"Some Assembly Required"

For your combined birthdays, Me-Me wanted to get y'all a swingset. So I shopped around for the perfect one: one that had a little house, not treated with chemicals wood, and one that didn't cost a small fortune. And we found it. So, Daddy, with the help of two different crews of manly men, assembled the swingset that came in four boxes and about a jillion pieces. The directions, which were obviously written by idiots, said it would take two people eight to ten hours. HA!! More like six people two full days. You helped a lot too, Landon and Me-Me screwed in the last bolt! And alas, it is completed; you two have already really enjoyed it so much.

Thanks Me-Me! We love you!

"It Happened Overnight"

Wow Shelby! I'm sure I'm sounding like a broken record, but you have grown so much here lately! It seems like overnight you just matured and can do so many new, different things. First, you finally have your first tooth! It took eleven months, but the lower right tooth has broken the skin and is pushing through. I guess now we'll have an explosion of teeth to catch up with most babies. I still think you held that tooth in so I wouldn't stop nursing you. I always said that when you got teeth, I was quitting. But you have a tooth, and we're not quitting. I can't nurse you in public anymore, because you always stop and look around and leave me exposed. You are so funny; when you do stop, I'll ask you if you're all done, and you lunge back and start nursing again!

We are however, not nursing at night anymore, and you are even sleeping through the night in your own bed. Mommy struggled with this for so long: reading books, trying to figure out what the best method would be, taking the babiest of baby steps. While low and behold, it was more me than you, I think! I was sooo afraid how you would react and how upset you would be. After talking with Dr. Parker and realizing that you were a "trained night feeder," it just clicked. We tried exactly what the article said, and you did amazing!! The first night, there was only about 20 minutes of crying...total! Ten to go to sleep, ten in the night. Now, you have your milk, and I put you in your bed, and you quietly turn to your side and go to sleep!! You are napping in your bed now, too. You even had your first sleepover, or "date-night" as Brother calls it, at JuJu & Poppie's. You didn't even seem to miss me, JuJu says!

And I think we can officially say you are walking! While you know you can get places faster when you crawl, you still try so hard to maintain your balance and keep going, even when you fall down. And when you do make it to where you are trying to go, you are so very pleased with yourself!

You, like Brother, absolutely adore your "bankie." It is very similar to Landon's "Pooh Blank," but pink satin and no Pooh. When you need it and you see it, you get so excited, rush over to it, and bury your face in it. It is so cute!

You also love brownies, and have for a while now (shhhh...). When you see them, you get very antsy, and you pop your mouth, as if to say, "brownie..NOW!" Hey, you love anything sweet, really!

While Landon was absolutely terrified of the "Busy Ball Popper," you get the biggest kick out of it! You slam the plunger down to start it up and squeal in delight. Then you scurry to gather the balls to do it again.

You also like to play cars with Landon. You even make slobbery noises, which I know is a "vroom vroom." Lately you've been into putting things into containers and taking things out: cars in the basket or farm animals in your toy blender, whatever! Landon gets a little frustrated when you pick up the cars that we're playing with.

But I think your favorite thing is playing kitchen. You love to go through all the plastic stuff and chew on most of it. You think the knobs on the stove that make noise are really cool too.

Shelby, you are such a joy, and we love every day with you. It really is hard to believe that it's been almost a year...

"Meeting Maggie"

Today you two got to meet your newest cousin Maggie! Aunt Vanessa and Uncle Andrew already had two beautiful little girls, Kylie and Emma, and thought their family was complete. Until 5 years later, and Maggie came along! Aunt Vanessa had already gotten rid of all of her baby stuff, and Shelby is outgrowing it, so we are passing it down to Maggie! Vanessa, Emma, and Baby Maggie made the trip over, so we could meet her, visit, and pass on a few more things. Landon, you made fast friends again with Emma, and really enjoyed playing and eating popsicles with her. Maggie is such a sweet, beautiful little baby. Landon, you were in awe, again, of the little tiny fingers and toes! And Shelby, you were all over her! You weren't real keen on Mommy holding her without you, but you cooed and talked to her. You wanted so badly to touch her eyes and her mouth and just about crawl into her carseat with her! You looked so BIG next to her; and it seems like yesterday you were just that tiny, if not smaller! How is it possible that you have grown so much, so quickly, right before our eyes, and us not be able to actually see your body growing!? It is so amazing! You two are so amazing! Anyway, we had a great afternoon eating pizza and "talking baby." We can't wait to see all of Aunt Vanessa's family again really soon.

"Park & Puddles"

Today we went to the Brownlee Water Park for the first time this season. It was a beautiful day, so after we picked you up from school, we headed with Shelby, Austin, Sophy, and two new friends, Ryan and Josh, to the park. Shelby had never played in water before, so she was in for a real treat. And boy oh boy, did she look cute in her little pink tutu bathing suit! You guys had a great time running and splashing; there is sand everywhere too, so y'all enjoyed digging in it too. Shelby was a little slower to warm up to the whole water squirting everywhere thing. The sprayers had a little force behind the water, so we had to take it slow. Shelby, once you got over the initial anxiety about it, you had a great time. You especially loved to splash in the water that was on the concrete and to find little tiny rocks that you insisted must go in your mouth! You kept Mommy pretty busy intercepting rocks before they made it in. It was all fun and games until another little girl shot us right in the face with a huge blast of water; then you had had enough. To cap off the day, the icecream truck came rolling up, and of course we all had to indulge. It was the first of many, I am sure, visits to Brownlee!

"Breaking News..This Just In!!"

You have been standing on your own a lot lately, Shelby. And today, I think we can mark as your first steps, officially! You are slowly gaining the confidence to release your one hand hold and try to inch forward. It won't be long and you will be running to keep up with Brother!