The AMAZEing Mayzie!

I realized the other day that I have been doing a lot of blogging about our family adventures but haven't written much about our precious baby girl and all the exciting things she's up to!! I am trying to ignore the fact that she will be ONE in a few weeks...this year has absolutely flown by and I am not ready to be able to tell people her age with one syllable...sniff sniff. Anyways...our baby girl is an EATER! I really think that if I kept feeding her she would eat until she threw up...which I think some of you out there have seen happen unfortunately!! ha!! She's got a new obsession with corn and LOVES spaghetti (note the picture on the right). She also LOVES feeding her Daddy anything that's on her 'plate'. And what a wonderful Daddy he is because he eats whatever she offers him...I on the other hand...do not. He does draw the line sometimes but I think the worst she's offered was mushy banana with cheese...and he ate it...I know try not to throw up, I have more to say.

She is into EVERYTHING these days!!! We officially babyproofed last week, well...we put latches on cabinets. Now we need a second gate for the bottom of the stairs because she (with the help of her future Kindergarten teacher...)climbed all the way up them on Sunday! She loves helping me with things around the house, especially loading the dishwasher (see above). I was worried for a while that she wouldn't crawl but she's really gotten it down in the last two months!!


So I found her like this, probably middle of June, and melted. How could you not??? Look at that face??? Anyways...she's on her knees here but I knew pulling up would happen very soon SO we lowered the crib that weekend and low and behold...



My sweet baby girl looks SO grown up!!!! She's always been long but now she's TALL! She's pulling up on everything she can and I love it because it makes her so happy!!! Not all that interested in walking just yet...she's moving along furniture at a slow pace though! I know she'll get it soon...again though, not sure I'm ready for it. She has 5...yes 5 teeth now and I'm pretty sure her molars are coming in. How do I know you ask???

Because this is how I found her early one morning last week! She usually wakes up happy in the morning but those teeth are tough!! I had my phone with me and had to get a quick picture of that face because even when she's crying I think she's the cutest thing in the whole world!!! (Don't worry...I scooped her up as soon as I snapped the picture!)

I uploaded a video below with some of her new 'tricks'. Yes we do feel like we are training a dog but I don't care...I'm pretty amazed at how quick she catches on to things. In addition to the 'phone answering'((it's a remote in the video...anything resembling a phone she 'answers'), 'touchdown' and 'sticking out the tongue' tricks in the video she's pretty good at waving and clapping and usually says 'mama' and 'dada' for us too!! We could not be more proud of our sweet, smart little girl and are trying to savor every moment!!

Happy 4th!!!

We had a fantastic time celebrating Mayzie's first 4th of July! Our celebrating actually started a week early at our church's Patriotic Picnic. Jill and I decided to make Mayzie and Emory matching dresses...which was SUPER simple by the way. Here's the tutorial we used if any of you are interested in trying to make pillowcase dresses: http://www.aroomsomewhere.net/2007/07/pillowcase-dress-tutorial.html. Anyways...Jill found a wagon and the girls did SO well riding in the parade around our church parking lot! We had a ton of fun and plan on winning 1ST place in the decorating contest next year!!!

Hendersonville always has a pretty great show the 3rd of July and our YaM's class gets together at the high school to watch the fireworks. We had a GREAT group this year show up and Amy made 4 yes FOUR quarts of homemade ice cream for everyone!! I got a fantastic group shot of all the kids that came (something I've been wanting to do for a WHILE). Mayzie was a little afraid of the fireworks at first but then was fascinated! She sat with Owen and just watched in awe! I was so proud of her...considering that I was DEATHLY afraid of them when I was little!!!

My parents' pool is FINALLY finished and we are SO excited!!! On the Fourth we had family over and had a great time swimming!! Mayzie is a fish and just loves being in the water. She also really loved watching Aunt Kate and cousin Jordan break in the diving board. Later that evening we had our little family fireworks show and Mayzie did pretty well with those too! There was one whistling one that scared her but who likes those anyway, right?? Holidays are SO much more fun when you get to share them with your kiddos!!!

Captivated...

The summer after we got married Owen and I went with his family to Sanibel/Captiva Island. I had heard about this place forever from him and been DYING to go! Needless to say it was a fantastic trip and I knew that first time that I had to bring my parents and sister down there. It was a LONG drive...especially since all 6 of us were piled into our suburban towing a UHaul. We really did have a good time (I love car trips) and Mayzie did a great job! We stayed at a house on the bay side of the island which had a private pool. This was a HUGE plus since swimming was Mayzie's favorite part of the whole trip! We rented a boat two days out of the trip and went shelling at North Captiva (Sanibel and Captiva are wonderful for shelling) and then went fishing the next day. We caught a couple of trout, and when I say a couple I really do mean two...ha! Mayzie did great on the boat. Thanks to some good advice from our expert boating friends, Kayla and Justin, she played in her little laundry basket and loved watching the water! We also did some biking on Sanibel one day. Mom and Dad rented a tandem bike which was the cutest thing ever and Mayzie loved her little trailer! We visited all our favorite resturaunts, did a little shopping and a lot of relaxing! I can't wait to be back!

A Very Proud Niece

Owen's brother Evan leaves for his year deployment in Afghanistan tomorrow. We are having some mixed emotions at our house today. So incredibly proud of Evan and his choices to put his life on hold and at risk to keep our family safe and comfortable in this wonderful country of ours but also worried for his safety. We have complete confidence in our Father's plan but can't help but be anxious for his return in December and then in June.

Owen's mom Janie, Evan and his sweet girlfriend Kelsey all came and visited us over Memorial Day weekend. We had WAY too much food and so much fun just hanging out around Hendersonville. I even tried out one of my Pinterest recipies (with Uncle Evan's help of course)...bacon pancakes...so easy and fun and DELICIOUS! One of my favorite things we did was have a picnic at Saunders Ferry Park. Evan put Mayzie on his shoulders and she did NOT stop laughing for probably 20 minutes as we walked around the park. I'm terrible at remembering to take pictures and so mad at myself for not getting a group one. We'll have to put that on the list for when he's home in December. I know Mayzie doesn't understand any of this now but someday I know that she will proudly brag about her strong and bwave Uncle Evan who's in the awmy (is it weird that I hope she can't say her r's?). Please keep Evan and ALL our soldiers in your prayers and remember this upcoming Fourth of July what our freedom costs. We love you Evan!!!

Surprise!!!!!

So a month or so ago Owen and I were talking about how we needed to go visit GJ and Pops and thought it would be fun to surprise GJ for her birthday/Mother's Day weekend. With some help from Pops, Granbertha and Kelsey it remained a secret and I think GJ was super surprised!! We had a wonderful weekend full of some yummy food (some of our favorite restaurants are in Birmingham), catching up and great memories! We surprised Owen's Mom at a great restaurant that evening where I enjoyed a GIANT piece of cake....YUM! Saturday we ate at one of our favorite little places in Birmingham...Mr. P's and got to visit my favorite baby store...Buy Buy Baby!! That evening we went for a walk at Star Lake and Mayzie loved the ducks!! It was such a fun filled weekend and I was also so glad we got to see Grandbertha...she and Mayzie are big buddies!! :) We were sad to say bye on Sunday but are really looking forward to seeing everyone soon!!

Max and Mayzie

A week or so ago my sweet best bud Megan came in town to visit!! She lives in Oklahoma now and I miss her very much but being so far away makes it so much more fun when I get to see her (I'm trying to be a positive Polly here...) Anyways we were headed out of town that weekend so we didn't get to hang out as much as I would have liked but we got to see each other at church Wednesday and have a quick lunch Friday! I got a sweet picture that I've been wanting to get for a while of our Mom's with their new grandbabies! Mayzie and Max are only a couple of months apart and I've loved sharing this exciting time with Meg!! We can't wait till Sean, Megan and Max are all back and we can hang out longer!! Love you guys!!

Time for Tea!

So my sister, Katie's friend, Mary Morgan, works at this ADORABLE store in Franklin called Lulu's. Mom, Katie, Mayzie and I all had a fun shopping day in downtown Franklin which was also the day of the Royal Wedding. SO in honor of the wedding, Lulu's had a Royal Tea Party and of course we had to drop by!!! There was delicious tea, yummy snacks and of course Mayzie loved the pretty plastic silverware! :) We ended up sitting across from two women from Great Britain (I know...how cool was that?!?) and chatted all about Kate and how great they thought she was! We had such a fabulous afternoon and can't wait till Lulu's has another fun event!! Thanks again for inviting us Mary!!

Here Comes Peter Cottontail!

We had an absolutely fabulous first Easter with our Mayzie. I have ALWAYS loved Easter. I have such happy memories of fun frilly dresses, beautiful Spring weather, church with sweet family, delicious cooking from my amazing Granny and Easter egg hunts on the farm. I cannot begin to describe how exciting it was to start those same memories with our baby girl! We started the weekend meeting the Easter bunny at our church's Easter Eggstravaganza and dying eggs the Saturday before! Mayzie just loved the Easter bunny and was a little confused about the egg dying but I think she had fun!!

We woke up Sunday morning and were so excited to show Mayzie what the Easter bunny brought! Owen and I had so much fun picking out her fun gifts and had a little bet going. I wanted to get her a 'Sophie' teething giraffe and he got her a remote...yup...a remote. We were curious about which she would go for first. I'll let you watch the video at the end of the post to see what she did!

Later that day we met up with my family. My parents had gotten Mayzie her 2nd Easter basket of the day and she loved it all!! We took some sweet pictures and headed off to Greenbriar to spend the afternoon on the farm with more wonderful family!! My grandmother is an AMAZING cook and we let Mayzie try some of it this time and boy was it a HIT! I have SO many happy memories at my Grandparents and am so thankful for them! Granny and Grandaddy got her ANOTHER Easter basket too!! She still plays with the little duck from this basket all the time!! After all our food had settled we had a quick Easter Egg hunt inside because it had started to storm. My sweet Momma had put together some fun Easter eggs full of puffs, small toys and little phrases like "Aunt Kate loves you!" (She had one from everyone at lunch that day). We had such a wonderful wonderful day and I can't wait till next year when she can run around and tell us all about Peter Cottontail!

Spring Family Visits!

Over the course of the last few months we have been blessed to spend time with our families...both near and far! Way back in March we went up to Greenbriar to my grandparents 'friends and family' day at their church and got some precious pictures of Mayzie in 'the dress'. We wanted to make sure to get a good picture of Mayze, Dad, Granny and I while she was still able to fit into it. My grandmother had the dress made by an 80 year old lady before my Dad was born. Since then my Aunt Jenny, Uncle Todd, me, my sister Katie, cousins: Jeffrey, Jordan, Annie and Jacob have ALL worn it home from the hospital. I was so blessed that Mayzie was able to do the same and we got some great pictures!!

A little more recently we were SO excited to get to see Uncle Evan,( and Pops and Kelsey too of course)! We met them halfway at our FAVORITE bbq place, Big Bob Gibsons. We were sad GJ couldn't make it because she was feeling bad but appreciated her thinking of Mayzie. Evan and Kelsey got Mayzie a precious little camo lovey (Evan is in the army...so the camo was so stinkin' cute!) with 'Mayzie Moo' written on it...a sweet nickname they gave her! She loves it so much and loved seeing everyone!!! We loved getting to spend some time with Evan and can't wait till he's home for a few weeks in May!! We are SO proud of him and ask that you please keep him in your prayers when he's deployed in June. I have always been thankful for our military but now it is so much more real to me and I am amazed at the sacrifices these men and women make for our freedom. Thank YOU Uncle Evan!!! We love you!!

A week or so later we were so excited that GJ, Granbertha, Uncle Rob, Aunt Sharon, Will and Rebekah came and visited!!! Unfortunately my camera decided to be RIDICULOUS and I only got one picture...but we had a GREAT time! I sure do wish they could have stayed longer! We really enjoyed catching up with everyone and Mayzie loved seeing all of you (she told me so herself! :) )

Owen's Uncle Bill and Aunt Carol live in Indiana so when they are on their way down to visit their kiddo's and sweet Grandbaby Lucas they will stop by and see Mayzie. Mayzie ALWAYS loves it when they come to visit because they bring her SO many sweet gifts!!! (Not that she's spoiled or anything...yeah right!) She just loved playing on the floor with Aunt Carol and cuddling with Uncle Bill (which she NEVER does with us!) It was a great little visit and we're looking forward to seeing them again soon!!

Our sweet baby girl is growing up fast...nine months TOMORROW! We are SO blessed to have so many family members that surround us and love our Mayzie so much!

Beach Bums!

In February Owen and I decided we wanted to go on a little trip so we thought we'd go to Chattanooga...booked it and everything. Then we started thinking we wanted something a little more familiar so we changed our minds and thought we'd go to Gatlinburg. During this time we were getting snow days like crazy so after being stuck inside for weeks we knew where we wanted to go...ha! We cruised on down to Destin (a little anxious about how she would do since it was a LONG drive) but it was GREAT!! We at breakfast with GJ and Pops in Birmingham and then we ended up stopping half way at a park and eating a picnic lunch! We stayed at a great little place right near the beach (thanks Castles!) that was wonderful!! Our first day there we rented some bikes and biked down to Seaside. Mayzie did so well and we all had so much fun. Later that afternoon our Mayzie went to the beach for the first time! It was a little cold so she didn't make it into the water but she had fun watching all the waves and touching the sand!

The beach didn't last too long since it was a little chilly. Luckily our condo had a heated pool...another first for our Mayzie McClain! Boy did she love that water!!! She cried and cried when we had to get her out! Her little float was just perfect. That night we went to Stinky's (another fabulous recommendation from the Castles!). It was delicious and I got my seafood fix for sure!!

The next day we tried the beach again...still a little cold! Spent a little more time in the pool and took a nap!! That night we met up with some good friends of ours, Justin and Kayla and their sweet girls, Kendall and Addison. We met at the Old Bay Steamer...yum!!! I think I could eat my weight in crab legs and shrimp...and we did. Ha! We had a fabulous fabulous time and can't wait till we can go back to the beach again soon!!