Dinner with the Lawson Family

Tonight Brannan, Tim, and baby Auburn came over for dinner.  It was cold tonight, so we enjoyed a fire in the fireplace along with homemade chili, grilled cheese, and cherry dump cake with vanilla ice cream for dinner.  The guys watched football while us girls chatted.  Marlee was so sweet with baby Auburn and even shared her baby play mat with her.  When I would hold Auburn, Marlee would come sit in my lap too and if I touched Auburn, Marlee would quickly pull my hand away.  :)  She wanted to remind me that I was her Mommy and only wanted me touching her :)  We had a fun evening with our sweet friends and can't wait to do it again!

Marlee and sweet baby Auburn

"Cousins"

This afternoon, we all met at Bonny's house to let the "cousins" play together!  They all had a blast playing outside and us girls had fun having our "SIL" time and watching the kids play! :)

Marlee (1), Rylie (5), Baxlee (3), Brooker (4), and Mary Kate (1)

Marlee being the "cool girl" with her sunglasses!

A winters day in Florida

It's January 12th and this is what Marlee has been doing on this winter day in Florida... :)

Walking around in the yard.

Swinging...

Climbing on the swing set

Sliding down the slide

Riding in her car

Playing in her sandbox

Eating a popsicle

Mmm that was good

Playing with microjets.

More slide fun!

She loves to slide fast and hit the ground...

Picking some pretty flowers

Stopping and smelling some more pretty flowers

Swinging

Chasing Gracie around in the yard

Playing in the dirt

Picking more flowers :)

Walking around next to Vega (Uncle Frank's dog)

Investigating leaves while sitting on her climber

This is a daily routine at our house...remember it's January and notice in all the pictures...Marlee is outside and doing all of these activities in just her diaper!!!  Gotta love Florida! :)

14 months old

Today, Marlee turned fourteen months old! 

A few highlights of our baby girl at fourteen months:

*Weighs 20.2 pounds

*Walking everywhere and rarely ever falls...she has gotten her balance with this walking thing and is very good at it

*Talking (jabbering)lots...her favorite word is still...DADA!

*Loves for Mommy to read her books...she will pick a book from her bookshelf and come sit in my lap for me to read it to her...her favorite books are "Peekaboo" books

*Gets so excited when Daddy comes home from work
*Loves helping Mommy do chores around the house...laundry, dishes, cooking, etc... Unloading the dishwasher is her favorite!
*Loves to turn the lights on and off 

*Would rather be outside playing in the dirt rather than inside anytime!  The dirtier the better for our sweet girl :)

*Loves cheese puffs!
*Nods her head to say "Thank You"
*Waves bye bye

*Still riding in baby car seat...she loves it much better than the big girl seat we have her.

*Such a happy girl

*She is so smart (as any parent thinks their child is)...haha...but really she is...she will go get things that I ask her to get, can point out things I have taught her, is learning body parts, etc...

*Still loves to climb!!!

*Wearing size 9-12 months clothes and size 3 diapers

*Does not like to wear shoes...she is a barefoot girl for sure!

And now for her fourteen month picture...

These boots were made for walking, and that's just what they'll do!!!

*

Flower for Mommy

Marlee and I were outside today doing some chores and she was playing over by the flowers while I was sweeping.  She picked a flower and with a big grin on her face came walking towards me, bringing it to me. My first picked flower from my baby girl.  Talk about melting a Mommy's heart!!!  She was so proud of herself and it was a moment that I won't soon forget.  :)  I am so blessed to be home with her to enjoy sweet little moments like this!

My beautiful flower from my sweet baby girl :)

Marlee is a sick baby girl :(

On Saturday evening, Marlee started feeling very bad.  She was crying and holding her ears and seemed to be in so much pain.  I do not like it at all when my baby is sick or in pain...especially when she can't tell me what hurts.  After a couple of hours, she began to run fever and we called our wonderful doctor, Dr. LaRue to see what he thought we should do.  He is so sweet to take calls any time of the day even on the weekends and he called in some antibiotics for her.  On Sunday, she slept most of the day and had a nasty cough, runny nose, fever, you name it.  This morning we were waiting at Dr. LaRue's office when he opened at 10:00 a.m.  Well, we waited and waited and waited (a couple of more hours) and after 3 hours of waiting, we finally saw him.  Those little rooms they put you in to wait on the doctor...get very small after a while.  Her ears looked great he said (a big relief because she has had lots of ear infections and I was beginning to get worried) but she had bronchitis and a sinus infection.  Poor baby :(  Antibiotics are a great thing and even though she hates taking them, we love how they will get our sweet baby feeling back healthy again.

Waiting on Dr. LaRue and snacking on a Ritz cracker

 

Upward Cheerleading

I am coaching a great group of girls at our church, First Baptist of Sebring, in Upward basketball cheerleading this year. Upward Sports are the world's largest Christian sports league for children and provides a fun kids sports experience based on healthy competition.  When my sister-in-law told me that they needed another cheerleading coach for Upward, I felt like God laid it on my heart to coach these sweet girls.  I cheered in high school and loved it and once you have been a cheerleader...you will always be a cheerleader :)  Today, we had a cheer clinic and my assistant coach (Marlee) and I headed down to Sebring to meet our girls and have a fun morning learning some Upward cheers, chants, and dances! Marlee loved the big open gym and had the best time walking all around in it.  She thought she was such a big girl hanging out with all the older girls!  The group I am coaching are first graders and they are so sweet.  We will be cheering on Saturday mornings for 8 weeks and I am looking forward to the opportunity of incorporating biblical prinicpals into the sports experience and helping them grow spiritually. 

Our team is called "Team Spirit" and we are # 1!!!

Sweet Potatoes are to eat or play with???

Tonight at dinner time, I gave Marlee some sweet potatoes to eat because she loves sweet potatoes.  Well, she must not have been hungry because instead of eating them like she usually does, she wanted to play with them!  My oh my!!!  She had so much fun... and we had a mess! I promise, I don't let her eat like this but Bear and I were getting such a kick out of her watching how she was playing with these sweet potatoes.  I didn't get a picture at the end because I was trying to clean this girl up, but to top it all off at the end...she spiked her hair with the sweet potatoes!  I can't wait to show her these pictures when she gets older :)  Sweet memories!

Daddy's sleeping baby

Tonight when I went to get my shower, I left Bear and Marlee downstairs playing together.   After I took my shower, I came downstairs to find this...

I was only gone for like 10 minutes please know...but this baby was tired I guess!  Bear said they were playing and she crawled up in his lap and laid her head on his shoulder.  He rubbed her back and she fell right to sleep.  I couldn't believe it because she never falls asleep this way...Daddy had the touch tonight :)  I don't know which one is happier in this picture...Marlee in sweet dreamy land or Daddy holding his favorite baby girl!  :) 

Christmas with Ben

This evening, Marlee and Ben finally exchanged their Christmas gifts.  We were all so busy over the holidays that we were unable to get the kids together to exchange gifts until this evening.  Ben loved the gift that Marlee got him (a wooden train, plane, and car that he can build and paint) and Marlee loved the toy camera that Ben got her.  It was so cute watching them open their presents from each other.  Sweet friends...we love spending time with Ashley, Jeremy, and Ben!  We are so blessed to have them in our lives as our neighbors and friends!

Ben opening up his gift from Marlee :)  You can tell it was a cold evening since the kids are all bundled up!  Roxy (my brother's dog) wanted to be in on the action as well.

Marlee opening up her camera from Ben! :)

New Years Day...2012

Happy New Year!  Bear, Marlee, and I spent the first day of 2012 together as a family and have had a great day. We went to IHOP for breakfast and then enjoyed the afternoon at home.  This evening, my parents invited us out to the pasture to enjoy a traditional New Years dinner.  We enjoyed yummy black eyed peas for good luck and collard greens for money as well as lots of other delicious food.  Marlee even ate some black eyed peas and collard greens for the first time.  We hope all the black eyed peas and collard greens bring us lots of good luck and money this coming year!!! :)

Sweet Marlee eating black eyed peas and collard greens :)