ross tried to feel her stomach and see if he thought it was appendicitis. I sat her down and she fell to the ground unable to walk. We were panicked and after forty five minutes of this we headed to the ER. It is scary just to type because we couldn't imagine what was wrong with her. Amelia is very easy to reason with and to understand, yet we were helpless in this situation and she could offer no clues.

With Ross's medical background, his mind jumped to a few very serious things that it could be. I cannot pronounce them or spell them, but he explained them to me and I almost passed out. SO. SCARED. Ross is the calm one and when he was worried, I became crazy worried. However, we get in the car in a mad frenzy and Amelia says "trip" and stops crying. She claps and chants "Gammy and Gampy." At this point we are so puzzled. The doubling over pain has obviously stopped. She now thinks we are on a midnight drive to Harrison and she is pumped. Weird. Ross called Shelby and asks him some questions and for some sound advice. We got to the ER and decided to turn around and go home and just observe her. The tests for what Ross suspected it might be were very painful and it was going to be a nightmare to subject her to them.

We get home and she is limping like a ninety year old. She is dragging her leg, but playing away. Ross decides it was a muscle cramp or severe charlie horse. He felt a knot in her muscle and we tried to massage it out and she quit limping. How insane was that ordeal? We went to bed at two and I watched her most of the night, just knowing she would have another attack. Mom, Meme, Pop, Dad, Steph, and Derek were all up getting updates--thanks for praying guys.

The next day she was fine and Mom came up and played with her. I took a three and a half hour nap and went to bed at nine. Whew--sleep deprivation at its finest these last few weeks and our newborn is not here yet :)

Thanks Mom for savvvving me on Friday. G swung by too and brought Amelia a bug-catching set. My child loves bugs and she has already had so much fun catching grasshoppers with her Dad. I do NOT do bugs. Mom came back Saturday and Steph, Dad and Ingrid joined her. We had a wonderfulll day. I am still in my pajamas here, but look at these cutie cousins.

The girls shopped and had a blast. I love the mall. And, I really love it when I am with Mom and Steph- my shopping peeps of preference. Amelia got to have an ice cream cone in her stroller. She was quite proud of herself.



The guys did some chores. They put up Amelia's new swing! G bought it for her and Amelia was in heaven. Now we can swing and swing at home. Thanks G--and thanks Dad and Ross for installing it.


Wednesday at storytime--Amelia walked up to get her sticker all by herself. HUGE deal for this shy lady.

Thursday--Perhaps our last delicious shaved ice of the Summer.

Sunday-- Amelia went to the nursery today at church, but cried most of the time. After our MOPS disaster and the small group disaster (which I can't bring myself to write about at this time) we were just proud that she allowed Ross to walk out the door without scaring the workers. She has regressed a little on her progress with staying with strangers, but we will continue to work on it! I am trying not to stress about it and just stop comparing her to kids that get dropped off with a smile. Trying. At least she looked cute and we had a great service.

Sidenote: If the 40 year old man with the teenager sounding orange truck does not stop working on his engine and flying up and down our road to test out how it sounds, there will be a severe scene between a pregnant lady and said 40 year old man. My child is napping. Please--do not go there.


I guess I am done. Not really, of course, as I could go on for days. But, I'll spare you.

Month 19

And so, month nineteen begins today of Amelia's special little life. I love that God knew all along she would be mine, even when I began my nineteenth month of life. Crazy huh?

She has been a toot the last few days and although Mom specifically instructed me to NOT put anything negative about Amelia on here, I have to keep it real. (see where I get my bossiness?)

And apparently, it just keeps on giving because Amelia continually demands to wear her flip flops that are too small. I hide them and tell her they are gone and she cries and throws huge fits and lo and behold I get the darn things out. Finally I decided to just let her wear them until they cut her feet into pieces out of tightness. What does it matter? That worked until last night when she wanted to wear them to bed. I said NO. She said YES. Battle of the wills. I told her she could not sleep with her silkies if she wore them. She quickly took them off because those silkies are her babies. VICTORY MOM. (sidenote: you should see Ross's face when she starts one of these fits. foreign territory for him. me, not so much since i still throw fits. he just stares at her and then at me. his favorite line, "what is wrong with her?" oh honey bless your heart, she didn't get her way).

Even with some terrible two fits creeping in, we still had some fun yesterday. And surprisingly, my patience is holding pretty firm. I vented to Mom and that always helps. This morning Meme reminded me not to try to always prove my point and life will be much easier. Geez louise, I exist solely to prove my point--even to a baby :) They both give good advice and as the challenges of motherhood continue, I pray to make the best decisions that I can. For some reason, I thought my angel might not throw fits--or dare I say the t word...tantrums.

Thankfully, the little things are still lighting up Amelia's life in a big way. Example: $1 scarecrow from Wal-Mart. I told her we had to wait until Daddy got home to put him in the grass and she carried him around in anticipation.



The moment she had been waiting for arrived and she basically thought it was the best moment of her life. Lol.


Ahhh..I forgot all about the fits and just watched the excitement in her eyes. Until I noticed those darn flip flops in the photo just now. Grrrr. She woke up this morning and the FIRST words she said were, "Fip Fops?" She started clapping and ran to put them on. All was well until she realized that I didn't have on any flip flops. She started demanding I put some on and I said no. There was crying, a timeout, and a hug. I still didn't put my flip flops on. Picking your battles is hard for me. I was born to battle, ha.

But, I was also born to enjoy God's creation and to relish the small things in life. And even though my nature might try to rob me of those small moments, I was given this beautiful, blonde haired gift who won't let me forget. Nineteenth month--welcome, fits and all. I can't wait to see what you have in store for us.


EDIT: Just a few minutes after posting this, I received an email that a friend from college, Jonny Neeley and his wife Holly, are in need of prayer. Their new baby boy Leeland is only a day old and has a severe heart condition and is facing several heart surgeries. Please pray for them during this scary and uncertain time.

Surprise Party

Happy 60th Birthday to Pa!

Ross said that Pa's surprise part went off without a hitch. Here are a couple of pics he took of the fun night.





He said Barbara had fun games to play with questions about Darrell and a lot of old pictures for everyone to look at. The turnout was great and he deserved it. He is a wonderful Pa and Ross really admires his Daddy :) Amelia and I are sad we couldn't go, but she needed to rest and be fever free. We are thankful she is, and are now just working on getting rid of that runnnny poop. Ross was on call last night and was excited to have a delivery. We got to go to the park real quick before he went to bed and Amelia enjoyed being free of the house and free of her pajamas. Even though I am so tired, I have stopped napping during the day unless I feel sick because I wake up so cranky. It is clear to me that I have more patience and compassion when I rest on the couch and read or blog than when I sleep. I have mentioned several times that I need a two and a half hour nap to feel rested and I rarely get that since Amelia NEVER makes it to two hours anymore ha.

Ally had to come to the park in her new carrier. HAD to.

Amelia and I are both super nosy. So???





More swinging! More!




She wanted to try this big spiral Mother's heartattack. Ross let her. Scared me to death, but she concentrated and made it to the top and slid down the slide. So big.




Look who is feeling better!

What A Week

I cannot hold my eyes open. Yet, here I am. Typing in my sleep. Talented much?

What a week. At the risk of mucho complaining, I will post some pictures first. And then, try to fill you in on my blogging gap with rays of sunshine. Gag.

Just a few of Amelia's favorite things....

Gammy and Gampy


Playing with Aunt Steph


Baby Ingrid
Pedicures (Okay, she didn't get one, but Emily and I did and that meant that Amelia got to stay and play with Asher---so I count it as one of her favorites)

**Pedicure story in a minute

I don't really like the Hogs. I don't dislike them, but I just don't care if they win or lose. That is horrible, and some people will stop reading this blog for that very reason. But I have never Woooo Pig Sooied in my life and I went and tailgated one time and almost died of heat and boredom. Moving on. Asher had on his Hog Head and Amelia really needed to kiss it. So sweet. If she wants to love the Hogs, I will totally let her :)

Went to Harrison for a quick overnight visit Tuesday (and for me to get my hair done) and Amelia soaked up all the fun a girl could soak up. Wednesday we drove back in time for pedicures for Emily and I. It was a cute salon and we got our pedicures, enjoyed some girltalk, and then were blasted with a $55 charge--each. Can you seriously imagine paying that for a pedicure? Emily said she almost threw up in her mouth when they gave her the price (I wasn't up there yet). She explained that we called and set up the $25 pedicure (which was supposed to be a 30 minute one and ours was an hour) and that she was sorry for any confusion. We laughed so hard as we left--knowing the nail techs wanted to chase us down and slash our tires. So, go back up and look at the picture of toenails totaling over $100. I can't believe they gave us our $25 price really.

Thursday was the first MOPS and "school" didn't go near as well as the meet and greet. Sigh. There were a MILLION more kids in Amelia's classroom (the one year olds) than were at the meet and greet and they had to open the door and combine her class with the babies. Everyone was screaming and Amelia kept asking them to stop crying lol. So, they moved her to the 2-3 year old room. YIKES. Those kids seemed way bigger than her and she cried when I left. I had a worker go check later and she was being held, but not crying. She was held practically the whole time--I am praying next school day is better. I thought she was teething that morning because she had a low grade fever, but it was the beginning of the stomach bug I found out later that evening.

She slept four hours on Thursday night and I slept one. Fevers are so scary. I just worried and worried and rocked and gave Tylenol and prayed her fever would break and changed diarrhea diapers. Thanks for letting me text you at all hours Mom. I know all kids get sick and parents have to pull all-nighters, but that is hard to remember when it is you. We missed Pa's surprise 60th party on Friday night and that was super sad. Ross went straight from work and got some good pictures I will upload tomorrow. He is on call today and Amelia just keeps asking for him over and over. Feeling like a single mom for sure on little sleep and no help in three days, but taking the time to say a prayer for those who actually are doing this mom thing alone. Whew. Today she is a little better and fever free, but is really trying to test me and see if she is still getting the "sick" treatment. She is acting out and doing things she usually doesn't and then blaming it on her stomach. Hmmmmm. It's annoying.

There ya have it. You are caught up, so go on with your daily lives now :) Thanks for the calls checking on Amelia--it means a lot and was sure sad when she just couldn't stop crying. I think she is on the road to recovery. Her mom on the other hand.....well, we will just blame the pregnancy hormones.

Oh, I forgot swinging. Another huge favorite for sure.

Community

Date night was fun and included Starbucks and Target--two almost forgotten luxuries!! I love this guy. Thanks Mom and Dad for coming up and watching Buzz for us.

Last night we had our first community group meeting and it went well, despite me being nervous about a million things. The way the group works is that the kids play down in the playroom and one couple per week rotate down there to watch the kids. I like this option better than dropping Amelia off at the church and then meeting in someone's home because I feel I will better be able to focus knowing she is downstairs. This was the reason that we quit our group at New Life after Amelia was born, so I am pumped that this one works this way. Another thing different about this group is that we will all work together to pick a mission focus next week. It will be something that we are all passionate about that will help the community in whatever way we pick. I am excited about it :) There are about six five year old boys who were wild last night at the meet and greet (perhaps that is just a five year old boy?) but Amelia didn't seem to mind. She laughed and clapped for them...

Today was open gym with Lynna and Asher joined us too :) The kids had so much fun on the trampoline and beam and mats and slide. Not a single picture because I was getting my workout in by them everywhere. Amelia even did the rings today! Lynna and Asher are seriously so precious and I am happy Amelia has some friends to play with regularly.

We then came home for a picnic outside. This little table is one of the best things Mom ever got Amelia. It is the perfect size for almost everything we do!
A few other things...

- Mom and Steph--remember this ladybug dress with matching purse you got Amelia at that garage sale? It fits now and she wore it to church!

- Although having a child brings about natural worry, my overall anxiety about umm life has decreased since having Amelia. My devotionals are helping tremendously and when I do get overwhelmed with the sadness and tragedy of this world and the "what-ifs," it seems that God brings a word directly for me to hear and I haven't really experienced that before. For instance, I was very distraught last night with the news of someone's child passing away from leukemia and as I read the mother's thoughts on her blog, I could not stop sobbing. I think that is okay. It is okay to grieve for others--necessary even. However, I usually dwell and fester and worry and turn innocent sympathy into evil fear. But, I dried my tears, said a prayer, and went to bed. Today, my devotional had this word for me, "Today is all we can live. So let's celebrate. It's one like no other day we have ever lived." It is a simple concept, but one that seems complex to me. So, you mean I can't already live tomorrow? Nope. Just today, so go for it. Do one thing, no matter how small, that celebrates today.

- I have to work on the above continually. Just as a side note.

- I am getting my hair done tomorrow and a pedicure on Wednesday. Just call me a diva.

- Too lazy to proofread this

Twenty Seventh Year

My sweet Rossco has done a lot of great things these last 26 years, but here is hoping that year 27 is even more fruitful. Happy Birthday Babe! I love you loads and I continue to be very proud of the husband, dad, and employee that you are. His birthday was on Thursday, but we have celebrated since Wednesday night so this is the Birthday Recap Post.

Wednesday night Barbara showed up with gifts, cake, and a balloon. Ross was surprised and she brought us delish BBQ for supper.


Amelia was ready to tear into that present.



He was so pumped--it was the Keurig Coffee Maker he has been wanting for like three years, ha. Now, people can buy him the little precious coffee pods to fill him to the brim with caffeine.
http://www.keurig.com
G brought Amelia her own special Dora cupcakes. She was in chocolate heaven.


Then, we spent all day Thursday making Ross signs for his birthday. Amelia was so excited. She doesn't get what a birthday is per se, but she knew it was something big and that it involved cupcakes. She asked for a "Dorda cucay" 167 times that morning :)


She couldn't wait for him to get home and see her signs. We of course had another Dora cupcake for dessert after supper and she couldn't take her eyes off it for a picture.


After more chocolate (sheesh) I remembered I had gotten some of those cheap water capsules that turn into a foam animal for Amelia. She sat and waited as patiently as she could (poking them a few thousand times and spilling mountains of water on the floor) to see what the animals were and then squealed with delight. A package of 18 for $1---perfect.

Friday I made Ross a yummy dinner (stay tuned for dinner disaster post) and we got invited for ice cream with the Hahn's. They bought our delish treats and we got to hang out and visit. Oh how we love their company. Amelia is forever smitten with Asher and, I might have a little girl in tow that loves Micah as well. We just don't know! I don't have a picture of him for the blog, which is ridiculous, but he was a three week old angel while we ate our waffle cones.


This morning I let Ross pick what he wanted to do (see how ridiculous this birthday thing is..still dragging on to Saturday) and he said he wanted to go to the zoo. Oh it was the perfect overcast, breezy morning and we took Amelia's wagon for the first time. She could see much better and loved having a full 360 degree view. If I don't have his help, I will take the stroller because the wagon is not that easy to push up and down hills, but Ross did great and Amelia was pumped. We fed the giraffes and this was her first time to actually give them the cracker. She wasn't scared! And, of course, we had cotton candy after our picnic lunch. Yum.


Now, Mom and Dad are on their way here for our Birthday Date Night. I am so excited. But, after this, there is no more birthday anything for Rosebud. Enough is enough, right? Afterall, I don't need to remind you of my birthday breakdown, do I? ;)