Amelia foot injury #1

This is the start of Amelia and her foot/toe accidents.

Take #1 (April 2016)

The kids were outside playing on the driveway while I was getting groceries from the garage to the kitchen. I was putting things in the pantry when I hear this piercing scream followed by intense crying from Amelia. I rushed outside to find her right foot was bleeding/bruised and a paver stone was moved to the side. Oh no! I quickly grabbed her and comforted her. I asked what happened and Hudson told me he lifted the paver stone to look for bugs (and therefore did not realize that Amelia's foot was underneath when he dropped it back down). The worst part was that she was not wearing her shoes while playing outside, so it did not look pretty. I was nervous that she broke her foot, so I called the pediatrician's office and asked them if we should come in. I talked to a nurse and she had me scheduled to come within the hour.

My sweet neighbor, Megan, was just getting back from walking her dog and saw the paver stone, our back door wide open, and Amelia crying loudly. She quickly came over to make sure we were all okay. She's the best!

I called Logan and told him what happened. He left work and met us at the pediatrician's office.

This was the paver stone that leads to our back door. I don't know how Hudson managed to lift that thing on his own, but my guess is he tried to lift it, realized it was too heavy, and then accidentally dropped it - not realizing Amelia's foot was underneath. So sad. 

We spent time at the pediatrician's office. You can see how nasty the abrasion was. They sent us over to an orthopedic doctor to get x-rays done. Thankfully, it was not broken - just very bruised and swollen. She couldn't walk or put pressure on it for a few days.  

She was such a tough girl through it all. Oh and the irony - we had just finished painting her toes before this all happened. 

Amelia = 2

Our sweet baby girl turned 2 years old on September 25th. We are so lucky to have this darling girl in our lives. She's sweet, sassy, kind, adores her big brother, daddy's girl at heart, and has such a free-spirit. She is definitely the light in our home and we love her to the moon! We had such a fun time celebrating her special day (with Ma & Pa in town too).

2 year old stats: coming soon (need to find them)
Weight:
Height:

A few things about Amelia...

• She answers to about any name we call her: Amelia, Mia Bee, Mia Bia, Sissy, Sis, etc. She's got a bunch of nicknames. 

• She loves to get messy while eating meals, playing outside, coloring, etc.

• Her favorite colors are blue and pink. She will always ask for either of those colors. 

• She is talking more and more. We love her sweet little voice. 

• She still has the best facial expressions. She makes us laugh every day with how silly she is. 

• She is very independent, and helpful too. She's so sweet and likes to make others around her happy whether that is by sharing or snuggling or doing her silly facial expressions. She's definitely an angel baby.

• She likes to run and be chased, likes to swing, and likes going down the biggest slides (the bigger the better for this daredevil). 

• She likes animals, but from afar. Her favorite animals are dogs or she likes to call them "dog dog." 

• She is still a baby at heart. She still has a binky and a bottle. I'm such a softy that I won't take them away (note: at 2 1/2 years old we finally got rid of the bottle, but no luck with the binky just yet). 

Dear Sissy,

We love you! You are such a firecracker and have a will of your own, but we love you all the more because of it. You make us better parents. You grew so much this year! We love seeing you absorb new things and say new phrases/words. We love the silly faces you make and how you make us laugh every day. You are such a sweetheart - we love how much you love your baby doll (you will make a terrific big sister). Thanks for being such a joy in our lives (and for keeping us on our toes). You are the best! Happy 2nd Birthday, angel baby. 

Love,

Momma & Dadda 

A few days before her birthday

How she looks in the mornings -- happy girl!

Shoe shopping with Ma 

Decorated birthday door

A little birthday photo shoot

That tongue!

That smile!

She loved her birthday gift this year!

Minnie Mouse car

new shoes from Ma & Pa

A baby doll from momma & dadda

With our birthday girl

Probably my favorite picture

Reminiscent of the exact face I made when meeting MY baby girl.

Video: Sissy opening present from Hudson 

This video cracks me up because Hudson is overly excited about his gift for her! 

Minne Mouse jammies 

Hud and Mia

If you follow me on Instagram, you can follow #HudandMia.

I am really really LOVING this stage of parenting. Hudson is currently 4 and Amelia is 2. They are at such fun ages where they are actually starting to play together. Sure, they do fight and argue but oh the moments when they are so loving and sweet to each other melts my heart. They are such good buddies. I just bottle all this sibling love up and hope it lasts for years and years to come.

Adventure seekers (looking for bugs after church)

 Hudson "reading" bedtime stories to Amelia

Video: Hud reading to Mia. 

Prepare yourselves, this is just about the sweetest video you'll ever see. 

Video: Hud and Mia playing at REI.

Can't take these two anywhere together. :) 

Amelia = 18 months

We celebrated Amelia's half birthday in March. She's becoming more of a toddler (yikes) and less of a baby. She's such a free-spirit. Always running around like crazy, giving us sass, and trying to keep up with her big brother (which she does all on her own). We just love her and her little personality!

18 month old stats:
need to find them and will post later

A few things about Amelia (at 18 months):

• She still loves her "binks" and "bobba" (pacifer and bottle). These are the last two things of "baby" items she loves. I think it's going to be harder for me than it is for her to break her from them. It's just the last signs of baby Amelia and I just can't let that go.

• She is still a great sleeper. She takes an afternoon nap and sleeps about 10 - 12 hours at night in her crib. Not ready to make the transition to a toddler bed yet because, you know, we made that mistake with Hudson.  

• She is a social butterfly. She loves to play and interact with kids her age and even adults too. You can see her at church sitting with another family or couple. She's not shy in the least. 

• She loves to eat. Not a big meat eater, but she likes just about everything else. 

• She gets into EVERYTHING. She is super sneaky. She can open the refrigerator on her own. Sometimes she'll get into the hallway closet and pull all our shoes out. She's a mess most days, but a cute one. :) 

• She is not as chatty as Hudson was at this age, but she is getting there. Her favorite words: no, bobba, momma, dada, and go.  

• She is helpful. She is great at picking up her toys, setting the table for dinner, helping Hudson when he needs a tissue or a toy, and getting her diaper for me to change her. She's so sweet. I love it! 

• She loves to be at the park. Her favorite thing to do is swing. She can do that for hours if I let her. 

Below are some pictures from when she was 18 months:

 Not liking pictures

Her "cheese" face

Playing with a little piano at the antique store

I love shopping with my girl.

We went out to lunch together and sissy wanted to sit by herself.

Miss Independent.

Pretty happy to start nursery (church class for 18 months - 3 year olds)

About to eat snacks in nursery (her favorite part, of course)

cute kids on Amelia's first day of nursery and in their Easter outfits

It was also a special half-birthday for Amelia because Aunt Kate came home from her 18 months mission in Chile. We got to FaceTime (see screen shots below) with the family when they picked her up from the Dulles Airport. We celebrated Amelia's half birthday with ice cream (in honor of Aunt Kate too -- she loves ice cream as much as we do)! What a happy half-birthday for our sweet Mia Bee! 

So much joy!

It was so good to have Kate back. 

She came down to Charlotte a few days later and these two got to meet for the first time!!! 

Sissy gets a haircut

I cut Logan's hair one time and messed it up pretty bad when we were first married. There was a huge gap in his hair because I forgot to put a razor guard on. Oops! Needless to say, he's never asked me to cut his hair since that time. I have tried cutting Hudson's hair a few times through the years, but they never turn out just the way I like it. After moving to Charlotte, I found a great place that specializes in children's haircuts. It's a tad expensive, but hey  -- they gets to watch a movie, sit in a plane/police car/train/firetruck, get snacks, stickers, and prizes galore. It's totally glamorous for a kid, but I give in because it makes for less of a mess to clean at home and saves me the trouble of doing a horrible job. Win-win.

Amelia got her first haircut back in February when she was 17 months. I didn't want to do it, but her hair was so uneven. It was a mess. I was worried that she would lose her curls, but luckily as the hairdresser was trimming -- the curls stayed. Yeah!  Amelia was perfect during the whole thing. She ate snacks and watched Frozen. No tears. I was so proud of her!

Before

During (eating her way through it)

After (such a cutie, right?)

Amelia = 1

Only a few months late, but here is Amelia's 1 year post...

Our sweet angel baby turned 1 years old on September 25th. I still remember her "birth" day and holding her for the first time. She was such a chub from the get-go (not so much anymore). A pretty big baby (8 lbs 2 oz and 20 1/2 in) for a petite person like me. I remember my midwife saying that if I had made it to my due date (she came two weeks early) that she could have easily been 9 pounds. Oh man. I sure am glad she came early, even though I was kind of hoping for an October baby. Too many September birthdays in the Corbett family (Logan's parents, Logan's sister, and myself), but such is life and she made her debut in September too -- coming the same day that her Aunt Kate left on her mission.

I can't even believe that she is a year old already. It's been quite the year juggling two kids, but Amelia has been an angel baby since day 1 -- great eater, great sleeper, no fuss baby. Seriously.


12 month old stats:
Weight: 17 pounds and 13 1/2 ounces (18%)
Height: 28 1/2 inches (21%)

A few things about Amelia...

• We like to call her Mia. I didn't always love this nickname. I really wanted everyone to call her Amelia, but then I realized pretty early on that Hudson couldn't say it so I told him to just call her Mia (my fault, I guess). Now it just sticks and I think she responds to that more than her actual name. Crazy. Hudson likes to call her Mia Bia or Mia Bee, and we do it too. 

• She loves to eat. She will eat just about anything you put in front of her. Her favorite foods are Cherrios, carrots, rice, pasta noodles, green beans, applesauce, pita chips, and most fruits. She's more of my fruit and veggie kid, not like Hudson (who is my meat eating kid).

• She is a great sleeper. I mean, she let me swaddle her until she was 10 months. I'm serious. She is just now getting into sleep training (at 14 months) and we let her cry-it-out, but lucky us she doesn't cry for more than 15 minutes. Oh, and always needs her "binks" or binky to sleep. 

• She is her brother's shadow. She will watch him play and then try to copy what he does. 

• She gets into EVERYTHING. every. single. thing. One time she got a hold of dog food at my in-laws house and ate some (so gross). Another time she found my necklace and ran away from me when I asked for it back. Silly girl. 

• Her favorite book is Fox in Socks by Dr. Seuss. She will pick it out from the bookcase and carry it around with her until someone will read it to her. 

• She still takes two naps (morning and afternoon), but is slowly transitioning to one. 

• She can hold her own. When Hudson takes a toy from her, she screams and tries to get it back from him. She also does this finger point thing or hold our hands to get to something she wants. She's a smart, feisty little thing.

• She can fold her arms for prayer and can play peek a boo. She doesn't know much sign language (we weren't consistent with it like we did for Hudson), but I think we can "read" her pretty well. Her favorite words are "dad" and "bobba (milk)." 

Happy 1st Birthday, Amelia Linh! We love you!

 She was a little sick for her actual birthday, but we managed to get a few smiles out of her.

 We made a giant birthday cookie for Hudson's first birthday, so we thought it was only fitting to do the same for Amelia. Don't worry, we didn't eat it all in one night. 

These are the bee cupcakes we made for her little birthday party a few days later. She is our cute Mia Bee after all. 

Birthday letter below (I write letters to the kids every year on their birthday -- I'll give it to them when they are older).

Dear Amelia,

We sure love you! Thanks for being such an angel baby this year. Really. You made this first year so easy, minus that little ER trip that scared us half to death (don't do that again, please). You are such a sweet girl. It's amazing to look back at pictures and see how much you have grown.

We love your little personality already -- curious, happy, determined, and sweet. You make us laugh every day with your hilarious facial expressions; they are so great! We also like to watch how you play with your brother -- always watching him and then trying to copy what he does. You are his little shadow. You are such a bright spot. Everyone who knows you absolutely loves you! It's because you are such a light. You really are, baby girl. You brought so much joy when you came into this world, and we feel so lucky that we get to witness that joy (YOU) every single day.

Happy Birthday, sweet girl. We love you to the moon and back.

Love,
Mom and Dad

Amelia's Cake Smash

Our sweet Amelia Linh turned ONE on September 25th (more about that day later). First, here are some of my favorite pictures from her cake smash/1 year photo shoot. Big thanks to Addie Butler Photography for these pictures. I think they capture her personality perfectly - happy, sweet, and a little sassy (I'll let you figure out which picture demonstrates that quality).