Fun at Wal-Mart

When we stopped at Wal-Mart this afternoon there was a wheelchair in the cart corral and Jason wanted to bring it inside, in case there was someone who needed to use it. He brought it in in his own way:




I had a pretty good laugh watching him wheel across the entire parking lot :)

Amelia has a pretty bad diaper rash again and this time it is way worse than the time before! Today we have been trying our best to help her feel better but nothing seems to be working. She is so sore down there that creams aren't staying onto the bad parts. If things are still in the shape they are now tomorrow I will likely call the doctor and ask to be seen, in case it is a symptom of something worse.

When she finally calmed down this afternoon for a nap (at 4 I might add, a tad late) she fell right asleep. I went in to check on her and this is what she looked like:



Some of you who know Miss Amelia know that one of her favorite things to do is clasp her hands together. She even does it in her sleep!

Fall is Coming

This tree has been changing color for about a week now. It seems early for the leaves to turn, doesn't it? September is just a day away though... Fall is probably my favorite time of year. I like the crisp, cool air. I like having the windows open and wearing sweats in the house all day. Fall smells great too. I'm not sure what it is, but I like it a lot!

Amelia and I went to Wal-Mart to pick up pictures I had printed right before we headed home. I printed them to a different Wal-Mart than we usually go because I have been having issues with the usual one's photo department. This one was also crazy busy, but the lines were nowhere near as long and slow as the usual Wal-Mart. So, tonight I am going to (hopefully) look through all the pictures I printed and get them into albums, or whatever I printed them for.


While at Wal-Mart, I entered the baby section (as I always do, even if there is not a single thing we need) and saw one swimsuit on the clearance rack for three dollars. I grabbed it, it was 18 mos. but I got it anyways. It really doesn't look that big at all. Amelia and I are headed up north on Friday and I would like her to have a second swimsuit so that I won't have to deal with putting a wet suit back on her too often. I hope it fits ok! If it doesn't, she's wearing it anyways :)

I was going to wait until September to put up a fall background, but I can't wait. I found a few that I liked a lot so I am going to put one of them up as soon as I publish this post! I figure, if the trees are already changing...then I can use fall motifs :)

*The new picture at the top is of Bradford Beach, which is about 1.5 miles from our old apartment on the East Side.

Family, Fair and Fun

Before school gets started next week, we took a trip home. Here is a rundown of our week:

TUESDAY:

First, someone turned 6 months old! Her first half year has flown by! She did so great in the car!

Once we finally got to Nana's house Amelia had some fun playing in Shadow's tunnel:




Jason also had a few birthday gifts waiting for him. My sister got him a spice collection from Penzey's called "Ethnic Milwaukee" and my mom made him a Twins blanket:


She takes two pieces of fleece and then crochets the edges together. So, it is similar to those fleece tie blankets that a lot of people have/make.

Once we were settled in and changed, we went to Jason's Grandpa Peterson's house for dinner with him, Jason's mom and sister and Jason's Grandma Rude. We grilled out and then celebrated Jason's birthday a few days late. He got an electric griddle and an ulu from his mom who just got back from Alaska. We only took ONE picture that night, go figure...here it is:



WEDNESDAY:

Wednesday morning we went to downtown Stillwater with my sister and walked around, stopping in a few of the shops. Amelia also tried out her new walker that my mom found at Once Upon a Child:




She can barely touch her little feet to the ground when she is in it, but she loved it!

Wednesday evening we went to our friend's, Lisa and Al, house they bought in June. We grilled out (burgers, brats and venison) and then the girls (myself, Lisa and Marie) went on a walk and sat on the porch talking while the boys (Jason, Al and Jordan) watched baseball with Amelia.

How would you love to have this view out your front door!?:



THURSDAY:

Thursday my parents, Jason and I got up early and caught a shuttle bus to the MN State Fair! It was Jason's first fair in 5 years and Amelia's first fair ever! Last year when I went I was really sick and couldn't taste anything at all so I was miserable :( I wait all year for Taco King tacos and I didn't even get to eat one last year! (I made up this year by eating 4...)

Here are some pictures from our day at the fair:

Minnesota's biggest boar, Deano, weighing in at 1310 pounds:


Piglets:






"Mona Melee":


"American Gothic":
Jason and I:


Mom and Dad had it backwards:


Amelia on tractors:




Amelia was very interested in everyone's cups at the fair:



Nana, Auntie Kim and Amelia on the Space Tower:


Amelia took several naps in her stroller. There is a flap on the top of the canopy that we snuck a picture or two through:


I got our first family Christmas ornament:


We were at the fair for eleven hours and Amelia did great! She got a lot of stuff (most of which is still in the car, so there are no pictures of any of it...yet).

After the fair, Amelia needed a bath! She had her first bath in a sink and would not sit down for it, she insisted on standing:


We were exhausted when we got home and spent the rest of the night at my parents house.

FRIDAY:

Friday morning I did some things around the house with my parents. Amelia had her breakfast in her new travel high chair:


Shadow thought it looked like a good chair too:


We went to the Bungalow for lunch and when we got home packed up the car. Amelia and her grandpa fell asleep during that time:


After we woke them up, we hit the road. We stopped at Jason's mom's house to say bye. Auntie Liz came home from work in time to catch us as well. When we left there we got an oil change and were on our way! Amelia did great in the car again!

We got home and there was no parking, as usual on a Friday night, near our house so we left everything but essentials in the car. Once I finally wrap this up I am going to go bring the car down in front of our house and finish unloading it all. After that I need to pick up after the cats! They made quite a mess while we were gone...they must have had a good time :)

Eating Like a Big Girl

Since Amelia is restless in her Bumbo, I used her highchair for the first time this afternoon! It was mine when I was a baby so it has been around for a long time! She did really well in it! Amelia loves rice cereal now. After she swallows she looks at you and opens her mouth wide as if to say, "more please!"


She was so happy to be eating like a big girl today:


We also tried her sippy cup again and she still isn't liking it much:



I am wondering if it tastes weird to her. I found another sippy cup that has a longer spout and is supposed to help babies transition easier from the bottle to the cup. It is supposed to be more like a bottle than a sippy cup. I am thinking that I might get one of those for her if she doesn't warm up to the one she has soon.

She took a late nap again today. I went in there to check on her and this is how I found her:


(it is so dark because I turned the flash off so I wouldn't wake her)

Morrison also thought it was a good idea to get into her crib and wake her from her nap. This is how I found them:


I don't know about this! I am going to have to keep a close eye on this guy from now on...

We are leaving in the morning to go "home" for the rest of the week. We have to come home earlier than originally planned because Jason is needed at work Saturday, but that is ok. I have been trying really hard to get things done around here tonight before we leave. I have a LOT of stuff packed into the car already...Jason will be happy I think!

I need to get some more cleaning done around here. We are leaving the cats (our neighbor Ellen is watching them for us) so the house will be a mess when we get home regardless of what I do tonight but I am at least going to try. I figure, the cleaner I leave it, it will be that much cleaner when we get home.

See some of you this week!

Escape Artist!

I think we have outgrown the Bumbo:



A few times today I came back into the living room and she was on the floor playing when I thought I left her in her Bumbo. The first time I found her on the floor and not in the chair I thought I was just mistaken. The second time I was confused... By the third time I KNEW she had found a way out of the Bumbo, I just wasn't sure how. In order to get this video I had to hide around the corner and watch her. It took me forever to catch this! I am glad I did though, it is priceless!

Busy Sunday

Well, I was mistaken, Jason was home with us this morning! It is next week that he works open to close on Sunday, which is better because it makes up for us being gone in MN/Hudson area this week.

This morning we woke up at 10:30...precisely when church starts...oops! Amelia is getting really good at entertaining herself in her crib and we have been sleeping later as a result. We no longer have our automatic alarm clock, er baby, to wake us up! I like sleep but I do not like feeling like we get nothing done in a day because we sleep late :(

EDIT: Jason would like me to clarify the phrase "get up". We are awake much earlier than 10:30. By "get up" I am refering to actually getting out of bed. To me, laying in bed, even if we are awake is not actually "being up". So, to rephrase the above, we "got out of bed" at 10:30.

This morning we went to Whole Foods to drop off our recycling and fill our water jugs. I think I've mentioned it before, but we take everything that the city doesn't recylce to Whole Foods because they have bins set up for it all and they recycle it. They take everything from plastic forks to the caps off of bottles/milk jugs etc. We recylce EVERYTHING we can in this house, even if it means taking a trip to the other side of town to do so.

While we were there we had some lunch (Jason a noodle bowl thing and I a salad). We stopped by Alterra and got a pound of coffee (as a frequent buyer, I get a free pound for my birthday, so we used that this trip).

When we got home we went to work in Amelia's room. Doing what you might ask? Well, first we lowered her crib a notch and then decided to take the crib tent off. (if you don't remember/know what a crib tent is, click here) We have not been zipping it up the past week, kind of to test the cats. As far as we know they have not been in it! We decided to take it off because now that she is constantly face planting it before she falls asleep, I flip her back to her back and the zipper wakes her up when we open it. Flipping her doesn't wake her necessarily, she stirs a little, but her eyes rarely open. The zipper, however, wakes her almost always!

Here she is in her in her crib:


I am sure that I will not sleep too well the next few nights, worrying that the cats are climbing in there with her! I don't know though, they were pretty enthralled with the crib tent after it was removed. See so for yourself:


I also decided to put out her 9 month clothes. She is in between sizes right now, so only about half of her 6 month stuff actually fits currently. I left the 6 month stuff that does fit in a basket for her to where this upcoming week. Once we get home I think I will have her in 9 month clothes only and now the task of putting them away is already done for when we get back!

Today Amelia wore her "Baby Nerd" onesie that Marie made her. Some of you know, Marie and I have shirts that say "Nerd One" and "Nerd Two"...long story that began with our trip to see "The Cat in the Hat"...


Amelia decided that 4:30 was a good time to take a nap finally, so we missed church all together today! I just didn't have the heart to wake her. She was so tired all afternoon but wouldn't nap so once she fell asleep I just let her be.

Life is Good

Things are good around here. Yesterday Jason had a low key birthday at home with Amelia while I headed to work for opening weekend of the new Tarantino film. I wish I had gotten off earlier so that we could have spent more time together, the three of us (Amelia was in bed when I got home) but I was needed at work, it was very busy!

Jason didn't have a cake...instead he had a bag of popcorn with brewer's yeast on it:


(complete with a Landmark Theatres "Happy Birthday" card thanks to Dawn's ingenuity)

We went to bed early because Jason had to be up at 5:30 this morning to go in and work brunch. That will be his normal Saturday from now on which allows me to go in and work Saturday evening which is great for the school year. So far, I will ony be working Friday all day and Saturday nights (vs Tuesdays and Fridays). I get out of class just after 6 on Mondays, so the first week of school I am going to try and make it in for a 6:30 shift. It will be cutting it close, but I am going to try, because if I can make it on time, that is a third shift I can work (probably only once a pay period though, so I have a night at home with Jason every other week).

Now, on to the meaning behind today's title. Not only are things good here, but Amelia wore her own "Life is Good" outfit today:




It is still a little big on her, but it was another chilly day so I wanted her in pants. It even has matching socks that say "Life is Good" on them, with "little chicks" on the top.

This morning I went to the farmer's market alone to get corn for next week when we are home and have dinner with Jason's family. We were hoping to take Amelia in Grandpa Peterson's pool this trip, but that is up in the air again. The poor little thing has such bad skin it is ridiculous! We have gotten her break-outs mostly under control. The exception being her face (her cheeks break out several times a week still). The backs of her knees were the worst. They would crack open and be bright red, it just looked so painful. The doctor had us try several creams on them and the last one worked so well! It cleared up in a few days but now for some reason it is coming back. It's not too bad yet so I am putting the cream on it twice a day again (after it cleared I only put it on at night). We just don't want to get chlorine on her already sensitive skin and cause it to really flare up. There is always next year I suppose!

Hopefully everyone has something fun to do this weekend! Ours is full of work. After we trade off parental duties today, Jason works a double tomorrow, so it'll just be us girls all day!