Thursday, October 30, 2008

Pumpkin Patch Overload

Well, I guess since it's almost Halloween I should go ahead and post some pumpkin patch pics. I LOVE pumpkin patches - I remember being pregnant with Maelie and crying at the thought of getting to take my little on one pumpkin patch fun days. That being said, we tend to go a little overboard. The first set are us and the Bankes' annual trip to Hall's Farm, then we went to the famous Flower Mound Pumpkin Patch with Grammy and Aunt Melisa, then we had one at school. We have had lots of fall fun!!






Maelie and Daddy in the cornfield - we take this one every year!









Driving the tractor and loving it!













The fam












Pumpkin faces








We couldn't believe there was a hippo you could ride on - Maelie thought it was the coolest thing ever!









Outside the pumpkin playhouse - yes, that's a pumpkin stem in her hand. It was the only thing she wanted to take home. She's a cheap date!












Wearing the Hippo costume at the pumpkin patch at school. Have you ever thought a hippo could be so cute?









Showing off the pumpkin she chose
















New Favorite Thing...

I have a new favorite thing that Maelie has ever done. Two nights ago she was feeling pretty bad so at 4:15 I let her get into our bed. Her eyes were closed and her binky was in her mouth and she looked her sweetest. I leaned over and kissed her forehead and said "I love you, Maelie" she never opened her eyes, but reached up and patted my cheek and said "I know, Mama." I think that response was even better than I love you, too!

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

The Pink Stays!

Yea!!! We got to see our baby yesterday and are 95% sure it's another little girl. Maelie has been saying that it was a sister all along, and it turns out she was right. We were even more excited to see how healthy she is - everything looked great and she measured almost to the exact day of her due date. She was pretty shy - for the longest time she had her little knees crossed and her face hidden. That is great in many ways - it could mean that she will be a great compliment to Maelie's personality :) and it also means that because of the way she was laying in hiding they could not look at her heart as well as they wanted to. The doctor assured us that she was not worried about it at all, but since she likes to get a really good look at the heart we get to have another sonogram next month and see her again - yea!

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Flutterby

YEA!! Two nights ago I finally felt this little one moving around in there. I love that feeling more than anything. I remember towards the end of Maelie's pregnancy feeling just a little sad that I would never feel her that way again, and am so excited to have 4 more months to feel this little one in my tummy. And, we only have 6 more days before we find out if it's a he kicking me or a she - I can't wait!! It seems like each day I'm SURE that it's one gender, and then within a few days am not so sure. Hopefully, the guessing will be over soon! I will be so excited either way, I'm just ready to know.

P.S. I will be changing the title of this blog eventually, but thought I might wait to see if I could leave the layout pink or not before changing things :)

Monday, October 20, 2008

Am I Forgetting Something?????

No, I have not forgotten that we're pregnant, Maelie has just been up to so much lately and this time the pregnancy has really raced by - I am in shock that are almost half way to meeting this new little person!!! I have been pretty sick for awhile, but it seems to be easing up a little. I still take medicine everyday, but at least the medicine has stayed down :) for awhile, that was not the case. I am so thankful that I have a sweet, compassionate husband and a VERY helpful mom or poor Maelie would probably be malnourished, dirty, and over-Mickeyed. We are so excited to find out if it is a girl or a boy - just a little over a week and we'll know!! I haven't felt this baby move yet, and with Maelie by this point I was feeling her a LOT each day, so we're ready to see him/her and make sure they're healthy, too. Kyle keeps saying maybe that means this will be a laid back baby - we'll see!
I have even felt good enough that Kyle and I went on a little weekend trip this past weekend. We stayed in a really fun place way out in the country that had an underground swimming pool and a gourmet restraunt on site. It was 20 miles from Fredricksburg, so we ate good, slept good and shopped good this weekend! It was great to get away and just hang out together. It was also good to have a little time to catch my breath and really think about being a mom again and get really excited
about our new little one.












A picture of my sweetie on our little getaway!

















After our great Italian dinner















I wish this picture would have turned out better so you could see how pretty and blue the water is. We had a great swim (well, Kyle swam and I sat with my feet in the water:)
You can see more photos of the place we stayed at troisestate.net - it was a great place to stay!

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Maybe it's working...

The other day Elizabeth was over and she got sad about something. It really stressed Maelie out, and she wanted to know all about it. I said "Yes, Elizabeth is sad. What could we do to make her feel better?" Maelie's eyes lit up and she said (direct quote, here!) "I know! We can wead her the Bible!" then she ran and got it and the two of them sat on the couch looking for Lazarus and the Tomb (her favorite). I thought it was the most precious thing Maelie had done to date!

Saturday, October 11, 2008

30 Things l Love About You!

Today is Maelie's half birthday and she has been doing so many new things I thought I would just list 30 things that I love about/am amazed about Maelie.





1. She's potty trained!! I can't believe how easy it was. She just decided to do it last month and we have been almost completely accident free ever since.


2. She says "God bless you, Mommy" every time I sneeze.


3. The other day I was telling her how pretty she was. I said "Do you know how pretty you are?" She nodded and said "Jesus make me so pretty!" Then there were Mommy tears...


4. She is such a talker! Some of my favorite things lately - "I'm going to give these flowers to Grammy 'cause I'm going to marry her" "it's my favorite in the whole wide world" "is my dada so handsome, just like Henry?"


5. She is obsessed with blue. She would eat anything, wear anything, play with anything blue. It's her "favowite"


6. She loves to laugh. She'll even fake laugh sometimes, but then she gets so cracked up at herself it turns into a real laugh.


7. She knows all of her abc's and the sounds that they make.


8. She doesn't really know that she's a kid - I really think she thinks that she and I are the same age. It makes for some very interesting stuggles and some very interesting conversations.


9. She loves to read her Bible. Her current favorite story is Lazarus and the Tomb.


10. She loves to do it by mysels, but she will ask for help when she needs it, too.


11. She just started saying "I love you, Mommy" spontaneously. Nothing warms my heart more.


12. She is a sweet little friend. Okay, mainly to Elizabeth, but to the people she considers friends she is very loyal.

13. She is so much like her Daddy that even when I am getting a little frustrated with her, I have to smile. She is so smart, so observant, so antisocial at times and she loves to be nekkid:) I love them both!!

14. Even if she doesn't always want to interact with people, she is a people person. Every night she asks who we are eating dinner with and talks about her friends (which always includes adults, too) all the time.

15. She has the strongest will of anyone I have ever met. I pray that it will be a blessing to the Lord as she stubbornly sticks to His word.

16. She loves to have her toenails painted.

17. She carries her "prinsheshes" everywhere in a little purse and pulls them out one by one, making me sing their song each time she does. Thank you, Rebellaires - I know them all!

18. She remembers things that I didn't even know that she noticed.

19. She knows the people closest to hers' eye color, favorite thing to eat, favorite color, etc. and she's working on their favorite prinsheshes.

20. She loves to snuggle when she sleeps in my bed.

21. She's obsessed with shoes, particularly the plastic dress up kind. She'll wear them until her feet bleed if you let her.

22. She is such a funny person. I love it when she is doing something just to make people laugh.

23. She is thoughtful. When Mommy's tummy is sick she always makes me pretend soup to make me feel better.

24. She loves to sing! She is constantly singing lately and I've been amazed at how many songs she can sing.

25. She is getting really good at expressing her emotions. She says things like "that was so much fun" "I'm so excited" "that will hurt my feelings"

26. She thinks I know everyone. Everywhere we go she asks me "What's her name, Mommy?" The cashier at the grocery store, strangers walking by, etc. It has made me a little more social. We now know the Chick-Fil-A lady, the lady at the donut store, several cashiers at Target, etc. by name.

27. She is such a girly girl! That's always the kind of daughter I wanted, but the other morning she came running out to meet me from Grammy's wearing princess jammies, blue dress up shoes, and holding her arms just so to keep her braclets on, and it made my day!!

28. She loves her Grammy. This is great for two reasons - one, that I love the fact that she loves my mom and has someone like her in her life, and two, I never have to worry about leaving her or feeling guilty - she would probably rather be with Grammy!

29. She loves being at church. If we haven't been there in a day or two (which doesn't happen very often) she'll say "I need to go to my chuch!"

30. She's made the last two and a half years of my life so exciting, so filled with love and laughter and joy. I cannot imagine life with out this precious person in it. The Lord blessed me in ways I never even imagined when he gave me Maelie.

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Our Family Just Grew!

Well, it finally happened - I'm down to one husband. For a long time people called Kyle's brother, Matthew, my "other husband" because the three of us were together so much. Especially in the early years of our marriage, we spent most of our free time with Matthew. As much as I love him, I always wished for a girl partner-in-crime to help me stop getting outvoted on pizza, Al's hamburger trips, lame guys movies, etc. and keep me company as I sat squished up in the back seat of our Mustang. The minute I met Melisa, my new sister-in-law as of this weekend, I knew that she was it. I have always said that whoever Matthew married would be my best friend no matter if I liked her or not. Because I loved Matthew so much and loved the relationship that he and my husband have, I was bound and determined that I would MAKE myself love whoever he married. Again, the minute I met Melisa I knew that this would be no forced friendship. She is such a sweet compliment to him and to our family, even to the circle of friends that we share. I'm so excited to have a sister and friend for life that I truly love!! The first time I sat shoulder to shoulder with her, squished in the backseat of the Camry, I got warm fuzzies - makes me not even mind being down to only one husband :)

Here are some pictures of her and what is undoubtedly the cutest flower girl I've seen:

Getting ready with Aunt Melisa













Who has the handsomest Daddy in the world?
Maelie!












Getting ready to walk down the aisle.













Who's happier? Uncle Matthew to have a wife, or Mommy to have a new sister? Hmmm, it may be a toss up....

Aren't they cute?!