A Perfect Party

We celebrated Bennett's birthday last Sunday with a wonderful party! It was the perfect party for a 2 year old and his cousins!


What a precious birthday outfit AND precious boy!


Bennett's invitation. I covered the address up because I knew I'd be putting it on here! Hee hee!


Adorable birthday hat. That he wouldn't wear. It always works out like that!


Delicious cake!


Simms arriving at B's party.This is the only picture that I got of them together! Her daddy got her dressed for church, undressed and then dressed for the party all by himself, even finding the right bow! He is wonderful!


Still camera shy!


Bennett with his other cousin Adaline.


Waiting on cake.


Simms (and Daddy) sure enjoyed their cake!


Simms wasn't interested in B's new swingset/fort. She would rather play with the same toy she always plays with there.


Happy birthday Bennett!

On B's actual birthday, which was the 22nd, Sissy and Mama took Bennett and Simms to the Wild Animal Safari. I wasn't able to go, but the stories are hilarious. Apparently these animals truly run wild, including after, up to, and into your car! Here is a peek at one of the animals that tried to get in the car with MY CHILD:


We are headed to the lake this weekend and can't wait. We weren't able to go up over Memorial Day, but I heard the weather wasn't great anyway. I think it's supposed to be beautiful this weekend. Simms loves the water, so we will be very busy with her. Hopefully some boat rides will happen too. Those always bring on great naps for Simms!

Birthday Boy

This sweet little boy will be 2 tomorrow! I cannot believe it! It seems like just yesterday we were all in the family waiting room and out walked Drew holding their BEAUTIFUL son!

One day old
I had no preparation for how much I would love this little boy. From the second I saw him I loved him as if he were mine and still do. I was 15 weeks pregnant with Simms when Bennett was born and just full of anticipation that I was about to experience that too!

One year old!
He has brought so much love and laughter into our lives. He is the most loving little boy I've ever seen, not to mention the prettiest!

Almost 2!!
He greets Simms every day with a hug and kiss unprompted. She is so lucky to have him as her cousin. We are so lucky to have him as our nephew.

Happy 2nd birthday Bennett!

Let's talk about THE cup...

THE CUP. Those 2 words RULED our life last week, and I am not exaggerating. After Simms' doctor told us last Monday that is must be done now, we knew there could be no looking back. We had to do it, no matter how bad it was going to be. I let her have one bottle Monday evening, as we would normally do, and then that was it. I started offering her one of the MANY cups we have stored away, and of course she knew what was happening as soon as she saw it. And she immediately showed GREAT disdain for it. Each and every time she saw a cup, no matter if I had changed the kind I was offering or not, a FIT would ensue. These were BAD fits.

I had read that it would happen. That children who develop an attatchment to things, be it a blankie, bottle, paci, etc... do not take it well when these things are taken away. I felt bad for her. I really did. But I also knew every other 18 month old around is on a cup, and has been for a while. So we stuck with it. The days were long, and the nights were too. But the days were probably longer since I was doing it without Dru. The fits got worse every time she saw a cup, and nap time was awful.

I got more and more frustrated, because I couldn't understand it. What she wanted was IN the cup. Why wouldn't she drink it? I prayed A LOT. I had to remind myself that the cup wasn't her bottle, which is what she found comfort it. I also had to remind myself we'd taken the paci away the weekend before, so that was a lot to deal with. We finally decided we had to choose one cup and stick with it, so the NUBY, which is just like a bottle in my opinion, is what we chose.

We kept giving it to her and by Thursday she'd at least carry it around. Progress. Friday night as we were leaving dinner I told Dru a story I'd read online (imagine that) about a little boy that finally just gave in and started chugging from his cup. As soon as I told him that he said, "Don't look at her, but she's drinking from it." I of course thought he was making fun of my story, but she WAS! I just knew she understood it! But she still threw a fit that night when she saw a cup.

Saturday she went all day just like the days before with NOTHING to drink except water from water bottles, then Saturday night she went and picked up her cup, chugged, drank it all, had another cup and chugged it all, and now here we are. JUST LIKE THAT. She's done it! Mastered the cup at 18 months and I couldn't be more proud. It was a hard week, and I think with our next child we'll go straight from nursing to the cup! I know this whole story may sound crazy to some but it really was this big of a deal for her (and us) and it's over!

Here is a picture of Simms' silhouette that I had done for my mother's day gift. Silhouette artist Clay Rice, who is a 3rd generation silhouette artist and one of the best in the silhouette world, did it. He was incredible. He had Simms done in 10 seconds. I was amazed because Simms has never looked at all like me or my side of the family. As soon as I looked at her silhouette I immediately thought it looked like my profile, my Aunt Nancy's profile and my cousin Hillary's profile. That is talent. Here is also a picture of the children's book that he wrote. He put a silhouette of Simms in the back of the book too! Now I have to find a place to hang it!

A Very Happy Mother's Day..

I have had a wonderful Mother's Day. I feel so blessed to be a mother, and even more blessed to be a mother to Simms, my precious little girl. I am so thankful for the opportunity I've been given.

Simms gave me my favorite plant this morning, a gardenia bush, and a card written by her daddy that made me cry. I am so lucky to have them both in my life.

We spent the morning at church, then had a wonderful lunch at Meme's house. So, Simms was able to spend Mother's Day with her mother, Minnie, and her Meme. How special.

She has some other special "Mothers" in her life too. Her Gigi, Goosie, and Grandmama. We were sad we didn't see them today, but we will soon!

I also was able to have Simms' silhouette done as my Mother's Day gift. I'll put a picture up of it soon. It is incredible and the silhouette artist that did it is one of the best in the world. He made a stop in Columbus yesterday to do silhouettes. I can't wait to post a picture of it. I hope everyone has had a wonderful Mother's Day

**Sippy cup update coming! It deserves a post all of its own! Oh my what a week its been, but we've ended on a high note!**

18 months

I'm a few days late with this 18 month post but here it is! Sweet Simms was 18 months on Friday! 1 year and a half-just unbelievable to us! She is just growing up so fast right before our eyes!

She had her 18 month checkup Monday and praise the Lord for a healthy report! She weighed 23.8 lbs which was the 40% and she is 32 in. long which was the 60%! Long and lean perhaps? The main concern for the doctor was if Simms had started eating better and the answer is YES!! We finally have an eater and she LOVES almost everything! The doctor was thrilled to hear that but not too thrilled that we STILL can't get Simms on the sippy cup. She didn't ask. I confessed. Her words, "You can get her on the cup. You will. Now. You are letting her win this battle." And she is right so I ended with, "Yes mam!" I was happy to tell her that Simms hasn't had a paci since this weekend. Not once! Not even during naps or nighttime or during the day so we've successfully gotten rid of that! I've always planned on taking it at 18 months and we did! Now back to square one with the cup!

She is cutting 4 teeth right now including 2 molars. Her vocabulary has really taken off and new words just this month have been car, tree, shoe, choo choo, plane, Aubie, teeth, flag, tractor, cracker, water, and she even says her version of thank you when you hand her something!


She is so much fun and is becoming so independent which makes me a little sad. It is amazing how fast the past 18 months have gone! It has been an INCREDIBLE 18 months, and that is to put it mildly! We love you so much sweet, precious Simms!

Simms' days are never complete without some playtime with cousin B. They really are more like sister and brother than cousins.

And for reflection purposes, which I have been doing ALOT of these days, a picture of Simms from a year ago.

Memories from the Beach

We just got back from a very relaxing few days at the beach! Surprisingly this was Simms’ first time to go! She LOVED it! I was so sure she’d be put off by the sand but the sand didn't bother her one bit! She loved the ocean too and gave her daddy a workout going back and forth to the water! Bennett and Simms played hard on the beach and each afternoon Sissy and I took them up for naps and they were out soon after baths! We left those hard working daddies down on the beach to relax some without the kiddos! We had a perfect setup with an inexpensive sunshade and umbrella from Wal-Mart and a baby pool. We just set all that up beside our lounges and big umbrella! We had delicious food each night and wonderful sunset walks on the beach with family! Sweet memories were made! I do believe 500+ pictures were taken, so I have only uploaded a "few" in this post! And by a few I actually mean quite a few!
Side Note of Great Importance: Dru’s swimsuit came from a surf shop at the beach. Enough said. I kept hoping it was a joke. He likes it.