Nostalgia

Do you ever find yourself yearning for your childhood? The days when things were so much simpler and definitely much more fun. I sure do! Well, that's one of the great things I'm finding I get to experience through this amazing journey called parenting.

As a child I can remember going to the zoo and to Brackenridge park with my family. I used to love riding the train at the park and wave to all the onlookers. And I loved, loved, LOVED the zoo! I remember going on incredibly hot days and walking until it felt like my feet would fall off. In fact, I remember one incredibly hot day at the zoo with my family. I was dying of thirst, at least I thought I was dying in my 4 year old brain, and I asked my mom if she would spit in my mouth. GROSS, I know, but I said it. No taking it back and we still laugh about it today.

Now its my turn. My turn to look at my little girl enjoying herself and taking it all in. My turn to get silly kid questions like "will you spit in my mouth?". My turn to make memories but this time as the mommy. How awesome! Here are some pictures of Amelia's first time at the San Antonio Zoo.

Here we are ready to go in the parking lot...

First, we walked over the Japanese Tea Gardens. So beautiful!

Here we are on the train. I think Amelia has already inherited a love for trains. It comes from her Granddad, Uncle Daniel and Daddy, of course!
Just because she's a girl, doesn't mean she can't LOVE trains, too! She's just a fashion conscious train-lover....
The train is in EXCELLENT condition! I love that Nathan grew up with this childhood memory, too.

This next photo will forever be a precious memory for me. I looked over at my amazing husband and my sweet baby girl and this is what I saw....
What I can't show you is the other half of this "memory". Dad was taking it all in, too. A memory was forming in his mind as well. His eyes were a little extra.....hmmm, how can I share this in the most manly way.....they were well-lubricated. Nothing overflowing or anything. Just a little extra moist. Like I said, I will never forget that moment!


Finally, the zoo....
It was sunny but a bit chilly. I zipped Amelia up in my hoodie. She seemed pretty toasty all day.

Below is a picture of The Hamann's. Jayla and Amelia are having their own little conversation. I'm so bummed I didn't get a picture of our whole group. TJ and Rachel's daughter Savannah was celebrating her 4th birthday. That was the reason for this fun group outing. I'm sure you can see a group shot on one of Rachel's blogs either here or here. Happy Birthday, Savannah! Amelia had so much fun celebrating with you!
Nathan says that the picture below would've been so cool if there wasn't a reflection in the glass.
Whew! We're tired and hungry! Where's the exit?
We have a family pass to the zoo and can't wait to go back with Amelia's cousins and Grandmas and Grandpas!

Multi-Cuteness

This post is just a bunch of random stuff about....you guessed it, AMELIA!

So true what they say- I never knew I could love someone so much. Well, except for my husband. She wouldn't be here if it weren't for him. :)

First, here's a video of Amelia hanging out in her crib. She really likes to suck her toes these days.

Here's Mommy stealing a kiss at Grandma's house.
Tummy time at Grandma's
After hanging out at Grandma's we headed over to Boop's house.
Here's Amelia posing with Boopah. They kind of match!

What a beautiful face!
Playing with my grandmas makes me sleeeeeeepy!
This past Friday Nathan and I went to dinner with Scott and Brooke. We had such a great time. Brooke and I met when we were 5 years old and we've been friends ever since. We kind of lost touch in college but we've picked up where we left off. She still cracks me up! As you can see, Amelia loves her!
This next picture isn't the greatest but those blue eyes are irresistible!

Giggles in the tub

Happy Birthday, Addi

Last weekend we went to Chuck E. Cheese to celebrate Addi turning 5 but above are some pre-party pictures at Amy and Mike's. We had a little private party the week before because Jo was in town from Houston. jo made a strawberry cake and had had a Hello Kitty theme. Lasagna was served and a great time was had by the guest of honor....Addison. She's such a pretty little girl! Now that Amy and her entire family are learning how to move on with life post cancer, it's still a bit of an uphill struggle. I cannot imagine what it must be like for a little girl to go through life wondering "is mommy going to the hospital this week?" every single week of her 3rd and 4th year of life. Hopefully, this new year will bring lots of happy moments and fewer trying times. Amy continues to gain strength and confidence. The stem cell transplant still looks like a huge success! Please pray for continued strength and healing.

Now, let's talk party....

Here's Amelia with Becki.....

Addi, me and Amelia all in our animal prints.

My baby girl taking it all in. I wish I snapped a shot of her getting out of her car seat. It was a little sensory overload paranoia. She was fine 2 seconds later.

Old friend

Recently I've reconnected with a high school friend, Jennifer! She and I had a couple of classes together and I honestly can't remember for sure which ones but I do know that Spanish was one of them. I remember that we spent most of our time in class with me hunched over leaning toward her and she was turned totally around so that we could talk, talk, talk!

The picture above is from our senior year yearbook with me on the left and Jennifer on the right. Mendy is in the middle. We're in yearbook class working on layouts.

We went to lunch recently to catch up and one lunch date simply was not enough time to catch up on 18 years! We hope to get together again soon. I have some precious pics of her and her family up at work that I'll add to this post later this week. She has a little girl that's a couple of months older than Amelia and I can't wait for the two of them to meet. She also has a very handsome 15 year old.

Jenn brought Amelia some sweet gifts. Some Hallmark ornaments (because she knows I love them from reading my blog), two really cute outfits, a precious elephant picture frame, and a Leapfrog puppy dog. Her name is Violet and she's purple. Perfect! Violet talks to Amelia and sings songs with her and calls her by name. It's so cool! You can program your child's name into the toy. Wow!


Amelia loves her new friend. Here are a couple of pictures of them playing...
Thank, Jennifer! She really loves this toy! You are so sweet and thoughtful. Can't wait to see you again.

5 Months Old

Today Amelia is the big 5! Months, that is! Time is going by so fast and we're having a lot of fun with her. She's growing so fast and changing every day. Here's what she's been up to:

*Sleeping like a champ in her crib. She does this funny scoot to where she'll end up being wedged up against the side. I guess that's why the "Breathable Bumper" is such a big thing now. I'd love to put her cute elephant bumper in her crib but I'm afraid she'd stuff her face in it.
*Still eating about six times a day.
*Goes to bed around 8 or 9. Sometimes it's without a tear or scream but sometimes not. Tonight was one of the "sometimes not" nights.
*Will NOT switch over to another paci. She likes the green soothie for newborns and wants nothing to do with substitutes.
*Likes to hold her feet. One in each hand and she'll get her foot up to her mouth and suck on her little toes. It's so cute!
*She purses her little lips and puckers them while humming. Mostly when she's trying to soothe herself.
*Rolling over. Still only back to front but now she gets that other arm out of the way when she rolls onto her tummy. I bet her biceps are going to be huge (ha ha) from all the push up stances she holds
*Likes to scratch different textures
*Still spits up. A lot. All the time.
*She's been drooling like a drool monster. I'm convinced she'll have a tooth soon.
*Doesn't like to sit. She always wants to stand.
*Sits up pretty well when assisted.
*Jumps like a monkey in her excersaucer
*She weighed 15 pounds and 1 ounce at her 4 month check up and was 25 inches long.
*She's very smiley and very happy (despite her face in this first picture).

Amelia, we love you more and more each day!

Dad turns 70

This past weekend we went to see Dad for his 70th birthday. I can't believe he's 70. That sounds so old but not as old as it used to 5 or 10 years ago. It's funny that as your parents start approaching "that age" what you consider to be "old" is pushed back and pushed back. I guess it's because I don't want them to get old!

No use fighting it. It happens to all of us.

At least he's still in pretty good shape. Both my folks are and for that, I'm grateful!
This last picture is just of Amelia....because she's just precious!