Wednesday, November 04, 2009

Pneumonia

One word has ruled our world the past week - pneumonia. Poor little Amelia has been sick since Friday, October 23 when the school called to say she had a fever and please come pick her up.

She was just not herself for several days and then she spiked a fever of 102 and became completely lethargic. We rushed her to the doctor where we found out she had pneumonia. That night her fever topped out at 104.7. We were so frightened and certainly never want to go through that again.

Gradually the fever has subsided.
The cough has kept her up several nights in a row.
Her nose is running constantly.
Nobody is getting any real sleep.

She's definitely on the mend, but still home getting rest to build back up her strength.

'til next time.

Monday, September 28, 2009

Potty Training

DONE!

Amelia is sleeping through the night WITHOUT a pull-up.

We are TOTALLY done!

Nice work little gal!

Third Birthday

In looking back, I realize that I didn't mention Amelia's third birthday festivities. Gosh, it was a weekend extravaganza!

We started with a celebration at school on Friday. This mom brought cupcakes and juice for the kids and the teacher took some pictures. Amelia was so excited for her party at school.

On Saturday, August 15 we had our family celebration. We spent the day downtown at the Seattle Aquarium and had lunch at Ivar's. She got a fancy dessert with a candle in it from the waiter and we sang happy birthday to her. At home we opened presents and she fell into bed so tired she didn't play with any of them.

Sunday was the big ELMO birthday party. We invited her playgroup and a few other friends. The kids played with bubbles, the soccer net, and the parachute. We also played a game of pin the nose on ELMO. Everyone had a blast and the weather was perfect.

Amelia had quite a birthday weekend and now has all kinds of new toys to play with. Thanks everyone!

Two New Amelia Quotes

One morning last week this was said to her shoes while putting them on.

"You're freaking me out."

Then the next morning while the morning news was playing, she pointed to the TV and said "That's a murder show."

Where does this stuff come from? Hilarious.

On an academic note, Amelia is now attending phonics classes two days a week. She's writing her capital letters and loves the one-on-one time with her teacher. This growing-up things is happening way too fast.

Next weekend we're off to the pumpkin patch with her playgroup friends.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

12:30 am

Last night Amelia wandered into our room/bed around 12:30 midnight - for the FIRST TIME!!! Yep, since the big girl bed arrived, she's slept straight through each night. NICE that it took several weeks for her to begin getting up at odd hours. We anticipated much worse!
And last night was no big deal. We just let her relax with us for a moment, and then put her back in her bed. She then slept in until almost 7am, which is much later than her usual 5:30 am rise and shine.

Monday, August 17, 2009

MJ

At the ripe age of three years, one day, Amelia just pointed to a picture on my computer and said with confidence "That's Michael Jackson."

She was right.

When I asked her how she knew who that was, she clearly stated "He's the man on the TV."

Clearly we have the TV on too much.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Forever

This morning after Amelia woke up a bit startled and grumpy, we crawled into my bed and snuggled for a while. She must be tired because she was actually snuggling; calm with big long hugs.

Then, as we're cheek to cheek, she said "Mommy, Let's stay here forever."

My heart melted.

Saturday, August 08, 2009

Big Girl Stuff

On July 3 Amelia started wearing her new Dora and Princess panties each day. Or, shall I say, three or four different pair per day! The first day there were three accidents in less than one hour. I immediately threw in the towel (or rather, wet panties & shorts into the washer) and had her return to wearing pull-ups for the next few days because we had several parties to attend.

We then picked it back up again on Monday, July 6. She only had two accidents the entire week. Nice job! The success continues with random accidents here and there. She asks to use the toilet when she needs and it’s soooo much easier than diapers. I didn’t realize making the leap would be so easy for her.

Now on to the next big milestone – she’s sleeping in her new BED! We haven’t found the perfect wood bed frame, but that’s ok. She’s got a brand new mattress, sheets, and pillow set up in the corner of her room on the floor. If she falls out, she doesn’t have far to fall!

We’re at 100% success for the first two nights; no falling out and no wandering. We hope the success continues. She’s sleeping about nine hours straight, which is much better than her recent sleep in the crib. In hindsight, she probably wasn’t comfortable in the crib anymore and it showed in her crazy lack of restful sleep.

Our baby will be three next Saturday. We’ll spend the day together and take her to the aquarium. On Sunday we’ll have her friends over for an official birthday party. It truly is amazing to look back at the pictures of three years ago and realize that in a blink they’re not little babes in our arms.

The journey continues.

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Silly or Embarrassing??

Friday after work I picked up Amelia and we headed to the grocery store for a few items. While standing in the check-out line, she looked at me, reached out, squeezed my boob, and asked quite loudly "Mommy, is this your booby?"

I proudly replied "Yes, it is."

I'm glad my daughter was able to give the two teenage baggers a great story to share later with their friends.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Who Hops?

Amelia read her first book tonight!!!

"Who Hops?" by Katie Davis

Gene read it to her a few nights ago and tonight I read it to her. She then took the book and read it to us.

"Slither" was "sliver," so the snake slivered.

Fantastic!!!

Friday, June 05, 2009

The L Sound

While driving to work & school this morning, Amelia was happy and clapping in the back seat.

She happily announced “Mommy, I crap!”

She went on to ask me “Mommy, you crap.”

She then saw a small spider on the outside of her window and asked him “Spider, you crap.”

She still can’t say the “L” sound. Good thing we didn’t name her Ella Lowry. Too many “L”s.

On this sunny Friday morning, we clapped as we drove in.

Sunday, May 31, 2009

Manipulation Skills and Funnies

I’ve been keeping all kinds of notes on the funny things that Amelia’s been doing. Before the list gets any longer, I’m finally posting them for you all to enjoy.

April 13
Last month Amelia began practicing her manipulation skills. She’s been potty training for a few months now and she’s slowing getting the hang of it. I got her set up on the toilet and returned in a few minutes to check on her progress. To my surprise, I found that she was off the toilet and quickly flushing it as I walked in.

She proudly told me that she pooped AND peed. This would be big news if it really did happen, but now the evidence was gone. Upon inspection in the clean up department (wiping the ole bottom), there was nothing.

She LIED to me! I’m sure it won’t be the first time.

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April 14
The next day Amelia told me that she didn’t want to go to school. When we were about a block from school (she knows the way and knows when we’re near), she closed her eyes and pretended to be sleeping. When I parked the car she was faking the sounds of snoring. I was cracking up. She played limp when I picked her up out of the car seat. Too funny.

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April 15
As I walked into her bedroom, I asked her how she slept.

With a happy pitch, she exclaimed “PERFECT!”

She's not always this happy first thing in the morning.

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April 30
While sitting on the couch, I told Amelia she was growing and getting so big.

She looked outside at her dad mowing the front lawn and said, “I’m not growing. The grass is growing.”

I cracked up and said “You’re funny.”

Amelia replied, “Yeah.”

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May 6
Now this a funny story that happened at school, told to me by Amelia’s teacher.

The kids were all in a circle and they were practicing counting. There are at least four different languages being spoken in the homes of her classmates (English, Spanish, Japanese, & Portuguese) and as a class, they all learn from each other.

The teacher looked at Mila and asked her to count to ten in her first language of Japanese. Mila politely declined and didn’t want to count this day.

That’s when Amelia piped up and said she had Japanese. She was patting her knees and stating “I have JapaKNEES.”

Both teachers cracked up.

She’s just so funny!

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May 15
I brought home my work laptop and had it on the table instead of my personal laptop.

Amelia noticed the difference and asked “Mommy, your new compooter?”

I said yes and told her it was from work.

She then pointed to the front cover where the round Dell logo is and asked “Does it have an apple on it?”

She then corrected herself and said “No, it has a round circle on it.”

I was shocked. Where in the world did she get that? We don’t (yet) have Apple laptops. We don’t let her watch much television at all. How in the world does she know that some laptops have apple logos on the covers? Crazy world full of marketing! She got it somewhere?

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Now this is funny

When I was dropping Amelia off at her school last week, one of the dad’s was asking which child was named Amelia.

I politely told him that was my daughter.

He said his son had been talking about her all night long.

The teacher piped in and said “Oh yes, Amelia is the alpha female in the class!”

Gene and I have been laughing for days. She’s definitely like her mom!

We continue to get feedback that she “runs” the class and directs the other kids on what to do and where to do it. At home she does the same thing with her babies, stuffed animals, and invisible friends from class.

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Another fun new word:

Little toy Zebra = “pizza”

That kinda sounds alike.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Misc

Naxbar = Snack Bar

Gamespa = Football

“Scooz me” = “Excuse me” when she sneezes.

“MMMmmmmm, that smells Gooood.” She’s said this several times as we changed her very poopy diaper. Weird.

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While with Grandma in California, we stopped by a drive-through for lunch to allow Amelia a longer nap. She had been sound asleep for an hour when we placed our order. Before we made it to the next window to pay, she says from her seat “How aboooout ice cream?”

She’s not one to be left out of anything.

We’re still laughing.

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On our flight back from California last month, while getting settled in our airline seats, Amelia stated “Fasten your seatbelt Mommy."

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I was in Phoenix all last week at a training event for work and apparently Amelia missed me bad. Our twin teenage babysitters Sammi and Sarah weren’t available on one of the nights that we needed their help. Instead of one of them coming over to our house, I arranged for Amelia to go to their house and play with their mom for a while.

When the night arrived, Gene told Amelia that she was going to Sammi and Sarah’s house to see their mommy. She politely stated “No, I want to see my mommy!”

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Today Amelia told Gene “Mommy has an ouwee on her leg. She has to go see someone.”

My leg is just fine. I have no idea what she’s talking about.

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I’ll keep writing them down as she says ‘em!

Saturday, February 07, 2009

Vocab & Conversation

Craysons = Crayons

Amea = Amelia

Spaceball = Baseball

Last week while we were driving, Amelia heard an ambulance coming toward us. She was excited and pointed to it yelling “Fire truck! Fire truck!” She was so happy about the lights and sounds.

I matter-of-factly told her that it wasn’t a fire truck. I said it was an ambulance and that someone was sick.

She lowered her voice and very concerned and softly said “Oooooh No. That’s bad.”

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Christmas 2008

The three of us had a terrific December. There was so much snow in Seattle that for a few weeks it really did feel like winter. It was a much needed break from the rain and overcast weather we usually have.



We started the month by taking a ride on the Christmas train to see Santa. The day was clear and warm and we were joined by Gene’s sisters Christy & Brooke and their four children. The old steam engine was pretty nifty (and loud). I’ll have to take my Dad next time. He’d love it.



The following weekend we trekked up to the woods to fetch our own Christmas tree. This task was much easier with our new used (huge) Chevy Silverado 4x4 full size four-door truck. The thing really is huge and the gas mileage reflects it – oh well. It snowed all weekend except for the few hours we were up on the mountain, which was perfect. We set up camp with about eight other families, made a bonfire, and fired up the camp stoves. We enjoyed lots of chili, hot cocoa, and hot apple cider. There was also a bit of liquid available for the adults to add to their hot beverages. The kids enjoyed sledding and the guys cut down trees for us to take home. Unfortunately Amelia just wasn’t herself the entire day. She didn’t have much fun doing anything and after we got back to town we realized she had a slight fever. Poor kid.


And then the snow hit. Seattle just shut down and there wasn’t a whole lot we could do about it. Nintendo closed its doors for a few days and I worked from home for almost a week. We played outside a bunch and just chilled out.



My sister arrived on Christmas day and it was still snowing. After spending a great day with Glen and Paula and their families, we picked up Heather at the airport. She was able to stay ten days and we had a nice visit. Amelia completely enjoyed playing with her Auntie Heather.

The day after a mellow New Year’s Eve celebration at home, the four of us headed up to Washington’s own Bavarian town. We all enjoyed the sledding in downtown Leavenworth, along with lots of great food and shopping.

A few days later Heather headed back to Fargo and the Lowry’s prepared to return to our pre-Christmas routine. What a busy and memorable December.

Cheers to a new year. Hope it’s a great one for all of you!


Funny Amelia

Last week one morning while getting ready, Amelia asked me what I was doing. She was sitting on our bed reading books while I was just around the corner in the bathroom brushing my teeth.

I poked my head around the corner with toothbrush in mouth to inform her of my current doings.

She then proudly stated “Good Job Mommy!”

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A few days ago at breakfast I asked her if her oatmeal tasted good.

She replied solidly without questioning “I think so!”

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Today Amelia was in the car with me while I filled the car with gas. I try to fill up when I’m by myself because I don’t like her being strapped into her carseat while I’m pumping the flammable liquid. Just one of my quirks.

With that said, she hasn’t been to a gas station very many times.

When we arrived, I announced that we were going to get some gasoline.

She questioned “For my yips?”

I said “No, not Vasoline for your lips. We’re getting gasoline for the car.”

Amelia matter-of-factly said “Oooooh, OK.”