First Visit to the McWane Center

Was Amelia old enough for a visit to the McWane Center?  This is the question David and I have been pondering for some time now.  After consulting with a few friends, we decided to go ahead and become McWane Center members and take Amelia for her first visit.  Amelia had THE BEST DAY!  We decided to take her today because they had a train exhibit.  Amelia has been in love with trains since we took her on the Polar Express ride earlier this month.  We knew this was the time to take her to the museum before the train exhibit ended in a few weeks.  I honestly think that Amelia was in sensory overload at the beginning, but she had a great time playing and exploring.  The trains and the big slide were her favorite parts of the day.  We are so glad that we listened to the advice of others and joined the museum.  I can see many other trips in our future!

Amelia pushed the button to raise and lower the nail bed that Daddy was on.

Watching herself on TV in the fun house was great!

A little climbing on the indoor playground.

We suited up for the water table.  Amelia did not like the apron, but she loved playing in the water.

I know the following pictures are fuzzy, but Amelia was in constant motion.  This is where she decided to clean up after a little girl who was playing with these balls and legos.  The girl asked her dad if it was time to clean up and leave now.  I had to explain that Amelia likes to put things where they go and that it was okay to keep playing...

Making big bubbles

Riding the "baby train" with Daddy.

Watching the little trains go around the town.  Amelia loved the model trains!

Dancing in the blocks

Actually looking at the camera!

Ice Fishing

A little music lesson...

The BIG slide!  Mommy went down right after Amelia.  She wasn't exactly tall enough, but the girl let Amelia ride it several times.

I'm not sure she grasped the concept of this, because Amelia kept trying to push them all in and didn't understand why they weren't staying flat.  That would be because the little boy on the other side was pushing them back at her...

Turning the conveyor belt after "shopping" in the grocery store.

Daddy was having so much fun with the gears that...

Amelia decided to join him.  She picked up on the concept IMMEDIATELY and started making her own gear patterns.  We were VERY impressed with her!

Inside the tornado booth with Mommy

Amelia really loved watching the fish.

We tried to get Amelia to pet the sting rays and sharks, but she didn't want any part of it.  She only wanted to stick her hand in the water.  When something swam near her, she immediately jerked her hand out of the water.

Imagine our surprise when David and I realized that Amelia wasn't dancing outside the space exhibit anymore.  This was our sign that the visit to the museum was over for the day.  I can't believe she actually just plopped herself down there.  When I got up close to her, I asked her if she was ready to go home and take a rest.  Amelia immediately jumped up and yelled, "NO NAP!!!".  Unfortunately, she did come straight home and take a nap.

Amelia's First Week of Christmas Celebrations

We have been VERY busy this week!  We celebrated Gotcha Day on Monday, Christmas in Tuscaloosa with our families on Tuesday, Christmas at Home and with our Birmingham family on Wednesday, after Christmas shopping and playing with our toys on Thursday, and visiting with our friend, Micah, who is here from Paris on Friday.  Wow!

I'll start with our Gotcha Day celebration.  We celebrated at home with Chinese take-out.  Poppy, Paw-Paw, and Uncle Austin came by for dinner and cake.

We began our Christmas Eve at Aunt Laurie's House for brunch.  Aunt Neva and Aunt Laura came from Mississippi to see Amelia.  Amelia enjoyed playing with her cousins and opening gifts.  She LOVED her tricycle that RuRu gave her!

Christmas Eve afternoon was spent at Baboo's house with Baboo, Grammy, Aunt Toni, and Uncle Will.  Amelia wanted to unwrap her presents BY HERSELF.  She also tried out her doll bed that Grammy gave her.  Unfortunately, she was too big and fell through the bottom.  Amelia will only put her babies in it now.  :)

Christmas Eve night we prepared for Santa's visit by leaving him milk and cookies.  Amelia had no idea why we were doing this, but she went along with it anyway.

 That night, Santa came and brought Amelia and Bailey presents.

 

Christmas morning, we woke Amelia up at 7:30.  David and I were too excited to wait any longer!  I videoed her coming down the stairs and seeing the presents, so I don't have pictures of that.  Amelia could NOT believe her eyes.  She just stopped and pointed at everything before getting close to the car and then running back to me.  Amelia's favorite present was by far the Hello Kitty car, but she also was super excited about her watch that Santa brought her.  Bailey was also REALLY excited about his stocking and presents.  He ran around with his toys trying to get us to pay attention to him and play.  Poor thing!  Sister was getting WAY too much attention for him.

Amelia piled her new blanket and baby cars into her pink kitty car.

 

After opening gifts, it was time to go to Poppy and Paw-Paw's for Christmas breakfast.

Amelia has worn these Hello Kitty boots every day since receiving them from Poppy and Paw-Paw.

After breakfast, we came home so that Amelia could drive her car before we headed to Mimi and Papa's for dinner.  It took her some time to learn to steer, but we are happy to say that Amelia only hit the curb once (and that was with a lot of help trying to keep her away from the curbs).

 Later that afternoon, we went to Mimi and Papa's house for dinner and presents.

 Little Missy was pooped!  She fell asleep on the way home (at 5:45), and we managed to get her to bed.  She slept until waking with a night terror (they happen on occasion).  We kept her up for about 30 minutes and put her back to bed.  Amelia took a 3.5 hour nap on Thursday to help recover from her very busy week. 

We had a great time visiting with Micah on Friday.  It was Micah's first time to meet Amelia, and since he lives in Paris right now, we won't be seeing him again for a while.  We hope to be able to take Amelia for a visit to Paris if they remain for another year.  I don't know if we are ready for an international flight yet, but maybe by March of 2015.  :)

 We hope that everyone had a very Merry Christmas!  We enjoyed spending this special day with our precious girl!  We still can't believe that last year we were in China at this time!