Hallie's Souvenir

Gigi, Grumpy, and Aunt Melissa went to Washington, D.C., for Memorial Day with Dawson's choir. Here is Hallie in the souvenir they brought her.

UPDATE: I affectionately refer to this as Hallie's "Aunt Julie face." For some reason it really reminds me of Julie Head Groves.

Memorial Day Fun

We spent Memorial Day with Uncle Gray, Tommy, Amanda Hutton, Heather, and James. We had a great day! We grilled out, played Koob, and played with the Sandersons' wii.

Hangin with Uncle Gray

Uncle Gray spent the weekend at our house while the rest of my family was in D.C. Needless to say, Hallie is smitten with him.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame...

We went to watch some baseball on Sunday. Unfortunately, the Rebels didn't manage to pull it out. But we still had some fun. As you can see, Hallie enjoyed the ice cream at the ballpark and absolutely wore herself out. The last picture is her after about 1 minute in the car on the way home--she was one tired girly!

A Brief Delay

Well, I've fibbed to both grandmothers on one day. That is probably not a good idea...especially when one of them lives a few hours away and relies on seeing her granddaughter on the blog between visits. I told them I'd have updates on the blog last night, and it didn't happen. I don't have a good excuse--except to say that I forgot. My pregnancy-brain is growing steadily worse and is sure to be followed by exhausted-new-mom brain, which offers no real hope for sanity in the near future. :) All that to say, I sincerely hope to have some pictures on the blog tonight of the Bug's Memorial Day adventures.

Thanks to the loyal readers--both of them!

Meanwhile, for any other moms of little ones reading this, I thought I'd share an excerpt from the girltalk blog (one of my every-day reads) about the play "The Miracle Worker":

Gateway for Knowledge

Most likely, you are familiar with the plot. It’s the story of Annie Sullivan’s struggle to teach the blind and deaf Helen Keller how to communicate. Initially Annie found it extremely difficult to teach Helen due to her wild and violent behavior. But then Annie had a revelatory moment. All of a sudden she realized: "Obedience is the gateway for knowledge to enter the mind." She understood that she needed to first teach Helen to obey before she could teach her knowledge.
At this point in the play I couldn’t help but think of my daughters, Nicole and Kristin. That’s what they are doing. They are attempting to train and discipline four little boys to obey so they can impart knowledge. And not just any knowledge, but the most important knowledge of all—the message of the gospel.

So to all moms with little children I desire to encourage you today. I want to cheer you on in your efforts to discipline and train your children to obey. It’s hard, exhausting work, I know. Just watching my daughters makes me tired. But it’s worth it. Because an obedient child is a receptive child. And with a receptive child you can teach them the good news, the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. Now that’s a goal worth striving for, don’t you agree?

"Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it." Prov. 22.6

Go Rebels!

One benefit to living in Birmingham again: the SEC baseball tournament is about 5 miles from our house. So, Jason, Gray, Hallie, and I went to support the Rebels tonight as they took on Vanderbilt. As of the time of this post, Ole Miss is winning (Hallie and I left at her bedtime, and the boys are still there cheering them on). So, if all continues to go well, we'll get decked out in our red and blue to attend the Championship Game tomorrow afternoon against LSU!

And the Countdown is On...

I went to the doctor for a check-up today, which went just fine. Everything is measuring right, and Sara appears to be right on track. But the doc did mention that she typically induces second-time moms around Week 39. Well, I'm at Week 30. So, you do the math.

The way I figure it, we'll have a new little girl in the family in 9 WEEKS! That is incredibly hard to believe or imagine...Life is about to really get busy (just when I was under the impression that it was really busy)!

Oh, and I guess we'd better start getting the nursery into shape. It will have a tenant before we know it...

The Aftermath

Eating Birthday Cake

Opening Presents!

Birthday Party Day!

First Birthday Presents

As a precursor to the birthday festivities this weekend, Hallie got some birthday gifts from her Mama Pat, Granddaddy, and Uncle Ted last weekend. Here she is with her very cool school bus--she has since figured out how to climb onto it and let her Daddy wheel her around the house. She is also pictured with her new big-girl puzzle. Uncle Ted gave Hallie a See n Say--you remember--the toy with the pull or the lever that tells you what the animals say as the arrow spins around on it. It's good and noisy!

The Bug's Big Weekend

Hallie had a big weekend--she spent all of Saturday in Auburn and then went to Gigi and Grumpy's for Mother's Day. Here she is reading with Daddy and drinking her bottle during the graduation ceremony (she was on her very best behavior, thankfully--Daddy put his entertainment skills to work and kept her occupied the whole time), playing with cousin Lane at Aunt Melissa's party, and loving on Grumpy on Sunday.

Hats Off to the Grad

Congratulations to our recent college graduate (a summa cum laude graduate, for that matter)! Melissa graduated from Auburn on Saturday, and we enjoyed a very nice day together.

A Welcome Report

I called to check on my blood sugar test today, and the nurse says we're in the clear on the gestational diabetes front. This is great news, especially in light of the finger-pricking and restricted diet of my previous pregnancy!

I had a cookie in celebration. :)

First Steps

Our big girl took her first steps this weekend at Gigi and Grumpy's house! It was only a couple of steps, but we were very impressed. She did it again at Grandmother's house on Sunday, walking to Aunt Melissa. Of course, she isn't "walking" just yet--she'd much rather drop down and crawl. But she has shown she can do it and I'm sure she'll become more comfortable with it over the next few weeks.

The really great news: she'll have plenty of time to perfect her new talent by the time Sara arrives on the scene. Hallelujah!

UPDATE: Miss Evelyn tells me that Hallie took seven steps in a row yesterday and then four more. Apparently, her boyfriend walked by her and she just followed right behind. Lead on, Walton!