Thirteen Months!

HOLY cow. I have no idea where the last month went. I still havent put her 12 month pictures into colages.... I gotta get on that. Buuuuut not right now... HA! Maybe this week...

Amerie Dakota,

You are 13 months old, and NEVER stop moving. If you are awake you are mobile. You are always on the go! Pulling all the dog toys out of the basket, pulling DVD's off the entertainment center, playing catch with Charlie, Trying to play with the wood stove(obviously were not burning wood in it). You have so much more patience now than you ever have before, but you are also much more vocal about what you dont like. Like when you are playing with Charlie, and he wont give you his toy, you YELL at him. Or when you want more Cherios but mama wont give them to you. Or when Dada takes his phone back, because you arent being soft with it. Or like now, when you want to play photo booth with mama's computer, but she is busy.

You are also very easily distracted. You have the about a 15 second attention span. You dont really play with toys... you play with everything else tho. Like now, you are currently dropping the remote into the seat of your walker, watching it fall through a leg hole, and then picking it up and doing it again. However... in the time it took me to type that, you went back to playing catch with Charlie. You are a ball of fire kiddo!

Lots of changes this month! You can walk now =) You took your first steps on May 14th. You will walk back and forth between mama and dada, but arent quite confident enough to just walk without someone to catch you tho. I am so SO happy that you walked when BOTH mama and dada were there to see it. So awesome neither of us had to miss such a big milestone.

You can go up, and down stairs. You know how to go feet first to get off of things, and to go down stairs... but it gives mama heart failure every time. You can feed yourself with a spoon, tho more gets in your lap than in your mouth.

You are hilarious when you pick things up, you grunt like everything weighs 100 lbs. You intentionally drop things, bend over to pick them up, and GROAN like they are soooo heavy. Then you look at us and smile, as if to say "see how strong I am".  Its pretty cute!

You like to help put things away now, tho once you do, you like to take them right back out. When you are getting ready to get out of bath, you always hold up your toys to us, and say Eh, which means you want to put them up. You also like to wipe things. If I am cleaning, you want to help. You clean your face off, you wipe your tray, you wipe the walls... anything you have seen me wipe, you want to wipe.

You are getting more vocal, and want to say more words, but we arent quite there yet. You can say Dada(your favorite word), Mama, dog, hi, ni-ni, mooooooo(few and far between), you can tell us what a monkey says, you are trying to say book, but so far only have the b sound.

You are still a little bit shy, and dont really want other people holding you. You are a social butterfly as long as no one is looking at you. You wave at EVERYONE.... until they look at you. Then you just stare. You are doing so many more adorable things, but I dont want this letter to be too long, so Ill leave it at that =)

You are paci-less as of June 1. Well, technically you still have A paci... just not one you will put in your mouth. You have only ever liked the Avent pacifiers, since they dont touch the roof of your mouth, so we gave you a Nuk paci, that does touch the roof of your mouth... and you have slept without a paci since. The first few days were the hardest... but the longest you have cried about it was about 2 min. SO glad it is this easy to make this transition!!!

You love all food. And I am pretty sure you can out eat me. There is not much you wont eat! You dont like whole peas, they have to be mashed. You will spit out things you dont cant chew, but still put WAY too much in your mouth!

Since last month you have grown completley out of 12 month clothes, and are fully in 18 month stuff. You are in size 4 diapers and shoes. You have the CUTEST summer clothes... now if the weather would just cooperate so you could WEAR them! You are growing so fast tho, I think we will need 24 month summer outfits before long = / Slow down little girl!!! You weigh 22.5lbs(70%) you are 30.5 inches long(90%) and your head is somewhere around 19"(which put it in right around 99%). Your hair is finally getting LONG!

You are growing and changing so much, even the nurses and your doctor were surprised by your growth. Your doctor said you are ahead of the curve in your motor skills, and he is impressed with your number of words(tho most other people dont understand what you are saying, mama and dada do =) )

Well sweet-pea,

I love you more than life!

Dont grow up too fast,
Forever,
Mama

Just Keep Running.

I have always loved running. I love that it is the one thing I can do and not have to worry about work, laundry, cleaning, bills, messy dogs, drama going on in my friends lives, family issues, etc. I just run. Well, my sister decided we were going to do a half marathon last weekend... and I am in LOVE. I had only trained to run about 5 miles comfortably... and even then I felt like I was pushing myself to run that far. I was totally underprepared, and very nervous. 

I set a realistic goal of 2.5 hours. That is just over an 11 min mile. I figured that if I could push myself for a while, and then walk for a bit, and then push myself, I could make it. I ended up jogging about 11 miles of it, and walking 2 at the most. A lot of this course was hills, which I HATE. 

Anyway, I made it to the finish line in 2:30:07.8. 

The only time I have been more proud of myself was when I gave birth to our little girl. 

Jeremy and I are signed up to do the warrior dash in Portland in September, and I want to do one more half after that, before winter sets in. 

Mile 7something, I was happy to see my little family!

                                      

Crossing the finish line! 

 DONE!!

I had the cutest cheering squad around =)

My new goal is to run a full marathon next fall. Oh man... I am already nervous for that! 

One Year Old!

(I will add pictures soon!)
Amerie Dakota,

You are one year old.

I cant even believe how fast time is going.

You are still a crawler, and can stand for about 5-10 seconds. You have taken a few steps to try to catch yourself, but will not voluntarily walk, and really, I am okay with that =) Take your time sweet baby. You will walk for a little while holding onto only one of our hands. Sometimes when youre standing and holding onto something you get brave and let go for a second and then grab it again.

You can get yourself into a sitting position now, and do it all the time. You NEVER keep still. I was trying to take a picture of you in your first birthday shirt... and it just wasn't happening. You are one busy little girl!

You LOVE being outside. You like feeling the grass now, and pulling it out. You like finding sticks, and passing them along to one of the dogs. You like picking up handfulls of dirt. You LOVE climbing up the stairs to the house, which terrifies me. You really like riding quads with dada, and riding the horses around the house. Basically all things outdoors are your favorite!

We took you to the Zoo with your cousin Ryan, and Auntie Nicole and Uncle Josh! You got a kick out of most of it and liked the penguins the best. You really enjoyed watching them swim around in their tank! I am excited to take you back again soon! I am sure by the end of the summer it will be your favorite!


You dont like when things are out of place, or when there is something on the floor. You will pick it up and either shove it straight in your mouth, try to give it to a dog, or hold it up and say "eh" ad give it to one of us. I have a feeling you are going to be OCD just like your mama =)

The last time we got you weighed(a week and a half ago) you weighed 21lbs 8oz and were still 29 inches long. You are still mostly in 12 month clothes, with some 18 month things thrown in. You are still in size 3 shoes... but slowly moving to size 4. You are still in size 3 diapers.

You are still getting 2-8oz bottles a day, and the rest is real food. You hardly eat pureed foods, unless we are running late to leave the house and I throw a puree in your diaper bag. You love big people food. You are starting to have things you are not crazy about, so I am sure by the time you are two we will be having food wars and I will be hiding nutritious food inside of whatever I can get you to eat! You are also figuring out how to feed yourself with a spoon!


You say mama, dada, ni-ni(night-night) and every now and again da(dog). Every now and again I would swear you say HUH? We will say something to you and you look at us, and say huh? I think it is probably just a coincidence, but Ill take it. When you are really tired, but dont want to go to sleep and mama is the only one home you lay/stand in your crib and yell/whine "dada!" "ni-ni" Its cute, but at the same time sad! I wish mama and dada could be with you all day every day... but someone has to work ;)

You have gotten better at signing this month. You now sign, more(correctly), all done(still with just one hand), and eat. When you wake up in the morning and when I am changing your diaper, you sign eat, and then more. We were at the grocery store a few days before your birthday and there was an older guy who got really close to you and was talking in your face. You looked around him, looked at me, signed all done, and then waved bye-bye. It was so SO funny. Mama got you out of the isle right when you did that, so that you understood that I knew what you were saying to me. We are going to start working on a few more signs now! I am thinking of adding Mommy, Daddy and Please!

You are still very affectionate, and like to give hugs and kisses. This month you have also learned how to rock your "baby". It started with your little baby doll, and has progressed to a few other toys. Only your favorites tho! Sometimes, when you hug us, or a toy, you give pats on the back. You love playing peek-a-boo! Anything you can hide behind and then peek around, you do.

Sweet baby girl, the last year has been the most rewarding year of my whole life.
You have shown me that life, really is beautiful.

I cant wait to see what the next year brings us.

Dont grow up too fast Sweet Pea.

I love you more than you will ever know.

Mama.

(I will put up alllllll of the birthday/cake smash pictures after this next weekend!)

One year old

Happy Birthday, sweet baby bean. 

One year ago today

One year ago today, I was just getting to the doctor where I would learn that I as really sick and had to be induced with Amerie almost 3 weeks early. 

We were excited, and terrified all at the same time 

                                    My liver enzymes were trying to kill off Amerie's placenta.

My blood pressure was going between 134/92 and 147/93(and higher during labor)

Today marks the one year anniversary of the beginning of my 27 hour labor. 

Tomorrow however, is the one year anniversary of the best thing to ever happen to me. 

About Us

I am Amanda, most of you who will follow this blog know me, and my family in real life. I am in my mid 20's, married to a wonderful man, and have one beautiful daughter. We live in North Central Oregon, but are from Southern Oregon. Here is the our life in a nut shell(a very small nut shell)

Jeremy and I met in May of '05, and started dating in June of the same year. 

We got married June 6, 2009, in a beautiful outdoor wedding. 

We moved from the Medford Oregon area to Northern Oregon for Jeremy's job. 

We have 3 dogs, 2 horses and 2 cats. 

When we decided we wanted to have a baby, it took us almost a year to get pregnant. 

I found out I was pregnant 9/19/10.

On 11/18/10 I found out I was a Cystic Fibrosis Carrier. (DeltaF508)

On 11/29/10 we learned that Jeremy is also a Cystic Fibrosis Carrier. (DeltaF508)

I got a late onset of severe pre-eclampsia and had to be induced at 37 weeks. 

Amerie was born on May 3, 2011. 

On May 10, 2011 we learned she did NOT have Cystic Fibrosis.

On May 11, 2011 we learned she was not even a Cystic Fibrosis carrier. 

We are now busier than ever learning how to be parents to an almost one year old baby girl. 

I am a stay at home(during the day) mommy. I work 3-4 nights a week as a waitress. Jeremy is a Fisheries Biologist, and loves his job. 

As you will learn, this whole blog is basically about Amerie. Every now and again, I throw in some other snippets of life. 

<on a side note, if you are in the Portland/The Dalles area, Megan Henson Photography is the only way to go!!>