Bath time is a horror when babies are so young. Amelia cried screamed whenever I tried to bath her. She liked the water lots, but it was the undressing, soaping, dressing and dreaded hair wash that got her hollering. These pics are from when she's just over 2 weeks old.

Check out the pictures! The one of the race has a funny story: that little guy ran fast way up almost to the finish, then ran back to the start, so he didn't win! The others kind of dallied at the beginning and so there was no winner to the race.

It is evident doxie owners are very proud of their doggies, and some even wheel them around in little strollers. I learned there are three sizes, and three kinds of hair (smooth, long, and wire). There are all colors, too. I am partial to the red or lighter colored ones. We'll see!

Hilary Swank (P.S. I Love You) will play the titular role in Betty Anne Waters from director Tony Goldwyn (The Last Kiss). Written by Pamela Gray (Music Of The Heart), based on a true story, the film tells of a high school dropout single mom determined to successfully complete law studies in order to protect her younger brother, wrongfully convicted of murder.

Many speculate this is an attempt to garner the acclaimed yet another award-winning role, after her recent, more commercial attempts were critically panned. In any case Swank will next be seen late next year in the Amelia Earhart biopic Amelia, from director Mira Nair (The Namesake). Amelia Earhart, a noted airplane pilot, is mostly famous for being the first female to fly solo across the Atlantic. She also has a couple of romantic comedies in the pipeline.

Source

What a week last week hey! Amelia officially had her growth spurt She was feeding every 2 hours for 5 days straight. Between 2 feeds she’ll maybe sleep for 3 hours so that I can sleep a bit as well… but hectic, I was tired.
Then the Friday evening Henk takes her after her 8pm feed, they fall asleep in front of the tv, and Amelia only wakes up the next morning at 3am!

So went to the clinic again this Tuesday. Amelia now weighs 3.82kg. I had hoped it would be more because of all the feeds; it probably was more. Let me explain: It’s been so cold here, that she was usually weighed with a nappy and vest. This time nothing, she was butt naked.

Also looks as if she might have reflux, since she’s been spitting up a lot of milk after feeds, and sometimes while she’s sleeping as well; and she'll cry after spitting up. She also got a pimply rash on her chest. Clinic Sr said that it might be ‘melk suur’ and she suggested some meds. Since using it, she’s been spitting up a lot less, if at all! And the rash has almost completely disappeared. So glad we cleared that up! Lots to tell paediatrician when we see him in 2 weeks.

Next Wednesday is vaccination day for baby. Hope it doesn’t hurt too much – for me ;-)

That's my role today.

I had to call out of work due to the babysitter taking a personal day (her 13 year old Greyhound passed away over the weekend); and Greg couldn't call out because he's working at a different shop today, and my Mom was working too. So, I really had no choice.

This morning started out well. I was up at 6:30am, although still in bed milking those last few cat naps. Greg left the house at 7am (he had a nice long drive into DC today) and it was just Amelia and me. We had a nice breakfast and I started to work on the laundry and straighten up the bathrooms. Amelia has a minor meltdown with the dryer buzzer went off (this was around 9am), so we sat on the couch and watch TLC's A Baby Story, because Amelia is all about the babies. We watched both episodes then we get dressed and head out for the mountain of errands:

1. Stop at the bank to get forms for refinances auto loan notarized (for free)
2. Return to store where I bought my dress yesterday (not my wedding dress, though I thought it would work, but it didn't) and exchange the dress for a different color
3. Stop by Target to buy more wipes and pick up a few other odds and ends (more barrettes for Amelia's hair and check out the clearance rack for some fall/winter clothes for Amelia - none)
4. Stop by a local playground to let Amelia run loose and burn off what energy she has so she will take a nice long nap

Ok, not really a mountain or errands, but more than enough. Especially when I have to take Amelia in and out of the car for each stop.

We were home by 12:30pm and Amelia was asleep by 1:00pm (I love watching her fall asleep).

Right now, I am going through Aemlia's old clothes and washing everything that I want to give Brooke, as her little girl is going to make her debut soon (within the next few weeks hopefully). I remember how much clothes Amelia would go through in a week during the first few months, and since most of Amelia's clothes are for the fall/winter, I feel they will come in use for Tim and Brooke (and that's another item to check off my list).

...

As I was walking around Target, I asked myself if I could do this, being a stay at home mom (SAHM). And, I don't know the answer. It's nice to be able to get things done around the house, and other errands such as the notary done, but I'm not sure I could do this day in and day out. I wondered if I knew the answer if Greg and I had a house, rather than a condo, and then I could play outside with Amelia, work in the garden and such as oppossed to having to pack her and the car up and drive to a local park or some place for her to run around without me having to worry about cars in a parking lot. I'm feeling, that if we had a house, that I could and would probably want to be a SAHM, but since we live in a small-ish condo (about a thousand square feet of space), and we're on the third floor (so no easy access to the yard), it's hindering my decision. Although, I'm not exactly sure why having house makes that much of a difference for wanting to be a SAHM. Hmm.

...

Well, I think I am going to try to get a small nao in while Amelia is napping.

Thank goodness my mom was here. She helped me so much through hell week. The old people had a point when moms and babies were in hospital for 10 days in stead of 3/4 nowadays. 'Cause the trouble only starts AFTER you leave and they send you home. My mom ran between the microwave and nursery to bring me hot towel so that I could express all my milk. She's the one who bought a record sized cabbage. She re-stocked my fridge and cupboard and made sure I had frozen dinners. She even burped Amelia while I slept. By the time she went home, I could manage Amelia on my own. Thank you so much Mom for helping us out!!! Love you lots.

Bon.

Moi et la danse contemporaine on ne s'est jamais bien compris, voir même les présentations n'avaient jamais été faites... Mais c'est réparé, par la grâce d'une amie bien désolée de me voir si mal assorti question expression corporelle.

Et le verdict, c'est que c'est pas mal du tout!

Voici deux extraits d'Amelia, un film multi-primé d'Edouard Lock sur une de ses chorégraphies.

La danse, mais aussi les prises de vue, la musique, la lumière, se mêlent pour donner un ensemble particulièrement gracieux et poétique. Enjoy!

...Se não der certo
...Se o outro não acreditar
...Se eu não for capaz
...Se eu não der conta
...Se não derem valor
...Se a vida for uma ilusão

Qualquer “se” se faz e desfaz na lançadeira do tear
E a lançadeira está à mão para os pontos fazer e desfazer
Aprisiona se deixo de acreditar
Aprisiona se deixo que a mente me impeça de continuar
O desejo de minha felicidade se funde ao do outro
Mas o desejo não está no outro
Eu teço os meus e vou dando-lhes a cor da minha vida
Quero alçar o vôo livre
Quero ao mar me lançar....

Rosa Bandet är i år designat av glasformgivaren och krukmakaren Ingegerd Råman, och i designen finns en budskap: "kärlek, kunskap, empati, omtanke, vänskap och lekfullhet".

Här och nu: vacker hyllning till kvinnokroppen av brittiskan Suzy Salmon.

Well, i dont hate T but i just want some fair distribution of work. For Amelia, her case is worse as she has to attend to noisy customers and that can really screw up your mood. Its such an annoying feeling that me have to do this stuff because im good at it and everybody else can do noting else as they may not be suitable for it. Give me a break, we all earn a salary right? then we all should do threated the same. Sometimes i wonder, if i had a male boss, maybe it will be different, would it? I know if i became the boss i would be fair. Or maybe not. More work for the boyz. Its payback.

Okay, okay, I'm completely and utterly and psychotically afraid of them. All of them. Even the small ones. Even garter snakes.

ALL OF THEM.

VERY, VERY AFRAID.

I've had this problem as long as I can remember, and no, I've never been attacked or bitten or even really threatened. And it's not that I'm afraid of that--no, I'm afraid of the damn things themselves. My brain rarely makes it past "snake!" and on towards "poison! constriction! what fun!".

I'd figured, for the longest time, that I was afraid of them due to the following memory: When I was about 5, I went to a birthday party at the zoo, and we got taken behind the scenes to see some of the baby animals or animals that weren't on display. At the time, there was a large boa of some sort there. I remember some adult taking my hand and forcing me to touch it, probably to make me realize it wasn't slimy or going to hurt me in any way. I remember being absolutely terrified of it.

I mentioned this to my parents, and my mom said that that person? Was her. And I was already terrified even before she made me touch it.

The only possible explanation she or my dad had was that when I was a couple months old, they'd been out hiking in the deserts around Tucson and had seen some fairly rare rattlesnake. Now, my dad's a reptile person--he works with lizards and has always liked them and snakes. So, naturally, they wanted to get a bit closer to see it. I was in a little backpack thing on my dad's back, and apparently just started screaming my head off. (Clearly I was smart back then--who'd willingly want to get closer to a rattlesnake??) My parents think that the backpack or a diaper pin or something poked me, and now I associate that pain with seeing the snake. Possibility.

So in general, I've avoid snakes like one might avoid the black plaque. Let's just say that The Crocodile Hunter wasn't my favorite program on TV, eh?

This fear generally manifested itself irrationally--I actually went to see Anaconda when it came out (brilliant, I know--my earlier brains had deserted me in the face of peer pressure and a lack of any other summer movies worth seeing), and had to get up and walk out of the theater, but not until I'd left fingernail scars on the arms of the two people on either side of me.

When I'd be flipping through TV channels, if I came across a snake, I tended to scream, cry, hyperventilate a bit, throw the remote away and press myself as far back into the sofa as possible. This usually resulted in John coming and turning off the TV with equal parts exasperation (WHY would you throw the remote away? WHY not just change the channel?) and sympathy (It's okay, it's gone, stop crying).

It wasn't fun, but it didn't really impair my life in anyway.

Then, if you remember, there were snakes galore up in Chico in May when we (Amelia and I) rode the Wildflower Ride. There were two snakes encountered on that trip--one crossing the road while I was driving, and one (dead) on the side of the road. Neither experience went very well, let's just say.

And my reaction to the dead one that I biked past? Was to swerve out into the road, far away from it. Aside from the general crying/screaming/hyperventilating, swerving out into the road on a bike is not a good idea. I'm just sayin'. If there had been cars, I know that wouldn't have stopped me. This was too instinctive, too "get far away right damn now", to control. I just went.

And that was a bit terrifying to realize. A dead snake, or even a live snake that I bike past, hopefully isn't going to do me too much damage. A car, on the other hand? Will do a lot of damage to a biker.

General safety point number 2: We're going on vacation next week with Nate and Shelly, James F and Cara, James M and Rae and Aaron. We're going on a dive vacation, to be specific. And we're going to a place that has... sea snakes.

So, if my instinctive panic-reaction (prior to any sensible rational reaction about 10-20 seconds later) is to get as far away as possible, there are two options. One: I'll turn and swim away at torpedo speed. Two: I'll use my low pressure inflator button to shoot for the surface at rocket launch speed, possible bursting my lungs or giving myself an air embolism or giving myself decompression sickness in doing so.

Like arguing with a car while you're on a bike, these are all things best avoided. Death is not really preferable to a snake encounter, no matter what the irrational part of my brain says.

So it was decided, in company with John and Amelia, that phobia therapy was in my immediate future. Luckily, Student Health is (not) equipped to deal with this. Bah.

But go I did, for 6 sessions. We mostly talked about snakes, although at my first session the guy wanted to know all about my family and my relationships, my medical history, if I'd had any thoughts of suicide, etc, etc, etc. I appreciate his thoroughness, but really? Snakes, buddy.

Step one was to buy a large toy snake, which John did for me. He was 5 feet long, blue, fluffy, and had purple eyelashes. I named him Jake, as in Jake the Fake Snake. Since then, I've decided that Jake may be female (see above, Re: eyelashes) but oh well. Jake wasn't too bad, although he gave me the willies at first. Then the therapist decided if Jake was sort of okay, we'd move on to step two: watch a video.

Unfortunately, the first one he pulled up on Y*uT*be was of an anaconda (see above, Re: Anaconda the movie) that had crawled into someone's livestock pen, eaten a member of the livestock (goat? sheep?) and now was too big to crawl back out of the pen BECAUSE IT HAD A FREAKIN' GOAT OR SHEEP INSIDE IT!!!! Needless to say, this did not go well. I'm not sure what the people in the rooms on either side of us thought, but I think I did prove my point to the therapist that this was irrational and debilitating at times.

So we took a step back to pictures, and eventually to videos, and eventually, on my 6th visit, I made it through 6:30 of a 7 minute video of a guy playing with a 14-foot King Cobra. I kid you not. Google it. The thing is damn scary. The guy says that it's highly venomous, though not at the top, but given it's size, it probably packs enough venom to be the single most deadly snake out there. And he's playing with it. And his dream in life has been to touch one on the head. Which he does.

Umm, I'm so not there. But hey, I watched most of it, right?

Since then, I haven't had too much exposure, other than attempting to visit the snake that I recently found out lives next door to James and Cara. It wasn't home (or at least, it's owner wasn't), so that may be the plan for this Saturday. There had also been a plan to visit the SF Reptile House, but that was nixed when we did the math of gas prices+time+(theoretically) easily accessible snake next door.

And last night, when the snake came on in the show? (The show about mold--WTF?? I think it was a metaphor for how fast mold can strike, maybe? Still, WTF??) I tensed, I shook a bit, but that was about it. There was no screaming, no crying, no hard breathing, no real panic.

All of this bodes well, but the real test will be when I see one in the ocean. Let's just say that my fingers are crossed, and I'm feeling sort of maybe okay with this.

Amelia enjoying the water:

Petting stingrays at the aquarium:

Being eaten by a "shark":

Posing outside a joint called The Raven:

Our new family member, Stripey:

I'm kind of embarrassed by this last one. On a rainy day we went to the mall and happened into Build A Bear. Duh. We got suckered into decided to allow Amelia to choose a pet and she chose this zebra with pirate pajamas. And roller skates. And a leash. I guess he'll want a college education, too. That's about the only thing those Build A Bear people don't sell you. Yes, Amelia loved it. She also loved the 50 cent VHS movies we bought at the thrift store. Note to self:  next time, do the thrift shop first.

All in all, a good vacation. I visited yarn stores in VA Beach as usual. I went to the Hook and I and the Yarn Basket. I especially like going to the Knitting Corner to see my favorite yarn store lady, Ruth. This year, I also went to Coordinated Colors in Yorktown, VA. They had a very extensive selection of brands.

Igår var en bra kväll. Jag, Adam och David bastade och lyssnade på musik. Men musiken var inte vilken musik som helst. Jag och Adam hade följande sms konversation:

A: Fixa en skiva som vi kan ha i bastun!

J: Ska det va känslosamt?

A: Vad som helst som går att snacka skit till.

J: Då blir det känslor.

A: Bra det!

Resultatet blev en skiva som döptes till "känslosamt bastumys del 1, tysta hjärtan"

Den innehöll ballader som Tommy Nilssons hit "Amelia", Westlifes tolkning av "The Rose", Mariah Careys "Hero" och på samma tema även Enrique Iglesias låt med samma namn. Den skivan i kombination med min mammas hembakade bullar, godis och dricka från Statoil, Jag, David och Adam blev receptet för en lyckad kväll.

Under kvällen behandlades ämnen som: Nyttig mat, kvinnor, internet, muskler, lägenheter, film, One tree hill och sjukhusbesök. Det var lite av varje skulle man kunna säga.

Sen avslutade vi allt med att se "Snakes on a plane" i Adams lägenhent. Bra grejer.

So the paediatrician told us just to repeat Amelia’s TSB on the Monday after being released just to be on the safe side. Our little birdie WAS looking a tad yellow… ok, more than a tad if I look back at these photos.
So with me and Lili in the back of the car, Mom drove us to Vredendal. Had her heal pricked at Pathcare, then quickly went to Miracle Babies clinic to have her weighed and for me to rent a breast pump for expressing.
We just got home when the paed phoned me. He was concerned about her high TSB level and suggested we follow it up immediately with an actual venous blood sample. Heel prick samples are only accurate to a count of 240, hers was 280.
So we trekked back to Pathcare. (remember that my cut was still healing… by now it was swollen from the long drive from Cape Town the previous day and now for the second trip to Vredendal in one day. My voltaren stock was getting low.) On our way I phoned my medical aid to confirm that she was still being covered – I had understood that she has automatic coverage for 28 days after birth before I have to register her – turns out she was only covered until the end pf her birth month… it expired that previous Sunday. Poor soul on the phone; he’s ear is probably still bleeding from my shouting session. That goodness reception is bad on the winding road and we were cut off. ;-)
After 2 failed attempts, my doctor finally managed to get a vein on Amelia’s hand. Her TSB was 300. Off to Vredendal Hospital to start photo therapy.
We were lucky to have a private room; visiting hours were not applicable to us (just had to remind security that every time Henk came to visit); and I was rooming in. Only instructions were that she needed 2 hourly feeds because babies tend to dehydrate in the incubator.
Her eyes had to be covered so they won’t be damaged by the blue light; other than that, it looks worse than it was. If she cried I soothed her – just put my hands through the holes – but it’s so nice and warm in there, she didn’t mind.
24 Hours later her TSB had dropped to 250. We were released, and my little canary is now pink. Due to lack of sleep my milk production took dip, but Jungle Juice and baker’s yeast ensured the factory was back online in no time.

Os que me assistem vêm a mulher decidida e dinâmica,

uma amante do ser e do viver...

mas e as máscaras?

Se as uso sei quem sou e do quê sou capaz;

não as deixo cair e vou por aí:

hoje sou a diva, amanhã a sinhá;

sou o ontem de menina

e o amanhã da mulher...

E o eu?

Eu não sou!

Eu não alcanço ainda o ser que busco ser.

Sou a nostalgia e a quimera.

Sou eterna esperança no ser

E também a luz que no meu centro um dia há de brilhar.

E no agora eu busco o ser

Que em mim se perde,

Se esvai

Se devaneia

O outro não me preenche e eu estou só!

Ao me aplaudirem assim,

Não vêm o ser e o meu querer...

Eles só vêm aquilo que eu deixo ver.

I nästa Amelia kommer jag vara med i ett lite repotage om folk som bloggar som terapi. Är ingen stor artikel men roligt ändå.

Syster A som är 18år gav mig en massa tips på hur man ska göra när man är singel. Det är visst en hel del som ändrats sedan jag var 18. :)

Det bara regnar och regnar och regnar. Gräset är jättelångt men det är ju inte så kul att klippa det när det är blött.

Si leggeva qui e là per la rete questa lieta, ma tutto sommato banale novella, in cui si riferisce che la sedicente Raffaella Fico (nomen omen, anzi woman), ex concorrente del Grande Fratello 8 (mica pippe), metterebbe all'asta la propria verginità per un milione di euro.

Noi, come un sol uomo reagiamo veementi con le segg considerazioni:

• e sticazzi (questa è di default, saltate pure)
• l'hanno già fatto su ebay: che PALLE!
• noi si attenterebbe volentieri alla di lei non comprovata verginità, ma gratis (siamo un po' all'antica, non ce ne vogliate)

Ciò detto, ciò considerato, crediamo che la merce offerta non sia confome alla descrizione (sorvolando sul fatto che nel caso, il prodotto in vendita sarebbe privo di collaudo).

Ovvero: qualcuno ha già fatto da apripista.

Proponiamo adeguata commissione per indagare in materia, allo scopo di inchiodare la truffaldina anche per pubblicità ingannevole.

Ribadiamo: se Raffaella Fico è vergine, io sono Madama Dorè, ed il mio complice Zvonimiro è Fratel Coniglietto.

Sono ancora vacanti i posti per: Mago Zurlì, Strega Bacheca, Amelia la Fattucchiera che Ammalia (sarà vergine?), la Befana, Geppo il Diavolo, Fra Tac, Tiramolla.

Accorrete numerosi, ma non spingete come al solito, mattacchioni bricconcelli.

PS: ci sembrava un po' eccessivo intitolare il post "Col cazzo che è vergine". Sempre politically correct, noialtri, eccheccazzo.

We haven't bought our tickets to Florida yet (for numerous reasons), but we've been following the prices - which are starting to come down, sorta - and Greg is telling me that I've been spoiled with my previous experiences with airfare, and that I need to come back to reality and accept that $600, round trip, for two people is cheap. $600, for anything related to traveling 5 states, isn't cheap in my book.

Yes, Greg has a valid point that I've been incredibly lucky, fortunate, providential, etc. by paying less than $100, per person (excluding airport fees and taxes) for round trip tickets in my past (two round trip tickets to Rhode Island cost me $180, and the two round trip tickets to Michigan cost us $240)...

BUT!! I can NOT ACCEPT that it is going to cost us, if we're lucky, at least $600 to fly out to Miami/Ft. Lauderdale!! I would rather DRIVE!

Which leads us into another debate!!

Greg feels that I will not survive the time in the car if we were to drive, given my extremely short attention span and lack of patience (when it comes to car rides). I've only had one bad-ish car experience with Greg and that was when we drove to Atlantic City, NJ to celebrate my 27th birthday and I had a very valid reason for being cranky: I was on my period - after not having a period for 6 months - so, it was an unwelcome surprise, to say the least

(PS. the following month is when I became pregnant)

Greg has taken a few roads trips in his past - the longest I believe was from Oregon to Alabama when he was a kid; so he's used to long car rides. I grew up in DC where there were metro bus stops all over the place; no long car rides for me.

Greg is dead set on believing I will make this road trip a living nightmare. That I will not be a happy camper. That I will not make the best of it. That I will not like it.

I told him that he can not make such a decision/judgement about me, especially since I've never experienced a road trip of such magnitude, and that he's basing his opinion on ONE BAD (and small) trip that we took together while I was... physically (I count being on my period as something physical) ill (and not to mention in a lot of pain). Plus, given the significance of this trip, that alone will give me the mental (and emotion will power) strength to do this.

Greg is just as stubborn as I am; so we're both being... oh, how do you say.... jerks... about our opinions of the drive to Miami.

My compromise for the airfare was to find something that was less than $450 (total cost). I can, and will, accept that rate. So, tonight begun, yet another, great search for airfare...

yay.

And, I am disappointed to say that the cheapest rate we could find was $510 (through jetBlue), but we don't even want that flight because of the layover in NY (in the winter. with a high probability of a long, long, delay), so the next best rate was $530 (I know, not that horrible), which would be a direct flight to Miami (oh, and from AirTran). Now, the only 'issue' with the direct flight, is that it's leaving from an airport that is about 2 hours away from us, vs. the airport that is about 15 minutes from us. And, yes, there is a somewhat significant price difference between the two airports (more than $50 - and that is significant enough for me), and better yet... the flight leave at 6:10am; which would mean that we would have to check around 5am, at least. But, on the bright side, we would have an entire day to explore Miami (in Greg's eyes).

So. This airfare nonesense is going to challenge me, speaking as politly as possible. I am going to be stalking every airliners website and search engine (travelocity, priceline, orbitz, etc) until I find a rate that I am satisfied with. I am going to be a bitch about my airfare. Greg should feel so lucky that this one issue is probably going to be the only issue that my inner bitch comes out (well, that's not entirely true... the is one other 'issue', but it's not worthy enough to write about on my weblog). My wrath will be felt, and heard, by someone somewhere. Consider yourself warned.

...

in other news...

Michele visited me for lunch yesterday and we spent the whole hour talking about her wedding. We looked through the invitation catalogs and picked out a few styles that she, and I, liked and how we could incorporate a theme into the wedding. Initially, she was feeling butterflies, but I'm not sure she is anymore.

Then we talked about wedding dresses (and she asked if I found/bought mine yet... and, well... we all know the answer to that question) and confirmed our plans for the 27th to meet at a bridal salon for our first dress trial. There's going to be quite a few girls, about 5 I think, tagging along (and not counting Amelia. Greg will be tending to Amelia during this festivity). I'm excited though. This is going to be so much fun!

...

Also, on the 27th, we're going to an O's game! And, you wouldn't believe how much the tickets cost (with the stupid surcharge from Ticketmaster)... $3!!! Awesome. And, the price includes a free tour of Camden Yards (during the off season)! Oh, and $1 hotdogs and drinks. But, I don't like hotdogs, so that price doesn't mean anything to me.

...

I was talking to my Mom earlier tonight and I suggested she call Grandma to start arguing over who is going to host Thanksgiving this year (Mom has a bigger house and is more 'kid friendly', but Grandma is old fashion and set in her ways about hosting such family gatherings). Can you believe that we're rounding the final quarter of 2008?! This year has seriously flown by, in my opinion. On an odd note, I am so happy that Greg and I bought all out Christmas gifts for our families back in February, because that means the only shopping we're going to do is for Amelia (we're not going to exchange gifts this year due to cruise being 2.5 weeks after Christmas and 2.5 weeks before my 30th birthday - that and Amelia's 2nd birthday in between), which is going to be so easy since she LOVES LOVES LOVES cows and baby dolls. At least for now.

...

Speaking of Amelia, she's showing some interesting signs when it comes to music. She loves classical music. There is this one commercial that plays every now and then and as soon as she hears the music from this commercial, she will stop and drop anything and everything and go to the TV. Then there is this caterpillar toy that plays samples of popular classical songs and she will play those songs over and over and over. Then, there are her differences when it comes to playing with musical instruments (toy version of course). Recently, she fell in love with the harmonica and was really intrigued by it. Also, she enjoys playing with the quasi-toy piano at the babysitters; the babysitter has informed me that Amelia will actually touch the piano keys individually and in a manor as if she were actually playing from sheet music; rather than just pound on the keys as any other 20 month old would. I shared this information with my Mom and she was like "Oh!! You have to get Mimi a piano/keyboard!!!" I was like, no way because there is no room in our condo for a keyboard, muchless a piano. Yes, it would be nice to start playing again (I used to play the piano - not to any extent, but I did have a recital) as I miss playing some instrument (the trombone is still my favorite), but there is no space, muchless time, for such. Eventually, down the road, I would love to have Amelia take piano lessons (or any lesson for an musical instrument), and I really hope she has a musical talent/gift, and I really hope that I'm not hindering any remote possibilty of this talent/gift from developing, but we do not have the funds (and space) available to explore this interest - at least for now.

...

Ugh, I can't believe I've stayed up this late (11:46pm)! Tomorrow is going to drag so much.

Funny that because I see her every day, I can’t see how she grows. People have commented that she’s been getting big and fat. To me she still looks skinny. Her cheeks aren’t as chubby as they were at birth, and I might be imagining things, but I think her vests are getting a little short. Clinic Sister says that she only measures babies at… bugger, forgot now if it was 6 weeks or 4 weeks. I’m going back next week anyway, so I’ll confirm.
She now weighs 3,54kg! She is officially over her birth weight. I was afraid that she wasn’t gaining fast enough, but she has dirty and wet nappies; that means that she is definitely getting enough food.

We had a battle with cramps yesterday!! It was so bad that I was afraid she was turning into a colic baby. It started at midnight when she cried for 2 hours straight. Then every feed she was crying. Last night with her 7pm feed I started loosing it a bit. My nerves were shot, I didn’t know how else to soothe her. Henk came home, put down his lunchbox, washed his hands and just took her. He said he’ll sort it out; I should take a shower so long and relax a bit. I felt guilty at first because he had just come from a 12+ hour shift at work. He said that he didn’t mind because he knows that I’ve been struggling with her the whole day. Gotta love that man :-D !!

I logged onto Mxit and hunted a dear friend down. Supachic helped me figure out what I had eaten that had caused all the cramps – Citrus multivitamin Sparkles!!! So now I’m avoiding anything onion and citrus.

Since 10pm last night Amelia has also wanted to feed every 2 hours. I thought it was due to the cramps messing up her schedule during the day. I mentioned it to the clinic Sister – she said that babies experience a growth spurt around 3-4 weeks, maybe Amelia is having hers already. Well whatever it is, I didn’t sleep for more than an hour at a time... luckily managed to catch up this afternoon between 1pm and 5 pm feed.

At 00:30 she woke up crying. I tried feeding her again, but milk supply was still recuperating from 10pm feed. She was crying and screaming and no matter how hard I tried to feed her, she wouldn’t stop crying. Eventually (after I banged on the wall) Henk came to see if we were coping. I just handed her over so that I could calm down. That’s when I saw the signs – she was kicking and clenching her fists – it was so obvious that it was cramps. So we rubbed and stroked and cooed to her; also gave her some gripe water and colic drops hoping that it’ll work. Henk ran around filling my glass with jungle juice – all I could think of to get milk production going again. She cried for an hour non-stop. I didn’t think it was possible. She calmed down a bit when the meds kicked in and finally went to sleep at 01:30.

I dreaded the next feed. She woke at 03:00. She drank for about 20 minutes and then started crying again. Henk checked in within 2 minutes of her crying. I told him to go back to bed (shame man, he’s working long hours) and that at least I know what’s wrong – we’ll manage. She cried until 04:30 – another hour non stop; by then I sms’ed my mom to get some advice. Amelia finally fell asleep at 5:00.

She slept through until 9:15. Jungle juice had worked! It had worked so well actually that I had to milk out before feeding Amelia ‘cause she couldn’t latch properly – think melons. Again she only drank 20 minutes when the cramps started. She was asleep again by 10:47.

She was still sleeping at 14:00, but I woke her up for her bath, then she’s also not so hungry. Bath was still traumatic, but I think it’s getting better. I just keep telling myself that soon I’ll be fighting with her to get OUT of the bath.

Her cramps were a lot better. Still a few, but not like the early morning.

All it could have been was beetroot, sweet potato or chicken pie. I’ve narrowed it down to the chicken pie – I used 2 packets of white onion soup when I made it. My mom reckons that’s it. So, who wants pie? Come fetch some.

Existem diversos tipos de memória...

Memória declarativa. É a capacidade de verbalizar um fato. Classifica-se por sua vez em:

- Memória imediata: Tipo de memória que dura de frações a poucos segundos. Ex: capacidade de repetir imediatamente um número de telefone que é dito. Estes fatos são após um tempo completamente esquecidos, não deixando "traços".

- Memória de curto prazo:Memória com duração de algumas horas. Neste caso existe a formação de traços de memória. Ex: capacidade de lembrar do que se vestiu no dia anterior, ou com quem se encontrou.

- Memória de longo prazo: Memória com duração de meses a anos. Ex: capacidade de aprendizado de uma nova língua.

Memória de procedimentos: É a capacidade de reter e processar informações que não podem ser verbalizadas, como tocar um instrumento ou andar de bicicleta. Ela é mais estável, mais difícil de ser perdida.

Estou falando tudo isso para explicar o fato de que o cheiro une as pessoas. Pelo menos comigo é assim que funciona, mas só se for o bom odor, né?

Além de ter uma memória de elefante para fatos, sou uma pessoa que se apega muito aos detalhes, guardando mil tipos de informações sobre tudo, e uma das que mais me faz lembrar das pessoas é o perfume.

Okay so the rules are:
1. Both Contestants are to eat an entire jar.
2. Contestants are not allowed to bully or poke others.
3. Contests must swallow vegemite.
4. No water or other substances or food until competition is over.
5. No "dropping" Vegemite.
6. Camera person is not allowed to make fun of us until it is finished. (You got that Doug!)

Thats the planning. Its going to be pretty funny and taste gross.

Thanks to Doug for now being the Official Cameraman of A Random Blog.

Till Next Time.
Peace Out.