1/2 Year Birthday

I know I say this over and over, but I can't believe how quickly this baby girl is growing up. Today Ruth Ann is 6 months old...half way to turning ONE!

So how did we celebrate this 1/2 year birthday??? With a photo session, a little rice cereal from a spoon, some sweet potatoes, and .....

Look who's drinking from a sippy cup!!

And here are some of my other favorite photos from today...please take note at how well Ruth Ann is sitting up on her own. She required very little assistance from her momma to stay upright. I'm so very proud of this baby girl and am finding that I love her more and more every day!

I dare anyone to meet this grinning girl and not fall in love with her!

A special thanks to Aunt Andrea for Ruth Ann's very cute lemon outfit...it's perfect for these warm South Carolina days!

Maybe next time...

My very good friend Mandy brought her 3 precious daughters over to my house last week during her visit to Lexington. She married an Auburn man who relocated her, but we're all from the same home town. Mandy and I both grew up about 5 miles from each other...now she and her family live in Northwest Alabama which is about 6 hours away. Needless to say, I love to see the Hiller family roll into town. We attempted to get a picture with all the girls together...





Ok, we weren't successful, but do you know how hard it is to get a 6 month old, a 7 month old, a 4 year old and a 6 year old to all look at the camera at the same time...maybe next time we'll get lucky and get a great picture with all the girlies together!

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.