Amelia compares her foot size with a tiny Jack Nicholson...er, I mean, Diana. 

Good morning, sunshine! 

Chunky Monkey

When Amelia was a little baby, I used to call her "peanut." I made the comment to a friend that this was my little pet name for my baby and she said, "I think all parents call their babies 'peanut.'"

Well, I have never called Diana "peanut." In the past, I have referred to her (affectionately, of course) as "my little tub of butter" or my "chunky monkey."

Which brings me to Diana's four-month old check-up statistics. Diana now weighs about 15 and a half pounds which puts her at the 90th percentile for weight. She is also about 26 inches long which puts her at the 95th percentile for height.

I opened a box of 6-9 month baby clothes for my four month old girl and tried one on her today. The outfit barely fits. Mind you, this outfit was used and may have shrunken over several washings, but that doesn't change the fact that Diana is a big girl. She's a big, strong baby very fitting of the name "Diana."

And mommy loves her chunky monkey.

Lisa

Unlike Amelia, Diana can sleep almost anywhere as she demonstrates here. 

A soft bed is not enough.

As you know, Amelia has always had issues with sleep. I'm sure that's very common among toddlers her age. She recently got a great new bed (I think it's great), but that has not been enough to entice her to get into it and fall asleep.

Yesterday morning, while I was squeegee-ing the shower, I was surprised when I looked up and found Amelia looking back at me. This wasn't the first time she had left her room unexpectedly, so I thought maybe I had unwittingly left the door ajar.

Obviously not. Amelia is now fully capable of opening and closing doors. Putting her to bed last night was very difficult as she kept crying and crying in her room until she would finally decide to venture out. We would then have to bring her back to bed and give her a speech about the importance of sleep.

This morning, Amelia woke mommy and daddy up for the first time. I'm sure that this will be a common occurrence in the future. I knew it would happen at some point, but I didn't expect it to happen so soon. At least the girls' window blinds were installed today - that might keep it dark enough to ensure a LITTLE more sleep in the morning.

Though this is frustrating, I'm glad because of two things. One, I'm glad that a gate is on its way to be placed at the top of our stairway. Two, I'm glad the door chimes whenever it is opened. I told Amelia today that we were going to go to the store and she took it upon herself to rush to the front door and open it. She didn't leave (she's a good girl), but I'm glad I was alerted by the door's "beep beep-ing" chime.

Lisa

"Not only are sweet potatoes good for you, they're fun to eat, too!" 

Amelia's new bed has lots more room for toys and books. 

Amelia entertains her sister with toys during a meal. 

Back on line

For those few (maybe two) of you who frequent this blog, I apologize for not having written of late. It isn't that nothing of import has occurred, it's just that we have not had Internet access at home for the past several days.

This past week has been exciting. Clearly the most exciting thing has been our move into our new (and first) home. Everything is here and it's all slowing finding its way to permanent places here and there throughout the house. Normally after a move I have to get very creative about where to put items in my kitchen, for example. Here I have more cabinet space than I need. Let's just hope it stays that way. I've seen a lot of people fill up huge homes with "stuff" because they had plenty of room to store it.

Other big news includes Amelia's new bed. Picking a new bed for Amelia was a bit of a challenge. She did not help at all. My last stop in this journey was Sleep Train (recommended by the men at KNBR). Like all good stores, Sleep Train has toys to entertain toddlers. This is a wonderful thing and makes life easier for mom, but each time I asked Amelia if she would please give an opinion on this or that bed she would become upset and say, "No, play with colors!"

I spent a great deal of time making her bed just right with soft new sheets and a plush blanket on Thursday. Amelia came upstairs for her nap and barely glanced at the new bed. Maybe I should have gotten her a bed shaped like a pony...

Though the bed was not exciting to Amelia, she was super excited to meet some of the local kids and play in the park. After a well-deserved nap I saw that many of the neighborhood kids and parents were across the street at the park, so I asked Amelia if she wanted to join them. She seemed a little interested, but when I lifted her up so she could see what I saw out the window she started chanting, "Kids! Kids! Here I come! Here I come!" She would hardly sit still long enough for me to dress her.

The final bit of really interesting news from this week is that Diana has started eating rice cereal. She really likes it, too. She leans forward for bite after bite and finishes quite a bit at each sitting. Last night Amelia became interested in what Diana was eating and jealous of her little sister's pretty colored spoons. She begged for a spoon of her own and helped herself to some of Diana's cereal. Well, at least none of it was wasted.

Lisa

Are we moved in yet? I guess that depends on your definition of "moved in." 

Amelia the parrot

Amelia is a sweet girl, as we all know. Last night I was helping her get ready for bed when she started saying, "Oh, mommy's tired." I was really tired as I often am over a reserve duty weekend and laid down on the air mattress on the floor of her bedroom. Amelia tucked me in by placing both of her favorite blankets over me and then handed me toys to snuggle with. What a sweetie.

Once I got up to leave, Amelia had a request of me. To ask a question or to make a request, Amelia simply asks a question or makes a statement as if it were coming out of mommy's mouth. Last night she said directly to me, "Let me get horse, pony and dragon for you." What she meant was that she wanted mommy to walk out to the living room and retrieve these three toys for her. She can be very demanding at times.

But at least I didn't have her yelling in my ear. While grandma was here she attempted to sleep in Amelia's room. The first night it took Amelia forever to settle down. Finally at around two in the morning she became quiet, much to grandma's relief. Then, as if getting her second wind, she loudly sang directly into grandma's ear, "Old MacDonald had a farm..."

At 4:30 in the morning Amelia asked grandma to get her some water. Her throat was probably dry from all the singing.

This is why mom and dad never give in and sleep with Amelia in her room or allow her to sleep in their bed. If Amelia has an audience (and sometimes even if she doesn't) she'll sing songs and play all night long. In fact I'm not convinced that she always takes a nap during nap time. She was acting pretty loopy during dinner tonight...

Lisa

Amelia and daddy play horsie while Diana looks on. 

Diana, Amelia and "Errol the Duck" enjoy Amelia's favorite "room" in our new home. 

Moving - sort of

These past couple of days the girls and I have started moving boxes into our new home. Amelia likes the drive and never gets tired of seeing the windmills. She also loves our new house, especially the back yard.

Every time we get ready to leave Amelia looks accross the street and sees children playing at the park. She stands and stares longingly and seems very sad about leaving. Today I asked her if she wanted to get in the car and go back home and she said, "No."

Honestly, I didn't want to leave either. I love our new house and can't wait to move in. I am doing what I can to get the place ready to be occupied. Step one has been to buy window coverings. This has been moving really slowly. I had half of my windows measured yesterday, but when I went to Home Depot they said they hadn't received the fax with my measurements yet. I guess it's just as well, since I couldn't seem to remember what kind of woven wood I want in the family room anyway.

Of course, I also forgot to order the area rug I wanted to buy. I guess this means I'll be going back to the store - maybe tomorrow, or maybe not.

I guess the bottom line is that while I'm excited about moving I'm getting tired of driving to the Home Depot closest to our new home. Still, I want so much to move in as quickly as possible I can't help but pile everyone in the car for a trip over the hills each morning.

After a disapointing trip to Home Depot I went to a little specialty store in search of a lawn animal. The shop had several stone bunnies, quail and fairies as well as glass and metal flowers and butterflies. I told Amelia she could have any animal she wanted and she chose a wooden duck. A wooden duck was not what I had in mind. I was hoping to get something durable and too heavy for her to tote around. But Amelia loved the wooden ducks and showed no interest in anything else. As you might have guessed, Amelia brought the duck back to our appartment. It will be interesting to see if the duck ever ends up in the yard at all.

Lisa