Success

. . . for both Amelia and me!

Random Thoughts

* It is REALLY hard for me to watch Amelia self-feed when she squishes food in her hand. Ken says I'm doing good, but I can literally only try a few times each day - it's too much for this clean freak.

* I love this time of year. I love watching basketball all day long; the only bad part is watching my favorite team lose in the first round. So sorry Aggies!

* I bought some Scooby-Do graham crackers for Amelia - solid crackers, perfect to hold in her hand, and shaped like little dog bones. Amelia isn't so fond of them, but I love them - too bad they're made of wheat and I shouldn't eat them.

* It is hard to make myself work on my Primary lesson and Sacrament Mtg. talk when there is so much basketball on.

* Libraries overwhelm me - too many books, where to begin? I really wanted to read a book I didn't currently own, so I found a book Brenda had mentioned, "The Persian Pickle Club". It turned out to be a good, quick read. Next up, a recommendation from Kat, "Mormon Scientist, The Life & Faith of Henry Eyring."

* Amelia does signs for things all day. I wish I could figure out a way to catch them on video without her seeing me do it (she seems to be camera shy).

* Does anyone out there keep track of how many loads they get out of their box/ carton of detergent? Everytime I'm running low on dishwasher/laundry detergent, I think, "really, did I really do that many loads?" Some day I'm going to keep track . . . but then I've been saying that for years.

Stats & Notes

Amelia had her 1-year well-baby checkup. She weighed in at a hefty 18 lbs. and measured 28 3/4 inches long. Average for height, but still only less than 10% for weight.

I knew Amelia wouldn't be going front-facing in her car-seat at 1-year, but the Dr. said that WA's recommendations are that a child stays rear-facing until they're 2-years old. I said, "wouldn't that make their legs be cramped/ bent against the seat?". To which the Dr. replied, "well, I guess the safety board thinks that broken legs are better than broken necks in case of an accident." Strange.

Amelia may be small, but developmentally, she's right on track. I think the only issue she may be experiencing is her inability to feed herself - even crackers, etc. She picks up crackers just fine, but then doesn't seem interested in putting them in her mouth. I also haven't encouraged much more than crackers in her hands because the thought of sticky food everywhere just about puts me over the edge. Looks like I need to get over my cleanliness issue in order to foster her growth. Any suggestions on good finger foods to start with . . . and keep in mind - she still has no teeth.

Happy 1st Birthday

Happy 1st Birthday Amelia!

"Is all this for me? And the singing too?"

"Hey, how did the candle get blown out? Dad, did you blow out my candle?"

"I'm just going to dive right in."

"But now it's all over my hands - ick!

Can someone wipe this off for me?"

Amelia liked her birthday cupcake, but really preferred that we feed it to her.

Due to too many things happening this weekend, Amelia got to celebrate her birthday for 3 days. (I'm sure we wouldn't get away with this when she's older - but it worked this year.) We opened cards on her birthday, and went out to dinner with Grandpa Ernie that night. On Saturday, we did the birthday cake. She was too tired to open her presents that evening, so we put that off until Sunday.

Amelia was better at opening birthday presents than she was at Christmas.

The bubbles and the toy car that Daddy bought were a big hit!

She got a really fun toy with lots of buttons and lights . . . but she liked the bubble wrap just as much.

Once the bubble wrap was put away, she had fun showing her new toy to Grandpa.

I can't believe our baby is 1-year old. Happy Birthday Amelia! We love you!

Snow Day

When Amelia saw it snowing the other day, she got very excited - she actually did the sign for "snow". So, I bundled her up, and we headed outside to play.

"Amelia, what do you think of the snow?"

"I give it my thumbs up, Mom."

Amelia can't walk yet, but she seemed as happy as could be to just crawl through the snow.

"Are you having fun, Amelia?"

"Yeah Mom! Let's do this again!"

And on a side note, I have decided that the locals here are baseball fanatics. I thought they were crazy when they were playing baseball/ softball in the rain, but this morning, their craziness went to a whole new level - they were playing in the snow . . . and it's only about 20F outside. Crazy!

Random Acts of Kindness

One of my favorite books is "Love is a Verb" by Mary Ellen Edmunds. Every time I read it, I get all pumped up about doing random and not so random acts of kindness/ service, etc. And because I'm looking for ways to help/ serve others, I tend to notice acts of kindness done on my behalf. Sometimes I think we are the recipient far more than we recognize - we're just not paying attention - and that's probably the same reason that we miss out on helping others.

The other day I was lugging Amelia and her car seat into a store. (I say lugging, because as small as she is, she's still getting heavy . . . and I don't usually carry her in the car seat much, but I was in a hurry . . . anyway, I digress.) So I'm in a hurry, and awkwardly trying to open the store door, while carrying Amelia's car seat. A lady coming out of the store said "Oh, let me get the door for you." But by the time she got there, I was already through the door. I told her "Thanks anyway" and hurried into the store. It seemed odd to me that I felt bad that I hadn't let her serve me.

Today when I came out of Costco, it was snowing. And of course, Amelia's hat was in the car - because it hadn't been snowing when we went in. As I'm hurrying through the parking lot, Amelia is laughing at the snowflakes falling around and landing on her. She doesn't even seem to mind the cold wind blowing through her hair. I get to our car, literally throw my purchases into the front seat, and turn around to get Amelia out of the cart. She's just grinning like she's having the best time in the world - who cares that it's snowing on her? While I'm getting Amelia into her car seat, I hear someone ask if they can return my cart for me. I turn around and gratefully accept the offer. To which the man replies, "it looked like your daughter was sure having a good time". Perhaps Amelia's smiling, despite the snow, made this man's day, just as his offer to return the cart made mine.

It's official

I dislike shopping for clothes for Amelia as much or more than I dislike shopping for me.

* We got a lot of new/used clothes for Amelia when she was born, but she has outgrown almost all of them.

* The clothes that are bigger than her are summer clothes. And even though it feels like Spring somedays, it's still cold outside.

* Buying a new wardrobe every 6-months or less is exhausting. No wonder future children get hand-me downs.

* To make matters worse, clothes her size seem to be non-existent in 2nd hand stores - perhaps because kids wear that size longer and are less likely to make it to a 2nd hand store? And in stores with new clothes, well, they are now carrying their Spring line of clothes - I'm still looking for warm clothes.

* Poor Amelia. Some days she looks less than put-together - hair down in her eyes because she won't let me pull it up, sleeves up to her elbows and pants up to her calves because she's growing faster than I can keep up. Sigh.