Ryan and Casey plus 2

Whitney went swimming for the first time today.  Well ok, her first three times were actually earlier this summer but I am not going to count them because she was not a fan.  It cannot be the temperature of the water that she doesn't like because we tried when it was cool, warm and warmer perhaps it is the size of my parents pool.  I guess I can see where a large open space filled with shiny wavy liquid wouldn't look exciting to a wee one!  She would not even let us dip her toes in!!! So I invested $4.99 into a blow up baby whale pool in hopes that she would take to the small amount of water and bright colors.  I filled it with hose water which was a little on the cool side and in hindsight I probably should have done what my mom did for me; which was to fill up the baby pool, pitcher by pitcher,of warm water from the tap.  Spoiled child, yes indeed and for that I thank you mom:) Whit loved every second of her swim and even splashed around a bit.  ...

Whitney sure has had her share of interactions with people lately and it seems her fear of strangers is quickly fading.  She is still picky about HOW someone holds her but at least she will let people other than her mom and dad cuddle her.  Over the weekend she had opportunities to visit with GG, and GGpa at their house as she is home from Chesterwood now.  We saw Grandma and Grandpa, Aunt Kelley and Aunt Megan on Saturday and on Sunday we visited with Gammy, Papaw, Aunt E, Uncle Jay and JJ!!  JJ was even nice enough to let Whitney borrow his rocking chair while we ate dinner, in the picture below he was demonstrating how Nini (his nickname for Whit) should use it:) Not sure this is going to be helpful when leaving her for the first time next month but nobody can say we didn't try!!! I had to take the Praxis this weekend and was gone from 7 a.m. until around 10:30 a.m.  This really was a test for Whitney and Daddy as they have never had that ...

While bath time was a success this week, trying puffs for the first time was not!!  Whitney so far has not enjoyed puffs, apples or bananas!!  She continues to devour her vegetables though so at least we are able to eat something:) While bathing tonight she sat up in her big girl tub for the first time.  She loved it and could have stayed in there for a very long time.  Guess I will be shopping for some bath toys tomorrow as we have none!!!  So exciting to see her enjoy baths!!! After visiting the doctor, she told us to try finger food just to see how she responds.  So I put some Gerber puffs in front of her and let her explore.  She couldn't figure out what to do when they stuck to her finger and eventually tried to put it in her mouth.  What resulted was not pretty as you can see from the pictures below!!! Missed her mouth on the first try.... Finally put it in her mouth....... And hated every second of it.  I ended up taking it...

Whitney had her 6 month check up today and I just have to say that I love Dr. Zimmerly.  She is the most caring doctor and it is obvious that she loves kids, it makes our appointments so much better!!  In fact the whole staff is wonderful, I am so happy with our choice...thank you Jenny Bishop for the recommendation! Whitney is 16.9 lbs (50th percentile) and is 27.5 inches long (90th percentile)!  She now eats 6 different vegetables and we are going to introduce fruits, along with cheerios as finger food, and pureed chicken!  This is so exciting!  It is fun to watch her try  new things and make the "mmmm" sound after every bite:)  I am thankful for my time off of work because I know that I wouldn't have tried making my own baby food if I would have gone back right away. Poor thing got two shots but she was already crying and fussy  before the nurse even came in the room.  I gave her Tylenol before her appointment because I ...

With Ryan being out of town at Tex's wedding, we had to busy ourselves so we weren't missing him so much!! Friday morning we took some time to think about what sounded like the most fun. :)  We decided to meet my friends, Elizabeth, Lisa and Deidre and their kids Emma, Luke and Jenna at the park.  Although we had to stay in the shade and watch the big kids play in the water fountains, we still had a great time.  It filled up our morning and gave mommy some much needed friend time!! After the park we decided to hang out in the shade and enjoy the last day of low humidity.  Whit just loves sitting in her own chair and watching the leaves blow! Saturday morning was much of the same except this time Whitney got a kick out of yelling as loud as she could...which made me nervous because Im sure my neighbors were not all awake yet!!  She would yell and then lean forward and laugh at herself, oh the small things in life! Saturday afternoon was a designated po...

Whitney and I spent our early afternoon's at Chesterwood with my Grandma and Grandpa!  Whitney sure brought joy to everyone, even people passing by our room stopped to talk with her. My Grandma loved being with Whitney and smiled the whole time she was in the room.  It was fun showing up everyday and bringing that joy to her as I am sure its not exactly fun being in pain and staying in one room all day!  My Grandma is doing well and is really doing a great job walking with her walker, she should be coming home next week!! While we were there on Tuesday, Uncle Caleb came down and Whitney didn't cry once!!!  She loved trying to mimic what he was doing with his facial expressions! One day it was just Granny, Gramps, Whitney and me in the room, Whitney was calm and happy and let both Granny and Gramps hold her.  You can imagine their delight in this:) Whitney got to meet her second cousin Nichole on Wednesday.  She was very happy to see her an...

Whitney is 6 months old today! I cannot believe how fast this has gone, seems just like yesterday that we were listening to her heartbeat at Dr. G's office and wondering what she would be like.  This has been a crazy but wonderful 6 months and we could not imagine our lives without her.  Whitney brings us so much joy and her laugh is so contagious that you cannot help but start giggling yourself.  Here are some pictures I took of my little ham today!!  My personal favorite is her modeling pose on our bed with the zoolander pursed lips:) Also last night was special because we went to visit Whitney's great grandma (GG) at Chesterwood.  She is doing well and was so happy to see Whitney.  GG held Whitney and was nothing but smiles and giggles!!  I must say that project socialization is really working out:) (obviously GG  is not holding Whitney in this picture...I couldnt get to my camera when she was holding her....but this is just mo...

Whitney and I had a full week of activities which lent itself nicely to our second week of project socialization.  We haven't yet graduated others holding her but she no longer cries when someone looks at her!!  One small step for Whitney.....one giant leap in mommy's eyes!! We were spoiled by her ability to sleep through the night at eight weeks and are now dealing with several hours of wakefulness each night.  Perhaps it was meant to happen this way because I am stronger and in a better place than I was at eight weeks. but either way, it isn't fun to be awake for any stretch in the middle of the night.  I made the mistake of picking her up a few times in the past weeks when I was exhausted and just wanted her to go to sleep, and inadvertently created a monster.  Last night was the first night I did not pick her up and the result was lots of crying and mommy being awake from 1:00-5:00 in the morning.  My only hope is that Whitney will get the h...

Here are two videos of Whitney over the long weekend.  She is getting so strong and can hold herself up by her arms and is also sitting up for long periods of time without support.  She gets better and better at it everyday...these videos were on Friday and by Sunday she was sitting up several minutes longer.  Never a dull moment:)

Being born in January in the midst of flu season did not bode well for Whitney's socialization with other adults or kids.  Although Whitney is not always accepting of her time spent away from home or meeting new faces, we decided she needs to get out, see other people and get over this phase! Poor Grandma and Aunt Kelley had to be the first ones to try this and their adventure was less than fun to say the least.  I had seminars in Oxford all day last Friday, the longest I've ever been away from her, and left her in the loving care of my mom and sister.  I called and text with them all day and bless their hearts they said things were going well and that she was only a little fussy.  When my day was finally over and I was on my way back to my little girl, they filled me in on what really  happened during the seven hours that I was away.  Apparently my precious Whitney screamed bloody murder for three hours straight and there was nothing they could...