Christmas Day

Opening presents Christmas morning at LuLu and Joe's. Mary Elizabeth was fascinated by each scrap of wrapping paper. She needed a lot of help with presents or we would still be opening today!

Playing with a ball that Santa brought with her stocking. Stocking stuff also included sippy cups, snack conatainers, new snacks, shampoo and diaper rash cream All the essentials!

Riding the new pony with her friends

Stuff Santa brought waiting for Mary Elizabeth to wake up. Santa brought a pony, Blue, Periwinkle and a DVD (Blue's Big Music Show).

Too cute!

Hugging her friends. This is one of M.E.'s latest accomplishments. She likes to hug!

We had a great Christmas. Mary Elizabeth has such a personality, she makes everything more fun. I do have Christmas pictures to post, but these were too cute to wait. M.E. is something of a stuffed animal addict (mmm... I wonder where that comes from!) One of her favorite activities is pulling all of my old stuffed animals out and playing with them. She talks to them, hugs and of course they get beat on the floor as well. Saturday afternoon she sat with me in our bed and drank a bottle. After the bottle she went crazy pulling all of the animals from the chest at the foot of the bed, into bed with us.

Thanksgiving, FINALLY!

Checking out the butterflies at the Butterfly Center

Eating Thanksgiving dinner. Mary Elizabeth is wearing LuLu's latest dress creation.

Lunch with the girls (LuLu and Mom) while shopping

Exploring the hotel room

Snoozing during a big walk

I haven't been a good blogger recently! I have been so ready for school to be out for Christmas, I think that is all I could think about! Here is our Thanksgiving adventure, finally.

We had a great adventure at Callaway Gardens with LuLu and Joe. The boys played golf and the girls enjoyed a big walk and shopping. LuLu got in some tennis. We also enjoyed good food and great weather. Mary ELizabeth really enjoyed Fantasy in Lights. She bounced and babbled and got really excited to see all the beautiful scenes. Unfortunately she had been suffering from a cold that had developed into an ear infection (we didn't know it at the time) and we had an "incident" in the car about 1/2 way through the ride. I finished the ride covered in vomit and M.E. was stripped down and wrapped in my fleece jacket. I think Mike had been jealous that I was sitting with M.E., until the vomiting started that is!! She was a good sport and enoyed the rest of our vacation, but she was not as cheery as usual. We finished the trip with a visit to the Day Butterfly Center on Saturday as we were leaving. All in all it was a first good trip to Callaway and I am looking forward to many visits in the future.

Mini road trip

With Scottie at Summer Classics

Meeting Scottie's new "child" Sam

The Sunday before Thanksgiving we drove up to see Scottie in Huntsville. We had a nice day, seeing Scottie and Phillip's house, the store all decorated and eating lunch. Mary Elizabeth is a good travel buddy!

Halloween

Finishing the night at LuLu and Joe's in PJ's, prior to the "incident"

Asleep upon arriving at LuLu and Joe's, Halloween was too much fun!

Hugging Mama B

Playing with new blocks at Pat and Big Joe's

Ready to hit the road for some trick-or-treating!

Halloween was quite an adventure! M.E. came home early from daycare because she threw up after lunch. She seemed happy, so we figured it was just a case of she ate too fast and too much so it came back up. Little did we know.... The evening started off great with photos at home and a trip to Pat and Big Joe's. Pat and Big Joe had treats and new soft blocks that M.E. tried out immediately. Then it was off to Mama B and Papa House's. They had a M.E. size Minnie Mouse and Tigger that M.E. enjoyed hugging and wrestling with. Then it was off to LuLu and Joe's. Peggy came over to visit as well. M.E. got puffs, a book with finger puppet and a book with a hoot owl. I don't know what we will do when Halloween visits only result in candy! We came home with a car load of new stuff! M.E. played in her play yard while the grown ups enjoyed an excellent dinner. I then made the mistake of offering her a bottle. After she drank just a little bit she started hugging and promptly threw up on me. It wasn't much so I passed her to dad and went to change my shirt. Before I was hardly back in the kitchen M.E. had covered everything near her in throw up! Dad and M.E. stripped down (dad into Joe clothes and M.E. into a beach towel) and once again we came home with nasty clothes in a plastic bag and started the washing machine. I guess we have a stomach virus.

New dress

Lulu's first smocked bishop dress was very successful. Mary Elizabeth looks like an angel in it.

Is this fun?

Mary Elizabeth and I usually take Molly for a walk in the afternoon after school and go see LuLu. The cold weather has not slowed us down, but she is a funny little bundle!

First Jack-O-Lantern

Examining the finished product!

Sunday afternoon Mary Elizabeth helped her dad carve a jack-o-lantern.

9 month check up

M.E. weighed in at 28.2 pounds and measured 30 inches in height at her checkup today. I hope her 24 month old clothes fit for a little while longer!

Saturday fun

We recently participated in the Race for the Cure. M.E. had fun watching all of the people and cruising in her stroller.

After the race we ate lunch at Moe's then headed to the park for a fall festival. Joe was running a booth for the church, so we looked around and then visited with him for awhile.

Family lunch

Scottie and Phillip came home for a visit and to plan wedding stuff recently. We all enjoyed a nice lunch at Timberline. April 4th has also been set as a wedding date.

Playing with ponies

My friends Fran and Jay gave M.E. a barn of 5 stuffed ponies when she was born. We recently got the "herd" out to play with for the first time. M.E. was so excited she could hardly contain herself. She wanted all of them at once!

Busy and Brave Girl

Mary Elizabeth is pulling up on anything and everything. She has no fear! She will just let go and see what happens. It is also funny to watch her try to decide how she can either climb up with a toy (in her mouth usually) or reach to get a toy once she is standing. Waving at anything and everyone is her latest accomplishment. She once again was too busy to nap at school today because she just wanted to wave at all her friends (while standing of course).

Big Accomplishment

Mary Elizabeth pulled up to a standing position today. She pulled up before her afternoon nap in her crib at daycare. She was so proud of herself that she never took a nap. She just "talked" and waved at her friends and teachers!

Big Girl

Mary Elizabeth is changing so quickly these days. She has started "talking," but it is her own language! She can pull up to a kneeling position. If we stand her up so she can hold on to something, she can stand on her own for a long time. She has started trying to wave. She doesn't really crawl, she just pulls with her arms and pushes with her toes. She can cover a lot of ground really quickly though! The picture is her school picture from Sept 3rd. Her nose is so red from having it wiped so often, we actually went to the doctor that day after school. I thought the pictures were really cute though!

Playing at LuLu and Joe's

Playing with LuLu while mom rides Doodlebug.
Trying out a new toy with Joe.

First Auburn game

Talking to Aubie.
Dragging Aubie around during the game.
Pre-game fun with Dad.
M.E.'s latest trick is holding on to stand up. She does need a "spotter," but she really enjoys it.

Barnwork and pets

Mary Elizabeth enjoys supervising the barnwork in the afternoons.
Talking to Doodle.
Mike and I joke that maybe Doodle will be ready for M.E. once M.E. is 12 and Doodle is 20. If you know Doodle you know what I mean!
Petting Molly dog. I have to hold M.E. back or she would go crazy grabbing and pulling hair! She loves her pets. I can't get a picture of her with Belle (the cat) these days because Belle is trying to stay out of M.E.'s way. Belle can tell that things are changing and Mary Elizabeth is after her!

New pictures

M.E. has gotten really good at sitting up all on her own. She doesn't really need the Boppy, but it sofens the blow if she takes a dive!
Playing with Harry the Hippo in the bathtub. Poor Harry takes a lot of abuse these days.
Talking to Doodlebug at the barn.
Trying out a "biter biscuit". M.E. mainly slobbered all over it, but I think it felt good on her gums.

Regular routine

I am moving into the 3rd full week of school with the kids. I seem to have a good group of students this year. Mary Elizabeth is still enjoying school. Mike takes her everyday around 7 am and I pick her up around 3:30. LuLu picks M.E up on Tuesdays, so I have 1 day a week I can run errands or stay later at school. She is eating more baby food, so the formula intake has decreased to 25-30 ounces a day (instead of 40!). WE actually seem to have a real schedule, which is very exciting. The baby food and nap schedule had been pretty regular, but now the bottle schedule is regular as well. A normal day is:
6 am- wake up
8 am- cereal and bottle
9 am- nap
noon- fruit and bottle
2pm- nap
3 pm- bottle
5 pm- meat, veggie and bottle
7 pm- bath
8 pm- bottle
It is so nice to have a routine! I hope it lasts for a little while. Everyone is finally well and off medicine. M.E goes back next week to checck that her ear infection is cleared up.

Surviving School

Mary Elizabeth and I have survived the first week of school. We both managed to get sick and pass it on to Mike. Oh the joys of school germs! Sickness aside M.E. is still enjoying school. She naps well, eats all her cereal and fruit and drinks her milk. She seems to like her teacher and her school buddies. There are 3 girls and 1 boy in Infant 3 now, which is a good class. My classes seem to be good as well. I am the newspaper sponsor this year, which is a fun new adventure. I'll keep you updated.

First day of school

Ready for the first day of school
Snoozing at school

Mary Elizabeth started daycare today and I went back to school as well. M.E. seemed to have a good day. She drank 3 bottles, ate her cereal at breakfast and lunch, and took two 30 minute naps around her usual naptimes. She had just started another nap when I arrived around 2:45. Mike will be on his own Tuesday morning as the official drop off person. I will pick her up in the afternoon after school. So far so good in our new routine!

6 month check up

We got a good report at our 6 month check up yesterday. Mary Elizabeth weighed in at 24 lbs 9 ozs and is currently 28 and 7/8 inches long. She is in the 12-18 month range on the growth charts. There is nothing little about our little girl!

New toys and family fun

Mary Elizabeth splashing in the pool. She was so surprised when she hit the water and it splashed all over her face!

Big Joe found this activity center at Walmart and M.E loves it.
Playing in the pool with Dad
Hanging out with LuLu at the pool

M.E. has finaly discovered the mirror in her bed. She loves to look at the baby in the mirror and make the music play by spinning the roller.

Last Friday I had some alone time. Mary Elizabeth spent the night with her daddy, so I could go take a couple of lessons and bring Doodlebug back from Fran's. I had fun visiting with Fran and Jay Friday evening after my lesson, then I stayed at a hotel and took another lesson Sat. morning before coming home.

Mom, Scottie and I all celebrated birthdays this past week, so we had a family birthday party on Sunday 7/20. Jim, Lea Ann and Peggy came over along with Pat and Big Joe. Scottie was here Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. We all went swimming, then Mike boiled some shrimp for dinner. On Monday Scottie, Reba and I (and M.E. of course) scoped out some weding locations. Mom joined us when she got out of class.

Big Joe has been a faithful babysitter. He continues to come over almost everyday, so I can ride or run errands. Pat has been working at church music camp, so I know she will join us once camp is over.