Lucky number 13

Yeah! I'm not a baby anymore! And I'm going to have a GIRL baby cousin!!!

Usually people associate the number 13 with bad luck or bad things. Well, today ME is 13 months old and I don't think that is either bad luck or a bad thing. She's constantly amazing us and making us laugh. Drew and I are still loving just about every moment we can get of her!

Look, I already know how to read and catalog shop at 13 months!

Actually, this is how I was able to get ready in the morning during Christmas break. She loves to rock and turn pages in books, so I would put either of her rocking chairs in the hall and let her "go to town" while I dried my hair. Notice how ladylike she is with her feet crossed. She usually has her feet crossed when sitting, eating, playing, sleeping, etc. Too cute!

Is this Winter Wonderland? No, ME, it's just toilet paper.

According to my babycenter.com weekly e-letter, ME is right on track with her developmental skills. It said that most toddlers around 13 months discover the toilet paper roll. So does that mean that my daughter is exceptional? She's been doing this for weeks! :) So if you ever come to my house and you find the rolls stacked in a weird spot, you'll know why.

Here are her 12 month stats: (I forgot to post these after her 1 year checkup)

• Weight: 23.8 pounds (83%)
• Length: 29 1/2" (61%)
• Head: 18 1/2" (92%)
• Clothes: She's wearing 18 months in most things. Unfortunately, I think she has her daddy's short legs and long torso, so she's dragging all of her pant legs and her belly is sticking out of most of her shirts. Pretty cute!
• Shoes: Size 4
• Talents: She's becoming a great walker (still slow, though). She can "love" on things and find her bellybutton.
• Foods: She's just like her mother...a picky eater! She pretty much only eats Gerber meat sticks, cheese, bananas, and breads. She hardly ever tries new foods. However, Helen, she loves grilled cheese sandwiches! :)

Christmas (Part 5)

Scroll down...there are several Christmas posts. I had to make sure that I posted Christmas pix before ME turns 13 months on Wednesday. Phew...I barely made it! Aunt Vicki, I hope this will suffice. :)

Once everyone got through travelling, we had Christmas with LaLa, Grandy, Brant, and Kari. What fun to have a week long Christmas! To sum it up...pork rinds, rocking horses, and polar bears.

Grandy got pork rinds and peach rings in his stocking. Seriously, he was excited. Yucko!

LaLa found and fixed Brant's old polar bear that he had when he was a kid. It's amazing what a little Tide and new stuffing can do!

And ME got another rocking horse. Mom had a guy at her shop build this one for her. Dad is going to paint it now that he's not working holiday hours at the store. Was it the year of the horse? Either way, we love both of the horses and feel so blessed to have people that love us so much!

Christmas (Part 4)

We had Christmas with VeVe and Dubber Christmas night.


ME sporting her new bib.

What did Dubber get me?

Thanks, Dubber! I love my rocking horse! It's just my size. :)

We learned that we should just get ME a bag of peppermints next year instead of toys.

Christmas (Part 3)

Santa actually came to our house Christmas morning. Drew and I don't know how she knew, but she woke up at 6:30 a.m. ready to see what Santa brought her. Unfortunately, she had to wait until her grandparets came over to watch her open presents. This will probably be the last time we'll be able to wait. :) I thought we took a lot more pictures, but these were really the only ones worth sharing.

She was very careful when opening the presents bit by bit.

I painted her a rocking chair for Christmas. She loves to climb in it and rock. I promise that the pj's fit...it's just the way she was climbing into the chair. :)

Christmas (Part 2)

A few days after we had Christmas with my Papa, we headed to northern AR to have Christmas with Drew's family. We had a good time up there at "Disneyland". Aunt Tommie and Uncle Gary got a playground for their grandkids, they have horses, and a ton of those holiday muscial toys that you get from Hallmark.

ME and VeVe

Look, Katie, they have remote controls here, too! Remotes are one of ME's favorite "toys".


Daddy, can I get a slide for our house...

...and a pony...

...or maybe a...

Look what Dubber taught me!

I need a break from everyone!

This is one of her 3rd (?) cousins, Grant. As you can tell, he loved her!

This is our group shot of all the little ones. Turned out well, right?

Christmas (Part 1)

***I have no clue what's going on with this layout. Sorry if it's confusing!***

A few weeks before Christmas, we attempted to take a family picture for LaLa and Grandy's Christmas card. This was one of the "best" pictures we could get, so no card was ever sent. Notice that my mom's eyes were actually open, though (way to go!). Thanks, Bradley, for taking the pictures, and Jill, for trying to get ME's attention.

This is Beckett, Bradley and Jill's handsome baby boy that Mary Elizabeth loved to play with that night.

Fast forward to Christmas week...

Since my Papa came for ME's birthday, we did Christmas with him while he was here, too. So this marked the 1st of many family Christmases of that week.

All of the kids.

Look, I got money! Thanks, Papa!

Did you know that Brown's Country Kitchen in Benton doesn't open until 10 a.m.?!?! Neither did we! The day that Papa was headed back home (also the day that the weather was really bad), he wanted to eat at Brown's for breakfast. So Brant and I went down there at 9 to eat with Papa, only to find the doors locked! Who knew that a breakfast place (at least that's what we thought it used to be) didn't open until late? So then we drove a little further to try Ed and Kay's (really good pies), and they were closed the entire week! So we then drove back to Benton to eat at IHOP. Can't go wrong there! As you can see, ME had fun crawling around the booth and watch the icy cold rain fall.

Papa, I'm so glad that you came to celebrate ME's 1st year. We had such a great time with you, although it was a fast trip. I'm glad we got to go to the Clinton Museum together!

America's Next Top Model?

I meant to add these pictures a long time ago. I know they aren't the most beautiful, but I had to share. The first picture is from her daycare. Can anyone explain to me why they would take her picture right after she woke up from her nap? I think I would cry, too, if a camera was flashing in my face right after I woke up! Luckily, this has been my only complaint of our daycare. We really love her school and teachers!


Even though this past Christmas wasn't her first Christmas, it was her 1st time to see Santa (considering she came 4 days before Jesus' bday in 2007). Between ME's VeVe taking her to the mall 3 times, and me and LaLa taking her once, this is the result that I got from her picture with Santa. For those of you that don't know ME very well, she isn't very fond of men. She finally is warming up to her Uncle Bebo! Anyway, while we were in line waiting for Santa and waiting for the picture to print, ME was pointing at him and giggling. But the second we got within an inch of him, she didn't want anything to do with him...go figure! I know it's not the best picture, but I had get her 1st picture with Santa so we will all remember it!

Funny story while waiting to see Santa:
A little girl in front of us commented on what a cute baby ME is. Then she asked if the baby was a boy or girl. Never mind the tights, dress, and black patent shoes with bows that ME had on. I, of course, said that she was a girl and laughed when I saw the girl's expression. Then the girl contemplated my answer and then asked if she had cancer. My mom and I looked at each other, then bent down closer to her and both said "what?". She again asked if ME had cancer. Then I remembered my students at school always being thrown that ME doesn't have hair and realized that this little girl thought that ME was on chemo due to her bald head. I know that this could probably be seen as sad, but I think the looks on our faces were probably pretty priceless and just hearing the way the girl said it. It's always so funny to hear what comes out of kid's mouths!

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to

So I know that I'm way late on posting pix from ME's birthday, but here you go. Thanks to everyone that has helped celebrate ME's life with us. We had such a great time, even though ME was in the process of cutting a few more teeth and a bit fussy. Also, I know that some of these are really tiny...I don't know why, so I'm sorry for your eye squinting!

Opening the gifts

This was the 1st present. She wanted to be delicate with the paper and tear a tiny piece at a time. She could tell what hard work goes into wrapping gifts. By the end of the week (with so many Christmas'), she was such a champ at opening packages that she even tore the paper on the doctor's table when we went for her check-up.

Does this bring flashbacks? Sarah got her a sit-n-spin. We're still trying to figure out where to actually sit as you can see.

The hit of the night. Daddy Mike sent ME an Elmo laptop. All of the kiddos were pushing each other to try to play with it. As you can tell, ME wasn't interested in opening any other presents the rest of the night while she was straddling me to get to her laptop.

Eating the cake
I made her "smash" cake and the guest cake. Did I ever mention that I took a cake decorating class last Fall? Obviously, there is some serious practice to be had!!! Luckily, the pictures are small. :)


Her taste buds must be related to mine...she only liked the icing, just like me.


My Papa came in from Texas to make sure that she got a good bite of her 1st birthday cake.

This is Taylor, Sarah's 4 month old. She obviously had a great time! In the 2nd picture, ME is wondering why Taylor is passed out on her birthday present.

Photo Shoot

My friend, Sarah, is a photographer and since she was in town, I thought we would try capture the classic 1-year-old "smash cake" picture. All of the little pictures were taken by Sarah, too. Tip: Don't wait until after the party to try this!