2009 in Review

What a BIG year 2009 was for us!

January


January was mostly a month of waiting for us. We had our baby shower the first weekend of the month. We finished getting ready to bring a baby home. We were busy!

February


February 25th we welcomed Amelia Michelle into the world! After more than a day in labor and delivery room 8, Amelia finally decided it was a good time to be born. She weighed in at a whopping 10 pounds, 2 ounces and was 21 inches long. Obviously, this was the highlight of our year!

March


March was a tough month. We adjusted to life with a newborn as I recovered from her delivery (which was very hard on my body). Amelia suffered from newborn jaundice at very high levels and spent a lot of time in the window, naked, "sunning" to lower her bilirubin counts. Amelia also struggled with gaining weight and we made frequent trips to the pediatrician's office and the hospital labs. We had visits from my family, friends Lisa and Marie, Jason's family and we also made a trip to Indiana to see my grandparents while my parents were here visiting us. I returned to work at the end of the month when Amelia was just one month old. It was a busy, busy month!

April


In April Jason's mom and her parent's visited us for a weekend. Amelia had her first trip to the Milwaukee Art Museum. We celebrated Easter as a family of 3 and more!

May


In may I got ready to head back to school, Jason started work a new restaurant closer to home, we celebrated my first Mother's Day (in bed, I was sick), Amelia went to her first move (Star Trek), Amelia rolled over for the first time and her little personality really exploded.

June


June was a busy month! Amelia had her ears pierced, I finished up one of my two summer school classes, Jason celebrated his first Father's Day as a dad, we made an unexpected trip home for Jason's Grandma's funeral, Amelia made her first friend (Elsa) and more! We were on the go all the time.

July


July we were busy, as usual. Amelia and I spent the Fourth of July in Indiana at my grandma's house, we went to the Great Circus Festival on the lakefront here in Milwaukee, Amelia had her first "solid" food - rice cereal, Amelia went to her first Brewer's game to celebrate my 24th birthday, we went to the zoo for the first time and more! We had a lot of fun in July!

August


In August I finished summer school and started my final semester at UWM. Jason's sister and boyfriend visited us, Jason turned 26, Amelia went to the beach for the first time and we went to the MN State Fair with my family.

September


Labor Day weekend Amelia and I went up north to Marie's cabin to spend the weekend with her and Lisa, I joined a mother's Bibly study at our church and we had our pictures taken professionally for the first time as a family.

October


In October I participated in my first marathon and we had fun with Amelia's first Halloween - she was a mouse :)

November


In November Amelia began pulling herself up all on her own, we went home for the WI deer opener the weekend before Thanksgiving and Amelia moved up to a big girl carseat in my car. It was in November that I began to feel the pressures of graduation and I spent weeks doing nothing but researching.

December


In December Jason donated his hair, I graduated, with honors, from UWM, Jason ended up on crutches from stepping on a baby toy, Amelia met Santa (and liked him!), we celebrated Amelia's first Christmas with our families, Amelia went out in her very first sled, made her first snow angel and so much more!

2009 was a great year but I am very glad that it is almost over. I look forward to the opportunities that 2010 brings. Most of all, I am excited that I am done with college and can focus on the things that really matter to me -- my family!

"Lazy" Days

We have been having some "lazy" days this week. I say "lazy" (with quotes) because we have both been working a lot but nothing else has gotten done. Jason isn't even unpacked from Christmas yet! Upon getting home late, late Saturday night, Jason had to get up for work at 6 a.m. Sunday. Once he got home I left for work. That pattern continued through Tuesday.

This morning was supposed to be a major cleaning day...didn't happen! Amelia has been kind enough to allow us to sleep in, really sleep in...11:30! She gets up, has her bottle and is back in her crib, playing. Maybe there is some sleeping going on in there, but I am not sure because her daddy and I are sleeping.

Sunday morning I put together Amelia's new farm. I had to figure out the power drill! It took me most of her morning nap to get done and then the silly girl wasn't interested in it:


We kept at it:


And she eventually had fun:


Amelia "helped" me put away some laundry:


Monday morning Jason picked up an extra shift at work so it was just us girls. Amelia kept getting into trouble! She would NOT leave her cats alone and Ludo, finally, let her know that pulling on his tail was NOT ok with him:


See the scratch on her eye? I told her 4 or 5 times that she needed to leave him alone, moved her to another room, gave her a toy and she still went right back to him. Well, he told her! He didn't get into trouble but I have kept a closer eye on her when she is with them. As soon as she pulls on him she is told, "no" and I show her how to pet nicely. We'll see how it goes.

I also gave Amelia her Christmas presents from Jason and I:


(this was the best look I could get from her...)

Tuesday morning Amelia and I went to Bible study and she did better in the nursery! I am glad that she is getting better with other babies/kids. Tuesday also marked the start of eating battles with Amelia :(


She just seems to have no appetite, whatsoever. She takes her morning bottle good enough but after that she is not interested. When I tried feeding her her lunch, she barely ate a thing. She isn't acting like she is starved (which I think she should be!). Today we went through the same thing. Maybe she is finally teething? If so, she is backwards...most babies refuse the bottle, not solids, when teething! Only time will tell.

Today, as mentioned above, was a day of nothing. Once Jason left for work I tried to get the motivation to clean, but it never came. Tomorrow must be more productive! First, we need to go to the grocery store though. We have nothing, literally!

Amelia provided some amusement for me tonight. First, she came crawling into the living room with a credit card and a pen:


I think she is going to be a shopper...like all the other women in her family!

Before bed, she got about 15 minutes amusement out of my cap and tassel from graduation:


I am going to go and rummage up some dinner now and watch TV. I had a rough few days at work this week and haven't been much for talking. I think a night alone (tonight!) will do me some good.

I'll just say this, service industry workers deserve much, much more respect than they get. Just because I work at a movie theatre does not give you the right to treat me like the garbage you will leave on the theatre floor for me to pick up.

Also, we haven't taken many pictures this week because I left the camera charger in MN! It should be arriving soon, I hope! Then I can get back to taking lots and lots of pictures!

Day 4

Yesterday was our last day home for the holidays, as well as our travel day. Amelia got up at her usual time but I put her in her pack 'n' play an hour earlier than normal for her nap because she had a big date! Around 11, Amelia and I, went to my long-time friend L's house for a playdate with her 15 month old son J! I met J last December for the first time:


What a difference a year makes! This December L and J got to meet Amelia! I was a little nervous about Amelia, as you may remember, she doesn't do well around other babies most of the time. She did great though! She and J played so great for about 3 hours. He did a lot of running around while she played with his puppy, Afton too. She loved Afton:


J was keeping close watch!

Amelia wasn't too sure about him at first...


...but then he hugged her. So sweet!

J is a pro at stairs, so we spent a lot of time on the stairs:




I like the last one. It is like he is trying to tell her how to get up the stairs.

J and his mommy were laughing on the floor together and Amelia joined the fun:


While L and I were talking, I mentioned that Amelia hadn't started cruising (basically, walking along furniture) yet. As I was talking I looked at her, said "no, that is J's cup" and kept talking. Then I turned back and realized she was doing it! I made her do it again so I could record it:



It's not a very long distance but she did it!


We had a good time with L and J and look forward to seeing them again!

After our playdate, we picked daddy up and had Subway for lunch. After that we headed back to my parent's house to get things ready to go back to Milwaukee. We had a ton of stuff to cram into my little car! We said our goodbyes to Nana and Grandpa:


We packed everything up:


As you can see, it was a tight fit! And we headed to North Hudson to see Jason's Grandma Rude before we left. She recently had knee surgery and seems to be doing pretty good recovering. Amelia liked her walker:


She played with the brake lines (cords). Jason's Uncle Dave was there, dropping off milk, so we got to say hello to him also.

We left Hudson at 6:45 and got to Milwaukee at 11:47...maybe Jason should drive all the time? He definately gets it done faster than me!

Day 3 - Christmas Day

Today we spent the day with Jason's family at his Grandpa Peterson's house. Jason slept in a bit this morning (if 9:30 can be considered sleeping in) so we got off to a later start, as a family, than planned.

Amelia and I looked through our stockings this morning. Daddy wouldn't get up to join us! Santa brought Amelia all sorts of things:


She seemed to like her mini sock monkey and spoon instrument (you play it on your knees) the best:


Amelia was exhausted this morning:


I ended up having to put her down for a nap so I could finish eating my breakfast and she was out like a light in no time. We finished getting ready and had to get her up to get her ready. She was not happy about having to get into her Christmas dress:


I felt so bad for her :(

You wouldn't have known we were in the middle of a Christmas "blizzard" by this sight:


Yep. He is out there shoveling the driveway in sandals.

We were second to arrive at Grandpa Peterson's house. Nothing in particular went on for a few hours. Everyone just hung out, talking and eating. Amelia did better with present opening today than last night. She ate her presents:


Played with paper and boxes:



She scoped out her gifts (that we ended up having to open for her...):


Amelia was having some trouble crawling in her fancy Christmas dress:



I changed her into her "Baby's First Christmas" outfit from Auntie Kimmie so she could be a bit more mobile. As you saw, crawling in a slippery dress was pretty much impossible for her!

Amelia sat at the table with us for Christmas dinner:


She kept kicking her legs so hard that she shook the table. I am shocked no one's drink spilled with the way the table was shaking!

After dinner, Amelia crawled around and kept us all on our toes. She liked climbing on Davey:


She kept trying to get his new cell phone from him:


I thought it was cute when he asked where she was, so he could take her picture with his new phone...to show all his friends. No joke. That is what he told me.

Here is Amelia with her Auntie Liz and Kory (and their dog, Cashew):


(hey guys...Cashew seems to be licking Amelia in this picture!)

Cashew passed out during gift opening on a pile of new towels...


...and didn't wake up when he slid off the pile!

Amelia had one of her new books read to her by her Grandma Rude:


We had another good day today. Hopefully everyone else did too!

Merry Christmas to all!

For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:6

Day 2 - Christmas Eve

Today we spent the day with my family. We got up early to check on the weather and this "blizzard" that is upon us. Around 8" fell in our area but the roads were in pretty good condition so we headed to Minneapolis to go to Macy's for their annual 8th floor holiday display. Our family has been going to the display every year since my sister was born. This year's theme was the same as last year's theme, 'A Day in the Life of an Elf'.

I was excited to go with Amelia for her first Christmas!


She was very interested in everything there was to look at:


She and I liked all the trees the best:


I think Amelia had a good time:


Amelia saw Santa at Macy's Santaland! She did so well! She was so curious about who he was and she just stared at him. This is her first official Santa photo:


(our scanner wasn't behaving at all, so this is a picture of a picture...that is why it looks funny!)

We walked around Macy's for a bit and then headed home. We stopped at Target on our way home and got Amelia a sled, so she could enjoy the "blizzard". Before she got into her snow gear, I tried to take a nice picture of her in her Christmas jumper:


Her first snow adventure confused her more than anything, I think. She just sat there, looking around:


She didn't seem to think sitting in the snow was much better:


We went inside for a bit and Kim, Amelia and I hung out by the Christmas tree:


That cat toy that she has in her hand is her favorite. We have one in Milwaukee as well. It had to be in the picture because whenever I took it from her she freaked out. Her two favorite toys ever happen to be cat toys. Is that strange?

Here she is playing in Shadow's "ball pit":


What can I say, she is just attracted to cat toys, cat toys of all types.

When it was time to feed the birds, Amelia joined the fun:


She also made her first snow angel, with some help:


See it?


Amelia reminded us of Ralphie's little brother when she was all bundled up:


We let Amelia open her presents this afternoon because she hadn't really napped and was getting upset. She had a lot to open:




See the cat toy? She always has it with her.

She didn't like opening presents very much. The noise of the wrapping paper crinkling scared her for some reason. She crawled to her daddy repeatedly:


After Amelia went to bed I tried to get a picture with Jason. It proved harder than I thought:


After dinner and presents Jason and I shoveled the driveway. After that we walked to the gas station to get some snacks for a movie. It was a fun walk in the snow:


We are watching Home Alone as I am writing this. Actually, it just ended and Kim is popping in Night at the Museum 2. I haven't seen the first, but I don't think it will matter!

I think Christmas is even better with a little one around! Today was great. I hope tomorrow is just as good.