Who Dat!

One of Percy's dads friends brought Chesley this Saints cheerleader outfit back from a game, Go Saints!


She looks pretty proud of herself, doesn't she?

Chairs and Cowbells

I might have mentioned that Chesley LOVES her Pottery Barn chair that Santa brought her. Well, this first picture is the scene I walk in on after a grocery run one night. Chesley and her Daddy just hanging out watching TV. She absolutely adores her Daddy and is completely enamored with the prospect of sitting in her chair next to him, looking like his mini me in more ways than one-she sits there like he does and already looks just like him! When she plays in her chair with me there is way more standing than sitting- but it's that way with lots of things- she is way more willing to snuggle with Daddy than Mama-he's always been able to get her to fall asleep on his chest way longer than she was willing to do so for me. At some point in time it was time for her to change into her pj's and it was decided that her little pink cowbell from Aunt Mae needed to make its debut and of course this required another photo op. These are from a while back but I wanted to post them bc they are so sweet--Percy can look at these to remind himself that she really did think he was the coolest thing ever during the dark teenage years when his coolness could come into doubt...


Just gnawing on Daddy's cell phone, hanging out.

Oh Daddy must have done something funny! He does that alot according to Chesley.

So sweet.

Ah-ha! Finally she gives him a dose of the medicine she doles out to me when I try and let her play in the chair!

Not quite sure what to do with this thing...

Daddy showed her how, and apparently she thought it was just great!

Looks like she got the hang of it...

Ready to cheer the bulldogs on!

Siesta!

Chesley must have played hard at Mother's Morning Out today. I left her in the kitchen to go toss some sheets in the wash, I was gone about 5 minutes and this is what I come back to. Big girl did manage to eat almost all of her food first, but then she zonked out! I couldn't resist a couple pictures and a video!


"Mmm, Mama, lunch was so good I need a nap..."

Poor baby was tired!

Paci Replacement Therapy

Last Wednesday I decided to take the paci away. Chesley has always only had it in her crib, (and occasionally in her exersaucer when mama really wanted to be able to hear the TV while eating a meal!), so I hoped it would be easy. Well, it hasn't been a walk in the park. We went through several nights and naps of 30 minutes of crying but nothing was as bad as the first night when she cried so hard she made herself throw up...she had broccoli for dinner-it wasn't pleasant. But it's gotten almost back to normal thanks to her baby doll. Hillary and Pruet gave her a baby doll for her birthday and she LOVES it, (that would be the hot pink butt you see in the picture to Chesley's left). When I first took the paci away she wasn't attached to anything yet and I didn't know what she would like if anything but I figured this would be a good time for her to pick something that might help soothe her at night in lieu of the paci. So I arranged the baby doll, a frog my mom named George (and that mom slept with at our house in Memphis when she came to stay after we brought Chesley home), Poda the multi colored puffy bear from Emma Murphree, and a couple of lovies all in her crib. I didn't just toss them all in there and say goodnight, though. All the lovies I stuck through the bars on her crib so their heads were resting on the bumper pads and the 3 big ones (Poda, George, and Baby Doll) I each smooshed into a corner--Oh and she has one of those little blankets with a horse head that really looks more like a rug bc it will lay flat with the head sticking up (does that make sense?) from Percy's aunt. I draped it over the end of the crib on the top railing and I always drape her blanket over the side rail. Percy thought it was a bit much--and yes it was, even I knew this but I didn't plan to keep it up for more than a couple nights. I just wanted there to be stuff that might catch her attention while she screamed at us and distract her for a little while and maybe she would latch on to one for a little comfort during this torture her mean parents were inflicting on her. And it worked! She loves her Baby Doll and smiles and giggles when I give it to her at night. Almost all of the other stuff is out of the crib so she shouldn't smother in her sleep due to an avalanche of stuffed animals. But when Percy went in to get her up after the first morning of Operation Paci Replacement Therapy he was a it taken aback by the amount of stuff in her crib-bc she had pulled everything in with her. He felt the need to take a picture and I felt the need to post it! Bye Bye Paci!!

Sippy Cup Success!

I have been trying to get Chesley off the bottle and onto the sippy cup since her first birthday and we have finally had success! This is the same child who loved baby food fruit but hated anything green who decided she HATES real fruit of any kind and LOVES spinach, broccoli, zucchini, squash, avocado etc. I have had to keep feeding her baby food fruit to get some in her since she started on solids bc she refused to eat real fruit. Well, the same day she up and decided that sippy cups were her new favorite thing she decided that strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, and kiwi were just great! I've been trying to feed her fruit for months, been trying to get her on the sippy cup for weeks and then all of the sudden on the same day she takes to them! Who knows why, I'm just glad she did!

So what now?

I'm playing with all those monthly shots I took of Chesley. I swore I would do something with them and after the hard work that went into getting the last few months, (i.e. recruiting someone to hide behind the couch after crawling into the den from the kitchen without her hearing them,) I've got to figure something out. So I'm playing-bear with me but feel free to offer any opinions!

Playgroup at the Edwards'

Wendy had us all over to her mom's house today for playgroup and the kids had a blast. The jumpolene was a hit with the kiddos and Pam's snacks were a hit with the moms! Thanks Wendy and Pam for having us-hope your home looks fairly unscathed!

Pruet was way more into his milk than taking pictures at first, but look at Bailey holding his own with the 'big kids' of playgroup!

This was as good as it got for a group picture-at least they're all visible! From left in Jumpolene: Cash Malouf, Bailey Bryant, Caitlyn Penton, William James (in the back doing Downward Dog), Chesley, Pruet James Front Row little ladies: Stella Cate McLemore, Zoe Hall, Frances Hollingsworth

My attempt at a picture of the cousins playing together...

So sweet.

Lyn and Breck Jr. came over to play too and Chesley was playing so nice. She was loving the slide and was 'petting' Bailey while he took his bottle, (and I hovered over her to make sure the petting was gentle and not bruising!). Then Breck had a toy she thought looked fun...

"Not so sure this slide's what I have in mind anymore..."

Chesley, "Think I'll just try this one"
Breck Jr., "Um, I don't want to be rude, but she's snatching my toy so could you stop taking pictures and make her stop, please?"

Breck was the perfect gentleman and to be fair, while Chesley totally wanted to take it from him, when I took it back and gave it to Breck she was pretty unphased, guess she didn't want it that bad!

Climbing Mt. Pampers

Ok, so I must explain--watch the first one, then the second one, then read below.

Giggling with Daddy

Does she love her Daddy or what?

P.S. Please note the bare spots on the wall where I've had to remove some pictures for the safety of all involved in a diaper change-why did I think that was a good place for 4 pointy square heavy frames??

12 Months Pic & Check Up

Due to camera/computer difficulties this is a little late coming but... We went in for Chesley's one year check-up and she's growing like a weed, (yes, that's a medical diagnosis). Her stats are below but here's what else she's been up to. She took her first steps on December 30th. We were at the Point and Percy and I were standing in the kitchen when we both noticed her standing without anything near her to hold on to. We both reached out to nudge the other one at the same time bc we didn't want to speak and draw her attention and make her fall. And sure enough she took 3 steps. She did it again later that night then periodically over the next week. Then she started to do it for real, like across a room or until she fell and decided she could just crawl faster anyway. So it took about a month but she's now walking exclusively with only the occasional crawl. She looks like Frankenstein but she's getting it, (see video). She's still talking up a storm and adding new words like shoe and baby, and she's blowing kisses. Not quite so many things are deer anymore-she learned that over Christmas at hunting camp and EVERYTHING was a deer for a while, or a duck-can you guess what's on the walls at hunting camp? She loves to 'love' everything, especially her baby doll that Pruet/Hillary gave her for her birthday and her rocking horse. Now that she's walking there is nothing off limits so my cabinets and drawers and plants and trash cans and every single leaf and piece of dirt on the floor are fair game. We have switched to whole milk but are struggling with the sippy cup. She loves to play with them and is getting better at drinking water from them on her own but still won't take milk from them. We will be saying bye-bye to the pacifier sometime this week, (was going to try tonight but she went into a melt down over taking her bottle and I decided to try it on a night when she wasn't already ticked off about something to start with!) She only takes it in her crib at night and for naps so I'm hoping that will make it a little less painless...we shall see. It's been a fast and amazing year, can't wait to see what the second year brings!!

Height: 30in 78%
Weight: 23lbs 7oz 84%
Head Circumference: 45.08 cm 71%