Gonna be a Big Sister

Amelia is going to be a BIG Sister!  That's right- we are expecting Thomas baby #2 at the end of January 2012. 

I am officially past the first trimester!  So far this pregnancy has been different from my pregnancy with Amelia.  I had about 2 weeks of the classic "morning sickness" which lasted all day a few of the days- never had that when pregnant with Amelia. After that passed then it was the evening food aversions. The food aversions when I was pregnant with Amelia were all to meat- I couldn't stand to look at meat (but only in the evening- I had no problem at lunch).  This time it's not really one thing or another.  I actually wasn't really feeling hungry at all- I felt like I had just had a huge meal and was completely full- all day long.  Makes it hard to eat when you already feel so full.  One thing similiar to before- I crave carbs.  Breads, rice, pasta, mac N cheese- and of course ice-cream.  Now that I am out of the crazy 1st trimester- my eating habits are finally getting back to normal again :)

Amelia and I surprised Daddy with a basket full of newborn things :)

It seems I might be carrying this baby right out in front.  At the last appointment when we got to hear the heartbeat- the doctor put the probe on and there, loud and clear was the heartbeat- around 160.  Such a neat sound to hear- hard to describe- but forever stored in my mind!  At that same appointment with Amelia, they could not find the heartbeat- Amelia was hiding further back in so we got another ultrasound.


At this first appointment- we discovered I was only about 6 weeks along so Baby #2 was only about the size of a grain of rice :) at this ultrasound.

Next ultrasound will not be until I'm around 20 weeks pregnant- then we can find out if Amelia is going to have a little sister or little brother!  Amelia is going to be a great big sister!

Cow Appreciation Day

A couple of weeks ago we heard Chick-fil-A was having it's annual Cow Appreciation Day.  Dan and I have participated at different times over the past few years so we decided to give it a try with Amelia.  We dressed in black shirts and had Amelia in a white shirt.  We cut out big spots and taped them to our shirts hoping Amelia wouldn't pull all her black spots off before we got there.  For our efforts- we each got a whole meal FREE!  Amelia loved her chicken nuggets- she ate all four!  (which is a first- usually she will eat 2 or maybe 3).  She does not like the fries so she shared some of Mommy's fruit.  She loves drinking her milk out of a straw and she loves getting to trade in her toy for a kids ice-cream!  We love Chick-fil-a!

My 15 Month Old

Here's an update of what my baby, I mean big girl is up to now. I know these updates can get long but right now while I have the time- I want to remember all the little things I can about what she was doing at this age and stage.

At her 15 month check-up Amelia weighed in at 19lbs and was 29 inches long.  She is still maintaining her petite little growth curve so the Doctor was happy.  She is still in between the 5th and 10th percentile for weight and just under the 25th percentile for height.  She is just going to be a petite little thing!

-Eating:  pretty much all finger foods now; Amelia has decided she doesn't want to use her tray on the highchair anymore- she wants to be pulled up to the table like a big girl;
   -still working on eating with a spoon by herself; she definitely likes to use the spoon but usually she will pick up the food and try to put it on the spoon and then move the spoon to her mouth.  Unfortunately the food ends up falling off before it gets to her mouth.  Then she gives up and just uses her hands.  So it's a work in progress!

LOVES drinking her milk from a straw :)

Sleeping:  Amelia goes to bed about 8:00pm and sleeps until around 7:30 or 8:00am.  She has pretty much stopped taking her morning nap and takes a nice long afternoon nap from 2:00 to 4:30ish.

New words:  moo, frog, ribbit (frog sound), I love you, up, ball, all done, baby

What she's into lately:

• Climbing!  Amelia loves to climb up on the hearth of our fireplace, up on the ottoman, on the couch, on her plastic dishwasher; pretty much anything she can climb up onto

• Books-  she still LOVES books.  That is what we do at least half of the day- read books!  Her current favorites: the color book, God made Music (a baby book about how David loved God and played music), a book of sleeping cats and a cat book about colors, any books that are songs (Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, The Wheels on the Bus, Head Shoulders Knees and Toes, etc), any book with cows or ducks

• Loves to look at pictures of family- can point to Grandpa, Grandma, Grammy, Papa, Daddy, and Mommy and herself (sometimes) in pictures; every day we have to hold her to look at the pictures on our fridge- we have everyone in our family up there but the grandparents are the ones she knows best so she can actually point to them when we ask specifically "where is grandpa?" for example 

• When we ask "where is ______?" she will hold her hands with palms facing up like I don't know.

• Likes to play Outside:  with it being so hot we have not been out as much except in the morning; she loves to walk around the try to throw the ball for the dogs; sometimes she will want to slide or play in her new playhouse, then she wants to swing, then she likes to play with the rocks

loves the cell phone in her new playhouse

• Animal sounds- she has been very interested in the See And Say- you pull the handle and the arrow goes around and says the name of a farm animal and then what sound it makes-  she usually points to the animal she wants to hear (the cow or the cat always being first).  She is really studying the sounds and at times it seems like she is really trying to say them even though it sounds to me like just jabber still- just with the correct number of syllables

• Music- she loves toys that play music; she will make the toy play music and then 'dance' or clap to the music- her dancing is just a bobbing up and down

• Babies or bears- she has really started to show an interest in playing with baby dolls or teddy bears- she will give them a bottle or push them around in her pink stroller she learned to walk with, she will also use a little plastic spoon and plate from her kitchen to "feed" the baby

after feeding bear she decided to lay on his soft tummy

• Peek-a-Boo:  she still loves this game; often she will hide behind the door jam or under a blanket and then pop out with this irresistible grin; then she will hide again- this time waiting for us to play along

• Can point to her ears, nose, mouth, head, and toes. If you try to get her to show where her eyes are she will point to our eyes; she loves to grab our noses or ears too; lately she has been very interested in my hair and my earrings- she doesn't pull my hair but likes to touch it.  However after pulling out my earrings several times- now the earrings are off limits.
• Big helper:  she likes to help throw away trash now and can take something to the trash and throw it away without us being right there; she likes to help close the fridge and the dishwasher

little hands and feet sticking out :)

peek-a-boo

look Mom- I fit inside half the cabinet

• Clean Up- Amelia absolutely loves baby wipes or tissues!  If she gets fidgety at a restaurant just give her a baby wipe and she will wipe her mouth, her nose, and her hair on the right side of her head and then wipe down whatever is near- the table, mommy's arm, the wall; at home sometimes she will get a hold of a tissue and will walk around for quite a while wiping her mouth, nose, hair, and then the floor, the cat, the couch, whatever
• Has two new teeth on top- in the back but not the very end; poor thing has been drooling and putting her hands way back in her mouth- but I think they are finally poked through

teething face :(

• Follows simple directions- 
• "let's get your shoes" is a favorite; 
• "let's change your diaper"- she will head upstairs to her room where we change her diaper; 
• "let's go upstairs for nap time"- she will gladly head up stairs and help me put down the baby I babsit in the pack-n-play in the guest room and then go wait by her crib.  Usually she will have already gotten her paci out of her bed and when I pick her up she will point at her white noise machine to remind me to turn it on, then she lays down on her silky blanket and goes to sleep

Our sweet baby is growing up too fast!  

4th of July Weekend

This year we headed out to the drive-in movie theater about 30 minutes outside Chattanooga to watch Cars 2 and see fireworks for the 4th of July.  We figured Amelia would enjoy all the festivities and would hopefully fall asleep when the movie started around 10pm. 

It was pretty hot but that didn't seem to stop Amelia from going non-stop.  She wanted to walk, wanted to climb in and out of her chair, wanted to eat snacks and drink her special straw sippy cup, she pretty much didn't stop moving!

Amelia LOVED the fireworks!  She sat with Momma part of the time and with Daddy the rest of the time.  She would clap after the ones that made loud crackling noises. 

Hard part- after the fireworks the movie started and she was ready to lay in her pack-n-play.  But she didn't go to sleep for awhile- she just rolled around and kept standing up and throwing her paci into the darkness.  Finally after I held her and she had to be still- she gave up and passed out around 11:00!

The next day we had bought some fireworks to do in our driveway but no matter how hard we tried to keep Amelia awake- she wanted to go to bed.  So Dan and I enjoyed shooting fireworks off in our driveway while Amelia slept peacefully and soundly!

Vacation- Part 3

Here are a bunch of other fun pictures from the cruise that I couldn't pass up posting.

Dan with a swan ice-cream dessert

One morning a staff person made Amelia a small origami bird that sat on a straw.  Amelia loved it! 

I love this picture of Amelia with Grammy!

While Grammy and Papa babysat Amelia, Dan and I headed out to enjoy the pool on our fun day at sea.  Dan first checked out the water slide.  Then we discovered the pool was so packed you couldn't even see the water so we went to the top uppermost deck and played putt putt golf.  Lets just say the wind was pretty strong which made putting a little ball around humorous.

This is the morning we arrived back in Miami- we were waiting to get off and decided to have ice-cream after breakfast.  Amelia came to LOVE ice-cream on the cruise.  That's my girl.  We ended up having to get her a bowl of her own because she would take so much from whoever was willing to share :)

While the guys went to get our car from the parking lot, the girls hung out with the luggage. Amelia crashed as Grammy rocked her back and forth in the stroller.  Cruising wears a little girl out!

Fun at GrammyLand:

Amelia doesn't really like to play IN the pool- she will walk around it and splash the water and she really enjoyed the net

Blowing kisses to Momma

Fun in playhouse

What a great trip!  Papa said it was the most relaxing vacation he had ever had!  Probably because he slept as much if not more than Amelia!  The only hard part about a cruise- after being spoiled for several days it's hard to come back to real life. 

Vacation- Part 2

 Amelia learned several new things on the cruise.  She started wanting to walk by herself- not wanting to hold our hands. She would quickly tuck her hand behind her back as we walked down hallways to the elevator.  That brings up another new love- Amelia LOVED pushing the elevator buttons.  She would walk up the where the buttons were and jabber some baby talk until we picked her up to push the buttons.  Once the elevator arrived she quickly learned to walk in and turn around- just like the adults- it was really cute.

In the evenings during dinner- whoever was walking with her would usually end up by the elevators (they were right outside the entrance to the dining room and Amelia knew exactly how to get there).  Amelia would gladly push the buttons for whoever was coming or going.  Hey, it helped pass the time and kept her entertained :)

Lunch on the Lido deck- not sure why Papa's eyes are closed

Overnight and the next morning our ship was high tailing it to Cozumel, Mexico.  We had booked an exciting excursion to see some Mayan ruins- called Tulum.  It was supposed to leave right at 1pm when the ship docked. We were down on the deck where we were supposed to get off but the ship was late getting there so everyone was lined up all around the hallways waiting to get off.  By the time we got off and started walking down the dock we meet the man holding the sign for our excursion.  He said we needed to run because the ferry was about to leave!  Dan ran ahead- he had to run around the dock to land and then out to another dock where the ferry was- he got to them just as they were pulling in the ramp.  He explained that we were coming and begged them to wait.  Grammy, Papa, and I were huffing and puffing and going as fast as we could.  Luckily they waited- just as we approached the ferry they were literally going to leave and Dan yelled "here they are".  We made it- just barely!


Amelia enjoying the ferry

After the ferry- a 1 hour bus ride with a nice stop at a place to buy souvenirs and use the bathroom.  Lucky for us Amelia took a nice nap on the bus.  This nice lady and her grown daughter on the tour said that Amelia was the cutest baby on the cruise.  We thought so. :)

Check out how blue the water is- amazing!

We finally made it to Tulum- it was sooo HOT!

These iguanas were everywhere!

The main temple- and biggest structure

refers to Temple in picture above

Still learning about Mayans- in the second hole from the right- they have recently discovered stairs- not sure if they initially went underground to up to a higher floor that is no longer there- still exploring

Hard to see but if you look through where the columns are- there are frescoes (paintings) on the walls

Proof- Grammy and Papa were at the Tulum ruins outside Cozumel, Mexico

Boy we all look rough- it was sooo HOT

Big girl wanted to walk by herself

This fun rope kept distracting Amelia

Beautiful beach right behind the big temple

Amelia drank about 3 sippy cups of water during that excursion

We rode a train from Tulum out to where we met our bus- on the roof of the train were pictures of sea life- Amelia kept pointing at the fish

After an hour bus ride- then it was a 30 minute ferry ride back to where our cruise ship was docked.  Amelia got Papa's hat and played for almost the whole ferry ride.  Who knew a sweaty straw hat could be so much fun?!

Where's Amelia? 

Peek-a-Boo

This was our picture when we got back- we were so tired and Amelia is absolutely sacked out!

So many good pictures- going to have to do a part 3.  More to Come :)