Let me begin by saying that I CANNOT believe that our little baby is 9 months old! I don't mean to sound cliche because I hear people say this all the time, and the old "They grow so fast" line as well, but I truly cannot believe that 9 months have past since we brought this little amazing person home! Sometimes I look at her and don't remember how we got here. She surprises me everyday, not because the things she does are so different than any other baby, but that I look at her and think she's the week old infant we brought home. I love seeing her change and grow and learn, and I am so thankful that she is healthy and able to reach all of her milestones, it just baffles me how quickly she has become this little person who has opinions and likes vs. dislikes, not just needs. She cracks me up all the time with her personality and her new occasional fits (typically when I try to put her shirt on or take paper away from her:) I know that her first birthday is just around the corner even though it seems like that should be years away! I am excited to see what everyday holds for her, so I try not to take a single day for granted, good or not so great, and cherish each moment!

She's a big girl eating out with Grandma and Aunt Holly and Mommy and Daddy

Amelia likes to help Mommy cook

Holding her Teddy lovie:)

On the Move!

Amelia has really been growing lately and actually wearing her 6 month clothes-well some of them. She's actually still wearing most of her 3-6 month clothes but just started fitting into some 6 months. She's eating everything now and when anyone around her is eating she thinks she needs some of it! This is Amelia this past Sunday after church (she's supported against the couch but does a great job at holding herself up!).

Ans as before promised, here is the amazing Amelia Grace showing her awe-inspiring motor skills as she crawls, reaching toward her cousin Alli's shoes!

Happy Valentine's Day

For Amelia's first Valentine's Day I just wanted to spend the day together as a family so Chris thought it would be nice to take a road trip (even though a road trip with an 8 month old sounds scary-it actually was really nice!). We started out just going to a boat shop (Chris' idea of course), but after we left there it was still early so we decided to go to Louisville to the Bass Pro Shop (once again Chris' idea-haha). We had a good time just looking around and if you've ever been to a Bass Pro Shop, you know that there's lots of things that Amelia enjoyed looking at. She loved the aquarium! When we got back in town, we went out to eat with a couple friends and there little boy Carden who is 11 weeks younger than Amelia. They were so cute together and people kept asking if they were twins (oh if only!!). We all really enjoyed the day just being together!

eating with Carden

looking at the fish in the aquarium

Daddy's girl for sure!

cards from Mommy and Daddy

one of my sweet Valentine's outfits

Amelia has really been moving lately! She is getting very good at pulling up on her piano toy, but nothing else apparently has been worth the effort yet! She is getting around more and more by crawling, still an 'army crawl' but she's definitely moving!

Here's Amelia playing after church
This is Amelia right after pulling up on her toy-she's so proud!

Amelia and our puppy Phoebe are becoming best friends! They are so cute together-Amelia loves to rub on Phoebe's hair and thinks it's so funny when she runs circles around her. It seems like Phoebe really loves Amelia too because anytime Amelia cries Phoebe comes to me or Chris and whines until we go see her. Phoebe even gives Amelia her ball-probably in hopes that she'll play with her, not realizing that Amelia has every intention on chewing on her ball and keeping it for herself! I hope they can always play this nice together.

Amelia and Phoebe looking out the window together:)

I'm on the move!

I tried giving Amelia a bath in the kitchen sink because I had seen other people doing this and thought it must be easier. Well Amelia thought it was great fun and splashed water across the entire kitchen, leaving me with a wet mess to clean up! Needless to say we'll be sticking to the bathtub from now on!

She knows she's cute!

Playing in church:)

Since it's been about four weeks since I've posted, this one may be a bit lengthy. Alot has been going on around the Wolsiefer house! I have just began my labor orientation at work, so if you see me in a panicked daze, don't worry-I hear it's completely normal! I'm actually really excited to be doing something new so please pray that nothing tragic happens:) Chris has been working alot, and of course fitting in a few hunting trips in between. However, this hunting season is over as of last weekend so I'm hopeful that my husband will be returned! It's nice to be back into our routine now that the holidays are over, and Amelia appreciates it even more. She has been such a good girl, our days are almost always as follows: wake up around 7:00, eat breakfast, play, nap, wake up smiling, eat lunch, play, nap, wake up, eat supper, play and go to bed. While it doesn't look very exciting there is so much that goes into these mondane activities!

Amelia's diet has expanded within the last few weeks to include table food, which has been very exciting for us! Since she was about 5 months old we have been trying to feed her baby food, but she never has liked it and therefore saw no need in eating it! It has become quite the ordeal getting her food ready only to have it on her bib, face, chair, everywhere except her mouth which she kept tightly closed. So we decided to try giving her soft foods to chew on and surprisingly she loves it! So far she likes chopped carrots, peas, mashed potatoes, mushed bananas, diced pears, and bits of crackers, rice cakes, and star puffs. The only things that she doesn't like are green beans and peaches so far. Soon I'm going to try to cook some chopped squash and sweet potatoes for her!We've also been offering her a sippy cup, but she has no interest in it whatsoever yet.

Amelia has also become more mobile within the last couple of weeks. She has been pushing herself backward for a while now, but these past two weeks she's been learning how to go forward. The process is hilarious because she gets on her hands and her tippy-toes (instead of knees) and lunges forward once, then repeats until reaching her goal, which is almost always Phoebe's ball! Occasionally she adds a high kick of the leg to the back for theatrical affect which results in laughter and fun for everyone! Unfortunately we don't have a video of it yet but I'll have one on hand next time for you to see. She's quickly learning that she can get whatever she wants just by showing a quick grin or that precious dimple-I know we're in for it!

With the weather so bad lately I'v been getting a little cabin fever so me and Amelia have been finding warm places that we can go. We've been to the library a couple of times and she loves to watch the other kids playing! I want to try to start taking her to storytime on Wednesdays -we'll see how that goes. Yesterday we went to Panera Bread and shared a bowl of broccoli cheese soup which she loved and then she sat and played while I finished eating. She was so funny and made friends with everyone around us, yelling and talking to them the whole time! However our day was slightly ruined when we left and a guy hit our car as we were pulling out of our parking spot! No one was hurt and the car can be fixed so all is well, but it really made me think about how easily Amelia could have been hurt! Thankfully she's fine and didn't even know what happened.