If you want your child to sleep through the night...make sure they get good naps!

Well, after our 5 Christmas celebrations I promised Amelie we would stay home all day on Monday so she could get proper naps and play with all her new toys. Then Abby called and we were going to go over and visit with her, Sammy, and Tova. I got Ami all bundled up and in her car seat and we were walking out the door when I went to reach for my keys...that were no where to be found. After 40 minutes and 3 phone calls I realized that I had left them in the center console of Tyler's car. So, I ended up keeping my promise after all. And you know what...she slept through the night. She woke up 2 times and fell back asleep and didn't get up again until after 6am. Glorious sleep.


Here she is playing with her music table from Grammy Tracy.


Now, here she is climbing up her music table onto the table next to the couch. You turn your head for 1 second...



Playing with her sit and scoot from Tova. She goes crazy with that thing. Walk/running and shaking it around like she is Godzilla.


Sometimes she plays so hard that she falls over and just lays there for a few minutes flailing. PS: the sweet animal print outfit is courtesy of Grammy Tracy.


Today we went into Richfield to do a little shopping and returning of items and we were in the toy aisle at Target. I was testing out toys on her to see what she like best. It ended up being a mini Elmo that laughs and talks when you shake him around. She loved it. I also got a soft storage ottoman on sale that we will use for a coffee table. I've been looking at that ottoman every time I go to Target (which is very often) and I was really pumped that it was on sale. I slammed it into my shin when I was loading it into the cart and felt like an idiot, but it was worth it.

As I was loading everything into my car, there was another mom with a child about the same age as Amelie loading her loot into her car as well. It was weird, like watching myself in the mirror. Her child was also screaming and I felt compelled to talk to her, like I do all other moms with young kids. Like we are all in some type of club that we didn't have to sign up for.

Here is something interesting. When I was in 4th or 5th grade, my teacher had us write to soldiers who were in the Gulf War. I corresponded with a man who sent me a couple of letters, one with an Army can opener among other trinkets. For some reason I remembered that and as I was telling the story to Tyler, the soldiers name popped into my head. I thought I'd look him up on Facebook for the hell of it and what do you know. I found him. How strange. I wrote him a message and he wrote me back confirming that it was indeed him. Technology blows my mind.

Tonight we went to my parents house to have dinner with Great Grandma Mike, Tova, Abby and Sammy. She gave the kids some gifts and Sammy got to show off his walking skills. Yeah, he's walking already. Not even 10 months old yet and walking like a mini Frankenstein. It's so cute. Amelie took 1 step today all on her own. She sometimes will take a mini side step to get where she wants to go, but not walking yet. She also looks like she is thinking about walking, then slowly lowers herself into a crawling position and shoots across the floor. I know that when she starts walking it's all over...but I don't care. I love watching her learn all those new things. *Side note: I'll be purchasing a play yard tomorrow to keep that girl contained.

And now, a rare moment where she sits still in my lap.


This is that last few seconds of her throwdown with her penguin. She straight attacked that thing.