The sun is out and so are we....

Even though the rain has been BADLY needed here in Georgia, the sun is shining today and Simms and I have taken full advantage! There is even a nice breeze and it really feels like football season! Speaking of...knowing the DIE HARD fan my husband is (I am too, I am just not OBSESSED), can you believe he is actually missing the first game? Me either!! It will be the only one he misses I can promise that!! War Eagle!

Pictures are worth a thousand words....

With the weather being yucky lately, we have been stuck in doors ALOT! We were in Columbus Monday before the really bad stuff hit, but once we made it home and indoors, we haven't left! Thankfully today the sun is trying to shine. Here are some pictures from our days indoors! Keep in mind, Simms is used to being on the go! She gets cabin fever easily, (as does her mother!!). Some of these are of our playtime in Simms room, in the car, and having a fun time eating! Enjoy!!

The Nursery Girl

Well, as this morning approached, I knew I was going to have to make the decision of whether or not to put Simms in the nursery at church. The only time I have really ever left Simms has always been with family, so I get a little hesitant. We have done this once before (the Sunday before last, and things turned out fine) so I was a little bit better prepared this Sunday. The ritual has been for me to give her a quick kiss bye and then scoot off upstairs to the sanctuary while Dru hands Simms off. That is what we did this morning and when Dru met me upstairs he told me she didn't even cry! Last time, she cried for a while and then fell asleep. Today however, she played the entire time we were in church with sweet Ben Taylor (future boyfriend perhaps??) and cried when the nursery worker picked her up to change her diaper and that was the only time! She is just growing up so fast. I am so happy she does well in the nursery. We took her into the service as long as we could but with her being so talkative the nursery is the place for this girl during church! The pictures are from before church this morning. Not very good quality because they were taken with my phone!

9 month portraits

Simms' 9 month portraits are available for viewing now. Just go to

www.masonportraits.com

Select Sessions on the homepage then select Goodwin. It will ask for your email address, and then the password is 6634.

She was so well behaved at this session~ thank goodness. I guess it must have been the trusty ole singing goat we have taken to the 3 and 6 month sessions! Enjoy!!

This is the life for me....

Tonight Simms and I went with Dru while he roped...something that usually takes a lot of begging on his part, but tonight was nice and cool, so we went with him to "watch." Dru has been talking about getting Simms on a horse since before she was born, and of course, I have always said, "Yes, when she is older. And she will wear a helmet." And then Dru has always obviously laughed at me and said she absolutely wasn't wearing a helmet on a horse! (She will when she rides more often!) Anyway, tonight Dru thought he would try his luck by asking me if Simms could get on his horse Preacher with him so that I could take a picture! I reluctantly agreed, and said only for a moment ( I am sooo nervous myself around horses). Well, we put her up, took the picture, and Dru was handing her back to me, when she developed the saddest, most pitiful look either of us had ever seen. Once in my arms she started crying BIG tears and had her lip poked out a mile. Dru and I were both feeling so sorry for her, so I agreed to put her back up. As soon as she was back on Preacher, she started grinning from ear to ear and LAUGHING!! Needless to say I believe she is going to be a natural! She rode around with Dru for about 20 minutes! She was thrilled! As was Dru! This made his night! He was so happy he said he may not be able to sleep! (A true horse and Simms lover!) I am so happy they had this special time together!

Daddy's Girl

This adorable picture is of Simms riding on a gator with her Daddy at the farm. We had gone to feed the horses and calves and were going on a little ride when I looked over at Simms and realized her hair was blowing out like a little troll doll! It was so cute. The funniest thing happened while we were there. Dru had Simms over petting his horse Preacher and she just laughed and laughed, smiling the entire time. Rewind a week. In my presence she is terrified of 2 toy horses she has. Sissy gave Simms a stuffed horse the day she was born, and my mom bought her a plastic one the other day; (both of these gestures were to honor Dru's obsession/love for horses). Anyway, Simms is terrified of these 2 toys. She will barely even touch them. She reaches out very hesitantly and touches them with like one finger, kind-of crying the whole time. My point: she feels so safe in Dru's arms that the huge version of this animal makes her happy just like they make her Daddy happy. It is so sweet. She is truly a Daddy's girl!
**Simms' 9 month post is below**

9 months old!!!

**I have tried and tried to figure this picture thing out. FYI~ these are from today, but are obviously out of order, with no captions, and out of place. Bear with me. Be sure you pay close attention to sweet Bennett hugging Simms after her foot prick. And check out that boy's white keds!!**Our sweet baby turned 9 months old today! I just cannot believe it! It seems like just yesterday we were at the hospital with all of Simms' grandparents, great grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, you name it, they were there, waiting on her to be born. It was such an exciting day, and I was so happy all day, but no one could have told me how happy, thankful and excited Dru and I would be at 6:31 p.m. when we saw Simms' sweet face for the first time! It seems like we blinked and now she is 9 months old! Our lives are filled with tons of excitement now and so much love for this little baby! She isn't crawling yet, but at her dr.'s appointment today her peditrician said she thought Simms would walk before she crawled. She has been standing on her own now for about 15-20 secs! It is so much fun to watch! She is eating solids of course and we've been told we can introduce some table foods to her (with only 1 tooth:-) ).
We started our day off by loading up both babies (Sissy and Bennett) and me and Simms, and headed to Columbus for Simms' appointment. She is weighing in at 19.5 lbs. (60 percentile) and she is 27 in. long (35 percentile) so she is KIND OF getting a little longer and leaner. We love her being as chunky as she can be! The dr. said she looked wonderful (of course!) and was as healthy as can be! She had a foot prick for her hemoglobin test and those numbers were great too! We can switch out one feeding a day now with real milk, but I think I want to wait for that! It seems too grown-up! She goes back in November, and tear, tear, she will be 1 year by that point! I cannot believe it! I took her to babies r' us after the dr. and got her a walker and a toy piano for being such a big girl! (Not really, she sqwaled the entire visit, but I can't blame her)! She thinks she is so growny in her walker!
Daddy and I love you so much Simms! We are so blessed by you in our lives and love you more and more each day!!! Happy 9 months!!