Happy Birthday!

Edie had a great birthday weekend (6 months)! Aunt Mindy and Chuck came to the pool on Saturday - then on Sunday her other Aunt Kelli, Uncle David and cousins Wyatt and Wesley came to play as well. Saturday we cooked out at a friends.

Scott and I are leaving Wednesday for Mexico! We are happy and sad. Happy to get away and relax, but of course sad to leave Edie. We know she will be well taken care of by her Nan and PawPaw - but we are still sad to leave her behind. It will be Scott's first time to be away from her for several days. Thankfully we have unlimited long distance calling to the US from our resort so we can check in often. I am sure my mom and dad will be tired of our calling by the end of the week!

Voting ends this Wednesday for Alabama's Most Lovable Baby. Please do not forget to vote for Edie!

Cousin Lovin

Edie had a great time with her cousins Wyatt and Wesley Sunday at the pool!

My First Ponytail

Edie had her first ponytail this weekend too!

Aaron Meets His Match

I think Edie may have found a new boyfriend. She could not keep her hands off of Bradan.

Our little munchkins!

Friends - Babies

My girlfriends, husbands and babies had a small gathering this weekend for our friend Nicole's homecoming. It is hard to believe we are all grown up and having babies! Congratulations to Amanda and Apple on their new bundle of joy! Merritt was born this past Wednesday - family is doing great!

Christmas in July

Edie wanted to share with you an early Christmas gift she received from her GiGi. Isn't it beautiful! GiGi cross stitched this by hand and had made into a wonderful stocking for Edie. GiGi has also cross stitched a little girl kneeling and saying a prayer for Edie. We have this framed in Edie's room. I will have to share with you another time since Edie is sleeping now.

It's A Girl!!

Congratulations to our good friends Jimmy and Vanessa Walters and their son Andrew. They learned today they are having a baby girl!! Edie is going to have so many girlfriends to play with!

Vote for Edie!!

Edie has been entered in the Alabama's Most Lovable Baby contest. The winner will be featured on the cover of Portico (a local magazine) and will win a photo shoot which would be great for her 1 year!! Voting is open until July 16th. You can vote by clicking on the "Vote for Edie - Alabama's Most Lovable Baby" link on the top right of the Blog. Voting takes about 2 minutes and you can vote as many times as you wish. There are so many lovable babies you may miss Edie - to help you will be looking for a picture similar to this one below. Thanks for your Vote!!

Look for This Picture of Edie

To end the weekend our friends Melissa and Tanner Bailey came over to visit. Their son Aaron is now 9 months old. He and Edie swam and played. As you can see from the pictures they are in love! Arron was so sweet as he kissed all over Edie. I think they both got a kick out of one another. And we got a kick out of watching them.

Dinner Party at Charlie's

Saturday night we went to our friends Ashley and Eric Caldwell's for a cookout. They have a beautiful 7 month old named Charlie. As you can see Edie found him very interesting. Charlie was kind enough to let Edie play in one of his toys. A cross between a walker and a exersaucer. We could not believe how well she held herself up and played alone with the toys. Scott and I are definitely getting her one of these this week. I think it gave her freedom to play and it made her feel secure at the same time. She loved it!!

Fireworks

We watched fireworks from our back patio. We had a great view of the show they had in downtown Helena. Edie slept through the whole event!

4th of July

We spent most of our 4th at the new neighborhood pool. We found Edie a great float with a shade which she really enjoyed!

Edie's First Taste of Cereal

We had so much fun feeding Edie cereal for the first time! She really seemed to like it! We were very impressed by her reaction to having something in her mouth other than milk. I am still not too sure I mixed it properly, it may have been a little thicker than it should have been. None the less she took it in her mouth, spit most of it back out and then inserted her hands. Yet when I would show her another spoon full she would remove her hands from her mouth for the next bite. By the end she wanted to do it herself and tried to take the spoon from me. A good sign of independence!!

Saturday we went to a birthday party for her friend Mack Jones. We swam, played and ate cake and ice cream. There were sooooo many babies there. Most of which were older than Edie. Soon she will be able to play with all of the rest of the big kids, but for now I am still enjoying holding her and her just being a baby.

Big Weekends - Past and Future

This past weekend Nan came into town to visit. While she was here Scott and I were able to go out on the town while Nan watched over Edie. As always Edie was an angel. On Saturday Edie, Nan and I went shopping around Birmingham. Edie, as usual was not interested in shopping and slept most of the time. Towards the end she did get a little grumpy and let us know that she was ready to head home. While we were out we gave her a little bit of my chocolate milk shake - which she promptly spit out.
Speaking of new foods for Edie. We have gotten the a-okay from two of Edie's therapist to introduce cereal. I am so excited! Although I wish Edie could just stay a tiny baby some days - I am anxious for the next step at the same time. I have made Scott promise that he will wait for me since I am out of town this week on business. It should be an exciting Friday night for the Shunnarah's. Not to worry, we will take a lot of pictures and share them with you. So check back on Monday for the results. Wish us luck!! I must say - I am looking forward to the messy face, clothes and floor!!

Edie's Big Weekend!

Edie had her first spend the night party at her GiGi's and Giddo's house last weekend. She did great! She slept through the night with no problems and had a good time. Scott and I slept in for the first time in what seems to be forever. We are grateful to have family so close that can watch her from time to time. The next spend the night party will be at her Nan's and PawPaw's in Billingsley. Scott and I are taking a vacation in July so Edie will be living in the country for a few days! It is great not to have to worry and to know that Edie is always in such good hands.

Sunday we all went to a cookout that was hosted by the Bell Center Ambassadors at the Bell Center. It was hot, but they had good food and entertainment. There were not as many people there as I had anticipated. I hope there will be a better turn out for the next functions so that we can meet more families.

The Bell Center

Edie has been attending The Bell Center in Homewood since she was six weeks old. This is an early intervention center where she will receive therapy until she is three years old. They provide therapy to children with DS, ones who were born prematurely and many others with special needs. In the toddler age groups they also include "typical" children. These are usually siblings of a another child who is attending the center. They say it is good to have this type of mixture because it allows each child to look towards one another for motivation.

This past spring we attended two times per week (we are now out for a two week break). During these times either a Speech, Occupational or Physical therapist would work with her for an hour each time. We (the parents and/or grandparents) would watch and learn different techniques to use at home to help with Edie's developmental skills. Each therapist as well as our Pediatrician are extremely pleased with her progress thus far.

Next week we will begin the Summer Program. Edie will still go two times each week but this time we will do the work and the therapist will assist us by answering questions and guiding us to reach specific goals. We will also be working along with two other groups at the same time. I am looking forward to seeing what Edie learns to do next!

Edie's Heart

A lot of you have asked how Edie's heart condition is and we appreciate all of your concerns and payers. We have great news to report to you since our last visit to Dr. Johnson at UAB. Edie's VSD is becoming smaller and smaller as she grows stronger and stronger! The Dr. even said that if it were not for her DS he would not even request to see her again until she was around the age of one. He said that very few children with DS get away with not having to have some type of surgery especially those with an obvious hole in their heart, but she may just be one of those special cases. You can see tissue starting to grow over the hole in her tiny little heart. Technology is amazing! We will see Dr. Johnson again in September. So until then we will continue to pray for her.