Amelia has the best time playing in this empty diaper box! It has been a car, a boat, a toy box, a comfy chair and a whole slew of other things. I love her imagination! This picture makes me think of another Tuesday picture . . .

. . . remember this one?

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On Sunday we tried out a new church and we loved it! Amelia cried for quite a bit after we left her in the nursery, but by the time we went to pick her up she didn’t want to leave! We met quite a few friendly people, and are looking forward to going back next week! On the way home we stopped at Walmart and spent over $200 on air purifiers for our apartment. Our downstairs neighbors (or someone who is staying with them) has suddenly started smoking indoors and we are getting a very strong smoke smell in our place. Our throats are dry and scratchy and our eyes are watery and itchy. We are disgusted by the smell and know that the second hand smoke is awful for Amelia’s little lungs. Mark is going to talk to the apartment manager on Tuesday to see if there is anything that can be done, but for now these purifiers will have to do. They are actually doing a pretty good job of removing the smoke smell and we are praying that they continue to work. Thankfully the smoke smell seems to be centered in the living room and kitchen area, and we haven’t smelled any smoke in Amelia’s bedroom yet – we are just praying that it stays out of her room! After getting the air purifiers set up we stayed home and just played for the rest of the day – Amelia showed us the best use for a metal mixing bowl!

On Monday we drove up to Coeburn, VA for the Guest River Rally Festival. Grandma and Grandpa were already up there – they had been helping a local church with their BBQ fundraiser since Friday night. We ate the most wonderful barbecue – I had ribs, Mark had pulled pork, Grandma had beef knuckle and Grandpa had chicken (as well as a bit of turkey). We all shared so that everyone could taste the different meats, and everything was divine! We also had dessert – Amelia devoured Grandma’s chocolate eclair dessert, Mark had yellow cake with peanut butter frosting and I had a mock apple pie – it was made with only zucchini (no apples at all!) but it tasted exactly like apple pie! I will definitely have to look for a similar recipe! After we ate lunch we walked around the festival. Amelia’s absolute favorite part was the fountain – she was getting pretty cranky and worn out, so Grandpa took her shoes off and let her put her feet in the fountain. It certainly cooled her off and brightened her mood! We stopped back by the church to pick up some pulled pork and apple butter to bring home with us, and then drove home. We had a wonderful Labor Day!

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I just love this American Living dress – I picked it up on clearance last summer ($3.50 down from $36)! Amelia has worn it quite a few times this year, and it makes me sad to know that once the cooler weather gets here we’ll have to pack the dress away. I’ve been trying to take a picture of her every time she puts it on – she looks so lovely wearing it, and the color really brings out her eyes!

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On Saturday we visited the aquarium – we saw many animals, but Amelia liked the penguins the best! After the aquarium we had lunch with Aunt C and cousins A, Big S and Little S. It was wonderful to see them again! After lunch we took Amelia back to the hotel where she took a long nap. After she woke up we went to visit Great Grandma B. Amelia was such a happy girl, and gave a lot of hugs. She loved playing dress up with Great Grandma’s pretty necklaces!

On Sunday morning we had breakfast with Great Grandma, Great Aunt B, Aunt C and all of the cousins. It was a loud and fun meal, and the kids ate WAY more than the adults! Once we were done, we took Great Grandma back to her home where she gave Amelia a ride on her electric scooter! When we got back to her room, Daddy and Amelia had some fun driving the chair back and forth. Amelia slept most of our drive home, and when she woke up she was happy and content. Around 2PM we met Grandma and Grandpa B for lunch and then we all headed back to their house to pick up Shelby.

We had a lovely (and very full) weekend, and are very glad to be back home. We hope to take another trip to Chattanooga soon!

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Dear Amelia,

Today you are twenty months old. You’re no longer a “teenager”! You have grown so much this month, and you literally make me laugh every day. You have such a unique and fun personality, and I know I am incredibly blessed to watch you grow and learn.

When Daddy or I ask you for a hug, you will turn around and back up into our arms for a big bear hug. I think you like the security of me or Daddy at your back with our arms wrapped around you. It is so sweet, and it gives me the opportunity to smell that sweet head of yours. Your skin is baby-soft and your fine & wispy hair tickles my nose. Oh, if I could only bottle up that smell – it’s more than your baby shampoo, and it’s almost indescribable – you smell like sunshine and warmth and love. You smell like my baby girl, and it is the best smell in the world.

Whenever I am sitting on the ground you will always come up and sit in my lap – you fit perfectly! When you hear the neighbors outside you run over to the front door and knock – I think you want them to open the door and come in. You also do this when I tell you that Daddy is on his way home from work. You like to spin in slow circles and also walk backwards. You are getting more confident when you run, and you love having pillow fights on the living room floor. You will grab the couch pillows and just run towards us – we pretend that you really hit us hard and you collapse onto the floor in a fit of giggles.

You picked out a new potty this month, and a few nights ago you asked to sit on it after your bath. You sat there for about 30 minutes talking with Daddy and me and even reading a few books. You didn’t end up doing anything in the potty, but you kept asking for toilet paper and showing us that you know how to use it. Yesterday you told us you needed to go #2, so we hurried into the bathroom and took your diaper off. You didn’t really want to sit on the potty – you kept standing up and walking towards the bathtub. When you finally went, it was right on the bathroom floor – we got you to sit back on the potty, but you were so scared and bothered by the mess you made on the floor that you just kept pointing at it and crying. After we got you cleaned up you were fine, but you didn’t ask to get back on the potty for the rest of the day. This morning you went into your bathroom instead of your room when I told you that you needed to get dressed. I am fairly certain that you would have gone #1 on the potty if I had been faster about getting your diaper off. You were already going when I was undoing your diaper – I caught most of it in the diaper and then you sat on the potty for a while. I’m not sure that you’re ready to get rid of diapers yet, but we’ll keep the potty in the bathroom so that you can use it whenever you feel ready. You’re off to a good start, though, since you seem to realize when you need to go!

This month you started saying several new words. I have to listen very closely and of course you NEVER say them on command but I have heard you say trash (when you want to throw something away), dirty (for dirty clothes that need to go into the hamper), umbrella, yes, this, supper, Shelby, bath and a whole slew of others that I can’t bring to mind. It is so fun to see you expressing yourself verbally – I just need to learn to listen more closely to what you are saying. I’m sure there are many more words in your vocabulary that I just haven’t deciphered yet!

Sweet Girl, your favorite book now is Goodnight Moon. Your favorite part of the book is “the quiet old lady who was whispering hush” – you squeal and point whenever you see her. You touch the pages as if you are petting her head – so sweet! If you wake up at night (from growing pains, teeth or just a bad dream), you ask for Goodnight Moon, which is always sitting next to the rocking chair. Reading that book will calm you down enough to go back to sleep. I am so glad to see you developing a love for reading so early in your life, and I love watching the stories come alive in your eyes.

Love, Mama

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On Saturday we hopped into the car and headed to Knoxville to try and go to the zoo. When I checked the weather before we left, there was only a 40% chance of rain – it started raining on our way down, though, and kept raining for hours. Instead of visiting the zoo, we headed to the mall so that Amelia could get out of the car and run around to let some energy out. We walked all around the mall and had some tasty lunch in the food court. Amelia had a turkey panini along with a blueberry & banana smoothie, Mark had a cheese steak and fries and I had a lamb gyro. Amelia was wonderful in the car, and napped most of the way home. Even though our plans for the day fell through, we all had a great time together as a family.

On Sunday we went to the Splash Pad so Mark could see what it was all about. Amelia brought her truck and her red ball, and had a lot of fun running around! Later in the day we took Shelby to PetSmart to get her nails trimmed. Amelia enjoyed looking at all of the fish, birds and hamsters/gerbils/guinea pigs.

We had a great weekend and hope to visit the zoo sometime soon, when the weather is drier (and maybe cooler)!

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On Saturday we went to visit with Grandma and Grandpa B. While we were up there, Grandma found some bubbles for us to play with. Amelia had a big time!

On Sunday we went car shopping, and actually got an amazing deal on a new car! This car is much needed, as our old car was going to need a lot of big repairs soon. We figured that we would rather spend money on a new car than sink thousands into an older car that might not last a year (even if we did all of the repairs). We are so thankful and blessed that we found the deal that we did – 0% financing for 60 months, a seven year bumper-to-bumper warranty AND Mark got the dealer to pay $1,000 more on our trade-in than they originally offered!

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This is the face I got when I asked Amelia if she wanted to go to the pool. She was SO! EXCITED!

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On Saturday Grandma and Grandpa B came over to watch the movie Up with us. It is Amelia’s favorite movie – she LOVES all of the balloons! After the movie we went out to a local burger joint where Amelia sneaked a sip of soda – Grandma got her reaction on camera. I don’t think Amelia will be trying soda again anytime soon – she didn’t like the carbonation! Later in the evening while Mark was giving Amelia her bath I heard a lot of laughing – Mark kept piling up the bubbles onto Amelia’s head and she loved it! I had to include the 2nd picture just because I think her “cheese” face is so cute – I love all of those teeth!

On Sunday Mark played with Amelia for most of the day so that I could get a few things done around the house. I did some ironing, baked bread, made 2 kinds of iced tea, baked some eggs/cheese/lunch meat in a muffin tin for breakfasts throughout the week and cleaned up the kitchen about 30 times. It feels good to get things accomplished!

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We took tons of pictures this week and had a lot of fun! We took morning walks in our PJ’s, we went shopping at the dollar store where Amelia picked out a special balloon, we went to the Splash Pad, we laughed as we bounced on Daisha’s air mattress, we went to the Farmer’s Market and we even visited a gourmet chocolate shop! Sadly, we don’t have any pictures of me and Daisha together, and hardly any  pictures of Daisha at all. I am including the 2nd to the last picture just to prove that she was really here! Amelia is just such a fun person to photograph that we kind of forgot to take pictures of anything else!

I am so glad that Daisha was able to come to visit! I always love spending time with her, and I am so happy that she made the trip up here. I look forward to the next time I see her!

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My best friend Daisha is visiting from Florida, and we took Amelia to the Splash Pad this morning! We all had a great time. I’ll post some more pictures within the next few days!

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On Saturday we put some finishing touches on our spare room – we are now ready to welcome guests! It’s still basically a storage room, so I won’t post any pictures here, but there now is room for our air mattress! At least our guests won’t have to sleep in the middle of the living room anymore! Amelia looked on while Daddy put together a bookshelf. She also had fun playing with a sheet of stickers – she found the monkey sticker and put it directly onto her knee. Silly girl!

On Sunday we met Grandma & Grandpa B for lunch, as well as Uncle Ron, Aunt Linda and Great Grandma O who were visiting from Missouri! Amelia was in a great mood, and showed off for the camera. Here is a picture for Uncle Paul – Amelia is eating cheerios with a fork! After lunch everyone came back to our place and Amelia showed off all of her toys. Later in the afternoon we took everyone to Seaver’s Doughnuts to get some dessert. We all enjoyed watching the doughnuts being made, and we liked eating them even more! I got a great picture of the four generations present – Amelia, Mark, Grandma B and Great Grandma O! We had a wonderful weekend, and look forward to the next time we see our Missouri family.

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Larger sized image (there is more to this photo than the smaller thumbnail reveals): Click Here

Update: Around midnight Mark got an email from the local meteorologist, complimenting him on his photo and thanking him for his submission. I’m proud of my storm-chasing hubby!

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