Playing with the animals

Yesterday, Amelia slept till 8!  This is big for me, she is usually up by 7.  But, unlike Friday, she woke up crying this morning.  So, when I get up there, she still looked like she was asleep just very groggy.  But, we rocked for a minute, she started to come around, and I asked her what do you want to do today.  She said, I want to see the animals.  I don't know where that came from, but, we had no plans so I said, ok, we will talk to daddy.  He was out at the lake but coming home soon, so we went downstairs and enjoyed some sausage balls and donut holes.  She couldn't remember that she wanted to see the animals when daddy got home, but mommy told him and he was all for it. 

Luckily, a cold front had come through, and it was really nice yesterday.  We went back to the wild life safari.  This time, we went on the trailer tour.  I think Amelia enjoyed it more on the trailer.  There were a lot of other kids on the tour, and the animals were running up to us for food.

I really think she loved the goats in the petting zoo the most!  She just kept talking about them.

Getting ready to leave on the tour to see the animals.

We saw deer first.  She was so excited.  The zebras came up next.

The bison was very friendly and followed us everywhere.  It takes a lot of food to fill up his belly!

Our last stop was the llamas.  Amelia loved giving them the rest of her food, but after that she was done!  She was ready for food herself, and a nap.

We got back to the welcome center to see the inside animals, and they had a baby kangaroo.  You could go right up to it and pet it.  Amelia especially loved that it wore a diaper just like her.

We then headed back home, rested, and then went outside to play.  Our sweet neighbors came over and visited with us for a little while, and then we headed to the lake to throw Cody his dummy.

Cody jumping into the lake.

The water is so low right now, that there is sand everywhere.  Amelia loved playing in it.  I can't wait to take her to a beach.



Friday playday

The last several weeks, whenever Amelia would wake up, she would jump out of her bed, run to the door, and start crying.  Today, I could hear her moving around, but she wasn't crying, so I kept drinking my coffee for a bit longer.  When I went up there to get her, she was sitting in her rocking chair just looking around.  I don't know why but it was funny to me.  We have a routine of me walking in the room, I go to the rocker and she comes and gets in my lap and we hug and rock for a few minutes.  She jumped up for me to get in as soon as I opened the door.  Love my sweet girl, and I love her big hugs!

I had plans on us going to check out the new TJ max in town today.  It was really nice outside, so I thought maybe we should go outside and play first. 

Give little girl some dirt and a stick, and she will be happy for a while.

But, throwing dirt is even better!

She found a nice rock in the flower bed.

She took that rock round and round the bushes for about 10-15 minutes.

She was exploring for other fun things.

I thought she looked sweet in this picture.  I wanted to get a cute one of her with the greenery behind her, but little girl is just not in to posing for the camera.  So, we have a bunch of candid shots!  I put this shirt on her this morning and she started twirling saying I'm pretty.  Little girl loves to be pretty! 

We stayed outside for a while.  I kept asking her if she wanted to go to the store, and she would say no.  So, we didn't make it to TJ Maxx today.  Oh well!  There will be other days.  But, we did stay until 2 police cars came flying down our road.  In this town, you just never know, so I decided we just needed to go on inside. 

We played for a little while, and looked at her books.  She loves telling me what everything is, and she knows her animals really well.  I think because they are fun and make noises.  She just doesn't understand numbers, colors, and letters.  She can say her abc's, only as the song, and count to 10, but she just doesn't understand what they mean.  Am I stressing over this, of course not, she is 1.  I think we have plenty of time for all of that, but we are working on it.  But, as we were looking through her book she saw an alligator.  I'm not sure where she learned to do the gator chomp from, I probably did do it at some point a while back.  But, she loves to do the gator chomp.  Daddy can't stand it!  He says no gator chomp allowed in this house.  When she saw the gator, over and over she said, alligator, chomp chomp, so I had to get a video of it.  The video did require some prompting, but doesn't normally.

I had to throw in the Go Vols to reinforce who are true allegiance goes to.

Lastly, as I said last night, we have been having problems again with biting.  So, I have been stressing to her only food goes in your mouth.  I would ask her, what did mommy say, and of course she would just ignore me, so I was frustrated with her.  Well, today when we were playing outside, we were sitting in my swing and she loves to play with the chains on it.  They are a little rusted, so of course I don't want her putting them in her mouth.  So, I said Amelia, do not put that in your mouth.  And she said to me, only food goes in mouth.  I was shocked.  I was like that is right only food goes in your mouth.  She was actually listening to me, just being stubborn.  Made me feel a little good.  I don't know if it will stop the biting.  Probably not because she seems pretty proud that she bites, but maybe it will help.

Procrastination and getting left behind!

Today, as I finished up my to do list for Anna Claire, which consisted of boiling all of her bottles and pacifers, I started thinking.  Why have I been so putting this off?  It really wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be.  Now I'm finished, and I really don't have anything left to do but wait for baby girl to get here.  I think I would save myself a lot of stress if I would just do things instead of putting them off.

If you could see these in person, it would be a lot funnier.  But, we used these playtex bottles for daycare cause they work better than the Dr. Browns for heating the way the daycare heats their bottles.  So, as I am boiling bottles, I throw these in the water, clearly not paying attention to the fine print that says, do not boil.  When I went to take them out of the water, I realized something didn't look right.  They are now a 1/3 of the size they are suppose to be.  I guess if baby girl doesn't do well with the Avent, then we will be buying more bottles.  Drew and I at least got a good laugh out of it!

Amelia is 20 months old now, and she is definitely every bit of a toddler.  I am having a hard time keeping up with her.  It doesn't really make me sad that she is growing up, especially since we will be having another baby in just a few weeks.  But, for some reason, I am having a hard time with letting her do things on her own.  It is really hard to not think of her as a baby anymore and start giving her her independence.  It just amazes me to just sit back and watch her.  She is quickly becoming a little girl.  Her speech is improving and vocabulary.  She no longer just repeats what I say.  I can't wait till we can have a conversation. 

We did have to get on to her today.  Daddy brought her home from daycare to find a note saying she bit another child out of anger.  We had made it a whole week without biting.  It's a little too late to really discipline cause who knows when it actually happened, but we did have a long talk with her.  About 6 months ago, when Drew would get on to Amelia for something, and I mean just saying in a calm voice that he heard what she did and wasn't happy, she would break down crying.  Now, she's just like ok, let's move on to something else.  She is a mess!  We have decided no pacifer during the day, only nap and bedtime, and we are going to have to start getting on to her for putting things in her mouth.  Hopefully the biting is something that will be behind us for good soon, at least with Amelia.  I hate being the parent with the child that bites! 

nursery almost completed!

We are sitting here watching the olympics, and as amazing as these athletes are, I would never want to see myself running in slow motion!  Not pretty! 

Ok, just had to say that, now moving on.  Today, I had another appointment with Dr. Beckham.  Everything went good.  I didn't get in trouble for my weight gain this time, but my stomach did grow quite a bit.  He said, I guess I don't need to tell you that though.  I said no, I hear that everywhere I go, how big my stomach is.  He then said well you really aren't big, you're right where you need to be.  Wish I could have recorded that!  I am now down to going weekly, so I would love to be able to remind him of those words next week! 

Since I had to go to the doctor, and Drew is busy working, I took Amelia to daycare this morning.  This meant that I had a little extra time to get some things done.  I went by the local clothing score, they carry Toms, I have yet to buy a pair, but they have been such a hot topic lately that I decided to go get some.  Unfortunately, they didn't have my size.  But, they did have some for baby girl.  They are so stinking cute on her.  I also made it to lowes and Kroger solo.  It was so nice shopping alone.  I did pick her up before nap time though, she just sleeps better at home, which is better for everyone!  During nap time, I recovered the lamp shade that I bought today for Anna Claire's room.  I finally have her room mostly together.  It could use a little more decor, but that will come. 

This afternoon, we decided to do a little painting, until mommy realized that washable didn't meant that it would wash out but that the color would stay once washed.  We then decided to go back to our color wonder colors.  Then when outside and played until we couldn't stand the heat any longer, which was only about 20 minutes.

Amelia is just about as cute as she can be, but she has been testing my patience lately.  We are really going to have to start working on her actually doing as I say the first time.  It's as if I didn't even speak.  Unfortunately, this mommy is running low on patience.  I have been counting to ten in my head a lot lately, but that is working less and less. 

Here are some photos of the nursery.  It is still a work in progress, but probably will be past Anna Claire's arrival.  She has all she needs to be well taken care of at this point!

I should have gotten a better picture of the lamp, it is really cute.  I need something over the bed, but not sure yet.  When I find it then something will be there.

This lamp needs a shade.  I still have to figure out what I am going to do to it.

I love her crib, and the pictures on the wall.  I did purchase them before painting the room.  Never would I have thought they would blend into the wall so much.  I have considered painting that part of the wall a different color as a contrast, but hopefully we won't be in this house much longer, so that takes away my motivation.

Sunday funday!

This morning at church, we had church eat church, so we didn't have services tonight.  We came home from church and all passed out for naps.  When Amelia woke up, we had a little bit of craft time, then went outside to play.  It is less hot than normal, and she really wanted to blow bubbles, so we took advantage.  Daddy had to cut the grass so we supervised.  I am teaching her young that management is better!

We had to get a picture of daddy looking cool with his sweatband!

Enjoying the swing.  She wasn't too happy to get off so daddy could cut the grass!

She got to ride the tractor with daddy after he finished cutting the grass.  She didn't know what to think at first, but it didn't take her long to grab on to the wheel to try to stear.

As I originally told you, we went outside to blow bubbles.  Well, today for the first time, she blew her first bubble for herself.  She has never been able to blow hard enough.  She was so excited!  I got it on video, sorry it will be a little loud, but daddy had already started cutting the grass when I thought to go grab the camera.



Now they are down at the lake throwing the dummy that Cody retrieves.  Mommy wishes she could be there, but I am here enjoying some really fun braxton hicks.  It is going to be a long 5 weeks!  

Daddy and Amelia just got home, and daddy thought it would be fun to let her have a duck call to play with, so it is now very noisy at the Ellis household!

On the road again!

This weekend, we took our last road trip before Anna Claire makes her arrival.  Drew had to go back to his parent's house to register his duck blind.  I really didn't want to spend the weekend at home alone.  It was a tough decision though.  Drew's truck doesn't have a full quad cab, so to get enough room for Amelia's carseat, I have to have my knees in the dashboard.  This is not very comfortable for 35 week pregnant mommy.  It was pretty miserable 2 weeks ago, so I really didn't think I could do it.  But, yesterday, daddy had mommy drive so that he could do some work.  I hate driving a big truck, but it was so worth the extra leg room!

Amelia and I went to my parent's house, which is on the way to his parent's house.  It's been a while since we have stayed there, so it was nice to spend some time with them.  We got there just in time for dinner, and left today after lunch.  So it was a quick trip, but we had a lot of fun.  My parent's have a little beagle named Jack.  Amelia loved him, and he couldn't hardly stay away from her.  She had a lot of fun playing with her grandparents, throwing the ball, and riding the four-wheeler.  Their neighbors have horses.  I wanted to take her to see them so bad, but they were never out when we went.  Mom took her to see them though.

Riding the four-wheeler with grandmomma.

We had just walked over to see the horses, but they were still in the stable.

She would throw the ball for Jack, and he would get it, but not bring it back.  Then, she wouldn't want to throw it for him.  They were both pretty partial to the ball.

We made it home and all crashed on the couch.  I wasn't too happy when she didn't take a nap on the way home, but when we all got to relax once making it home, I was pretty happy.  We ended our Saturday at the local Mexican restaurant and going to the carwash.  Amelia didn't know what to think about that.  It really kind of freaked her out, but she thought it was fun too.  Unless something crazy happens in the next 5 weeks, our next trip we will be a family of 4!  It should be interesting!  I hope Anna Claire has a lot of patience!

When we were heading home, we had to stop by the grocery for potluck stuff.  Amelia and I stayed in the truck.  This truck drove in front of us with a little pomeranian in it.  She started screaming puppy!  She now wants a puppy.  I said sorry baby, you're not getting a puppy.  I'm really not a fan of pets in the house.  She kept saying I want puppy.  I said you are getting a baby sister.  That is better than a puppy.  She said no puppy better.  It's going to be interesting in the next few months!

One step closer!

We are one step closer to having everything ready for Anna Claire's arrival!  We finished the night stand, and I finished the curtains yesterday.  Daddy hung them for me tonight.  I got all of her "things" washed yesterday, such as swing, carrier and bouncy seat.  I will be 35 weeks tomorrow.  I feel like now I just need to get bottles all ready, but other than that it is just maintaining a clean house.  I can finally rest when everyone else does!!!! For a little longer at least.  Here's to hoping that baby girl gets her sleep habits from her sister!

The curtains raised.  Love them!

The curtains down.  It's funny because when I first saw that pompom fabric, I put it down immediately and said it looked ridiculous.  It turned out to be the one everyone liked the most, and eventually become my favorite.  So glad I went with it!

This was my night stand as a little girl.  It is oak.  We were just going to keep it in the attic until I realized I was going to need a nightstand next to the bed in the room.  I was going to buy a new one.  Then realized that was stupid when I have a perfectly good one in the attic.  But, all of Anna Claire's furniture is cherry.  So, I refinished it.  I am happy with how it turned out.  We changed the hardware to update a little.  Daddy drilled it on for me. 

I still have clothes all over the bed to put away, so when I get all of that taken care of I will take pics of the room, and post them.  I didn't want y'all to see my mess!