Amelia Update

Life is back to normal... sort of. My parents left yesterday afternoon and my brother, Jacob arrived late last night. My Mom was here for 2 whole weeks and was more helpful and worked harder than any Hollywood nanny. I say this with 100% sincerity: I could NOT have done those first two weeks without her. This is partly due to my c-section which prohibits me from lifting anything over 10 lbs (Oliver weighs close to 30 lbs.) and partly because of just everything that comes with a newborn: feeding, diapers, dr. appointments, sleeping, etc., etc.. She made dinner almost every night, made the best homemade rolls I have ever tasted, gave me a personal baking lesson on how to make bread which included her famous cinnamon bread, cleaned my entire house many times, did laundry, took care of Oliver which included taking him on 2-3 hour walks every day with stops at all the parks along the way, and made sure that everyone, especially me was comfortable and relaxed. Needless to say, I got a little lazy and now I understand why all those Hollywood people hire nannies.

One their last weekend here, we went up to Santa Fe and Taos. It was cold and snowy part of the time, but beautiful and my Dad showed us where all the best art galleries are in Santa Fe. We stayed at a darling little pueblo casita and ate breakfast at a top-rated Fench bakery. Oh, and let's not forget our stop at Bobcat Bite. This total dive of a restaurant has been ranked as having some of the best burgers in the U.S. and has even been featured on Oprah and Bon Appetit. Impressive, right? Take a look:

After eating not even half of my HUGE burger, I felt like I was going to barf. I don't normally eat red meat, and this was a major overload.

Eating ice cream in Taos (As if we didn't comsume enough fat the night before, right?).

Amelia's first bath. Look at that belly!

You know you're in a depression

when your little boy calls this his teddy bear and takes it to bed with him.

Amelia Grace Bell

Upon the insistence of relatives and friends, here's the official report, and only hours since our discharge from the hospital. Amelia was scheduled to arrive on St. Patrick's Day, March 17th. I picked my Mom up from the airport on Sunday around 10:30pm and went to bed shortly thereafter. I was abruptly awakened at 1:30am when my water broke. Now, having never experienced labor before, I was totally shocked. I shook Christian, told him my water just broke and then we rushed to the hospital. In case you didn't know, Amelia was breech, as was Oliver. Labor is NOT supposed to be a part of the birth plan. After about 2 hours of being poked and prodded (including about 6 sticks to finally get the spinal block in and a good dosage of anti-anxiety medication- I was kinda flipping out) Amelia finally arrived, around 4:09am. The worst part was over and before I knew it, I was being wheeled to my room to hold her for the first time. The next few days were a blur of nurses, doctors, visitors, phones calls, and cuddling with our cute, little new one. Christian has been so sweet to be by my side, holding my hand through all the poking and prodding and keeping me company in our tiny little hospital room. Meanwhile, my Mom has been taking care of Oliver- taking him on long walks, to the park, feeding him, and cleaning my house. She is the best Grandma and Mom and it has been so nice to come home to a clean house, clean laundry, and yummy dinners. I REALLY could not have done this all without her help.

The Stats:
Amelia Grace Bell
Born: March 16th at 4:09 am
Weight: 6'9"
Length: 19.5 inches
(just for the record, Oliver was the exact weight and length)

A New Baby

The other day, I was talking to Oliver about his soon-to-be-born baby sister. I asked him if he was excited to have a new baby sister. He replied, "No, I want a baby Chick Hicks." One word: OBSESSED.

A Shauna shout out

I want to give our friend Shauna's hip portrait business a plug*. She paints custom high contrast portraits from any photograph you give her and her work is pretty amazing. You can check out her stuff at her website:

www.littleshopofshavs.com



*with the understanding that all proceeds will be donated to the H.S.H.G.P (Human-Shark Hybrid Genome Project)

Stick with "honey"

You know it's time for you and your spouse to change your common pet name (which started as a joke, I promise) when your 2 yr old runs through the doctors office trying to find his dad by yelling at the top of his voice "LOVER, WHERE ARE YOU??!!!"

Catching Up

I seriously had like 5 post ideas and every time I sat down to write one, Christian had JUST written something. So, I'd wait a few days, try again, and lo and behold, he had done it again- posted without first notifying me. :) So, in an effort to catch myself and others up, this is going to be a potpourri of random happenings.

I really wish I could edit myself out of this picture b/c I'd really like to submit it to Fabio's child modeling agency.

This is as far as we've gotten with potty training.

Oliver loved having his cousins, Kate and Taylor stop over at our house on their way to Utah this weekend. They played really well together, including some water experimentation in the backyard. Basically, the experiment was seeing how wet Oliver could get before he ran inside crying, which never happened. Thank goodness I saw what was happening before it got out of control.Cousin love with Kate and Taylor. Oliver also loved their new baby sister, Lauren, and gave her plenty of hugs and kisses. He's really excited to have his own baby sister.

Here it is: the prego pic. So, no more complaining! Obviously, I didn't know this one was coming. I'll be 37 weeks this week and I feel like this baby doesn't have another inch of wiggle room, but she makes VERY good use of the room she does have.