It is a Great Day in the United States!

What a happy day! I have been counting down to 1/20/09 since George W. Bush was elected in 2004.

As I was watching the Inauguration today I was trying to explain to Amaya why it was very important. We elected our first African American President in our history. There was also a regime change. W will probably go into our history books as the worst President ever! All A would say is "Hi Omama."

I was also reading the comments on BBC and Al Jazeera English and the opinions are pretty much the same as mine. They are hopeful by his message that Obama will be postive to all countries great and small.

Change has come! Woo hoo! Even the White House website makes me happy that it no longer has anything Bush related on there! http://www.whitehouse.gov/

16 Months Old

Amaya turned 16 month old on the 12th. Wow! Time really flies by. She is growing up before my eyes. I am convinced she is 16 months old going on 5!

She really never has been interested in toys for her age. She never played with rattles and hates stuffed animals. I bought her a zoo set of Little People. All the moms of kids her age have been raving about them. They say that their Little Ones love playing with them. She doesn't pay attention at all to them. She would rather look at a video of Youtube about the actual animal and learn facts about them. I guess she takes after her mom's nerdiness. :)

Her days are spent reading all kinds of books (even books without pictures). She is also interested in playing with her baby dolls. She feeds them, talks to them, rocks and puts them to sleep and pushes them around in her stroller. She is also going through this phase where she has to have her sparkly pants on and carry her purse with her everywhere. All that she is missing is a pair of high heels. What a girly girl!

Her other favorite past time is dancing. I swear she is going to be a ballerina or hip hop dancer. Her favorite song is "Single Ladies" by Beyonce. She watches that video and she copies the dance moves. It is so cute! We also watch a lot of PBS and they have ballets on there. She likes to copy the ballerinas and turn in a circle and hold her hands up.

Nap times are a pretty hectic time here. She is going through a phase where she doesn't want to take a nap. Usually to get her to sleep, I have to put her on my chest while I am sitting on a recliner. I don't get anything done at all during nap time!

I don't have any new pictures or videos because my rechargeable batteries only last for about 30 seconds and Clint refuses to buy regular batteries.

My Reading List

Another thing that I have decided to do this year is to read 50 classic books. I have read most of these on my list at least once or twice. I feel like my brain is turning to mush the older I get so it needs refreshed.
http://www.listsofbests.com/list/61774/compare/AmayaNSugar

Pictures from Fake Christmas 2008

We saved a few presents for Amaya to open a couple of days after Christmas since I was too sick on actual Christmas. Here's Fake Christmas 2008 and no my child does not like wearing clothes.

2009

I have a lot of goals for 2009. My main goal is to quit smoking. I haven't had a cigarette since I got really sick on Christmas Eve. I figured that I might as well go ahead and try to quit. Quitting cold turkey along with being sick has been a real challenge! My body is majorly screwed up right now! It is going to be really hard for me because the reason I smoke is to cope with my anxiety. It was very windy yesterday and I starting hyperventilating because I didn't have my stress relief.

Another thing I would like to do is lose some weight so I can try to conceive this year. The chances of me being able to have a VBAC increases with me being in shape. I can't bear to have another traumatic C-Section. I really want Amaya to have a playmate close in age to her. My baby fever increases every day because it seems like everyone is pregnant again and my little brother's wife is about to have a baby.

I am hoping that 2009 brings me better luck than it did last year. Hopefully there will be no big storms anywhere and there can finally be peace in Israel and Iraq.

Christmas

This was the most horrible Christmas I think I have ever had in my life. I had the whole day on Christmas Eve planned. I was going to bake cookies and make a chocolate cheesecake. Earlier that day I had woke up with a slight cough. Around 1:00 pm, I started feeling very nauseous. From that point on I started throwing up and had diaheorra . I had to work on Christmas Eve so I drug Clint and Amaya with me. By 11:00 pm when I had to be at work, I could not walk or stand up without throwing up. Amaya would not go to sleep until after 2:00 am. She was getting super cranky. To make matters worse I got into a fight with a guest at the hotel. He called me and demanded that I bring him a blanket. I explained to him that I wouldn't bring it to him but he could come pick it up at the front desk. That didn't satisfy him. He came down to the desk and wanted to know my name and told me that he played for the Baltimore Ravens and I would be sorry. He then picked up a bunch of cards and threw them at me. He got mad at Clint and then punched him in the face. I called the police and his wife begged me to tell them not to come. She was carrying her 2 year old daughter in her arms and I am a big softy.

Christmas Day was even worse. I couldn't stand up to cook or even watch Amaya open her presents. I was either curled into a ball on the couch or on the bathroom floor. I totally missed my little girl's first Christmas that she could actually open presents by herself. There were no pictures taken at all. She had a Christmas grilled cheese sandwich. There is nothing more guilt wrenching or sad than missing an important event in her life like that. She was making my heart ache because she didn't understand why mommy couldn't pick her up.

Clint did leave a few presents unwrapped under the tree so I could watch her open them. I got to take a picture of her opening her small presents. I missed the big expression when she opened her bigger presents though. :(

I hope everyone else had a Merry Christmas!

Sleep

Sleep is one thing I treasure very much. Someone asked me what I want for Christmas and I replied that I want to sleep all day long.

I made the decision to not work full time in the field that I have my bachelor's degree. I work the lovely 11pm-7am shift on the weekends as an auditor of a hotel so that I can stay at home with my Amaya. Clint doesn't get home from work until 8 or 9 pm. I get to take a one or 2 hour nap before I go to work. Of course Amaya is going through a no nap phase so I don't get to sleep during the day. So in one weekend Friday-Sunday I get between 3-6 hours of sleep total.

By Monday I am a total zombie. It is really hard for me to go back to sleep during normal sleeping hours. My body is in a total trance like state all day on Tuesday because it is confused by the sleep I got. By Thursday night I am finally able to sleep right and my body is back on track. I finally feel great by Friday and I have to go back to work that night.

Sometimes I feel like screaming because I am so tired. I was completely smoke free until I started working the vampire hours. Cigarettes help me stay awake. I have gained 20 lbs since I started working the vampire hours. At 3 am when I am tired and bored I grab a Snickers bar or eat pizza. I really think my body is suffering because of my work hours!

I wonder is staying home with Amaya worth my lack of sleep? Then I think of how smart she is because I get to teach her everyday. I also think about how we have such a great bond because I'm around her all day. Bring on the coffee, Snickers and cigarettes! Amaya is such a great baby. She is worth it!

Look how dang cute she is!