My world.

Monday, July 23, 2012

Maisie-face at Six Months!

I am in absolute shock that my little newborn baby is six months old today! She completes our family and is more adorable than I could have ever dreamed!

She absolutely adores her big sister, who returns the love with lots of smothers! Kaiah says that Maisie is her "best friend." Kaiah prides herself on the fact that she can make Maisie happy when no one else can and loves to make her giggle in the car. Maisie spends most of her time watching her big sis!

She can sit completely on her own and is a pro in the high chair! She still has super crazy hair :)

She loves the front carrier and her sun hat! This picture pretty much sums up our whole summer!

We just started giving her solid food last week, and she is obsessed with it! She gets so excited to eat and, so far, has loved everything we have given her! Tonight it was homemade banana and avocado!

She has the most amazing eyes of all time and her daddy's eyelashes!

Again - crazy hair!

No matter how hard we fought it - she is a true thumb sucker!

She is the absolute joy of our lives. Maisie is happiest when she sees Kaiah. She smiles constantly - like seriously constantly. She is the happiest baby I have ever seen, but also a bit of a prissy queen! When she gets mad, she sure does demand attention! Most often, though, she is laughing and smiling and trying to grab everything in sight!

A few other notes about Maisie:

She is a little girl - in the 25th percentile for weight (14 lbs), 40th for height (25.5 inches).
She sleeps most of the night - only waking up around 4 am for food.
If put on her back, she will always roll to her tummy and can scoot around in a circle from there.
She sits on her own.
She loves bath time and swimming.
She almost never cries - but she can scream! Her scream went from sounding like a cat to a squealing bird recently.
She is only semi-ticklish.
She babbles a lot and loves to talk to Kaiah.
She has the most beautiful sparkling eyes ever!

Love you, Maisie-face!

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Pictures!

I can't believe I never posted Maisie's newborn pictures! My mommy completely spoiled us by paying for Maisie's newborn pictures and Kaiah's two year pictures with the amazing Heather Telford. These pictures are priceless to me and I will cherish them forever!

Maisie face is growing fast!

I seriously cannot believe how fast the time is flying. Maisie is everything you think of when happy baby comes to mind. She smiles and coos and laughs and plays. She puts up with her sister's smothers and crazy mood swings with patience and love. I don't think there is anything that Maisie loves more than Kaiah, and I know that Kaiah is obsessed with Maisie.

The biggest question I always get is if it is hard to leave the girls for work. Of course it is hard. It is the hardest thing I have ever done. I miss them so much while I am away, and I hate not knowing every single detail about their daily lives. I miss knowing what Kaiah ate for lunch, which shows she watched on T.V., and how many times she went potty. I miss seeing every single one of Maisie's smiles and being there to soothe her when she cries. I miss it so much that it kills me inside. But, at the same time, I love teaching. I actually feel like I am one of a very, very, very select group of people who are lucky enough to find a job that they are both good at and love. My work fulfills me. I want to be home with my girls someday (it isn't an option for us right now), but I can't imagine not teaching.

I was really scared about going back to work. I was terrified to have to pump so much, how Maisie would handle her new crazy schedule, and if I was emotionally strong enough to handle being away from my ridiculously beautiful girls. Three weeks down, and things are better than expected. I cannot explain how amazingly grateful I am that Maisie both breastfeeds and takes the bottle like a pro. Breastfeeding means so much to me, and I didn't want to give that up. She is such a good girl. I am also so grateful that my awesome sister-in-law Sara watches my girls with all the love in the world, and then blogs about them everyday so that I can be a part of their midday lives.

I just wish time would slow down (or stop!). My girls are so much more than I could have every hoped for, and they are growing up way too fast!

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Dear Maisie,

Asleep and absolutely gorgeous. Everything has changed. Everything I ever thought that I wanted has been altered by your beautiful little smile and soft little coos. Maisie, know that you are wanted so much. You are loved beyond belief. You complete our family.

I know that your big sister can be a little overwhelming sometimes, but know that it is just because she loves you so incredibly much. You are her everything right now. She no longer comes to mom or dad when she is sad or hurt, but you. You are the one who she goes to for loves.

Thank you, baby girl, for coming into our family. Thank you so much for blessing us with your smiles. Thank you so much, over and over again, for letting me witness your amazing life.

Love,

Mommy

Maisie's Blessing

Maisie Payne

blessed on March 4th, 2012

surrounded by the love of family and friends

Monday, March 5, 2012

Kaiah is Two!

I absolutely cannot believe that my baby girl is two. When in the world . . . I mean, wasn't she just born? She is seriously the most adorable, smartest, sweetest, and beautiful girl in the whole world - and I promise that I'm not biased at all!

I swear she is learning exponentially right now. Every single day she is doing more and more. Some facts about my beauty queen:

She can pretty much say anything. Some of my favorite phrases:

"Want some . . . juice!" (Daddy changes the last word, she always says juice - she plays this game with daddy where they go back and forth about what they want)
"Me, check Maisie? Maisie awake!"
"Mimmie Mouse!"
"Baby ate! Chicky baby!" (she has a plastic egg and thinks there is a baby chicken in there)
"Mommy potty!"
"Papa in house with Molly! Molly mean/nice!" (Kaiah has a play house, and she pretends like Stephen is living in there with his dog, Molly)
"Oh no! Big ah ah! Ah ah nice?" (There is a big picture of a gorilla in Macey's.)

She is potty trained! (Mostly) Today she had absolutely no accidents or diapers! I can't believe how fast she picked up.
She plays puzzle games on daddy's phone. In fact she knows where they are and what the icon looks like.
She loves french fries, and chicken nuggets. Grandpa bright taught her to "dip" them in her frosty when we get them from Wendy's.
She calls all of her favorite things blue (blue blankie (which is actually pink) blue puzzle, etc.)
She loves Wall-e, Tinkerbell, Strawberry Shortcake, Bubble Guppies, and Micky Mouse Clubhouse.
She loves to build "mouse houses" with Mommy. (She uses her building blocks to do this and hides her mouse in the "bed".)
She loves to play chase with Daddy around the table and into the kitchen.
She loves purses and hunting for treasure (She used to use blocks as a telescope, but she got one for her birthday.)
She has impeccable manners. She says please, thank you, and sorry. She uses them all at the appropriate times too.
She has sharp memory and can bring up things we only talked about a few times months and months ago.
She loves, loves, loves her sister!

Kaiah's birthday was Thursday, March 1st and both Mom and Dad had the day off! Kaiah opened one present from Grandma WeWe and Papa, then a few small ones from mommy and daddy. We went to Build-a-Bear (because we had a coupon) and let Kai build her a bear. She liked parts of it, like putting the heart in the bear, but was a little young for the rest. Once we got home, though, she absolutely loved her new bear. Add in playing at the mall play area and a happy meal, and we had one happy girl!