Since Mommy's been at work!

So I've been at work and Laura Beth has been doing alot. She is so big. She got a new toy about a week ago. She started playing in it immediately. The seat she is standing in moves around the entire table. We can also adjust it to be a stationery seat as well. It has a little piano, food tray, teether toy, etc. When she is too big to sit in the seat, then we can take the seat off and she can use the toy as a play table to pull up on.

Not only can she walk around the table. She can get to anything that is next to her new toy. I caught her playing in her diaper bag. She getting in to things already. ha!

She has put her pacifier in her mouth several times with absouletly no help. (This is exciting to me.) She also holds her own bottle, except when she is really playful, then her hands are just too busy for the bottle. Oh and she has really started to scoot in her bed. I never know what position she'll be in when I go to wake her up.

Not too long ago we went to "Meet the Saints" at Greenville Christian School see some of our youth be introduced. This is when and where Laura Beth discovered Sonic Route 44 drinks. It was too cute watching her play with that giant cup.

6 Months already!

Laura Beth turned 6 months old last Saturday. She is doing so well. Yesterday she got her 6 month shots. She didn't like that too much. However, she is doing well with the post-shot symptoms. This is a picture of her right after we got home from the shots. (ignore the spots on her outfit. ha)

She is now eating 4 bottles a day with 3 solid food meals. She loves carrots, peas, squash, green beans, pears, peaches, and applesauce. She is still sleeping well at night and playing hard during the day with her friend "Tee" (her caregiver). She takes baths in the bathtub now. Yes, that is Greenville water in the picture. Crazy...we know. Laura Beth is now tri-pod sitting which is fun for us to watch. She also likes to eat her feet. Makes us so proud. ha!

Steve and I finished tiling the kitchen floor. We still have some painting and "putting-back-together" to do.

Layne Parrish came to visit Laura Beth yesterday. Layne lives in Texas and is attending Seminary. We are glad she came to visit.

This coming weekend we are having a bake sale at Walmart for a mission trip that our youth are going on. They'll be heading to Honduras in December. Steve and I believe that God uses missions to change the heart of a missionary and the people receiving the gospel. Please pray for this group as they prepare to be changed and God prepares them to do His work.

Working in Greenville Public Schools has been interesting this year (as well as all the years I've worked here). I definitely feel like I am making a difference everyday. However, progress is slow. I am in the process of moving my room again secondary to a shortage of space in our building. I just moved into the room I am in today a week ago. Yeah, it's a little crazy.

Laura Beth's Lauren Kelly is coming into town today. She is staying at our house until Sunday. We are so excited to see her and celebrate her birthday with her.

Welcome Home and a Wedding!

Wow, since I have been back at work, I haven't had much time to update our blog.

Last weekend we went to Jackson and visited family AND friends. For lunch we met some great friends of ours, James David, Sonia, and Cayden Wells. James David has been serving in Kosovo flying blackhawks for over a year (15 months, we think). He is a wonderful christian man with a sweet family. James David and Steve have been friends since 7th grade. This was James David's first time to meet Laura Beth. We enjoyed our time together, and we were sad that it was so short.


After eating lunch with the Wells, we headed to Bampa and Mammy's house (Steve's parents). We visited with Bill, Laura, Aaron, Hannah Claire, and of course, Bampa and Mammy. Laura Beth wanted to watch Bully (their dog) the whole time. After visiting with them, Steve and I went to the wedding while Bampa and Mammy kept Laura Beth for the first time without us. They said Laura Beth was really good. Laura Beth told us that she loved every minute with Bampa and Mammy. She also said that Mammy has a special touch at putting her to sleep. :)Hannah Claire and I read MANY books. SO many books, in fact, that we had to lay down because I was tired. ha! She doesn't have clothes on in our pictures because right when we got to Mammy and Bampa's house, Hannah Claire got Ketchup on her dress and it had to go to the wash immediately. If you're wondering what Hannah Claire is feeding Steve, it is cashews. Steve loves cashews and apparently Hannah Claire does too. The two piles on Steve's chest represent "Hannah Claire cashews" and "Teve's Cashews." It was way too cute when Steve would try to feed himself, Hannah Claire would get upset because SHE wanted to feed him. She fed him Cashews REALLY fast and we all laughed because Steve was trying to chew really fast instead of telling Hannah Claire to slow down. She also did NOT want Steve to eat ANY that were in her pile. ha! We love her so much. She is so much fun! Also, I must say, since I'm a speech therapist and all, her speech is just phenomenal :).
After the wedding, Steve and I took Laura Beth to the reception to meet some of my college sorority friends (Theta! Whoo Hoo!).

Laura Beth had a great time meeting everyone. Steve and I really enjoyed catching up with Katie Hill and Jason (soon to be Katie Bushby, in October), Heather Far, Lauren and Kyle Jefferies, and of course Shana McGraw Ireland and Patrick.

Katie is basically going nonstop with wedding duties and being a lawyer. Her soon-to-be husband is a lawyer as well, so they are pretty busy.

Heather was the maid of honor at the wedding, and she looked beautiful. I didn't have time to catch up with her much because she was busy doing her maid of honor "duties." Lauren and Kyle are still the cutest couple. They are busy with work and loving life in Coffeeville, MS. This is Kyle's busy season with Landscape Architecture. Lauren was catching me up on the joys of living "near" her in-laws. She wouldn't have it any other way right now. :)

AND, of course, Shana is happily married. Her wedding was beautiful! Congrats to the newly weds, the Irelands!

Yesterday, we took Church Directory pictures. Laura Beth's first professional photograph. ha! She looks like an angel in the picture. She did well smiling for this really "interesting" man.

We also finished tiling half of the kitchen floor. Steve is so amazing to take on this huge task. We will need to paint under the chair rail in the kitchen now that the floor color has changed. We are quite happy with the new look. It's coming along nicely.

Steve starts school in a week and a half. He'll be traveling to the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary in Jackson every Monday. He'll be gone every Monday from Sun-up until sun-down. He is planning to take 10 hours (plus the 2 hour drive to Jackson and back), which doesn't seem like much EXCEPT all of those hours are in one day and he works the rest of the week. He is such a trooper. Pray for him as he begins another tough semester of traveling and studying.

Laura Beth has been making us smile more and more everyday. My heart is overwhelmed with happiness when I think about her even for a moment. What a joy!

Granny's Birthday! (my mother)

I just realized I have pictures from my mother's birthday lunch here at my house (July 21st). We had a great day hanging out with my family. My mom turned...well, she doesn't look a day over 30 :). We had a wonderful ice cream cake that my brother, Lou, picked out.

Okay so it's my mother's birthday, but somehow we only got pictures of Laura Beth. Hmmm... how did that happen? SOOOO sorry mom! Ha! We wanted Laura Beth to be "in" on the lunch, so we put her in her Bumbo at the table. OK all you concerned mother's out there... I know the Bumbo doesn't go on an elevated surface. She wasn't there long nor unattended. Ha! Laura Beth loves playing with her Aunt GiGi!

Summer Ends. School Starts. Mommy goes back to work!

It is a sad, sad week. I only have 2 more days to be with Laura Beth before I have to start work. Teresa, Laura Beth's caregiver, will start this Thursday. She is a very nice lady who already loves Laura Beth. BUT, I am going to miss our sweet days of just me and Laura Beth hanging out together. Even since our last blog post, Laura Beth has become more and more independent. She has now learned how to put her pacifier in her mouth the RIGHT way, but NOW she doesn't know how to let go of the pacifier so she pulls it right back out. She also rolls over everytime we place her on her stomach, which interrupts tummy time, but it is nice that she can turn herself over without me having to help her every time. She has also started to pull her knees under her stomach when she sleeps. It's really cute to go in there and wake her up and she has her booty up in the air. I can remember sleeping like that as a kid. Ha!

Last Saturday, Steve and I tiled our foyer floor. Actually, Steve did most of the tiling. I helped a little in between taking care of Laura Beth. The picture doesn't really portray the exact color, because after we sponged the tile it leaves a film until a few "moppings." We started tiling the kitchen, but we haven't finished it yet. We've done more than the picture shows, but it'll be a couple of days before we finish.

It has been a really great summer. I have enjoyed trips with family, extra time with Steve, very special moments with Laura Beth, and a lot of time thinking about things that are most important. However, even with the Summer's end, we have great things to look forward to. The afternoons with Laura Beth will be more special now since we won't have all day together. I start school on Friday. My principal told me today that I have to move my therapy room back to the nurses station (We'll share the room, but the nurse is only there one day a week). The school year brings new adventures for Laura Beth to learn about such as high school football games, the olympics, her first halloween, thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. We are so thankful to God for the time we've had and we can't wait to see what he has in store for us with this new school year starting. :)

Growing too fast

I wish I had pictures of how much Laura Beth is growing, but most of them would have to be videos. She has started to laugh. She laughs at little kids and our dog, Jack. Sometimes she will laugh at us when we tickle her BUT mainly she continuosly smiles at us. She also occasionally rolls over front to back. She grabs everything and puts it in her mouth. She is eating green beans, apples, peaches, pears, peas, etc. She babbles more than ever now. She likes to look at the fish in our fish tank with her daddy. She weighs 18 lbs now. We can't believe how fast she is growing.

Today Steve is taking the youth to a conference in Jackson, MS to hear Steve Fee in concert and Francis Chan will be speaking. He'll be back tonight, but me and Laura Beth are enjoying my last weeks at home together. Steve just got back from BigStuf camp in Panama City, FL. The youth had a great time worshipping God and learning about what they are "Broadcasting" in their lives.

Last Monday, I was able to go to a Yoga class at our YMCA. The stretching and strength exercises felt wonderful on my out-of-shape body.

Also Steve and I have decided to tile our counters this next week, if we can find a tile that we like. I'll put pictures up soon. I go back to work on August 1st. Man, the summer has been too fast!

July 4th weekend

The Wednesday before July 4th, the youth had a pool party. Laura Beth loved playing with all of them.

Then, on July 4th, Steve's parents (Bampa and Mammy) came to town and we got to go swimming again. We also ate ribs and had a great time visiting.


We played Phase 10 with Steve's family and Laura Beth wanted her own deck of cards. It was too cute.

Jennifer Gilliam also came by on July 4th to visit Laura Beth. Laura Beth loves when Jennifer comes. Laura Beth was showing Jennifer how she plays in her Sassy Jumper that Jennifer bought for her. Laura Beth doesn't jump yet, but she'll get the hang of it soon.


On July 5th, we went to James Cheathams' parents house. Laura, Aaron, Hannah Claire, James, Alicia, and Lucy were all there. All of us have little girls, so the trip was alot of fun getting to watch them play. We had a great time swimming and James' parents cooked a great meal. Unfortunately, our camera battery died and I didn't get many pictures. If you're wondering what Aaron, James and Steve are doing with those noodles...well, lets just say they made a giant water gun which could also be used as an old fashioned telephone by connecting the noodles. ha! They are so crazy.