amelie 11 months

 I wish I had some in-action shots of these girls behind me while I ride the bike (or push them while I run), because they are so cute together in here!

 hanging out in her pjs under the kitchen table

vigorously  clapping for herself

 that is one seriously happy girl!

 I love baby stretches, and unfortunately I haven't caught that many (or any?) of amélie doing it until now!

 Eating snacks on the kitchen floor (because that's where half of it ends up anyway).

 just chattin on her cell and chewing on some post-its while I photograph her:)

 I've said it before, but I absolutely love finding her alone in her room just reading books! And she always likes to try and "feel" the pictures in hopes that they will have some texture.

 my favorite thing in the WORLD is to see them happily playing together. Its the whole reason I decided to have more than one!

 I am sorry to say that I took VERY few pictures of our trip (w/o franc) to costa rica.

 meeting cousins and "aunts" the girls were both AMAZINGly behaved even though they had been flying all day and had had no naps!

 First few minutes on our amazing balcony in our amazing condo on jaco beach!

 she was being so funny at this point, I wish I could remember what she was saying/doing!!

 with grandpa Kortman who hates getting his picture taken:) Love the expressions on their faces.

 can't you tell we are in another country??? haha joke. this little section of the block was littered with american fast food.

 But we went to POPS- a Costa Rican Ice cream shop. Since amélie can't have dairy, Grandpa Kortman had the great idea of letting her chew on a cone! It worked for now, we'll see about the future.

 by the pool

 this photo of me is beyond gross, but I love you so much amélie that I will put it in your photojournal so you have one of us together in costa rica:)

 playing peek-a-boo with me!

During this month Amélie:
-learned how to stack blocks (about 3)
-learned how to hold a pencil and "draw"
-cries so hard when you start getting her ready for bed and then laughs when you put her down in her crib, out of giddyness. and makes a sort of sucking sound when you hand her her little blankey thing.

-definitely prefers fruit to veggies now, mostly my fault b/c they are quicker to prepare and give her
-you can't even spoon-feed her something if you try
-obsessed with balloons
-is so ticklish and laughy, giggly, fun to roll around with on the bed
-really tries to play with olivia and is sad when she leaves the room (and laughs hysterically at everything Olivia does)
-initiates peek-a-boo
-makes the most awesome scrunch-faced smiles IN THE WORLD.
-went to costa rica! Was excellent on the plane BOTH WAYS despite a less-than-excellent acting sister banging her on the head and waking her up:(
-hates spraying fountains/splash parks/waterfalls
-sits at the bottom of the stairs and just tries to figure out how to get up those suckers. She has so much trepidation she never actually tries.
-is a speed-crawler now
-makes sounds that are more and more like words (besides the mama, dada words)
-honestly wins the hearts of everyone she meets. She gives everyone her huge smiles and people will come up to me from out of no where telling me how darling she is and how she has been smiling and making affectionate faces at them. This trait will hopefully help her a lot later in life!
-while in costa rica the girl slept around 18 hrs PER DAY!!!! what?? it was awesome for me (since abuella took olivia swimming and I could just sleep, sleep, sleep!)
-is so quiet a lot of the time that people ask me if she ever talks/makes sounds! Such a change from the first...