Auburn played ULM on Saturday, so Melanie got to go to her 2nd tailgate. Her first was the Auburn/Alabama game last year, when she was just a few weeks old. This time, she was actually able to fit into her cheerleader outfit.
Next week, we play Souther MIss, and we think she's ready to go back already...
Here are just a few pictures I took around the house the other weekend. Melanie is pulling up on everything, and is crawling too, so things have become much more dangerous at our house. The third picture shows Mel giving love to Lucy. She thinks the dogs are hysterical. If you ask her what the doggies say, and answer "woof, woof, woof", she cracks up. She also chases them all over the house and tries to play with their toys (gross). Of course, she thinks their toys are much more fun than hers are.
And here are some bath pictures...
Last weekend, we went to Shannon and John's house for a 4th of July pool party. Once again, Melanie proved that she loves the water. There were kids spashing everywhere, but none of it bothered Melanie. Mark would hold her in the water so she could swim, face first, and she responded by kicking her arms and legs like a little frog.
Next year, we're thinking about signing her up for an Infant Swimming Resource class. That's the class where they teach babies to turn over and float on their back in case they fall into the water. A little safety never hurt anyone...and it should help get her used to the water. Although it seems like she's doing fine on her own as of now.
The full album from the 4th is over on the left, through the Flickr badge. Just click on the badge, and it will take you to that set. We're going to start uploading pictures there again, so all the future albums will be viewable there.
We took Melanie on her first beach trip last week. It was also her first opportunity to meet a new friend, miss Ava Jane. Ava Jane is about 3 months older than Melanie and lives in Birmingham with our good friends, Gabe and Rob. We've been trying to get them together for a while. It worked out great, because they were going to be down at the beach for the week on their family vacation. They were staying down at Grayton Beach, while we were over at Elaine and Steve's house in Destin. We rode over there to hang out with their family under the big Auburn tent. The beach trip was actually much easier than we thought it was going to be. Gabe and Rob had this tiny pack and play that they took out to the beach. So, when the girls weren't playing in the sand, eating, or swimming in the ocean with us, they could take a nap on the beach and take advantage of the ocean noises and beach breeze. There was also a lagoon with no waves that we could set them up in to play. Everything was great until Melanie fell forward a bit and got a facefull of saltwater. Then, we knew it was time to head on. We rode an hour to Dewey Destin's for dinner. We went as is, which was pretty grungy. We knew it was kind of a dive, so we thought that would be ok. After a long wait in line and a fight for a table, we finally got our dinner, and it was great. A nice family from Cincinnatti let us sit at their table. They got a kick out of Melanie...their son even offered to feed Melanie while I ate! Other days that we were there, we did some shopping, and we went down to Destin beach for a day. It was a great trip, as usual, but we weren't there nearly long enough. Next time, we'll definitely have to make it longer. The full album is posted over on the left.
This is a couple of weeks late, but I wanted to post this picture of Melanie giving her daddy a Father's day card she made at daycare.
She's was all set to hand it over, but then, she changed her mind and decided to eat it instead.
I've been looking at trucks for some time now and finally found one I couldn't do without. I wasn't searching for something with the best gas mileage, all the bells and whistles, or the modern comforts of a new truck. No, I was looking for something with character. What we really needed was something to haul lumber around in besides the rack on my GTI that has a 200lb. weight limit. I think we severely exceeded that a few times during the kitchen remodel. Since the backyard renovation is our newest self-inflicted endeavor I figured now was the best time to go ahead and pull the trigger. As I narrowed my search I began to get nostalgic and somewhat fixated on 70's Ford models. My grandfather had a '72, I remember that truck and it makes me think of simpler times. Well, here she is, the green hornet..........my "new" 1971 Ford F100 longbed with 82,000 original miles and a 360 cu. in. V-8.
^^^I can fit a 4x8 sheet of plywood in the bed of this monster without letting the gate down. That's a utility vehicle!
Mother's Day weekend, Melanie started eating her first "solid" food. We started her on rice cereal, mixed with milk. Mark and I both took turns, and she did really well. As soon as we came at her with the first spoon, she leaned in, like she was ready for it. This weekend, we'll try her out with oatmeal. After a couple weeks of that, we'll start veggies. Can't wait to see what shows up in her diaper once that starts...haha!
