I eat waaaffffflleee

I must have my bed back. Contrary to the fact that I swore I'd never let Amelia sleep in our bed, she has somehow sweet talked her way there. We did a very good job for a long time, but when she started getting sick regularly, the rules started to relax. The final straw was the night we had her in Urgent Care with trouble breathing and were told not to leave her alone. Since those few days where sleeping with us was a necessity, I'm not sure we have had two consecutive nights without her making an appearence at some point. Now, I'll be the first to admit, there probably isn't a more peaceful feeling for me than having her snuggle up to me and fall asleep. That said, why would I complain about having her next to me? Well, because for every night she sleeps like that, there is a night where she kicks me in the face, a night where she ends up at the foot of the bed with Sophie, and a night she lays on the blankets like a paperweight while I freeze on the edge of the bed. However, the last week or so, she has started a new habit that makes any of those sleeping habits seem pleasant. She did it to Meggan while I was away at the beach last weekend and she did it to me this morning. What does she do, you ask? Let me tell you...She leans over your sleeping face and says "I eat waffles" until you wake up. This may not sound so bad, but trust me, when you are sleeping and you hear a little voice whispering "I eat waffles"..."I eeaat waaafffleees"..."I eeeaat waaafffless" it gets creepy.

Home again

Aaaaaaahhhhh, it feels so good to be home. I had a great time at the beach this weekend despite the fact that it was below 40 degrees when I left there this morning. It's always nice to get away from your normal routine for a few days. However, for me, the greatest benefit is always the renewed joy for my normal routine upon my return. There's nothing I can see at the beach, or anywhere for that matter, that rivals Amelia flying across the room to give me a hug when I get home. In a weekend of many high points, that tiny, wet kiss I got at day care today was the peak.

out of office

I am away at the beach with some guys from work while Meggan and Amelia paint the town at home. It is a little chilly at the beach here, but that didn't stop this giant jellyfish from washing up as I was walking down the beach...



I kindly returned him to his home...so he can likely wash back up and sting me today...

Enough

Tonight was the first night where Amelia's behavior made me want to pull out my hair. However, after considering it would take me all of 6 seconds to pull out the precious little hair I have remaining, I decided that wouldn't cut it.

I had met my two favorite ladies out at dinner and it was Amelia's 2nd or 3rd time trying out a booster seat instead of a high chair. Booster seats do not have straps, so she is free to roam...or so she thinks. So, after several minutes of Meggan chasing her all around the booth, including a point where Amelia took her crayon and wrote on the wall, we quietly loaded up her things and she and Meggan headed home (this was after we ordered her ice cream and before she received it). The whole way out the restaurant, as I waited on the bill and to-go boxes, I heard her little voice saying "ice ceem" "ice ceem" "ice ceem". This ice ceem request continued on the ride home until Meggan put a stop to it by telling her she was absolutely not getting ice cream. Amelia's response? "sorry, mommy". Now, that normally would be enough to melt either of us and get her an even better ice cream cone than she was originally scheduled to get. However, we had hit our limit so badly tonight that even though the restaurant took the time to package up her to-go ice cream, she got exactly zero licks of an ice cream cone when we got home. I know this doesn't make us out to seem that tough, but trust me, Amelia would have lined up for a beating before she was denied an ice cream cone. If this doesn't work and she acts this way again, I'm considering letting Sophie eat her cone in front of her.

Talk Talk Talk

Amelia has finally crossed over into the land of talking. Sure, she's said plenty of words for a while now, but not like this. She is now stringing sentences together (granted they still lack some of the words)and is able to get her point across...over and over and over again. Here are few quotes from her today.

- What you doing, mommy?

- I coming too (as we walked into the back yard)

- What you doing, daddy? (as Meggan and I pulled weeds)

- I pulling weeds too (as she plucked some grass)

- Wolf, what you doing? (to Sophie)

- Help, Daddy, help (as she was trying to set up her chair)

- I did it! (after she set up her chair without me)

- Everybody, what you doing, everybody? (her favorite question)

- No. Not Yet. No Thank you (in response to asking her if she was ready for her bath)

- Mommy going to work? (when Meggan left to go to the gym)

- 3 monkeys jumping bed, bump his head, mommy doctor said no monkey jump on bed (trying to recite on of her favorite books 10 little monkeys)

- wwwwwwwwwwwwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh (bed time)

Growing up

How long until the lip stick?

Finger Paint

When does it end?

Once you have a child, what are your responsibilities to that child and how long should you provide them? I was sitting in a doctor's office getting some things seen about when I started giving this serious thought. For me, going to the doctor ranks just above sitting nude in an ant bed. That said, I went because I know, at this point, I have responsibilities to Amelia. And, the ability to fulfill any of those starts with actually being alive and kicking.

Sitting there running through all of limbs of the family tree, seeing how they affect my life and how I affect their lives, I concluded the obligation never ends. Your kids' needs will change throughout life, but make no mistake, they will always need you. Thus, it seems to me a parent has a lifelong responsibility to remain around as long as possible. This may mean eating better, partying less, or cutting bad habits. It might not be what you want for your life. But, it is what you owe your children for theirs. Almost every parent I know would literally jump in front of a bus for their little ones. However, how many of them would quit smoking so they can spend several more years together? It's amazing to me how easy it can be for a parent to offer up their own life for the sake of their child, yet how hard it can be for that same parent to make changes to protect themselves...which at some point in their kids' lives, is all they really need them to do.

Hilton Head

Somebody has to do it

As you can see, Amelia had a really tough weekend at the beach...



...poor thing had to lounge by the pool eating Cheetos and soaking in some rays.

Timeout Low Point

Timeout reached an all-time low in our house tonight. Amelia, for some undisclosed reason, put herself in Timeout. At first, I thought this self-imposed punishment was hilarious....and then she began to cry and scream because she was in Timeout. Luckily, she paroled herself before Meggan and I had to put ourselves in Timeout far, far away from her.

Home again, home again

We made it back from the beach today and while it's always fun to leave, it's always better to come home. We all had a wonderful time, but there is no question who had the best weekend...Miss Amelia. Other than a few rare instances, such as when she put the entire ocean in Timeout for "scaring Mimi", she enjoyed every minute of the trip. It essentially amounted to 3 straight days of seeing a rotating barrage of family, playing at the beach, and multiple bouts of all you can eat Cheetos. I'm pretty sure it was as close to her Heaven as you get this side of sharing an ice cream bath with Elmo and Big Bird. So, frankly, for her, being home isn't going to top that.

Salty Dog

Here is a cell phone cam of some drunk girl celebrating St. Patty's Day a few days early with her own dance party at Salty Dog in Hilton Head...

SSL

The time is here. Tomorrow morning, we are heading to Sesame Street Live. Meggan and I are 100% excited. However, I have a small feeling this could be one of those situations where Amelia doesn't have the reaction we were hoping for (see: 1st birthday parties). On one side of the equation, I can see her being in Heaven surrounded by all her furry friends. Yet, on the other side, I can see her crapping her pants, screaming "NO, NO, NO, NO", and trying to rip a Oscar's eyebrows off. Soooo, we'll have to wait and see. It might be a much quicker show than we anticipated.

Grrrrr

There is a fine line between smiling and growling. I'm not always sure on which side of that line Amelia likes to live. This look could either mean you are about to get a kiss...or put in Timeout

Ewwww, Nasssy Feet

When your feet smell, tell the world.

No Bite Elmo

Contrary to the fact that Amelia seems to be completely confused when we put her in Timeout, today, it became obvious she knows exactly what is going on at all times.

Here is the scene from earlier today...

Amelia put her Elmo doll in Timeout (for apparently "biting Mimi's finger") and then proceeded to get down in his face and scold him -

"Listen. Listen. No biting. Sorry, Elmo"

Pics

Here are a few pictures from our new camera. While I still don't know what I am doing, I am happy that I finally actually got it to take a picture. So, its only going to get better from here.

Bubble

I am now taking donations in order to buy Amelia a bubble in which to live. Clearly, simply washing hands several times a day, taking a nightly bath, running a humidifier, and taking vitamins, nightly allergy medicine, and multi-dose steroids just isn't doing the trick. If croup were a person, I'd charge it half the mortgage because it is here so often. I may have only gotten 2-3 hours sleep last night, but I did get 4 different opportunities to clean up barf. So, I suppose I have that going for me. Also, on a side note, I'd like to let everyone in the neighborhood know that car slowly driving around at 3am was not a group of thugs looking for houses to rob. It was just us praying the brisk night air would help extend the time between coughs from 30 seconds to 1 minute. Sorry.

What a gift

Amelia had her birthday party pt. 3 tonight and I can't really say it went exactly as planned. I mean, there were gifts, family, a cake, etc. However, I suppose the one thing I naively didn't plan on was racing into Urgent Care to treat Amelia's 3rd bout of Croup in 2 months. Apparently, when you only have 8 minutes to get to Urgent Care before they lock the doors for the night, it is okay to speed, honk your horn, look homeless (me), and have icing on your forehead (Meggan). The good news is this time there was no mention of going to the Emergency Room. The bad news is now we are back on 'roid rage alert, which I'm pretty sure is either going to stunt her growth or give her a 5 o'clock shadow.

Birthday pt.3

As I type this, Amelia's grandmother and aunt are en route to our house. Tomorrow night, we will have her 3rd birthday celebration of the year. I have often talked about the negative side of living far away from family. However, having multiple parties is apparently one of the unsung positives. While you technically don't get any more presents this way, your dad gets to eat much more cake and ice cream. So, that is always a good thing.

DIY? Maybe we shouldn't

Meggan and I embarked on a fun little painting project tonight. We started painting our downstairs and had only intentions of finishing the foyer this evening. This comes on the heels of weeks of shopping for the perfect color. Well, after many sample purchases and trial and error exercises, we settled on a soft color with tan and gray undertones. However, somehow, on our wall this has turned into gun metal gray. So, we have given up after 2 hours of painting and praying it was going to dry lighter. We have achieved massive failure.

New Camera

Today, I bought this new camera ...



Tonight, here are all the great pictures I took with it...



Oh wait, that's right, I can barely figure out how to take off the lens cap. I'll try to get some actual photos on here after I read the 320 page instruction manual.

Wish me luck.