Happy Birthday Aubrey!

Mary Laine has been to bunches of birthday parties this summer. They have actually been for the big kids, though (ages 3-6), but Mary Laine doesn't realize that she isn't one of the big kids. I'm pretty sure that she thinks that she's at least 5 and makes sure to call all of the other kids her age "babies". Here are some pictures from Aubrey's 6th birthday party.

Mary Laine and Sadie playing in the sprinklers

Check out that cake - and it was oh so yummy!

Love it that the grandmothers are in the anywhere chairs taking care of all of the kids

Playdate with Cousin Jane

My cousin Lee and her precious daughter Jane came over to visit while they were in Greenwood. Mary Laine and Jane are going to be great friends growing up. We were sad that we had to cancel our beach trip with them, but look forward to many years at St. Simons together in the future!

Don't you just love that sweet smile???

The only way that we could get them to both sit still long enough for a picture was to bribe them with food. I think that Deacon was hoping for a treat too. :-)

Around the house in July

Here are some cute pics of Mary Laine around the house in July:

We got this bucket when we were at the beach and it is ML's favorite "hat"

She loves to lie on her tummy and read

One day, Mimi set up a "water park" in the backyard. She had a blast!

Happy 1 1/2 Birthday Mary Laine

Since Mary Laine's birthday falls so close to Christmas, we have decided to wait and give her birthday presents on her half-birthday. Mimi and Papa came over to celebrate with us - we had half-cupcakes - pinkalicious in honor of her favorite book - and opened presents. Her "big" gift was an Elmo ride-on airplane. She is very into Elmo these days, so she was thrilled to see something with an Elmo theme that has lots of lights and sounds. We were planning for this to be a ride-on toy to play with outside, but since most of our summer days have been 100+ degrees, it has remained inside. Most mornings, she will ask to play with Elmo before she does anything else. So cute! It is hard to believe that she's already 18 months old. Time is flying and she is getting to be so big. Happy Half-Birthday, Mary Laine. We love you!

Getting Back to Our Roots

In early July, Mom, Mary Laine and I made a trip to Thomastown, MS to visit my Great- Aunt Ada and Uncle George (Ada is my maternal grandmother's younger sister). Both of my maternal grandparents grew up in Thomastown and lived there until after they my Aunt Susan was born. It is always fun seeing the places that they lived and visited. I remember my grandmother's stories of how she would watch "Billy" when they were growing up and thinking about how cute he was. Since my grandparents passed away a few years ago, it is always so great to visit with other family members. And not only did we get a great visit in, but Aunt Ada also cooked lunch for us. If there is one thing that she and my grandmother have been known for, it is their cooking! Yum yum! This was the first time that I'd been able to make it to Thomastown since Mary Laine was born. Hopefully we'll make it back with our son soon after he's here.

Happy Girl

I love a turkey sandwich from K.K.'s!

27 Weeks

26 weeks

27 weeks

I am so thrilled to say that we are officially 27 weeks. I have reached a milestone in this pregnancy that I didn't in my last one - I still haven't been admitted to the hospital! Yeah!! By 27 weeks with Mary Laine, I had been hospitalized twice and put on a magnesium sulfate drip once.

Now we're just taking it a day at a time. I had my steroid shots last week to help with this little guy's lung development. And I'm continuing with strict bedrest, the 17P shots, procardia, and the terbutaline pump. I am so thankful for all of the modern medicine that is available.

And if you're wondering how Mary Laine is faring with all of the changes around here, there is no need to worry. She has been getting more attention than she knows how to handle. So far, Gary, my mom, and my Aunt Susan have tag-teamed as the point person, and my sweet sweet friends have been taking Mary Laine on outings and playdates. She is going to be so bored when she's stuck hanging out at home with just me and the baby in a few months. :-)

Thanks so much to everybody who's been checking on me. I will try to keep the blog up-to-date. Hopefully I won't have any news to report until I make it to 28 weeks next week.