Ruth Ann and Lacie

Ruth Ann and Lacie did a little bit of bonding this afternoon.















Then Lacie got tired of the all the bonding and decided to go sleep somewhere in private so Ruth Ann had some tummy time by herself. She's much more tolerant of tummy time, especially since she's gotten better at rolling herself over. However, now she's also rolling from her back to her tummy...she ends up right back where she started and that irritates her...but don't worry someone is always close by to rescue her.

Side sleeper

For Ruth Ann's entire life (I recognize that it's only been 6 months) she has slept the best on her back. My mom believed she would be a back sleeper just like herself...well, Ruth Ann has changed her mind. Lately she's become a side sleeper just like her Momma!







I could just stand her and watch her sleep for hours. I just don't think there is anything sweeter than a baby sleeping!



Also, don't you love those fat rolls on her legs?? They get deeper and deeper every day! And ankles, what ankles? Ruth Ann's legs go straight from chubby calf and chubby foot!

Sitting up on my own

This week Ruth Ann will be 6 months old. Due to our photographers vacation and then our Disney vacation I won't be heading to Camden for Ruth Ann's 6 month pictures until the end of June. I'm hoping to get some pictures of her sitting up on her own so, until then we're doing some practicing. She's still a little wobbly but she's getting better and better. Right now it's kinda hard to get too many pictures of her sitting up because I have to be on the ready to catch her when she starts to fall over.







Doesn't she look like such a big girl sitting up on her own!

Don't be crabby...

...YOU'RE AT THE BEACH!!



This past weekend we took a trip to Folly Beach with our friends. 10 adults & 5 kiddos under 2 years of age....our house was a wild one!

First I'll give you a brief summary of Ruth Ann's weekend and then I'll show you how precious all the other kids were and give you glimpse into some of the adult fun that as had while kids napped or were down for the night. This is a family blog, so it's all very tame.

Ruth Ann started out on Friday morning by heading out to the beach in a swim suit from Grammy. Ada has a matching suit, so I'm sure there will be some pics of both the girls wearing this suit at Disney in a few weeks. Here's Ruth Ann checking out some of the grass on the sand dunes. Ruth Ann's bows are no longer just for looks, they serve a purpose...her hair hangs down in her face...this made the bow necessary during our time on the beach...and it's really cute!



So, do you think the water is warm enough for Ruth Ann to take a dip?? Why don't we find out...



Yep, it was too cold for this baby. This actually marked the beginning of the end of Ruth Ann's morning on the beach.



I learned the hard way that swim diapers are NOT absorbant unless they are in water. Since Ruth Ann never got into the water so her tee-tee just sat in a puddle in the swim diaper. This angered her more than you can imagen...to bad it was an hour later & we were back at the house before I figured it out. I had really hoped she would take her morning nap on the beach, but she was having none of that. My visions of her loving the beach were fading away...fast!

After a diaper change and a nap, Ruth Ann and I headed back out to the beach to get some more pictures. I'm very proud of this outfit because I made it myself...I appliqued the flip flops on with my fabulous sewing machine.



Here she is eating some of the grass from the sand dunes. Whatever keeps her happy at the beach is fine with me!



Friday started out with a new bathing suit...which I monogramed myself...and a regular diaper rather than a swim diaper. As you can see she's much happier this morning. I think my dream of having a beach buddy may actually happen!



And my wish came true to have her take her morning nap on the beach...she slept peacefully for an hour and a half. And what picture of Ruth Ann is complete without a bow??



Here are some of the other cuties from our weekend...

Jay doing a little digging in the sand.



Don't you love his freckles??



Here's Claire...I'm not sure which she liked more, playing on the beach or eating the beach??



Here's Christopher enjoying some beach time after his afternoon nap...this is one of my favorite pictures from the whole weekend.



Here's Mason fearlessly sitting in the water & letting the waves crash on him over and over again.



See, he LOVED the water!



So how did the grown-ups spend their time??

Graem provided us with some beach side adult beverages thanks to his gas powered blender...to all my Auburn friends, please get your engineering hubbies to work on one of these so we'll be ready to tail gate with one of our own in the fall.



The guys played a little football in the water.



Here is Auralee and Sally chatting on the front porch.



Saturday night a wedding took place in the house across the street from us. The reception was on the roof of the house and had a great DJ. We were all convinced the bride and groom were our age because the music reminded us of our college years. We all considered becoming wedding crasher to go get some cake and dance to the music. Instead, we sat and enjoyed it from our porch.



Here are Graem and Brantley Clark...



Here are Jay and Auralee Tunmore...



And here are Justin and Sally Brown...



We had such a fun time and time seemed to fly by. Thankfully it started raining on us as we started to leave...I love when this happens because it makes it a little less sad to be leaving the coast.

Mother's Day 2009

I know this post is a week late...give me a break...I had a busy week preparing for our trip to the beach. We celebrated Mother's Day with all the important mother's in my life...my Momma, Toni, Arch's mom & me! We went to California Dreaming and managed to beat the crowds. We had a pretty large party, but were able to sit down quickly and were out of there quickly. That makes for a much more pleasant meal when you eat with my Daddy and Arch.

Grilling out with the cousins

Tonight we went and grilled out with Arch's parents, and his brother's family. Unfortunately Spencer wasn't with us tonight so I couldn't get a picture of all the grandchildren together...that will be a project for this summer, but I did get some great pictures of Ruth Ann with her cousins Madison and Ethan.

To the zoo

This weekend we were very excited to get a visit from Aunt Toni and Ada. Grammy recently became a member of the zoo, so off to the zoo we went. You will all be happy to know that Ruth Ann managed to stay awake during most of the trip through the zoo. Here are some highlights...

Aunt Tony and Ada waiting in line to ride the ponies. FYI...when visiting Riverbanks Zoo you must be 2 years old to ride the ponies. This is not posted ANYWHERE...we reviewed the riding requirements and this was not listed. However, they did allow Toni to wait in line with Ada and once she was moments away from riding informed us of the age requirement. I know, we should have just said she was 2 years old, but we were honest and stepped out of line. Don't worry Ada, Grumpy has lots of horses he would be happy to let you ride and there's no age restrictions at the Becker Ranch.

Here's Ruth Ann hanging out while Ada waited in line for the pony ride. You can see one of the ponies in the back ground.

In planning for our trip to Disney in a few weeks, my mom realized that Ada is not going to be content to ride in her stroller the whole time, so she purchased a child leash. So, I'm one of those people who use to look at these in distaste...I'm now a believer. Today was a test run...Ada was great! She loved being able to roam with a little bit a freedom. This was definitely money well spent by Grammy.

Here's Ada milking the pretend cows in the farm area of the zoo. I know she's missing the bucket, but give a girl a break...it's her first time milking a cow...as far as we know...her Daddy kept her busy with all kinds of farm activities. I know her Daddy is smiling down watching his little farm hand at work.

Ada is a girl of a thousand faces...here's one of my favorites...




Ada checking out the zebras...



And here's Ruth Ann with the zebras...



Riverbanks Zoo has a new baby giraffe...here's Ada checking out the newest member of Riverbanks...



Grammy stopped to buy a gift for her girls. She was thinking something cute, fuzzy and stuffed...Ada picked out a fake snake.



Ada says "I'm not afraid of no snake!"






So as you can see eventually Ruth Ann passed out from her zoo adventure. Maybe one day we'll make it through the whole zoo and still be awake as we exit. Thanks Grammy for the new tiger...we'll add it to our collection.