Des Moines

With the kids getting older, we are finally feeling like we are able to pick up some of our old traveling ways. We haven't been to see some family in a long time! We hadn't been to visit John's brother Jim and his family since I was pregnant with William (August 2006). It was high time to fix that problem!

So, we packed the car and drove the seven hours to exotic Des Moines for our Memorial Day Weekend 2010!

When we got there, it was time to walk over and pick up Ben and Becca at school.
Mikey and William were fast friends
Then it was time for some playing in the sprinkler!
Amelia couldn't decide if she was a fan...What she really liked was watching the other kids.Preferably from a lawn chairThe kids also enjoyed painting the driveway. Or in Amelia's case, licking the driveway.
The next day we hit up the science center to blow some HUGE bubbles,
went fishing,Play with gears,
dry our hair,
Drive a digger (did you hear him scream when I physically removed him? 'Cause it was LOUD.),
built some rockets,
tested some rockets,
and played with our cousins.

One of William's favorite things is being part of a big group. He loved having all the extra people around to hold hands with, play with and laugh with. He totally ate up all the attention he got from the bigger kids! As you can see here, he's reaching for Uncle Jim's hand before walking further.The little boys
The bigger boys
William also loved the big kid toys around - he spent HOURS playing with the train sets! Not that Amelia was neglected! She loved the attention too! Here she is getting a piano lesson from Aunt Kendra!I am also a huge fan of the cousins! Becca read to William everywhere we went! He was super happy - except when we had to get out of the car! We also went to a local sculpture garden - with a riverwalk nearby. William enjoyed the water very much. Amelia was VERY crabby that we (I) didn't let her out of the stroller to play.The kiddosThe kiddos copying the sculpture's pose
And hugging Mikey!If you look carefully, you can see Amelia is being a stinker here. It's written all over her face. Becca rolled up behind Amelia for one of her hugs and Amelia thought it would be funny just to hug Mikey. She hugged him over and over and over again, delighting not only in the attention she was getting from Mikey, but the rise she was getting out of Becca by NOT hugging her. You think "Oh, she is just a little baby..." I've got news for you! She knows EXACTLY what she is doing!
Hugs!
This is the closest thing poor Becca got!
Until Ben took pity on her and joined in the huggingThen Amelia changed her mind!
Even Uncle Jim got in on the hugs - he had her GIGGLING like crazy! I think we might have some video to post? Not sure.William gave himself a little music lessonSo sweet! The cousins all holding hands (L-R: Becca, William, Mikey, Ben & Amelia)! We tried to put her in the middle, but William was not having it. He kept tripping her and pulling her down - turns out he wasn't happy about not being able to hold hands with Mikey.
William eating his ice cream and talking to Mikey. He was so excited about having an older kid to talk to (and LISTEN!), he didn't hardly eat a bite.
I could do an entire post about "How to eat ice cream" by William.
All the kids helped Uncle Jim wash his car
Don't mess with Amelia's sponge!
After some ice cream - it was time for more sprinkler fun. Amelia would rather play in a bucket full of water...There really isn't room for two....although, I suppose for a kiss...William loved watching the big kids run through the sprinkler and all their different jumpsUncle Jim wasn't about to miss out on the fun either! I think we have video of this also...hmmm...For dinner that night, Amelia had corn on the cob for the first time. YUMMY!
She LOVED it!
William insisted on having his own big cob...

As we expected, he wasn't exactly a fan - sorry Aunt Kendra!
William's elaborate train set up on the morning we were getting ready to leave


Thanks for hosting us Jim, Kendra and family! I know we are a lot of work - but we had so much FUN! Hopefully we'll work it out to do it again - a little sooner this time!

Tooth #13, 14, A compilation of posts (a mix tape, if you will)

Finally, we welcome the arrival of the last two teeth for some time (please God, let there be some time before we start molars. Thank you). Teeth #13 and #14 have arrived. These are the last two until the two year molars make their appearance sometime in the next year.

We have been busy busy busy.

I got a bee in my bonnet and decided it was high time to take our family berry picking after hearing a 20 second story on the news. My strawberry patch isn't yielding any berries yet and we were OUT of strawberry jelly around here. EMERGENCY!

So, John took some time off and we went and picked strawberries. We picked and picked and picked. Twenty six pounds later, we rode home happy with our haul. William, surprisingly was a wonderful helper. He did not sample the berries and took his job seriously as picker. He located and gently picked only the reddest and nicest looking strawberries. He also managed to not SIT on any strawberries. Hurray! So proud!

The rough plan was to make up some batches of strawberry jam over the weekend. This is something I have fond memories of from growing up. There was always chaos of kids running through the kitchen and the noise of the mashing, cutting, boiling, etc required by the jam process. I had warm fuzzy plans of William helping us stir and mash...until I thought things through and decided although he was a stellar picker, he (read: I) wasn't ready for him to be a helper in the jam process. Especially since I don't really recall what all happens to make jam.

So, John and I ended up staying up until the wee hours of the morning making some strawberry jam. With almost every single one of the strawberries in that twenty six pounds. We were EXHAUSTED. And, I'm pretty sure we won't need to make jam for at least another year.

Strawberry picker #0. She rode in the hiking backpack in order to keep us sane.
Strawberry Picker #1
Mama and William picking strawberries
Mama and William picking strawberries - I thought for sure we were going to get rained on. Somehow we got lucky and stayed dry. But, the humidity? Was terrible.
The berries tucked safely in the truck behind the stroller.

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We've been trying to squeeze in bike riding practice whenever possible. It gets to be a little tricky because Amelia certainly has her own agenda when we are outside (scratch that, she ALWAYS has her own agenda). It is not possible to help William conquer the Fear of the Bike and chase the little daredevil out of the street. It is possible to put her in the stroller and have William pedal. The problem here being Amelia is only happy in the stroller when it is moving. No movement? She is climbing out, head first. Being that William prefers to pedal his bike .000000000000098 miles per hour (kid you not, it took him over an hour to pedal/argue/complain his way around the block which is less than .1 miles total), she is not happy to just Sit and Wait Patiently. So, John needs to be home and the evening needs to be less than boiling hot in order to maximize the patience of the parent assisting. So far we have mastered getting on/off the bike, pedaling, taking the helmet off, and braking. Next up: looking both ways before crossing the street, watching where you are going so as not to run over small people, pedaling, going down/up a curb without tipping over.

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Amelia is a climber. She will work her way up onto chairs, coffee tables, toys and such until she reaches the highest point in an area. And then she realizes she doesn't know how (or doesn't remember) how to get down. Recently, I was reading to William in our open living room attached to the kitchen. I knew Amelia was in there, but figured I had time to read the last one and a half pages before I had to pull her off something. Then I heard an unfamiliar clinking sound like someone putting away some glass glasses. I finished up reading to William and when I stood up, I saw Amelia standing (STANDING!) in the middle of the kitchen table touching the metal rings on the glass light fixture. Lucky for me, she wasn't swinging from the chandelier, but it was a close call.

As this habit has developed, I'm repeatedly telling Amelia to "Get Down!" "No no nononononononoooo!" So, days after our kitchen table experiment I was interrupted in my Highly Important laundry folding to Amelia bellowing "Get Down!!!" "No no!!!" from the top of our dining room table. This trend has continued and now when she reaches the summit of her climb, she yells "Get Down!!!" "No no!!!" to alert me she is ready to be lifted down so she can locate another tall object to scale.

ReCap: Amelia 1 Year

One year dr appointment, one year pictures

We had our 1 year visit with the ped. about a month ago and I just can't get my life together to get it posted. We'll see how long this one sits before it finally gets posted*.

Not much has changed. Amelia is a big girl, topping the height charts at 31.25 inches. Amazingly, this is a gain of close to 2 inches since her 9 month appointment just three months ago. Her weight has dropped off some in the charts, which I think happened about this time for William also. She still gained 2 pounds over the last 3 months, but she is now in the 75% for weight instead of at the top of the chart. Fine by me. (Which puts her weight at 22 lbs 9 oz). The doctor is very pleased by her progress and didn't have any concerns. Nor do we. With William I sometimes felt like I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. Certainly it can't be all good, can it? This time I'm able to sit back and relax (some). I'm okay that we don't leave appointments with homework or things we need to work on. Luckily, I have my own private list of things in my head of skills I need to be working on with the kids. Good thing I took so many developmental psychology courses!

We also had Amelia's one year pictures done and they turned out GORGEOUS. Seriously amazing. A coworker of my mom does a little photography out of her house. So, I can't really recommend her unless you live in Minnesota. And know my mom. So, here are a few of my favorites:














*Answer: close to 2 months

Words

A lot of new words in the last few weeks (on Amelia's part)!


Milk
Please
Bless you
Book
Down
Nose
and I'm pretty sure a word that sounds like Ammim that is supposed to be William. She says it first thing in the morning when she wakes up and points towards his door.

Teeth #13 and #14

Amelia got teeth #13 and #14. Upper canines.

Mother's Day

It's Mother's Day! The mama in the house had only a few requests this year:
1. A strawberry patch
2. A picture with her and the kids

Lucky for her, she got her wishes!

We took a lot of photos with Kelly and the two kids, but it was hard to get a good photo of all three. William was really interested in the trucks that he was playing with at the time. So most of the photos he was looking down.

Mama and the big boy! I think he is still holding onto his trucks.

Amelia is making her silly smile face. She cracks us up with this one!

Amelia sitting outside in the grass.

We also like to celebrate the grandmas and great grandmas in our family on this day. Our kids are fortunate enough to have two great grandmas! The kids standing beside my mom's tree. Previous years here and here and here. Everyone is getting so big!

William decided instead of standing next to the tree, he was going to shake the tree.

Amelia is under the tree, William decided to ride his bike around.

William showing Kelly the Mother's Day card we made for her. Unfortunately, he wouldn't let her see it. Or hold it. Or even sit next to her with it. Daddy worked with William on the card awhile ago and he didn't remember all the cool vehicles on the card. He needed a few minutes to admire them for himself.

Still not able to look at it, instead Amelia is showing Mama a book.

There we go, now you can see the card! Amelia decided to taste her shoe.

The Routine

It is the same. Every time.

"Bah?" she ask with book in hand.

How can I resist? I put the work of the day aside to read to my baby.

I sit down cross legged on the floor. Any other way throws her off - she doesn't know where to sit. She will stand up and sit on any available body part, stand up and sit, stand up and sit finally turning to me in confusion. Cross legged it is.

She backs up with a tiny giggle in anticipation before plunking her diaper padded behind onto my lap.

Book clasped between her two hands, she kicks her right foot twice into the air before she is ready to begin. Always the right foot and almost always twice. She isn't to be rushed. Open the book before she is ready and the spell is broken. The book is tossed to one side, scolding babble is thrown my direction. She'll get up and turn her attention elsewhere.

She opens the book, snuggles her body into mine and finally is ready to read. Every moment in our lives isn't this precious. I'm working hard to hang on to the memories like these.

Just when I started wondering if I would struggle with getting this one to read, the interest is finally there.