Baby laughs.

I've been over at Abby's house for the past 2 days hanging out and helping her organize all her stuff. She just moved from the upstairs apartment to the downstairs apartment in their duplex. I'm not sure how they have so much stuff and where it was before it landed in their dining room, but it sure makes me nervous for when Tyler and I move out of our house at the end of July. Our house is twice as big as theirs. I will try and photo document the move when it happens.

Abby has a turtle named Toenail that she received as a gift from her husband Ben years ago. I turtle-sat him for a school year in college while Abby was in England. I got a bigger cage for him from somewhere and his shell grew about an inch while she was gone. He is always hiding under his little log whenever I am over there but we moved his cage out into the living room and he graced us with his presence yesterday.

Amelie has been making some great developmental strides. She has started to kick her legs up and down like crazy and now grabs onto her toes and legs. Just today she started reaching for and grabbing the toys that are on Samuel's bouncy chair. It is AMAZING how they can make such incredible strides in such a short period of time. Last night she laughed. Not just giggled, but gave a good adult sized full-on laugh. It last for like 15 whole seconds. She was laying on the couch and I was tickling her tummy and she just started laughing. She laughed a few times after when I ticked her feet and neck. I wish I had a 3rd "Go-Go Gadget" arm so I could have reached across the room to get the video camera. There was just no way I could have stopped myself from making her laugh in that moment.

While Ami and Sammy were sleeping and chilling in their chair/swing, Abby and I made some great strides in organization. I organized their kitchen and put away all the dishes/kitchen stuff. We weeded through several boxes and were able to sort out a ton of garage sale/goodwill things. Today while she was at her kickboxing class I also managed to straighten out Sammy's nursery. I love cleaning/organizing other peoples' things. Why? I don't know.

I missed my boot camp class today. Lame, I was really disappointed in myself. My excuse...I get a lot of interference between my phone and our baby monitor (Amelie has officially moved into her own room now) and I slid my phone under my pillow last night to cut it out. I think I either didn't hear it or turned it off in my sleep. To make up for missing the class (in part), I went for a walk this afternoon around Lake Harriet with Abby and her friend Carol. Carol gave Amelie the cutest onsie/dress ever. I posted a photo a while back of it.

We are stuck in town over the 4th of July so I think we are going to check out The Taste of MN. I've never been before and I like enjoying all that MPLS has to offer to I'm excited about it. Then, on Sunday, Amelie and I are going to the cabin. Poor Tyler won't be able to come, but Tova and Andy the Human will be moving to Illinois at the end of the month so we want to spend as much time with them as we can before they go.

I have to say I'm happy all this stupid Norm Coleman/Al Frankin crap is over with. Could it have taken any longer. I wonder how much of the taxpayers money they spent figuring it all out. Ridiculous.

I got a bunch of mundane crap done tonight that I have been putting off for a while. Bill/hospital junk/email replies/cleaning/laundry. Feels good, like a tiny little weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I can see the top of our kitchen table again and the mound of laundry outside the bathroom has disapeared (although it's just hiding in the washing machine.)

I really should have gone to bed 2 hours ago, but it is so great tying up all these loose ends, taking care of business. I should go now. First, I'm going to read a chapter in my book.

So Mommy Happy Hour didn't exactly go as planned. Everyone seemed to have something else going on but Nicole and I. We all have kids so obviously NBD, but I was a little sad. I was really looking forward to a nice afternoon out with everyone. We can try another day.

Nicole and I met at Lake Harriet and walked around then went to The Uptown for happy hour. She is a volunteer doula at Woodwinds (where I gave birth to Amelie), and got called in as soon as we ordered our 2nd beer. I hope she had a great time tonight. We talked a lot about natural childbirth and being a doula and I think that is really something I would really consider as a supplement to being a stay at home mom someday. Don't know what a doula is? Check out DONA International. If you are planning on having a baby or are pregnant, I strongly suggest finding yourself a doula. Especially if you are planning a non-medicated birth.

Tyler, being the loving fiance that he his, offered to take me out for a beer. Very nice, we went to Minnehaha Falls and enjoyed some Surly and the company of some ex-coworkers of his. We came home slightly after little Amelie's bed time and gave the darling girl a quick bath. Look at her pout lip, she's ready for bed!

I think we decided that we are going to try and participate in the Urban Assault Ride by New Belgium Brewing. Looks like quite a bit of fun.

For tomorrow, Farmers Market! Also, calling the pediatrician to see if my little is ready for a jog in the stroller.

What a strange weather day.

What a day. Little Amelie slept until noon. No kidding, 12pm! Then we got up and played, changed some diapers, and went for a walk to a cute store near my house. She was in the Baby Bjorn with her cute little bonnet when we walked to the store and people kept stopping to ask about her. It was pretty awesome. I mean, you gotta love when strangers stop you to tell you how cute your child is! The girl at the store actually told me that I made her day bringing Amelie into the store with her bonnet. I wanted to hug her.

My cousin Amanda recently graduated from high school and her grad party was today. I had to wake Ami from her nap to take her to the party so she was a bit crabby after that. That girl likes her naps! We were able to rock her to sleep in Abby's stroller for a while. When she is super tired you can tell by the look in her eyes. They get super wide and she won't blink for minutes.


I'm not sure Amelie likes being around large groups of people. Either that, or she's not a fan of her grandpa because she always seems to cry when he holds her. Just kidding, she loves Grandpa Jeff (even though he looks like Krusty the Clown here). Here is a good example of her pouty face. She sticks that bottom lip out then starts crying shortly after. She isn't an unhappy baby, but she will certainly let you know when she isn't getting what she wants.

We are all sad that auntie Tova (and Andy 'long shot" the Human) will be moving to Illinois. Happy that she's going to grad school for FREE, but still sad that she won't be around. She was bonding with Sammy today. I swear, he's like half her size.


















Another thing that I am excited about is that my cousin Kai is going to go to Eau Claire to major in Psychology. I loved UWEC and the campus is so pretty. I had a great time there and hope that he does too. I love how he is sporting the Blugold Pride.
I will definitely visit him there. It'll be great, I can see Kai, Krista/Jason/Carter, and maybe even make a stop at the Pioneer while I am there.

Tomorrow, I plan on going to Abby's to help her organize her "new" home, then Mommy Happy Hour! Hooray! I'd say it's pretty well deserved!

PS: I cannot get the song, "Dirty Diana" out of my head.

RIP MJ

Here are my top favorite Micheal Jackson songs. I've really enjoyed his music since I was making up dances to his songs with my sisters and our neighbor Katrina in our backyard. Yeah, he got a little creepy as time went on, but I could never deny my love for the following tracks...

1. Dirty Diana
2. Smooth Criminal
3. PYT (Pretty Young Thing)
4. Wanna Be Starting Something
5. Blame it on the Boogie (Jackson 5)
6. Billie Jean
7. Bad
8. Thriller
9. Beat It
10. Rock With You
11. The Way You Make Me Feel
12. Human Nature
13. Man in the Mirror
14. I Want You Back (Jackson 5)

If I can dig up the photos of me helping my dad build a picnic table back in the 80's when I was wearing my red MJ t-shirt and oversized button, I'll post it for your enjoyment.

Also, I visited Krista, Carter, and Jason today in EC. It was a really fun visit. Carter is so cute and growing so fast. We had a tea party and ate dinner together. We played with the garden hose and I introduced him to Amelie.

I should know better than to drive home from Eau Claire at 7:30 pm in the summer when the sun is setting. I was practically blinded the whole way home. Amelie cried the last 20 minutes and I had to snake my arm around to the back seat to give her the pacifier. Somehow she always manages to get a tiny little finger around it and pull it right out of her mouth and flail it around while she cries. Then I have to try and wrangle her hand to get the paci back into her mouth. It's a real fun game going 65mph on the freeway.

Andy and Tova came over tonight and we had some lively discussion about them moving, the correct way to tile, and Michael Jackson among other things. I stupidly didn't take any photos tonight so I apologize. I hope my words are entertaining enough.

I'll be sure to take some photos tomorrow at my cousin Amanda's grad party. I love you more Mandee.

Then I look at you, and the worlds alright with me.

What a lovely day. Aunt Jen and Kellen came by for a visit. They brought a bunch of food from Famous Dave which was MUCH appreciated! We really enjoyed our lunch, dinner and snack later on.

We refilled the baby pool with fresh water. Sam loved his "swim". He sat in the Bumbo seat and splashed around for quite a while. He was sporting his cool hat from Grandma Tracy. It's supposedly newborn sized, but it is clearly to big for Sam.
Amelie wasn't really digging the pool today though. Sam was wearing his Broncos jersey today and it was super cute. Bobby Riley got him the jersey, coincidentally, we saw Bobby delivering pizza tonight at Minnehaha Falls.

We went up to the falls with Ami after dinner. We strolled around and got a beer at the Sea Salt where Tyler used to work. He practically got a standing ovation when we walked in. It was nice. They admired the baby and gave us some free beer so that really turned out to be a great time. We sat outside at a table for a while to people watch and enjoy our beer. Then we walked around the bandstand where there was some live music playing and checked out the falls and the garden paths.

Ami was so well behaved while we were there. She took her pacifier like a champ and didn't cry at all. Here she is with Tyler posing in front of the Falls.



We got home and he fed her a bottle, played with her. and put her to sleep.













I'm going to gather some things for tomorrow so we can get up and go to Eau Claire for our visit with Krista in the afternoon. Amelie doesn't know it yet, but she's really excited for the trip.

Tyler is harassing me to get off the computer now so...

Drama Queen

Today Amelie was super funny. I can already tell she is going to be somewhat of a drama queen. Her little personality has begun to shine through. Sometimes when she cries, it's as if she adds a little something...like a cough or a scream to let me know how upset she is. Here are some examples of what I mean...

She's chilling in her swing. I know she's tired, but she's fighting it. She's lifting her blanket over her face then brings it back down and looks at me like, "come on mom, I don't want to go to sleep."







She cracks be up. Next she eats and she places her hand over her forehead as if to say, "Ok mother, I'm famished."











But she still won't take a nap. And now she looks majorly stressed out.





And then there is my favorite. "Mother, please get me some Tylenol, I have a splitting headache."








I couldn't possibly love her more.

I just got home from work. It was a good night. Just busy enough. Tyler sent me a cute photo of her passed out on his chest tonight. They played and he gave her a bath and he finally got her to took a nap. He's such a good daddy.

I need to get in the shower because who knows when I'll be able to take one tomorrow. In the morning we look forward to a visit from Aunt Jen and Kellen, plus Abby and Sam are going to come for a visit as well. We are going to have a baby pool playdate.

Speaking of playdates, we are having a mommy happy hour on Sunday. A well deserved one I might add. We are looking for the perfect place to sit with our mom friends and enjoy a summer cocktail or 3.

I also have to mention that my arms and shoulders are super sore from the boot camp class. I think the soreness came from the wall push-ups we did. Hard to explain, but since I can't even do a regular push-up, this was a major challenge for me. I love every second of it, even though I keep looking at the clock to see if class is over yet.

I have a 3 month old baby!

I did it, I got up at 5:15 and biked up to the Y for my boot camp class. It was hard getting up since Amelie was awake every 2 hours to eat all night again. Plus, I rode my bike like I said I would. It was a pretty nice little ride down the Greenway. Not many people are out that early so it was a nice and peaceful ride. I got rocked at boot camp. My friend Kristin who is also in the class put it nicely...it was heaven and hell. Feels so good to get such an intense workout, but it's really really hard. I almost regretted riding my bike, but it was a nice cooldown and I don't live that far from the Y.


Believe it or not, Amelie is already 3 months old. She's still a little peanut, but she seems so big to me. To mark her 3 month birthday, we took some pics of her...

It was soooo hot and humid out today that we mostly stayed inside and played. I took her outside and we laid in the grass under an umbrella for about 5 minutes and then came back in.


Later that day...

Tyler picked up some tortillas and we had crockpot enchiladas and went to my moms for an ice cream social. Now, we should know better by now that Amelie likes her routine and we definitely learned our lesson today. She screamed the whole way over, calmed down a little, and started screaming again when Tova was holding her. We went and got the stroller and I rocked her to sleep in it. Then we had to bring the stroller into the living room and roll it back and forth to keep her happy. Sam is checking her out.

Abby, my mom and I were taking some photos of the two of them about a week ago. We tried "standing" them next to each other to see just how much taller Sam is that Amelie. As you can see, he's much taller. Then he pretty much just started manhandling her. Just kidding, but he's learning to grab onto things and he got a hold of her clothes and she cried.

It's summer.

I like the fall the best of all the seasons. Honestly, I like wearing pants and sweatshirts and getting cozy under a blanket. I really like the summer but I don't like when it is over 80 degrees, and I especially don't like humidity. Luckily, we have air conditioning.

We visited Abby and Sam today, pretty hot over there so we had a couple of naked babies playing and napping on opposite schedules. Thought about going for a walk, but yeah right. Too hot. Check out Amelie rocking her sunglasses. Sam played a lot in his activity center today. Look at him grinning away.

When we got home Tyler grilled steak and vegetables and Amelie and I played in the pool. I got her a really cute suit on clearance at Old Navy. You should have seen her diaper after we took her out of the pool. It was sooooo saturated and huge. She like being in the pool though. She loves splashing around. Maybe because she was born in the water...













Last night we went over to the Steckers' to celebrate Father's Day. We thought they were coming here, they thought we were going there...whoops. Once we got that all figured out we had a delicious dinner of spicy brats, cheesy brats, Jamaican Jerk chicken, salad, and asparagus. Pretty good.

I'm going to bed early tonight. This evening I signed up for an intense boot camp at the Y and it is at 6am on Tuesdays. I gotta rest up for class in the morning. I may just try and bike up there if I have time. I hope I can force myself to wake up and go to class so early. Tyler and I decided that the best time for me to get a work out in is the morning. It goes against everything I believe in...but he's right. I'll just have to get to bed earlier from now on. Well, at least sometimes.

Yikes!

I just got home from work. Downtown is crazy on the weekends, and not good crazy. More like, everyone is crazy...and all different types of crazy. Anyways, I hate driving downtown at 3am. Everyone is drunk, no one pays attention to the lights, fights break out in the middle of the street, cars drive down the wrong way on a one way street...it's pure chaos. For this reason, I always use the Parkway. Much more pleasant. I'm so glad I get to park directly outside the back door of the building, and that I have mace.

We are celebrating Father's Day tomorrow. We were thinking of going to the Stone Arch Festival, or whatever is being celebrated on the bridge...but I think we are going to get rained out. The Steckers are coming over for a BBQ though. That'll be fun.

Now I'm going to bed. But not before sharing this uber cute photo of Amelie that Tyler sent to me while I was at work. She's wearing her very own robe. My mom got it for her at my aunts garage sale. She looks like a tiny little lady boxer. Pretty cute.

Rambles.

I really wish there was better TV on Friday nights. I haven't been working Fridays, but Tyler works one occasionally. I do love my alone time after Ami has gone to sleep, but then I get bored. The only shows on TV Friday nights are either true murder mystery news shows, wrestling, or CSI Miami...all of which I hate.

So instead of TV watching, I have been looking for inspiration online for remodeling kitchens and bathrooms. How do I pick wall colors and cabinet colors? There are so many options. I would like to step outside my box and do something colorful and bold. Maybe on the vintage side. I loathe rooms that are over coordinated. Our style is a little more eclectic and mismatchy (just made that word up). Kinda like that photo, but I want a little more color

Today I planned on sleeping in, that didn't work out. My landlord called me at 8am. Thanks for that. Then the people who tend to our lawn got here around 8:15 and I swear they stood outside the 2 windows in my room with 2 different but equally loud machines on purpose. It's like they knew I had to work until 2 am and were trying to wake me and Amelie up. They would be right outside the window, then walk away, then come back, then walk away....it was a never-ending cycle. I actually considered going outside and taking his weed whacker away from him. That always happens when I need a few extra hours of sleep. The lawn machines arrive, the phone calls begin and then I just can't get back to sleep.

Instead, I woke up and took Amelie to my aunt and uncle's house. They are having a garage sale fundraiser for the Susan G Komen 3 Day Walk. My aunt Kelly and cousin Josey are doing the walk. If you would like to donate to them, check out their team page, Just the Two of Us. My mom (a breast cancer survivor) and her sisters and my cousin all did the walk last year. That's my mom from the 3 Day walk in 2007. She did it twice.

It was fun, I haven't been over there for years and their house is so damn cute. We got a lot of really cute clothes for Ami and a pair of little baby Ugg boots. She was pretty good. She cried a couple of times, once because she was hungry and once because she was tired. By cry, I mean screamed with tears rolling down her face for 10 minutes. After I fed her she barfed all over my shoulder and on the floor. I smelled like baby puke the rest of the day until I showered at 7:30pm after our family walk (where we got caught in the pouring rain). I had just put her in a fresh outfit, which I immediately had to change. She went through 3 outfits and 4 burp cloths while we were there. Only 2 diapers though. Pretty standard. She slept almost the whole ride home, then slept more in her swing, until after Tyler got home from work.

Grandma's Marathon in Duluth is this weekend. We ran the half marathon last year. I was actually pregnant and didn't know it. Not super pregnant though, maybe like 2 or 3 weeks. I was pretty proud of us, we ran the whole way. It was one of the toughest things I have ever done. I felt great afterwards though. I decided I wanted to run the full marathon this year (which would be tomorrow), then I found out I was pregnant ( on July 13th, 2008). Our daughter was born March 23rd and I had to wait 6 weeks before I was able to resume working out...so that didn't leave me much time to train. Maybe next year.I miss my cats today. Chip and Frank. I adopted Chip about 6 years ago and Frank about 2 years ago. We had to give them to a better home after we had Amelie. Don't judge, I never though I would part with my little buddies, but when they started peeing on Ami's things I changed my mind. Not only that, but there was always so much hair on EVERYTHING and Tyler always had a stuffed nose and bad allergies (which have since disappeared). We did a lot of soul searching and weighed our options and decided in the end that we couldn't give them as much time and love as they needed anymore. I still love them though, a lot. Shout out to Brittany for adopting Chip.

Where does the time go???

My BFF is getting married. She talked about making it official in 2010 so when she told me she was planning for Oct, naturally I assumed it was for Oct 2010. Like my dad says, never assume anything. Turns out the wedding is in October, as in 3.5 months from now. Whoops. I guess I'd better sign up for that boot camp I was talking about. She's getting married on my birthday, pretty convenient...I'll never forget her anniversary. That is me and her...Krista. She was pregnant with her son Carter at the time. Photo was taken a little over 2 years ago. Carter is really cute. That's me and Carter Thomas when he was a little bitty baby.
Amelie and I are going to visit them in their relatively new house in later this month. We are excited about it.

I have been trying to decide whether I should go to my 10 year high school reunion or not. First of all, WTF! It's been 10 years already?! At first it was a big fat no, but now I am starting to reconsider. I guess I could always leave if it's lame. Krista and want to do a "Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion," type of thing. Tell everyone we invented Post-Its. It could be pretty fun to see everyone. Plus I could show everyone cute photos of my adorable baby.

Speaking of Amelie, I worked tonight and Tyler texted me to tell me she was sleeping in her CRIB! She has napped in her crib, but she has slept in our room in the Pack and Play every night since she has been born. It's like she took this giant step towards growing up while I was at work and it made me sad. On the other hand...maybe she will sleep for longer periods of time in her own room. Here she is, "napping" in her crib this afternoon. She was sucking on her pacifier and holding onto her blanket while watching the Jungle themed toy that lights up and sings that attatches to her crib. I got that outfit for her from Old Navy the day she cried and cried at the MOA. It was only like a dollar. She's so effing cute. Tommorow, after hopefully sleeping in, we are going to try to make it over to my Aunt Kelly's house to say hello to everyone that will be there for the garage sale she is having. I haven't been over to her house in ages.

Also, my little (but really, not so little) sister Tova, just got accepted at the Southern Illinois University of Edwardsville and was offered an Assistanship as well. So not only will she be going to Grad School, she will pretty much be going for free, plus being paid a stipend each month. Sweet. Too bad she will be 8 hours away. I will be sad that she will miss so much of Amelie's baby/toddler life, but I bet I will get a lot of really cool jewelry. At least, I hope I will. Good deal though. Way to go sis.

Back in the day

I went over to my moms house today because she took the day off of work to go through some things for a garage sale. Abby was there with Sam too. We each made off with some of her stuff, including some old photos from when we were kids. I found this photo of me as a baby that looks so much like Amelie. Or, I should say, she looks a lot like me.

She didn't get to nap very well today. She seems to really enjoy her regular routine and today I interrupted that. She cried, actually screamed for about a half and hour straight. That's what she does when she is overtired. I got her to sleep finally in Abby's old bedroom for a little. While she napped I uploaded a bunch of those old school photos.

I really like this one. The best part, besides the adorable infant baby, is the matching jackets. Another really great thing about this photo is the look on my dads face.

This is a photo of my sisters and I at Minnehaha Falls. I actually have some memories of this day. Walking along the creek, sitting on the bridge that goes over it, climbing around on the rocks.

My favorite things about this picture:

1. My sweatpants. Just a little snug.
2. My haircut. I bet mom cut it.
3. The way we all seem to be posing. I wonder if mom just magically caught us like that, or if she situated us that way.

Yesterday I went to a boot camp class. It really kicked my ass. There was more than one time where I thought I might pass out. You know those little black spots you see when you have majorly overexerted yourself? Well, I saw a lot of them. Have you ever done burpees? Do you remember how to do them? If so, try and do a couple, a lot harder than I remember them being. Now try doing 50. I need sign up for that class. I'm sore today but it was so worth it. When I got home from my moms today I went for a 9 mile bike ride and now I'm nervous about walking tomorrow.

And now, a cute photo of Amelie. I took this yesterday with my phone. She was sitting on my lap.



Ok, I gotta add some of Sam too. That kid is so cute. He makes the craziest/cutest faces. He is definitely my favorite nephew.

These are from the other day at my house, see what I mean about his awesome faces. Awesome.

Lucy Little

Remember a while back when I said that my sister coined Amelie "little" because of the cartoon from the early 80's? Well I tried to find some info about the show so I could see some of the characters photos. Unfortunately there does not seem to be too much information on the show. I did find this picture though. That is Lucy Little. Lucy is the youngest child of the Littles. What do you think? She's got big 'ol eyes like Lucy and I think she's going to be somewhat of a redhead.

Seriously, could she be any cuter?

I have to share these photos from earlier today. Amelie has such an extensive wardrobe that I temporarily forgot about all the clothes she has hanging in our closet...that's right, we share a closet. Here are 2 outfits I had on her today. I know all moms say they have the cutest baby ever, but seriously, I do. The good thing about having a baby who spits up and drools constantly, is that you get to dress her up in several outfits per day.
It's almost enough for me to go and wake her up so I can hold her and kiss her. I know better. She hates being woken up as much as I do.

I just got home from work, it's currently 3:54am and I have to wind down a little before I can fall asleep. I am looking forward to tomorrow when I hope to go to the Minneapolis Farmers Market, then have a BBQ with my sisters and the guys.

PS: Happy Birthday to Aunt Kristy and Uncle Shawn.