Life with the Maxies: 03/12/15

When I typed my last blog, I honestly was 100% positive that I had written about Kylee Jo’s baby dedication. Once I looked back at my archives, I realized I haven’t posted anything in 2015! Mommy fail. Better late than never, right? I seem to say that in most of my blogs now days.

Kylee Jo Maxie was dedicated to the Lord on January 18^th, 2015. She was dedicated by Kyle and me, as well as her brother at Venture Church in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Family and friends were there to help witness and celebrate in this special occasion. The verse we chose for Kylee Jo is Psalm 139:13-14 “For You created my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are made wonderful, I know that full well”. As with Kolt, we chose a verse during to pray during my pregnancy. The verse that we prayed during my pregnancy with both babies was their dedication verse.

Kylee Jo is our little miracle baby and a fighter. We praise God for placing His loving hands on her once she entered the world 4 weeks premature. We have witnessed scarier situations to those around us, but our this was our baby girl in the NICU for her underdeveloped lungs. However, God’s plan was for her to lungs to grow stronger each day and to come home with us in exactly one week. During this time we had our faith in God because we knew that He was the one that created her in my womb and that she was wonderfully made Him.

Almost 9 months later we have a happy, healthy, and loving baby girl. She has the sweetest personality and is the perfect last piece to our family. We are thankful for those that love her and pour God’s love into her. Dedicating our baby to the Lord is also us asking for help from the church as well, to help raise a Godly woman. I cannot wait to see the things the Lord does in her life. She already has a precious story to tell and we know God has so much more to add.

"Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he grows old he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6

I finally have a moment to catch up and breathe. It is spring break for all of us and both of the babies are napping. It seems like all it has done so far in March is rain! All of the rain has unfortunately required Kyle to cancel and re-schedule several baseball games. Despite the rain I am thankful for the signs of spring and warm weather. Our babies are growing more and more without us even realizing it is happening, it seems. Here are some updates to get caught up:

Kylee Jo is 8 months old and I feel horrible that I haven’t been able to post monthly blogs for her. She is sitting up and rolling around all over the place. She is very (VERY) vocal. Kylee Jo loves to watch her brother play and tries to “get” him all the time. So far she is not a picky eater and likes all types of baby food. She has eaten mashed potatoes, spaghetti, Vanilla Wafers, crackers, and most recently, Jell-o. Kylee Jo also loves to drink other people’s sweet tea. Kylee Jo is currently suffering through teething. She has about four bottom teeth trying to come in at once. She has never been a fussy baby so this has been different for us. One thing that seems so make her the happiest when she is hurting are crackers. She loves to chew on Ritz crackers or saltine crackers. We’ve noticed since the first couple of months that Miss Kylee Jo is in no hurry to do any type of physical activity, which is fine with me. She would much rather kick back and watch television. We know that once she starts crawling, there will be no stopping her. Especially if she tries to catch her bother! Kylee Jo has recently started waving and loves to say “Hey” when someone walks in a room. She also loves to clap and in her own way say “yaaayyy!!”.

Kolt has changed and grown so much since his second birthday. He has become much more vocal and his vocabulary has widened. It seems as if Kolt never slows down (and we do have people ask us that question). He is all boy, all the time. Kolt is still going to Mrs. Jill’s house every day and he loves being there. I love asking him, “Who all was at Jill’s today?” and he begins to name everyone. Kolt still LOVES baseball and LOVES farm animals. There is no denying that he is his daddy’s son. He loves to “shoot” the deer and bobcat on our living room walls with his play gun. “POW!” is something we constantly hear. While he is all boy, he also has such a sweet heart. He loves to help. His favorite “chore” to help with is unloading the dishwasher. He will get out the dishes and put them in their correct place. If he cannot reach where they go, he stands and waits for us to help him.

I love seeing our babies personalities come to life. They are definitely nothing like each other. Kolt takes after me in the sleeping department: go to bed late, sleep late. Kylee Jo is like her daddy: go to sleep early; wake up early, with a smile I might add. Kolt and I, not so much! Kolt is more active while Kylee Jo is more laid back. They both love being at church and I am so thankful for the people who make church such a fun experience for them. Hopefully we will all three get to go to one of daddy’s baseball games soon. I’m not sure how I am going to explain to Kolt that he can’t be on the field with his daddy. However, I do know I will definitely be bringing his tee, bat, glove, and ball along! I wanted to list a few of each of their favorite things:

Kolt: 2 years 3 months

Favorite Food: Macaroni and Cheese
Favorite T.V. Show: Bubble Guppies
Favorite Book: The Bible
Favorite Colors: “Geen” and Purple
Favorite thing to Play: Baseball
He really likes: being outside to fish, ride the four-wheeler, checking deer cameras and just playing

Kylee Jo: 8 months (9 months on the 23^rd)

Favorite Food: crackers
Favorite T.V. Show: Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
Favorite Book: anything we read to her
Favorite Color: mommy says it’s pink : )
She really likes: to sit in the floor and play with her toys while watching Mickey Mouse, Sophia the First, or Jake and the Pirates

This Spring I am leading my first Growth Group at church and am thoroughly enjoying it. We still have a few weeks left along with our service project of helping at The Field House, a homeless shelter here in Hattiesburg. This summer I would love to participate in another marriage growth or parenting Growth Group. We are planning for Kolt to attend Venture’s day camp during the week like last year. He had so much fun! : )

I have loved spending family time together this week and it has made me anticipate summer even more. I know we will have so much fun with the kids this year. It’s so hard to believe in a few months we will be celebrating Kylee Jo’s first birthday. We are looking forward to celebrating her first Easter in a few weeks. As the school year begins to wind down it feels like we go nonstop. But whether we are moving are in slow motion or warp speed, it’s still Life with the Maxies!

“Choose today whom you will serve. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord…for He alone is our God.” Joshua 24:15b, 18