Help us Shaquille O'neal

Several months ago you may remember a blog I wrote about a bird pecking on our window early in the morning and late in the afternoon. Fortunately this stopped around October and we haven't heard from the bird... until today. This morning around 8:00 I was playing with Abby and I heard an indistinguishable sound of "peck, peck, peck" coming from the foyer. After looking up I saw the same dumb robin flapping its wings and flying into the window pane. I opened the door a few times and scared it away but it would return very shortly and start to peck at the window again. I have tried placing a fake snake on the window sill, throwing tennis balls at the window, and considered purchasing an air rifle to permanently get rid of the problem (which Cindy veto's every time). Today I had the revelation of placing a scarecrow on the window sill.


The window above the front door is the bird's window of choice. We had it tinted and a reflective treatment added to it our first year in the house to cut down on the afternoon heat coming through the window. If you look closely at the bottom left of the window you will see my "scarecrow." That's right. The scarecrow is none other than LSU's center from 1991 Shaquille O'neal.


"Why Shaquille O'neal" you may ask? He was sitting in my garage and looked like a good solution. For the bird's sake, I hope this works. So far the bird has not returned in the past 6 hours since Shaq has kept watch over the window, but only time will tell. If you have any recommendations, I'm all ears.

11 months old...

I can't believe my baby girl is 11 months old today! So exciting that she's happy, healthy and growing like crazy but I still look at her and see that tiny little
6 lb. 8oz baby girl. It's even harder for me to believe that in one month we'll be celebrating her first birthday. This year has flown and been one of the most challenging but fun years of my life. Wow, how your life can change so fast. Abby is now feeding herself and loves her snack foods more than anything else. In fact she went from eating lots of fruit and veggies to wanting only snack foods. I tried to tell her tonight a girl can't live on puffs and graham crackers:) I am trying new foods with her and she'll let you know she doesn't like it by throwing it right up. I have a kiddopotamus bib that's great because when she starts throwing up I can catch it in the little pocket and scoop it over to the sink and wash out the bib. She's also cruising around as long as she has something to hang on to and I won't be surprised if she's not walking real soon. Our baby girl is soon to be a toddler. She's into everything now, loves to dance, read her flap books, try to sing, laugh at her daddy's antics and gaze at the Christmas tree. I can't wait to see what she's going to think about Christmas!

How time flies!

For Thanksgiving this year, our family traveled to Gatlinburg, TN for a four day stay at the Hemlock Hills Resort. Cindy and I had stayed here last year with our church group and it is a great place for a large group. The cabin was a five bedroom/five bath and we had 14 adults and three kids with us. It was a bit crowded when everone was in the same room, but it was a great time. We visited the Ripley's Aquarium in Gatlinburg, hiked in the Great Smokey Mountains, shopped in Pigeon Forge and had a great time playing at the cabin. Here are some photos from our trip and few photos from other visits with family.

This year, our family came together in Gatinburg for four days of fun and relaxation. Heth's family drove from Alabama and Cindy's family drove from Charlotte and Greenville, SC. In this photo from left to right are great Paw Paw Fleming, Grandma, and Grandpa.


Heth's family included from left to right Pop and Nana Gibson, Brody and Bryleigh Wood, Aunt Erica, Abby, and Heth. Cindy took the photo and Uncle Tommy was trying to get Bryleigh's attention for the photo.


Nana, Bryleigh, Abby, and Uncle Tommy enjoyed playing together and reading books all week. Bryleigh was 18 months old and Abby was 10 months during our trip to the mountains.


At the aquarium, Abby's cousin, Bryleigh, stands along the ledge of one of the tanks and tries to get Erica's attention to show her the fish inside the tank.







Brody, Abby's oldest cousin, is excited to go inside the aquarium in Gatlinburg. Brody had a great time exploring the aquarium and got a toy shark from the gift shop.



Outside of the aquarium there were fall decorations set up. Abby loved the pumpkis and scarecrows while Brody liked climbing on the hay bales.



Cindy has bought Abby a Leap Frog learning table that she loves. She likes to stand along side it and push all of the buttons. She also sways back and forth like she's "dancing" to the alhpabet song.



On Thanksgiving Day, some of our family took a walk in the Great Smokey Mountains Nation Park to a waterfall. It was a 1 1/2 mile trail that is completely paved with asphalt the entire way. I would recommend this walk to anoyone visiting the park and looking for a stroller friendly trail.



On the way to the waterfall, Brody climbed several rock outcroppings that are beside the trail. In this photo, Pop and Brody show us how high they can climb.



Abby really liked her Aunt Erica and everone else in the cabin. Abby loves being around new people, as long as mom and dad are nearby.




Wii madness swept the cabin. We brought our Wii from home and enjoyed playing bowling, tennis and baseball with each other. Brody loved to bowl, box and race cows. He mentioned Santa may bring him a Wii for Christmas this year.

"D" is for Dishwasher

Last night as I was loading the dishwasher and Cindy was feeding Abby dinner, I started pretending the dishwasher was Cookie Monster. I was singing "D is for Dishwasher, that's good enough for me... Yum, Yum, Yum, Yum!" As you can see, Abby thought this was hilarious as she keeps looking at Cindy for reassurance. Needless to say, her little personality is showing more and more every day.

A Halloween to remember

Last night was Abby's first Halloween and it will not be forgotten any time soon. Around 6:00pm we headed to the Fall Festival at the Hickory Grove Baptist Church - North Campus. Abby was dressed as a lamb and looked very cute. Even though the evening was cool, we had a great time for an hour or so as we walked around and looked at all of the events and kids in their costumes. Abby loves watching other kids and being out of the house.


After returning home about 8:00pm, we put Abby to bed and then went to bed around 9:30pm ourselves. Our home, which we purchased three years ago, is equipped with a home alarm system. Last night at 10:00 I accidentally armed the system and set off the home security alarm. HOLY COW WAS IT LOUD!!! It has never gone off before and I think Cindy and I took about five years off our life as we began to freak out and scramble in turning it off. It went off for about two minutes before I figured out how to disarm it. In the meantime, Cindy was in Abby's room. We thought she was going to wake up and be hysterical because of the noise. Amazingly she slept through the whole thing! As Cindy and I went to bed, our adrenaline was pumping so much we both laid in bed for a few hours unable to sleep. Needless to say we didn't sleep well last night.

This morning when we woke up, we noticed a teenage boy decided to draw a phallic image on the back of my car window with shoe polish. If you don't know what a phallic image is, it is a man's "twig and berries" or "meat and two veg." I know it was a teenager because a child wouldn't know what that image was and an adult would be so stupid. I know it was a boy because I don't think a girl would want to replicate that portion of the male anatomy. So I think it was one of Cindy's students. Little does he know the wrath that is coming his was...in the form of one Mr. Chuck Norris.

As you can see, this Halloween was an eventful one. In all we had a great time and I think Abby liked the Fall Festival. I'm looking forward to Halloween next year when we can really go trick-or-treat with Abby and enjoy this time with her.

A Beautiful Wedding

This past weekend, Cindy and I were invited to our friend, Ginny Conner's, wedding. We left early Saturday morning after dropping Abby off at Grandma and Grandpa's house. This was the first evening Cindy and I have spent without Abby since she was born. After leaving Charlotte, we drove most of the day and made only a few stops to eat and shop along the way. The wedding began at 5:00 and we barely made it to the chapel before the wedding started. It was a beautiful wedding and it was so nice seeing some of my friend from college I have not seen in almost a decade. After the wedding, a few of us visited a local Mexican restaurant and kicked back for a fun evening. Cindy and I slept in on Sunday (til almost 8:30 in the morning) and had a "delicious" breakfast at the Holiday Inn. All in all it was a wonderful weekend.

Heth and Jeff Graham see one another at the wedding after having not seen one another in two years.






Heth and Ginny Smith. Ginny looked beautiful in her wedding dress and her wedding was wonderful.






Ginny and Daniel leaving the wedding chapel to begin their honeymoon. I actually didn't get a chance to meet Daniel but he seemed like a nice guy.





Ashley Fuller and Jeff's daughter, Hannah, had a great time at the Mexican restaurant. Hannah placed flowers in Ashley's hair and styled it for her.

Abby is now STANDING!

At the age of 9 months and 2 days old, Abby has learned to stand up on her own. She will crawl over to something, usually a coffee table, sofa or window sill, place a hand on the object and then pull herself up. Once she's up she will grab and touch everything within reach. She'll stand for a minute or so and then have a seat, crawl around a bit more and then stand up again. She's getting so big and growing up fast, but she'll always be a little girl to us.





Here she is getting ready to pull herself up at the coffee table. She is still working on her balance and getting her feet under her, but she can at least get to a standing position easily now.















No matter how big she gets, Abby will never be too big for a ride around the house in the laundry basket with "da-da." Here she is with me flying around our bedroom and taking a break for a photo from Cindy.

Paw Paw and Grammy's visit

Two weekends ago, Paw Paw and Grammy Kendrick visited from Alabama to spend some time with Abby. They last saw her in July and she had quite a few new tricks to show them while they were in town. Although we try to Skype at least every two weeks, it was nice having them at our house so they could get some "Abby time." While they were here, Abby took Paw Paw and Grammy on several wagon rides and stroller rides through the neighborhood and even took a trip to Costco (and tried ice cream for the first time and loved it). She really likes to be out of the house and takes in everything and everyone she sees.


Abby loves her Paw Paw. When they arrived at our house she had no hesitation in going right to Paw Paw and Grammy. She had a great time with them while they were in town.

BOOK TIME! Abby likes to "read" books with us. We try and read at least 20 minutes everyday with her and she loves turning the pages. Only a couple of books have been destroyed, but that's a small price to pay if she learns to appreciate reading.

















During these cool Fall evenings, Abby loves to take wagon and stroller rides with us around the neighborhood. Along our trip we meet neighbors, trees, bugs, dogs, cars and a whole host of other things that keep her entertained. While in town, Paw Paw and Grammy took Abby out several times to get some fresh air. She had a great time while they were here and we look forward to the next time we can see them.

She's almost 9 months old..

I know, I know, it's been way too long since a blog. We have been so busy lately and to be honest the world of Facebook is too tempting to stay away from at times :) It has also been difficult going back to work and balancing everything without feeling exhuasted. So here is a picture memoir of Abby at 8 months old. She loves playing with all of her toys- many thanks to Goodwill purchases at $1 a piece, she loves wagon rides in the afternoons since it is cooler now, and she loves saying mama, dada, baba, la la, and even says some other jumbled up baby talk. Abby is the joy of my life and watching her grow up is such a blessing. And if you haven't noticed she keeps getting cuter and cuter, and yes she still looks a lot like her daddy :)

Kisses and Crawling

Everyday Abby is growing more and more and learning so much. Below are a couple of videos that we took this week of Abby's new expertise of crawling around. She now crawls all over the floor to get to anything she can. It's so amazing and it makes me laugh every time I see her on the move. Her other trick (that she has taught herself) is that she likes to make "kissy" sounds. She will make this sound over and over and likes to mimic you when you make the sound as well.

Abby is Crawling!

Today Abby officially crawled across our king size bed to get the remote control she wanted so badly. She has been working on the motions by rocking back and forth for a while but finally put it all together and moved across the bed. She seems to be more successful on our bed than on the floor though. I can't believe she is on the move now. I guess we'll not get to sit down or plop her down and be able to walk away from her, so I guess I have mixed feelings :) She really loves to stand and jump now too which means her little legs are getting prepared for walking. My little baby is growing up too fast. She is such a sweet girl and so much fun now, loving her wagon rides in the afternoon and laughing at silly things we do.

Abby's first blog

While I was posting my blog this morning, Abby was in my lap playing with her teething ring. I could tell she wanted to touch the screen and keyboard so I let her post her first blog"

" hhhhhhhhh nb bhjnb ` b bhbnb b mnhnbhyu nc `mnhnkiujh nb 6gtfb6gtftf5fgvcxxnb nhgn bbnb hrv jyyjjnhy6htuyyhg7hgnhgnngv mvkjyhv xxxxxxxxxvyhtt4ytrd, ` c``bcv gfyhg"

Sunday blues

Abby woke up this morning with a 101 temperature. Cindy and I think it's because she is cutting teeth, but just to be sure I kept her home from church today. Here are few pictures we have taken of Abby in the past few days.

Abby has been working on her posture for the day she becomes a supermodel. Here she is balancing one of her stacking rings on her head. She can sit still for about a minute with the ring on her head.

I like playing and trying to get Abby to laugh. She has a really good personality and can play with the best of them.

Abby can sit up on her own but she still likes to sit on the couch or recliner. When she gets tired or feels bad she wants to sit in your laps and just hang out. She's a great baby.