Baby It's Cold

We've spent a lot of time at home since the first of the year. Between the lovely gray Chicago winter and my nesting instincts I have come up with all kinds of projects. We have been busy getting our master bedroom and bathroom done (finally), turning Amelia's room into a room for two, putting shelving in many of our "undershelved" closets and other miscellaneous projects. Mark and Amelia have been very patient putting up with many weekend mornings of Home Depot, Pottery Barn, West Elm, Target, etc. I think their patience and our credit card need a break. We are almost done with all the projects so now we can focus on our last weeks of a family of three.

Amelia has been working on perfecting her makeup applying skills. I don't think brown eye shadow is the best color for her cheeks.

Last week Amelia's new toddler bed arrived. We decided to get it and let her warm up to the idea of a bed instead of her crib. She was so excited and from the moment it was put together she has insisted in sleeping in her, "big girl bed."

Amelia has been very helpful with all the projects. She spackled holes in her closet, unfolded all the clothes that had just been organized and lost screws that were to be put in her new bed.
A happy girl playing on her new bed. She gets so excited to go to sleep in her bed but she has had some trouble falling asleep and waking up at night. We wondered how long it would take her to realize that if she wasn't happy in the bed she could get herself out of it. Well during nap time today we heard some drawers closing and when we went into her room she had taken out a bunch of baby toys (that I had just put away) and was pulling her wipes out of her dresser. I asked her what she was doing and she said, "Mama I blow my nose." There is nothing Amelia hates more than having her nose blown so I highly doubt that was what she was doing. Mark was proud of her as he thought that her comment showed that she can think on her feet.

Oh, yes we also got a little bit of snow this week. Chicago Public Schools have not had a snow day since 1999 and they had two this week. Here in Chicago we are pretty tough about snow. So what if you get 6" of snow? Put your boots on and get to the train. The 20" of snow that came Tuesday night sure put the City on pause. Both of our offices were closed Wednesday so we had our first family snow day. Amelia woke-up to Dada outside shoveling. She took this photograph of Dada shoveling while giggling hysterically. I'm not sure why she found Mark shoveling so hilarious but I don't think he was laughing at the four foot snow drifts across our driveway. This was the view out our window at about noon Wednesday. The plows had pilled up so much snow that SUV's had snow within two feet of their roofs and the snow was blowing so hard the streets looked like they had five feet of snow covering them.
What else does a girl do on a snow day in February but bake red velvet cupcakes? Our little Betty Crocker loves to pour the ingredients in the bowl, stir the batter and sit and wait for her goodies to come out of the oven.
The proud baker and her fabulous cupcakes!

Christmas Vacation

We started our long Christmas vacation celebrating with the Lang Family in Waukegan. The kids didn't know that we were having a contest to determine who was the best behaved but we were. Charlie won by a long shot as there really was no competition. I think part of where we (and by we I mean Mark) went wrong was getting the girls as hyper as possible right before we sat down to dinner.

We couldn't get Amelia to sit at the table for anything as she kept telling us that she wanted to go play upstairs with Georgia and Dada. She proceeded to spend our Christmas meal sitting on the stairs and crying. It was lovely background noise to our meal.How do you finally get two little girls to behave themselves at the same time? Why of course you put them in front of their Grandma's cookie tray. Seeing how JuJu is infamous for her Christmas cookies there were plenty so the girls didn't have to worry about sharing which probably would have turned a lovely moment into a series of, "mine."The grandkids (and us parents) were all good and spoiled. Amelia didn't waste any time getting to work on her new laptop and cell phone while wearing her new sweater.

We woke up on Christmas Eve and hit the road to Kansas. It was a somewhat eventful drive and after eleven hours on the road in a snow storm, witnessing a spin out accident in front of us and seeing many cars in the ditch we arrived safely in Lawrence. Amelia really could not have been any better. I was expecting a road trip companion similar to LB but low and behold Amelia was happily entertained in her carseat the whole ride.
Of course Amelia spoiling didn't end when we left Illinois. The highlights of her Christmas in Lawrence were her grocery cart from GranAnn and bag of fishy crackers from Papa. She made it clear that the bag of fishies was hers. She was right as the present did have her name on it but you would think she could have shared a fish or two. Auntie M helped herself to A fish and got caught by Miss. MINE.
My mom was so sweet and had a friend show up dressed as Santa on Christmas morning and bring Amelia a keyboard. Amelia FREAKED out. She wailed, tried to climbed me and was an overall mess. This picture tells the story. It really was pretty hilarious.

The excessive sugar didn't end either when we left Illinois. I think we all ate a year's worth of sugar while in Kansas. Thank goodness my glucose test was before Christmas. I asked Amelia what her favorite part of going to GranAnn's house was and she said, "snowman cookies."

We checked out the ceramics studio in Lawrence where Amelia made a serving platter for GranAnn and coffee mug for Dada.

Overall we had a wonderful week in Kansas, caught a game at Allen Fieldhouse, hit up some of our favorite restaurants, drank lots of local Kansas beer (Mark of course did that, not me) and got to spend time with many friends that we miss dearly. I didn't manage to take pictures at any of those get togethers so if anyone has any please share!

After spending New Years at the Meyers we headed back to Chicago and were treated to an uneventful drive. Now that we are back home we are going to be busy working on potty training, home projects we want done before #2 arrives and sharing. "This is mine" has become Amelia's favorite phrase and I don't think her losing her only child status is going to help......

Holiday Spirit

So I was feeling like there was really no reason to decorate for Christmas this year. Between plans to spend Christmas in Kansas and not hosting any holiday functions it seemed like kind of a waste of time to decorate for just Mark, Amelia and I. It isn't that I'm Scrooge I was just feeling lazy. My change of heart can be attributed to two events; (1) waking up the other Saturday to the most beautiful snow and (2) Mark was adamant that we would have Christmas decorations and so he told me that if I didn't feel up to it he would take care of it. There is nothing like Mark threatening to decorate to get me motivated!Amelia seemed to enjoy picking out a Christmas tree and the first snow storm of the season. Then dad had to go and throw snowballs at her which she wasn't too sure about. He claims it was perfect snowball snow so how could he resist......After bringing home the perfect tree it was time for Mark to get to work shoveling. It didn't take long for Amelia to realize what Mark was doing. She pointed to the garage and said "shovel" and insisted on going outside to help. Without Amelia and her pink beach toy I just don't know how Mark would have ever gotten it done.

Clearly, she was an enormous help.Does anyone know how to get a toddler to wear gloves/mittens? She refuses and her poor little hands were frozen by the time we got inside.

And then there was her daycare's holiday show. Amelia's classroom "performed" to Alvin and the Chipmunk's "Christmas Don't be Late." Hilarious is all I can say to twelve two-year olds dressed in their Chipmunk style initial shirts "dancing" to a song on stage. Our shy little girl kind of hung in the back but danced the entire song with a huge smile on her face.

A Second Birthday, Sunshine Therapy, Family and a Turkey

We have just gotten home from an amazing time in Phoenix celebrating Thanksgiving and Amelia's second birthday.

A Second Birthday,

Amelia started off her special day by making cupcakes with Papa and JuJu.Had JuJu gotten involved in the kitchen earlier I have a feeling that Amelia wouldn't have eaten her weight in raw batter. After feasting on raw eggs she went for a spin around the yard with dad and Poppy. After her exciting day of raw food and being tossed around I got my special time with her when she came to find me just in time to get sick all over the carpet...

Sunshine Therapy (even if it was the coldest T-Day in Phoenix in 80 years),This is proof of the spin Amelia took around the yard after filling up on raw eggs.It is SO easy to waste away a good part of the day while enjoying my dad's yard and the Phoenix sun. As JuJu and Poppy drove in from Palm Desert the sunshine is old news to them.

Oh, Amelia was such a happy,

happy,happy girl feeling the sun on her face. Poor think had no idea she was going to have to go back to Chicago to face the Chicago winter.

Family,

We enjoyed family outing to the Phoenix zoo. Amelia was pretty upset that she couldn't see the gorillas as the exhibit was closed. We told her they weren't home as they were on vacation just like she was. After that she seemed okay.Amelia loves to answer the question, "what does mama do when she goes to work?" To which she replies, "Mama architect, Mama work in high building, Papa architect." Amelia got to show off her design and building skills while building a gingerbread house with Papa.

Are we going to have three generations of architects? It would beat three generations of attorneys, right?

Two of her favorites; bubbles and Auntie M.

She so wasn't into the goats at the petting zoo but Auntie M on the other hand could have stayed all day.

Proof that I'm not depriving the baby of yummy and ample food. This would be Amelia wearing make-up thanks to Auntie M. Sorry to my make-up savvy friends for Amelia's rather sloppy introduction to make-up. She will probably need your help one day.

Amelia has now learned the word trouble as Papa likes to ask her, "should we go get in trouble?"

She was not happy when Papa went to take a shower one morning thus stood outside banging on the door. We realized when we couldn't see her anymore and could hear her giggles that she must have gotten into the bathroom. She couldn't have been happier splashing around in Papa's shower. And no, Papa was not in the shower and was fully clothed when we all went in to smile at Amelia.

How about when Amelia woke up and heaven forbid there weren't any bananas? Well she demanded, "Papa store bananas." It only took about 5 seconds before Papa was up, shoes on, keys in hand ready to take her highness to the store. She arrived back with an enormous smile on her face and an equally enormous M&M cookie. Breakfast of champions. Amelia has to share the birthday month of November with Auntie M. Seriously remind my dad not to buy Merrill a camera again for her birthday. She CONSTANTLY felt the need to take pictures of EVERYTHING; Mark and I sitting on the couch, tigers at the zoo, her slippers, dad's living room, etc. Finally her camera got turned on her!

and a Turkey

Well I think the turkey was good but then again I'm not much a turkey fan to begin with. We grilled the turkey and the meat was great but the skin got a little chared and the drippings were ruined. Don't bring the subject up to Merrill for a few more years as she is still very upset about the lack of gravy......

Pre-Birthday Party

Why of course GranAnn needed to celebrate Amelia's 2nd birthday with her and since we spent Thanksgiving in Phoenix, GranAnn made a trip to Chicago in mid-November for a pre-birthday party. Amelia is very thankful for the time with GranAnn, trip to the Aquarium and her new clothes and toys.

Also thanks to Gretchen and Clara who came over for a pre-birthday cupcake. When they were leaving Clara looked at Amelia, touched her belly and asked, "why does she have such big belly?" Hm, maybe we should have had pre-birthday salads instead of cupcakes....

GranAnn doesn't come to Chicago without a bag of goodies for Amelia so of course this trip was no exception. Mini-GranAnn enjoyed going to the Aquarium in her new outfit of skinny jeans and leopard print cardigans. From dada she got a basketball goal and bowling set. Were these gifts for Amelia or dad? The basketball goal is a little tall but Amelia loves watching dada, "shoot hoops." Since she is my little girl it will probably be a while before she is tall enough to join dad in a game.

Lets be honest she still loves the packaging as much if not more than the actual presents. The basketball box was a great source of entertainment for a few weeks.

The Target box her new boots came in made for a great spin around the kitchen.

Time to Share the Spotlight

It is safe to say that Amelia's world is going to be turned upside down in March. Since she is going to have to learn how to share the spotlight I thought a blog posting not (directly) about her would be a good place to start.

So far this pregnancy has gone very smoothly and like with Amelia I find that when I get good sleep, eat well and exercise I feel pretty darn good. We know how blessed we are and really hope things stay this smooth! I think I'm on the path to a healthy, active pregnancy except for my excessive sweet tooth. Seriously, I must get it under control. Cupcakes leftover from a condo building party, donuts in the office, a trip to the cafe for an afternoon sugar cookie, leftover Halloween candy are examples of how I can always seem to find my next fix. If I keep this up I will (a) put the baby at risk for diabetes, (b) have to deliver a 10lb baby, (c) complain a lot after the baby is born about all the weight I have to lose and (d) get bad news during my next trip to the dentist. Why of course the weight has to come as a healthy baby and mom are the #1 priority however I don't believe a daily dose of sugar has been proven to aid in fetal or maternal health. My new yoga DVD came yesterday, I did one of the sessions this morning and I have limited myself to one sweet during the week and one on the weekend. Now let’s see if I can stick to my plan! Mark has been put in charge of my sugar control and getting me up in the mornings to workout. Wish him luck, especially with the morning wake up calls.

As with Amelia we are saving the boy/girl surprise until he/she arrives. Below are some pictures of Amelia's spotlight stealer, toy thief and (on occasion, maybe?) best friend.

p.s. Anyone else heard the new-ish Annie Lennox song, "Universal Child?" Yep heard it while doing this blog. I cried and most definitely blame hormones....

Quack Quack

I would say that Amelia's first trick-or-treating experience was a success. The block around the corner from us is infamous for their all out Halloween decorations so Amelia and her Crayons (next door neighbors William & Henry) had to check it out. Amelia had no clue what was going on but she was loving getting to play with henrywilliam, making duck sounds and saying "trick-or-treat." She had yet to learn what candy was so she really didn't know how good her life was about to get.

She thought the pre trick-or-treating pretzels were pretty cool and took some coercing to get up on her little feet and get moving. Have I ever told you all the we have a VERY pokey toddler? She was happy sitting on the sidewalk in front of our home and couldn't figure out why her type A mom was so insistent that she get up and get going....

At the first stop she scored some M&M's and boy the pretzels were old news after that. I'm not even sure she has really had candy before but the girl would not take a step until she had a M&M in her mouth. And so began her love affair with candy. She still hadn't caught on that if she kept walking she would get more candy but she didn't want to lose sight of henrywilliam so she kept moving.

Turns out that even our pokey little girl could really get moving quickly once she learned that at EVERY set of stairs another piece of candy was waiting for her. After a couple blocks mom and dad were old news and we probably could have gone home for all she cared. Luckily we followed our neighbors advice and took our three little ones out super early as sure enough the block got PACKED. Amelia was stuffed with candy, had a full pumpkin and it had gotten cold so our little girl was happy to get a daddy ride the rest of the way home. I was happy that she wasn't still running down the PACKED sidewalk getting plowed over by the "big" trick-or-treaters who had long forgotten manners.

It is safe to say that Amelia officially knows what candy is as the last word she said tonight before I put her in her crib was, "chocolate" OR so I thought it was until she proclaimed, "pick boogers Mama."