The Nolen Family

One year later

2011-08-04T11:38:00.001-05:00

It is so hard to believe that one year ago we were in the hospital getting ready to leave with our sweet baby girl. Ryleigh Harper turned a year old on August 2nd at 7:54 am. It has flown by. I wish I could slow it down and have my baby girl forever but knowing that is impossible, I will just enjoy each stage as it comes. I realized that I never blogged about Ryleigh's birth day and wanted to be sure to document the special day even though it is a year later.

Dr. Wideman scheduled for me to be induced at 39 weeks since Maycie Grace was a 9 pound baby and most often 2nd babies are larger. We were scheduled to go into the hospital on Sunday, August 1st at 9pm. We spent the weekend preparing for our new little one and spending time with Maycie-Grace. We were excited to see if they Lord blessed us with a boy or a girl. Daddy thought a boy and I thought a girl. We left home that afternoon and drove to Cullman for a "Last Supper" at Sweet Peppers and then went to my sister Andrea's house. We enjoyed the afternoon with Hank, Andrea, Carletta, Maycie Grace, Jack & Reed. Okay I was nervous, very nervous. I kept watching the clock and felt anxious knowing that I had to check in at 9. Finally when the time came we made sure Maycie Grace was situated and headed to the hospital.

We were late checking in because I was so nervous. I remember Jeremiah and I walking up to the hospital and saying "No turning back now". It was a beautiful warm summer evening. It was just so peaceful walking up to the hospital. I remember pushing the button and feeling nervous to say "I am Jessica Nolen and I am here to be induced". It was the point of no return! We checked in and I changed into the fashionable gown. They told me to get some rest and that they would be in at midnight to start the induction. I didn't get much sleep because I kept going to the restroom because I knew once my water broke, I would not be able to leave the bed. I did the same exact thing with Maycie Grace. Not sure why that made me feel better but it did. They came to the room at midnight like they promised and the induction began. She told me she would be back at 4am to check me and if need be, continue with the medicine for induction. I assumed I would have a similar experience as with Maycie Grace's labor where I was induced at midnight and made no progress by 9am when Dr. Wideman arrived. Well to my surprise when she came in at 4am, she said "Whoa, no more medicine for you. I need to call Dr. Wideman". I could tell it was progressing then because I could feel contractions. They were not bad and then they became a little harder to take but I was still able to handle it. She offered pain medication and said Dr. Wideman said I could go ahead and get an epidural since I was at 4cm. I declined and said I could wait a bit longer. Well about 30 minutes went by and the contractions were rough. I asked for the epidural and they had to call in the on call anesthesiologist. I was in pain and the time between contractions was decreasing. I couldn't talk or think about anything during the contraction. All I could do was lie on my left side and hold on to the bed rail and breath with my eyes closed. I then asked the nurse how long it would be for the anesthesiologist to arrive and she said about 15 minutes and offered medication in the meantime. I accepted! When she was getting ready to give me the medication to take the edge off, I remember looking at Jeremiah all snug on the little couch (as snug as you can be on those couches) and I was hurting. I looked at him and said "You better have your shoes on, ready to run out of this room when she arrives!". I did NOT want any small talk, I wanted relief! So she gave me the medicine and it took the edge off. Still painful but not as severe. I was told I was at 6cm and could hear the nurse telling Jeremiah "She is having a bad one" and all I could do was breath and tell myself I was okay. My nurse must have told the other nurses that I was anxiously waiting on the doctor to arrive because one ran in and said she had just pulled up at the hospital and was walking in. I looked at Jeremiah and he gave me a kiss and left the room. By this time, I was SEVERELY drugged. The medicine they gave me to take the edge off was a lot for me! I do not take medicine often so it was something else. I could barely sit still while she was talking to me and giving me the epidural. I was still in pain but was out of it. I kept telling the nurse that I felt out of it. I had one last contraction as the doctor gave me the epidural and then it was relief. I felt drowsy and just wanted to close my eyes. It was now close to 6:30 and we asked the nurse how long she thought it would be, expecting probably 10 or so, and she replied "Probably within the hour". Jeremiah called my sisters to wake them and we decided he should run to get breakfast. Dr. Wideman came in and bragged on my progress from the 1st pregnancy (freaked out at 1cm with Maycie-Grace and had an epidural & then refused an epidural until 6cm with Ryleigh) and then was laughing at me because I just kept on telling everyone I was out of it. I remember telling him (and then EVERYONE over & over again) that I was dropping beneath the level of the ground and could see the ants walking around. LOL Anyway I remember him telling me I was ready. I asked how long and he said about 30 minutes. I said said "30 minutes until I start pushing?" and he said "No you will be holding a baby in 30 minutes". So we called Jeremiah to rush back to the room and make sure my sisters and mom were on their way. They came in and I was ready to push. I told them I couldn't and Dr. Wideman said "Yes you can" and I tried and looked at Andrea and said "I don't think I can" and she pushed me up and I held it for 10 counts. We did this 2 more times and I heard my sweet baby cry. There was a pause and then I heard Dr. Wideman say "IT'S A...GIRL". I was so happy!!!! We were all crying. I was still out of it but will always remember holding her for the very first time.

We were all in love and spent the next two days holding and loving on her. We enjoyed all of our visitors and had such a great time. Everyone brought sweet gifts and Andrea even through us a little shower with yummy snacks and gifts for all of the kids. I had the sweetest nurses that were so helpful. Maycie Grace enjoyed spending time with my family while were in the hospital. When she came to see us, she brought me a princess balloon. She sat on the bed with me & Ryleigh. She didn't pay a whole lot of attention to Ryleigh because she was still and sleeping but as soon as Ryleigh stretched, Maycie Grace's eyes were HUGE. She loved her baby sister!!! It was really nice to spend the time with Jeremiah without having to be concerned with cleaning the house, preparing meals, etc. Such a sweet memory!!!

Each night we sent Ryleigh to the nursery so that we could get some sleep because we knew what was ahead. I had them bring her to me for feeding. Each time I would hear a baby screaming its head off coming down the hall and it was mine! The nurses called her a tiger and said she gave them no warning at all. She would be sleeping so peacefully and then scream her head off. SO funny because she is still the same way today. She will be sleeping soundly one moment and the next moment screaming her head off!!!

We loved her to pieces from the moment we laid eyes on her. I can not believe it has been a year already but it has been a wonderful year full of many blessings! Its odd because I remember before she was born wondering how in the world I would ever love another child like I did Maycie Grace.I didn't think it was possible but it was. My heart grew so big that day!!! She is my sweet little Ryleighbug.

A sweet memory~Maycie-Grace & Ryleigh listening to music. We did this often. This was the last time we did it before heading to the hospital that evening.

Our little tradition.

Proud sister!

McWane

2011-08-01T16:01:00.000-05:00

We recently visited McWane with friends. We have a membership but don't go as often as we should. Maycie Grace really enjoys it so I always question why I have not taken her more but then again it is a 45 minute drive. We had a full day of fun and the girls barely made it to the interstate before they were out! Nothing like a quiet drive home (getting to listen to music instead of a DVD) after a full day at McWane.

Sadie, Somer & Maycie-Grace playing in the water

Ryleigh loved her new little friend!I get tickled when I see this picture. She was smiling and laughing!

Maycie-Grace in a bubble. The bubble station is neat.

Ziplining! Maycie Grace is pretty cautious so I was surprised when she wanted to do it & continued to do it.

My beautiful little girl.

My other beautiful girl. People all the time tell us that we will have trouble in the years to come. I don't know who is going to be more scary for the boys, their daddy or me?!?! :)

Somer Ziplining

Somer

Sadie

Tree Top

2011-08-01T15:52:00.001-05:00

We recently went to Tree Top Adventures on 280. Jeremiah wanted to take Maycie Grace so we went one Saturday. I quickly realized it was probably him wanting to go too when he had to convince her to ride the go carts with him (which she loved after they were going) and then made a point to "win her tickets" so that she could get a good prize. He said he was just checking the games for how many tokens it took but I did catch him playing a few games while she was in the play area. The place is a lot of fun for kids and even had a little section for Ryleigh to play in. Not to mention, it was CLEAN. That says a lot for child's play area!!

Ryleighbug watching daddy & sissy ride the go cart.

Her first game "catching the popcorn". She puts her hands in her mouth when she is nervous. We didn't understand what made her nervous with this game!

Lots of tickets!!! She caught a lot of popcorn!

She is a great bowler!

Playing in the baby area.

It was hard for her to slide with those chubby legs!!

All of prizes. I think we spent $30 and she got a friendship bracelet,

Snow White ring, candy & an army man. A great trade off! ;) Oh but to see her smile!! :)

4th of July Weekend

2011-07-18T13:46:00.001-05:00

I REALLY enjoy long weekends! It just seems like the typical weekend flies by too quickly and Jeremiah is back at work. I had originally wanted to go to the beach for the 4th but since we had only been home from the beach 2 weeks and Ryleigh sleeping like she did while we were there, we decided to stay home. Jeremiah did have a great idea! He decided to dig a small fire-pit by our house. Thankfully we live in the perfect neighborhood in my opinion. It was a compromise for Jeremiah and I. He wanted to live in a neighborhood and I would have been pleased to live out on our own with a nice house and a little bit of land (not a lot of land just enough to have some space). Our neighborhood was God answering both of our prayers. The moment we drove up, I wanted to live here! We have the benefit of having similar houses with nice yards and children to play with BUT we have a little land so that made me happy!! We do have restrictions in our neighborhood so I am sure they may not want us to dig a fire-pit in our wooded area but I think everyone here is laid back and just want their kids to have great childhoods. We are blessed!

I grew up on Smith Lake and we always camped at Goat's Island. Great memories! I really like to roast hot dogs and marshmallows. As I have gotten older, the thought of camping as been less appealing so this was the perfect thing for our family! I did suggest getting a tent for Jeremiah & Maycie Grace and that I would stay inside with Ryleigh! ;0 So we cooked our dinner each night of the 4th of July weekend over our fire. We then ended the night with smores. Jeremiah even attempted a "scary story" that was tailored to Maycie Grace's age. It included Winnie The Pooh so I was able to sleep that night. There is nothing that I enjoy more than spending time with my family. It is what life is all about!!!

Our first water balloons. It is amazing the excitement for just $1!

A little pool time.

Hotdogs!

Marshmallows!

Smores!

And our little Ryleighbug eating her first corn on the cob!

Beach Pictures

2011-06-28T11:55:00.001-05:00

A trip to the beach is not complete without beach portraits! ;) I was wondering how tough it would be to get 2 kids to smile at the same time but thankfully it took about 5 minutes total for all of the pictures. It probably had to do with the experience Jeremiah and I have! LOL I take the pictures and he acts silly behind me. We make a great team and we have "ironed out our kinks"! :)

Our sweet girls:

Seeing their love for each other reminds me of me & my sisters. Maycie Grace & Ryleigh are the sweetest things I have EVER seen together!

The many expressions of Ryleighbug:

Someone thinks momma & daddy are funny!

I love pictures when people do not know you are taking them.

Love seeing him with our girls. They think he hung the moon!

My three loves!

Having FUN!!!

Family Beach Trip-Part IV

2011-06-26T11:22:00.000-05:00

Beach Time! Ryleigh & Maycie Grace enjoyed playing in the sand. Ryleigh grew tired of it quicker than Maycie Grace but that is the case with all things at this age~short lived. Ryleigh also enjoyed eating it. Had to keep my eye on her! :)

Family Beach Trip-Part III

2011-06-26T11:03:00.000-05:00

Portofino was such a fun place to vacation. We had a pool at our tower and then there were two large pools & the indoor pool at the Spa Center. We had the sound on the right (with a cool air inflatable obstacle course) and the ocean on the right. Not to mention it was beautiful. And the Sunrise was INCREDIBLE because we were at the end of Pensacola Beach so no other condos to block the view. I love the Sunrise because it was down the way from my sister's house on the sound so I knew we were watching it at the same time!! Portofino also had activities every night of the week. The Tuesday night fireworks show was amazing (especially considering it was just a regular Tuesday night). On Wednesday nights they have a "Dive in Movie". We missed the first movie because we were tired but were able to watch "Monster's Inc." the last night we were there. So much fun!!

Maycie Grace's favorite part~the shower. She stayed in there and wanted to shower everyone!

Doing her "job" so she said.

Ryleighbug!!

Swimming

Playing football. Both girls love footballs. A couple commented that Jeremiah had "two football players on his hands". :)

Jumping

Eating Snacks~her favorite!

Sweet girls

Me and my sweet girls

Flounders!

Firework Show

Dive in Movie~Monster's Inc.

Beach Trip-Part II

2011-06-26T10:35:00.000-05:00

Father's Day!!! We enjoyed our day at the pool and then had dinner with Mike & Carletta. We love Jeremiah so much and praise God for the wonderful man, husband and father that he is. Our cups run over!!

I thought this was a sweet picture of them holding hands. They are the sweetest together (most of the time!)

Carletta & Mike

Family Beach Trip-Part I

2011-06-26T10:26:00.000-05:00

We left for our beach trip on June 15th. Friends of ours were getting married on Friday, June 17th and Jeremiah was in the wedding so he stayed home to work a few more days and attend their wedding at Gorham's Bluff (So sad I couldn't make it!). I was blessed to have my wonderful friend & son go with us on the first half of the trip. Joann summed it up perfectly with "3 young kids, 2 adults, 1 tahoe". They did well the first half but Ryleigh was restless the last 2 hours. Poor Joann had to sit in between the second row seats of the tahoe on the floor to entertain Ryleigh. Now that is a friend!

We made it to Portofino (Pensacola Beach) where my sister, Carletta, met us to check in. We were blessed with this vacation from one of Carletta's partners in her practice (God is so good!!!). Thankfully Mike and the boys arrived right before we pulled up to unload so they were nice enough to take up our luggage. We then headed to the pool for swimming & dinner. Thursday morning we woke up to a rainy morning so I headed to Publix to get our food for the trip. We then headed to the pool after naps and enjoyed the rest of the day swimming. On Friday we swam at the pool and then had lunch and naps. After naps, we headed to the beach. It was quite the little trip. I had my 2 girls to take care of and that was a lot of work! I did it though~we even stood in the ocean to be hit by the waves (MG's favorite!). We then headed back to the room for the night. We woke up Saturday morning and Joann & Evan packed for their trip back home. After a quick trip to Walmart, they were on their way back to Cullman. We enjoyed our time with them and "Missy" really missed Evan.

"Missy" & Evan

Ryleighbug & Aunt "Calella"

Mommy & her babygirl

My exhausted baby!

Sweet little friends

Ryleigh's favorite part of any day: Snack time!

Swimming so well.

Memorial Day Weekend

2011-06-26T09:53:00.001-05:00

This Memorial Day weekend, we were all going to go to Pensacola for the weekend. We didn't think it through and took our new family member, Cooper, to get fixed (he liked Ryleigh a little too well! LOL) on that Thursday and Ryleigh was not feeling as well as she usually does so Jeremiah suggested that we have a "Momma & Maycie Grace" weekend. I really wanted them to come but knew it was best with a "injured" little dog and a baby that would not do well on the beach. Plus I knew that Maycie Grace and I would enjoy some one on one time. We left early Saturday morning and thankfully Maycie Grace slept almost the whole way so we only had to make one stop & it was actually for me (totally different than the stops we make with both girls!). We arrived before lunch and Andrea, Jack & Reed were ready for the beach. Since Memorial Day is a "special weekend" at Pensacola beach, we opted to go to sound to swim. It was so nice. I love the beach and the ocean but the ocean scares me because when I was about 10, I found myself in the undertow and that was scary!! So needless to say, I do not like my kids' toes in the water without someone holding their hands! The sound was so pleasant. The kids were able to play in the water like it was the lake. They had fun playing together in the sand and water. Andrea and I were able to catch up and get a little tan.

We then returned to Andrea's home for a cookout and bed! On Sunday we swam at her pool (taking 15 minute "vacations" each. LOL) and then headed to Mike & Carletta's for dinner. We had a yummy dinner~Shrimp Boil!!! My favorite!! And finished off with a Key Lime Pie! Another favorite!!!

Maycie Grace and I left Monday morning because we were missing Jeremiah and Ryleighbug! We returned home to a yummy meal prepared by Jeremiah with a new potato salad recipe that was very good (not a fan of typical potato salad).

We had so much fun and enjoyed spending time with my sisters, brother in law & nephews. We miss them so very much!! I also really enjoyed my one on one time with Maycie Grace. Of course I spend every day with the girls and enjoy it more than words can express but it was nice to spend that special time with her. I love my little Maycie Grace (and my Ryleigh too!)

Maycie Grace's First Recital!!!

2011-06-26T08:07:00.000-05:00

Maycie Grace's First Recital was too precious!!! She takes ballet at her preschool on Thursdays at 9. It is great because it is during school (we tried gymnastics on Wednesday afternoons and it was too hectic right after nap with 2 girls! :)). She loves it! She is a little dancer and singer at home! They had the cutest little recital outfit. She was so cute and kept telling me the entire day of her recital that she was going to put on a show. Maycie Grace is a little shy until she warms up to you and then it is on (sounds like someone else I know personally! :)). We get to her recital and she is having fun with her friends and then the recital begins. They call each of the girls up to the stage by name and they walk up tons of steps (I was nervous for her). She walked up there and got in place. Then the music starts and all of the girls start dancing except for Maycie Grace. She was in a daze staring at the spotlights. She did maybe a handful of moves during the entire dance. Jeremiah and I just laughed. It was so funny. She came running back to her seat (I was sitting with the kids) so happy. I told her what a great job she did. She kept telling me that she put on a show! LOL During the rest of the recital, she was dancing by her seat! At the end, the whole group of girls returned to the stage to dance (and she did) and to receive their trophy. She treasures that trophy!!! Jeremiah had flowers and balloons for Maycie Grace. He was so sweet and also bought me (Ryleigh's bouquet ;0) a bouquet because he knew the day would be special for me as well. So sweet.

And now our "SHOWGIRL":

Mother's Day

2011-06-26T07:47:00.000-05:00

This Mother's Day was as special as usual despite having a horrible stomach virus. Maycie Grace had a stomach virus earlier in the week and then I caught it. It wasn't a 24 hour little bug. It lasted five days!!! The worst part was that I did not feel like eating on Saturday so I didn't. Well you can't do that when you take "Granny" medicine (AKA heart medicine! :)). Talk about feeling bad! I did learn my lesson! :) We were not able to go to church and I for sure did not feel like going out to eat. None the less it was a special to me as could be. Jeremiah and the girls made me a homemade card for "Mommy Day". Complete with their drawings and precious hand prints. I LOVED IT!!! (Side note: I make Jeremiah stay on his toes, which he does so well, because I do not like the typical gifts. I told him from the beginning that if he gives me a dozen red roses on Valentine's or a card with a signature, then I will be sad because I find myself pretty special so therefore I do not want what every woman is getting. He does so well and knows my heart!!!!) I did get to sit outside for a little bit and watch the girls swim in their pool. It was a special day because of what makes Mother's Day special. Not the gifts or going out to eat but that I am blessed to be a momma. So very blessed!!! God is SO good to me!!! I could not have been blessed with two sweeter girls and I LOVE THEM TO PIECES!!!

May

2011-06-25T08:08:00.000-05:00

Maycie Grace & Ryleigh playing

Sweet Sisters

We purchased the girls a hard plastic pool for the first time. So much easier than the blow up pools. Maycie Grace loves it. She has told everyone at school to come swim in her pool & even told the waitress at the restaurant. I have to clarify it is a $30 pool we are so excited about before a bunch of people ask to come over! ;)

She enjoys filling it up!

Pool Time!

Our little mover & shaker!!

Loves to clap. If Ryleighbug hears anyone in the distance clapping, she starts clapping too.

Always making sounds!

She loves to play in her room.

Big sissy likes to hold "little" sissy! They are almost the same size.

Sisters having fun...

and in a moment, not fun anymore!

Love to see that smile..

And that smile...

And that smile!

First popsicle!

Our sweet girls!

We got a new family member~Cooper~ A Shitzu!

Like a zoo~2 kids, 2 dogs (Cam & Cooper) & a beta named Dorothy (after Elmo's Dorothy)

Growing up too quickly!!

April

2011-06-24T21:53:00.000-05:00

April was a busy month for us! We started out with our The Market Consignment Sale and then had Jeremiah's 30th birthday (April 17th). We enjoyed the beautiful weather and getting to play outside more. We took a trip down to Pensacola to visit family. Other than that we just enjoyed being at home and spending our time together!

And now pictures:

Jeremiah finally caught up with me & turned 30!!!!

Maycie Grace has always loved to play with daddy's hat

This picture cracks me up~she is SUCH A HAM!!!

Maycie-Grace has passed on her love of playing with daddy's hat to Ryleighbug

This is how I find the girls most of the time after Ryleigh wakes up. Maycie Grace goes in there to comfort her when she wakes up and most of the time she crawls into her bed with her. A sweet, sweet big sissy!

Ryleighbug no longer needs a baby tub and is able to take baths with Maycie Grace. They enjoy taking baths & playing together. Maycie Grace gets upset when we have to do quick showers and can not play in the bathtub!

Maycie Grace got into the girls' bows and "got herself & Ryleigh ready"

Enjoying the beautiful weather. Ryleighbug taking her first ride with Maycie Grace. She loved it and Maycie Grace was very cautious (Maycie Grace is our cautious one. Ryleigh does not appear to be that way!)

One of my favorite pictures!! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE seeing those smiles!!!

Ryleigh loves to swing. She always gets so sleepy.

Surprise 30th Birthday Party

2011-06-24T20:48:00.000-05:00

So we are skipping out of order here but I have to catch up! On March 19th, Jeremiah and I went out to eat for our anniversary. Jeremiah had decided on Sweet Bones Alabama at The Summit. Even though the hostess accidentally let it slip it was a birthday party, I was still SO SURPRISED to see so many of the people that mean the world to me sitting at the table. It was almost too much to take in. I just kept saying, I can't believe this!!! Jeremiah was so sweet to arrange a surprise dinner for me. Everyone at the party had to make a drive to get to us which meant even more (people's time is my love language~Five Love Languages :)). To my surprise I saw my sisters, Carletta & Andrea, my brother in law Mike & nephews Connor & Grady, my sweet friends~Aly &Pat, Joann & Evan, Cherrie & Jamie & Anna Claire, Quincy & Avery and Tara & Dave. I had so much fun that my face was sore from laughing so hard. On the way home, I was still in shock and just thanked Jeremiah over and over again for arranging such a sweet surprise for my 30th birthday!! Hands down, it was the best birthday ever!!!!! I am one blessed girl!!! :)

My sweet friend, Joann, took pictures but I have yet to see them! ;)

Happy Father's Day!!

2011-06-19T10:18:00.000-05:00

Happy Father's Day to the best daddy two girls could have!!! There is not a day that goes by that I do not thank the Lord for blessing us with a husband and father that is even better than what I had prayed for for years. I love him with ALL OF MY HEART and our girls adore him! We would not be us without him!!!

Maycie Grace & Ryeligh Harper's April 2011 Photo Shoot

2011-05-27T13:35:00.002-05:00

We recently had the girls' pictures taken. "Smiley Ryleigh" wasn't quite so smiley because she took a short nap & had been riding for 2 hours. Now is that called love for a photographer & her work or what?!??! Our little Ryleigh bug was still as precious as ever and Aly was able to get a few smiles out of her and buddy did she work for them! :) Of course Maycie Grace (aka Ham for a Bribe) was picture perfect (we only had to say "Chuck E Cheese" a few times! ;)).

And now our BEAUTIFUL BLESSINGS:

Behind on blogging?! Not me! :)

2011-05-27T13:28:00.001-05:00

As usual, I am behind on my blogging! I have just been enjoying my time with my girls and have not thought much about blogging! :( I am also a little busy (a "little" is quite the understatement). I was always told there was a HUGE difference going from 1 baby to 2 and BOY DO I BELIEVE IT!!! It is truly 2 full time jobs because they are both requiring two totally separate things at one time! My sweet Maycie Grace has learned to be more patient because her momma has to take care of the needs of her baby sister. I have learned to be SO much easier on myself! I used to try to "do it all" but I had to learn to put things into perspective and keep my priorities. I am still working on that but we are getting there! :) My home is not in perfect condition at all times like it used to be,but it is that, a HOME. It is where two of the most precious girls, that God has placed on this earth, live & play. My mind isn't as clear (I refer to it as "jello brain" aka "momma brain") but it is because my thoughts are not just focused on me any longer but rather more focused on my family and being the wife & mother God has called me to be. And lastly, I am not as predictable as I used to be. I laugh now because people should automatically know I am going to be running 15-30 minutes late (despite my best intentions) and some times I won't even be able to do what we planned to do! Thankfully all of my friends have kids and completely understand. Although it is not the "me" I used to be, I love this "me" so much more and she is the "me" I always dreamed of being, of course with a much cleaner house and maybe a bit more organized! :)

Enough on reflection~I have a crying baby waking up from a nap WAY TOO early!!!

Date with Daddy

2011-04-25T12:08:00.000-05:00

I have always said that the reason the Lord blessed Jeremiah with two precious girls is because he is SUCH A GREAT GIRL'S DADDY! I could tell story after story but you will have to just take my word! :) These girls are blessed beyond measure with their daddy & two men will have HUGE shoes to fill one day~Just the way we want it! :)

Friday night, Maycie-Grace & daddy went on a date. They had her favorite meal "Old McDonald's" and then went to the movies to watch Hop. She became restless after 15 minutes so he took her to watch Rio~which they both enjoyed!!

Easter

2011-04-25T12:02:00.000-05:00

I love EASTER!!! We had a wonderful weekend doing our Easter traditions. We had an amazing service at church and just are in awe of the love our Lord has for us!

Pell City Easter Egg Hunt:

Dyeing Eggs:

EASTER morning:

Tangled! Maycie-Grace said "The Easter Bunny is Fabulous!"

Ready for Church:

Such a ham! She said she was taking pictures like a princess!

Daddy & His Girls!

Practicing with daddy!

Ryleigh Harper!

2011-04-25T11:51:00.000-05:00

Our little Ryleigh Harper has been one of the happiest babies I have ever been around. She has been even happier than MG! Maybe that was the trade-off~two happy babies for heart issues! :)

Ryleigh's nicknames are "Smiley Ryleigh" (My sister gave it to her and it has stuck), "Ryleigh Bug" (our little nickname for her because she is as cute as a little bug!) and "Ryleigh Dirt" (she was born with a small mullet~lol!).

She is super sweet and LOVES to be held. She is ALL HANDS and is a very determined little girl. If you don't want her to have it, you better not have it in her sight because she will fight you for it. She is so strong. I guess because she is a chunky monkey! :) She hates to have her nose wiped, and she can keep you from doing it! Thankfully we have better weather so hopefully no more fighting her on that for a while! She is just like her sissy, she never meets a stranger. She always smiles and makes friends wherever we go. I used to complain a little about how long it took to shop with Maycie Grace but it now takes even longer with the two of them because of the people talking to them. A good problem to have, I guess! :)

Ryleigh thinks Maycie Grace hung the moon! She always has the biggest smile on her face when she sees her sissy! They get along REALLY well most of the time. They occasionally have little fights. Usually because Ryleigh wants something that Maycie-Grace does not want to share. I sure hope they continue to play so well together! :)

Shapes

2011-04-25T11:31:00.000-05:00

The other day, Maycie Grace was playing a shapes game on my phone. I decided to quiz her. When we got to the heart, she replied "Heart! Where Jesus lives, in my heart!" My eyes welled up with tears! :) We love you Jesus!!

Whispering I Love You...

2011-04-01T17:05:00.000-05:00

I absolutely think my Maycie-Grace is the funniest thing! I just love to hear her little explanations and stories. She gets me tickled all of the time but I have to watch it because she is a serious little girl when she tells stories and does not like for me to get tickled at her. Anyway the other day she told me that she was unable to take her nap at preschool. I asked her why and she replied "because Wyatt kept saying 'I loooooooove youuuuuuuuuu'" (in a cute little whispering voice). I asked her what did she say to Wyatt and she said "I" and then pretended to be a sleep! SO stinkin' cute! I laughed so hard. That's my girl-gotta act like you are asleep when they whisper I love you and you are trying to get a little rest! LOL

Snow Storm during the National Championship game....

2011-02-17T14:39:00.000-06:00

Did not sound too good to me, especially since Jeremiah took the trip to Las Vegas & Glendale! So I packed up the girls and we headed to my sister's in Gulf Breeze. I could NOT miss the chance to see Auburn play. WARRRRR EAGLE! It was cold down there but thankfully no snow! We arrived Sunday afternoon after the 6 hour drive (4.5 hours but with a toddler having to use the potty & a baby that needs to be fed, it takes longer!). I was actually proud of myself to do so well driving down there and back without my ever present partner! Thank heavens for the dvd player and for two girls who love to ride in the car.
I kept my nephews, Maycie-Grace & Ryleigh on Monday and Tuesday. They had so much fun and it was actually easier because they played and played and Ryleigh and I hung out. We had a nice family dinner on Tuesday night to celebrate Carletta passing her boards! YEA CARLETTA!!!! We left Wednesday morning and returned to a snow-free home (just the way I like it! :)). Oh and let me not forget! A super clean home. My mom had come down to help me with the girls and she LOVES to clean more than I do. Can't beat a clean house and a Nana ready to play with the girls after a long trip! :)

Some pictures of the kids playing outside:

I had to add the three of these photos of Maycie-Grace & Reed because it is so typical for a photo with two 3 year olds. So cute!

Jack who is fearless!

Nana & Ryleigh

New Years Eve

2011-02-03T12:49:00.002-06:00

We have a little New Years Eve tradition that we really have no reason for other than Jeremiah and I have done it since we were dating so we just carry it on. That little tradition is eating at PF Changs that day. Kinda funny because it has no point but why stop a good thing and who doesn't like to eat?! This year we introduced Ryleigh to our New Years Eve tradition all though she was not able to partake in it. I know she will next year because she likes to eat!

After eating we went to to a do it yourself party place (Can't remember the name) off of 280. We did not get to go before Christmas this year because Jeremiah did not have any vacation days left after staying off a month with us after having Ryleigh and my medical issues and we could NOT go without him. Just wouldn't be the same so we thought we would just go on New Years Eve since he was off. Maycie-Grace painted a beautiful angel. We made a Christmas plate with Ryleigh's hand print for her cookies & carrots for Santa and his reindeer like her big sissy has!

After dinner Jeremiah stopped by to get me and Maycie-Grace some sparkling grape juice. It is my favorite and Maycie-Grace's too. We drink it through the holidays!

The Nolen Home at Christmas

2011-02-03T12:21:00.001-06:00

I LOVE the Christmas Holidays. Well actually from Thanksgiving to New Years is such a wonderful time of year. I enjoy being with family, baking, decorating and doing our traditions. It is even more exciting with the girls!! I am always sad when this time of year is over and then just want the cold weather to go away and be SPRING time!!!!

And now my favorites:

Mother's Day Out ornament!

First Christmas Ornament Picture!

Maycie-Grace's 1st Christmas. Ryleigh's will be on there next year!

Two little elves that my mom gave us the first Christmas we were together. Jeremiah is sweet (and smart, might I add!) he always places my elf up front & higher! :)

Our wedding year ornament that my sister Carletta gave us. Really special.

Jeremiah's ornament from last year. My favorite are Santa's bugged eyes! :) Thank heavens he is great at sales! :)

Sweet artwork by the talented Maycie-Grace & her daddy!

Christmas morning with my nephew's elf in town!

My new cross stocking holders. So pretty! And Maycie-Grace & Ryleigh's beautiful angel girls from Evan Gay!

Boy have I changed! One stocking with an applique & 3 without. I planned on having them all done but you see where that got me. Maybe next year?!?!

Maycie-Grace & Ryleigh's tree. So colorful!

MG's ornaments. Such sweet memories.

Our little Elf on the Shelf

2011-02-03T12:00:00.000-06:00

We LOVED our Elf on the Shelf! My friend, Dana, told me about him on the way down to Gulf Breeze for Thanksgiving. My sister, Andrea, gave the girls one when we arrived! Worked out perfectly! Maycie-Grace was SO honest with "Nokio" at our house. She would get upset if she thought he was going to tell Santa something she did. I said we need a Cupid on the Shelf, an Easter Bunny on the shelf, etc.!!

We love you Nokio and can't wait for you to come back next Thanksgiving!!!!

Christmas

2011-02-03T11:54:00.000-06:00

So no surprise I am REALLY behind! Spending time with two sweet girls & my husband gets most of my attention so blogging gets put on the back burner. Today Maycie-Grace is in school & Ryleigh is swinging (one of her favorites) so I thought I could catch up!

Christmas was wonderful! I love celebrating our Savior's birth & spending time with family!!! Ryleigh had a great first Christmas. Maycie-Grace was tons of fun and still talks about Santa coming back soon (phewww give us a little time!).

My little model for Splendid Little Blessings

Christmas Eve in Albertville

Christmas Eve-Santa & the Reindeer's Snack!

Christmas Morning

Uncle "Hink" & Ryleigh the "Toy Maker" Uncle Hank picked it out for her himself! Precious!

Our Little Amish Baker!

Reed upset that Santa made them share! LOL

All happy now that HE can drive! :)

A White Christmas!

Ready to play in the snow with lipstick & all!

This one gets me tickled because Ryleigh is like "Momma, are you sure about this?"

Play date at the McWane Center

2010-12-29T16:34:00.002-06:00

We had a play date with JoAnn & Evan last Wednesday at the McWane Center. Evan and Missy (as he calls Maycie-Grace) had a blast together and as ALWAYS Joann makes me laugh! The best kind of play date! Ryleigh did really well. She is teething so I was a little uncertain but as usual she was a happy baby. She likes people watching so she had plenty of people to watch. The kids played hard and probably could have kept on going but JoAnn looked at me and said "You are tired!" and thankfully she is one of those great friends that I can be honest with! She said she was too so we got them ready to go but only after a "quick" visit to the gift shop! My Oh My How long it takes two 3 year olds to make a decision! My babies didn't make it to the interstate before they were out! Not much need for explanation, I think these precious pictures say it all-FUN!!

Okay! Who am I kidding?!??! No explanation from me?! :) The snow is too cool and had a familiar feel to

it. :) It was made out of the same thing that diapers are made out of!

Oh let this be far far in the future! :) This picture gets me tickled.

I always know when my girls are ready for a nap-their HUGE eyes are not so huge! :)

Breakfast with Santa

2010-12-27T11:16:00.002-06:00

This year we had breakfast with Santa at the Summit. I searched for a Santa in the Birmingham area and found this event. It included a breakfast, crafts (right up MG's alley!) and a visit with Santa. MG enjoyed the crafts before we were served our breakfast. Soon Santa arrived and all of the children were so excited! We were then able to have a visit with him after we ate and worked on the adorable crafts. Maycie-Grace and Ryleigh both were fine with their visit with Santa. MG sat in his lap and started her hair twirl and told him what she wanted him to bring her for Christmas. So cute! We look forward to this event next year and hopefully our camera battery will be fully charged since I had to take the battery out & put it back in just to take each picture! Loved that. One of those typical family moments that you laugh at later but not while it is happening! My sweet husband is now in charge of the electronics! :)

Our 1st Attempt at a Gingerbread House

2010-12-13T09:11:00.000-06:00

This year we decided to make a gingerbread house. The package made it look so easy. Not for us! We did have a lot of fun making it and laughed at our efforts compared to the picture on the box. I think we put too much iciing to glue it together. It fell completely apart but we placed skewers to prop it up overnight and it is together. Looks like it has been through an earthquake but it is together!

Maycie-Grace's 1st Christmas Program

2010-12-13T09:01:00.000-06:00

Maycie-Grace had her 1st Christmas Program at her Preschool. She was so excited for us to come and watch her perform. Each day she would come home from Mother's Day out, she would practice for us. Too cute! Her class sang "The Virgin Mary" and then the 3,4 and 5 year olds sang "We wish you a Merry Christmas". It was such a proud moment. She did so well and was excited to see her daddy taking her picture performing. I actually got choked up when she came out. I always dreamed of being a momma and seeing my child perform in a program was one of the things that I would dream about. God is SO good, He gives us the desires of our hearts (Psalm 37:4)!

Decorating the Nolen Home!

2010-12-13T08:47:00.000-06:00

I love this time of year! Making our home warm and festive is so much fun. We do the majority of it as a family while listening to Christmas music. I plan on posting after I take pictures since I will be turning my posts into a book for the girls so that they can see what our home looked like for Christmas when they were younger. Maycie-Grace enjoys decorating and doing all of our Christmas traditions. I LOVE how she decorates our trees. Everything basically goes on one branch! For their Christmas tree, she organized the ornaments into colors and placed them on the tree together. She is NOTHING like her momma wanting to organize everything! LOL This year we had Ryleigh Harper helping us. She accidentally put a Christmas ball on the tree! Way to go Ryleigh!! SO thankful for the birth of our LORD and getting to celebrate how wonderful He is!!!

IRON BOWL-WAAAAARRRR EAGLE!!!

2010-12-13T08:35:00.000-06:00

We watched the Iron Bowl at Carletta's house this year. Of course we are the ONLY Auburn fans in the family. Praise the Lord for a husband that is a HUGE Auburn fan too and for our little Auburn babies because it was a tough job for little ol me for all of those years but believe me I held my own rooting for my team!!! :) Talk about nervous in the beginning but thankfully it turned around in our favor. Great Game!!! Its GREAT to be an AUBURN TIGER!

Ryleigh tries baby food!!

2010-12-06T08:08:00.001-06:00

We decided to treat Ryleigh to her first taste of baby food on Thanksgiving so our whole family could be there. We decided that organic green beans would be her first food. She liked it okay. We have now tried sweet potatoes which she enjoys much more! She still prefers the bottle and is excited when she finishes up her one baby food meal with her milk.

You know I had to! Maycie-Grace's first taste of baby food:

Maycie-Grace is about 2 weeks older than Ryleigh in the picture but you can definitely tell they are sisters!

Thanksgiving

2010-12-06T07:54:00.000-06:00

This year we had Thanksgiving at Carletta's house in Gulf Breeze. Carletta finished her fellowship at Vanderbilt in June and moved that month. We did not get to go before Ryleigh was born and we were a bit busy after she was born! I hated not getting to see my sister's new home and the area! Her home is beautiful and Gulf Breeze is a nice place to live. Considering both my sisters live there now, maybe God has that in the future for the Nolen family!!! We miss them terribly!

We headed down Wednesday night. Ryleigh slept most of the way with only 1 bottle break and Maycie-Grace only had to use the potty once and enjoyed watching movies on the way down. What did parents do before DVD players in the cars?!

We woke up Thanksgiving morning to WARM weather. It was so humid. I had to borrow my sister's shorts and shirts. Maycie-Grace had to wear the boys clothes and Jeremiah wore my brother-in-law's clothes. We were packed for the holidays! LOL

We enjoyed our time with our family and can't wait to see them all again at Christmas. Our visits are too far in between these days so I savor them even more when we get the chance.

My precious family:

Jack

Reed

Aunt Carlella & Maycie-Grace

Uncle Hink

Aunt Andrea & Paw Paw

Nina & Don

Henry (Carletta's baby)

Maw-Maw

Dakota (Carletta's Baby)

Disney Princesses on Ice

2010-12-05T07:21:00.000-06:00

We are ALL about PRINCESSES right now!!! From fixing her hair like a princess (top up and bottom down :)) to "princesses brush & floss their teeth" ! Maycie-Grace wants to do EVERYTHING princesses do. She was so excited every time she saw the commercial for Princesses on Ice so we just had to go! We went with a dear friend of mine and her oldest daughter. Both girls dressed up like Snow White. The show was really cute and kept their attention the whole time. Maycie-Grace barely took her eyes off the ice except to ask for me to spend money & more money! :) The cutest part was in the beginning they asked all princesses to stand up and do a princess wave. Before I could tell MG what to do, she was up waving like she had done it her whole life. Precious!! We enjoyed our "big girls" day together!

A special visit

2010-12-05T06:59:00.000-06:00

We recently had a special visit from my brother-in-law and two nephews. We have not seen them since Maycie-Grace's birthday party in September. This has been really hard on us since we both lived in Cullman and were able to see each other often. After we moved to Pell City we saw them less but still were able to visit often with just an hour and half drive. In August they moved to Gulf Breeze where Carletta lives and now we see them even less. So sad! :( Maycie-Grace has the best time with Jack and Reed. She is a girly girl but when the boys are around she does what they do and wants to play the things they play. Forget girly things!!!

Cousin Jack is always eager to hold Ryleigh. He is such a great big cousin and Ryleigh enjoys every single moment she is with cousin Jack!! She just lights up when he is around.

One year ago today....

2010-12-01T21:47:00.001-06:00

We found out that the Lord had blessed us with our second sweet blessing. We were shocked and SO VERY EXCITED!!! I enjoyed both of my pregnancies (well maybe except for those first few months of sickness!) and feel so very blessed to have the opportunity to have been pregnant and have two beautiful babies!

Our sweet Ryleigh is a perfect addition to our family. Of course we did not find out her sex until she was born because we wanted to be surprised. We knew that God had done an amazing job by picking out Maycie-Grace for us so we no doubt knew He would do the same the second time around. Boy did he! Ryleigh Harper is the happiest baby in the world. Maycie-Grace was a very happy baby but Ryleigh may have her beat! :) Ryleigh smiles constantly and only cries when she is tired, is hungry or has a dirty diaper. She loves being where we are and absolutely loves her sissy.

All praise and glory to God for blessing Jeremiah and I with two of the most precious girls. Our cups run over!!!!

Play Date & Halloween

2010-11-14T13:28:00.002-06:00

We have been blessed to have several play dates here lately and unfortunately I have not taken pictures but on this play date I remembered!!! We were blessed to have Alyson, Payton & Savanah come for a visit. The girls are so precious and play so well together! They finally let MG in their circle after a couple hours! LOL The kids had a fun time together playing and painting their pumpkins. I really enjoyed my time with Aly too. There is no better company than a dear friend. We are looking forward to our next play date with them!

This year Maycie-Grace told us that she wanted to be a bumble bee. We reminded her that she was a bumble bee last year and that it would be fun to be something else this year. She stuck to her guns so of course we let her be a bee. Who doesn't like to save money?!?!? :) She was the cutest bee again this year! She loved her costume more this year than last year.

Our sweet bee all ready for Trunk or Treat!

Ready for "Odford's Birthday" (instead of Halloween) at her preschool!

Little gifts for her friends at school for Odford's Birthday. I really enjoyed making these & thankfully Jeremiah and my momma helped me finish them in time! We filled them with play dough and candy!

Miss Ryleigh Harper ready to watch the Auburn game with Daddy while Maycie-Grace and I joined our neighbors to go trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. The neighborhood apparently was not into Halloween this year so we visited 5 houses and one of them twice! A little sad but the kids didn't care and I was excited to get to watch my Tigers!!

A tired little girl. She did not even make it to game time!

Halloween night! Someone got their money's worth! :)

She was excited to hand out candy to our visiting neighbors.

Maycie-Grace, Bradley & Andrew

Making Candy Apples! Yum!!

Fall Festivities

2010-11-10T13:28:00.001-06:00

For Halloween we took our traditional trip to The Great Pumpkin Patch in Hayden. Maycie-Grace rode the train, a horse and jumped in the bouncy houses. Then Maycie-Grace and Jeremiah rode out to the pumpkin patch and found 2 pumpkins for us to carve. Ryleigh and I stayed back and people watched because it was hot!!! I decided to use the moment for a little photo shoot! :)

Maycie-Grace and Jeremiah carved their pumpkin this year into an owl on a branch. It turned out really cute, especially at night with the light shining through. We LOVE fall and its festivities!!!

Maycie-Grace's 3rd Birthday Breakfast

2010-10-12T19:04:00.001-05:00

Maycie-Grace's 3rd Birthday Pancake Breakfast! My oh my! How my girl has grown right before our eyes!! I have been blessed to be able to be with her every day since birth so it is amazing to look back at the pictures to see just how much she has grown! Such a blessing.

2 years old!

Yummy!Pancake Breakfast- 2 years Pancake Breakfast- 1 year
Pancake Breakfast- 1 year
Pancake Breakfast- 1 year

1:29 September 14, 2008

September 14, 2007

Daddy & his Maycie-Grace

Maycie-Grace turns 3!!!

2010-10-06T16:48:00.004-05:00

Our sweet Maycie-Grace turned 3 on September 14th! We had a small family party for her on the 11th. I usually plan for months for Maycie-Grace's birthday but with my health issues, I was unable to get her party together. Thankfully she has a wonderful daddy who would do anything for his girls. He surprised me and picked out her entire birthday party. She wanted Tinkerbell and Tinkerbell he did! He took care of every thing from the decorations to the gifts. So cute!!! He even surprised us when he came home with her Tinkerbell cake and said "I don't know why she did blue & yellow, makes me think of Cinderella". We laughed so hard! That statement coming out of Jeremiah's mouth was so funny. He is a great little girl's daddy and I guess that is why the Lord blessed him with two!

Maycie-Grace is such a blessing to our entire family. She is so sweet yet a bit sassy. She keeps us laughing and on our toes with disciplining! :) I feel I am the most blessed momma in the world to be her momma. She is a beautiful blessing and my life has not been the same since I first felt her kick in my belly. She is the answer to many prayers and the Lord blessed me with the desire of my heart when I became pregnant with her. I always say the Lord could not have done a better job creating her for us (and our little Ryleigh too). Too blessed for words!

And now the pictures:

Ryleigh Bug & Maycie-Grace Weeks 2-7

2010-09-26T19:21:00.006-05:00

Playing Catch Up!! We stay busy with these two girls and we are loving every minute of it (well almost! LOL). We are getting more of a routine so that helps out a lot. It was an adjustment to have a toddler who was used to having what she needed right when she asked for it and a newborn baby. Maycie-Grace loves her baby sister and Ryleigh smiles when she hears Maycie-Grace's voice. They are SO cute together!!!

Ryleigh Week 1 & Big Sister Maycie-Grace

2010-08-22T13:07:00.004-05:00

Here are a few pictures of Ryleigh from her first week at home. Maycie-Grace loves her little sister and has adjusted to being a big sister better than I could have imagined. She will go by her swing and say "You are so pretty" and she told me the other day before preschool that she was going to tell everyone about her baby sister at school. She is SO proud. Ryleigh loves her too. She must have been used to hearing Maycie-Grace's voice because anytime she talks, Ryleigh finds her. Maycie-Grace is also a big helper. She loves to go get the the things we need for Ryleigh. She likes to help feed her, change her and hold her. She also likes to pick out her outfits to wear. So sweet!!!

Here are pictures from our first week home:

Ryleigh Harper Nolen

2010-08-14T13:50:00.010-05:00

Can't believe our Ryleigh is almost 2 weeks old and this is the first post with pictures of her. Trust me there will be more very soon now that things have calmed down a bit! The Lord has blessed us beyond measure & our cup runs over.

Our Beautiful Girls:

Baby Nolen is Here!!!

2010-08-02T11:09:00.001-05:00

The Lord has blessed us with a precious baby girl,
Ryleigh Harper Nolen..She was born at 7:54 am and she is 9 lb 7oz and 21 1/2 in long.
Mommy and Baby are both doing very well!!

A Shower for Baby Nolen

2010-07-29T15:33:00.002-05:00

Last Thursday the sweet employees at Jeremiah's branch threw a baby shower for Baby Nolen. We really enjoyed our time with them and were touched by their kindness. We received such wonderful gifts and let me just say that there is no reason what so ever that Baby Nolen should ever be anything less than sparkling clean! They let me know it wasn't as fun purchasing gifts for a surprise baby but I still think they did an excellent job and it will be so nice to have so many diapers, wipes and bath products on hand without having to run out and get them.

I have to say that they also had the best cake I think I have ever eaten. Fortunately (or unfortunately) they sent it home with us. I was tempted by it all day Friday and I never won! :) Yummy!! I was a little embarrassed when Jeremiah opened the box to get a piece and there were only two small pieces left for him and MG!! :)

I was also touched by their kindness because they purchased gifts for Maycie-Grace. I told her that morning before dropping her off at school that we were going to a baby party. She was excited and remembered when I picked her up from school. She had a little doll that she plays with and when we pulled up at the branch, I told her to leave it in the car and she said "The baby has to go to the baby party!". She really enjoyed the party (especially the punch) and was thrilled with the gifts she received. She was entertained with her gift bag and gifts for quite a while on Friday. I just had to take a picture!

Sweet Baby Nolen-38 weeks

2010-07-28T09:06:00.004-05:00

I had my final appointment yesterday. The baby's heart rate was in the 140's. We were measuring right on target. I had made no progress but as odd as it seems, I was excited. I had originally said I would prefer to go into labor this time but have changed my mind since then! So it was great news to me that I had not made any progress and more than likely will be checking in on Sunday evening (39 weeks) to begin induction at 12 am Monday. I guess I am finding a little comfort in doing it the way that I did it with Maycie-Grace even though all deliveries are different. I also like the idea of taking Maycie-Grace to my sister's house and spending time with her and putting her to bed and then checking into the hospital rather than her see me in pain for an hour and half drive and then tossing her off at my sister's house. :)

We are getting more and more excited everyday. I look forward to holding my sweet baby in my arms and introducing him or her to their precious big sister. I have been so concerned with Maycie-Grace's transition into a big sister that I am just ready to see how it goes! I really think she will be fabulous because she adjusts well to new things and is very motherly.

Sweet Baby Nolen-37 weeks

2010-07-21T08:08:00.003-05:00

Baby Nolen's heart rate was in the 140's. We were measuring 38 weeks. Dr. Wideman set the time for me to go into the hospital. We will go in Sunday, August 1st at 9pm to begin induction at 12 am (This hospital's odd policy). After we set the time, Dr. Wideman checked for progress. I was talking to the nurse about how I thought it would be more hard to not find out the sex of the baby but since I am a person that sets her mind on something and that is pretty much it, that it was actually quite easy. She of course said she couldn't do it. If I had a dollar for every time I am told that! :) Anyway the doctor said "I don't know if you will make it to the 1st". He then told me the baby's head was far down and we had made progress (1cm, 60%). That was a first for me and quite unexpected since I never made progress before. I then had the ultrasound to measure the baby to get an estimate on weight and our baby is a little over 7 pounds. Jeremiah and I were talking about it last night and I may just have the family "runt"! :)

As for me, I lost a pound! YEAH!!! I am now exactly where I was when I delivered MG. Not that it matters but sure made me feel better. My blood pressure was up even though I have been taking the 2nd half of my medicine in the evening. So I now have to take a whole pill in the morning and then another whole pill in the evening. Thankfully I only have just under 2 weeks because the medicine makes me so sleepy (which would be okay if I didn't have a precious girl to play with) and of course makes me swell more. I can tell my hands are more swollen this morning so I can only imagine what these feet will look like this afternoon! Oh well as long as my baby is safe, I can handle being uncomfortable! It is just a blessing that it has remained stable throughout the pregnancy without any major intervention. I had been concerned with that since my blood pressure had jumped at 14 weeks (I have blood pressure issues when not pregnant). All praise to God for answering my prayers and keeping us safe throughout the pregnancy without having to deliver early. He is so good!

Now I am going to continue savoring every single moment with my sweet, sweet girl and finishing up the little things that need to be done!!

Sweet Baby Nolen-36 weeks

2010-07-14T09:47:00.005-05:00

I had my 36 week appointment yesterday. Baby Nolen's heart rate was up compared to usual. It was in the 150's. We (I say "we" to make me feel better! :)) measured 37 weeks so we slowed down a bit. Dr. Wideman still said his usual "You are just all baby!". I seriously can not imagine our baby getting any larger over the next couple weeks because there is no more room in my belly! Our baby's head was down but no progress on my end. That is no surprise because I never did with Maycie-Grace. I am scheduled to have an ultrasound next week to measure the baby's size since Maycie-Grace was 9 lbs. Dr. Wideman and I discussed being induced at 39 weeks again since we have large babies in our family. So that would be going in the hospital Sunday August 1st to be induced to deliver Monday August 2nd. I will know more next week!

As for me, the weight gain has stopped but I have horrible cankles! I wore pants yesterday because I get tired of people commenting on them. Cankles & morning sickness are all that I dislike about being pregnant. Other than that I LOVE it and feel so blessed to have the opportunity to even be pregnant.

We are getting more excited everyday and I feel more confident each day that Maycie-Grace is going to adjust well. We have most of the baby's things set up and our house is pretty well organized!! :) Excited to meet our sweet blessing!

Sprinkler Fun

2010-07-09T09:45:00.005-05:00

Talk about HOT!!!! Maycie-Grace really enjoys being outside (me, not so much right now!). Her favorites are swinging, sliding, playing with her sand table and her sprinkler and slip-n-slide. We try to get out in the morning and then again in the evening when it is not as hot. Most evenings Jeremiah takes her out to play since I am pooped from the day. Of course every time we come in, she pitches the BIGGEST fit!!! I think she could stay outside ALL day in 100 degree weather!

Sweet Baby Nolen-35 weeks

2010-07-07T15:47:00.002-05:00

I had my 35 week appointment yesterday. Our baby's heart rate was in the 130's but Dr. Wideman said that it was typical to slow down at this time in the pregnancy. I just LOVE hearing my baby's heartbeat. There is nothing sweeter and nothing that will remind you of how wonderful God is when you hear it! I was measuring 37 weeks! This baby has been busy growing in just 12 days! I now will have appointments every Tuesday. It is getting SO close and I almost feel like I have things in order for our sweet arrival!! Better get on it! :)

Baby Nolen

2010-06-29T10:52:00.003-05:00

I had my 33 1/2 week appointment last Thursday. Baby Nolen's heartbeat was still in the 140's (has been in the 140's except at my very first appointment). I measured 34 weeks so the belly slowed down a bit! :) I originally was measuring behind and then the previous 3 appointments before this past Thursday I was measuring 2 weeks ahead at each appointment. We did a 4D ultrasound but since I am further along we were unable to get a good picture. This was offered through the doctor's office so I did not have to pay for it! I was able to see my sweet sleeping baby and his/her nose & lips. Still looks a lot like Maycie-Grace. The countdown is on! So excited to meet our sweet baby girl or boy.

As for me this pregnancy has been more emotional because I keep thinking about how it will affect Maycie-Grace. I really think she will do well but I can't help but be concerned for her because she is my first baby and will always be my baby. She talks about the baby often and loves to see my belly. She now says it is going to be a boy but calls the baby her "baby sister" so either way she will be right! LOL I am so thankful for all of my friends who have 2 children that have reassured me that she will be fine. I have already stepped up my affirmations of love for her just to be sure she gets how special she is to me and how I will always love her to pieces and that will never change no matter how many babies we add to the family.

Special Sundays

2010-06-21T11:24:00.005-05:00

We have a little tradition that I started with my own family, it is called Special Sundays. Last spring I read a book called Creative Counterpart by Linda Dillow. It is a wonderful book about being the woman, wife & mother that God desires for us to be. I think any book by Linda Dillow would be fabulous and I plan to read more of them! Anyway in the book she talks about Ruth Graham making Sundays special at her home by preparing a special dessert or having games for the children to play. I thought that was a neat idea and decided to do the same with my little family. Of course God is a part of every day of our life but I wanted Sundays to be extra special for my children and for them to have memories of us setting Sunday a part from the other days to celebrate our wonderful Lord!!!

All of our Special Sundays have included baking because we do so many activities with Maycie-Grace the other days. I love to bake and enjoy baking with Maycie-Grace. She really enjoys helping too. It is fun to come up with new ideas each Sunday for our baking session. Believe me, it is not hard to do because I am a HUGE fan of baked goods!

So here are pictures of some our Special Sunday baked goods!

The yummy chocolate chip chocolate cake. Of course this recipe is by Paula Deen (my favorite!) from the Cookbook for the Lunch Box Set. Maycie-Grace received this recipe book from a friend of mine for Christmas. It is for kids and we have enjoyed making many of the recipes.

Fresh Squeezed Lemonade & Strawberry ShortcakeA fruit Pizza

Ice cream Cone Cupcakes

Maycie-Grace's beautiful cupcakes!Mine! :)

Beach Trip 2010-Part II

2010-06-18T06:36:00.011-05:00

So everyone tries to get the perfect beach portrait. Maycie-Grace's first trip to the beach she smiled so perfectly. Last year was a different story so we really didn't have any beach portraits of her. This year she hammed it up! Now granted there was a trip to Target to get something My Little Pony on the line. Bad momma, right?!??! LOL! Don't worry this is not like an episode of Toddlers & Tiaras! She does love having her picture taken and often requests that her picture be taken but never fails if you really want a certain picture, she is not for it. It is the stubborn side of her. So earlier in the day she had been mesmerized by a little girl's collection of My Little Pony's at the pool and I of course wanted her to have them if she thought they were that impressive. So on the way to take pictures we let her know if she smiled and looked at the camera she would be able to get her own My Little Pony! Granted even if she had not smiled, we still would have made our trip to Target because Jeremiah and I both are pushovers when it comes to making our baby girl smile. Now the first pictures with her in the crab dress, she was working for free that afternoon! LOL

I didn't realize that Jeremiah, Maycie-Grace and I have never had a family portrait on the beach. Not really sure why we have never asked someone in our family to take pictures. While we were playing on the beach one evening, we saw a family being photographed by a professional photographer so that is on my to do list for next summer with our little family of 4!!!

I love to compare pictures of her and am always amazed how much she has changed. It is hard to see when you are with them every single day and usually doesn't hit you until you see pictures!

2008

2010

My two loves!

Me & my two babies!

Our Silly Girl:

Maycie-Grace hates for anything to be on her hands
(these are the little things I want to remember).

Beach Trip 2010-Part I

2010-06-15T12:00:00.013-05:00

We took our annual beach trip this Memorial Day. This trip was different for us because it was just the three of us! We missed our family but still had a wonderful time. We had a great week and were oil free the entire time. The oil arrived on Saturday (the day we headed home). Maycie-Grace loved the beach more than ever. In previous years, she would be ready to go in to eat or take naps. This year we had to make her go in! She could have played in the sand or swam all day if we would have let her! This was her first year to get in the ocean and she loved it. I enjoyed it too because I could hold her forever because she didn't way anything in the water (of course same with the pool). That was special to me because I still hold her often but for shorter periods of time or I make sure I am sitting because it does strain the back to be carrying two babies! :)

Thankfully we had gorgeous weather the entire week with just a few storms. As usual, we ate way too much!!!

Okay now the pictures! Let me forewarn you-there are so many and this is after me narrowing it down! I am going to split the beach pictures and the beach portrait pictures because this would be the longest blog entry!!! :)

We had to bring Dorothy (the goldfish from Sesame Street but ours is a male Beta!) on the trip with us. She/He seemed to enjoy the vacation as well.

First time on the beach this year!

Ready for the beach!

Sand Time!
Our Sand Castle

POOL TIME!She just kept swirling around (like she does with all of her dresses) and I just had to get it in pictures! :)And YES momma & daddy were there too! :)

Baby Nolen

2010-05-12T08:29:00.008-05:00

This past Saturday we had our 4D appointment. We did not do a 4D ultrasound with Maycie-Grace because we had a few good ultrasounds that gave us an idea of what she looked like and wanted to keep the rest a surprise. So with Baby Nolen we thought it would be neat since we have the big surprise of the sex!

We drove to Cullman Saturday morning and met my two sisters and mother and then drove to Jasper for the appointment. It was so exciting because we have not been able to get a good ultrasound of Baby Nolen. It was so special to have our family there so excited to get a glimpse of our new addition.

Baby Nolen already has hair and weighs 2.5 pounds so no doubt I will have another big baby! The ultrasound tech was cute and said at the end of the appointment "I bet you want to know if this is going to be another big baby like your daughter, and yes more than likely it is going to be another big baby". That is fine by me because I think big babies are so cute and that is less weight I have to loose! :) I have heard that your second baby is bigger than your first and that is quite scary! I had no problems delivering Maycie-Grace (9 lbs) but if the baby is bigger, I think I might. But that is all in God's hands and I will think about that if the situation arises!

Baby Nolen's heart rate was 148. Most people say a lower heart rate means a boy but of course it is not an exact science or the doctors would tell you that. Maycie-Grace's heart rate was always in the 170's and toward the end it was in the high 160's. My family has all changed their minds (except for Aunt Carletta who has said boy all along). They originally all said it was a girl and now they think it is a boy. So that makes it more exciting for delivery day because no one really knows! Only God knows and I am fine with that. We have no preference at all but at this moment, I think it is a boy. Earlier I thought it was a girl. So even momma doesn't know!

So enough of me, here is our precious Greyson Carter Nolen or Ryleigh Harper Nolen!!!!!!!

Everyone said how much Baby Nolen looks like Maycie-Grace. It was not until I got home and compared her birth pictures with the sonograms that I realized how much they do look alike. They have the same sweet nose and mouth!

Mother's Day

2010-05-10T07:18:00.026-05:00

Mother's Day is such an exciting day. I know that I sound like a broken record but it has always been my dream to be a wife and momma and to be living that is so very special to me. I know it is all because of God's goodness that I have been blessed with my precious little family. I love being a momma and am so blessed to be able to spend as much time with Maycie-Grace as I do. That again is thanks to God and to my wonderful husband that works so very hard every day so that I get to do it.

This year was so special because I am now a mother to two precious babies. I can not find the words to express how thankful I am to the Lord for the opportunity and to express how much I love my sweet babies. My whole life I just felt like I had so much of my heart to give and that part of me did not feel fulfilled until I married Jeremiah and had my sweet baby girl. It is hard to explain but it just felt like everything came together then and I was the me that I had longed to be. And to get the opportunity to love and parent another child makes me feel like the most blessed woman in the world. Sunday morning we were in church and it was all I could do to hold back the tears because I was there with my sweet momma, my two amazing sisters (my fabulous brother-in-law), my wonderful husband, our three precious blessings and our sweet baby was kicking around during the music. I will never forget it! Like my descriptive words?!?!? I had to give everyone one because they are not just regular to me! LOL.

This was my 4th time to celebrate Mother's Day. My first was when I was pregnant with Maycie-Grace. That day I made polka dot vases for the special women in my life and Jeremiah watched me make them. I then went to a wedding shower. The next morning he surprised me with a frame with our wedding picture, a frame with Maycie-Grace's sonogram and a beautiful polka dot vase. It was so sweet because I never pictured him getting out my paint and painting polka dots on a vase but he did (and the people that know him were quite surprised he did). I knew then that I had a keeper because I am all about gifts that take time. I love the book The Five Love Languages and my love language is someone's time (meaning I feel loved when someone devotes time to me rather than buying me material things or other ways). Since then my sweet husband has become a little crafty man! lol. I know it is not his thing but he does it for me which makes it so special for me. For my second and third Mother's Day Maycie-Grace and Jeremiah made me homemade cards which are my favorite because I am not about just signing your name to a Hallmark. This year they surprised me with my gifts early. We stayed in Cullman this weekend so they surprised me Thursday evening. I worked Thursday and had to stay late Thursday night to give a test at another location. I came in exhausted and they had two beautiful tulip plants, a polka dot Mother's Day balloon and homemade cards waiting for me. They could not have surprised me more! This year Maycie-Grace helped more with the cards and Jeremiah has become quite the artist! :) Oh I do have to mention that I am excited about my second half of my gift which is a Cricut that is to arrive tomorrow! :) I won't be able to get to the door fast enough when my door bell rings! LOL

Maycie-Grace's Card

Card from Jeremiah & Maycie-Grace

The inside

Jeremiah's artwork! :)

My card MG made me in Mother's Day Out.
My box that MG made me in church.No I can't get enough of her sweet hand prints!

This year Maycie-Grace made her traditional Mother's Day Cards. She wanted to finger paint them this year and I thought it was so cute that she suggested putting her hand print on the cards. I think they turned out fabulous!!!

And one last story to mention that I do not want to forget! Sunday morning Maycie-Grace was passing out her cards to my grandma, my mom and my two sisters. I had also made them a card and was passing them out. Jack asked where his was and I just said "they are for mothers" and kept handing them out. A few minutes later I walked up stairs and I could hear Andrea talking to Jack and he was upset. I then hear him say "But everyone else got one but me". I walked in to Hank and asked if I was hearing what I thought I heard and he said yes. It broke my heart. So I walked into the living room and Andrea was trying to explain it to him and he said that he just wanted a hug if he couldn't get a card (I am tearing up now thinking about it). So I gave him a big hug and told him "Happy Mother's Day". We asked if he wanted us to make a card for him and he said yes so my sister got out the stickers and markers and Maycie-Grace and I made him a Mother's Day card. We put a picture of Maycie-Grace in her princess costume in there (all of the Mother's Day cards had pictures of MG in them). MG and I gave him the card and you should have seen the smile on his sweet face. My sister Carletta said "I didn't get star stickers on mine!" and he said "I am sorry" and smiled. We made sure he knew that was because he was special. Such a precious little boy and a memory that will make me smile forever. He is so sweet and I never thought about that hurting his feelings. He will for sure get a Father's Day card too! :)

Oh how my baby has grown!

Mother's Day Card Day 2010

Mother's Day Card Day 2009

Mother's Day 2008

Our Birthdays/Anniversary Trip 2010

2010-05-04T10:29:00.009-05:00

Each year we take a birthdays/anniversary trip. Our anniversary is March 19, my birthday is March 22nd & Jeremiah's birthday is April 17th. Instead of buying gifts (well that is our intention but we still buy gifts) we take a trip. Our first trip, Jeremiah and I went to Orlando to Universal Studios and had a lot of fun. Last year we took our wonderful trip to Savannah (No surprise that I love Savannah and Paula Deen!) and this year we decided to go to a Safari in Georgia and then stay a couple of nights in Atlanta and take Maycie-Grace to the World of Coke.

We watch the Duggar Family 18 kids and counting, wait it is 19 Kids and counting now! :) They visited a safari and we thought that would be neat. Thankfully we did not have to drive to Arkansas because there is one closer to us in Georgia! We arrived at the safari and it was BUSY. We visited their little zoo and then rented a van to drive through the safari. Maycie-Grace loved the fact that she could walk around and did not have to be in a car seat.

When we were first entering the safari there was a very smart Giraffe that was standing at the road to greet everyone. Since everyone purchased treats for the animals (looked like bark) he knew that if he stood there, he would not have to work for it! The only other animal that came up to the car was an ostrich (I think it was an ostrich). We really enjoyed being close to the animals. I think the highlight of the safari for Maycie-Grace was driving! I was the typical momma and was nervous and kept telling Jeremiah that was enough driving for her! The highlight of the zoo for Maycie-Grace was taking pictures with all of the wooden cutouts! There was not one that she did not request her picture to be taken with. She makes me laugh!

After the safari we headed to Atlanta and stayed the night. The next day we visited the World Of Coke. I have been before but it was a first for Jeremiah and Maycie-Grace.

She was a little scared of the sweet polar bear.

All ready for the 3D movie! Or so we thought...

My fearless girl is no longer fearless! I had to take her out of the movie. I think the water splashing and moving seats were too much! We should have known that, right?!?!? :)
When she is uncomfortable she puts her fingers in her mouth-poor thing! We both felt so bad.

But we made it up to her with all of the coke! Fabulous Parents!

She loved making her own coke and drinking it...
and drinking more of it!

Thank heavens they sent her home with a coke of her own! Can't beat a Coke in a bottle!

This picture makes me laugh because you can clearly see some red drink she had and she wanted to drink the coke in the bottle! Since she only drinks water, juice,milk & Kool-Aid, I bet that was quite the experience for her!

After the World Of Coke we ate at The Varsity. We could not eat much since we had consumed so much carbonated beverages! We saw The Varsity on the Food Network and wanted to try it out. The place was packed! It reminded me of a 1950's diner. I am not big on hot dogs and onion rings but I have to say what I did eat was very good and I know why it is such a popular place!

That evening we had a wonderful dinner to celebrate my birthday. The next morning we left Atlanta and headed home! It was a wonderful trip with my little family.

A-Day

2010-04-27T16:51:00.004-05:00

For Jeremiah's birthday we traveled to Auburn for the A-Day game. Thankfully one of the benefits of living in Pell City is that we have cut our travel time to Auburn in half. It only takes us about 1 1/2 hours now.

We had a lot of fun walking around, eating, seeing what we had in store for the fall (EXCITING!!!) and visiting the new basketball coliseum. The only down side is that it was so hot! Jeremiah and I both love Auburn football so I was surprised when he suggested we leave the game before half time. I still have massive tan lines that need to be corrected from that day! :)

In typical 2 year old fashion Maycie-Grace said she wanted her picture made. We put her on the wall and she changes her mind. So we take her down and start walking and then....

She runs up to this little tree and says "Take my picture with the tree!" Such a ham! She asks me to take her pictures often. So funny, I guess it is second nature for her because I have taken TONS more than I have ever shared! :)

A-Day festivities-Enjoying running around after being in a car seat!

I love pictures like this with her daddy just being her daddy. He loves Maycie-Grace to pieces and she will cherish pictures like this one day!!! I cherish them now-goodness how much I love the wonderful daddy that he is (a great hubby too!).

She wanted to have her pictures made with the cheerleaders. I learned a funny thing about my little girl this day-Too much attention makes her shy (reminds me of someone?!?!). She was all pumped and ready to walk up to them and they made a fuss over her and she became so shy. She likes attention but I guess not too much! That was the first time that I put my finger on it! Since she was a baby she has always made friends when we were out but I guess it has to be with her initiating!

At the game looking for Aubie. He would walk up in front of us (not close enough for us to tell him to come over) and she would just wave and say "Hey Aubie!!!" He walked off and she yelled "Come back Aubie!" It was a little sad.

So close, yet so far away!

Checking out the new basketball coliseum. I am by no means a basketball fan (will watch Football and Golf all day!) but it was still extremely nice. I know it has to get the players pumped up to play in such a nice place!

WAR EAGLE!!!!

Introducing our Sweet Blessing

2010-04-20T15:01:00.005-05:00

Our Sweet Greyson Carter Nolen
or
Miss Ryleigh Harper Nolen

We are growing more excited each day to get to meet our sweet second baby! Maycie-Grace has been such a wonderful blessing from the Lord and that makes us even more excited about the opportunity to welcome a second child to our family. Overwhelmed with such thankfulness to the Lord is an understatement!!

This sweet baby really caught us by surprise. I just decided to take a pregnancy test because I needed to make a follow-up dental appointment to have a cavity filled because I wouldn't do an x-ray just in case at my previous appointment. I really didn't think I was pregnant so I just picked up a test while we were at Walmart and went home and took it without my sweet hubby because I was expecting a negative and wanted to get the appointment scheduled that day because we were at the start of welcoming a baby (trying to not get too detailed! lol). So I was shocked to see a positive. I then felt bad that Jeremiah didn't get to be home with me. Maycie-Grace and I practiced her saying that she was going to be a big sister. She said it perfectly all day. When Jeremiah came home from work, I gave her the test and told her to go tell daddy her news. Well of course we all know how a two year old is unpredictable! She just walked in there with it. I was waiting by the corner watching her and all Jeremiah said was "You are not supposed to have this". Talk about us both being caught off guard! He thought she had the test from when she was a baby! I then walked in and told him that I gave it to her. He still didn't clue in. I said "This test is from this time!" He looked so confused. Finally I said "I am pregnant!" And that one worked!

I always thought that the second time around couldn't be as special as the first but BOY WAS I WRONG! I have always dreamed of being a wife and momma and getting to be a momma to two babies (letting God guide us if there will be a third) is such a blessing! In fact it is more overwhelming because I know this time around how much my children mean to me. I thought I had an idea but I didn't until I laid my eyes on Maycie-Grace for the first time. My cup runs over!

We decided to periodically discuss the new baby with Maycie-Grace rather than just consume her with all the talk about the new baby because she is our baby (and ALWAYS will be!). Of course Jeremiah and I talk about the pregnancy often but we are letting MG have her time alone before the big day. The funny thing is that she brings it up to us a lot! She talks about her baby sister. I asked her the other day what she was going to do if it turns out to be a baby brother and she said "I will cry". I asked her if she wouldn't love having a baby brother like Jack has and she seemed a little more interested then. She probably pictured us going to get Reed! :) Another funny thing is one day she told me to open my belly up because she wanted to see the baby. I said that it was real little and we had to wait and she replied "Maycie will do it!". Too funny!

I forgot to say that the due date is August 8th and that we are waiting until then to see if the Lord has blessed us with another sweet girl or a precious boy. We have no preference either way because God did such an amazing job picking out Maycie-Grace for us that we no doubt know that He will do the same amazing job this time!

And now this proud momma is going to show off her pictures!

14 Weeks:

18 weeks:

Maycie-Grace at 18 weeks:

***They look a lot a like in their 18 week pictures!***

Easter

2010-04-16T13:42:00.012-05:00

This year we spent Easter with my family in Cullman. I absolutely love Easter and what it stands for!!! Of course we teach Maycie-Grace about Easter and Jesus' love for us but we also enjoy the Easter bunny.

Friday evening Maycie-Grace, Jeremiah and I dyed Easter eggs. We drove to Cullman Saturday and attending our home church's Easter Eggstravaganza. Even though it had rained for hours, the kids had a lot of fun hunting for eggs, eating and jumping in the bouncy houses. After that we went back to my sister's house and played and cooked out. We woke up early Sunday morning to see what the Easter bunny had brought and then we rushed to get ready for the 8 am service. It was a beautiful service and as always I couldn't stop the tears from running down my face. What an amazing Lord and how very blessed we are to be able to have a close relationship with Him. I LOVE HIM!!!

After church we had a wonderful lunch and hunted Easter eggs. It was a great weekend and made me a little homesick!!!

Dying Eggs:
A little Trick for the Camera! Such a Ham!

Daystar Eggstravaganza:

Easter:

Our three sweet blessings from the Lord

Our Maycie-Grace!

2010-03-16T11:44:00.011-05:00

Can not believe it has almost been 2 months since I have posted last. Where does the time go?!?!

Our sweet Maycie-Grace turned 2 1/2 on Sunday. I really can not believe it has been over 2 1/2 years since I held in her in my arms for the first time. And to think that she stayed home with me everyday for the first 23 months of her life (now Mother's Day Out twice a week) and I still feel like it just flew by. I can only imagine how it would have felt if she would have gone to school full-time.

So back to our girl. She is something else. She is really such a sweet, loving, thoughtful little girl. Biased, I know! Then she has her moments. She is a little sassy and stubborn (or as I like to say "strong willed" BTW my nickname growing up from my Grandpa was stubborn!). My family tells me that she comes by it honestly. They say she reminds them of me. She is such a Miss Priss and then she will hold her own with her cousins Jack & Reed. I never have to wonder is she okay when she is playing with kids in the other room or at school. I have to make sure she is not the one controlling! :)

I love to look over my posts to see how much Maycie-Grace has changed and what she was doing at a particular time. SO here goes....

She loves: to dance, sing, finger paint, color, clean, play momma and baby, read and watch Dora, Caillou, Sesame Street & Ni Hao Kia Lan. She also loves to play with her balls and we just laugh at her while she does. She loves to race with her daddy and now they play golf (shakky ball?!) together. Just recently she and I started baking together. She loves every minute of it!

She sings a lot. I was once told that children that sing a lot are happy and even if that is not true, it sure makes me feel good. She sings Jesus loves Me and Bah Bah Black Sheep most often. She dances a lot too. She always wants us to dance, especially to Dora's theme song!

She loves Jesus! Which could not make us more proud as parents. She calls Him "Jesus Bible". She can spot a cross or anything that has to do with Jesus a mile away or even when we are driving down the road listening to our contemporary christian music, she always says "Jesus bible momma, Jesus Bible" even on songs that I do not hear His name in. I think it is so precious when she sings along with the songs. When on the phone with my mom or my sisters she says "I love Jesus".

She says some of the sweetest things too. The other day she came up to me and gave me a hug and said "I'm happy, you happy momma?" and flashed her beautiful smile! I said "I am happy Maycie, how could I not be, I am your momma!". She loves to give kisses (not on demand though!) she will give you 10 in a row and keep asking for more. Of course we keep giving them, enjoying every moment! She keeps an eye out for Jeremiah and I too. If one of us is giving her something to eat or doing something she always asks if the other wants it too or wants to do it too. When we are watching tv she asks to hold both of our hands. There we three are just holding hands and watching tv! And the sweetest is when she is telling us that she loves us. I always tell Jeremiah and Maycie-Grace that I love them with all of my heart so she says "Momma (or daddy), I love you....heart"

She is a sweet girl but let me tell you she is stubborn. We really have to work with her on it. She is even more so now that she is two. I hear the 3's are worse! She frequents time out and we have had to give her some spankings. We always ask her why she is in trouble (and she always knows!), and then have her say she is sorry and we give her a hug and tell her that we love her.
She just smiles after wards and then it is not long and we are doing it again! She keeps us on our toes!

And now pictures:

Her first day of Mother's Day Out in Pell City. Doesn't look too happy does she?

On the way to Mother's Day Out in a much better mood!

She loves hats-especially daddy's!

Enjoying the beautiful weather!

A flower for momma

Our first day out at the park in Pell City:

She said she was going to catch daddy! :)

What she does when she does not want to be found or misbehaving! It always makes me laugh!

She calls herself "Princess Maycie (more like Maytie):

Such a beautiful princess. She asked me to take pictures to send to Caaletta (my sister Carletta)

And now the baking queen:

Her finished product-A YUMMY chocolate chip cake!