11 months

Out sweet angel baby is 11 months old! One more month and we hit the one year mark. Fast. Year. Of. My. Life. Hands down. Crazy. Here is what has been going on this past month, with our girl:

She has finally said MAMA! Music to my ears! She has also added 'woof, woof' and Nonna to her vocabulary.

She is loving standing and prefers to be standing at all times if on the floor. She lets go a few times for a few seconds but not for long periods of time. She pulls up on any and everything, all the time. She can go from sitting to standing up, and back down. She is starting to take steps with assistance, but I think we have at least another month or longer before we have an official walker.

She had her 2nd ear infection this month, which led to another dr. visit, which we have realized she has some sort of allergy. We are 75% sure its a milk allergy, and have eliminated all dairy, but have plans to see an allergist after the first of the year.

I have been working diligently to get her to drink out of a straw, for life out and about to be easier, and this past month she finally mastered it! Way to go, Maggie!''

When we ask her how big she is, she throws her hands up as high as she can reach and we all say, "SO BIG!" Melts my heart. She is so proud.

She earned her top two teeth this month...fun does not go with that new establishment.
We had a wonderful first Christmas with our girl and are in awe of all that God has given us from and through this little nugget!

More updates on life and our move coming soon!

double digits

Maggie is 10 months old! 

She is standing very well and has even been brave enough to let go for a second or two. She pulls up to her knees but has not pulled all the way up to a standing position yet. 

She weighs 20 lbs. and is still a roly-poly. We love it! She eats pretty much anything but does not love her bottle much anymore. So we are using a sippy cup a lot more during the day. 

She waves bye-bye and hello like a pro. She is the happiest baby on the planet, but is completely stubborn and strong willed. She lets her know it is her way or the highway! 

She loves loves her sister and belly laughs at her daily. They can play together and not need more for small chunks of time and it is so fun to watch them interact. 

She had her first ear infection this month and loved her pink meds! 

She is wearing size 4 diapers, chunky monkey. We can finally get a bow in her hair and it looks ridiculous. 

She hates her carseat. Loves books. Fascinated by Eli. 

We love you little bit! 

Life update!

The past few months have been completely insane for us. Good, but crazy! Here are our updates:

Family: We are moving! House is for sale, and instead of moving to Charleston like we had planned for the past 6 months, we are moving to Birmingham, back home! We have a contract on our house and move as soon as we sell our current home in Charlotte.

Ryan: I could not be more proud of him. He is the best husband and daddy to all of us girls! He is always positive, always making us laugh, and supports us more ways than I can count! He just resigned from his current job as a project manager and has accepted a new job with the fabulous D'Angelis Diamond Construction Company in Birmingham working on an HCA account as well as continuing to manage work! We are both excited about this new opportunity! He starts Monday!

Me: My brain is mush. But full of good mush. With the current move, house showings, play dates, keeping the house spotless, taking care of 2 precious girls, a dog, and a hubby...I am emotionally spent! Excited for life to slow down hopefully soon! I am super sad to leave my great friends in Charlotte, and our neighborhood. From moms night out, couples date nights, neighborhood wine int the culdesac, last minutes dinners with friends, playdates, and my mom buddies...I tear up just thinking about leaving it all. Yet, super excited at the same time for what God has in store for us in Birmingham. We have never lived there married or with kids, so it will be a huge adjustment. I am finally back to my pre-baby weight...took long enough and am enjoying my new accessory, the fitbit which keeps me pretty active on top of chasing around two littles.

Mae: She is LOVING school and her teachers say she is pretty bright! She is the only one completely potty trained in her class and loves helping take care of the kids in her class. I already have her enrolled in one of the best schools in Birmingham for January and know she will adjust well.  Her very best friend is Jackson and she loves all of her girlfriends the same here! Jackson is the only boy out of her 10 neighborhood friends! She still sucks her two fingers which I will stop when she turns 3 in February. She is the sweetest, kindest soul and obeys us very well. She says please and thank you without asking. She says yes maam and yes sir to us and the northerners around us think we are nuts. She sports a cute bob hair cut and has skinny legs like the rest of us. She is a fantastic eater and will try anything.  She loves art, playdough, and making her sister laugh. I love that she made me a mommy.

Maggie: Is the happiest, spunkiest baby on the planet. She is crawling every where, sleeps well, and will eat anything you put in front of her. She is very opinionated in her own non-speaking baby ways. She cracks us all up. She snuggles her head in our chest with a smile when she gets happy and meets new people. She is standing pretty well with assistance. She hates her car seat, or atleast the buckle part, and puts anything in her mouth that fits. Still only has 2 teeth. She completed our family and we love her more than we ever could have imagined.

So much going on but all good, fun positive things. Praying our house sells quick so we can get to Birmingham with daddy! He makes our world go 'round!

9 big ones!

9 months have come and gone...I can not believe it. Here are the milestones we hit this month:

On October 6th, she learned how to suck out of a hard nozzle sippy cup. She was using the rubber ones. 

She used to be our easy child...NOT ANYMORE! She is still super happy and go with the flow for the most party...BUT she is opinionated in her own baby way, gives us a run for our money sometimes, and thinks its her world and we are just living in it. Cracks us up but wears us out at the same time!

My favorite moment of our day is right before nap time, we put her pink blanket on our shoulder and she snuggles in so tight and immediately sucks her thumb. She would stay there for hours, and I so wish I could, too. 

On her 8 month birthday, I started supplementing one bottle of formula a day and still nursed the other 3 times. I kept nursing her until the day she turned 9 months and we are officially done. I have mixed emotions, but it just is what works for ALL of us and for that I am happy!

When people talk to her or she gets super excited and happy to see Ryan or I, she stiffens her body, clenches her fist, smiles ear to ear, and then has a bashful face and hides it into our chest. Be. still. by. heart. 

She had ANOTHER dang cold this month, I took her to the urgent care one evening just POSITIVE she had an ear infection. Nope. That makes the 4th dr. sick appt and they tell me she is perfect. She even smiled and laughed for them and made me look like a liar that we were even there. Par for the course. 

On October 7th took her first few real crawls, after scooting around for a long while and then finally on Oct. 19th she officially became a true crawler. She loves it, Mae thinks is brilliant, and we do too! 

We love you sweet, strong-willed girl and can't wait to spend your first Halloween with you next week!

heart explosion.

Ryan and I got this email the other day from Mae's teacher, and my heart might have exploded. I am so proud of my girl and always hope she has a kind heart, is sweet to others, a good friend, and showing Jesus in every way she can.

Mae Mae, we are so proud of you and even though we tell you all the time, we do not know if you can comprehend how proud we actually are! Continue to let your light shine! We love you sweet girl!

Weagle anyway..

Even though our football team is sub par this year, we still love a good Auburn trip. We had a great time staying with our friends Heather and Jason and their sweet little girl Scarlett! Mae had a blast, and Maggie enjoyed her first trip to AU!

We started our trip off right, with our favorite breakfast. When Ryan and I lived in Auburn we used to go every Saturday morning, and even brought Mae with us as a newborn. So we always try to go back: 

We set out on a stroll around campus and reminisced about all of our fun college days and how weird it was to have our two girls with us. 

My dad came to visit and tailgate for a bit! The girls LOVED it, including this girl! 

Mae got to meet a REAL cheerleader, our sweet friend's cousin, and is so excited to be an Auburn cheerleader for Halloween!

War Eagle! We got back for the Auburn Georgia game and for a wedding! Can't wait!

8 short months.

This month has come along with lots of new fun things for Maggie!

On August 30th, she finally got her FIRST tooth! Her bottom left. On September 7th, the second bottom one came in! Bring on more chompers!

On August 31st she said bye-bye, and on September 11th she said da-da. She has mouthed the "M" sound but nothing will come out yet...so no 'mama' yet.

Also, on September 11th she clapped for the first time. Her sister loves helping her and she is so proud when she does it.

She still has not crawled or pulled up and her favorite past time is sitting on the floor with a basket of toys to herself. She sees no need in rushing to get around.

She knows how to spin around on her belly and grab things close enough. Everything possible goes in her mouth. She is not hating tummy time as much as she used to.

Mae and Maggie are best friends. They think each other are hilarious and Mae truly enjoys making her laugh and pretending she is her own child to mother. Be. still. my. heart. Mae's 'mommy voice' owns me.

Maggie is also starting to 'converse' back and forth with us. We say 'agh' and then she will say 'agh' and it can go on for days. She loves it.

She will have her first visit to Auburn tomorrow and experience the what tailgating is all about.

She is still in size 3 diapers but will be in 4's soon. She is a chunk! She has been exclusively breast fed, but we are starting to supplement formula tonight (If I dont cave in). She has been waking up at night which is NOT like her, due to her sleeping through the night at 4 weeks, so we are thinking she needs a little night cap. Mama needs her sleep, and sweet baby girl needs it more!

She weighed 18 lb. 11 oz today at the dr. (mama overreacted for the 3rd time, and yet nothing is wrong with her, dr. keeps telling us she is perfect!)

She is still the smiliest, happiest baby during the day and loves when anyone and everyone gives her attention. She is loving being the only child two days a week while Mae is at school.

We love you sweet Mags! Now, you better not wake up tonight! ;)

Two is better than one

These girls have our heart...times 2. 

1st day, year 2

Mae started school this week and LOVED it!

She also had her first dentist appt. and did AWESOME!

We celebrated her healthy teeth with a trip to the makeup store at the mall *her favorite* and had a lunch date with Nonna. (She came home with us, because she couldnt stand to see us leave ;)

The second day of school:

She loves running to the glass door on the side of her room and waving bye to me after I drop her off. I love it too. She got lucky this year and her BFF is in her class, too, sweet Jackson. 

She got sick of all the pictures this week and took over for me: 

So proud of our big girl and her big week! Snuggled on the couch now with her and enjoying a lazy day of loving on her and Maggie! Have a great weekend!

labor day

We had a fun Labor day back home in Alabama with family and friends. Mae and Maggie (and myself) were ALL spoiled. Ryan went on his annual trip to Vegas with his friends and we hit the road for the long drive to Birmingham. 

The girls loved a new house to play in and new toys to play with! 

K-Pa and Mae made Kale smoothies daily. 

Mae LOVED the art Nonna had for her.  

We headed to the club for some swimming and lunch. 

We surprised Bup at work! Then had dinner with BB afterwards!

Nonna and mommy had adult coloring contests, and played boatloads of scrabble and yahtzee. 

K-pa loved his sidekick. She never left his side. 

We scooted over to BB and Bups house for fun in their pool! Mae even got to spend the night!

Great Aunt Martha came to visit!

We crammed our schedule packed full of friend visits and playdates!

We went to church with Nonna and K-pa and ate lunch at our favorite BBQ spot!

Nonna took over bathtime and gave mommy a break!

Loving on each other. 

Like mother, like daughter. 

We had a great trip and hate we live so far away! Thanks for all of the spoiling!