Just chattin' with Daddy

I cannot get over what a big girl my baby girl is turning into! Last night, Jimmy was getting home late from work and Macey kept saying, “Dada home soon” while looking at me with expectant eyes. I decided to call him to see if he would be home before she went to bed. Macey immediately said it was her turn to talk to Dada and she continued to talk to him for 10 minutes! She told him about her felt Christmas tree and her stuffed animals, they sang songs (Ring Around the Rosy, ABCs, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Head Shoulders Knees and Toes), she counted to 10 and tried to point out some things to him on her play kitchen. I was rolling when she laid down on Bailey’s bed and looked so involved in her phone conversation. I can see her enjoying many many phone conversations in her teen years… and I hope they are all with her girlfriends or her Daddy!

 What I love about these pictures are the genuine smiles. It's so hard to get her to smile for the camera these days. These pictures are her pure excitement over talking to Jimmy. I absolutely love them.

Singing "Head Shoulders Knees and Toes"

Rosemary Beach Wedding

This past weekend we celebrated the marriage of one of Jimmy's best friends from high school in Rosemary Beach, FL. It was an absolutely beautiful and perfect wedding. Although I'm sure planning a destination wedding was more difficult than planning a wedding in the town where you live, this was the most laid back and perfect wedding I have ever been to. I have no idea how many people were there, maybe 150-200? I wish I had taken more pictures of the set up because it was beautiful.

Two days before we had planned on leaving for the wedding, I realized that I would be by myself with Macey, in a small one bedroom studio at the beach for the weekend. Jimmy had things planned with the groom and his friends for most of the weekend. Of course, I was happy that he would have the opportunity to spend time with his friends, but I had lost my confidence that I could manage a 20 month old by myself in a small living space while I'm 26 weeks pregnant. Just as I had decided to stay home with Macey, Jimmy's parents told us that their friends were no longer able to go with them to the wedding so they would have a four bedroom condo to themselves. How perfect that they could help me with Macey while Jimmy was away AND that we could all have our own rooms?! I'm so glad that it worked out for us to go because it was very important to Jimmy. Whew! Always good to make the daddy happy! :)

It was a COLD weekend at the beach, but at least we didn't get rain! It reached 70 degrees on Saturday afternoon so Macey was on the beach, in her diaper, enjoying the water and sand.

On Saturday morning we walked around Rosemary Beach and found this cute little playground. Macey loved it! I had to run to Wal Mart that morning to get her some warm clothes since I had only brought her one jacket and one long sleeve shirt... oops!

Dancing with Duckie... poor duck took a beating!

Duckie got to swing too!

Big girl swing!

"around and around and around..."

Thankfully the wedding ceremony was very quick and to the point. :) Macey lasted the first five minutes, while the wedding party walked in.

We let Macey dance before everyone else got out on the dance floor. She and Gigi had the best time together! They had some serious dance moves! And I love the below picture of Macey watching the lead singer... this sweet woman was so nice to the girls! It was a great band!

Getting Older

Birthdays have always been fun for me. It's never mattered what I had planned for the day, I was always happy and giddy on the day of my birthday. This is the first year that I've just felt old. 31 sounds so much older than 30 and I actually feel old. Or maybe I just feel pregnant? Either way, I'm slowing down.

We started the celebrations on Friday with dinner at mom and dad's house. It was delicious and topped off by my favorite cookie cake, made by mom. Macey spent the night and most of the next day with them. Sunday, they came back up after church and took us to dinner to celebrate again. It was so nice to spend the evening with them, eating fajitas at Papasitos. :) Wednesday night, Jimmy set up a little dinner with a couple of close friends. It was so nice to talk with two of my favorite girls, Amy and Krissy, while Jimmy and Chris wrangled our sweet babies. Thursday was my actual birthday and I had a wonderful day with Macey. We played outside and ran a few errands before leaving for the beach that afternoon for a wedding.

Overall, I had an amazing birthday week and I felt very loved by my family and friends. If only I were just turning 30 again for the next few years...

My 20 Month Old Baby Girl

I love this little girl. She is my world. I smile, laugh and just watch her all day long. How 20 months passed so quickly is beyond me, but I can say I've enjoyed every minute of it.

Pumpkin shirt and Spider skirt photo shoot! She wasn't really into it....

Busy busy girl! Lots of pictures to look at and games to play!

A few things I want to remember about my little growing girl:

*Sentences - She has mastered three and four word sentences. What continues to surprise me is her sentence structure and use of words. "One more book please mommy." "Last book, word book, night night." While reading her word book, "Macey uses fork." "Macey likes raisins." "Macey play with toys." "Macey ride wagon." "New movie, please." "Hang on mom, hang on." "Hold you moon." (Hold you to anything she sees... in a book or on tv or in real life. "Duckie have a seat." " Macey find the ball." "Travis (our UPS guy) brought this box." "Go Macey Go!" "Macey go backwards." (while she walks backwards...I think Elmo taught her this on Sesame Street.) "Go on bee." "No Sam, Macey's Tiger." "No bee, Macey's."

*Counting - So far, she can count to 10, unassisted. She doesn't recognize the numbers when written yet but she knows their order.

*Singing - She sings all the time. Her favorites are the ABC's, A is for Apple, Baa Baa Black Sheep,Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (all have three have the same tune... maybe that's why she likes them?), Bear is now asleep, Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, If Your Happy and You Know It, Mary had a Little Lamb, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Wheels on the Bus, Old McDonald, Jesus Loves Me... She can sing the ABC's by herself and the rest she sings with us. She gets several more words that I would expect and loves the hand motions. I have to credit Jimmy for teaching her to sing the ABC's and A is for Apple. He sings with her on their nightly walks, bath time and putting on her pj's. Such a great daddy. 

*Third Person - Everything starts with Macey... sometimes she gets hung up on Macey and says it several times before finding the rest of the words for her sentence. "Macey hungry." "Macey watch Street." "Macey go outside." "Macey need cookie." I love the running commentary that she gives throughout the day.

She's so cute.

This is the result of finger painting with daddy... He is very proud of his work of art!

Everyone needed bibs this morning!

* Dance and Piano- At least twice a day, Macey turns on her piano to play the songs automatically. She either goes in circles, "around and around" or gathers her babies (animals) to dance with her. Her newest move that I love is her hands over her head like a ballerina while she twirls. The toddler bounce continues to be a go to move and Jimmy taught her to pat her knees. We watch her dance every evening after dinner and just laugh.

*Animals - Her best friends are Tiger and Duckie.  They go everywhere with her and are her comforts until she gets comfortable in a new environment. They enjoy sliding, swinging and dancing. And the occasional ride in Sam's mouth...

*Recognition - She recognizes her books and calls several of them by name "Word Book" "Christmas" "Arthur." While watching her movie in the car, I had piano playing in the front. She said "Piano. Macey hears piano." What?! When I asked her if she wanted a biscuit for breakfast, her mind was elsewhere. She said, "Papa brought apples. Macey like some apples." She remembers and recalls things that happened in the past, with pretty good accuracy.

Racking leaves with Dada

I love watching her grow. She is learning new things every day and it's so rewarding to see her growth based on things that I've taught her. Being a mom is absolutely the most rewarding job I've ever had. Looking forward to a fun 21st month!

Bows for everyone!

I can't stand how cute these two are. They were playing in Macey's room when she decided everyone needed a bow! Actually, how did Jimmy get away without a bow??

Setting all of her babies/animals with Bailey for the picture

Making sure they are all just right...

Deciding they all needed to move...

Smile! Sweet Bailey was such a good sport.

Pumpkin Carving

Tonight we decided to "carve" a couple of pumpkins. Mom had "Mr. Potato Head " parts for pumpkins that she used with Colby and Christian. I really thought Macey would love putting in the eyes and arms and mouth... but she lost interest pretty quickly. So Jimmy carved our pumpkins while Macey and I laughed and played. I laughed at her primarily, but occasionally had to laugh at how serious Jimmy was about getting the pumpkin parts just right.

This night was much much more fun than I had imagined. I hope Jimmy would agree, even though he got stuck with the "work." ;) We have the funniest little girl in the world. I'm so in love with our little family.

Jimmy : "We use this screwdriver to make the hole so we can put in the ear."

Macey, "Macey's turn."

Yes, she's wearing her pumpkin shirt for the 20th day in a row. So?

Of course Sam had to get in the middle of the action...

Smile with Mommy!

"Heavy!"

Pondering if the ears are too high... or too low? This must be perfect!!

Smile with Dada!

Baby Brigade Sprinkle

Thursday evening, the Baby Brigade mommies hosted a Sprinkle for the four of us that are pregnant. It was such a fun night, I hope I can recap it well in this post. We met at Shari's house and ate delicious dips, cheesecake, shrimp, brownies, sausage balls... everything was so good! Then we sat around, laughed and talked for a couple of hours. It was so nice to just sit and talk with all of these girls without chasing our little ones around.

Kelly was so sweet to take all of these pictures. I'm so thankful!!

Julie works full time so we don't get to see her as often as we would like, so it was nice to catch up with her!

 Before opening gifts, we all took the pencil test again. I'm not usually on board with things like this, but the pencil test hasn't been wrong yet! (That I know of.) It's a test that tells how many kids you will have and their gender. I know I know, it sounds like MASH from the old days when you were ten years old. But it was right for all 12 of our first babies and for those of us that are pregnant again with our second. What are the chances?! So, how many kids will Jimmy and I have? According to the pencil... FOUR! I know we joke about having lots of kids to fill up our van, but I guess my mind has never gotten past three, since I'm one of three. According to the pencil, our first two will be girls (correct) and then a boy and our baby will be another girl. I love big families but I wonder about the stress of managing such a large family. And I want to have enough time to make each child feel special and loved. Can I do that with four little Jimmy and Laurie's running around? I realize God is in control and maybe our family will just be four or five. Whatever happens, I know it will be perfect.

The hostesses made us each a diaper cake with a wonderful gift card to Babies R Us. I have the cake in Macey's room (since it will be Baby Sisters nursery) and Macey calls the diapers "big tissues." Maybe I should teach her "for your booty" to add to her sentence? Allison made Beth and I little tutus for our baby girls. Isn't it adorable and so tiny?! I can't wait to take newborn pictures in it! Each of us pregnant girls got the others a little something too. Baby sister now has Minnie Mouse trumpette socks (from Kasey), Monthly Onesie Stickers and a bunny book (from Beth) and a huge mommy clip and Big Sister book for Macey (from Nancy). I'm so excited to see Baby Sisters little feet in her new socks. And it will be fun to chart her monthly growth with the Onesie stickers! I've already read the Big Sister book to Macey and she loved it. Karen Katz is such a great author. I have no idea how I managed keeping up with everything without a huge mommy clip when Macey was a little baby! I'm going to need several to keep up with everything for two babies!  

I was excited to make tie onesies for the baby boys and ruffle bloomers for baby Kinley. The ties were much easier than I expected, I hope they look as cute on the babies! And I love ruffles on little baby girls bums. I need to make several pair for Baby Sister before she gets here! I also did a couple of burp clothes for each new baby. You can never have enough spit catchers!

Nancy, Kasey, Shari, Beth and Me

In order of due dates

I love the diaper cakes!!