In Marysa's efforts to learn to crawl she has discovered pilates. She gets up on her tip toes and hands, as you can see in the picture. Recently she has learned to get on her knees and hands, after she does her pilates routine of course; but she just hasn't got going yet. I know it won't be long and she'll be off and crawling. Again...they grow up so fast! 
Marysa's sunflower has bloomed! Look at how tall it is...Marysa loves to look at it and feel the leaves. I love her smile in this picture.
Marysa enjoyed Bible class so much on Sunday night...especially since Grammy teaches the class. Marysa really listened and loved touching all the animals and other things they were learning about. However, Marysa ate her Bible so we will have to work on that one.
Josh fed Marysa the other night and I had to get this picture when she was done...enough said! 
Josh bought me a charm bracelet with a charm of a girls head with Marysa's name on the front and her birthday on the back. I LOVE IT! It is so special to me. Josh said that Marysa and him can continue to get me different charms on different occasions such as my birthday and such. I'm excited to fill the bracelet up with different charms, but the most special one will always be my first one. Thank you Josh. You are the best husband and daddy in the world! I love you!
...courtesy of our one and only, and not to mention WONDERFUL photographer, Nancy! Thank you Nancy!
Gabriella is visiting and her and Marysa got a chance to play today... FINALLY after all our yucky colds. They had a great time! Marysa just laughs and laughs at Gabriella. Oh and the big cucumber...remember the garden we planted many many post ago. Well it is doing very well and as you can see we missed a cucumber when we were picking the vegetables. It is a "little" oversized. We all ate it and it didn't taste too bad. I had to get a picture of Marysa with it just to show how big it was. So if you need any oversized veggies just let us know!
Marysa had fun playing in daddy's new K-9 car today! I think we have a future K-9 on our hands...she has already learned how to turn on the sirens and push all the buttons!
No...no...no...I am not pregnant! Josh has been assigned to the Madison Police Department's K-9 Department as their K-9 officer. So...yes that means we will be getting a big ol' dog! We are pretty sure it will be a German Shepherd. This is Josh's dream job...since the day I met him he has always wanted to be a K-9 officer, and now he is. We are so happy for you Josh and proud of you! CONGRATULATIONS!
Grandma and Grandpa Strickland came to visit this week and we had such a good time, even though Josh, Marysa, and I had a cold! This was Marysa's first cold. Here are a few pictures from our week together:
Here is Marysa, me, and my mom before our morning walk.
This is what you look like after Grandpa finishes feeding you! Marysa loved getting messy! 
Marysa got a new bath tub and she loves it! The duck even quacks. Thanks Lori Holder for passing down this great bath tub. Marysa is not actually taking a bath in this picture...as you can see. We put her in there to play before giving her a bath in it, and she thought it was great!
Marysa is 6 months old today! Where did the time go? It seems like just yesterday I was sitting in the hospital bed holding her and admiring the precious little girl I had been carrying for 9 months and now she's eating baby food, sitting up, and is beginning to develop her very own attitude...I mean personality. Me and Josh joke about how we think she will definately be the "class clown". On a more serious note I've done a lot of thinking these past couple days leading up to our baby turning half a year old. I've mostly done a lot of thinking about what type of mother I always said I would and wouldn't be and what type of mother I am. Before Marysa I was the one who believed that all kids needed is a good spanking and that my child will NEVER sleep in the bed with me and that babies need to be on a schedule and well this list could go on an on, but I won't bore you with my deep thoughts and my "hard to face" reality that my baby is growing up. However, the type of mother I am is completely different. I look at Marysa and I think how could I spank her...yes I know one day I will see how I can spank her but right now I'm not ready to take that step. Don't get me wrong I do believe in spanking. Next, Marysa does get in the bed with me sometimes and it is the best thing in the world snuggling with her and waking up to her little hazel eyes staring into mine. It's so sweet how she reaches out to touch me or Josh just to make sure we are still there and then she quietly drifts back off to sleep. Alright now I'm going to cry. And the whole babies on a schedule thing I threw out the door before she was a week old. Marysa is our life right now and I've followed her lead on a schedule and she is doing just fine, and so are we. So I've said all that to say that we aren't always the mothers or fathers we said we would be. Babies change us...for the better. We become the parents our children need us to be and each child is different-making every parent different. The picture above we took because we planted a sunflower seed in our garden for Marysa and I often sit on the front porch rocking looking at the sunflower and how fast it has grown and it reminds me of her and how quickly she is growing. Of course as you can see the sunflower has outgrown her a little...I'm thankful she isn't growing THAT fast! We love you Marysa and Happy 6 months Birthday!
Josh has started calling Marysa a "cool cat". This picture proves just how C-O-O-L she is. I took her on a wagon ride today and she kept pulling her hat off with the bill in the front so I turned it around backwards.
Josh and I took Marysa swimming today at Prissy and Chris Ash's pool, which are friends of ours. It's really pretty neat...Josh and Chris both used to live in Illinois and spent a lot of their younger years together. Now they both live here in Athens, AL and his family lives about 2 miles down the road from us. Anyhow...we took Marysa over there swimming and go figure I forgot my camera! So this picture was taken on my phone. Marysa loves the pool. She kicks and loves to ride around in her float. Thanks Chris and Prissy for letting us come and enjoy your SUPER NICE new pool!
This is what I woke up to find after I gave Marysa to Josh to watch her so I could catch another hour of sleep before having to get up to get ready for work.
