Oldies but goodies

I came across a few of these pictures from a friend, Willie, who had them from last summer. I saw them while uploading and wanted to share, because it reminds me of how quickly time passes.

These were all taken LONG before I started this blog, but I'm very thankful to have them (as I am all our pictures, video, keepsakes, etc.)

I wish I could remember if this was my birthday, granny's birthday or maybe Father's day (I'm thinking the latter)...but the one of granny holding her is especially cute to me. Not to mention the look on Amara's face as mom is holding her is pretty sweet too. Regardless, it had to be June/ July 08 at the latest--

I now have a new feeling about the phrase "seems like yesterday" because indeed it does. Sure, it was last summer, and it's been an amazing whirlwind of a year, but time does fly. I have to remind myself, for all of us, to stop and take in the memories and the moments of times like these.

I'm sure you had no idea the thoughts you'd invoke, sending these pics to me Willie, but I'm really grateful you did.

Play set

We've been looking around all summer trying to find the perfect climber for Amara (and us) to enjoy in the back yard.

This one is too baby, this one is too advanced, this one is too expensive (geesh), that one doesn't have a slide...you get the picture.

Luckily, Eric was on some (of many) email list for sales and he stumbled across this Little Tikes 8 in 1 playset at almost 1/2 off...the kicker, as there always is, was he had to drive 2+ hours to get it!


Turns out it was sold out in stores, and would have cost $160 to ship to us (2 hours away), so Eric borrowed my dad's truck and headed north.

He got the ginormous box and came back, unloading and assembling all afternoon. I got home just in time to capture a few shots, before he LITERALLY had to sit down, for near exhaustion. (I am pretty sure he picked THE HOTTEST day of the summer for this little project--as noted by the dead brown grass)

In the end, it looks great, and it's so much fun. Amara is starting to explore the tunnel, throw balls down the slide, and she has mastered the door. I'm sure we have many fun nights ahead of us thanks to dad :)

Cute story

Although I don't have any particular photos to document this story, I wanted to capture it and share nonetheless.

Tonight was a relatively normal bedtime routine for us. Amara had been in bed for maybe 15-30 minutes when we heard her saying one specific sound, over and over.

It wasn't "up" her new catch-all word for many things, but more "ack" or "et" --something like that...over and over...She wasn't getting upset, just persistent.

Eric went in to check on her, and quickly returned, saying "that was about the cutest thing he'd seen," which is a pretty high bar for Amara.

To preface, we have foamcore set up in her bedroom window, to help with the sunlight during her daytime naps. Even in summer, since she goes to bed in the 6 o'clock hour, it's still pretty bright in there. From time to time, it slips, and lets a crack of light in at the top--which (of course) attracts her attention, as it iluminates her room, toys, etc.

These had slipped as we were getting into jammies, and Eric secured them as I sang a few lullabies.

Turns out, they had slipped again, revealing the light, and when Eric entered the room, Amara was standing up in her crib, ready to show dad what the problem was.

He said that after he fixed it and turned around to her, she was already turning in her bed, grabbed a pillow, and was getting cozy to go back to sleep.

I have to agree with him. Pretty adorable. It's 8:51 p.m. as I write this and we havne't heard another peep.

Painting with pudding (and cleanup)

In some parenting publication of some sort, I read that an alternative to traditional finger paint is to paint with pudding. You don't "plan" on them eating it, but EVERYTHING goes in the mouth, so they are safe, and the stuff doesn't stain clothing.

Sounds logical enough.

The idea wasn't so much the problem, as the thought that I don't think Amara is really old enough for painting yet...in a structured fashion. haha

We made a batch of sugar-free pudding, and headed outside. I took the bowl, some paper plates, and old clothes. She wasn't interested at all in putting hand to paper...but she did mark the playset outside, her bench, the yard, and MOM! (again...I think dad and Ily escaped...one of us had to stay clean, right?)

As with the rain episode...the event ended with Amara and mom heading into the house, and upstairs...this time stripped, and straight to the bathtub though.

She always loves the bathtub, so that wasn't unusual, but the pudding did get a little sticky to remove...but not enough to deter us from doing this again in the future. I think I bought 5 boxes of the stuff on sale...wonder if I can get dad in on it this time? or the Grandparents? We'll see--

...To be continued...

Ice cream sandwiches in summer

Nothing screams summer like ice cream--or ice cream sandwiches. With all of the 4th of July sales in stores, I caved and bought a box of ice cream sandwiches.

One night after dinner, I took one out of the freezer. She was immediately interested in what this treat in paper would be. I unwrapped half of the paper for her to hold.

First bite--an unsure glance to dad, as if "can I really have this?"

The next bites were more a familiarization of the flavor, texture, feel of it all. The bites got bigger and sloppier as the ice cream melted, and we sat back thoroughly enjoying ourselves in her.

In the end, she wanted the paper off the bottom half, so we obliged, giving her two-handed control. Surprisingly, she really didn't make too much mess, and she did share with daddy--although, since he had the camera, I think I only caught that on video :)

Lucky for us, I think there are 6 in the box...so many more fun desserts to come.

Singin' in the rain

I think it was last weekend when we got the torrential rain on Saturday. We were home, nothing much to do...and she kept going to the back door saying "up" (translation "out".)

After a half hour or so of trying to explain that she'd get wet (and of course, me thinking she'd hate it) I decided to take her out.

At first, she noticed the sprinkles on her head and arms and looked at me quizzically, but wasn't taken aback. She then wanted down, which led to a little puddle splashing on the deck with our feet.

(I should disclose...I was the loon with this idea, so Eric watched safely from the dry indoors...for clarification on the "we.")

After a few minutes, and realizing she could care LESS if she got wet, it was normal playtime in the yard. We headed down the stairs, to the yard, kicking balls, climbing on her bench, walking around, chasing the dog in circles, and she loved it.

After a while (maybe 10-15 minutes) the novelty seemed to be wearing off, so dad was ready and armed with warm towels for us. We came in, got warmed up, clean clothes, and Amara took a little snooze, while I cleaned up our wet footprints through the house.

Bedtime

We've had the same bed-time routine now for several months...always ending with a rock from dad.

Let me just say, that trying to get a picture in a COMPLETELY dark room is darn near impossible...but I did my best.

Amara is growing up so fast, we don't know how much longer she'll tolerate rocking, but it's so special to us that Eric wanted me to try and capture this moment. I think this was the 2nd or 3rd try--of course the attention made her perk right up to see what I was doing...but we got a livable shot anyway.

Sweets for the sweetie...and ily too

We've been cooking and baking and grilling a LOT of new things lately...heck, we grilled pizzas last week! These shots were on the afternoon of the 4th, while we were making a dessert for a cookout with Grandma and Grandpa Jahn.

I believe Amara woke up sometime "mid-bake" or assemble...and we figured we'd see what she thought of vanilla pudding, since we know she didn't care for chocolate (or butterscotch...last time we tried.)

She wasn't entirely into it, but she was a more willing participant to try, when sharing with dad.

********

I also wanted to share a quick story about Ily. I've mentioned before how much she has changed, developed, etc. over the last year-18 months. This story is no different.

I think it started a few months ago with the spring storms, but Ily has started "indicating" to us when she's in certain moods. More than the just "out, in, scared, defensive..." but things like "tired, need attention, etc."

One of the cutest new developments for us is that she actually goes to our stairs and sits on the 3rd or so, around 8 p.m.--sometimes even earlier, signaling to us that it's her "bedtime." Sometimes she'll go up on her own before us, sometimes she'll come back down, but others, she just sits on the step for even up to 15-20 minutes. We tell her "pup, we're not going upstairs yet..." but she waits. Great dog.

Amara meets the press

Grandma Jahn called this morning and let us know that Amara officially hit the stands yesterday. She called to ask us "how many copies we wanted," because Amara was on the front page. Cute.

Here it is--and a link to the site also http://www.columbusmessenger.com/NC/0/6627.html

The caption was "Jackie Jahn enjoyed showing her granddaughter, 13-month old Amara Young, the sights and sounds of the holiday."

Happy 4th of July/ first parade

Everyone remembers the firsts, right? So why not a first parade? I thought it would be fun to take her to the Ashville parade (just south of mom and dad) where there would surely be tractors, horses, and very low-key for her. However, upon waking up this morning and realizing she would be ready for a nap promptly at parade kick-off time (11), that an immediate change of plans was needed.

We quickly scoured the local parade times to find one that was close, and well, NOW. Oddly enough, my parents had JUST called us and were at the Lowe's on Georgesville road getting (of all things) beatle dust...or something...anyway, there was a parade JUST up the road starting in literally 1/2 an hour. We met them at Lowe's, headed to the parade, parked 500 ft. from our parade spot, and got there in perfect time.

The parade was perfect! Kids pelted us with candy (which we gave to the nephews) whether we wanted it or not...one funny note--she became ATTACHED to a root beer dumdum sucker, having NO idea what it was. She just liked that she could hold and wave it (and we left it that way). It was so cute that she just enjoyed picking up the candy and throwing it in her stroller...and even more, watching the kids next to us feverishly chase the candy all the while.

We saw our share of firetrucks, kids, dogs, clowns, EVEN horses and tractors too! I think we were there maybe 30-45 minutes (she was already yawning) and we headed home. A nap was (of course) in order, and I really think she had a great time. I know we all did. So amazing watching things through her eyes.

I am pretty sure there are some other parades yet this summer, and I plan to investigate and attend if at all possible. Maybe next year, we can even make it to Ashville, who knows?

Zoo #2

Ok, so several lessons learned from this zoo trip:

#1 Never, NEVER go to the zoo on a holiday/ national day off.

#2 Never, NEVER go to the zoo on a holiday with perfect weather.

#3 Never, NEVER stop in the gift shop on the way out of the zoo...even to "just peek" at the cute giraffe that caught Amara's eye...

We decided to buy a zoo membership this year to see how it would go...how Amara liked it, how long it took to get there...how busy would it be during the times we'd go...etc.

The first time we took Amara was her birthday. I think we went at around 1 pm, after getting up from her nap, and it was great. A tad warm maybe, but not busy at all...leisurely even...not so much this time.

This time, we went on July 3rd, thinking maybe everyone would be getting ready for the 4th and not (surely) going to the zoo, right? WRONG. It took us over an hour to get to the zoo, close to an hour and a half till we actually got IN the zoo. Apparently in addition to the holiday, the zoo was running a promotion for all military (and their families) to get in free...great in theory, not so great for an impatient 13 month old.

Good news: we headed in a different direction this time and got to see some gorillas, monkeys (very close) and a few other African guys that she was VERY interested in. All-in-all, it was a fun (but exhausting) trip, and with many lessons learned.

Sidebar--see the cute, GIANT, giraffe? It was by the door at a gift shop on the way out--she reached for it, so we thought we'd pop in. I snapped a few pics of her, and when Eric caught sight of the pricetag...we politely excused ourselves...can you guess? $650 for a stuffed giraffe? I bet I could find a real-live giraffe for that on eBay...

Family Picnic

We decided to venture out to a little family picnic for Amara's music class in Upper Arlington. In true "toddler style" we were literally the first family there, as she woke up from her nap early enough to get us there 15 minutes early...which is only funny because we've long-since learned that it is almost impossible to be anywhere at an exact time.

Amara got to see her music teacher Mrs. Kelly, and also met a lot of new music teachers. She saw a lot of familiar music instruments from class, as well as some new ones!

She got to play with all kinds of things during our short visit there, but it was SO hot, we only stayed a brief stint (it was held in a church parking lot with not much shade). This was also the day Kristin & Jim were moving into their new home, so Eric had already put in hard time moving heavy loads all morning, AND it was Matt's bday! Busy day for the Young Family, huh?

Luckily we got to go home, have a nap (I think we all did) and recover from the heat and fun!