Amy Turns One!

I feel like I have been nonstop busy the past few weeks! Wow! Definitely time to catch up on some updates.

It's hard to believe, but Amy turned one on August 3rd! The time has flown by so quickly. Where does it go? On the one hand, I'm blown away that she's been here for an entire year already; on the other hand, I can't really remember life before her! I am so lucky to have such a sweet, curious, lovable girl in my life. What would I do without her?

Amy and Daddy on her birthday (alas, we had to take her little jersey back as we realized when it was on her that it was rather poorly made and therefore not worth what we spent on it. At least we got photographic evidence):

A friend of mine from a mommy board online sent this Little Tyke car for Amy's birthday. She just loves it! She tools around the house pushing it and running it into everything. She loves getting rides on it, especially when Brett zooms her back and forth. So, as it was her birthday, I figured what the heck, let's let her run around naked for a little while. She grinned and headed straight for her car and just played happily while being stark naked. She was actually rather upset with me when I put a diaper back on her. Poor kid.

How happy I am to have such a blessing in my life!

Happy birthday to me! (And Harry Potter)

On Sunday I celebrate my 25th birthday. Happy quarter of a century! :) I actually had my celebration spread out over 3 days. I love when that happens.

Saturday, my mom came up and watched Amy for us so that Brett could take me to see the last Harry Potter movie. I LOVED it! I've been a Harry Potter fan for quite a while (since the beginning, really, and that's a LONG time), so I'm a bit sad to see the end. Still, I thought it was really well done and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was nice to get out without Amy for a while! After we got home, Brett made steak and asparagus. It was delicious! I'm still waiting on my Tollhouse pie, though.....(HINT HINT, Brett!)

Sunday the 31st was my actual birthday. After church we went down to my mom's. We had a Chinese chicken salad, which was delicious, bread, and a frozen toffee pie. I used to joke about my mom's refusal to turn on the oven during the hot parts of the summer (sorry, Mom), but with the heat index being over 105 for the past couple of weeks, even I don't want to bake. I happily accepted a no-bake dinner. Who wants to eat hot food when it's 115 out? Not me! I opened some presents, including some hair stuff from Channie and popcorn and oil to go with the Whirley Pop Mom got for me. I'm so excited! I love love LOVE kettle corn, and the last time Sharon was up here, we made a batch on Mom's stove. It was amazing! So Mom bought me my own. I very happily made my first batch when I got home. It was good, although I burned the sugar a bit since I was trying to do it all myself.

Monday evening, the three of us went over to my friend Dereth's house. Dereth is also a big Harry Potter fan, and we decided (well, it was her idea) that it would be fun to have a Harry Potter-themed little bash since Harry and I share a birthday. Dereth had Potter-themed treats for us, including jelly beans (although NOT Bertie Bott's, thankfully), Hagrid's rock cake, and cockroach clusters. When we got there, she and I whipped up a batch of butterbeer (cream soda, ice cream, butter, brown sugar, all blended together). It was tasty! We added a bit of butterscotch ice cream topping, which was good, although in the end I think it was a tad too sweet.

Amy had fun playing with the Atkins, and especially enjoyed mooching butterbeer off Dereth

"Mmmmmm....I think I might like this...." Amy licking her lips after having some butterbeer off Dereth's spoon:

Apparently Dereth was too slow with the spoon, as my impatient and grabby daughter decided to stick her entire face in the cup instead of wait:

The result: Best. Mustache. EVER.

After being cleaned up by Daddy, Amy enjoyed playing on the piano (assisted by Thomas):

Pictures, Part 2

Here are some more pictures from this summer.

On a walk in Ohio over Independence Day weekend, riding on Daddy's shoulders:

Photo shoot at Grammy's:

Naked little pixie playing on Heather's bed:

Pretty girl with a headband in. I think she looks a ton like her cousin Ella in this picture.

With a ponytail, perched on Heather's table and chewing on her comb:

Pictures, Part 1

Some pictures from the past couple of months:

Amy climbing into the entertainment center:

Silly girl riding on Daddy's back:

Trying to stab Mama with her impressive hair spike at bathtime:

Posing for the camera at Grammy's:

Practicing Shakespeare:

Ah, bummer.

There went another of my goals for the year. I haven't blogged in almost two months. How does that even happen?

Well, I have been EXHAUSTED. As if running around after a very curious (and mischievous) almost-one-year-old weren't enough to keep me busy and tired, Brett and I found out toward the end of April that we're expecting another baby! This probably isn't news to anyone reading my blog, but oh well. You get to hear about it again anyway.

We were planning on trying fairly soon anyway, with the expectation that since it took us 2 years (and fertility drugs) the first time around, that it would be another uphill battle. Ha. I went off my birth control in January for several reasons, expecting that it would take a while for my cycles to regulate again, if they even did. 2 cycles later, and surprise! I was charting my temperatures to try to help track my cycles, and I noticed that my chart looked.....different. Yup. My eggo was definitely preggo!

My pregnancy with Amy was fairly easy. Yeah, I was nauseous, and I had pretty bad heartburn for the second half, and I was sore and tired, but overall it was a good experience. I was hoping it would be pretty similar for all my pregnancies. Ha! Yeah right.

I had killer morning sickness for about two months. I was incredibly nauseous all the time, threw up several times a day, and had tons of food aversions. Potatoes saved my life! At one point during our reunion, Sharon made me some potatoes. :D They tasted amazing. I seriously think I ate potatoes two or three times a day for most of two months. Finally, though, my nausea went away.

And instead, now I get to deal with incredible joint pain! Yay! Not. Round ligament pain is common and expected in pregnancy, since your body produces a hormone that relaxes your ligaments. I experienced it with Amy, and I got pretty sore toward the end of my pregnancy with her, probably in part due to the face that I was working 12-hour days. Lucky me, I've started having the same amount of pain NOW that I had 2 weeks before Amy was born. My OB was pretty alarmed, so it looks like I'll be going to physical therapy pretty soon. That's a good thing.

I'm just shy of 20 weeks now, and we had our big anatomy scan yesterday. We're now expecting a little boy, David Alexander. I'm starting to feel better (other than the pain in my hips, pelvis, and knees), and I have more energy. So things are looking up!

Vlogging?

So, I follow the blog of a friend of mine from high school (yes, you, Ashley). I've always gotten comments from people about how much my blog sounds like me, which makes me chuckle. Her blog DEFINITELY sounds like her when I'm reading it.

Lately, she's done a couple of vlogs--video blogs, for those who aren't familiar with that term. I can't help but wonder how a vlog would turn out if I were to record one. On the one hand, I think I would look and sound like a complete nerd. Seriously. But on the other hand, it could be fun. Right? Maybe? I don't know.

I enjoy the fact that my blog sounds like me. I made a conscious decision when I started my blog to write the way I talk, because my actual writing style is much more...formal. And definitely does not sound like me. But the point of a blog isn't to impress people with my fabulous vocabulary and knowledge of grammar. So, I sacrifice a little bit of that so my blog actually sounds....right.

But how would a vlog sound? See, I'm concerned that I would ramble. I tend to ramble even when I write posts, but at least I can self-edit. If I were recording, I'd have to just start over, or go with the rambling. I'm not sure how I feel about that.

So, what do my (few) readers think? Should I create a video post? Or no?

Playing catch-up

So, I have this awful habit of not writing about big things (like the family reunion) because I know they're on Heather's blog, and I know most (if not all) of the the people who read my blog also read hers. It's a horrible habit, and I promise I will try to break myself of it.

I had so much fun at the reunion! It's always great to see my family, especially Miriam and Gordon's family since they only get to come up once a year. It's an awfully long drive from Texas. :( But they made it, and I was totally stoked to have most of the family together. It's always sad when someone can't come, and I was really bummed that Kristin and her family couldn't make it. I had so much fun with them while they were living with Mom, and I really miss that. On a funny note, I think of Scott every time I hear "La Bamba" play. If you haven't heard him rocking out to that song, let me tell you, you are missing out! I always tried to make it through that song when we played Guitar Hero with them because I wanted to hear Scott sing!

At any rate, there was a lot of fun had by all. We ate, we played wiffle ball (and I had pictures snapped of some very amusing faces I made while batting--I was in the zone!), we had a barbeque and played at the park, took family pictures. It really was a lot of fun. I know I keep saying that, but it's so true!

I'll have to grab some pictures off Heather's blog to supplement the ones I already have, and then I'll post pictures.