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!

Hewp Ko

Amelia loves to "hewp Ko" (aka "help Joe") lately. Little brother has gotten a touch too large for his swings and they won't "swing" him any longer....usually. You can sometimes get them going if you turn them up all the way and give the guy a push. Then, sometimes, the swing can "swing" him for awhile. I guess that's what you get when you have a nearly twenty pound four month old!

Amelia has taken it upon herself to be Joe's swinging helper. She is a bit rough at times and I am working on that with her. However, it is just so rewarding to see her finally enjoying her role as "big sister."

The camera memory filled up right when Joey was really getting going laughing but you get the picture! He loves when his sister pays attention to him!

Light-Up Staff

Amelia got a flashing, light-up staff at the Holidazzle in December. We recently replaced the batteries in it and it is a BIG hit again!

She took it to bed with her a couple of nights ago and when we went in to check on her before we went to bed this is what we found:



The photos didn't turn out awesome so I took a video too:



The following night we found the same thing...


...except this time her star-bug was there too!

Last night it was the same story only I didn't get a picture!

We don't know if it is mere coincidence but the past two, maybe three, nights (I honestly can't remember...the days are long here!) she has woken up at 3 a.m. exactly and she is upset. I am just getting up for work then and do what I can to soothe her and Jason also gets up. The first night or two she went back to sleep with a movie on her "baby TV" (portable DVD player) and that was that. Jason said this morning she would not go back to sleep after I left. She was acting terrified and kept looking around her room like there was something in there scaring her. They eventually ended up sleeping on the couch - with the lights on, of course.

I am wondering if the flashing lights in her sleep have anything to do with this new trend in her sleeping habits? I'm testing it tonight. I have already hidden the flashing staff so it will not be making an appearance at bedtime. We'll see what happens in the morning! If that does not seem to be the problem I am not sure what we are going to do!

Choo Choo!

Last weekend we took Amelia to the Twin Cities Model Railroad Museum and she had a blast! She loved watching the "choo choos" go 'round and 'round and 'round!

Kitty Cat, Night Night

Amelia loves to take people "ny, ny." What that means is she takes you to her room and closes the door and basically holds you hostage. She will even go so far as to "block" the door with whatever she can find. She honestly believes that her sippy cup or step stool will keep you barricaded in her room!

She is always running around the house yelling, "kitty cat, night night! Kitty cat, night night!" Her father has let a kitty cat go "night, night" before. I on the other hand am opposed to it. Here she is seeking out a cat to go "ny, ny."

Oh!

Amelia says "yes" now...only to her "yes" is "OH!"



We think she associates "yes" with "oh" because it usually takes us a long time to figure out what she is trying to tell us/ask for and when we finally figure it out we say, "oh! You want (blank)." I love how big her eyes get when she says "oh."

Bubbles

With another warm afternoon today we spent more time outside! Amelia had her first experience blowing bubbles. She was so hysterical blowing bubbles!






She never quit with the sound effects. It was pretty fun watching her! We might have to keep the bubbles hidden from now on. She already found another bottle and demanded to blow bubbles (inside) so they are conveniently "lost" until we are outside again!

She IS Nana's Girl

Amelia's has become a big-time Nana's girl:



She wouldn't even think about eating yogurt if it was coming from mommy. Only Nana.

**We spent the night at Nana and grandpa's house last night because our power went out so we had no light on top of no heat and considering the weather we have been having we decided not to stay at home. I saw on the news today that the storm that we are in right now has characteristics of a class three hurricane. I'm serious. The whole midwest has been affected by this wind storm that has lasted the past two days. I'm glad it looks like it is finally over!

Diaper Dance

I am not 100% positive why Amelia does this when she sees (or holds) dirty diapers...but she does.



I think it all started when I had a dirty diaper, in a bag, at my mom's and I was spinning it through the air while I stood in the living room and talked. I looked over and Amelia was also spinning. I thought it was a coincidence but I am not sure because now whenever she sees a dirty diaper she spins. Sometimes (like in the video) she will pick up the dirty diaper and spin with it. She only does it at my mom's. It's all so strange but pretty funny too!

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.

A Fun Evening Outside

This evening we enjoyed some time outside since the humidity was only 50%! It felt so nice out! Jason's friend Nick and his family came over and we grilled dinner and they all swam in the pool while Amelia and I explored the yard!


Jason and Nick took turns jumping into the pool and making "tidal waves" for Nick's sons to play in.



They even teamed up and jumped together:



While we were all watching the pool show Amelia made her way to the patio and I found her digging in Nick's cheese popcorn!




That girl does love her food...especially popcorn!

Amelia is going to be leaving us for the weekend :( My parents are taking her with them to Indiana for the weekend. We are going to miss our little squirt!!! It is all working out great though. We had some work scheduling conflicts that are now resolved since we don't have a squirt to care for!

Walking

Amelia is slowly turning into a full-time walker! I took this las week and since then she has only gotten better and braver!



**Please ignore the blaring TV. She turned it on right before she started walking. Jason must have been the last one to watch it because it is sooo loud and that is how he likes it. And yes, Amelia can operate the TV quite well. She turns it on and off, changes the channel, adjusts the volume and hits the screen. It is like a really big toy to her, sadly, because it is right at her level and she can easily reach all the buttons!

Our Day Alone

Amelia and I have been on our own all day. Jason got stuck working open to close because someone is "sick" (read - a likely hangover) and no one would work for said person, so since Jason was there he was conned into it. Can you tell I am a little bitter? We have this one night at home together and now I am here, alone, eating fruity pebbles for dinner because there is no point in cooking for just me.

Amelia and I had a pretty good day. We even rented a movie for Jason and I tonight and then promptly returned it since he wasn't even going to be home. It was one that we both want to see so I figured I should wait for him.

Amelia is turning into quite the climber lately.


This morning she figured out she can reach everything on the end table if she stands in her toy box.

We spent a lot of time following Lucky around the house. He is very tolerant of Amelia and just kind of wanders around, lets her climb on him, tug on him and "pet" him. When he rolls over for belly rubs she takes that as a sign that he wants to be played like a set of bongos. I do work with her on playing nicely with him and petting him, instead of hitting him, and we are making some progress.


She even shared "her" cat toy with him. What a nice girl! She loves that toy so much it is silly! Look at her posing with it:


Told you she was silly!

She also made some messes for me today, as usual. One mess that I have been able to avoid for quite some time is her bookshelf. I put a rubbermaid in front of it, which holds her 12 month clothes - which we are still using, to keep her away from her books when I am not around. Today, she managed to move the rubber maid aside...


...and take all her books off the top shelf. As usual! She heard me coming and I think that is why she is posing like she did nothing wrong! Here is a view of all her books she removed!


I had a pretty good day with my silly girl.


Lastly, here is a video of Amelia's new favorite game!



That's right, she is learning how to put things into things and then remove them. It is fun! I love that she is learning how to "pick things up" (ie-put them away, in a sense).

Amelia Loves Woodmans

Last night we went grocery shopping at Woodmans for probably the last time ever. Amelia loves Woodmans.


If the TV is on and a Woodmans commercial comes on, she stops whatever she is doing, starts to laugh and walk towards the TV. Their commercials look "homemade" and the guy in them uses phrases like "karumba do we have low prices!".


Yep, we will miss going to Woodmans once we move. They have everything you could ever want (food-wise) there.

Here is a short video of Amelia having some fun while we shopped:

Knock, Knock...Who's There?

One of Amelia's newest games!

Baby Steps

Amelia is getting so close to walking!



You can see, from her smiles, that she thought it was picture time!

Scared Standing

As you know, Amelia is now able to stand on her own! Today was a different experience though...


She was so freaked out for some reason. She stood there, crying, for over 2 minutes.

I took a video, much my mother's dismay (I was on the phone with her when this happened). Have a look...if you can handle a cryinging baby...



*Please excuse the mess that is our apartment...

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!

Wisconsin Foodie

Jason's work was featured on Wisconsin Foodie awhile ago and he shared the link on Facebook. I thought I would share it here too. So, click HERE if you are interested in watching!

*There are a lot of commercials right at the start, so just fast forward if you wish!

**Jason would probably like me to share that when they are talking about the "secret supper club" menu, he made the pumpkin soup! This is towards the end, so keep watching!

The Rest of Our Week

Amelia and I are back in Milwaukee now, exhausted. We did do much fun stuff while we were home! My mom and sister have Wednesdays off, so we had a fun day planned. It started out with Amelia's one-year pictures at Target. We got some good ones, suprisingly, despite Amelia being a royal pain. It was nap time, so she had her reasons. I will share those pictures when I get them!

After Target, we headed to the Mall of America. My dad had picked up some discounted, pre-paid tickets for Underwater World from his work for us! Amelia loves fish tanks, so we thought she would have a blast. She did! She was so excited. Here are some pictures from our time there:

Baby sharks:



Group shot in the "North Woods Walk":


I like it when the animals are laying on the glass like this:




Amelia rode around like this a lot:



They have a cool new jellyfish exhibit that opened last week. It was a big hit with Amelia!



We took Amelia on the carousel and this is how it went:


Not well! She was so scared :(

On our way home from the mall, we saw some turkeys!


For dinner, Amelia and I headed to Lisa's house to grill with her and Marie. I don't have any pictures but I do have this video:



Lisa has a stash of toys at her house for her nieces. Amelia loved this one!

Thursday we ended up staying in MN instead of driving home because I didn't work until late Friday. Since we had the day and everyone was at work, we went to go visit Sarah (Lisa's sister) and her famliy since we hadn't seen them in almost a year! It took us about an hour and a half to get there and it was such a nice drive! Once we got there, we were greeted by this little guy:


He just hopped right in and then went back to see Amelia:


His name is Twin (after the MN Twins). Their other kitty is Viking (yep, after the MN Vikings).

While we were there, we enjoyed some outside playtime in the cold (high 20s). Amelia borrowed a fleece suit from Sarah's youngest, E, so she could play outside with the big girls while E napped! R brought Amelia their Little Tikes car and we were sure Amelia wouldn't know what to do with it so we told the girls to be careful and not push it because Amelia would probably just stand with it. Well, she suprised us both and climbed right in and started "driving":


I told you all she was a smart girl! It must be all that time she spends in the car...

R and H "made thunder" on top of the car, which Amelia thought was great:


We had a great time with our friends!

We spent Thursday night at home since we had barely seen my dad on our visit. We grilled some steak and had baked potatoes. It was a pretty relaxing night, which I really needed.

Friday morning, I needed a new tire... So my dad brought my car in right when they opened so I wouldn't be stuck there all day waiting for tires. Once he got back I loaded up the car and we went to Subway for lunch with Grandpa:


Our drive home was a little shorter than normal since we only stopped once! It was fairly peaceful too. Amelia napped most of the way and played with her toys. This guy, however, was so annoying:


Daddy was glad to see us when we got home! We unloaded the car and I got ready for a long night at work (we had a midnight movie). Yesterday Amelia and I finished unpacking everything, stopped by the bowling alley to see a friend and when daddy got home we did some cleaning! It was nice to have last night off to spend at home after a long week.