Take Good Care of My Baby

Aside from the thunderstorm raging outside, there was something else unusual going on in the Grover house on Monday night. Miss Amity was NOT sleeping well! She would awaken and cry but would not take a bottle and didn't want to be held. Around 11:30, I hauled her pack and play into our room and placed it next to my side of the bed in the place it used to be in her first few months of life.
In the process of setting up the pack and play, I laid Amity in our bed next to her daddy. Amazingly, she perked up, sat up, and began jabbering away like it was the coolest thing ever! Her mom and dad laughed for a minute but were not prepared to spend the whole night this way! We put her in her bed next to ours and, with occasional pats on the back through the night, we made it to the morning.

However, in the morning, we discovered that our Little Miss was running a fever and had a very gunky nose and bad cough. I stayed home from work (I usually work on Tuesdays and Wednesdays) and called Dr. Moore. Shortly after 10:45 a.m., we found out that Amity had one of those infamous ear infections that we thought we were going to escape in her first year of life. Thankfully, we have discovered that she loves the pink stuff (Amoxicillin) and it seems to be working.

Since Tuesday, we have been sleeping well once again...

and Amity has been practicing taking good care of her own babies! Well, "good care" is relative for an almost one-year-old! I promise that she did not learn how to carry a baby this way from me!

Just like Michael Jordan, tongue out to the side as she prepares to "dunk" the baby into the stroller!

This hold is a little more like what I have tried to model for her.

And then we regress!

Thankfully, Amity has enough love for more than one baby. The girl has got a LOT of love to give!

And we're walking...

...sort of! After KK told us about a special Fisher Price walker/doll stroller, I found one on ebay that was being sold locally for $12.50. We picked it up this afternoon, and after a fabulous dinner for three, Amity had the chance to try it out. Besides an initial topple on the first try, it seemed to do the trick! Here is the video of Amity taking her first assisted steps!

A night of firsts

Dennis and I had a date night tonight and invited our favorite little person to join us for dinner at Red Robin. Amity had quite a few firsts!

First time using/eating crayons

First time ordering something off of the kids' menu

BEFORE

DURING

AFTER (Yes, she did eat all of that mac 'n cheese!)

First free balloon from a restaurant and first lesson from dad on static electricity

Tiny Bubbles

Spring Break 2009: Amity's First Trip to the Zoo

Amity was so excited this morning for her first trip to the zoo. She couldn't stop smiling on our ride down I-30.

Throughout the past week, her teacher-parents have been doing a few things to "build background" (shout out to Dr. Bob!) about the zoo. We visited the pet store to get a new battery for Paco's collar and, while we were there, peeked in on some of the critters in their cages. We also borrowed a DVD from the library about a visit to the zoo.Based on this prior knowledge, Amity arrived at the zoo today expecting to see animals like the gorila,
the meerkats,

and some giraffes.
However, she wasn't expecting to see anything like this:

Of course, other zoo-goers were not expecting to hearanything like the noise that Amity's daddy loves to make when he is around pretty much any animal. He really had some of them thinking that there were some rogue animals calling out from the trees.

It was a beautiful day to spend with cousins...

and with PopPop and Lolly! I think we may have worn them out!
Amity snuck in a short nap too... but she was wide awake when we entered the Children's Zoo where she petted a bunny, waded in the water,

slid down a slide with Mom,

and took a family picture.

Yea for a perfect first trip to the zoo!

Spring Break 2009: Lunch with the Tías

Amity is blessed to have lots of tías in her life. Gloria is one of these tías. She is responsible for cleaning the office area at Dennis's school in the afternoons. As she and Dennis have developed a very sweet, Spanglish friendship over the past three years, we have enjoyed treating Gloria and the other ladies to lunch during our Christmas and Spring Breaks since they are still hard at work. We always make the same thing: lasagna, salad, bread, and trifle and they are always very gracious to act like they like it! They gave Amity lots of hugs and smiles and helped her (and her Daddy) work on some Spanish vocabulary!

Spring Break 2009: Playtime with Ella

A girl needs at least one friend with really great hair who can inspire her to reach her full hair potential. Thankfully, Amity already has the perfect hair-friend in little Miss Ella and they were born just 8 days apart. Amity's playdates with Ella just keep getting more and more exciting and, apparently, Ella's hair is more and more inspiring!
Here are the little munchkins on their first outing when they were just a few weeks old.
We got together for more fun times back in August when they were almost four months old and full of smiles.

Today, we could barely keep them still for a picture! See how Ella has influenced Amity's hair?

Is there anything cuter than smiling girls with hairbows?Ella wowed Amity with her ability to stand by herself and cruise from one piece of furniture to the next. Unfortunately, Ella took a tumble once in the process so Amity is thinking that she will keep her feet firmly planted for a little while longer.

The squishy blocks were some of the favorite toys enjoyed by these two very flexible little girls! Just love those little legs!

Thanks to Rebecca and Ella for a fun play date!