Humphrey and the Bumpo

Some great pictures of Amelia in her Bumpo chair with Humphrey the bear (hand made by Nette Nette, Grandpa Skip and Uncle Jeff).

Amelia's First Christmas

Christmas was a big event this year. We traveled up to Connecticut to be with my family which meant Amelia got her first plane ride. After an extended meltdown in the airport, Amelia did just fine on the plane. She fussed a little bit here and there, but then again, so did I.

We finally arrived in Connecticut well after my Grandparents' bed time, but they wasted no time in coming over to meet their first great-grandchild. Christmas Eve brought introductions to the rest of the extended family and we even made it up to see Amelia's other Great-Grandmother. We'll call the rest of the trip "Amelia's Winter Tour"; we made stops all over town showing off our latest addition to friends, family, colleagues, delivery men, janitors, waitresses and just about anybody else who would listen.

Cousin Alec (4) had a great time trying to play peek-a-boo with Amelia, giving her M&M's and tossing a frisbee with (i.e. at) her. His heart was in the right place, but his execution was just a couple years ahead of schedule.

Amelia gave us the best Christmas present ever on Christmas morning when she laughed for the very first time as I played with her. It just doesn't get much better than that.

Of course, the first Grandchild in the family got spoiled rotten on her first Christmas (and we haven't even celebrated Christmas with the other Grandparents yet). She got some truly precious gifts, and if this year is any indication, you should immediately contact your broker to purchase shares in UPS.

Overall it was a great trip (despite the stomach flu that we passed around) and we can't wait to see everybody again.

Amelia Starting to Play

Amelia's starting to react to play with familiarity, excitement and smiles.

One Store, Two Store, I Ain't Got My Baby No More

Tis the season for many things.

Holiday Cheer.
Good Will.
Parties.
Friends.
Gifts.
Decorations.
Shopping.
Snow.
Ice.
Lines.
Traffic.
Stress.
And now, Child Abandonment!

That's right, after the pumpkin incident, I decided to close out the year with a bang.

Most people take a few weeks to get their Christmas shopping done, but not me. I decided to cram it all into one super-efficient night of shopping. I had lists all in order, my stops all planned out, everything was going to be perfect. Even better, I decided to bring my lovely daughter Amelia along to keep me company. Well after the first two stores were closed (who closes at 6 in the middle of Christmas shopping!) my plans started to go a little awry. I finally made it to the first store, then the second. On my way to the third, it dawned on me that those stops were a bit easier than they should have been. What could it be? Oh yeah, that's right, I have a daughter!...and, she's been in the car this whole time. Oops.

Amelia's First Sleep Over

Sorry, no cute pictures of Amelia sleeping with Nette Nette and Grandpa Skip, but there are some great shots of Mom and Dad partying with their friends.

PS - Amelia did great with her first sleep over, although Grandpa Skip's stories of how difficult the night was have tended to get better and better over the last few weeks!

Christmas Card Candidates

For the die hard Amelia picture junkies. Here are some of the better shots from our Christmas card shoot.

Supper Club Christmas 2005

A few shots from our first full Supper Club gathering in a while. It seems like there's always a lot of scarfs with this group come Christmas.

I luv my blank blank!

Love the hands.

Spike!

I have a big body, a little head, and....ouchy!

Amelia had her first set of shots at the pediatrician's office yesterday. It was definitely more traumatic for Mom than it was for baby. She did get a little red and forget to breath for a minute, but she calmed right down afterwards and had a great night of sleep (Amelia did pretty well too). We can't say enough good things about the folks over at Harpeth Peds. Dr. Bennie took 15 minutes to just sit and chat with us about how things are going and the nurse that stuck Amelia looked like a pro, she had three needles prepped, in, and out in the blink of an eye.

Amelia got a good report card this time around. 75th percentile for height and weight, but only the 25th percentile for head size. Mom was thankful for the small head 8 weeks ago, but now it's time to get that brain growing!

Amelia's going to have her first sleep over with Grandma Nette Nette and Grandpa Skip tomorrow night while Beth and I go to her company Christmas party. Beth's been storing up bottles for weeks and Nette Nette is desperately fighting off pneumonia so she won't miss the chance to baby-sit.

The Baby Bridge

Trying to get a little artsy

Playing with the new camera - The Many Faces of Amelia

We bought ourselves the new Cannon Digital Rebel XT as an early Christmas present and I think it will be one of the best investments in memories we could ever make. We've had a lot of fun playing with the camera over the last few days and it has taken some great pictures.

Thanksgiving in Florida

At almost the last minute, we decided to join Beth's family and some friends in a trip to Florida. We're glad we decided to make the trip. We had a great time and Amelia did great in the car...I think we had to stop more for me than for her!


Amelia saw her first Santa Claus in the Seaside Christmas lighting parade. We fried a turkey, which in the end was great, but the best part was definitely the process which involved two missions to find an open store, a dump truck full of sand, a wandering band of rednecks on the lawn, a healthy dose of beer, and an answer to the eternal question "how many Rusticis/Bowies/Immordes does it take to light a fryer?". Beth accidentally tried to disown me from the family and we even got some great pictures for the Christmas card.