July = Busy Month

In July, Amelia learned to clap, babble, eat Cheerios, drink from her sippy cup, go down playground slides, sleep on her belly, get from her belly to a sitting position, nap on the beach, measure a lobster, sweat through 100 degree heat, live in a house of 9 people, and survive without Mommy for two days. Here are a few highlights in pictures and videos.

Morning nap on the beach while the cousins played.

At LL Bean 7/23/11

Just for comparison...this was almost exactly 8 months ago 11/24/10.

Getting a hold of her first lobster.

With Tristan on the beach in MA. This is her new face.

Eating a cucumber on Grampy's birthday.

Swimming at Walden Pond in MA.

Clapping on cue.

Drinking from her Sippy.

This is how she now plays with her play mat. A bit different than here.

8 Months!

Well, it's the hottest, most humid day of the year. We went to church, hosted a baby shower, cleaned up, and got the house ready for Rob's family to arrive. Needless to say, I didn't manage to get the 8 month picture. It will have to be a day late (if I remember tomorrow). I did take some pictures today though.

This one is for Beannie. When I was about Amelia's age, there was a Cheerios contest for the cutest baby to be on the box. Beannie and my mom took 4 rolls of film (yes, pictures were different then) of me with a Cheerios box. Here is Amelia's version. If there was a contest now, she would certainly win. (No, I didn't win either)

This is how I found her this morning (at 8:45 when she finally woke up...she usually gets up at 5). She had ALL of the things in her crib piled on top of her in the corner, including a Wally from her mobile.

Lily(almost 7 months) and Amelia(8 months) compared to here.

The girls again. Compare to here.

Fourth of July!

Once again, Rob and I thought it would be appropriate to celebrate our country's independence by punishing ourselves and running the LLBean 4th of July 10K. We've run many 10Ks (and always question our sanity when the alarm goes off at 5AM) but this is no ordinary race. It is approximately 1.5 miles downhill (at the beginning) and 4.7 miles uphill. In other words, it's a torture race. This is why they have to bribe us with free running shoes and a tech T-shirt and we are suckers and always sign up. In my maybe 30 runs since birthing Amelia 7 months ago, I've only gone farther than 2 miles once, and that was only 4. Plus, everywhere I run is completely flat. So getting up early and running 6.2 on a hilly crazy course was, well, crazy. However, the weather cooperated (foggy and only warm, not hot) and I had a great race.

Paul Munro watched Amelia during the race so neither of us had to push the stroller. Thanks, Paul! Pushing a stroller on that race would have been nuts, although plenty of people did (and they all beat me). I learned however, that the slow crowd that I run with is quite fun. Everyone is cracking jokes and chatting while we run to help pass the time (and pain). Maybe that's why we are all so slow. Amelia also napped in her stroller which was great since she had been up since 4:45 and we wanted to still get breakfast and go to the parade. The Parrot trick (draping a blanket over the stroller so she can't see) is key and has served us well for months.

After the race...Amelia just woke up in her stroller.

Diaper changing in the back of the Subaru. And Amelia is eating her toe of course.

Off to the Parade.

It looks like Amelia has really long legs...:o)

Later that evening, a bunch of our friends gathered at the deserted University of New England in Biddeford where one friend works as a residence hall director. We grilled some yummy meat and hung out in the dorm. Amelia even slept in her first dorm room...collage bound already.

Lily and Amelia at our 4th party...it's cranky time, hence the binkys.

Such a pretty dress! Thanks Gramma and Pa!

One of our few family shots. Couldn't get one with all 3 of us smiling.

7 Months!

Needless to say, it's been a while again. I really want to be a blogger but I guess I'm just not cut out for it. I'll just keep trying. I'm really just jealous of Alex's ability to update her blog almost every day: alexandbrandon.blogspot.com It's become a baby book for them and I love that. My baby book/calendar is also not very up to date. Recently I opened it to see everything from April 18th on was blank...oops. Luckily, I post to Facebook frequently so I went back through my status updates to remember what happened when. It's also far easier to upload pictures to facebook, which is probably why this blog is lacking.

Amelia will be awake any minute now but I think I have time to load the monthly pictures. She is getting so big! I had to move the Whale to out of her reach because it was impossible to get a good picture when she was throwing it all over the room. Once she starts realizing that she can roll off her back I might need some duck tape to get these pictures.

I also realized I should have been putting her in a plain white onsie or something so the pictures looked the same. I guess the color add more character. All of these things I think of too late.

7 Months

6 Months

5 Months

4 Months

3 Months

(PS she slept in this outfit 2 nights ago, it still fits 4 months later)

2 Months

1 Month

1 Week

6 Months!

Our little babydoll had been out in the real world for half a year now...hard to believe. Everyone says it goes by so fast and it really does! Amelia is loving our new house, lots of space to play, a big backyard, friends and neighbors, lots of windows, and of course Soxy-who she has taken a particular interest in lately.

At our 6 month appointment Amelia was 15lbs 6oz (50%) and 26.5 inches (95%). She is tall and skinny. She has outgrown most 6 month clothing because of her height!

She is sitting up well now-has been since about a week before we moved. This milestone was VERY helpful for packing and unpacking. She can play by herself now much better than when she was stuck on her back. I surround her with toys and it takes her a good 15 minutes to toss them all out of reach.

We went down to Mass to visit Meg Rezac and Kristin McKean. Both of my friends had a baby girl on April 8 (Marlow and Kylie). We had a GREAT time with all the girls and Meg and Kristin took lots of pictures (they are on Facebook). I love that all my friends are having babies...such a fun time!

She is still wearing cloth diapers and I'm proud to say that she has not been in a disposable diaper since 2010! We love cloth, I can't imagine putting those plastic stinky things on her...yuck!

Out for a walk in our new neighborhood.

Gelato with Daddy at Maples right near our house!

6 Months~!

1 Week-for comparison!

Amelia Mozart Reed

As usual, it's been a month since I posted. There is just so much going on it's hard to keep up! I'll start you off with a wicked cute video of Amelia playing the piano...more pictures to follow (hopefully before next month!).

Reed Family Highlights

So I realized after that last post that all of the highlights are about Amelia...of course she is the star of all of the photos and the most important thing in our lives, but there are a few other things going on as well. :o)

1) We sold our house and bought a new one. We closed on both houses last Friday but have been living at North Kelsey still. Long story but it worked out well for everyone involved. We are going to move the first boxes into our new house this afternoon and move in for good next weekend! So excited! North Kelsey has served us well for the past 4 years but it is time for something bigger. We are moving to 16 Winding Way, still in South Portland. It's a few miles from our house now in a great neighborhood, which hopefully has lots of teenage girls that like to babysit!

More pictures to come after we actually move in!

2) I, Christy, have started my own business. As you know, we use cloth diapers on Amelia and I'm pretty obsessed with talking about them and encouraging my friends to use them. I figured there had to be some way I could show many different kinds of modern cloth diapers to friends so they could see that the ones I use are not the only option. After a few Google searches, I found that the online company Everything Birth has consultants that hold diaper parties! I wanted to book my first party right away but with a bit more research, learned that I could BE a consultant and earn commission from selling diapers. After a few chats with Rob (he's a cloth fan too so it didn't take much convincing), I signed on as a Diaper Parties Consultant. It's an independent contractor position so it's like having my own business-just with a bit less money and work than starting from scratch.

Anyway, since signing on, I've had my first party which produced a bunch of sales and have been contacted a few times from others who want to have parties. I'm so excited to promote cloth diapering and make some extra money at the same time. Also, it turns out that Everything Birth is based out of Falmouth Maine, the next town north. Crystal White, the owner and founder, has built the business from a small midwife supply company to the international business that is currently run out of her garage, while raising 3 kids!

So, contact me for all of your cloth diapering needs! I have a Facebook page too (please "like" it to show your support). Also, use the link to the right to check out the website.

This is my display from an open house at a local kids second hand store. Unfortunately the owner didn't advertise much and NO ONE showed up...sad way to spend last Saturday. I guess there are some disappointments that come with running a business.

Amelia showing off the merch.

Thank you cards hanging out to dry at my first diaper party!

Display from my first party. Hopefully there are many more to come!