what?!

As a Christmas present, Meg and Andy generously offered to watch Amelia while Grant and I reclaimed a few hours of freedom, by catching a movie. Grant and I went to see "Avatar"; great flick. We had a great time. I successfully snuck a 12-inch jar of peanuts, 24 oz water bottle, and big packet of life savers into the theatre with only minor stares and glances at my jar-shaped boobs and bottle-shaped butt. We laughed at each other sporting some killer 3-D glasses, and I embarrassed Grant a little with my vocal "coooool!!!"'s, "aaawweee-sooome!!"'s, and "wwhooaaa!!!"'s. Apparently, I'm the only one in the theatre that thought the 3-D was cool enough to express my enthusiasm. I'm gonna make a great embarassing mom when Amelia goes to the movies with me :)

When we got back, I was a little surprised by Amelia's reaction to me. I am positive that while we were gone she thought Megan was me. When we returned 4 hours later, she watched me walk up the stairs with little response, clutching on to Megan as I got closer. I tried talking to her to see if my voice would ring a bell that I'm her mother, but still no recollection. Then Grant came walking up the stairs behind me, and she did her usual huge smile, and, get this, reached for him. So, there you have it. Megan and Grant. Not me, oh no, not the one who birthed her, sacrificed her time, energy and nipples for her. I'm just another big human trying to get my hands on her, squeezing some type of affection from her. It took about 45 minutes for her to WARM UP TO ME. Her mother. Warm up to her mother. Thanks for babysitting, Meg and Andy :) We had a great time.

Another plus: I'm officially back to my pre-preg weight. It took me 8 months and 18 days to do it. But, I did.

and I proudly stand up

...well, pull up to stand. Amelia's little stumps with hooves can hold her up! It is very exciting. She also waved "hello" to my mom for the first time last week; very, very cute as her little extended arm only comes up to about an inch above her head.

And she says "ma-ma" in the most adorable little way. More like, "meh-meh". Of course, she only says it when she's ticked, but I'll take whatever I can get. She's thrown a "da-da" in there a few times as well.

And, she's getting better at playing with her toys. I found that as much as I want her to "learn to play by herself"...I still have to teach her how to play. I've also found she is much better behaved during the day when I spend more time with her playing instead of trying to "occupy" her with tons of toys. I know what you're saying: DUH!! Well, this is all a learning curve for ol' mom. Like I've said, I don't know what the heck I'm doing.

See this monkey head? There are 3 monkey heads in our home. They are Cash's toys. He carries them in his mouth and sucks on them until they're heavy with slobber. We thought it'd be good for him to have his toys, so he wouldn't be confused and try to "play" (suck) on Amelia's toys. What's really gross is that Amelia loves to find them and....just like all babies...put them in her mouth. YUCK. Guess it's the price I have to pay for having a live-in maid to clean the food off the floor.

Christmas, New Years, and another tooth

2010 has quickly arrived following five holiday parties, an abundance of loving family, a happy new wedding engagement of an auntie and awesome new uncle, several new tastings for Amelia and countless blessings that we thank our merciful Lord for each night. Amelia's first Christmas was completed with flying colors. Our gorgeous hardwood floor is now hidden by bright, colorful plastic toys with blinking lights.

As cliche as it is, this Christmas I was reminded more of Mary as I grow as a mother, loving Amelia with so much of my heart. I already have so many hopes and dreams for her, and believe that her smile is certain to have an impact on anyone who lays eyes on her. Mary must have worn her heart outside of her body as she carried her sweet baby boy around, loving his little coos, smiles and pure body as I love Amelia's. But in addition to that, she also knew that he would impact the world with his life. Forever. Not just impact the world, but save it. Mary must have really wanted to show off her cute baby, and smiled as people played with him, knowing that they had no idea that that happy little baby would save their lives. Wow!

Our Christmas morning couldn't have been better. I was determined that although it would be just the three of us, that we would have it together alone in our own home for the first time as a family. I kind of planned on it being a little lonely, and maybe a touch boring just because Amelia's too young to really get into Christmas, and we didn't do tons of gifts this year. Plus, our tree was dead, dead, dead because we got it way too early; which makes for a dreary-looking decoration.

Man, was I wrong about it being lonely and boring. I don't care how old you are, you are excited when you wake up Christmas morning. It was so special. Grant and Amelia woke up first together, and he built a fire. I woke up, started our coffee and gave Amelia her first present to begin unwrapping: a bottle of soap. Grant and I exchanged a few thoughtful gifts and layed around playing with Amelia by the fire. It was wonderful. After a quick nap we headed to Meg and Andy's for some rather intimate playtime with Uncle Andy and Aunt Meg, and also exchanged a few small gifts over scones and, yes, more coffee. Our first Christmas morning as a family turned out to be a pretty memorable one.

I recorded a couple little videos of just some typical night time fun. Dad coversing with Amelia during dinner, and of course the always-cute bathtime. They're kind of long and don't really have a point to them, but if you feel like staring at Amelia just "doin' her thang", then go nuts...

This house ain't big 'nough for the both of us....

The relationship between Cash and Amelia is very interesting. She jerks, cackles and gasps when he walks into a room, and he gives her many unsolicited licks with his huge tongue on her precious cheeks. Lately, Cash is becoming Amelia's new target. Take a look...


Amelia's politely eases into an affectionate moment with Cash by approaching him with just one finger. Of course, such a non-invasive introduction doesn't bother Cash as he pretends not not notice and fakes a nap.

Surely if one finger was appropriate, Amelia concludes that a little grab of the tail wouldn't be any further intrusive. Cash continues to "fake" a nap, to show evidence of Amelia's insignificance to him. (Although she's a little excited he's accepted this next level of playing).

If grabbing the tail were permissable, then certainly a little climb up the leg would naturally be no harm. This appears to be the extent of Cash's tolerance, as he has "awoken" from his fake nap to make effective eye contact, that shouldn't need an explanation of his point.

Amelia figures her playtime with Cash is almost over, so she scrambles to the top before he gets up!!
Uh oh, this means war....

tis the season

What is more fun than army crawling to the Christmas tree, grabbing a branch and shaking needles everywhere? Watching mom clean up the mess. That is fun. Even more fun than that? Finding power cords and chewing on them before mom rips me away. More fun? Nursing on mom so sweetly, then when mom's not paying attention give it a good snap of the jaw with my new tooth! She goes nuts!

As you can see in the photos, Amelia's growing cuteness is directly porportionate to her curiosity/trouble making! Everyday I'm finding a new area to "childproof". How on earth does anyone have more than one small child??

7 months is BANANAS!

What's new with Amelia? Oh, not much. Well I guess lately she...

Loves books (especially the ones that make noise!)

Has soooo much hair she gets a little bed-head in the back

Oh yeah and I guess it's pretty cool that she can SIT UP!!!And did I mention she eats solid foods now? Oatmeal and applesauce, baby!

Plus she enjoys grabbing your face. Especially people who look like dad (like Uncle Reed)And then of course we still have the giggling...

And lastly....check out what has finally arrived...A TOOTH!!

If you can't see it, just know...it's in there!

Clicking the tongue

Yeah I freaked out when she did this. I try to get her to copy me saying "MA-MA" and "DA-DA", and no dice. But for whatever reason she did this much more complicated mimick of my mouth. Maybe not a big deal to anyone else, but naturally I'm claiming "genius".