Terror

Diagram 1: Oversimplified picture of our layout.

Diagram 2: The red lines show which doors were closed {aka: all of the useful ones}.

Diagram 3: this is a simplified version of the poses we were stuck in. The "Cheyenne" figure is faceless because it was black as pitch making it impossible for me to know what expression he wore.

Diagram 4: the stars {pink = me. blue = cheyenne.} show where we were when we had to hold our crazy positions.

It is amazing how something that weighs just 15 pounds can strike pure fear within the hearts of two adults. Case in point: Amelia goes to bed every night at 8:30pm. It's not hard to get her to sleep and she stays asleep until 6:30am on the dot each morning. However, after the long months before things were this easy and peaceful Cheyenne and I suffer from a mild form of post traumatic stress disorder with regards to our child's ability to sleep soundly {people that are parents know the fear of which i speak}. About a week and a half ago Cheyenne and I were getting ready to go to bed {at our customary 10:30 hour}; I went to use the restroom and Chey went to lock up the house...this is where the diagrams come in handy: all lights in the house were totally off when i came out of the bathroom {out of fear that miss delicate will awaken with any light}. Luckily it's super easy to get to our bedroom from the bathroom and a light isn't really needed. At the same time that i was lifting my foot to make for the bedroom, Cheyenne entered the hallway {which is actually more cramped than the diagrams suggest} while simultaneously closing the hall door behind him. It was at just this second that Amelia tossed in her bed and let out that noise that means "you dare disturb me?! now i shall awaken and make you pay!!!". TERROR. So without needing to communicate with one another we both froze immediately without making another single movement or sound and we held these freakish poses for what felt like an eternity but was probably closer to 4ish minutes. Ever so slowly and delicately we made our ways towards the bedroom with ninja-like stealthiness. once safely in our room we walked on tippy toes and whispered in voices so light that we were almost communicating telepathically. Amelia didn't make another peep and went right back to sleep but for the rest of the night Cheyenne and I slept fitfully expecting to be woken up by her at any moment. Clearly, we have given up the high ground.

Happy 7 month "birthday" Amelia Grace

The peanut turned 7 months old today! Crazy! She's been "celebrating" by trying out the next move on the journey to crawling, she's been getting herself up on all fours and rocking forward and back (instead of just army crawling)...as soon as she learns how to combine the two we are in huge trouble!
I on the other hand, am "celebrating" by pureeing fruits and veg then freezing ice cubes of homemade baby food while the summer foods are still ripe and local. This seems less exciting than learning how to crawl.

Playing with Aunt Cara

Birthday surprise

Almost 7 months old

3 generations of Clarks

My sun and moon

Amelia & Aunt Cara

Sorry about it being so long between posts! I have to say that i was purposely avoiding my blog because i was sitting on a big secret surprise for a faithful reader {Renee} and i was too afraid that i would be tempted into saying something that would give it away.

For some time Cheyenne & I had been planning a road trip with Amelia down to Reno to surprise my mother in law for the 30th anniversary of her 30th birthday. We didn't want her to suspect at all so we made sure to tell only a very few people and threatened them with cruel torture should they spill the beans.

Let me tell you, it was so worth it! First the details i know you want: google said the trip should take 10 hours so we had planned on it being 14 with the baby {who by the way started cutting her 2nd tooth the day of}. however, we have the single greatest baby on the face of this planet and it actually only took us 11 hours! She was such a good girl the whole trip.

We arrived at 5:00pm and knocked on the door, Renee was overwhelmed with shock and happiness...just what we wanted.

We were also lucky enough to be in town to see my sweet sister in law off to her first day as a full time University of Nevada student {at 17}! Good luck Cara Rose!

We had such a great time but weren't there nearly long enough which means that we are already planning on a trip back in October.

Photo proof gallery re-opened

I was lucky enough to get the proof gallery from Amelia's last photo session {back in May} re-opened until September 19th. Please check it out here using ac557860 as the passcode. If you are interested in ordering any of them please let me know and I can get you the price list and ordering info! Our next session is in October with the final one being in late January or early February around her 1st birthday.

I try not to be one of "those" mothers but....

There's no denying it, the past 6+ months have gone by shockingly fast. I know that I sound like a broken record but it really does seem like we were just bringing Amelia home from the hospital, but now she's big enough to be starting to try to crawl and talk! It's mind boggling, and I know {thanks to mothers and grandmothers} that this phenomenon only gets worse.
Which leads me to my latest foray into what some have called "over-preparing" and planning well {if not too far} in advance. What can I say, I cant help it. I have been looking into pre-schools because although Amelia is only 6 months, if that time has gone by this fast I guess age 3 will be here before I know it. Not to mention that, if things work out the way we want then we will have a second child at/by that time and what little extra time I have now will be non-existent with two little ones to take care of.
I went to a small cute little preschool in a small cute little Midwestern town {shout out to Honey Tree & Mrs. Bolin} that was in a womans basement. So, having no siblings or friends with children I was not aware that times had changed on this subject. Thanks to a google search {"Portland preschool ratings" to be exact} I realized that there are so many preschools in our county and so many more teaching/learning options than I had known. Cheyenne and I like Montessori, Waldorf, and Reggio Emilia teaching styles best and are lucky enough to live in a town with tons and tons of options in these teaching styles. Luckily we have PLENTY of time to narrow down which school and style work out best for our daughter but it's definitely food for thought.

Amelia's "other mother"

Ugh. Amelia has been insanely mobile lately {and yes, I realize that it will only get more so} and i have to keep my eye on her every single second. Between the scooching/inch-worming and the rolling she is quite fast and can get pretty much wherever she pleases. "Yay" {please note my sarcasm}.
It's not that i don't love watching my baby, but it used to be very easy to set her down for a quick second so that i could tinkle, shovel a bit to eat in my mouth, breathe, etc. and she would stay exactly as I had left her. Well, those days are long gone.
Along with Josie's piece of mind. Everywhere Amelia goes there is Josie right behind her making sure {in her own doggie way} that the baby is safe. I know what you're thinking "what is the complaint here lady?". I'll tell you: 2 days ago i turned my back for {hand to god} 5 seconds and the baby made a quick screech. Josie, being closer decided that it was her "job" to help mother Amelia. What does this mean? It means that I turned around just in time to see my dog take the rawhide bone from her own mouth and place it into my baby's where it was quickly chomped on by the teething monster!!!! ACK!!! This, I assure you dear readers, is most certainly NOT what i had envisioned when I tried to picture what motherhood would be like. I ran over {all of 4 paces} screeching like a banshee and got the offending "teething toy" out of the baby's mouth. Apparently however, i was not quick enough and Josie was able to spot how happy {though brief} the bone made Amelia...now every time Amelia makes a less than happy peep there's the dog with the bone waiting to make her "puppy" pleased again.
Gah,

A love letter

Here's a little PDX self promotion. Words cannot express how much I love this city...is it any wonder that we almost named our daughter "Rose"?

Ole Chomper

After months of gnawing on everything that she can get her hands on I am pleased to announce that Amelia is cutting her first tooth! Her bottom center tooth is coming in and let me tell you, it hurts like none other when she bites down on me! Yipes! She's been weening herself off of breast feeding, and i have to say, it's been making me super super melancholy but after this latest development i have to say...it's not looking so bad that she has decided she's too grown up for breast feeding {I've been pumping and giving her bottles}. When it's all grown in i'll capture some photos of her enameled little friend for you.

Food update

For those keeping track Amelia has now had the following foods {it goes without saying that all of these are organic and made by me with he exception of the cereal} brown rice cereal, bananas, yogurt, avocado, mango, applesauce, sweet potato, & roasted butternut squash. On a scale of 1-10 with 1 being "ew, this is the worst thing that has ever existed in the history of the world" and 10 being "yum, this is manna from the heavens and i cannot ever get enough" these food rate thus:
Brown rice cereal - 7ish. she has her cereal every morning and seems to enjoy it but if we miss a day she isnt sad about it.
Bananas - 8ish. Not so surprisingly she quite likes bananas {don't all babies?}
yogurt - 2. At best this is a 2. To be fair she got organic plan yogurt with live active cultures and probiotics which even I don't like very much. I'm thinking of trying a baby friendly organic yogurt next time.
Avocado - 6ish. Not the worst thing in the world on their own and even better received when mixed with her cereal, which is pretty good since they are so healthy that i plan on giving them to her quite often.
Mango - Negative 10 million. There is nothing as funny as watching her shiver with rage at the "vile" taste of mango. This was kind of disappointing since they are so high in beta carotene...luckily there are other sources.
Applesauce - Negative 10 million as well. This was shocking. After the mango fiasco i decided to go with applesauce as a treat to make up for the foul taste of the mango. little did i know that i am the mother to the only child on this planet who finds apples offensive. Luckily apples have very little nutritional value so I'm not bothered by this, we'll try again in a month or so.
Sweet potato - 9ish. Thank goodness after two back to back failed attempts we found a food that she really liked Sweet potatoes are crazy high in beta carotene an fiber so this makes up for the mango.
Butternut squash - 10ish. We just tried this today {it was finally cool enough to be able to have the oven on long enough to roast the squash} and she L-O-V-E-D LOVED it. phew!

Need a party planner?

As most people that know me know, I love to plan and organize things {to an extreme, people that fail to agree tend to drive me up the friggen wall}. One of the bonuses when Cheyenne & I became engaged {besides the obvious} was being able to plan my wedding. Oh what great times those 15 months were! Afterward, when the bridal magazines and blogs came to a stop and the planning {of course} ended, i was a bit deflated and bored. Then, happily, it was replaced with baby preparations and planning. Now that she's here {and has made herself right at home I might add} I find myself once again, at an impasse with a lack of stuff on my plate to plan/organize/design. I have taken on {without being asked...but see me if i care. The answer: i do NOT} the task of planning the baby shower for my bestie, but frankly, that wont come to fruition for another 2 years {give or take 6 months}. I have Amelia's first birthday planned down to a tee, and of course {beings how it's August already} I have Thanksgiving & Chistmas already down to several grammatically and numerically correct outlines {thanks to both Microsoft Word & Excel}. So, basically, if you have anything that you need to look adorable and well executed you know where to find me: I'm the mom at the park giving dirty looks at the lady without a day planner and then gazing off into the distance with a glazed over stare....

Awesome giveaway!

August is National Breastfeeding Month

On the move

Amelia has been able to roll over for a while now, but just in the last two weeks has she made the realization that she can use her abilities as a mode of transportation. Add to this new discovery the fact that she has started to "inch-worm" {she rolls onto her tummy then scooches her legs up and brings her arms in then she inches her way around in some pre-crawling hilarity} and we have a baby that no longer stays where I lay her and must be constantly watched {which means no more setting her on her playmat and running to the bathroom - if you want tips on how to juggle a squirming baby and yell at a barking dog while going pee just ask}.
With these new developments comes childproofing - ugh, we've been trying to put it off because it's such a pain and because, frankly and selfishly: we like having our house grown-up friendly {childproofing really seems to sort of be adult proofing}. I figure we can do it in waves, we can take care of anything a crawler would get into now and later we can take care of the things that are a danger when she's able to walk and get into things. We are thinking that we are going to put down mats like these upstairs in the family room {where the tv is and where we hang out in the evenings} while she's learning to crawl and walk since the floor up there is mosaic tile and would hurt {i mean, i would think it would - I certainly wouldn't want to crawl around on it} they are also easy to clean, easy to remove {when we don't want to look like a pre-school}
and are such bright colors that i know she'll like them.
All of that inconvenience is worth it though: she is pretty darn cute, I'll try and capture her on the move in video format this week so i can post it and share with you.

Catching up.

Sorry about the lapse in posts, we really haven't been up to much lately. Amelia & I have been going to Music Together on Mondays & Wednesdays and we still have Mommy & Me on Tuesdays which leaves me with Thursdays to get caught up on house things and then Fridays for hanging out {usually a good walk to the library for story hour}.
This past Thursday we spent the day with Amanda & Dave LaGuardia {they are visiting from Denver and we were lucky enough to snag some time with them}, then that night Josie got sick and was ill all weekend {she's better now, i suspect some "well meaning" neighbor threw a bone in our yard for her not realizing that our dog has never been given human food or bones}. While those things are kind of a big deal to me, I realize that they aren't much to read about.
I know it sounds super crazy to say since today is August 1st, but im already counting down the days to Autumn. Summer has always been my least favorite season and Fall has always been my favorite {the colors, the crisp air, football, the smell, fires in the fireplace, warm apple cider, the pumpkin patch, stews, plaid, freshly sharpened #2 pencils, sweaters, Halloween, and thanksgiving...I could go on and on} and im so excited to get to enjoy my first Autumn with Amelia {little overalls, her first trip to the pumpkin patch - with a red wagon and all, trying all of the foods, her first Oktoberfest & first thanksgiving, getting to pick out her first Halloween costume and this is not to mention all of the things that she'll be able to do like crawling and such}. Since it's usually summer weather in our area until October I still have a while yet, but that's ok...i suppose.