4 Month Update

We got Amelia's baby announcements out in the mail on her 4-month birthday. That was my amended goal. I finished them during the roadtrip to Mississippi (which you can read about as soon as I get the family blog up and running). I swore I was not going to make my baby announcements; alas, here they are...about 12 man-hours later. Imagine them mounted on a dusty pink cardstock border and a white chiffon bow up top. Amelia had her 4-month well visit today with Dr. Grant. Nate was quite the l'il helper. He knew she was getting shots today, so he brought his Sesame Street doctor kit to her appointment. When it was time for the shots, he pulled out the Cookie Monster syringe and said, "OK, Amelia, I'll do it first so it doesn't hurt." She wailed during the actual 4-needle, 5-vaccine inoculation. Then it was over. Of course, the nurse gave her 4 day-glo-orange band-aids...as if to remind me with even the slightest glimpse of my sweet pea that I put her through the gauntlet today. All's fair in love and the advancement of medical care.

Here are her 4-month stats:
Length: 26 inches
Weight: 17# 5 oz (that explains the sore back)
Head Cir: 16.75
She's tipping the high end of the charts. I looked at Nate's numbers for a comparison and he was 17#12 oz and 26.5 inches. He started tapering off at about 6 months (as soon as he started getting mobile and burning off those calories!) I think she's starting the teething process--early I know, but you should see her gnaw on my knuckle! I brought this up to Dr. Grant and he just said it's a normal developmental stage to become very oral at this stage. Time will tell if she's an early teether. He also asked if she's rolling over yet. I said she rolled over nearly a month ago on accident and several times since then if she's on a uneven blanket or the like. He told me to expect it to start happening on a more regular basis as she gains confidence. As soon as he left the exam room, I put Amelia back on the exam table to get her dressed and she rolled over (front-to-back)! She's also in the beginning stages of sitting unsupported (can go for about 30 seconds), squawking with squeals of delight and blowing raspberry bubbles with her lips.

Whatchu lookin' at?

I figured I'd better post a few photos of The Nursery, Phase 2. The crib is painted black, the bedding is on, the valances my mom made are up, her name in letters is hung on the wall, the changing table is in and furniture arranged. I say Phase 2, because it's still not complete. I need to get my craft shelves organized, accessories in the room (pictures in frames, butterfly mobile hung from the ceiling, and (if we stay in San Antonio for residency) the walls painted with some combination of pink, white & black.

In case you're wondering about Mia's adventures to date, we took the 12-day roadtrip to McComb, Mississippi for Camp Meeting (Jason's family reunion & revival of sorts--read about our antics soon on our new family blog), a family trip to the zoo, a day at Sea World's water park and an afternoon at Mike's pool (Jason's best friend from high school moved from Houston this month. Not only is he back in San Antonio, he's about 2 miles from our house...and his apartment complex has a beautiful pool area!) It's been a crazy summer with our plethora of travels, non-existent routines (thanks to a newborn and a summer break from our usual agenda), and Jason's presence around the house for most of June and July to study for Step 2 of his licensing exam (not that I'm complaining...I love having him home). But he's back to work in the ENT department at Wilford Hall right now (the big Air Force base in town and his first choice for residency programs). Our school-year schedule will start up soon--MOPS, BSF and a preschool co-op we're going to try this year with Nate. My brother, S-I-L and their two girls are coming out the first weekend in September for one last summer fling. We're excited! Oh, before I forget...the Amelia variety tomatoes that the boys planted for Amelia's homecoming are in! We harvested about six tomatoes this week and sliced them up in a pasta dish for dinner. They're very meaty...yum!

Amelia's Amelias

Look! See here! One tomato up on top!

Photo Shoot

Amelia at 3-months-old & Nate at 3 years

Let's pretend this is Corpus Christi...

Nate loved the photographer. Here she was getting him to laugh so hard he was jumping up & down!

Amelia is really getting good at holding up her head & neck.
Nate insisted I was included in one of the photos.

Smiles.

Towards the end of the photo shoot--hence Mia's blank stare!

8 July 2008

Fourth of July, 3-Month Update

Can you spot the baby? (All-American Girl!)

Nate comparing his candy count with Sarah.

Stylin' and profilin' at the picnic

Our Sunday School class met in the small town of Castroville (a bedroom community right outside of San Antonio) for a "small town" Fourth of July parade. Nate had fun waving at the tractors, firetrucks, pick-ups and old cars; but came to expect candy from every float. As they drove by, he'd hold out his loot bag and shout, "Over here!" to the would-be candy throwers. It was about 90 degrees and humid by 10:00--too hot for comfort standing in the hot, hot sun! We followed the parade with a picnic in the city park (where there was shade and a breeze, thank goodness!) It was an all-American meal of hotdogs, watermelon, blueberry pie and many other desserts (we brought banana pudding).

Nate, scrub-a-dub-dubbing with Daddy

We are still working on Mia's bedtime routine. For the life of me, I can't remember what Nate's routine was at this age. It's funny how you spend four or five months of your life entrenched in the throws of this stage of newborn babyhood--convinced that it will never end; now, three years later, I can't even recall the general structure of our evenings. I do remember there was a bath, books and music. But I don't remember if we bathed him every night, if the books came first or if we sang or played CDs. I guess that's why each kid turns out different! ;)

Tummy time!

Amelia's antics:

We certainly have a Chatty Cathy! People will go out of their way to tell me how talkative she is. She gurgles, caws, whimpers, chuckles, squeals, you name it. She is getting good with tummy time, too. She can now entertain herself down there for more than 15 minutes before she starts wanting some interpersonal play. She accidentally rolled over on Saturday, the 5th of July--she pushed herself up aggressively and lost her balance. From the look on her face, she was surprised to end up on her back! She wasn't sure what to think at first, but Nate and I smiled and said, "Good job, Amelia!" She soon smiled back, "Look what I did!" She is also able to spin 180 degrees. If we set her down facing the mirror, she will wiggle and squirm until she's looking at the basket of toys behind her. She will also lift her head the full 90 degrees for longer periods of time. She doesn't seem to reach and grab toys yet. She's happy just holding fingers and those plain, little plastic link-rings.

Amelia's First Plane Ride

Does this bow make my hair look big?!

The first two weeks in June, we traveled to Minnesota for Grandma's (my mom's) surprise 60th Birthday & Retirement Party. It was a Red Hat Society theme--complete with the big red floppy hat and opulent purple boa. The surprise went off without a hitch. In fact, it was a double-layered surprise! Mom's family surprised her at the house in the morning--a caravan of cars honking their horns down the driveway at 10:00 am. The three sisters, most of their kids (first cousins) and their kids (second cousins) got together to play, eat & reminisce. Later that evening, we pulled off the big bash at the 71 Bar with friends, neighbors & family. There was a nice turnout (despite Dad not being able to hold her off any longer and arriving 15-minutes early!) Everyone jumped up and yelled surprise as she walked into the party room. The party, surprise and all, was quite a success! Amelia seemed to enjoy being passed around, too! :)

All the cousins after Dairy Queen ice cream cake on Grandma's birthday proper

Before the party, I managed to survive the solo trek North with two kids in tow. Jason stayed in Texas to finish his last clinical rotation of third year (Family Practice). The kids were wonderful in the airport and on the plane. I'm usually pleasantly surprised at how well they travel (except for the time I actually brought Nate's car seat on the plane. The Britax seat sits up higher and put him about five inches from the seat in front of him--perfect kicking distance. He kicked for two straight hours. What could I do? There's really no rationalizing with a two-year-old. My options were to 1) hold his feet and let him scream, 2) put him in time out--hah! he's in a three-hour "time out" already, or 3) let him kick--with strong verbal reprimands after each thrust. I opted for #3 and apologized to the young lady in front of us after the flight.) But back to the present day...they did a super job (partially thanks to the portable DVD player available after 10,000 feet--one of our best travel investments to date). Amelia was an angel baby, too! One lady on the plane asked me if I had a real baby in the Baby Bjorn--she didn't make a peep for the entire 3.5 hours on board!

Mia's First Plane Ride

We were in Minnesota during the plethora of rainstorms that flooded the Midwest this June. In fact, Bemidji was in a tornado warning at one point (a true rarity that far North). The funny part is we got a call from my in-laws in Texas to alert us. I'd had enough of HGTV and kids programming that morning, so I shut the TV off (an even greater rarity up there!) Jeanie saw the warning on CNN while waiting for her doctor and Bill found our phone number and called to see if we were all right! Well, Mom gathered the phones and flashlights, I got Nate and some snacks. As we were heading for shelter downstairs, we heard a "goo-gaa" from the swing...oh, where's Amelia? Don't forget the baby!

I'm right here, Mommy! Don't forget me!

(Amelia impersonating an 80's aerobic instructor!)

Amelia got to partake in another birthday party while she was up North as well. Her cousin, Sarah, turned one on Friday the 13th! She had a strawberry shortcake-themed party. Mia slept most of the party and Nate was sick with a stomach bug that hit about half of the cousins (surprise, surprise!); but, no matter, a party is always fun!

Big Brother and Little Sis

Great Grandma Breyen came up to Bemidji from the Twin Cities for a little fishing, backyard wildlife and time with the gaggle of great-grandkids. She got to meet the rest of the list--Adam, Sarah and Amelia. It was really fun to spent time with her. Amelia loved waking up and going right to "Great Grandma Lucy" for a chatty conversation every morning! Grandma could get her to smile every time.

Two camera-shy kiddos with Great Grandma

It's always play time with Great Grandma!

Grandpa and I decided to take three of the grandkids fishing--Nate (3), Ashley (3) and Anna (4). We drove to the landing, put the boat in the water, headed to a spot where Dad thought the bluegill would be biting, rigged up the kids' lines, got all three set with a rod in the water and exactly 30 seconds later; Anna declares, "Grandpa? I'm done." Followed by Ashley's, "Me, too." Nate brought up the rear, "I'm done, too." Huh. Well, that was worth the effort! They played around the boat pretty well for the next hour (except when Nate turned on the trolling motor while it was stored and cut up the boat's carpet with the prop).

Out and about in the boat

While home, we also got to tour Aunt Ju-ju's new house. They're renting a large, timber-frame house on Little Bass Lake while they start building their dream home. It took Nate a while to realize we were going to Anna & Ashley's but the downstairs toy room (Nate's paradise of solitude) no longer exists (they sold their house in Des Moines last month).

All-in-all it was a great trip to Grandma & Grandpa's! We ate great food--fresh fried walleye, grilled venison fillets wrapped in bacon, chocolate pecan pie, venison ring bologna, pulled pork BBQ, corn casserole, baked potato wedges, cauliflower, snap peas, banana pudding, etc. The 65- to 72-degree days with an afternoon rain shower every now-and-then were perfect (and a welcome relief from the upper-90s to 100-degree drought Texas has been stuck in since May--they say the driest 9 months on record!) It was too cold to swim in the pools Grandma bought, but there was still plenty of backyard time--bubbles, swingset, ball pit, sand pile, dandelion picking (at a penny-a-piece for Grandma--Nate made 75 cents in one go!), etc. I did remove a deer tick from Nate--but he never got the bulls-eye rings associated with Lyme's disease. (Scary.) Amelia seemed to love the commotion. She's still not on a predictable clock schedule, but her signs of hunger on sleepiness are pretty reliable ("eh-eh-eh" and sucking her hands vs. "ewwww" kicking her legs & arms and fussy faces when she's tired!) She babbles a lot more than Nate, but her smile is not quite as at-the-ready as his was. And then there is the other noticeable difference...THAT HAIR!

Any suggestions for her rock star HAIR?!

2 Months Today

I'm a bit late with my 2-month update. Time seemed to run away from me this past month. We took the kiddos (aack...plural!) to the lake over the long Memorial Day weekend. The weather was perfect--mostly sunny (with enough clouds to cool you off a bit), 85 degrees, 70-degree water! Nate enjoyed riding the jet skis and jumping off the dock with Mommy or Daddy...oh 218 times or so! "Do a funny jump! Do a jumping jack jump! Do a somersault jump! You jump too!" The water was so nice, Amelia even got wet feet--a dip in Lake Limestone!

Pretty Baby

She looks thrilled.

I think she liked it! (More smiles from our happy girl!)

This lake-living is exhausting!

Nate, checkin' on his little sister.

Amelia had her 2-month well check this morning with Dr. Grant. As you can see in the classic kitchen-sink bath photos, she's thriving! She's 24.25 inches long and 13 pounds 8 oz (90th percentile on my pediatrician's charts) at the two-month point. She also got rammed with 5 needles and one oral dose (rotavirus) for a total of 7 immunizations! Poor baby. She had been in the middle of her morning nap and ready to nurse before the shots came...she was not happy about the whole ordeal! We leave tomorrow on our plane trip to Minnesota. Hopefully, there's no reaction. I had her appointment scheduled for Friday so we'd have a few days before our flight, but Dr. Grant's office needed to change her appointment to today. C'est la vie! It is what it is.

Rub-a-dub-dub, Amelia's not in the tub!

How clean is Baby? So clean!

Grandmother and Granddaddy also drove up to the lakehouse from Port Arthur to see their great-grandkids and meet Amelia for the first time. The dress Mia is wearing in the photo was a baby gift from her great-grandparents!

All done!

6 Weeks

OOOH! That HAIR!
Some might say that six weeks marks the beginning of the end of the newborn phase. I'm more of a "three month" person. I subscribe to the theory that the newborn phase is the "fourth trimester" of pregnancy, it just happens to take place outside the womb. The theory being human babies are born about 3 months too early (in terms of biological development and survival in the outside world) because if they stayed in the womb longer, they would rip their Mommas apart trying to pass through a birth canal that's too narrow (thanks to the hips changing position as we started to walk more upright). This is the period where you cannot spoil a baby. She came into this world early to spare me injury and death; I can at least pick her up when she cries and feed her when she's hungry. ;)

What has Amelia been up to these last few weeks? We survived the 10 days with my sister's clan in from Iowa (sister, hubby, 4-YO Anna, 3-YO Ashley and 1-YO Adam)! It was actually a very enjoyable stay--in retrospect. My sister has a problem allowing herself down-time, so we compromised and filled our days with one activity away from the house and a lot of backyard pool time here at home (the small, portable pool--we're not "movin' on up" in our residential status!) Mia had her first outing to the zoo. She got to hear the lions roar, have a picnic and watch the hippos swim. She slept through the rest of it. She saw Shamu's show at Sea World and watched us feed the dolphins. The cousins had picnics, went on nature hikes and played on the "rainbow toys" at several parks around town. And for those who know my sister, it goes without saying that Amelia also had her first photo shoot while Aunt Ju-Ju was in town (see some sample photos below).

"THE THINKER"

"THE SCOWL"

"THE BOBBLEHEAD"

"THE YAWN"

"THE ANGEL"

Since the last entry, we celebrated Mia's first Mother's Day, too. Amelia gave me a wonderful present...she slept for 6.5 hours straight! Well, it was from 9:00 PM to 3:30 AM, so it wasn't like I slept through the night; but it's a start! Her brother, Nate, made three Mother's Day presents in Sunday School (a relaxing tea-time poem with tea, a flower with his cute photo in the middle and a version of the handprint poem). Jason made a fancy-shmancy dinner with macadamia nut-oatmeal-crusted mahi-mahi; wilted chard, garlic and red pepper salad; rutabaga-pear puree (rutabagas are my favorite veggie) and banana's foster shortcake! Yummy. The kids gave me a CHI hair straightener, too (maybe they're sick of my morning bed head!)




Last Tuesday, Mia caught her first cold. We've been busy trying to help her breath through the congestion, using the nasal aspirator ("bugger sucker"), soothing, wiping her goopy eyes and just trying to make her as comfortable as possible until the bug passes. We realized that Nate did not have a cold as a newborn--we never had to use the aspirator with him. Amelia also started her social smiles on Tuesday (just shy of her 6-week birthday). I think she'll be as smiley as Nate was. She always seems to be smiling at something now (unless she's giving me her other look--"the scowl of concentration"). I hope it says something about her personality that she started smiling the day she got sick!

"CHEESE!"

On the parenting front, life here is in transition. Amelia's waking up from her newborn slumber (not sleeping 23 hours a day) but still not on a schedule--so life is reactive (rather than the proactive position we Type A personalities prefer). I'm finally having to deal with the challenges of two kids vs one--"OK there's only one of me and two kids are screaming. How do I divide me up? Do I go for 50-50% Or opt for a 30-70%? Does this call for a 0-100%?" Hmmmm. Since the cousins left, Nate's new phrase around the house is "I'm in charge!" (long story); so, he's spending a lot of time going to and from the time out step. Jason just started his last clinical rotation of third year (family practice), yah! Me? I'm driving to doctor appts, feeding Mia, cleaning poopy diapers, feeding Mia, cleaning poopy toilet training potties, feeding Mia, and otherwise walking around in a sleep-deprived state. That's the good life. ;)

Nate trying to help Sister, "She's fussin'!"

Nate's Hand-me-downs on Amelia!