one and one-half years...

Dear Merit Fey,

Happy 18 months! I do not even know where to begin. With each new phase you enter, I think, "Oh, this has been my favorite." And, here I am again, thinking that we have had the most fun yet, but I am positive that tomorrow, and the next week, and the month after that, you will prove me wrong with your ever-growing cuteness.

A lot has happened since your first birthday in March.

In April, you had your second Easter. The year before, you were a day old in the hospital on Easter, so it was fun to watch you find your Easter basket and to go to church with you this year.

In May, we made a visit to Texas and to see your great-grandparents in Oklahoma. We also made the first trip to the pool for the summer. The pool picture confirms that you look mostly like your Daddy.

In June we made another trip to Texas, and you got your first pair of Chucks.

In July, we celebrated the Fourth of July with the Harrisons in Franklin, and you discovered your love for coloring with markers and crayons.

August brought another trip to Texas (you have flown 10 times in your 18 months), as well as a trip to the Wilson County Fair. Again, there you go looking like your Daddy. Biting your bottom lip and everything!

This month, I have noticed more than ever how you are no longer a baby, but a little girl. And a girly-girl at that.

You love babies of all kinds...in pictures, on TV, at the park in strollers ("beh-byyyy!!!")... but you especially love your own. You have been pushing them around in your stroller and will stop every once in a while to tell them you love them ("iiiiii la YOU!"), and then give them kisses. Such a good little mama.

This month you got to see all four of your great-grandparents at once while we were in Jackson at your Grammy and Popsy's house. You are one blessed great-granddaughter!

Your joy is contagious, and I am actually learning so much from you. You are beyond friendly. At your 18 month check-up, when Dr. Brooks was leaving, you reached out for him to hold you, and you didn't want him to leave. It absolutely made his day, and he said that he didn't think that had ever happened with any of his toddler patients before, and he has been a pediatrician for close to 20 years. You truly have such a loving spirit.

We are so proud of you, Merit girl. I am amazed at how quickly you are learning these days, and I love hearing the new words you pick up each day. We hear you say "Wassat?" about 100 times a day, but it is so cute that we don't mind. You love books and letters, and you like to "name" the letters you see. Yesterday morning we found you reading a book when we went in to get you. Here you are naming some letters, as well as asking your favorite question...

So, Happy Half Birthday, baby girl. You'll be two before we know it! Know that your Mama and Daddy love you more than we ever thought possible. You are truly beautiful inside and out!

much love,

your mama

redbud giveaway (for a good cause!)

This week I am hosting a giveaway over at Redbud to benefit Dry Bones Denver. The winner will receive a complete blog makeover, as well as a Dry Bones t-shirt!

For more information about Dry Bones, go HERE. For more info about the giveaway and instructions on how to enter, go HERE. Thanks so much, dear friends!

(My parents especially thank you for your support of both Redbud Designs and Dry Bones Denver! :)

nina + papa + cousins = love

Last month my parents came to Nashville for a few days. One day we ate ice cream in downtown Franklin, and Merit ate enjoyed adored her first real ice cream cone.

Merit and I decided to go back to Texas with my parents for a week or so. My brother, Paul, and sister-in-law, Lori, were going to Hawaii for 8 days, so my parents were keeping my nieces, Macy and Zoey. Nina and PaPa did a great job and made the week so fun for their grandgirls. Merit basically had sisters for a week, which when you add in all the other fun stuff...root beer floats, popsicles, pools, ice cream, a yard with sprinklers...I'd say she loved just about every second at Nina and PaPa's.

This collage is pretty chaotic, but what trip to Target with 3 little girls isn't?

 

the Abilene Zoo!

It was so fun to see Merit and Zoey play (and fight...just a little) with each other. Zoey is 4 months older than Merit so they will be in the same grade growing up. I see a shared ACU dorm room in their future. :)

 

Macy was my first niece ever, and she and I are buddies. I cannot believe that she has now started kindergarten! I had such a fun time with her. Nina, Macy and I went to see a movie one day while PaPa kept the "babies", she was my ticket partner at Gattiland, and we snuck away just the 2 of us to get snow cones. I was honored to be with her as she checked out her class list for the first time and attended Meet the Teacher night at her school. She was precious checking everything out for the first time. (Lori, I will send you these pics very soon!)

all merit, all the time

As I am working on posts from...

...the week in Abilene

...and our night at the fair,

enjoy some cuteness while you wait.

-singing her "A E Eh's" and other fun in the tub-

-kitchen dancing-

have you seen counting crows lately?

Kevan and I have! A couple of weeks ago, Kevan and I were able to go see them play here in Nashville at the Ryman Auditorium. My parents were in town, so while we went to see one of our favorite bands play, Merit got to stay home with some of her favorite people. I've been a CC fan for literally half my life, so you can imagine the excitement that surrounds such an occasion. Their concerts never disappoint, especially not in a place like the Ryman, so fun was had by all.

There was an intermission...

radnor lake and lilyyyyy

Radnor Lake is, hands-down, one of my favorite things about Nashville. It is beautiful and makes you feel like you are way far out of town, even though you are actually smack dab in the middle of it. Merit loves this place, too. We have taken her there since the beginning of her days...

Even then she was enthralled by all the trees and would always be relaxed into sleep on our walks.

Now that she can walk and run and point and talk ("Wassat?" "Wassat?" "Wassat?"), she has the best time at Radnor. And I so enjoy watching her enjoy it. Here she is a couple of weeks ago...

I took those pictures right before our friends Heather and Lily came to join us for a walk. Lily is about a month older than Merit, and we have loved getting to know the Deyos over the past year. Sadly, they moved to Chicago last week, so this was Merit and Lily's last time to hang out as residents of the same city. Merit loves Lily and always says her name with a huge smile - "Lilyyyyy!" (When I talk to her about how Lily is in Chicago, Merit will say, "Lilyyy. Cago.") :)

I caught some video of the girls having a conversation before our walk. (I can't get enough of Merit's "talking" these days...is it bad that I kind of want her to keep talking jibberish for a while?) Toward the end, you can hear Lily say an actual sentence or two about her Mama coming back, and Merit responds, "Cookie!" Your guess is as good as mine, Lily. :) (Turn up your volume and try to ignore me.)

And a walk down Lily and Merit Memory Lane...

We'll miss you, Deyos! We wish you all the best in Chicago. And we promise to come visit, but only when the temp is out of the negatives. :)

it's 12:30 am...

...and I'm thinking about you.

Thinking about how you're my boy and being away from you is hard on this girl. Thinking about how proud I am of you and how much I truly believe that you can do anything your heart desires. Thinking about how cute your dimples are and how I like to watch you and study your handsome face when you may or may not know that I am. I'm thinking about what a good Daddy you are, like I knew you would be, and how I get butterflies when I see you carry Merit--our daughter--up the stairs, her little feet dangling at your sides, or when I hear you talk about how you feel about her. I'm thinking about these things.

And I miss you.

a wedding!

May must have been the most fun month ever, because I am still talking about it. The weekend after we got back from Oklahoma, my dear friend, Nina (known as Lauren to some), got married here in Nashville (Franklin, to be exact). Any occasion that gets my best friends from college together is a welcomed one, but it doesn't get much better than the occasion being a WEDDING. Kyla, Katie, and Kasey stayed with us, which made me so very happy. Nina was absolutely stunning, and her wedding was perfect--neither a surprising fact. I couldn't be happier for her and Jared.

Congrats, Mrs. Attig!

oklahoma was more than OK!

Not this month, or last month, but the month before that one, we were able to go visit Grandma and Grandpa, Kevan's grandparents who live in Tyrone, Oklahoma. Only, now they live in Tennessee, which was the reason we went...to see their place in Oklahoma one last time. For Merit and I, it was our first time to go there, and

I absolutely loved it.

Sometimes I wonder if I was born in the wrong time period. As a little girl, I read and re-read Laura Ingalls Wilder books, fascinated even then by life on the prairie. Simple. Not easy, but simple. Kevan's grandpa's family has been on this land since the early 1900's. The old house that Grandpa grew up in still stands close by their most recent house that they built into a hill. All kinds of old things were still in the old house and barn. If you know me at all, you know I was in heaven. I was so thankful that we were able to go. It meant a lot to Kevan, and I loved that Merit was able to see where her great-grandparents (and great-great grandparents) had lived for so long.

She, too, was in heaven. There was attention galore from Grammie, Great-Aunt Pam, and Great-Grandma, wide-open spaces to roam about, Grandma's cookies were handed to her left and right, wheel-barrow rides with Popsy and rides on the lawn mower with Great-Grandpa were frequent, and there was even an Uncle Tanner to play with.

I had only ever driven through Oklahoma. I was surprised at how beautiful it was. I have to think that part of the reason I loved it so much was because of how it reminded me of Texas. Especially the sunsets. Below, we are up on the "roof" of the newest house, looking out into their incredible backyard.

Grandpa let us shoot his gun. I showed the boys a thing or two. :)

The foundation of the school where Grandpa went is actually on their property behind their house. Kevan's dad showed us all of his old stomping grounds around the nearby town, Hooker, Oklahoma, complete with an Albright Street!

The house where Grandma and Grandpa lived most recently was really great. As mentioned before, it was built into a hill. The bedrooms had no windows, so Merit slept until 9:30, a new record.

I loved the old house. (Except for the snake that greeted me on the bottom of the stairs in the old house. I love old things, but not old snakes.)

Since they were moving, they were holding an auction to sell a lot of things they wouldn't be able to bring to Tennessee. They graciously let us have a few things before the auction started. Merit got an adorable little tea set, and we brought home several old magazines and books that were found in the old house--some even had little boy Grandpa's handwriting as he practiced his name and numbers.

On the way back, we drove through Texas one last time, and we stayed in a hotel as a family of three for the first time.

Grandpa told me that one of the things he will miss most about that place is the freedom you feel out there, and in the short 24 hours I spent on their land, I totally got that. I am trying to convince Kevan that Tyrone is going to be the next Music City. A house built into a hill would be a great recording studio, don't ya think? You definitely wouldn't have to worry about bothering the neighbors...