Sunday at the Park

I recently discovered that a park very close to where I grew up has received a complete and total makeover in recent years.  I have been talking in up big time to Adam and Sunday we had quite possibly the most wonderful weather of all time, so off to the park we went.  

Amaia got to break in her shoes.  This was her official walking experience outdoors.  She is a fearless little gal.  She seems to have no fear of falling (although she still does fall somewhat frequently), she just wants to go places. 

We tried to use the self timer to take a family picture and this is now it went...

We will have to try again another day :)

But Adam did a mini photo shoot of Amaia and I and I think we got a couple of good ones.

I love this girl so!

Spring has Sprung

We have been on a spring break this week and we have been partying it up!!  Ha.  Ok, actually it was only me on spring break.  I work a small part time job from home and the company closed down this week.  I typically work during Amaia's morning nap, but this week I could do whatever my little heart desired during that time, so what did I do you ask?!?  Well mostly I cleaned, which is quite the opposite of partying I suppose.  However, a clean home makes me very, very happy!  And I also "chillaxed" as my sister would say, which involved sitting in complete silence while reading magazines.  It was wonderful!

Amaia's week has been quite the opposite of taking a break from learning/working.  She has been perfecting her walking skills all week long.  In fact, she is most more interested in walking around the house than playing with her toys right now.  She has also been perfecting her eating on her own skills.  She can now take a drink out of her sippy all by herself!

It was very rainy/dreary for most of the week, but we did get out to take a few walks and do a few fun things.  This morning we went to a park with some friends and Amaia got to get out of the stroller and explore.  She really seemed to enjoy walking around, however she also really seemed to enjoy putting the wood chips (that were covered with dirt) in her mouth.  One second was all it took! I tried to be extra vigilant, but she managed a get a couple in her mouth.  Gross, right?!  But it will only make her immune system stronger....that is my philosophy at least.

Sadly, this is the only picture I got of our outdoor excursions.  Amaia has a bit of a sad face because she does not like stopping while we are on a walk.

I was gifted daffodils twice this week!  By my sweet husband and mom.  I LOVE daffodils.  I have a special memory of daffodils and they always remind me of God's care for us.  

Amaia and I also took a cue from my friend Allie and stopped at the library today to get a few books.  I am yet to be an expert at picking out children's books, but I do know that we like: bright and colorful pictures, turning the page frequently, looking at other babies and Dr. Suess!

I hope she likes them!  I know that I will enjoy having a few new ones to read :)

Wordless Wednesday (with a few words)

Someone started walking over the weekend and we are all pretty excited about it!!

Summer Preview

Our beautiful little girl is changing SO much! It seems like she is doing something new practically every day....and she is very much not a baby anymore.  I still call her baby, but she is very much a little kid exploring her world and letting her personality be known.  This girl is silly!  She loves to laugh and on occasion laughs simply to entertain herself.  She is not the calm, quiet, shy child that you would think would come from me.  We think she is going to be a bit more like her daddy, which of course is a wonderful thing!  A few of the fun things she has been doing lately: making a "moo" sound like a cow, dancing and enthusiastically enjoying music, getting creative and inventing new games with her toys, playing peek-a-boo with us from behind her crib and many more things.

She is also really, really into exploring....every cabinet and drawer must be opened and found out!  I'm trying by best, but it is hard to keep her safe from herself sometimes.  I have resulted to putting her in her crib with a few toys when I really need to do something, and she seems to be okay with that for a limited period of time.   She also seems to be particularly fascinated with toilets, which grosses me out, but also makes me quite motivated to keep them very clean, so I guess that is a good thing :)

Also, Amaia finally decided that she can feed herself!  This is beyond awesome for me and she really seems to enjoy it too!  I feared that I would be feeding her through her teenage years, but yet again my fears are proved false.

I have to say this is my favorite phase of Amaia's life so far....I suppose I will say that a lot, but she is just so excited about life.  It has been much more like June than March this week, so we have been doing many summer-like things.  We have gone to the park and tried out the swing and slide, played with bubbles, taken a lot of walks and had a lot of new experiences.  One of things I really love about being Amaia's mom is getting to be a kid again in a sense and experience things through her eyes.  I think this is going to be a very fun summer hopefully full of trips to the pool and park and zoo!!  Yea!

Weaning & Jeggings...Oh My!

This week Amaia and I have started the weaning process and my oh my... it has been tough.  The first couple of days went reasonably well, but yesterday there were many tears from the both of us. Basically, she is not very interested in drinking more than a sip or two from a bottle or cup and I did not expect this to be quite the emotional of a process as it has been for me.  However, I have always been of the philosophy that I am the mom and Amaia is the child.   Meaning, Amaia is not the boss and I do what is best for her despite both of our emotions.  Thus, we are going to keep working towards weaning with lots and lots of patience and gentleness. It does make sense that she would have difficulty with a big life change - she is my daughter afterall :)

On a completely different note: Amaia is the proud new owner of jeggings and girlfriend looks SO good in them!  Adorable clothes on my baby girl make me happy.  

This morning we had a playdate with Oscar and Julie.  I so love our times together!  Julie also watches another little boy on Thursdays, so it is Amaia and the boys!  The kids are really starting to interact with each other more and it is fun!  I tried really hard to get a picture of Oscar and Amaia in their jeans with their cute little pockets, but it is quite the challenge to take a good picture of busy one-year olds.  We resorted to offering a little treat and it worked.  All the babies come running when the treats come out.  

And I got my picture :)