Memphis family at the beach

We had a great week in Destin, especially at the end when we were joined by Jane's Memphis grandparents, aunt, uncle, and cousins!  It was fun to have so many generations enjoying the place that Richard's grandparents picked out nearly 40 years ago.  Thanks, Mimi and Papa!

 Our last morning at the beach... we hit the sand at 6:55!

 And Richard with his dad on the same beach 31 years ago!

A tooth!

Richard discovered a sharp little bump in Jane's mouth yesterday... her first tooth!  It's the bottom right one... check it out! 

Hello from Destin

We're at the beach!  We are having a great time so far, and the water is crystal clear.  Richard and I are adjusting to the new parent routine of being housebound twice a day for naps and then by 7:00 for the evening, ha!  But we're also up and out earlier than usual, so we're getting plenty of beach time.  Jane has been a trooper, playing on the beach under the umbrella...

...and swimming in the pool, which she loves!  She leans forward on her tummy and kicks her legs like a little frog.  So cute! 

She even braved the ocean once so far, although the waves are a little scary.  Her floaty thing helped smooth out the waves and provided a great source of shade.
Jane is good about remembering the importance of staying hydrated, too!

Dad time

We love stealing some quiet moments with daddy in the morning before he goes to work.  Sometimes Jane will even sit still long enough to read a short book, especially if she gets to eat the pages.

Jane also LOVES it when Richard walks behind me when I'm carrying her.  She gets so excited and squeals with delight, as they say! 

What's Jane up to now?

Jane is becoming a little person right before our eyes.  She seems to be testing her limits and reaching new milestones daily!  One of her favorite things to do right now is to make this very ladylike screeching noise and see how loud and how long she can go.

She is also officially mobile!  Last weekend I was sitting at the kitchen table with sweet Beth from Mississippi when she noticed that Jane had rolled over.  "Yay!" we cried, "Good job, Jane!"  Then she did another one in the same direction and almost rolled off the blanket.  When she continued this exciting demonstration of mobility, we decided to unfold the blanket all the way and see how far she could go.  As you can tell by the splicing of this video, she had to take a couple breaks and got a little exasperated, but she was determined!

Fourth of July in Monteagle

Last weekend Jane and I headed up to the mountains to spend some time with Richard's family while he and his dad were in Belize.  It was really fun for Jane to get to know her Fancy, Aunt Noel, and cousins Cowan and Walt better.  We had nice, lazy mornings in our PJ's (it's GO VOLS at Fancy's house),

sunny swims on the deck,

swings in the park (yes, we eventually realized she was backwards),

and dinners at "Cafe Buffalo."

Jane has been eating a lot of new foods since her six month birthday, but unfortunately guacamole isn't on the menu quite yet. 

Little Mermaid

We found a "real" baby pool yesterday and took Jane swimming with her cousins in Monteagle. It was so fun! When I first put her in the water she was so engrossed by people watching (or staring, rather, as babies do) that she barely even noticed she was wet. She spent about twenty minutes just peacefully floating and bobbing up and down on my lap. Then she started using her legs to bounce on the bottom of the pool like she does in her doorway jumper and really had a good time!

This second video cracks me up because I don't think she realized that she was the one splashing herself in the face. So funny!