Introducing Miss Mary Clark Henig!!

Some of our dearest friends, Meghan and Heath, welcomed their sweet baby girl into this world on Thursday, February 25th. Mary Clark was born at 5 p.m. and weighed 6 lbs. 6 oz., and I think was 19 inches long. Ellie and I got to visit with them on Friday, and MC is just perfect in every way!

Look how sweet!!!!
Proud new Mama and Mary Clark

I had to get some cuddle time in with her too!

Ellie did great (as long as we let her play with the latex gloves!!). Seriously, she behaved very well, and I just know she's going to make a great big sister! She loves Meg and Heath so I knew she'd be fine at the hospital. We discussed all the way there that they had a new baby named Mary Clark, and she was very interested and engaged in the conversation. When we pulled into the parking deck at the hospital she said, "Mary Clark's house?" That was difficult to explain, and I could tell that she was trying so hard to put it all together in her little brain!

Nancy was there visiting too and got some snuggle time in herself!

Shelby's 1st Shower!!

My sister Shelby is getting married May 15th (yes, 3 weeks after Baby #2 is due to arrive), and she had her first shower down in Atmore last weekend. Everything was just lovely, and she got some great linens and things for her kitchen!!

The Bride...

The hostesses...

Everything was so pretty.

We had only desserts to choose from, and they were all delicious! I left there stuffed!

Me, Shelby, and Mom

Between a wedding in May (w/ the reception at my parent's house) and a baby due in April...the 3 of us are about to pull our hair out!!!!!!! Me, "Mom, I really need you to come up and help me get things organized before the baby arrives." Mom, "Well, Mandy, I really just don't have time to focus on that right now." So I guess I'm on my own. Good thing it's not my first rodeo! And yes, my sister did have her wedding date set before we found out we were pregnant so I did it to myself I guess you could say! I am certainly not worried because there is more than enough love to go around for this little man in my belly, but I do want to make sure that Shelby gets all of the special treatment and attention that a bride deserves!

22 Months Old!

Which means my baby will be 2 in 2 months. I can hardly believe it! A few things I know I'll want to be able to look back on!

-Talking - that's all you do Ellie! You continue to amaze us with your vocabulary and your ability to put words together and pretty much form your own little sentences now.

-After months of going over colors and saying that everything was "green," you finally know all of them! This is a development that occurred in the last 3 weeks.

-You have several favorite songs...Wheels on the Bus, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Ring Around the Rosey, and one that you must sing at school that I haven't figure out yet!

-You are counting to 10 very well (you sometimes skip 3-5, but you have the rest down)!

-You can sing just about the entire Alphabet song.

-You still LOVE playing outside, and this weather has not been fun b/c I have a very hard time explaining why we cannot go out more often.

-You can literally jump up with both feet off the ground. This is impressive to Daddy and me for some reason!

-You are still loving Yo Gabba Gabba and pretty much know by your daily schedule when it comes on!

-I think you are as sick of this cold weather as we are b/c for the past few days you keep telling me you want to "Go beach!" I have no idea where you got this!

-You are loving school now.

-You are starting to play independently very well which is a huge help to your Mama!

-In the last week you have started to understand a bit more about your baby brother. Tonight when I asked you where he was you pointed to my belly and said, "in there."

-You have grown very close to Anna, who is your babysitter that comes every Tues and Thurs. We are truly blessed to have her!

I know there are a thousand more things I am forgetting, but these are the highlights. We love you SO much and can't even remember what we did before you were here!

3rd Snow of the Year!

Ellie is going to think snow is fairly common around here since it's the 3rd time she has seen it this year! I will say we didn't get a chance to get out and play the other 2 times though so this time was definitely the most fun for her! She, Daddy, and Riley got out and had some fun!

Ellie and I also made some Valentine's cookies for her classmates, and they turned out pretty cute!

Still waiting for some warmer weather around here!

Cabin Fever

Yep, we are officially over this cold weather. I have tried not to complain, but this weekend did it for me. Spring can't get here fast enough although that does mean a baby is coming as well, and we still have lots to do before his arrival! See what this cold weather will make you do though...

get into trouble!!

We have had a lot going on around here over the past 2 weeks. Daddy went duck hunting in Arkansas, Mama went to San Francisco for work while Ellie stayed with Lollie, Poppy, and MeMe, and Mama had a stomach virus in the middle of all of that! We're all well for now and getting back to a normal routine. Because of the weather we've been coming up with some new indoor activities.

Like painting. It lasted about 5 minutes before she decided it was more fun to slosh the water around and try to drink it. We have the same problem with colors, sidewalk chalk, and markers. All she wants to do is eat them so that rules out all of those activities for a few more months!

We've dressed up a little, but this only lasts about 5 minutes as well.

We did have a really fun birthday party to go to on Saturday! Caroline's 4th birthday at Sweet & Sassy. I wasn't sure how Ellie would do with the dressing up, hair fixing, fingernail painting, and runway walking, but boy did she surprise me. She was right in the middle of all the 4 year olds, and it was quite hilarious to say the least.

Ellie, "Spitzer," and "Liney" as she calls them. She loves these girls so much!!

She did do a little dressing up...again it lasted maybe 10 minutes this time.

And after she dressed up she actually sat long enough to get her fingernails painted pink! Then, best of all, she got to meet Cinderella! I don't think she had a clue who she was, but it was fun anyway!

Group picture of all the girls, and Ellie was right in the middle of it all and didn't miss a beat!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Rusty's birthday was yesterday, the 16th, and we had a good weekend celebrating together. Ellie insisted on getting him a balloon at the store on Friday, and Daddy was so excited about it! Ellie was also extremely excited about "Daddy's cake," and she and I had a very hard time not tearing into it all day Friday while it sat on the counter! Finally after dinner on Friday we couldn't wait any longer. Ellie actually couldn't even wait until we actually cut it, and Daddy let her dig in early! We have a tradition of having a pink cake on Rusty's birthday since it's his absolute favorite!

See that cake plate in the pictures above? Yeah, that was one of my favorites. Too bad as of today it's not longer around because of this...

Yep, she broke it today while up on the kitchen island. The climbing had stopped, well gotten better, there for a while, but she's right back to it. After this weekend I have begun to lose my patience and am at my wit's end. I tried moving every barstool on the other side of the room, but she proceeded to slide one all the way back over to the island and climb right up. She thinks it's cute. Me, not so much. There is a story behind the picture above too. Anna Kate and Katherine came over Friday for a little visit, and while AK and I were over in the living room AK looks up and says, "Mandy, Ellie is spraying water all over your kitchen!" I turn to look and run over to find the faucet turned on with the sprayer shooting clear across my kitchen with water going EVERYwhere. And I do mean everywhere. Of course we're all dying laughing so Ellie thinks it's hilarious. 5 towels later AK and I got it cleaned up while Ellie did this in the picture above! AK captured this pic below, and it doesn't even do the flood justice. I mean, water was EVERYwhere! What am I going to do with her?????

Back to the big birthday...Rusty woke up Sat morning on his birthday to a nice breakfast cooked by yours truly.

Ellie's thinking, "wow Mama, I usually get oatmeal or an egg...this is a real treat!"

After 5 attempts to find a babysitter for Sat night, the 3 of us ended up going to Brio at 4:30 and having a lovely birthday dinner together. It's times like those that I would so love to have some grandparents in town! I think Rusty enjoyed every sec of his day anyway! Happy Birthday Daddy! We love you to pieces!!

Props to Daddy

Daddy had his work cut out for him this past weekend. I left Saturday morning to head to Atlanta until Sunday afternoon, and Ellie stayed at home with her daddy. They went to the McWane Center on Saturday and had a great time together. Around 2:00 am Daddy awoke to Ellie screaming his name, and when he walked into her room she had thrown up all over herself in her bed. The poor baby got sick several more times between then and when I got home on Sunday so needless to say I think it was a stomach bug. Daddy handled the entire situation SO well, and by the time I got home on Sunday he had washed Ellie's sheets, our sheets, comforter, and all of her pajamas and had every bit of it back in its place! I flew home in a panic on Sunday to get home and find everyone and everything perfectly fine thanks to Daddy! He handled the situation so well and didn't complain about it one time. Thank you Daddy! We love you!

On to other news around here. Over the past 2 days I have found these little guys just about anywhere and everywhere...in the shopping cart...

she's insistent on them sleeping with her...

and having a snack with her...

she placed them perfectly beside her bowl of apples all by herself...

and in the back of her car!

To those of you not familiar with the little guys, they are the cast of Yo Gabba Gabba which is the current favorite show of Miss Ellie! I promise she really doesn't watch that much t.v...she just has her favorites, and they usually change every few months. All she watches is Nick Jr. (formerly Noggin), and right now this is the show of choice. Yes, this show that I have always thought was a little on the strange side, but there must be something magical about it because it sure gets my 21-month old's attention. Btw...these little guys were on the clearance isle at Toys R Us yesterday, and we couldn't pass them up. She is a bit OCD about making sure every single one of them is with her at all times which can be annoying!

Oh, and tonight I found her like this...

and kept asking to go for a "ride!"

Never a dull moment...