Baby Dentures?

Amelia is now over 8 months old - the oldest kid in her class - and the ONLY kid without teeth. I didn't think anything of it when I just thought she was a little late. But, the ONLY kid?!?! I don't want her to be the last kid unless it's the last girl to get a boyfriend, the last to ask her dad where babies come from, or maybe the last kid to get their driver's license. So, Amelia has roughly a month to get some teeth or else I am going to start contacting dentists to get some tiny dentures made. That's pretty normal, right?

No Moms Allowed

Tonight was another Mia and Daddy night as Meggan had to work. She basically has to work two nights a week for most of the fall. So, these nights are not exactly few and far between. Normally, Amelia finds at least one or two things on each of these nights to become extremely fussy about. However, tonight was a really good night. I had a feeling I was in for a treat when she started bouncing up and down smiling the minute I walked into daycare. This reaction, which I have seen on a few occasions, is easily one of the highlights of my life. She decided the whole ride home would be a good time to talk. I tried to catch up on how her day went. She mostly kept saying mamamamama. Once we got home, we got to play with our third partner in crime, Sophie. Sophie doesn't really allow for the option to NOT play with her, so you might as well embrace it and invite her have fun with you. After working up a healthy appetite practicing standing, we feasted on turkey and vegetables. I can't actually verify that it was turkey OR vegetables, but that's what the jars said. Next came the only slight mishap of the night. I was making myself a sandwich when I heard an all too familiar sound...a baby grunting as if she was trying to give birth. I looked over to see this poor little girl with a face as red as a candy apple. I was not looking forward to what occurred next. A sound came from her diaper that sounded like I put a Christmas ham down the garbage disposal. I don't know what the hell happened in that diaper, but I kid you not....Mia started speaking in tongues. So, after I tended to that little dumpster fire, we were back on track. It was decided that we should get back to the play mat for a serious crawling practice session. We all played so hard that the she was falling asleep before bath time...and I'm just referring to Sophie. We left Sophie rest up (which she clearly has done because she is absolutely doing work on a rawhide bone right now) while we went upstairs for a bath. All bath time routines went without a hitch. I was able to fend off all of Amelia's efforts to turn on the shower while the bath water was running. Eventually, I'm going to let her learn that lesson the hard way. But, tonight I was ill prepared to answer to mom when she got home and found out. After our bath, we slipped on some pajamas and had a tasty bottle. Amelia loves to snuggle up to your neck as she falls asleep. Seriously, for those of you who don't have children, rent one, borrow one, steal one, whatever. But, you have not felt a more therapeutic feeling than a warm baby snuggling up to the crook of your neck. A few seconds later, she was fast asleep. To no surprise, Amelia, Sophie, and I had survived another night with no adult supervision.

What's in a name?

Mia is 8 months old and over that time, she's probably been called by her real name, Amelia, seemingly 3 times. I started thinking about all the different nicknames I have heard her called over that span and it is growing increasingly long, and increasingly inexplicable. Here is the list from the top of my head....and no, these are not approved nicknames, nor are most of them to be perpetuated.

Amelia
Mia
Mookie
Milly
Mimi
Miss Fussypants
Monkey Joe
Mookiepants
Pickle
Mook Mook
Baby
Tootie
Pookie
Mookie Pantalones
Monchichi
Kermit
Babygirl
Poopidoo

So, to summarize, her name is Amelia. I view Mia as the only acceptable nickname. Clearly, nobody gives a damn about what I find acceptable.

Curb Your Enthusiasm

Amelia and her grandpa were either really bored with taking pictures or they were just trying to do their best American Gothic impersonation...

Attack of the mushrooms

Our yard has recently been taken over by mushrooms. I'm not sure what brought this on as they didn't spring up last fall. However, tonight I went out and began pulling them out of the ground. This was definitely one of those situations in which you continue to pull them up for 10 minutes, look around, and swear there are more than when you started. So, you pull for 15 more minutes and you check again...even more. By the time I was done, I had pulled TEN POUNDS (I weighed them) of mushrooms from my yard. That is a lot of mushrooms considering they don't weigh much individually. So, somehow, in the week since I last cut my grass, I have grown enough mushrooms to fill up nearly half of a garbage bag. I don't really grow grass well. All of our plants seem to meet their maker. However, mushrooms, those must be my thing. If they come back, I'm going to have to find out what is causing them and what I can do to stop it. Either that, or I'm just going to grow more to at least make it look purposeful.

The Great Pumpkin

We took Mia to the pumpkin patch today in preparation for her first Halloween. Overall, we had a pretty good time. However, to my surprise, she was not as thrilled about the pumpkins as I thought she would be...

Once Bitten

Well, it finally happened. I've known this day would come from the day we found out Meggan was pregnant. It really shouldn't surprise anyone given their animosity on this blog. Tonight, while Meggan was at work and I was watching Amelia and Sophie, we had our first biting incident. Amelia was sitting on the floor playing with her toys while Sophie kept bringing her a dog toy to play with. Regardless of how many times I removed the dog toy, Sophie kept bringing it back. Each time, Amelia would do her best to grab it and I would intercept it. If you have ever been around Sophie, you would know she does this tirelessly attempting to get you to play tug with her. Obviously, she doesn't realize Amelia isn't strong enough for that game even if she were to get the toy. So, on this fateful attempt, I was sitting about two feet from them when the bite occurred. Sophie brought her toy, Jack, over to Amelia. This time, Amelia got a really good bear hug grip on it. Just as I was reaching to remove this toy before Amelia could get "doggie germs", Sophie went in for her toy. This all happened in slow motion for me - inching closer...crazy look in eyes...closer...mouth starting to open wide...closer....bite on the neck. Poor girl, I don't think she ever saw it coming. She couldn't have. It all happened too fast and she didn't even make an attempt to get out of the way. She didn't even move during the bite, she just sat there in stunned shock. As soon as I was able to separate them, I picked Amelia up and told her she would be in big trouble if she ever bit Sophie again. Sophie ran under the couch, no doubt more a function of the hair pulling rather than the wet, toothless gumming she just received. I know her pain well, as it is Amelia's new thing when I lay down next to her to yank my ear, lean over, and bite it. Most people have to worry about their pets and their children. However, we actually have to protect Sophie from our bully. Considering I'm not even sure Sophie knows how to bite, her only defense would be to bark Amelia to death...a feat she has tried many times.

All dressed up with nowhere to go

We are only a bit over two weeks away from Mia's first Halloween. Meggan and I have been giving serious consideration to the various costume options out there. However, so far we have come up empty. We have seen precious costumes, funny costumes, intricate costumes, simple costumes, etc. Yet, throughout this dutiful search, we still have not found the costume that screams "THIS is what Amelia needs to be for her first Halloween". Considering we aren't taking an 8-month old trick-or-treating, and as of now, we don't have anyone bored enough to come over to our house and hang with us, I'm not really sure why it feels so important to have her in a good costume. I'm fairly certain she won't care. I'm guessing she will stay in it roughly as long as Sophie has always stayed in her costumes - 5 minutes. However, I just think we should set a good precedent in terms of how we are going to bring it on Halloweens in the future. So, hopefully, we will get our creative juices flowing or stumble upon a prefabricated pile of creative genius at a costume shop. If not, we'll just dress her in something cute and cheap and I'll Google a picture of some awesome costume, superimpose her head on it, and post it on here for all of you to believe in.

R.I.P. Achy Breaky Mullet

Friday, we said goodbye to an old friend. Achy Breaky Mullet, as named for country star Billy Ray Cyrus, met its final resting place when Mia got her first haircut. I'm going to miss seeing that beautiful little mullet flowing in the breeze. Luckily, even post haircut, Amelia still has some of the craziest hair I've seen on a baby.

Achy Breaky Mullet
(Feb. 23rd, 2009 - Oct. 9th, 2009)

Holiday Weekend....sick AGAIN

Well, as noted in earlier blog posts, Amelia has the uncanny ability to completely blow up any weekend by getting sick. As a matter of fact, it is almost more surprising when she doesn't get sick on the weekend. This being a holiday weekend, I'm pretty sure she decided she really needed to bring the heat. So, she started off with a little projectile barf shower for her mom on Friday night, kindly decided not to mess up football Saturday, and then picked it back up again this morning. However, this time, she was sweet enough to pass it along to her mother. So, as I sit here blogging, they are quarantined in separate areas of the house as to keep me and Sophie safe. Time will tell if this strategy works or not. Lord, I hope so.

We have liftoff

Mia finally crossed the threshold into the world of crawlers. Technically, she crossed into the world of draggers, but I'm counting it just the same. Last night, she struggled and strained, keeping her eyes on the prize (in this case, her favorite toy) until she slowly began to army-crawl across her play mat. Was it the most graceful thing I've seen? No. Did her legs drag behind her like limp linguine? Yes. Did she get from point A to point B in a forward motion? You're damn right she did. I'm guessing this will be just like everything else she has done - she can't do it at all until one day when she struggles through it. Then, from that point on, she repeats it like she's been doing since she was in the womb. If this holds true, I will hopefully be on here shortly bragging about how fast she moves around the house. Until then, I'll be trying to safety-proof the house for our newly found mobility.

Procrastination is good

Well, it is basically 9 p.m. and I am the only one awake in the house. I'm very glad everyone is getting the rest they need, but damn. And since I have nobody to speak to here...I'll just post whatever comes to mind on the blog -

-I hate working on my resume much worse than I hate working at my job.

-Modern Family is the funniest new show on television

-Every blog post I see online discussing the "really awesome" album that just came out is talking about a band that I have never heard of in my life.

-The Asian guy that has been in 90% of recent comedies (The Hangover, Knocked Up, Role Models, etc) was an actual doctor who attended Duke and UNC...and now he runs around naked in funny movies. There is something really unfortunate, and yet extremely awesome about that.

-I can't believe the vet thinks Sophie needs to be put on puppy Prozac

-I'm living in a college football paradox - I need Saturday to hurry up and get here because I can't wait for the Gator game. I need Saturday to take its time because Tim Tebow needs to heal from his concussion.

-Amelia decided to fill her diaper, spit up on me, and fill her diaper again during the 20 minutes it took me to put her in her carrier, take her to day care, and leave from there to go to work. What a lovely way to start my day.

-Looking at my wife sleep here on the couch next to me, I am a lucky man.

-Blogging is not helping me finish my resume.

She's a maniac...maniac... at the store...

First of all, let me just say hello bloggers, it's me...Meggan. I complain that I never have time to blog, but Friday night's trip to the store was full of material too good to keep to myself, so here goes.

Miss Amelia and I went to the grocery store on Friday night to do a bit of shopping. We were getting dangerously close to bedtime which produces a baby that is deliriously happy...keyword "delirious." This delirium could easily turn from adorable to maniacal in a tick of the second hand.

So, our trip began with a stroll through the produce and then to the deli counter. While waiting for our honey ham, Crazypants grabbed the shopping list from my hand and, of course, put it in her mouth. To avoid a fit, I planned to let her hold it for a second while I found another object to distract her while I took it back from her. When I took it back, well, see the picture below. She ate it! So, she's chomping away at a piece of paper while I try to pry open her mouth to retrieve it. I can't remember how to get an object out of an infant's throat, and now my struggle is attracting the attention of other deli patrons. Great. Finally, I pry open her jaws and scoop out the list. Moving on.

We begin a minor meltdown in the bread aisle. Good thing it was our last stop before the register. Despite my warning to keep hands and feet and body inside the cart while moving, the whole trip she was happy lurching from side to side in the front of the cart while I shopped. Good thing her cart cover has a safety seatbelt to keep her in.

We check out. She goes nuts. While I'm paying, she swipes a whole stack of gift cards from in front of the register. When I take those and put them back, she sees the long receipt that is running out of the register. She grabs it and pulls with all of her might while I was trying to pry her hand open. She wins. So, we took our receipt in parts.

So, I get home and unload our bags while the little girl slept in her bed. Refer back to the picture and you will see what I found. A bag of linguine. You can't see the little sticker on the package, but it reads $3.49. $3.49 pasta! Isn't that some sort of oxymoron?! I do not know where this pasta came from as I would not have bought that, and I didn't even buy pasta at all. Randall refuses to believe me that Amelia put it in the buggy. I am convinced she did. I mean all you have to do is look at Randall's post below to see what kind of crazy look she gets in her eye when she's sleepy. She's capable of anything!

From Innocent Ramblings of a So-Called Writer:

You never know when a Good Hair Moment will arrive.

It is 11:15 p.m. on a Wednesday. My hair looks amazing. Someone other than my husband and my cats needed to see it. God bless the internet and built in laptop cameras, otherwise, this perfect hair moment would have passed me by.

Your locks are lovely in that picture, Aunt Jenn... and I clearly know a thing or two about great hair days!

- Mia