My, how you've grown!

Beautiful even 3 1/2 months before she was born
4 days old
2 weeks old

7 weeks old

3 months old

5 months old

6 months old

7 months old

I don't realize how much Amelia has changed since she was born until I look at her new baby pictures. When I look at her early pictures, she doesn't even look like the same baby. First she looked like Austin, then, she started to look a little like me. Then she didn't look like anybody in particular, and now, she looks just like Austin again. He was holding Amelia yesterday, and it struck me how similar they look. She's got a funny little personality, and she's really fickle!

Here are some of her (current) favorite things:

Food: Yobaby yogurt, either vanilla or banana or whatever we are eating, she wants

Drink (other than Mom): Water

Toys in her crib: Beanie Angels, giraffe, musical bunny, her new stuffed animal, Tyron the Moose (from the Backyardigans) that Austin bought for her, and her crib aquarium.

Sleeping position: For 7 months it was her back, but the first night we got her crib, she started sleeping on her stomach.

Person: If she is with Dad, then Mom is her favorite. If she is with Mom, then she wants Dad.

DVD: Baby Mozart (some things never change!)

Place to be: Outside!!!!

New Swing

When Austin and I moved into this house, I saw a grape vine curled around a clothesline pole in the backyard. I thought, "Great! I can make my own hooch." And I was excited to see the vine getting greener and grapes starting to sprout on it. And then...it was infested by box elder beetles, and all the grapes disappeared. So, this morning, Amelia woke me up at 6:30am and while she took a nap later in the morning, I went out into the backyard to do some yard work. Wanting to avoid another infestation, I hacked that grape vine down with my clippers, and I was left with a bare clothesline pole. We can't hang clothes to dry on the clothesline, since it is so windy and dusty here that any clothes would get dirty, so I decided to put up a swing for Amelia. And here it is! She wasn't so sure of it this first time, but I'm sure she will love it soon.

Seven Months Old!!!

Perfect Smile!

Check out my teeth!
Probably looking at Daddy (like always!)

Trying not to explode!

Amelia turned 7 months old on Friday, so these pictures taken on Saturday are her official 7 month old pictures. I am having prints of many of these made, so the grandparents and great grandparents and aunts and uncles can expect to receive some pictures in the mail soon. It was just a few weeks ago that Amelia couldn't sit up on her own, and now she's a pro at it. She really likes being outside, so we go out there as much as possible.

Baby Daily Double

MOV01041
Uploaded by Hen7975

Here is a video I took of Amelia last week. Every day, Austin DVRs Jeopardy, and watch it together when I get home from work. We found out that Amelia loves the sounds that accompany the "Daily Double" part of the game. We kept rewinding it and watching her react to the sounds. You will want to turn your sound up so you can listen along. To play the video, click it, wait a second, then click it again.

Mimi's Faux Hawk

In the past few days, Austin and I have noticed that Amelia's hair is growing in a really cute pattern, kind of like a mohawk. I promise we aren't styling it or adding anything to it to make it stick up like this, it's completely natural and so cute! My nephew Randy had similar hair...his was white blonde and stuck out all over his head...he looked like Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes.

The top 3 pictures show the faux-hawk really well, the last one doesn't...it was just a cute picture taken at the same time that I wanted to include.

Apologies

It has been a full 6 days since I've made any updates to this website, and I'm sorry...I know that there are some people who actually check this site on a regular basis to keep up with how Amelia has been changing. It's just been a busy week, but I've taken a few pictures of Amelia during my lunch hours, so here are some new ones.

Amelia turned 7 months old today, and she is better than ever. So cute, and changing so much. She is now an expert sitter, and is scooting herself around like a pro (and getting into stuff she shouldn't).

Amelia's new bed

Ever since Amelia was born, she has slept in the bassinet of her pack 'n play. Well, she's started to outgrow it, so I ordered a crib for her last month. It finally arrived yesterday, so we set it up right away in her room. She slept in it for the first time last night, and actually slept almost 7 hours straight, which is pretty good for her. These pictures were taken of her playing in her crib this afternoon while I cleaned her room up.

Grandma Sally's Special Request

Why are you guys laughing at me?
Do you like my dress?
Laughing at Daddy!

My mom sent Amelia a pair of bunny ears for Easter, and I finally got around to taking some pictures of Amelia wearing them. Oh, and I kind of misplaced them, and found them recently. Aren't they cute? She didn't seem to notice she was wearing them, but liked smiling and showing off her dress and her new sitting skills for some pictures.

MOV01015
Uploaded by Hen7975

Here is a video of Amelia that I took today. She started to sit up on her own really well within the past week, and she also scoots around the living room floor on a blanket. She isn't crawling yet, but she uses a combination of rolling, scooting backwards, and turning her whole body around to get where she wants to go. Just this morning, she started to lift her belly up off the floor and hold herself up on her hands and knees, so I predict that crawling will happen pretty soon. She is such a different baby than she was just a month ago...she used to be content to be held all the time, but now she bucks and rocks and squirms because she wants to be on the floor, moving around. And of course, now we have to babyproof our living room, which includes getting rid of our iron and slate coffee table and covering up all the wires for the surround sound system.

To play the video, click it, wait a second, then click it again.

More Pics

Yesterday afternoon we spent some time outside, since it was warm and relatively windless. For those who aren't familiar with Clovis, the area of the country we are in is called the High Plains, and we get some really high winds here. And those winds carry the red Clovis dust, so not only is it horrible to go outside on windy days, we have to keep our doors and windows closed because the dust will get inside. But it was really calm yesterday, so we took Amelia outside for some sun. She really loves being outside, and likes to watch the cars and motorcycles go by the house.

Austin's Battle Wound-Showing For a Limited Time Only

So, some of you know that Austin had some minor surgery on his scalp performed yesterday. Here's the pictures of the stitches he got. It's 1 running stitch, but looks like 5 stitches. It might look bad to some of you, but he's doing good, and the procedure wasn't as bad as either of us thought it would be. Unfortunately, he has a half-dollar sized bald spot now and his head is too tender to wear a hat, but it should grow back soon.

All Tuckered Out

Today, the 3 of us went to see my friend Amy's new duplex (really nice, with a jacuzzi tub and wow...airconditioning!) so Austin could help her out with hooking up her clothes dryer. Amy played with Amelia and we showed off her rolling over and standing skills, and consequently, Amelia missed her afternoon nap. On the way home, we stopped to pick up dinner, and Amelia fell asleep in the car in this really uncomfortable position. (I tucked her hat under her cheek because she was resting her head on the plastic part of the car seat.) She was sleeping so soundly that I decided not to move her head, and instead, to take a few pictures.

What is this green stuff?

We had some nice weather this weekend, (even though it actually snowed a little on Friday) so I took Amelia outside in our back yard for some fresh air. With all the rain and snow we have had recently, our yard has really sprouted and we haven't had a chance to get it mowed. But it makes for some nice pictures. Amelia loved playing with the grass, grabbing it, and pulling it up, and surprisingly, she didn't stuff any in her mouth.

Office Party

The whole group (too many to name individually, but it's pretty

much everybody in our office, plus a few spouses and kids)

Amelia and my coworker Jenny
(she's having her own baby girl in July)
Amelia and my coworker Sherron (it was her party)


Tonight we went to an office get-together at my coworker Sherron's apartment. Sherron was in the hospital recently and she had this party to thank everybody in the office for helping her out when she needed it. Wow! A lot of people! Amelia was wild at the party (despite what the pictures show). She was really jumping around and was excited to see so many different people (I guess she gets bored just seeing old Mom and Dad!) We got home a little after 8pm, and Amelia fell asleep almost immediately...I guess she was pretty worn out.

The Other Woman

Here are some pictures of Amelia and the other woman in her life, her babysitter, Colleen. Colleen has been watching Amelia a few afternoons a week for about a month, and Amelia absolutely loves her. Colleen is my coworker's wife, and we were thrilled to find her...she watches only Amelia, and she takes really good care of her. This is great because then I don't worry about her constantly. Amelia loves Colleen because she holds her all the time and sings "Humpty Dumpty" to her in German.

If it doesn't work, bang it against something!

Here is some video I took today of Amelia in her exersaucer. She is holding a butterfly toy which makes noises when you move the wings. Of course, Amelia doesn't know how to work the toy, so she settled for just banging it against the exersaucer until it worked. To play the video, click it twice (don't double click it; space the clicks a second or so apart) and it should start playing.

MOV00893
Uploaded by Hen7975

Easter Brunch

Amelia with Amy

My friend Amy and her mom invited Austin, Amelia, and I to Easter Brunch today at the club on base. I met Amy about 4 years ago when we worked together in San Antonio. When I told her I was moving here, she said, "oh, my parents just moved to Clovis too!" A few months later, Amy moved here also. Amy and her parents are like our second family now; we even spent Christmas Eve at their house.

So we all went to the brunch today, and we had a lot of fun. The food was great...there was prime rib, carved turkey, ham, waffles, eggs benedict, lots of sides, fruit, dessert, and mimosas.

Amelia in Mommy's baby clothes

Here's some pictures of Amelia wearing one of my old baby outfits. My mom sent it while I was pregnant, and I kept it stored away until Amelia was big enough for it. I believe it was originally given to me by my Great-Aunt Sally. I was looking at it in the closet today, and pulled it out to try on Amelia, and I was surprised by how well it fit her; I thought we'd have to wait a few more months to try it, but I'm glad I did, because it fits so well that she would have grown out of it in a month or so. So cute, and the animal blanket from my friend Wendy makes a perfect backrground.