The Amazing Zoo

So, I'm a bit off here and it came on right on cue. A couple blogs in the bank and then ... nothing. It's the same as always, "too busy enjoying it to sit down and write about it".

During some unexpected time off around October, I was able to take Pops to her first trip to the St. Louis Zoo! We met up with my best friend and his family. We spend most of the day walking around from place to place. The weather was awesome for October in St. Louis. Let's let the pictures do the talking.

She wasted no time giving directions - just like Mommy. 

I think she was trying to get me to go to the monkeys first. 

She looked so cute in her hat. I don't know what I was most proud of - how cute
she is or that I dressed her all by myself. 

Giving Dad a rest and letting Uncle Jarred hold her for a bit. 

Hippo tank. 

Ahh, the hippo! She was so excited. 

Cousin Ethan showing Pops how to play it cool at the zoo.

A little head petting 

Elephants! 

She's less than impressed. 

Uncle Jarred, Aunt Michelle, and Cousin Olivia. 

The Reptile House. I finally let her out of her rolling prison and
released her upon the unsuspecting public. I don't think they
were prepared for the cuteness that followed. 

At this point she was busy reading the captions to me. 

Ethan doing the big kid thing and pointing out
where to look. 

Pops and Olivia getting close up with the turtles. 

Pops flashing her gang affiliation. 

Finally, the gorillas! 

She was pretty comfy up there just looking out at the gorillas. 

It was just before Halloween, so they had lots of
scenes set up throughout the park. Pops' first experience
with a witch! She wasn't concerned... 

Ah, the obligatory gorilla bronze statue posing. 

This pretty much sums up the day!
Just look at that face! 

The Amazing Plague

I should've seen it. I should've been prepared for it. I should've known it would find us. A storm was coming.

The biting winds pushed the blackened sky from the west, from Colorado. If I could see it again, I would swear it was the sky that Tolkien wanted over Mordor. Black day. Black night. Endless crashing thunder.

We were naive then. Oh the days were so bright, we Hobbits joyously singing songs in the fields. We Hobbits living our lives in careless wonder. Oh the days. Oh the days.

But the black sky spread, slowly it followed us from Colorado, but still we played, still we laughed. Oh the days. Until one day, when not yet one week had past, the sky darkened from the west, slowly at first, then smoke from the deep filled the air until the light was choked from the day. Our songs were whimpers. Our joy was dread and our wonder was a choice. Which end shall I choose?

It was a plague. The plague of all humankind that had settled upon our home. The symptoms were, at first, vague. One child ill. Malaise. Poor appetite. Then the earth split open to rapture this home, our home, in chaos and fog. One child ill, vomiting and diarrhea. One adult suffering from malaise and upset the likes that no Mylanta hath seen. Lightening crashed upon the roof top and two adults sickened and diarrhea'd. Thunder clapped upon our fragile home and two adults vomit'th and then were forced to choose which end shall I choose to coverth?

The sickness filled our home for many days and nights until not one adult or child had escaped the plague fog. Choices were presented and decisions were made which cannot be undone.

Our home is now shadowed in fear and dread for we now know that the darkness will someday return. We were naive then. Oh the days were so bright.

The Amazing First Day

So with our move we had to, among other things, wrap everything in our house, put everything in a series of boxes, stack those boxes in the garage, then load the boxes in a moving truck over two days, drive two days, unload those boxes in one of three locations, unload some boxes we need, look for things inside the boxes that weren't inside said boxes, find places to put the contents of said boxes, start work at a new office, oh and we need to get Popster in at a new daycare. I think the last one was the most stressful.

We were able to get her on the list for a couple places. We took her to our favorite one first. She was so happy. We met everyone - all the Miss Katies and Miss Sandras. It was a good vibe, but it was Popsters reactions that sealed the deal for us. She was waving at ... everyone. She was wet-noodle waving at everyone, everyone walking by, everyone coming and going. She interacted with the other babies. One little girl fell down and Popster used the opportunity show off her pointing talents by promptly trying to insert her finger inside the crying mouth of the cry baby. She's so funny.

She had a good day, so we've heard. She ate well. She played well. She growled at another baby who dared enter her domain whilst she played with some toys. She growled. We really got to work with her sharing, but meanwhile it is super funny.

I pretty much thought of new ways to sing Little Blue Truck, like all day. Funny the difference between the first days.

It was so wonderful to see her after my day. She was already tired before bath time. It's always fun to get her ready for bath time. She gets lots of tummy kisses. She scrunches up and just laughs and laughs. Sometimes she brings her hands up to try and stop me. I stop and she rolls away laughing and laughing. She usually sits up and just looks at me while she continues to laugh. She's so funny. I think she's a genius.

One of our last walks before leaving CO. She's having fun!  

She's so past taking baths in her tub insert, but she's just so cute! 

The Amazing Moving Day(s)!

My wife and I decided a while back that it was time to move on, time to move away from the state where we grew our marriage, our lives, and our family, Colorado. Amelia was born in November 2012 and shortly thereafter the discussions began, nothing serious just topical - "wouldn't it be fun" stuff. Well, let's just see where this goes and a plan was put into motion around March. We both reached out to our offices in Missouri.

My office came through pretty quickly - oh, sure we'd love to have you. Her office was just as forthcoming. "Wouldn't it be fun" turned in to "um are we sure...?" The next thing we knew we were prepping the house for sale. We got are agent, some paint here, some cleaning there, and we're on the market. Our offices waited for the house to sell.

We came under contract in about 10 days. We were hoping it'd move quickly and it did, until... The buyers lost their financing when one of them lost their job (insert sad sounds and me quietly whimpering alone in a dark room). Back on the market. Lots of showings. Lots of positive feedback. No offers. Her job was willing to let her continue pushing off the move until we sold the house. I was not so lucky. It took about 2 months of no actively and my office pulls the leash. I'm actually surprised it wasn't pulled sooner. I found out they wanted me about 3 weeks before the date. Ok, um, so are we really sure?

We spent the next 2.5 weeks packing and spending as much time with friends as possible.

At the Louisville Labor Day Parade 2013 with Josh (not in picture), Lisa, and Will
following the breakfast at our favorite joint - The Huckleberry. 

Amelia with her buddy Sam and my buddy Jerry! I still find it
interesting that Angie was due a week before Sam's Mom, Duffy.
Angie ended up being a week late and having Popster on Duffy's
due date and Duffy ended up being a week late too. 

Squeezing in one last, impromptu dinner with our dear friends Josh, Lisa,
and Will at Corona's Mexican Grill.  

Squeezing in one last play date with Sam while the grown-ups had some beers. 

Geez, having a baby really prevents anything from getting done before 7:30pm and packing after 7:30pm is no fun. It's tough packing for a few hours then try to clean up for bed. It's tough packing and keeping your house straight for showings, but really it's always tough packing regardless of the outside variables, so I'll stop complaining.

A very helpful Popster - she's holding down the boxes. 

A very helpful Popster with jazz hands! 

"I can load it, but you gotta move it!" 

Long story, the house doesn't sell. The house doesn't sell. We didn't sell the house. Her parents flew out and helped us pack, load up the truck, maintain my sanity, and drive the 900 or so miles. I firmly believe that behind any positive, loving person is a family that is equally positive and loving.

Moving en route! I'd say the U-Haul was great if it weren't for the water leaking into the cab. 

We took 2 days to drive the trip. Amelia was such a trooper. She didn't fuss riding in her car seat for nearly 13-14hrs over 2 days. She had a blowout as we were passing the Kansas City, but that was about it. She was so wound up she stayed up a bit long that first night. She was so funny, just jumping up and down in her institution-style hotel crib. She was so happy. Laughing and doing her la-la-la-la - she figured out the sounds she can make by pushing her tongue inside and out from under her upper lip. She's so smart.

And if it weren't for her brother and his wife I don't know how we could've moved at all. I am in their very generous debt, extremely generous debt. They and their 7month son were one of the reasons for moving back home, but I never imagined we would be this close to them, as in "hey, what's for dinner?" close, but getting to the point of this blog. Amelia has a cousin and they get to play everyday!

She's so fun to watch with him. She's just learned to point. She started by pointing to Grampa's nose, then my nose, then her cousin's mouth. I think she's got the mouth pointing down pretty well now. I don't expect it'll take too long before her cousin figures out he has teeth and maybe if he gives her a chomp she'll find something better to do with her new found pointing talents!

I've been practicing her waving for about 9months now. Every time we go by a mirror I say "hi" and have her wave to me. She gets very excited. Today, when a very dear friend stopped by my landlord's house, she waved and waved a him! She had a pretty limp-noodle wrist wave, but she's got it down! I think she's a genius!

The Studio Audience

There's this one book that I read - Little Blue Truck Leads the Way. We're not about raising our little girl on nothing but princesses and butterflies, so we've got a couple Little Blue Truck books and she loves them, absolutely loves them. I usually read her 4 books every night, otherwise known as the best part of the evening, next to bath time (she has so much fun at bath time). I was wondering for a while which book is her favorite, so I started trying something. I started with two books.

I put two books on my lap in front of her. She would look at both books. I tried to watch her eyes to see which one she seemed to stare at, but she was facing away, so it was difficult. She would look and smile. I went with whatever book she seemed to be looking at the longest. I would finish the first book then grab another one, along with the book that she didn't choose for the first round and so on until all four books were read. I would switch the placement of the books too, just to ensure that she wasn't always just choosing the book on the right side or left side. She's improved a bit.

I place all four books out before her and she can, well not so much point, but hit the book that she wants! How ridiculously cool is that?! And again, she's not just picking the one in the middle or right or left. She picks the same one first every time! Genius! She picks Little Blue Truck Leads the Way - it's a feel good story.

I like to sing the Little Blue Truck books - they just have a rhythm, so I started singing them. I tried to work in accents from all the animals or unfriendly New York cars and trucks, but I just couldn't get anything to work, so I did what I do and I started singing the story. At the end of each Little Blue Truck book I would grab her arms to get her to clap her hands. For nine months I've tried to get her to clap her hands.

At first she would keep her fists close. Closed fists turned into opening hands and then grabbing opposite fingers. "Ok, she's working on it", I thought. After a long time of grabbing fingers, she moved on to opening up her hands so I could finally get her to clap. Angie's been working with her for a bit too doing Patty-Cake meanwhile and she's an excellent high-fiver now!

I picked her up from daycare this afternoon. We got home and I put her in her little car-thingie. She is all over the house in that thing. We're facing each other as I start singing as I'm unloading all her bottles and what-nots. I'm singing and clapping to the beat. She starts laughing. Her face gets all scrunchy and she starts clapping!!

We can't get her to stop clapping now. Angie gets home and she starts clapping. Laughing and clapping. We're walking after her dinner and she's laughing and clapping in her stroller (when she's not making faces and holding her little feet up to her face).

Tonight she picked out Little Blue Truck Leads the Way first. I usually try to figure out a new way to sing it every time, so I picked something and went with it. At first she's on my lap then before long she's all over the chair, standing up along insides of the chair, looking outside, and generally not paying attention which is par for the course. I get to the finale, to the part where I usually grab her hands to have her clap and ... she clapped on her own!!

I read the other Little Blue Truck book and the same thing - she clapped at the end! It's like I have a studio audience now, clapping at my terrible jokes and terrible impressions of good singers. It's so amazing to see her grow, so obviously, right before us. She's so incredible. Our Amazing Popster!

Warning: The following clip shows parents displaying potentially embarrassing behaviors. Viewer discretion is advised.

The Sounds

Popster is a little jabber-box now. She has been for a good couple months, but she's gotten more and more varied in her sounds. For the longest time she would rock the mamamaa mamamaa - rinse and repeat depending on her level of displeasure. The mamamaa's could go on for a couple minutes. It seemed that once she moved on to the dadadaa she was ready for more sophisticated syllables. Every morning while walking down the hallway I get her to wave at the mirror. I always say hi and I swear she took a deep breath and exhaled hhhiiii, even if it was really only that one time.

It's funny the sounds Angie and I hear from her. Today I'd put money on her saying thank you. A few days ago something must've got her going, because we both heard her say rat bastard, which takes some creativity seeing as rat bastard is not one of mine or Angie's go-to phrases, so you tell me how else to explain her genius.

She's been laughing for a long time, but we still don't get too many connected laughs. It's more of a haaa rather than a hahaha. It seems that she's more interested in scrunching her face, squinting her eyes, and shrugging her shoulders than connecting her laughs. I can usually get her to haaa when it's about bath time. I start kissing and chomping on her tummy - gets her every time!

She's learned to trill her tongue. Angie can do it on command. I need a song lyric to get a trill - usually only for the word. I can trill the "bbdddaaa, dddaa, da, bbddaaa, dddaa, da at the end of "Remember the Time", when Michael starts breaking it down, but that's about it. Pops has learned to just trill. It is so funny. She's so talented!

She's developed this scream where she just evacuates her lungs - usually when in her high-chair and usually when she's saying "get me out of this thing". It's very Velociraptor-like, you know, very nearly bleeds your ears, and you're concerned something terrible is about to happen.

I think my favorite is the sounds you expect to hear from a baby - the bababababbaaa. You can see her little, puffy checks fill with air and her mouth moves like a little guppy - just bababababaaa in the back of the car, or bababababaaa before she starts to eat. She's so funny.

On the move with her teether in her mouth. 

Again with the teether. 

You want me to pack the box or climb in it? I'm flexible either way. 

Just finished her Velociraptor impression. 

9 Months Later

She was born 11/29/12 at 6:40pm. She's 9 months today. She's crawling all over the house. She's all over semi-solid foods. She's going down to about 3 bottles per day. She's jabbering whenever her binkie is out of her mouth. I can put two books in front of her and she'll hit the book she wants me to read and it's not always the book in my right hand. The Little Blue Truck seems to be her current favorite. She's pulling herself up. She's balancing straight up. She's bending down, picking up a toy, and standing straight up again. She's climbing stairs - don't worry I'm at the base of the stairs with some scissors. She's able to scoot her butt on the stair and plop her feet down on the stair below, so she's getting it figured out.

She was 8lbs when she was born. Well, the scale read 8.00.8. She's just over 19lbs now. She was 90ish percentile in height when she was born. She's 90ish percentile in height now. She's getting so big!

Getting the scissors

She's finally here!  

Just getting cleaned up. 

She was so exhausted. 

8.00.8lbs - what does that mean? Does that mean 8lbs 8oz? I've always just said 8lbs. 

So snuggly!

So sleepy!

Those feet are the cutest ever!