Cana & Amelia

We are so lucky some of our very favorite people (outside of our family)live in Rochester. My best friend from high school, Jessica and her family now live in Rochester. This makes visiting them a lot easier some times. Some times we are so busy running back and forth, too and fro, we don't even get much down time. We are also lucky that most of the time, Jessica (and her wonderful husband) are usually able to work things out to see us at the last minute...because I usually forget to call her ahead of time. Hmmm...I'll put that on the list of things to do...

Anyway, to make everything a little sweeter, Jessica has a gorgeous baby girl who is about 4 months older than Amelia. The girls are going to have to grow up friends. No choice, sorry! It is so touching to watch our little girls roll around on the floor together and...well drool together at this point. We always try to snap some pictures when we're together because, like I said, these two are going to be friends for a long time!

Amelia (L) and Cana (R)

Cana has her own crazy hairdo. A lot of the beautiful dark hair she was born with has fallen out in the back and sides. Kind of opposite from what is happening to Amelia who is loosing from the front and top. Between the two of them, there is a lot of hair!

Cana and Amelia sharing toys!
Sitting up together...my hand is on the left side of the frame because Amelia isn't 100% steady yet at sitting.
Chewing toys together - they have so much in common!
Amelia drops her toy to study something more interesting: what Cana has
Leaning in for a closer look - good thing Cana is a solid sitter now! She is supporting Amelia now!
Look how cute they are with their hands in their mouths! We couldn't have posed this if we tried!
On the belly is a little safer for Amelia - look how blue Cana's eyes are here! They are so pretty!
Amelia is distracted again by Cana's cool toy (lens cap for J's camera if you're wondering)Poor unsuspecting Cana. All she is trying to do is figure out what Jessica is doing behind me (trying to get Cana to smile for a picture)

Amelia makes her move...Cana still doesn't suspect what she is up to
Jessica must have some great moves to keep Cana's attention like this for so long....Amelia is too busy to look
While Cana blinks, Amelia makes her final moves

Amelia is working hard to get it away from Cana, but Cana is not giving it up yet!

Uh oh....a baby fight!

Role reversal: Cana looking at the lens ca

Is this what you wanted Amelia? Why didn't you say so?

More Cousins

While we were in Rochester, we got a special treat! We got to play with our cousins Alex and Elena! This was super exciting because Amelia hasn't ever met these cousins or her Auntie Tien.

Here is everyone coming up the steps at Grandpa's! William in the lead and everyone (but daddy) behind him!

The four cousins: Amelia, William, Alex & Elena. William clearly missed the memo about wearing yellow that day to match everyone else. Our kids are all about the books. So, even though they were excited about the cousins being around, when Uncle Mike started reading, they were mesmerized.

Our beautiful niece, Elena and nephew, Alex (they're getting so big!)

For a very short moment, Elena and William were pushing the car back and forth between each other. It is so fun to watch them start playing together!

This picture is actually funnier if you make it bigger by clicking on it. Amelia uses the Star Wars light up toy to light up her eyes!

It's just the age. Although William and his cousins are only 6 months apart in age, it is more age appropriate for them to play next to each other instead of with each other yet. But, it is coming, and I can't wait. Here is William lining up his cars on the couch.

Amelia trying to steal toys from Elena. Or get into her lap. Or pull her hair. You know, just be right next to her because she is so cool.
I felt bad because Amelia was being kind of crabby while we were visiting...but once Auntie Tien got her hands on her, she was just fine!
Although Aunt Tien made Amelia happy, Elena wasn't so sure about her mama holding another baby...
Ahhhh....how cute! Elena has kisses for Amelia!
Alex has kisses too! (only he was too fast and I didn't catch the kiss)
William wasn't about to be left out of this fun game! Here he is coming in for the kiss for his baby sister.
Elena and William kissing (bad angle, but you know they move so fast when they are this age!)...if you want to be totally accurate, this is Elena kissing William and William is letting her.
I'm not sure what is so funny, but here are the girls! Aunt Tien, Amelia & Elena
More happy girls!
This time I was more prepared! I remembered to request a group shot! I knew I was going to have to move fast, so here are a bunch of shots of the kiddos (Alex, Elena, Amelia & William)
Right away Amelia notices Elena is next to her...ooooohhh pretty girl! Elena isn't sure what to do...
What pretty hair you have Elena! I just want to look at it...
Aunt Tien (or Mama to Elena) to the rescue!
Elena is one smart cookie - she isn't going to let that happen again! She moves WAY away from Amelia. Amelia isn't about to let a little distance stop her. She is one determined little girl. It also appears William has some concerns about his own precious head of hair.

Game over, the kiddos are done

Rochester

We made the trek to Rochester again over labor Day weekend because we are...well, crazy. As we are certainly going to be driving for both Thanksgiving and Christmas (as we do every year), I had vowed we weren't going to be going back until then after our trip this summer. Not surprisingly, it didn't stick. I have again vowed not to make the trip until November. We'll see how that goes.

As for this weekend, the draw of all the aunts, uncles, grandparents and great grandparents was just too much to resist. Evidence below:

Impromptu jam session with Uncle Mike. William heard Uncle Mike moving things around in his room and went to investigate. After finding Uncle Mike in the closet, William inquired "Do you need help putting on your jammies?" Instead of jammies, they found some of Mike's old percussion kit in the closet and had some fun.


Jam Session Take One

Jam Session Take Two

Auntie Megan on Amelia watch

We took a quick trip to Oxbow Park

This was almost a great picture. Mike and the goat were staring at each other before the goat pulled its head back through the fence.
Grandma and Amelia match! And how DID she ever get this big? I guess I don't really see how big she has gotten until I see her in someone else's arms. She's HUGE!
Trying for a family picture is difficult with a ornery 2.5 year old.
Our family
Grandma and William playing around in the nature center
The weather was beautiful and cool, so we got to spend a lot of time out on the deck relaxing
Grandpa Heidt and Amelia
Amelia and her car. Finally one that is safe to put in her mouth!
Grandpa Heidt reading to William...Amelia trying to get in on the funGrandpa Heidt reading to William and Amelia
More reading fun...I think I thought there was something funny about this picture, but now I don't know what it was...any guesses?
Mia and Auntie Kaye
One of the perks to driving all that way? Being able to eat a (almost) whole meal without a kid in my lap! Yay!
Another perk? People to help the kid run off some steam while I finish eating. Breadsticks...yummy
Great Grandma Gerry reading to William. About trucks of course.
Great Grandpa Tom, Great Grandma Gerry and Amelia
Scott, Zach, Grandpa Heidt and William playing in the backyard at a little party my parents had to celebrate the (almost) completed kitchen project.
Uncle Mike, Willam, Scott & Zach play some more...I'm thinking Scott was tired that night!
After dinner and playing outside, William served everyone his specialty: Ice cream with ketchup.
Amelia's crabby face.

Amelia made huge strides over the weekend in her crawling. She is pulling herself to hands and knees now and rocking (rocking!). She is much more efficient with her army crawling and is able to get from point A to B without launching herself onto her face most of the time. She still enjoys her baby pushups as you can see above.

Item worth crawling to: brown paper bag. What toys?

Reading with Grandpa

When Grandma and Grandpa were here last month, I asked my dad to read to William as part of his bedtime routine while I did some quick picking up. My dad looked at me a little funny, but I had an ulterior motive. Reading to the kids is absolutely one of my favorite parts of my day, largely because it is one of THEIR favorite parts of the day. Amelia in particular, gets herself so excited about books that her whole body gets going. Her arms fly, her feet kick, she squeals. It is quite the show and bring a smile to my face every single night.

William too is completely entralled by stories and being read to. He will shut everything else going on (most of the time) and focus himself on the story being read. Amelia can be doing a little baby dance while squealing away and he won't bat an eye. She can even flail her arms and HIT HIM IN THE FACE and he will not takes his eyes away from his book.

Knowing this, I sent Grandpa in to do the reading chore for the evening and I was not disappointed to hear him laughing only a few minutes later as Amelia knocked the glasses off his face in excitement. Enjoy - I know we did!