ML and Jane

Jane and Mary Laine after lunch in St. Simon's Island. What a pair!

Feeding the Ducks

Mom and I strolled back over the the duck pond this morning with 2
pieces of rye bread. The ducks actually ate out of our hands! Jane was
very brave and let a duck eat out of her hand as well. I think Mom had
the most fun. We were begging her to share the bread!

1st Movie

Jane had her first movie theater experience in St. Simons to Winnie The Pooh. She and her cousin, Mary Laine, were so cute sitting beside each other and watching. Jane was a little squirmy and sat in my lap for half of the movie, but overall she watched the movie. She talked a little, but considering there were only 4 other people in the theater and it was a children's movie, she was okay. Others in attendance: Papa Mike, Gran Jan, Lee, Kathryn and Lanie. We met up with Walker, Gary and Langdon for dinner afterwards at Brogan's North

Jane Update

A few things to note for the record:

• Jane is growing like a weed these days. She seems to have grown taller and thinned out. Her hair is longer and some days her eyes look more green than blue. All 4 I-teeth have cut through her gums (the bottom teeth are ahead of the top) and they still bother her from time to time.
• Her alphabet is getting much better and she can almost sing it without help. 
• She loves to sing! Her favorites are Itsy Bitsy Spider, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, ABCs, and You Are My Sunshine. She sings phrases of songs like, Under the Sea, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and The Hot Dog Song from Mickey Mouse
• Me-mer = Mermaid
• She enjoys the sand, but prefers the pool-especially jumping off the side.  I can't seem to get Jane to close her mouth when she jumps in though. She gets so excited when counting down that she jumps in with her head back and mouth wide open laughing. She will still go under water some times but regains her breath and wants to do it again. I also have been able to get her to lay the back of her head on my shoulder and extend her body out so that she is laying on her back on the water and I can dip some of her ear under water. She doesn't use foaties and we practice our kicking. We hope to get some swim lessons before the summer is over. 

July 18th:

Jane slept in a twin bed all night by herself!! The bed was pushed against a wall and pillows were arranged on the other side of the bed. I read her books and sang her our night time songs then slept in the bed next to her. This is the first time in forever she has fallen asleep and slept by herself. With all of our traveling this summer, sleeping arrangements have been difficult and she ends up in our bed by the morning. I know this is our fault, but it is something we are trying to put an end to so her sleeping by herself is every exciting for us. And for it to be a "big girl bed" is exciting too. She insists that she fall asleep with us next to her so we are trying to have time together in bed with books, etc but leave so that she learns to fall asleep on her own, even if it means crying it out. It has been very difficult. Since we are at the beach for the next two weeks, I am hoping that we will figure it all out! Fighting her for an hour for each nap and bed time is exhausting! Yep, she will scream and fight it for an hour!

July 21st:  Watching soundless videos on my phone, Jane realized she could turn up the volume by herself and once she could hear the video said "There we go!"  It made me giggle and think of how things are clicking in her mind.

July 22nd:  Learned to blow her nose! She closed her mouth and blew her nose into a tissue!

July 25th:  Informed us of her dirty diaper and that it needed to be changed! I hope she keeps up with this...

SSI: Dinner Out

Wednesday night all the Sturdivants on the island (Mike, Jan, Lee, Micajah, Grace, Ygondine, Neal, Sykes, Cindy, Walker, Walker Jr, Kathryn, Gary, Mary Laine, and Langdon) along with the Gary's brother's family (Andy, Kelly, Jacob, and Peyton), ate at The Blackwater Grill. Before leaving everyone put in their guess for when they thought baby Eleanor Sturdivant would arrive.

Lee, Jan and Mike







Lee and Jane with MaryLaine and Kathryn. It is so fun seeing Jane and Mary Laine play together. They are 9 months apart in age and we are 6 weeks apart, but watching them play together is so fun! They look just like we did when we were growing up together.

Saturday night, we ate at The Coastal Kitchen (Mike, Jan, Hyde, Lee, Jane, Ygondine, Neal, Sykes, and Cindy). It was delicious and I look forward to returning! Afterwards, we walked out to the pier for some pictures. Thank you Aunt Cindy!

(ole')

Aunt Cindy and BBQ

Before bedtime with Aunt Cindy

Southern Soul BBQ has been written up in several magazines and has been featured on several Food Network shows so we had to check it out for ourselves. It was delicious! We actually went back 2 more times during our trip to SSI. And oddly enough, the owner has been to Natchez for a good friend's wedding several years ago (to Liza Jones' wedding). Small world. We gave them a Mississippi license plate so if you ever go, look on the wall of plates for the Tallahatchie County shout out.

Biking in SSI

Jane's first bike ride. We rented bikes today and cruised all around St. Simons Island. We went from the Village to lunch at Southern Soul BBQ by the airport, and back to the Pier to play on the playground. Jane was a trooper (until it was naptime). Hyde and I were able to get back on our bikes while Jane napped at the condo and went back to the Village for the afternoon.