The beginning...

It's been a while since we've chatted, which probably means it's summer. Thank GOD for summer. I've been relaxing, playing with the babe, and enjoying the weather by carrying canoes or frantically meeting friends for dinner in between tennis matches. All is well, the little A has two almost three teeth coming in and she is close to crawling. Does it seem like yesterday I was trying to cram in my first year finals in between having a baby? Wow.

It seems like many new friends have arrived... Lily, Sumalee, Wyatt, and Gretta. We are thrilled and super excited to play soon. For those of you looking seeking a nanny-for-hire, I feel extremely special to have secured one that I know pays attention to the munchkin and loves her almost as much as the mom. The grandpa even delivers bouquets in the morning as he greets the family. Ummm, jealous yet?? Sorry, he's taken...
Oh, and it's almost been two years since the dad & mom have been married. What are we doing this anniversary weekend, you ask? We're taking a short drive to be part of a very special wedding with which the mom has the pleasure of serving as a maid to the bride. It should be a good time spent with great friends. Even though the A won't be attending, we will definitely update with photos of the soon-to-be gorgeous bride.

One more thing, this is A's favorite new video. A special song shared by mom & A in their first days together.



Remember to enjoy every minute of the summer. It's way too short.

Whhheeeee!

Summer has arrived! It's finally been awesome weather in Minnesota. It makes me understand why the bags haven't been packed & moved to Seattle yet. To take advantage of the weather, the family has been taking many walks. One evening, the parents took Amélie to the park for her first visit. She played on the swings, bounced on a horsey, and:



Ohhh! A big HAPPY B-DAY to the daddy this weekend as he moved "well into his thirties" on Saturday... and he woke up early that morning to see this (that is not him speaking):



So COOL!

Mega-Cheese

Ok, so we're totally first time parents. We think and believe our Amélie is the cutest baby ever born; especially cute is her tiny little red birthmark on her nose.

Sooooo, what we're hoping you'll do is make a vote here for Amélie! Pass it on and hopefully she'll win the cover story photo-shoot in NYC! Nothing like living vicariously through your baby-girl...

Happy 1/2 B-day A!

Well, I've officially passed my first year (I'm a 2L) in law school. Thank GOD. I can also safely endorse the "pregnancy brain theory" because this semester was significantly better than last. Again, thank GOD. I hope the good grades become a trend versus the pregnancy brain that is...

Although, Lady Amélie (as grandpa calls her) is totally worth bad grades and getting stupid (not to mention the spare tire I still have around my waist). Today is her official 1/2 birthday, for those of you bad in math it is her 6-monther. I asked her what she wanted and she said a photo-shoot along with kisses. SEE - she is the easiest, sweetest, calmest, and most rational baby ever born.

We are too lucky (and I'm knocking on wood).

Summer Snacks

Life is good. We've been enjoying the calm of the summer. Our house is so inviting this summer, even so much that cardinals have built a nest in our flower basket. We're eagerly awaiting the sight of five little baby birds.



Amélie continues to get bigger. For real, this girl is heavy, her thighs are huge, and she grows fuzz in her fat rolls. I think she would eat anything. Here is the proof. The poor cardinals look as though they'll be fatherless.

Slugger...

Amélie attended her first Twins (vs. the BlueJays) baseball game yesterday at the Metrodome, which is soon to be extinct. She was quite festive in her Twins gear, thanks to the grandparents! But a bigger thank-you to Jim (my cousin) for the awesome tickets... it was so cool to sit in the first row, lounging with our feet on the railing and almost getting nailed by two baseballs! It was tons of fun - thank you!

For the most part, Amélie loved the game, especially the booming sounds... but got a bit bored as you will see:

Happy Mother's Day!

Yahoo. I literally JUST walked in the door from taking my last law exam, thank God. Not only do I feel A-W-E-S-O-M-E after being done with my first year in law school with a much better feeling that I'll pass this semester... I had a house full of family (the awesome g-parents), yummy candy, a brand new compact camera (I only have a big SLR that sucked to carry around), and a beautiful card signed from the 5 month old genius waiting for me.

Ummm, I would like any one out there in internet-land to try top my man. Seriously, try to top him. I dare you.

Let the countdown begin.

I'm almost free; almost free. My last classes were this past weekend, I turned in my final paper for writing and now I have to outline and start cramming for exams. One down, three to go.

Oh, and Amélie eats rice cereal now.

You can tell that daddy-o did this video since the editing is smoother.

Good news!

I've had a crazy busy day at work, not being at my desk for more than 20 minutes and I'm off in a few to play a match with Tasha. However, I did find out that my trip to Sweden will either be canceled or postponed. I'm so happy that I won't be flying home one week before I start finals... but no excuses now! Uh-oh.

Amélie says she'll help me study but I have a feeling we'll be playing supermodel baby photo session instead... another hat picture! Hoorah!

I know you're looking...

Okay folks. I've slaved over iMovie this evening, pulling myself away from homework. All for you, ALL for you. Impressive, right?

Oh and by the way, I do have secret methods of figuring out who is viewing & NOT commenting (ehem, family, coworkers, fellow law students you know who you are)...

Enjoy my little gal who just cannot keep quiet lately.

Eucalyptus makes us happy!

Now that Springbreak, Easter, and my b-day are all over with - we start our countdown to May 11 (specifically around 5:30ish that day). You ask, "Why, Jill? Why May 11? Why 5:30ish?" Well, take a good guess. Nevermind, I don't have time for this.

The reason is... my last final is May 11 at 2pm. Therefore, I will be free to have fun again and act like a normal person who looks forward to weekends, that is, until about mid-August when I start classes again. A few certain friends will be happy to read this, because I will now be available on Friday & Saturday nights and even random Tuesdays. This whole having a baby is so easy, she is cute - I can take her anywhere - it's this stupid law school thing that gets in the way of life.

So, for now, you all can assume I'm home studying, reading, preparing my outlines, and/or sneaking away to play a match of tennis to stay sane. I hope to catch up with everyone starting May 12. As of today, I'm on planning that only two special someone's will get my attention on the evening of May 11, and one of them is below wearing a koala outfit (Thanks Jeanine - adorable)!

The other is the sweet-sweet grandma, who is very deserving of a visit by her daughter & granddaughter on Mother's Day and is probably going to be doing a lot of babysitting for the rest of the summer.

My first attempt...

at putting Amélie in a music video. She is just too cute, even with a mom who has poor editing skills.

Easter bunny + birthday fairy = Craig!

Well, I've survived another birthday and Easter. What an event! It was a lovely winterish day when many years the weather has already turned Spring on my birthday. Kind of a bummer, but whatever, 30 isn't very memorable anyways. I'm waiting for that big 37th birthday that everyone goes crazy about...

Amélie's first Easter consisted of church, Aunt JoAnne's house, and then grandma & grandpa's. By the end of the day, we were all exhausted and full... full of yummy dinners and treats. Even Amélie had to pop open her top button.



Thanks for the pic Julie!

Happy almost 30

After a glorious evening of dinner with a few friends (Shan/Matt, Tash/SteveN, and Lisa/Bully) we came home to some dog wrestling and guitar hero. Who would need anything more than a little beer & guitar hero?!?

Lisa rocking it to a little Weezer:


Bully tending to the pooches:


The boo-boo babies acting adorable!!




Craig looking a little like Elvis Costello:

We're a happy family!

Now that daddy is back home from snowboarding in BC, it seems the whole family is much happier. All I have to do is sneeze and we get these crazy giggling episodes.



Happy Easter everyone!

Boohoo...

I might sound a little bit sad this week being Craig is off galavanting in B.C., snowboarding. However, Amélie doesn't seem to mind - thank goodness for the distraction of grandma & grandpa!



In the meantime, I will be a single mom going to law school and working full-time. Holy shit. That is even harder than going to law school and working full-time while being a co-parent. Hmph, go figure. I never realized just how much I liked having the stinky boy (a.k.a. Craig) around. Especially when it's time for me to study, shower, or eat and Amélie demands my attention. I give more & more props to those single parents out there... while I count down until Sunday when the daddy is back in the house.

I hope he enjoys the mountains this week because he won't be seeing them again for a while. Heehee, I demand our next vacation include tennis, surfing, and awesome accents (thinking Australia everyone) and that we BOTH take the trip together; no more vacations w/o one another - it's just too lonely. I'll leave you all with a picture that Craig posted from B.C. Shhhh, don't tell him but it does look amazing.

Ka-Blam! Ka-pOW! Ka-ZAM!

That will be little Amélie when she is hitting the tennis ball. Being that she is getting close to three months old, we figured it was time for her tennis initiation... never too early to start training! Last week, Craig took her to Baseline with Auntie Shannon & Matt to watch the University of MN women's team. Plus, it's also an appropriate subject since I purchased tickets to NYC over Labor Day weekend for Craig & I to watch the US Open. FYI to the grandparents, this is an announcement we will need a babysitter. Mmmuah!

Btw, this week's milestones include more giggles, putting the pacifier (almost) into her mouth herself, and very detailed conversations about google this & google that... I figure the little genius is trying to tell me to invest in google stock.

A big thanks to Aunt Sue & Uncle Tom for Amélie's first tennis outfit. What a dollface.

'Nother hat

I'm insanely busy with classes and quarter-end at work. However, after Granny dropped by today with a new hat - I just haaaaaad to find time to post a pic of Amélie sporting it. Oh, and a few new milestones that cause excitement in our house include a deep-hearted chuckle (happy just like the daddy) and a fondness for brightly colored books (almost just like the mommy, except the mommy doesn't read books with color anymore - bummer).

Am I the only one that hears an old woman from Jersey coming out of the mouth of this child? What are we going to do with her?!



Btw, if you click on the picture it takes you to our Flickr site so you can see the really awesome pics that Craig took today. Seriously, do it!

Knock on Wood

Our house has been terrorized by viruses. It's horrid. There are an array of viruses out in the world - like the kind that make your nose run, eyes well up like fountains, and another kind where you become much too familiar with the dust and dead bugs in the corners of your bathroom. We had all of the above.

In order to make the house happy, grandpa made a special delivery today with V-day goodies for the family, we found out that the ceiling fan now takes #2 in Amélie's eyes.

Balloon's are numero uno, check it:

Supermodel Babies are All the Rage

Quick post here... Thought you'd like to know that our Amélie was recently featured in a photo exposé by The Denver Post. The girl is a natural. Look out Tyra, this kid is destined to be America's Next Top Model. She has the looks, edge, and work ethic of a high-fashion icon. Although, like many models, she desperately needs to break the habit of spitting up after large meals.

LINK: Denver Post