New Routines

Random factoid - Amelia made up her first song to the tune of an actual song the other day. 

To the tune of "Are You Sleeping?" or "Frere Jacques":

"I love my Mommy.

I love my Mommy.

Very Much.

Very Much.

Yes, I love my Mommy.

Yes, I love my Mommy.

Very much.

Very much."

Personally, I think it's the greatest masterpiece ever written. ;)

We went to the "City Park" today. It's not exactly how I remember it from when I was Amelia's age, but not bad. Amelia realllllllllllllllly wanted to feed the ducks, and believe it or not, that was the only place I could think of to go. Of course, we're greeted with big, obnoxious signs politely asking us to not feed the ducks. We may or may not have accidentally dropped/tossed/thrown what may or may not have been an entire bag of popcorn in random spots around the pond. It's possible that Amelia might have been charged by a flock of white and brown ducks.

I have a love/hate relationship with my camera. I absolutely treasure every single moment I capture but I hate how cumbersome the camera is. It gets in the way of life while I'm trying to capture it. 

Amelia is proof that God still answers prayer. I will never, ever, never, ever, ever, never doubt the power of prayer. That said, if you have a second to say a prayer or two for us, we'd be much obliged. Long story short, I'm no spring chicken and my eggs are fried. ha! No, seriously, it's no secret we'd like to have at least one more baby and you all know it doesn't happen all that easily for us. I hear my clock ticking and Amelia seriously wants to be a big sister more than anything. She told me just today that she'd "let me help her take care of the baby if God sends us one." Why, thank you. That's so very kind.

Speaking of "kind," as we were leaving the park this evening, I heard, "Miss Red Tu-Tuuuuuuu." Truthfully, I ignored it until I heard it again, even louder. I turned around to see an older lady sitting in her car waving a $5 bill at me. She said, "Honey, here. Won't you take that sweet angel for some ice cream?" I smiled and assured her that I had just had that very same idea. She insisted I take the money, saying she had never been able to have children and that she tries to spoil others when she can. I tried to politely reject  her offer again, but she said, "Please let me do this. It'll make me feel better." What can I say to that, but "Thank you."

I really talked the event up to Amelia, stressing how generous and kind it was for a complete stranger to do something like that. I told her we need to try our best to always be sweet to people, even when we're mad and even when we don't know the person. I believe we'll take it a step further and "pay it forward" somehow. I just now thought of this, so I'll talk to her in the morning and see what kind of idea she comes up with. (Can you tell I generally have no idea what I'm going to say until I start typing? I actually wrote the next half of the entry first but figured it'd be better off last. Make sense? lol)

Read on if you're curious how our sleeping arrangements are going. If you couldn't care less, and who could blame you, I'll just say "THAN YOU FOR BEING HERE" and "GOODNIGHT."

I caved. Amelia caught me at a weakened state and I finally did it. I crawled my big ol' butt into her toddler bed. There's a reason they're called "toddler beds." They're for miniature adults. This would be a good time to praise the manufacturing of said bed. Not a single creak, I tell ya.

As soon as I laid down, it began to thunder and the rain started to ping against Amelia's window. She was a little unsettled, but thought the sound of the rain was "interesting." When I thought she was asleep, I started to get out of the bed/sardine can. She popped up like a jack-in-the-box, grabbed my arm and wrapped her arms and legs around it like a bear cub. She fell asleep sitting up beside me. At 6am, she woke up screaming for me and finished the remainder of her sleeping in my room. 

We decided to do books, prayers, and talking in my (and David's. lol) room last night. She wrapped her little arms around my neck, gave me a million kisses and was OUT. Wonder of all wonders, I fell asleep and slept through the night as well. Not entirely through the night. I've come to realize, I actually DO sleep better if she's not in bed with us. I wake up every single time she moves and she pushes me to the corner of the bed. Yep, she's a bed hog, but David's just not going to budge for anybody! ;)

The first thing I heard this morning was, "Aw MAN! I was going to sleep in my bed last night!" After talking for a bit, we decided to keep our bedtime routine and IF she fell asleep anywhere but her bed, I promised to put her in her room so she could wake up in there. 

Tonight, the same thing happened. She was out within seconds of finishing our prayers and I kept my end of the bargain by putting her in her bed. I said to David, "my baby's too little to be all by herself," you know, as if she wasn't in her own bed from the day she was born until after she was a year old. Hopefully, she won't wake up screaming in a few hours and we have found a good compromise to our new routine - 'cause I'm not getting back in that itty bitty bed. 

If you read all of that, I'll again say, "THANK YOU" and "SWEET DREAMS!"