20 months (aka almost 2)

Yes, Amelia is turning 20 months old tomorrow. It still feels awkward to me if someone asks how old she is. There's no way I am going to say 20 months. I just say she's one and a half. Or that she'll be two in October. But for the purposes of keeping up with what she's doing, I am doing a 20 month update. So, at 20 months old, what is Amelia up to? Well, she:

• has hit a language explosion. She will repeat anything we say, which is totally scary! We are really having to watch every word we say around her. Having a little imitator really keeps you on your toes! She also says lots of new words on her own, and strings together some short sentences. She is able to communicate with us like a real person now, rather than us having to guess what she needed as a baby, and that is so much fun.
• is so funny! I had really hoped and prayed for a funny child, and she totally is. She is already saying and doing some of the funniest things, and I know that this is only the beginning. She has learned what it is to "poot" and she thinks it's hilarious! Where do they learn this? The other day Katie was keeping her and after Mimi pooted she said "Mama pooted." She BLAMED me for her gas! Omg, I wanted her to be funny, but to still act like a little lady! She also blamed a couple on Cliff that day. Silly girl.
• is SUCH a picky eater.  Some days she will go all day with only eating a few bites of food. I keep offering different things to her, but she either says No and won't open her mouth, or she will try it and then spit it out. I don't know how she survives, but the experts say they will eat when they are hungry. She does drink lots of juice and milk (which she calls "malk" by the way, ha!). Two things she will never turn down are Cheetos and cookies. I have been trying to limit her snacks to make sure she's hungry at meal times, but sometimes even that doesn't work. I guess I'd rather her eat a few Cheetos for supper than nothing at all!
• loves to sing and dance! She doesn't mind if she doesn't know the words, she will just sing along anyway. Her favorite songs are the ABC song and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. She still loves Jay-Z, but now that she repeats everything, I don't want to catch her spouting out his questionable lyrics. Here's a video I took of her singing in the tub the other night:
  Singing in the tub from Angela Furr on Vimeo.
• loves to swim more than anything. See previous post for photos.
• thinks her Papa (my dad) hung the moon. Of course she loves all her grandparents, aunts and uncles, but it is pretty obvious that Papa is her favorite. It is partly because he is awesome and partly because he lets her do anything she wants!
• is quite the expert at throwing a tantrum. She's never been a fan of the word "No," but these days she will go limp if you're holding her and just fall out in the floor if she doesn't get her way. Not cool! I was so embarassed at a birthday party recently when she was the worst behaved child there! She refused to share anything and fell out in the floor throwing a fit when it was time to go. In her defense, I drug her there when I knew she needed a nap, but still that is no excuse. She often behaves that way when she's completely rested.
• spends time in the naughty corner on a regular basis. My co-worker has a little girl who is a year older than Amelia and she has told me about Adleigh's time out spot, so I thought I'd give it a shot with Mimi. Guess what, it actually works! When Amelia is throwing an unnecessary fit (really, what fit is necessary?), all we have to do is say "Corner!" and she stomps off to the corner of whatever room we're in and sits there to finish her tantrum. We tell her she can get up when she's done crying and usually she gets right up and goes about her business. A couple of times during a fit, she's actually marched off to the corner on her own. I think she actually likes having a designated area to throw her fits. What am I going to do with this girl?

I don't want to end on a bad note, because although this is a tough season for us as far as tantrums go, she is still a joy to be around most of the time. From what I've read, this is just a tough age for kids because they don't really know how to handle their feelings yet. We miss getting to go and do some of the things we used to, but she makes just hanging out at home fun. As the saying goes, this too shall pass. And as I've already seen, it passes way too quickly!

And now a few new pics:

Playing with my friend Coutney's little girl Brantlee. Well, kind of. Neither of them really wanted to share and they each threw eerily similar tantrums, but it was so funny to watch them together. They're only three weeks apart in age, and they talk and act so similar.

Amelia made herself at home in B's princess chair!

Hanging out with Katie and Papaw Bob yesterday. Don't let the watermelon fool you. Katie said she only took a couple of bites.

We're well on our way to two years old! How did this happen so quickly?!

Water Baby

Amelia loves the pool! Last year we spent as much time as possible swimming and this year is no different. She was recently introduced to the freedom that floaties give her and she loves it! She loves to jump in and go underwater. She keeps her eyes wide open and then comes up grinning. It is so dang adorable. She has even been swimming underwater a little, but it makes me a nervous wreck (due to a scare in the pool last year), so I have to leave those lessons up to someone else. Here are a few recent pool pics.

She calls floats "boats," ha. And she prefers the pink one. I won't talk about the fit she will throw if someone else is in the pink one.

A Perfect Beach Wedding

Ok, now I'm really back! Mare's wedding in Navarre Beach, Florida was perfect, and while she and Justin are off having a fabulous time in the Dominican Republic, we all had to come right back to hectic stuff at work. When I got an email from Uncle Chris with a subject "Where for art thou, blog?" I knew my blog break needed to end soon. Now that things at work have calmed down a bit, I am finally ready to share some photos. I'll just let the gorgeous pics Katie and some other family members took speak for themselves.

Amelia performed about as well as I expected her to as a flower girl, which meant she was not good at all. Ha. But who can expect a toddler to really do anything other than look adorable in a wedding? She definitely pulled that off. I had hoped she would hold my hand and walk down the aisle, but I had not anticipated how long the boardwalk down to the beach would be, so I ended up carrying her. When I put her down in the sand, she started whining, so Cliff got her and they spent the ceremony doing this:

I, however, spent the ceremony doing this:

Y'all, I was a hot mess! I knew it would be bad, but I didn't expect to really lose it as bad as I did. But hello, she IS my baby sister. AND my dad sang this song. I didn't stand a chance.

Afterwards, I hoped Amelia would smile for some photos, but that wasn't happening either. It was ridiculously hot, and I know that dress was uncomfortable, so we were doing good to get the ones we did. Here she is smelling Grammy's bouquet after the ceremony.

I swiped this one from Justin's dad's facebook page. I don't know who was holding the camera that we were actually looking at. Hopefully it was the professional photographer. I plan to share some of those when we get them in a few weeks.

A family shot on the beach was out of the question, but Katie did get these candid snaps while we tried to convince Amelia to smile for some pics.

Guess who got the best smile of all with her?

Sweet flower girls

The reception was held under a pavilion on the beach, close to where the ceremony took place. Mare gave me pretty much free reign to decorate as I pleased, which was so much fun for me! I just couldn't trust a florist that I didn't know not to do something tacky, so I took a chance and ordered the flowers here. I was thrilled when they arrived on Thursday just as expected, and I spent the next two days doing this:

I've done a little floral arranging for events at work, but this was my first time to do a wedding. I went to my trusty friend for some tips, and was pleased with how the bouquets and table arrangements turned out. It was a ton of work, but I loved every second of it! Family members, bridesmaids and groomsmen really pitched in to help decorate, and we were so thankful for their help.

Don't those lanterns and cushions on the picnic tables just scream "beach wedding?" Oh my word, did I love planning this wedding!

More snaps from the reception. How cute were these guys?

Mare looked so pretty!

My parents being silly.

I loved every second of it, but I am so glad that's it's over and we're home and getting back to our normal lives. And I couldn't be happier for this sweet couple!

Justin has been a part of the family for a long time now, but he is now officially Uncle Justin. Congratulations, guys. We love you!

Still Here!

Oh my goodness, it seems like I haven't updated in forever! My apologies to the few of you who check in for regular Amelia updates. Things have been pretty busy around our household lately in preparation for Mare's wedding. Every weekend has been filled with a party or shower, and I've had to use the weeknights to catch up on all the housework and stuff I'm missed during the weekend. That has left little time to blog.

But enough excuses! We're all doing great, and looking forward to the wedding next weekend in Florida. I, of course, am the wedding coordinator and I have lots of fabulous things planned for this beach reception! I can't wait to share the photos when we get back and our life settles back to normal again.

A quick Mimi update before I go: She is loving being at home with her new sitter Kellie this summer. I love that I don't have to get her up and dressed everyday, and that Kellie sends me Blackberry photos of Amelia having fun throughout the day. My summer work schedule has begun, and I get off at 12:30 on Fridays. After the wedding, I am looking forward to enjoying some lazy afternoons in the pool, and some playdates with friends.

I promise to be back with lots of new photos after the wedding, but in the meantime, just try and see if you can look at this girl without smiling!

(Next to last photo curtesy of Lindey, and the last one was Katie's. As if you couldn't tell that they were not my fab photography!)