Snow!

We spent about two minutes outside taking some photos, it was the fastest photo shoot ever. Dan came home early to enjoy the snow with us and I couldn't wait to get some pictures.

What is all this stuff?

Our little family

The happiest she was during the two minutes we were outside.

Cute bunny suit but it's not waterproof

Not the best idea I ever had

Sorry Mary Beth, this didn't play out quite like I had planned. She was wet and freezing her buns off!

What we've been up to lately

Hibernating,

making new friends,

and dreaming of warmer weather.

Seven Months!

I feel like this month has brought so many changes in MB. She's becoming more of a little person and is no longer an infant. She is pure entertainment and cracks us up. I have thought many times over the past month about making more of an effort to soak up the little moments that we share. I find myself getting caught up in trying to meet all of her needs that I forget to stop and enjoy her and play a little peek a boo. I am proud to say that I snuck in her room late at night and took my sleeping baby out of the crib. It was so much fun snuggling and breathing in her sweet smell while she slept on my shoulder. (It's especially sweet since she doesn't smell like spit up anymore.) Since we put her down in her crib when it's time for her to go to sleep, we hardly ever rock her so I rocked her to sleep several times this month because I wanted to hold my baby close. These are sweet times and I am enjoying them. (Feel free to skip straight to the photos if you haven't already.)

Highlights of the month:
- Waving, sitting and saying Mama all seen in an earlier post
- Eating solids - Peas, Bananas, Carrots, Sweet Potatoes, Pears, Green Beans and Mango. I am still making all of the food and it has been super easy so far. We have discovered that she doesn't like anything the first time that she tastes it. She shivers in disgust and makes gagging noises and we have to try so hard not to laugh. Normally she likes everything the second time around.
- She has a new growl that is low and kind of scary like. Maybe she's trying to imitate a lion? We have no idea.
- A tooth poked through a few days ago! It's jagged and very sharp and you can feel it better than you can see it. It's on the bottom right.
- She is drinking some water and a little bit of apple juice through her sippy cup. She's improving and starting to be able to figure how to hold it and drink at the same time.
- She isn't crawling yet but is spinning in a circle while she's on her tummy and doing the superman pose. She also scoots backwards but nothing major yet.
- We are thankful that she hasn't hit the clingy stage yet. She will go to anyone and will smile all day long at them.
- She is enjoying bath time and has started liking the duckie. The first time we put him in the tub she gave him the worst look and started making loud noises like she was telling him to get the heck out of her bath tub.
- Hallelujah the spit up is almost gone! The other day we drove into downtown Atlanta and when we were getting out of the car I panicked! We had driven the entire way without a bib on her which hasn't happened since she was a month old. We have come a long way and I have a million burp cloths to prove it.
- We have been playing little games like peek a boo with Mary Beth and she loves it!
- Her favorite thing is when we clap and praise her!

The Seven Month photo with the lamb

went downhill very quickly!

Sleeping with her legs straight up in the air

This makes my heart smile

Talk about a getting a crick in your neck, ouch!

Proud to be a sitter

I have been dying to go to Flip Burger (one of my favorite Top Chefs from several seasons ago owns it) and here we are enjoying a Krispy Kreme milkshake, yes it is as good as it sounds.

Proof that you can never have too many accessories. Sweet Lucy let MB borrow her shades and they were a big hit. She even knew how to slowly lower them and look over the top of the rims.

First GT basketball game with the Doyals. MB did not love all the noise of the band/crowd/air horn and everyone looked at me like I was the worst mother ever while she screamed. We may wait a few years before we try it again. Lucy on the other hand loved the game and slept through most of it!

Two of MB's biggest fans, Mimi and Papa. They adore her and the feeling is mutual.

Welcome to my world

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!