Monday, May 24, 2010

Maryn is 13 months old!

Lady M is 13 months old and is happy happy happy! How did I get so lucky? Summer arrives early down here and we are keeping ourselves busy at the pool, beach and playground. We've been taking swimming lessons and Maryn has proven to be a little fish. She loves the water and throws a fit when she can't go in. I swear she's gained 3 lbs in the last month! Still a wonderful eater and enjoys salmon, peanut butter bread, yogurt and whole milk. Her hair grows every day and I'm itching to get it into pigtails! Her daddy has taught her to kick a ball and mommy taught her to stack three blocks. She's learning to go down the stairs backwards and prefers to go up walking while using the handrail. She thinks she's hilarious and is constantly trying to make us laugh with her funny faces and dance moves. She roars like a lion and grunts like a monkey. She loves to play outside on her swing set and every morning after breakfast, she sticks her little fingers in the crack of the back door in hopes that she'll be able to pry it open to go swing. I live for her hugs. When you feel those little hands wrapped around your neck and her chubby little cheek pressed against your face, time stops and she becomes my everything. She is everything I ever dreamed my daughter would be.
Give Peace a Chance!
Maryn Amelia
13 months old


'Lovey' is her everything!
3lbs in a month, I swear! When you pack in graham crackers like this girl...
...this is bound to happen!
Don't you hate when this happens!

What thunder thighs??


Going to the pool used to be relaxing, now it's a wrangling event! She's fast and has no fear of the water!
I got 3 minutes to 'sit'...only because she was eating


Loves the sand

And loves her Nanny!
Happy Mother's Day 2010
a stick for Bode
Again, what thunder thighs?

Showing Uncle Tim all of her sand toys
Swim lessons
She got dunked day one!
...swimmin'...



we play 'keep away' from Bode
and 'chase' with daddy


This is her sign for eat. I can't open the pantry door without Lady M charging into the kitchen for a snack. The pantry door squeaked when you opened it...she would be in the other room, hear the squeak and come running with her finger to her lip. My mom oiled the door for us:)
Uncle Shawn got her this pink monkey and she thinks it's fantastic when I stick her on her back....she'll play with the monkey on her back.

And here's a video of her very scary lion roar!!!!!!!!!!!! (pause the music at the bottom to hear)

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Love of a stranger

This blog started as a means of therapy for me during a difficult time. I remember vividly when the doctor was confirming my sweet boys diagnosis of lymphoma...I heard her but I secretly believed that Bayley would beat it. If any dog could beat it, he could, and he would! I couldn't drive home from the vets office, I was numb. These things didn't happen to me. He was only 5 years old and he was my 'wing man', my selfless companion, my best friend and he was suppose to live another 10 years. 10 years! When you think about how long 10 years really is, you realize how cheated I felt. This blog was meant to help mend my heart and somehow through the pages of my words and the pictures of my boy, a couple hearts were touched. Perfect strangers started following Bayley's story...they fell in love with him. People I had never met, people from all corners of the country, people of all ages. They fell in love with his spirit without ever meeting him. That's something pretty special. He was pretty special. Bayley's spirit lives on. After he passed away, several of my friends made donations in his name to a couple different canine cancer research organizations...I'm telling you, he touched some hearts. Just last month, 7 days after Bayley's birthday, I got an email from one of those perfect strangers. Jamie wrote me the sweetest email about a golden retriever named Ricochet who actually surfs to raise money and awareness for human and animal causes. She saw the video on youtube, check it out...this dog rocks! Not only did she donate money to Ricochet's Canine Cancer Initiative through the Morris Animal Foundation, but she donated in Bayley's name. She submitted his picture and a quote from our blog so that his big black nose and his big brown eyes would never be forgotten. Let us hope that her donation will bring us one step closer to finding a cure. Thank you Jamie....for loving our Bayley and for loving the millions of dogs who have yet been diagnosed. As he has touched your heart, you have touched ours.
Thank you!
Check out our boy Bay! and make a donation to Surf Dog Ricochet
(he's the second to last good lookin' kid)

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Happy Mother's Day to all my ladies!

Happy Mother's Day to all my lovely ladies...grandmas, mom, mother in law, friends, cousins and aunts! You are all amazing women and I love you and gather all of my mothering skills from each of you. My momma has taught me how to love my daughter with my whole entire heart and to give every ounce of myself to her. When I'm tired and can only muster up enough energy to bathe myself, I look at Maryn and suddenly I'm Super Woman. She makes me Super!

Nanny's first glance
Grandma's first glance
"Come on mommy...there is so much to see!" ~Maryn
credit: Jennifer Bearden Photography
Love of my life
"I see who I want to be, in my daughter's eyes"
credit: Jennifer Bearden Photography
Happy Mother's Day to all you wonderful, strong & selfless mommy's and mommy's to be! My prayers are with those of you who have lost your mommy's and grandmommy's...and for those blessed women who have lost a child, born or unborn...you are a mommy from the moment you create or nurture life!
Happy Mommy's Day!

Thursday, May 6, 2010

This is not acceptable

You might remember my post about Children's/Infant's Tylenol recall several months ago. I actually had a couple people say 'thank you' because their children's Tylenol lot was on the recall list....well, they've done it again! McNeil Consumer Healthcare has recalled both Children's/Infant's Tylenol and Motrin because, get this,

I'm sorry people but this is totally unacceptable! Too much of the active ingredient!!? How does this happen? This infuriates me...we as parents are suppose to trust these products that have been on the market and 'trusted' by parents for years. Maryn had a fever for four days last week related to teething. I went to CVS to buy more Motrin and Tylenol. I treated with Motrin for 4 days and didn't even bother opening the Tylenol. My friend Laura sent me an email with a link to this list of recalled meds, and sure enough, our lot of Tylenol was on the list! Fortunately, I never gave it, but it boiled my blood just the same.
Repetitive accidents like these should not be tolerated and should not be left unpunished.
I wonder if McNeil has sent out an official apology to all the worried parents who were giving their medications to their sick children?
*update* My friend just informed me that Children's Zyrtec and Benadryl are recalled as well!

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Maryn is 12 months old!

What a difference a year can make!
I'm sitting here thinking back to this exact moment in time and I can feel the blood in my heart get warm and rush through my chest. The most miraculous moment of my life and a moment that I pray I will feel again. I couldn't do this just one time...if Mac would let me, I'd do it about 6 times:)
She was the most beautiful little creature I had ever seen, despite the cone head and mashed nose she had from sitting in my dilated cervix for a good 1-2 hours while the doctor delivered the baby in the next room...she was perfect!
Don't blink your eyes because 365 days will come and go and that little dark haired baby will turn into this.........
Maryn Amelia Cummings
1 year old
20 lbs 2 oz 30th percentile
28 1/4 in 20th percentile
head: 43 1/2 cm 8th percentile!
and still wears a size 2 shoe!!
Go shorty, it's your birthday
We gon' party like it's your birthday!
Maryn is really communicating with us a lot by using sign language...who ever figured out that hearing babies could learn to sign while at the same time accelerating their speech should receive the 'thank you, you've saved our lives award' from mommies and daddies everywhere!
Her independence is really starting to blossom and she enjoys playing by herself, wandering around the house carrying her purse and digging through my toiletry bag and tossing each hotel sized shampoo and conditioner into the bath tub. She's a sneaky little thing...I've found her bows hidden in her teapot and inside the oven drawer...what she doesn't know is that she will never be able to pull a fast one on me:)
She's a snuggler of all baby dolls, a kisses-for-free advocate and a dog loving freak!
Oh, did I mention she finally got a tooth! Last Wednesday, the long lost sucker broke through the gums!!! Teething is not fun for anyone...baby or parent. She had a low grade fever for about 4 days, irritable and covered in saliva. Just wondering if this is going to repeat itself for every tooth in her mouth?? Not sure I'll make it through 19 more teeth!
And though this trick may not be suitable for a normal child who teeth's around 7 months, it works for my one year old....frozen bagels!!

Can we say D.R.A.M.A ?
She's just not as compliant as she was at 3 weeks.
Right, not as compliant.
The season has finally arrived...lounging at the pool

On Maryn's birthday weekend, we went to see the US Navy Blue Angels fly over the Charleston Harbor...you can't help but feel pride when you see these Angels fly, what appears to look like inches from each other, through the sky.
How do they do this?


Hugs for Grandma
That Uncle Tim is so much fun
Uncle Nick and Great Grandma

Strollin' with Poppop




Then we headed to daddy's soccer game
Running down field....this girl actually kicks balls around the house but can't throw a ball to save her life. At Gymboree, I try to practice throwing balls with Maryn but she'd rather kick them.
Check out this awesome water/sand table that her friends Ella, Ashton, and Lauren got her for her birthday! We play with it every day!!! Maryn LOVES water and sand and mommy LOVES changing her sheets every other day from the residual sand that lingers.
be still my heart
Did I mention I want 6 of her
And for the next couple of months, you can find us here...