Seven Months and PP Rounds Two and Three

Here's our sweet girl at seven months! Still such a laid back joy. She loves her new food - apples with cherries and sweet potatoes are her favorite and she really loves her cereal. She loves her bath even more now that she can sit up more. She is also rocking on her hands and knees so we are enjoying the sitting up but not mobile days while they last.

PUMPKIN PATCH - ROUND 2

Flower Mound with Grammy, Papaw and Grandma Dane

PUMPKIN PATCH - ROUND THREE

Hall's with the Beceras

funny for the day

Today I was telling Maelie how proud I am of her. She had a really hard morning but turned it around and has had a great day so far. I told her "I am so proud of you, it takes a really big girl to have a bad morning and decide to be sweet and have a good day."

Her response: "Aw, shucks!"

Pumpkin Patch...Round One

I LOVE the pumpkin patch, so we always go several different times each year. Our first one is always with the Bankes' at Hall's. I think this one is my favorite because it is so small, yet never that crowded. It was really not crowded tonight...we got rained out! Here are a few pictures we got before the rain came.

The Family

Sweet Pea

This is pretty much what Lorelai thought about the Pumpkin Patch! I think her teeth are bothering her. She was cranky all day, which isn't like her at all.

I think the Tylenol finally kicked in here

Sisters

It was hard to get a lot of good pictures of Maelie - she and Elizabeth ran and played the whole time. I caught this one in the hay maze.

Taking refuge from the rain

Here we are at 6 months!

The Bible tells us that children are a reward from God, and I will definitely need Him to explain to me when I get there why I got this little miracle and huge blessing in my life because I know I don't deserve her. This has been six months of blessing upon blessing as we get to know and love our sweet Lorelai.

Just sittin' pretty!

She is so silly! She laughs and smiles so much I can't believe her cheeks don't get tired.


She's getting very wiggly. She wants to crawl so badly and jumps all the time. She wears poor Grandma Dane's arms out wanting her to hold her up so she can jump!

She's pretty laid back all in all, though.

We got the okay to try cereal and start introducing foods...

...but she wasn't exactly sure what do to with that stuff that I put in her mouth. She sat there with her tongue out for quite awhile.

Other news at 6 months:

she doesn't crawl yet, but still manages to get around by rolling and skooching everywhere

17 lbs. 12 oz.

95% in weight

90% in height

50% in head - just a little peanut head!

she loves trying to sit up, but isn't quite on her own yet

she sleeps 8-10 hours at night

she loves watching sister, her Mommy and Daddy, that lovey, anything that lets her jump, people in general, Mickey Mouse, anything that crinkles

She has one more EEG on October 7th, and then we should be all clear and healthy!

It has been such a great six months and I love her more everyday.

First Day!

We had such a great first day of school! Maelie was amazing - she just gave Kyle and me big hugs and then marched right in. This is a feat for her! Her teachers said she had a great day and she was even sweet to everyone in the office after class. She told me that now that she's "free (three)" she's not going to cry to go to class anymore. I hope that lasts :)

The girls with Mommy

This reminds me of what a great job I have - I got to go to school, too and everyone had a great day. I loved getting to check on them during the day and having their PRECIOUS teachers as friends. Maelie's teachers are Ms. Patty and Ms. Christi and we are so thankful for them. They are two very precious ladies who are amazing teachers and whose love for the Lord is very evident in the work they do.

Daddy and his girls!
He is the best Daddy I could have ever dreamt of for my girls! He went into work late so that I could head straight to work and get things ready. He picked up the girls and brought them to school so that their day and mine would be a little smoother.


Lorelai's first day of school ever!
She, of course, had a great day. Her teacher is Ms. Brandi who we love - she has such a gift for loving on the littlest babies.

She was right at home!

Just a Few of the Reasons I Think I'm Blessed...

Here it is, the face of a "perfectly, normal, healthy, baby!" The doctor also said that she was beautiful, by the way, but we definitely did not need a specialist to tell us that :) She is the sweetest thing I've ever seen. I can't believe I could be more grateful to the Lord for giving me this precious girl, but the past weeks have actually done that. I am ridiculously blessed and even thankful for these past scary weeks for making me realize that even more.

Can you believe I get to see this smile about 1000 times a day?

The girls are way better at waking Daddy up than I am (can't you tell?)

Maelie loves the show "The Cake Boss" and always says "I wish I could decorate a cake like that!" So one day we bought a boxed cake and some icing and I told her she could choose some candy to decorate it with. She chose Nemo snacks. At first I wasn't sure what we would do with that, but it turned out pretty cute! Maelie helped me every step of the way and was so proud of her cake.

Pointing out the sand and the Nemo snacks (I think that may have been one of the two that she actually put on and didn't eat. That was the only time she got distracted :)

Sharing it with a friend!

Speaking of friends, that is another thing that the Lord has reminded me of lately - what great ones I have. People have called, texted, prayed, asked, offered to sit with me at long boring doctor appointments and tests - it's amazing. The thing that's amazing is that none of that is surprising. These women don't do things like that just when things are tough, they are real, true, precious friends all the time. Each one of them brings something to my life to enrich it. They challenge me to be better, encourage me, teach me, show me, inspire me and love me all the time. They make me better in every area of my life and the Lord uses them everyday to remind me of who I am and who I'm meant to be.

And, just to show how Awesome He is, God gave me this treat - one of my lifelong friends is now a coworker. Her office will be at furthest just upstairs and at closest 20 feet away. We have been praying for a long time (since we found out Cam was on his way!) that the Lord would lead Lauren to a place where she felt like she could both work and be a mom to the best of her abilities. And then a job opens up at church that is a perfect place for her to use a variety of her many gifts. The kids will hang out in class together while the Mommies work (and maybe get coffee every now and then ;) It feels like a dream come true!

fabulous five

Here's Miss Lorelai on her Five month birthday! I don't ever get tired of saying what a good baby she is. She is very content and laid back. Some of my favorite things she does is sleep with her lovey on her head (great parenting, I know, but if you don't put it on her head she does it for you). She might not even be acting sleepy, but if you know it's time and put it on her head she immediately closes her eyes. When she's not sleepy, she just loves to have that lovey in her hand - it's so cute! She's also started playing with toys and I love to watch her eyes concentrate as she examines something new.

Hanging with LambyI love this picture because it captures how expressive she is! She makes the cutest faces. One of my favorites is when she is looking really hard at someone and all of a sudden raises on eyebrow. We haven't been able to get a picture of it, but it makes me smile every time!


Halfway through our photoshoot Maelie woke up and wanted to help. It is so precious to watch these two interact - they are such sweet sisters! Lorelai loves watching Maelie and thinks she is so funny. Maelie wakes up every morning asking where sister is.

She's not sitting up yet, but it's her favorite position. If you lay her on her back she does little crunches trying to sit up.

My two sweet girls!

Oh, My Word!

So tonight we started a game of Candyland before bedtime, but had to end it early because Maelie was pouting and screeching. She was crying when she got in bed and said "You're ugly!" I spanked her and left the room. A little while later I went back in to talk about it and asked her if she had something to say to me. She said "I'm sorry, Mommy."
Me "Why?"
Mae "For saying you were being ugly."
Me "Thank you, I forgive you."
Mae "Okay, I forgive you, too."
Me "What do you forgive me for?"
Mae "For acting ugly."

WHAT?!??? Oh, my word....

Busy Week!

We had a very busy week this week!

Aunt Kasey and I loaded up Henry and Maelie and went to the beach.

Maelie had never been and we had a great time!

Playing in the sand

First time in the ocean!

Lorelai with the new lovey Maelie and I brought her as a souvenier - this girl loves a lovey!

Then we came home and had an appointment with and opthamologist - and discovered Maelie needs glasses. She picked a cute purple pair of Barbie glasses.

Papa has glasses, too!

Pretty cute!


And today Lorelai turned 4 months old!
She has discovered her feet and her hands - the feet get played with and the hands go in the mouth! She also learned to roll over both ways this month and has gotten very wiggly - she loves to kick her feet!

Can you say multi-talented?

Close up with Lamby. I know I'm biased, but I really don't think I have ever seen such a happy, content baby. She wakes up smiling and is such a joy!

We had such a great and action-packed day yesterday celebrating the Fourth. Everyone slept until almost 9 this morning, which is an amazing feat in this house!

We spent the afternoon at the Letz's house with lots of friends. This is Maelie and Annalee getting ready to hit the pool with the Daddys.


Maelie and Daddy going down the gynormous water slide the boys built - she really liked it this year and even went down a few times by herself!



Lorelai got to get in the pool for just a few minutes - just long enough for a cool down and a few pictures with Daddy




Lorelai and Gracie hangin' out!
I love this picture - it brings back a lot of good memories of July 4ths spent by Val's side
Finally - the fireworks!! Can you tell these babies are tired? Maelie's phrase of the night was "I'm so brave to watch the fireworks!" I guess she still remembers last year :)

Theology from a Three Year Old

Conversation in the car today that cracked me up:

"Mommy, God's really everywhere"
"I know isn't that cool?"
"Yeah, and it makes Him sad when you are ugly to your friends - like when you push Elizabeth."
"That does make Him sad."
"Yeah, but He loves us anyway!"

How could you not love that?!

Three months and a funny

Lorelai turned 3 months old on the 12th. It still amazes me that there was a time when she wasn't part of our family. Her sweet and laid back personality has just made going from a family of 3 to a family of 4 seemless. She is the happiest baby and just fills me with joy all the time.

Likes at 3 Months:

She LOVES to smile and does it all the time

She started smiling at Maelie - she thinks her sister is pretty funny

She is getting better and better at holding her head up and prefers to be sitting up on your knee rather than laying back.

She loves her lovey! I'm so excited about this because I think it's so cute.

She has decided that she loves bathtime. She either looks at me or the cute little baby in the mirror and smiles the whole time.

She is still a fan of sleep - yea!

They got these new awesome swings in the church nursery that are so soft and she loves them! We kid that "hers" has her hiney print in it because she loves to take her Summer Spectacular naps in it.

Dislikes at 3 Months:

not a fan of the carseat, but usually settles down once we start walking her in it

that's about it - I'm telling you she is one precious, happy baby!

Funny stories about Maelie:

One of her favorite Bible stories is when the friends lower the paralyzed man down to Jesus. Somehow the way it's worded in her Bible has led her to believe that that is the man's name - Paralyzed. Last night I asked her which Bible story she wanted to read and she said "The one where Paralyzed gets sick." I don't know why but it cracks me up!!!

She got to go watch Aunt Kasey dance in the Summer Spectacular preview show and was really pretty good and seemed pretty interested. In fact, she was on the edge of the pew watching intently during the finale. So she was pretty shocked when the confetti cannons went off - so shocked she fell out of the pew. A better mom would probably have been concerned, but this one laughed until she almost cried. She did scale me in about .2 seconds after she fell, so I did hold her and pat her back while I laughed :)