Eating our way through France...

Specifically:

• Abby eats crepes and pastries every 5-10 minutes;
  


• I can't say Dave is drinking wine every 10 minutes, but I get the sense he does enjoy the whole have-a-glass-of-wine-at-a-French-cafe scene. If he starts wearing a beret and smoking cigarettes, we'll have to do an intervention. Or, I'll leave him to his own devices without a translator!;
  


• I had doral (some kind of yummy fish) STRAIGHT AND FRESH from the Mediterranean Sea today...while LOOKING at the Mediterranean while eating in a restaurant in the port town of Cassis;
  


• True to her carnivorous, carbo-loving form, Allison enjoys the Charolais variety of beef...and she is quite a baguette hound;
  
  
• And Meelsie seems to be missing basic old familiar food...and was a bit too happy to have some frites (that's French fries, which are not actually French) at a McDonald's where we accidentally / not on purpose found ourselves mid-morning today. I should have bought a bunch of boxes of chicken McNuggets (they don't ever go bad, do they, because I don't think they're real food?) which I could pop out of the diaper bag for her eating pleasure whenever we pull up to a classy French joint.

I wish I could upload photos, but alas, I'll have to share pictures when we get home.

Yesterday we drove northwest of Aix to Arles, Les Baux and St. Remy de Provence. (And yes, the GPS works pretty well--as long as I translate the French for Dave the Driver--and our French driving experience has been far more pleasant than last summer's Italy driving experience!)

Arles is the town (village?) where Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Cezanne painted. I took a photo of Dave and Abby outside the house where Van Gogh's famous "Bedroom at Arles" was painted (malheureusement, la maison etait ferme! Boo!).

Since we're so artsy, it should be known that a print of "Bedroom at Arles" hangs in our very own bedroom at home--ha! Here's what the famous painting looks like:

After Arles, we went to an amazing medieval village called Les Baux de Provence. The town and its castle date from the eighth century. It was amazing! Here is a picture (that someone else took) of Les Baux:
St. Remy de Provence is another beautiful old town. Unfortunately, many of the shops there are closed on Tuesdays, so we didn't stay long. Another of St. Remy de Provence's claims to fame is that Van Gogh was institutionalized there for about a year. Hmmmm...

Last night we dined at "Les Deux Garcons," a famous restaurant here in Aix that opened in 1792. Apparently it was a favorite of Paul Cezanne. (Also, I'm pretty sure it's the only restaurant I have ever been to that is listed in the Michelin Guide.)

After we sat down, our waiter offered us "an apperatif" to drink called, "pastis." Having recently re-read "A Year in Provence," I was all eager to drink pastis....because Mayle's friends and acquaintances in the book drink pastis like it's going out of style.

Anyway, the waiter brought Dave and me a couple of tall, narrow glasses. Each had about 2 inches of cloudy liquid, and about 8 inches of...nothing. Dave and I each took suspicious sips. Then we breathed fire across the table at one another. My my my, that stuff was STRONG!!!!

After several minutes, the non-English-speaking waiter (by the way, we haven't found ANY English speakers down in these parts...not a single speaker of English....so it's a good thing I know enough French to be dangerous!) was able to convey to us that the 8 inches of...nothing...in our glasses was meant to be filled, by us, with water. Upon adding 80% water to the highly-potent pastis base, we ended up with a somewhat palatable licorice-tasting beverage. It wasn't that bad, but I do think it's an acquired taste.

Today we drove over to a fabulous village called Cassis. Oh la la! It was so wonderful. Cassis is supposedly the "poor man's St. Tropez," but we didn't see anything poor about it. It was beautiful and quaint, and the girls loved taking off their shoes at the Mediterranean Sea. (I fear Amelia was wishing for Chicken McNuggets....but at least she was nice about it.)This is someone else's photo of Cassis. We ate at one of the buildings right in the middle of the row. Formidable!

On the agenda for tomorrow: Monaco. Friday we're off to the "Hill Towns of Luberon," then we travel to Paris Saturday. The days are going by too fast!

Aix en Provence

Happy Birthday today, Dave!

After 24 hours of planes, trains and automobiles, we arrived at our apartment in Aix en Provence late yesterday afternoon.

The adventure began with Dave forgetting his passport and taking a $300 round trip cab ride from the airport back home to retrieve it from the scanner where he was making copies before we left. He arrived at the airport 20 minutes before our flight was to leave (the rest of us were on the plane--ha!)and had to elbow his way through security to catch the train to terminal C...the farthest terminal from the main terminal. Boy am I glad I wasn't involved in the forgetting-the-passport-incident!!! Yikes!

Anyway, he barely made the flight. After an initial hour of Amelia crying and scared out of her wits on the leg from Chicago to Paris, we settled in for a few hours of sleep. Once we arrived in Paris, we took the high speed train to our depot in Aix en Provence, where we picked up our lime green rental car, and drove to our apartment. True to form, we endured another Jason Bourne-esque adventure with Dave at the wheel as he navigated extremely narrow one way streets...going the wrong way at speeds too fast for the situation...and this with the help of a GPS this time!

Finally, we arrived at our destination at 4:30 on Saturday afternoon just in time to get settled in to our apartment and then visit the recommended Brasserie around the corner for dinner. Now, we're ready to begin the R&R and tour the region in the coming 5 days we have here.

This morning we woke up and strolled down to the Sunday Farmer's Market (pictured above) just a few blocks from the apartment. We came home with fresh fruits and plenty of lavender, which is indigenous to the area.

Who knows what's in store for tomorrow?

Microbes and a cute picture and we're leaving tomorrow!

For those of you with young children. It's NEVER too late to start fearing the dreaded Science Project. At our school, it is a requirement for fourth grade. The rest of the students will turn their projects in on March 25. Since we'll be out of town then, Abby is turning her project in today.

Here's my disclaimer: Sure, she chose a bit of a tricky project. But we didn't put it off and we did budget our time wisely.

It's the darn MICROBES.

They didn't grow on our schedule. They took their own sweet time to grow, in spite of the tasty agar we fed them.


And Abby couldn't finish the project until she knew how her experiment was going to turn out.

We finally got it all put together yesterday. Yea!

Here is the finished project. We're very proud of her hard scientific research, in spite of those pesky microbes.

But as I said, no matter the age of one's young children: it's never too late to start dreading the Science Project!

Finally, here's a cute picture of Meelsie to hold you over until we return....


...because we leave for France at the crack of dawn tomorrow!

Au revoir! A bientot! A toute a l'heure!

And by the way, a rubbing alcohol solution is the best microbe-killer. Lysol is a close second. And a weak bleach solution is the worst!)

The Loss of a Hero

The orphans of Ethiopia have lost a great friend and savior. Mrs. Haregewoin Teferra, from Melissa Fay Greene's book "There Is No Me Without You" passed away yesterday, March 17, 2009.

If you haven't read "There Is No Me Without You," I can't recommend it highly enough! It will change your life.

Oh ma bonté!

"Oh ma bonté!" means, "Oh my goodness!" in French.

It is the sound of a French person who is perhaps shocked, overwhelmed or generally freaked out.

It is also the sound of a Longmontian mom who will BE in France....WITH her whole family....FOR two weeks....IN less than a week.

And that Longmontian mom HAS started to write her to-do list. But she hasn't yet started checking things off the to-do list.

And, oh yeah. One of the Longmontian mom's daughters has a science experiment to finish and project-ize before they all leave the country.

So the Longmontian mom is freaking out.

Oh ma bonté!

Would you like a ham with those peas?

Amelia is becoming one busy gal!

She plays and plays...
She works on her walking...
She digs through Mom's purse...
Examines Mom's accessories...
And tries 'em on for size!
Now she's in the kitchen...

Where she pulls out the oatmeal...

...and even offers to cook it!
Finally it's dinner time. And Amelia wonders...
..."If I plant peas in my curly hair..."
"...will they grow???"

Would you like some "ham" with your peas?

Because if you're looking for a silly, busy, darling little ham of a girl, You have come to the right place!

Retreating

I am speaking at our women's retreat this weekend. Here is the "story" I plan to share:

I started to seek to really live for God in my early twenties, when I was in graduate school. At that time, my idea of the perfect future life was to have three children--especially three daughters--and to drive a mini-van.

(Here's a 1990 minivan!)

Fast forward about ten years: I drove a mini-van. My husband and I had two lovely daughters—one I carried in pregnancy, and one who we adopted domestically. Life had not been perfect, but it had been good. And blessed. I loved God, and I could so clearly see His hand over my life. I hungered for Him—to know Him and to serve Him.

In 2002, God gave me these verses:

LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup;
You have made my lot secure.
The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
Surely I have a delightful inheritance.
Psalm 16:5-6

I was confident these verses were for my life FROM HIM. That meant more to me than I can express. These verses were God’s personal gift to me, and I expected to find my identity in them. I felt like I had a really beautiful destiny in the Lord.

You should know that when God gave me these “life verses” in 2002, I was thirty-four years old. By that time, I had lost five babies in various stages of the pregnancies. My husband’s job had gone down in really ugly flames during the dotcom bust of 2001. As I said, life hadn’t been perfect, but I knew that it had been good. The difficult situations I had experienced had served to make me grateful for God’s blessings in my life, and to bring me closer to Him.

Back to the life verses: Being very young and naïve, I thought these “secure lots” and “pleasant places” and “delightful inheritances” that God was promising me in these verses were His response to my desire to live for Him, in service to Him—in spite of the losses and bumps in the road that I had experienced.

Deep down, I think I hoped I had endured my share of pain and God was pleased with me. Perhaps I hoped I had made it through my season of “hard stuff” and the future would hold more “easy stuff.” At least, that’s how my naïve self saw it.

But it seemed as soon as God gave me these life verses, life became more difficult and more painful. Our family went for two years with no income at all. I would cry out to God, I spent hours in His Word…..looking for Him, looking for His peace. For about eighteen months I never sensed God’s presence. I felt utterly abandoned and alone. I didn’t know if I would make it. I withdrew. I sought God harder than ever before in my life. And there was no response. No sense of whether I, whether my family, would be rescued. I started to wonder if God was even real. Or worse, was He simply mean?

Finally, my husband got a company started in Kansas City, and we made plans to move there. Longmont, and Rocky Mountain Christian Church, were my heart’s home. But we were desperate for a financial reprieve, and I was grateful that something was finally happening. I thought the “rescue” had finally arrived. We put a positive spin on our move and I even looked forward to living near my mom and sister again.

A few weeks before we left Longmont, I had a phone conversation with my sister, who lived in Kansas City. Immediately after our conversation, she went to my mom’s basement and hung herself. My mom found her several hours later.

“Suicide” is a word whose meaning is impossible to grasp until you live it. The days and weeks and months following my sister’s death were a blur. We got ourselves moved to Kansas City, and if anything, it was even worse. I had left most everyone and everything I knew and loved back in Colorado. I would tell my husband I felt like an invisible woman in an invisible mini-van. Nobody in my day-to-day life knew me, and no one knew my pain. “My sister just killed herself” is a phrase that was always on my mind, one I was ready to blurt out at any time. I think I even told a stranger at Hobby Lobby once. I was so alone. I was so desperately lonely.

Meanwhile, my husband’s business was growing pretty well. In fact, it kept growing until expenses outpaced revenues. After having barely survived two years of no income at all, we had to cut our income by about seventy percent. This went on for twenty-one months.

I would alternate between clinging to God and looking for His promises….and being overcome with despair. I felt I had no more perseverance in me. I would bury myself in the Psalms. I wanted to believe God would redeem me and my life and our situation, but I was losing all hope. It would be so easy for Him to come through for us. So why did He stay away?

As I poured over the Psalms, I would occasionally run across my “life verses:"

LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup;
You have made my lot secure.
The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
Surely I have a delightful inheritance.

Reading those verses heaped pain after pain on me. I was filled with guilt and shame--how could I have been so presumptuous to claim such lofty verses for my life? I must have mis-read God. Maybe I didn't know Him as well as I thought I did. A person like me didn't deserve verses like that. In the past, I had struggled with my unworthiness. My unworthiness morphed into a sense of worthlessness. My own lack of worth enveloped me. I felt wounded on so many fronts. And deep down, the only explanation I could come up wiht was that God was hurting me, or allowing me to be hurt, because I wasn't worth any more than that. So I tried to avoid those verses and I kept them out of my mind.

Now let's move forward a bit...It's been almost four years since our family moved back to Colorado. I'm still here! I'm alive! We have less than we had, but our life is so full, and it's filled mostly with peace and a fair amount of joy. Little by little, God has restored me. Well, He hasn't restored me, exactly. Because to restore me would mean He returned me to the younger woman I used to be.

No, He has rebuilt me. He has taken the pain and the loss, the fear and the suffering, and used it all to grow me into the woman I am becoming. God has done an amazing healing and redemption in my life. Is His work complete? No. I am such a work in progress! But for the first time in my entire life, I can say I like the woman I am...even with my wounds and my warts and my weaknesses.

Amazinging, I have worked at the church for three years now, doing the job in Small Groups that is so dear to my heart. What a healing and humbling experience it has been--to work at the place that has held my heart, when I have struggled so with my worthiness and my worth.

Seven months ago, my whole family traveled to Ethiopia to bring home our new baby daughter. Her name in Ethiopia was, "Ayitu, Found Abandoned." The police found this pitiful, pale, premature and malnourished newborn baby in a park. She was eventually taken to an orphanage in Ethiopia's capitol city, where she lived until we got there.

We named our new daughter "Amelia Ayitu Howlett." "Amelia" means "work of God." Bringing her home was a risky thing--spiritually, financially and even physically (after all, our original daughters are BIG, and we parents are OLD!) But it has been a wonderful season in our lives. Amelia has brought such hope and joy and love into our family!

In spite of the healing and redemption God has completed in me, until a few weeks ago, I still avoided my "life verses:"

LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup;
You have made my lot secure.
The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
Surely I have a delightful inheritance.

I think I didn't want to put God on the spot. With the wounds I have carried, I guess I didn't feel like I could honestly and completely say that my lot has felt secure, that the boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places and that I have had a delightful inheritance. I didn't want to place on God a burden that He couldn't carry.

That's how I thought about--or avoided thinking about--my so-called "life verses."

Until God woke me up to talk to me about this retreat. It was around midnight on February 6, 2009. He gave me--again--these verses for my life:

LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup;
You have made my lot secure.
The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
Surely I have a delightful inheritance.

And He told me that these verses have always been for me. But God's intentions for my life were far deeper and more real than my youthful hopes.

When Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane and asked God to take the cup that was before Him, He accepted the portion and the cup that God had assigned Him.

God assigned me my portion and my cup as well. My own portion and cup haven't always been a bed of roses. I have even felt lost and abandoned by God. But because of the refining and the redemption that have come with my portion and my cup, I do know now that my lot is secure.

I would have been content to have my boundary lines defined by a lovely home and beautiful daughters and a successful husband. But oh! God had so much more for me! He has extended my boundary lines all the way around the world!

Through brokenness, He has started the work of molding me into this woman that I actually like. Would I recommend the circumstances I have walked through? Nope. But would I change the circumstances I have walked through? Not at all. Of course I don't know the future. I don't know what difficulties I might face.

But I do know that my name is not, "Lory, Found Abandoned." God has loved me enough to use broken circumstances in my life as He works to make me whole. He loves me enough to give me life verses! And He loves me enough to bring my life verses full circle in my heart and mind.

And as a final demonstration of how personal and kind our God is--I still drive a mini-van. And now it's filled with THREE daughters!

I fought the Samoas....

....and the Samoas won.

Allison! Abby! Amelia! Quick--get in here and take on the Thin Mints for me!

I WON!!!!

Another International Adoption Net mom has a beautiful blog called Forever n Ever n Always. (Jill's blog is also listed on the right.)

I have never had the privilege of meeting Jill, but she must be some kind of wonder woman. In addition to mothering (and home schooling!) eight kids, Jill is a fabulous writer, website creator, ministry supporter, adoption lover, generous giver and all-around woman after God's own heart.

(And to think I feel pretty good about myself when we are all basically clean and clothed--ha!)

Every week, Jill's blog offers a "Totally Terrific Tuesday Give-Away." She gives away books, music, jewelry, art, dolls and more.

This week's give-away is a beautiful dress for a baby girl....and I WON!

Here's the dress. It's called a "purple smocked safari dress." Isn't it beautiful? Won't Meelsie look fabulous?

This darling dress is from Ella Marie Boutique. 100% of proceeds from Ella Marie Boutique sales go to Room for One More, an organization that advocates adoption, helps fund adoptions, and supports orphans and orphanages.

How can it be that there are so many wonderful people working so creatively to help children?

In this current climate of fear and problems, I thank God for the breathtaking beauty that is all around us.

Not My Husband Monday (aka Laundry Wars)

So an unnamed daughter did not take the initiative to start a load of laundry today.

And an unnamed husband did not come down on the unnamed daughter for "usurping his laundry plans." No way. Not him!

(This was before the unnamed husband realized he wants to encourage the unnamed daughter when it comes to laundry. And so he did encourage her.)

We love you, Dave / Dad!

(How do laundry plans get usurped, anyway? And if laundry plans are, indeed, usurpable, please, anyone, feel free to usurp mine!)

Finally Official

In an overdue post, allow me to announce that Amelia can officially be one year old now!

No thanks to her parents, Amelia recently had the opportunity to smash birthday cake between her fingers and smear it on her face/hair/sisters. We all know that the smashing of the birthday cake is a rite of passage for one year olds.

Our small group was thoughtful enough to surprise Amelia (and us, too) with a special "#1" birthday cake, birthday hat and decorations. Thank you, Small Group! Where would we be without ya?

We were at Erik and Susan's house...

Blow out your candle, Little Darlin'!
Amelia appears a bit dazed, I know. I think it was the cake, the frosting and the fork--just too much excitement to take in!
She is clearly fascinated!
And our group even provided a special birthday character for the party!Oops, I guess that's actually Corey. Sorry, Corey!

She skis blacks!

Abby recently spent a day skiing with her bestest friend, Morgan. Morgan's dad (AKA one of our bestest friends, Derek) used to be a ski instructor, and he took the girls to Eldora for a day so they could learn to use poles and try some blue slopes.

WELL!

By the time they came home, the girls had skiied some blacks. Crazy!

Thanks, Derek!

(Derek happens to be the husband of Abby's teacher at school. Shhhhh! Don't tell Abby's teacher she missed school to go skiing--ha!)

Up they go!

They look like naturals...

It was a beautiful day...

She's got the moves...

They look so sweet and proud!

(Yes, Abby is the tallest in her class....and I think Morgan might be the smallest!)

It was a fun and successful day.

I love Abby and I'm so proud of her. She's an earnest, smart, sincere, sweet, beautiful girl. The Lord has been very good to me in the Daughter Department.

Amelia is doing better

Amelia is doing much better now. Yea! Her appetite is back, she's turbo-crawling and cruising around like nobody's business.

Me? I'm re-learning how to put on a bit of make-up and get fully dressed for the day, now that we leave the house again!

Just because it's cute...

Apparently a family in Maryland came home recently to find, um, a guest had come in through their doggy door:

This is so cute, I can hardly stand it!

Serious. Life Magazine

I wanted you to know about this online publication I’m a part of called Serious.Life Magazine. They just published the February issue today, and I am in their Featured Blog Directory. It’s a very high quality (and free!) magazine… you’ll really like it.

The magazine includes a lot of great content from bloggers you’ll appreciate, as well as great features, photos and other articles. The magazine is owned and published by a family who have seven kids, three adopted and one who has Leukemia (http://www.riggsfamilyblog.com/). The magazine gives away a bunch of ads to charities and ministries. Besides great articles on interesting people, there is a lot about family, adoption, personal finance, spiritual life, humor… all sorts of “life” topics.

Again, the subscription is free, and I know you’ll enjoy the magazine. So take a minute to check it out and sign up to get future issues. http://www.seriouslifemagazine.com/ .

plus Croup

Amelia and I spent much of the night at our local E.R.

In addition to the influenza, she has croup!

She received a breathing treatment and a dose of steroids. Her breathing still sounds awful, but it is less labored.

The rest of us are on tamiflu, in the hopes that we won't catch the flu (and yes, we did get flu shots).

I'm pretty old to pull all-nighters....hopefully I can join Amelia in some naps today.

So Sick

Poor Meelsie is sick. After a 7:30 a.m. appointment with Dr. Hughes this morning, we found ourselves at the hospital for a few tests. So we would know how to treat her, we had to find out what's wrong. The suspects were pneumonia, RSV, croup or influenza.

And the winner is----influenza!

The poor little baby is so, so sick.

Everyone in our house will start on tamiflu here in a bit. Amelia's breathing is pretty labored, but we'll try to keep her home (vs. in the hospital).

The silver lining in this little gray cloud: lots and lots of snuggles with mom!

Weep with us

I saw this video on Jill's blog. I hope you will take the time to watch it.



I was holding Amelia as I clicked on it and started to watch. I guess the drums at the beginning caught her attention, because she turned her head to watch with me.

I know this sounds perhaps overly dramatic, and maybe even not believable, but here is what happened:

As the video played, and as it came to the part where the sick children were laying in the dirt, and then crying....Amelia's little lower lip puckered out further and further, and her eyes well up, and little tears ran down her cheeks. She watched, transfixed, for a few more seconds.

Then she turned her head and snuggled in to me.

If you read our blog, you know Amelia just turned one on January 11.

I don't know what this means, how my baby can be in tune with suffering....but mostly, how this kind of suffering can happen in various places around the world, to children, when we serve a Good God who loves these kids, and there are good people who are willing to help.... I have no words.

Father, what is to be our role?

Musings

It's fascinating to watch the inauguration of President Obama and his administration unfold. Not only is it fascinating; more than once, I have found myself choked up as I read about, or watch on TV, the beauty of this fresh start, the hope that so many place in this man.

(Before I continue, I should offer this disclaimer: He wasn't my man, I didn't vote for him. Do I hope he succeeds? Absolutely! Will I do all I can as a citizen and lover of my country? You bet!)

I think soon-to-be President Obama is a good man. A smart man. One who desires to serve our country well. And I'm so extremely thankful--for the very fact that I don't doubt Mr. Obama's integrity. I love that he loves his family. I love that my kids can relate to him because they can relate to his kids. Not that this should matter, but I think I even love that I can relate to him somewhat, because we are in the same decade, age-wise.

One of the reasons I count myself in the "other" political party is because I am pretty conservative, socially and fiscally. I want to believe that people (especially people in the form of The Church) can do things better, with more love and effectiveness, than Government. One of my choked-up moments came this morning, as I watched footage of Mr. Obama painting a shelter for homeless teens. President-Elect Obama has a tremendous opportunity to frame how we look at our world today. I think it's fantastic that he has been so incredibly intentional with his words and deeds. If I am moved, how many thousands...hundreds of thousands...millions of people are similarly moved to do the right thing, to make a difference?

I appreciate, too, the fact that Mr. Obama does not seem to be operating in an overly partisan fashion. I hope, and I'll continue to pray, that he can find common ground, that he can help both of the sides put our country first, as opposed to partisan dogma.

At church yesterday, the fear and anxiety that so many are suffering was nearly palpable to me. Dave heard that approximately 150,000 jobs were lost in the U.S. last week. We know too many people who have been laid off. Many more who are in fear of losing their jobs. Our country is in a pretty scary place right now. So many problems and dangers...far more than one human can take on and fix. So many people are placing so much hope in the new administration.

But still. The hope is refreshing. The hope that people are putting into action is better yet.

Dear God, please bless America. And bless our new President, too.

(Gentle Readers, I welcome any opportunity to dialogue with you as we watch this chapter in our history unfold!)

Well Baby

Amelia had her 12 month well baby check-up yesterday. She is still small, but she's comin' along. Here are her stats:

• Weighs in at 16 pounds, 9 ounces (up 2 pounds, 5 ounces in the last 10 weeks)
• Measures in at 28.5 inches

So, she's finally on the weight chart (3%) and she's at 25% on the height chart. (I can think of worse things than being tall and thin.)

I think she has recently lost a bit of weight because:

• she has decided she's "done" with baby food, and
• she's not too interested in bottles and not yet interested enough in milk, and
• she's so darn active, she burns calories like a mad woman.

The good news is, she is progressing nicely, and she's right where we hope she would be developmentally. Yea!

Happy Birthday, MEELSIE!

Amelia is one year old today!

Almost there!

Amelia had her first physical therapy appointment of the year today. Wow, she has made lots of progress just in the past couple of weeks. Even Miss Jessica (Physical Therapist extraordinaire) was impressed, I think. Jessica thinks Amelia is just two to four weeks behind target. What tremendous movement!

Here's what she does now these days:

• In the past week, Amelia has become a fairly avid crawler...and she gets more adventurous every day.
• She pulls up on everything.
• She cruises around on most things.
• She goes from sit to kneel to stand to sit to crawl to twist to move to rotate to kneel-on-one-knee to crawl to sit to crawl to twist to crawl to kneel--all in about 5 seconds.
• She is done with baby food and will really only eat real people food. She can't quite use a spoon/fork, but she won't eat unless she has one in her hand.
• She's done with bottles, too.
• She is into everything and we (well, I) have our work (well, my work) cut out for me.

She's a real girl! Go, Amelia!

(One year old doctor appointment is coming up next week. We'll see what the doctor thinks!)

Super Cool -- Wordle!

I found a super-fun site called Wordle on another blog.

You, too, can go to Wordle and create a "beautiful word cloud" using words that are important to you. It's free, it's fun, it's easy--and dare I say I feel a bit crafty?

Let me know if you make (and post) a Wordle...I'd love to see 'em!

New Baby in the House

Amelia's Aunt Ginger and Uncle Mike gave

her a Bitty Baby for Christmas.

Here she is, clearly fascinated and intrigued.

Napping with Baby...

Sharing a snack with Baby.

Amelia LOVES Baby's opening-and-closing eyes. When we tell her to give Baby a kiss, she leans in for a big ol' wet one. So sweet!

There's nothing like a baby's first Christmas. Christ gave us so many gifts in 2008.