Sentimental.....

Miss Maya Claire turns TWO next Sunday and I am already getting sentimental about it! Where did the past two years go? She is looking like such a big girl now.....So in honor of her approaching 2nd birthday I thought I would share her birth story!

We found out we were pregnant with Maya the day after Gracie turned one! It was a surprise and I was totally scared out of my mind. How was I ever going to mange two kids so close together in age??? The pregnancy wasn't near as eventful as my pregnancy with Gracie...thank goodness. I did have some random bouts of nausea and fatigue and unfortunately I did suffer some spotting like I did when I was pregnant with Gracie. Luckily my mom worked for my OB doctor and I was able to get ultrasounds to check on her. It ended up being placenta previa that eventually corrected itself. Matt was moving to Atlanta at the beginning of April and Gracie and I were staying in Memphis so that I could see my regular doctor since I loved him. So at my 15 week appt. we were able to find out the gender since we begged the doctor for an ultrasound since it would be the last appt. Matt would be able to go to with me. I wasn't surprised at all when they told me they were pretty sure it was a girl! I was excited! From then on the rest of the pregnancy was pretty much just exhausting! I had terrible pains and I felt huge. We decided to have a repeat c-section and scheduled it for Sept. 7th 2006 since Gracie's birthday is on 1/7 and Matt's birthday is on 11/7. Seven seems to be a good number in this family. I remember that we had to be at the hospital at 10am that morning. When I had Gracie it was an emergency c-section and I had already been in the hospital for almost 48 hours so I looked a mess. This time I showered and put on some make-up....I wanted to look good for surgery this time! ;) The c-section was extremely painful this go around. Maya was turned sideways and was up high so the nurse was practically jumping on my belly...and yes I could feel that part! I was crying because it hurt so darn bad. In the end of course it was worth it. Miss Maya came into the world screaming at 12:30pm! She was gorgeous and had a head full of dark black hair. You would never know that now! She weighed 7lb 5oz and was 20" long. She was a whole pound bigger and inch longer than her sister had been. She was PERFECT! Maya was such an easy baby which I was very thankful for since Gracie had been a very challenging baby. Maya still has a very laid back personality although she is very much the dare devil and I do see stitches or broken bones of some sort in our future! Our life is much richer with Maya in it and I am very blessed to be the mother of such beautiful little girls.

TODDLER.......Enough Said!

Oh my goodness....how can this child look so sweet and act so naughty??? Gracie is probably the whiniest child that I have ever met! I love that little girl to death but my goodness she tests my patience all day every day. She has always been my high maintenance, more demanding child and that doesn't seem to be changing. If you tell her NO to anything she practically has a major meltdown! AHHHHHHHHHHHH If anyone has any suggestions or words or wisdom then I am totally open to them before I yank all of my hair out! Tonight I had to take away her nighttime before bed movie because she threw a big fit when I asked her to clean her playroom. She proceeded to scream and cry during bath time and while I was putting them to bed. To make matters all that much harder she kept screaming..."I love you Mommy" in hopes that I would relent and put in her movie. I did hold my ground and the girls finally drifted off to sleep. Fingers crossed that tomorrow will be a better day for all of us!

Pre-School Orientation

Tonight I took the girls to their Pre-School orientation. Gracie went to Prince of Peace last year and we were so pleased with the amazing Christian environment. She learned so much and began talking up a storm (at least to us!) She is still super shy but that is just her personality. Maya was able to go with Gracie to the little summer camp that they had for 2 weeks at the beginning of the summer and she really enjoyed it as well. Since we decided to take Maya out of tumbling my parents were gracious enough to help us pay to send Maya to pre-school as well. We had fun at first getting to see their classrooms etc. but before the actual parent orientation part began Gracie started telling me she wasn't feeling good and that she was going to throw up. So...after several trips to the bathroom I just decided it would be best to come home before she really did start throwing up. I packed them up in the car and headed home and just after we made the turn onto the main street Gracie started throwing up! Yuck! Anyway we are old pre-school pros from last year so we didn't really miss out on anything and now Gracie is resting comfortably on the couch.

Pretty Little Princesses

I just love having two girls! I am all about dressing them up and doing their hair! Gracie asks me every morning to put a bow in her hair and she just has to have shoes that match her outfit! ;) Here are a few recent pics of my cuties!

Crafty People

I have a wonderful and talented friend that I met through Etsy that has been so wonderful about creating custom polymer clay beads for me to use as bow centers. She is AWESOME with detail and I always get exactly what I had pictured. It amazes me how talented people are with specific crafts. I received a custom order from a woman the other day and she wrote a little note telling me how talented I was with making bows. I was for sure thankful for her comment. It made me feel good considering I know that I have come a long way from last July when I first started selling on Etsy. I have several other friends that I have met on Etsy that have been so awesome about making custom clothes for the girls and purses for me. Etsy is such a wonderful place to support those people that make handmade items. I totally enjoy sitting down and being creative with making bows and it makes me feel so great when people buy the bows and enjoy them.

For lots of amazing items check out my friends!
www.amalh.etsy.com
www.mommydawleys.etsy.com
www.babykaysboutique.etsy.com

Dora Pillowcase Top by MommyDawleys.etsy.com
Polymer Clay Beads by amalh.etsy.com

The Newest Member of our Family

Meet Tigger! She is a 3.5 yr. old standard chihuahua. She weighs about 6 pounds and is soooooo sweet! We had to give our puppy Lola to my parents because she was to big and to rambunctious for the kids. She would nip at them and knock them down and they hated it. My wonderful dad bought Tigger for the girls so that they would have a dog to love on and play with that wouldn't knock them down!

French Vanilla Coffee

I have been such a Starbucks Grande Java Chip fanatic....until my mom led me onto Quick Trip's French Vanilla Coffee! Oh my goodness it is so good and so much cheaper than Starbucks. I now have a new addiction! Luckily there is a Quick Trip only a few miles from my house.

This morning I made a trip to the post office to mail out some bow orders and then went to get a nice 24oz cup of French Vanilla Coffee! This is the life! ;)