The McBride's McBlog

Aug 23, 2008

Pigtails

Amelia's hair has grown so much this past month. It is really thick and wavy and beautiful! She definitely inherited her hair from her father since I was a baldy until age 5! Luckily she still has two separate eyebrows:) Too bad she won't let me do anything with her hair. I have all these cute headbands and barrettes, but she just rips them off immediately. Somehow I was able to get two little pigtails in while she was distracted with dinner. Such a big girl!

Aug 16, 2008

We've got the fever

Not posting much lately because all free time is spent watching the Olympics! Amelia has watched more tv this past week than she did her entire first year of life. Oh well, it's about reaching your dreams and going for the gold--can't be that bad right? When I asked her today which Olympic sport she wanted to do she said "sssuuuuhhhh". Soccer it is! (Or saber? cycling? suuhhwimming??)

Aug 11, 2008

Truce

Amelia and the horse have reached an agreement. She can pet him and rest her head on him but she still won't crawl over him to get outside. So far so good!

Aug 6, 2008

It's Official

Sean's orders came in today and we are officially leaving Spain on Saturday October 4th. While it is nice to have a date so we can start planning all the gazillion things we need to do, it is also really, really strange that we won't be living here anymore. In about a month, we'll probably move out of our Spanish beach house into temporary housing on base... sigh... I've been keeping a mental list of the things I'll really miss, and the things I'm very much looking forward to in the states. Besides the very important and obvious (I'll miss our friends and lifestyle here, but can't wait to be closer to friends and family back in the states) here is some of my list...

I'll really miss:

- Tinto de Verano con limon, the light version of sangria. I know I can make it in the states, but I just don't think it will be the same, and I don't actually want it to be the same

- Siesta. This is such a uniquely Spanish (and Italian), wonderful concept. Everyone goes home from work/school at around 2pm for about 2 hrs and just chills out together as a family. Nobody really naps, but they just have lunch and hang out. It is all about family here. Not that we really took advantage of this, but i'll just miss knowing that it is going on. Even though sometimes it really drove me crazy when i wanted to shop at 3pm...

- The love affair with babies and children. Spanish folks adore children. Maybe Americans do too and i never noticed because I didn't have one of my own until last year. But everywhere we go we get comments and smiles and there are always kids dressed in adorable matching outfits getting away with murder.

I can't wait for:

- Restaurants!! Sean and I have been dreaming about eating at No Frill Grill in Norfolk for 3+ years. The Spotswood Melt and Funky Chicken Sandwich to be exact. But just some good variety in restaurant fare with reasonable dining hours will be amazing!

- TIVO! Yes, we love our tv. We can't wait to try out this cool DVR stuff and get addicted to a bunch of terrible shows, but not feel guilty about it because we can watch them in half the time without all the commericals!

- Fall weather. I love the sunny, mild weather in Spain, but it will be so nice to be moving back just as it is starting to get crisp and cool and i can buy fall flowers for my porch.

Anyway, just an update. More random thoughts to come in future posts.

Aug 3, 2008

BDAY BBQ

Round 2 of Amelia's 1st Birthday consisted of a BBQ with some friends and their kiddos. I thought she'd be overwhelmed by it all, but she seemed to enjoy the attention! She also had her first cheeseburger and more cake! It doesn't get much better. Again, tons more photos up on website soon.

Group shot!

Birthdays are the best!

Can I have cake everyday?

Grandma W visit

It was fantastic to have Grandma W. and co. here for a week! Amelia was such a charmer. She started saying so many new things "nana"-we think "banana" or it might be what she wants to call Grandma...?, "turtle", "horse" (yay!) and a few others. Speaking of horses, Grandma bought her an adorable stuffed horse chair, and Amelia is terrified of it. So much so that we use it at the foot of the stairs and she won't go anywhere near it. I think we need about 10 more! Amelia also got a huge kick out of Grandma following her up the stairs when it was nap time. She laughed hysterically--it was so cute! Lots more photos to be up on photoalbum website soon.

Colleen, Grandma, Pauline and Amelia at the beach!

Sipping sherry in Jerez

Amelia and the "scary" horse chair

Jul 31, 2008

Birthday Girl

Happy Birthday to our little one-year old!! We celebrated with Grandma W., Colleen and Pauline (teacher buddies) and after a few failed attempts, some yummy cupcakes. Amelia was too busy playing with new toys to pose for many photos, but here are a few of the day. More to come about mom's visit and the bday bbq soon...

birthday lunch and silliness

her favorite new face...

birthday cupcake time

loving the presents

Jul 24, 2008

She weighs more than the cat!

Grandma W and friends are in town for a visit, so this will be a quick post. Just wanted to share Amelia's 12 month stats. She had her checkup yesterday and is super healthy and doing great. She's 29.5 inches long and weighs 21.2 lbs! This means that she finally weighs more than Elliot, our enormous cat! He weighed in at 20lbs even at the vet last week. This is her most exciting milestone yet : )

Not fat, just big boned and furry!

Jul 16, 2008

First year slideshow

I attached our slideshow of Amelia's first year. It is pretty long (about 7 minutes) but it was so hard to narrow down a year of photos! And I had 2 songs that I wanted to use and couldn't pick a favorite. I love to see how much she has changed and grown. What an amazing year and an amazing little girl.

Jul 14, 2008

Miscellaneous cuteness

Just some random recent photos...

learning "Old MacDonald had a farm"

hiding from mommy

showing Cassandra how the sing along stage works

walking practice

our favorite spot

Jul 13, 2008

A Big Step

Recently we've started leaving Amelia in the nursery while we go to church. This is big deal as she has rarely been without one of us while awake (ok, never). The first time she whined and whimpered and sat on Maria's (sweet Spanish babysitter) lap most of the time. Today though when I went to get her, she was crawling under a table trying to get a ball and playing with another kid. Good stuff!

Jul 7, 2008

Barcelona Trip

We could not live with ourselves if we left Spain without visiting Barcelona. We finally made it this past week with our friends Mike and Rachel and their angelic 4 month old baby Norah. We stayed in a great apartment, just off Las Ramblas (the most lively, fun pedestrian street I have ever seen). Barcelona is such a vibrant city! There is so much activity and color and noise:) I was really excited to see the Gaudi architecture, and was absolutely not disappointed. The Sagrada Familia is the most unique cathedral I've ever seen and the Gaudi houses and parks are phenomenal. I'll post a few photos below. The rest will be on our photo website soon.