What a Difference a Year Makes...

Last year on our girls beach trip (6 weeks)...

And look at her now (13 1/2 months)!!!

She actually loved her sunglasses!

Lollie, Ellie, and I took a 2 week beach trip last year about this time and had such a great time. So, we decided to do it again this year but only for 1 week. I will have to say we enjoyed ourselves a lot more this year since Ellie was able to enjoy herself a lot more! It helps when everyone is getting a full nights' sleep instead of waking up every hour w/ a 6 week old! Poppy, Uncle Thomas, and Rusty all joined us at the end of the week, and Aunt She She came for a couple of days in the middle. We had such a wonderful time and didn't want to come back to reality!!!

We spent the majority of our time at the little beachy area down from my parent's condo. We couldn't keep Ellie out of the water! She has NO FEAR apparently because we kept having to chase her out into the water. She kept walking straight out into the water and didn't seem to mind that it was getting deeper and deeper and almost over her head. It was hilarious to watch and a little scary! Unfortunately I failed to get a pic of her in the water.

We spent a little time at the pool. Since we were having unusually low temps and gail force winds at the beach it made for freezing water in the pool! Here's proof that I sucked it up one day and got in with her! See that float in the background? Yeah, we don't really care anything about that! I do have to remember that this is the child that is always on the go! We're not much for being confined or restrained in any way. I guess we'll have to opt for some floaties on the next trip.

I made Daddy get in with her this day!

You can't go to the beach without doing a photo shoot on the beach! I can't get over how big she looks in this picture!! That can't be my baby!

Wouldn't be a girls' trip without going shopping!This is a "Mama, please can we go home?" look!

One of Ellie's most favorite people in the world...her Poppy.

Very first boat ride ever, and she fell asleep within 5 minutes! (After screaming b/c she hated the life jacket)!She is asleep in this pic!

Helping Poppy drive the boat!

Lollie and I got her a new life jacket that she liked a little better...

Date night for Rusty and me. We decided we couldn't remember the last time we had dinner w/ just the 2 of us. Sept maybe... Time to head home and back to that reality I was talking about.

We stopped to see MeMe on the way back...and Aunt Vivi (Rusty's great aunt)... What a fun trip!!!

Fun Weekend with Friends

This silly girl had her 12 month check up last week, and everything went great. Dr. Hardwick assured us several times that she looked "very healthy" and seemed to be "growing just like she should be." He showed us where she fell on the growth chart which was not surprising at all. She weighed 24 lbs. 12 oz. and was 31.5 inches long. That's 91st percentile for weight and off the chart for length!! She's still following in her Mama's footsteps it seems.

She found this headband in my bathroom drawer and decided she wanted to wear it. It's really one of those "you had to be there" things, but she was so funny wanting to wear it on her head. Every time it came off she'd get really frustrated and bring it to me to put back on her head! She and I were both rolling laughing the entire time.

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We also had some fun visitors for the weekend!! Ryan, Scott, Daniel and Davis Cochran came into town from Nashville to visit. Ellie had a great time playing with both of the boys, and Rusty and I had a great visit with Ryan and Scott! We are SO glad they came down for a visit!

Aunt She She was nice enough to babysit Sat night while the adults went out for a fun dinner!

Little Davis is always like this! Happy as can be!

Rusty with Ellie (12 1/2 months) & Davis (8 months)
Sweet kisses!

Ellie's new thing..."giving hugs."

Ellie & Daniel (3 1/2 years) in her wagon