Really Going To Miss Them!

Mom and I are leaving to go to Michigan to visit with Matt & Beth and meet baby Brisco tomorrow morning ... and I'm leaving behind these two! =( While I'm SUPER excited about our road trip, I'm going to miss Jeff and Lydia so much! This will be the longest that I've been away from Lydia ever!

Jeff and Lydia read together EVERY night before she goes to bed. I love watching them together. He is such a wonderful daddy and Lydia LOVES when he is at home. She asks for him all day while he is gone and gets so excited when he walks through the door every night. I'm glad that they are going to get some extra "Daddy-Daughter Time" while I am out of town ... I know that they will enjoy every minute of it!

I am so blessed to have a wonderful husband that works so hard during the day and then comes home at night and plays with Lydia and helps with the laundry and dishes. He is the best husband ... and my best friend! I love him so much! Thanks for letting me take this road trip to Michigan, Jeff! =)

I am so thankful for family that is able to watch Lydia for us. We have never had to leave her with a babysitter that was not family and for that we feel so lucky. Since Jeff has to work during the day, Mimi offered to watch Lydia while I am gone.

I know that they are going to have A LOT of fun! Hopefully she won't wear her out too much ... She is ONE busy girl!

And of course she will love playing with Papa once he gets home at night!

I'll miss you, Lydia and Jeff ... make sure you send some pictures while I am gone! Love you both very much!

What A Mess ...

Jeff and I were trying to get stuff packed for the week and Lydia would not play by herself for anything. We didn't want to sit her in front of the TV, so Jeff moved her tent into the living room and she played on her own for the longest time! She made MANY, MANY trips between the living room and her playroom and this is what the outcome was ...

Pretty much every single book, baby, puzzle, toy, and most of her food made it's way into the tent!

She had SO much fun playing in it!

Jeff and I loved being able to get a few things done!

She still loves to read ... can you tell?

This is what that little bitty tent held! I really don't think that it could hold much more!

Great Lil Helper

At the moment ... Lydia is fascinated with helping me clean. The minute I pull out the vacuum or broom, she runs back to her playroom to get her cleaning stuff and away she goes!

Just like me! I love looking at the bottom of the Swiffer after I get done to see how much I've cleaned off the floor! She looked at hers and said "Yucky!" I love it!

Using our dust busters to pick up the crumbs we swept off the kitchen floor. I now know why my mom swept more than once a day when we were growing up! I can't imagine what it was like with 4 of us! Sorry, Mom!

She also loves to help cook! We made homemade blueberry muffins for breakfast! (I put the recipe on my recipe blog if you are interested ... they were really good!)

Another thing she is obsessed with is the trash can! If she hears us get the trash bag out of the trash can ... She runs straight to it to push the trash can around the kitchen! Not sure why ... But she does!

All done!

Last night, Jeff was folding a load of laundry (I know, I am SO blessed!!) and Lydia climbed up on the bed and wanted to help! She started grabbing stuff and "folding" it! It was so cute!

She would "fold" them up and put them on the stack that Jeff had made!

I'm sure there will come a day when I have to beg and bribe her to help around the house, but I'm going to hold out hope that she will want to help for a long time! I love to see the look of accomplishment on her face!

Brisco Clay Rainbolt

Matt & Beth welcomed Brisco Clay on April 21st @ 4:35 in the afternoon. He weighed 8 pounds and 13 ounces and was 21 inches long. He is the most beautiful little boy that I've ever seen! So excited about our very first nephew and boy cousin at our house!

Do they get any cuter than this?!? I really don't think so! As soon as I saw this picture I thought he looked just like Matt! =) What do you think?

I LOVE baby feet! That was the first thing Lydia noticed about Brisco when she saw his pictures ... well, that and that he was "naked"!

Lydia checking out Brisco on facebook yesterday morning. She is just as obsessed with him as I am! =) I can't stop looking at his pictures!

She LOVES her some Brisco already! She keeps saying "Baby" and then her own version of Brisco!

"Next picture, Mommy ... please!"

I was trying to get a picture with Lydia before I left for work ... but she was not interested! She would rather look at Brisco than the camera!

Congratulations, Matt & Beth! Y'all are going to be such wonderful parents to Brisco! He is blessed to have y'all as parents! We are praying for you as you adjust to this "new life"! There is nothing in the world like it! Can not wait to come and visit you guys next week and meet Brisco in person! Love y'all bunches!!

Love This Girl!

Me and Lydia had a little photo shoot one afternoon! This girl CRACKS me up! =) I can not put into words how much Jeff and I love her. It's amazing how this little tiny baby came into our lives and turned it upside down ... for the better!

I've always heard that there is nothing like a mother's love, but I guess it's something that you really don't understand until you experience it!

I feel like every day ... no matter how good or bad of a day it was, my love for this little girl grows more and more!

Our lives will never be the same because of her ... and we wouldn't have it any other way!!

I love being able to spend my days with her!! No where else I would rather be or nothing else I would rather be doing!!

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Here is a picture of our feet after Lydia's pedicure! =)

Can't wait until the next one! =)

Lunch Time Pedicure

I've been asking Lydia for a while now if she wanted me to paint her toe nails, and the answer has always been "no". Well, that all changed Sunday morning! I was painting my toe nails before church and she was fascinated by it! Ever since then, she's been asking me if I would paint her nails. I didn't have any color other than RED, so I told her we would go to the store and get her some paint for her toes. I asked her what color and she said "pint" ... so off we went to find some pink polish! The whole time we were at Target she kept reminding me what we were really there for! Too cute!

Here is the finished product! She sat very still and let me paint them!

Then she kicked back and let them dry while she read her "Cinderella" book! =)

I look forward to all the fun girly things that we are going to get to do together! This is just the first of many! I told her next time I was going to get a "foot bath" for her to soak her feet in! =)

One Happy Little Girl

Being outside makes this little girl VERY happy! She loves everything about it ...

The way the grass tickles her toes ...

The smell of flowers ...

The wind blowing her hair ...

Trips to the park ...

Watching everything go on around her ... kids, cars, puppies, birds, anything actually!

Playing with her Mommy and Daddy ...

And dancing ...

To her own song!

Silly Girl!

I had NO idea that Jeff and I would have a little girl that is SO full of personality! She is such a silly little girl that keeps us laughing all the time! We have no clue where she gets it from, because neither one of us have that kind of personality! Here is just one example of her silliness! =)

We went to Wing Stop for dinner one night and we looked over and this is what we saw ...

Hmm ... Wonder if this stuff is any good plain??

Tiny little taste ...

She must have liked it!

Normally I would not encourage this ... but she looked so cute trying it out! =)

On our way home Jeff stopped at TCBY and we got some frozen yogurt! It was super yummy and Lydia ate every last bite of hers!

Whoa! What a big bite! =) Next time we will try a cone!

We love this little girl so much and are so thankful for all the joy and happiness that she brings into our lives.