Guess what?! I found my feet!

Amelia has found her feet, and now she likes to play with them and put them in her mouth. Good thing she's not walking all over; I would imagine her feet are cleaner than her hands! I think it all began when we started wearing outfits with no footies or socks. This is only the beginning of the many things she's discovering! She now has a great bouncy seat that has lots of toys and can rotate all around. She tried it for the first time today and seemed to like it! We set her high chair up at our table. She also borrowed a Bumbo chair from her friend Parker, and is enjoying that too, although it makes me nervous because she acted like she was trying stand up in it or tip out of it! She's getting to be a big girl with big girl toys too! Today we bought her some rubber blocks, and Daddy insisted on getting his little girl a stuffed frog. It's been fun having Daddy home too, but we're sort of out of our routine. It should start back up next week though when he starts summer school. We are certainly glad its summer, and can't wait to see all that Amelia does! It's bittersweet, as I'm sad my baby is getting bigger, but excited to see all of the fun things she will start doing.

Swimming!

Last night Daddy had to work late, so Amelia and I decided to cool off by going to swim at the YMCA. At first, I wasn't sure if she was going to like it. She started to cry a bit, but after she got used to the water (it was little cold), she calmed down. I started by just holding her, bouncing up and down, then I gradually lowered her in more and then held her by the arm pits with her belly in the water. She got wet all over except for her head, and she even started to kick a little bit while I pulled her around. She floated on her back, and sat on the side of the pool. I think we defintely have a little water baby on our hands!

Visit to MI

This past weekend, we have a great visit in Michigan. My sister and her boyfriend were planning a visit to my parents, so we decided to do so too. Amelia enjoyed visiting with Grandma & Grandma, and Aunt Becky, and she did surprisingly well sleeping there too! The weather was fantastic too. Last time we visited Big Rapids, it was rainy and cold most of the weekend, but this time we were able to enjoy being outside, and Joe even got to go golfing. On our way back we stopped and visited my Grandma in Grand Rapids. She was so excited to see Amelia and she was a perfect angel, not crying once during our visit. My Grandma is almost 95, and when I was pregnant I wasn't even sure if she would get to meet my baby. Now she's seen her twice, and I feel so happy that she's been able to meet her and we'll be able to show Amelia pictures of them together when she's older.

Looking back

I just took a few minutes to look back back at our Caring Bridge website from when Amelia was in the hospital. I copied and pasted the journal and guestbook entires into a Word document so that I could keep the entries for Amelia to read someday. As I look back on that time it seemed to take forever for her to get better, but now I can't believe it's already been over 3 and half months since we left. God answered so many prayers and has continued to keep Amelia safe and healthy. Her life will forever be a testimony of God's grace and power. My how things have changed since then!

Beautiful day for a Beautiful baby

What a beautiful day! Amelia and I were beginning to get sick of the rainy and cold weather. After a week of not sleeping well, I'm hoping that a long walk out in the fresh air will help her sleep better tonight! This morning, Barb Clark babysat Amelia so I could go volunteer in my friend Melinda's classroom. I've been going every Thursday for an hour to read with her students as part of our Pi Phi Alum Club literacy project. This morning, Barb had all of her friends over for coffee and they were able to enjoy Amelia. She did a great job too, and she said she only fussed for a little bit. We just got home, and I think Amelia is ready for a nap! Instead, we're going to run to Galesburg to get stuff for our hot tub! I'm sure she'll fall asleep on the way there though!

Mother's Day

Mother's Day was a great day! It was especially meaningful to me, because it was my first Mother's Day. It started with church in the morning, where I had the honor of giving the Mother's Day message. It went really well, and I think people enjoyed it too. Joe's parents came up for that, and also for lunch. Joe then played "photographer" and took lots of pictures of Amelia and I so we could remember our first Mother's Day. We even all took a little nap in the afternoon! For dinner, we went out to Los Ranchitos, my favorite Mexican restaurant in Monmouth, and the best thing about that, no dishes or cooking for mom!

Naked baby!!

Naked baby pictures galore! Yesterday, I decided that Amelia should have a little photo shoot. Joe and I had been cleaning the garage, and found a box full of baby pictures that showed a few naked baby pictures of Joe on a black fur rug. So, I reenacted the scene and I have to agree that Amelia was much more photogenic than daddy! She also rolled over from belly to back for the first time, which was super exciting! I put her back on her belly to see if she would do it again and she did! We had an appointment yesterday as well and they did a development test; she is also reaching all of the benchmarks she should be at this point, plus more! I have to agree that she is such a wonderful, talented girl! But, what mom doesn't think that?!