Hysteria at the doc and tales of teething...

No, she's not crying.  This is her response when I asked her to smile for the camera.

"Dtar"

Her new favorite activity: taking the bottom out of her dolly 

cradle and sitting in it (on the floor). 

Amelia had her 15 month check up recently.  She weighs 23.8 lbs, 83rd percentile if I remember correctly, she's 31 inches tall which puts her in the 97th percentile for height (wow, I was surprised by this one) and her head is still off the charts.  No surprise there.  She's still got some cradle cap going on her scalp, stubborn stuff.  Not much to report as she's tip top as usual.  We are always so thankful for this report.  What we are not thankful for is the hysteria that ensues when the doctor simply walks in the room.  That's all he has to do is just walk in and one look at his long white coat and his black stethoscope wrapped around his neck and she's in full on hysteria mode.  He's not even the one who gives her the shots, for crying out loud.  We love doctor Frank but if I thought switching to a different doc would help the situation, I'd do it.  Unfortunately, we've found it's this way with all medical personnel.  So we pray that it's just a phase, a very sad one at that, and that will end soon!  It's terribly difficult to conduct any type of conversation with Dr. Frank while this goes on as she clings to me, and buries her face in my neck while screaming.  Amazingly, Ford has been able to be at every appointment so far and bless him, he does his best to distract and entertain her (though she won't let anyone hold her but me).  Sometimes this works, for half of a minute and as soon as Dr. Frank moves in his squeaky chair, she's clinging harder and crying again as if to say "mama, don't let that guy come near me!"  So sad, poor kid.  Doctor visits stink.

Onto teething.  Amelia has 12 teeth now.  Top 4 incisors, bottom four incisors, and 1st molars and she's eating chicken and turkey with the best of them.  She is now cutting her eye teeth, otherwise known as canines or cuspids.  I have heard and read that these 4 can be the most painful for babies.  She's certainly acting as if this is true.  Biting on things, chomping on her mommy shirt and wash cloths, even bitten down Ford and I a few times.  She's been displaying general crankiness and poor sleeping at night.  It's amazing how these poor sleeping spells come around again and again...just when you think you've got it licked, we're up 3 times a night or for an hour or two at a time.  And I find myself questioning myself all over again, just like I did when she was 6 months, a year...is it really her teeth or is she playing me for some mommy snuggle time?  After analyzing it all, this time I do believe it's teeth and am treating it as such and this has helped with the sleep trouble a bit.  But just a bit. So we take it a night at at time and pray for the best!  

The latest obsession in Amelia's life...toe jam.  Yes, she's discovered the sock fuzzes between her toes.  She spends great lengths of time sitting down and pulling her foot up as close to her face as she can get it so she can inspect between all of her toes.  In the morning while I'm changing her diaper, she sticks her feet in my face and spreads her toes...her way of asking me to do the inspecting for any footie pajama toe fuzz.  I do it.  Yes, I do.  And she's always so happy and satisfied when all is free and clear.  Clean toes, so liberating.

Mama and Dada

I've mentioned before that Amelia thinks that all images of princesses are "Mama."  But today, while Ameila and I did a little shopping at the grocery store, she finally revealed who "Dada" is...

Thanksgiving and Uncle John's Donuts

Ameila enjoying an Uncle John's Donut.  Pumpkin variety.

mmmm...donuts.

Hard at work painting a Christmas tree complete with "dtar"

Happy Thanksgiving.  We continue to give thanks for our many blessings.  For health, for family, friends, for the food on our table, warm beds to sleep in, and for miracles.  We are truly blessed as a family and thankful to have all of you in our lives.  It's hard to believe a whole year has gone by since Amelia's first Thanksgiving. If you remember, we made the long trek to Michigan, by car, and zipped around from place to place over the short weekend to share in the many holiday festivities.  And if you also remember, Amelia was OVERloaded, I'll never forget it, and she and I spent most of the holiday tucked away in various bedrooms!  This year, although a year older and a much different baby, we stayed in Nashville for Thanksgiving.  It was tough not being with family but we enjoyed a quiet day with our own little family and even prepared the entire Thanksgiving feast with all the trimmings.  Amelia, however, did not care for Thanksgiving dinner, except the cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie of course.  Maybe next year.  

Big news and also a reason to give thanks...three dozen Uncle John's donuts made their way down to Nashville this weekend.  After mentioning on my facebook page back in September, that I was wishing for a warm pumpkin donut from Uncle John's Cider Mill in St. John's, MI, close to where I grew up, Aunt Mary Sue made it her personal quest to get us some of these delectable treats.  (One of the things I miss about fall in Michigan are the trips to the apple orchards.  Tennessee does not produce apples, at least in our area, and therefore there are no apple orchards and consequently no cider mills and ultimately, no freshly baked pumpkin and cider cake donuts).  The donuts finally made it South, along with a gallon of fresh Michigan cider, via personal delivery by the Cole family, friends of Mary Sue, who traveled to Nashville to visit their daughter for Thanksgiving.  Can you even believe it?  Above you will notice Amelia enjoying a nice pumpkin donut.  A special THANK YOU goes out to Auntie Mary for working so hard to make sure Amelia did not miss out on this fall tradition!  We are thankful for you, Mary.  :)

 

Language EXPLOSION!

Saturday morning...relaxing in the sun and twirlin' hair.

Pumpkin and chalk purse.

Little old lady, or what?

Big girl.

...it's happening.  She's trying out all kinds of words.  Some she's commited to her vocab for regular use and others she just tries out, or repeats if she's asked to.  It's amazing to watch it happen right before our eyes.  She's jabbering more than ever before with hilarious inflection and animated facial expressions, just like she's talking and asking questions.  Her favorite jabbering phrase, is:  "jaba-jaba-jaba-jaba-joe". To which I answer" "jaba-jaba-jaba-jaba-joe?"  To which she replies..."butha-butha-butha-babeeee, baby."  

old favorites: baba (bottle, which is acutally a sippy cup or any type of drink), baby, mama, dadee, up, bear, and of course the ever popular animal sounds...

New ones include:  star, wa-wa (water), down, boo, bath, please, cheese, Jesus, cracker, Gi Gi (her dolly), bumpa, mam-ma, Pat (Grandma Pat),  juice, blue, I-I (her friend, Ivey)

Phrases:  "mama, bath!"  (this was a demand, actually, made to me after Ford already told her she didn't need a bath).  And her first phrase was actually: "dada baba" which was in reference to Ford's beer bottle :)  Nice one. 

It just happens, all of the sudden!  You can actually see the wheels turning and the determination and desire to communicate.  She is growing up, right before my eyes.  Any minute now she's going to be asking for a puppy. 

And perhaps one of my favorite things she communicates right now is this...

Usually at meal time I am in a scramble to get the cooking done and the kitchen cleaned up and the dishwasher unloaded...and all the while, Amelia tends to try to roam about freely into other rooms and out of my sight.  So that I can keep my eye on her, I put her in her high-chair and get her started with some food while I cook.  So, she's well into her meal before I sit down to eat with her at lunch time.  The same usually goes at dinner time when Ford and I both sit down with her, she's usually already started her meal.  So, here it is...without fail, whether it's just me or both Ford and I, as soon as we take our seats, all on her very own Amelia stops eating and folds her hands to pray.  

Every time.  

As soon as we are all seated as a family, she knows it's time to pray.  Sadly, I have to admit, in the craziness and hustle to get everything done and everyone fed, I tend to forget sometimes.  I am always so grateful for the reminder and, everytime, so amazed that she remembers this very important activity...praying as a family and thanking God for our blessings. 

Girls' Weekend

Playing in the rain.

Breakfast in my cow hat.

Let me see, mama!! 

Oh, that's a funny hat...

Participating in fall fun fest at the Nashville Library. 

All serious about her crafts.

"How's it going?  Wanna play beads with me?  You have nice hair...I think I'll touch it."

...and the boy runs away.

Well, Girls' Weekend was a success.  It was long, challenging at times, but a good weekend.  Ford attended a music festival in Florida, which was also a success by the way.  He had a good time but missed us greatly and we missed him.  Here's a quick recap of our weekend together...

Friday, rain, all day.  We decided to try out Ameila's new raincoat and played for a bit in the drizzle and puddles.  Amelia seemed quite serious and melancholy during our little romp in the rain...it was just that kind of day I guess.  After that we headed out to search for a Halloween costume which is proving to be harder than I thought.  We have a perfectly cute and appropriate lion costume sent to us from her cousins however, Amelia will not go near it.  She thinks it's pretty cool from a distance but there is no way she's going to actually put it on on Friday.  So, what will she agree to be for Halloween?  A princess?  A fairy?  A butterfly?  If I can't find an appropriate costume in the next few days, she may just be a homemade cow.  See photo of cow hat above..another hand-me-down from her cousins, she loves this hat.  She actually enjoys wearing it.  Anyway, looking back, it seems that the best costumes of childhood were the ones we made up, improvised, dug in the backs of drawers and our parents closets to find just the right ensemble.   So stay tuned.  But, she might just be a baby. :)  That night we went out for dinner where we shared a bowl of broccoli cheese soup and a baguette.  She quite enjoyed it and so did I. 

On Saturday, we headed to the Nashville Library to participate in the Fall Fun Fest activities which turned out to be a very crowded craft hour.  After creating a few fall masterpieces for her Dada, we moved on to the play area where she continued to mingle and approach and talk to everyone and anyone...whether they paid attention to her or not.  I have to admit I am a little amazed at how much she has changed and come out of her shell, for some reason I thought she would be a shy one, I think not.  It's fun to watch her try to make friends move about freely with confidence but then every now and again turn around to check that I'm still nearby and sometimes even run over for a quick hug.  The rest of the day was low key; a nap, a walk, sidewalk chalk, dinner and a bath and I even let her watch a little "Best of Kermit" before bed.  I actually got a little teary when the original "It's Not Easy Being Green" skit came on and I watched her watch it for the first time, all big-girlish sitting in her rocking chair, cozy in her footy pajamas with that silly suckie...our version of a movie night. 

Sunday, just a quiet day at home and Ford arrived mid afternoon.  Though happy to see him, she was extra clingy to me.  A bit out of sorts I think after a busy few weeks and then Ford's absence, can't blame her, I was too a bit out of sorts, actually.  But now we are back to life as usual however we are both feeling a bit under the weather.  The snotty nose is back...

To wrap up, I'd like to just document that my little angel has discovered hitting, a new behavior she decided to develop while Ford was away.  She hits me and then herself when she's feeling frustrated and cranky.  To be expected now that we have entered the toddler years I guess, but what wasn't expected is when I tell her "no," in a firm, and serious tone, she pauses, starts to crack a small grin and then actually laughs and does it again!  That's right, not sad, or surprised or the least bit afraid that I have raised my voice and given a new kind of disapproving look all for the very first time.  So, this is new territory for us all, she's exploring the boundaries, expressing herself in a whole new way, testing the limits and then waiting for the reaction...classic...and this is going to be interesting.  

BLOG!!

Swimming with a suckie?

A kiss for mama!

Unhappy about standing in the sand.

I have not forgotten about the blog...just so you know.  We've had lots of activity around here including a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Loto as well as a fun-filled trip to Sanibel Island, FL for cousin David's wedding.  The activity continues as Ford heads off to FL tomorrow for the weekend to play in a music festival. Amelia and I are on our own for a few days...girl's weekend.   There are many things to write about but for now I feel as if I must at least post a few pictures for those of you who check our humble blog daily.  Thank you, faithful subscribers.  Don't give up on us.  Lots of exciting things to come!  

Cultural Weekend

Amelia watching the symphony.

Playing hide and seek.

One of the 25 original copies of the 

Declaration of Independence.

Nashville was brimming with cultural events this weekend.  It was hard to choose which ones to attend!  We chose the free day at the Symphony on Saturday.  Amelia was in AWE of the music.  Ford was holding her on his lap and he said her little heart was beating a million beats a minute!  She couldn't take her eyes off of the stage and she clapped with excitement before they were finished.  We spent much of the day at Nashville's Schermerhorn Symphony Center watching many musical acts and exploring this beautiful symphony hall.  Good times!

On Sunday we stood in line for an hour and a half to catch a 30 second glimpse of the above.  The Declaration of Independence was on display at the Nashville Public Library.  Amelia didn't get too much out of this one but we learned that she can tolerate long lines without crying...as long as we let her explore and make friends with everyone in line.   

First Cold

So sad...first real cold.

Just needed to document this momentous occassion...Amelia is dealing with her very first real bout with the common cold...fourteen months, not too bad!  She's been handling it well; the sneezes, drippy nose and red runny eyes.  The whole family caught this one, first Ford, then Amelia and I caught it.  Kind of tough when mama and baby are sick at the same time.   Though fairly cheerful, she has been extra clingy and snuggly.  So we hunker down together with our tissues and our liquids and lots of books, dolly time, and walks outside for fresh air and some sunshine.  It's finally cooling off here in Nashville!  So, the first of many colds...well, hopefully not too many.  

Growing and growing and growing...

Laughing while being chased by my Daddy.

Me and my baby singing in the laundry basket.

Relaxing with my legging shawl in the laundry basket wearing mismatched jammies.

Who knew you could wear pants in this way?

Can you see the personality?  We think she's hilarious.  Just a few quick things.

For your information, any brunette princess you might come across in various movies, books, toys, children's pajamas...well, it's actually me.  Me as in "mama."  All on her own, Amelia points at these lovely princesses, smiles and lovingly says "maaaamaa."  I bet you didn't know.  There I am on her pajama top in the basket pictures.  

Also, I said in an earlier blog that age 1 is my favorite so far, and it still is in many ways. However, I read recently that at this age, a toddler may fall on average up to 38 times a day. This is the not so fun side of age 1.  Don't get me wrong, the fun and cuteness outweigh the anxiety caused by wondering every minute if she's going to bite it and bonk her head, land on her nose or teeth...but I have to admit, I was a lot less nervous when all she did was lay on a play mat and bat at some toys and smile at the ceiling fan.  

Amelia loves meatballs, of course she does. 

She cries hysterically out of fear when the nice man tries to measures her feet using that cold metal contraption at the shoe store.

She has cut all 4 of her first year molars already. 

She laughs every time we get to the page in Goodnight Gorilla when the zoo keeper's wife turns the light on and finds the gorilla smiling, lying next to her in bed.  

Sometimes I catch her trying to feed her belly button, Cheerios, for example.

She'll tickle your back if you ask her to, and she's good at it. 

She looks for her bathing suit in her clothes bins and if she finds it will bring it to one of us, hold it up and say "puh."  She actually, asks us to take her to the pool.  

She does NOT like to be covered up in her bed, if she wakes up and finds a blanket has been mysteriously placed on her, she will raise a raucous until you go in and find her crying and pointing at it...as if I didn't know it was there. 

She has gotten to that age where she gets frustrated and upset when things don't quite go her way...sometimes, only sometimes, we see glimpses of what they call the "terrible twos" might look like. :) 

But maybe then she'll fall down less.  

Rockin' on...

Rock on...  

Daddy's hat and my Dylan t-shirt.

 ...and rock on.

Just a quick post as it is late and Amelia has been waking at night quite a bit lately.  She is working hard at filling up that little mouth with lots of pretty white teeth...I can't imagine that being too comfortable.  She's got 2 molars and a third is about to come through.  Just a few new things...she LOVES horses.  She's been a fan since our fun trip to Mackinac.  All things horsey... loves to ride the mommy horsey, the daddy horsey, her rocking horsey, loves pictures of horses...Ford even showed her a few you tube videos of horsey's running, she made her clippity clop sound effects with her tongue as she bounced up and down and watched with great excitement.  Looks like she'd better start saving up to buy that horse she's going to start asking for any minute now...

She is officially a hair twirler.  She used to play with my hair when she was sleepy, and she still does sometimes but now she prefers her own and Ford and I noticed that her hair "playing" has turned into full on twirling.  She's a sleepy twirler.  Really sleepy when she twirls mine and hers at the same time.  It's pretty cute. 

Not so fun, there have been a lot of bonks lately.  She is non-stop these days and with this new found confidence comes speed...she wants to go faster than her little body will allow at this point and the result = lots of bonks. She even had her 2nd bloody lip.  Much less traumatic this time around.  She recovers pretty quickly thanks to boo boo bunny.  That little guy is amazing, he really is. 

We don't get many comments of the blog anymore, but some of you may have noticed a few under that last post.  A nice woman named Brooke found our blog while researching "collodion baby" online.  It seems her new baby daughter was born with a mild collodion membrane one month ago.  We spoke on the phone recently and I learned that Kylie, her daughter, spent less than a week in the hosptial and is doing very well and thriving at home!  Great!  From what she described, her membrane was very mild.  So, here we go with some prayers for this little bugger. Please, please add her to your prayer lists.  Hard to believe that almost exactly one year ago we were in their shoes...you may remember the waiting.  I can't tell you how much it meant to know so many people prayed for us.  Thank you again for that and for praying for Kylie.   God is good.

Amen.

Pasta!

For those of you who were worried about Amelia losing half of a pound while she was sick...don't. The kid ate her weight in pasta tonight. Her appetite is definitely back and she's letting us know she wants big people food. She loves pasta! Wait until she tries Grandpa Stornant's sauce and meatballs for the first time! I still think she's a bit finicky...she does not care much for green veggies and she's pretty particular about texture. This is not unusual at all for a toddler but meal time is always an adventure! If she finds something unsuitable for consumption she does not spit it out but rather works it to the end of her tongue and then wags it until it falls off. Nice one. She is drinking whole milk now, feeds herself with a spoon and holds and drinks from a real cup.

Some other things Amelia has been up to...she seems to have averaged out in height and weight and is actually wearing her size clothing these days. She got her first skinned knee playing outside with her daddy. She didn't even cry, seemed to care less actually. In addition to her many animal sound effects, she's added boat sounds, airplane, blender and vacuum sounds. She loves to dance and when she sings, she sways back and forth to her own tune. She says lots of "b" words including bear, baby, ba ba (bottle), ball and of course mama, dada, no, and up. She also has mastered the "aht aht ath" sound we make when she's about to touch something she's not supposed to...outlets, trash can, diaper pail. She remembers these things are off limits and when she's tempted to touch it she reminds herself by saying "aht aht aht" as she walks away from it. Hilarious.

Sadly, for everyone, she seems to be outgrowing her need for 2 naps a day. The past 3 days, she's gone to 1 afternoon nap. I think this may be it, she may be a one a day napper. I never dreamed we'd reach the day that she didn't want a morning nap, she's always loved it so. I will miss it...
She has a thing about the front door being shut. She needs it open so she can look outside when ever she needs to, as well as keep an eye on what Mister is up to in the front yard. She is certainly attached to the mommy, especially at night time. She won't let Ford put her down to sleep these days. If he tries to rock her and soothe her to sleep, she actually climbs down his lap and out her bedroom door to come and find me.
She pretend plays all the time now, with her dollies and stuffed animals, she talks on her toy phones to who knows who and hands the phone off to the next guy when she's done. She loves to hide and be chased and chase you! She's just hilarious, we find ourselves laughing constantly.
One is fun. It just might be my favorite, so far...

Purses

Trying out cousin Sofia's kitty purse...

the day she first realized her love for hand bags.
Look at the happiness.

Walking around the house...

Oh look, even underwear make a fabulous handbag...

No question, Amelia is a girly-girl. She has always been intrigued by things that sparkle, mainly jewelry, earrings and diamonds for example. :) She loves to check out painted toe nails and is always in awe of Mommy's lip gloss. She loves hair, her hair, my hair, Ford's hair...she loves to comb hair, brush hair, play with hair and no matter who you are she enjoys decorating with various clips and bows. Her newest love...purses. She loves purses, mommy's purse, Grandma's purse, an empty store bag with a handle, even underwear. If she can find a hole in it, she places her hand through, rests it on her arm and immediately goes into "see you later, I'm off to somewhere important with my purse." Sometimes she even waves as we say, "oh, you've got your purse, are you going shopping? Okay, we'll see ya later..." As serious as can be, she listens, waves the one little free hand and heads off in a brisk walk like she's got some pressing errands to run. She loves to put things in her various purses, take them out, show them to you, put them back in, then the purse goes back on the arm and she's off again to find more things to put in the purse.
By the way, the underwear purse is her own invention. She found them in my unpacked suitcase on the floor and after inspecting them thoroughly, she found the leg holes and she assumed....and who wouldn't...that it must be a purse. On the arm they went and she was off to take care of business. Clever girl.

Graduation Party!

Happy napper

Our primary NICU nurse, Rachel

Our primary NICU doctor, Dr. Krueger

It's been a bit since I've posted. It seems daily life with a toddler makes the time fly twice as fast as usual!! Since being back in Nashville, Amelia has been recovering from her mysterious illness that started with a fever in Michigan. I took her to the doctor when I noticed a peculiar diaper rash and a really red throat. It seems she contracted Hand, Foot, Mouth disease during our travels in Michigan. Poor bugger. For those of you who have not experienced this "disease," it is merely a common virus that young children contract easily as it is quite contagious. Being a virus, there is nothing you can do for it except make them comfortable until is goes away on it's own. Thankfully, she had a very mild strain, and showed no symptoms on her hands or feet, in fact, she acted perfectly fine aside from one night of fever. She is pretty much back to normal aside from a bit of a suppressed appetite. She had her 12 month appointment today and she lost a 1/2 pound in one week! Nothing to worry about said the doc, just due to the illness and sore throat. She is still in the 50th percentile for weight at 21 lbs, and 75th percentile for height at 29 3/4 inches and her head circumference is off the chart! She has several teeth coming in. She is growing in every way and she's healthy from head to toe!

In other news, this past weekend we attended Baptists Hospitals' NICU graduate party. It's a party held once a year and is attended by NICU doctors and nurses as well as NICU patients/graduates from years past. It was a wonderful experience, and an emotional one for me, to be able to take her back there to see her wonderful nurses and especially her very special NICU doctor, Dr. Kreuger. I was unable to hold back the tears when I saw her, and I was so grateful for the opportunity to thank her for her wonderful care she gave as well as her immense optimism regarding Amelia and her condition. As you know, because of the rarity of this condition, the outcome remained to be seen and it seemed most medical professionals that we were in contact with right after her birth seemed to be preparing us for the worst, except for Dr. Kreuger. She held a quiet confidence and remained quite calm and focused throughout the ordeal, I will not forget her peaceful demeanor and her reassuring words. Little did she know at the time, how much hope she had given me while I struggled emotionally with what was happening. Ford and I swore, she must have been angel.
It was wonderful to reintroduce the staff to her and to see the looks on their faces when they saw her and her perfect skin. It was also a chance to give big hugs and say thank you a year later for the wonderful care we received during our two week stay at Baptist following her birth. I keep in touch with Amelia's awesome primary nurse, Rachel. She too was a great source of comfort and optimism during our stay in the NICU, just knowing she was there to tend to her every need, and knowing she prayed for her... If you remember, Amelia was only to be removed from the humidified "Giraffe" twice a day, it was crushing to me that we could only hold her during those two brief releases and that she could not be held the rest of the day/night. Rachel, however, "broke" her out on a few occasions in the middle of the night, when Amelia would wake crying while her mommy was 5 miles away at home sleeping; she snuggled her, rocked her and gave her love when I could not. I was so very grateful for this and grateful that she bent the rules. We got to know her well, and she us, during that time. A friendship I hope will continue for years to come.
I remember the day we left Baptist Hospital to take Amelia home last year at this time. I remember it being a very confusing day. I wanted only to be happy to be able to finally take my beautiful baby home with me, where she belonged. But I also remember feeling a bit angry that we had to go through what we did for the past 2 weeks and mostly, I remember how scared I felt, how part of me wanted to take Rachel and the nurses and doctor with me into the weeks and months to come...looking back now, that's exactly what I did. They remain a part of our lives just as I know they remain a part of the lives of all of the NICU families they've care for.

What a wonderful group of people God has placed in our lives and hearts forever.

Michigan Recap...

What could be cuter?

Love this one.

Me and momma on my first birthday.

Rock-a-rock-a lion...aahhrrrr...

I LOVE MICHIGAN SUMMERS!!

Well, we are back in Nashville after a very long and very fun trip to Michigan. We stayed almost 3 weeks and our visit was jam-packed...we did so many fun new things and visited with so many friends and family. Among the highlights was Amelia's first trip to the beach; it was her first encounter with the Great Lakes and I loved introducing her to one of my favorite places on earth! What a big place it must have seemed to her...the waves and sand (the sand was not her favorite) and blue water and bluest sky that goes on forever and ever... She spent some time at Whirlwind Campground "camping" with her cousins in tents in their backyard. She played in the grass as much as she wanted!!!! She took her first wagon ride. She turned 1! She got to eat cake for the first time. She had her first birthday party at the beach with lots and lots of friends and family...so fun!! She saw Grandpa and Grandma Loto's house in Hessel and took her first boat ride in Grandpa's boat. She got to meet Great Grandma Amelia who lives in Escanaba (Upper Peninsula of Michigan) for the very first time and went to her first State Fair...so many animals, including a 4 horned sheep. Hmmmm. She got to visit the Bensingers' ranch in Gaylord, MI...equipped with cows and baby cows, horses, and best of all...barn kittens!! She took her first ferry boat ride to Mackinac Island, rode in a horse drawn taxi and had a blast with all of our Mackinac friends.
And since being in Michigan, she has officially graduated to walking, sometimes running...everywhere and nonstop. She had much to explore and I think this motivated her retire the crawling and kick it up a notch! She was certainly busy. She also spent more time in the car than ever before! She was a trooper. Unfortunately, she also had her first real fever at the end of the trip...thankfully with no sickness to speak of. It only lasted a day and luckily she was herself again before our flight back to Nashville. We did so many other wonderful things, too many to speak of. But for all of your facebook members, I'll be posting many more photos of our fun trip, hopefully this week. For those of you who aren't facebook members...join!! It's a great way to keep in touch and share photos.
So we are back to Nashville, Ford is back to work and I have to say, it was nice having such a long break from the Nashville heat. Amelia seems so much older now compared to 3 weeks ago before we left. She is seemingly glad to be home and was sooo happy to see Mister (although he seemed a little mad at us for a bit there). I think she had her fair share of traveling for a while. Needing to run a quick errand today, I asked her if she wanted to take a ride in the car with mommy, she shook her head with great determination and flat out said "no." Alright then, home we stayed.

Happy Birthday, Amelia.

I'm 1 today.

Amelia Sava Turrell
Born: August 7, 2007
Time: 6:50 am Central
Weight: 8 lbs 10 oz
Height: 20 inches

Wow, what a big day. I can't believe how fast the time has flown. We get to be in Michigan to celebrate her very first birthday! We have moved around a bit since arriving and Amelia has had a few moments of confusion when it comes to sleep...this morning she awoke at 5:00 am and ended up in sleeping in bed with us, (I was not ready to begin the birthday that early). However, as she fell fast asleep, curled up between us all snug and warm, I found myself unable to go back to sleep. As I lay there, listening to the rhythm her little breath and staring at her sweet sleeping face, I replayed the event of her birth over in my head, hoping I would be able to remember it all...a little sad when I realized that some of the details had left me. I can't help but feel a little overwhelmed today; a strange feeling, I realize, on such a happy occasion. My friend Dana sent me an e-mail a few days ago commenting on how emotional she felt on her son's first birthday, for obvious reasons of course, it's a quite a big milestone! Before her e-mail, I had only been thinking about what a big day this is for Amelia, and about how much she has grown but she also reminded me that being a first time mother for a whole year is quite an accomplishment. Thinking about all of the things that I've learned, sorting out all of the new feelings...so many new ones, and settling into this new identity called "mama." And though this day is not about me, I feel so blessed just to be here, to be able to watch her turn one, literally...
I watched the clock while she slept... 6:00 am... 6:30... 7:00... waiting for 7:50 am (6:50 Nashville time) to sing Happy Birthday to her. She woke up around 7:30 ish and we played and talked until 7:50 when I hugged her and told her happy birthday and that one year ago at this exact moment she came out of mommy's tummy and into the world, I proceeded to sing the whole Happy Birthday song to her...she listened, smiled at me and then pointed toward the door...
Onward into year two...

Some nice ones.

Whaw...whawww.

A bit of a Debbie Downer in this one.

I love my babies' eyes, they open and close and open and close...

Rock-a-rock with all my furry friends.

Amelia is afraid of Daddy's glasses.

Wouldn't you be?

Nice candid of Ford, don't worry, he's alive...creepy.
Nice downward dog, yes?