Mega-photo update

I realized that I had updated my facebook albums, but had not updated here in a while with some of our fun randoms of Amelia from the last few weeks. These are for you aunts, uncles and grandparents who count on the blog for your Amelia fix. So here you go:

Helping with the laundry

Hanging out with her buddy, Tucker at Ella's birthday party. Amelia was such a bully. Here she is tugging on poor Tuck's ear. He didn't really seem to mind. These two were born 5 days apart.

There will never be a shortage of playmates with the Smiths around! Cousins Braden, Tucker and Ella, plus Amelia. I love how they're all looking at each other here.

Ella in her Big Sister shirt (baby brother or sister due in January) pushing Amela in her new doll stroller. Ella's dad is Cliff's childhood friend, Chad. We hope our girls grow up to be great friends.

How could I resist sharing another cute pool pic? What you don't see is that 5 seconds after snapping this photo, Amelia fell face first into the water. Oops. Bad mommy. At least I got a cute photo. Whatever it takes- right, Lindey?

While Cliff was at basketball camp, Amelia enjoyed spending time with her aunts, Katie and Mare. Aunt Katie of course took a few pics. Here are a couple of our big girl who thinks it's ok to walk without learning to crawl first.

Love this one. Lookat me! I haven't even spent a night in my crib yet, but here I am standing up in it. Time for Daddy to lower the mattress already.

Getting her very first pedicure at the salon with Aunt Katie. Amelia relaxed and read her book while cousin Megan painted her toenails.

Katie took this one of us after church a couple of weeks ago. One of our few smiling pics together. Amelia was wearing a precious dress her Grammy got for her.

Amelia dropped in on Memaw and Papaw the other day, and they were just tickled to death to see her. She is always napping when they come to visit, so they just ate her up while she was laughing and playing.

And when she got tired and needed a nap, sweet Papaw Fred rocked her to sleep. Precious.

And lastly, here is our girl yesterday after church. I was just about to change her into play clothes but we ran outside for a quick photo on the bench in her sweet blue dress. Gone are the days of a photo of every single outfit. It was fun while it lasted, but it is just not practical with every day life. I have to remind myself to actually enjoy being with her, instead of constantly wanting to stop and photograph every single moment, ha. But when I do stop to get a cute pic, I'm always glad I did!

So consider yourself up to date on our Mimi. Hopefully I'll be able to get some videos uploaded soon so our out of town family can see just how big she has gotten. We're heading into her 8th month very soon. Where does the time go?

Our Soldier

Yesterday we attended a send-off ceremony for my brother and the 155th Brigade Combat Team at Camp Shelby in Hattiesburg. They will be deploying to Iraq very soon. This will be Jeremy's second tour in Iraq. Here are a few pics from the day.

The flyover:The 155th:My parents, Amelia and I totally missed the ceremony because of a stupid traffic jam on Hwy 49 and on the base. I got the first two pics from my sister. At least we got to see Jeremy when it was over. He was glad to see Amelia and she was happy to see him too!

Especially when she realized he had cool stuff to play with on his uniform. Here she is chewing on his canteen. Jeremy called it another word, but I forgot what it was. It's the thing they wear on their backs that holds their drinking water. Whatever it's called, Amelia loved it.

Our family, minus my brother Josh, who was working. Daddy's in the back with his gimpy arm. He had shoulder surgery a few weeks ago.

Three-fourths of the Davis siblings and Amelia, the star of the family.

Back at my parents' house the whole fam got together for supper, but I refused to pose for any group photos because my allergies were going crazy from the random cat that lives in their yard, so my nose was all red and my face was swollen. Here's Amelia finding something else to chew on, one of her favorites, a cell phone! She destroyed mine last week and I had to get a new one. Her slobber is deadly to electronics.

Mare trying on Jeremy's cool gear:

Cliff, we might have a volley-baller on our hands! She had fun playing with Aunt Mare and my dad with the ball in the yard.

Please remember Jeremy and all the soldiers and their families in your prayers during this time. Let's not forget the sacrifice all branches of the military have made for us and continue to make for us everyday.

Cliff and Ang through the years

Today is our 4 year anniversary! In some ways, it seems like it should be so much more than 4 years, since we've been together for 8 years, but in other ways, it seems like no time ago that we were just college kids dating. I was digging in our storage closet for something the other night and ran across some old photos, and I thought I'd share some of us over the years.

Here we are in August of 2001 before we began dating. We were on the student newspaper staff at Co-Lin, and this photo was taken at the club fair at the beginning of the semester. We became friends our freshman year, and started dating in the fall of our sophomore year, not long after this pic. What babies we were, just 19 years old!

Very early in our relationship. This was the first of many, many sporting events that we would attend together.

I worked for a photographer while attending Co-Lin, and Cliff came by to take me to lunch one day. Johnny, my boss, asked us to pose for a quick pic to test out his Christmas backdrop. So cheesy, but I love this memory.

Memphis Grizzlies game, 2002. Look at all that hair Cliff had!

Co-Lin graduation, May 2002

Fred and Wilma- Halloween, 2003

Weekend in Memphis, 2003. This was during the era of the J-Lo newsboy caps. One of the many fashion choices I now regret.

Katie took this pic of Cliff the morning he went to talk to my parents before he asked me to marry him. December, 2003 New Years, 2003. Cheering for Southern Miss at the Liberty Bowl the day after we got engaged.

Spongebob surprise birthday party my roomate, Kathryn and I threw for Cliff while we were in grad school- November 2004.

Still engaged, ha. Easter, 2005

The photo we used for our engagement announcement, Spring 2005

June 4th, 2005- Cliff's reaction when he saw me in my wedding dress for the first time.

Oh, how I wish I could wear this dress every day!

Honeymoon in Playa del Carmen, Mexico

Last summer at the beach with Mimi in my tummy. We had just found out she was a girl and we were so happy!

Happiest day of our life. Our first family photo- October, 2008

Amelia's baby dedication, March 2009. We are still so thankful for her!

Happy Anniversary, Cliffy! I can't wait to celebrate on our cruise!

7 months!

Ok, I know it can't have been more than a week and a half ago that I was talking about her turning 6 months old. Seriously, this growing up thing is out of control! Technically, she was 7 months old yesterday, but we were much too busy enjoying our day for me to have time to post. Before I get to the pics (you can just cheat and scroll down if you wish), let's recap what she's up to this month for my own personal records.

The days are over when you could sit her down in the floor with some toys and she'd entertain herself. That was a nice 3 weeks while it lasted. Now, she immediately goes from sitting up into the crawling position and gets ticked off when she can't get where she wants to go.

She can also pull up now, but no one can convince her that she must master crawling first. She would rather you hold her hands or just let her crawl up on you and use your body for leverage. She thinks she is such a big girl. She just wants to stand and walk instead of crawl. All the other babies her age we know have walkers so I guess it's time we get one for her. Am I the only one who thought walkers weren't accepted by the American Academy of Pediatrics anymore? Oh well, it seems to be working for our friends so I guess we will get one too. Let's see if she likes it or if it'll be another wasted purchase. (See also: swing, bouncer, jumper and exersaucer.)

She is constantly babbling these days. To her Daddy's delight, her favorite word is da-da. She says it all the time. She throws out the occasional ma-ma, but it's usually when she's whining. I'll take it though. Her little voice is almost as adorable as her giggle.

And now for the photos. We took her swimming at Papaw Bob's pool yesterday on my wonderful afternoon off, and she loved it!

Is there anything cuter than a baby in a bathing suit?

Having a little wardrobe malfunction with the bikini top, ha! Don't you just want to blow raspberries on that adorable tummy?


All that swimming just wore her out! This is her lamb, Lovie that I have mentioned before. She just loves snuggling with him while she sleeps.

Cliff will be working at basketball camp at Co-Lin for the next couple of weeks so Amelia will be spending some time with Aunt Katie. I have a feeling they are going to be enjoying a lot more pool time while Mommy is at work. Our little girl is going to be a fish by the end of the summer!

True Story

I was buying groceries at Wal-Mart yesterday and as my cashier was ringing up several jars of baby food and some formula, she looked at me with a confused look on her face and asked, "You have to buy baby milk?" I wish I could convey the way she asked this question, but just suffice it to say, she was intrigued that I was purchasing formula for my child.

I respond, "Uh, yeah, why do you ask that?" She says, "I just figured you were on some government assistance or something." Feeling a little irritated, but also amused and baffled all at once, I ask her why she thought that. (I mean, I was wearing my t-shirt and ponytail look, but did I really look like I should be on welfare?)

She went on to say, "I just thought everyone who had a baby got WIC." At this point, I'm blown away that we are still having this conversation while she's ringing up my groceries. I had to inform this 17-year-old Wal-Mart associate that no, in fact, everyone with children does not get free "baby milk." If only that were the case, I would have so much more money to buy dresses and headbands for Amelia. She must be new, because seriously, was I really the first person she's seen in her line purchasing formula?

I won't get into my gripe about people who abuse the system, but what I really wanted to tell this young girl (who later told me she has 2 kids) that some people are actually married when they choose to have a child, have jobs, and then use the money that they earn from their jobs to purchase food and supplies for caring for that child. What a concept!

And just because no post is complete without a Mimi pic, here's evidence that someone enjoys her expensive "baby milk."