2012 Calendar

While I'm sorting through all of my Christmas trip photos to post some on the blog, I thought I'd go ahead and do an update by showing you what we made our families for Christmas. Creating a calendar for 2012 may be an average gift, but we tried to make it more-than-average by posing Amelia for each month with props that symbolized that month.

The complicating factor is that we came up with the idea on the drive back from Alabama for Thanksgiving, and had 2 weeks to do so before Patrick had to travel for work and I left for Alabama early. We decided to make the props from things we already had in the house so I didn't have to make extra trips to the store with everything else going on. So, some of the months are a little cheesy, but we had a blast and Amelia was a great sport with it all. Hope our families enjoy them in 2012!

For our friends who don't live in the South, this is symbolizing Mardi Gras, but I couldn't get Amelia to wear the mask without getting upset.

Everyone has been claiming their favorite month. Do you have a favorite?

An Assortment of December Photos

For those of you who have been bothering me about needing Amelia photos in the middle of the holiday season, here you go!

Rolling away after a diaper change before clothes can be put back on

This little girl loves her daddy.

Bathtime is still one of our favorites. We recently introduced duckies and they were a hit!

Amelia is talented in the eating-my-toes-while-taking-a-bath arena.

A sweet friend gave us this cute hat for Amelia and she's been wearing it throughout the winter so far. But for some reason, I failed to get a photo until we were just playing inside. 

Amelia loves cameras!

Being silly with mommy

Fifty Years

Amelia and I flew down to Alabama last week for my dad's surprise 50th birthday party. It was Amelia's first flight and she did AMAZING. Of all the scenarios you could imagine, we basically had the best case possible. The flight attendant had us move to an empty row; Amelia fell asleep shortly after take-off and awoke when we reached the gate. I wore her in the moby wrap the entire transit time and she did great. But I didn't get any photos. Next time!

Amelia and I were the decoy for my dad's birthday. He didn't know we were coming so when he came home from work, we were sitting in the living room. It was a great surprise! Then on Saturday we surprised him as my mom and I had "rented" about half of the Red Robin Restaurant for a hamburger/diner-themed party with many friends from church, work and even family flew/drove in from other states. I knew my dad was surprised when he walked into the restaurant and requested a table for 5, not even noticing the huge party around the corner.

Amelia spent most of the day in the moby, watching all of the party happenings. She only stole part of the show from dad.





She LOVED the ballons; and since we had them everywhere, she was able to look at them all day.

Aunt Kim & Uncle Jimmy (Dad's older brother by 364 days) flew all the way from West Virginia for the surprise. Aunt Kim got some good snuggles.

And Uncle Jimmy let Amelia jump for a long time. Since it's her favorite pasttime while standing now, your arms get worn out quickly.

Happy Birthday Dad! 

Thanks to Tabitha for taking such great party photos!

It All Happens So Fast!

Amelia's development happens so fast! It really does surprise us sometimes how quickly she can get the hang of something after a little practice.

Since we returned home from Thanksgiving, Amelia has become proficient at rolling, but she really only wants to do it when Mommy is not in the room, particularly when it's nap time.

Here is what I found when I returned from the restroom. She had rolled herself off her quilt and was happy as she could be.

We've been practicing sitting.

It's so much easier with pillow support.

Daddy set up Amelia's jumper and she loves it. She hasn't figured out that she's supposed to jump in it yet, but loves when we bounce her in it and is pretty content to stand and eat the toys. It's a whole new perspective!

Daddy likes multipurpose toys - he can work out with Amelia in her jumper!

Even with all of her new skills, Amelia still naps best with Daddy!



Amelia has been helping Mommy in the kitchen.

She loves to lie under the Christmas tree and touch the ornaments that Mommy put within her reach (supervised of course!). Her favorites are the bell and the plastic canvas/yarn candy.

As a side note, Patrick and I were given tickets to the Air Force Christmas Concert last weekend and a sweet friend babysat Amelia so we had our first date in months! Here is the national christmas tree in front of the White House. Honestly, the tree in NYC puts this one to shame, but it was fun to go see it and be out way past our bedtime!

First Thanksgiving

We trekked down to Alabama for Amelia's first Thanksgiving. Here's Daddy letting Amelia practice driving during one of our stops. She did great! The 12-13hr trip only took about 16 hours. She slept fine at the hotels and better at the grandparents' houses than she does at home.

Amelia met her Great Grammie

 Four Generations of Gals

And she got to meet her Great Granddaddy. He made her laugh more than anyone else!

She started teething while we were there (we're a long way from actual teeth though!) and chewing on these Amelia-sized cups were perfect!



We visited Pappy at work.

Still loves baths, even in the kitchen sink!

Supervising breakfast with Granddaddy



Caught breaking into Granddaddy's new safe!

Enjoying the balmy Alabama weather in the 70's!

Amelia LOVED these balls (when she wasn't holding her feet).

I blame all the "buzzing" at me when she doesn't want to go to sleep on Uncle Nathan.

Aunt Laura gave Mommy & Daddy a break while eating out!

We had a great (while short) visit with Emily and Christof! It was sweet to catch up on the current happenings and see how BIG Elijah is.

Attention all friends with young boys - Emily already approached us about an arranged marriage for Amelia and Elijah....so start sending your offers in now! :-)



It was a great road trip and a sweet time with family and friends! We're looking forward to returning in just a few weeks for Christmas.