Isabella Grace is on her way!

Isabella's Mommy and Daddy!

Me, Danielle, and Isabella...in the womb :)

Showered with blessings!

Just remember Isabella...She was my friend before she was your Mommy!

I got to spend this past weekend helping my sweet friend Danielle get ready for the arrival of Miss Isabella Grace, who is expected to make her grand entrance any day now!! Our church family in Gulf Shores threw a shower for her this weekend and Amelia and I just couldn't stand to miss out on the fun! I'm so excited for Brandon and Danielle! I know they will be wonderful parents and I can't wait to love on their new baby girl!
Those past couple of days were the ulitmate definition of a "girl's weekend", considering we talked more about nursing and nursing bras than any one man would care to know about! We had more fun organizing all the little girly things ( and trust me...their was A LOT to organize!) In a lot of ways, Danielle and I are so much alike. However, we totally differ in the way we prepared for Labor. I had my hospital bags packed and ready to go 2 months before my due date! I cleaned and vaccumed the house continually! Danielle, on the other hand didn't even know she needed one and rather than "nesting" she would prefer to be "resting" HAHA! Needless to say...between me, her momma, and grandmamas, we managed to get her butt in baby gear!! It was such a fun weekend!

Danielle's Mom and Grandmothers! We all had so much fun getting baby things done!

Danielle testing out Isabella's stroller

Don't think for two seconds that Amelia went without say in this whole eventful weekend. She wasn't so sure about this Isabella girl. She didn't quite understand why there were so many new and fun things to play with that she couldn't take home with her. Or, why all those presents weren't for her!

Hmmm... I'm not so sure about this girl!

The piggy bank she is holding was of course for baby Isabella but Amelia never wanted to put it down! At least she didn't break it! At Danielle's shower she fell in love with the cutest stuffed Giraffe and when we told her she couldn't keep it because it was for Bella she cried and wasn't too happy about it! Looks like mommy is going to be on the hunt for this little Giraffe!

Balloons make me happy!

It really was a great weekend! Now, we are just waiting on Isabella to arrive! Hurry up little one! We can't wait to meet you!

Amelia's First Playgroup Experience

Today was truly an experience for, not only Amelia, but Mommy too! I took Amelia to her first REAL playgroup at our local library today. Every Thursday at 10:30 the library offers a "lap-sit" play group! When I heard about this, I jumped all over the opportunity to get her around some social interaction. She really isn't used to being around a bunch of other kiddos. All this moving around from place to place and instability in our lives has really created a social gap for our little one. I was a little nervous about how she would do, but fortunately, as soon as Mrs. Sheryl (the lap-sit teacher) started singing "twinkle, twinkle, little star", Amelia's attention was captivated!

The group was simply adorable! The age range of the class is birth-24 months, so there where many different ages and stages represented! Mrs. Sheryl started the class by gathering everybody in a circle and we all sang fun songs together! She even passed out these adorable foam shapes or animals that went along with each song we sang! Stars for "twinkle, twinkle", Monkeys for "10 little monkeys", Spiders for "itsy, bitsy spider" and I could go on and on! Amelia loved the group singing!

After sing time was over, Mrs. Sheryl pulled out books and toys! Just when Amelia thought things couldn't get any better!!

And after toy time and a little book reading... the bubble machine made a GRAND appearence!! Oh the joy that filled that little girls heart!! The bubbles were enough to keep us coming back week after week! What a fun day!

Words of the Week

Recently, our little Amelia has decided to start testing out a little fine motor skill we like to call, speech! As a first time momma, I often worried about her speech progression and if she would ever be able to say more than jibber jabber! Well look out world... this little girl has a lot to say! I thought it might be a good idea to start blogging about the new words she has been learning. I'm sure one day I will be grateful for writing about her new discoveries! So here are some of the new words she has learned to say this week...

"Apple" (this is her most favorite word this week)

"Cook"

"Milk"

"Cow"

"Cup"

"tweet tweet" (She says that when she sees a bird)

I am so proud of her! I also wanted to share with you a few things that she just simply cannot live without! Let's just say these are a few of her favorite things!

Amelia loves to organize the cans in Grandmama's pantry! She stacks them up and then puts them back on the shelf.

All girls know the most essential piece in an outfit are the
SHOES!! These are her favorite pair! I swear she would wear them to bed if I let her!

And of course, no little girl is complete without her... (eh hem) My Burt's Bee lip balm!

I brought Amelia to the Library for the first time a couple days ago and this is one of the 5 books she picked out! It's her favorite!

The ultimate snack! Goldfish!

A Crazy Little Thing Called Love

Webster's Dictionary defines the word "love": To hold dear, Cherish : To Thrive in : To feel affection or experience desire. The Bible describes love as patient, kind, it does not envy, it does not boast. It is not rude, or self-seeking. It is not easily angered and keeps no record of wrong. Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. LOVE NEVER FAILS!

Today is Valentine's Day and as I reflect on the true meaning of love I can't help but think about the people in my life that I love the most! I thank God everyday for my precious family. I can look into the sweet face of my little girl and be held in the arms of my husband and experience the love of God in them and through all they do! After all, God IS love!
Here are some pictures of my "Loves" that we took today! Happy Valentine's Day!

Fall Fun!

I can't express how much I love the FALL! The cooler weather, the warm, cozy, comfort foods, jackets, and scarfs! These are a few of my favorite things! Not to mention the anticipation of the holidays right around the corner! =) This past weekend started out dreary but overnight turned out to be just perfect! We visited our former hometown of Gulf Shores this weekend and celebrated with Gulfway Assembly on the dedication of their new, FABULOUS, facility! So many mixed emotions but we are so excited about all that God has in store for that region! We couldn't dare drive through without a visit to one of my most favorite places...the OUTLET MALLS! We passed by all sorts of cuties in their Halloween costumes, however our little Amelia was the ultimate little cutie pie for halloween! (aka I forgot to buy a costume!) Ah well, life goes on! I did score some cat/hampster ears (you decide!) at a garage sale!! I thought it would do! The whole weekend Amelia carried around her tride and true little rubber duckies! She loves them in the bath and out! She kept them with her everywhere we went and did not want them out of her sight! So, the ducks participated in picture time with us!

Saturday night we went to a fall festival and Matt and I played all the carnival games for Amelia in hopes to win her some candy! All she cared about were the dum-dum suckers! She loves them! So, unfortunately, I was stuck eating all the chocolate! So much fun! We had a great weekend!!

Like Mother, Like Daughter

I just had to share this video with all of you! As I was getting dressed one morning I found Amelia in my closet trying on all my shoes! Naturally, she fell in love with my high heels! She is a true girly girl and I love it! Fortunatly, I had the camera close at hand and was able to catch her attempting to walk in her mommy's shoes!

Amelia just turned 17 mo. and she is growing like a weed!! She is so smart and I just love her to pieces! Everyday is a new adventure with her and I can't wait to see what she will discover next!

Lil' Miss Priss

Those three little words are most certainly the best way to describe our dainty beauty! She is 100% GIRL! But I love every bit of her! A couple days ago we decided to take Amelia to the park. The weather outside was finally starting to feel a bit more like fall and we quickly came up with a way to take advantage of it! I made several attempts to swing on the swing-set with Amelia but she was not too fond of that idea. It seemed a little too daring for her I guess! She mostly enjoyed walking around and staring at all the other "big" kids playing! Here are a few pictures and a video that I managed to snap while we were out!

Amelia spotted her daddy sitting on the park bench! Oh the excitment! Listen for her sweet chatter!