Amelia hates the Easter Bunny

I know this is borderline child abuse, but I can't help it. I just want the memories, people! 
        

                            

She didn't hate him as much last year, but she definitely wasn't impressed with him.

And if you think it's just the big suit that scares her, you're wrong. She apparently dislikes all Easter bunnies.

(Photo curtesy of Amanda.)

Now, in the Easter Bunny's defense, he isn't the only character she dislikes. I have similar photos of Amelia and Santa. Now that I think of it, maybe it's not the characters, but maybe she thinks she is too cool for the ridiculous photo situations I have been known to put her in!

17 months

I promise I am not going to keep doing monthly updates until Amelia is 57 months old, but she is still changing and developing so much from month to month and I want to keep a record of it, so here goes. At 17 months, Amelia:

• said her first sentence a few weeks ago! Y'all know she's been talking up a storm for months, but usually it's just jibber jabber or one real word at a time. During spring break when Cliff was in Kansas, we were watching the tournament online. I pointed to Cliff on the screen and thought she would say Daddy, and instead she said "Ball!" Then I said, "Yeah, it's a ball!" And then she repeated, "It's a ball!" Ball was one of her first words and it's still one of her favorites, and I think it's such a fun first sentence, and a fun memory to have of her saying it.
• is still saying new words each week and is recognizing what they mean. Some of her newest have been nana (banana), cookie, pa-pa (for paci, not Papa), and cat. She recognizes if we are riding by Katie's house in the wagon and says Katie, even if she's not home and we don't stop.
• is showing signs of being ready to potty train. I know-yikes! How did we get here so soon? I am in no rush at all to start this process, but she has been saying "poo poo" either during the act or immediately after she dirties her diaper. She has even tried to take it off after doing it. I bought a potty chair and we've been working with it a little, but I don't think she really gets it yet. I think we'll work more with it this summer when she is home every day.
• has hit yet another growth spurt in the past few weeks. Last month she was outgrowing 12 months but was not yet fitting into 18 months, but now she is already outgrowing some 18 months outfits. She is becoming a big girl so fast!
• still is not a fan of being told "No," but she really likes saying it to others. It's actually pretty cute most of the time the way she says it, but we have really been getting tougher with our discipline and not allowing her to tell us (or any grown up) "No" when we ask her to do something or to stop doing something. She used to freak out anytime we disciplined her, and she still does to some extent, but she is doing much better at knowing when we mean business and not throwing a tantrum every time we take something away or tell her No. I will celebrate each of these small victories!
• has learned a little bit about counting and the ABCs from her BFF, Dora. She tries to sing along to the alphabet song, and if you say "One" and hold up a finger, she'll usually follow it with saying "Two." It's so much fun to see her pick up on these things so quickly.
• has started warming up to Cliff's Dad (Papaw Bob) more in the last month. She hasn't been that sweet to him in the past. He works a lot and spends a lot of time out of town on the weekends, so Amelia hasn't spent as much time with him as she has with my parents. She is finally getting used to seeing him more and is being more loving with him, much to his delight.
• has also been warming up to my brothers and Papaw Fred. She clearly prefers women and girls over big ole boys (and we're ok with that!) but we're glad to see her being sweeter to all the people who love her.

Mimi has changed so much this month! Cliff was gone for a week, and just during that time she said and did so many new things. Her own little personality is coming out more and more, and we're discovering that she is a fast learner of new things, but she is also just as fast at losing her temper and throwing a fit when she is not pleased with something. The next few months (and years, let's be honest) are going to be difficult as we establish more boundaries with our discipline and she learns that she is not the ruler of the universe!

And now, here are a couple of photos of her and Papaw Bob from the other day. She was opening her bucket of Easter goodies from him and Joyce, who actually made that precious blanket. Thanks, Joyce! We love it! Homemade gifts are my favorite.

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Happy Birthday, Grammy!

Today is my mom's 50th birthday! We celebrated yesterday by having the whole family together to take her to lunch. Afterwards everyone came to our house for a while. It was the first time we've all been together since before Jeremy left for Iraq last summer.The uncles were playing with Mimi in her room and I had to snap a few pics. She is warming up to them. All it takes is a little playing with her and she'll love you forever.

Someone thought it would be fun to pull all her shoes out. You know, since she doesn't have any toys in there or anything.

Then it turned into group photos in the nursery. It was too cold to go outside. My brother Josh never ever looks at a camera during a photo. It's his signature pose, I guess. Also, no I am not pregnant. I guess I shouldn't wear that dress anymore!

Grammy and all four of her children, plus a scene stealer at the bottom of the photo. My dad escaped pics because he was the one snapping them. We should've gotten Justin or Cliff to come do it now that I think about it.

I think the smile on my mom's face here says she was pretty happy to have all her kids together in one place. Happy Birthday, Mama!

Spring Break

Spring Break- one of the many reasons I love working at a college! This spring break was bittersweet because Cliff had to be away from us for an entire week! The girls' team made it to the national tournament in Kansas (I can't tell you how many times I have wished it could be held somewhere fun like Florida or even better, Hawaii!) But no, it was held in lovely, flat, 14 hours away, Salina, Kansas. We considered going but in the end decided the long ride would just be too much for Amelia. Plus, there wouldn't be much free time for Cliff, so if we were going to just be hanging out on our own, we might as well have stayed at home.

Anyway, since we had no plans, we went along with Grammy, Papa and Aunt Mare to Navarre, Florida to check things out for Mare's upcoming wedding. Even though it was too cold and windy to spend much time on the beach, it was a nice change of scenery for us. We were only there for a few days, but I did take a few snaps of Mimi getting spoiled rotten by her aunt and grandparents.

We went to a gulfarium in Ft. Walton and Mimi got to see dolphins, sea lions, sharks and more. She was pretty sleepy and wasn't that impressed with it all, but we had a good time. It's so hard to plan things around a toddler's naps!

 

Amelia also got to ride on her very first mechanical ride. She loved every second of it and was OVER IT when it ended. I mean, she totally lost it.

After that fiasco, we decided it was time to hit the road. Here we are posing in the car on the way home. Look at her throwing up the peace sign! Silly girl.

Mimi actually did really well with the drive, thanks to the best purchase I ever made. Yes, we watched lots of Dora, but if it helped make the ride more manageable, we were all for it.

Once we made it back to my parents' house, I let Amelia play for a couple of hours before we headed home. She went right for her favorite thing in their house (besides the stairs).

Then she got pulled around in an overnight bag.

And read to. Seriously, this girl is so rotten!

The next day (St. Patty's Day), we got to see someone very special.

Uncle Jeremy made it home from Iraq! He is still having to spend some time at Camp Shelby in Hattiesburg, but he is safely home on American soil. Thanks for your prayers for him these last several months he's been gone. We're looking forward to he and Mimi getting to know each other very soon. She is kind of afraid of big and tall people, like my brothers and Uncle Chris. She only likes them from a distance right now, ha. But I'm sure that will change soon after she gets to spend more time with them.

We wrapped our week up with meeting Grammy and Papa's new puppy, Max. Amelia wasn't too sure about him at first, but when he yawned, Mimi told him "night night." Ha!

Since it has been just us girls on our own, I have been a little more lenient on our meal times and food choices. I am usually weary of letting her enjoy messy treats such as ice cream bars, but I went for it and gave her one. As you can see, she enjoyed herself.

Then we followed it with a wagon ride over to our pal, Ella's. I would've taken more photos of the girls playing, but I had my hands full from chasing after them.

                                         

We ended our week today by meeting the Easter Bunny, and I'm sad to say Amelia was terrified of him! I'll be sure to share our awful photo when I get it. So that was our spring break. We missed Daddy like crazy, but we made the most of our time off. We are ready to see him bright and early in the morning. We are also celebrating a special birthday tomorrow, and I will be back to post about that later. Hope those of you who got a Spring Break enjoyed yours as much as we did!

Afternoon photo session

Yesterday after school we stopped by Katie's to play and of course she had to snap some pics of Amelia in her cute new (to her! we heart ebay) dress. These are some of my favorite pics she has taken of Mimi in a while.

And my favorite one of all:

                                                  

It looks like she is pouting, but she wasn't at all. She has been folding her arms like that a lot lately (and walking around with her hands behind her back) and I think it is just stinking adorable. I think maybe she has just realized she can do it? Sometimes that girl is just too much!

Thanks for the pics, Aunt Katie!