It's a sign.

On Tuesday we had a "guest speaker" in our mommy & me group come talk to us about infant sign language and I must say that I was so impressed and had so many of my questions answered that it looks like we will be starting to sign with Amelia in July (apparently you are supposed to start at 6 months).
Dawn Prochovnic from SmallTalk Learning (which is located at and affiliated with Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital where we have our mommy & me group and where I had wanted to have Amelia) is really fantastic. She has two children of her own that she taught to sign and loved her results so much that she underwent training (she already had a masters in speech communication) and opened SmallTalk about 10 years ago.
Cheyenne and I had talked about infant signing back when I was still expecting and because of some studies (that it turns out are very outdated and have since been disproved) kind of cooled to the idea. However, those concerns have been addressed and explained and we are back to being on board and excited about the program and being better able to communicate with our little one (because clearly, she has some things on her mind). Yay for a someday soon (around 7-9 months) no more crying for "no reason"!

Chatting

Playing

Drool

Congrats Greg & Ivy!

The happy couple

The beautiful bride

The happy groom

This ridiculously good looking family. L to R: Uncle Bobby {father of the groom}, Grandma, Grandpa

My freakishly gorgeous sister-in-law Cara
~

Congrats go out to Cheyenne's cousin Greg & his lady love Ivy who got married on May 15th in Avalon California! Sadly, we at Clark Manor weren't able to make it but we did get to see some of the lovely photos from the weekend thanks to my mother-in-law (hi Renee!). I hope they don't mind but I thought I would share some of my favorites.

4 Months!

Mademoiselle turned 4 months old today! Here she is in her new big girl stroller.

Show me!

Our trip to Missoura is just 2 weeks away and i must say, I'm getting quite excited to see everyone and introduce my family and friends (shout out to Kevin Miller) to Amelia. In homage to the Mother Land here is a list of things I dig about the show me state:

1. Harry Truman. Dude, i love me some Truman (please see photo of me being full retard for Give 'em Hell Harry)!
2. Fireflies
3. Cicadas, crickets, and tree frogs singing
4. Thunder & lightning summer storms
5. Neighbors that become lifelong friends

6. The nasty Missouri river, i learned how to swim in tha thing! There's a bit of backwards pride in that :-)
7. The best BBQ in the world

8. Robert Altman, T.S. Eliot, William Burroughs, Jean Harlow, Mark Twain, the outlaw Jesse James, Josephine Baker, & Edwin Hubble.

9. The start of the Oregon Trail, how else to appreciate my own journey to Portland?

10. People that know that a "salad" does not have to contain lettuce but can in fact contain cool whip or jello

It's not a bucket! It's a European Wash Pod!

We got a "European Wash Pod" bathtub for a baby shower gift back in December (it was one of the things that i was most excited about) but Amelia was too small for it as a newborn (please see part 1 of the "first bath" videos for evidence) and I put it away to use when she got a bit bigger.
We used it today and man alive does she love it (just like the reviews said she would)! She even cried when she had to get out. Now I can retire the big bulky rubber/plastic lay-down tub that we were using while she was extra tiny.

Rock solids.

As previously mentioned at separate times we are starting Amelia on solid foods sometime between the last week of June - first week(s) of July (a timeline that we agreed on with the pediatrician and the AAP) and I will be making my own baby food instead of buying pre-made store bought jarred food.

Our pediatrician (the fantastic Mari Kay Evans-Smith MD) suggested that we pick up the book "Super Baby Foods" by Ruth Yaron and read it though before we start Amelia on solids and start making our food.

I got it yesterday and have already read 1/4 of it so far. It's fantastic and I strongly suggest that (this is for those moms or would be moms that read this) you read this book. Ms. Yaron covers several different levels of homemaking your food from the all out follower (myself) which is great for stay at home moms with the time or just a few key things that can be made in seconds for those moms with fewer time but who still want to try and give their child the most nutritious healthy food possible (why would you open an over-processed jar of banana baby food with tons of stabilizers and god knows what when in almost the same amount of time you can mash a real banana with a fork?). There is so much information in this book that I plan on actually reading it at least twice through before the time comes so that I can really process everything and have a firm grasp on it (hello reading material for the airplane).

Reading through the book is making me so excited for this next big step for our little girl and it's so surreal that she's "grown up" enough that I'm already planning solid foods!

I was going to have to break down and get one at some point....

I believe that my hatred of people that push around those gigantic strollers that are about the size of a smartcar has been well documented over the last several years and that it is also a well known fact that I strongly support "wearing" your child in wraps and the like.

I currently use my beloved Moby wrap whenever i walk anywhere with Amelia (which is often) in lieu of using my nemesis the stroller and I also have a Baby Bjorn which Cheyenne uses when we are oot and aboot together (he wears it when we go hiking for example).

While I firmly stand by my hatred of douchebags with giant strollers and support of actually holding a child I have decided that I am going to have to break down and get a stroller.

The Moby is 1. in general quite warm 2. that is made more so by the closeness of baby and mama when wrapped up together 3. is totally insane when you consider that mine is navy blue....which is to say the Moby is less than ideal with the warmer weather. The pack carrier that we have was meant for someone of a "normal" height which means that it works out great for Cheyenne but not so much for yours truly.

With the weather so nice you know that I'm going to want to be outside with Amelia as much as possible so I went ahead and ordered a stroller online today. I went with the Maclaren aka the "Cadillac of strollers" and I think it'll be OK. It's only 11 pounds, is an umbrella style which means it's not huge and bulky, and it folds up super quick. If I had to break down and get one this seems to be the one that will work out best for me.

Washington Park Zoo, Saturday Market, Downtown, Northwest, etc watch out....here come the Clark ladies!

Prudent Advice

One of my very favorite websites/blogs is being made into a book and is ready for pre-order just in time for mothers day (yes, i meant to post this a few days ago)! If you are bored (at work say) and need something to read I highly suggest the "prudent advice" link here on my own blog under the "favorites" tab to the right (also, those other links are all great websites as well) or by clicking on this photo/link right here

Photos from Mothers day

Of course, like a total dork I forgot to get photos of Amelia & I together or Amelia & Cheyenne, or Cheyenne with me! Gah!

However, Amelia and her Grammy & Grandpa are always cute...

You've got mail.

Ever since I was a wee thing I have adored getting and sending correspondence. Most of you have received some hilariously formal invitation or a card for a holiday that doesn't denote a card from me simply because i love love love stationary in all of it's many forms. And almost as much as i love all things writable I also love getting a new letter or card in the mail.
I would like to say thank you to a few people that have sent me some very sweet and thoughtful cards this week:
To my *sister* Amanda - Thank you for the sweet card, it came on a day when I could really use the smile and made me think of you! Pretty soon you'll be just a short drive away and I totally cannot wait. I wouldn't know what to do without such a great friend.
To my Aunt Jane & Uncle Jim - Thank you so much for the sweet and pretty card and the kind gift! I am so happy to hear that you read this blog (I'm never really sure who all reads this) and get to keep updated on my little family.
To my mom - Thank you for the sweet card from my mother on my very first mothers day as one myself...i think i get my love of cards, letters, and stationary from you!

A new thing.

Everyday when I clean the kitchen Amelia sits in her vibrating bouncy rocker seat and we "chat" and sing along to mommy's music. There is a bar thingy (see photos) with little toy animals for babies to play with that goes across the seat that up until this afternoon Amelia regarded with not so subtle hostility. Today however she came to some kind of truce with the middle toy and figured out that pulling on the cord causes a song to play. she loved it and giggled and giggled. It was so cute that i had to take photos of it from every angle...like a stereotypical stay-at-home mom.

Cleaning up

As everyone knows I hail from the Midwest where you are nobody if you don't have some kind of addiction to a nick-nack collection of some sort. The thing is, I have been raised as a West-Coaster and I happen to loathe a. collections of anything b. nick-naks c. anything that collects dust unnecessarily (although to me these three things seem redundant).
When my mother was pregnant with me she received a Mickey Mouse Schmid music box as a gift to go in my Disney themed nursery (i know Amanda, you cannot imagine *your* Chole in a Disney themed anything). This seeming innocent gift turned into a hilarious "sickness" in my family that ended with me receiving another Disney music box (or 2 or 3 or 4) at every birthday or Christmas.
I'm not exactly sure what the intent ever really was other than "we always get her one" and then it just kind of blurred into a sweet tradition and made it very easy to shop for me (otherwise i think i might be difficult to shop for). After a while it was said that I could pass down the now massive/cumbersome collection to my children. But again, to what end? It's a gift that you can look at but never touch and by the time you are old enough to be able to touch them you don't much care for such things.
Instead I have decided to pull the many heavy boxes out of their dusty home in my basement, clean them up, and put all but a select few that have special meaning (for example: that first Mickey that started the whole thing) on Ebay for bid. They will still be passed onto my child but in a different way than people were thinking when they originally purchased them...the profits will be going into Amelia's college fund.
And honestly, i think that spirit and purpose serves much more than a curio cabinet of nick-naks ever could.

Check-up

Amelia had her 4 month check-up today (2 weeks early) and is doing really really well! She weighed 11 pounds 5 ounces which is the 21st percentile and is 24.75 inches long which is the 89th percentile...she's still shaped like a supermodel!
She is totally and perfectly hitting all of her developmental milestones just as she should and when she should.
She was a big girl when it came time to get her shots she took it like a champ, she cried, but just a little and stopped pretty quickly.
Her next appointment is on July 13th when she is 6 months old. We talked to the doctor and are pretty sure that we are going to start her on rice cereal between the 1st and 14th of July and then slowly introduce fruits, grains, and vegetables from there (im making my own so that I know what is going into her food and where it comes from). I cant believe that she has gotten so big that we are already talking about solid foods! Wowza!

A few more