Half Pint Then and Now

Remember this back in September?


Check her out now...
and her pearly white.

Crawling Video

Lions and Spiders and Puffs

Something so sad about this picture... :)

Sweet moves.

Thought I'd throw this one in...

First of many carousel rides, good fun.

Well, it's been a action packed few weeks. My mom pointed out that it's been 17 days (now 18) since I last posted, so, I apologize for those of you who check Amelia's blog regularly. It's been a busy few weeks! We had lots of visitors, Spring Break '08 was a success. Amelia loved all the action. While our visitors were here, she had lots of firsts... For one, she is into a full blown crawl these days. She can get where she wants to go, I can still catch her but it's only a matter of time... She likes to rest and reassess, maybe play a little after a few moves forward, which means she pushes herself back into a sitting position. This sitting business is cute, but it's tough when trying to lay her down for nap, you can imagine.
For another, her first tooth cut through! She can't even believe it herself and she started this new move with her tongue. She opens her mouth and stretches her tongue out and down her chin. I figured out she can feel her sharp little tooth on the underside of her tongue. It's like she wants to say "what's up with that thing?" Ford and I plopped her in her crib with some toys a few days ago while we cleaned up her room, we had our backs to her for a moment as we were chit chatting away and suddenly Ford says, "look at this!" I turned around to see Amelia standing up holding onto the edge of the crib, just peeking her little nugget over the edge. I couldn't help but gasp. Yes, she can pull herself up to standing. She's got it mastered now and she thinks she's pretty sweet. :) Well, she is. However, I would've liked a little time to adjust to the first two new happenings.
Other things she's into these days include sharing. She's mastered feeding herself finger foods now and she'll give up a sweet potato puff every so often if we are persistent in asking nicely. She digs her puffs. She went to the zoo for the first time and she rode the carousel with her daddy. She thought the lion she rode was pretty cool but lunged for her dad after a few trips around. She does most of the moves to Itsy Bitsy Spider, just out of the blue one day she joined me. She must have figured "again with the Itsy Bitsy, there must be something to this...let me try it..." She loves to give kisses, she kisses her dolly now which is just plain cute. And lastly, she makes monkey noises. We think it's hilarious so we encourage it often, then I started to think she's going to think it's a language and I imagined someone saying hello to her and her responding with "eee eee, aah aah" so we'd better cool it. :)
So, our guests are all gone and it is back to life as usual, which is anything but usual with our Amelia Badelia. She's fun. Come check her out...

Grass work...

Amelia loves grass...and weeds, and dried leaves, and flowers. When we take her outside, she practically leaps out of our arms and toward the grass. She's very serious when she does her grass work; inspecting and feeling and observing and pulling apart and crinkling and tasting...she has a lot of new things to learn about now that it is spring. She certainly takes her time in absorbing all that is new. I wonder if she'll like bugs and snails and slugs and worms...
The sweatshirt she is wearing in the photos used to be mine. It was probably a hand-me-down, and then got handed down again and made it's way back into my pile of baby clothes my mom gave to me when Amelia was born. I washed it of course but it still smells like our old house to me. I wanted to get a few photos of Amelia wearing it and it's a good thing I took them when I did, it's already too small (speaking of weeds).
Spring means spring breakers and we have some headed our way this week. The Corey's are coming and then Grandpa and Grandma Turrell. Lundbergs and Collars are stopping by on their way to the Gulf. It's going to be an exciting week. Amelia loves visitors!
It is definitely spring in Nashville and it has been raining a lot. But everything is green and new and smells good. I'm so happy the seasons change in Nashville. After growing up in Michigan, I need to be able to feel the change of winter leaving and spring beginning. I read that spring, metaphorically, means the start of better times. I'm thankful that we have that to look forward to every year. It has been a heavy winter for a lot of our loved ones, especially back home it seems. So many we know are going through challenges in their lives at this very moment, including the onset of illness as well as personal loss. So I have a prayer request for all of those who are suffering today that the newness of spring brings healing, new hope and restorative peace.
Happy Spring.

Traveling Baby...

Happy Easter! Amelia and I flew back to Nashville Easter morning after a 2 week stay in Michigan. Ford stayed behind to work and to attend the South x Southwest Music Festival in Austin, TX. So, it was just baby and mama on a whirlwind trip that included visiting friends and loved ones in such towns as Rockford, Lansing, DeWitt, Mason, Grandville and Grand Rapids. Amelia loved all the attention and especially all the kids. She couldn't take her eyes off of them, her little head whipping around trying to keep up with all the activity. She developed so much, socially and physically in those two weeks and upon returning, her daddy, who missed her like crazy, couldn't get over how much older she seemed.
Some new things...Amelia is 33 weeks old or 7 months and 3 weeks and growing up so fast. She is in the pre-stages of crawling. She hasn't coordinated the arm and leg movements together but can scoot backward as well as launch herself forward by pushing off with one leg and reaching with one arm for a toy in her sights. She is so close to a full on crawl, I think it will be soon. In the meantime, she can really move herself around with some innovative moves. She also does quite a few yoga moves, including downward dog (see above photo). She started waving just towards the end of our trip. If waved to, she'll wave back. She is also working on pulling herself up in her crib. Her vocab is the same, mama, papa and hi but she seems to understand so much of what is spoken to her. She gives kisses. The big wet slobbery kind with a happy smile and squeal to boot. She gives hugs too.
Amelia had a happy first Easter even though we spent the first half of the day traveling two planes with a layover in Chicago. The Easter Bunny came to Rockford and Nashville both! Lucky baby! Traveling alone with a small baby is tough, I have an even greater respect for single parents everywhere. Amelia did great but had a few meltdowns due to fatigue and an inability to get comfortable on the tiny airplanes we rode in. It was long and tiring and not the ideal first Easter but I continued to thank God for safety and protection and I kept reminding myself that this is the day the Lord has made, (especially as I changed Amelia's stinky diaper in a 3x3 foot airplane bathroom on a changing station way too small for her long body all the while trying to keep her from touching anything, impossible...more airport/airplane stories to come I'm sure...) She was visibly happy to be home in her own room and in her own bed. We could almost see her remembering everything as we walked her around the house getting her reacquainted with the sights and sounds of home. Huge smiles for Mister and her bedroom, and of course her Daddy.
We are happy to be home with Ford and it is spring in Nashville...flowers and warm air! We miss everyone in Michigan like crazy but are so thankful we got to see so many of you and hope to see those we couldn't connect with this time very soon!
Hoping your Easter was full of blessings and promise....
Kim

pigs...

Flash forward a few years to Amelia with pigs...

Spring for a day...

Amelia on a swing for the first time.
Looking a little concerned...
...not sure she likes how her tummy feels.

There we go!
I like swings.

Today we had a taste of spring here in Nashville. It was in the lower 70's and sunny. A beautiful day. We rolled all the windows down in the car so we could feel the warm air and watch Amelia's Mohawk blow all around...
Even though it's going to get cold again, today made me excited to introduce Amelia to the up and coming season...she's never seen spring before. She's never felt the grass in her toes, seen spring flowers bloom, been pulled in a wagon or been on a swing...until today. We took a drive and stopped by to see our former neighbors, the Martins, and Amelia got to try out their tree swing. She was very, very serious and unsure about this new sensation but she finally got the hang of it and had some smiles.
Ford also put her toes in the grass...fearful screaming.
What will she think of sand? :)