Maya Claire turns the big TWO!

Miss Maya turned 2 on Sunday and we had a great time at her party! She had several of her friends over and they enjoyed playing in her playhouse and eating cake and ice cream. Mommy was VERY exhausted at the end of the day but it was well worth it.

Villa Rica Gold Rush Festival

Today is our towns Gold Rush Festival! My parents and I took the girls this morning to watch the parade, eat yummy food and look at crafts. Tonight we are going back to listen to our local bands. It was a really fun time and one of the perks of living in a small town. Enjoy the pics!

Chuck-E-Cheese

Today we took the girls to Chuck-E-Cheese in honor of Maya's 2nd birthday which is Sunday. We took Gracie for her 2nd and 3rd birthday and plan on making it a birthday tradition for both of the girls. The girls had a blast! Maya thoroughly enjoyed riding the little Clifford ride. She probably rode that thing about 5 or 6 times. As soon as we left Gracie was asking when we can go again! Ha! :)

Spooky Spider Halloween Korker Bow

I just LOVE how these adorable spiders came out! They are sure to get lots of compliments. They can be worn to a Halloween party or for pictures! I made the spiders out of black korker ribbon and embellished them with "googly" eyes and a sweet orange bow! I can't wait until the girls can wear them. I showed Gracie this morning and she was so excited about it! I have them for sale through the store but if you read this blog use the code SPOOKY in the payment section for 10% off the purchase of the Spooky Spider bow!

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.