Here are some random pictures from May/June. Amelia is changing so fast these days. She has lots of new words and is trying to put them together. She took a shower with Zach the other morning and when they got out she told Zach "All done wash". Life seems to get much easier when they can tell you what they want and what they're thinking. I never much enjoyed the guessing game. Her new thing is to tell us when she "poops" she also thinks it's great when she "farts" and tells us that one too. She's big into "help" right now and it seems that everything she does she needs "Mommy help". She did bust out her first curse word yesterday... She said "Oh shi*". I guess I need to watch my language a little more closely. My favorite thing she learned this week was how to say "I love you"... definitely the sweetest. She also sings "Rock baby" (Rocka-bye baby), "tinkle tinkle li sta" and "Ashes ashes ah fa down". I think the fun is just beginning.
Here are a few shots from our weekly zoo trip. We had a good time this trip despite the fact that it was over 90 degrees. We took our usual rides on the train and carousel. The carousel is definitely her favorite. She knows exactly where it is and where to buy the tickets. She also takes her time picking out just the right animal to ride (it's usually any critter with a long tail). This visit was actually a bit more exciting because the pigs were in the petting area for Amelia to torment. We usually have to torment them through the fence. Oh and she was head butted by an angry goat. The goats are marked with red tags if they aren't very nice and apparently we crossed the wrong goat. My question is this... if they are angry and aggressive why are they in the petting area at the kid's park in the zoo??? Anyway, we weren't petting this particular goat, but we did get in his way. Amelia wasn't phased though and we found some more animals to scream at and grab, I mean pet.
We recently went to a little birthday party where there was a huge assortment of candy including these suckers shaped like tongues attached to fake teeth. Apparently the suckers were good... this was also Amelia's first lollipop.
We headed out to Hilton Head Island over Memorial Day weekend to spend time with the Nielsen family. It was a great visit, but too short. We didn't get many pictures of the girls together... partly because my child is a big wuss and couldn't take a little hair pulling. Here are a couple of shots with Amelia and Eleanor. Eleanor was always up for a photo op and clearly hasn't developed the dreaded cheese face (her smile is gorgeous). She is a happy little girl and is much more social than Amelia. Amelia is content being shy and contemplative (unless she's playing ball or jumping... then she becomes the life of the party).
When will the dreaded cheese face stop?? Every time I pull out the camera I hear "cheese" and she makes the horrible scrunchy face.
Amelia is obsessed with blankets and anything fluffy. She loves to cuddle on them (hence her love for Wallace's bed). I think we're going to invest in a bean bag chair... although I'm concerned that it will become a weapon for abusing friends and potential, future siblings. Oh and she's also into her belly button. Here are two pics of her looking for her belly button and showing me her belly button. She will also look for her "butt" if you ask.
A few weeks ago Amelia, mom, and I took a trip to Bennettsville, South Carolina for my great uncle's funeral. It wasn't the best of circumstances to make this trip, but we ladies still managed to have a little fun. Bennettsville is a small town and there aren't a lot of places to stay, but we managed to find a super nice Bed and Breakfast right down the street from my aunt's house. We had an entire house to ourselves and they even made us french toast for breakfast. Amelia enjoyed the trip and especially enjoyed the "Privacy Please" sign (or bracelet) and eating breakfast in bed.
Amelia and I took a little road trip to Destin with our friend Emilie and her two boys. It was Amelia's first beach trip (unfortunately without Zach)... fortunately for Zach he didn't miss much. Amelia was not a fan of the ocean, but was ok hanging on the beach. We did enjoy the pool though. She had lots of firsts on this trip including her first taste of bacon, which she loved. We have some funny video of Amelia jumping off the sofa into a sea of pillows with Emilie's son, Caden, that I'm hoping Zach gets up pretty soon.
So I sometimes see little bits of my mom in Amelia, but this picture screams "Little Debby". She looks just like my mom to me here.
Like all little kids Amelia enjoys "talking" on the phone. She usually holds the phone up to her ear (or anything phone shaped) and says "hello" or "hi" and sometimes "blah blah blah Mommy blah blah blah puppy". She thinks it's great of course. Here's a shot of Amelia in my bed at the beach. I let her relax while I was getting dressed. She had the remote in one hand and the phone up to her ear. She was having one of her "conversations" and apparently it was a good one.
Here are some pictures of Amelia in her little Easter dress. She wasn't in a smiling mood, but she somewhat cooperated (minus the taking off her shoes part).
Apparently Amelia has a fashion opinion and wants to express it. We were getting ready to head out for a walk and I was trying to put her shoes on. She kept whining and running over to the stairs. Mom figured out that she wanted her rubber boots. As soon as mom grabbed them off the stairs Amelia got very excited and immediately sat down to put them on. She apparently didn't like the shoes I picked out and wanted to wear these. What a mess (the pebbles hair was courtesy of mom).
Amelia was super dirty after playing at the park the other day and I didn't feel like giving her an official bath so I filled up the pool. It was very small and very sad (I had to duct tape the valves shut). I guess that's what you get when you shop the super sales at BRU. She enjoyed it all the same and splashed around for about an hour.
We had another decent sized snow (a couple of inches) this March and we took Millie Moo out to enjoy the white stuff. She was more interested in climbing stairs than playing in the snow though. Maybe next year she'll want to build a snowman.
Here are a few random pics that I snapped of Amelia this past March and some of April. The weather here has been super nice (70s and 80s) so we've been able to enjoy the outdoors. Thank goodness for our zoo membership. We've spent lots of time there and it's become our own personal playground. Amelia really enjoys the park now so that's fun too. She even says "Wee" when she swings and likes to go down the slide face first. She now has a few words and phrases that she uses to express her ever growing opinion. Her repertoire includes: Mommy, Dada, ball, Elmo, all done, more, waffle, cheese, pizza, baby, eyes, nose, and whatever else you try to get her to repeat. It's pretty funny, but now I have to watch what I say around her. Guess I'll need to clean up my potty mouth. In addition to her actual words she has her own made up language. I'm sure (or at least hope) that all 1 year olds are like this... otherwise I might need to take her into a specialist. She will babble for hours. Some days literally all day. I have no clue what she's saying, but she's very serious about it. I wonder if this is what I sound like to her some days on the phone arranging all of the club travel. She's been going to Mother's Morning Out for a few months now and is really enjoying it. When I drop her off she runs to play with her favorite toys and never looks back. Guess I'm not as important as I thought. She's also enjoying her swimming lessons. In the last few weeks she's really starting to take off. She will now sit on the side of the pool and dive in face first and swim (more or less) underwater to Zach. It's pretty cute. I'll hopefully be able to snap some pictures of swim class next weekend to post.
We took a big road trip to Chicago/Indianapolis in March. My juniors team played in a tournament in Indianapolis and we thought that it was a good time to stop by Chicago for a quick visit to meet Little Miss Eleanor. We only snapped a couple of pictures but here is one of Amelia, Eleanor, and me. Eleanor is the cutest thing ever. She smiles at everyone and is super sweet. Amelia didn't really like all of the attention that Eleanor received, but overall she played nice. Zach and I got to keep Eleanor for a few hours by ourselves and got a little taste of what it was like to have two babies. Let's just say Eleanor was an angel, but I would have sold Amelia to the gypsies. We can't wait to see Eleanor again (and Nicole and Kris too of course).
At first her hair was brown, then it was red, then it fell out, and now it's straight in the front and curly in the back. I'm not sure what to do with her hot mess of a hair, but I'm having visions of a very, very frustrating few years of junior high. Hopefully she won't expect me to have a clue how to "fix" it.
Here are some pics from one of our trips to the zoo. Amelia loves the pigs and there are a few shots of her trying to get a better peek at them.
Here are a few pics of Amelia enjoying our neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt and getting her Easter Basket.
Amelia was running around the house the other day, brushing her hair of course, and I captured a picture of her that reminded me so much of Zach. So here's a side by side of father and daughter making the same face. This is one of Amelia's favorite faces to make for the camera as well.
This was just a good shot of Grandma Joyce, Grandpa Phil, and Amelia on the last day of their birthday visit.
All kinds of fun things on Amelia's first birthday weekend. Opening gifts with both Grandmothers, attempting to eat some birthday cake and freaking out when the messy stuff wouldn't come off her hands, playing with balloons, hating my fantastic birthday hat, hanging in my new ball pit. Thanks to everyone who made the journey to make it a special day, and also to everyone who sent Amelia some great stuff.
Everyone needs a comfortable place to cozy up with a good book, or just to hang out. Amelia has chosen Wallace's bed. We don't ask questions.
Amelia, being helpful around the house as always. Entropy is apparently a deeply rooted human instinct that mothers break us of slowly over the course of our youth. Good luck containing this tornado. She is a bit like her father in this regard. Sarah might have to start calling Amelia PigPen part two.
