The first few steps are a doosy!

MB has finally started walking! Here are a few videos that show her progression over the past few months.

Starting to stand on her own.


A little dancing to celebrate.


Wild driver


All the encouragement in the world has helped.


The first few steps.


Finally getting the hang of it, albeit a little slow.

Risky Business

Risks from my past: Skydiving, pilots lessons, starting to date someone in another state one month before they leave to live in another country for two years.

Risks of today: Going out to eat with Mary Beth by myself in her new active state! I ventured to Chick-fil-A with her for the first time by my lonesome and I was more nervous than when I jumped out of a plane. I am pleased to report that we survived and only left behind a trail of waffle fries, two shoes, a few melt downs and spilt apple juice. Not too shabby! I even risked this knowing that she didn't have a full nap and that I needed to run to the grocery store after lunch. Call me a crazy woman!

Oh how my life has changed but it is still just as fun and as adventurous!

So in love

with this little girl...

Mary Beth's slide show

Thanks so much to the FABULOUS Lisa Butler (the better half of Mathew) who took these photos for us. She was able to capture so many of Mary Beth's expressions and mannerisms and I can't help but smile when the song says that I will hang my head and cry! I sing this song to her often so that made it even more special. I can't wait for Dan to get home from the lake so I can see the photos on the CD that Lisa made. The gorgeous scenery is from Mimi and Papa's house in Cartersville. We will treasure these pictures forever!

Thirteen Months!

One of the purposes for this blog is to capture all that MB has been up to so we can enjoy looking back on some of her milestones. I also reference this blog when I update her baby book because I am months behind on that sucker! Here are a few updates for our future reference, feel free to skip to the pictures. The little lady is so busy these days!

- She finally took her first step on 7/15/10. Dan was mowing the grass so he sadly missed it (thankfully she stepped for him the next day) but my friend Ivy was there to serve as a witness to this great feat. We were so excited for MB and she was soooo proud of herself. She has taken up to four steps at a time but definitely still prefers to crawl. We think she is a bit of a perfectionist because she gets really frustrated when she falls while we are watching. She often will stand up in the middle of the room and try to take a few steps when we are not looking to get some practice in. She has been cruising around furniture for a while and standing up in the middle of the room without pulling up on anything so we were waiting for this day. I have a feeling that she will be walking all over the place in a few weeks. We have a video that I will hopefully post soon.
- I spent my first night away from Mary Beth this past month. She stayed with Dan's parents and we ventured all the way to downtown Atlanta for the night. Dan and I were both sick with a fever and cold but still managed to have a great time. We went to Dante's for fondue which was fun and were in our pajamas by 9:00. I am heading to DC for work tomorrow and will be away from Dan and MB for three days. Although I am looking forward to seeing all of my coworkers, I am going to miss them like crazy.
- MB has four teeth and two additional upper teeth are on their way in. She is starting to chew her food better and we are working on getting her to bite things.
- She is a good eater and eats pretty much everything. She really likes meat, blueberries, pancakes, biscuits and spaghetti.
- We took her to the doctor and she weighs 17 pounds, 1 ounce and is 29 and 1/4 inches tall. She is in the 3rd percentile in weight and 50th percentile in height. Her head percentile is 75th!
- When she turned one, she stopped drinking formula cold turkey and went straight to soy milk. She also started drinking all of her milk out of a sippy cup without any problems. She is so independent and is always ready for the next phase in growing up. It makes me a little sad that she is growing up so fast but I am thrilled to be finished with the formula and the bottles!
- The pediatrician told us to slowly start mixing in regular milk with soy milk and she has done really well. I think in the next week or so we should be able to have her drinking 100% cow milk. We are so excited that she is no longer allergic to dairy but we are still being really careful with how much dairy she is eating. This is an answer to prayer!
- MB is a little (or a lot) bit sassy. She tries to get into pretty much everything that she shouldn't and she doesn't want to be told no. When I am trying to discipline her, she starts shaking her finger at me like I am the one in trouble. The first time she did it, I was in such disbelief that I started cracking up. The cuteness didn't last for long and now it really gets me fired up when she starts mocking me! Oh my, I'm afraid we have a pistol on our hands!
- The girl has got rhythm. She is a good dancer and that definitely came from the Milam side of the family.
- MB can imitate pretty much anything. She loves to try and imitate different faces that we make and she thinks its hilarious too. She is easily entertained!
- Around the time that she turned one, she started saying a few words. Banana was her first word besides mama and dada. She also says uh-oh, bye-bye, night night and mooooo. She repeats please and thank you but hasn't said those words on her own yet. She can repeat I love you, amen and hi too. I can't wait to hear all that she has to say and what's been going on in that little (or should I say large) head of hers. :-)
- Some favorite activities have been swinging, riding in her wagon, pushing her walking toy around, being thrown up in the air, swimming and trying to turn on and off the ceiling fan.
- Each week seems to get more and more fun! We love you Mary Beth!

Enjoying her first Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-fil-a and her first kid's meal! It is so strange to be able to order off of a menu for her.

Lucy was precious as usual, I loved her monogrammed cow bow.

Say what??? This was her expression when she caught site of the CFA larger than life cows walking around. She was terrified and I ended up holding her for most of the lunch. Looks like we don't have to worry about going to Disney World any time soon.


Still trying to get over the trauma of meeting the cow face to face. Yes, I dressed up too, with Leigh's help, and we all enjoyed our free meal.

We have taken so many laps around our driveway in the wagon and it is one of our favorite things to do after supper.

Faster, faster!

Lap 562

She loves having her very own swing that we can use rain or shine!

Twelve Month photos (way late)!

Am I the only who thinks that time is flying by? Wow! I'm behind with my updates so bear with me as I start a super long post!

June was such a busy month and July is proving to be no different. Here are some of the highlights and I couldn't remember the order so it may be random.

Poor baby. This was the morning of her birthday. I took the day off so we could have lots of fun together. Too bad she was recovering from being sick with the perfect storm (stomach bug, teething and a cold) and not her normal chipper self. This was the face that greeted me after singing Happy Birthday. Was it the singing or the hat that made her so sad?

Wondering why she wasn't eating rice cereal for the 100th day in a row. Birthday cake is the breakfast of champions. Since she couldn't tell me what she wanted to eat,

I just guessed and thought that she would enjoy some cake for breakfast.

Proof that I know this girl so well.

Seriously, can I eat this?


Right on Mom!

Mind blowingly delicious!

This is shaping into a good day already! We then went to lunch with her

BFF Lucy and Lucy's family and enjoyed Dan coming home early from work to play.

It was a great day even though she wasn't feeling well.

Taking advantage of a little snuggle time. It is rare that we get snuggles

like this so we did enjoy that part of her being sick.

A week before MB's birthday, our nephew Sam was born! He is adorable and

such a sweet baby. Sam already is quite the jet setter and is in Maine and Connecticut with his family waiting for the heat to pass. :-) We can't wait for his parents and brother Owen to come back home after they are finished working.

G-Mother made a little family of bunnies for MB and she loves them!

Papa bunny and twin baby girl are seen in this photo. She drags them all over the house and loves to pull them out of the carrot, their "home".

Love the wings that my sister gave her!

Do these wings make my butt look big?

My little buddy. We have so much fun together and I look

forward to many more years of spending fun times together!

What a cutie. Her two top teeth have come in a lot since this picture was taken.

This is one of their favorite games. It's almost cute enough that I

don't mind all the tiny hand prints on the door....almost.

G-Mother also made this beautiful pink dress! I think she likes it.

June also was the first time that MB went out on a boat. As you can see, she was a fan!

Loving it!

Cheryl, the super nanny, always puts the toys in different poses before

she leaves every day. This is one of my favorites.

Dan and MB reading his father's day card.

Dan cracking up because MB snatched the card out of his hand and flung it on the

floor. One of her favorite things to do.

The pool has been a hit this summer!

This is one of our favorite faces that she does, we love our little fish!

Lamb Photos!

Here they are in order by month. I love each one and they all bring up great memories of the past year. Since the first year is over, I think I will take an 18 month lamb photo and then take a yearly photo after that.

5 Days:

1 Month:

2 Months:

3 Months:

4 Months:

5 Months:

6 Months:

7 Months:

8 Months:

9 Months:

10 Months:

11 Months:

12 Months:

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!