Tom Feeding Amelia

Picture if you will, Dear Reader, a cat wretching in the distance but inside the house. A dog, let outside 10 minutes ago and honestly--forgotten, now yelping to be let back in. Hot water running in the sink to warm up the bottle of milk that is meant for the rice cereal...or was that for the bananas?

I don't know but this is me trying to feed Amelia. Heidi went to yoga tonight and like all dads who work I got a chance to see how staying home with "the kid" is much harder than hanging out at work all day buying things online.

Anyway--I think this video will explain it all pretty well.

Oh..that one wasn't that good. I promise you I know what I'm doing. I mean she got food right?

A new toy for Amelia

Amelia loves her new toy.  I think she is starting to figure out that she can push buttons to make things happen.  This morning I found her in her crib after her mobile had gone off pushing on the side of it near the on button.  So, with this toy she is doing the same.

The Lion Rug Returns

We had this odd notion that if we turned the Lion Room into a guest bedroom then people would come to visit. In 6 months only my sister came so I decided that I wanted the lion room to be the lion room again. (These are the type of things I come up with while I sleep--solutions to very major world issues.)

After I took this picture I proceeded to clean up the mess all around the rug.

The only issue is that unlike some dogs, who are very afraid of the lion rug--Col, Griffin, etc.--Yoda loves it so much that he gnaws on its ears. This is something we will have to stop.

Amelia & Yoda

Our two babies...

Yoda has already figured out that Amelia in her highchair equals food for him... even if right now it is just runny, watery food!  He helps me wash her hands - and then I was her hands again  :)

A few pictures

Grammie and Amelia




















Yoda is not afraid of the Lion Rug.

Amelia's swimming hat

No Lake Trip

This weekend we had planned to go to Lake George for a last gathering of the season with our friends. But with 4 inches on the way to Barnstead and constant rain in the Lake George area everyone decided not to go.

We were the last to be convinced. We packed up the entire car complete with wood for the fire, a chainsaw to cut more, all of Amelia's gear, Yoda and all of his and even some clothes for Heidi. There were some stops to make in Concord before we got on the road so we stopped at Target. I needed to pick up a prescription so I waited in a strangely long 10 person line for 20 minutes. When I got to the front the doctor had not called in the prescription yet.

Knowing that the prescription would take and hour to fill we tried to figure out what to do. Then Heidi asked, "Do you really want to go?" "No," I said, "Do you?" Heidi said no and finally we decided to just go home.

We were very sad to miss all of our friends, especially Laura from NYC, but we will see them all again soon.

Dads just might always be right

On December 28th I was making a standing rib roast for a few friends and when it was done I went to turn off the grill. I turned off not only the knobs on the top but the triangular valve that was right on the tank. My friend Justin, watching, asked, "Why do you do that?" He went on to say that he wasn't questioning me but just wondering why I turned off the gas at both places. I responded, "Because my Dad always did." Justin and I talked for a little bit and we figured that there was no reason to turn of the gas in both places. Either the knobs on the top of the grill work or they don't.

So I spent the next 8 months not turning off the gas at the tank. The house did not blow up, there was always plenty of gas and I couldn't imagine how much time I was saving by not bending over to turn off the gas at the tank.

Until.....

When my parents visited this week I was a little overstimulated and a little frazzeled so apparently one night after grilling I left one of the top knobs on low. When I returned to grill the next day I said, "S---" because I knew that I would have to drive to get a new tank. When I went down to disconnect the thank, though I noticed that it was still really heavy. Wondering how this could be I checked the knob on the tank and...it was closed.

At that moment my Dad walked out and told me that, the previous day, he had noticed the smell of gas after we stopped cooking so decided to turn the gas off at the tank.

Dad might not always be right but he sure is most of the time :)

A busy week!

We have been busy this week enjoying time with Grandma & Grandpa Crumrine.  Grandpa made Amelia a rocking horse - and she liked sitting on it even if I was doing all of the work...(picture is somewhere below...)

We went on a nice hike today as you will see in these pictures -- and it ended very peacefully for Amelia. 

I have been playing with my new computer that Tom bought me (an iBook), which catapulted him into the Best Husband of the Year award... although he was already going to win that prize! :)

Solids for Amelia; Liquids for Sarah...

First of all - this picture is for all of my Cubs fan friends!  We are starting her early on rooting for the right team (and she is allowed to root for the Cubs because they do not play the Red Sox).

Yesterday marked Amelia's 6 month birthday - the day when we were allowed to begin introducing solids.  Her pediatrician wanted us to wait until now just to make sure her digestive tract was ready for it.  As you saw from pictures, it went well.  We started a few days earlier because we wanted Tom to be home for the first time.  

It was also our cousin Sarah's 21st birthday and we think it's a fun idea that she started her "liquid" diet the same day that Amelia started her "solid "diet.  Happy Birthday, Sarah, and we hope you enjoyed your liquids as much as Amelia did her solids! :)

Tom's Mom and Dad Visit

Tom's Mom and Dad--Grandma and Grandpa Crumrine visited today. They are here until the end of the week.

http://picasaweb.google.com/crumlives/MomAndDadVisit?authkey=aCaADFqHovw#

I am very excited that they are here and having a chance to see Amelia again. My Mom helped with Amelia's bath and we all had a great time with dinner.

Eating is Messy and Fun

Amelia is getting used to eating her rice cereal.  She hasn't figured out how to manipulate the food in her mouth since she only knows how to suck to eat.  So, she will take the food off the spoon and then put her thumb in her mouth to suck it down. It's pretty cute! 

On Wednesday we will try her first "real" food -- Sweet Potato.  I have to go buy one today so I can make it tomorrow.  I am also hoarding peaches while they are in peak season (only a few days to go) so that I can freeze her some fresh peaches to enjoy throughout the fall and early winer.  These are the benefits of not working - I have time to do stuff like this!

Whit and Dan's Wedding

A few pictures from the wedding of our friends Dan and Whitney near San Diego. The first one is of the happy couple with Torrey Pines in the background. Torrey Pines is where the US Open was played this year--it is a very nice golf course to say the least.

more of amelia eating

Amelia's First Bites

Amelia ate her first food today. I never knew this before a few weeks ago but they eat rice cereal as practice and then begin starting real food. I also never knew how messy feeding a baby was--very.

Amelia holds her bottle...

So in this photo, Amelia is holding her bottle. When I am gone, Tom gives her a bottle and she will eat just enough to hold off her hunger until I get home. Clearly, she's no idiot. I wish she'd just drink it all up, but at least she'll take some of it. By the size of her arms you can see that she is certainly getting enough food (you should see her legs...)

Anyway, I did NOT know that she could hold her bottle by herself until I saw this picture! And when I saw it , I said, "Tom she can hold her own bottle!!!" And he said, "oh yeah she's been doing that forever..." I said, "WHAT????? How could I not know? I won't know what date to put in the baby book for 'first time she held her bottle.'"

I informed him that any potential milestone must be immediately reported to me - even if he's not sure of its significance :)

A cute picture

I think this is a cute picture from a few days ago - I can't decide which one of us she looks like in it because I see both.

We are excited for Tom to come home tomorrow! I have not taken Amelia's temperature in a whole day - my only irrational action has been that I leave the flood light on in our backyard at night. My thinking is that if a fugitive is trying to hide out in our town, s/he won't hide out in a backyard with flood lights. Seriously, this is what I think about...

Today Amelia and I went to swimming "lessons" for the first time with my friend Leslie/Amelia's friend Michael. We had lots of fun and she still loves to swim and kept putting her face down in the water. Have a great weekend!

Day Two of Isolation

It's Heidi here reporting from my second day of flying solo with Amelia and Yoda. I don't have any new pictures to share because Tom has the camera - hopefully someone took pictures of him trying to surf... and maybe some video :) Things that I have done/have occurred in Tom's absence:
1. Cleaned out the cabinet below our bathroom sink which overflowed with water and has become a mildew/mold breeding ground. I called Tom to let him know he'd be installing a new sink/vanity when he returns.
2. Panicked about Amelia's bug bites because an encephalitis mosquito virus was detected about a mile from our house yesterday and is all over the news.
3. Began taking Amelia's temperature obsessively because of said virus. It was slightly high and called the doctor who said to "monitor her." Also said it's probably high because of teething or a normal virus as she is perfectly happy, playing, and eating more food than she ever has - so it's probably not the dreaded virus.
4. Became obsessive about "monitoring" the temperature and took it about 30 times this afternoon - I am not exagerrating. She does not seem to mind a thermometer in her bum.
5. Went to Target to buy a new thermometer because I did not like various readings I was getting.
6. Came home and continued to take her temperature, this time comparing it with the FOUR thermometers we now have in our house. So that means I took her temperature with each of them within a few minutes and compared notes. She really didn't seem to mind.
7. Took her outside with Yoda but only after wrapping her in the mosquito bug netting that goes over the car seat. She also did not seem to mind that and just tried to eat it.

Hopefully tomorrow I will be a bit more calm :) Only 3 more days 'til Tom comes home!

Heidi

In our posts here we have tried to focus on Amelia. But to be honest sometimes Amelia doesn't do much and our postings become, "travels with Amelia." You could actually do the same thing with a bowling ball--although you wouldn't have as many diaper stories.

For this post though I would like to talk just about Heidi. While I do pitch in a little by taking Amelia some nights so Heidi can go out and by cooking dinner on some nights. It is important for all to know that it is Heidi that does all of the really hard work. One of the reasons that I'm having such a good year at work is probably the realization that staying home with an infant is more difficult than teaching a class of 25 unruly 10th graders. Heidi does all the night feedings and almost all of the worrying. She reads all of the books twice while I read a quarter of some of them.

And this weekend she is letting me go to our friend Dan and Whitney's wedding and she is staying home with dog and baby. We thought about both going and that didn't work logistically and we thought about neither of us going. With the later option Heidi realized, because she is so kind and sensitive, how important my friends are and that I would be very sad to miss Dan getting married. So on this one she once again and like she always does took the hard job while I get to do something fun.

Just wanted it noted that I realize how great she is and the amazing job she does with Amelia, Yoda and me.

Amelia likes to swing

Today Amelia and I visited a park that is a few minutes walk from our house. I like to go between her two naps when she is often the most fussy so that she is outside and "stimulated." She just barely fits in the baby swing, but as you can see from the pictures and videos below, she loves it! I tried to bring Yoda but he would have none of it. He would NOT leave the driveway, as evidenced by the picture of him below. So I had to leave Amelia in her stroller, get him in his crate, and then back outside to her all before child protective services arrived. (I did it in about 25 seconds). In other news, Amelia cut TWO teeth last week!