Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

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Baby #2

Due in July!

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Amelia's First Birthday Giraffe Party: The Decorations

We did it! I made it through her first birthday party. It was touch and go on party day getting everything done but Amelia had a great first birthday party!

We decided on a giraffe party a few months ago. Amelia loved her Sophie the Giraffe Teether, and especially the giraffes at the zoo. When starting to look for party ideas on pinterest I found you really could have a giraffe birthday party.

We will start with the invitation. I found invitations I liked on Etsy and took what I liked on each invitation and made my own. I liked how you could see how Amelia got older. I worked on this invitation long and hard until I got it the way that I liked it but I think it turned really cute!

I found lots of cute projects on pinterest and the internet, and I tried to accomplish as much as I could. The color scheme was pink, blue, gray, and yellow.

 

My favorite decorations were the fire place. I made a birthdday timeline for Amelia. It has 2 pictures for every month. The circles say Hello World, 3 Months, 6 Months, 9 Months, and One year with wooden pink giraffes. I brought down the name blocks from Amelia's room. Behind I made a ruffled garland using strips of fabric. I also loved the Ruffled One with tissue paper.  And one of Joe's students painted a giraffe with the quote "Today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive that is youer than you." Dr Seuss.

 

 

 

We hung tissue pom-poms around the house.  The cenerpeices for the tables were ribbon topiaries.



I made this wishing tree that I wanted the guests to write wishes for Amelia. It didn't happen in the hustle of the party but still cute. I made this chalkboard print for Amelia on the computer. I found a lady that actually writes them out but I know that I don't have cute handwriting.

This large giraffe greeted the guests at the door. This was actually one of Amelia's gifts. The kid loved the big giraffe. If you follow me on instagram you can find the giraffe in some interesting places.

 

 

This was an easy project to take some of pictures from the year and hand them in the shape of a one.

 

This was the front door as the guests came in. I made a ruffled wreath with an A in the center. That is now hanging on Amelia's door.

 

The giraffe was holding the welcome sign.

 

And of course balloons to welcome the guests. We didn't get pictures of the yard signs. They said "The Party is Here" with a giraffe that was taped to posts.

 

Stay tuned to the next post with info about the food (Amelia eating her cake) and opening presents.

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11 Months Update

Amelia is 11 months!...Well almost three weeks ago she was 11 months.

She had a great month before. She weighs about 22 pounds and we will see exactly at tall she is at her 12 month appointment. We are starting to see her silly little personality. She loves to be with mommy and daddy. And especially loves reading books.

 She went on her first family vacation to Florida. She went to Disney World, the beach, Universal Studios, and a lot more. I need to make a long post on our trip to Florida.

Amelia is playing for much longer now but usually is getting into mischief. I heard her playing the piano one day all on her own!

We went to a wedding of some of our former students that was at a farm. I had to crochet Amelia some cowboy boots! I thought she looked especially cute!

This month she learned new things like clapping, pushing her walker, she is a pro at cruising, , and especially at making messes!! Amelia into everything now. She loves to pull all of her books down, and empty her basket of toys. And she loves everything that is not hers! She also LOVES stuffed animals. Especially the ET stuffed animal she picked out at Universal.

She also loves eating. Pretty much anything you give to her and she is shoveling it into her mouth. I love that she is such a good eater and much less stressful for me. She usually has either a banana or pancakes for breakast. She is also loving mac and cheese. She loves most fruit and usually all veggies.

Amelia also had her first child hood illness. She had hand foot and mouth disease. She first had a fever and then started with her yucky rash. Thankfully they weren't too bad in her mouth. The interesting part is that she gave it to Joe! He was definitely more pitiful than she was!
 

 We had a great month. We are currently in full on planning mode for her party in less than 2 weeks! I still can't believe that my little baby girl is going one! When did that happen?!

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You Just Wait

 

We have been on vacation for the last week so I have lots to say and pictures to share. But I will leave you with this picture of Amelia meeting Belle. She LOVED Belle (and I think Belle loved Amelia). Melts my little heart.

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Amelia is 10 Months

Baby girl is 10 Months! This month has been lots of fun with a baby (an almost toddler) who is crawling and into everything!! Even getting her monthly picture is starting to become a challenge because she is soo busy! She knows what No No! means and gives me a big smile but usually stops what she is doing. 

She says Da da all the time now! Sometimes directed at Joe and sometimes she is just happily saying da da! My favorite was one time I asked her who should change her diaper and she announced da da!

We are in full swing planning her first birthday shin-dig! It is a giraffe themed party for her favorite zoo animal and favorite teether toy Sophie! Look out for more info to come! And maybe even a peek at the invitation I designed over at my Etsy Shop. 

She weighs about 20 pounds when I weigh us on the scale. She can still fit in 6-9 month clothes because all her next size are more fall clothes. But colder weather is coming upon us so new wardrobe for Amelia! She still sleeps 10-11 hours at night and usually takes 2 1/12 hour naps a day. She sleeps best in her crib but will doze in the car. She is a big pacifier baby so we are thinking about weaning her from it soon.

Amelia is a big eater now. She eats almost all table food. She still loves cheerios but eats a banana almost every day. She loves tacos, spaghetti, grapes, carrots, meat, cheese. You know pretty much everything! You take her to Chipotle and she is chowing down! 

Her other new favorite activity is pulling up onto everything! She is walking around furniture pretty well and will walk with me holding at least one hand. And today she climbed 6 stairs. Eek! I love our baby gates!

Amelia is still toothless! I know! She has the cutest little toothless smile but I am way surprised it has taken us this long! But I think we they are coming soon! Her gums look swollen to me and she has been way more fussy than normal. Maybe soon?

Amelia loves

*eating

*playing

*chasing the dogs around

Amelia hates

*getting her clothes changed

*getting strapped in the car seat (but loves to play with her carseat if it out)

*being tired

We love our baby girl sooo much! 

PS Amelia is in a contest for the cutest baby at American Baby. You can vote for her here!

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Where We've Been

It's pretty obvious that Amelia has become a huge focus of our lives. For someone so little, she demands a whole lot of attention. We absolutely adore Amelia. She is the smilest, silliest, cutest baby on the block and a huge blessing in our lives. She gets probably a thousand kisses a day and is now learning to give them back.

But I remember those days in the past few years that we didn't know if we were going to have children. We tried for 2 years to get pregnant with Amelia. We had two early miscarriages and many months tears. People would always tells us that we would get pregnant one day. But see, we are not promised that we would ever get pregnant. And I really tried to contain my bitterness for what seemed like everyone else was getting pregnant but me!

I remember that day we found out pretty clearly. I was a couple of days late on my period. So after my shift, I ran to Target and bought a pregnancy. I took it when I got home and I was pretty surprised that it was positive. I came out and showed it to Joe. But, our minds quickly went back to our history so we were cautiously optimistic. No big hugs, no crying.

I passed the point where I had miscarried with my other two pregnancies so I started getting more hopeful. Then we finally got to see the doctor at 9 weeks and had our ultrasound. And the technician quickly said, "I see a baby! And a heartbeat!" The best words! I quickly cried! I waas blessed to have a normal healthy pregnancy and had a beautiful baby girl!!

But those losses are still painful even with this wonderful girl. And my heart still hurts for those of you whose arms are still empty. I had to cling to the promises that God Loves us, that He has a perfect will for us, and that He is near to the brokenhearted.

So all of this to say that I do realize that being a mom is one of the best gifts. She gets extra big squeezes just because I know I can't take her for granted.


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6-9 Month Must Haves

It's time for my updated list of must haves. I did so previously for 0-3 months here and 3-6 months here. Amelia has a lot more toys this time around to keep this busy girl occupied, a lot! Now that Amelia can crawl and enjoy more things.

We love

Fisher-Price Musical Table

Amelia loves to pull up on the table and push the buttons which plays music

Toysmith Busy Zoo Activity Center

This cube we got at a garage sale. I like that it is wood and I think very durable. Amelia loves to pull up with it.

Munchkin Nursery Projector and Sound System

It plays multiple songs and sounds and projects three sets of images on the ceilings. We use this for all of Amelia's naps and bedtime.

Vtech - Sit to Stand Learning Walker

Amelia really likes to play with all the buttons and pull herself up and try to walk with it.


Jeep Walker

Amelia really loved her walker especially when she wasn't crawling yet. She only knows how to go backwards. Amelia also loves pushing the horn.

Waterproof Bibs

Amelia makes huge messes when she eats. I didn't want to already add more laundry to the load and cloth bibs were getting really dirty. I LOVE these bibs. Let me say it again. I LOVE these bibs!

Books

Amelia loves Are You My Mother?, The Jesus Storybook Bible,  and Llama Llama books.


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