What's up Doc?

Today, Amelia had her 4 month well visit. She is doing extremely well. She has pretty much doubled her birth weight at this point. She weighs 13lbs (No wonder my arms get tired after holding her now!). She is 24 inches long and in the top 40 percentile for both weight and height. I am so happy she is so healthy. We are truly blessed and I thank God everyday for this wonderful miracle he has given us.

She had to get another round of shots. Boo! But she took 'em like a champ. She cried for about a minute but was subdued by mommy hugs and has only been a little fussy the rest of the day. The big news is WE GET TO TRY SOLID FOODS! So, look for pictures of that to come in the next day or so (or maybe a week...) We have been super busy getting the house in order and it's coming together slowly. I hope to update more regularly someday in the future. Love to all who put up with me and my irregular posting.

Laters,
Nicki

p.s. what do y'all think about piercing ears as a baby? Hot or not?

p.p.s if you haven't already be sure to "like" our Facebook fan page, which you can find here.

Mad About Mia (Monday)

Trying to figure out how to call Nana or GiWi

With Apo at a family friend's wedding

Bath time!

She figured out that she can grasp things and hold on.

Here is a little round up of our week. Hope you enjoy!

The important things in life...

Playing with Great Uncle James

I have been meaning to blog, no really it's true. But sometimes life just gets in the way, you know? My uncle and cousin who live in Kansas came into town last week so we spent all our free time with them. Family has always been really important to me. In fact I would say the biggest struggle in my life has always been spending time with people I love versus all my other responsibilities. I think this stems from experiencing death at a young age. I have always appreciated the fact that I have such a large, loving family. When my great-grandmother passed away when I was in high school the thing that upset me the most was that my two youngest cousins wouldn't even remember they had met her.  I just don't want to ever have the regret that I had the chance to spend time with someone I love, didn't and now it's too late.
I hope that I can teach this to Amelia. How important and special relationships are and how blessed we are to have so many wonderful people in our lives. This is why I want to make a commitment for her to see her grandparents at least once a week. I want to be more committed to using Skype to keep up with our international family. I've recently reconnected with my father's family and while I doubt I will ever be able to do the same with my father it is nice to have even more people to love.

30 day Project

Remember this? Yikes!

This month I am challenging myself to get our house clean and organized. We recently decided that even though we would like more space we couldn't afford to more just yet. Even though we aren't moving I decided we need a change. I've come up with ideas for rearranging the future, and I want to deep clean (as if we were moving out) the house so it feels new. After three years, I haven't done to much with the place and I want it to be more put together and feel more like home. I also get tired of running around crazy picking up when someone unexpected shows up or it taking a whole day of cleaning to get this place presentable to have friends over. So, my deadline is July 1. I want to have each room cleaned, organized and as decorated as our budget allows. I will be taking before and after pictures and updating through out the month. I found a website to help me along, it's called Organized Home. They even have a 2011 New Year's Cleaning Challenge outline here. I am adapting it since I have a much smaller space than it's designed for. Would anyone out there like to join me? I'd love to have the support but just knowing people are following along would be great. :)

First up: The Kitchen
I actually have this almost done so I will post pictures probably Monday with a summary of what all I did. :)

Nighty Night

This is what the last two nights have looked like at our house. When we brought Amelia home from the hospital we didn't have a crib. So, we improvised and let her sleep with us. It's not that we are regretting it. The situation actually kinda works for us. When I was getting up every morning before 6am to go to school I just didn't have the energy to fight with her. It was also convenient for breast feeding. When she woke up to feed, she was right there and we both would go back to sleep easier because of not having to fully wake up.

I've been told we are going to regret it and that babies need routine/a schedule. Since summer time means waking whenever I choose, I have decided to work on this. We are not on a 7pm bed time. That just isn't our life style right now. We don't have a constant babysitter which makes it hard to create a routine that early. I have been getting her to bed by 10pm most nights. I thought starting a routine at that time would be a good start. We take a bath every other night, put on her pjs, then read a book and I sing to her while she nurses.

This worked the 1st night but last night not so much. I sang to her for over an hour, until I ran out of soft slow songs to sing. Finally about half an hour before midnight I laid her in the crib half asleep and let her "cry it out." HARDEST. THING. EVER. seriously. I was literally sitting on the couch willing myself to stay there while all I wanted to do was run up the stairs and comfort my little girl. She eventually cried herself to sleep. She slept a whole 3 hours before waking up to eat and we started all over, only this time I didn't make it. She ended up in our bed the rest of the night.

Tonight went better and I am going to be strong when she wakes up to eat this time. Curtis says the neighbors are gone for the summer (they're students) and so I don't have to worry that she is keeping anyone up. I'd like to say that this is making me get better sleep but it's not. I worry all night, imagining SIDS and other uncontrollable tragedy, but eventually I think I might. 

Summer Reading

My favorite part of summer, besides it being warm enough to swim, is that I have time to read.  It's not that I hate everything I have to read for school but it's mostly technical. I like fiction every once in a while, you know? So, I have already made my reading list for this summer. It's mostly books I've gotten as gifts during the school year and now I actually have time to enjoy them.

 First up is the Annotated Sense and Sensibility edited by David M. Shapard. I read his annotated version of Pride and Prejudice about a year ago and loved it. I've always had a great affection for Ms. Austen but Shapard's notes add a lot of deeper understanding to the circumstances of the plot and knowledge of the culture at that time. Shapard has annotated 3 of Austen's 6 books so far (my 3 favorites, P&P, S&S, and Persuasion.) I really hope he continues because there are parts in Mansfield Park that discuss theology and parts of the satire in Northanger Abbey I would really like explained in depth.

If you are a fan of Jane Austen I really encourage you to read one of David M. Shapard's annotated versions of her books. You will come away even more impressed with her.