miscellany

Maggie Claire has become really good at stalling for bedtime. She is only 16 months old and she has already figured it out! When she brings me another book and signs "please", how can I resist this sweet face? Yup, that was our stack last night of the 11 books we read. So blessed to be able to read books to her. Not to mention, I love the fact that she loves reading. I'm hoping she will continue her love for reading and books! :)

Silly girl, she was giggling while I was trying to take her picture before she went to bed in her crib. I just want to remember all of these sweet moments with her! :)

Mike's parents were in town this weekend, and every time they leave, I wish they could stay just a little bot longer! Maggie Claire getting some mimi and papa squeezes in before they left, so sweet.

And because I can never get enough of this sweet girl, here are some pictures from last week. She stacked the cakes all by her self and we told her to say "tada!" then tried to sweetly repeat it. There were a few really warm days in the high 70s and we celebrated with our first popsicles of 2012!

I had to put sunscreen on her after I realized her shoulders were getting pink. Then she woke up the next day in a rash from the sunscreen on her face, shoulders, and neck where I put the sunscreen. :( Looks like we'll be getting some Aveeno baby sunscreen or something for sensitive skin soon for her! This was taken right after she woke up drinking her milk cup. I was worried for her all morning, then I just started praying for her, and by noon, it was gone! Praise the Lord!

Another day last week, I caught her stealing my sweet tea outside! She tasted it, and then gave me a funny look, haha. silly girl! She only drinks water and milk normally, so when she gets something else, she is shocked! {she does have diluted juice too at parties, or if we are out at a restaurant and it comes with her meal, she's not deprived! hehe}

I am a lover of these fruit/veggie squeezes. They are easy to take places and Maggie Claire loves them! Beech Nut just came out with some, and they are only 98cents. great deal, b/c sometimes they can be up to almost $2! I was super excited when chickfila started putting them as an option in the kids meals!

One great thing about when grandparents are in town and wanting to watch Mags, I get out and do some clothes shopping! I had a gift card from Christmas that I hadn't spent yet, so I was excited! Here's me standing in line for the dressing room at forever 21. They really need to open another one of these in Charleston! It's always a mad house when I go in there! I got a lot of clothes for spring! I was excited! Now, I just need a tan so I can wear my new yellow dress! ;)

I'm linking up with my sweet friend carissa over at lowercase letters.

Happy Monday Yall! Have a great day!

"And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son."

John 14:13

Maggie Claire update & some outside fun

These past couple of weeks I have seriously been reminding myself of how blessed I am to have Maggie Claire! She amazes me everyday, and she is already getting so smart. Maggie Claire is now 16.5 months old, and as healthy as can be! When we took her to her last doctors appointment, she was a little over 23 pounds, and I think 33 inches tall. She got her 15 month shots, and she had to get some blood drawn, and it was so pitiful. We gave her a sucker when they started to draw the blood, so that helped with her laying still, but she still cried when they stuck her :( She was a trooper and was obviously spoiled for the rest of the day! ;)

I took these sweet pictures of her last week while we were playing outside. It was still a little cold, so I was trying to get her to wear the hat. I got this cute picture before she pulled it off her head! She knows she's cute! ha!

Maggie Claire loves playing with her soccer ball, and a lot of the time, I will see her carrying around both her basketball and soccer ball at the same time! She was hugging her soccer ball and running at the same time her cheeks were jiggling! This toddlerhood stage is so fun.

She is getting quite the personality and I love it! She says words like mama, daddy, choo choo, cheese, side{outside}, shoes, mimi, papa, oma, opa, and she tries to say Jack "ack" and Tate "ate" too. Mags will try to repeat just about anything you say, but sometimes she just looks at us like we are crazy when we ask her to say something! lol.

Some of her favorite things to do are play outside, eat {she eats anything and everything!!}, watch yo gabba gabba, veggie tales, toy story 3, play with her picnic basket, play with her kitchen, and her most favorite thing still to do is read books! Today I saw her walk over to the stairs, sit on the bottom step with her legs crossed indian style and she was looking at one of her favorite books, Harry the Dirty Dog. She loves that book! I tried to snap a picture, but it was right when Mike got home, so as soon as she heard the door open, she started running to her daddy. :)

We are enjoying this fun stage of toddlerhood, and are looking forward to and loving this beautiful weather we are having today and tomorrow! We are also very excited about Mike's parents coming in town this weekend from Colorado!!! yay, Mimi and Papa will be here to play with Mags! :)

1 Thessalonians 5:24

"The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it."

Happy Valentines day!

Today we are going to hand out flowers at a nursing home with a few friends. I'm taking two cute kids with me! Here is some pics of Maggie Claire in her Valentines shirt! She is too cute! :)

Happy Valentines Day from our family to yours!

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.”

Mark 12:30-31

our busy sweet girl

Time is going by way too fast, and I can't seem to get enough of this sweet girl. She is getting so big, and so busy! I can hardly keep up with her! I've been trying to take lots of pictures lately, to soak up all of this toddlerhood because before I know it, she will be going to school and talking about boys! {oh goodness, not ready for that!} But when she gives me and her Daddy this sweet face, she can pretty much get anything thing she wants.

Then again, most of the time, the pictures I take look a little more something like these two:

You mamas know what I'm talking about! Babies running from the camera because they have so many more important things to do while outside than to sit still and say "cheese" for the camera! lol.

Me and Mags, and you can see Mike taking the picture in the reflection of my sunglasses! {What a hottie!} And my hair is getting chopped off tomorrow. I'm pretty excited!

Then there was that one day that I decked Maggie Claire out in some cheetah and her jean skirt. yeah, she rocked it with her pretty self! :) I love having a little girl! I just dress her up like a baby doll everyday! {But we are praying for a maggie claire to have baby brother next, to even out the pink/blue ratio around here! lol}

I love her face when she looks down. Her cheeks look so sweet and those eyelashes are so pretty!

Yeah, I just want to kiss that sweet face all day long.

But I promise you, she does cry and pitch fits. It's so cute to take pictures of your kid crying, especially when they don't get there way! {She wanted another snack, after already having about 157 snacks! seriously! hehe}

Happy Wednesday and I hope you all have a great rest of the week! Tomorrow Chosen starts and I'll be back when it's all over to tell you all about it! :)

"Great is his faithfulness;
his mercies begin afresh each morning.
I say to myself, “The LORD is my inheritance;
therefore, I will hope in him!” "

Lamentations 3:23-24

cousin fun & hat weather

On Wednesday, we headed over to my brother & sister-in-law's house for Maggie Claire to have a little playdate with her cousins Jack and Tate! She had the.best.time. Thanks Bethany & Brad for hosting us. :)

The kids played in the backyard for a while and ran off all of their energy!

Jack was showing us all his new digger he got for Christmas.

Attempt to get a picture of all three of them. They are so sweet! I love these little blonde headed babies! :)

Since it has been a little chilly outside lately, you know I had to get pictures of Maggie Claire in her adorable cupcake hat she got for Christmas!

seriously- cutest cupcake ever!

teaching mags how to warm her hands by rubbing them together

I love this picture of Maggie Claire and her friend Will who is 11 months old. I watch Will a few days a week and Maggie Claire loves him. She gets so excited when he is here! He is such a sweetie! :)

"A friend loves at all times"

Proverbs 17:17a

thanksgiving week

My house has been decorated in fall things, and I love it! {the Christmas decor will be coming out tomorrow, can't wait!}

Since my 25th birthday was on Thanksgiving this year, we had a lot to celebrate this past week!

I made a "happy thanksgiving" banner and place setting cards for all of our family coming into town to spend thanksgiving with us!

Last week I told you guys about my birthday present... and here it is! A new "monogramming/embroidery" sewing machine! I have actually been putting all of my paint, bake, & create business money that I've been making lately towards this machine, and then Mike surprised me the other day and said "oh, I ordered your machine and it's coming tomorrow!" Of course, I started flipping out and waited anxiously by the door all afternoon. I still have a lot of learning to do, so I am telling myself practice, practice, practice! :) I have seriously already almost lost my salvavtion over this machine, but it is coming together and I am loving it!!!

We found out this week that Maggie Claire likes corn on the cob- just like her mama! she was so cute eating it and did a pretty good job at it too!

Will and Maggie Claire enjoying a ride in the wagon. They are so precious together, and Maggie Claire loves him so much!

This picture of MC makes me laugh so much. Since she is walking now, I always seem to catch her with this serious determined face, love this sweet girl and I am so thankful for her!

I hope everyone had a great thanksgiving weekend {we sure did!} My in-laws are leaving to head back to California today, we sure enjoyed having them here! The best part is, they'll be back for Christmas! yay!

****Also- My sister-in-law, Bethany, will be having my new sweet baby girl niece, Sophie Grace on Wednesday, if not sooner! I'll post all kinds of sweetness when she makes her big debut in this world!****

my lil cupcake

Today I dressed Mags up in her baker's attire. It hangs in the kitchen with my aprons and she always wants to play with it. She is just now getting into wearing the hat, so I had to snap a few pictures of course! She is her mama's girl and already loves baking!

She is officially a walker now. She walks more than she crawls, so I guess that means it's official. My "big" sweet girl!

Maybe she will surprise me with a cookie cake for my birthday on Thursday?! um.. only if her daddy helps!

Have a great day everyone!

soaking in her "big girl" sweetness!

The time just kept getting away from me and I never posted these adorable 12 month photos that I took of Maggie Claire. Today she turned 13 months! This is my last monthly update of her and I am so glad I did these for her first year. I know that I'll always have these posts to come back and look on for all of us to remember! Without twitter, blogging, and status updates on facebook, I wouldn't remember anything! So thankful for amazing technology these days ;)

Now for the cuteness...

Maggie Claire modeling her leopard attire :)

She is full of personality! Sweet & happy as can be!

Her cuteness makes me giggle, complete from head to toe!

12 month stats:

19 pounds 8 ounces

30 inches

Last week when I took her in to the doctor for her ear infection, she weighed 20 pounds 3 ounces. Finally passing the 20 pound mark! ;) She was 12 months and 3 weeks old.

She is completely weaned now from breastfeeding. It was bittersweet the last time I nursed her. We were down to just the morning feeding and the next morning I skipped it, gave her the sippy cup with her whole milk in it. She was upset with me and cried because she new that wasn't in our morning routine of nursing her on our bed. :( She got over it in just 2 days, thankfully, because it broke my heart a little... just another baby step of her becoming a big kid.

Maggie Claire took her first steps last Wednesday! We were at church and she took 4 steps to me. I was so glad I was with her to see them! Ever since then she has been working on walking to us. I think the most steps she has taken total is 5. I'm sure by the couple next weeks or so she will be walking everywhere! We moved her up to the "new walker" room on Sunday in the nursery. I was actually working in that room, so it worked out perfect. ;)

This has been a big month for her! Not only is she completely on whole milk, she also learned to drink out of a straw, and she now has 4 teeth! Two on the top and two on the bottom. More are about to pop out soon- I already see them coming through!

The girl will eat just about anything you give her. She now loves bananas, spaghetti, and chocolate. Yes, the halloween candy stash has been found and I can't keep her away from it! hehe. I only let her have one chocolate bar though!

We are at the early stages of transitioning out of her morning nap. Two mornings a week she doesn't get her nap in , and she doesn't do too bad, but she definitely still needs it. Right now I try to only let her sleep an hour in the morning so she will be fall asleep in the afternoon. It works most of the time. But seriously, she is such a great napper and sleeper at night. I can't complain at all! Even if she doesn't nap, she still stays in her crib, plays with her blanket & bunny and I'll usually give her books to read. {her favorite thing to do}

She LOVES reading books. We wants us to read ALL of her books to her every night. It is so sweet, how much she loves it because when we get done with one, she hands us another one and immediately shows us her "please" sign! too funny.

Maggie Claire, you melt my heart everyday{multiple times a day}, and I just love you so much! You make me and your dad laugh all the time, especially when you talk all your jibber jabber. You have so much to say and you "talk" all day long! You are such a sweet and good girl. You don't like getting your diaper changed, or changing your clothes. Hopefully it's just a phase! You love love love your lovie bunny. You sleep with it, and as soon as I give it to you, you bury your face in it and way to go night night. You are just so precious and as much as I don't want my baby to grow up, we look forward to raising you for the Lord! Thanks for being the best daughter anyone could ever ask for! We love you Mags!!!!

"I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy." Phillipians 1:3-4