Amelia's First Overnight (and other updates)

Last Friday night Joe and I took some friends out to a restaurant as a "thank you" for pretty much painting our entire house. We asked Joe's mom to babysit and she was very enthusiastic. I was a little nervous as this was Amelia's first overnight and Joe's family lives about 45 minutes away. We called after we left the restaurant and found out that Amelia had cried for an hour before going to bed! I was sad and had the inkling to go and pick her up but Joe was able to reassure me that Amelia would be okay. We went to get Amelia at about 10:00 the next day and were pleased to find that Joe's aunt and cousin were also there to visit. So Amelia survived and so did we :-) We might even do it again sometime!

Joe and I are getting more and more settled every day. Amelia and I are getting into a routine. We even broke down and got an exersaucer so that I can put her in something while I use the bathroom so that I'm not disturbing Joe as much.

Amelia's sleeping BEAUTIFULLY and I'm so proud that her night continues to stretch from 7:00 to 5:00 and sometimes even close to 6:00. Amelia has also been able to slide around a little on her tummy but she still is not that close to crawling. We're still waiting and yet relishing in the fact that she's not too mobile yet!

Starting in February I will be babysitting a two year old girl a couple days a week (actually we will have a trial run for a couple weeks to see if it will stick longterm). I think it will be good for Amelia to have other children around. My sister Becca was over all day today (it was a snow day for her) and Amelia LOVED it. Becca did well too!

Babyproofing has proven to be a challenge. We've got all our outlets plugged and chemicals moved out of the way, the kitchen is not TOTALLY babyproofed yet but we're looking for a gate big enough to block that off limits. The rest of the house has the door handles that will keep Amelia out of the "off limits" rooms. Joe feels like they are also "Joe Proof" but I think he's getting the hang of the door knobs.

Joe's been working hard from home. He's actually been really good about locking himself up in the "blue room" to do his various contract jobs. It will still be more reassuring to me when he's working full time for one company.

Amelia had a flue shot on Thursday and was quite the champ. Immunizations are free at the hospital we go to so that helps a lot. We need to get on an insurance plan ASAP though, definitely before Amelia's 9 month appointment.

Joe's loving working for the church and we had about 20 people in the youth group last Sunday. I've done one session of Kid's Bible Quizzing for about 8 kids and I had a TON of fun doing that as well. I was also informed that I will be heading up VBS this summer (yes and I do mean informed) but I'm really excited about that too. The Church continues to shower us with gifts and have been SO gracious. I feel so welcomed and I am so excited to do what I can to give to this church and this community.

I've only caught up with some of my friends so far. Namely my best friend April came over last week and we did some scrap booking together. So much fun. I'm still waiting to meet up with Amara and Pete, Ashley and Josh, Darren, Julie, Charlie, and some other "Mainers".

Well it's about 6:30 and Amelia is definitely ready for bedtime. I think that's pretty much all for now. As usual, I'm hoping to post pictures soon :-)