99 Things

Merry Christmas! We’ve had a wonderful holiday, filled with family gatherings, endless games, too much food and too few photos.  Amelia has loved all the attention and we've loved being able to catch up with everyone.

I nearly stuck to all my New Year’s Resolutions this year, so thought I’d take on a '99 Things to do in 999 Days' challenge.  My start date will be 01/01/14, which means I have to complete everything on my list by 26/09/16.  So far I’ve only got 88 things on my list, so I’m open to suggestions!

Family

1. Have family photos taken

2. Go on a picnic

3. Take Amelia abroad

4. Go on a bike ride

5. Have a day out in London

6. Compile a family photo album

7. Go to Edinburgh for a long weekend

8. Visit two counties we’ve never been to

9. Go fruit picking and make a crumble

10. Don’t watch the television for a week

11. Start some family traditions of our own                          

Personal

12. Don’t complain for a week

13. Read all the unread novels I have at home

14. Read Nelson Mandela’s autobiography

15. Watch one film recommended by each parent

16. Watch The Killing

17. Watch Homeland

18. Read all the Harry Potter books

19. Watch all the Harry Potter films

20. Keep a dream journal for a month

Health and Fitness

21. Give up chocolate for a month

22. Take a Zumba class

23. Swim regularly

24. Get a new glasses prescription

25. Get down to a healthy weight

Spiritual

26. Read the Bible

27. Keep a prayer book

28. Go to a home group regularly

29. Keep a diary of all the things I’m thankful for on a daily basis for a month

Musical

30. Go to a music festival

31. Make a portfolio

32. Make a website

33. Do another Grade VIII

Arts and Crafts

34. Make a table cloth using my sewing machine

35. Make lip balm

36. Learn how to sew buttons onto clothes

37. Learn how to hem

38. Learn how to sew on zips

39. Do a watercolour painting

40. Make something for Amelia

41. Make a ceramic

42. Upcycle an item of furniture

43. Make a quilt

44. Create a photo wall

45. Make a canvas picture with buttons

Food

46. Make jam

47. Make cinnamon rolls

48. Make ice cream

49. Try five new foods

50. Perfect three different pasta dishes using our pasta machine

51. Make three different smoothies using our smoothie maker

52. Try a steak

53. Make and decorate a cake

54. Marinate a piece of meat

55. Make 30 new recipes and add them to my recipe book

56. Make five new desserts

57. Make a gingerbread house

58. Make cordial

Home

59. Finish decorating

60. Re-do our kitchen

61. Re-do our bathroom

62. Sort out our garage

63. Maintain our garden in the warm months

64. Keep a vegetable patch

65. Put pictures up in Amelia’s room

66. Put bunting up in Amelia’s room

67. Put a name plate on Amelia’s door

New Skills

68. Take a course

69. Learn how to change a tyre

70. Understand the offside rule

71. Learn a hip hop dance

72. Learn sign language

73. Learn Spanish

Helping Others

74. Do two things for charity

75. Send a care package to someone

76. Send Christmas or Thank You cards to soldiers overseas

77. Volunteer for a charity

78. Give someone a gift for no reason

79. Write and send 50 letters

80. Give blood

Other

81. Get my car cleaned properly

82. Be able to name all the countries

83. Be able to name all the states in America and their capitals

84. Get my wedding ring fixed

85. Sell something on eBay

86. Sign up to www.postcrossing.com and send 10 postcards

87. Throw a Murder Mystery party

88. Make another '99 Things to do in 999 Days' list

One Year On

I still can’t believe Amelia’s not a baby any more. She seems more and more grown up every day. She’s a pretty speedy crawler and stands up all the time – to play, to eat, in the bath, when we’re changing her, to sleep(!) – but I don’t think she’ll be walking any time soon as she’s still quite wobbly.

We’ve had lots of play dates recently. It’s nice seeing Amelia socialise. She’s obsessed with other babies’ mouths and noses at the moment, so a few of her friends have received some unexpected prods.

Granny Jan and Grandad had some cute photos taken of Amelia. We went to a wedding one Saturday and when we came back, there was a lovely canvas up in the hallway:

Here are my other favourites:

Amelia LOVES having baths. She’s always liked the water, but she gets excited every time she hears a tap running now. As soon as she sees me running the bath, she crawls over as fast as she can, stands up, peers over the side, and waits until it’s ready. It’s adorable:

She has a few words in her vocabulary too: Daddy, Mummy, no, quack, hiss and (very oddly) bubble. Her sleep has also improved loads. I can’t remember what I last blogged about her sleep, but she usually manages to go through the night now. She’s still an early riser, but Mark and I have to be up by 5:30am on workdays anyway, so sometimes she’s the last up!

Other loves include rice, peas, sweetcorn and blueberries:

this bean bag:

and Mr Bear:

As Mr Bear comes with us everywhere, he has to be washed pretty frequently and Amelia's never happy about it. Last week she fell off the bean bag trying to reach him while he was drying on the radiator.

Two peas in a pod:

Amelia's 1st Birthday

I can’t believe our baby’s one already! This year has been so special and we’ve loved watching Amelia’s personality develop over the last few months. She’s such an affectionate little girl and has an amazing giggle. Her favourite things are puppets, books, blueberries, vanity cases, the cupboards in the kitchen, nursery rhymes, and puzzles. We had a little party for Amelia on Sunday. She was spoiled with lots of presents, a Rainbow Rob cake and endless hugs and kisses:

I’m not sure knew what was happening, but she certainly had fun as she was in bed for the night by 5:45pm!

Amelia's likes copying me:

She even tries to put my glasses on and brushes her own hair!

In other news, we’ve now got a dining room table, a new washing machine and a new tumble dryer. We’re very excited about them all!