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!