Random Pictures from the Phone

Here are some random pictures from over the last couple months from my phone.  Sometimes things are just so cute and you grab the closest camera to you!

 Amelia pushing a grocery cart.  She LOVES to push the cart wherever we are.  She will also grab the very lowest rung, so she will be walking rear in the air, arms down low.

 I can't remember if I posted this or not, but this is when we were waiting in the emergency room

 "I love da Bears.  I love my carseat"

 Evidently Amelia thinks the carts at hotels are really fun to ride!

 Amelia eating her snack

 Another picture of the first ponytail!

 We went to a little league football game - it was soooo much colder than I was expecting and the wind was blowing really hard.  I had no hat for Amelia (bad mommy), so daddy had to save the day and give her his sweatshirt.  She looked so sweet, but she also looked like ET!  Amelia kept walking around, which the sweatshirt was so big, it kept falling over her eyes.  Patrick ran to get her once and looked to see her walking with her eyes closed.   So many people were laughing - b/c she looked so darn ET adorable!  All you could see were these little feet going up, down, up down.

This is actually from today....of all her toys, Amelia played with this tray - the bag - and little hotel bottles.

I Love My Baby.....Sometimes

Recently Amelia has started to wrap her baby in blanket.  It is so sweet and I have no idea where she learned it from because I did not teach her.   Now I will admit, she does throw the baby or drop it on its head sometimes, but most of the time she is very sweet!

 



That Makes 2

Amelia actually got 2 teeth, not just one!  Both of them are next to her top two teeth.  Way to go baby girl!

You Cough, I Cough

Ever since I had my chest cold, I have a residual cough I can't get rid of.  Lately, whenever anyone coughs, Amelia coughs (a fake cough).  Or Amelia will cough for real and we will say "Oh, Amelia - what a big cough!" and she will look at us, pause, cough (fake) again.  And this will repeat as long as we are willing to say, "Oh Amelia, what a big cough!"

My First Ponytail!!

 Daycare gave Amelia her first ponytail a couple weeks ago!

Here is a side view!

Another Tooth

Amelia has popped another tooth!  On the top next to one of her front ones!

Apple Orchard Fun!

A few weeks ago we went to the apple orchard with gramma and grandpa!

 

 We also went in a corn maze 

 Amelia couldn't be held the whole time, so she decided she would walk with help

 She then tried it on her own! 

 After falling

 Trying not to fall

 Amelia enjoying herself walking!

 Grandpa reading a story to Amelia

With such animation!

Daddy's Birthday Gift from Amelia

Here is Amelia's birthday gift to her daddy.....coordinating shirts! 

Daddy is Big Gulp!

Amelia is Juice Box!

And of course, they both need to stay thirsty!

Labor Day

For Labor Day weekend we went down to Iowa City to visit, Mark, Mel, Paige and Alaina.  Patrick and I also had tickets to see the Iowa game.  The game itself was quite an adventure.  It rained - no it poured buckets on us!  I have a whole new respect for ponchos!  Eventually the game was postponed and we ended up leaving early - but it definitely made a memory!  While we were at the game - Amelia got to spend time with her cousins!

 Amelia standing on top of a gift from Aunt Mel, Uncle Mark, Paige and Alaina

 Hand and foot!

 "Hey Uncle Mark....Aunt Mel had queens....don't toss that!"

 All of the girls in their Hawkeye outfits!

 Amelia LOVED this dog statue.  It is a memento from grandpa Irvin.

 Everyone checking out Alaina's baby Jesus'

 Climb on Unkie!

 Amelia and Alaina chillin' out

 Expression time.....Smiles

 Excited

 Pouty....I actually got many more....very funny

 Daddy and Amelia walking across to the park

 We went to a mini carnival and Amelia was very excited about the carousel!

 We also road the train.  Alaina and I sat together

 Mommy and Amelia

 After the rides we went to feed the ducks

Traditions and Memories

Today, my mind was wandering as I looked outside to see a beautiful warm fall day.   I was also thinking about Amelia, which made me think of my own childhood on a day like today and the tradition I started thinking about was, Popcorn Parties.  Every year for I don't even know how long, we would go down to Braddyville, IA and pick popcorn.   The tradition started because my great grandma wanted to see the family and wanted a way to pull us all down there.  So my great aunt and her husband owned land that he would farm.  So they took part of the land and would plant some rows of popcorn.  Then everyone would come down in the fall and help pick it.   My family isn't the biggest, but it was like a huge family get together every year.  Even after my great grandma passed away we  kept the tradition up for a few years afterwards. 

No Braddyville is a very small town on the boarder of Missouri and Iowa.  I was amazed at how small it was (especially since I came from the metropolis of Orange City - 5000 people on a good day), the biggest commercial 'store' in Braddyville was the post office.  The roads weren't even really roads per say, because they didn't have curbs and evidently in my mind you have to have curbs in order for it to be a real road.   The town was quaint and we could go between Great Grandma's and Deloris' house without supervision - which was amazing!  I have soo soo many great memories of this place.  If I wrote down all the details, it would take forever!  So I'm going to do a bullet list of sorts.

- Pick the popcorn (Honestly - I was not the best picker)

- Shucked the corn and divided into 5 gallon buckets (once again, not helpful here)

- Have a bonfire that night - we would throw popcorn the fire and watch it pop

- I had my first raw turnip from a field

- Play hide and go seek around the property (either great-grandma's or Deloris' - they had lots of little buildings, which made it great fun!)

- Play down by the river....saw the biggest snake I have EVER seen...it was black and went across a double wide dirt road

- Played on tractor tires

- Played with Deloris' cats and kittens

- Crafts that Deloris made...in particular rugs from scrap pieces

- Going to church on Sundays

Popcorn Parties are one of those memories I wish I could pass onto Amelia. I know we will have our own memories that will be created for Amelia in which she will cherish one day, but still - I would love for her to experience what it was like in the good ole days.  I'm sure her daddy also has some memories and traditions like mine.   I think memories and traditions are a gift that parents and grandparents can give to their children and grandchildren.   I'm excited to build those with Amelia.

So enjoy your fall day!  And if you are from the Didier side - you can also reminisce about all those Popcorn Parties! 

Life

So it feels like forever since I have posted and I still have not fixed my picture problem, therefore, you only get words and no pictures of our spunky little girl.  Life I have to say has not been the easiest in September.  After Amelia's ordeal and surviving that week - or most of it - I came down with a chest cold, which really was quite the cold.  It has been an extremely long time since I felt that awful.  Luckily, gramma came up to help - which by that point we needed help!   We were both exhausted and stressed and felt like we couldn't catch a break.  Gramma was a nice refreshing breath, where we didn't feel so much pressure and Amelia was able to stay home from daycare for a couple days.  Boy, did they become buddies fast!  And gramma got to experience the greatness of random hugs from Amelia.  We thought things were looking up and the September of struggle was over and on to out of this world October, but the first day of October.....Patrick got sick with his own virus of sorts.  Headache, aches, chills, a little delirious :)   October was starting to look like an ouch month again.  But it is Patrick's birthday today and we had a nice meal and Amelia got daddy a great gift :)  More on that later (hopefully not 3 weeks later).   So, in respect to October the jury is still out.  I'm holding out hope that our weekends will stop being wasted by sickness and we can get back on track.

Amelia is changing so fast and its hard to know where to begin with her.  She is such a joy!   She is also such a thinker!  Amelia puts things together, like when I go to pick her up from daycare she runs over to get her coat and then runs to the door and bangs on it until we leave.   Amelia knows she needs to wear socks in order to wear shoes in order to go outside.  She continues to LOVE outside.  Her hair is getting longer and the sides have some curl so they flip out.  We also found out Amelia reacts very strongly to insect bits, mosquito, spider - anything really.  So I hope she isn't allergic to bees or wasps.  Hopefully - we never find out.

In a nutshell this is life.  I hope things get back on track, but until then - one day at a time!