Life at home

Let's start with Jeff this week. He is now 2 weeks away from graduating the Academy (again) and couldn't be happier! Although he's enjoyed the time there, he's really ready to just get out on the streets. The ceremony is Nov. 26th, then he has the whole Thanksgiving weekend off! Woohoo! Then, the next Monday, he starts field training. He'll have different blocks, and so far his training schedule already has a mix of graves/days, weekdays/weekends, units and locations. He has done excellent-his scores are always passing, no problem. His latest workdays include ASP/baton training, vice, Active Shooter, and coming up, he has a lot of final tests and Fight for your Life. (Yeah-a real fight with giant police officers.) The potential problem here comes from Jeff's out-of-work antics. Last Saturday, Jeff went to play football with the buddies, and lo and behold-last play of the game, he dives for a touchdown and... breaks his wrist. It's a small fracture, really, but it's still giving him lots of trouble. He only has it in a splint-if he had a cast, he would have to go on light duty at work, and that would be most horrible timing. Eesh.

My life, of course, is just Amelie right now, though I do have a few sweet announcements. (Not new, but never made it to the blog in all the other excitement.) I received word from the Registrar's Office-everything is good to go, and my status is finally officially graduated. I won't get my diploma, though, until the fall batch goes out. No complaints here, though! I'm really glad I stuck with that decision. The extra time and money would have been a big burden. The other exciting non-baby thing is that I took the exam for Recreation Therapist certification and licensure and whipped it! On the exam, they allow extra testlets if you are sketchy in any sections, but I didn't need any, thank you very much! So, though I don't have a job (or a hardcopy degree) I can officially say that I am a Rec. Therapist. (Jeff particularly likes to tell people that I'm a therapist.) Other than that, you pretty much know the drill of my life. Take care of Amelie all the time, never sleep at night, continue recovery and hate having a messy house. All in all, it's a great place to be (but that's only because I know it's temporary. :)) Plus, Jeff gives me a break on weekends, taking the long, tough shifts when he doesn't have to be in to work early. Thanks dude!

Amelie is now about 6 1/2 lbs. She was born 5 14, then got down to 5 4 in the hospital, so she's doing really well. In spite of her great growing, though, she only has a few outfits that fit! She's still just so little. She's super strong, though. She kicks, lifts her head and can turn herself a full 180 during tummy time. Also, her umbilical cord finally fell completely off-it had some healing problem and she was bleeding a bit from it til a few days ago.
The funny thing about Amelie not sleeping at night, is that she USED to, but got worse! My mom first said I was so spoiled with her, now I'm just going a tiny bit insane. Last night, she was up, feeding and fussy from 11-4:30. Well, I got in bed at 4:30. She woke again at 5:20, but I told Jeff he had to do it, I was dying. (You know, it seems like if I just had the baby a few years ago, there would have been no problem-I was all about staying up that late during my first round of college!) Overall, though, she is a really good baby. She really doesn't cry much at all and she is easily pacified. And, everyone says she is the cutest baby! She didn't come out with any puffiness, conehead, or other funny stuff. She's just adorable, especially when she smiles-which is a lot, even though it's probably accidental.

Here are a few pictures of our Amie post-hospital. We've got her in her bassinet, her first day at church, and our Halloween fun.