Mina and Maggie demolish a Jenga tower

Maggie and her cousin demolish a Jenga tower during Thanksgiving.

Christmas Lights at Bellingrath!

One of our Christmas traditions here is visiting Bellingrath Gardens to see the Christmas lights!

This was one of Ben's favorite displays, the Chinese Gardens:

We used this opportunity to get a rare family photo:

Standing

Maggie hasn't yet demonstrated her new skills for us, but when we aren't around, she will occaisionally pull up.

Does the fact that I'm taking a picture while my daughter is crying make me a bad mother? ;-)

Thanksgiving

We were very thankful this year to have a bunch of our family here for the holidays. My parents came down a week early and so Maggie got to spend a lot of time with "Grammy and Grumpa" which was much needed!




Maggie really started working on her new crawling skills - getting into everything. We now have "Maggie cabinets" in the kitchen in bathroom with things that are safe for her to play with hidden in them. She LOVES playing in those cabinets!


We took the opportunity to do some exploring of the area while my folks were here and visited Dauphin Island, which had been damaged pretty extensively during Hurricane Katrina. There is a lot of rebuilding going on, and it really is a pretty spot - even though it was quite cold and windy (for the gulf).





Of course our family get together wouldn't be complete without the cousins getting in the tub together. This was Maggie's transition to our "big tub" - she's been using the little counter-top version at our house all this time. My back likes the little tub on the counter much better, but with Maggie's new mobility, this is a better option and she LOVES crawling around in the huge tub!


We did some MORE exploring and visited the local zoo which was quite interesting. It's way out in the boondocks and by the time we drove down the dirt rut, I mean road, we really weren't sure what we were about to find, but it was GREAT for the kids! We were greeted by a young pig who followed us around the whole zoo. They had bears and monkeys and lots of tigers and all kinds of other animals and you could feed the animals peanuts though these tubes which was great fun for the kids! It ain't the San Diego zoo, but it was a lot of fun!

Video Update

Some people have reported problems with our video links so I am trying something new - Google has a new video player. I've changed the link on the right so it will take you directly to the video on Google. If you have a problem with this let me know. This link will NOT expire in 7 days (yea!) and you may be able to view it on a dial up connection - let me know if you try it and whether you are successful.

God Bless!
Heather

Fall Vacation

The week of Oct. 20th – 27th, we took a much anticipated vacation.

On Friday, we drove to Florence via Birmingham. We had a fun time at lunch with Aunt Peggy and her friends Sue & Charles.


Then it was on to Florence where we got to spend the evening with Daniel, Abbe, Jonah, and their new baby Maddie. It was great to meet Maddie. She’s so tiny!!

Jonah kept Maggie entertained and as you can see, they got along quite well.

Saturday morning, we each had lunch with friends, and then we attended the wedding of Sandra, one of our dear friends from Ben’s work in Florence. That night we had a nice dinner with some of our Woodmont friends and then gave Maggie some chill time (which we ALL needed!). Sunday, we attended church and had lunch at Woodmont, and then it was off to Grammy & Grumpa’s house.

The weather at Grammy & Grumpa’s was wonderful! The highs were in the 50s and the lows in the 20s and 30s; perfect fall weather! The color was past peak, but there were still a lot of leaves. We spent Tuesday riding on the Blue Ridge Parkway and hiking at Deep Creek.






There was ice in several places on the Parkway, and we saw some beautiful waterfalls at Deep Creek. Wednesday we spent relaxing and then we got to have a nice dinner out sans Maggie! All in all, it was a great week, we just wish it had lasted longer!

Skills!

It's been quite a week! Maggie's 9 month doctor visit is today and all week she's been cramming for it. While we were travelling last week, she woke us up in the wee hours one morning. When we went to check on her, she was sitting up. She seemed almost as suprised as we were! Late last week, she also began to clap. Grandmamma worked with her on this while she was here, and now Maggie is quite good at it! Finally, and most significantly, Maggie began to crawl this week with the help and encouragement of Mommy, Daddy, Grandmamma, and Grandaddy. She's still figuring out exactly how everything works, but each day she goes a little further. She finds the crawling quite helpful in getting to cords, strings, cabinets, drawers, magazines, and a certain cat!

If you want to see Maggie display her new found skills, click on the video link to the right (if you have high speed). This link will only be available for seven days. Happy viewing!

BA!

Wow! It's been over a month since I've posted anything. We've been busy with trips, Football games, visits from friends.

Maggie is starting to move around now - not crawling, but she has discovered that she can cover ground fairly well by rolling. . . we expect the crawling to follow shortly.

She's working on cutting tooth number 3 . . . it's taking it's sweet time coming and we are all looking forward to that day! But she is still in remarkably good humor, considering. . .

Maggie said her first consonant today! "BA! BA! BA! BA!" - it's music to my ears! :-) If you want to hear it to, you can download the video by clicking on the link listed at right. Remember - this video is only available for 7 days and only recommended for high speed connections.

At the end of September we had another visit with Maggie's cousin - they got to take a bath together and we all had a blast!



A couple of weeks ago we went to the Auburn-Arkansas game. A sad game to watch, but it was a beautiful day in Auburn and I really enjoyed the experience on the upper deck. Plus, Maggie looked so cute in her Auburn gear.



One of our favorite family pastimes is taking walks together. Now that the fall weather has finally arrived here we are getting out more often.



We hope you all are doing well. We miss our friends and family scattered across the country and think of you often! God Bless!

Whatever it takes to get comfy. . .

I checked in on Maggie during her naptime today and found this:

Maggie's First Swim

Ben's parents belong to a supper club through their church and this week the group came down to the beach. We went over to meet them on Wednesday and had a really great time visiting with friends and exploring the beach. While Maggie was napping, Ben and I took a stroll on the beach... the weather was so nice and the water was warm. I chased fish and we stalked a heron that was on the beach (got to within about 10 feet!) and saw lots of (what I think were) blue crab that have migrated down to the gulf.

We had planned to get Maggie on the beach to feel the sand under her toes, but by the time she woke up from her nap it was raining and thundering, so later we visited the pool instead! Miss Shelby, who has a beautiful condo which we were staying in, is a former swim instructor and she gave us lots of wonderful advice about how to introduce Maggie to the water so that she will learn to love it.

Maggie eventually got to the point where she would splash with her hands and giggle when we moved her legs to help her "kick". It was GREAT fun! There is a short video clip on the link to the right. . . it will take you to YouSendIt.com where you can download the clip. This is only recommended for those with high speed access and will only be available for 7 days. Happy viewing!

War Eagle Baby!

To celebrate the start of college football, a sacred season here in the south, Maggie got some new duds. . . (thank you Grandmother!) Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar Eagle!

Birthday Parties!

Maggie and I got to visit my sister and her family. Her daughter turned 2 years old this September! We had SUCH a fun visit, even if it was very short.


I got to help my sister decorate her birthday cake. . . the party had a water theme so my sister picked out this fun dessert!















Here's Maggie's cousin with one of her presents from Gabby (Grandma Small). . . a frog umbrella!













The cousins share a "hug" before saying goodbye.

Savage Gulf

Ben and some of his buddies from work got to spend a weekend hiking in Savage Gulf, near Chattanooga, TN. They had a great weekend - John Eldridge would be proud.

This is Ben at the Stone Door. . . Quite a view!

Born to be Wild. . .

Maggie and I decided to play a little dress up today. She makes a cute little biker, doesn't she?

Turn, Turn, Turn. . . .

Maggie had another monumental first - when I got her out of the crib this morning she was on her tummy! She had rolled over during the early morning hours. This is significant because she generally does not like being on her tummy and I was beginning to wonder if she was just going to skip this milestone. :-)

Happy Birthday Ben!

Ben turned 37 on Friday and we had a good time celebrating. His folks and Aunt Peggy came down for the weekend (although we suspect it was REALLY to see Maggie) and spoiled us all with some homegrown tomatoes, chocolate cake, helpful yardwork and lots of cuddles for Maggie. Our little girl especially got a kick out of playing with all the tissue paper in Ben's presents. Here's a pic of the birthday boy and his #1 little girl.

Solids, Take 2

After 2 unsuccessful weeks trying cereals, we took a break for a few days. Maggie was starting to get to the point where she would get fussy when we just put her in her feeding seat. So this time around we decided to try vegetables. So today we had carrots!



She did better this time. . . still doesn't quite have the whole idea but I think she ate a little bit. We probably tried half a dozen spoonfuls before she decided she had enough. After the first one or two, she would grab the spoon while I had it in her mouth and just suck or chew on it.



Of course it got all over her - much messier than the cereals were! But we had a lot of fun. I think this is going to work better this time - yea!

Six Months Old!

Maggie celebrated turning 6 months by taking her first trip to the beach . . . sort of. Our friends from Woodmont were making their annual trek to the sunny Gulf of Mexico and we (finally!) were able to meet them for a few brief hours on Saturday. Last year when we tried this (twice!) we were forced to change plans because of hurricanes! But we had a GREAT time seeing our friends and eating some fabulous seafood. Maggie was her usual joyful self - for most of the time. :-)



Here's our little Shrimp outside the Original Oyster House




















We didn't actually make it to the beach - it was too hot for it to be enjoyable in my opinion and traffic delayed our arrival so there wasn't time anyway. But this fall we'll take Maggie back so she can stick her toes in the sand and surf.

Maggie turned 6 months on Sunday and Monday she had her check up - all went well. She's now 15 lbs 4 oz, and 27 inches long - the doctor called her tall and skinny. He was pleased with her progress - sitting up, babbling, 2 teeth, etc. We talked about getting Maggie going on Solids - the cereal never caught on so after two weeks of trying we were taking a break so she wouldn't get frustrated. And discussed getting her started on using a cup (that was a surprise for me!). She had 3 shots and one oral vaccination.

Of course we can't believe how fast she is growing up! But she's still our little princess. :-)

Big Creek

While visiting family last week we took time to do a little hiking. Dad took us to a wonderful, little known spot in the Smokey Mountain National Park. We hiked on an easy trail which followed Big Creek, a small river with class 4 rapids (not that I know anything about that). Here and there along the trail you could climb down to river. Then there was a spot called Midnight Hole where it was safe to swim, and then Mouse Creek Falls! This is a picture of us at the Falls. It was a beautiful day and a really fun hike!

Rice, Rice, Baby!

Maggie began solids today! Her first taste of Rice went about as well as can be expected. . . most of it ended up on her bib. . . or her face. . . or her hands. . . or even her feet. But I think she managed to swallow a little bit and there was even a time or two when she smiled!

My Summer Vacation

We all took a trip last week to visit family and had a wonderful time! We visited first with Ben's parents and celebrated his mom's birthday. Then we visited Heather's parents and enjoyed a few days in the mountains before returning for another night at Ben's folks.

Heather's parents are currently taking care of a stray kitten, in the hope that it
will soon be adopted by Maggie's cousin, Mina. We got to play with it a lot on our visit - it was so VERY sweet and Maggie and the kitten (which is yet to be named) seemed to take a great interest in each other. The kitten would run around Maggie when she was on the floor and Maggie would try to kick at her. When we held Maggie in our lap, the kitten would crawl up and cuddle with us and sometimes Maggie would try to "pet" her - which involved grabbing it's fur. The kitten was very patient and didn't react to Maggie's rough handling. They were very cute together! If it hadn't been for our sweet cat at home, we probably would have been tempted to adopt the kitten ourselves, but we are quite happy with our own Alley Cat.

Maggie enjoyed showing off for her family - like how she can roll over from her tummy to her back and how she can sit up (with a little help). When we returned to Ben's parents at the end of the trip, we took Maggie to church. Grandmother LOVED showing off Maggie at church!

Now we are home to trying to return to a "normal" schedule. Maggie is working on cutting tooth number 2, but thankfully she's been napping very well the past couple of days!

We hope you had a good Fourth of July as well! God Bless!

She's Teething!

After several weeks of drool, yesterday I noticed Maggie had two swollen spots on the front of her lower gums. This morning there was a little tooth just barely poking out of the one on the right! Yea! She's doing pretty well - a bit more vocal and fussier than normal, but no screaming or bad crying so hopefully this won't be too hard on any of us. :-) I've tried giving her some teeting toys, but I have to hold them in her mouth for her, she won't do that on her own and even then she's not really sure if she likes it or not. We'll try them again today though. Oops - and now the fussiness increases. Gotta go!

See Maggie in Action!

This morning Maggie rolled over 2 more times and I caught one on video. Click the link on the right to download this 30 second clip. The link will take you to USendIt.com where you can download the file. I recommend this only if you have a high speed connection - I have NO idea how long it would take to download on dialup. This download will only be available for 7 days. Happy Viewing!

5 Months Old Today!

Maggie has been working on many new skills and talents. Today she rolled over from her tummy to her back! Of course, I missed the momentous occasion. But the good news is that Daddy saw it!

Here's a picture of Maggie working on sitting up - I'm sure she'll have that down soon as well.

Welcome to BFB!

After much soul searching I have come to the conclusion that I am one of those parents I have long feared - the kind who like to fill up other people's e-mail boxes with pictures of their darling angels. THEREFORE, I have created this blog as sort of an experiment. Hopefully this will keep my photo-sharing instincts fulfilled and at peace without full-filling your e-mail. Happy viewing. Feel free to share comments or suggestions as to how I can improve the blog. God Bless!