Amelia flies for the first time with visit to New Orleans

At nine months of age Amelia made her first plane trip. She slept most of the way both coming and going to the Crescent City. She spent four days and nights with us in French Quarter at the Astor Hotel at the corner of Bourbon and Canal Streets. She was joined in New Orleans by her Mimi Witte, her Big Mama and Big Daddy Gillis.

At our hotel, Amelia’s nighttime sleep, with her usual white noise sound machine, was mixed with occasional pluses of sound from nearby Bourbon Street as people partied five stories below. Amelia withstood this new temporary environment and enjoyed exploring new territories. With Amelia in a stroller, we went around the French Quarter, rode the St. Charles streetcar line to the Garden District and stopped to take pictures in Jackson Square. In the pictures you will see her reaching for a New Orleans favorite, a Po-Boy sandwich, which she can try for real in few years. We had rental car which allowed us to visit friends on Bayou St. John near City Park. Amelia met a friend’s baby, Aidan, who is a month apart in age from her. We ventured to see the progress in the Katrina damaged Lakeview neighborhood. Things look better there than in May 2006 when we first returned to visit after the storm. On Lake Pontchartrain, we watched the sun set over the lake while we dined at the new Landry’s Seafood restaurant.

Amelia likes being the well traveled baby, but she likes her time home as well as she explores the carpets and floors while crawling. She will return to Amelia Island in Florida for a visit in June. That will be a car ride, though she seems to like the speed of air travel.


Please see the photos by clicking here.

Amelia travels to Louisville

Amelia has now added the states of Tennessee and Kentucky to her list, OK maybe it is our list, of places she has traveled to. For the Easter weekend Amelia made her first trip up to Mimi Witte’s home in Louisville, KY. Since she needs a break from her car seat at around four hours we stopped overnight in Nashville, TN and took in the sights.

Once in Louisville, Amelia got familiar with a new crib ,purchased just for her, in Mimi Witte’s house. Amelia had a visit to the famed Churchill Downs and her parent’s favorite shops on Bardstown road. But this trip wasn’t just about places it was about people. Amelia was introduced to other members of her family when Uncle Ken, Aunt Susan and Cousin Amanda Witte came down from the Chicago area to meet her. The day after meeting her Witte relatives, she was introduced to her Mimi Witte’s friends with a gathering at the house complete with cupcakes and punch for the adults.

The return trip to Atlanta included another stop in Nashville. We wheeled around the massive Opryland Hotel east of the city. On the way home the next day we went up Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga. We entertained the idea of seeing Rock City, as some many roadside signs instruct you to do, but there was not enough time and so we had lunch before continuing back to life in Atlanta. Next month, Amelia adds Louisiana to her list of places. She won’t remember all these travels, but the pictures here are the proof. Click here for pictures.

Amelia heads for cover

By now you have maybe heard about Atlanta's rare tornado downtown. Downtown Atlanta is, as the crow might fly, about five miles from our house. The dangerous Friday night storm came out of nowhere fast with very little warning. Close to 9:30 PM, looking west out the back of our house, we heard thunder and saw a great amount of lightning in the distance. A quick look at the weather.com radar showed a big red blob of sorts moving our way. Without anyone telling us to, we headed to the basement. We woke Amelia from her sleep and carried her down the basement stairs. Not that there should be any fanfare, but this was Amelia’s first trip to our dusty basement. We tuned the radio to WSB AM 750 only to hear no warnings, just the SEC basketball game being called. As we listened waiting for warnings,the weather soon made that basketball game very unusual as a tornado scraped the side of the Georgia Dome. The powerful winds rocked the scoreboard back and forth above the players sending them and many fans to the tunnels. The tornado next took aim at the skyscrapers and condo lofts east of downtown, but away from us.

Nothing happened here at our home except some heavy rain and some wind. Amelia seemed confused that we had awakened her from her sleep. She soon returned to the safety of her crib. All was well until the next afternoon when we had to retreat to the basement yet again for another line of strong storms. We dodged all the bad storms and by Sunday we were walking in sunshine.

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.