Blog Stats

Well, I had a loose goal of posting every day in April, and I managed 24 posts in 30 days (25 if you count this one), which is nothing to sneeze at. Prior to this month, the most I'd ever posted was 13 times in one month -- March and October of 2011 tied for that distinction.

The blog has been viewed 859 times this month. (I keep telling Blogger stats not to count the number of times I log on to look at the blog, but I'm not sure it's listening to me.)

The number one sources of traffic are from facebook and my friend Katie's blog.

The most popular posts, going by the number of pageviews, have been "Fibbing" and "Dandelions." Our "Big News" received the most comments (4).

The top google search terms are "baby buffaloe blogspot" and "baby buffaloe blog," but "baby buffaloe" keeps showing up, and I have to imagine that some of the people who clicked on it were expecting something more like this:

"Sad face baby black and white" also had one hit, I'm assuming for this picture from her 9-month professional photos:

Anyway, I've had a lot of fun posting since I started with my very first entry two years ago on April 30th, 2010. I hope that you've enjoyed keeping up with this and following along with our baby book and way to keep in touch with the grandparents all rolled into one. My friend Caitlin asked if I was just updating the blog full time now, but I am still working (7 classes total this semester, 5 of which are going on right now). I'll be quite a bit busier with finals and grading in May, but I will still be posting (probably back to the regular frequency, though) and very much looking forward to adding a new baby Buffaloe and more pictures, videos, and stories for him or her later this year!

Naptime

At 23 months old, Amelie takes a great nap. She usually walks to the crib and asks/demands "Nap" at around the same time every day, and she'll sleep 2 solid hours so that Mama can get all kinds of things done. (If you'll notice, a great deal of blog posts are made in the early afternoon.)

This is what her naptime setup looks like:

I'm not too terribly worried that she still takes her bink, though she is using a pacifier much longer than I ever thought she would. I wouldn't worry too much about it at all (since the bink lives in the crib, and I don't think anyone would even know she still used it if I didn't go posting pictures on the internet) except that I'm afraid if she's not weaned from it by the time her sibling comes it'll be really hard to take away while the new baby still has one.

Maybe the comfy pillow, soft blanket, and roughly one million stuffed animals she has for company will help to ease the transition.

Bootheel

Unfortunately, we had to make a trip down to the bootheel for a funeral this Saturday. We were sad for the reason for the visit, but glad to be able to see some of our family members from Iowa and Arkansas. Nana Jana and Amelie on the porch swing.

Amelie with Grandma Doris

She didn't want to sit still for a photo.

Amelie with Great-aunt Helen.

She was pretty squirmy sitting in the chair. Are you noticing a trend?

Schroeder was glad to get in the car. He also wanted to illustrate that the camera works really nicely if the subjects will just sit still for a minute.

Carseat Couture

Why, yes, we do have that very-nearly-two-year-old still rear facing in the carseat, and doesn't she look stylish while we're at it?

Yard Work

We've been doing some work in the yard -- not that you can tell much!

Amelie is a big fan of the watering can.

I sidestepped her request to fill it up with water, but it was still fun to play with.

She's asking Dada to fill her cup with water.

And then she figured out how to do it herself.

A big thanks to Nana Jana for the nifty dress!

Shape Sorter

This is a ridiculously long series of pictures of Amelie figuring out the shape-sorting toy. Our friend Jen Miller brought it (in a great big bag of really cool stuff) way back when Amelie was just a few months old. She's played with it for a long time, but it's just recently one that she can actually figure out (as a shape-sorter, it's almost comically complicated -- there are 3 different sides and 9 different shapes, some of which are really close, like the half-circle and the moon shape).

Balloons

Amelie spent most of the afternoon yesterday running around the house in her underwear playing with balloons like mad. (This photo is blurry, but I think it best captures the spirit of the balloon-fest.)

Finally I chased her down and put some pants on her.

Watching her try to jump up in the air to grab the balloon string was priceless.

She colored on her shirt (and her belly underneath) with markers, but they're the washable kind and I love them.

Rock Climbing

So We're Starting This Already?

Amelie was eating a ladybug popsicle (smoothie mix in an ice cube tray sprinkled with blue blueberries and frozen) this morning. She finished it and brought the empty stick to me and said, "More popsch, please." When I told her that she'd already eaten her popsicle so it was all gone, she considered that information for a moment, walked over to Sam and said, "More popsch, please."

Shadow

At the Park

Last summer, I horrified the other mothers at the park by letting Amelie go down the small slide by herself.

This summer, she can go down the big slide by herself.

Wheeeee!

Here's a picture of her at 16 months going down the small slide:

We're really lucky to live just down the road from a nice park, though I think my days of taking Schroeder around for a quick walk with Amelie in the stroller are over -- if we pass the playground equipment, she insists on stopping.

Another at 16 months playing on the same equipment:

(Or you could go straight to the blog post from October to make a full comparison.)

Swings!

This Deck Is Only Big Enough for the One of Us

Any ideas what they're talking about?

It must be something exciting.

I know! Let's push Dada off the deck!

Mission accomplished.

Most Adorable Picture

Pretty much the most adorable picture ever:

Amelie wore her backup Easter outfit this week.

Appropriately enough, she's eating a leftover hardboiled egg in this picture.

Dandelions

Our back yard is full of dandelions.

You want me to do what with this?

Blow!

Yuck! Maybe I got a little too close to that last one.

Fun times!