Amelia Lynn

A Fresh Start

2008-03-15T08:17:00.000-07:00

Well Friends & Family, I'll give it another try. I'm not making any promises though: what with a three year old, a new baby on the way, a new house with a huge garden and small orchard, and trying to get our current house on the market, pack up & move, and all of the other regular "life" stuff.

I'm really excited about getting Amelia even more involved in the gardening this year. The existing bed is approximately 1000 sq. feet, there are probably 8-12 pear and apple trees, an existing raspberry bed that is about 35 feet long and I'm keeping my fingers crossed about what I think are a couple of giant blueberry plants. I have two little baby blueberry plants to add and I'm going to bring along some of my favorite raspberry plants from our WS house. Last year she spent the bulk of the summer wandering between the raspberries and the sugar snaps. So sweet!

I have some seeds germinating and a ton ready to go in the ground this weekend. I'm really excited about a packet I bought from Bountiful Gardens that are all seeds left over from last year in one packet designed as a mystery packet for kids. It should be a blast!

I don't think any major changes will happen to the growing space this year as the season has already started and we'll be busy trying to figure out where to put the fences, gates, etc. to help contain the space a bit.

Amelia has been asking for the last two weeks: "is the dirt ours yet?" She's been dying to get back in to the vegetable garden and start digging!

French Class Today!

2007-02-16T08:10:00.000-08:00

Amelia and I are starting a parent/toddler French class this morning. I was debating between Spanish and French and decided to go with French. I miss not speaking it and I don't think it will take too terribly long to get me back up and running (fingers crossed).

Better late than never.

2007-02-10T21:52:00.000-08:00

Well, the last year has been eventful to say the least. Amelia is almost two. I finished grad school. My husband almost died from a random brain bleed in the fall. My mom had major surgery on her hip. We were going to move and packed up; then decided not to and unpacked everything. We're upgrading our kitchen and doing a ton of deferred maintenance on the house. It has been crazy and I've gone into hiding a bit. But things are getting back to normal and Amelia's birthday is just around the corner.

We are throwing a low-key party, no presents, champagne & pastries for the adults, cake & balloons for the kids. No gift-bags, projects, or ponies. I might even clean the house before. ;)

After fixing some technical issues, I've got this thing going again and will post a bit more frequently. I read some past posts and it was really sweet to read as the details often get lost in the day to day.

Amelia is a walking, talking machine! She's just about speaking in sentences: "Mommy, come here!...Please." She is long and lean like her Daddy and super opinionated like her Mom. She's working on her numbers: "One, two, three, five!" and her ABC's: "A, B, C, U, F...". She loves books, the playground and, alas, the TV. I broke down when Erik was in the hospital (17 days in the NICU) and now the TV is our constant companion. Oh, well. I guess 20 months of no TV makes up for it. A little. She is also a raging, and I mean raging, extrovert. She's happiest when we are out and about and with friends and family.

Baby Update

2005-10-14T10:03:00.000-07:00

Amelia had her second illness to date this week. She came down with a fever and the fussies on Saturday which continued to Tuesday. She didn't have any other symptoms besides a high fever (as high as 104 degrees) at night. Her doc said that a virus was going around that was only displayed as a high fever, followed by a rash. The rash was on her forehead and looked like a spot of rosecea. I would have missed it completely if he hadn't mentioned it.

It wasn't too bad as baby illnesses go. Although, I have to admit a 104 temp is pretty scary in the middle of the night. Her whole body felt positively toasty: as if we had left her by the fire a bit too long.

Amelia loves to look at her reflection these days. She giggles when she sees herself. She also giggles when she sees Booda, Bella, Gracie, Zena or Blanquita. But the dogs really make her giggle. Its pretty funny to see. The dog walks by, and voila! A laughing baby.

Booda has figured out that Amelia is a like a slot machine but instead of money, she dispenses food. He waits patiently at her feet while she is in the high chair; she either drops her food or throws it. It is a win-win situation for the poochie.

Long Overdue: More Pictures

2005-10-14T09:43:00.000-07:00

Ok, as with previous picture posts, these are not in order. The top two pictures are from the 6th of October when Dad, Susan & Melz babysat so Erik and I could go out on the town for our anniversary. Melz was in town for her Fall break.

The third picture is from a barbeque we had at the house in August on Amelia's six month birthday. It was all of our friends, their babies & partners that we met through First Weeks. It was a ton of fun. Pictured are Jenn & Chloe, me & Amelia, and Erin & Parker.

The last picture is from late August (I think) on a hike that we went on to a place which will remain nameless because I can't recall the name. Needless to say we did hike, it was very steep, lots of fun and we spent most of the time hanging out eating. That's my kind of hike! Pictured are me & Amelia, Valerie & Kai, Darcy & Clara, and Danielle & Abe. Jenn (and Chloe) took the picture and Rochelle and Gavino were also along.

Lots of Change

2005-09-30T11:03:00.000-07:00

Amelia's sleep is improving; ergo, my sleep is improving. This is a good thing!

Most nights she sleeps for an 8-10 hour stretch, wakes to nurse and goes back to sleep for an hour or two. Most mornings I need to wake her at 7:30 am - a quality problem. Her naps have not regulated yet and she cries much longer (~15 minutes) when I put her down to sleep during the day. The crying is still really hard for me. I've been consuming quite a bit of ice cream in the last week or so.

She is eating three meals a day and sometimes has a snack in between. This is great because it helps her sleep and it is just so cool to watch her discover new foods and communicate her opinion about it. Case in point: Amelia will no longer eat anything off of a spoon. She will only eat things that I can give to her on my finger. So, we've moved into the finger food realm a little earlier than expected.

The downside to this eating is that she is nursing much less and this makes me a little sad. I've joked about her self-weaning and the way things are going, I wouldn't be at all surprised if she does.

She continues to be a communicative kid. She adores Erik and shrieks with delight when he comes home and with frustration if he doesn't immediately come and get her for a snuggle. When we have a family walk, Erik carries her facing out in the Bjorn (pictures in previous posts) and she laughs with joy. Amelia is pretty fabulous and I feel really lucky to be her mom.

Flabergasted!

2005-09-23T08:45:00.000-07:00

The sleep training is successful so far! We tweaked Amelia's bedtime routine a little, moved the glider into her room and put her down at 8pm. She cried for 45 minutes and then went to sleep. She woke at 2am prompty (just like Ann said she would) for a feeding. I fed her in her room and put her back down in her crib. She protested a bit and quickly went back to sleep (thank god!). She slept until 6:30 am this morning! Woohoo!

She is now down for her morning nap. I put her down and she cried for less than a minute. Her mobile is going so I can't tell if she is actually asleep, but she isn't crying and that is HUGE.

Now that she seems to be getting off on the right foot for sleep, I need to work on my sleep! I was awake for almost 1.5 hours after her 2am feeding last night and then had nightmares the rest of the time. Ah well. It is a start.

I'm off to make a cheesecake while she is asleep.

Sleep Training...

2005-09-22T20:03:00.000-07:00

Has begun. We met with Ann Kepler this afternoon who helped create a sleep plan for the family. It is fairly straight forward. We tweaked our nighttime ritual a bit and then put her down in her crib. She's been crying for 15 minutes already. Lots of deep breathing on my part.

With some luck, this won't be overly traumatic for all involved. They say it doesn't harm the babies and, in the long run, is even beneficial in helping them to learn to self soothe. Man, I'm confident Amelia will be fine but I might be the one who needs therapy after this!

I'm going to bed shortly with my sleep aid, my earplugs and the air filter turned up as loud as it will go. Erik is downstairs with the monitor on; he will check on her after a certain period if she is still crying. Whew, this is hard.

Chow Hound

2005-09-19T19:15:00.000-07:00

Are we really surprised? No, we are not. Ms. Amelia is a durn good eater.

Every couple of days she seems to bump up the quantity consumed. Today she ate sweet peas, butternut squash & pork (simmered in tomatillos & green chiles) for lunch and had a peach chaser. For dinner she ate yogurt, more peas, more squash and some rice. She had a little lamb, but just a little, as that doesn't seem to be at the top of her list these days.

Drum roll: I have a prescription for Ambien! Sleep is in my future. We are meeting with Ann on Thursday to create a sleep plan. I'm steeling myself and trying to finish the Healthy Sleep book.

The picture is from last week at the cabin. You might notice it is a companion shot to the Happy Smiling Kid picture a few posts back. I like to think of this shot as an early Cohen "look".

More Pictures

2005-09-18T20:38:00.000-07:00

Ok, these pictures are completely out of order:

The first picture was on the 11th of this month at a friend's family cabin up at Stevens Pass. Amelia is greatly offended if you eat without her, so I gave up eating the apple and just gave it to her. She was very pleased.

The second picture is of the Little One, probably from July, napping with her guardian cats. Have I mentioned that the cats are beside themselves when she cries? They yowl and try to comfort her, in their strange cat way. They are usually very close by and Blanquita is almost always in grabbing distance, much to Amelia's pleasure.

The third picture is of Ibra and Amelia from the beginning of August. Amelia and I went to Portland for a week to hang out with Ibra while Rachel was in classes. Ibra was the most amazing big brother to Amelia. He was sweet and kind and figured out how to make her laugh. It was pretty cool.

Sleep, ah, Lovely Sleep

2005-09-18T20:25:00.000-07:00

Well, I thought I would be positive. Amelia is asleep but it took FOREVER and she wasn't happy about it. I emailed Ann, the amazing woman who co-hosts the First Weeks groups and co-authored a leading book on pregnancy and the postpartem period, about our sleep issues. I'm hoping we can meet with her this week and create a family sleep plan; i.e., baby sleep bootcamp.

We're anticipating a fair amount of crying with the baby sleep bootcamp. Yuck. Last night while she was crying I ate ice cream out of the container and drank whiskey. It was only a very small consolation.

Mom brought over quiche for dinner tonight. It was wonderful to not have to pull something together. The quiche was delicious and it was really nice to eat while Amelia was sleeping. A very rare occurance.

Recent Pictures

2005-09-16T20:36:00.000-07:00

Ok, the first picture is from Amelia's first trip to meet her Great-Grandma in Missouri in May. The second picture is from two weeks ago at Nana's. The last two pictures are from this week while we had a brief trip to the cabin. Erik is wearing Amelia in the Bjorn - a favorite thing for her. More pictures to come!

Ladies & Gentlemen, We Have a Tooth!

2005-09-16T20:30:00.000-07:00

Amelia finally has a tooth! It is the lower left front tooth. She has been working on it for the last three days. In true Amelia style, she has told us exactly how she feels about this teething business: she has been a very vocal monkey! Lots of furrowed brows and babel with exclamations and grunts. Very cute; very communicative.

Tired

2005-09-05T21:43:00.000-07:00

Dad & Susan are back from a wonderful fishing trip. Had a nice dinner at Mom's with them tonight. Missed Melz (at college) and Erik (working).

Sleep issues are massive. Amelia isn't sleeping any longer than one hour at a time. Oops...crying awake baby.

Update: after waking twice in less than an hour, I moved Amelia to our bed. She ate, snuggled in with Blanquita (the love kitty) and fell deeply asleep. Blanquita is the champion animal in our household. She always wants to be nearby me and Amelia and is so desparate for love that she tolerates Amelia grabbing big clumps of fur and the spasms of both foot and fist.

Amelia's favorite foods thus far: beef, nectarine & now yam. She really went to town on the yam tonight. Rice cereal remains disgusting to all involved: I'm contemplating throwing the stuff out.

I took a nectarine from mom's fruit bowl and Amelia saw it. Before I had even washed it off she was practically throwing herself from my arms to try and get it. She sucked on it for about 10 minutes and was a very happy girl.

Mom and I got ice cream cones yesterday on a walk. BIG MISTAKE! As soon as Amelia saw my cone, she was lunging for it. When lunging didn't get her the cone, she started screaming very loudly and consistently. This is while she is in the carrier on my chest. And she's only six and half months old. And she wanted my ice cream cone. Wanted it big time. It was as if she knew exactly how delicious it would be.

Let the Teething Begin!

2005-08-28T21:42:00.000-07:00

So, I can't actually see any teeth about to break through but Amelia is definitely teething. She went from maybe having a sore mouth to really pissed off and screaming and attacking the ice cube as if it deserved to be gummed to death by a toothless mako shark. Plus, I gave her Hyland's Teething Tablets and she stopped screaming almost immediately afterwards. This is my highly scientific evidence that my daughter has *officially* started teething.

This weekend was pretty uneventful. Amelia is always happier when Erik is around. Not only is he much more interesting than me (because, well, I'm still technically an extention of her self) he is more fun and makes better faces. And he lets her play with grown up books.

Sleep is slowly starting to improve. Kind of. She is definitely moving towards a morning nap (if I weren't so tired, I would be jumping up and down for joy). And she went down pretty early tonight at 7:30pm, which means I should stop blogging and go get some sleep before she wakes up again!

On the food front, rice cereal is still has little appeal. She gags when I hold up the spoon. She sucked a wedge of nectarine dry last night (again, in the teething basket) and she mouthed a piece of apple at dinner tonight. With the nectarine, she alternated between sucking vigorously on it, gagging, and making the "I just sucked on a lemon" face. She mouthed on the apple for a couple of minutes before deciding it was not to her satisfaction and communicated her dissatisfaction until I took it away from her. At which point, she promptly stopped screaming. Go figure.

Probably the cutest thing of all time: the big, open-mouthed, slobber-fest kisses that she is now gives me and Erik. She was kissing Erik's forehead yesterday afternoon when after a few generous smooches, she decided that his eyebrow was good for biting. She stood on his lap and chewed on his forehead.

Marathon Morning Nap

2005-08-26T11:01:00.000-07:00

Amelia is in the midst of a marathon morning nap: going on two hours! I think this might be the start of a regular morning nap. The only bummer is that it is 11 am and our friends have been out walking at Greenlake since 10:30 am. We'll be lucky to catch the tail end of the walk.

Amelia is now sitting up like a champ, as if she's always done it. She is starting to raise her butt in the inchworm style in preparation for crawling...though she only does it while on our bed. She prefers the soft mattress to the hard floor.

Sleep is improving just a bit. She has slept four hours three nights in a row for her long sleep. Erik took her for an hour this morning so I could get a little extra sleep. Bless him.

Melz is off at L&C and it sounds like she is having a blast. I'm so happy for her. I just wish it wasn't so far away so she and Amelia could see each other more often.

Six Months and a Day

2005-08-21T20:51:00.000-07:00

Amelia had her sixth month birthday yesterday. Dad and Susan threw a six month/going off to college dinner for Amelia & Melanie. Above are two great pics from tonight.

Amelia's going to town on the developmental milestones: sitting up (woohoo!), moving objects from hand to hand, babbling "ba ba" and "da da", scooting on her tummy, and the clincher: not sleeping anymore!

She has gone from sleeping 5-8 hours for her first long sleep to sleeping only 2 -3 hours and then nursing every hour or two until morning. My only consolation is that all of my girlfriends with babies the same age are doing the same thing. Caffiene is my friend. I've made the move to the dark side: from tea to espresso.

Asleep at 5pm

2005-08-04T21:09:00.000-07:00

This is Susan holding Amelia while she sucks on Susan's beer bottle. She liked the cold condensation.

Jeanie, Erik's mom & Amelia's Grandma, was here for a visit. We had an awesome family barbeque on Thursday and Amelia had her first solid food: Rice cereal & breastmilk. Yum!

Amelia's sleep cycle is crazy. She's been only sleeping in three hour stretches at night...the last couple of nights she's been nursing every 2-3 hours. Today she hardly napped during the day and then fell asleep at 5pm! I thought she was napping but at 9pm she appears to be down for the night. Erik went to sleep early so could wake up at 4 am with her and hang out while I sleep. Bless his heart.

Ann Kepler, among many other baby experts, believes this is an indicator of disequilibrium, which can often mean that the babies are in the process of acquiring new skills. I have to give these folks credit: they certainly seem to know what they are talking about. Amelia is now rolling around like mad, is almost sitting up on her own, understands the sign for milk and is able to make it, and is drinking from a sippy cup. Pretty amazing stuff. Plus, she's just so much fun to be with.

A Big Day

2005-07-27T21:22:00.000-07:00

Susan babysat for us while we went to Cinerama for a showing of the third Star Wars movie on Monday night. Amelia took the bottle like a champ and polished off both bottles. The picture above is her crashed out on Melz in the Baby Bjorn.

Today was big day today. She met Grandma Regine for the first time this morning, had her second round of immunizations, took a huge nap, went to the Farmer's Market for the first time, and went out to dinner, followed by small shopping expedition to Target. I walked home from Target with her on my chest after dinner so she could get a little extra sleep in...now it's 9:30 pm and Erik is still trying to bounce her to sleep. Ah, well.

She is five months and a week today. She weighed 13 pounds, 14 ounces, which put her in the 25th percentile for weight and was 25.5 inches, putting her in the 50th percentile for height. This is a pretty big drop from the 95th percentile in height and 90th in weight, but because she's so darn healthy, her pediatrician didn't think it was an issue. I'll try not to be a neurotic mom and worry about it.

The virgin post

2005-07-24T12:35:00.000-07:00

Today Amelia is five months and four days. She contstantly amazes us. Laughing & giggling, making lots of noises and shrieks, grabbing her toes, rolling over on her side, picking up her toys and putting anything and everything into her mouth. Perfect baby stuff - even the fussing & crying.

Last night she was wide awake at 2am after her midnight snack. She lay between us cooing, giggling & shrieking for over an hour. Finally, after another snack and a marathon bouncing session on the magic blue ball, Erik was able to get her to go back to sleep.

Today we are cleaning the house, kind of, in prepartion for the arrival of Amelia's third grandma, Regine. Amelia is a fussy monkey today, so the cleaning is slow going.

We'll finish off the day with a barbeque at Dad & Susan's. It has been wonderful to spend so much time with Melanie. I want Amelia to spend as much time as possible with Melz before she goes off to college.