A Spirit of Gratitude

When I first started this blog I regularly posted things I was grateful for. The items on the weekly lists varied from heat on cold mornings to sweet excited puppy greetings to lazy evenings in with David. I tried hard to think of different items, but often had repeaters because they meant so much to me. I got away from that habit and in turn got away from thinking of things I was routinely grateful for. 

Fast forward to earlier this year when I read Ann Voskamp's One Thousand Gifts. It was a beautifully written book full of poetic musings from Voskamp and while it took me a while to get through (too much of her writing at one time hurt my brain!), I am very glad I did. I was able to take away from it the concept of "eucharisteo" and started to pause more in my day for moments of thankfulness.

Fast forward even more to present day when I am once again struggling to be grateful for my many blessings. I find it easy to be thankful when I am exposed to the less fortunate, but am not as quick to lift my arms in praise when caught up in the day to day. I find it hard to be thankful for a toddler's temper tantrum until I see a friend post on social media about her child who is so physically and mentally delayed this child will never lift her head on her own. And I'm complaining about my perfectly healthy child?!? Shameful.

Instead of allowing myself to get caught in the day to day I am going to be taking the time to write down 3-5 things/people/moment/events/etc I am grateful for every day. I am asking for your prayers to keep my mind and heart clear and focused on the Lord's blessings as I do this because we must remember. . .

Halloween Happenings

Last year for Halloween we stayed close to the house and Amelia Grace wore her costume for all of 15 minutes before she decided she'd had enough of being a little chickie. This year was way different and has me even more excited for the future! Our little strawberry had more fun than I can express in these simple words as she went to a few houses and then hung out with her new pal, Addie. She even got to enjoy a piece of her candy behind our backs when she somehow managed to get a KitKat bar open without our help! I think it's safe to say we have a Halloween fan in our fam. What made the day even more special was when we got to introduce her to Carter-Finley Stadium for her first tailgate and football experience. This year is going to be hard to top!

Go Pack!

Our little cheerleader went trick-or-treating in the parking lot before the game.

SO much joy in this little one's heart!!

Mountain Getaway

I love Fall and everything that comes along with it. Changing leaves? More like eye candy. Pumpkin spice everything? Never met a pumpkin-spiced food I haven't loved. Cooler temperatures and shorter days? Sounds like an excuse to binge watch Gilmore Girls on Netflix. Seriously, I absolutely adore Fall. A few weekends ago we were fortunate enough to head to the mountains and take in some of the gorgeous views of North Carolina with some fantastic friends.

We kept it low-key on Friday evening but ramped up the fun Saturday and Sunday with hiking, the outlet mall, and multiple trips to the grocery store (there were 12 people total-we couldn't help but forget a few things here and there!). The kiddos had a great time running around our incredible hideaway "cabin" (it slept all of us comfortably which blows my idea of a cabin right out of the water!) and through the woods on our hikes. There were lots of laughs and good food to be had and I'm pretty sure we all left with our hearts a little fuller as well. All in all it was a fabulous weekend and we can't wait to do it again soon!!

You mean your husband doesn't do push-ups while baby wearing??

Baby girl taking in the views.

So many beautiful leaves!

She was NOT a fan of the horses!

Love Ran Red

A few weeks ago I was fortunate enough to attend the Women of Faith conference which included a performance by the awesome Christian band, Building 429. That was my first ever "Christian concert" and it was incredible! I've been to lots of concerts over the years (thanks, Mom, for taking me to see NSYNC and not complaining about your ears bleeding), but that one was a totally new experience. As luck would have it one of my most favorite acts was performing later that week in Raleigh. I had been bitten by the concert bug and knew I needed to go. I talked to David about it and while he would have gone if I had begged and pleaded it wasn't really his thing, but my mom on the other hand was totally up for it, so later that night I bought tickets for us to see Rend Collective and Chris Tomlin!

You may remember me mentioning Rend Collective a few months ago when I wrote about "Amelia Grace's song". She and I would rock out every morning to "My Lighthouse" this summer while living in the apartment so it will always hold a special place in my heart. Aside from that spectacular work of music, they have a bunch of wonderful, Christ-focused words put to music that reminds me of Mumford & Sons. That's a win-win if I ever saw one. So while I was "eh" about seeing Chris Tomlin I was stoked to see Rend Collective! 

Neither act disappointed as we spent the evening worshipping the Lord with a couple hundred other friends. Rend Collective kicked off a great show with a few of their classics (including "My Lighthouse"!) and Chris Tomlin rounded out the evening with a few songs of his own. Both acts were great and well worth the money! If you have the chance to see either I would highly recommend taking that chance!

Me and Mama!

My Lighthouse!

Got To Be NC!

Every year for as long as I can remember I have gone to the Carolina Renaissance Festival in the Fall. When David and I got married he joined in and it became one of our favorite traditions (recaps can be found here and here) and last year we added Amelia Grace to the adventure! Following our big move this summer we knew we would have to replace this year's Renaissance Festival visit with something a little different-the North Carolina State Fair! Many moons ago (okay, like 8 years ago) David and I started going together when we were in college. Little did we know that we would be returning with our sweet girl down the road! 

My two sisters heard we were going and decided to join us for the adventure. Mandy and her husband, Tyler, provided the trip with the awesome camera that took the following pictures. Abby and her boyfriend, Mark, brought his kids who provided lots of entertainment. It's definitely more fun to go with kids who appreciate the fair with a child-like wonder that is often lost on adults. 

Rides were ridden, food was eaten, and lots of fun was had! Here are a few pictures from the day. . .

We all paid for our adventures dearly as we are all fighting a nasty cold but it was worth it. Hopefully the next time we go we will all stay healthy!

Loved

This past weekend I had the incredible experience of attending my first Women of Faith Conference and less than 48 hours afterwards I am already getting excited about the next one. Heck, I was excited before I even left the first one! 

It all came about earlier this year when it was brought up at a MOPS meeting. My friend, Jess, and I heard that one of our most favorite people on the face of planet earth (Jen Hatmaker!) was going to be there so we immediately signed up. We later learned she would not be at the Charlotte weekend, but were still excited to go any way. Jess brought it up one afternoon when we had gotten together with two of our other best gal pals for one of our regular soul-restoring gab sessions. The four of us had been meeting monthly for the past few months after we realized we had all read Hatmaker's book, Seven, independently of each other but knew we needed to hash it out with other believers. Maria and Lauren jumped on board and the ball began rolling on a great weekend!

Fast forward a few months and it's FINALLY here. We all said sayonara to our kids and headed to downtown Charlotte to refill our hearts with the word of Jesus. Maria's husband booked us a FABULOUS hotel room in downtown too so we didn't have to worry about going home and getting our groove messed up :-P

Friday night kicked off the weekend with some worship and a few speakers who brought truth in a big way. Afterwards we headed back to our hotel for drinks, a snack, and girl talk. It was fantastic. Once we realized how late it was we forced ourselves to go to sleep so we would be well-rested for the next day. Easier said than done for four women who haven't seen each other in a while and without the distraction of littles! Somehow we managed to all get a few hours.

Me, Jess, Lauren, and Maria 

The next morning we were back at it again with more wonderful women preaching the word in profound ways. Saturday also brought an incredible performance by Building 429. I had never been to a worship concert before so having the chance to praise the Lord with so many other people was a mind-blowing experience. 

Building 429!

Returning to reality was a little very difficult, but well worth it when I got to share some of what I learned with others. We've already got reservations for next year-who's coming with us?!?

Butternut Squash Soup

If you follow me on Instagram then you may have seen my post about the butternut squash soup I made the other day. With all the dreary weather Hurricane Joaquin has brought up the Carolinas I have been craving cozy clothes, cups of coffee, and soups. All the soups. I've had a butternut squash hanging out since we went to the Farmer's Market a couple of weeks ago and I knew I needed to do something with it. Enter the delicious soup below. . .

Ingredients

1 large butternut squash

3 tablespoons butter

1 medium yellow onion, chopped

4 cups chicken stock

1 cup water

nutmeg

salt

pepper

Directions

Cut squash in 1 inch chunks.

Melt butter.

Add chopped onion and cook until soft

Add squash and stock.

Cook until squash is soft (mine took around 20 minutes).

Remove squash chunks and puree.

Pour blended squash back in pot.

Sprinkle with spices and enjoy!

This tasted even yummier with a little Greek Yogurt on top!

Mommy Contract Part 2

Since writing part 1 of the Mommy Contract my sweet child has reminded me of so many other components that should be added. A few more that came to mind. . .

You are never alone
Whether you are in the bathroom or the kitchen, your child will find you. Why they don't send children in to look for hiding terrorists is beyond me.

Your child will embarrass you
Children have a keen sense of what will send their parents hiding in a corner and love to perform those acts. It may be farting extremely loud in front of the new neighbors or it could be throwing a temper tantrum in the middle of the aisle at Target. It will happen so batten down the hatches and prepare yourself.

Your child will behave the worst for you
You'll hear stories of how wonderful and kind your spawn is and wonder if it's the same child who threw themselves on the floor and prevented you from making them the breakfast they requested. It is. Children behave the worse for their parents. Fact.

Your brain will never be the same
I don't care if you have a PhD in rocket science AND brain surgery, your brain will never be the same after having children. Everything you thought you knew becomes mush.

You will memorize the most random things
And while you won't be able to remember why you came into the room and what you were looking for you will have a great selection of children's songs and books memorized and ready to be recited when your child starts to melt down in the back of the car.

You will never look the same again
This goes for more than just your body, folks. Things settle differently after kids and I don't care if you weigh less than you did before kids, it's just different. I'm also talking about the clothes you put on that body. Your child will find the one spot you don't cover up with a burp cloth and ruin your favorite outfit. They will also grab that cute tunic you just bought and smear strawberry juice all over it. Or wipe their mouth on the shoulder of that fantastic new sweater that just came in the mail. Once you have children you suddenly understand why moms only wear bum clothes.

You could watch them for hours
Go ahead and set a timer and then marvel at how long you spend watching them do absolutely nothing. Taking beaded necklaces on and off was never as exciting as it is when your toddler does it for 30 minutes straight.

Pregnancy & Infant Loss Awareness

One of the worst things one can experience is the loss of a child. It doesn't matter if that child was 5 weeks along in pregnancy or 15 years old-it hurts no matter when it happens. The ache is different, but it's still there. I remember the crushing feeling when we learned Emerson no longer had a heartbeat. That feeling will never go away. It has certainly faded, but has not disappeared. I never thought that losing Emerson would bring any good, but I have learned otherwise.

Recently I was connected with a young woman who lost her child halfway through the pregnancy. While I am no professional I was able to offer a few things that helped us as we grieved and healed. This past week at Bible Study Fellowship I got to talking to another young mom in my group and found out she too had lost a little girl in early 2013. We were able to share our experiences and offer each other help two years later. And then just yesterday a woman posted in a local Facebook group that her friend just found out she lost her baby halfway through her pregnancy and was seeking advice on how to help her. I was able to reach out and offer some suggestions on what helped us.

We cannot forget the children we have lost. We cannot pretend they didn't exist and we didn't love them. We cannot erase them from our lives. We must remember these precious loves and celebrate the time we had with them. October is Infant Loss Awareness Month, but the big feelings that come along with this cannot be squeezed into one short month. We must remember all year around. So, next time you hear of someone who lost their littlest love don't brush it off, remember that precious gift and the impact he or she already had in their parents' lives.

If you have lost a baby prematurely, or know someone who has, PLEASE let me know. I would love to connect with them, pray for them, and offer whatever support I can. 

Mommy Contract

In my short time as a mother I have noticed a few traits that most, if not all, mothers share. I have jokingly come to refer to these as part of the "mommy contract". This contract is one that you unknowingly sign the moment your child is born and your world no longer focuses on yourself, but on that precious little love. A few components of the mommy contract. . .

Your food is not yours

Sorry, friends, but that plate full of delicious food that you lovingly prepared (or ordered if it's been a rough day) isn't yours. It belongs to the mini-version of you in the high chair next to you. And don't even think about trying to give them something of their own (even if it is the exact.same.thing.) because they will want it directly from your plate. Fact.

You will never sleep again

Remember those easy weekend mornings where you lazily puttered around in your pajamas? Or how about those glorious nights of uninterrupted sleep? I hope you enjoyed them because you will never see them again. Or, at the very least until your youngest is out of the house but even then you'll probably lay awake at night wondering how your offspring are doing in the great big world. Even if your child does sleep well through the night, the slightest bump, paci drop, or cough will wake you and send you running to check that all is right in the world.

Caffeine is your friend

Caffeine is amazing. Fact. Whether it comes in the form of coffee or soda, it is a necessary part of child-rearing. See above clause for further explanation. 

You can't do it alone

You can't do this mommy this alone, so don't even try. Find a community, whether it's a face-to-face group or one via Facebook, find a community. These women will be your lifesavers when you feel like you are drowning in spit up and screams.

Books can't parent your kid

I love to read and I love to read about kid stuff and what's coming our way next, but all the books in the world can't teach you how to parent your child. Only you can do that.

You will never figure your kid out

Your kid is constantly changing so just as soon as you think you have them, their personality, and their nap schedule figured out they throw you for a loop. 

You will never love the same

Hold on tight because the love you have for your kid is different than any kind of love you've ever known.

Stealing Joy

I often feel like I am juggling a bunch of different things in my head (Is my kid's behavior normal? Am I going to have time to complete X, Y, and Z today? Will supper be ready in time? Can I run to Target between naps? Did I remember to call so-and-so back? Am I going to have time to check Pinterest for that? How did she get her kid to do that at that age?). I am not very good at silencing everything around me and taking in the moment so when one of the mentor moms at a recent MOPS (Mothers Of Preschoolers) meeting asked us to discover what what stealing our joy I knew I needed to pause and search my heart for what is keeping me from full submission and rest in the Lord. 

What is stealing your joy today?

What is causing you emotional (or physical) discomfort? What is causing you to pause and proclaim, "I'm so stressed!"? Is the perfect family on Facebook with their 2.5 polite kids and dog that never runs away or barks? Is it Pinterest with its unattainable perception of reality? It is greed over what your friend has that you don't? Is it a to-do list a mile long with unattainable tasks? Is it the family whose toddler seems to always listen and never pitch a tantrum? I ask again, what is stealing your joy today?

I was convicted by this question. It seems like an insurmountable obstacle some days to find that peace, but she challenged us to seek what is stealing our joy and replace it with God. So now I am challenging you to pause and ask yourself, what is keeping you from full rest and joy in the Lord? How are you going to eliminate that from your life and find more rest in God? 

What is stealing your joy?

Cabinet Makeover

I just realized it's been over two weeks since my last post-eek! Sorry to anyone who actually reads this thing! Between settling into the house and David's crazy work schedule this blog has definitely taken a backseat. Hopefully now that our bigger projects are done on the house I'll have more time, though I'm not making any promises with a busy toddler running around!

What do I mean when I say "big projects"? While the house was in pretty good shape when we moved in, it still needed some work for it to be considered "home". It's hard because when you move you leave a house that you spent years making the perfect home and then you end up starting from scratch all over again. Some people enjoy the thrill of starting over, and while I do to a certain extent, this type-A mama wants to be settled and done! I keep having to remind myself that "Rome wasn't built in a day" and the house won't be settled overnight.

I did decide very early on that the dated maple cabinets in the kitchen had.to.go. They didn't match the tile the previous owners had laid down and weren't what we had in mind when we were looking for the house. After some research and a few price quotes (helloooooooo, expensive) I decided I could tackle this beast on my own. I headed to Home Depot where I found a kit from Rust Oleum that provided all the tools I needed to DIY this thing!

My parents were in town for the weekend helping with a few other things (you don't realize how incredibly helpful garage door openers are until you don't have them!!) so my mom and I tested the kit on the bathroom vanity. It turned out great! After that success story I decided I could tackle the kitchen on my own. David took down the first set of cabinet doors and there was no looking back!

First step was to degloss all of the cabinets with the handy-dandy deglosser they included in the kit. You wait an hour before you move onto the next step of bond coat. This takes 2-3 coats and requires 2-3 hours of wait time in between each coat. The final step is the top coat which requires a 12-hour dry time before you can rehang the cabinets. That is it. I propped the iPad up and watched quite a few episodes of Gilmore Girls to keep me from getting bored and went at it. 

The Before.

Preparing for the base coat.

 First part of the kitchen.

Gotta keep going. . . 

. . . and going. . .  

The After!

Please excuse the messiness-we have a toddler, aka certified mess maker.

It was a process. Oh, was it a process. But I'm definitely glad I did it. There were quite a few steps required to get it done, but in retrospect the steps I did were a lot less than a lot of other methods I Googled. It opened up the kitchen and really makes it feel bigger. Would I do it again? In a heartbeat!

See You Later, Summer

Today marks the unofficial end of Summer across the board. School is in session and pumpkin spice is back on the shelves. The air is cooler (I use the term "cooler" loosely here in North Carolina) and the light-filled evenings are getting shorter. This summer brought us many changes as we moved to an apartment and then found a house. Our sweet gift celebrated her first birthday and continued to show us a love without limits. 

It's been a good season for us, but we're ready for what's to come. . . 

Charleston Getaway!

You know what's one of my favorite things? Birthdays. Birthdays are one of my favorite things! I mean, I love everyone's birthdays but mine are my most favorite;-) This year I was super excited to be able to celebrate in Charleston, SC (another one of our favorites!) as we celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary and my birthday all wrapped up in one!

We hit the road Friday morning leaving the babe with David's parents in our rearview mirror. Don't get me wrong, we love our girl more than life itself, but a kiddo-free weekend is priceless! Since it had been a while (a whole two months!) since we had been to the beach we headed there first. Apparently, the rain hadn't been in a while either and followed us to the shore. We sought shelter under an umbrella our hotel had out with some chairs and hunkered down with a few Bud Light Limes (I'd like to argue the best beach beer that exists). The storm passed and we were able to walk the beach and enjoy the rest of the afternoon. We decided to stay on the island for supper and headed to Taco Boy for some fantastic tacos and a not so fantastic drink. Has anyone ever had a "sangrita"? Well, don't. It tastes nothing like a sangria or margarita! We then traipsed across the street to Snapper Jack's for live music and a dozen oysters for David. We ended the evening watching HGTV's new show about tiny houses and devouring cupcakes. Perfection.

The next morning we were woken earlier than ideal by a fire alarm and siren throughout the hotel. David moved at a turtle's pace, but we finally made it downstairs only to learn there was no fire and that someone had hung their wedding dress on the sprinkler head in their room. Whoops-a-daisy! At least we all got a show and I got to people watch to see what everyone wore to bed that night, te he he. We decided to seize the day and headed down the road to the Lost Dog Cafe for breakfast. Another delicious Folly Beach meal in the books. We hit the beach for a few hours before heading downtown.

One of my favorite parts of Charleston is downtown. Between the food, the shopping, the drinks, the people, the history, the shows-it's hard to really pinpoint what makes it so wonderful. Just take my word for it. We enjoyed a late lunch at The King Street Grille before hitting King Street and the Market for some shopping. We wandered all about before heading to Pearlz for drinks and more oysters. If you are in Charleston and like oysters with any fiber of your being you have to go to Pearlz! David and our waiter actually persuaded me to try them and I ate more than one! Haha. I ate about half a dozen and didn't hate them. I doused them in cocktail sauce and lemon juice and served it on a saltine, but it was good! While we were enjoying our happy hour snack David happened to look up and see some good friends of ours from Charlotte strolling by. Say what?? They were in town for their fifth anniversary too! WHAT??? We were able to catch up for a bit before we headed back in to finish our snack.

We then headed to the water to walk around a bit before our dinner reservation. We quickly decided next time we came and brought Amelia Grace we had to head there for her to splash around and play. We wandered around for a bit and even saw a few dolphins! We were quickly approaching our dinner reservation and walked towards Poogan's Porch. This Charleston classic is known for being the most haunted spot in Charleston and while we didn't see a ghost we did enjoy a fantastic meal. I had shrimp & grits and David ate (in his words) "the best fish he ever had". We then rolled ourselves over to Kaminsky's Dessert Bar for dessert before heading back to the hotel where we crashed from a crazy long day of walking.

Sunday morning we woke up and hit up the Lost Dog Cafe again before a fantastic walk on the beach. Talk about a great start to a birthday! We rounded out our trip with a quick visit to the outlets before hitting the road to head home. It was a wonderful way to ring in 27 years!

Home Sweet Home

It's official-we have a house!! After three longgggg months in an apartment we could have fit multiple of in our Concord house, we found a fantastic house in Holly Springs. 

I mentioned a month or so ago I posted about my thoughts on house hunting in this hot market. Before we got to this house we had put in offers on four other houses; all either at or above asking price. We were beginning to feel very discouraged and I may have sworn we would be in an apartment for the rest of our lives (okay, okay, I was being a smidgen dramatic). When our realtor sent us the house we almost didn't go; David was hesitant because of the distance from work. We were heading to Fuquay Varina that evening to visit with some good friends so we decided to go on our way to Fuquay, and boy am I glad that we did!

From the moment we walked in, the house felt right. Everything from the updated kitchen to semi-open floorpan caught our attention so by the time we went upstairs we knew we would be putting in an offer. We talked with our realtor and asked if we could get moving quickly given how hot the market was. We got the offer together that evening and by the next afternoon we were under contract-whoooo!

Now, it's not perfect (hellooooooo, 15-year old AC unit) but it is perfect for us. The floor plan works perfectly for our family and allows us to grow in the coming years. The yard is huge and meets up to the neighborhood greenway trail. The lot next to us is owned by the neighborhood and can never be built on. And while we may never have the wonderful cow neighbors again, we do back up to trees which offer a lot of privacy.

We are so excited to continue to tailor this home and make it our own!

Little Things

Have you ever watched a little one explore? I mean really watched? One of the amazing joys of being able to stay home with Amelia Grace full time is I have plenty of chances to watch this little love explore the world around her and I love every second of it. From watching her feed herself for the first time to picking up piles of mulch and moving it around the playground (her current favorite activity), I have been so fortunate to experience these new things with her. The best part is her over the moon joy and excitement! 

We take for granted so much of what we see and do every day. Littles don't. Give us a pile of pine straw and we just sit and stare at it. Give it to a toddler and they can find all sorts of things to be excited about. Have you ever given a baby the sample cups Trader Joe's gives out with their coffee? Did you know they can be used as hats, music makers, and chew toys? When we went to Florida earlier this summer we didn't bring any toys with us; she entertained herself with coasters and old magazines. 

If only we could take the simple things in life and truly appreciate them too. The ability to feed ourselves a blueberry and not miss our mouths. Or moving a handful of crayons from one hand to the other. Or even the fact that we can comb our own hair! All of these tasks seem so menial, but are so exciting when first experienced and truly appreciated.

I am so thankful for all that I am able to do, but I'm even more thankful for being able to experience it all over again with her! 

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."

-Matthew 19:14

Turning the Finger

One of the big pulls for coming to Raleigh was our old church, Vintage. A super hard part about moving is trying to find a new church so when we realized that was already taken care of, we knew we had no excuse not to move forward with God's plan for us. 

The teaching pastor at Vintage has a true gift for words and it shows each Sunday morning as he steps up to the front. This past Sunday was no exception. The series we just wrapped up was entitled "The Awakening" and challenged the church to come alive for God. It has been a great series and the final sermon came from Isaiah 57:14-16. While Pastor Tyler hit a lot of fantastic points what stuck with me was his emphasis on our tendency to find fault in everyone and everything around us without ever looking inward. 

I am so guilty.

I am quick to blame others for their faults, but am slow to call out my own. I mean, who wants to focus on their own issues? That would be no one. Our pastor pointed out that no one is perfect but Jesus. Ouch. You mean I'm not the perfect mom because I manage to have supper on the table each night and keep my kid alive during the day? You mean my kid isn't the perfect toddler because they didn't scream all the way through Target like that other kid did? (Side note-my kid was totally the screamer last week. I feel you, momma in the grocery section). The answer is no. None of us are perfect so before we start to point out the flaws in others we should remember that we are just as flawed.

Shifting my focus to this mindset has already been helpful. Instead of immediately calling people out (always in my head-this chica hates confrontation!) I immediately ask myself, "why are you so upset right now? What if you were in their shoes? Are you the one who should be called out right now?". And the list goes on. Instead of pointing the finger at every one around, I should instead turn the finger to myself. 

If you made it this far, thanks for letting me ramble about my sinful heart;-)

12 Month Update

Happy ONE YEAR, little love!

So much happiness! 

Legs for daysssssss 

Big smiles! 

Oh lookee here. . . 

Now that I've taken the sticker off, I'm going to try to put it back on;-)

Height/Weight: She was 31 inches tall and 22.5 lbs at her one-year check up. So this all means that her height in in the 90-95th percentile (is anyone surprised by this?) and her weight is in the 60th percentile. Whooooo healthy baby!

Clothes: She is rocking out the 18 month clothes and a few 24 month. I've heard the rapid growth slows down because if not all those great clothes I bought at consignment last season aren't going to fit!

Likes: This happy girl likes just about everything. She loves anything musical and crawling around on her daddy. She is also a big fan of going up the stairs and having us race to catch her before she can go flying back down. 

Dislikes: Not a huge fan of us trying to make her walk by holding onto her hands. She just hoists her legs up and plops down on her behind!

Milestones: She can stand on her own but hasn't been brave enough to take a step yet. She also has another tooth popping thru, but this one is one of her vampire teeth! She's going to look so funny with two on the bottom and a vampire tooth on the top:-P She has also figured out that putting stuff away can be just as fun as taking it all out. Thankful she learned that little trick!

And a little side-by-side comparison for a year. . .

One Year Pictures

A few months before we moved I joined one of those buy/sell/trade sites for North Raleigh and after a few days of stalking the wares I noticed a post from a woman offering mini-sessions for $50! I knew we wanted to take pictures for her first birthday so I quickly messaged her and set up a time. Despite it being super close to her bedtime, Amelia Grace was the ideal model and allowed our photographer (the wonderful Amanda Conrad!) to take some fantastic pictures. They all turned out FANTASTIC so picking just a few to share with y'all was hard!

These are just a sampling of the almost 50 images she captured!

Happy first birthday, little love!