A Year of Pictures

A year of pictures- starting at newborn and going through 12 Months. What a wonderful year…





























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12 Months!

It is so hard to believe that McNeill is one! The past year has been wonderful. It makes me sad thinking about how fast it has gone by. McNeill is definitely no longer a "baby". She is walking and into everything. She is so persistent in trying to figure out how things work. She loves feeding her babies...isn't it weird how she knows how to do that??? She did fine with the transition to whole milk and we are working on transitioning to only sippy cups. We are down to 3 bottles a day and she'll use the sippy cup in between. She has 6 teeth. She still takes 2 long naps each day and sleeps around 11 hours at night.





On McNeill's birthday the plan was for us to go to breakfast at the Pancake House before daycare/school/work. Needless to say that didn't happen and we ended up at McDonald's. McNeill loved her some hot cakes!



McNeill in her birthday outfit before leaving the house...



Sweet Anna Scott came by to see McNeill on her birthday and bring her a happy.



Coming soon...birthday party pics!

More Teeth!

Well, it appears McNeill is cutting a mouthful of teeth. I think she is getting 3 more. So, we may go from having 2 teeth to 6 in less than a week!

Drew and I went to Highlands Bar and Grill last Thursday for date night. We had a wonderful time and the food was delicious!! Our menu consisted of crawfish etouffee for an appetizer, beef tenderloin for my dinner and pheasant for Drew. For dessert we had strawberry tarts...yum yum yum. Matt and Andrea..we wish y'all were there with us!!

Happy Wednesday!!

11 Months!

Let me go ahead and apologize for the picture overload!

This month has been busy. Drew has a test almost every 2 weeks and I have helped throw two showers. Our friends Blake and Holly Beth are expecting Jack in March (unless he decides to come sooner!). Now for McNeill news...she has taken her first steps this month. She has started standing up a lot and her balance gets better each time. It is so hard to believe that I have a little girl who is walking! She refuses to eat out of a spoon. If you try to feed her something she just shakes her head no and keeps her mouth closed tight. Little "Miss Independent" only wants to feed herself. She prefers things she can just pick up but she'll attempt to use a spoon. It is hilarious. She can get it in her mouth but it may end up everywhere else first. And, she refuses to leave a bow in!

This picture cracks me up. I guess I need to put these play clothes up as it appears they no longer fit. She loves her chair and spends a ton of time sitting in her chair and then standing up. Then back down again. And, the scratch on McNeill's face is from herself. She was fighting having her diaper changed and ended up scratching herself.






We had brunch a few weeks ago at Kinnery and Luke's. This picture is of the 4 babies. 3 of them were born in March and one in June. We are so blessed to have friends with children the same age. Quinn looks like quite the player in this picture. His head is leaning over on Hadley and he and McNeill are holding hands.



McNeill's favorite thing is bath time. She would stay in there all day if you would let her. She loves to kick and splash. I can't wait to see her in the pool this summer.







She loves her baby dolls. In this picture she is trying to get the baby to suck its thumb. Always makes me laugh. She spent 30 minutes the other night putting her baby doll in and out of the seat of her elmo airplane.



This picture was from a shower at our house last weekend. DA and Charlie showed up with the same shirt on and Drew had the same shirt upstairs so he put it on for a picture...



This was her before school on Valentine's Day. Look at those sleepy eyes!!



She has gotten really hard to photograph...none of these are that good of a picture but I think they are funny....especially if you knew what I had to go through to get these.









And, McNeill is finally getting another tooth! It is the one beside her left front tooth. Maybe that is why she slept til 8:30 this morning.

10 Months!

McNeill's little personality is still amazing me. She is so much fun (and funny). She has had RSV and an ear infection this month. I am so tired of her being sick!! Hopefully there are healthier months ahead.

McNeill has started doing some new tricks this month. She loves feeding Drew and me some of her snacks. Sometimes she lets us have it and sometimes she takes it back. She has started washing her baby doll's face (and mine). Drew took her to the pediatrician the other day and he said she got out a wipe and started washing her baby's face. We thought that it must have been an accident. Well, later that night she washed her baby dolls face again with a wipe and then mine! I guess I wipe her face off too much?!?!?

She is very laid back and has this goofy grin thing going on...love those little feet propped up on the highchair.



Not sure if you can tell what is going on in this picture or not. McNeill has started sleeping on her back more with her hands up behind her head. Well, she has a tutu on in this picture (thanks Analise!). Anyway, this picture just makes me laugh. She looks like a worn out chubby little princess.



McNeill has gotten to where she really loves books. It is so sweet seeing her turn the pages. She still loves all her toys, especially baby dolls. She will "love the baby" and just grin. Precious. Our goal this next month is getting her to like her sippy cup more. We have tried several different brands and all she really does is just play with it. She thinks it is a new teething toy. So, we'll see how that goes. Let me know if you have any tricks. This may not make sense without seeing it but she has started holding her bottle so strange. She has been doing the one handed thing for a while now but now she holds it underhanded.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Once again this post is over due. We enjoyed having Drew off from school for a few weeks. McNeill's first Christmas was so wonderful. Sorry for the picture overload!!

We first had Christmas at Ninny and PawPaw's. McNeill got to open her presents first and Tommy got jealous. It was so funny. You can tell how excited he was to get his Charlie Brown. McNeill was mesmerized by all the wrapping paper, boxes and gifts. I think she touched every gift in the room. It was such a blessing to get to visit with Ninny and PawPaw and all Drew's family.





We spent Christmas Eve Eve with Drew's parents and woke up for Santa the next morning with them. McNeill's favorite gift was her own Tico (Tico is Barry's siberian huskey). This morning I asked her where Tico was and she went and got him.



On Christmas Eve we did Santa with my family. Mom always cooks a great dinner! I wish I would have taken a picture of Kent's remote controlled shark I got him. It was hilarious! I took it to WalMart to get blown up and I got the craziest looks. Check it out... http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=11562289&CAWELAID=882887841





After church on Sunday we went to Craig and Deneille's for breakfast. We watched a movie and napped that afternoon and then went back to my mom's for Christmas with the Tyler's and Dunn's that night.




We came back to Bham Christmas night to relax a little with just our family. We didn't get McNeill much for Christmas (thanks to the Axon's and our families!). Her gifts from us were an oversized stuffed animal, a chair from PB and the book Night Night Birmingham. I love how she is looking at her bunny in this picture!!



I wanted to try and get a picture of her in her Uggs (thanks Nana!). At first she hated them, she kept pulling them off and refused to stand up in them. Note the wet spot on her toe (she was trying to eat them). Her Uggs have finally grown on her and she will wear them. Thank goodness because she sure looks cute in them!!



As I was packing up the Christmas decorations I realized I never got a picture of Mc's stocking...love it!




Drew's birthday was the 27th. His family got us a night at Ross Bridge and dinner there. They came down to keep Mc while we went and stayed there. Below is a picture of her playing on her rocking sheep.



We loaded up to the beach with the Flatt's and Harris's for New Year's. It was such a nice, relaxing get away (they probably didn't feel that way with a crazy 10 month old getting into everything!). FYI- I was not abusive to my husband...it was our little girl who clawed him. McNeill was not a huge fan of the sand. Not sure if it was because the sand was a little cold or because she was disappointed in the way it tasted. Anyway, you can tell by the below pictures that she was not impressed. And, this was the first annual polar bear plunge for Drew and Blake.