Girl vs. Wild

Today, we took a drive to the Mulberry River, where Randall and several of his friends go camping a couple of times each year. We packed lunch and enjoyed the pretty drive out into one of the more rural areas of Arkansas I've seen (I'm sure there are many areas that are much more rural, but this was pretty removed!). We had the best time, enjoying our picnic, walking along the trail by the different campsites and venturing down by the water, which you can see has a unique green color. Syd was such a big girl sitting at the picnic table! The weather was a little cooler than we expected, but it was still a perfect day to spend outside.

 

 

 

 

 

(Don't worry, Randall was right there. He just moved his hand quickly so I could snap the picture!)

Little Miss Repeat

As any parent knows, it is close to impossible to capture the best moments on video. As soon as the video camera appears, babies shut down. This evening (a gorgeous evening - yes, she's in shorts!) we were playing outside and I was lucky enough to capture a tiny bit of her sweet voice repeating a few words. Every day, she is able to say more and more words, and it is the sweetest sound I've ever heard! You can also see how quickly her attention fades (and how early golf is being introduced to her life) Haha! Maybe next time I'll have better luck getting her to point to all of the parts of her face. The other thing I must get on video soon is her acting out some of her favorite songs from school. When the baby on the bus cries, it is hysterical. ;-)

For now, here's a short snippet:

Visit from Grandma!!

My mom left this morning to fly back to Virginia after a great five-day visit! Sydney quickly warmed up and figured out that the lady she has been seeing through Skype actually is standing in our house :) I worked half days which gave them lots of time together for grandma/granddaughter time and they worked on colors and even some Spanish. Sydney was such a performer and showed Grandma all her little tricks --- movements to Wheels on the Bus, movements to Row, Row, Row Your Boat, identifying the parts of her face (though sometime still a little mixed up), brushing her hair, dancing, you name it --- and she even repeated some new words we had not heard before, including "yellow"

Here is a photo re-cap of the visit. You can tell we had pretty extreme weather from 70+ on Saturday to 39 Monday! They both love to be outside, so it was a match made in heaven. We had a great day Saturday at War Eagle Mill (one of our favorite spots) and spent some time at the park Tuesday afternoon where Sydney experienced her first trips down a slide. The adorable outfit in the first few pictures was a gift from Grandma, and she will be wearing her new St. Patrick's Day outfit, another gift, tomorrow. :-) We won't see Grandma again until July, which makes us all pretty sad!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

14 Months

Our precious little girl turned 14 months old sometime during the night since February doesn't have a 30th day :-) And at 14 months, Sydney Drew:

• is walking so fast everywhere --- and she desperately wants to run
• cries for a few seconds when dropped off at school each day, but quickly remembers she likes it there
• loves music more than anything, and the dance moves are priceless!
• is soooo silly! We just know her sense of humor is going to be a hoot.
• says a few words from time to time (mama, dada, hi, bye, eyes, yay, uh-oh) but isn't too verbal yet
• plays independently very well
• has two teeth fully in (bottom) and six more poking through  (four top, two bottom) --- slow process!
• loves her teachers at school, and just tolerates the other kids ;-)
• shows strong preference of some people over others, even though she is OK with most folks
• loves to eat, but has become a little picky
• still takes a couple of bottles each day (we hope to break her of that in the next month or two) but does well with her sippy cups, too
• loves to play in the bathtub, and would stay in there all night if we let her; we have to work with her on staying seated b/c standing is apparently more fun :-)
• is still a fabulous sleeper and has to be woken up every morning, and even sometimes on the weekends if she has just slept forever!

Tonight, we took a few pictures of her before bath time. She loves to run around in her diaper. It is so funny to her! Then I took a few of her in her PJs. Happy 14 month birthday to our sweet angel. From our biased perspective, she really could not be more perfect. :-) We are so very lucky to be her mom and dad.