Happy Christmas!

Oh my poor little pumpkin butt. I read her The Night Before Christmas, told her all about Santa Claus, and totally thought (being the bold child that she is), that she would sit on Santa's lap no problemo. Well apparently I was wrong. It doesn't matter who it is hiding under that suit, she's terrified of him/her. I guess we'll try again next year.





Although she hates Santa, she loved Christmas. She was ALL over the place at my aunt's house. Seriously, she sprinted back and forth from room to room to room for several hours. The energy that kid has is unreal. We went to my mom's Christmas Day where she received her most coveted gift...the Cozy Coupe.




You should have seen her throwing a fit yesterday morning. She was so angry she picked her Cozy Coupe up from behind and threw it on the ground like she was transforming into the Incredible Hulk. Her strength never ceases to amaze me.

She played a pretty fun game with Grandpa and a potato chip box...





We had a very busy but very fun Christmas. All of her grandparents/great-grandparents spoiled the crap out of her. She got a ton of gifts. I think one of my favorites is the Aquadoodle. She can scribble all over the place with water pens. I busted her sucking the water out of one of the pens this afternoon, so I guess she won't be ready for markers any time soon.

I also got to see my great friend Beth over break. Me, her and Cassie had dinner and spent some QT together. It was just like the good 'ol days when we were roomies. Well, almost...only one of us was having drinks this time.

Oh, I also wanted to thank the City of Minneapolis for doing a terrible job plowing the street in front of our house. They left some gigantic snow boulders behind, right in my parking spot. Damn you.

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.

Amelie needs a nap.

This morning we went to volunteer at Feed My Starving Children with Amelie and a bunch of our family. It was fun, Amelie was pretty happy most of the time. We all went to lunch afterwards and Ami missed her morning nap. She slept for 3 hours when we got home (actually, we all did). We did some Christmas shopping this evening and came home and put Amelie to sleep. She was still awake and didn't fall asleep until 11:13pm. Lesson learned. Don't skip her naps. You'll pay for it later.

None of us slept very well last night either. While I was at work she bumped her head. Her doctor recommended that we all sleep in the same room, and that we wake her up every few hours to check on her. The last time she was awake, she stayed that way for a couple of hours. She was also flailing around and I'm pretty sure slapping my face on purpose. She always grabs onto those little hairs at the sides of my forehead and pulls too. She's like, "wake up, let's play," even though it's 4 am. I cried when I got home and saw the bump. It looked a lot better today.



Abby and I dressed her up in Sammy's Santa outfit on Friday.



She can stand on her own. Also, yesterday she waved for the first time. She did it with her hand closed so it was more like she was shaking her fist at Abby and I, but she was making the motion.



I went to lunch on Wednesday and Thursday with friends from high school. I got a picture of her with my friend Stacie. She loved entertaining all the tables around us at both restaurants.


My lil sis and her boyfriend, Tovandy, are coming home from a far off land called Illinois for Christmas. Abby and I are going over to my moms to bake more cookies too.

Ty and I are trying to make some decisions about our wedding. It's really stressful and I don't want to do it. I guess thats why we have been engaged for a year already and haven't set a date in stone yet. Eloping is really starting to look good.