Big (as in grown up) Girl

Here are some pics from our day with our big girl, as well as some I forgot from this weekend…

Doty, Caroline, and HG at our FTM Christmas party last weekend. It looks like HG is whopping poor Caroline, but I swear she was behaving…. This is Helen Grace’s favorite position these days, and I think she is trying to tell me that she’s tired of all these fancy holiday outfits. ”No more bloomers and tights, Mama!” Sitting up like a big girl at FTM this morning. And no head trauma this time- whew! Playing with her friend Lilly…I wonder what they say to each other in their baby language. We have finally outgrown the sling that fits inside her baby bath tub, so we tried a bath in the baby tub today. She did well, even when the water went right over her head rather than across the top (when she was laying in the sling). We are fighting over the washcloth these days though- she doesn’t want to let it go. I will have to think ahead next time, and get one just for her. She is getting to be such a big girl. Although she was full of energy and loved the ExerSaucer at FTM, she wanted nothing to do with her Jumperoo, so we spent most of the day going back and forth between playing on the floor and sitting up on the couch. Oh yeah, and sleeping (HG, that is). Happy birthday, CB, Jeanne, and Peggy! Tonight we had our Rolling Hills Drive traditional coconut cake and ice cream for all December birthdays at the Browns. Since I don’t like coconut cake, Chef Ted through together Pineapple Upside-down Cake AND his famous Banana Pudding. MAN! I felt like it was MY birthday! Peggy needs some baby love. Geggy, HG, and Grandma Meet our sweet little billy goat- she will try to eat anything. Speaking of eating, one of my mommy friends introduced me to Mum-Mums, a snack for babies made out of rice rusk (so far we can only find them at Wal-Mart). Helen Grace loves to hold one and glom it until it dissolves. We are entering a whole new world of foods!That's my girl!! Hang on tight to Daddy's credit card! 

We have a slow weekend coming up, thank goodness. We are having a family dinner at the Hollywood on Saturday to celebrate all of our December birthdays, including Bubba’s, so that ought to be a great night. Also, I’d like to get our tree decorated (the top half), hang stockings and our wreath on the front door, and maybe attempt to meet Santa.

Another new development—we are planning our first trip without baby girl (two nights and a plane ride away). I hate to even write that sentence because it makes it more and more real and my heart starts to pound, but I do think it will be nice to have some grown-up time with John and our friends. We are going to Dallas in January to see the Rebs play in the Cotton Bowl in the Cowboys’ stadium. We’ll finally get to see an Ole Miss game this year- we just have to go a long way to see them! We are staying in the Opryland Texan. The Nashville Opryland has always been a getaway for us over the years, so we’re looking forward to exploring this one in Dallas as well. And the spa is a dream! I am psyching myself up for this time away from Helen Grace. I can do it; I can do it!