happy father's day!

The day he became "dada."

The best Pops Mary could ask for...

Mary loved napping with Papaw.

Larry- we miss you every day!

wedding bells.

Jay's brother Wyatt got married last weekend back in TN.  Mary was one of 3 flower girls!  Being the mom of a flower girl did not allow me to take a lot of pictures but I will share the few I have.  (I have been ordered to take some pictures of Mary in her dress and halo here so I'll have to get on that!)  Mary was really good despite being off schedule and having a very short afternoon nap.

The wedding was beautiful.  It was at Jay's mom and stepdad's farm.  The ceremony was short and sweet and now Mary officially has 2 aunts!  We love Lauren and are so happy she and Wyatt are married.  (I did snag a couple of pictures off of Lauren's facebook...)

the bride & groom

married!

aunt erin, a sleepy flower girl, and her mama!

my favorite!  (thanks, aunt pam, for getting this shot!)

10 months.

Dear Mary,

Today you are 10 months old.  I know I say it every month but you are changing so fast and time is flying by so quickly.  You are a busy girl and you are keeping us on our toes!  You have gone from a rough army crawl to crawling on your hands and knees with efficiency... straight to pulling up to your knees, and then your feet, and now you are trying to cruise everywhere.  Slow down baby girl!  You are getting into everything- including things you shouldn't.  Some of those things are:  the entertainment system- you like to turn the volume knob way up, the cord for the remote of the play station, any shoes that aren't yours, the dogs' bed and toys, and the dogs' water bowl.  You know, just to name a few.

You are starting to play shy some but are still a relatively social girl.  Every now and then you only want mama or daddy and sometimes that includes us not leaving the room.  But you are doing pretty well and you love seeing some of your favorite people on campus.  You adore Mr. Leigh, Ms. Dale, & Ms. 'Nette- and they adore you, too.  We are blessed to have such a great school family.

You are still eating like a champ and sleeping like a champ.  Thankfully only a few naps suffered when you learned how to stand up in your crib.  You quickly learned that you wouldn't forget how to do it and finally got back down to the business of sleeping.  You still take 2 naps a day and sleep 10-11 hours at night.  We have a fairly good routine and I hope it stays this way for awhile- at least these last 3 weeks of school.

You are watching us and learning so many things.  You rub your fingers and thumbs together trying to snap, you rub your hands together when we clean ours after your diaper changes, you are waving and clapping all the time, too.  You are still saying lots of "words"- mama, dada, & baba.  You make a ton of other sounds, too.  You are giggling more now and make yourself laugh sometimes.

We just love you and the sweet girl that you are growing up to be.

Love,
Mama

5 months.

Dear Mary,

Time keeps flying by and here you are 5 months old.  You continue to grow and learn new things almost every day.  You had your 4 month check up with Dr. Love a few weeks ago.  You were 13 lbs. 7.5 oz and 25 inches long.  You still breastfeed (or take breast milk from a bottle) and you have started having some cereal and a few fruits and veggies.  You like rice cereal better than oatmeal.  And you have had sweet potatoes, applesauce, green beans, and bananas.  You make some funny faces but like most of it after awhile.

You have been rolling from your back to your belly for almost a month now but you were only turning to your right side.  Now you are finally turning both directions.  And you are starting to finally remember how to roll back over to your back from your belly.  You mastered that skill a long time ago but seem to forget how to do it.  You are also starting to sit up.  You usually sit up in the boppy or with mommy sitting behind you in the floor.  You are getting stronger but still fall over a lot.

You are still a great sleeper and you have gone from napping in your swing to napping in your bed.  You still like being swaddled but I fear it won't be long before we have to break that habit.  You are still a fairly happy girl and smile with your entire face.  You are curious about everything!  Your favorite toys right now are your squishy blocks (especially the ones that crinkle) and your Taggie blanket.

We still haven't seen any teeth yet but you are chewing on everything in sight.  They really seem to bother you and we are trying all sorts of things to help you.  You are "talking" and wake up squealing and chatting to yourself.  You love the dogs and smile when they are close to you and reach out to pet them.  You also love Sesame Street- especially Elmo!  You smile whenever he is on the screen.

You are a true joy and I can't wait to enjoy the magic of Christmas with you!

Love,
Mama

iPhone photo bomb, take 2!

i finally uploaded more photos from my phone!  enjoy!

she can hold her bottles like a big girl!

so happy in the mornings!

mama and mary :)

sweet sleeping girl.  love those lashes!

sweet doggies.

all ready for church!

she loves her taggie blanket... and now she realizes almost everything she has has a tag on it.

first ride in the stroller without her carseat.

in our green, ready for the asheville school game.  (CS won!)

pure sweetness.

i love our video monitor.

she used her feet to pull grover down for some monster cuddles.  

all bundled up for the first playoff football game!

mmmm.... i love my cereal.

this girl absolutely loves bathtime!

big girl in her bumbo!

rolling over!

pack and play.

mary loves to play in her pack and play.  we use it most for play time than anything else.  i love that i can put her in there and get things done- from a shower to laundry to dishes... and i know she'll be there when i get back, although she might be in a different position than where i originally placed her.  she's close to rolling all the way over but not quite there yet.  she can roll her hips and change her position though.  she's a busy busy girl!  she has just recently found her feet, too.  and that helped her find grover the other day in her pack and play.  she's always into something!  makes me glad that she's not rolling yet!

first food.

october 28th mary had her first taste of rice cereal.  she wasn't too sure about it at first and was probably wondering why i was feeding her breast milk from a spoon.  (i made her first sampling very thin.)  she has since had it a few more times and seems to be getting the hang of it.  she also enjoys it a little thicker and isn't having any texture issues.  we haven't made this into any sort of daily routine but it is helping her to learn to eat with a spoon.  it's a challenge at times, though, as she likes to keep her hands in her mouth, eat her bib, and try to grab the spoon to do it herself.  it's definitely not a clean adventure. 

first bite!

i am certain we got more on her face and bib than in her mouth!

pretty pachyderm.

we celebrated mary's first halloween.  it was very low-key.  seriously, does a 4 month old really need any candy?  and goodness knows we don't!  mary dressed up at dinner for the school costume contest and then was ready for a nap!  we'll definitely trick-or-treat next year.  mary's gigi/grandma (jay's mom) bought her costume, keeping with the elephant theme we have going.  she, i must say, is the cutest elephant i've ever seen.  but you can see for yourself!

silly sisters.

hey, it's me, cotton.  i haven't had mom help me write a blog post lately so i begged her and she said yes!  i am still not sure about that thing they brought home about 4 months ago.  they call her mary.  she spends a lot of time with mom and some with dad.  but we still get attention and food so we try not to complain.  barley still sleeps a lot and so do i but sometimes i really like to play.

barley was sleeping the other day but mary was playing in the floor with mom and it was so cute- she kept watching me and turned herself around so she could see me.  so i gave her a show!

see how she was turned around to watch me?  i thought maybe she might want to play with me, too, so i brought her my toy to see if she would throw it for me the way mom does.

mom told me "no" and that mary wasn't big enough to play with me yet so i gave in and decided to just lay next to her.  i mean, after all, she was really watching me so i thought i'd make it even better by laying next to her.  then i was up close and personal.  

i like to give mary kisses on her face, hands, and feet.  barley will sometimes kiss her cheek or toes.  we both like her "okay" i guess.  mom and dad keep saying we'll love her when she is big enough to eat and drop food on the floor.  i guess we'll have to wait and see.  but she's okay for now.  

4 months.

Dear Mary,

You are now 4 months old and you continue to grow and change daily!  We often find you chewing on your fingers.  We still haven't seen any teeth yet but there are other signs that they may be coming sooner than later.  I guess we'll just have to wait and see.  You seem to always be doing something new.

You can still roll from your tummy to your back but you haven't figured out that you can do it all the time.  You have rolled from your back to your belly once although you did get stuck on your bottom arm.  You have learned that you can throw your legs and hips around and by doing so you can turn yourself in whatever direction you want to face when you are lying on your back.  

You are still a fairly happy and smiley girl.  You have such a sweet personality and you continue to share your smiles with most people that you meet.  I think it will help you with stranger anxiety by living in the community that we live in because you will always be around lots of people.  And a lot of these people adore you!  

We finally moved you into size 2 diapers and hopefully we'll be in them for awhile.  You are starting to fill out your 6 month clothes although they are still too big.  We have a hard time keeping socks on your feet.  You have learned that you can rub your feet together and will do this until your socks come off.  I can't blame you, though- I hate wearing socks too.  We moved you into your room and crib a few weeks ago and you are doing great sleeping in there.  You seem to even sleep a little better in there than  the bassinet.  We still swaddle you at night, which you love, and you will generally sleep between 8-9 hours each night.  

Your hair is still a medium brown and seems to be getting thicker on your sweet round head.  Your fingernails are always sharp no matter how many times a day I cut them or cut and file them or just file them.  You also like to rub those sweet eyes so you always have a few scratches on your face.  

You remain a constant source of joy and I cannot believe I am writing your 4 month post.  Time is going by way too quickly!

Love,

Mama