Up and Down

Trying out undies, sort of.

Playdoh horse. She had some help from Daddy, they make a nice team.

So, notice anything about the two pictures above? Same exact expression, green suckie in mouth and hair twirling. This is what Amelia looks like when she's tired. But the fun ensues regardless.
I think the blogging has slowed, not because there is nothing to write about, but because there is too much to write about. One and a half is an exciting and fun and busy and challenging age. I'm just not sure how to choose a topic these days, there are so many.
So a brief run down on what's new...

Amelia is talking A LOT, lots and lots of new words and two word phrases at the most. She tries so hard to speak in sentences, bless her heart, it's just not quite understandable yet, she's getting there. The language development is a constant source of entertainment for me. Love it.

The potty is intriguing these days. We read potty books and she gets excited, points at herself, climbs down off of my lap and runs to the bathroom to look at her little plastic potty (which has never been used) and then runs back to finish the book. She does not want to actually use it yet, but she's making the connection.

Amelia was sick for 2 weeks upon our return from Michigan. Boy, that was a challenge. She had a viral bronchial infection with a fever that lasted the whole first week. She was absolutely miserable. Of course, the mommy was sick too, oh my. Neither of us were sleeping and we were both pretty cranky. This was the sickest she's been in her short little life and it lasted the longest as well. What comes next is too long of a story and a bit too graphic, but midway through the illness, we were introduced to the big wide world of toddler constipation. Scary at first as Amelia was having episodes of severe belly pain and I did not know why...who would think constipation? She poops every day! And to make it even more exciting, the first episode occurred on a Saturday which meant our pediatrician referred us to Vandy ER since the office was closed...Vanderbilt Children's Hospital ER on a Saturday evening...not fun. They were able to get to the bottom of it (no pun) and were able to get things moving in the right direction (again, no pun...awful). The whole constipation thing was actually a big surprise to me, like I said, she never gave me any cause worry about this. So, now we rethink the diet a bit, cut way back on dairy, she loves, loves, loves cheese...and add more fiber. Things seem to be working themselves out and she's pretty happy these days! Poor kid. What a crappy few weeks...the puns just keep flowing out...i don't mean to, really...

Okay, what else...books continue to be a huge influence in her life. So many real life scenarios will remind her of a story or a book we've read and she'll smile and laugh and say "book!" and try to tell me which one. It's so cool to watch her wheels turning. She's also making the connection between herself and the outside world by pointing at herself when she recognizes something she has, or does or knows. She is also getting into her opposite books these days, recognizing up and down, near and far, happy and sad, etc. She likes to act them out even. She's taking interest in learning colors, counting, and letters as well. So fun.

Next...while in Michigan, much to my devastation, she picked up the undesirable behavior of hitting. Not hard luckily, but it's still hitting...herself, me, Ford, and other kids. I wasn't ready for that one...even reading in several of my toddler books that hitting and biting (luckily she is not into biting) are a normal part of a toddler's development did not make me feel better. Thankfully, the behavior has subsided since returning home to TN. We've been working on it but I also think she was a bit overstimulated by the traveling, many visits and and new environments while home for the holidays. Hopefully it's over, keep you posted on that one. Oh, if she hit any of your kids while in MI, I am so sorry. She's not a bully, really...

One other challenge that keeps coming around, and I know I am not alone on this, is sleep. One and a half seems to be an in between stage...getting almost a bit too big for a crib but not big enough for a big girl bed. On one occasion, while upset and not wanting to be in her crib, she figured out how to swing her leg over the rail while exclaiming "out! out!" and managed to actually make it out...and not gracefully I might add. Scared me silly. She was totally and completely fine and I don't think she'll do it again, as I think it scared her too, but now I am like lightning to her crib side when she wakes up as to not give her the chance to even think about it. This is a challenge, as well as very tiring, since she is not quite ready for a toddler bed and I'm not ready for her to be wandering around the house in the middle of the night! Although she has not attempted it since, I am exploring different options...any suggestions would be appreciated...???

See, I could keep going on and on with the daily happenings...this blog would be a mile long and I'd never ever get any sleep... and you'd be bored to tears probably, but think of it this way...someday Amelia will read the pages of this blog and maybe, hopefully, find it pretty interesting. She might like to learn about the many exciting happenings during her young life, the things she did and how old she was when she did them, how cute and smart and funny I think she is, how challenging and scary and rewarding and wonderful being a parent is, and how totally miraculous it is to be her parent.
I'll just end here for today.

Just a laugh...

Well, it's Sunday night, we have been sick...since Wednesday might I add...and I have had very little sleep but to keep up with my New Year's Resolution, I had to post this quick blog.   It's 10:28 pm and I'd like to be in bed by 10:30 pm here it is...just a laugh.  

Here is Amelia with Bella and Camille Angebrandt, daughters of our good friends Scott and Jessica back in Michigan.  We stopped by for a very quick and much too short of a visit over the holidays and the girls played!  It was so fun, especially the dressing up...if this doesn't make you laugh, then...well I don't know what...

Christmas 2008

Amelia loved the rug in Grandma Turrell's kitchen.

She missed Mister.

First sit-in with the Storey's (minus Dom).

She's not officially a member of the band.

First snow/sledding experience.

This was the most enthusiasm we got from her out there.

Nice boots, Ford.

Pink Christmas tutu from Auntie Michelle.

Daddy put it on her backward. No matter.

Bestest gift of Christmas...the dolly stroller from Santa.

Loving the tutu back in Nashville.

Oh my, has it really been almost a month since I posted. I am a blog neglecter I found out today. I don't want to be known as a blog neglecter. So, among others, my New Year's Resolution: post more blogs, more often. I can't believe I let the month slip by without noting some important moments. Busy with holidays, preparing, traveling, a certain toddler...but still.

So, happy holidays and happy 2009! December was a great month. We had fun preparing for the holidays here in TN and ultimately traveling to MI for an almost 2 week visit.

Amelia has done a ton of growing up this past month. She always grows in leaps and bounds when we visit MI. Constantly surrounded by family and friends, she absorbs it all and always seems a different kid once we get back home to Nashville. I can safely say that she is in full-on toddler mode. I guess the start of 2009 marks the official end to baby-hood and the beginning of the wonderful world of toddler-hood.

Amelia is talking so much more, repeating words like crazy and even putting together a few phrases. She has started adding "a" to a lot of her words. My favorite: pizza = "a pizzie (sounds like a-pete-see)." Christmas and our trip to MI was great for expanding her vocab as well. Lots of talk about Santa and snow, singing new songs about jingle bells and reindeer. We practice the names of friends and family regularly but seeing everyone really helped to commit them to her memory. Good stuff.

We spent the first half of our trip with my family in Rockford where we were literally snowed in for quite a few days. Tons and tons of beautiful lake-effect snow! Amelia had her first experience "playing" in it at Aunt Michelle's house. By playing in it I mean allowing someone to hold her well above the ground and never having the need to come into any sort of contact with it. Her reaction was much like that of her reaction to sand this past summer. She did not care for it. But after we brought her in the house, she cried hysterically to go back out. Guess it takes some getting used to. So back out we went and she did warm up a little. She even went sledding with Ford and Grandpa Hank a few times. The photo above is the most she smiled the whole time she was out there. Can't you see how much fun she's having on the inside? :)

Christmas morning we spent at Michelle's and then we headed off to Lansing to see Great Grandma Alice and lots of the Lotoszinski clan; then off to Aunt Stefeni's for dinner and more gift opening and Christmas enjoy with the Stornants! A very busy day but Amelia loved every minute, she was in on all of the action and showed no signs of slowing. See, big-kid stuff.

The fun wasn't over as we packed up the next day to and headed to Grandma and Grandpa Turrell's house to celebrate with the Turrells. Amelia noticed Grandma Pat's kitty rug in the kitchen immediately and spent some quality time talking to the two black Christmas cats. She even sat on it during the gift opening. Poor kid missed her cat.

We stayed with G & G Turrell the remainder of our trip visiting and playing with cousins, aunts & uncles and a few friends.

Sidebar and humble plea for forgiveness: For those of you whom we did not see this trip (and I'm going to throw in a "whilst" here) whilst we were in Michigan, we are deeply saddened. Please forgive us. Matt, Sarah, you are never will be on our "short list." I didn't even have the where-with-all to make a list. But if I had, you would be at the top of it, along with everyone else whom I would add to that list.

We headed out on New Year's Eve and rather than drive straight through we split up our trip and stopped for the night in Indianapolis where we rang in the new year in a Holiday Inn Express. Well, one of us rang in the New Year with Dick Clark's Rockin' New Years Eve and all of Times Square. The other two didn't quite make it.

Anyway, we are back in Nashville. Amelia is extremely happy to be home. Upon our arrival, she walked around the house excitedly, pointing and naming all of the things she apparently missed. "Chair! Beawr! Bed! Meow-meow!" etc.

By the way, this was a bit of a boring post, I admit. More of a documentary of sorts. If I had been up to speed with posting previous to this, I may have been a bit more interesting, maybe even a little funny. However, it's 12:15 am...I fear that if I don't go to sleep, my toddler will wake and I will never even make it to my bed. You see, my toddler has begun some new toddler-like behavior...but I will save that for another day...

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.  :)