Happy 1st Birthday, Amelia!

What a fun day we had today.  Daytime with Mommy, and evening with Daddy.  (Matt and I both had classes today, but I took a vacation day from work...)

Lia and I played in the morning, then morning nap, then Skype with Grandma and Grandpa Cromer, then shopping for party supplies (!!), then back home for lunch, more playtime, and bathtime with her new bath toys (a birthday present from her day-care provider).  Then afternoon nap, then up in time to see Dad arrive home from class.  Then Mom left for class.

Then, dinner with Dad, Skype with Granny Callie, playtime, and phone call with Grandpa Sharp.  Then bedtime.

We got a lot of good pictures and some good videos today.  So many options to scrapbook!  However will I choose just a few?  :-)

I'm looking forward to the party on Saturday morning.  During Lia's naps today, I wrapped presents and worked on her baby album/scrapbook.  I've got up through Month 10 complete!  Woohoo!

And now it's bedtime.  How I wish I could spend every day hanging out with my wonderful daughter...

1-year Orthopedic Check-up

Lia had her 1-year check-up at the Orthopedic Specialist's office today.  Good news - her hips look good, and there's no "clicking" or other major issues.  Bad news - the hip sockets are still on the shallow side and need some extra help to grow in well and quickly before additional problems can crop up.  So, what does this mean?  We have a brand new brace - a Rhino brand product known as the "Cruiser" (seriously?) - which Lia will have to wear overnight while she sleeps for at least 4 months until her next checkup.  I'm sure she's not going to like it for the first couple of nights, but I'm hoping that she doesn't mind it too much overnight.  I really am not looking forward to comforting a "braced" baby again, but I am overwhelmingly grateful that not only is this something we will only have to deal with at night, but in all other ways, she is healthy and happy.  We are so lucky in comparison, so I'm not going to complain.

Another cool thing about this brace - it is no where near as restrictive as the Wheaton-Pavlik harness was.  Check out what this little boy is able to do while wearing the brace:

http://www.mefeedia.com/watch/32783962

I had to install a plug-in to watch this, but this little boy is so cute, it was worth it.  Looks like he's a full-time brace wearer.  What a pro!  Anyway, please pray that Lia's hip sockets will grow fast and in the right way!  Next checkup is in early January, so we'll know more then...

More Fun on the Stairs

We've had a breakthrough...  Amelia climbed down the stairs by herself tonight!  She was very cautious about it, of course, but she built on her "I can get down from the couch by myself" skills and applied them to the stairs.  What a pro!  We had a ton of fun laughing and clapping as she went down and back up.  She had a blast practicing mostly on the top two steps.  I'm so proud of her!

And, the first time that she made it to the bottom, I clapped loudly, and she joined in.  I don't know if I've seen her intentionally clap yet, so she must have been pretty excited, too!

Way to go, Amelia!

Trip to the Zoo

On Labor Day, Matt and I decided we wanted to do something fun together (since we have so little time together lately because of school and work), and since we also wanted to keep Amelia occupied, we headed off to the freebie zoo in town.  As anticipated, it was packed!  We arrived just as they were opening up additional parking spots, so we got to park right away.  Woohoo!

Lia has been to this zoo a few times now, but each time she is more and more engaged in the activity around her.  This time, she actually noticed the animals in addition to all the other people.  It was tons of fun watching her "ooh" and "ahh" and stare intently at the animals which were actually moving.

We also watched the "creature feature" demo where the zoo staff put on a cute little skit geared towards kids while they taught about some of the smaller animals like pigs, ducks, chickens, and rabbits.  It was cute and gave us a chance to let Lia eat a banana.

On our way out, we walked through the garden and stopped to take some pictures with the whole family, thanks to the random person who offered to be our stand-in photographer.  What a beautiful day to spend at the zoo!

Getting crafty...

Just before Labor Day weekend, I had an itch to get crafy and make a highly impractical baby dress in an effort to teach myself/practice my sewing skills. I had seen a dress idea that I liked, and I attempted to copy it. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that the only tulle I would be able to find is the scratchy, stiff kind and not the nice, soft, flowing kind. Yes, I could spend money to order the right fabric online, but this was a cheap practice attempt at sewing, not something that needed to be perfect. So, I made due and ammended my original plans.

After a couple of failed attempts at cutting the tulle to the right size and shape, here was the final result:

Feel free to ignore the baby drool on the front of the dress. Oh, and did I mention how impractical this dress is?? :-) But hey, I still think it's pretty cute for my first solo clothing making attempt!

And check out the buttons! I finally learned how to sew button holes and attach buttons using my sewing machine. Woohoo!

Now I finally feel comfortable with the idea of making halloween costumes or fun costumes for dress-up when Amelia gets older. And maybe I'll even make some fun clothes while she's still little enough to not care if they aren't perfect? I'm so wishing I had a serger and a ton of spare time... :-)

Trip to the Playground (pics from late August)

Lia: Mom, can we go to the playground?

So Matt and I decided to take Lia on a walk and stop at a nearby park while we were out.

Lia:  Look how tall I am!

Big girls aren't afraid of the slide...

Lia: Eek!  My legs are sticking to the slide!!

Lia: Maybe it would be fun to climb up?  Or not...

Lia: Let's climb the stairs instead.  Oh look!  A leaf!  Just what I've always wanted, Dad...

Lia: Wait - Look!  A puddle!  What fun!

Lia: Is it time to leave already?  I was just getting started...  :-(

And then Matt and I went back to walking.  Gotta find time to get some exercise in while it's still warm!

What a Fun Day!

Amelia and I had such a fun evening!  Matt had to work today, so after church, we went home and prepped for the afternoon while making lunches for the week.  The afternoon plans were to attend the lake baptisms that our church was having at a nearby park/lake after Amelia's nap.

Lia didn't really nap.  I ended up taking her shopping with me just to help put her to sleep for a while.  I had her in the carrier, so my back is a bit sore, but she did sleep most of the time while I was shopping, which I'm sure made the evening go a bit easier.  Whew!

We went minimalist on our picnic dinner:  I brought a sandwich for me, and I had some chicken, veggies, yogurt, cheese,  and formula for Lia.  The service was nice, and Amelia played well and stayed happy while watching other people and swinging her hands to the music when the band was playing.  She let some of the other kids help feed her and play with her while we were eating after the service.  And, she wanted to walk everywhere, so more strain on my back while I held her hands and she walked all over the park.  She also got to play with one of the older girls in the sand on the beach.  Needless to say, she got a bit messy from all the food and "nature".  Wet wipes helped, but I knew a bath was in order.  After a quick trip to the DQ with friends, it was time for bed... or so I thought.

We got home, and Lia was immediately back in good spirits.  It was bedtime, but her whole schedule was off from her afternoon nap.  So, bathtime!  She loved bathtime.  She stayed in the bath about twice as long as normal just playing in the water.  I got her out to change her into her diaper and PJ's, and she seemed happy enough until I laid her down, then she got upset, rolled over, and speed-crawled back to the tub, looking longingly at the water.  Back in she went, and immediately she began smiling and playing with her bath toys again.  We had a fun time with bath time tonight!

Then, when she was finally reaching to be let out of the bath, we only had a little bit of trouble getting into PJ's.  Playtime ensued.  Oh my, does this girl have energy!  I had a fun time working on getting her to take her evening bottle and go to sleep.  It was almost 10pm before she finally fell asleep!

What can I say, like mother like daughter, I suppose...  Though I'm a night owl myself, so this is fun for me.  More time to spend laughing and smiling and playing and snuggling with my baby girl!