First Swim

Our gracious neighbors sometimes let us come over and "clean" their pool while they are out of town. They have 2 grandchildren, so they have plenty of baby pool toys. We walked down there around 7:30pm, so it was still warm, but we didn't have to worry about Delia getting too much sun.

Thanks Grandma Amanda for the cute suit!

The water was nice and warm and Delia went right in.

Floating by herself!

"This is how you blow bubbles in the water."

"Like this?"

Uh oh - drinking the pool.

Just chillin'

She even went for her first dunk!

Christmas in July-6 Months Old

Delia turned 6 months old this week! She weighed in at 17 lbs, 8 oz which puts her in the 85% group for her age. Way to be above average Baby Girl! She has started babbling with new sounds like "yaya" and "dada," which is very cute.


I do a lot with the Starkville Downtown Business Association and our latest project was Christmas in July this past Saturday. I was in charge of... pretty much everything, so I spent all day making sure people showed up where they were supposed to and had everything they needed. We teamed up with the Community Market to have their Grand Opening on the same day so we could work together in our advertising efforts. It went really well and a lot of people who came early for the Market Grand Opening hung around to see what was going on at Christmas in July.

Delia got up early and we all went to the Market to get some goodies and watch a chef's demonstration before we had to set up Xmas in July stuff. We got some tomatoes, caramel-infused fig preserves (from the chef), and some homemade dog treats.

The Market is a pretty dog-friendly place.

Delia got to meet Santa for the first time! She went right to him!

Some of the other kiddies did not like Santa so much.

Or at all.

Some shops got their Christmas decorations out, which made it fun.

Who doesn't love a Space Walk?

I worked a shift at the face painting table so the volunteers could get some lunch. We had a sign with ideas for the kids like hearts and stars - easy stuff since the volunteers were from a high school honor society. When I sat down this girl says "I want a mermaid!" (Felt a little like the movie Wedding Crashers: "Make me a BICYCLE, clown!")

One tired baby.

Sunday we got a visit from Grandma Amanda and cousins Hannah and Rachel from Brandon!

Watching the pups.

Talking about the pups.

Some sweet girls!

Delia's New Thing

Vicksburg

Last weekend (4th of July weekend), Grady went to Vicksburg and spent a few days working on his mom's house. Delia and I made the trip early Saturday morning. We had lunch with Delia's great-grandmothers and had a nice visit. Delia was much more alert and active than the last time she visited. She was very sweet the whole time and even sang some songs for us!

Delia and Great Grandma Carlson

Delia and Great Grandma Buford

That evening we went to a surprise 30th birthday party for Jeff Averett at his parents' house. Their house was beautiful and we had a great time hanging out with some folks we hadn't seen in a long time.

Delia and Mrs. Averett

The boys!

Can you find the hidden baby in this picture?

No one can resist pinching those thighs!

Delia and Daddy

After all the good food and cake, we headed to Jackson to spend the night with our friends Bryan and Christine.

Plotting how to poop on Bryan...

"I'll help you Delia!"

"Ha ha! This is going to be good!"

Visit from Aunt Chris & Uncle Rodney

To: Grandaddy
From: Your sister
"I got your baby!!"

Aunt Chris and Uncle Rodney are visiting from Denver and we went out to a great new restaurant in downtown Starkville called Restaurant Tyler. We had sweet potato creme brulee and it made me so happy. Delia usually goes to bed at 8:30pm, but she had a really long nap this morning and took her last bottle later than usual. I don't know if those were factors, but she stayed up, happy and entertained, until about 11:00pm! Almost everyone in the restaurant came over to see her, pat her, pinch her, or squeeze her. She was so good and even sang to us after dinner.

All dressed up to go to dinner!

Stealing sugar

Delia likes to lick the condensation off cold glasses, and Uncle Rodney always has a cold glass.

"CRAZY BABY! I AM UP WAY PAST MY BEDTIME!!!"

Baby Booty

Grady says we don't need to pay someone to take professional pictures of Delia because I have a good camera, and there is a better chance us of catching her in a good mood than trying to schedule it. So I took advantage of a particularly happy time this weekend and got the naked baby pictures I have been wanting! Delia is 5 1/2 months old here.

Can you tell how old a baby is by counting the rings?

Pretty pink punkin

Workin' it for the camera

Delia got a super duper rainforest jumperoo from Grandma Amanda, complete with flashing lights and elephant and monkey noises! Fun fun!

Baby Bird Delia

A far as solid food goes, we didn't make it too long with the rice cereal. She cried on the third day I fed it to her as if to say "This is SO gross! Please don't make me eat any more!" She likes oatmeal cereal much better, and has jumped right into squash and carrots!

But nothing tastes as good as baby toes!

Happy 4th of July!

Today Delia was in her daycare's 4th of July parade. Two other church's childcares participated, so there were quite a few strollers, wagons, and kiddies blocking traffic in downtown Starkville today.

Thanks to Emily, Tate's mom, for sending me this picture!

This is Wilson, who is in Delia's class, the "Lambs." He is about 3 weeks older than Delia. It is not fair that a boy has that much beautiful hair.

Rumor has it that Delia's friend Tate carried around her birth announcement for 2 days straight. Don't worry - we have a big dresser in front of her bedroom door so she can't sneak out at night.

From what I could see, each class made their own shirts for the parade.

Fun time!

Last weekend our friends Amanda and Greg came to visit from Vicksburg with their sweet girls, Mina and Macy. Macy is 15 months old and weighs about the same as Delia.