This is David’s belly. This is my belly. See the cookie in my hand? I was trying to bribe David to come over and touch my belly for a photo shoot. It didn’t work. But I think this turned out just fine. This pregnancy is very different from my first pregnancy, and it seems a
Photography has gotten much harder as David’s gotten older. I miss the simple days when I could put bunny ears on him, give him a carrot to gnaw on, and have plenty of time to find an angle that would show his chubby rolls and the dogwoods in the background. Those days are gone. Now, whenever
For months now David’s been working on his memoirs. The working title is, “My life with the most boring Mom ever.” Like most toddlers, David is nothing but energy. He loves playing with other kids, especially older kids. He desperately wants an older sibling, four older siblings would be even better. Unfortunately for David, that’s
My mom’s grandmother lived on a farm, like lots of people did back in those days. So she, my great-grandmother, had to go out and milk the cows every morning. My mom once told me that while my great-grandmother was out milking the cows, she’d give her babies a box of pictures to look through.
Fun fact: most women don’t lose hair while they’re pregnant? So even though the rest of your body is bloated and stretching and swollen, your hair usually looks full and awesome. Then, a few months after your baby is born, all that hair starts falling out all at once. So you’re exhausted and still trying
My husband is sort of a tech guy. That will come as an understatement for anyone who knows him. Wherever Tom goes, he leaves a trail of various devices, chargers and cords behind him. And when we were on our honeymoon (in a cabin in Montana), he tried to teach me binary. David’s favorite toy
Last night I was getting David’s bath ready and he started tossing his bath toys into the tub. He threw a Tupperware bowl, a red toucan, and the letters B-O-Y. In that order. The odds are too great for this to be a coincidence – there are 26 letters and 10 numbers in that basket.
Walking is a weird milestone because it happens so gradually. It’s not like rolling over. When babies learn to roll over it happens in a moment. It’s like this: 8:22 am: baby cannot roll over 8:23 am: baby can roll over Walking is a little more of a process; there’s a big learning curve. When
All of David’s cousins have blogs documenting their childhoods and I often read through the archives to see what his cousins were doing when they were his age, what their temperament was like, sleeping patterns, etc. Recently I read this entry on my sister’s blog about how a “maturity light switch” was flipped around 10 to 11
For weeks it seems like we’ve had at least a little rain almost every day. We’ve had several showers that come out of nowhere and leave just as quickly. Each time, as soon as the rain let up, David and I would go on a “Rainbow Hunt.” Rainbow Hunt just means carrying out to the
Before you watch this video, turn up the volume on your computer as high as possible. It might seem hard to believe, but that sound is even more annoying in person. And did you notice when he lunges across the floor and then sort of bears down on a particular spot? At first glance it
Yesterday when I went to put David down for a nap I found Brigham curled up in the corner of the crib. I put David in the crib with the cat because I figured the one thing that would make the crib no longer comfortable to Brigham would be a baby. It works in most
After being rained out of Blacksburg, we drove to Smith Mountain Lake in Franklin County. I grew up in Franklin County. It’s rural, southern, and as the Ambassador of Franklin County, I’m here to tell you it’s one of the most beautiful places on earth. Tom’s parents have a place on Smith Mountain Lake. They
Last weekend we drove down to Southwest Virginia for the weekend. When you have a baby, you have to select your road trips carefully. Tom and I have already cancelled our summer vacation plans to avoid a long road trip. This weekend involved a total of 9 hours in the car. David no longer sleeps
You can’t go to Hilton Head without going to the beach. The weather was a little cool, but not too cool to see the Atlantic for the first time. He loved the waves, and tried to convince us to just toss him in the water so he could swim away with the dolphins. But do
He’s been doing this for a few weeks now. I don’t know what the technical definition of crawling is, but I’m pretty sure this isn’t it. I’ve heard moms call it the “Army crawl” but with all the grunting and struggling, David’s crawl is more like a castaway lugging his body across the beach in
Last Saturday Tom and I both made to-do lists. One of our lists looked like this: 1. run 10 miles2. mow the lawn 3. enclose our compost pile4. vacuum5. dust6. trim shrubs7. watch 10 hours of basketball The other looked like this: 1. Go to the playground and put David in the baby swing I’ll just
Last night Tom took David for a run in the jogging stroller for the first time ever. He ran 5 miles at a 7:30 pace while pushing the stroller. No big deal. I stayed home and did some freelance work. Alone in the house for almost 40 minutes, it felt like new worlds were open
We dismantled David’s swing a few weeks ago and sent it to the attic. It was surprisingly a non-event. I tend to attach fabricated sentimental value to inanimate objects. This means he is GROWING and getting BIGGER! He LOVED this swing. This swing was responsible for most of his naps for the first three months
Can you see what David is chewing on? How about now? It’s a chicken bone. And he is NOT sharing. See those eyes? They’re the eyes of gratitude. His Grammy would be so proud.
David woke up last night with a fever. His FIRST fever. So we’re going to stay in bed all day and watch funny cat videos on YouTube. OBVIOUSLY. Have you seen this one? We have…four times already.
This sketch is combines everything I love: 1) new parents 2) pop music references 3) making fun of Bon Iver. That Jay Z impression SPOT ON. I’ve been irritated at Beyonce for weeks now. How dare she go out in public lookin’ all showered and sparkly? All this time I had my husband believing it
Thankfully, David’s standards for humor aren’t high. He finds it hilarious when I just stand back and say “boop”. No punchline required.
Contrary to what these photos might imply, we haven’t started solids with David yet. Instead, we’ve just been putting him in his high chair while WE eat solids. He likes it so far; being on the same level with us is his version of a Caribbean cruise. When we went to Franklin County for my mom’s birthday,
I haven’t written much about running lately, but it’s not because I haven’t been running. Instead, running has become less of an Event and more commonplace. I’m getting back to my old self. Not totally, but I’m getting there. The other day I went for a run wearing my running tights. I wore them earlier this
Moments before Kanye and I started our performance, David was screaming his way to Santa’s naughty list. I’m dreading the day he sees people with REAL moves; someone like Usher, Justin Timberlake, or Amanda Giobbi. The moment he’s exposed to good dancing, I’m ruined.
But he loved the bows. Can you see the glitter on his face? It’s because his mommy let him get aholt of a gold glitter ribbon. Consequentially, he was a glitter baby for the rest of the day. And I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking “aholt” isn’t a word. You’re thinking, “I can tell she
Before David’s arrival I had this whole parenting thing figured out. Perhaps you can relate. I was a really good parent before I had a baby. I had standards for child-rearing. Especially during the early, EASY stage. I would NEVER be soft, and definitely not nervous. I didn’t even think having a baby would make
When I have more than one kid, will I have time to put ridiculous things on them. Take photos. And post them on the Internet?
We’re rollin’ for real here in the Krieger house. Start like this… Throw that head back… And end like this! Yay! Good job, David! He goes the other way, too. And mama was there to see it all.
David turns 14 weeks old today. And I, I am reentering the land of the living. Thanks, it’s great to be back. You see, for the past week or so David has been acting like a big ole baby. Turns out his bouts of 10-hour sleep were a tease. A ruse! Just as I started
Usually when David wakes up in the morning, he’s all smiles. He stretches and wiggles and waves. But mostly he just smiles and smiles. It’s easily his favorite part of the day. Usually. This particular morning he acted more like he had a hangover. I pulled him into bed with me and he snoozed HARD
Since babies sleep on their backs these days, doctors recommend they have some “tummy time” every day. The point is for them to strengthen their back and neck muscles, which used to happen when babies were squirming before and after sleeping. David isn’t sure what he thinks of tummy time. Sometimes he loves it and
Does anyone else think he looks like he’s only pretending to sleep in this photo? He might have been. He woke up when the shutter clicked. Faker! Speaking of sleep, Tom and I had the following conversation at 5am. Amanda: Tom! Guess what, this is the first time David’s woken up since 11, he slept
Good morning. Every morning, before he does anything else, David does his morning stretches. I undo his swaddle. He arches his back. And raises his arms. Feels so goooood! Ok, mommy, now I’m ready to start the day.
My mother in law told me about this poem, and I love it. Too often I find myself wishing the newborn phase away (I want to interact with this kid, yo!) so I appreciate reminders that this is a quick and precious phase, the laundry can wait (not that the house has ever been that
Yesterday Tom tried to weigh David in a scale at the grocery store. Everyone in the produce department was laughing, including me. I watched the whole thing from behind a display of pears. (Unfortunately it didn’t work. He didn’t fit in the scale. From my method of weighing myself, and then weighing myself holding David,
We’ll probably forget a lot of David’s “firsts”. Things like first earthquake, first hurricane sort of fade as distant memories, don’t they? But some firsts stick. Today marked the best day of David’s life thus far — his very first Hokie game day. Virginia Tech – 66, Appalachian State – 13 And what a game
Having a newborn in the mix makes things hectic, sure, but things have been extra-hectic around the 804 in the first two weeks of David’s life. August 23 – We don’t have earthquakes in Virginia. I equate earthquakes with volcanoes, they’re other people’s problems. But 5 days after David’s birth, we had a 5.8 earthquake
This scene can only mean one thing… There’s a baby in the house! Welcome to the family David Andrew Krieger. Our son David was born Tuesday, August 16 at 6:39pm. He weighed 7lbs 14oz and was 20 inches long. (By the way, how do moms remember all that info for years? I already forget which