Rise and Shine

A couple of weeks ago I went in to wake Ellington up from a nap. Usually the second I open the door she wakes up, but this time she stayed asleep so I grabbed my camera to get a picture. That probably seems weird, but Ellington is NOT a baby who just sleeps anywhere and like I said, if we open the door she wakes up so I wanted to catch the moment.



She has just recently started sleeping on her stomach every now and then. Before physical therapy she always refused to be on her stomach. She is a little more willing now!

Ellington LOVES to hang out in her crib after she wakes up! She thinks it is such a fun time! In fact, if you take her out of the crib too soon she throws a fit!!! This does not work well when we're trying to get somewhere quick. Since I already had my camera in the room I took some pictures of her sweet little self. These pictures aren't anything exciting, but they are so special to me. She will never be exactly that size again and it shows just an every day moment in her life. (And just fyi...she doesn't usually dress like this for naps! We had been somewhere before her nap and she just went straight to bed because she was so tired!)

I've Got Two

They say, "A good man is hard to find". Well, I must be really blessed because I've got two! I have such a great husband and Dad. I am so fortunate to have a Dad who would move the world to take care of me and a husband who would do exactly the same. A few weeks ago my Dad spent a Friday night at our house so he could go to a basketball game that night and then to the Mississippi State/Alabama football game the next day. And do you know what he did in his down time? He worked in our yard. Such a blessing.

Ellington was so mesmerized watching them bag leaves! I am also thrilled that Ellington has such amazing men in her life. She has a dad, two grandfathers, one great grandfather, and four uncles who are all amazing men. Such a blessed little girl!

A Surprise Getaway!

Robert is turning the big 3-0 on Saturday and I have been busy planning a surprise trip! This morning Ellington and I let him in on part of the secret...just that he is going somewhere, but he still doesn't know where we are going! I haven't ever done anything like this before so it's been fun! I can't WAIT to actually GO! :)







Isn't she cute?! Yeah, we aren't taking her with us on our trip though. :)



I am SO excited and Robert is dying to know what's going on! For those of you who don't know where we are going, where do you think we are going??

Our Weekend in Philadelphia

Ellington and I spent this past weekend in Philadelphia. Here's a rundown of what we did:

1. Ellington enjoyed breakfast in pjs and accessorized with a matching bow. (Normally we don't accessorize with our pjs, but her hair is getting so long and was ALLLL in her face.)


2. Ellington practiced her mad crawling skills. My parent's house has an open floor plan (unlike ours), so she had plenty of space to roam!


3. Mom, Reagan, Ellington, and I had lunch at the Coffee Bean before doing a little shopping.


4. Ellington looked cute.


5. Reagan and Ellington read books.


6. Reagan and I threw a little party for our soon-to-be nephew Emerson! I cooked, Reagan decorated, organized, and assisted in the kitchen! We were so thrilled to celebrate with Bryant and LeAnna and give the first time parents some much needed baby goodies!


7. We ate.


8. We watched Bryant and LeAnna open presents. (Check Ellington out. Ha! She was so interested in what they were doing. She even "oooohhhed and aaaahhhed" as the gifts were opened! Ha! Where does she get this stuff from?!)


9. We congratulated the parents-to-be.


10. We complimented my parents on all of their new living room furniture. It looks great and is super comfy!


11. Ellington and Reagan acted silly.


We also had a full Sunday morning, but I didn't take a SINGLE picture. :( Robert was able to join us Sunday morning (he had to work Saturday) and we all went to church together. Ellington lasted most of the service, but Robert had to take her out near the end. She wasn't crying or fussy...just getting restless! My church in Philadelphia always has a big potluck the Sunday before Thanksgiving so we enjoyed that as well! Ellington went to town on sweet potato casserole. :) We also went to the Thanksgiving lunch last year and this is Ellington in her car seat before we went to Philadelphia:


Crazy, huh? Time flies. Anyway, we had a great weekend and Ellington and I are enjoying the week off from school! :) Do you know what this means?? I get to see my husband for MORE than 45 minutes a day! Hooray! We tremendously enjoyed our morning together this morning and are looking forward to doing it again tomorrow.

Good Morning!

Reading Before School

Ellington has started getting more and more interested in books and I LOVE it!!! I am already ready to read her Little House on the Prairie and the American Girl books. :) But for now we'll stick to board books! She loves lift the flap books most, but will tolerate ones without anything to lift every now and then!

A Sippy Cup! Finally!!!

Ellington finally started drinking out of a sippy cup! Hooray!!! In efforts to try and get her to take sippy cup we've bought LOTS of different kinds. Each time we would hope the new cup would work...and it wouldn't. Well, we bought a package of "Take & Toss" cups to take to Gatlinburg so we didn't have to worry about washing them. Even though she wasn't drinking out of a cup before the trip, we still wanted her to at least have the option. Well...our girl just wanted the cheap cups! Ha! We are soooo relieved that she's finally drinking on her own!





And just to show that we've been working on it for awhile...here's Ellington in May trying out a sippy cup for the first time.

Gatlinburg Part 3

On our last full day in Gatlinburg Ellington enjoyed her breakfast fireside.



She had to stay extra warm because we woke up to SNOW!!! Any amount of snow is a big deal to Mississippians. We were so excited!





We had been planning to go on a little hike to a waterfall Saturday morning so we bundled up and headed out! This was a great little hike for us because it was paved and we could take the stroller! Our jogging stroller would have worked MUCH better, but it takes up about half of the back of the Explorer and we didn't have room for it!

















We had a wonderful trip! Thanks Big Bob and MiMi!!!

Gatlinburg Part 2

On Friday of our trip to Gatlinburg we started out the day going out to eat pancakes with the whole family. Ellington and Daddy are ready for the day!



After breakfast we had to say goodbye to Brad, Julie, and Connor. It was really rainy and cold so Robert, Ellington, and I went to the aquarium.

Ellington spotted some fish! I think she was wondering what they were! :)



This is the only picture of our day Friday that I am in...just wanted to prove I was actually there. :)





This is one of my favorite pictures ever.





Ellington LOVED watching the penguins. It was definitely her favorite part! I didn't get a very good picture of her watching them though. I told Robert to stand by this penguin statue with Ellington and she got SOOOO excited!!! She loved the statue more than anything else there. :) I think she wanted to take it home!





Everyone took turns cooking while we were there and Friday night was our night. Robert made chili and I assisted. :)



After supper Robert and I got a special treat! We got to go to the outlet mall by ourselves! Everyone volunteered to pitch in and keep Ellington so that we could shop baby free! We got some AMAZING deals and Ellington is set for the cooler weather!

Laura took this picture of Ellington and MiMi playing while Mommy and Daddy shopped!



Two days down, one to go! Stay tuned!