BAILEY IS WALKING!!!!!

Mine and Melanie's lives have changed dramatically since Bailey was born a little more than 10 months ago. Today, April 26, 2008, the winds of change have once again decided to blow in our direction.

It started last night when we were encouraging Bailey to take a couple of steps toward the two of us in the bedroom floor. She could stand on her own fairly well, but whenever she tried to take a step momentum and gravity took over and she would end up taking one or two more quick steps as she fell into our arms.

It seems that practice quickly makes perfect, though, because today, while at Ava's (Bailey's friend from across the street) first birthday party, Bailey actually began letting go of our hands and walking! After we got home Bailey decided to take a nap (b/c birthday parties are tiring) and then strut her stuff some more.

Check out the videos below:

Ready for Summertime

Mel and Bailey (a.k.a. Bae-Bae) went shopping at Target today and came home with a few summertime items for Bae-Bae. Don't be fooled into thinking that these items were a hit with the little one. She tried to pull them off, but, HA-HA, they velcro!

Cool shades aren't quite as cool when you have a three-inch string of drool hanging from your bottom lip.

Notice those two pearly white teeth!

Duncan needs protection from the sun's harmful UV rays, too.

It's hard to tell from the picture, but Molly was completely freaked out by the combination of the hat stuck to her head and the camera pointed at her. She is a strange dog.

Duncan didn't seem to mind it, though.

Easter - March 23, 2008

Today was Easter Sunday and, of course, Bailey was dressed to impress in a beautiful little Easter dress. We gave her her very first Easter basket and a present this morning. Then we went to church where Bailey celebrated our Lord Jesus Christ's resurrection from the grave by playing with toys, sucking down a bottle (a.k.a. "ba-ba"), and promptly taking a long nap. To cap it all off, she she hunted Easter eggs in the den during the evening. All in all, it was a pretty good first Easter.

Here's Bailey with her Easter basket and her Step Start Walk n' Ride. In the position you see it in now, the Walk n' Ride will help Bailey walk while giving her something to hold onto. However, it also collapses so that she'll be able to sit on it and scoot around the house. Right now, she just sits on it stiff-legged so that the only way it will roll is if we push her on the kitchen or hardwood floors so her feet will slide.

It didn't take long before had had enough of the pictures and started digging into the Easter basket. After all, there were sweet potato as well as peach-flavored Puffs in there. There was also a book and stuffed Easter Tweety bird that Grammy and Granddaddy sent her.

After church, we took some pictures on the church lawn. This was Bailey's first time to sit directly on grass and I don't think she ever figured out what was pricking the backside of bare legs.

I don't know why, but, for some reason this picture strikes a chord within my soul. One of God's most precious gifts, a baby girl, entrusted to Melanie and myself, in her first Easter dress, playing barefoot on the church lawn on Easter Sunday. I thought these types of things stopped happening when The Andy Griffith Show went off the air. In reality, they still happen all the time, but, with our busy lifestyles, we just have to look a little harder.

The Williams family.

Easter, March 23, 2008

Buncombe Street United Methodist Church

Greenville, SC

Pulling Up

Well, Bailey has been crawling for a couple weeks now and we think she has decided that walking is going to be the best way to get around because she is wasting no time in trying to learn how. It seems that as soon as she finally got the crawling thing down she all-of-a-sudden began pulling up on furniture, our legs, or pretty much whatever is within reach. She is growing so fast. As I'm sure every parent before us has felt, we love watching her develop and learn new things but we feel we are seeing our "baby" grow up a little too fast. Oh well. All we can do is sit back and enjoy.

Trip to Ripley's Aquarium in Gatlinburg, TN

A couple of weekends ago we met Gran & Pops and Uncle Kenneth & almost-Aunt Meg in Knoxville for a weekend of fun and relaxation. For a group that consists of four Alabama fans, one Auburn fan, and, I hate to admit it, one Tennessee fan, you wouldn’t think we would agree to meet in Knoxville and you definitely wouldn’t think we would willingly stay in a hotel within sight of Neyland Stadium, but the proximity to the cities in which we live, the fact that we got Mel‘s employee rate at the hotel, and, oh yeah, the overwhelming desire of the proud grandparents and aunt/uncle to spend time with the baby overshadowed everything else. (It‘s amazing how influential a tiny person who, at the time, could barely even say “da-da“ can be.)
During our stay, we decided to make the short drive into the East Tennessee mountains to spend a few hours visiting the Ripley’s Aquarium in Gatlinburg. Melanie, Bailey, and I have been to the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, which is considered the world’s best aquarium, and were surprised to discover that, while the Ripley’s Aquarium was smaller and didn’t have the big-time attractions like whale sharks and baluga whales, it was quite impressive and, in some ways, more enjoyable than the Georgia Aquarium, because we didn‘t have to fight huge crowds. Below are a few pics and some video clips (if I can get them to work) from our visit. Enjoy!

The good-ole’ family picture.

Bailey and Gran checking out some colorful fish. At the time of our trip to the Georgia Aquarium, Bailey was so young that she wouldn’t have cared less if we were in an airport terminal staring at prepaid cell phone cards, but at the time of this trip she was eight months old and was fascinated by the multi-colored fish swimming by. I predict a pretty cool saltwater aquarium in the future for the Williams household.

Bailey with her Gran and Pops, who definitely deserve a “Thank You” from all of us for setting up this weekend.

Above the surface of the shark tank was a huge, amazing mural of a tropical sky. Because the mural was too far away for my camera’s flash to reach, it looks like Bailey and Mel are hanging out at dusk in the tropics. By the way, yes, Mom, that is the shark tank behind Bailey, but there was a safety barrier out of sight between the edge of the water and the rocks Bailey is standing on so the only person at risk in this picture was Mel risking being spit-up on by Bailey.

There not whale sharks, but they’re big e-freakin-nuff for me!!! You can’t tell it in the pic, but these guys (or gals) were at least eight feet long!

Jellies + vinegar = lots of pain!!!

Lionfish. These fish are beautiful, but very poisonous. We won’t have any of these in our aquarium at home.

Crawling!!!

Poor Dunky

We're not sure how but Duncan injured his foot the other day and had to have his toenail clipped off near its base by the vet. In addition to being drugged and having his foot wrapped he got the pleasure of wearing this awesome lamp shade-looking thing for about 24 hours. He was none too thrilled. He couldn't actually get through the door of his kennel so we made him a pallet in the corner of the bedroom (where he sleeps most of the time anyway). He even got a heating pad to cover him because he had the chills when the drugs started wearing off.

He milked his infirmity for all it was worth by constantly giving us pitiful looks and whimpers. He acted more pitiful from having a toenail cut off than he did when he lost his manhood. Sissy.

Poor Dunky. He got to sleep on an extra soft pallet with pillows and a heating pad while Molly was locked in her kennel for the night with nothing but a towel. Spoiled. Definitely spoiled.