Demon

Please send advice on how to exorcise a demon that lives in a house.

The problem is that we can't get rid of the demon we need to reform the demon and keep it for the next 18 years or so.

That's right, Amelia has moved to another stage of the terrible twos (which begin before two--I never knew that).

Saturday Amelia was happy for 10 minutes of every hour. That's right 50 minutes of every hour were filled with whining, fake crying and just goobelieness. She also had a constant runny nose that she wouldn't let me wipe.

Tomorrow she turns 2 so I suppose all of this will go away at midnight tonight.

A fun weekend.

Amelia spent about an hour sitting on Mommy's lap using scissors to cut small shards of paper up. One would think this would make us crazy, but anything that keeps her from screaming AND helps with fine motor development, is okay with us.
Amelia then decided to sit in her carseat, read her favorite book (Wishes for You) and watch SuperWhy. Safety first - so she put her straps on, too.
She then decided she needed some space so she pushed her stroller into our very clean and organized "study", put on her hat, and continued reading her book.
And lastly, Aunt Becky came over for a rocking good time, and as you can see, Mommy and Aunt Becky really kicked it into high gear and partied like it was 1999....

Amelia in action

Just a quick video of Amelia on her "sick" day!

Sick Day?

I was home this afternoon with Amelia who has two ear infections. As you can see she really wasn't doing well.


These pictures also showcase her new preferred at home outfit. They are pants with snaps down the inseam. She likes to undo the snaps and then wear the pants as a kind of kilt. She won't wear shirts at home. And she loves to wear my hat.

I'm pretty sure she is going to school tomorrow.

Pictures from Minnesoah-ta (that's supposed to be written like the accent...)

My and my grandma, Fran Jones.

My and my dad. A note to my sister: Becky, I experimented with using a hair straightener: Do you like the way my hair looks?

A funny Amelia story:
This morning we woke up to some pretty snow (that later turned to rain, but I digress...) When Amelia and I were cuddling on the couch Tom said, "Amelia have you seen the snow outside?!" To which she responded, complete with a loud sigh, "No. Later."

Guess who's back...

Mommy returned from her big trip to Minnesota and was able to spend some fun time with Amelia before her bedtime. Amelia and Daddy had a wonderful time together and Amelia did not ignore me when I got home, like she did the last time I went away for a few days. She was really excited to see me and just asked to "cuddle" on the couch. I also brought her a lot of presents, which always helps... Not pictured is the Curious George sticker book which we hope occupies her for many hours to come...

Amelia plays in her (messy) room. She has started to really enjoy playing alone in her bedroom. We keep talking about making it 100% child proof (it's not there yet because she has never played alone in there) and bringing some of her toys up there and letting her go at it.

Amelia helped open Daddy's birthday presents from the Mall of America. Mommy is pretty proud of herself for the wide variety gifts: A mini-burger maker, one of stainless steel things you rub on your hands to get the garlic smell off, a superman t-shirt, a book called "Strong Fathers; Strong Daughters," and a Twilight book mark of boys with no shirts on. I told him that none of the gifts were related to each other in anyway; they just jumped out at me on the shelf of their respective stores!

Amelia's present from her Grandpa Jones and Heath was a ballerina outfit complete with headband (which was the big hit) and then a matching outfit for her doll, Emma. All were purchased at the American Girl store. She calls the head band "band" and wanted to take it to bed but we convinced her to leave it on the counter where it could "rest" until tomorrow after the long trip home...

Mommy dresses Emma in her ballerina outfit while Amelia watches...

Amelia and Emma in their ballerina outfits.

Many thanks to everyone for supporting my trip to visit my grandma who I love so much:
1. To Tom for encouraging me and having such fun with Amelia in my absence (and realizing that I clean up the bath toys...that might be the only thing I consistently clean up.)
2. To my dad for helping make the trip possible and for sharing in a surreal bedside experience with my grandma that we are both still processing.
3. To my aunt and uncle for hosting me, providing me with diabetic food, and not holding it against me for taking 31 years to visit Minneapolis...
4. To my Uncle Scott for giving me the shove I needed at Thanksgiving to go visit.
5. And to my grandma who is one of the most amazing women I'll ever have the privilege of saying I"m related to (fun fact for blog followers: She used to be a flight attendant. IN THE 1930s. How cool is that?)

Hello Videos

These are almost the same but I think you will enjoy them. They are 1 minute each.

(if you aren't figuring this out--click on these and same.)

Also--I want to officially thank my wife for being the one that cleans up all the toys from the bathtub. I have been showering with about 50 toys under foot and only this weekend realized that it was Heidi--not a magical elf--that has been picking them up for the last 8 months.

In honor of our non snow snow day....

...I thought I'd post some pictures of Amelia having fun in the snow at school. School was cancelled at 5:30 this morning (along with every other district in the state) and so far we've had about 1/25" of an inch of snow. We are having fun family time nonetheless...and know we'll be making this one up in June anyway!

Amelia plays with Michael in the outdoor train... she calls Michael "Goggle" and he calls her "Hy-ee" (as in Heidi, her mommy's name :))





She really likes eating snow...

Even if it's on a snowman...

Mmmmm... tasty!

Good News and a cute story.

Amelia loves being outside ("side" as she calls it) and we think she needs some more snow so she can go back to sledding every day at school...

We wonder why she has chapped lips...

Just too cute...

So, we got good news from the doctor today. The blood work I had done last week to test the baby for spinal cord defects (a concern for babies of diabetic mothers, including gestational diabetics) came back negative. We are very relieved even though we weren't overly worried to begin with. We have a level 2 (3-d) ultrasound in 3 weeks and are excited to learn more and see this baby who will be coming before we know it!

Today when I picked up Amelia at school, they told us that when they asked her "Who do you love?" for their "Love List" for Valentine's Day, Amelia responded, "Yoey." All the other kids said mommy/daddy. Amelia loves Yoey. She loves us, too, but we love that she thinks of Yoey during the day, too :)

It finally is uploading...

I have been trying to get this video to upload FOR A WEEK. Hope it's worth the effort...

just so you know...

I've been trying to upload videos for the past few days but we're having connection problems. We are not dropping off the blog face of the earth! :)

Great Grandmother

Grammie is visiting Great Grandmother Perkins in PA this week.  

We miss them both and hope they are doing well.

Potty

Amelia LOVES to sit on the potty. Here are a few PG rated pictures. This "episode" was about 20 minutes in length.

Just a cute story with a cute picture

Amelia did about the cutest thing ever today. After her trip to the doctor where we learned she has an ear infection and congested sounding lungs, and then after our trip to the pharmacy where Mommy bought the place out, we went out to lunch with Daddy as a reward. When we got there her mac & cheese was waiting for her thanks to Daddy's early arrival. We asked the waitress for some milk for Amelia and when the waitress brought it and put it in front of her, Amelia said, "Thank you!" with such genuine enthusiasm. It was too cute.

As for her health status, she is actually not acting that sick and is so-far taking a great afternoon nap. We can hear her snoring over the baby monitor...

A couple of you passed my test. Yes, I uploaded some random pictures and 2 of you noticed. Justin and Alli--give yourselves 3 stars each.

I have been lagging on the blog, not because of lack of will, but because of lack of battery. Our Olympus Stylus 850 SW is very cool but it came with a terrible battery. It wore out about 4 months after we had it. It also has a charger that connects with 2 pieces that come apart easily. If you loose one you can't charge the battery. I have heard that someone might be getting a new battery for Christmas so we will have better images up soon.

For now we are getting by with the iPhone. The iPhone is very similar to me as an athlete. I was mediocre at everything. I could play all sports in a competitive way but I didn't excell at any either. The iPhone does the same. It can do hundreds of things but only some of them well. Pictures are viewable but not awesome--for example.


Amelia takes a cuddle with her friend Michael (in the picture). She spent about an hour with this Christmas card picture.

Amelia wearing her sunglasses.

Amelia loves shoes of any kind. These are my mountaineering boots. They weigh about a pound and a 1/2 each so they slowed her down quite a bit.

Amelia never got close enough to Santa for a picture. These are our friends Boyd and Christie and their kids.

Amelia decides what she wants to wear in the house. We are terrified that she does this kind of thing at pre-school. In this one she is our little plumber.

In the next couple days we will have a lot of fun. We saw Grandmother Perkins today, Becky returns from Utah and Grammie finally gets off of school. (While we had a full 2 weeks Bow went 3 extra days.)

Until then....

Amelia's Independence

Amelia does not like to have help with her backpack. Even though it is about as big as she is.

Tonight Heidi was feeling sick so Amelia and I had a date at TGIFridays. There were plenty of seats in the place at 4:40 pm. But it was dark in NH so it felt like a good time to eat dinner.

Amelia tried to jump/bounce on the cushions of the booth and found them to be not bouncy.

Amelia at Thanksgiving

Lots of people love Amelia!