It is so hard to believe it, but Miss Heidi Grace is now 18 months old! To celebrate her half-birthday, the family went to the park to play on the juggle gym. Heidi had soooo much fun climbing up the jungle gym all by herself and sliding down the slide. Weeeeee! Here are some adorable pictures :-)

Isn't this just too cute!?!

The Family's First 5K!

We all had such a great weekend! We all participated in the charity run benefiting the Norma Livingston Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation. It was the first 5K for all of us! Mom ran alone, but Dad was a total rock star and pushed Heidi in the jogging stroller! This would have been a very impressive accomplishment on its own, but considering that the coarse was pretty darn hilly (is that a word?) Dad got rock star status for the entire weekend ;-) And Heidi, what a trooper! She loved it! There was so much excitement in the air as all the runners gathered to start the race (we think there were a little over 550 runners in the race) and Heidi loved every minute of her super fast ride in the stroller!

Not only did Heidi, Mom and Dad run, but Uncle Scott and Aunt Tasha did as well as Mom's friend Adrienne and her boyfriend Ven.

Aunt Tasha finished first with a time of 30:30, Mom came in just behind her at 30:53, with Heidi and Dad just following behind at 31:15 (we all know that Dad would have smoked us all if he weren't pushing the jogging stroller!), and Uncle Scott was just behind that, finishing a whole 6 minutes faster than he did in his last 5K. We all had so much fun that we are looking into more runs to participate in ;-)

Blink Lady photos

 

We had Heidi's one year portrait...and family portrait done recently by The Blink Lady.   She is such an amazing photographer!  This one is my favorite of Heidi...just looks so angelic.  

Not always happy, but always beautiful!

Mom and I met LaTara and her son Greyson at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens again for a mini photo shoot.  LaTara is a burgeoning photographer and loves to take beautiful pictures of beautiful babies.  So with all of the best intentions, we all met up to take some pics.  Well, little did they know....I was so not in the mood to have my picture taken!  Despite the fact that I was sooo not in the mood, LaTara still got this shot.  Look at those beautiful blue eyes!  Gorgeous!  Mom thinks it is good though...we will need to remember that although I am a beauty...I'm not always laughs, giggles and smiles.  ;-)

Just Plain Cute

Flirty Face

I am such a flirt these days.  Mom just loves it when she catches my flirty face on camera.  Here's one of her recent ones.  I'm flirting with Uncle Brad at The Mont in this one ;-)

This picture is from Mothers' Day.  We went to 5 Points for breakfast, and Mom got the chance to snap a few pics of moi wearing the outfit she made for me.

Swiiiiing!

The whole family went to Reeves' Park last weekend.  Even though I was tired, I loved swinging on the baby swing!  Look at that smile!

I am so ready for Summer!

and I LOVE wearing my cute, cute, cute sunglasses!

Pretty, Pretty Princess

 

Dad thought I needed some pretty princess dress up time today...I think he was right!

Happy Birthday, Baby Girl!

Heidi is one today! This has been the most exciting, heart-warming and wonderful year! Heidi has brought more to our lives than I could have ever imagined. She has taught me the true meaning of unconditional love and the unique love of a parent to a child. Heidi is an amazing, loving and intelligent little girl. She loves her Mom and her Dad and her doggie sisters Roxy and Coco. When she was a newborn she wanted to be swaddled and held at all times! Today she still loves to cuddle, but she's definitely on the move now! She has grown so much over the past year, and we can't wait to see how much she will grow and develop over the next!

I'm Walking!

I'm a walking girl now! I took my first steps to Mommy on Thursday, March 26 right before Mom and Dad left the house to go pick up Gigi Redda from the airport (she came into town for my birthday party). Mom and Dad have know that I was close to walking for weeks now, and were so super-excited to see me take my first steps! I'm not that steady on my feet yet, but every day I take a few more steps and get a little more steady.
Here is a video from last night...I'm so proud of myself after I successfully make it to Mommy!

I just love this magazine!

I finally like my sippy cup!

Mom has been trying to give me water in a sippy cup for months and I have inevitably pushed it away every time...until tonight. I finally like it. Yay!

Heidi - Photo shoot with LaTara

Mom's new friend from work, LaTara Johnson, is an amateur photographer. She is working on her portfolio, so she offered to take pictures of Moi (said like Miss Piggy) at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens. Here they are! Feel free to let me know which one you like best.
If anyone wants LaTara to take their picture - ask Mom and she will give you her contact info...she's looking for more babies pictures to add to her portfolio.

Mom's 30!

I can't believe that I turned 30 this week!  What a milestone birthday.  Surprisingly, I am quite happy about it.  Don't misunderstand, there is a part of me that feels nostalgic for my twenties...I mean what an eventful decade!  When I think back on my 20 year old self, I am amazed at how much I've grown and matured.  
Although I didn't realize it then, I certainly had a lot to learn and experience.  This "learning" and "experiencing" was not always easy, but wow was it worth it!  When I reflect on my twenties I can't help but associate those years with many wonderful moments, but also a lot of hard work and growing pains.  In my twenties I worked 40+ hours a week waitressing while going to college full-time... and I paid for every bit of it myself.  This is when I really learned the value of a dollar and the value of hard work.  I remember how I could almost never bring myself to go shopping for anything superfluous because I would always calculate how many tables I would have to wait on to earn enough money to buy it...I almost always concluded that it wasn't worth it!  I felt an enormous sense of pride when I graduated from college knowing I had truly earned that diploma.  Then I moved on to law school.  Wow, what a change of pace!  I traded in my waitress' apron for a suit and schlepped my way through full-time law school and clerking at a law firm.  It began to occur to me that this wasn't going to be as glamorous as I had imagined all those years before.  
I "re-met" my husband and had the greatest time as we courted one another, and it was in no time before I knew he was "the one!"  I got married to my wonderful husband.  I began learning what it is to be a wife (and I know this will be something that I will continue to do - learn - for the rest of my life!).  I relocated to a new state with my husband and faced many challenges stepping out of my proverbial comfort-zone to make this new town a home, and I couldn't be happier with how well we were able to do that.  I began my career as an attorney - again I began to realize that this wasn't quite what I had always expected it to be. And finally, the most amazing and wonderful thing that has ever happened to me, and will ever happen, is that I became a mom to my wonderful, gorgeous daughter.  She is my greatest joy and I could never adequately express my love for her ... but I will spend my life trying!  
My twenties were a wonderful time, and I am so happy with the many blessings I received in those years.  It is for this reason that I feel that I can truly embrace being 30, and I look forward to the many events and joys I have yet to experience.

~Missy

Baby's got Bed-Head

As you know, I am not one of those babies who has a lot of hair.  What I have is beautiful, but there isn't much there...yet.  It is growing though!  I now have enough hair that when I wake up from a nap its all crazy!  Here's a pic Mom and Dad snapped when they came to get me up from my nap recently.  I know its too cute!

Most Popular

Mom and I went to the grocery store yesterday to buy a few things to make dip for our Super Bowl watch party.  The grocery store was packed with others doing the same.  I mean, it was as busy as it is the day before Thanksgiving.  Packed!  Well, Mom thinks I was the most popular girl at Publix!  We couldn't go 2 feet without someone wanting to stop and talk to me.  Here's a picture of me in the shopping cart Mom took with her phone...can you imagine why everyone thought I was so cute?

I'm 10 months old now!  Mom and Dad can't hardly believe it.  I love to crawl around the house and explore now.  The other day was a beautiful day, so Mom had the back door open.  I crawled up to it and watched the birds flying around in the back yard.  I'm definitely getting Spring Fever now!

Yummmm

I just love my oatmeal...its lip smackin' good.  Smackin' my lips is my newest trick, and for some reason Mom and Dad think its HILARIOUS when I do it.

I'm a growin' girl!

I was playing in the kitchen yesterday, and Mom was so surprised to see that I'm taller than the kitchen island stools.  Look I'm a couple of inches taller!  I love to crawl into the kitchen and pull up on the stools, then squat back down, and then stand back up.  I could do this again and again ;-)

Feeding the Dogs

I've discovered the dog bowl!  How fun!  I love to crawl over to the dog bowl and help Roxy and Coco eat...because I know they want my help!  

I definitely should have posted Christmas pictures before now!  Forgive me, please.  My first Christmas was great!  I had so much fun, and got some super-great toys.  

Thank you everyone for the wonderful gifts!!!