Tagged!

Okay, so clearly I have way too much time on my hands if I can post twice in about an hour, but Maelie is sick sick sick and hasn't been able to sleep in a few nights so if she's sleeping, Mommy's being super quiet. There, now I have an excuse :)

Mindy tagged me so here it goes!

4 things I did yesterday
Went back to work (LOVED it! Missed it! Wish I could have stayed longer!)
Took Maelie to the doctor (put her on breathing treatments - yea...but thankful to be able to take her!)
Watched 15 episodes (or something like that) of Mickey - had forgotten how much I loved the guy!
Ran to the grocery store so that we can hibernate today, but now Maelie keeps telling me that Grammy would really make her better. I think she's ready to get out of the house.

4 thing on my wish list
A name for my baby
A finished nursery
A healthy Maelie
A night out with my sweetie - maybe Thursday!

4 restraunts I like
Jason's Deli
Outback - man, this girl is missing a really rare steak!
Mercardo Juarez (hmm, Thursday again?!)
Celebrity

4 TV shows I like
Gilmore Girls (is it a like, or an obsession?)
The Office
House
Jon and Kate Plus 8 - makes me feel like my life is pretty easy :)

4 People I tag
Val
Lauren (though she may have given up blogging)
Kasey
Jennifer

29 weeks?!

December went by so fast it makes it hard to believe we're already almost 30 weeks pregnant. Yikes! It makes it feel like this little one will be here tomorrow! Kyle has been working for days to clean out the garage, so that we can clean out the playroom, so that we can finally have a nursery. I'm so ready! It will still be a week or two until the bedding arrives, so I'm at a bit of a standstill -I want to have it in hand when I choose the paint colors, but once that happens and we finally name her, I'll be ready! (please don't ask how the naming is coming along - it's too painful)

She is kicking like crazy at this point, and I LOVE it! My belly has gotten bigger, but still not that big, so I think she must be squished in there - it feels like she can kick all my organs at once and at times my whole midsection shakes. Maelie loves to talk to her, but has started acting a little freaked out about feeling her kick. I hope that she recognizes her voice once she's here. After seeing Maelie with Cam and Henry I am even more excited to see her with Baby Sister. She has been so much sweeter, gentler and more interested than I expected. I know it will be a little different once she's actually here and in our house all the time, but my hopes are higher :) She was a little surprised to learn the other day that once we went to the hospital to get Baby Sister she would actually be coming home with us eventually. Funny the things you don't realize you should explain!! She is also convinced that Baby Mary is in her tummy, which is funny and slightly disturbing at the same time. She says things like "Look my tummy's so big, Baby Mary is getting bigger!" and (my favorite) "Maybe Baby Mary and Baby Sister can be friends!" Oh, my! I think the name Mary comes from her love of the Christmas story, which we still tell everyday.

Christmas Marathon

This Christmas was a whirlwind! Kasey, Rob and Henry moved to town, Baby Cam was born and Mommy got sick on top of the standard 15 Christmas parties, but it was a lot of fun. I think Maelie's favorite part was her Christmas lights. Sweet Uncle Drew and a friend came over one freezing day and strung up some lights around the house and she LOVES them. I can't think about taking them down because I know it will make her so sad. She loves to help Daddy plug them in each night and talks about them everytime we pull into the driveway. She also got obsessed (who's suprised?!) with Ms. Patty's yard in Diamond Loch - it has a huge Grinch and Cindy Lou Who. I had to call Patty to let her know that someone wasn't casing her house, we just had to drive by it a lot - even during the daytime :)

Making a gingerbread house - I think at least half of the candy made it on the house!

Snuggling with Daddy at the McKillip Christmas lunch

Opening presents at Grandma Dane's Christmas

Baby James and Baby Sister at Mommy's birthday dinner

Gigi bought her a Bitty Baby that she loves.

Shhh! Bitty Baby's sleeping in her "bajammies"

She LOVED Santa! I was so excited. She had not acted crazy about him all season but they were good friends by the end of their visit.

Checking out the princess castle Santa brought her.

Gotta love that hair!

Papa came over for Christmas lunch

After dinner and presents at Grammy's we all loaded up and went to look at Christmas lights - and Cindy Lou Who!

Relaxing after all the fun with a book and Grandma Dane

Meeting Baby Cam - she was so sweet to him!
After we left she asked if we could have a boy baby instead of a girl one, but she was okay when we told her no :) I can't wait to see her as a big sister!

Cam, Cam, He's our Man!

I cannot believe how much you can forget just how tiny babies are! Cam came on the 21st and he is the cutest little thing ever. It makes me want to cry to think about how sweet our God is to give us such precious gifts. Even though he was a little over a month early, he is so healthy and we know that is just another sweet gift from Him. It is so exciting to watch someone you love so much go through this experience. Lauren is so amazing at every role she has in life - wife, friend, daughter, etc. that I cannot wait to see her in action as a Mommy.

Have you ever seen anything cuter?!

Sweet Mommy!

I didn't get a picture of Josh with the Cam-ster, but he is one cute Daddy! You can just tell that he will be a great Dad. Cam is so lucky to have these two as parents.

5 Reasons My Husband ROCKS!

I haven't mentioned him in awhile, and while I know this is primarily Maelie's (and soon to be she-who-cannot-be-named's) blog, I feel like I need to give a little shout out to the man behind it all every now and then :)

1) He works his fanny off for us. Lately, I have been reminded several times what a charmed life I lead, and I know that a lot of this is possible because of how hard he works. And, while he does love to kid around about my "20% of the income" he makes me feel like what I contribute financially and otherwise is important and never makes me feel guilty about my time at home (even on the days when we do NOTHING except maybe have lunch with someone :)

2) He is such a great Daddy to Maelie. She is a fickle little thing and somedays she loves Daddy and somedays she is not that into him, but he is patient and never gives up even though I know sometimes it hurts his feelings. I think that is really paying off lately, because I have been told a few times to "come back later, I'm playin' with Dada." I can't wait to see to see him in action with a new one!

3) He loves God and is such a strong leader for our family. My favorite time of day is our family bible time each night, which we end with Daddy praying over us. It is so sweet to hear him pour his precious heart out to our God and know that Maelie is getting such an amazing example of a godly man in her life. He does a pretty good job of walking the walk all day long, but those night time prayers with him are my favorite.

4) He is such a good friend. You can tell by all the good friends that he surrounds himself with what kind of friend he is. One of our friends, Blake, is in from out of town - he is such a great guy, I even suggested naming Maelie Blake before we found her name. It has just made me look around and be thankful for the godly men that Kyle surrounds himself with, real true guys who have a great time, but all love teh Lord and aren't afraid to be the kind of true friend that keeps you accountable. He is always the first to lend a hand or an ear to his buddies, and I'm thankful to be counted in the group :)

5) He's getting me a MAID!!! Hello, I could have only listed this one I'm so stinking excited about it. It's hard for even me to remember sometimes that I'm not really a stay at home mom - I have an amazing job that lets me work some flexible hours, but I still have a full time job. Every now and then I look around our house and get pretty discouraged because of course that's the first thing that goes if something's going to go :) however, he decided that with a new little person joining our family and a whole new set of responsibilities on my plate this would be a great idea. I can't wait to have that burden taken from my shoulders. Plus, it makes me feel very loved, appreciated, and taken care of. Thanks, honey!

Funny for the Day

Maelie made a bell today in music class and in the car I heard her singing (to the tune of Row, Row, Row Your Boat)
"Ring, ring, ring your bell
Jesus Christ is boring
Ring, ring, ring your bell
Jesus Christ is boring"

I died laughing and then tried pretty ineffectively to convince her that she may have misheard the wording. Maybe I should reevaluate our curriculum at school...

Note to Self...

...never try to have a conversation with your two year old about the less priveledged at 11 o'clock in the morning. We were at WalMart the other day grocery shopping. As we checked out I told Maelie we were taking Grammy lunch and talked a little bit about what we might eat. As we headed out, I gave Maelie her dollar to put in the bucket and tried to have a real life-changing, eye-opening conversation with her about how we give our money to the man with the bell because some people don't have any food. "Like us?" she said. "I'm really hungry - I think I want chicken minis." After some careful explaining (we have food in our cart, and food at our house, and Daddy works hard to make money so we could even buy food at the supper store if we wanted to, etc.) I'm still not sure she exactly got it, but she did tell me she thought that giving other people food would make Jesus happy, so maybe she got enough of it...

Imagine That!

Lately, Maelie has been cracking me up as I watch her imagination come to life. Here are some examples:

"Mommy, look, an airplane! I wonder if it's flying to the airport in Maryland to Kasey and Hendwee?"

"I want Elizabeth to go to Chick-Fil-A with us." me - "Well, Elizabeth is at her house." mae - "Well, the pretend Elizabeth is in the playroom and she really wants chicken minis."

On another note, it seems our little period of obedience and good behavior has come to a close. I know there will be another one soon (surely!!) but for right now we are in a period of tantrums, nos, a new scary face with wrinkled up nose accompanied by a growly voice and hyperdrive ocd-ness. All of this means a lot more spankings :( so pray for all of us as we work on obedience and sweetness. Oh, you've gotta love the highs and lows of the twos!!!

Here We Grow Again!

Our family just keeps getting bigger - and, no, I'm not refering to the size of my body these days. We found out two weeks ago that Grammy is getting married to Wayne in March, and couldn't be more excited. He makes such a good grandad (soon-to-be Papaw Wayne!) that I'm sure he will make a wonderful husband, too. He is so sweet to my mom, and she is so happy - what more could you ask for? If he would only stop feeding Maelie pickles, I don't think I would have even the slightest complaint :) Seriously, Mom and Wayne started dating right around the time Maelie was born and it was a little while before we met him, but he has basically been Maelie's other grandad her whole life. She definitely has him wrapped around her finger - I've seen him sit in a kiddie tent, a Little Tyke playhouse, push her all over the house in a babydoll stroller (with a broken shoulder), and countless other things that make me thank God that she has someone so much fun who loves her so much in her life. They are so funny together! Oh, yeah, and he and Mom make a cute couple, too...

I know having a "step-parent" has tons of stereotypes associated with it, but I really don't understand it. I have never seen my Mom so happy. It is so nice to know that she has someone who loves her and that she loves, someone who accepts her just for who she is and that she has someone to "take care of," too. She is good at that and needs someone to share it with! I love that our family is growing again.

Nothing Like a Friend!

This weekend Lauren and I took a quick trip to Fredricksburg under the guise of Christmas shopping, but I think we really only bought things for our babies! It was so much fun. I told Kyle the most fun was all the uninterrupted talk time - I think we talked for about 30 hours straight, minus just a few hours for sleep! I was thinking about it the other day, and I met Lauren when we were around 12 or 13, so I have really had her in my life longer than I haven't, and I can't think of a greater blessing. She is one of those rare, true friends who you can be just who you are around, tell everything that's on your heart (the good and the bad). I have always marveled at the number of people she can have in her life and still make each person she comes in contact with feel like they are precious and important to her. My life would definitely not be the same without her! I am praying already that my girls are friends and have precious friends in their lives like the ones the Lord has blessed me with.

Finally getting a little baby bump!

Showing off all of our finds - that's Cam's picture frame. He is lucky to have such a fun Mommy!

This is Cam and Baby Girl talking to each other - we were both surprised when we pulled out the same outfit to wear for the day!

What's in a name...

A lot, if you don't have one. I am so ready to name this baby!! Kyle and I have a definite difference of opion when it comes to names. Here are the rules:

No double names (Mary Jane, etc.) per Kyle
Nothing too "out there" (weird, I know, coming from the people who came up with Maelie)
Preferably something more oldfashioned/classic.

Kyle's top choices are: Mary, Alice, Margaret and Lucy
Emily's top choice is: Lorelai (pronounced "Lore a lie" for you Gilmore virgins)

Neither one of us is willing to bend to the other's direction at this point and we haven't come up with any others that both of us like/love. (To pat my own back I was willing to compromise with Mary Alice, but that violated the no double names rule, apparently)

If you have any ideas, I'd love to hear them!!! There could even be a Bosses' pizza in it for you...

Elizabeth for President!

Today my conscience got the best of me and I decided to go ahead and brave the lines and vote. I thought maybe if we got there early enough we could beat the lines. Maelie got dressed really quickly and easily when I told her we were going to vote (and that she could have a piece of candy while we waited). She talked about it a lot on our way to the voting site, so I thought it would be a great opportunity to explain our great democratic process to her, two year old style. I finished up and was patting my own back a little bit at the great expaining job I had done when she asked "Am I boting?" I told her that yes, she was helping Mommy vote, but who would she like to vote for. She looked up and smacked her lips and said "Um , I bote for....Elizabeth!"

I think it's a great idea! She's sweet, she's a good friend, she loves God, and I know all of her secrets and they're not that bad. I wonder if it would confuse anyone if I wrote her in...

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!

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!

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 :)

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!

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!

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.

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?!