A Better Day

Things are getting back to normal around here. Amelia was MUCH happier today than she has been the past few days. She is finally getting back on her sleep pattern, which is great!

Amelia is getting harder and harder to change! Now that she knows how to roll from her back to her front, that is all she wants to do when she is on her back...including during diaper changes. Since there is not a lot of room on her changing table for her to roll all the way over, instead she rolls to the railing and then hugs it:


This morning while I was at school, Amelia had some time, relaxing in her bouncer:


This afternoon, Amelia sang us a lot of songs and told us a lot of stories! It was nice to be able to spend a little time with a happy baby again (vs the crabby pants we've had the past few days).

After Jason left for work Amelia had some playtime on her own. I ended up being a big part of it though, because she kept throwing her toys off the Bumbo tray and then wanted them back. Here are some pictures:

Ready to play:



Amelia is asleep and there is plenty to do around here tonight, so I better get to it! Plus, I also have some catching up to do in school, since I missed last Wednesday. I found someone to get notes from, so that should help a lot. I was completely lost for the most part today. It should get better, once I get the notes and have a chance to review them and get caught up.

A Rolling Machine!

Amelia is rolling more and more....and she is rolling both from front to back AND back to front now! One night this week she was log-rolling across the living room at my mom's house (I missed it because I was vacuuming out my car, some of you may get a good chuckle out of that). Here is a short video of her from her back to her front, which is her newest accomplishment:

Our Week

We had quite a week! It started out as they always do, with work and school :) Monday night we unexpectedly drove home (Hudson area) as most of you know, for Grandma Peterson's funeral. While the circumstances were far from ideal, it was nice to be able to see friends and family. Here is a rundown of our busy, busy week:

TUESDAY:
We arrived in MN around 5 a.m. After getting our things into the house and Amelia back to sleep in her "pack and play", Jason and I crashed. We woke up at 11:30 (my sister, Kim, was nice enough to watch Amelia so we could continue sleeping):


After getting things situated and getting ourselves ready, we headed to North Hudson to Grandpa Peterson's house to spend some time with family. Amelia and I left in the evening. Amelia went to sleep and I had dinner with my friend Marie at Acapulco. I picked Jason up around 9 p.m. and we ran to Wal-Mart for a few things we forgot to bring and then it was bedtime for us!

WEDNESDAY:
Wednesday Jason, Amelia and I had lunch with my mom and sister at Cossetta's in St. Paul, which was great! We also stopped by my mom's old work, since she cancelled lunch plans to hang with us and her old co-workers told her to stop by with the grandbaby. Amelia wanted a nap at this point and would NOT sleep in her sling, laying down. She would, however, sleep upright:


Jason had to walk around holding her head up while she napped!
[Amelia tends to prefer being upright over laying down. The only time she really likes to be held horizontally is when she is eating, or tipped to her side when she is sleepy]

After St. Paul we headed home through Stillwater. [This is when we stopped and took the pictures of Jason's Grandma and Grandpa Rude's home] I needed to find something to wear to the funeral, so we stopped at Kohl's and I found a dress that I actually thought looked good on me and it was comfortable! Jason and I also got haircuts/trims while we were in Stillwater, which were needed, badly!

For dinner Wednesday night, we decided that we wanted to go somewhere that would have the Twins/Brewers game on [we had tickets for the game, but obviously were not in town to go to it. Jason contacted someone who allowed us to exchange them, which we were not expecting to happen]. We decided on Buffalo Wild Wings and met two couples [Lisa and Al/Marie and Jordan] there to watch the game. Jason was the only Twins fan at our table! Even Amelia was sporting some Brewers gear while she "watched" the game:


The Brewers won. [the only win of the series for them...]

THURSDAY:
Thursday we had lunch with Grandma Rude at King's City Chinese. Jason's family has been going there for longer than they remember. After we ate lunch, we went to Teddy Bear Park in Stillwater and got some pictures of Amelia with her Great-Grandma Rude. This is a favorite of the two of them:


After we brought Grandma Rude home, we got ready for the visitation. Amelia looked very nice that evening:


And this, I feel, is a fairly decent picture of Amelia and I (there are not many):


After the visitation, Jason, Amelia and I had dinner with his sister, Liz, and her boyfriend Kory at Mama Maria's (where Jason worked for many, many years). Amelia was pretty much a terror through dinner (very tired baby) and we took her home right away after dinner to get her to bed!

Lastly, before bed, Jason got to wear Michael Jackson's hat:


My mom caught this at a concert of his in 1988. It has been sitting in a glass case for the past twenty years. He was pretty excited about it!

FRIDAY:
Friday morning started early for us. We met Jason's friend/old co-worker Nick for coffee/breakfast before heading up to the church for the funeral.

There was a good turnout for the funeral and the service was very nice. Amelia wore a new dress that her Great-Grandma had gotten for her, unfortunately we did not get any pictures of her in it because it was very warm out and we wanted to get her into something a bit cooler asap after the funeral ended. The luncheon at the church also went very well. Amelia was very well behaved ALL day. We were shocked.

After the funeral and luncheon, we headed to my mom's house to re-stock baby supplies and change. We then stopped by Mama Maria's, again, to see Jason's old boss and show him Amelia. From there we went to his Grandpa's again, where everyone was swimming and hanging out. It was nice spending the afternoon with family. Here are some pictures:

Amelia and Great-Granpa Peterson:


4 Generations on Jason's side of the family:


Jason took Amelia "surfing" on the slide into the pool:


For dinner, we met my parents in Oakdale, at Pino's. After that, Jason, Amelia and I went to Pizza Hut to meet up with Lisa, her sister Sarah and Sarah's three daughters. [Sarah is the one that Lisa and I visited in Europe, twice, when she was living overseas]

Amelia made her first "friend" in Sarah's 9 month old daughter, Elsa:


Hhmmm...is Amelia a giant or Elsa a little peanut...or a little of both? (the girls are 5 months apart) Amelia responded very well to Elsa!

Jason also had quite a good time at the playground, running around with Sarah's older girls:


< Raeann


Hanna >







Here is Jason, swinging:


He was swinging for probably ten minutes and then finally yelled over, "Aren't you going to take my picture?", so I did.

Amelia also went swinging, for the first time!
Amelia and Elsa:


Amelia sure seemed to have a good time:


This morning, Amelia had some time with her Papouli, since we barely saw him this trip. [we stayed at his house and barely saw him, that is how busy we were!]


We had a very long and tiring week! It feels good to be back in Milwaukee, but at the same time we wish we could have stayed! Time to get back to life here.

Jenny Jump Up

We have been debating on getting an exersaucer or jumperoo for Amelia. Our concern is that our house is already sort of jam-packed and those things take up a LOT of room! We decided that we want something that she can practice "standing" in and got a "Jenny Jump Up" at Wal-Mart here. They don't carry them in the stores near our house and we were going to order one, but Jason noticed that there was one here so we got it. Here are some pictures from her first time in it:




I think she had a good time! Perhaps we may still get her and exersaucer at some point but for now this seems like it will be a good way for her to practice "standing".

JanDell Manor

Since we are in town, and were in Stillwater earlier today, Jason decided he wanted to stop by his Grandma Rude's house. It is being sold currently (she now has an apartment in North Hudson). He wanted to take some pictures, in case the people that buy it decide they want to tear it down. It was built in 1854, so it needs some work :)


(His grandparents are Janet and Ardell. That is the story behind the name)




Jason says that if there is anyone out there that has $188,000 + tax that they would like to give him, he wants this house!

In Town

As most of you know, Jason, Amelia and I are back home for a few days. Monday night Jason's grandmother (Peterson) passed away very unexpectedly. We drove home overnight and are here through Friday. We are thankful that she was able to visit us in Milwaukee in April, so she had a chance to see Amelia.

Summer School, Part 2

Today was the first day of my second half of summer school. My first impression of this class is that it is going to be MUCH easier (ie- lighter reading each night). This class will last until August 12, which is a bit longer than the first one lasted, but I only have to go twice a week! Another added bonus is that it starts at 930 (vs 9).

Amelia's appetite has returned! She must have adjusted somewhat to the heat and/or the a/c has probably helped. She is back to her normal, piggy self. Her tummy is getting bigger:


Amelia has also managed to find her thumb (instead of her whole hand):


I am hoping that this does not become a habit of hers!

This afternoon Amelia and I exercised (yes, both of us did). We tried out our Mom and Baby Fitness DVD for the first time. I didn't do the full workout... Instead I tried out one of the "mini workouts" for busy moms. We tried the one that works on the post-baby belly. It sure worked my abs out! I haven't done yoga in quite some time. Amelia did really well but got fussy during certain poses and also towards the end. They also had a "mini" workout for baby, baby yoga. Amelia liked most of that! Her favorites were "taffy baby" and "so big". She smiled and giggled a lot! She wasn't to fond of "candlestick", which is similar to what we (parents) do when we are changing diapers (holding their legs up in the air and then, for this, moving them in circles).

A funny face to leave you all with:


I have NO idea what she was looking at that apparently was very interesting.

Father's Day

We had a pretty uneventful Father's Day, much like our uneventful Mother's Day (if you remember, I had a pretty high fever). We started out our day early, compliments of Amelia. Once we got up, changed and fed Amelia we sat down and Jason opened up his stack of cards from family and opened his gifts (he got some new movies and an iTunes gift card). He will have new things to watch on Tuesdays and Fridays (when I am at work) for a couple weeks now! (He also got himself Transformers, the original, season 1 at Target after church today) Before going to church this morning, we went to a diner, called Landmark Diner, for breakfast. We had never been there before and will probably go back! You get large portions for small prices :) We both got plenty to eat this morning. Unfortunately, Jason had to work tonight, so it was just us girls this evening.

I tried to get a good picture of Amelia and Jason today, but that proved itself to be harder than I anticipated. This is the best one I got, I think:


Here is a picture of Amelia's Father's Day outfit. (it says "I Love Daddy", which I am sure is almost impossible to tell)


Another part of Jason's Father's Day suprises was this:


Twins gear! Remember, we are in Milwaukee, "Brewer's Land", Twins gear is non-existant down here (my mom picked this up), and I am also a Brewer fan...so this is Amelia's first Twins outfit :) (she has several Brewer outfits already) She looks like she is modeling it, holding it up to make sure the camera can see it clearly.

She was not too interested in Bumbo time without her tray today:



She kept turning to look at her basket of toys. (we usually only play with toys in the Bumbo when we use the tray) We eventually did play with toys :)

First Doll

Amelia finally played with her first doll today. Here are some pictures:

Flying doll:


Hiding behind her doll:


Love for her doll:


Trying to eat her doll:

Summer Heat

The summer heat is finally here. So far we have been having a rather cool summer (which I was loving) and the past few days it actually feels like summer here (vs spring). Last night, Jason installed our 2 window a/c units that his famly got for us. They are in the bedrooms, and those two rooms feel a LOT cooler than the rest of the house! Tonight I got a fan to put in the doorway of the spare bedroom to blow some cooler air into the living room. I decided to put it together myself...I managed, and it works, but there are a few parts leftover...so I am not sure that is a good thing. I guess Jason will have to look it over. The instructions were not the greatest and confused me.

With the summer heat comes adorable clothes for Amelia! Usually she is used to wearing onesie summer dresses, so it is all one piece. Today she wore an actual dress and she had a good time with it! She is not very lady-like, she kept lifting up her dress. At one point, every single time I put the camera up to take a picture of her she threw the dress up and "hid". Here are some pictures:




Amelia has not been herself the past couple of days. I think that it has to do with the heat. She has a smaller appetite and actually will take a nap! She doesn't have a fever or anything, so we don't think she is sick. She still tells stories all day, smiles and giggles :) She still has her attitude too:


This evening she was hungry and it showed! (the past few days she acts hungry, but then when you try and feed her she fights you the entire time. She pushes the bottle out of her mouth and then a second later tries to pull it back in. What a silly baby!) I had her in her Bumbo while I got her some dinner warmed up and she apparently could not wait:



And, one final, funny, photo:


Imagine, if you will, that the floor is a vertical wall...it looks like she is climbing up a mountain!

Visitors!

Well, the first half of summer school is over =) I am homework free...until Monday.

Today we have had visitors stopping by! First, Jason's Uncle Mark and his two youngest, David and Samantha, stopped here on their way home from out East. They are staying the night in Milwaukee and tonight we are all going for dinner at Honeypie. Hopefully it won't be too busy and Jason can come out and say hi!

After they went to get checked in etc, Jason's friend Andy, from back home, called and asked if it would be ok to stop by. He is down in the area for some family related things and it was nice that he could stop and say hello, update Jason on what's happening with the new Twins stadium etc.

This morning while I was getting ready to leave Jason had some tummytime with Amelia. I love this picture:


They have the same silly look on their faces =) (Daddy needs a haircut...)

This afternoon we changed Amelia into some summer clothes for a change. It has been so chilly down here that it hardly feels like summer most of the time! I don't mind that much, heat and me don't really get along, but some warm weather would be nice. It is crazy, the tank top we dressed her in is "12 month" and the shorts "9 month" and they fit pretty much perfectly! Up until now I had decided that Carters ran a little larger, but now I am not so sure...she is a big girl, but not that big...


There should be universal sizing for baby clothes. It would make things so much eaiser.

Amelia had a good time in her Bumbo today:



It is almost like she is holding her butterfly like a baby =)

She is such a happy baby:



We love it!