Category: amelia

amelia

Elevensies

Lindsey P. Brackett4 Comments

I don’t want her to be eleven months old.   Ten months was safer.  Ten months was still baby.  Eleven months is sketching a little too close to toddler and I’m not ready for that.

She’s not walking yet and since she’s been pulling up since she was seven months old that’s something of a shocker, but I’m glad.  I’m not ready for a little teetering down the hall person.

She’s cutting six more teeth.  Two are through the gums and the rest are this whitish glow we can see when she hangs her head back and screams because she’s mad she’s not getting her way.  I’m not ready for temper tantrums from this little one.

She’s discovered the kitchen cabinets.  They are by far the most interesting thing in our house and are way cooler than any toy she got for Christmas.  She opens them up and scatters the lids to all my Pyrex dishes all over the floor, but I’m not ready to put locks on all my cabinets.

She sleeps through the night except for an occasional early morning wake up for a diaper change and a cuddle and then it’s right back to bed.  She fits right under my chin and nuzzles her face in my shoulder.  I breathe deep so I can get in all that sweet baby smell of vanilla and soap and innocence. Sometimes I hold her extra tight and just sit.

And I’ll never be ready to give that up.

amelia · http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post · madelynne · motherhood

I Forgot

Lindsey P. BrackettLeave a comment

I forgot that when I’m at work all day that only leaves me a precious few hours at home.  Before I knew it today I had run errands, gone to Jazzercise, started dinner and realized the girls would be in bed soon and I had barely seen them. 

This is why I quit cooking as much last fall and we began to enjoy canned soup and grilled cheese on a weekly basis.

Time just gets away so quickly and I don’t want to waste it.  These precious moments are flying by and I feel like I need to grab on and dig in my heels to slow life down.

My six year old has suddenly matured into a post-Christmas kindergartener who’s not so sure Santa is real and thinks she might be too big for baby dolls.  When did that happen?

Annabelle only wants to go to school if Hailey’s there but insists they do “nothing” all day.

Then there’s Millie Moo who can walk on her knees and will sit in the high chair for an hour as long as the food keeps coming.

Where did these babies go?

Madelynne Grace in February 2005

Madelynne and Annabelle Faith in March 2006

Amelia Hope in May 2010
amelia

Already?

Lindsey P. Brackett2 Comments

Amelia is ten months old today.  Seems impossible that I can so keenly remember much of this time last year and yet can’t imagine that there was a time she wasn’t part of our life.

At ten months, she’s more baby than infant, more rambunctious than restful.  She’s more personality and less presentation. 

Long gone are the quiet days of play on the floor or rocking in the swing.  Even the exersaucer has lots its simple wonder.

She’s a girl with a purpose and a mind to get what she wants.  Open dishwasher?  Straight under the kitchen table is the fastest route to get there.  Bored at dinner?  Dropping the juice cup a half-dozen times is sure to guarantee some attention from the sissies.  Not in the mood for a nap?  No problem with crying at periodic intervals for over an hour until exhaustion finally sets in.  Well, maybe she doesn’t always get what she wants.

She thinks her name is Millie-Moo (the danger of nicknames) and her sisters are the greatest.  She knows how to please (last night she said “granddad” to Joshua’s grandfather) and how to wave ‘bye.  She’ll problem solve to get that toy she wants, if her sisters will leave her alone long enough to do it. And she’s growing faster than I can sort through the hand-me-downs.  (17 lbs, 28″ at our last appt.)

She refuses to even try to utter ma-ma (or Mimi) and she likes to eat but prefers the ease of swallowing over chewing so a lot of near choking events occur during meal times.

Ten months is a big deal, a number closer to the big mark than this mommy is ready for.  If they could just stay little….

but then she sleeps a solid ten hours and I’m thankful some phases of babyhood are behind us.

amelia · Christmas · http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post · madelynne

Weekend Wipeout

Lindsey P. BrackettLeave a comment

Here’s a brief glimpse of what’s been keeping us on our toes the past few days…and this doesn’t even include the participation of the cutest baby angel in the community theatre production of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. 

Madelynne teaching Amelia to read.

There’s a reason Joshua’s granddad is wearing this hat…                            
..and Annabelle is dressed like a cow.

Ashley’s water broke on Saturday and we’re all waiting to hear the good news that baby Colton is safely here.  He’s taking his time…I think he’s scared to meet Big Daddy…or maybe he’s afraid Marmee is going to kidnap him and bring him back to Georgia!    
Weekend Wipeout

 

amelia · motherhood

9/12 or 3/4?

Lindsey P. Brackett1 Comment

I’m not sure what makes me more sad.  To say my baby is 9 months old and to realize that she’s grown more than twice as big as she grew the first 9 months I knew she was in existence….or to say she’s three-fourths of the way to one.

Let’s not even think about her being one.  That’s when manufacturers switch her from “infant” to “toddler” and I have to baby proof everything in the house that’s within three feet of the ground.

Well, I wish I had that long to wait on the proof that she’s ready to get going and exploring in her little world, but the truth is at nine months, she’s more active than I remember either of her sisters being and she’s into anything she can reach, which means I hope I never have the need to call anyone in the next county who’s last name starts with V-Z since our phone book no longer possesses that page.

At nine months, Amelia can crawl fast enough to make it down the hall before her sisters can shut the door of their room and proclaim they’re “doing big girl stuff” necessitating in a lot of wailing from Amelia, whining from Annabelle, and shrieking from Madelynne–“She’s going to eat the crayons!”

At nine months she can put away two jars of baby food, a Swedish meatball, a half-dozen noodles,  a handful of puffs, and a cup of juice in one dinner and still pull up on my jeans with a beseeching look less than an hour later when I’m doing dishes and she realizes I’m holding a bottle.

At nine months, I have introduced her to the simple pleasures of life like ice cream…and the never ending drudgery of such tasks as dishes.  For now she finds the dishwasher an intriguing contraption with the allure of denial.  As in, she’s not supposed to play in it, so of course that’s the only place she wants to be when it’s open.

At nine months, she coos and squeals and squawks and calls “dadadadada” constantly.  But never, ever will she even attempt to utter an “mmmmm” sound.  She waves “bye-bye” and giggles when tickled.  She’s by far the best behaved when we go shopping, but that might be because she waits until I’m distracted to soothe herself by chewing on the cart.  Despite the seat cover.

Right now she’s chewing on my knee and pulling up in another favorite play place.  Under the kitchen table.  She’s sweet and cuddly and demanding of attention.  She thinks Annabelle shows her too much love and Madelynne is the funniest person she knows.

In just nine months she completed enough growth to ready her for a vibrant life…and in nine months she has completed our family beyond my dreams.