February In Review

I can't believe it's been so long since I've been on here. It's actually been like 2.5 months! February was fun. Cold, but fun. Amelia was able to enjoy lots of time in the snow and on her sled. Oliver wasn't so sure about the snow and hated having to be bundled up everyday to go to school. Hates were his mortal enemy. I managed to snap a few cute pics throughout the month....

One of his first art projects at school. He'd rather eat the brush than paint with it.

Ollie and his girlfriend, Sophia. They're 6 days apart in age.

Valentines Day dance at school. Oliver looks more like a farmer than anything else.



A trip to Cincinnati ... I took Ian and AG sledding in Dacia's neighbor's yard — great hill...but if you're off just a little you either slide into the house, the patio furniture or fall off a 4 foot ledge. Kinda scary! But thankfully no one got hurt.


Chupie time! (Not sure how it's spelled but that's what my Buni called it)
The kids love taking a bath together.

A little insight about Amelia

3 years old
33 lbs
38" tall

LIKES:

• Curious George — she watches him on PBS all the time and even has Curious George pajamas.
• Trying new foods (sometimes). When trying something new she takes a "no thank you" bite.
• To play dress-up...sometimes a doctor or nurse, a firewoman, or Fancy Nancy
• Doing art projects — drawing or painting, cutting out shapes, gluing things together
• To boss her brother around.
• Movies — especially those that you think would be above her intelligence level (they're not). Her new favorite is Coraline ... and Up ... and musicals (The Wizard of Oz and The Sound of Music)
• Cooking in her kitchen ... and in the real kitchen — she loves to be our little helper.
  

DISLIKES:

• Bathtime — even though it used to be her favorite. It probably still would be if she only had to play in the water and didn't have to have her hair washed.
• Having her hair dried.
• Being rushed through breakfast (she sometimes eats painfully slow on weekday mornings)
• Fast-paced movies (ex. Bolt)
• Cucumbers and tomatoes

Aunt Tami

It was a tough morning waking up today. I crawled in bed with Amelia and she laid there with me for a little while. Then she suddenly sat up, jumped out of bed and said...

"I smell Aunt Tami."
Mom: "Huh?"
Amelia: "I SMELL Aunt Tami."
Mom: "What do you mean you smell her?"
Amelia: "I smell her."
Mom: "What does she smell like?"
Amelia: "Chicken. I'm going downstairs and see her now."

Aunt Tami wasn't even at our house!!! She had been gone for days by now. I have NO idea what was going through her head...or her nose.

Amelia-isms

Amelia: (drawing with crayons) "Mom, I drew the church man."

Mom: "Do you remember what the church man is called?"

Amelia: "Yeah, a Romanian."

Guess who's crawling

Oliver's been trying for over a month to crawl and just couldn't seem to get the hang of it. He's been scooting and he's perfected the art of the super-reach but now he's officially on the move! This past Sunday he just got on all fours and started moving. The look on his face was priceless when he realized what he had just done! I have to get a video of him crawling because it's so mechanical — he looks like a wind-up toy!

Visitors, updates and firsts....

It's like he knew right where to place his little hand!

Look at those teeth.

My little bear — thank you Nasa and Nasu for the bear towel.

Amelia's first time sledding. Tyler and I took the kids to Schiller Park in German Village. The inner-tube sled is awesome — and super fast!! Oliver and I even took a couple turns sledding!

Now he's a puppy dog.

This past weekend we took Amelia bowling for the first time. She was really excited at first but lost interest by the 6th frame. She really did try to throw the ball but it just proved to be too hard. She was a great cheerleader though!

Bedtime stories.
I usually do Oliver's nighttime stuff and Tyler does AG's. I've really missed reading her books and doing prayers with her — she and daddy have their routine down though...it's really sweet and great bonding time for them.

Aunt Tami came down for a Pottery Barn shopping spree and spent the night. The next day she watched Oliver most of the day for me while I worked from home.

Ajay was in town too but she stayed with some friends at OSU. Ajay will be spending the next 4 months studying abroad in Budapest. We'll miss you!

Time for a toothbrush

I don't remember when I started brushing Amelia's teeth but I know it wasn't at 8 months old. Oliver now has 6 teeth — 4 on top and 2 on the bottom. He's done surprisingly well with not biting me while nursing — thankfully, or I'd have to quit! I started brushing his teeth the other day and he loves it! He actually gets upset when you're done brushing.

Christmas time!

The month of December went by so fast I really don't even believe that it was here. Thankfully I have photos to prove it. This year we put the tree up the weekend after Thanksgiving. Amelia had so much fun picking out the ornaments and helping me hang them on the tree. We moved around some furniture so we could have the tree in the living this year instead of in the office.

Our adventures started on Friday the 18th with nearly 3 hours of packing. Followed by a 3 hour drive to Warren. We stopped at Bob Evans on the way where Oliver had his first taste of real food — meatloaf and mashed potatoes! He loved it! (Until he burped it up 15 minutes later!)

Saturday, December 19 — Tyler and I baptized Jessica and Justin's little boy Hayden Thomas. We are now officially Nasa and Nasu (Godmother and Godfather). It is such an honor for us. That's Hayden above as we got him ready to go to church.

The Hileman's house after the baptism. In the foreground is Nolan and Oliver in his Risky Business outfit.
Oliver, looking quite handsome, with Buni and Beepa at the Hileman's.

This is my Nasa — Carol Zoba. Isn't she beautiful!

Bathtime at Buni's. I'm so lucky to have two kiddos who LOVE bath time!

Kali is such a kid at heart. She brought Torrey over to play outside in Buni and Beeps' backyard.
Beepa wanted to build a snowman with Amelia — it turned out pretty cute.
Time to thaw out after playing in the snow.

Jess and Justin came over so we could have some Christmas time together.

Monday, December 21 — Next stop was my dad's.

I swear, if you put a baby picture of me next to this one you wouldn't be able to tell the difference. I'll have to find some of mine and scan them in to do some comparisons.
Dad got Oliver down for a nap. It's such an exhausting feat sometimes that you just have to zonk out yourself!

Wednesday, December 23 — Next stop was Aunt Tami and Uncle Jamie's.
The Candella Cooks. Christmas Eve dinner was amazing thanks to these two!

Our annual Christmas Eve brunch was at Rachel's house this year. Look at all the kids! I can't believe some of us have two each already! Where has the time gone! It was so great to get all of us together again...and we missed all of those that couldn't make it this year. It's going to get harder and harder to do each year.

Back at Aunt Tami's....Before Amelia went to bed on Christmas Eve she left Santa a note with some chocolate milk (she insisted that's what he liked), some (Romanian) cookies and carrots and oats for the reindeer.

Beeps just hung out in the corner and watched the show. Oliver, like most of the time while we are in Warren, hung out with Buni. She's sort of attached to him!

This was Kali's doing. It was her very own Baby in a Box.
Uncle Jamie, Kaitlin and Ajay.

Friday, December 25th — One week later ... we made it back home that evening to spend some time with Granny and all the wonderful toys that Santa left for Amelia and Oliver at our house.
Our attempt at a family photo.

The week of Thanks and Thanksgiving

This week was full of family and friends. I am so blessed and so thankful for the many incredible and wonderful people I am constantly surrounded by.

The kids are starting to play together — it's really fun to watch Oliver's reactions to Amelia. He's doing a great job sitting up all by himself. Oliver turned 7 months this week.

Just me and my little girl.

We had Tyler's family Thanksgiving at our house this year so Nanny could join us.
I used to think our kitchen was big until we tried cramming all of us into it!
This is the time it would be nice to have a dining room instead of a play room.

Nanny and a few of her grandkids and great-grandkids.

I needed to stop in at my office and they put Oliver to work.
He loved all the attention.

Thanksgiving at Aunt Tami's house. She was all too happy to see Ian Thomas! They are so funny together.

Kali dressed the kids up in her fatigues. And they got a huge kick out of it.

Ian, Amelia, Addison Allen, Ellie, Nolan Allen and Oliver. Addison and Nolan are one of my best friend's little ones.

Aunt Tami and Oliver — she was trying to keep him warm on an extremely fridged day in Warren.

Beepa took us to see the WWII Veterans Memorial in downtown Warren. That's his "brick" in the foreground. Thank you Beeps for being such an amazing man.