What's new with Amelia at 9 months!

Amelia had her 9 month check-up yesterday. She was much more aware of her surroundings this time and was a little worried about the scale and "extra-happy" nurses! Fortunately, we made it through this visit with no shots! YAY! Our growing girl weighed in at 17.2 lbs and is 27 1/2 inches long. The doctor said she is perfect in every way... (no Duh! you mean I paid $30 for you to tell me something I already know!?)

Anyway, the doctor did give me some helpful tips to deal with her teething, which we desperately need because those teeth have been making her fussy!! He suggested we throw the orajel out the window and rub benadryl on her gums at night. During the day, he suggested we take one of her wash cloths and wet it then stick it in the freezer. When it gets hard and crunchy, let her go to town on it! GENIUS!!! I guess that was worth the money....she loves crunching on her wash cloth

It really is amazing how fast they grow! She looks so adorable with her two new teeth. I'm having the hardest time getting a picture of them. Every time I open her mouth she sticks her tongue out! AGH! Don't worry... I'll keep trying. I'll be sure to post it when I succeed!

Mardi Gras Mambo

As a New Orleans native, Mardi Gras is certainly nothing new to me! I've collected more beads and king cake baby dolls than you care to know about. As a child, I never went to many parades. Mostly because it just wasn't worth the traffic and long waits with a bunch of crazy people! However, in Alabama, Mardi Gras is celebrated a little differently. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of parades and plenty crazy people. So what's the difference??.... THE SNOWBIRDS AND MOON PIES! I don't know if you know what a snowbird is, but they're the ones who come down south for the winter. And if you've never tasted a moon pie... well let me just describe it for you. It taste like stale graham crackers with old marshmallows in the middle and the whole thing is covered with chocolate that taste a little like card board! Sounds tasty doesn't it?

Playing with Daddy

Waiting for the parade to start

Still waiting and getting tired!

Well, yucky moon pies and all, we decided to steal away from the church office today and catch the 1:30 parade in Orange Beach. We figured Amelia needed to experience the Mardi Gras madness. When we arrived, we were greeted with a bunch of cheek-pinchin' snowbirds. Everyone thinks Amelia is SO cute and of course I can't deny that! After about 45 minuets of waiting for the parade to pass our way, people began feeling sorry for our fussy 9 month old who was ready to call it a day! So the lady standing next to us adorned Amelia's neck with her first set of Mardi Gras beads! Which was pretty sweet for a snowbird!








We watched the parade roll for about 15 min. and after catching a total of 4 beads...Amelia was ready for her nap and not loving the parade scene.




Oh well, it was fun while it lasted! Check back tomorrow for a new post. Amelia goes for her 9 month check up tomorrow. I can't wait to see how much she has grown since her 6 month check up! She offically has two teeth now, by the way! YAY!

The Donley update

My deepest apologies for being a blog "slacker"! It's amazing how fast time gets away from you! All is well here and as usual, we have been super busy! Our neighbors often ask us if we really live in our house or if it's just a place we visit occasionally!? That's pretty sad!

Matt is keeping busy with the youth and putting in some extra hours doing construction work on our new building expansion at the church! That's right folks, you read it right....Matt is sawing, nailing, & screwing in objects to a building that our church will soon occupy! (If you know anything about Matt, you know that "handy-man" work is not his forte). But he is doing great! I'm so proud of him! In addition to being super mom, I'm preparing for a big women's conference that is coming to our church next weekend. They have asked me to lead the worship for the event so I'm trying to get myself organized!

Enough about us! I know Amelia is the one you really want to hear about! =)

She is doing great and growing like a weed!! She is 8 months old now. We haven't been to the doctor since her 6 month check-up, but if I had to guess, she probably weighs about 17 lbs. and some ounces. She is a little petite thing! We are waiting for her first teeth to break through any day now! She has been very irritable this past week because of all the teething!! Her most favorite thing to play with and chew on is the TV remote!!

We have tried everything within our power to get this little one mobile... but she is just not interested in the whole crawling thing. We even bought her this little crawl ball that moves around on it's own which is supposed to encourage crawling. YEAH RIGHT! She is scared of it!! Every time it starts to move on it's own she starts to cry. Crying is one thing she rarely does! We are very lucky! She's also afraid of the vacuum cleaner. I can't vacuum the house unless someone holds her and distracts from the noise!

On a brighter note.... her hair is really starting to come in! I can finally put all the cute little bows in her hair!! She looks so much more girly now! Too cute!

Her baby babble sounds a little something like this now-a-days.....

1. AHHHHH Ba Ba Da Da Da Da

2. Mum Maaaa Mum maaaa

3. ewwww ohhhhh

I bet you feel silly right about now trying to read all those sounds! HAHA!

Amelia is going through a "kissy" phase right now and has been puckering up a lot these days. She loves to give kisses to anything and anyone...which kinda freaks me out a little. I'll catch her giving kisses to kids in the nursery that I don't even know! And she won't just settle for the forehead or cheek... it has to be right on the lips!!!

Ah well, it doesn't seem to stop me from kissing her all over! She truly is precious and it's hard to believe that we will be celebrating her 1st birthday in about 4 months!!! Time really does fly!

Another year has come and gone!

It's hard to believe that 2008 is already over!! What an exciting year this has been for our little family! We have enjoyed every minuet that 2008 has had to offer!! Who knows what next year will have in store for us!

Amelia and I will be "ringing in the new year" cuddled up in our jammy's and in the bed!! Matt on the other hand, will be bowling the night away with our youth group! I'm going to take Amelia for a little while, but then it's back home and off to bed!!

For all of our adoring fans who are wondering how Amelia's first christmas went...wonder no more! She had a great time! I was actually quite impressed with her unwrapping a.k.a. eating paper skills! She had SOOO many presents to unwrap! Needless to say... nap time came early for this little one! She was exhausted! Must be such a hard life!

We spent the holidays at my mom's (grandmama's house) and enjoyed every minuet of just being back home! She even pulled out some of her yummie recipes and we ate our hearts out!

Mimi and Josh got to come too which was an added bonus to our holiday fun. The more family the merrier!

For those of you who we didn't get to hug this holiday season ( Grandpa Bob, Mam-maw, Pap-paw, Neesie, & Granny) Here is a big hug from all of us...especially Amelia....*Squeeze* Squeeze* *REALLY BIG SQUEEZE* =)

May God Bless this upcoming year and be with each of you for 2009! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Here are some pictures from our christmas 2008!

This Amelia in action opening up her presents on christmas morning!

Picture perfect moments!

The holidays are times for giggles, fun, and memories!! Here are a few pictures that capture the beginning of our holiday fun. The weather has been pretty cool here the last few weeks and we've had to bundle up our little one! (Although it hasn't been that cold....I'll find any excuse to snuggle up to my two most favorite people!!) =)

The family drinking hot cocoa...YUM!


Our little snow bunny!

sweet dreams

Daddy and Amelia picking out our christmas tree!!

This is her "angelic face"

Thanksgiving Highlights

I know I'm a little behind, but our thanksgiving memories were too special not too share with everyone! We had a great time visiting with family and of course being back in good ol' Louisiana!

Every year for thanksgiving we always attempt to cook the turkey a different way. My mom came up with the "great idea" of doing our turkey trash can style. That's right folks... TRASH CAN TURKEY!! translation: Redneck smoker.

Matt attempting to "get the fire going" haha

Looks like it worked!!

I must admit....it tasted DELICIOUS!



Amelia had her fun too! She was tempted and lured by all those grandma's to taste the table food. I stood my ground and somehow managed to protect her from all those fingers dipped with thanksgiving delights!.....Well almost all of them... my brother managed to stick a finger full of turkey gravy right into her mouth. Fortunatly, the camera wasn't far out of site and I was able to catch her first taste on video!!

Needless to say... I think she liked it!

Our little Amelia is 6 months old now and last time we checked she weighed in at 15 lbs. & 26" long! She is sitting up great with very little help! She has started to learn some new baby babbles this month. In the words of Amelia "ba ba dah dah ba"! Sounds like she will learn to say da-da before ma-ma *sigh* I did all the work and get none of the credit! =)

Thanksgiving is almost here.....

And that means I'm one step closer to being home with family!!! I can hardly wait! There is just something so wonderful about being home for the holidays!
We are headed off to New Orleans tomorrow evening and we will be welcomed by two proud grandma's who just can't wait to get their hands on our little Amelia!

This will be her first thanksgiving and I'm sure she will want to have her hands in all the food! She will be happy to demonstrate her "great" table manners! Spitting, mashing food in hands, and other bodily functions will be part of her routine.

During our time off, which we so desperatly need, I'll be working on giving our blog a facelift. I think it's time for a change! I can't wait to share all our thanksgiving memories with you!

Have a great turkey day!
To all our family and friends that we won't see on thanksgiving day...we miss you and hope your day is great!!