Park and Grass Play

I was pretty set that we were staying in this evening. Until Amelia made our bed into a slide. That's when I realized we needed to go to the park. Again.

We went and she had a blast. As usual. Well, until some older boys started throwing wood chips at her. She came to me and asked me to play with her. I asked why, even though I knew why, and in the end she grabbed two handfuls of wood chips and marched right up to the boys and threw them at the offenders.

Yes, that's my daughter. We had a talk about not throwing things at people. Even if they throw things at you. The boys' mother heard and apologized and made them apologize. It was too late. Amelia was already running saying, "I go to my house." Before we left the school grounds we stopped to smell some flowers and let Joe have his first, real grass experience.

I think he enjoyed it :)

While Joe explored, Amelia tried to climb this tree. With no luck.

Happy Wednesday!

We-Haw's Birthday

**We-Haw is what Amelia calls my sister. It started out as Ah-Hee, then it went to He-Haw and now it is We-Haw. No one is sure why.

Friday was my sister's 25th birthday! She came over to visit the kids and I. We went on a walk and ended up at the park :) Amelia could have stayed there all night swinging!

Joey had his first taste of playground fun in a tunnel!

We stayed at the park longer than we thought so we ordered pizzas for dinner. We seem to end up doing that almost every time Kim visits us...

Saturday afternoon we had lunch with my parents and Kim to celebrate her birthday as a family. We went to her favorite, the Mongolian BBQ in Stillwater. Joe sat in a high chair for the first time!

After our late lunch we went to a park in Bayport that we used to go to as kids (Jason did too!) Amelia is getting braver and braver at the park. This was the second day in a row that she climbed a rope ladder, alone!

Joe had his first taste of swinging. He thought it was great!

After the park we went back to my parent's house for cake and ice cream.

After cake Amelia and my dad fed the animals outside and then went to the school playground down the road. They were gone until dark. In fact, they were gone so long that we went out looking for them, fearing that something had happened! Everything was fine though. They were taking their time walking home and looking at the stars.

Sunday afternoon we went over to Jason's sister's house for a grill out with their grandma and a couple of their friends. Everything was so good! Liz puts out a good spread every time we are invited for dinner. We had to get our shopping done for the week on our way home so we didn't stay too late but we had a good time visiting!

All in all we had a busy weekend! It went by way too fast.

First ER Visit

Saturday evening while we were at Jason's sister's house Amelia had a little accident. She was in the next room playing with the dog and we heard a crash and then a cry. All we could determine for sure was that she hit the back of her head on a side table. The result was this:


Coloring while waiting to be looked at a second time. The gauze had a numbing agent in it.


The end result...



5 staples :(

She is recovering well and will get her staples out at the end if this week/early next week. She is one tough cookie ;)

The Child Speaks!

Amelia has been "talking" for some time now. She "says" things like "mama" and "dada" but never connects either to Jason or I. She "says" stuff all day long but mostly it is just jibberish. Now she says car and knows what a car is. Today all she has done is point to cars and say car. When we drive all I hear is car and I see a little finger pointing out the window.

Car is officially Amelia's first, true word.

Life at Full Speed

Now that I am working again our days are so busy! This week has been packed with full days for us. I wasn't sure I would like getting up at 3 AM for work but it has been working out pretty great so far...as long as I nap when Amelia does that is. Today is actually a trial for me to see how I do with no nap and I am pretty beat but the hope is that I will be ready for bed earlier than 11 or 12 PM.

What have we been up to. Well, more like what haven't we been up to! I haven't been very good at taking pictures this week but Amelia had a swimming and raspberry picking playdate with her friend Maddie, we spent time outside naked (her, not me) to air out her bottom to heal a pretty severe rash, played with puppies, tried out PB & J for the first time,


she took an inaugural ride in the wagon found in grandpa's garage when it was cleaned out this weekend,


she marvelled at bubbles,


she wore an insane amount of Mardi Gras beads around,



we spent time hanging at the park,



she made some funny faces,



she did a little whining here and there,


but mostly we have just been busy doing anything and everything!

I am excited for work next week because the work I will be doing means I get to sleep in a little...until 5 AM, woohoo! The rest of July is looking pretty busy for us with 2 family reunions on Jason's side, my birthday, our first trip to Target Field to see Jason's Twins and more. Yep, this has been one busy, busy month. Hopefully August slows down a little.

Father's Day and Swimming

Father's Day Jason's family came over and we had a grill out at grandpa's. We had ribeyes, steakhouse potato salad, bruschetta salad and Jason's grandma's recipe baked beans.


It was perfect weather out so we spent the whole afternoon outside. Once Amelia was up from her nap, she was trying her hardest to get into the pool area!


Poor girl. Mommy didn't have a swimsuit yet and the pool was a little chilly for us so she didn't get to swim.

Amelia and I had dinner with my dad in Minneapolis. We tried out a new coal-fired oven place that was really good! I don't have any pictures because Amelia was so terrible I almost left the restaurant. I was that embarassed. I did get a picture of Amelia with her grandpa before we headed home for the night:


I did go shopping today with my friend Marie for a swimsuit and had success! When we got back it was 90 degrees out so we decided taking a swim was necessary. Good thing Marie got herself another suit today as well! It was Amelia's first time in a big pool and she did really great!






We got her this monster towel since she has outgrown her infant hooded towels. It will get some good use this summer!


By the end of this summer Amelia will be quite the little fish!

El Fuego

Today we took advantage of the warmer spring weather and when we went out for lunch, we asked to eat on the patio! It was so wonderful. We tried a new mexican place, El Fuego, that we had never been and were very pleased and impressed with it. I mean, come on, what's not to like about a patio like this:


Yeah, thought so.

Jason calls this next picture "Amelia in Mexico"


Our server suprised us and brought Amelia a popsicle once we were finished eating. She LOVED it. Here are some pictures of her very first popsicle!



She crashed hard on the way home:


And finally, here is the proof I have been waiting to catch a photo of...


She is standing! Today she even took one teeny, tiny step when I pulled her shopping cart away from her. Then she lunged for it so I am not sure I really consider it a true step but we are making progress!

The time has come...

...for Amelia to get some teeth! She is 13 and a half months old and just now we are experiencing the joys of teething. Sense the sarcasm? Sunday and Monday days were so terrible. By Monday afternoon when Jason came home from work I could barely think straight. I was just so wiped out, frustrated and upset. She has one part way out, bottom center, and I think the other bottom center tooth is on its way. I can't be sure on that though. This is the best picture I could get of her pearly white:


It looks like a shiny reflection but I can assure you, it is a tooth! Click on it to enlarge, for a better look.

This is the Amelia that we see most of the time lately:


There isn't much I can do for her. Her baby Orajel has gone missing, which is probably ok. I can't ever seem to actually get that stuff on her gums, just her tongue! Instead, she has discovered the artificial grape flavor of baby tylenol:


I think it is hilarious because after I give her some, she makes this noise that sound like "yum" or "mmmm". Either way, I know she likes it!

Today we had a better day. She was able to make it through most of the day with minimal tears or meltdowns. She even did a little dancing when we were eating some dinner between errands:



While we were there she also decided she should relax and put her feet up:


She is such a character!

Notice her socks? In honor of her grouchy mood the past week or so, I put her Oscar the Grouch socks on today:


In other news, Amelia's favorite toy is still a cat toy. She drags it around with her everywhere.



I love it when she gets to a piece of furniture because watching her hoist that toy up can be quite funny!

Amelia's Birthday Weekend

Friday morning Jason's family stopped over before they headed home.


We had some fun with Liz's sunglasses too:


After they were on their way, we got the house in order for the arrival of my parents. They stopped and picked up Speed Queen BBQ, which is something that my dad and Jason have both been wanting to try for some time. My mom and I? We prefer eating BBQ outside, from the grill in the park. I think part of why BBQ tastes so good outside is because it is a whole experience, the grilling and time outside. It was good though. I would eat it again (which is good because I have a ton of leftovers in the fridge!).

After lunch, Amelia opened her presents from my parents and some more from my sister.


That girl got so many great things for her birthday, I might need to ask our landlord for an addition to house it all! Here is her all her "loot":


Her grandpa made a castle for her out of all her new blocks. Here is a close-up:


This is just too funny to not share:


Amelia is scared of her new doll! I have no idea why. We decided she might be afraid she is being replaced by the doll. She is such a strange kid. Don't worry Nana, I am sure she will warm up to her baby soon!

Saturday morning, my family and I had some breakfast and Kim headed home to MN. Saturday afternoon we went to the circus to celebrate! Amelia had an absolute BLAST. I am serious, she was mesmerized.


We had second row seats, right by the tigers:



Amelia LOVED the tigers so much! She was "talking" to them and singing to them like they were her kitties from home. It was adorable!

This act was a favorite of ours:



The clown came out with stuffed animals and was winding them up with a giant key but none work. The last one, an elephant, finally worked and would run around awhile and then fall over on it's side. We were so confused and couldn't decide if there was a real animal in the elephant and there was! A little dog was in there.

Here are some other picture from our trip to the circus:



Amelia was distracted in our family picture because a clown had thrown her a balloon:









On our way home was had dinner at Transfer Cafe because we wanted pizza and have been wanting to try this place out! Amelia was in such great spirits while we were there:


My parents stopped over this morning for breakfast and are now on their way home.



Amelia is now playing with some of her new toys and I am relaxing, watching the Olympics and waiting for Jason to get home! We had a long and fun week!