What a Fun Day!

Amelia and I had such a fun evening!  Matt had to work today, so after church, we went home and prepped for the afternoon while making lunches for the week.  The afternoon plans were to attend the lake baptisms that our church was having at a nearby park/lake after Amelia's nap.

Lia didn't really nap.  I ended up taking her shopping with me just to help put her to sleep for a while.  I had her in the carrier, so my back is a bit sore, but she did sleep most of the time while I was shopping, which I'm sure made the evening go a bit easier.  Whew!

We went minimalist on our picnic dinner:  I brought a sandwich for me, and I had some chicken, veggies, yogurt, cheese,  and formula for Lia.  The service was nice, and Amelia played well and stayed happy while watching other people and swinging her hands to the music when the band was playing.  She let some of the other kids help feed her and play with her while we were eating after the service.  And, she wanted to walk everywhere, so more strain on my back while I held her hands and she walked all over the park.  She also got to play with one of the older girls in the sand on the beach.  Needless to say, she got a bit messy from all the food and "nature".  Wet wipes helped, but I knew a bath was in order.  After a quick trip to the DQ with friends, it was time for bed... or so I thought.

We got home, and Lia was immediately back in good spirits.  It was bedtime, but her whole schedule was off from her afternoon nap.  So, bathtime!  She loved bathtime.  She stayed in the bath about twice as long as normal just playing in the water.  I got her out to change her into her diaper and PJ's, and she seemed happy enough until I laid her down, then she got upset, rolled over, and speed-crawled back to the tub, looking longingly at the water.  Back in she went, and immediately she began smiling and playing with her bath toys again.  We had a fun time with bath time tonight!

Then, when she was finally reaching to be let out of the bath, we only had a little bit of trouble getting into PJ's.  Playtime ensued.  Oh my, does this girl have energy!  I had a fun time working on getting her to take her evening bottle and go to sleep.  It was almost 10pm before she finally fell asleep!

What can I say, like mother like daughter, I suppose...  Though I'm a night owl myself, so this is fun for me.  More time to spend laughing and smiling and playing and snuggling with my baby girl!

Climbing the Stairs

Amelia is still fighting her cold (she's been coughing today), but she's in good spirits.  She has a ton of energy right now, so I was running around on the floor with her, and I saw the cat wanted to go downstairs.  I was opening the gate for the cat, and Lia "helped" me to open it.  I'd tried in the past to see if she could climb up a stair, but we hadn't had much luck.  It had been a while, and now that she's climbing all over everything else, I figured we should test for any new stair climbing abilities.  She easily managed the top three stairs a couple of times and then got distracted by Daddy in the living room.  Fun times!

Not feeling so well...

I picked up Amelia today from daycare and found that, as expected, she was still dealing with a runny nose and a bit of coughing today.  It's been about 2 weeks since she was first feeling sick, but things have seemed to be on the mend lately.

That is until dinner time.  Lia had practically no appetite for solids, and even though she wanted some milk in a bottle, she didn't take down very much.  She played for a while after dinner, but was showing obvious signs of being over-tired.  (She was mostly lacking some of her normally strong motor control skills and was getting into a lot of small accidents.)  I went to put her down for a post-dinner nap fully expecting the normal few minutes of crying as she realizes she's in need of her nap, but instead I heard nothing.  The poor girl just looked up at me with a blank expression.  She felt a bit warm, so I figured I would check her temp after she had a nap.

About 1.5 hours later, she was still sleeping.  I went in to get her up for diaper change, PJs, evening bottle.  She woke up without a sound, and she still had the same blank expression.  She sat through a diaper change without a peep.  She let me put on her PJ pants without a noise.  She was even hotter than earlier, so I craked out the baby Tylenol.  She took down only about half to a third of what she normally would for a bottle, and then she let me rock her while she stared off into the room.  I did my best to comfort her, and as her eyes were fluttering closed, I went to lay her down.  She again just looked up at me from her crib, barely moving and lightly, though desperately, holding onto her security blanket.  I think I got one small smile out of her during this entire scenario.  This is not my normal baby.  Poor thing...  She must be pretty miserable to actually want to be in her crib, or she might just have absolutely no energy left to protest...

I just went in to check on her.  She's been in there while I've been typing this post.  She's still awake, but she let me leave her in her room again without complaint.  I really hope she's feeling better tomorrow...

Baby steps...

We've reached another milestone...  Amelia walked (with the aid of a "walk 'n ride" walker) all the way across the living room on her own!  I was playing with her in the office when she started pushing her activity table across the carpeting, so I decided to put her near her walker to see if she'd go for it.  She pulled herself up and just started toddling across the room.  She seems so excited to be growing more and more mobile each day.  This girl loves being on the move!

Super-baby!

Yesterday, while I was picking up Amelia from day care, her day care provider, Pam, informed me of Amelia's newest super-baby power:  While Pam was turning her attention for a moment to one of the other kids, Amelia managed to climb up to the top of the kiddie-sized picnic table.  When Pam looked back at Lia, she was just sitting there on top of the table, probably looking pretty overjoyed at her major accomplishment.  Keep in mind that Lia is still not yet walking on her own, but she isn't letting that stop her from getting at high in the sky as she can.  Watch out, we've got a climber!

Question for other parents out there - is this something that all kids end up doing before they start walking, or do we just have an extra-risky child?