Santa Claus is coming to town...

It seems like there is always something new and exciting happening in our lives these days and this weekend was no exception.  Santa was at our local elementary school on Saturday, so we took Amita to meet him.  She did surprisingly well - no crying, no beard pulling - she was very calm as she sat on his lap and took in the scene.  I hope she remembered to tell him what she wants for Christmas this year!

Here she is checking out the big guy up close.

I also finally finished Amita's Christmas stocking this weekend (after 10pm on Sunday night!).  It was a challenging knitting project and I'm pretty proud that I was not only able to finish it myself, but that it actually turned out too!  And the pattern I had was similar to the stocking that my grandmother knit me 30+ years ago, so it was really fun to make one like that for Amita too.

Here's the front view of her stocking... I embellished it with a little silver bling!

Amita posing in her special Santa outfit.  I'm thinking she'll get to wear this most of the winter... who wouldn't want to be in a snuggly fleece jumper this time of year?!?!?!

Here's Amita showing that she's SOOOO BIG and modeling her new cat sweater.

We also managed to install a baby gate on Sunday.  We had Amita and our two furry boys "helping" us install it.  The way Amita was getting around, it was pretty obvious this was a necessary enhancement to our dining room.  Now the stairs are off limits to her!

Amita modeling an animal print hat.  She's keeping it toasty and oh-so-cute in the cold!!

Cats and Babies Like the Same Toys

It is becoming ever more apparent to us that cats and babies pretty much like the same toys.  I feel like we didn't need to go out and get anything special for Amita... her favorite things are the cat toys we already had laying around.  And if there's one thing that babies and cats love... it's boxes!  Amita and the furry boys "helped" us install her new car seat by playing in the box that it came in.  I think the biggest challenge for the cats was that Amita got the best spot in the box and they were stuck waiting their turn (don't worry, she eventually took a nap and they had tons of fun in box too!).

Amita guarding her new territory.  Azrael didn't want to share the space that badly!

Both cats waiting anxiously for their turn inside the box!

And in landscaping news... we spent two of our days off over Thanksgiving finishing our big yard project out front.  Our friend Paul was kind enough to let us pick rocks off of his family farm to help us finish the giant washes that were dug into our front yard this fall.  It took two trunk-fulls in the Rogue to get the base laid down on Saturday.

Then we spent Sunday (while Amita was napping) making several trips with our wheelbarrow to a new home site in our subdivision that had a substantial rock pile.  Below is the finished product.  It looks even more amazing close up, so keep your eyes peeled next time you visit... assuming it isn't covered in snow by then!

Pumpkin Pie

Our little pumpkin is as sweet as pie and just as irresistible!  This has been a better week and a half for Amita - she has been eating more and gaining weight (as judged unscientifically by how much heavier she feels in our arms!).  We are counting our blessings that we have such a healthy, happy little girl!

And in case our first Thanksgiving as a family wasn't enough, Amita also chose to start crawling today!  A toy got away from her and she finally managed to push herself forward to go after it.  I guess we need to get some gates...  And the best part of all of it was that she did it while we were video chatting with my bro, sis-in-law and niece!  So they all got to see her first crawl live with us!!

Hope your turkey day is as filled with joy and blessings as ours!  Here's a pictorial of what we've been doing for the past few weeks.

Fun with gourds (note all the bottom teeth!)

Playing a new game... Where's Azzy?  He was trying to hide and Amita was enjoying finding him.  I'm not sure he's thrilled with this game...

Look ma... no hands!

Napping after a drive to go meet new baby Linus... that cute little guy sure made Amita feel heavier!!

Big game today... who to cheer for?  The right answer is the Lions, of course!

Hanging out with daddy.  I guess her days with him are #1.

Amita the conductor!  She got a hold of Azzy's favorite toy and did a lot of swinging it around.  Azrael didn't know if he should be mad she stole his toy or if he should play with her.  In the end, he just sat close and stared!

Modeling a vest (for possibly the last time!).  It was very hard to zip over her newly rounded tummy!!

Helping with the laundry.  How come I don't have that much fun when I'm doing it?!?!?!

She finished all her food and apparently was hungry for more!

Scattering all her toys - definitely one of her favorite games!

Hat Season

This weekend has been mixed for us.  On Friday Amita went to her 10 month doctor's appointment to check on her weight.  She has gained more than a pound in the past month and was exactly 15 lbs!  We were relieved to get that news and we're hoping that we don't have to take her in again until her 12 month check up.  

However, since Thursday, Amita has been eating less and less and today, she flat out refused to eat any formula.  So we're worried not only that we're going to lose all of our progress over the past month, but also that we'll need to get her back to the doctor if she doesn't start eating again.  

But even with the highs and lows of this weekend, we still got to enjoy special times with Amita.  It turns out that this season's hottest accessory is hats!  It was cool and breezy, so I dug out all the winter hats and Amita was willing to model some for us this weekend.  She is able to remove them when she chooses, so (as with most things!) Amita decides when she will and will not be wearing a hat.

Happy Teething

Amita has been teething a lot lately... but with her amber teething necklace, she's still sleeping through the night.  We can deal with tons of drool during the day as a trade off!!  The above picture of Amita was her looking cute in her little outfit for less than an hour before it required changing (not just from drool...).  We ended up having four wardrobe changes on Saturday! Good thing she makes everything look cute.

And speaking of cute - here she is modeling a pair of funny glasses she got from one of her daycare teachers for Halloween.

Hanging out with Grandma Bubb - Amita enjoyed her first Fakesgiving this weekend!  

How big is Amita???  Sooooo big!!!!

The master chef before he fries the turkey.

Happy Halloween

Amita was a red hot chili pepper for Halloween (the vegetable, not the band!). And for the first time in 8 years of marriage, Aaron and I got to hand out candy to trick-or-treater's! Amita helped once she woke up from her nap and she spent the afternoon looking cute in her costume.

Now, you've got to believe me when I say we're not that into Halloween... but somehow, we ended up with a whole lot of free outfits that are really only appropriate in October... so we decided to live it up and dress Amita in them before the month is over. I don't want to be the weirdo with the Christmas lights in April... or the mom dressing her kid in Halloween clothes at Christmas!

Look out... it's Amita-stein!

Amita of the Caribbean!

Amita-phobia!

It's the Great Pumpkin, Amita!

Oooooooooo.... it's spoooooooky ghosts!

She might be grandma's little pumpkin... but she sure has mad scientist hair!

Baxter was incognito on Halloween!

Mama and the cutest little pepper in town.

Amita and her boys, relaxing after the big holiday is over.

Cousin Larry Appleton

We got to spend last weekend with Cousin Piper, not Cousin Larry Appleton! And Piper is doing such a great job cruising around, it won't be long until she's doing the Dance of Joy like Balki!

It was Piper's first birthday and we spent the weekend in Minnesota helping celebrate. Since Piper got out of the NICU and Amita was born, we've been lucky enough to get the girls together every three months. It's always great to see family... but it's been especially fun watching how the girls are growing and changing. And for us, it's like a little window into the future. We know that whatever Piper is doing now, Amita will be doing in 3 more months! Seems like we'll need to get started on our babyproofing sometime soon...

Here's a picture of Amita squirming on the floor. She's not exactly crawling... but she's definitely moving around!

A picture of the birthday girl!

The girls on a double stroller ride to the park. We all enjoyed the warm days over the weekend and got out as much as we could.

Let them eat cake! I love how dainty Piper was about the whole thing!!

Hanging with Auntie and Uncle!

Taking a break from squirming to pose for mama.

Cute as a Bug

Amita is always in motion, and the above picture of her doing an impression of a hummingbird cracked me up! We got to enjoy Indian Summer and get a few last wearings of all our favorite summer clothes before the fall weather arrived. And now we are gleefully digging out sweaters and fleece jammies - I love the turning of the seasons!

We took Amita to her 9-month checkup last week and she was 27 1/4 inches tall, but weighed a few ounces less than at her 6-month checkup. The doctor says she's healthy and strong and that we shouldn't worry (easy for him to say), but that we need to feed her as much as possible for the next month to try to get her weight back up. So we're moving her to a higher carb diet... sweet potatoes, regular potatoes, avocados... all with her favorite, applesauce! Hopefully that helps change the trajectory of her weight gain.

Here are a few more pics of Amita from the past two weeks.

Hanging out with Daddy on our anniversary. We had the day off from work and kept her in daycare. Eating breakfast out together was awesome!!

Giving a Great Grandma Morehouse face...

Going Rogue! We finally have a responsible vehicle for hauling around a child and her many accoutrements.

The face she makes before she says, "BAH"!

Trying Daddy's hat on... seems a little big yet...