Happy First Birthday Mary Lindsey!

Well, it is so hard to believe that our little Bit Bit celebrated her first birthday today! We are so thankful for the beautiful, funny, smart and lovable little girl that she is! God could not have given us a better daughter and we thank Him today for entrusting us with her precious little life. We have absolutely LOVED watching her grow this past year, and are so excited to get to know her better in the years to come. Everyday gets better and everyday we love her more. I will go back and narrate the pictures tomorrow when this mommy is not so tired...but for now enjoy the pictures from her birthday dinner with special family this evening. We had so much fun just watching her. We love you so much Bit Bit! Happy First Birthday!

Weekend Recap

Larry and I got out in the yard on Saturday to work on flower beds. When Bit Bit woke up from her nap we put her in her favorite red wagon that her Gigi and Pops got her for Christmas. I placed some of her favorite toys in the wagon, along with several that she chose before we went outside. If you will notice in the picture above, her toys of choice most of the day were her pink rubber ducky that she plays with in the bathtub and her winnie the pooh that her Nana gave her. We laughed because they were very random items, but she held on to them both for the longest time...especially pooh. They had very long conversations the entire time we were outside.

Here she is learning about animals. She still calls everything 'dogs', but we are working on this daily. Notice Lucy behind her. She loved being in the wagon because she could pet her dogs anytime she wanted and they would come up and lick her face. What a fun day for Bit Bit!

These were just some other cute pictures I took over the weekend. I thought it was cute because it really captures her personality right now...wide open! She is talking and waving and doing her thing...you better get out of her way!

Our precious Mary Lindsey who I can not believe turns one on Thursday! Wow...this year has flown by. She is the light of our lives and we have loved every minute with her this year! Check out the blog later in the week for a special Birthday blog...full of pictures I promise!

We are having a.....

BOY!!!!

We are so excited to announce that we have a healthy baby BOY on the way! We went to have our ultra sound this morning and everything looks wonderful! Mary Lindsey went with Larry and me to the appointment and she did such a wonderful job. She would point at the monitor and talk in her own little language. We tried to explain to her that was her little brother, but heaven knows she has no idea how her little world is about to change in 5 months! It might take her a while, but she has such a sweet little heart, I know she will absolutely LOVE her little brother!

We are so thankful to God for the blessing of a healthy baby girl and NOW the gift of a healthy baby BOY on the way. We continue to pray for God's hand of protection on us both. What a miracle! May we begin preparing now to raise this little boy to be a man who follows close after his Savior!

Bring on the Blue!!!

Snack Attack!

Since I am trying to get back on board the "Blogger Mommy Train", I thought I would share with you some funny pictures from this afternoon. This is a typical afternoon with a nearly one year old. Mary Lindsey is constantly exploring our house and discovering new ways to destroy things. I won't lie and tell you that our snack drawer was ever neat...because it was not.

She LOVES to tear paper...and then eat it! One of her nicknames around the house is 'goat'...there is no telling how much paper she has eaten without us knowing it. It doesn't seem to slow her down much.

Still exploring...

A whole pack of 'nabs' as Larry calls them. Who else calls peanut butter crackers 'nabs'? I never heard of this until I moved to Mississippi.

Oh...we want to give a shout out to Gigi and Pops and Holli who are enjoying a nice snow day in South Carolina! We wish we were there with you to build a snowman! Love you tons!

Ms. Hollywood

I thought these pictures were too cute and I just had to share! Mary Lindsey and I attended a birthday party for one of her little friends yesterday afternoon. All of the babies ended up inside for most of the party because it was so cold outside. But Mary Lindsey was just fine with that because she found all sorts of beads and babies and yes...sunglasses! She love glasses! She laughed and had the best time. The bottom picture shows her good friend Kaylee Beth as they posed together. Fun was had by all...especially when the Blue Bell ice cream was passed around. Mary Lindsey finished a whole bowl by herself...she cried if I tried to take a bite! A woman after my own heart! I think she is going to like this birthday party gig!

Trip to the Playgroud!

Even though it looks like spring in these pictures, I actually took these a few weeks ago and have been meaning to post them. Mary Lindsey and I decided to take advantage of a warm February afternoon and head to the local park. She of course had a blast. Mainly because there were some neighborhood dogs hanging out around the playground that she talked to the whole time. I have come to the conclusion that Mary Lindsey makes whatever she is doing a party!

I love this one because it looks like she is up to something. Which most of the time now...she is! She crawls so fast and is aware of her surroundings constantly. She likes to explore, but is a very content little girl!

Her smile right now still cracks us up! She has five teeth now. Two on the top and three on the bottom. She still wrinkles her nose and squints her eyes when she smiles and shows all her teeth. Larry calls it her bull dog smile. She makes us laugh!

I think she is talking to the dog in this shot. She pretty much is all the time either talking to herself or someone. Her voice can get very loud at times and she will just start laughing for no reason in the middle of her sentence. We can't wait to understand what she is saying. I am sure it will blow our minds because she is so brilliant!

A very serious look. She didn't want to go down the slide by herself. She wanted mommy's help.

She could have sat and played in the sand the whole time. But mean old mommy wouldn't let her for very long. I was afraid it would get in her eyes. We have discovered over the past few days that she LOVES dirt and grass and leaves. ( I will explain more about this on a later post!) Maybe she will love to go outside and get dirty with her daddy, but I promise she will be wearing a bow and cute outfit!

Here...she is screaming! This is her other hobby!

Well, those are some highlights from our trip to the park. Hope you enjoyed!

The Audubon Zoo

Yesterday was another beautiful day down in this part of the country, so Larry and I decided to take Bit Bit on a road trip to get out in God's beautiful creation. Mary Lindsey and I have both been a little under the weather this week, so we really haven't gotten outside the house much...after a while, the walls begin to close in on you! So we got the great idea to drive to New Orleans for a day. We really don't do this much, even though it is only a little over an hour drive from our home. But we got the wild idea from watching the Food Network. Larry and I love to watch the travel food shows where the hosts travel around the country to eat at famous and really good restaurants. We saw a segment this week on "Mother's" , a famous landmark in New Oleans to eat po-boys stuffed with large amounts of meat. Well, my husband is a HUGE meat fan, and when he heard they had a sandwich stuffed with 3 kinds of meat, he was interested. So the idea began to go eat lunch, and then we decided to take Mary Lindsey for her first zoo experience to The Audubon Zoo. We really had blast! She was such a good baby and seemed to enjoy the entire day. The picture above I absolutely love because she would not turn her head away from that elephant for a second, even for her daddy to take a picuture. And we all know how she loves to have her picture taken. It looks like the elephant is literally on top of us, but I promise there is a large trench and thick wall seperating us. The elephant was eating his lunch as we watched him. Mary Lindsey called the elephant "oogi oogie". We are not sure what that meant, but she kept on saying it. That might have meant "ooohhh, look how big!"

We would ask her "Mary Lindsey, what is that?" when we would approach the cage of an animal. She would put her hands and say "no?" That means "I don't know." You can see in the above picture her doing this. Larry and I were really surprised at how much she would focus on the different animals. We figured she would be somewhat indifferent, but she was amazed at how big a lot of them were. Of course, we laughed the whole time, because A LOT of the animals she called, "dogs". Whether it was a lion, or tiger, or camel, or bear, it was "dogs". How cute! I figure it is good we are exposing her to all the many animals God created now, so she does not go through life thinking dogs are it. There is one thing to say for Mary Lindsey. She is very loyal. She was so excited to see her Lucy when we got home!

Another picture of her looking at the lion saying "no?" How cute!

Here she wants the elephant to hold her. And let me say, her feelings were very hurt that we would not let that elephant hold her. She loved the elephants the most by far. We had to visit them several times.

She thought the flamingos were funny. I guess they are a very funny looking animal when you think about it. It was so much fun to watch her face and wonder what she was thinking. It is fun to experience sights with her for the first time. She is such an animated little girl.

Here we are with the camels, that she of course called "dogs".

Here is Ms. Hollywood wearing my sunglasses. It is a chore to wear sunglasses when you are with Mary Lindsey. She wants to take them off of you constantly.

And here we are at the last exhibit, the sea lions. Unfortunately, Bit Bit didn't get to experience the sea lions. She was worn out from her big day. She slept almost the entire way home. But we had a wonderful day and made wonderful memories with our precious little girl.

Please continue to pray that she would feel better each day. She has had an ear infection this week, and that seems to be better. But her cough and congestion is just hanging on. I am ready for my little girl to be her normal self again!