Amelia had a play date with her cousins this week. She always has the best time with them. They had CFA for lunch and then played for a few hours.
By the time our company had to leave - Amelia was worn out! I needed to do something in the kitchen so I sat her in her highchair with a little snack. I looked over and she was sound asleep. She has never fallen asleep in her highchair.
Ever. She took a 15-minute cat nap and was ready to go again.
Amanda came over to keep Amelia for a few hours yesterday. She's coming again today. Having a babysitter twice a week has changed my life. I'm serious. I'm so grateful to Alex for letting me have this time to take care of myself and to run my errands. Yesterday I was able to go to the chiropractor, to the post office, to Hobby Lobby, to get an oatmeal cookie & iced tea (this was the most important of the errands), to Hallmark, to the grocery store, and then headed back home.
I've pretty much bought everything for Amelia's Easter basket. I've been picking up things for a while and I only have one more thing to buy. I found several cute things in the dollar bin at Target! I always loved waking up to an Easter basket full of candy! My Mom bought one HUGE basket - filled it with each of our favorite candies - and would have it on the dining room table on Easter morning. Amelia doesn't really get candy in her basket but she'll get some other fun things.
We went out to eat last night. Alex took us to Outback Steakhouse. After we finished dinner - a couple (about the age of our parents) stopped and asked how old Amelia was and then told us that she was very well-behaved. We've never had issues with taking her out to eat but this is the first time strangers have stopped to comment on her behavior. It's always nice when someone older tells you that you're doing a good job. Whenever my Momma brags on me as a mother - it means the world to me. I think we (new/younger parents) need encouragement like that. Parenting is hard and it's easy to get discouraged. It's easy to tell someone what they're doing wrong and more than likely (in my opinion) we already see where we can improve. I don't know of anyone who thinks they're a perfect parent or that their children are perfect. It's normal for me to feel like I don't know what I'm doing on a regular basis! So if your kids are grown and your on the other side of the sleepless nights/fits in the restaurants/etc...encourage a (new/younger) parent this week. I think that would be nice.
We ended the evening with a trip to Walmart. Alex bought Amelia a ball pit for her birthday and it popped this week. He wanted to replace it since she plays in it every day. He chose one - brought it home - blew it up in her room - and then we realized it took up half her bedroom! I think we're going to have to make it an outside toy.
If we can get it through the bedroom door. :) She loves it.
Speaking of outside toys. Our backyard is completely empty. Nothing. Nada. Amelia asks to go outside now that she's older and I have nothing for her to do out there. So what are some of your favorite backyard toys for this age? She'll be 17 months old this month.
Happy St. Patty's Day!!
Love to all,
