Racing Daddy!

Shaun challenged Amelia to a race last night. The smart little peanut got crafty and intercepted Daddy to win the race. I love how she knew to crawl underneath him and through his arms. Such a smart girl!

10 Months Old!!

This angelic little face...

...can be quite the terror now that she can do this...

...and this...

And she LOVES to crawl under the kitchen table where I can't easily reach her.

I haven't taken a picture because I don't dare do anything that reinforces her to

keep doing it. It's hard enough not to laugh.

Our Sweet Pea

Puckered Lips

This always makes me laugh. I wish I could get a shot of it straight on but no luck yet. It's super funny and neither Shaun nor I can do it.

More bouncing

Amelia loves to bounce. She doesn't do it a ton in this video but she does that thing were she makes noises with her lips and I haven't put a video of that up yet.

Brush & Rinse

Amelia was brushing her teeth in the bath tub the other night. The next thing I know she leans down and opens her mouth to get some water from the little whale that squirts water. She didn't swallow - just opened her mouth and rinsed out her mouth. Way too clever!

"He just smiled and gave me a vegemite sandwich"

Shaun was INSISTENT on letting Amelia try Vegemite. Ugh, I can't believe she didn't spit it out!

Immediately after I stopped recoding (darn it!) Shaun said, "Yup, she's my girl. There's definitely a little bit of Aussie in her." So if she didn't like it, she's not yours???? Not sure what that meat but he was very happy she didn't spit it out. Now I'm outnumbered in the Vegemite debate. I still say she can't talk for herself so until she asks for it, she's tolerating it, not liking it.

For those of you that don't know what Vegemite is, it is a yeast extract. While one of the world's best sources of Vitamin B, it is NASTY. It smells TERRIBLE and tastes like something foul that has been drowned in salt. As you can tell, I really don't like it.

Oh and my mother-in-law said that Oprah likes Vegemite. I thought about it and of course she said she likes it. Could you imagine the response if Oprah said something nasty about Vegemite??? She was being polite. I'm convinced.

Happy (???) New Year!

I can't believe it's already January 15th! I am definitely starting 2011 off terribly...

- No blog posts yet this year!

- I got Mastitis right after the New Year. Talk about AWFUL! There was a day or two that I just wanted to have my breast removed. Who knew one (small) part of your body could hurt so much?!?!

- I have only written ONE thank you card from Christmas and it still hasn't been mailed. I need to write the rest and get all of them in the mail.

- I have indulged in too many sweets. I was down 12lbs from what I weighed when I got pregnant. Now I'm hovering around 9. So, Mom, please don't send anymore chocolates or sweets.

- Our house still isn't clean and we still have clean clothes spread out on the bed in the guest bedroom because we are too lazy to put them away.

Despite all of this, we have had a good year so far. Amelia is pulling herself up to a standing position (oh,

Lord help us!), Shaun got a raise at work, I gave my

notice at work (more on that in a minute), and Amelia and I started a Baby Music class today.

Amelia is growing like a weed. I took this picture of her this morning before we went to our music class. She looks like such a big girl. And she acts like one too. Due to our hardwood floors she doesn't really crawl in the traditional sense. We joke and say she slithers. Whatever it is, she knows how to get where she wants. She is also able to pull herself up onto her knees and a few times now, to a stand. When we stand her up she can hold herself up with support from a toy, couch or table. A few times she's stood completely free of help! She just hasn't really figured out how to move her feet to walk. I'm in no hurry for her to be that mobile so I'm not complaining!

Part of the reason she's growing so much is she eats like her daddy - non-stop! I think one of her favorite things is trying the food samples at Costco! :) She LOVES food. Some of her favorites include black bean quesadillas, yogurt, peas, Veggie booty, turkey, waffles and ribs. Yup, ribs. I have a video I'll have to post. She went crazy over my ribs the other night. She is eating pretty much anything Shaun and I eat. She had part of a

cheeseburger one night, a pork chop the next and chicken another night. Oh and she loves cheesy potato casserole and parmesan rissotto! It cracks me up when she finds something she really likes. She eats every bit of that bit of food and then eats whatever else is on her tray.

She now has 7 teeth as 1 more has popped through on the bottom. Another one is close so any day now we'll be up to 8! Her next Well Baby appointment is on Tuesday so it will be exciting to see how she's doing with all her stats.

As I mentioned above, I gave my notice at work. I haven't been super happy there since I started last July. I am not a fundraiser. I tried to be because I liked the idea that the work I was doing was making a difference but I'm a details and logistics kind of girl. I like to spend people's money - not ask for it! :) I have been fortunate enough to be working on a conference called the Caribbean Yoga Conference. It will take place in February 2012 in Jamaica. I am the Director of Event Planning and luckily, it is big enough that it gives me some stability to do my own thing - something I've wanted to do for awhile.

Friday, January 21st, is my last day with the MS Society. From there I will be working for myself doing business as D3 Event Management. My tagline is Dreamed. Designed. Delivered. I am marketing myself as a full-service event planner available for weddings, conferences and any other celebration. I'm nervous but excited. I have lots of great contacts and I think I'll do well. I'm also going to put my name on the list to be a substitute teacher in 2 of the local school districts and if I need to, I'll get a part-time job. I'm excited to give my dream a chance. Keep your fingers crossed for me. :)

Well, I should probably clean up the house or put some laundry away. I will probably upload a few overdue videos though. :)

Our Jumping Bean

We took this last night. She has an uncanny way of knowing when we're using the video camera versus the camera. The second I stopped recording she was jumping like crazy and then I would start recording and she's stop. Silly, Goose!

Checking out my wheels!

That's MY Mike!

My friend Jesse from college gave Amelia this teddy bear. We appropriately named him Mike. Amelia ADORES Mike and for several weeks would look everywhere for him if he wasn't in reach. She gets the biggest smile on her face when she sees him. He has had to endure the washing machine multiple times in his short life because she loves him so much (in other words, slobbers all over him as she chews on him!).

Ribs!