Really happy to be out of the car!

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Well, we made it! Actually, we got into Montana on Sunday afternoon. We spent the night at Austin's parent's house in Missoula, and then we went on to Great Falls yesterday morning. Even though we were only in Missoula for less than 24 hrs, it was awesome to be back. Amelia warmed up to Keith and Kathy right away, and even got to visit with her great-grandparents Jerry and Dawn. I've got to admit, I was kinda (really) disappointed that there was no snow in Missoula when we got there...it was warm-ish (40's?) and raining. But, as we woke up on Monday morning for our drive through the mountains to Great Falls, we saw snow...and a lot of it. Our 160 mile drive to Great Falls took us almost 4 hours...we had to cross a mountain pass and the snow made for slow going. Cool thing...we saw a wolf running in a field on our drive.

Anyway, this video is from our stop in Livingston, MT. We had been in the car for about 10 hours, and Amelia was *really* happy to be out of the car.

We will be heading back to Missoula this weekend for another visit...then back to Great Falls Mon-Fri, and then back again to Missoula for a 4-5 day visit until we drive back to San Antonio.

On the Road

The blog won't be updated for a few weeks, because tomorrow morning, we will be leaving for Montana.

I'm going to be working for 2 weeks in Great Falls, and Amelia and Austin are coming along for the ride. After the work is done, we will be in Missoula for a few days, finally returning around March 15-16th.

See you later!

Beach Pictures

Here are some pictures from today's trip to the beach. As you can see, Amelia got totally wet and didn't want to come out of the water. And the water wasn't warm...today's surf temperature was only 65'F. Although, I must say....once you were in, it wasn't too cold. Amelia started out dry and ended up full-on wet, somehow, and still wanted to play. I can't wait until May or June when we can take her back and let her swim for real.

I have to add that it is pretty funny to us that on the same day that we went to the beach, Austin's family went cross-country skiing in Montana.

Amelia goes to the ocean!

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We drove down to Padre Island today to show Amelia the ocean for the first time. As I lifted her out of the car and set her down in the sand, I had my camera ready. This is the video of the very first time Amelia sees the ocean.

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It was pretty warm today for February in Texas, about 75'F, and sunny, so I figured we'd probably walk around, watch Amelia eat sand, and make sandcastles. I thought Amelia would get her feet wet and then scream because the water was cool. Um, wrong! She got in and didn't want to leave. She kept trying to go farther and farther out, and even fell on her butt a few times, and even took a full backwards fall into the water, and she still wasn't done. After about 15 minutes, she was shivering, and we had to literally drag her, kicking and twisting, back to the car to put some dry clothes on her.

Only in Texas

I was at the grocery store today, and I saw this truck when I was leaving. I had my camera in the car, so I pulled around again and snapped a picture, for the sole reason of posting it on my blog.

Erin's Toes

Wow, those are some really ugly toes. Okay, they're my toes. Anyway, this picture was taken about 10 days ago, a few days after I smashed them. I had just given Amelia her bath, and I was carrying her, wrapped in a towel, into the living room so I could get her pj's on, and I pretty much walked right into the corner of the sofa. My 2 small toes went to the left of the corner, the others went right, and here in the result. I had xrays the same day, and the doctor issued me a boot/sandal type thing to wear. I limped around for about 4 days before the nurse called to tell me my xrays were negative. Huh? If I didn't break anything, why do my toes still hurt?

Amelia's First Trip to the ER!

Tonight, after I got home from work, Amelia was following me out of the bathroom. She was wearing these suede-soled boots and she slipped on the tile floor and took a header into the edge of the bathroom closet door. She got a goose egg and a big bruise on her forehead within 30 seconds, and it looked awful. She was screaming, and it kept swelling, so we decided to take her to the ER. Of course, I had no idea where an ER was in this town, so I had to look one up on the internet. She saw a doctor, and he says she will be fine, but she will have a knot on her head for a few days, and then a nice big bruise for a few weeks.

Letting it all hang out

Hmmm...I am not sure how long I am going to keep this post on the blog...not sure if it's appropriate, or whatever. Anyway, Amelia is almost 16 months and she's come down with her first ever diaper rash. So of course I'm panicking about it. She's been spending some time nakie running around the house, which she really likes, just to air out. She was having so much fun that she dragged her giraffe out to ride on.

Weekend pictures

(This is what *I* looked like when I was a baby!)
That's a nice head of hair!

Here are some pictures I took of Amelia over the weekend. She has been hard to take pictures of lately...she doesn't just smile and look cute; now she grabs the camera or runs away. I used to pose her by the windows because the light makes nice pictures, but now I pose her there because she will actually look out of the windows and stand relatively still.

Clean your room!

Amelia learned how to climb on the glider rocker in her room, and she was proud to look over her messy domain. I actually pick up her toys every day, but within minutes she is pulling them out again.

Pop Tarts

There hasn't been a lot of interesting things happening lately, and my mother (Hi Sal) (she likes it when you call her Sal!) reminded me that I haven't posted any pictures lately, so here is a picture of Amelia eating a Pop Tart. This is from about a week and a half ago, when she was going through a phase of not eating, and I would have fed her ice cream for every meal if she would have just eaten something. Even now, she is going through a picky phase...all she will eat is yogurt, bananas (that she wants to hold herself), baby ravioli, cheeseburgers, and mozzarella cheese.

Grapefruit!

I bought a bag of grapefruits at a roadside stand, and I was surprised to see that not only did Amelia like them, she *really* liked them.

Thanks Grandma Dawn Part 2--Updated

Call me superstitious...whatever. I'm sure I'll jinx myself saying it, but I have to: We got the blanket from Grandma Dawn on Wednesday afternoon, and I tucked it in around Amelia's mattress so she could lay on it (she kicks blankets off if they are on top of her) and it's soft and would keep her warm.

Anyway, the big deal is that on both Wednesday and Thursday, Amelia has slept through the night, 12+ hrs straight each night. This shouldn't be a big deal, but Amelia has been sleeping crappy for a few weeks lately.

My theory is that Grandma Dawn knew we were exhausted, so she soaked Amelia's blanket in ether before sending it. When Amelia lays on it, her body heat releases the ether vapors, which then send her gently off into dreamland....

Thanks again Grandma Dawn!

1/22/08--Amelia is still going strong...1 1/2 weeks of sleeping through the night and counting.

Thanks Grandma Dawn!

We had heard that Austin's Grandma Dawn and Grandpa Jerry had sent us a package before Christmas, but it hadn't arrived and we didn't receive a note. Austin checked with the apartment complex office today and it had been there for weeks. We opened it up and saw this awesome blanket that Grandma Dawn had made for Amelia. It's fleece with Strawberry Shortcake on one side, and the other side is printed with "I love Mommy...I love Daddy." I put it in Amelia's crib right away, and she's sleeping on it right now, warm and cozy. Grandma Dawn also made a matching doll blanket for the doll she sent along too. Thanks, Grandma Dawn and Grandpa Jerry!

Oh my gosh...I have a KID!

Where did my baby go? I saw Amelia on the sofa the other day and realized that I don't have a baby anymore...I have a kid. I still call her "the baby," as in "How late did the baby sleep" or "did the baby eat anything," and that's a habit I'm going to have to get out of or I'll be calling her "the baby" when she's in college.

Playing Dress up

Amelia was helping me sort some laundry in my closet and she took a liking to my pajama pants. She ran off with them (which is what she does when she finds something that she likes that doesn't belong to her) and flipped them over her head. She was walking around and tripping over them, so I crossed the legs and tied them behind her, and she walked around like that for about an hour. That is because she is crazy. And that is why she is sitting in a laundry basket.

I <3 Tylenol

Amelia's 14th (yep, count 'em...14) tooth has been coming in, and she's been pretty crabby lately...hardly eating and sleeping poorly, so she's been taking Tylenol an awful lot lately. I took these pictures last weekend when she was loopy enough to actually look at the camera.

Thanks, Mom

My mother pointed out to me today that I haven't updated my blog since Christmas, and I didn't believe her until I looked at it today. Oops. Then she begged me to put up some new pictures, so here you go, Sal (she likes it when you call her Sal).

Merry Christmas!!!!

I just wanted to say thanks to our families for the Christmas presents that Austin, Amelia, and I received this year.

I'll take some pictures soon of Amelia wearing/playing with her Christmas presents. She received a cute outfit from Grandma Sally (and the bounce 'n' spin zebra that she has been playing with for a few weeks) and 2 cute outfits, socks, and a cool toy from Grandma Kathy.

My favorite gift??? A spirograph toy that I played with as a kid. There were even some of my old designs in the box.

True Story

We went to Jack in the Box (a fast food restaurant) a few days ago, and the girl taking Austin's order *seriously* said to him "Are you the guy from that movie?" Austin asked what movie, and she said, "The one where the guy kills all those people" or something. She was talking about American Psycho, and the actor Christian Bale.

Even though people have told Austin that he looks like him before, he never believes me when I say it. Whenever I see a movie with Christian Bale in it (and there are a lot, like Batman Begins, and the Machinist), I have a hard time looking at Austin for a while afterwards, because when I look at Austin, I see Christian Bale's face, and I giggle.

If anybody doesn't know who Christian Bale is...here's a picture of him, and a picture of Austin to compare.

Not my husband
My husband