Countdown to California

Things have been a bit hectic here in Indiana. First of all, I still have a term paper to finish for last semester. Second, "uncle Mike" has signed a lease that begins June 1 in Ohio. And finally, Michael is making arrangements for our packing crate to arrive June 19.

All of these things are making my life a little crazy. It seems that I spend so much time on the day-to-day maintenance around here that there's little time for extras like packing boxes (or writing papers).

It doesn't help that uncle Mike is leaving. Amelia really likes Mike and he loves her. Plus Mike is a dependable friend who is always available if you need help with, say, a move. But that won't be the case this time, since he'll already be in the buckeye state by the time the work needs to be done.

Mike did babysit last night for what will probably be the last time. Michael and I got out to see "X-Men 3," which was fun to watch. It was nice to forget about all of the work for a little while and allow Amelia to run amuck with someone else for a change.

Despite all the work, we keep moving forward. I'm sure everything will be fine in the end. I'm not sure if there's a good answer to questions like, "Where will I sleep after we pack the bed?" But I have faith this will all get sorted out in the end.

Lisa

"Does this make me look fat?" With the warm weather and the complex pool opening up, mommy decides to buy a maternity suim suit. 

"Turns out my belly was just about the same size with you, Amelia." 

My growing belly and more bedtime battles.

Amelia, as you all know, is a good girl. Michael and I love her. If I could change one thing about her, I would magically transform her into a child who likes to sleep.

After coming back from California Amelia was going to bed at some ridiculous hours - often around one in the morning. Mike and I were letting this pass for a while, thinking it was jet lag and would resolve itself on its own. After several days it became apparent that this was not the case.

Feeling that something had to be done, I went back to the authoritative text on sleep: Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, and have started trying to get my daughter in bed at a more reasonable time. That "reasonable time" started off as midnight, but has since moved to 10:30 p.m.

Last night Amelia was nodding off when we took her upstairs and put her in her crib. That didn't stop her from crying and pleading, "mommy, daddy, mommy..." off and on for 45 mins. Tonight, we put her down at 10:30 again and I think she has given up and fallen asleep...after only 40 mins. of crying and begging.

At some point Amelia will go to bed without the dramatics, at least according to the experts. Until then we'll continue waking her up at nine o'clock and trying to get her to bed at 10:30. I hope to eventually move her bedtime to nine, but that may not happen until we reach California, and then all bets are off.

On another topic, tonight I had Michael take another profile shot of my expanding belly. My stomach seems huge to me, but when I compare it side-by-side to images of my pregnant belly from this same stage in my first pregnancy, the photos are remarkably similar. I am now into my 32nd week (according to the pregnancy calendar) and still hoping to make it to, at least, the 38th week before giving birth. Wish me luck.

Lisa

Leah, Amelia and Bumper the cat. Amelia has been practicing being a big sister, and I think she's going to do a great job. 

Take me out to the ballgame.

This past weekend was my last reserve duty weekend at Great Lakes, Illinois. Since we will soon be moving back to California, Michael thought this would be a good opportunity to visit Jason, Ruth and Leah in Milwaukee. So all of us piled into the car and hit the road for Chicago.

Amelia, as most of you know, is a great little traveler. She can sit patiently in the car for hours. Now that she's a bit older, she amuses herself by singing the ABC's, counting, singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and her newest favorite song, "Go to sleep, Teletubbies, go to sleep."

Once she does get restless, putting one of her favorite DVD's in the portable player settles her down again. You couldn't ask for a better traveler, especially in a toddler.

On Saturday I drove to Great Lakes to have lunch with Mike and Amelia. I wanted to use the opportunity to have my picture taken with Amelia on base while still in my maternity uniform. Amelia was so happy to be out walking, it was pretty difficult to get her to stand still for a picture, but we did manage a couple of shots.

Saturday night we drove up to Miller Park to meet Jason at the Brewers game. I wasn't sure how Amelia would do at a baseball game (though she did go to a Padres game when she was three months old). She was excited from the start. Once she realized we were going to a "park" (Miller Park) she couldn't wait to go. She cheered for both teams and helped pig clap whenever the crowd clapped. She really liked the fireworks inside the stadium, in fact she found a dozen things to occupy her and loved looking around and pointing at this and that around the stadium.

I was thrilled that I got to visit a new ball park. More than that, I got to see the famous sausage race at the Park live and in person.

The game was going long, so we left after the seventh inning stretch (uncommon for Michael and I who almost always stay for the entire game). We got back to Great Lakes at around eleven o'clock. There was a light rain falling, but I knew where there was an old jet (maybe an F-11) parked on base and knowing how much Amelia loves planes I thought she might like to see it. She got so excited she really wanted to get out of the car and began pointing saying, "Let's go!" A little further down the road we saw a couple of does and a skunk. A very eventful night, indeed. It took us forever to get Amelia to go to bed that night.

Amelia was great on the road home, just as she had been on the way up. She applauded when we finally pulled up to our apartment and Mike and I felt like cheering, too.

So though I didn't get anywhere near enough sleep this past weekend, I was really glad Mike and Amelia came with me to Great Lakes (and beyond). There are things we will miss about the Midwest, but of course we can't wait to get back home to California.

Lisa

Daddy and Amelia watch the action as the Brewers take on the Twins at Miller Park. 

Mommy visits the doctor

Those of you who know me (and I'm assuming most of the people visiting this site do know me) know that I have been complaining quite a bit about my pregnancy. Mostly I've been complaining about body aches, but I've also been remarking that my belly must be MUCH larger than it ever was with Amelia. After all, many of my older maternity pants don't fit well now (though I wore them all the way through with Amelia). My beginning weight was the same, so being bigger this time around seems the only logical explanation.

While I was at the doctor's office today I asked for her to confirm what I already guessed was true: that I was a much bigger woman with this pregnancy than I had been before.

Well either all the scales are wrong or I am. According to the doctor I now weigh two pounds more than I did at the same point with Amelia. (This, actually, is the same thing I find on my scale at home.)

More surprisingly, when the doctor measured my womb from top to bottom (a tape measure up and over the navel) my belly measured at 30". With Amelia my belly measured 29". So one inch difference overall, big deal.

I guess I just forgot about the aches and pains I had when I was pregnant before. They say we all forget the pain quickly, or no one would ever have more than one child. I guess this must be true.

Lisa

"And if you dab a little tomato sauce behind your ear, you might attract a sexy Italian man." (Amelia at Buccetto's) 

Balloons and the girls who love them

Amelia and I went out to dinner with "uncle Mike" tonight. Amelia was a good girl and sat still in her booster seat until she decided she was done eating. Then she became very active and squirmy, chatting about the parts of mommy's face and pointing out the different animals in the restaurant.

When Mike said he wanted to stop by Best Buy I thought this would be a good opportunity for Amelia to walk around. It has been raining for almost a week now, and she hasn't really had the chance to go outside and explore like she would like to.

So we all headed off to Best Buy with the idea in mind (at least, in my mind) that Amelia could do a couple of laps around the store before heading home. Little did I know that Mike wanted to buy some high-tech combination cell phone and blackberry while at Best Buy. That necessitated that he not only transfer his phone service to the new phone, but also forced him to open a Best Buy charge account to cover his expenses. This all took, roughly, forever.

So, Amelia and I walked around and around Best Buy. She was having a wonderful time. On her second or third lap she spotted a pair of balloons at the front of the store. One was a blue balloon tied with a long, yellow ribbon and the other was a green balloon with a white ribbon.

Amelia kept pointing to the blue balloon saying, "balloon...balloon." Eventually, the cashier, who was at the register with the green balloon, decided to give Amelia her green balloon. Of course, Amelia refused to allow either the sales girl or mommy to securely attach the helium balloon to her wrist so it would not get lost.

Off we went around and around the store again. Each time Amelia passed by the front of the store she would become obsessive about the blue balloon at the register. I kept telling her that she already had a balloon, but she could not seem to get the balloon out of her mind. After about the third or fourth pass by the blue balloon (green balloon in hand) a different sales person gave Amelia the blue balloon. Now she had a balloon and mommy had a balloon.

Around and around we went, occasionally stopping so that mommy could play "Guitar Hero" (a lot like "Dance Dance Revolution," but with a guitar) or so that we could check on the slow progress of Mike's purchase. At some point we passed a young girl, at least twice Amelia's age, who was watching her daddy play an MLB video game. She made a comment about our balloons, so I decided to give her the green balloon. After all, we didn't need two balloons when she had none.

Amelia did not mind losing the green balloon. She really liked the little girl a lot and enjoyed it when the bigger girl would shake her balloon or tap Amelia's balloon to make it wobble. It was difficult to get Amelia to move on.

Somehow, at some point, Amelia let go of her blue balloon. Up, up it went until it rested on the twelve foot (or so) ceiling at Best Buy. Her calm response was, "Oopsy." The older girl, being a very nice and polite girl, then gave Amelia back her green balloon.

But the saga doesn't end there. A sales associate came by and noticed the balloon on the ceiling. He told the little girl he could get the balloon down for her. He disappeared for a moment, then came back with a friend and a third balloon. This third balloon had a large strip of tape stuck to it's top folded over so that it would hopefully catch and stick to the blue balloon.

They released the balloon slowly and after a few tries managed to get the blue balloon back down and off the ceiling. The only problem now was that both girls really wanted the blue balloon. This balloon was clearly the favorite. Again, the older girl was very nice and let Amelia have the blue balloon. We gave her back the green balloon and the salesman gave her the white recovery balloon as well.

What a big adventure for Amelia. Her friend left the store and she preceded to walk around and around the aisles. I was getting completely frayed and worn out at this point and couldn't wait to go home. Then I discovered, with Mike's help, that Best Buy had shopping carts. Glory be! Amelia sat in the cart with no problem, holding her balloon. I didn't have to carry her or chase her any more. We watched an HD program on Hawai'i and played "Guitar Hero" until finally, at nine o'clock, Mike completed his purchase.

I had hoped all of this would wear little Amelia out, but she still managed to stay up until 11:30 tonight. I am doing what I can to defeat her jet lag, but what do you do with a two-year-old who seems to have an endless (and I really mean endless) supply of energy? What am I going to do when I have a baby to tend to and Amelia is crying to play "Ready, Set, Go" for the fourth time in one day? I guess we'll all see. Hopefully I'll make it through all of this with my sanity intact.

Lisa

Happy Mothers Day!

A two-year old and her balloons.

Happy 2nd Birthday Amelia!

Hello from California, where Amelia and I (Mike) just celebrated Amelia's birthday #2. Unfortunately, Lisa had Navy obligations in Chicago, and we miss her. Amelia really enjoys spending time with her grandparents here in California. We are all looking forward to returning this summer - we have secured an apartment in Livermore, the same town where the college is in where I will be working. You can visit the college web site at www.laspositascollege.edu. It's only 2-3 hours away from everyone. It will be great!

Anyway, on Amelia's second birthday my parents threw her a small party. Of course, Amelia wanted a nap just before my grandmother, aunts, and uncles were supposed to arrive. When Amelia woke up, the living room was awash with baloons, presents, and relatives. Of course, she went right for the balloons - they are her favorite. She tried to pick up as many as she could at once and would chase them when they got away, exclaiming, "Oh!"

Soon it was present-opening time. Amelia enjoys opening presents, like most kids. She received a wide variety of gifts. She also really enjoyed the cards, opening each and staring intently at the pictures and words within. When she opened a box with a dress or some clothes, she proceeded to empty it one piece at a time, toss the clothing behind her, then play with the balloons again after the box was empty. After a couple of these, she didn't want to be bothered with opening presents anymore. Until I told her that the next one was a toy, that is. Then she dropped the balloons and came right over.

So, here's the toy I'm talking about. Amelia really likes going to the airport, watching the airplanes, and looking out the window when we are flying. She also likes monkeys. So when I saw a Curious George with his airplane, I thought I would pick it up for her. Amelia was really cute, introducing her new monkey to her other monkey, to her pig, giraffe, and newly acquired swan. She also liked it when I showed her how to fly the airplane and what sound to make. But she wouldn't have it if I tried to put the monkey in his airplane seat. Apparently Amelia has other plans for ol' George.

One more Amelia story. We don't have TV at home, so when it's on here, Amelia pays close attention at times. Also, Amelia has developed a real talent for picking up words and phrases she hears from others. Well, one night my parents were watching one of the new game shows while Amelia was eating dinner. Needless to say, I was quite surprised when I went over to Amelia and she looked up at me and asked, "Deal, or no deal?" Her new catch phrase has come up just about every day since, sometimes with a twist. Tonight, toward the end of her bath, Amelia thought it was time to ask my mother, "Done, or no done?" Amelia is a cute one. And now she's two years old. I wonder what future adventures await...

Amelia asleep, "Come back at ten, could ya?" (Looks like Amelia will be wanting a pillow-topped matress in the future.) 

Check ups all 'round

The whole family woke up early for doctors' checkups this morning. First, I had an appointment at 8:15 (egad) so that they could check on the little one, followed by Amelia's two-year checkup.

The little baby is just fine. Her heartbeat is nice and strong and regular and she's already decided to settle herself into the usual head-down position.

Amelia is also doing fine. She now weighs 25 pounds, which puts her at just a little under the average for two-year-olds. She's now 34.5 inches tall, which makes her a little taller than the average two-year old girl.

Of course, since she's been on the charts at all Amelia has always measured as tall and thin. Yep, tall and thin - just like mommy ;).

Lisa