A New Ride…

Over Christmas break Mackaylan learned how to ride her bike without training wheels.  Mickey worked very diligently with her until she mastered the art of two wheels! A few words that come to mind that describe our learning-to-ride-a-bike process are:

Persistence:  Let me tell you, there were times when I wanted to cry as I watched my baby girl fall over, get back up, fall over, get back up…  However, she was determined and would get right back up, listen to her daddy’s tips and try again!

Patience:  This word describes my wonderful husband!  He made it his personal mission to help Mackaylan reach her goal.  He provided just the right amount of advice and encouragement that enabled her to experience success!

Practice:  Mackaylan practiced multiple times a day.  Their favorite place to go ride is up at the school because it provides a relatively flat, traffic free, area.

Parental Support:  Even though Mickey is the one who receives satisfaction in saying he taught his daughter how to ride a bike, you can tell by these smiles that Lydia and I were definitely her biggest fans throughout the entire process!!

Turning 33….

My sister and I are exactly 9 years and 1 week apart.  This means while I don’t remember us really “growing up” together it is hard for me to remember any of the special memories from my teenage and adult years that she isn’t apart of!  She is truly one of my best friends! From weddings to childbirths to weight loss she is always at my side with an encouraging word, sweet smile, and lots of love!  I can’t imagine celebrating my birthday with anyone else!

Happy Birthday to YOU!

Granny and Lydia getting an iPad tutorial from Boyce.

Who says girls can’t have fun playing with trucks?!

          Boyce and Grandaddy… 2 Carolina fans!    

                                     Mackaylan playing the Wii

                                     My new coat.  LOVE IT!

“Gift cards are my love language!”  No greater words have ever  been spoken… haha

Bagwell Christmas….FINALLY!

Well, I am FINALLY getting around to posting the last of our Christmas adventures.  Yes, I realize it is almost a month since Christmas, but at least I have our tree down, Christmas cards sent, and only 1 present left to deliver…I just like to say it makes Christmas last a little longer! Ha! 

We celebrate Christmas with my family on the 26th of December.  This is our second year doing this and I think we all agree this tradition is a keeper.  By gathering at mom and dad’s the day after Christmas It allows us more time to be together, and kids have had time to process their first round of gifts before receiving more.  We follow the same routine each year:  dinner, gifts, and dessert… it is great!!

You can see by all of these gifts why it takes us over and hour to open presents each year.  C-R-A-Z-Y!!!

We allow the kids to open presents first and then they each choose one gift to play with while the adults open their presents.  This system works well for us.

While these two were enjoying their special Christmas cookies... 

Lydia was in sacked out in one of her favorite spots:  Granny’s arms!

My hope is that we will all keep the Christmas spirit all year long!  Why should special traditions, time with family and friends, unexpected gifts, and celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, be limited to only one time of the year?  It won’t be around here!

Lydia- 8 months

Here are a few milestones from Lydia’s 8th month:

Crawling- Man, can this little girl move!  She is crawling everywhere and getting into everything.  Life as we know it is over!   She loves drawers, doors, and cabinets, and is obsessed with Mackaylan’s room.  Just last night we went and purchased not one, but two baby gates!!

Pulling Up- Lydia is constantly pulling up on furniture, toys, chairs, etc.  I believe she is going to be walking before her 1st birthday for sure.  Just recently she has even started letting go and just standing for a second or two.  Her favorite place to pull up is at the coffee table where she proceeds to chew on it like a beaver! On the bright side, it keeps her teeth a little dull! haha

Mama!!!- It was a long time in the making, but she has finally started saying “Mama!”  So, now her word count is up to 3 (or 5)… “dada,” “mama,” “bye-bye,” and sometimes it sounds like she is saying “hey there,” but I am not totally convinced on that one.  However, none of them are consistent.  It just depends on her mood!

Weaning- This one is bittersweet for me!  Lydia is now only nursing before bed and first thing in the morning.  All other feedings consist of formula and/or food.  I have loved every minute of our nursing experience and hate to see it come to an end, but she is ready to give it up and in some ways so am I- especially the pumping! 

Table Food-  Well, the little girl gets it honest- she loves to eat!! So far, we haven’t discovered anything that she doesn’t like.  She really enjoys the independence of feeding herself and will gobble up anything that we put on her tray.  However, she really loves biscuits, green beans, chicken, cheese quesadillas, diced apples, bananas, Gerber Puffs, and waffles!! 

Happy- Lydia is such a happy baby!  Every time we go somewhere people always remark on what a good baby she is and how content and happy she seems to be.  They are right.  Unless she is hungry she is going to be smiling! She has such a sweet disposition.  Trust me, we do not take it for granted.  Both of our girls are full of life and personality and we do not take that for granted.  We are truly blessed!

I’m not sure exactly how much Lydia weighs right now, but I think she is right around 22 lbs.  She is wearing 12 month clothes and size 3 diapers.  What can I say?  She is growing like a weed!  I can’t believe that in just a few short months we will be celebrating her 1st birthday!  Where does the time go?

Christmas Day

Well, since it is almost my birthday, I think I really need to get all of the Christmas posts up!  I just mailed our Christmas cards yesterday…heehee!  I like to think of it as making the holiday season last a little bit longer! Anyway, Christmas morning is always a special time, but with it being Lydia’s first Christmas it was extra special this year.  Mackaylan woke up first and Mickey and I decided to let Lydia continue to sleep so we could have some one-on-one time with her while she examined her loot from Santa, and then once Lydia woke up we did the same with her.  It worked out perfectly!  I have videos of both of the girls entering the living room, but since this post is already going to be a picture overload I will refrain from posting those too!

Look what Santa left…  These girls must have been really good!

I couldn’t find our stockings this year so Santa had to make due with gift bags! haha

Santa decided to carry on the O’Shields’ tradition of a BIG box of Mackaylan’s favorite candy!  I guess Santa has a Sam’s card too!

Lydia loves playing with her activity table and ball toy!

Another American Girl Doll joins the family… Rebecca!  I think I see bunk beds in our future.

The morning would not be complete without our traditional visit from Granny and Granddaddy.

Lydia, Mickey and Mackaylan opening their stockings… I mean bags!

After all of that fun, we got dressed and went to worship with our church family!  Once we got home we opened up gifts from each other.

Then, of course, we needed a mini photo shoot…

before returning to play with their new toys! 

Speaking of toys, Lydia was very much appreciative, but quickly decided she would have been just as happy if Santa would have left her a box of tissue paper!

Around 3:00PM we packed up and headed over to the O’Shields’ to celebrate Christmas with the Rush family.  This is always a fun time and definitely something we look forward to each Christmas. 

It’s amazing!  Santa left stocking stuffers at Grams and Pop-O’s house too!

We were all so happy with the Rush’s arrived!

These two precious pumpkins loved looking out the door!  Maybe they thought if they stood there long enough they would see Santa flying back to the North Pole! Hmm…

After lunch it was time for yet another round of presents!

And then we gathered on the porch for our 2nd annual Christmas photo shoot!

The Rush Family:

The O’Shields Family:

And you know a photo shoot would not be complete without a couple of “silly shots!”

Now, I only have one more Christmas post left to do and we can close up 2011 and begin 2012.  Stay tuned…