40 Weeks

40 Weeks Old

Mary Ella, you have been in this world one more day than you were in my tummy! You were born one day before my due date.

Daddy makes me giggle!

Smiling at Daddy

Mary Ella really blossomed at swim lessons this week. By the end of the week she was going under without spitting and coughing, and actually smiling about it. Thank goodness she is holding her breath! She kicks on her back and on her belly, and is getting better at climbing out of the pool. During one part of the class, we take them down under the water to our knees and bring them back up. Well this week we stepped it up by letting go! I was amazed that she came up on her own kicking and swimming. Wow! Tuesday after swim lessons we had lunch with Lindsay, Gunnar, Jill, and Grace. It was pretty funny to see Mary Ella going after Gunnar's lunch! That night we met Kelly downtown to take ME's nine month portraits. We did some family shots, and it was fun going for the "city" feel. I will post some of those soon! Since we were downtown, and it was supper time, we ate at The Flying Fish. Yum! For the weekend we headed to Springdale to see Gigi and Papa and the fam. Brad took off Friday, so we got there around lunchtime. We ate lunch at Mermaids with Joe, Rita, Julie, and Trey. Mary Ella and I surprised Anna Claire at her school Friday afternoon and got to see her classroom. I got to see some old friends that I worked with in Springdale, and it was nice for them to get to meet ME. Friday night Brad and I had a date at the ballpark! Arkansas was playing South Carolina, and it was the last at-home series, so they had fireworks. It had been storming but cleared up for game until it started sprinkling in the 8th inning. We put on our ponchos and cozied up for the fireworks. It was like old times! Too bad we lost EVERY game of the series! We didn't do much but hang out for the rest of the weekend because the weather was just YUCK. We had Guido's for lunch Saturday, and Joe grilled burgers that night. All the cousins came over, and Mary Ella LOVED watching them. Gigi taught her a new sound: na, na, na. I'm hoping this doesn't turn into no, no, no just yet. Sunday we got to see lots of friends at church and ate at Marketplace afterward. When we got home Sunday night, Mary Ella took off across her room crawling on her hands and knees! She's been doing this some, but couldn't go too fast, so she would resort to her army-like crawl. But now she's taking off on her hands and knees and not looking back. Go, Mary Ella, go! And run, Mommy, run!

Before swim lessons- I have to wake her up from her morning nap to take her. Can you tell?

Don't worry- she perks up when we get in the pool. She starts kicking and splashing!

This was at The Flying Fish.

She thought Daddy's crawfish was funny until she touched it. Then she started crying.

Headed home from downtown LR after our dinner and photo shoot.

She loves her Daddy!

These are our azaleas blooming along the back of our house. We had no idea they were azaleas because they bloomed later than most and they look different. Can you believe we considered pulling them up and planting something different? So glad we didn't!