Heart Stopping

at 03/20/10 2:27PM

I hope it's not a testament to my mothering abilities that I've had two completely heart-stopping, panicked moments involving Amelia in the last 24 hours.

The first happened last night. I was making dinner and David was in the living room with the baby. I thought he was watching her but with how fast she is, he looked away for a minute (watching the NCAA tournament) and she crawled into the kitchen. At that second I had been broiling garlic bread in the oven and left the oven open for a second so I could transfer a piece of garlic bread from the oven to David's plate which was on the opposite countertop. I turned around and Amelia was about a foot from the oven, posed to pull up on the blazing hot oven. I guess I'm not one of those people who remain poised in and calm in a dangerous situation. I flipped out. "NO, NO, NO, No!" I screeched as I bolted toward her. I was able to scoop her up before she could reach her little hand to the oven and I walked into the living room. "She canNOT be in the kitchen with me when I'm cooking! She tried to pull up on the oven when I had it open! I thought you were watching her!" I didn't leave David time to respond, I just handed her to him and left. We talked about it later - it's not like I normally have the oven wide open when I'm cooking so next time I do that I'll just make sure to tell David that it's not safe for her to come in the kitchen. Seriously I about had a heart attack.

The next panicky moment was this morning. This is one of those times I've been really grateful to have a video monitor. If you remember in the post before my last one there was a picture of Amelia in her crib. We kept two video monitor cameras on her crib since she moves around so much. We finally mounted a shelf and put one on the shelf so that we get a full crib shot of her. There are still times when we can't really see all of her, so we left the other camera sitting on top of the crib. She had never shown much interest in the cameras and since we recently lowered her crib I didn't even think she could reach them. I can't move the crib to unplug the camera so I just left it. If Amelia gets enough sleep, she will wake up and suck on her pacifier in her crib and play for upwards of 30-45 minutes before she starts talking or whining for me to come get her. She was doing that this morning when I checked the monitor, only this time she had the camera next to her in the crib and she was laying down, playing with the cord. I didn't panic - I showed it to David on the monitor then walked into her bedroom. By the time I got in there, she was sitting up and the cord was wrapped around her neck. I don't mean loosely. I mean if she would have tried to stand up it would have strangled her. I can't believe I'm even writing about this. I know my mom (and probably David's mom) are going to read this and possibly have a minor panic attack, but we've avoided crazy close calls thus far in her young life and it wouldn't be babyhood without her giving us heart palpatations.

Oh, and yes, David is going to unplug the camera and get it out of the crib this morning before she even takes her first nap.

I'm doing a big giveaway on my Facebook fan page. So, if you have a little girl or know a little girl who would love some hair accessories, go to my Millie's Bows fan page and enter the giveaway. I think you have you become a fan before you can enter (Contest ends Tuesday night at 10pm PST). Here's a photo of the giveaway:

Have a wonderful weekend!

Sigh. I wish I could tell you that these would be the last moments like that, but kids have a way of stopping your heart on a regular basis. It's really a wonder most survive childhood!

And kids not being in the kitchen is one of my big things. We have a very small kitchen and it is just so dangerous for little ones when someone is cooking. We have a blanket "no kitchen" rule for all of the kiddos. Of course, they have to test me and see every day if the rule is still in effect, but still. :)

by littlelamb at 03/20/10 2:49PM
Try cooking with four kids running around you! Everytime I open up the oven, I yell really loudly to "STAND BACK!!!!" They have all learned to stand back by now :-) We too have a video monitor in the triplet's room, but it only shows two cribs... so we put Alex in the crib that doesn't show... he's a laid back kid, and not a trouble maker :-)

Glad Amelia (and you and David) are okay :-)

by kristasfa at 03/20/10 3:11PM
caitlyn pulled the camera down into the bed one night & crashed her head with it. never a dull moment with babies/toddlers

by mrs_poochie at 03/20/10 3:18PM
You're an attentive Mama (her two-camera nursery sounds like a high security unit for only the most dangerous criminals j/k :) Her new-found mobility lends itself to this scariness. Such cute bows!

by lifeisgoood at 03/20/10 4:13PM
Kate had a yarn from her blanket wrapped around her neck...not that tightly, but made me nervous!
Glad everyone is ok!! :)

by linz_foster at 03/21/10 4:54PM
hahaha! thanks!

by whipsmile at 03/21/10 10:30PM

Why can't teething be painless?

at 03/02/10 5:20AM

I'm a wee bit neurotic when it comes to how my child sleeps. She moves around in her sleep constantly. I think this is partly due to the fact that she is an incredibly light sleeper. God made her this way; we did not. I am very sensitive to noises and perhaps because of it or in spite of it I tried very hard to make Amelia used to being in the midst of life itself. All day every day in the months following her birth (until she started sleeping in her own room for naps) she would take her naps in the living room. David and I would keep the TV at a normal volume, unload the dishwasher, etc., hoping she would just get used to sleeping wherever, whenever. Didn't work. I guess with my noise sensitivity and David having been a light sleeper most of his life our child didn't stand a chance.

This is why my blog posts are so lengthy - I get off on tangents and ramble.

Anyway, so Amelia moves around a lot at night and I'm neurotic about checking the video monitor to make sure that she's still covered up and her face isn't too close to the bumper. David makes fun of me because even though I can see her on the video monitor, I frequently go into her room to check on her. Sometimes I accidentally wake her up by moving the blanket out from underneath her feet or by grabbing her by the ankles and pulling her away from the side of the crib. Usually she goes right back out, but since she's been teething it's a whole new ballgame.

First, it takes forever to get her to sleep at night. Bottle, nursing, teething tablets, Motrin, paci, rocking, more rocking. You name it, we've tried it. Gone are the days where I could lay her down and she'd drift off to sleep. She needs me to rock her now. I really don't mind - I absolutely love the time I can spend rocking her and cuddling with her. It's the times that she's so uncomfortable that she screams when she's in her crib and she screams when I'm rocking her that's tough. Or when I rock her to sleep only to lay her down and have her start crying again.

Can I just stop and say that it's really creepy to be in the living room of your home and hear breathing that isn't your own? I know it's either the dog or one of the 2 cats, but still...My entire point is that I didn't check on her tonight at all after I put her to bed. I saw in the monitor that she was covered but I didn't check the monitor after that. Usually I'll check it before I go to bed around 11pm then go and adjust her and cover her up, but obviously I haven't gone to bed. So she woke up at midnight crying. I tried rocking her to sleep a couple of times but it resulted in her crying and standing in her crib. She's finally asleep now after I nursed her and rocked her.

She can pull herself up to stand in her crib. As of, oh, last Saturday. She pulled to her knees (which I actually think is what's pictured) a couple of times that day so I asked David to lower the mattress. He did, and after her next nap when I went in to get her she had pulled all the way up to standing. Whew.

And here she is today. I caught her in this position when I came back to the living room after having heated up her lunch. She really loves those Yogurt Bites.

And she somehow managed to prop herself underneath the same table a little later. You can't really tell, but she's standing with one hand on the diaper caddy and one hand on the table support. If she moved, she bumped her head. So, being the wonderful mom that I am I made sure to snap a picture and then help her get out.

After David got home from work today we took Amelia outside for another shot with the tree. It looks much better than it did even a few days ago.

I want to try feeding Amelia what we eat since I hear that's the best way to raise a non-picky eater. So David broke out the high chair for the first time and she ate at the dining room table with us. Well, she didn't really eat. She posed for a few pictures and shoved the food around. She wasn't hungry.

She also might want me to tell you that for a while now she's been drinking out of her sippy cup all by herself. Not always tipping it far enough to get water and not always attempting to drink it with the sipper facing the right way, but she has the right idea, anyway. She's still just on water...we are holding off on juice for as long as humanly possible.

Finally, here are a couple of pacifier clips I made for Amelia tonight. If you have any sewing ability whatsoever, please don't look closely at my stitches. One of them is just one-sided ribbon. The other is one-sided ribbon that I stitched together so that it would be a thicker, two-sided paci clip.

Business is going well...many new items listed and I have a few orders I need to fill which is why I haven't been blogging much.

Happy Tuesday!

Happy baby! That is one pretty little girl. :-)

by whipsmile at 03/02/10 7:22AM
She's adorable!!!! As far as sleeping -- we always used the CIO (cry it out ) method: Put them down and let them cry for 20 minutes and then calm them down, and repeat as long as we had too. Autumn is a light sleeper too. Noah could sleep through a tornado. I know some aren't a fan of CIO, I have some friends who use that lavender bedtime stuff and they say that works. Its a phase and she will survive and youwill too! You are a GOOD mommy and Amelia is one happy baby!!!! hugs!

by shadders05 at 03/02/10 8:54AM
do you have two monitors on her crib?? :)

by ladidodd at 03/02/10 10:52AM
We rocked Addie to sleep every night for 14 months. I wouldn't have traded that special time for anything :-) You have a very sweet girl :-)

by catlady at 03/02/10 11:33AM
Carrie - Yes :) She moves around so much that she'll move off camera. Two cameras came with the monitor so we decided to use both :)

by DessertDiva at 03/02/10 12:03PM
She looks lots like her cousin Caleb in some of these pictures! Definitely can see the family resemblance!

by mjintexas at 03/02/10 1:39PM
I love her smile!

by clarinet_jen at 03/02/10 4:12PM
I love the picture of her in front of the tree!

Teething is so hard. It throws off any semblance of routine you may have established. This too shall pass.

by juliev at 03/02/10 4:47PM
Her little pink sweater with the cherry tree is so sweet!

by lifeisgoood at 03/02/10 8:59PM
we kept the monitor on the crib like you do... and one day i was watching the monitor when reese stood up and grabbed it :) thats when we decided it was time to hang it on the wall out of reach ;) it was so funny watching her come after it from the monitor perspective, though! its little things like that and lowering the mattress that made me so sad my baby was not going to be a baby much longer!! :/

are the two cameras on different channels to switch back and forth? or how do you use one monitor and two cameras?

YES i would love a chili recipe!!! thanks :)

by ladidodd at 03/03/10 10:36AM
Oh, fun times ahead!! She sure is a cutie.

by mockinbird at 03/03/10 10:45AM
She is just so sweet!!! I love that picture with the tree!

by mommaroush at 03/05/10 11:51AM
she is sooo cute !

by star97 at 03/06/10 2:36PM
Love her sweet smile!

by shelbysmom at 03/07/10 7:35PM
We had to hang Kate's monitor on the wall, too. She likes to grab the cord - I bet Millie will, too - now that she's standing up.

by linz_foster at 03/08/10 1:17PM
I love the picture with the blossoms! I'm impressed you still have the bumper up in her crib. By that age my kiddos were untying it and doing all manner of strange things to it. :)

by littlelamb at 03/19/10 3:23PM

Our Story

at 02/12/10 11:15AM

I've moved around a lot. I've lived in Oklahoma, Michigan, North Carolina, Oregon, Florida, Illinois, and Washington.

When I was 21, I moved to the Chicago area for no other reason than to be roomies with a good friend from college. I had no job, little money, and a little Saturn car that somehow made the road trip from Oregon to Illinois. I stayed in the Chicago area for 2 1/2 years which surprised me since I was extremely homesick the entire time I was there. I finally sold my furniture and my little Saturn and moved home to Oregon in the fall of 2004.

Christmas 2005, 5 months after we met

A month in to job searching I got a call from a recruiter who worked for the same company I had just left in Chicago. She wanted to know if I would be interested in doing the same thing I had been doing in Chicago, only I would be doing it in Seattle. I hesitated. I just got home after being away from home since my freshman year of college and I really didn't want to leave. But, I wasn't really sure of where to go next and since this position was just a temporary fill-in for a girl going on maternity leave, I agreed. I packed up again and headed north, this time in my parents' Toyota Avalon. I stayed with friends of a friend for the first month or so, then moved in to an Extended Stay hotel. I missed home (and having a stove) and would drive the 3 1/2 hours to Portland every single weekend.

February 2006, Kerry Park in Seattle

The temporary job ended up becoming permanent when the girl decided not to come back from maternity leave. I was happy to have a more stable income and health benefits, but I realized when I accepted the job that I was, for now, "stuck" living away from home again. I missed my family and I missed my nephew who was 1 at the time. I moved in to a more permanent housing situation but still drove home almost every weekend. I still didn't know hardly anyone up here and on the weekends I did stay, I would go for runs and veg on the couch.

Us on our honeymoon in Ocho Rios, Jamaica

Finally, I decided I could at least use some company to show me around the city. I got a Match.com account and was amazed at the response. Apparently, if you were a woman with a Match account you got bombarded. I did. I don't even remember how many email responses I got but it must have been between 30-40 every couple of days. I didn't want to take all of the effort it took to write each person back. The majority of the emails went straight to my "deleted" items, while few were responded to and others loitered around in my Inbox until I decided if I wanted to respond or not. I went on dates with 2 guys from the site but both fizzled out after a couple of months. One of the emails that loitered in my Inbox was from a guy who sounded very well-spoken and sweet, but his photo was from far away and from the waist up, which made him look short and scrawny. I left his email in my Inbox because it was one of the few that wasn't creepy or over-the-top...just very low key and sweet. I never got around to responding.

Us in San Diego, March 2007

Six months later, I had a friend named Mary who I knew from church camp when I was a teenager. She was getting married and invited me to her bridal shower. She and I went to church together and she told me a couple of times about a guy named David who had just gotten out of a long relationship but she thought we would get along so she wanted me to meet him. People had often tried to set me up before and either it was a disaster or it never happened. I smiled and nodded at Mary but never said much about David. Mary pointed David's sister out to me at her bridal shower. She was taking pictures and I thought she was pretty. Apparently, she and Mary were working together to get David and me to meet. I found out later that she showed David the pictures she took of me and he nodded and smiled at her the same way I did at Mary.

Us. Wrigley Field, May 2008

Fast forward a couple of weeks and it's Mary's last Sunday at church before she moves to another state with her soon-to-be husband. David, his sister, and his sister's husband come to our congregation to see Mary for the last time and so that David and I can meet. I have no idea that they're going to be there. I had been at an air show the day before and was tomato red from a sunburn. I remember he got up during services (which he never does) to use the restroom and he passed by me. I remember thinking how cute he was and that I wanted to meet him. I didn't know it was the David that everyone kept telling me about. We went to lunch at a Mexican restaurant and his family jokes about the fact that David's sister practically interviewed me the entire time. David thought it would be cheesy to ask for my phone number at that time, and he knew he would see me at Mary's wedding the following Saturday so we parted ways.

I called my Mom before I got out of the parking lot and told her I had met a really cute Christian guy.

This will get a lot longer if I keep giving every single detail so I'll summarize.

Us on our 1 year anniversary trip to New England, October 2007

He asked for, and got, my phone number at Mary's wedding. We hung out as friends for a couple of months while I dragged my feet to commit and he tried very hard to win me over. I was an idiot, but I finally wised up. I think it was because I knew that when he and I got together, that was it...he was my forever. That, and I was dating someone else at the time. I dropped him like a hot potato once I actually made up my mind and the rest, as they say, is history.

Oh, and it was him. The email from the really nice "short, scrawny" guy. It was David (all 6'3" and 190 lbs of him). He was fresh out of a long relationship and decided to try the online dating thing. He emailed a total of 2 girls on Match and one of them was me. I guess God decided we deserved a second shot. I'm sooo glad.

He proposed on Tax Day, ironically enough (he's in Finance). He did it surrounded by my parents, sisters, and their husbands. It was perfect. Here's a picture right after I said "yes".

We were married October 2006 at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club - the same place Tiger Woods won his unprecedented 3rd consecutive Amateur title. I used to be proud of that fun fact regarding our wedding site.

We had a beautiful, gorgeous wedding. My mom worked so hard to make every detail perfect and I love her for that, especially since I was still living 3 hours from my wedding site. It was all wonderful. Every single thing. I know my neck is funky in this picture but I love our expressions because it shows how happy and excited we are to be getting married.

Happy Valentine's Day, my love!

4-23 of 23 comments « prev 1 2 next »

So, did match-maker-mary come back for the wedding?

by turner120995 at 02/12/10 12:06PM
nice story! I didn't know any of it...except of course the living in Illinois and moving home and then to Seattle.
:-)

by whipsmile at 02/12/10 12:52PM
what a great story! I love how we get second chances to meet important people... I too was set up with my hubby by my SIL :-)

by kristasfa at 02/12/10 12:53PM
Love that story! I am so glad that you shared! It really seems like God was working hard to get you together! :)

by shelbysmom at 02/12/10 1:04PM
I loved it! I was disappointed when you decided to "summarize" more. I love all the pictures. Y'all are such a cute couple!

by carolattheriver at 02/12/10 1:16PM
Thanks for sharing!!!! What a NEAT story! Happy Valentines Day! You guys are a VERY cute couple! :)

by nillabarr at 02/12/10 1:25PM
I love your story...I love it when we can see God working and having worked in our lives.

You are so photogenic, too! I wish I took as good of pictures. :)

by tess at 02/12/10 1:44PM
thanks for sharing that story! i love hearing those sort of stories :) happy valentines day, to all three of you!!

by ladidodd at 02/12/10 1:48PM
Aww, so sweet. Thanks for sharing your story. I was long gone by then and didn't know any of this stuff. I knew you had moved to Chicago, but not for how long or why. Isn't it wonderful the way God blesses us with good mates even through all of our foolishness?

by sarasponda at 02/12/10 3:28PM
What a great story!! The Match.com part is amazing - love it! :)

by jess at 02/12/10 6:57PM
Michelle wants to hear David's side of the match.com story.

by turner120995 at 02/12/10 11:48PM
We were wondering who first realized that David was the one who sent the email? And what about the other email that David sent? Did that person respond?

by turner120995 at 02/13/10 12:54AM
That's the right answer! :-)

by turner120995 at 02/13/10 10:45AM
Enjoyed the story and the pictures (and I can very much sympathize about the air show and sunburn).

by jlmanager at 02/13/10 1:50PM
What a neat story! I can't believe that was his email! Your hair looks cute with bangs.

by sar at 02/13/10 8:59PM
That is really neat about the email, especially. :)

by mjintexas at 02/15/10 11:06PM
I love your story! Perfect!

by butterflyhomerachel at 02/18/10 8:18PM
That was so great... thanks for the review. I cried all the way through it. God is Good Jamie! :)

by shadders05 at 02/19/10 7:26PM
We were out in Seattle on our way to Hawaii. Went to the top of the Space Needle and to the Museum of Flight - fascinating!

by kailua at 02/24/10 9:21PM
So sweet....thanks for sharing!

by dragonfly at 02/27/10 9:00PM

Talented friends & Millie is 7 months old

at 02/03/10 3:24AM

Seriously contemplating leaving Pleonast. Facebook and Blogger take up the majority of my online time, not to mention what I do for my Etsy shop. I'm going to give it a few days then decide at that time. I've posted about every other day on my Bungalow Bee blog, so you can go there for updates.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Man, I have talented friends. And nice friends.

Beverley has been my twin's bff (sorry - just using the lingo that was used when they became friends) since middle school, and also a friend of mine. She has a beautiful daughter named Lucy who recently turned one. Bev offered to take some photos of her baby, my baby, and my sisters' babies all wearing some of the bows I've made.

She did a fantastic job.

Seriously, I feel like my bows don't live up to the photos taken of them! Hey, at least they're perched on some seriously cute little heads. And, the good news is that I'm getting better at my bow-making skills, which helps David to know when I'm buying out my supplier's entire stock of ribbon.

Did I mention I will soon have 1.5" crochet headbands in a variety of colors in stock? I will. I'm so excited. Nylon headbands, too, in pink and in white.

There are so many cute photos, but I guess you'll have to go to my Etsy shop to see them. Or become a Facebook fan. I do want to show you this one of Kate, not only because she's adorable, but because she's sporting my new ladybug clippie.

Okay, enough shamless plugging.

While I'm on the subject of talented friends, I have another friend who dyes and spins her own yarn and makes absolutely gorgeous items. Her Etsy shop is called Neauveau Fiber Arts and Supplies. She offers free shipping on everything! Here's my favorite item in her store...a Snow Bunny handknit baby's hat.

My baby is 7 months old today (Wednesday). 7 months. I wrote about her milestones in my previous post so I guess there's no use in posting them again. I'm so proud of her, though. I can't get enough of her. She still isn't feeling well which makes me sad. But, except for the gurgly nose and cough you wouldn't know it - she's still happy and playful. A bit clingy and hasn't been napping well but that's to be expected.

You know how I posted about our PC being in our bedroom? My husband is currently snoozing away and I'm still up trying to get the pictures uploaded to Etsy ASAP. I'm going to wait until tomorrow to load them onto Facebook.

Oh, one more thing. I was in a rush to get out the door and to my sister's house last Saturday when Bev was going to meet us to take the photos that I didn't change Amelia out of her recently green bean stained shirt. I thought the shirt she was wearing over it would cover it, but it turns out she didn't wear that shirt the whole time. Thus, the trailer trash look. Not my most shining motherhood moment. Ah, well. What's a baby without a stain on her shirt?

Very cute! I can't believe your baby is seven months old and I still haven't sent your baby gift! :(

I guess I'm finally going to have to break down and join Facebook. Even my dad the other day asked me if I was on Facebook! She's hardly ever on here anymore, either . . . thanks to Facebook.

by jenkegley at 02/03/10 7:20AM
Don't go!!!!!

cute pics btw.

by whipsmile at 02/03/10 10:04AM
I hate it when people leave pleonast, because I just don't have time to keep up with 1000 other sites, so that usually means I lose touch with them. I'm on Facebook occasionally, but definitely can't keep up with everyone's 67 status updates a day.

by mjintexas at 02/03/10 10:39AM
Oh please don't go!

I do see you on FB, but I love seeing your name light up on here and always come right over. I am on here most of the time and like she said, I don't want to lose touch! I do love your posts.

Now, that being said, I LOVE Amelia's eyes...so pretty! If I have a little girl next time, I want that lady bug bow. You are SO creative...

by tess at 02/03/10 11:09AM
Don't go ... I can never remember to go to other sites ... :)

by wifelet at 02/03/10 11:22AM
They are all so cute!! I remember Bev she is a sweetie! I have been spreading the word to some of my friends here about your bows! A friend of mine at church has twins and they always have bows in their hair so I am sure you will be getting an order from her soon! I also have been planning on making an order I just have to make up my mind about what colors. There are so many choices. :) I love the ladybug clippie!

by jenfc00 at 02/03/10 11:47AM
I want you to stay as well!! :)

by jess at 02/03/10 5:03PM
I think you should stay, also... An occasional update is all that is required here! LOL

by lauriw1030 at 02/04/10 12:10AM
I would be sad if you went to facebook...I love your updates!

by sarahmarcelle at 02/07/10 1:54AM