Caleigh Blaine

I cannot believe that Caleigh will be 11 years old next month. It seems like she should still be the same size as the little girls. And once they start school time just flies by. She has always been such a little grown up. I think being the first grandchild on both sides and spending so much time with grown ups doing grown up things has contributed, but also I think she was just born "mature". I could always take her anywhere with me and she would behave perfectly and enjoy herself too. Since she could walk she has been going to teas and luncheons with her Mimi Vicki and she has always loved that sort of thing.

Caleigh is very sweet, understanding, mature, fair, thoughtful, creative and wise beyond her years. I really could just go on and on, but I'm her mom, what do ya expect :-)!! Sometimes, Caleigh can be too nice for her own good.. meaning, she wont stand up for herself. It's so hard to make her understand that it's okay to stand up for herself, that it doesn't make her a mean person... and she say's that she gets it, but I'm not so sure she does. I'm not always with her so I can't know if she is taking up for herself or not. I just have to trust that God will guide her and help her through those rough times and let her know what is the right thing to do. I am tremendously proud of her no matter what. She does very well in school and is very confident in herself. She loves her friends dearly and would do anything for anyone. She is already planning out her future... she wants to attend Samford to be a music teacher and marry a lawyer... have 2 children, although I'll be surprised if she even has one ( she would go to the hospital over a paper-cut ~ zero tolerance for pain!!).

It's so hard for me to let go of the little girl she was and let her grow up, but I think she is growing up beautifully and I enjoy every new stage of her life. Well... I say that now... she's not a teenager yet ;) Maybe we can skip that stage!!

Girl's Day

Every Sunday since Cody and I have been together, he goes to his buddy's house to watch football. Why doesn't he watch football at home, you ask? Because he is the one and only Cardinals football fan in Alabama, or the south for that matter, so they don't play Cardinals games on TV 'round here unless they're in the Super Bowl or if you purchase the Sunday ticket... which isn't gonna happen. I used to hate this. When we were first married, we didn't see each other at all during the week. I worked days and he worked a split shift which meant he was gone when I got up and gone again when I got home from work. The weekends were the only time we saw each other at all. Now all of that has changed, and I happily send him off every Sunday so the girls and I can have an all girly day together. I absolutely love these days. We go to church then come home and have lunch then it's time for princess movies and popcorn, painting nails and dress-up and whatever else the girls want to do. I can't say enough how blessed I am :-)!!!
Now if I could just figure out how to keep them little forever...

Punkin' Patch

Saturday, Samantha, Zoe, Heidi and I loaded up and went to Tate Farms. Caleigh was supposed to go also, but her cousin Mary Clayton was in town, so she went to her Mimi Vicki's and Grandaddy Frank's in hopes of getting to see her. The weather has been so nice this month, with the exception of the rain, until Saturday. It was freezing and so, so muddy. We were all covered in mud by the time we left. The girls really enjoyed it though. Heidi would get so excited looking at the pumpkins in the patch while we were on the hay ride and as soon as we got out there she went for the biggest pumpkin she could find and tried to pick it up. She's so stubborn. She would've stayed out there all day working on that pumpkin. I eventually had to drag her away screaming...typical. Zoe would've preferred to just swing. We go to the park at least 2-3 times a week, if not more and weather permitting, so you would think that she would be interested in all of the other things they had there...
My camera, of course, wasn't working, so as soon as I get the pics from Sam I will post them.

Heidi Madelyn

Heidi is growing and changing so much these days. I can hardly keep up. At her 1 year check-up she was 21.13 pounds and 31 inches. She is technically a little above average, but she seems so, so tiny. I don't know if it's because she has such a petite frame or because Zoe was so much bigger at that age orrrr because she is so bow-legged. Yes, I know all babies are a little bow-legged, but they usually grow out of it by now. Not Heidi, she is very noticeably bow-legged and if you have ever seen Cody, then you know where she got it from. I'm just praying she grows out of it at least a little bit:)!

Her vocabulary is expanding daily now too. Her newest phrase is "heeeey precious" and it really is precious to hear because her voice gets really high pitched during "hey" and she says precious really fast. I'm hoping to capture it on video, but she would rather play with the camera than be in front of it, so that's getting harder and harder. She does love to entertain though and will do anything for a laugh. Zoe can make her laugh better than anyone. Sometimes I can't even figure out what she could possibly be laughing at.... I guess Zoe is just naturally funny to her. She adores Zoe. She is constantly just walking up to her and hugging or kissing her. And whatever Zoe does, she has to do to. I am so glad that they are so close, and I love watching the two of them grow and play together everyday. Some of the other things Heidi can say:

Heideee
momeee
datteee
hey doe - hey Zoe
dottie - doggy
pop pop
mimi
nanna
baboo - drink (not sure how she came up with that one. it can also mean other things too)
dady - baby
me
ni-night
ahht - hot

aaaapu - apple

ep - help

nah nah - no no

nana - banana

hey bwirdie - hey birdie

heeey boogie

She has only said Zoe 2 or 3 times and she hasn't been able to get Caleigh down. I guess that is a little bit harder. She is so funny with Caleigh. She will just sit and look at her with admiration. She doesn't try to play with her like she does Zoe or like Zoe does with Caleigh, but she loves for Caleigh to hold her and take care of her. I guess she thinks of Caleigh as a little mama or something. All of my girls are just so sweet together and I am so very, very blessed.

On the down side, Heidi has recently decided she doesn't want to sleep in her bed. I can't figure this one out. She has always slept in her crib. She went straight from the hospital to her crib in her room and has always loved it. When I would lay her down at night she would just roll over and cuddle her lovie and go right to sleep. Of course, there were nights when she would fuss a little, but it would only be for a few minutes ( with the exception of the nights when she was teething. those were a little harder). For the past few weeks, she would go down fine but then wake up in the middle of the night and absolutely would not go back to sleep. So, we would go in the living room and lay on a boppy and watch sportscenter. Some nights she would just go right back to sleep and others it would take longer, then I would just put her back in the crib. Well, for the past week or so, she has started to get hysterical when we would start heading to her room and would cry for the longest after I layed her down. The past 2 nights I had to rock her to sleep, which I haven't done since she was a little baby. This happens at nap time too. I just can't figure it out. I thought maybe there was a scary shadow in her room so I removed all the animals from the shelves, but that didn't help. I wish I could fix it... I hate for her to be so upset. I just pray that God will calm her little soul so she can sleep soundly again (and me too).