Digital Death in the Call Family

Please remember my poor camera! We had some good times. The camera doctor at Inkley's said it would cost $400 to repair my Alphie 100 camera. Sony said their initial charge was a base rate of $224 plus repairs cost, tax, and shipping. Most of the local repair peeps around here just send the camera back to Sony for fixin' up. A new Sony Alpha 200 is about $500. You do the math. I nearly want to give up photography until I can afford another camera. Justin graciously suggested I use his motorcycle fund to buy a new camera and pay him back (so he can get a gun instead of a motorcycle). Join me tomorrow night when I bury Alphie in the backyard. May she rest in peace.

Gardner Village

Early this morning Amelia had her 18-month check up with Dr Bosworth. She was busy raiding my purse when he came in. She stood up and waved hello and gave him a fruit snack. He was very excited about the snack. Amelia weighs 21 lbs 15 oz, 31 inches long both in the 23 percentile. Her noggin is in the 50th percentile...enough to hold her huge brain. Dr B asked if I had any questions. Sure I did...when will the little punk knuckle sleep through the night? In response to my question he asked how many words does Amelia know. About 100-120 was my response. He balked, then started talking to Amelia. He asked her if she wanted to sleep in her crib, she said, "No, Way!" Then he asked her if she wanted a sucker, she walked over to him snatching the sucker and saying candy. Then he asked if she put any words together, I responded like "I want you mommy?!" Which words she took out of my mouth. Dr B made me feel like a good mom when he said Amelia is a very smart girl. My hopes crashed around me as the sentence continued: studies show that intelligent kids often do not sleep well because they understand where you are and know what their desires are so consistently pursue them. I want to pursue benedryl and melatonin therapy. LOL. She screamed "ALL-DONE" when the nurse gave her the shots then as we passed the same nurse in the hall Amelia gave her a really nasty crusty look.

I started to put out our Christmas decorations. With Christmas music blaring I danced about the trees setting ornaments and snowflakes. The best part about our decorations is most came from our wedding reception. Decorating our trees is reliving that perfect day. Amelia yelled star when she noticed the decorated trees after her nap. Let the celebration begin!

Justin is now in California for the evening and tomorrow. We celebrated his departure with a Del Taco run before he left. Then to assuage my sorrows I went to Gardner Village (specifically Pine Needles shop) and picked up tons of ultra cute fabric. We ran into our old bishop and his family. Amelia tried to hold little Marker's hand and give him a hug. She started to follow them running as fast as her two legs would go. She learned how to say duck...first it started out as -uck, then duh-uck. Of course I snapped some pics. Little cute cheeks said cheese and smile when I prompted her. A woman after my own heart! Fun times.

Christmas Pictures

James, Meikka, Seth, Jacob, Lia, and Aunt Jana all came over last night for spaghetti dinner and pictures. We needed some for our Christmas cards and Miekka wanted to update her family picture. We worked around my dying camera and finagled some cute pictures out of the durn contraption. Amelia was apparently sucking on a smartie for most of our pictures which is why her little face is scrunched up so cute. I had even more fun taking some candid pictures of the Lances interacting with little Lia. She is the star of our show! Jana stayed for a while even after we tried to convince her that taking a trip alone would not be much fun. Jana is turning the big 3-0 this month and wants to celebrate. I remember the feeling! I still have not decorated for Christmas. I plan on doing that this week.

Into the Woods

Saturday we had a fun day. James and Justin went skeet shooting at the range by our home. They had a great time talking MAN TALK: ugh, you like gun? Yer, me like gun and bullet.

Miekka let me play photo studio with little Lia. She succeeded in peeing twice and pooping twice whilst she was buck naked. Poor thing! It was cold in my basement. Miekka tried to make a Robin (from Batman) costume for Jakes but I needed her help and the boys needed this or that. We ended up with some cute pics, kids fed some lunch, and no Robin shirt. I ended up making the shirt and cape after they left and Amelia went down for a nap with Daddy.

***Sad news, my DSLR camera started acting up during Lia's photo shoot. The shutter was only partially opening creating a black line across more than half the pictures***

I redeemed the Mother's Day present Justin gave me earlier this year around 3:30 on Friday. De-bo came over to play with Amelia while we went to the theater. I was in heaven! We watched Into the Woods by Soundheim, the Broadway version. Justin was a really good sport and actually enjoyed the cheesy music and antics. The cast put on an excellent show. I was impressed how they compensated the scenery and space issues from the Broadway version to fit their circular stage. It was awesome to laugh with and sit next to my sweet husband for three whole hours. We went to Toys R Us after to find a Christmas toy for Amelia. We were completely stymied....any suggestions?

Debo said that Amelia slept until 6 pm! Holy Smokes! They tromped around DI and took a fun car ride to pass the time. Amelia loves Debo. I love Debo too. She is an amazing person.