Atlanta

This weekend, we finally were able to meet Parker Cross. We met his parents, Kristie and Jay Cross, as well as our friends, Andy and Susan Cornell, in Atlanta for a trip to the Aquarium and the World of Coke. While I did like the aquarium, I must say that I loved seeing all of the old Coke commercials ("I'd Like to Teach the World..." anyone?). Seeing Jay basically make himself sick off too much Coca-Cola was pretty funny as well. Mike's favorite part was getting game updates on the Vandy-SC game from one of Jay's friends. He was assuming that Vandy had blown the lead when our friend Dawn called to tell us it was final and Vandy had won. I could see how excited he was but Kristie and Jay were dying to see him really get happy and taunt a girl wearing a South Carolina shirt. Fortunately, he held himself back :).

Fun news...

We are expecting another baby. I am over 21 weeks and due March 9th. We had an ultrasound last week and it's a boy.

When we told my brother (Uncle Clay), his response was "Poor Ashley". Guess I know how he felt about having a little sister (me) :).

My friend Rochelle

My dear friend, Rochelle Fuqua Yuill, passed away this week after a long battle with cancer. Rochelle and I met at Tennessee Tech when we were in the same pledge class in Kappa Delta. She has been an amazing friend.

I will miss our weekly walks and gossip sessions. She knew when to listen to me vent and when to tease me if I was overthinking something.

I am thankful that she remained comfortable until very recently. As her best friend, Lori, reminded me, Rochelle never once questioned "Why me?" and remained so positive. I have learned so much from her and to steal from Brooke, I am a better person for having known her.

Mike and I are going to walk on Rochelle's team, Jake's joggers, for a 5K the first weekend in November. If you would like to donate to Rochelle's Komen Race for the Cure team, please use the link: https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=232528&lis=1&kntae232528=8DE6343CD41744B382355D4ABE891B93&supId=146322434

Wicked Game

This morning, Ashley and I were in the livingroom playing. I was catching up on an FX series that I like. Yes, I said FX. She seriously does not pay a bit of attention to the TV usually. Let's stay on topic here people. You can lecture me later.

Ashley, all of a sudden, dropped what she was playing with and stared at the TV. One of the ads for a new series was playing. It featured a cover of 'Wicked Game' by Giant Drag. She just stared at the TV and started rocking out with a little head bob and later added some bounce. I thought it would be a one time thing but she repeated it every time the song came on. I ordered it from ITunes for her so she's a happy girl.

I really didn't think she paid much attention to music. It sorta reminds me of the time that Cserno and I were staying with our friends Katie and Anna. Katie was 3 maybe 4 at the time. She said "Beth, do you like meatloaf?". I said, "Sure, is that what you would like for dinner?". She looked at me strangely. I later realized that we were listening to a mix CD that featured Meat Loaf as one of the performers. It didn't even occur to me that she would be familiar with Mr. Paradise by the Dashboard Light. Kids today are way cooler than I ever was...not that that is saying much :).

Let's go outside.

Ashley wants to be outside all the time. She will yell at us if we pass by the front door if we don't go outside. As you can imagine, this can be especially tricky if it is bedtime.

Ashley has been having a good time playing hide and seek with Momma and Daddy. One of us hides and the other one helps her find the hidden one. She thinks it is so funny.

She is still not talking. Mostly, I think it is because she can get her point across with a few yells and her tone. We are scrambling to get her food, her milk, her toy, my car keys, or whatever she is telling us. Yes, we are spoiling her just a little bit. She does say something that closely resembles "bird" so we may have to count that as first.

Many milestones.

We put a huge amount of those balls in her Pack and Play and she LOVES them. Her favorite game is to toss them out and have one of us chase them. Smart girl.

Ashley turned one on June 2nd. She is walking now. She puts about 10 steps together and is fairly good at keeping her balance. She tries to go a little too fast sometimes.

We think she is going through a growth spurt because lately, she is eating and eating. Her favorite thing right now is mandarin oranges and a small kiddie cup is not enough. Ice cream is pretty yummy too.

I'm a water baby.

We took Ashley swimming for the first time today at the local YMCA. She took to it pretty well and even put her face under water. Spraying Daddy with a water gun was fun. In this photo, she was making friends with the lifeguard.

Ashley, the alligator

Just in case you didn't know, my husband, Mike, is one of my most favorite people in the world for many, many reasons. I love that he can watch sports on TV 365 days a year. I love that he can kick my butt at Trivial Pursuit (I think that I have only won once and it was a cheap win - with Casper the Ghost being the answer on pink - I still did a victory dance but yeah, it was a cheap win). I love that he knows tons of stuff about history and will explain it on these long walks without being too political about it.

One of the best things about him is that he does tons of tourist stuff and loves it. Yes, we have been to the Drive-Thru tree in Northern California. Who could ever forget the drug bust we witnessed at the Meteor Crater? The first time I went to Graceland was with Mike and I am from West Tennessee.

Anyway, on one of our many trips to Florida, he insisted on going to this alligator farm. The main event was to see this huge alligator called Superman. The tour "guide" hands Mike the walkie talkie before heading in to the cage. He says "If anything happens, tell them Superman got me. You speak English, right?". Yep...fun trip. Anyway, everyone survived and on the way back to the bus, we were admiring lots of alligators just laying around sunning. Well, all of a sudden, one decided it wanted something and just took off. We both freaked...it was super quick and scared us to death.

Well, that's Ashley. She looks all innocent and babylike. She moves around a little but will still whine for one of us to pick her up. This all holds true until you open the dishwasher. She flies across the room and is in the dishwasher pulling out steak knives before you can do anything.

I'm exhausted.

Ashley had a big day. First, we all went to the zoo with Nana. She had her first taste of an ice cream bar and a bite of snow cone. She also rode the carousel with Momma.

In the afternoon, we went to our friend Anna's birthday party at My Gym. She loved the plastic balls.

Ashley is a player.

This weekend, we went to the park with our friends, Shab and Santi, and their son, Yago. He is a few months younger than Ashley. After walking, we went to their house to hang out for a while.

Ashley was very interested in Yago. I thought she was going to poke his eye out. She did kiss him (i.e. licked his face). He immediately started to cry. Of course, Mike thought that this would be a good lesson for Ashley - that she should never kiss boys. I disagree completely...but she will have to work on not scaring them off.

Happy Presidents' Day.

Ashley and I went on a trip to Covington this weekend with Nana and Papa. She saw Mema and Granddaddy (my Granddaddy - her great Granddaddy), Aunt Cathy, Nathan, and Paul. On my Dad's side, she saw Aunt Cindy and Uncle Glenn at Beau and Robert's basketball game at my old Elementary school. Everything seemed a lot smaller than it did when I went there. It was a K - 8 school that both my brother Clay and I went to. Do they even have those any longer?

Mike stayed in Nashville to watch the Vanderbilt Commodores beat the #1 Florida Gators. He had a fun time at the game. I didn't ask him if this made up for the Super Bowl...but it definitely helped him recover. We're hoping for an NCAA bid this year. My use of the word 'we' is a little misleading considering that I have not gotten to go to a single game this year. Any deals to be made over the tickets completely broke down when Mike thought it was reasonable to give me the non-conference games and he would take the conference ones. Of course, he's arguing with me now about it. He says that the conversation was more like this... "there are a few games that I won't give up". Thanks Mike..now I remember it. I said "Great. You take Kentucky and Tennessee...and I'll go to the South Carolina games." He failed to see that I was being facetious and thought that would be a great deal. We decided to make a different deal so I get to see movies with friends when there is something out that I want to see.

Today, we are both off work hanging out with Ashley. Maybe she'll let us take a nap this afternoon. Probably not. Right now, she keeps looking around for Nana who already left for Huntsville. Nana is the best. This weekend, she made her an impromptu rattle in the car with her empty Diet coke bottle and some pennies. When she was searching for the change, I was like "Um...we don't really let her play with pennies". "Thanks Beth". ;). The rattle was definitely a hit.

Hello.

We are starting this in order to keep family and friends updated. Hopefully, this will keep us from sending out too many pictures.

Ashley is currently 7 1/2 months old. She has just started crawling but is somewhat lazy about it. If we walk 20 feet away, she yells for us. If you place the remote controls 30 feet away, she will go after them. At least she's smart. Remote control...important enough to go get. Parents...not so much.

Cserno just returned from a business trip to San Francisco. He was gone for 8 days and was able to spend time with our friends, Steve and Salle. He was happy that he had a fellow 24 watcher in Salle.

Luckily, Ashley still remembered him. She wouldn't let him stray too far from her the next few days. Special thanks to Nana for helping to take care of Ashley. Between the two of us, we completely spoiled her and she got used to slumber parties at night. Cserno and I are now making her move back to the crib and have been pretty successful.