Amélie 3 Years Old

My eldest is three years old. She's a little miss - dainty, sweet, funny, delicate and beautiful. She's such a mini-me in so many ways. She doesn't like to be messy (i.e. asks for a napkin and wipes her mouth after each bite of spaghetti, points out any crumb on the ground and loves to pretend to vacuum). She loves her play kitchen and playing hostess. She lines her toys up in straight lines and always wants everything to be perfect. She says, "I love you, mommy" spontaneously and give me a big hug. She loves being creative, practicing ballet and singing more nursery rhymes than I even know. She tries to count to twenty and most times forgets the number six. She says the cutest things and makes me laugh all day, but also knows just how to push my buttons too. 

As she's growing, she's not just my daughter, but becoming my person - my little friend who I chat with right before she goes to bed. She loves when I do her nails and when we have picnics together outside. She helps me bake and is always up for wiping down the kitchen cupboards. She's my little buddy, sidekick and darling girl. 

I love that she loves chicken nuggets (my fav), broccoli, sweet potato fries and mango. She'll request miso soup, but more often bowls of her ultimate favorites - 'belly pasta' (star pasta with bone broth & parmesan) or 'daddy egg' (poached, soft-boiled or over-easy eggs). She loves chocolate cake, apple cinnamon rice cakes and animal crackers too. Most days, she wants to play or watch a show over eating, but we get through it even if there's some promises of sweet treats at the end. Speaking of shows, she's mastered how to use a tablet and has her favorite shows on Netflix she navigates to herself. She's starting to learn her letters and drew the perfect 'x' yesterday without prompting. 

Her English accent is adorable and I can't wait until we visit America so everyone can point out the little phrases she's picked up and tones she uses. She says, 'would you mind..' and 'please may I..' which is all very polite and nice. She's great at preschool now - going two morning and one full day, which is where she is learning from the other children around her and mimicking what she's learned at home. She'll start official school in September 2018, which is scary and exciting at the same time. 

She's also the best sister who can be a bit too loving at times, but it's just in her nature to be affectionate. She loves pushing Clara on the swings and giving her kisses. She also does not like it when Clara destroys the toys she's worked so hard on arranging, but will also bring special baby toys to the park with us so Clara has something as well.

I can go on and on about how wonderful Amélie is, and despite how difficult it is sometimes to take care of an emotional toddler with tantrums and all, thinking this will never end, I do know she's growing up to be such a sweet girl who will definitely have a bright future ahead of her. I mean, she is finally sleeping in her own bed, in her own room and has been fully potty trained for a year now so that's a good start right? But really, she's a superstar and she's three! 

Also, here's a little recap of what we did on her actual birthday this past Tuesday: 

^^We had lunch outside at the playground (sandwiches on whole wheat bread, grapes, snap pea crisps & green tea lemonade for me), then went to the library for books and songs. 

 ^^We baked some cupcakes for Amélie to bring to school and made some marshmallows too.

^^We did one last happy birthday after dinner plus got the cupcakes all ready for school the next day. 

It was a great birthday, but I'm happy to have our regular routine back again too. 

Amélie's 3rd Birthday Fun

We opted not to have a big birthday party for Amélie this year, mainly since I know she'll be asking for one with all of her friends in the coming years. I thought we should keep it small with just family and it was a perfect way to celebrate this year. We headed up to Nonno & Nonna's house and luckily had sunny weather for a really lovely Sunday lunch ending with lots of birthday presents. 

Menu

Strawberry Lemonade 

(made with just blended strawberries, lemon juice, honey & water) 

Grilled Herb Shrimp Skewers

Grilled Steak 

Grilled Chicken with Barbecue Sauce 

Vegetable Skewers

Caprese

Zucchini and Spring Onion Orzo 

Assorted Berries 

Homemade Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Whipped Cream Icing* and Chocolate Sprinkles

*this is my new favorite - just some heavy or double cream whipped up with powdered sugar, vanilla extract & cocoa powder

Amélie was the cutest when we sang happy birthday to her. She had the sweetest expression on her face and you could tell the pure joy she was feeling. I still can't believe my baby girl is already three years old. Here are some pictures from the past weekend and another post dedicated to Amélie will follow soon too! 

Amélie Turns 2!

I can't believe my baby girl is already two! She turned two on Monday and we celebrated last weekend at "Nonno Nina's" house. I opted not to have a big birthday party for her this year, but we had fun doing just something small with family.

 ^^My balloon color selection was a bit off, but Amelie still enjoyed them!

 ^^Nina as Amelie calls her Nonna made tagliatelle with ragu. She ate tons! 

 ^^Little kissy face, she was so excited when we were all singing happy birthday to her. Above is a chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting. 

 ^^Last year, she had baby cake, but this year she got the good stuff. 

 ^^Her toy car!

 ^^Amelie trying to break open the pinata. 

^^Andrea definitely had more fun with it. 

Here's a little update on the little miss:

EAT
Some favorites currently: 
picking out the carrots in her chicken soup
mango
brioche
sweet potato fries
oatmeal/overnight oats
ham & cheese

SLEEP 
So Amélie's been co-sleeping with us since the end of last year and we kind of love it though we know she'll need to go to her big girl bed soon. It ended up happening when she was sick one week and since we were both working and desperate for a full night's sleep, in to the bed she came. She hasn't left since and she sleeps through the night mainly from 8ish to 6ish. She wakes up in the most abrupt way, shouting, "UUUPPppp, UUUpppp" to me and is immediately ready to start her day. I wish she would wake up more pleasantly though she will occasionally wake me up with kisses.

As far as moving her back to room in her big bed, we don't really have a plan, though we probably should since the baby is coming very soon. We'll see how it goes, Andrea jokes that we'll just have to get a huge bed :)

PLAY & GROW
Amélie's number one obsession is Peppa Pig. She knows all the characters, has seen every episode a million times and is just in love. I bought her a Peppa bathing suit for her birthday and the smile and excitement on her face when she saw it will stay with me forever. Her other favorite activities are painting, playing with playdough or playfoam (amazing stuff by the way), picking flowers and making tea. We bought her a tea set in America and she is so cute when she asks if we want tea. She's careful to fill up the teapot with water from her play kitchen sink then ask if we'd like milk or sugar. It's the cutest.

Amélie has always been really sweet, but her girly personality is coming out even more now. She's always very particular about certain things now like deciding which shoes she'd like or which cup she wants to drink her water from. She's also very demanding at times and will whine when she doesn't get her way, but I hope she'll grow out of that phase soon.

Sometimes I just can't help but stare at her pretty little face and wonder how she's grown up so fast. She can count to 10, sing her ABCs, twinkle tinkle little star and get her point across to us most time. I'm so amazed at how much she understands and how many new words she has learned.

Our next challenge to tackle to potty training, which I'm sure will be tons of fun.

Happy birthday Amélie!

Weekend Fun

^^This is my favorite family picture of us so far!

Though there were no 4th of July celebrations here, we still had a fun weekend with A's friend Toby visiting and family day at Rolls-Royce. Luckily the sun was out in between a few clouds and we were able to have a couple delicious meals too. 

 ^^ First we checked out the summer garden party in our neighborhood. A and Toby had some fun with the "soak-a-scout" game. Amélie on the other hand was exhausted. 

^^We had some pre-lunch ice cream while the sun was shining. 

 ^^Amélie was very happy to meet Toby. 

 ^^We had lunch at The White Swan, a pub in a small village called Bosham near us, that we have been wanting to try. It was well worth it and we had a really great meal. We shared this starter with homemade bread and chutneys. 

 ^^Next were salt baked prawns. 

^^For the main, I had the duck breast (yay for being able to eat meat less than well done!) while the boys had lamb. All of it was delicious and perfectly cooked. 

^^Back at home, these two had a little dance party to will.i.am and Miley. 

^^Then after dinner, these guys made us dessert - bread and butter pudding! and it was very good! 

^^The next morning, it was off to our favorite spot for breakfast, Wellies. It's so cute inside with chalkboards, jars, burlap and twine everywhere. 

^^The little one napped while we ate. 

^^The Full English is so good here with just the right amount of food. 

^^Friends since they were little. 

^^Next, we were off to Family Day at Rolls-Royce. 

^^It's very different from Ferrari as it's just one huge building with the officers and manufacturing. 

^^The assembly side of the building. 

^^We checked out some cars, but couldn't go on one of the chauffeured rides because of the little one. We'll have to wait until she's little bit older!

^^Then, we checked out the assembly line.

^^And saw lots of finished cars.

^^It was a beach theme, hence the fake beach and sun chairs. There were bbq stations, ice cream, a giant slide, a puppet show. Lots for the kids. 

^^Amélie decided she was too tired for it all, so we headed home. She did like the leather animal souvenir. 

^^Lastly to end the weekend, a chocolate chip ice cream sandwich, yum. 

Amélie has her immunizations tomorrow so hopefully she won't be in too much pain. Then we're off on our first family vacation to Wales later this week. I have so much to pack. I have a feeling I'm going to end up bringing everything since we are going by car!