Ameliaisms this month ... 

- Loves stuffed animals. Always picking them up and hugging them first. 
- 9 night sleepover with Gammy and Apa over Thanksgiving! So much fun! 
- Walking! Went from 1 step to about 10 steps overnight! She started walking at Gammy and Apa's. 
- Continues to not like most meats. 
- She carries books everywhere and has started pointing to the books she wants to read before bedtime. 
- Solely on whole milk now. 
- She chooses to walk more than crawl. Her balance is good enough that she can walk over or step around things in her way. 
- She laughs a lot. 
- She has started to express more emotions over things she doesn't like such as getting her diaper changed or being put down for bed. 
- Getting her first haircut today!
- She is fascinated by other kids and really likes watching how they play. 
- Still sleeping 12 hours at night. 
- Naps are pretty consistent at 2- 2ish hour naps. 
- Likes cuddling her stuffed animals at night. 
- Favorite foods are her baby graham crackers, blueberries/raspberries, mac n cheese, french toast.
- Pointing to everything and grunting. 
- Can sign "eat", "all done", "milk"
- Does not like having her nails trimmed. It is a battle for sure! 
- Continues to be a good flyer. Usually sleeps for half the plane ride and plays for the other half. 
- Working on keeping our shoes on. Really good about keeping her hat and gloves on. 
- Loves walks with the dog and watching Nala go after the ball. 

Ameliaisms this month: 

- Loves raspberries, waffles/peanut butter, yogurt, any pasta (not grooving on any meat...we will keep trying...but she may be like her mom!)
- Learning to feed herself with a spoon
- Standing on her own and can stand from a squatted position without assistance
- Likes walking around the house using her balance table
- Still goes for the dog bowls (not sure we will ever break this one!)
- She is pointing, signing a lot more (signs such as milk, eat, all done), and will wave goodbye
- She LOVES carrying stuffed animals around and giving them little hugs and cuddles
- She fights getting her nails trimmed...I can only do one nail each day
- She has learned to go down a slide on her own with dad catching her at the bottom 
- She loves going to parks and will point to them if we walk by them on dog walks
- Great about handing me her pacifiers after I get her out of the crib in the morning as she only gets pacifiers in the crib, carseat, and stroller
- Still sleeping 11-12 hours solid per night with 2 naps during the day that are about 3 hours combined
- Her ZipadeeZip can get her to sleep anywhere and is instantly soothing to her
- She LOVES her puppy and will giggle with glee when Nala sees her in the morning or puts her nose in between the crib slats
- She is becoming more analytical and focusing on the way things work much more
- She has mastered the stairs (going up and turning around to go down) but now she is wanting to stand up on the landings and that is a little too scary for mom and dad
- She had a weekend sleepover at Auntie Ali and Uncle Mike's farm (they went to the park, went for a lot of walks, baked bread, played with the dogs) 
- We celebrated her 1st birthday at the farm (Auntie Ali and Uncle Mike's). It was a great turnout and Mia had fun at the photo booth, going on a tractor/hay ride, opening presents, and crawling around in just a diaper in the barn. We had a western themed party and her buddy Levi was a super handsome cowboy! She took her cake decorations apart rather than dive into eating the cake...no surprise there! 
- She has a lot of teeth and some molars coming in! 

Ameliaisms This Month: 

- Is starting to walk around the house using her "Balance Box" table
- Sill fixated on the dog food and water
- First sleepover at Auntie Ali and Uncle Mike's farm...went out to eat, ate a lot of raspberries, and throwing the ball for the dogs
- Can go down the stairs on her own by turning around at the top and sliding (quickly sometimes) down
- Sleeps 12 hours and still 2 naps each day (girl loves her sleep)
- Two favorite foods are oatmeal and kiwi
- Expressing her independence during diaper changes by flailing legs, fussing about getting dressed :), and won't wear anything on her head/feet
​- Ended up in Urgent care at the end of this month with a 104 fever!
- She continues to be incredibly mobile ALL THE TIME! 
- She likes sitting in the owl chair that mom and dad got her for her birthday
- Loves playing with her puppy, mostly by throwing the ball (attempting to anyways)
- Standing up in the crib now that she can wiggle an arm out of her ZipadeeZip
- Throws her pacifiers out of the crib
- Loves making the "grrrr" sound that a bear makes
- Drinks somewhere between 5-7 oz bottles ... moved officially to formula and starting to introduce whole milk
- Swim lessons started up again...first and third lessons went really well with a crabby Mia during the second / she is doing really well and will even put her face in the water all on her own! 

 Ameliaisms this month - 

- Climbing stairs and coming down the stairs
- Loves blackberries, peaches, bananas, and Nana's tomato soup
- Uses every object to stand up
- Started picking up stuffed animals to cuddle
- Still sleeping 12 hours ... 2 naps of 1 1/2-  2 hour ... sleeps in ZipadeeZip and knows it is sleepy time when she goes in it
- First international trip with her passport ... trip to Ireland with Gammy and Mum
- Loves her puppy and feeding Nala at the dinner table (Nala approves)
- Bath times are now so fun that she doesn't want to get out
- Wants to eat the dog food really bad!!
- Tests her buddy's patience by taking his pacifier... Levi is always really patient with her
- Won't keep her booties on her feet
- Talking more again this month with mama, dada, baba ... also figuring out signs with "All done"
- Loves spinning around on her bum to look for what to go do next! 
- Started nodding her head to mimic mom talking and nodding

Mia, my mom, and I went to Ireland in August. We averaged 7 miles a day over 6 days and walked The Kerry Way of The Ring of Kerry. The scenery was beautiful and my walking companions were even more perfect!

We had so much fun in spite of the day in which we were poured on for 8 miles. Mia rode in an Osprey Poco Plus backpack. Most days we had her in a Tuffo (rain suit) to help keep her dry or warm from the wind. After packing diapers, wipes, clothes, hiking backpack, carseat, travel stroller (BabyZen Yoyo) etc...we were at 4 checked bags and two carry-ons. Hard to travel light with a baby...but I didn't think we did too bad! 

We booked through KimKim / Ireland Walk, Hike, Bike. They planned the route, the transportation for pickup/dropoff from hikes, lodging, etc. This was super helpful and definitely the way to go when you are trying to coordinate carseats moving through different means of transportation! I have always planned our trips in the past, but to be honest, it wasn't that expensive to do it this way and I felt that we had a much more efficiently planned trip! 

Some highlights: 
- Boating a lake to get to the start of a hike
- Amelia had scones/tea (cream tea) and black pudding (very English, so my Grandma Alma would be proud)
- Amelia started mimicking animal noises we made on the hike
- She loved passing all the animals on our walks and seeing the animals at the Dublin Zoo
- Navigated 4 flights, 2 trains, 4 trams, 1 bus, multiple taxis with a lot of stuff and a baby
- Changing diapers while Amelia is hanging in the air (on the rainy day and the ground was too wet)
- Everyone's comments / surprise that we were walking on The Kerry Way and that we were traveling with a baby
- Mia's first time at the zoo and at a park

Ameliaisms this Month: 

- Went from army crawl to full crawl
- Second time on Gammy and Apa's boat, but first time on a dinghy...fell asleep in 2 minutes
- Went swimming with cousin Garrison! 
- Eager for solids at every meal...enjoys quinoa, applesauce, kiwi, peaches, meat, asparagus, egg, cheese
- Learning to drink water in a sippy cup
- First overnight river trip on our boat and learning to be a boat baby right alongside her buddy, Levi (naps, meals, sleeping in hotel)
- First sleepover at Gammy and Apa's (5 nights without mom and dad!) 
- Still sleeping 12 hours at night and 2 - 2 hour naps during the day
- She has finally learned to stay seated in the bathtub! Took SO many times of mom and dad reminding her to sit down!
- She is easily able to pull herself up to a standing position using any sort of ledge or furniture
- She crawls around the house following us and the dog
- Really wants to have whatever is in Nala's dog bowls
- Starting to stay on back during diaper changes again. Took SO many times of mom and dad reminding her to "stay on back". 
- Likes controlling her pacifiers. Will take them in and out to drink a bottle or consume food. 
​- Amelia is like a Tesla...either on the move or she is recharging :)

Ameliaisms this month - 

- She can sit up from her tummy and move from sitting to tummy. She will be on her tummy and then use her arm to slowly push herself into a sitting position. She will also rock forward onto her hands and lower herself onto tummy. She did some pretty good face plants initially, but she is now keeping her face from smacking the floor. 
- She wants to eat food when we are eating. Previously she was more interested in what we were doing rather than actually eating the food herself. Now it is like there is an expectation that she gets to eat too. She is enjoying egg and avocado. She likes meat...had some pulled pork and fajita beef. 
- Nala often lays right next to her and Amelia is learning to roll around her puppy in order to still get to where she wants to be
- Swim lessons at Foss Swim School! She loved it. It was every day for two weeks. We actually saw a lot of progress from learning to close her eyes under water and to close them before getting submerged. She is really comfortable with splashing around now and even launched herself off the side of the pool by the end. 
- We are working with her on not taking things from others...as she is very in control of moving herself to what she wants and grabbing :) 
- Army crawls to what she wants...but just starting to get her knees up and under her. 
- First road / hiking trip: washing bottles in the hotel sink / cleaning up blowouts while keeping her off the ground / learning to nap in the hiking carrier / learning to nap on the go in general / packing up pack n play and sound machine every other night / eating in the car and in the hiking carrier
- Two teeth! 
- Still sleeping 12 hours with two naps during the day.
- Doesn't like laying back in stroller anymore...wants to sit up constantly.

Ameliaisms This Month - 

- Still loves to sit, but we are doing more tummy time to encourage crawling / she is just starting to push up to her knees
- Has tried lots of food, but still seems to squirm with them :) She has tried fajita chicken, nectarines, apples, yogurt, quinoa, black beans, banana, breast milk popsicles, asparagus (doing baby led weaning...so not purees...makes for an entertaining dinner)
- Continues to have a very happy personality...she is a busy bee...but happy if she can move
- Really likes seeing Nala every day...usually gets a smile from her in the mornings as I am putting her in the car seat
- Saying mum, mum, mum a lot...I think she knows she is asking for me :)
- She and Levi are starting to entertain one another...but Amelia will need to learn not to "grab" her friends
- Learning to be a boat baby... naps on the boat, playing on the boat, diaper changes on the boat, lifejackets, and all the rest of the fun that comes with being on the water!
- Loved sitting in her adirondack chair specially made for her by Uncle Mike at her first bonfire...so adorable
- Still a good sleeper...2-2 hr naps and 12ish hours a night / If she struggles going down, only takes 2 times of putting the nook in to get her to settle for the night
- Learning to hold her bottle on her own and sometimes even with her feet / also working on a sippy cup
- Still drinking 4 8 oz bottles a day and follows a pretty similar schedule each day
- Loves to play with toys

Ameliaisms This Month - 

- Double ear infection! Consumed the first half of our month trying to help her feel better. Amoxicillin over the course of 10 days, 3 hour naps on Nana, and early bedtimes were the trick. She was still her sweet self...but I knew she felt better when I started to hear her talking again! 
- Tried using syringe to get her to take meds...she would spit up everything! So now we just put it in a nipple from her bottles and she sucks it down and then we put it on a bottle and she gets milk when she is done with the meds! 
- First trip to Montana for maintenance trips on the cabins and to Colorado to visit Uncle Dan! 
- Graduated from the Magic Merlin sleepsuit to the Zipadee Zip. She is a side sleep through and through. She flips from one side to the other all night long. The Magic Merlin wouldn't let her sleep on her side, so she graduated. The Zipadee Zip is awesome...helps with the startle reflex, but lets her have control of her limbs. 
- Measured 14 lbs at her ear infection appt! 
- Transitioned to 8 oz bottles halfway through the month
- Loves sucking on her toes and finally discovered her thumb
-  She has been sleeping in her room. Mom is still nervous about it (I check the camera a ton), but she seems to be doing well. Most of the time, I put her down...she turns away from me...and she is out!
- Still sleeping 11 - 12 hours. Bedtime is 6:30 (most of the time we barely make it to 6:30!).
- When standing, she has started lifting her foot almost like she is doing a jig. Super cute 
- Loves sitting in her highchair and grasping toys
- Can sit up on her own now and she has a newfound world of freedom by picking up toys and dropping them
- Taste tested scrambled egg, kiwi, apple, peanut butter puffs, green beans, and broccoli
- Says "Da Da Da" and "Ga" as in Gammy