L'exposition d'Amelie

Amelie's been taking an interest in the family camera recently so I've been letting her give it a whirl.  After taking a look at her composition skillz, I've noticed that she has natural talent.  Not surprising since she mos def has my creative genes.  I've decided to start her shutterbugging young like when parents have their children start playing the piano or getting golf lessons when they've just exited the womb.  Anyways, welcome to Amelie's first photography exhibition at the radiant age of 20 months new!

'V8 Kind of Day'

(isn't the composition of this one just so daring?)

'Finger of God on Her Life'

(this one is just so profound.)

 

 'Sandy Toes'

(after shooting this, she took one look at me and said, "beach". how brilliant is she?)

'Hello Toes'

(she was very retrospective of her feet that day.)

'Strike a Pose'

(hint: picture an invisible person actually visible in those moccasins)

'Rushing Light'

(i mean come on, look at the detail she shot this one in.)

'Peekaboo'

(this piece is her voila moment when she suddenly realized that she could freeze her current favorite game in time! isn't she remarkable?!)

'Self Portrait #1: JOY*'

(she had to do a couple self-timer shots on this one due to the exact depth & height she wanted this in.)

Adventures with my Banana

Amelie's been filling up our lives with laughter, lots of chasing around and rapid growing.  You don't want to miss a moment at this age because they are just too stinkin' adorable and this is where their curiosity, imagination and longing for adventure really start to take off.  Lately, she's been having a growing interest in interacting with other children.  We're thinking that it may have been sparked by the tots that have been hurling themselves at Amelie with tackle-hugs & kisses at her Gymboree class.  Anyways, here's a little clip of Amelie who was frolicking outside the gelato store while enjoying her favorite snack as of late and catching the eye of a boy walking by with his parents. 

Arriba Arriba Amelie!

Amelie came back home last week from her Helen Emo's house with some fast feet.  No, really, quite literally.  I didn't think much of it when Ms. Melanie took her off into the other room & started doing football drills with the little one.  Sure enough, the very next morning, we're playing in the foyer and she starts fast feeting!  I didn't even ask her to!  I was like, "what in the...world?"  This unique little girl will only fast feet by herself when she's on this particular rug by the front door.  Strange huh? 

Enjoy!



Her coach, Ms. Melanie is currently working on Amelie's Heisman pose.  Stay Tuned!

Learning Amelish All Over Again*

So what's been going on with Amelie?  With the summer slowly winding down and Amelie already more than halfway to becoming 17 months, it's never a bore.  Everyday I'm reminded of all the firsts I've had as a toddler growing up.  The fascination in her eyes watching an ant crawl by.  The innocence of not understanding why it's not ok to eat her dog's food and why the toilet is a very dirty thing and not a water table.  There's actually so much zipping through that brain of hers that she's been wanting to say a whole lot.  Here she is trying to explain to us all that she's been through lately in Amelish. 

(Please email me directly if you can help decipher any of it.)



Amelie's also been helping to remind me that still, everyday is filled with something new so we should look forward to it.  I'm throwing it back old school style by kicking away jadedness and bringing optimism back into my life again.   

Hello again, Optimism.  Here's to hoping for a better tomorrows*

Amelie's 2010 Summer Picks*

If there's anything I always have to make sure I have in my bag, it's snacks.  There was one day where I forgot to pack snacks and I encountered the dark side of Amelie, the Snack Monster.  I have never forgotten snacks ever again.  Here are some of Amelie's favorite snacks and I must say that this girl already has a discerning palate like her folks.  If it doesn't taste good, it's just plain spit out and that's the end of it. 

Here are Amelie's current favorite picks of Summer 2010:

1)  Little Duck Organics

Amelie received this in a goodie bag from one of her friend's 1st birthday parties.  I have to be honest, I didn't open it for a while thinking it may taste sucky from past experiences of freeze dried fruit but when I did, the little girl inhaled it and kept asking me for more so I had to go online and find the source.  They just recently were approved to sell through Whole Foods so we'll also be able to find them in the baby aisle there. Their customer service is also EXCELLENT!  Right now they are offering free shipping through Sunday through Abe's Market~

2) Brother's All Natural Fruit Crisps

I stumbled upon these at Babies R Us and a friend just told me that they sell these at Costco!!  Amelie loves these flat crisps.  Each package contains about 1 1/2 fruit.  They are freeze dried so if you leave them out in the heat too long, they'll get all soft and not so fun to eat so beware* 

3) Japanese Snacks

Amelie's been digging the toddler snacks at the Japanese grocery mart, Mitsuwa.  They have these delicious milk biscuits, wafers, rice crackers and honey balls that she devours in small amounts of time. I'm excited to have her try the other stuff there too.

4)  Toddler Mum Mums

I always have Mum Mums on hand for a quick and nutritious snack.  Amelie loves the Vegetable & Strawberry flavors.  Shh, I also eat the Strawberry ones as a snack for myself.  Party in the mouth alert!

The Ramblings of a 15 Month Old*

There are some kids that love to talk and some that don't.  The ones that love to talk either say words that they know they can say with a somewhat clear enunciation or they ramble on in jibberish in their own foreign language.  Amelie does the latter.  Everyone thinks parents understand what their children are jabbering but I sure as heck don't.  I wonder if she even comprehends what she's saying... Who cares, it's so freakin' cute!  *sigh* i fall more and more in love with her everyday.

Amelie SpongeGirl SquarePants*

Okay so it's been forever since I've posted anything (Jane, this is for you).  Notice this was after she turned the ripe age of One.  So try imagining having a sponge of a toddler that suddenly wants to do and mimic everything you're doing and has the most intelligent problem solving skills (they only need to be taught something once and they get it the next time.  scaaaaary.)  And just wait till they start walking because then it gets even more fun.  On top of that, try having a part-time job while being a full-time mom. 

Here is a quick fast forward of what's been going on with Amelie-amelie-bo-Bamelie, Banana-fanna-fo-famelie, Me, My, Mo-Mamelie:

 Chilling in my new shades

 

I love my new shiny shoes

 

 Hello is anyone there?

 

Caught red-handed

  

What did I get myself into...(butt paste on my face)

An artist in the works

 

Really the best barber in town

 

My new Hepburn or Jane emo look

 Daddy's scary BBQ rib

 

I love the swimming pool

 

My mom asked me to smile really big so I can show you my dimple

My new easel that Grams bought me to encourage creative expressions

  

Hard at work

  

Hard at work

Ransacked Great Grams room while she wasn't looking

Me with my grown up look
 

Text4baby 4-1-1*

I recently found out about this awesome service for Mothers and Mothers-To-Be.

Text4baby is a free mobile information service designed to promote
maternal and child health. An educational program of the National
Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition (HMHB), text4baby provides
pregnant women and new moms with information they need to take care of
their health and give their babies the best possible start in life. Women who sign up for the service by texting BABY (or BEBE for Spanish) to 511411 will receive free SMS text messages each week, timed to their due date or baby’s date of birth.

It Was Her Birthday and She'll Laugh if She Wants To*

Check out Amelie's One Year Photoshoot from the fabulous Two Leaf team!  They captured the essence of Amelie perfectly.  Here are some photos from Amelie's First Birthday Party~

The Birthday Girl~

She is destined to be a Scholar!

Excited to Study forever like her Aunt?

Or maybe destined to be in the LPGA!

Officially a Toddler!

Amelie Year One Recap*

Man oh man has it been a long time since posting.  Blogging is no joke!  Trying to research, get photos & footage of all the stuff you want to post to make it interesting all the time and for readers to keep coming back.  But I still love it.  If you have the passion to do something, it's not a chore and how could it not be fun when your muse is your adorable little girl?

Anyways, so I made a video for Amelie's first birthday party and people have been asking me to post it so here it is finally. 



Watching her grow up the first year was so much fun that I'm recharged and ready to start documenting her 2nd year of life now!

Enjoy~

HAPPY 1ST!

Exactly one year ago from midday today, God gave us our beautiful daughter, Amelie.  This year has been one of the most challenging, rewarding, exhausting, humbling, blessed, remarkable, mystifying, intriguing, heartfelt, maturing, exhausting (wait, did i say that already? well it deserves another mention), unpredictable, tender, demanding, delightful time of my life.

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY TO OUR BABYGIRL~

WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

The Best Part of Waking Up is Amelie in My Cup*

I don't know how many people can honestly say this but we SO look forward to our mornings.  I never thought I'd be able to say that because I love to sleep but it's different now.  No matter how tired, groggy and half asleep we are, we get to wake up to a wonderful Amelie who greets us with the biggest smile ever.  How can you not want to wake up at the butt crack of dawn for this?  It's kind of like waking up to see the sunrise. 


Here's our sunrise...








Random thing I wanted to share is how much Amelie loves these Mum-Mum Rice Rusks.  A friend gave one to her and she basically inhaled it.  Amazon is offering 2 day free shipping on baby food and for $14 you get 6 boxes for a total of 144 rusks!

Amelie and the Funky Bunch*

So Amelie is already almost 11 and a half months!  Man alive, where did that time go?!  My friends always ask me what I do with Amelie during the week.  When I'm not running around after her at home and working my part-time job while she naps, we try to go out and meet her friends so she can practice being around other lil' people like herself.  I just cannot get enough of watching the little tikes interact with each other.  Put one cute little person with another cute little person and you just melt and ooze onto the floor because they are so funny and so darn adorable.  So without further adieu, say hello to Amelie's funky bunch crew.

This is a classic shot of big sis Amelie at 5 months old welcoming her new friend, Cana into the world.  They're going to go on missions trips together and share the Gospel.

This is at 6 months old on their first playdate probably wondering a lot of different things...

This is her friend Lexi.  They will probably play doubles tennis together like me and her mom did.

This is the first time Nora came over and hung out when they were 7 months old.  They're only 5 days apart and they're going to play sports together.

This is big bro Lincoln who is expecting a baby sister soon.

This is Daniel who is a couple months younger than Amelie and the only baby lad at church among 3 other baby chicks.  What a lucky lad!

This is her church bud, Soleil, a fashionista.

Here is our absolute best attempt to get a group photo during this playdate.

Here is Amelie trying to get her big bro friend, Maxx's, attention who loves the movie 'Up'.

Amelie got to welcome his new sister, Ellie, into the world.  She loves to smile.

This is Aunt Soo and another new friend, Elias, who Amelie got to welcome into the world.  They will make beautiful music together when they get older. 

Fresh from a recent playdate and looking much older now are buds, Nora and Cana.  Nora can already wobble walk.

To get this rare photo of them together, it took lots of strange sounds, snacks and one heckuva strong grip*

I leave you with some cute little videos of all of them "playing" together.  Notice how they all just kinda do their own thing.