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

Poor baby girl almost made it to the one year mark without getting sick. On the day of her party, she got really sick and was feeling terrible all day. I was so sad for her because she would have really enjoyed her party if she would have felt better. Despite feeling miserable and being sick, she absolutely loved eating her cake! She's still not feeling well but we are hoping she will be back to her normal self in a day or two. Thanks to everyone for coming to the party and for everyone who helped make it great! Just like this first year, we wouldn't have made it without our family and friends helping us!

We can't believe the first year is almost behind us. Mary Beth, we love being your parents, you are such a joy and we couldn't love you any more!

Getting ready for the party to start

The Saunders clan arrived early so we had time to get a group shot.
We missed John and Kyle! I wish we would have had time to do this with the Milam side of the family.

She could have eaten this entire cake if we had let her! Not only was it beautiful but it was dairy free so we didn't have to worry about any allergic reactions. Sheilah Doyal made the cakes and they were amazing!

We must have thought that she was going to start slinging cake,

we were keeping a safe distance.

Finger licking good, she didn't drop a morsel.

Owen loved the fondant circles and Mary Beth didn't mind the company.

This was the happiest she was all weekend!

Posing with Aunt Sheila

Mary Beth loves her papa.

Cousin Sadie was so excited to be with her Mary Bess in Lalanta.

The super nanny Cheryl who we adore!

You can tell that Mary Beth isn't feeling her best here.

Getting some sugar from Maw Maw

Enjoying time with cousins in her wagon

The wagon was a hit!

Visiting with Uncle Coop

Grandaddy hard at work!

Sadie enjoying watermelon with Aunt Quinky.

Rodney and Holly hanging out on the deck

A quick stop to visit her BFF Lucy.

Mimi was showing off pictures of my adorable new nephew!

Sam was born last Thursday and I can't wait to get my hands on him again.

Lucy couldn't wait for the hamburgers to get ready.

She enjoyed an early bird special of something pureed.

Mary Beth's beautiful dairy free cake! She was such a little lady and didn't even make a mess of the cake. I was going to take her dress off when she ate it but I forgot and it didn't even matter. She didn't let even one crumb fall.

This was the cake for the rest of us! LOVE IT! It was soooooo delicious too, thanks Sheilah!!!

I made these decorations to stick in the plants for the table decorations.

My sister set up the station for some of the drinks.

My sister-in-law Shanna helped me make the cookies. She was so good at piping the icing and her cookies looked amazing. This probably was my first and last set of making these cookies. They were a true labor of love!

More cookie pictures.

One of the table decorations, my sister was in charge of putting it all together

I made the birthday sign and am so glad that I didn't give up and order one from Etsy even though I was really tempted. We also posted all of the monthly lamb photos and asked people to guess the order of the pictures, five days to eleven months. We stole this idea from Keight and it was a hit but much harder than it looks! Most people only got three to five answers correct.

Another table decoration

The dining room. I love the balloons that Carrie put on the chandelier.

Drink bucket on the deck.

Thank you Swoozies for going out of business and having one of these on major sale!

Life's a beach

I'm still catching up here and am so excited to post these adorable pics from our trip to St. Simons with the Milams. We loved our time there and it was great to be with family with all the drama we were going through. I only wish I would have felt better but being at the beach is a great place to be when you aren't at your best. I love that your biggest decision is whether to go to the beach or the pool and what should we eat for supper.

I also want to say Happy Father's Day to three amazing dads! I am so thankful to have had the best Dad in the world, Big Phil. He is the greatest! Because of the example that he provided, I set my expectations very high and made a very wise choice in marrying Daniel Frank. Dan is such an amazing daddy to our beautiful daughter and I have my wonderful father-in-law to thank for that! We are better parents because of the example and love that we experienced from our mothers and fathers. We are truly blessed and hope to show our children as much love and support as they have. It takes incredibly special men to raise girls and Mary Beth is a very lucky little girl to have Dan as her daddy. Happy Father's Day fellas!

On to the beach photos:

She loved the pool, especially drinking the water

She hated the sand on the first day but I think she warmed up to it

Such a sweet profile

I am going to miss that gummy smile

Posing with Owen, I loved their feet in the air

I love this one with mimi and papa

We had to get a picture of her facing the ocean because this is what her front looked like...

Much happier standing up

One of her first times in the grass

Eleven Months!

I'm several weeks behind with this post so I am doing my best to catch up before Mary Beth turns one in a few weeks. The eleventh month was full of changes for MB. A few quick updates are below.

- She is finally fattening up a little bit and she has gained two pounds in the past two months. This is great news for us since she had only gained 11 ounces in the three months before that. She now weighs 16.11 and we are so proud.
- She is such a sweet baby but is starting to give us a run for our money. She is super independent and stubborn, just like her mom I'm afraid. When we tell her no, she either laughs or cries, depending on her mood.
- Her favorite things to do that we don't want her to do: Play with the night light in the hall, hit the spoon out of our hand when it is full of food, play with the blinds, flip in circles on the changing table, pull on the lamp cords, pull up on the toilet, book shelves. etc.
- She still has two teeth on the bottom but we think her top two are on their way in.
- She is eating pretty much everything except for dairy. Her new obsession is blueberries.
- She is cruising around and pulling up on everything. We keep waiting for her to take her first few steps but she prefers to be carried around. :-)
- She plays really well by herself when Dan is keeping her but if I am around, she wants to be under my feet constantly. She loves to pull up on my pants while I am cooking or washing dishes. - She loves to read any and all books and normally sits surprisingly still while we are reading to her. She isn't really interested in TV but I'm sure that will change at some point.
- She is so easy to make laugh and she has the best laugh ever. It can put a smile on your face when nothing else will!
- She is still bald as a coconut and we love it! She is starting to get some hair in the back so there is hope for hair by the time she starts kindergarten. A friend told us that God gave beautifully-shaped heads to some babies and he gave hair to the rest of them. :-)
- She is still sleeping really well and she goes down about 9:30 at night and sleeps until 8:30 or 9:00 in the morning.
- It has become really difficult to take her monthly lamb photo. For the 11 month photo shoot, it took three of us and two days and we still had a really hard time. The pictures and video below show how active she is now. There is never a dull moment. We love you Mary Beth!