Week 47

The end of last week was nice. It wasn't the most relaxing weekend, but that was okay.

On Saturday was the Crew (soccer) home opener. A while back, I had found a bumblebee costume at a garage sale for $0.50! Chris decided it would be perfect for Amelia for a few Crew games -- keep her warm AND color coordinated with the team!

So first we tailgated with some friends before the game.... [that cute Crew-colored jacket was scored by our friends at a thrift store!]



And then Amelia suited up! She looks kinda subdued in these pics, because she got really sleepy right before the game started (yet wouldn't take a nap on mommy).



This girl has gotten tons of attention from day 1. But nothing like this! We literally couldn't take two steps without someone smiling and saying "awesome outfit", pointing her out to their friends, taking pictures of her.... it was great. Chris had a great idea.

Our tickets are in the crazy supporter's section, but Amelia loved it! She wiggled and bounced to the beats of the songs and cheers.

Monday morning --- Amelia is 47 weeks old!

Trip #2 - York, PA

After the news of Grandpa's passing, we quickly planned a trip out east. York, PA is where most of Chris's extended family lives (grandparents, great-grandma, aunts/uncles, cousins). So it was a no-brainer that we should be there, as a source of support for the family, and for Chris to be able to say goodbye to "Gramps".

We hit the road the next day (Sunday), because I only had 3 vacation days available, and we figured it would be easier on Amelia to do the trip in 4 days than 3. I'm impressed with our packing --- we got up at 8, started pulling stuff together, and hit the road by 10!

When we do the OH-PA trip, we usually plan for a longer lunch stop, to allow Amelia to stretch and eat and stuff. She had her first kid's meal ever, at Bob Evans -- pancakes and applesauce! She loved it.

Grams seemed to really appreciate us coming out. She hugged and kissed Amelia all day long, every day. She even got down and crawled with her!

Amelia was quite the trooper on this trip. She took 2 good naps in the car in both directions and slept well in Aunt Leanne's crib. She even took good naps in the crib and in the pack-in-play at Gram's house! She played hard and loved hard, but when she was done, she was DONE! She was always very ready for bed - getting majorly cranky as soon as we were away from everyone else (good girl).

The funeral was beautiful. Gramps was much loved in his community. As a retired firefighter, he stayed involved at the firehouse, and was known there as "Pap". He had 300+ show up for one viewing alone, including the men from the firehouse.

A firetruck led the funeral processional to the grave site. When we passed Gramps' old firehouse, the men that were manning it were out to salute "Pap" as he went by. It was very touching.

After the funeral was a reception, so we changed Amelia into play clothes, so she could crawl around. She loved playing with her cousins. The little boys especially were great about including her.

And, of course, we had to get a picture of Amelia in the fire truck.

And the trip wouldn't be complete without a couple of stops to see her other great-grandparents (Gramma D's parents):

All tuckered out from all the loving, this is how we caught Amelia (having pulled off one shoe and sock) on the way home to Ohio:

Week 46

After returning from Michigan, we had a nice, quiet week at home.

On Saturday, in the morning we went to get Amelia's Easter pics done (stay tuned!). Amelia enjoyed the nice sunny day, and rode around in her little car.



Unfortunately, we also got some sad news that day. Chris's Grandpa F. passed away pretty suddenly. In honor of a great man, Amelia took her very first ride in the cool wagon that her F. great-grandparents got her from the Amish in PA.



Here's a video of her first ride (sorry it's sideways): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQOwy1qLmxE

Monday morning pic - 46 weeks old:

Penance

As penance for my delayed postings, I stuck some new pictures in the blog header.

Trip #1 - Michigan

Over Chris's spring break, we FINALLY made it up to Michigan, where Amelia's paternal grandparents all reside.

We went up on Wednesday. We stopped at Gramma D's work food trade show, where Amelia was fussed over and spoiled for hours. She got to try several new snackies!

Thursday - We went to Grandpa Tom's work (the Kellogg headquarters). Again, Amelia was spoiled by everyone she saw. One nice lady even gave Amelia her prized chicken (seen below). We also hung out with Gramma D again.

Friday - Daddy's Birthday!!! - We spent the part of the day with Chris's dad & step-mom (Linda) and part of it with his mom. It was a nice, relaxing day.

Saturday - Amelia's step-family came over (Linda's kids and grandkids). She had a blast hanging out and playing with the other little girls.

Sunday - Spent the morning with Gramma D and hit the road!

It was a nice trip, and a very good thing that we had our new car, because we came back with a lot more stuff than we left with (all the loot that Amelia collected and tons of Kellogg cereal).

Here's a couple of cute videos from our trip:

Amelia's grandpa doing ducky noises at him: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXLWc1NYQYk

Amelia singing with Gramma D: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdoOncCMDeY

Sorry I've been gone so long....

This is probably the longest this blog has gone without an update since Amelia was born!

Life has been crazy lately.

I promise a flurry of updates between tomorrow and Monday. I owe you....

- Visit to Michigan - done!
- Update on Amelia's new "tricks"
- Last week's adventures - done!
- Monday morning pics - done!
- This week's adventures

Whew.

Funny Story...

I picked up Amelia from her Sitter's house and we were driving and listening to a cd of children's songs. A song that she particularly likes was on - the same one that she's seriously dancing to in the first video below.

Literally, her car seat was shaking back and forth, she was dancing so hard. Her little feet kept kicking and she was just flailing all around. I checked to make sure her seat was properly snapped into the base, and concluded that she was rocking that thing around with pure force and energy. And every time I'd start clapping along, I'd see her tiny hands join in.

Love her. :)

----

I know, I know... I owe y'all 2 posts - a synopsis of last week (our trip to MI) and my "ode to Amelia", telling about the fun new things she's doing these days. I've been busy. Sorry.

Forgive me? How about a cute picture of her "sorting" Grandma's tissues to tide you over....

Terrific Thursday!!

We... have... pigtails!!!! Wahoo! They're a pretty pathetic version, but they're there!

Fired up!

Seriously, you want me to eat that? That's baby food, and I'm NOT a baby....

Happy St. Patrick's Day...

.... from Amelia!

Dancing Amelia

Two wonderful videos of Amelia dancing....

This first one is just hilarious - she's really getting down: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFIlbrghdAs

The second is her "signature" move - arms straight out, head wobbling back and forth, and booty shaking: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9WMWFrI8Vw

Week 45!

I was holding off blogging about it for a short while, while we showed it off to people in person, but we got a new car!!

My poor little Altima had been giving us fits, and it was about time that I finally got my "mom car". It has wonderful safety ratings, in perfect condition, and so spacious that Amelia will have plenty of spots to grind food into in the near future. :)

We didn't expect to make a purchase, but they made it too hard to walk away! We're glad to have our wonderful Subaru Outback!


It was especially nice to have it for our trip to Michigan last weekend! Post coming later!

Amelia is so fun. I'll have to post a separate "Ode to the Beebs" tomorrow, to talk about the various things she's up to these days. I have lots of video to share, too!

Amelia at 45 weeks:

Terrific Thursday!

Amelia eating hummus and pita!

She looks confused at first, but then she likes it!! :)

We submitted this last one to a photo contest about what your baby likes to eat. So we'll see. :)

44 Weeks Old!

It's monday morning! 44 weeks old!

She "slept in" today, thanks to the time change. Since Chris and I both have some time off coming up, I think we'll wait until next week to get her adjusted a bit.

Weekend Fun!

On Saturday, we went to the zoo with our friends. Amelia enjoyed hanging out with her buddy, Joey, and he seems excited to see "Ameer" again.

She LOVED the goats and sheep at the petting zoo.

On Sunday, we headed over to spend the day with my family.

A taste of birthday cake frosting...

A picture of the cousins growing up together...

Other Updates

Amelia knows the word "no" now, whether she responds appropriately or not! She'll be crawling around the living room, and head towards the fireplace. I'll say "no" and she'll turn and look at me, and usually does not immediately go right back to what I was discouraging her from. But eventually, it will catch her attention again. :)

She likes to have her hair dried by the hairdryer. She thinks it's hilarious and gets all crazy when we use it.

Amelia still babbles a lot, but her primary words are mama and dada. We haven't heard "ducky" in quite a while. Lately the sound that she has been working on is the letter F. She'll pull in her lower lip and go "fffff". And then we'll do it at her and she will do it back to us.

In addition to waving hello/goodbye, she now will give high-fives.

Amelia is pulling up all the time now, but always on her own terms. If I try to prop her up on something, her legs turn to jelly. Or the other day, she kept pulling up on Chris's legs and looking up at him. It was so cute, so I ran for the camera. When I came back, she refused to do it, even assisted.

Her new Sitter is big on keeping the kids active. Since Amelia loves to go places, as long as it's not excessive, it seems like a good idea to us, too. They have play-dates with a friend's kids (she babysits too), go to the play area at the mall, and go to the library story time (I live close, so I've asked to get a heads-up on this in the future). And now that it's getting warm again, they will be going to the zoo. Our Sitter's father works there, and he'll take them behind-the-scenes if they track him down.

Amelia is very social. She loves other kids of all ages. She always likes to be in the thick of things!

10 Months Old!

Amelia is 10 months old today!!

Wow, time is passing way too quickly. My little infant will be a toddler soon. I definitely see why there isn't a big percentage of single-child households in the world.... they get out of that tiny baby stage and everything is fun, but you start missing being able to hold them close and watch them learn those early developmental things.

Amelia has never been a cuddly baby though. Last night, at her bedtime feeding, she fell fast asleep. I was watching Jeopardy and was really interested in the category they were working on, so I stood there holding my sleeping child. It was so nice. That's a pretty rare thing for us.

She's wearing scooter dress #2 today! Below today's pics you'll see what I mean. Her very first dress was a smaller version of this cute little dress.

Happy Birthday!!



Amelia in her very first dress.... at the hospital.

This morning, I caught a wonderful moment. Chris woke up rather grumpy and was really struggling this morning. After I said goodbye to them, I went to go take a shower. I peeked out the side window to see him put her car seat in the car. He shut the door and started making faces at her, to get her to smile at him. Not getting enough of her, he opened the door and sat in the back with her. I could see him chatting with her and kissing her. When he got back out, his eyes looked a little misty and mine definitely were, too. That little girl will always know that her daddy loves her. And a cute face from her can definitely bring up his day a little, too.

Terrific Thursday!

Today, it's all about hair.

Amelia has always had a lot of it. But it's growing in weirdly. It's super short in the back, long in the front, with two long sections - one beside each ear (with a little curl at the end).

It's growing in front of her face now, making her little clippies extra important. I'm DYING for her to have hair long enough for some decent pigtails.

She doesn't wear a hair clip to her Sitter's house, mostly because her old sitter wasn't a fan of them. But today, Josie sent Amelia home looking like this...... so I think she'd be all for us pulling her hair out of her face!


Yes, she's rocking an off-center hair sprout. Which is even better when the band comes out....

Insurance Ups and Downs

Good news or bad news first?

Well, I'll start with the good -- a funny insurance story.

This morning I finally get around to getting serious about signing up Amelia for life insurance. I already had a quote from my go-to source, but I didn't want as much insurance as their minimum was, so pretty much passed on that one. I called the company that my original life insurance plan is through. In the process of getting my quote, I find out that my parents started my policy 2 days before my 10 month birthday. Amelia will be 10 months in 3 days! Guess I should officially sign up tomorrow, right? Weird, huh?

And then the bad....

Chris's car was hit in his work parking lot recently, and his bumper needs fixed. It really irks me that a fellow employee or student hit his car and didn't say anything to him about it. And everyone knows his car, thanks to the "my other car is a Vespa" license plate holder. So thanks to someone else's negligence, we're paying the $250 deductible.

People really have a problem with taking responsibility these days. Parents are not doing a good job with their kids in this regard. We promise to work on this with Amelia, and not shield her from rightful consequences to her actions!

Week 43

Last week was fairly uneventful for Amelia.

Chris and I each had a busy week, so most nights Amelia only had 1 parent home with her.

There's really not much to report at this time! OH, except Amelia and I went to a big baby sale this past weekend, and she had two great handlers (Allison and Laura) watching her, so I could shop. :) Thanks ladies!

For the upcoming week.... we're going to see my family next Sunday, and then we leave the following week for a few days up in Michigan!

43 weeks old!

Crazy outfit night!

How do our weekends end like this??

Oh yeah, Amelia has mean parents who find this stuff funny. :)

Nothing beats a too-small tshirt, baby leg warmers, a hot pink diaper cover and an oversized bow!

For the record, Amelia thinks this is hysterical, too. As I was dressing her up, I was laughing and then she was laughing. We came back downstairs to show Daddy and she was all fired up and excited!