Tuesdays with Amelia

I just love this American Living dress – I picked it up on clearance last summer ($3.50 down from $36)! Amelia has worn it quite a few times this year, and it makes me sad to know that once the cooler weather gets here we’ll have to pack the dress away. I’ve been trying to take a picture of her every time she puts it on – she looks so lovely wearing it, and the color really brings out her eyes!

Weekend Wrap Up

We just got back from a lovely visit to Chattanooga. Last September we purchased a 1-year membership to the Chattanooga Aquarium, and we decided that we needed to take advantage of it. Amelia slept most of the drive to Chattanooga, but then had trouble falling asleep once we got to the hotel. We brought her into our king-sized bed and co-slept for the first time ever. Mark spent the night with tiny feet in his ribs, while I had Amelia’s head shoved into my shoulder. No matter how many times we straightened her out, she found her way back. None of us slept very well that night!

On Saturday we visited the aquarium – we saw many animals, but Amelia liked the penguins the best! After the aquarium we had lunch with Aunt C and cousins A, Big S and Little S. It was wonderful to see them again! After lunch we took Amelia back to the hotel where she took a long nap. After she woke up we went to visit Great Grandma B. Amelia was such a happy girl, and gave a lot of hugs. She loved playing dress up with Great Grandma’s pretty necklaces!

On Sunday morning we had breakfast with Great Grandma, Great Aunt B, Aunt C and all of the cousins. It was a loud and fun meal, and the kids ate WAY more than the adults! Once we were done, we took Great Grandma back to her home where she gave Amelia a ride on her electric scooter! When we got back to her room, Daddy and Amelia had some fun driving the chair back and forth. Amelia slept most of our drive home, and when she woke up she was happy and content. Around 2PM we met Grandma and Grandpa B for lunch and then we all headed back to their house to pick up Shelby.

We had a lovely (and very full) weekend, and are very glad to be back home. We hope to take another trip to Chattanooga soon!

Tuesdays with Amelia

Month Twenty

Dear Amelia,

Today you are twenty months old. You’re no longer a “teenager”! You have grown so much this month, and you literally make me laugh every day. You have such a unique and fun personality, and I know I am incredibly blessed to watch you grow and learn.

When Daddy or I ask you for a hug, you will turn around and back up into our arms for a big bear hug. I think you like the security of me or Daddy at your back with our arms wrapped around you. It is so sweet, and it gives me the opportunity to smell that sweet head of yours. Your skin is baby-soft and your fine & wispy hair tickles my nose. Oh, if I could only bottle up that smell – it’s more than your baby shampoo, and it’s almost indescribable – you smell like sunshine and warmth and love. You smell like my baby girl, and it is the best smell in the world.

Whenever I am sitting on the ground you will always come up and sit in my lap – you fit perfectly! When you hear the neighbors outside you run over to the front door and knock – I think you want them to open the door and come in. You also do this when I tell you that Daddy is on his way home from work. You like to spin in slow circles and also walk backwards. You are getting more confident when you run, and you love having pillow fights on the living room floor. You will grab the couch pillows and just run towards us – we pretend that you really hit us hard and you collapse onto the floor in a fit of giggles.

You picked out a new potty this month, and a few nights ago you asked to sit on it after your bath. You sat there for about 30 minutes talking with Daddy and me and even reading a few books. You didn’t end up doing anything in the potty, but you kept asking for toilet paper and showing us that you know how to use it. Yesterday you told us you needed to go #2, so we hurried into the bathroom and took your diaper off. You didn’t really want to sit on the potty – you kept standing up and walking towards the bathtub. When you finally went, it was right on the bathroom floor – we got you to sit back on the potty, but you were so scared and bothered by the mess you made on the floor that you just kept pointing at it and crying. After we got you cleaned up you were fine, but you didn’t ask to get back on the potty for the rest of the day. This morning you went into your bathroom instead of your room when I told you that you needed to get dressed. I am fairly certain that you would have gone #1 on the potty if I had been faster about getting your diaper off. You were already going when I was undoing your diaper – I caught most of it in the diaper and then you sat on the potty for a while. I’m not sure that you’re ready to get rid of diapers yet, but we’ll keep the potty in the bathroom so that you can use it whenever you feel ready. You’re off to a good start, though, since you seem to realize when you need to go!

This month you started saying several new words. I have to listen very closely and of course you NEVER say them on command but I have heard you say trash (when you want to throw something away), dirty (for dirty clothes that need to go into the hamper), umbrella, yes, this, supper, Shelby, bath and a whole slew of others that I can’t bring to mind. It is so fun to see you expressing yourself verbally – I just need to learn to listen more closely to what you are saying. I’m sure there are many more words in your vocabulary that I just haven’t deciphered yet!

Sweet Girl, your favorite book now is Goodnight Moon. Your favorite part of the book is “the quiet old lady who was whispering hush” – you squeal and point whenever you see her. You touch the pages as if you are petting her head – so sweet! If you wake up at night (from growing pains, teeth or just a bad dream), you ask for Goodnight Moon, which is always sitting next to the rocking chair. Reading that book will calm you down enough to go back to sleep. I am so glad to see you developing a love for reading so early in your life, and I love watching the stories come alive in your eyes.

Love, Mama

Weekend Wrap Up

On Friday morning Amelia woke up with a bit of a fever. I could tell that she wasn’t feeling well, and I was afraid that she was getting the cold Mark had earlier in the week. I decided that we should skip our play group so she could rest and recuperate. Within a few hours she was back to her normal self, but it was too late to get to our play group -  she ended up spending quite a lot of time playing with my sneakers and showing off for the camera. She thought it was so funny to do something with the shoes and then run back to me so I could play the video for her. What a silly girl!

On Saturday we hopped into the car and headed to Knoxville to try and go to the zoo. When I checked the weather before we left, there was only a 40% chance of rain – it started raining on our way down, though, and kept raining for hours. Instead of visiting the zoo, we headed to the mall so that Amelia could get out of the car and run around to let some energy out. We walked all around the mall and had some tasty lunch in the food court. Amelia had a turkey panini along with a blueberry & banana smoothie, Mark had a cheese steak and fries and I had a lamb gyro. Amelia was wonderful in the car, and napped most of the way home. Even though our plans for the day fell through, we all had a great time together as a family.

On Sunday we went to the Splash Pad so Mark could see what it was all about. Amelia brought her truck and her red ball, and had a lot of fun running around! Later in the day we took Shelby to PetSmart to get her nails trimmed. Amelia enjoyed looking at all of the fish, birds and hamsters/gerbils/guinea pigs.

We had a great weekend and hope to visit the zoo sometime soon, when the weather is drier (and maybe cooler)!

Tuesdays with Amelia

A few days ago Amelia picked out a yellow potty online. It was delivered yesterday, and we put it in her bathroom this afternoon! I’m pretty sure she thinks it’s a toy, because she keeps taking the white part out and trying to wear it on her head like a hat. When I finally got her to sit on the potty, she kept swinging the bathroom door back and forth. That’s OK though, because we’re not ready to start potty training yet – we just wanted her to get accustomed to the idea of using the potty!

Weekend Wrap Up

Amelia got all dressed up for a lunch date with Daddy on Friday. He took us to a lovely Chinese restaurant. The family that owned it was so welcoming and friendly, and the food was wonderful. The patriarch of the family (who was also the chef) gave Amelia an ice pop for dessert – she loved it and ate the whole thing!

On Saturday we went to visit with Grandma and Grandpa B. While we were up there, Grandma found some bubbles for us to play with. Amelia had a big time!

On Sunday we went car shopping, and actually got an amazing deal on a new car! This car is much needed, as our old car was going to need a lot of big repairs soon. We figured that we would rather spend money on a new car than sink thousands into an older car that might not last a year (even if we did all of the repairs). We are so thankful and blessed that we found the deal that we did – 0% financing for 60 months, a seven year bumper-to-bumper warranty AND Mark got the dealer to pay $1,000 more on our trade-in than they originally offered!