On the Kitchen Counter

Alright, my secret is out, but these pics are too funny not to share. When HG and I are palling around in the kitchen, my little treat to HG is to let her sit on the counter. She loves to play in our candy jar (not eating the candy, just sorting or shaking the pieces) and move everything around on the counter. She must know how crazy that makes Mama’s OCD, but it shows how much I love her to let her throw off my world’s balance. ;) Last night, I was cutting up cantaloupe, and she couldn’t wait until I got it sliced into pieces. She took the whole piece including the rind and shoved it in her mouth. I took these pics with my iPhone, but I wish you could see the juice pouring down her arms and belly. She was so drenched that I had to change her diaper afterward! She later found a framed picture of her on the counter and got so excited that she kissed the photo- silly girl! 

Our Original Little Chick Turns Four

Of our group of college buddies, or ‘hens’ as we affectionately call ourselves, baby Adickes was our first little ‘chick.’ And she turned FOUR last weekend. Where did the time go? She is such a sweet, polite, and cuddly little girl, and we have loved every minute of watching her grow into a little lady. We had a great time celebrating in the pool at Lake Caroline on Saturday and swimming like little fishies. Happy 4th birthday, Adickes!

Helen Grace and Leighton playing in the baby pool Adickes is a lover and very much a little mama She insisted on carrying HG everywhere. Kisses for Auntie Em…who obviously loves her since she was covered in Capri Sun, cake, ice cream, and Fritos. I let her try to feed herself ice cream…because we were outside and she was already a hot mess. Our attempts at a hens and chicks picture… Same group (plus Whitney and Haney) last year at Adickes’ pony birthday party. HG was 3 months old, and I had just gone back to work after my maternity leave. After the swim party, we went to see GG and the family. This is hours of entertainment. I almost caught a snuggle with Granddaddy, but I was a second too slow. “What can I get into now?” Grace Ann’s little shadow    Playing with the doll on GG’s bed Didn’t realize my dad caught this pic, but I’m sure glad he did.  After an entire day without a nap, she FINALLY gave in on the ride home.

Super Sherberts

This child has lost it! At least she entertains herself well.

Our 15 Month Old

Height:  31.5 inches (90th %ile)

Weight: 21 lbs, 9 oz (40%ile)

Head:  47.5 cm (90th %ile)

Helen Grace turned 15 months old on August 25th, and man, she is a busy bee. Here’s what she’s up to…

• She is running around like crazy and has no interest in crawling anymore unless it’s necessary to crawl under something.
• She goes to bed between 8-8:30 p.m. and wakes up between 6-7 a.m. If we are at home on a normal day, I can get her to take two naps for 1.5-2 hours at a time…one around 9 a.m. and another around 3:30-4 p.m. Our bedtime routine consists of her squeezing next to me in the rocker, reading a few books, and then her leaning over on me and finally crawling into my lap and up to my shoulder to doze off. The other night, when she leaned over to lay in my lap, I patted her back and then she started patting my leg. So sweet!
• She has not gained any weight since her birthday, but she’s grown an inch and a half. She will try most any food you give her, but she doesn’t eat a ton of anything…except for cantaloupe and ice cream which are huge favorites. She can work a fork well and eats macaroni and cheese, etc. with it. We are still working on a spoon. We’ve kicked the bottle!!! We got rid of it about a month ago and haven’t looked back since.
• She jibber jabbers a lot, but we don’t understand most of what she’s saying. She’ll say Mama, Daddy, Peggy, Rebel, woof, and ack (quack). She waves at bye bye or night night but hasn’t figured out how to say the word yet. She can point out body parts like nose, eyes, ears, hands, feet, etc. While her words are still limited, she can understand anything you say. She’ll hand you her sippy cup from the backseat or put something back she has picked up or run to the front door if you say her grandparents’ names.
• She brings us her shoes for us to put them on her. In my closet with my shoes is still her favorite place to play.
• She has a funny new laugh- a dorky, low-pitched huhuhu laugh. And when you imitate it, she does it even more.
• She gives seriously good kisses and hugs…sometimes she’ll give them on demand yet other times she will act like she didn’t hear your request.
• Still a huge Tupperware fan and loves to play in ‘her’ cabinet. She loves to brush her teeth. And the girl wants to READ all the time. She wakes up wanting to read and goes to sleep holding a book. I never thought we would get to of all the books in our house, but I am so tired of them after reading them a million times a day!
• She can kick a ball well…and she ought to do that well as many times as she’s been to practice with Daddy. He still thinks she has inherited my clumsiness though. Right now, she hasn’t figured out how to stop when she’s running, so she often will just throw herself down and skid to a stop on her knees. As a result, her knees are always skinned up. Poor baby!
• She is starting to get the concept of herself. If you ask her where Helen Grace is, most of the time she will point to herself, and she can point out Baby Helen Grace in pictures.
• She loves to be scared. John will chase her around the house or jump out and surprise her. She will scream like crazy and then cackle. I know she will love horror movies, unlike either one of her parents.

She was not excited about being out of Mama’s arms at first. “Get me outta here!” “Can I kick the door down?” “Ooooh, this thing SPINS!” Everything is a purse. Our pretty little girl “Ok, I’m over this!” “I’d rather play with my gumball machine than pose for you.” A little blurry but check out the eyelashes And finally, a good smile!

Mud Island Queen

Last Wednesday, we celebrated the first birthdays of two sweet FTM babies, Drew and Eva, down on the Mud Island River Walk. The day was surprisingly “cool” with a nice breeze and plenty of sunshine and puffy white clouds. The babies had fun wading through the “streams” of the Mississippi River and the “gulf” at the end of it. Happy birthday, Drew and Eva! We had such a fun time together!

Little Miss Emsley Drew, the birthday boy A very happy Callum HG loved the balloons So did the birthday girl, Eva “Hmmm, do I want to go to Texas or Lahoma?” She loved running back and forth over this bridge. Acting like she was the Mud Island QueenWhen we were newlyweds, John and I both worked in the Morgan Keegan Tower, the one to the left with the pointy thing on top. Having a baby girl in the pic with this building paints that place in a whole new light!