Photo Session with Lauren

While we were in Nashville a couple of weeks ago, our friend Lauren took some beautiful photos of Mimi. It was an unusually cold day, and I love how pink her nose is in some of the photos (especially when I made her wear the short-sleeved dress!). Here are just a few.

Weekend in Nashville

This weekend we went to Nashville for my sweet friend Meghann's gorgeous wedding at the Governer's Club Mansion. Meg is a good friend from college, and I was so excited when she asked Mimi to be a flower girl. I must point out that Mimi couldn't even hold her head up well when Meghann asked, so she really took a gamble on Mimi even being able to walk down the aisle. When it was showtime for Mimi, Clint dropped her at the back at the back and Miss Priss ran to me down the aisle swinging her short little arms as fast as she could!Do you know The Itsy Bitsy Spider . . . or maybe If You're Happy and You Know It?This is Meghann and, well, not her husband. I didn't have a good pic of her and Jesse, but I do have one of her and her new brother-in-law Charles, who is the singer in Lady Antebellum. I know I'm a goober, but he was such a super nice guy and was so sweet to Mimi. I think this makes him blog worthy.
Mimi climbed all the way up the mansion steps . . . several times. Thanks, Daddy, for letting her do whatever she wants!

We were able to stay with my sister, and Mimi loves playing in her cousin Coco's room. She was busting a move in this photo.And I had to take a photo of her festive Halloween outfit.

Another month slips by . . .

. . . and Mimi keeps growing and growing. Of course, I knew this would happen, and I do want this to happen but not so quickly. Just yesterday Clint said, "I want her to stay this size and keep doing the silly things she does right now." I think I said the same thing last month, and the month before, and a few months before that. The truth is that each month gets better and better, but it's so hard for me to believe that life could get any better than it is right now.
Since we're officially out of the baby stage and into being a toddler, Mimi has to do toddler things like riding on a multi-colored Dora at the farm toy. This noisy little car/scooter is a constant fixture in our den along with the classic red Cozy Coupe. My parents brought some little pumpkins for our Little Pumpkin the last time they visited. Mimi thought the smallest one was her new baby doll, and she carried it around all afternoon . . . until she threw it on the floor and broke its stem.

Mimi keeps things in her hands all the time -- Little People, a plastic cell phone, puzzle pieces, the remote control, and the small measuring spoons and whisk she's holding in the photo.

Since Fall is finally here and our house has been a little cool at night, Mimi now has her first official pair of "slippers." They're big and fuzzy and pink, and she loves stomping around and chasing the dogs in them. (Check out that belly!)

I haven't taken the time to download a video in a while, so here we go. She's not doing any amazing tricks, but is just being her normal, silly self.

13 Months Old and My Name Is "No, No, No"

I am sad to say that Mimi is no longer a baby . . . she is a wild little monkey! I don't exactly know when this happened, but it seems like it was overnight. Since she turned one she has become so independent and fiesty (these are the exact words of her preschool teacher, Miss Jackie).

For example:

She wants to walk everywhere and refuses to hold my hand or be carried . . . and her little knees are covered in scabs :(

She HATES to be fed. She only wants food that she can eat by herself (tomatoes, bananas, strawberries, and pasta are her favorite), and she sweeps all her food off the table when she's finished.

She insists on stealing small liquor bottles out of the cabinet and yells at me when I take them from her (I finally put a latch on this cabinet today . . . and she yelled at me when she realized it!)

I have to put her in the sleeper hold to change her diaper.

She wags her finger at Ruthie whenever she barks too much and tells her, "no, no, no."

She plays tug-of-war with Ruthie and her toys and squeals with delight if Ruthie jerks her down.

I have observed her push others out of the way to get to a toy.

On the other hand, she has learned SO much at her new preschool just in the past month:

She can play "Ring around the Rosies" but likes to sit down way too early.

She tries really hard to do the hand motions to "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "Wheels on the Bus."

She sleeps on a mat at school.

She comes home with coloring pages and other "art projects" she's worked on that day.

If she accidentally drops a toy, she says, "pick up, pick up" . . . and then she usually throws it down.

When I ask her "where's the blah blah" on the page of a book, she usually gets it right. Well, sometimes she gets it right :)

Mimi LOVES being outside and picking up sticks, acorns, and leaves . . . and sometimes she even pulls weeds!

She is so sweet to Spike and likes to share her food with him (but never offers any to Ruthie!).

Mimi has been trying to play with her toys in the dogs' water bowls (and sometimes the potty!), so I have been taking her bath toys outside and letting her play with them in big bowls of water. She gets herself, the patio, and anything within a ten foot radius completely soaked.

I was cleaning out her closet and found my favorite baby gown of hers. I tried it on her and it still fits! I thought it was so sweet but I could tell the length was annoying her.

What a perfect way to END the post -- Way to go Rebels for beating the Memphis Tigers!

Preschool, wedding weekend, and our new favorite thing in Memphis

No more Mother's Day Out -- Mimi is now in Roulhac's Preschool!! She's been attending for about 2 weeks now, and we couldn't be happier. Normally when we drop her off in the morning she cries a little, but she has literally jumped out of my arms to see her new friends this week. No tears . . . no chasing me with open arms . . . yeah, I'm a little sad.
They had a huge water slide last week, and I stopped by to try to take some photos without her noticing. Of course, she noticed so all of my pictures are of her screaming . . . but I still think they're cute. We visited my parents in Corinth a couple of weekends ago when our air went out and rode to Pickwick on Saturday afternoon. Mimi loved seeing the water and the boats.Last weekend we went to Jackson for a wedding, and Mimi went crazy in the hotel. She loved to run full speed into the closet mirror, stick her head in the air conditioner so her hair could blow, and pull all the toilet paper off the roll. I'm so glad she's able to entertain herself in a small hotel room!

Hooray for babysitters!!The Botanic Gardens has recently added "My Big Backyard," which is a couple of acres of treehouses, sandboxes, creeks, little play houses, bridges, and flowers that are all geared towards children. I had no idea what we were in for when I decided to stop by and check it out this afternoon. Oh. My. Gosh. It is absolutely amazing.Mimi's favorite part was the "rain," which is an area that looks like a front porch with a tin roof. Every 15-20 minutes it thunders and kids start running from the other areas to get drenched under the rain. I had no idea how Mimi would react to this, but she ran straight to the middle squealing and giggling. We were so not prepared, so her clothes (and mine) were completely soaked. And this is what she did when we got home . . .

Happy First Birthday!!

Mimi celebrated her very first birthday on Saturday, August 1, at our house, and she had a blast! Our little home was completely filled to the brim with friends and family, and despite the torrential downpour outside, we all had a great time. She LOVED her cake and dove right in . . .and then went crazy with a sugar rush and ran around the house for a couple of hours!

Here we are about a year ago with our new little bundle . . . we had no idea what the first year would be like. As Mimi grew bigger, we grew wiser and a little less selfish -- 3 feedings a night will do that to a person. Before we had a baby, our lifestyle consisted of sleeping in as late as possible, going out to dinner almost every night, sending our dog Ruthie to doggie day care (which is more expensive than Mimi's!), watching TV all night, and basically feeling like we had very little responsiblity other than work. Needless to say, the priorities have definitely changed, and we have changed for the better. Clint and I know all the songs on Sesame Street and we buy organic produce. I don't even pay attention when Anthropologie or J. Crew has a sale, but I go nuts when Cotton Tails has smocked dresses for $35! In the past we watched Dave Chapelle when we wanted to laugh -- now we just sit in the floor with our little one-year-old and crack up at her trying to dance or be silly.

Weekend in Nashville

This past weekend Clint and I both needed to work in Nashville, so it was a great opportunity for us to stay with my sister in Brentwood. Clint and I made our first trip to Arrington Vineyards, and the weather was absolutely perfect. My parents even came up to babysit Saturday night so we could go to dinner at Sambuca.

Mimi with her cousin Nick.Mimi's first wine-tasting . . . well, she had a sippy cup of milk instead.

Clint, me, Amy, and Brian at their house before dinner.

Mimi was a fantastic traveler as always. We had Curious George on for about 2 minutes before she fell asleep on the way home.