On Friday we ran quite a few errands, and Amelia had a lot of fun browsing through the sale racks!

On Saturday Amelia and I took Grandma G to the Gray Fossil Site. Amelia spent more time pushing her stroller than riding in it!

On Sunday we headed up to Roan Mountain, so we could show Grandma G some snow. The weather was beautiful, and even though there was at least a foot of snow in some places, it really was quite warm. We had a great time and took tons of pictures!

We had a lovely visit with Grandma G, and we are really looking forward to seeing her, Grandpa D, Uncle Dan and Uncle Erik in a few weeks!

Amelia loves “helping” me in the kitchen, and she is so glad to have her very own cabinet!

Trying on my glasses seemed to put her in a better mood. She’s always trying to grab them off of my face  – I don’t think she knew what to do once I put them on her! Later in the afternoon we built a tent in the living room – so much fun!

On Saturday I went with Grandma B to a large consignment sale and got quite a few things for Amelia – two items were brand new with their tags still attached!

On Saturday afternoon Amelia watched the Tennessee vs. Kentucky basketball game with her daddy while she was taking her nebulizer treatment. I think she’s almost better – just a little bit of a cough left.

On Sunday morning Amelia caught up on her reading while I made pancakes for breakfast. We just finished watching Canada win the gold medal in hockey, and we will probably watch the closing ceremonies in a bit.

I took Amelia to the pediatrician yesterday and it turns out that her cough & cold is actually RSV. They gave us this fun penguin nebulizer, and we will be giving her breathing treatments every 6 hours for the next few days. Despite the look on her face, she really doesn’t mind them! She cuddles in my lap and gets to watch TV while I hold the mask over her mouth & nose. I hope she gets better soon!

Dear Amelia,

Today you are fourteen months old, and you are such an amazing little girl! You fill my days with joy and I am so thankful that I have been blessed with such a wonderful daughter. You have such a great personality, and it is so fun to watch you grow and develop into such a unique and independent little girl. Watching you explore the world is a staggering reminder of how often I take the littlest things for granted.

I took you to the doctor today – you are acting just like your normal self, but you have a pretty nasty cough. It turns out that you have an infection called RSV. We left the doctor with a really neat nebulizer that looks like a penguin, and Daddy and I will be giving you breathing treatments every 6 – 8 hours for the next few days. Hopefully you will start to feel better soon!

You are a very attentive little girl – you tell us when something beeps (phone, oven, microwave, etc.) and you alert us to any strange noise that you hear. You fuss and start to cry if we don’t tend to it right away! You also love puppies – if you see a magazine with a picture of a dog or a bag of dog food (or really anything with a picture of a dog) you point and say “Puh/pup”! We also have a calender in the kitchen that has puppies on it and you love looking at them. In the mornings when you are nursing you’ll stop and call for your puppy, and then giggle when Shelby comes prancing in.

You love crawling around with treasures in your hands. Grandma B gave you some small books that fit perfectly in your hand, and you almost always have one of them nearby. This month you learned how much fun it is to push the dining room chairs all over the house, and how much fun it is to sit in the glider all by yourself. Daddy installed childproof latches on almost of the cabinets in the kitchen, because you found out how fun it was to open the doors and get into the garbage can. He left one cabinet open, though,  just for you – it will soon be filled with all sorts of non-breakable kitchenware so you can help me cook and bake!

You have a lot of fun putting things inside of other things these days. You empty and fill your toy baskets all the time! The basket you empty most of all is your shoe basket – you LOVE your shoes, especially the gold shoes Grandpa B gave you for Christmas. We keep your shoe basket in your room and you will crawl all the way back there and grab a pair of shoes, then bring them out to the living room so I can put them on your feet.

Your eighth and ninth teeth popped through this month, and the most exciting thing of all is that you took your first steps! Two days ago we were at Grandma and Grandpa B’s house, and you walked from Daddy to me. We were incredibly excited and are very proud of you – our baby girl is growing up, and is now officially a toddler!

You are incredibly energetic, and hardly stop moving all day long. I love chasing after you and making you laugh. What touches my heart even more, though, is when you calm down and cuddle close to me. I treasure those still times with you, and savor the soft feel of your hair against my cheek.

I love you,

Mama

Once I got her to keep her hat on, we went down to get the mail. Amelia held onto my finger and walked the whole way down the driveway and back up again – she is getting very steady on her feet!

While I was making supper Amelia went off to play by herself. Things were suspiciously quiet, so I went to investigate. What a funny girl!

Saturday was another beautiful day, so we all spent some time outside. It was so nice to get a break from all of the snow!

When I came in from taking Shelby outside on Sunday morning, this is what I found:

Those two had so much fun playing with Mark’s 3D glasses!

Later in the day we had lunch with one of Mark’s close childhood friends, and got to meet her adorable newborn son! I can’t believe we didn’t get a picture with them – they’re hopefully coming over on Tuesday, so we’ll try to get one then. After lunch we dropped by Grandma and Grandpa B’s house, where Amelia amazed us all by taking her first steps!

We got them out once she was up from her afternoon nap and she had a lot of fun!

I helped her make a Valentines Day card for her Daddy – we forgot to hide it though, and Mark saw it as soon as he walked in the door after work – happy early Valentines Day, Daddy!

On Saturday morning Amelia spent some time looking at the snow on the porch while Mark was working on my computer.

After her nap, she brushed her teeth and we headed up to Grandma and Grandpa B’s house! They watched Amelia while Mark and I ran a few errands. While we were out Grandma & Grandpa B helped Amelia Skype with her cousins A and S. Once Mark and I got back, we had BBQ chicken pizza for supper and watched some of the Olympics.

On Sunday morning Mark and I exchanged Valentine’s Day cards. I have such a wonderful husband – I got a card from him and one from Amelia as well!

Amelia has been fighting a cold for the past few days, and hasn’t been eating or drinking very much. I almost never give her juice, but decided to give her some today so she wouldn’t get dehydrated. I filled up a 6 oz sippy cup with half apple juice and half water, and she guzzled it down in a heartbeat! Amelia took a great nap after she ate lunch, and once she woke up our afternoon was spent baking applesauce muffins and playing with toys, with the Olympics playing in the background. What a great weekend!

Amelia and I took a walk this morning, before the rain started. She really enjoys being outside, even though she looks like a goof in this picture!

Mark had to go into work around 4, and soon after he left our electricity went out! Since I was unable to heat up supper for Amelia, she ended up eating cheese, hummus and cheddar bunnies. Not the most nutritious meal, but at least it was something! After supper, she took a bath by candlelight and we had fun playing with shadows.

Amelia has started walking with one hand free. She is getting closer and closer to walking on her own! Here she is this afternoon, wearing one of Mama’s necklaces and walking with Daddy. She is getting so big!

Grandma and Grandpa B came over for supper tonight, and right now we are all watching Super Bowl XLIV! After taking a bath and getting all ready for bed, Amelia joined us for a bit, but she was very sleepy and headed to bed right as the game started.

She absolutely LOVES these shoes, and wants to wear them all the time! We have a basket in her room that we toss all of her shoes into, and every day (without fail) she plucks her gold shoes out of the basket.

This evening, once she was dressed in her PJ’s, she crawled over and grabbed her gold shoes. She gave one of them to me and held up her foot . . . I couldn’t resist!

Golden shoes and penguin PJ’s – how perfect!

Here’s Miss Amelia, in the middle of telling me all about her blocks!

The first book she grabbed is her absolute favorite – The Going To Bed Book by Sandra Boyton. We read that book morning, noon and night!

She is finally big enough to wear this fun outfit from Grandma G – she just isn’t too sure about the hood!

Shelby has a lot of fun playing with Amelia – she’s always trying to share her toys!

Amelia is getting to the point where she LOVES giving big, sloppy, wet open-mouthed kisses – I love it!!!

I gave Amelia a raw carrot stick to chew on while I was making supper. She is working on some teeth, and I’m sure it felt good to chew on that hard carrot!

Amelia has a fun game that she plays in the kitchen . . . throw-all-of-the-letter-and-number-magnets-on-the-floor! We have them on the refrigerator and the dishwasher, and within a few minutes she can have 90% of them on the ground. She then takes one and crawls around the house with it – it’s a mess to clean up, but she has so much fun doing it!

By the time Mark and I went to bed on Friday night we had 1.5 inches of snow, and when we woke up on Saturday we had almost 5 inches! Saturday was my 26th birthday, and Mark made breakfast for all of us. Amelia ate applesauce and scrambled eggs with cheese, and while she was taking her morning nap Mark and I ate eggs and maple sausage – yum!

Later in the morning we headed out to the front porch to look at the snow.

The snow was very icy and crunchy, so we just stayed on the porch. We had fun watching Daddy throw snowballs at Shelby! Later in the afternoon I made Snow Ice Cream – it had a good taste but I think our snow was too icy. I’m going to keep the recipe so I can make it with Amelia when she’s a bit older – I’m sure she’ll love it!

On Saturday afternoon Amelia finally let me feel her gums, and I found that she has two new teeth that have popped through – lower right lateral incisor and upper right first molar. I knew she was working on more teeth, but didn’t know she was working on two at one time! We gave her a dose of ibuprofen before bed, which seemed to make her a little more comfortable overnight.

I have been blessed with such an incredibly loving and generous husband. He bought me a beautiful Imperial Gray KitchenAid Artisan Stand Mixer! My old stand mixer broke over the summer, and I have just been using a little hand mixer since then. I have been entering contests all over the internet, trying to win a KitchenAid mixer, and my sweet hubby surprised me with one for my birthday! He also got me a Michael Bublé concert on Blu-ray . . . Mark knows me so well! Because of the snow, we postponed our birthday dinner date until Monday night – Grandma and Grandpa B are going to watch Amelia while Mark takes me to our favorite restaurant. He is so wonderful to me, and I know I’m a very lucky lady.

When we walked out the door on Sunday to head to church we found that we were snowed in! Mark’s car was covered in three inches of solid ice, and there was no way for us to move it and get our Jetta out of the garage. Amelia and I went back inside to play while Mark worked on cleaning off the car and the driveway. By the time he finished we were too late for church, but we ended up meeting Grandma and Grandma B for lunch. Once we got home Amelia took a nice long nap and then we played and read books for the rest of the day. What a great birthday weekend!

Amelia thinks it is SO MUCH FUN to drink out of the Camelbak, but she drinks so much water that she makes herself sick. Yesterday she actually threw a fit when I took the bottle away from her!  This morning she was better about giving it back to me when I asked, but she still drank too much water and spit up all over the floor.