Scrapbooking!

After years of making fun of scrapbookers, both behind their backs, and to their faces, I have been seduced to the dark side, and now I'm hopelessly addicted. My coworker Ronnece, a scrapbook pro, showed me a few of her scrapbooks and told me in December that I should start scrapping Amelia's pictures. I kind of blew it off, but found myself one weekend in Hobby Lobby, hating myself for every item I put in my cart. But then I started, and couldn't stop, spending every night, until 2 or 3am working on it.

I'm currently working on 2 projects:

1. Amelia's scrapbook: Big or little moments in her life, in chronological order.
2. A family memory book: Stories and photos about her family members, from both my family, and Austin's. I am hoping to get a page done for every member of her family, and those of you who haven't sent me a story and picture yet, YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE, please send them to me.

Above are some pictures from the Family Memory Book. (Thanks to Grandma Betty for all her help with stories!)

Going back to work!

This picture was taken on November 19th, when Amelia was 7 1/2 weeks old, on the day before I was supposed to return to work. I wanted a current picture of her at my desk. I loved that outfit, a combination of a shirt from Grandma Sally and jumper from Grandma Kathy. We hit a few snags, with Austin first getting sick, and then me, but I went back to work full time on November 22nd. Being at work away from Amelia gets easier every day, and it helps that I have about 12 (seriously) framed pictures of her at my desk!

Amelia's First Road Trip

So before Amelia was even born, Austin and I decided that once she was a few weeks old, we would take her to Missoula, MT, to visit his family. I know it might seem like a terrible time to do that, but for us, it was perfect. Since I was on a 2 month paid maternity leave, and Amelia was still young enough (we thought) to sleep most of the time, it was great timing for us. Plus, we hadn't seen Austin's family in 2 years.

Our trip started right when we dropped off my mother at the airport in Lubbock, TX, on Oct 10th, 2006. Amelia was 2 1/2 weeks old. The first night, we drove to Cheyenne, WY, the second we drove to Livingston, MT, and we were in Missoula by the afternoon of the 12th.

We stayed with Austin's parents, Keith and Kathy Tripp, who are some of the nicest people in the world. They were really happy to meet Amelia, who is their 3rd grandchild. Keith is self-employed and was able to spend a lot of time with us, and Kathy's boss gave her plenty of days off to enjoy Amelia.

Missoula was great! It was really nice to see all of Austin's family, including his beautiful sister Jenny, his brothers TJ and Jesse, Granda Dawn and Grandpa Jerry, Grandma Glenda and Grandpa Jack, and Aunt Kathy and uncle Jerry. Austin's mom had such a way with Amelia, and could hold her in a way that just made her want to sleep! Jenny really liked to hold Amelia, and once Austin and I came in the house to see TJ taking a nap, with Amelia sleeping on his chest.

We also had a chance to do some shopping at stores we don't have in Clovis, like Target, Old Navy, and Barnes and Noble, and to eat at some pretty good restaurants. Austin's mom always volunteered to watch Amelia so Austin and I could spend some time alone together.

We had a great trip, but unfortunately, we didn't take a lot of pictures! We're hoping to go back this summer for a visit.

Grandma Sally comes to visit!

When Amelia was 10 days old, my mother, Sally Driscoll, flew from Wisconsin to visit us in New Mexico. It was her first time here, and she was pretty surprised by what Clovis looked like. She thought it was desert, with mountains and canyons (so did we!). Instead, Clovis is flat, dry, dusty, windy, and pretty ugly, with a strong manure smell. But, she was dazzled by Amelia, who is her second granddaughter (cousin Sophie was born on September 14, 2006).

My mom has been wonderful to us...she has equipped Amelia with a beautiful wardrobe, and also bought a Pack and Play for her. When we were trying to decide on Amelia's middle name, Austin said he thought it should mean something, maybe be named after a family member, possibly my mother. I said, "I am not naming our daughter 'Amelia Sally!" But I remembered that her confirmation name is Sarah, and Amelia Sarah sounded beautiful. I had wanted to surprise my mother by giving Amelia that name, but anybody who knows me also knows that I can't keep a secret like that to save my life, so I called up my mom and told her, thinking she'd be really surprised and happy. To my surprise, she tried to talk me out of it! She thought that my previous choice, 'Linden' would be better. But I'm pretty stubborn, and Amelia Sarah she became. I think my mom likes it now.

My mom stayed for 6 days and pretty much held Amelia the entire time until she left. A least when I would let her...I was pretty possessive of Amelia those first few weeks!

Amelia Sarah Henderson

Amelia Sarah Henderson was born on September 27, 2006, at 11:09 p.m. at Plains Regional Medical Center in Clovis, New Mexico. She was 6 lbs, 5 oz, and was 19.5 inches long. After a few days in the hospital (due to my c-section, and Amelia's jaundice), we came home on October 1st.

Here we are!

Austin created this blog for our family to share news and pictures with friends and family. Amelia is 5 months old today, so I have some catching up to do. So, after this first post, I will start from the beginning.

We are still in Clovis, New Mexico, and probably will be until my contract is up, so we will likely be here until September 2007, and possibly longer.