Amelia's birthday

Amelia turned 1! The actual day of her birthday (a Wednesday), the poor baby was sick. She came down with a fever the day before that lasted until the day after her birthday. I had no idea why, and with no other symptoms, we thought maybe it was just teething (though whenever I think this, it usually turns out to be something else.) By Saturday, a rash developed. I then recognized this illness - a fever for about 3 days with no other symptoms, followed by a rash (which didn't bother her) when she was actually feeling better. Roseola. I don't remember Claire ever having it, but Maddie did just a few months ago. Sadly, it effected Amelia right through her birthday, but thankfully she was at least feeling well for her birthday party that weekend!

Her birthday morning, I took the kids to the park for a little while. Amelia usually loves the swings and giggles a lot throughout her ride. This time, not so much. I eventually just took her out and held her. That's all she wanted.

I tried to get a good shot of her on her birthday. She's kind of smiling, but the light just isn't in her eyes. Poor baby. :(

That night, we decided to take her to Pizza Hut. She usually inhales pizza because she loves it so much. While she didn't eat nearly as much as she usually does, she did enjoy herself as her fever was down.

There was pizza on her plate later. I promise.
Though Maddie's cow is in a booster at the table, he did not eat any pizza.

I also wanted her to have a bit of cake on her birthday, so we stopped at the grocery store on the way home and got some mini cupcakes. She seemed to like it, but you could tell by the look in her eye that she wasn't feeling great. Poor baby. :(

This face says it all. :(

That night, my parents came to visit. We had a fun time with them as they stayed through Monday. We went to the dollar summer movie (Mr. Peabody and Sherman), did some shopping, did some fix it stuff around the house with my dad, and on Sunday my mom stayed home with Claire (who had come down with a bad cold that morning) and Amelia, while the rest of us went to church. (Chris was teaching in Priesthood that Sunday, and I was being called as the primary president so we didn't want to miss church if we didn't have to.)

On Friday we also went to the temple. Chris and I had a goal to go every 6 weeks, but with 0 babysitters around, it has been nearly impossible to do, at least together. So, we went with my parents who watched the kids after they went through the temple. Here are some fun shots I got while I was waiting for them to come out.

But the main purpose of their visit was Amelia's birthday party that weekend. Chris's parents came down Saturday morning and stayed through Sunday morning. I was so grateful Amelia was feeling better and was back to her happy, smiley self. We enjoyed more pizza for lunch and delicious Korean bbq chicken and other yummy food for dinner. Amelia approved.

Of course there was birthday cake too! I made a banana cake with a cream cheese frosting and stuck with the tradition of making a clock cake. I LOVED clock cakes growing up, and made them for Claire and Maddie's first birthday too. (You point the hour hand to however old you are.)

Amelia was a little reserved at first digging into the cake, but after some time, she really got into it. :) She wasn't nearly as messy as Maddie was (which you can see here), but that would fit her personality.

For one who seems to like a ton of food, she is often very cautious with the first bite. Maybe she's been unpleasantly surprised too many times. :p

"How did my hands get so dirty?"

Amelia's new silly face.

Amelia also got some great presents. Her older sisters were ever so helpful. I had to keep holding them back to prevent them from ripping into all the presents at once in the name of "helping" their little sister. In fact, one of the toys she got is a new favorites of the big sisters. Ah, learning to share young I guess.

It was difficult to get her to pose with her presents. She got a cd/radio/ipod player for her room, a ball, a lion, 6 mini board books, a glockenspiel, and a personalized book with her name and picture in it.

Big sisters were anxious to pose with her too. 

...And play with Amelia's new toys.

And finally, here's just a cute shot of Amelia helping Papa play the piano. She LOVES to play the piano and loves the fact that she can stand and reach the real piano now and play. She does still love her little piano too. :)

We had a wonderful time together celebrating Amelia's birthday. I can't believe she's already 1. It's also weird that we're in the same home that she came home from the hospital to. That's a first for us.

Amelia, you are our patient, content, happy, sweet little chunky monkey and we love you so very much! I'm so glad you joined our family and am grateful for the little person you are, and excited to continue to see the person you become!