18 months

Amelia is 18 months already?!

No. She is actually 19 months..

Since her 1 year mark, I thought I would just update every 3 months.. Apparently I can't even do that.

So with out much of an introduction here are something things about my 18 19 month old:

Running. Everywhere. Walking is not an option. Unless we are in hurry, of course

Foods:

Loves: Bananas, Avocados, crackers, peach yogurt, bread, all pastas, sometimes quesadillas, broccoli, chocolate chip cookies, pumpkin cookies, water, apple juice, pizza

Dislikes: Milk, most veggies, canned peaches

Words: banana, Hi, poo poo, bye, mama, dada, woof, OOWS (juice), dog, bath, grmamamama (grandma), bbbbberry (strawberry shortcake), cookie, cracker, waaaa (water), ooook (book), done, "where is it" (binky)

New Signs: Please, Thank you, Binky

Blows kisses at everyone

Sleeps from 8pm-9am

1 1/2-2 hour naps

Loves music and dancing. Here favorite songs are "Popcorn", "Ring around the Roses," "London Bridge," "Pat-a-cake," and making up her own.

Forward facing carseat was a new thing and she did great.

Drove across the country from Denver to Utah to New York... Not the best days of our lives.

Loves wearing necklaces, purses, hats, and shoes

Tries to dress her self by putting multiple clothes on her arms.

Pulls all bags around the house like they are purses, stops at the door says bye bye and waves.

Watching other kids is a lot of fun. She loves babies. At the gym day care she just sits and plays "mama" to the babies.

Talk on the phone and says hi and bye about 50 times in one conversation.

Climbs on everything

Kisses phone during facetime

Gives kisses (FINALLY!)

Calls her binky "Where is it." We must lose it a lot.

Can point our her eyes, ears, mouth, teeth, tongue, nose, hair, hands, feet, belly button, bum (which she spanks), and cheeks (and smushed them together.. I die!) 

Will watch 10 seconds of the introduction to Strawberry Shortcake. She just loves the song.

We read abut 50 books a day.. We need more books people! Mom is going crazy!

Loves sweeping the kitchen and helping mom cook.

Gives her baby kisses and pats her back.

She is such a sweetheart (most of the time!) I was looking at the baby monitor to see if she was asleep yet, and I saw her rocking her teddy bear, patting its back, giving it kisses, and whispering "Shhh shhh." It was the cutest thing I have every seen and I melted.

Having an 18 month old is much different that even a 15 month old or a 12 month old. With her learning to walk, she has become much more independent, and with that she has become all more needy and demanding. She tests my limits daily, but we are growing and learning how to do this day to day stuff together. I am loving how she is talking. It makes things a lot easier. She was pretty good at signing, but that can only go so far.

It is hard to imagine that she will be 2 soon. I remember seeing the kids in our branch last year turn 2 and I felt like they were so big and mature (as mature as 2 year old can be.) But I feel like Amelia is still much smaller than they were. Either they were baby geniuses, or I am just in denial. Maybe a little bit of both.

Her favorite place to hide... and then get stuck

Berry Picking

Syracuse Zoo

Picking on Claire at a BBQ

They have arrived!

She's just too cute.

NYC skyline

Playing at the park with Da Boyz

"No more pictures, Mom!"

Love these two

Every. Time... She has a major crush on him.

Mo? Pwease? Mo?

Her Throne

LOVES apples

Learning her animals sounds

A bright future ahead of her

NY fall. Love.

Taughanock

My Goofballs

Halloween:: Laid back edition

We had a pretty uneventful Halloween this year in terms of parties. 

Halloween used to be one of my favorite holidays, but it turns out I married somebody who just isn't into it.

Maybe once we have a house and some space, I will start throwing parties again.

Our grocery store, the great and powerful Wegmans, thew a trick or treating bash. 

She was not into it, probably because we don't let her eat candy and she had no idea what it was.

Maybe next year we will work on getting her to love candy? haha I don't know.

On the actual day of Halloween, it was a rainy day. I hadn't planned on taking her trick or treating, but once the day came I kind of felt guilty. So I was glad once the rain came and gave me an extra excuse.

We had some of Anthony's classmates over, had pizza, caramel apples, and watched Hocus Pocus.

We had a lot of trick or treaters, which I LOVE. 

we had ZERO last year, so I was pretty giddy.\

We didn't get any really good pictures of Amelia in her lady bug costume. 

I have been horrible at taking pictures with my good camera, so my crappy iPhone will have to do.

(And anthony's photographing skills... haha)

She is super into kisses, and I eat it up all day.

Oh you want water. gimme a kiss.

Oh you want down. gimme a kiss.

A mom's gotta do what a mom's gotta do.

They can be really a bit sloppy.

Fall Festivities

Fall is beautiful. It has always been my favorite season, but New York has taken it to a whole new level. 

I definitely don't want to live here, but I will miss the fall.

We have been trying to soak up as much  good weather as possible... We won't be able to leave our house for the next six months, so we have to milk it.

We have spent a lot of time at Stewart Park. A great view of the lake.

Sappsucker Woods behind our house.

Our street has millions of leaves. Most are gone now, but it is still beautiful. 

When the wind blows, it rains color.

New York love their apples. In fact, there is a weekend dedicated to apples.

Applefest.

Amish man with his delish baked goods

 Visiting dad at Cornell

Playing in the leaves. So many leaves.

My grandpa came to visit the east coast and made a stop at my house for a few days. 

It was so fun to see Amelia play with her Great Grandpa.

Taughannock Falls

Buttermilk Falls

 We got pictures taken at Cornell a few weeks ago, and Amelia got so tired she just cuddled up to me.

Farmer's Market goods. I will miss the beautiful veggies and flowers.

I know I talk a lot about how I am going to *miss* New York. 

It is because I am so ready to get out of here, but I do realize I like *some* things.

Punkin' Patchin

We went to Iron Kettle Farms to get a nice pumpkin. Since we don't have a porch, we don't carve our pumpkins because that would just stink, but paint them! 

It was really a cute farm, and I wish that I would have planned to spend more time there. I didn't really know what it was, or what it had to offer. There were hay rides, slides, petting zoo, farm animals, and a huge selection of pumpkins.

Amelia loved all the balls (pumpkins...)

Painting her pumpkin

We are going to miss the East Coast Fall so much. I love driving down the streets feeling like I am in a holiday calendar. 

Amelia:: What's In A Name

I'm not sure what was in the water over the summer, but all of you are pregnant.
Really.
 I have OVER 12 friends due in just MARCH.
Whaaa??
And all but one are having girls.

This means a lot of friends have been calling me, asking for advice. Yes me. The mom who secretly freaks out all the time thinking I am screwing up this child of mine. But I help when I can. One question that I can't really help with is how I found Amelia's name... And it goes like this.

I was taking summer classes in college. It was a Stuart British Lit class and we were studying feminist poetry. If you know anything about Stuart Bit Lit, then you know this was a LONG time ago and feminism was pretty much, yet secretly, illegal.
Because of this, we mostly studied a poet named,
Aemila Lanyer.

I immediately loved the spelling of her name, but completely fell in love with her once I read her poem, Eve's Apology.
Once we decided on the name, we went with the traditional spelling, because I really dislike spelling my name for everyone, so it really just makes life easier for everyone involved.

I wrote my final project for my Lit major on this poem and merged it with my final project on Eve for Religion Studies major.

 She was daring woman, who is also rumored to be Shakespeare's secret lover as well as the woman who Dark Lady was describing.

So with Much Ado (pun intended), here is Eve's Apology (in defense of women)

Now Pontius Pilate is to judge the Cause
Of faultlesse Jesus, who before him stands;
Who neither hath offended Prince, nor Lawes,
Although he now be brought in woefull bands:
O noble Governour, make thou yet a pause,
Doe not in innocent blood imbrue thy hands;                       750
     But heare the words of thy most worthy wife,
     Who sends to thee, to beg her Saviours life.

Let barb'rous crueltie farre depart from thee,
And in true Justice take afflictions part;
Open thine eies, that thou the truth mai'st see,
Doe not the thing that goes against thy heart,
Condemne not him that must thy Saviour be;
But view his holy Life, his good desert.
     Let not us Women glory in Mens fall,
     Who had power given to over-rule us all. 

                     760 

Till now your indiscretion sets us free,
And makes our former fault much lesse appeare;
Our Mother Eve, who tasted of the Tree,                 Eves 
Giving to Adam what she held most deare,               Apologie
Was simply good, and had no powre to see,
The after-comming harme did not appeare:
     The subtile Serpent that our Sex betraide,
     Before our fall so sure a plot had laide. 

That undiscerning Ignorance perceav'd
No guile, or craft that was by him intended;                       770
For, had she knowne of what we were bereavid,
To his request she had not condiscended
But she (poore soule) by cunning was deceav'd,
No hurt therein her harmelesse Heart intended:
     For she alleadg'd Gods word, which he denies,
     That they should die, but even as Gods, be wise. 

But surely Adam can not be excus'd,
Her fault, though great, yet hee was most too blame;
What Weaknesse offerd, Strength might have refus'd,
Being Lord of all, the greater was his shame:                     780
Although the Serpents craft had her abus'd,
Gods holy word ought all his actions frame:
    For he was Lord and King of all the earth,
    Before poore Eve had either life or breath. 

Who being fram'd by Gods eternall hand,
The perfect'st man that ever breath'd on earth;
And from Gods mouth receiv'd that strait command,
The breach whereof he knew was present death:
Yea having powre to rule both Sea and Land,
Yet with one Apple wonne to loose that breath,                790
     Which God hath breathed in his beauteous face,
     Bringing us all in danger and disgrace. 

And then to lay the fault on Patience backe,
That we (poore women) must endure it all;
We know right well he did discretion lacke,
Beeing not perswaded thereunto at all;
If Eve did erre, it was for knowledge sake,
The fruit beeing faire perswaded him to fall:
     No subtill Serpents falshood did betray him,
     If he would eate it, who had powre to stay him?    

       800 

Not Eve, whose fault was onely too much love,
Which made her give this present to her Deare,
That what shee tasted, he likewise might prove,
Whereby his knowledge might become more cleare;
He never sought her weakenesse to reprove,
With those sharpe words, which he of God did heare:
     Yet Men will boast of Knowledge, which he tooke
     From Eves faire hand, as from a learned Booke. 

If any Evill did in her remaine,
Beeing made of him, he was the ground of all;                   810
If one of many Worlds could lay a staine
Upon our Sexe, and worke so great a fall
To wretched Man, by Satans subtill traine;
What will so fowle a fault amongst you all?
     Her weakenesse did the Serpents words obay;
     But you in malice Gods deare Sonne betray. 

Whom, if unjustly you condemne to die,
Her sinne was small, to what you doe commit;
All mortall sinnes that doe for vengeance crie,
Are not to be compared unto it:                                        820
If many worlds would altogether trie,
By all their sinnes the wrath of God to get;
     This sinne of yours, surmounts them all as farre
     As doth the Sunne, another little starre. 

Then let us have our Libertie againe,
And challendge to your selves no Sov'raigntie;
You came not in the world without our paine,
Make that a barre against your crueltie;
Your fault beeing greater, why should you disdaine
Our beeing your equals, free from tyranny?                      830
     If one weake woman simply did offend,
     This sinne of yours, hath no excuse, nor end. 

To which (poore soules) we never gave consent,
Witnesse thy wife (O Pilate) speakes for all;
Who did but dreame, and yet a message sent,
That thou should'st have nothing to doe at all
With that just man; which, if thy heart relent,
Why wilt thou be a reprobate with Saul?
     To seeke the death of him that is so good,
     For thy soules health to shed his dearest blood.