today

We've moved!

After several months of discussing the pros and cons of this decision, we've made it. We've moved. No, not our physical address, although we do plan on buying a house in the spring. We've moved our blog home.

We've done this for several reasons. First, we are running out of space on this address. Ashley takes so many great pictures, it was bound to happen at some point. So, while we are at it, we've decided to make the blog more private and see who moves with us. So, if you want to be able to keep up with us, you'll just need to email thebodieblog{at}gmail.com and wait for your new blog invitation.

Once you get your invitation to join as an official blog reader, the process is simple. Just follow the instructions in that e-mail and start enjoying the new blog. Once you've signed in, your computer should be able to just pull up the new blog site the same way it does this one.

Now we don't want this to deter people from reading. That means if you are ...

• Whitney's friend who lives in Milton,
• a friend or relative of Robin's who lives in Montana,
• Beverly's friend who lives in DC,
• an old graduate school friend,
• an old friend from St. Marks, 
• or maybe you were in Miss Christy's bible study
• or are Nona's coworker
• or found us through a friend of a friend of a friend
• or maybe you just found us randomly and like to look at pictures of a cute baby ...

... whatever the case, just email us and get invited to the fun! There are already some new posts waiting on you. We really enjoy using our blog to keep up with all the things we don't want to forget, and we enjoy sharing all these things with you. We just want to know who we're sharing with. Hope to hear from you soon!

I like being little-bitty.

Well, we can only assume that E enjoys her small size since she's pretty happy all the time. She definitely comes by it honest -- my sister is, well let's say she's just over 5'1", and my Grandmama and most of her sisters are all around the 5' mark, too. I guess there's still hope that Eden may take after her other aunts and relatives who are well over the 5'5" mark, but for now it seems she's got her momma's height.

I took her to her 18-month checkup this afternoon and here are the stats ...

weight - 21 lbs. 14 oz (10th percentile)

height - 30 1/2 inches (10th percentile)

head - 18 1/2 inches (50th percentile)

Her doctor said that at this stage, the weight gain steadies out tremendously, hence the little weight gain since her one-year checkup. She also said that if she stays in the 10th percentile, she'll only weigh 26 lbs when she's 3 years old.

Overall, we're happy to report that all looked perfectly normal at the visit today. Eden and I spent 10 minutes going up and down the stairs in the lobby of the clinic (an entire two flights up to the second floor). She wanted to hold my hand and hold onto the railings with her other hand as she took the stairs "on her own." As a treat, we even stopped by McAlister's to bring home some sweet tea for Daddy. All in all, a nice visit and a good end to the day.

- ashley

I like pictures.

Eden has been fascinated with Ashley's camera for a while now. Whether it is watching videos of herself or scrolling through the hundreds of pictures, we can always count on the camera to calm or occupy her for a few minutes. Recently she has found a new way to be entertained by the camera ... posing.

If Ashley tells her she is going to take a picture, Eden will stop (with a little prodding) and look at the camera.

wearing Momma's belt ...

in her new bathrobe her Momma made for her ...

Sometimes she even smiles (which we can coax by asking her to smile or, if that doesn't work, asking "Are you silly?" ). Here she is last night in her new bathing suit courtesy of her Aunt Whitney.

The only way we could get her to take a bath was to let her wear it.

Eden is also taking after her mother in her new pursuit of a hobby in photography. Usually it starts by her holding the camera and pressing buttons while looking at pictures or videos. Then, she turns the camera around and starts to smile. Most times one of us has to help her press the button. We think she'll have that down very soon too.

I like my shelves.

Since her 18-month-day is a pretty big mark, the next few posts will be about things that Eden likes to do at 18 months of age. We just want to remember how she is these days.

Our den/dining room area is Eden's "safe" room in the house. We can close the doors to the bedrooms, kitchen, and bathroom {although the door to her room doesn't really close all the way}, and E ends up having a pretty big space that is baby-proofed to play in. Now, there are of course things like chairs and a couch that can be considered dangerous to a point, but for the most part it's her zone.

When we leave her zone to put things away and notice that it has gotten very quiet where she is, there are generally two answers to what's going on ... 1) she has gotten into something we didn't realize was in there or 2) {and the more likely answer} she's sitting in front of her shelves with all her books around her ...

She also loves her toy-shape-cube {can't think of what that's called} and has easily mastered the circle. Actually, it's the only one she uses. She just puts the circle through it's hole, opens up the cube, picks out the circle from the other shapes, and starts over. Pretty cute.

If you happen to enter the room after she has spent some time "reading" through her books on her own, you better be sitting down cross-legged on the floor because she's coming your way ..

She'll bring a book over, turn around backwards and plant herself in your lap to read. Everytime she does, I think there should be a truck-backin-up noise {you know the beep - beep - beep - beep} since it seems like she's backing in in slow motion to her correct spot. Then, she'll read her book with you, get up to go get another one, and repeat.

We do still make an effort to put things back on the shelves each night after she goes to sleep. Maybe that makes if more fun for her to discover again each day {or maybe it just helps to keep her Daddy sane}.

- ashley

one and a half years

 

One and a half years. Can that really be true?
Lot's happened over 18 months.

Although we don't remember everything, one thing's for sure ...

... she's still our little sunshine.

And for that, we're grateful every day.

my first tent

Well, Miss Eden's little cold has lingered this week along with a really ugly cough with some congestion {that's the part that just kills me when I hear it}. So, in keeping with everyone's more sensitive attitude toward sickness this semester, we've alternated staying home with her instead of sending her to PDO with a runny nose. Thankfully, my momma came in town yesterday so that Graham and I can both have full work days today, just in time to meet a few research deadlines.

Anyhow, on our "sick day" Tuesday, I decided Eden might really like a tent in the den ...

Yep, I was right. She loved going in and out of the tent, reading her books inside of it, and insisting on taking her baby doll stroller in and out of the tent as well.

As you may have seen on Tuesday, I was allowed in the tent for a few minutes but she mostly wanted to be in there by herself. So, I honored her wishes and sat right outside the tent to help her in and out for most of the time. When I did decide to go in the other room for a minute, I came back in the den to find this ...

 

Don't know how she got on top of the top of the tent, but it ended up being really cool inside. I did have to lower the elastic side each time she wanted to go in and out {which was every 30 seconds}, but she had a good time ...

 

... so it was totally worth it. Yes, the sheets are still in the den today, but hey, you never know when you'll need a tent in the den, right?