Books anyone?

I'm kind of weird about reading. Whenever someone asks me "do you like to read" my usual response is "Well, I know how to read, so that's good right". Lately, however, I've really enjoyed reading. Is this a sign of premature aging? If it is, I'm okay with that. I just finished Bossypants by Tina Fey in a record two and one half days! There were pictures so that definitely helped a lot. The only other books I've read in less than a week were The Berenstain Bears and Good Night Moon. Anyways, my intentions behind this post are to solicit book recommendations and finally make Levar Burton proud of me! If you know of any good books, fiction or nonfiction, please let me know!

It's Thanksgiving you turkey!

I love Thanksgiving! Everything about it is so fantastic. It looks good, smells good, tastes good, and puts me in a sweet slumber when the evening rolls in. I remember having a lot of fun on Thanksgiving as a kid. I remember little Granny coming to visit us one year, hiking Mount LeConte another year, and hearing stories about an infamous food fight at Meme and Papa's house between my older siblings and cousins. Like past feast days, this one was excellent! Stefan and Emily came from Idaho to visit, and as always, it was good to have them with us. Geoff earned a blister after chopping almost 9 pounds of sweet potatoes...what a champ! After we gorged ourselves Danielle and I put on a show. That's right, after dessert we Jazzercised what our mamas gave us. Unfortunately I don't have pictures of the Jazzercise exhibition, but if you can picture our bodies glistening with sequins as we move in perfect harmony to the musical stylings of Beyonce and JLo then you don't need pictures. Who am I kidding? There weren't any sequins, but we do have some pretty sweet moves.

The sweet beginnings of chutney

Liam...incognito

Ginger cousins!

Kitty Rozz

Gwennie is very good at entertaining Amelia

The Interview

Between getting excited for Thanksgiving and spending time with Geoff, I've been anticipating Amelia rolling over. I'm happy to announce that this evening was the first official roll over. She's been working up to this for a while by rolling to her side and then allowing me to push her over. On the night of November 14, while participating in some pre-bath tummy time, she executed the roll over with excellent form and perfect grace. Unfortunately, we weren't able to capture this event on film, but cameras were rolling for the post roll interview. Take a look...

Our Own Smiles Davis

This week Amelia has really been practicing her smile, and it just keeps getting better. Today I introduced her to O Brother, Where Art Thou and she was all smiles for those Soggy Bottom Boys. I'm happy to see we like the same things. Yesterday I finally caught a video of her smiling and cooing in her giant onesie, somehow oversized clothes makes it cuter.

One month

The ever faithful changing pad and adoring cousins Rosaline and Gwendolyn

My, how the time flies! Amelia is officially one month old today. I now realize this also means I haven't had a proper night's sleep in a month. It took some time, but I now accept my fate. It may be a while before I can sleep a full eight hours, or even five hours, I'd take five hours uninterrupted. It was a little rough at first, sleeping only 2 hours at time can take its toll. It turns out being a new, sleep deprived mom sends your paranoia into overdrive pretty quickly. The first couple of weeks Google and I became very close as I tried to learn about what strange diseases Amelia could potentially contract. I was also always exhausted and often wondered why people have multiple children, but I get it now. I no longer mind waking up at 3:00 a.m. because I know once she falls back asleep milk will drip out of her mouth and she'll smile - she has the cutest little smile. If I'm really lucky she might make some attempts at giggling too - that's what it sounds like anyway. It's taken some getting used to, but I feel like I've got a pretty good handle on things (I sure hope I didn't just jinx myself). I've gotten better at predicting when Our Lady of Perpetual Hunger will wake and make her presence known, so I can plan my eating and showering accordingly. A few weeks ago I felt extremely under prepared for the frequency and intensity of diaper changes, but now I mostly have it under control. The Betsy Wetsy doll I had as a kid was much easier to handle, I always knew when she was done peeing. Amelia on the other hand likes to surprise you. I've learned to keep a roll of paper towels nearby during a diaper change just in case she's not done leaving presents under the proverbial Christmas tree, and the contents of said presents leave the confines of the changing pad. I am so grateful for the changing pad. It is my favorite baby accessory. My life, and my bed, would not be the same without it. 
I feel like I've come a long way in a month, and it's just the beginning. I'm very excited to what this little girl has in store for us. 

If  Tintin   had a baby sister she would look like Amelia.

A Beginning

Every story (even a bad one) has a beginning. The story of this blog began five years ago when I left the woods and swampy waters of north Florida in pursuit of an education at BYU. Within just a few hours of arriving in the big city of Provo, Utah I met Geoffrey, a green-eyed boy who would later become my husband. He made me laugh with his movie quotes and clever jokes, and he made me swoon when he strummed out a Tom Petty tune on his Washburn guitar. After months of dating we decided we made a pretty good pair and made plans to be married. On the beautiful, sunny day of May 30, 2008 we were sealed for time and all eternity in the Denver, Colorado LDS temple. In the past four years we've had many adventures, but last weekend we embarked on our latest and longest adventure...we welcomed sweet little Amelia into our family.