My First Mother's Day

Our crazy month of May is coming to an end and we feel like we can finally catch our breath. Mother's Day was very special for me. We invited my parents, Steve's parents and grandparents, and my brother's family over for lunch. There was an added challenge of getting everything ready with a baby constantly needing to be held! Steve was a tremendous help and helped to make the day even more special.


The flowers and cards that I received.


Great-Grandma Struckmann, Grandma Horning, Me, Grandma Gustafson, and Aunt Arwen


Grandma Horning and Amaya

The Bumbo

Amaya is in the beginning stages of sitting up! She's able to sit by herself as long as she's hunched over supporting herself with her hands. My sister-in-law, Arwen gave us a Bumbo to help her sit up, and that has really accelerated this whole process! She likes sitting in it for short periods of time and it gives her a different perspective. Amaya is also wanting to STAND ALL THE TIME! I think she'll be a lot happier once she is more mobile and can reach for all her toys (and get into trouble).

Whew!

Amaya is back to her normal happy self today, but Daddy felt achy, shaky and flushed at work yesterday morning.

I asked Jan to take my temperature when I went home for lunch - it was 100.6! When I asked her to take it again after work (at about 5 p.m.) it was back down to 98.6. Maybe I was having "sympathy" illness symptoms? Kind of like supposedly some guys have "sympathy pregnancy pains"?

4 Month Stats

Today was Amaya's 4 month check up. She's now 12 lbs, 11oz (33rd percentile) and 24 1/4 inches long (36th percentile). She also had to endure a little trauma - four shots in her chubby thighs and one vaccination orally. Of course, she screamed bloody murder and surprisingly fell asleep within minutes. Amaya was cranky most of the rest of the day and this evening she developed a fever of 101.4. Hopefully, the tylenol will kick in tonight and she'll get the rest that she needs.

Bargains

This morning, Amaya and I got up early to hit some garage sales. It's our neighborhood's annual garage sale, so I knew that there would be plenty. I strapped Amaya in the Baby Bjorn and away we went! We ended up spending 15 dollars - but here's what we got: A box of Lego Mega blocks, 1 Baby Einstein DVD, 5 kids books, a toy mirror (so Amaya can smile at herself), a rattle, 2 wooden puzzles, a train with animals, 2 pairs of pants, 3 sleepers, and 5 outfits! Since we walked, I had to head back sooner than I would have liked considering I had to carry all our loot back home. It's probably a good thing though, because I have to work this afternoon. Amaya needs to get in a good nap and eat well before having fun at Grandma's house.

Loving my Stroller Rides!

Laughing!

About a week or so ago, Amaya started laughing. It sure surprised her mommy and daddy!

It started when Jan was in the upstairs bathroom getting ready and Amaya and I were in the hallway outside the bathroom. I was holding her horizontally, and moved her just far enough over in front of the doorway so that she could "peek" at Mommy. When she did peek, Mommy said: "Peek-a-boo!" -- then Amaya started laughing! We repeated this over and over and every time she laughed. We called my (Steve) mom so she could hear it too.

Amaya eventually got tired of the peek-a-boo game and stopped laughing... and we haven't been able to get her to laugh ever since!

Anyway, it has been an incredible journey, so far, to hear her begin to vocalize in ways other than crying!

- Steve

Graduate School?

I received an acceptance letter from Adler Graduate School last Friday. I am also expecting an acceptance letter from Bethel around the end of this month... so now I have to decide which school to go to.

The main HUGE advantage to Adler is that I'll be done in about 26 months, but at Bethel I'll be done in about 3 years.

There are advantages and disadvantages to both. I'm going to schedule a campus visit to both schools, and spend some time talking to their respective faculties.

I'll write again when I decide where I will attend.

If you're curious...

http://www.alfredadler.edu/

and

http://gs.bethel.edu/

Happy Friday!

The sun is shining, it's absolutely glorious outside and it's FRIDAY!

We have a busy, but very fun weekend ahead of us. We'll go to Steve's grandparents tonight for supper and play cards. Tomorrow, we're going to take Amaya to the Farmer's Market to pick up fresh flowers and green beans for Sunday. In the afternoon, our nephew Ben has a soccer game - we'll go as long as it's not raining. And tomorrow night, Amaya gets dedicated at church. There's a dessert reception afterwards. And Sunday - MOTHER'S DAY! We're having everyone over for lunch and games, etc. Steve and my brother Mike will handle the grilling! Hopefully the weather will cooperate!

-Jan

Crossroads College Graduation Pictures

Amaya's First Garage Sale

Graduation Part 2 by Jan

I see that Steve has already written about graduation. What he failed to mention was that he graduated SUMMA CUM LAUDE! Needless to say, I'm quite proud of his accomplishments! All of his hard work, late hours, and dinner on the run have paid off! College is hard enough anyway, so I can't even imagine working full time, taking care of a newborn baby and a spouse and still do well in school!

Garage Sale

This past weekend, we celebrated the 25th year of holding garage sales at my mom's house. Several of her friends participate and we usually have a great time! The weather cooperated for the most part and garage salers were out in full force! The grand total came 2 dollars short of 1500 dollars!! Steve and I made 76 dollars, but I spent 30 of that on clothes for Amaya at the garage sale. Of my five boxes/rubbermaid containters, I only had to pack up 2 of them! Less junk to store! We'll post pictures when Steve gets a chance to dump the pictures onto our computer!

Graduation!

So I graduated from college this past weekend. It seems like I've been going to school forever, but this is one more step towards the eventual goal of obtaining a doctorate. Next up is grad school, and I should hear back from the three schools I've applied to in the next few weeks.

- Steve

Taking Care of Baby!

I took care of Amaya this past Saturday and Sunday while Jan was at work. Saturday was not so good, Sunday was great!

Saturday: It's hard for me to figure out why she is crying sometimes, and I don't have a lot of patience for incessant crying. I'll be happy when Amaya can express her needs in ways other than crying - although I'll probably prefer crying when Amaya learns that ever-popular children's technique: whining! :o)

Sunday with Amaya was fun. I still don't think I would want to be a stay-at-home dad, but I understand why Jan enjoys being home with her. It's fun to watch her focus on a new toy, or give big smiles at me for seemingly no reason at all. We have a great time "talking" to each other - it's fun to watch her work so hard to get the "words" out. Listening to her provides a good opportunity for me to practice my "active listening" skills! :o)

- Steve