Fun Spring Weather

Of course- playing with baby
Having a snack

Posing by Mamaw's tree

Showing off her walking skills- her grandparents (both sets) have amazing grass to walk on- ours is still the dry sod from the winter- it has not turned into wonderful grass yet

She found this chair and claimed it as her own- no one else could sit in it- Clint and I went out and bought her a chair for her very own after this to take to the beach- it is soooo cute!

Playing in the sprinkler with Pops- she doesn't like it to go much higher than this

Look at that belly!

Apparently Pops is teaching her how to drive at 14 months- I said absolutely not to the Harley so the next best choice (in Pops' mind)- the riding lawn mower up and down the street.

She loves straws

Lately she likes to play with a cup of water and straws at my parents- maybe she is going to be a scientist and this is the beginning of her experiments

We have loved the weather being warm. She has played outside so much. Bubbles, water, grass, her cars, sidewalk chalk it is all so much fun. The outfits she gets to wear in the warm weather are so cute- boy do they accent her thighs- it is quite funny! Things are pretty much the same. She is trying so hard to talk. She loves to talk about animals the most (label them and then tell what noise the animal makes). She can now do the hand motions to The Itsy Bitsy Spider, If You're Happy and You Know It, a Christmas Song that we sing at work (Must Be Santa) and a caterpillar song we sing at work (I'm a Hungry Caterpillar). When I come home from work with a theme or song in my head Melanie in turn learns whatever my kiddos are learning. Melanie is hitting much less- thank goodness- I hated that phase. She has to get really frustrated now to hit. She has learned to say banana (kind of). Now she shakes her head no to every food and says banana and points to where we keep them. She has been eating 1-2 bananas/day. At least she is obsessed with a healthy food.

New Pictures

We are growing her bangs out- I waited until highschool- it was not cute. I will save her the pain. Look at all of her teeth!

I feel like she looks like my mom's side of the family in this picture- she has my upper lip (or lack there of!)

She loves purses- she has them everywhere. She loves to collect things in them and then carry them around.

Look at her up on her tiptoes. She can get into EVERYTHING!

She is facinated with books that have photographs of objects. She especially loves books that have many photographs that she can scan and point to certain objects. She is getting pretty good at it to. One of her books has 18 objects per page and you can ask her to find the _____ and she will point to it- genius!

Getting her baby situated on her bike.





Now they are both ready to go.

New Pics

She loves clothes and carrying them around. She loves when I finish a load of laundry and throw it from the dryer onto the floor. She will wallow in the laundry until I have folded it all. However, she does NOT love for you to change the clothes on her babies. In her mind they should always have on the same clothes.
Showing us where her belly button is located.

Playing with sidewalk chalk.

Taking a walk with daddy. She is so funny walking now. She is great on flat surfaces but hills (even very small) are hard for her. Our driveway is considered a hill to her. Today my dad came over and we were playing in the backyard where there is a small hill. She wanted to get down the hill to my dad. So, she treated it like she does the stairs. She got down on her belly and scooted backwards down the hill on her belly until she got to my dad and then stood up. How silly!

With the amazing weather we have been outside quite a bit. Here are some cute pics

Bizarre Week

Quick Update for those who have called with questions:
For about 1 1/2 weeks now I have been having cramps and pretty bad pains in my sides. I really tried to ignore them and treat them with Midol and/or Tylenol waiting on them to go away. They started to hurt so bad I couldn't carry Melanie but I continued to wait on my body to fight them. However, Tuesday night they hurt so bad I couldn't sleep and I developed a temp. and nausea. The next day at work I was pretty useless and exhausted. So, after work I went to my OB/GYN thinking I could get some antibiotics and go on about my day. She couldn't find anything wrong and thought that maybe I had a cyst on my ovaries and scheduled an ultrasound for the following week. I told her I couldn't wait that long that I was in too much pain and I knew I had a temp. So, she took my temp and evaluated my pain again and thought maybe it was appendicitis. So, she sent me straight to the hospital. I was a little nervous by that point. Clint took me up to the hospital and my parents came as well. At that point I was admitted and I after drinking what seemed like 6 gallons of nasty sweet chalk water I had a CT scan. Once the results came back (late Weds. night) they realized it was not my appendix. (Oh- I forgot to mention they did a pregnancy test too- no baby!) At that point they started drawing lots of blood for various tests and realized my bilirubin count was high so they called in a GI to look at my liver. However, there are different types of bilirubin and my count for whatever reason was not the type that he is concerned about (he explained it to me but I can't re-explain) so then they called in an Infectious Disease Specialist. After more and more tests on my blood and urine they finally after 2 days and 1 night realized it was a blood infection that probably started as a urinary tract infection. Apparently blood infections can be pretty serious but since I am an otherwise healthy young person my body (along with strong antibiotics) can probably fight it off without complications. So, they kept me in the hospital to monitor me and give me antibiotics for one more day and night and make sure I was fever free for at least 24 hrs. I was so ready to get out. I was originally on a liquid diet followed by a bland diet b/c they were not initially sure what was wrong and they wanted to make sure there was not anything they were going to have to go in and do. So, now I am home. I get tired VERY easy but it is not easy at all to sit back and know what all needs to be done in the house and with Melanie. I am off of work until Wednesday. Hopefully it will be fine. I still have some side pain and nausea but no fever. So, that is my drama. I have to go back to the Infectious Disease Doctor next week to check all of the labs b/c they were not 100% sure that a UTI caused my blood infection and I didn't want to stay another night to wait on lab results. I also have to make sure the antibiotics are working and my infection is not resistant to them. I am going back to my GYN in a few weeks and they are going to run some more tests to check my liver function. But hopefully I am in the recovery phase and this crazy drama will be over.

Cute New Pics

How does this thing work...
I picked up a boyfriend at the park

Playing on the slide

wobbling along

enjoying the swing

playing with Mamaw on the Harley

Hey ya'll!

High Five Ya'll!

Yet again with the babies- it is constant!

Hey everyone- things are pretty much the same at the Gilbreath household. Melanie continues to love her babies and books. She also has discovered she loves her paci even more than she use to - great...that will make for a fun withdrawl period! She went to a birthday party for her neighborhood friend Blake today- he turned one. She had fun being around all of the children including her best friend Caroline. Walking is continuing to go very well. She had a bit of a cold this past week. Her temp got pretty high on Wednesday and then she has been extra sleepy, cranky, and picky with food since. I hope it passes quickly! She is still in the hitting phase. Shelby and myself are her favorite targets. Oh, also her best friend Caroline. Poor Caroline gets hit alot. We are doing our best to break her of this AWFUL habit. Hopefully her language will continue to develop (I'm teaching her as many signs as possible too) to get her to tell us what she wants instead of hitting. She now wakes up and signs "eat more" so she can immediately eat. She also correctly shakes her head for "no." She uses this often- we really know what she wants and doesn't want these days. She pooped in the bath again last night- lovely! She had a huge poot (with bubbles and everything) and I knew it was coming. Melanie thought the poot was quite funny and was laughing and then proceeded to poop. YUCK!!!! Clint called in for Daddy rescue for that lovely episode. Other than that everything is pretty much the same.

Happy Valentines

I hope everyone is having a great Valentine's Day. Just a quick update. Melanie is continuing to turn into a big girl. She is saying more things and is trying so hard for us to understand her. However, often times we cannot and she now will try to hit us or throw something in which we tell her "no" and she cries- drama! Sometimes, now though, she knows that hitting is not okay so she will hit herself- so silly! Hopefully this will be a short lived faze! Guess what...now she is officially walking. She started taking consistent steps about 2 weeks ago and every day is getting more and more brave. She gets herself in the standing position and will walk wherever (especially if it involves food or babies!). A couple of days ago she was playing outside with her friend Caroline and the school bus drove by. Caroline ran to catch up with the children getting off the bus and Melanie took off after her. There were quite a few independent steps then she started going so fast on the sidewalk that I held her hand. But, I only have to hold one hand and off she goes. She enjoys walking to the mailbox and opening it to find "Melanie Mail" (junkmail) that she has a field day with. She is continuing to sleep great and eat great and even enjoys cow milk now. So, other than a few behavior issues everything is wonderful. Have a Happy Valentines!

Other pics-Playing at the park

2nd Day of School/ 1 yr Dr. Appt.

Taking care of all of her babies- she LOVES babies right now and puts as many together as she can
She puts them down covers them up and then says "Shhhh!"

Showing her stair expertise

She takes her babies everywhere!

Checking out Mamaw's groceries

Hummmm, what's in here?

Well, after a month in the making Melanie finally had her 2nd day of school. She was sick and then we went out of town so it took a little while but it finally came. Yet again Melanie had a great day. My dad took her this time and she was fine with him leaving and jumped right down to play with the toys. She was tired by the end again b/c she would not nap at school but the teachers are great and were holding her and rocking her. So all in all a great 2nd day.

Melanie also had her 1 year old doctor appointment- it is so hard to believe! I took the day off to spend with her. She did fairly well at the doctor. She did not like being checked, weighed, or given shots, but who can blame her? She weighed 22 lbs. Her height and weight are in the 60th percentile and she still has a little head which is in the 25th percentile. She is meeting all of the developmental milestones and progressing along perfectly. She is not walking but she is definitely trying! She pulls up and cruises along and will sometimes let go but she still loves to crawl. The doctor was glad she was off the bottle and encouraged us to let the pacifier go in the next 6 months- we'll see.... Melanie was a little sore after her 3 shots but she was great fun to play with the rest of the day. I am getting over my 1st sinus infection so it was fun to just sit around the house and play. All in all everything is going great. Here are some recent pictures.

Sad News

This past weekend Clint's grandmother passed away. We went to Mississippi on Tuesday for the viewing, the funeral on Wednesday and visiting with family on Thursday. Though we enjoyed seeing all of our relatives it was sad it was under such circumstances. Melanie was on her best behavior and was a small light of happiness in an otherwise upsetting situation. I hope everyone has recovered from their illness. Please keep Clint's dad and his family in your thoughts during this time. THANKS!

SORRY

Dear Party Friends-
Thanks for coming to Melanie's party- I know you all were not thinking you were going home with a bonus favor- a virus! Melanie apparently caught something at school on Tuesday from a little girl who the teachers told me was well (but apparently not). Melanie was sick Thursday but I thought (hoped....) that she was well for her party. I thought (hoped...) that she was not contagious. Mom got sick on Friday so I am not sure who the party carrier was but I am so sorry for all who came down with the stomach virus. Melanie did not have a temp and was acting like herself so I thought (hoped...) all was good. I did not want to cancel her first birthday party. But, Clint (who also caught it Saturday night) and I are SOOOO SORRRRY to all caught the dreaded stomach villain. To save you a call to the dr., Melanie's told us on Thursday to: not give meds (even for a slight fever) and give the following in the 1st 24 hours of the virus: Pedialyte, bananas, rice, applesauce, toast. But, again we can't apologize enough- just know it is short lived, but apparently highly contagious. SORRY SORRY SORRY!

1st Birthday

Here is my cake- it matched my invitation perfectly- the ladies at Publix were amazing!
Playing in the wagon Pops and Mamaw gave me with my princess pal Caroline
Playing instruments with my friend Zach
I love opening presents!
Catching bubbles with Nana

The first feel of cake
Starting to dive in
Yummmm!
Let's go!
No need to wait- eat it all in one bite!
Wahoo- this is delicious and fun!

Melanie's first birthday was a blast! She had so much fun. There were presents galore. Melanie was a little tired of presents by the time they were over but she got such amazing things. Toys, instruments and clothes- much needed clothes!!! And, surprisingly enough, Melanie loves clothes! We had family and friends and quite a few kids: our neighbors Caroline, Drew, and Blake and our friends (and school mates) Grace and Zach. All of kids got along so well. Melanie dove right in the cake- literally. It was quite a sight. The pictures speak for themselves. Thanks to everyone who helped out, gave gifts and celebrated with us. We appreciate everything you all did not only today but the whole first year!