Update: Amelia’s travels and visitors

To get everyone caught up here, Amelia continues growing and learning new baby skills such as flipping over. She is getting closer to crawling as she now pushes up on her arms, but as of now, she can’t get the legs going to propel her anywhere. She repeats sounds with variations of “ab boo boo” or something like that.


In mid-February Anna and Amelia went to Waycross, GA to visit her grandparents and meet more relatives and friends. Among the activities while in Waycross, were a bridal shower for cousin Rebecca, a trip to see Gillis family friends the Willis sisters, attending church in the balcony of Waycross First Baptist, lunch at the Golf Club, a trip to the blueberry fields on the Gillis farm and Amelia’s first trip to the Tanner family farm outside of Alma, GA where she met her Uncle Jack and Aunt Laura.


Amelia had visitors this week at home when Aunt Lyn and Uncle Roger Thompson came to visit. During their visit we visited the Georgia Aquarium in downtown Atlanta. This was Amelia’s first trip downtown. Amelia enjoyed all the attention her New York relatives gave her.


Amelia’s upcoming adventures include a trip to Louisville, KY to see Mimi Witte and her first airplane trip in May when she goes to New Orleans. I guess this is Amelia on tour.

Please link to the flickr.com site here http://www.flickr.com/photos/switte/ to see the latest photos.

Amelia’s professional photos up temporarily

Photos from a professional photo session of Amelia done in our home are temporarily up via photographer Shannon Holden’s website. We have permission to place some watermarked photos up soon on this blog for permanent display. Word is that in order to make room on Shannon's site, these photos will be down soon. Click on the link Shannon Holden's site below while they are still available.

http://www.shannonholden.com/clients/2008-02witte/

Amelia's Baptism

Amelia received the sacrament of Baptism on Saturday morning February 2, 2008 at the Cathedral of Christ the King. There were three other infants baptized on this day by Father Joseph of our parish. After the baptism we had a catered brunch at our house. 23 guests attended the 11:00 AM brunch. It certainly was a busy house with children of many ages running about, playing with Amelia’s toys and gathering with interest around Amelia’s crib. Amelia seemed to be in awe of all the attention on this day.

Amelia's first snow

On the afternoon of January 16th, we had a brief snowstorm. This was Amelia’s first snow. Dressed in her “snowman” outfit, we headed to the backyard for photos. Placing her down on a lounge chair and with her looking up into the falling snow her contentment with the situation was very short lived, but just long enough for pictures.

In medical news from us, test done at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta showed that the surgery that Amelia had to correct an obstructed kidney worked. Hopefully we can stay away from the hospital for awhile now.

First Christmas and a busy New Year

Amelia had a busy first Christmas filled with gifts and travel. Her “Mimi” Witte came to visit from Louisville, KY on December 21st and stayed till the 28th. On Christmas Eve we all piled in the Honda CRV and headed down south for Christmas in Waycross, GA at the Gillis home. While in Waycross, we stayed at the Pond View Inn in downtown.

As always, Amelia was the star with her cousins, aunts, uncles, and of course with her grandparents. At the annual family Christmas night gathering at the Gillis home Amelia’s young cousins took turns holding her while posing for pictures with her. Amelia seemed to have the largest stack of gifts that evening. It is wonderful to be under one year of age! Christmas evening ended at the annual large family gathering at Wanda and Tandy Morton’s Waycross home. It was a late night for Amelia, 9:30 PM.

The day after Christmas it was time for more adventures in travel with Amelia as we headed down to Amelia Island for the day. This was Amelia’s third trip to her namesake island. A dinner at the restaurant PLAE (People Laughing And Eating) wasn’t really her thing as she was fussy during our meal. The next morning it was back to life on the road to Atlanta. Amelia spent her last Friday of the year at the High Museum of Art. This was her first trip to an art museum.

New Year’s Eve was a normal bed by 7:30 PM for Amelia. She entered her first new year asleep while we sipped wine downstairs.

Early in the morning on January 2nd Amelia had a quick surgery to remove a Stent from last month’s surgery. Hopefully for now our major medical stories with Amelia have ended.

Check this link for photos from the Christmas season: http://www.flickr.com/photos/switte/

Amelia is now home

We could say that was easy! Amelia did really well in the hospital and returned home today in the late afternoon. She was smiling at the doctors and nurses this morning as they checked her over. She hasn't really cried in pain since yesterday. She seems to be back to normal as much normal can be given that she just had surgery. We have our instructions and will be watching her closely over the next few days.

Amelia resting after surgery

Amelia is resting at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta after having surgery Monday morning to correct a blockage of her left kidney. She will be spending the night in the hospital and may return home tomorrow. Anna and myself will be staying in the room with her overnight. Anna's mother Ann Gillis will join us here in Atlanta sometime today to help in Amelia's recovery. Check back for details as Amelia returns to being a happy baby. Thanks to everyone for your concerns and prayers.