Father's Day 2012

Daddy and his two munchins

 The Saturday before Father's Day we drove alll the way to Orlando.  Instead of splitting it up and stopping halfway for the night, we did this just so we could have a whole day of rest before we hit Disney on Monday.  So, even though Brad was super tired from driving the day before, he got the exact kind of Father's Day he would have wanted...sleeping in and napping most of the day away with the babies. (Jenn and I went shopping).

Oh, and 2 different pieces of chocolate cake for dessert via room service. ;)  Thank you Brad, for working hard every day so we get to stay home and play.  And also, thank you for taking us to fun places on business trips where we get to play again while you work. ;)  Happy Father's Day!  We love you so much!

Guess what?

We're going to Disneyworld!

32 Weeks

 32 Weeks Old

 I don't know what is wrong with me...I didn't take any pictures again this week!  So I had to go back to the old iphone.  Rhett is loving sitting in highchairs in restaurants and riding in buggies at stores the big boy way.  He is so good anywhere we go!  In the picture above we met the Mullises for breakfast at Broken Egg Cafe.  Later in the week we met them for a picnic lunch at Winner's Circle Park.  We are loving that place this summer!

 After breakfast, we played in the fountains at Renaissance.

Rhett biting his lip with his new tooth and enjoying the view.

I told ME to try to walk so she wouldn't slip and fall down, and this is what she did.  Apparently running with your hands in the air slows you down just enough. ;)

Sleepy boy



 We were at Renaissance because I had a pedicure appointment at Aqua. I know that taking 2 kids wasn't the ideal situation for relaxation and pampering, but I never could schedule an appointment by myself. And I desperately needed one before vacation. So, I just decided to do it! Rhett hung out in the stroller, and ME sat beside me and behaved so well that the sweet nail technician insisted on painting her toes too! She chose to match Mommy with "mermaid tears."



Rhett's bedhead and sleepy eyes

 Friday Jenn arrived and look what traveled all the way from Arkansas to Mississippi on her car.  Can you believe that?



It was safely released into the wild, aka our backyard.

The one before the big one

On June 14th, Brad and I celebrated our 9th anniversary.  Congratulations to us!  ;)  Next year is the big 1-0!  This year Nathan and Lauren kept the kids and we had a date at Parker House, but hopefully next year we will be at Sandals in the Bahamas reliving our honeymoon.  We almost had the money saved up until the transmission blew up in the Pathfinder last year.  Yeah, that was expensive!

"You and me goin' fishin' in the dark."

After dinner we changed clothes and did a little catfishing...definitely a night to remember.  I love you, Bradley Joe! 

31 Weeks

31 Weeks Old

As I was uploading my pictures from this week, I realized I only used my camera on one outing.  That's sad, because we had a really fun week.  We played at Strawberry Patch Park.  I let Mary Ella bring her bucket and shovel and dig in the sand there, and she loved it!  We met Sara, Emma Vaughan, Addison, Kristy, Miles, and Mary Kinley at the Science Museum.  Then we had a picnic lunch at the park.  We had the Carters over to swim and have a picnic at our pool.  We met the Mullises at Orange Leaf for yogurt.  Brad took ME fishing for the very first time.  We had burgers at the Cofers where ME ran around on their land like a wild woman. And Daddy and Mommy had a date night with the Atkinsons thanks to our live in babysitters, Nathan and Laruen. ;)  And all I got on camera was Wednesday...

The dinosaur exhibit was the best I've ever seen at the Science Museum.  She was supposed to be digging for dinosaur bones in this pit, but instead she wanted to feed the styrofoam pieces to the roaring robotic dinosaur.

Rhett, Emma, ME, and EV

Going to slide in the preschool room

All of the dinosaurs moved and made sounds.  It was really cool!  Miles wasn't too sure about them.

Roar!

Rhett keeping an eye on the T-rex.

Rhett and sweet Emma Vaughan

It was perfect park weather!

My silly sweeties

This is the coolest park ever!  It has SO many fun things to do including these drums.  Most of the play areas are covered by canopies and the ground is that soft squishy foam stuff.

Rhett's funny faces...

Found a few iphone pics...diggin at the park

Hangin at the park

She was PUMPED about her pink, Princess, light-up fishing pole Daddy brought home.  And they did catch 2 fish Saturday morning.

P.S.  On June 2, 2013, Mary Ella will make her big debut on stage.  It will be her first dance recital!!!  I signed her up for tap and ballet this week, and I couldn't be more excited!

7 Months

I'm 7 months old!

Oh, those eyes!

Sweet Rhett,
Words cannot describe how much we love you!  You bring so much joy to each and every day!  I hope I can always remember how happy and sweet and easy you are right now...I might need to draw off of these times one day when you are ornery and rambunctious like your Daddy.  Ha!  There are lots of new things to report this month.  Here's what you've been up to:

• You just keep getting bigger and bigger.  You probably weigh between 23 and 24 pounds.  And you must be getting longer too!  You are especially long bodied...you could use some more room in the stride of almost every outfit I put on you whether it's 9 months or 12 months.  You constantly have a diaper wedgie.  Ha!
• You are loving the new foods you have gotten to try!  So far you have loved green beans, peas, carrots, squash, and sweet potatoes. You eat rice cereal for breakfast and a veggie for supper.  I can't imagine how much you will enjoy the fruits when we get to them.  You are still drinking four 8 oz. bottles.
• You cut your first tooth this month...bottom right.  Finally!  It seems like you have been drooling and chewing and cutting that tooth your whole life!
• We found out you are allergic to penicillin.  Nooo more 'cillin for you EVER!  Dr. Smith said we need to avoid any antibiotics for as long as possible.  Hope we can keep you well!
• You can reach your arms up when you want me to pick you up!  It is so sweet!
• You can roll from tummy to back!  Still lazy going from back to tummy.
• You can sit without support.  The only time you topple over is if you reach too far for something and lose your balance.
• You are so, so strong.  When you want something, it's like wrangling a bull to keep you away from it. 
• And then you have a death grip on whatever you're holding.  You think it's funny when I pull and shake your arm to try to get something out of your hands.  You just keep holding tight until I pry your fingers away...this happens very often with my hair!
• You almost lunge forward when you reach for things.  It's like you think you can get up and walk or crawl to it.  I think you will be on the move soon.  You can already move yourself around on your tummy.
• You wake up so happy, talking and playing in your crib.  You are an amazing sleeper...in your crib, in the car, in the stroller!  The only time you refuse to go to sleep is when we are at church.  You are sometimes fussy on Sunday mornings because you need your nap, but you are too busy trying to look around or talk to people or find something to play with.  I wrestle you during Bible class trying to rock and pat and get you to go to sleep.  And then I get tired and hand you off to your Daddy, and he can get you to sleep.  Your sister was the same way.  She would never give it up and go to sleep in a public place.  I guess since y'all stay home with me you are spoiled to your routine and your naptime in your room, rocking with Mama, with the noise machine, in your crib.  That's okay with me!  I don't mind planning our days around nap schedules...especially if the result is happy, rested children!
• You have the best giggles!
• You are talking alot now.  You move your mouth like you want to say something. You have been saying "ra, ra, ra" for a while, and lately it sounds more like "da, da, da."  It isn't the distinct dadada sound that ME made, but I really think we can count it as your first word/sound!
• You get so excited and tickled when you watch your sister act silly around you.  It's like you just want to get up and run with her.
• She read you a book for the first time this month, but she had to stop alot to say, "No, baby Rhett."  You are still rough with books and are more interested in eating them than looking and listening.
• You put EVERYTHING in your mouth!  Your sister never did that, so I am going to have to be so careful with you.  She licked stuff at this age to test it out, and when she got older she could spot a speck on the floor a mile away.  But she didn't eat anything, she just picked stuff up and brought it to me.  Twice this month you have freaked me out with what you have gotten in your mouth.  Once in Target, you were in your carseat in the buggy, so I have no idea how you did it, but you got a hold of a pair of bathing suit bottoms, tore the sticker out of the crotch, and had it in your mouth chewing it.  Gross, I know!  I had to dig it out.  Yuck!  Then one morning in church I handed you ME's cardboard flip book to play with while I helped her clean up the crayons she had spilled.  You were in my lap with a paci in, and by the time we had cleaned up you had spit out your paci and chewed a corner off of the booklet.  It was gone!  I spent the whole rest of church worried it was stuck in your throat.  I even located Dr. Argo in the audience in case I needed someone to do the Heimlich...another thing I couldn't remember from infant CPR.
• Your hair is crazy!  You got your third haircut this month.  This one was at the real barber shop.  Your daddy had to take the Bumbo!
• You have the thickest feet and hands, yummiest leg roles, and almost a sleeve of fat on your arms, not to mention your belly and booty and cheeks.  I mean I could eat you UP!
• You are so, so sweet boy, and Mommy and Daddy are so proud of you!  I could just cry you are growing up so fast...please slooow down!

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