My dream is to actually have one

Dan and I were talking about big dreams for our life and he asked me what would you want to accomplish if there were absolutely no limitations? I'm embarassed to admit that the first thing that came to my mind was to win the Biggest Loser! What??? How funny/sad is that??? That dream directly conflicts another dream I have which is to be my wedding weight. I am hoping that this was my first thought becuase I love watching that show. So, that was when I knew I was in big trouble in the dreaming department. I guess I'm too realistic and logical but I want to think bigger than my current capabilities. I am jealous of people who know what they want to do with their life and know how to use their God given talents to do amazing things! We are going to start practicing coming up with big and small dreams for our family so I can become better at this. I will keep you updated with my progress as we go!

One guy who has had a dream for a while and who is seeing his dream become a reality is our friend Ryan Kiesshauer. He is a very talented guy that we had the pleasure of going to college with and he released his very first CD! Check out his music and buy a copy, you will be very glad you did! www.kiesshauer.com I am so pumped for him and can't imagine having such a big dream and seeing it happen at such a young age! I'm inspired!!!!

Say my name, say my name

This video deserves a post of its own. I never knew how beautiful the word mama could be! My mom was watching MB for a few hours and when I went over to feed her, my mom asked how long she had been saying mama. What???? I couldn't believe it and was so excited!! Since that weekend, she has said it whenever she has been tired, upset or not feeling well and it is sooooo sweet. I guess she just says it when she really needs me. We even have some proof caught on camera. Poor Dan has been working on getting her to say Dada for the past two weeks. We were both surprised that she didn't say dada first.

This video shows that it is possible to love so much it hurts! Cousin Sadie adores MB but she is a little overwhleming. My mom was trying to catch MB saying mama on camera and protect her at the same time. I love how Sadie kisses her on the head at the end and places the rattle in front on her but it was too late. Funny!

Showing some personality

It has been a long few weeks which is why I haven't updated in a while. But, we do have some great news to share and that is that we are going to have another nephew! Emily is going to have another boy and we couldn't be happier!!! He is due at the end of June and Mary Beth is looking forward to having two boys to boss around! :-)

I will save some of the Mary Beth updates for her seven month post in a few days but had to share some fun videos of the past few weeks.


Where my dentures at?

The young lady sits! It was hard work but we finally were able to get MB to fold in half a week or two ago. She prefers to stand and becomes stiff as a board when we try to get her to sit but she gave in. I love that you can see her smile even when the pacifier in her mouth.

This video was filmed in Moultrie this past weekend and we were getting so tickled with MB. She was showing so much personality and started fake laughing and coughing. I wasn't able to catch that on video but I was able to get her waving which is something that she has started doing in the past few weeks. In this video she looks like we hypnotized her and put her wave in slow motion.

For this child we prayed

and we will continue to pray for this little girl. Mary Beth was dedicated/baptized this past weekend and we had such an amazing time with friends and family. We truly believe that it takes a community of folks to help raise a child and we couldn't ask for better people to be in Mary Beth's life. She has amazing Christian examples to look up to in our family and friends and our prayer has always been that she will love the Lord everyday of her life. Thanks to everyone who came out in the ice and snow to support us and celebrate the special occasion!

She had several wardrobe changes throughout the night and sported two very special dresses. One gown was made by my great grandmother and the other one was made by Dan's grandmother. She wore one to the church and the other one she wore during the dinner at our house. She looked so beautiful in both! Here are a few pictures from the weekend.

Posing in the Milam family gown

Family pic after the service

G-Mother with her masterpiece

The same gown I was christened in 30 years ago

She needed her rattle to make it through some of the photo shoot

Hanging out with Maw Maw (my grandmother) during the music at church

Sweet little hand

Mary Beth is one lucky little girl to have this much love around her!

Going Green

She's loving the sweet peas but the jury is still out with the sweet potatoes. I'm not exactly convinced that she hates them but the gagging/coughing sound is a good clue. She's very dramatic when it comes to food. For $2 I was able to make over 40 servings of sweet peas so it's a good thing she likes them.

Enjoying the change in flavor. Finally, something besides breast milk and rice cereal.

I hope she doesn't get tired of them....

Six Months!

All smiles with the lamb

Bringing him in for a kiss and then when he least expects it....

slams him into the arm of the chair!

I feel like I say this all the time but it's true, time is going by too fast! Half of her first year has passed and I want it to slow down. Dan, don't you want to have a dozen more??? Ha!

Here are some of her feats this past month:

- Stats - 14 pounds even, she gained one pound in the past month; 26 and 1/4 inches long and her head is 17cm in diameter. This puts her in the 75th percentile for height and 25th percentile for weight. She's perfect!

- Some of her funniest moments this past month have been when she is asleep. She has started pulling the covers up over her face any time a light is turned on or if she hears a noise. She makes it very clear that she doesn't want her beauty sleep to be interrupted. It's hilarious. Also, when I wake her up in the morning to feed her before I start working, she gives me a dirty look like she was having the best dream ever and I ruined it. I can only imagine how fun it is going to be to wake her up when she is in school. I am receiving major payback for this one (sorry mom and dad for being so hard to wake up and sorry Dan for still being so hard to wake up)! Another funny thing is we often find her with her hands behind her head like she is laying out on a relaxing vacation. It cracks us up!

- The past month has been full of laughs and giggles with her. The best time for her to laugh is right before bath time. We aren't sure if it's the time of day or if she thinks it's funny that she's naked. Dan has been able to get the most laughs so far but I am working on it, not that we are competing or anything....ha!

- MB apparently has forgotten how to role over. Thanks goodness we have proof of it here, she has stopped completely. I'm not sure if she has stopped because she doesn't mind being on her stomach now or what but it's kind of strange.

- She still loves to stand up and she wants to do this all the time. We have tried to get her to sit on the ground so she can practice sitting up but she doesn't want any of that. She becomes stiff as a board and we can hardly fold her in half to get her to sit. It's pretty funny.

- We started feeding her rice cereal and she is enjoying it. Tonight we are starting sweet peas so hopefully we will have some good video footage to share. I am going to attempt to make her baby food so wish me luck!

- The volume has been turned up. She still has a soft voice at times but she is testing out her vocal cords and seems to get louder everyday. She has become and expert at blowing raspberries and it is quite cute.

- She is moving out of some of her three month clothes and is wearing some of the 3-6 month clothes. We have gotten great use out of her clothes since she is staying in the same size as her age.

- She still enjoys being on a schedule and is taking 3-4 naps a day. She is such a happy baby and we think that the naps help keep her that way!

- She has been teething for a while but no signs of teeth yet. That is just fine with us because her gummy smile is the best!

LOVE this girl!!!

Oh what fun

We celebrated Christmas for three weekends in a row and loved every minute of it! We enjoyed our first Christmas with MB and are thankful for all that we have to celebrate. This is my weak attempt to fill you in on what we have been up to this past month.

Nothing gets you in the mood for the Christmas season like a great tree. It smelled so good and even though we may say it every year, it's the prettiest tree we've ever had.

MB and Owen posing with Santa. I was prepared for the worst but they were so good! This may be a new tradition.

Cousin Owen loving the train at the mall.

I'm glad I don't have a picture of his reaction when mean old Uncle Dan took him off of the train.


Cousin Sadie making delicious Christmas cookies.

Excited about her first (and potentially last) gingerbread house.

I tried my best to make it look just like the picture on the box. Aunt Susan sent us this kit and I can't imagine tackling this project without the pre-cut pieces.

Christmas at Maw Maw's house with grandaddy, Cousin Sadie and Uncle Rodney.

Pleased with her stack of presents at grandma and grandaddy's house (reason number one why we bought her only one gift). She especially liked the tissue paper and bows.

Proof that you can never have too many bows!

Christmas Eve at G-Mother's house with the great grandchildren. She was not in the mood for photos but she enjoyed the rest of the evening.

Playing with Owen and her new music table at Mimi's and Papa's house on Christmas morning. (reason number two we bought her one gift)

Pretending to give her cabbage patch doll a kiss while secretly trying to steal her paci.

The gift from us.

She loved it!