I can’t really remember when babies start to speak their first words… I remember with Maddie that it seemed like babbling and she kind of fell into saying ma-ma. Amelia is probably going to say da-da first though and she may be saying it right now. When Andy walks in the door, Amelia immediately scammers over to him as fast as she can and says da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. When she bonks her head on something she looks up at him and says da-da-da-da-da-da-da.
She loves her dad!!!!!!!
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Amelia is having fun hanging out with her brothers… they are just like jungle gyms! 
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Our good friends Todd and Tonya visited us in Portland this week because of a conference. Bauer joined them so Amelia had a pint size buddy for a week. These two are going to be great friends this coming school year. They are old enough to make each other laugh and just five weeks apart. I see many, many more glorious messes in our future!
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She’s just cute – I can’t help it! I was trying out my dad’s new camera that let you take photo on top of photo on top of photo. The girl was in a camera shoot!!!! Crawling around on Grandpa’s carpet from Saudi Arabia offered the perfect spot to chill out…
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Amelia is downright gifted in getting me to make the most interesting faces. One of the newest things is pulling my hair. When she was smaller, the tugs were light and it was cute, but now…. not so much! Of course, my reactions only egg her on which gets her sister in absolute stitches!
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Summer vacation gave us time to finally meet up with the rest of our family. When we came home at Christmas time we met our Portland family for the first time but, our family in Illinois had to hold out until summer. As soon as Amelia saw Grandpa Billy, her face lit up the room. How can you help but melt when she flip her head, looks you straight in the eye, and grin from ear to ear showing all 8 teeth with glory. As Grandpa said, “This is a disarming smile!”
I saw Grandpa melt – I did!!!
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