Amelia Takes On the World

The new blog is up and running – check it out!

http://www.dyarfamily.com/DyarGirls

I can’t believe my baby girl is 2 now – such a big girl!  I think the time has come to wrap up this blog, so that I can print it as a keepsake for Amelia – the first two years of her life. 

Amelia will be taking on a new challenge, perhaps even harder than the ‘World’ – Amelia will be a big sister soon.  I know she will be great, she will be mommy’s little helper, guiding the baby through all the challenges she has faced and overcome.

I will leave you with miscellaneous photos from the last three days, and look for the announcement of the new blog for the Dyar Girls soon.

I love you baby girl! 

Baby Momma

Amelia’s birthday party was on Sunday – just a smaller more casual gathering than her first birthday.  My goal was to limit it to 10 kids (and that included siblings!) – it was hard to not invite a lot of friends, but I just knew that smaller would be better this year.   As it was Chris and his family were my saviors, putting in most of the effort.  Just can’t seem to get much done myself these days (~35 weeks pregnant – just a few more weeks to go!) so I have to graciously ask for help (big thanks to everyone who helped).

Amelia also loves popcorn & Mickey Mouse – so we combined the two and did a movie theme for her birthday.  I think the theme was a big hit.   Amelia dressed like Minnie Mouse, and amazing kept on her ears the whole time.

Here is Amelia waiting for her guests to arrive, holding onto her balloon and eating ‘popcorn’ – we served this Cheetos butter flavored popcorn (dairy-free!) and the kids ate it up like crazy.  I think Amelia sat there eating popcorn for at leat 30 -45 minutes straight while we setup and guests arrived.

Amelia got lots of birthday hugs from her friends.  So cute.

Showing a Mickey Mouse clubhouse episode went over so well!  Better than I expected.  I really was thinking we’d get a 50% rate of kids sitting and watching but instead I think 9 of the 10 kids watched the episode giving the parents time to enjoy food & good company.  Some of the parents also watched the episode which was pretty funny to watch.  I love the picture of them all eating the popcorn – like we said, it went over really well.

The kids also enjoyed coloring Mickey Mouse, playing a Mickey Mouse matching game and scattering Mickey Mouse decks of cards around the clubhouse.   (We even caught two adults coloring without kids around – I won’t name names though).

Amelia posed with me because daddy was making her giggle, once we tried the whole family she became all serious.  Silly thing.  She looks just like Minnie though doesn’t she??

Amelia did really well blowing out her candles – I know I was impressed.  Hope her wish comes true!  (And thanks to our friend Shannon who made the cake- it looked and tasted awesome.  Many of our guests said it was one of the best cakes they had tasted.)  Amelia also loved her friends singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to her.  She knew she was the center of attention and ate it up.

And finally here is a picture of Amelia’s Aunt Ann (Chris’ sister) and cousin Lena (who is 6 weeks older).  You can definitely see the family resemblance!  If Ann is holding Amelia, most people assume she is her daughter.  Can’t complain, Ann is beautiful!

Thanks to all of Amelia’s friends who came to her party.  We had a great time and I know Amelia did as well.  And we still have two bags of popcorn laying around if anyone needs to entertain their kids…

Friday was Amelia’s actual birthday – so she got to open up her gifts from us.  We are encouraging her little engineering tendencies – so she got tools, a puzzle and a railroad set.  All of which went over really well.  Hard to tell which she likes more – probably the tool set right now but she’s seen daddy putting together her sister’s room quite a bit lately.  In particular she was a fan of the drill which makes drilling noises (though doesn’t actually drill).  Mommy is not the biggest fan of this – the batteries might have to go away.

I also brought special snacks to daycare for her birthday (dairy/egg/nut free cookies – thanks to http://www.divvies.com/); however, when I got there Amelia thought that meant she got to go home.   So I don’t have any cute pictures of that – the kids seemed to enjoy the cookies at least! (other than Amelia – she just doesn’t seem to want sweets… she wouldn’t even try the cookie or her birthday cake).  She just sat curled up against me hugging me until I would take her home.

She did enjoy the card they made her though!  Thanks Primrose schoolmates!

Not really a birthday gift – but our good friend Meredith gave Amelia this adorable frame.  Can’t wait to have a picture to put in it – thanks Meredith! (And I also really enjoy this picture of her holding it – just cracks me up)

Her party was a big success on Sunday and will have a post shortly.

Dearest Amelia,

I’m not really sure how to even start this.  Today marks the day you entered our life, even though we’d been planning on it for months.  You were almost 3 weeks early due to some fluid issues, and you were teeny and tiny and just perfect.   I can’t imagine you not being you – and your name Amelia fits you just wonderfully still this day.  (Whether its Amelia Rose when you are in trouble or Amelia bug or silly bug or Amelia Bedelia or Amelia or ‘Melia’ as you call yourself… it all works!)

If we ask you whose birthday is coming up you say ‘Happy To You Melia’ and pat your chest and have a big excited grin.  You are the 6th birthday in your room at school this month so you’ve gotten to learn all about birthdays – why you won’t say the word birthday we aren’t sure but its adorable.  I love that you are excited for your birthday!

In the last month we’ve seen some signs of a 2 year old appear – in the form of not listening.  Its like you have cotton in your ears!  You want to play, we want you to have a new diaper… these things aren’t compatible apparently so you ignore us.  A few time outs later and we are progressing.  You do listen better this week than last week – but I’m sure it’ll just depend on your mood.  Another big sign – independence.  One of the most common phrases heard around our house these days is ‘me do it’.  And you do.  One of the most helpful places this has occurred is in the car – you climb into the van and into your seat all by your big girl self, and it helps mommy out greatly.

I think we have seen signs confirming you are the child of two engineers – you love blocks and puzzles.  The 12 piece jigsaw that was difficult a couple months ago can be put together in under a minute flat.  New puzzles might take a minute or two more, but you figure them out quickly.  And give you blocks?  You can build towers higher than your head.  Its quite impressive really.  You also have a very good attention span – playing with things for a long time or watching your favorite TV show (Mickey Mouse Clubhouse).  We are very appreciative of that, as it gives us time to do things like cook dinner.

You start each day by asking to go downstairs immediately – even though every day we remind you we have to change your diaper first and get you dressed.  Every day we go through this.   Silliness is the best strategy to get you to go along on our terms – your dad is great at that with you.   You love to be tickled and that helps out quite a bit.   Once downstairs you are still our great eater – each day starts with cereal (these days its Cheerios, last month it was mini-Shredded Wheat) or a non-dairy, non-egg blueberry waffle.  You eat breakfast again at school, then lunch and two more snacks at least.  And for dinner you eat a meat, a veggie, a starch, some fruit and anything else you see that gets your interest.  Crackers and chips are big favorites for you (particularly if there is dip – hummus or guacamole).  Pasta always goes down well with you so that’s our backup plan most nights, but you really do well at eating.  Generally you will at least try everything on your plate, unless its something you just know you don’t like (which randomly includes most sweets and melons).

When you turned one you were barely even cruising around holding on to things, and now you run.  You kick and throw balls.  You jump.  You dance.  Its hard to remember when you could barely toddler wobble along.   I think there are sports in your future – you have a mean overhand throw and the other night you showed me how well you can throw a ball into a  hole on your slide.  We’ll support you in whatever you want to do, but I’m very excited for you to start your Little Gym classes in a few weeks.  I think you will excel in them.

You started at just over 18 inches tall (5th percentile) and by our last measurement you were up to 34 inches (50th percentile) – so we’ve come a long way!  You are in size 7W shoes which is pretty big for a just turning 2 year old, so it should not surprise us that your height is catching up.   We’ll find out your official stats next week.  (And you are in the 29 – 30 lb range, around 75th percentile, where you have been since about 6 months of age – like we said you like to eat!)

You have been so sweet lately about becoming a big sister – I think you are going to be fabulous at it.  You like to hug and kiss my belly and tickle little sister.  You generously gave up your tiny nursery and now call it sister’s room – your new room is huge but you’ve adapted like a champ.  This morning you kept trying to tell me about your sister sleeping in the bed in that room.  You take great care of your dolls and yesterday we even gave your bear a diaper.  I think you are going to love being mommy’s helper and a big sister.

I have so many fun stories I could share, but its hard to put them all down.  Here are just a couple more fun things.

- You love all living creatures – especially our frogs.  A couple live on the back porch and your joy at seeing them led us to decide to get a frog aquarium and you love to watch them jump and to jump along side them.  I can see you becoming a vet one day with your love of animals.

- You are daddy’s little girl for sure – you follow him around when he is working on something with tools so we let you open your 1st gift this morning and yup – you have your own tool set now!  You were so exciting, hammering away with the hammer, and using the screwdriver.  I had trouble getting you to eat breakfast let alone leave for school.  It is fun to see how excited you were not only for your birthday, but for your set of tools this morning.  I asked to take a picture and you said ‘no mommy’.  So I got lots of random playing ones, but none of you posing for me.

We love you very very much.  You have given us two wonderful and amazing years so far, and I look forward to this next year when you become a big sister.  I just know you are going to excel at this new challenge ahead of you.  I hope you have a wonderful birthday today!

Love,

Mommy

Elizabeth posted our gallery and I wanted to share with our friends & family.  Amelia steals the show of course!  Enjoy.

http://www.libbiewicket.com/slideshows/Dyar/

http://libbiewicket.com/2009/07/a-session-and-a-lesson/

Elizabeth really did a fantastic job capturing some great photos this past weekend – we love our photographer & friend!  Enjoy!

We spent our last weekend out of town before the new baby (4 – 6 weeks left!), and got to go on a getaway to the ‘Hideaway’ with our friends.  We had such a wonderful weekend – enjoying the town of Blue Ridge, floating down a river in a tube, seeing a drive-in movie (the movie was forgettable but the funnel cake was to die for)… and just great company!  We didn’t take a lot of pictures out and about but Chris did take some of the kids enjoying a turtle we found for them to see (we released it into the woods – don’t worry!).  So here are just a few fun photos from the turtle play.

I can’t really complain about heading just 3 hours north of Atlanta to have temperatures of 60s & 70s for the 4th of July.  (Just ask my parents who spent the weekend in Houston where it was 100+)

We were lucky to be joined by our friends, Graham’s family, and so here are some pictures of our weekend.  It was really hard to make ourselves come back!

The first adventure was hiking to the waterfall in backpacks and then playing in the water.  It was chilly but the kids were game.  Amelia loved having her feet in!

You have to get the standard family photo with waterfall.  Its a rule.

That afternoon we went down to the fish pond – Graham helped with the fishing by being in charge of the net.  Amelia loves to throw food to the fish and see them jump for it.

Without much prompting Amelia was being really cute in the chairs by the pond.  She looks like such a big girl now!

The next day was the 4th of July – here are some photos of us showing off our festive shirts!  Aren’t we quite the matching group? Gotta love Old Navy  -$5 shirts!  A funny story about the above picture.  Amelia didn’t want to sit on my lap but she also did not want Graham to sit with us either – so she tried to straddle Miss Heather’s lap so Graham didn’t have anywhere to sit.

Here is Amelia showing off her USA pride!

A couple from the porch the last day – it was a little rainy, but that didn’t stop the kids from running back and forth across the porch (we lost count – so many times they would stumble and sit because they are tired), reading books on the porch, pushing the swing and pretending to be elephants.  Who knew a porch could be such a fun play area?

And finally I’ll leave you with this shot – not the most in focus but its fun! If you ask Amelia where the baby is, its in her belly!  So this is her showing me the baby…. she may not really get this whole little sister thing.  She’ll figure it out in about 7 weeks when her sister comes home.

I hope everyone had a safe and wonderful July 4th weekend.  July 4th is one of my favorite holidays – just a great reason to get together to celebrate our country with friends and family.

Baby Momma

Amelia had her friend Graham over on Saturday night and of course I was fresh from photography class ready to take pictures!  Granted toddlers aren’t the easiest subject and light was getting low… but here are just a few of the shots I attempted.  Just shows what fun they were having – first reading books together on the couch (actually the picture is Amelia feeding Graham a blueberry) and then playing outdoors with bubbles and water.  Enjoy.