NYC Marathon

OK...I've been very neglectful of my blog. I was so excited about writing when I first started. I guess you could say the "newness" of it wore off pretty quickly. There have been some changes...we finished the renovations on our house and it is now for sale. If you happen to know anyone wanting to move to Englewood, NJ, please let me know. Of course this is probably the worst time in the history of the United States to try and sell a house, but we want to move home so we're going to see what happens.

As I promised in my previous post, I am attaching pictures of the finished product. Tai and I are really proud of the house. We put a lot of work into it (physical, mental, emotional). That house will always have a special place in my heart. It was "our" first house, it is where we came home after our honeymoon, it is where we came home with new our puppy, it is where we brought home our baby girl. We've learned and grown so much at that house that it is sometimes hard to believe that we've only been there for 3 years instead of 20. The renovation part was really tough, but I am so proud to have survived and come out not only alive, but happy and healthy with Tai, our beautiful daughter and our sweet puppy.

Tai started his new job and I think he is really enjoying it. It was definitely time for a change and it couldn't have come at a better time. He moved back to Birmingham while Amelia and I are staying in New Jersey until the house sells. It is not easy being a single parent during the week, but we're close to being back in Birmingham so it is well worth the extra work. Besides Amelia is taking it easy on me. She is growing like a weed and she should be sitting up on her own any day now. I can't believe how much she changes on a daily basis. She has her own personality and I love it. We're going back to Birmingham for Thanksgiving and I'm so excited about everyone at home getting to see her. They are going to be amazed.

Tai ran in the NYC Marathon on November 2, 2008. He finished in 3 hours and 6 minutes which is such an amazing accomplishment. Amelia, Max and I could not be prouder. We stayed in the city the night before. It was Amelia's first trip to NYC and she (for the most part) enjoyed it. She wasn't a fan of waiting to see her dad run past us, but it was pretty cold so who could blame her. Luckily, Poppy walked up and down Central Park South with her while my mom and I watched for Tai and finally were able to see him and cheer him on (as he sprinted by).

Again...sorry for the delay in posting, but I have been a little busy. I'll keep trying.

Tai's Last Week

Tomorrow is Tai's last day at Capstone. I'm a little sad to think that we won't be able to see each other throughout the day or eat lunch together everyday like we do now, but it is sort of nice to think that we'll each have our own careers. Also, it's exciting to know that we're getting closer to moving back to Birmingham. As most of you know, we're in the process of finishing our house in New Jersey so we can put it on the market to sell. We're both nervous because of course the housing market has gone down the toilet, but we're ready to move back so it is worth it to sell now. I'm posting some pictures of when we bought the house which was in March of 2006. We've done a ton of work to it and next week I'll post the "after" pictures so you can see the change. We're really proud of all the work we've accomplished and it is a little sad to leave after we've worked so hard, but it is very rewarding to know that we are all going to be close to our family.

Poppy (my dad) came to visit last night and he got to see Amelia for the first time in over a month. He was amazed at how much she had grown. Max was more excited than anyone to see my dad. I think Max has a thing for my dad because just like every other time my dad has visited, Max jumped all over him the whole time he was at the house. I told him Max senses evil which is he behaves that way around him, but Tai and I definitely need to do a better job at training him. CC (my mom) is coming to visit Monday and I know she is going to go crazy when she sees Amelia. I'm really excited about her coming too because I love having her here and we miss her. You never realize how wonderful moms really are until you become one yourself.

We're hoping to take Amelia Pumpkin shopping this weekend so I hope to have some good pictures to post this weekend.

Dinner Audience

Tai stayed home with Amelia yesterday since he wasn't feeling well and since her daycare was closed because of Columbus Day it worked out very well for all of us. Apparently, Columbus Day is a big holiday in the Northeast...most companies shut down, lots of parades in the city, etc...who knew?

Anyways, after getting home from work last night, I started cooking dinner and I put Amelia in her bouncy seat with me in the kitchen so I could watch her. As usual, Max was laying on the kitchen floor watching me, waiting for me to drop anything so he could get a treat. So before I knew it, I had a my own little dinner audience. I thought it was pretty funny since they both seemed very focused on me. I'm not much of a cook, but the good thing is Amelia doesn't know any better and Max loves all food.

Sick Mommy & Daddy

So Amelia was a champ this weekend considering both mommy & daddy were sick and not just because Auburn lost (miserably) this weekend. I started getting a cold last week and now Tai seems to have caught it. Luckily, Amelia doesn't seem to be affected so keep your fingers crossed that she stays happy and well. She is now officially 12 weeks old. It is so crazy to think that 12 weeks ago all three of us were in the hospital...Tai and I in amazement at the fact that we had actually become parents and Amelia probably wondering what had just happened...what a difference a couple of months make.

Anyways...I think a lot of people checked out the blog last week and it really has gotten me excited about it so I'm going to keep working on it. I'm not sure how many of you will be keeping up with the Cripps, but I think one day Amelia can look back at this and either think mommy has way too much time on her hands or she'll appreciate how much I love her and want to share all the neat things she continues to do.

Since Amelia is only 3 months old and I'm just now starting this blog, I'm warning everyone that there will be many flashbacks as so many things have already happened since she was born. As many of you know, I failed to mention the 4th member of our family in my first blog, our beloved Max. Anyone who has visited us since we've been in New Jersey know that we have an adorable, loving and ridiculously energetic black Labrador. He's a little (ok, a lot) over-weight which makes it hard for us to have people over considering his favorite thing to do is jump up on people and since he weighs about 85 lbs, most people don't appreciate his introduction. The reason I mention Max is because a couple of weeks ago, Tai's mom (Robin), sister (Iris) and nephew (Jackson) came to visit. It was a wonderful visit and their first time to meet Amelia. Iris sent some pictures to me on Friday and they were so good that I had to share them with everyone. The one of Max and Jackson is my favorite because Max looks so well behaved. I mean he actually sat there and let Jackson pet him without trying to lick him to death. He's such a sweet, gentle soul and we love him like crazy. In honor of his upcoming 2nd birthday on October 22, I'm also posting a picture from his first birthday party. He's really excited about getting to wear the hat again.

I hope everyone else had a great weekend and all I can say is thank goodness Auburn has an off weekend. I don't think I could take another loss.

My First Blog

So just to give everyone fair warning, I'm very new at the whole blog thing. I mean I only recently figured out what a blog was, but my friend Rebecca started one (http://www.redheadheston.blogspot.com/) to record all the neat things that her little boy, Heston, was doing and I thought Amelia Belle deserved the same. Also, since we live in New Jersey and our family lives in Alabama, Colorado and Alaska, I figured this would be a great way to share all the exciting things that Amelia is doing, so here goes...
As anyone who reads this blog probably already knows, Amelia was born on July 20, 2008, which means she is 11 weeks and 6 days old. She weighed 9lbs and 7oz when she was born, which was shocking to me (dad was a big baby, but mom was small so we thought she would be somewhere between...instead she beat us both). To me she is the spitting image of her father. Her hair is exactly the same as here dad's. Her eye color changes daily, but I'm betting she ends up with dad's blue eyes. Of course, all this is fine with me as I think her dad is pretty good looking.

She is such an amazing person and it is so exciting to see her change on a daily basis. She really is starting to have her own personality and it is so neat to see how she seems to have traits from both mom and dad. As of right now, she loves to eat, take baths and she's sleeping through the night, which is huge for Tai and I since we both work. We are currently in the process of trying to move to Birmingham, AL so that we can be closer to our family because she's really missing out on getting to know her family and of course, they are all missing out on getting to know her and she's the coolest baby ever. So as you can see, moving back really does make a lot of sense.

Since this is my first blog, I'm going to keep it short and let all of you know that there will definitely be more to come.