Sweet Summer Time

   We are so thankful it is summer time for the Maxies! I love being able to spend more time as a family during our “off” season. I am also very thankful for a summer break the further along I become in my pregnancy. Kyle held a baseball camp last week at PCS and he does summer workouts during the week. Kolt gets to start going to church daycare two half days a week next week. We are excited for him to make new friends and know he will have a great time!

   I am now seeing the doctor once a week to check on Kylee Jo. As of right now, we still have the same due date, July 20. She is roughly measuring 5 pounds and 5 ounces as of the ultrasound last Thursday. I have been very determined to make sure we are ready any day, after Kolt surprised us so early last time. I am so thankful to be in the same town as my doctor and hospital this time! I am 35 weeks this week. A few things to note from this pregnancy: a lot more heartburn lately (hopefully she is working on hair for mommy to put bows in!) and I am very, very uncomfortable. I know I am getting on everyone’s nerves around me, constantly complaining! It’s a hot summer!

    Over the next few weeks, besides waiting on Kylee Jo, we plan to enjoy time in the pool we got for Kolt, attend our awesome Growth Group on Wednesday nights and relax (because in a few weeks, our lives will be even crazier…for the better!). We can’t wait to meet our baby girl!

“God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God will help her, and that right early.” Psalm 46:5

Enjoying National Donut Day!

                                                       
                                         

Trying on hats in Target with Daddy & Mommy

I love my new pool! 

                                                

It's a girl!

With baseball in “full swing” I have not had the chance to really share our thoughts and feelings on our sweet little blessing. Kyle and I knew there wasn’t any way that we could have an ultrasound done and us NOT know the gender of our baby. So, we decided we would find out and keep everyone else in suspense. Boy did we get some texts from our family members once we knew the secret! : ) We planned to tell everyone by revealing an outfit for the baby the weekend after we found out so everyone could attend.  Most everyone was determined we were having another sweet little boy. Which is why the screams could be heard all through out the restaurant once Kolt pulled out the pink dress!

We are so excited to welcome Kylee Jo Maxie into our family this July. I have not even been able to tell the story behind her name. I am BIG into family names. Kolt’s middle name is Allen (like his daddy), which is Kyle’s mother’s maiden name.  I am named after all four of my grandparents: Julia from my daddy’s father, Howard Julian (HJ), Mari from my mama’s mother’s first name Marion, Lee from Jo Lee (my daddy’s mother’s name, also from my mama’s father Nyle Lee). Since Kyle and I got married, I knew that if we were ever blessed with a little girl, I wanted her to be named Kylee Jo to keep some part of the “Smith” name. If we were going to have another boy, his middle name was going to be Smith. This has always been very important to me, as I was never able to know either of my dad’s parents. I feel that this is one way for me to not only have them in my life, but in my children’s life as well.

Our big Kolt man loves baseball season this year. He cannot wait for a game to finish so he can run out on the field and play. He has some sort of ball in his hand about 75% of the day (and this includes a real baseball, so you better watch out!).  Next week we go for his 15-month check up. We cannot wait to see how much he has grown since his one-year appointment. Besides playing ball, Kolt loves to just be outside. When he goes to Kyle’s grandparents’ house he cannot wait to ride the 4-wheeler and the tractor. His favorite farm animal is a cow. He loves to ride and look at the cows, as well as tell you what a cow says. He is learning the different parts of his face (eyes, nose, ears, mouth). We are always amazed at how smart he is. He loves to read his books and point at all of the pictures.

I have become very spoiled this week with being able to have lazy, snuggly mornings with my baby boy. I really hate to see Spring Break end. It has been so nice to get things done around the house and not be completely exhausted at the end of the day. However, there are only 9 more weeks left of my first year as a teacher! That is really hard to believe!

We are praying for a healthy remainder of my pregnancy and for a healthy baby girl. I am constantly in prayer for Kolt as this will be such an adjustment for him. I pray for Kyle and me, as we become parents of two sweet babies.

The verse I chose for Kolt during my pregnancy was Jeremiah 1:5 – “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, before you were born, I set you apart.” This was also his baby dedication verse. 

We chose Psalm 139:14 for Kylee Jo – “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful.” 

Kolt revealed the gender!

Kylee Jo Maxie

Playing on the field in between games with Daddy :)

Family picture after great conference wins!

"Jesus said, 'Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.'" - Matthew 19:14

Christmas 2013

“But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.” Luke 9:10&11

Merry Christmas!

Our Christmas was filled with food, family, and fun. It was so much fun celebrating Kolt’s second Christmas (We were a little more prepared this year!) With our church having 3 days of services we chose to go on Sunday. The service was absolutely wonderful and they completely out did themselves! Monday, Kyle and I were able to finish the rest of our Christmas shopping. Tuesday we celebrated during the day at Kyle’s parents’ house. That afternoon we went and had Christmas at Kyle’s Granny’s. Tuesday night, Santa visited our house and left lots of goodies for Koltman.  He did not want to wake up on Christmas morning (which probably won’t happen too many more times). Once he did wake up, he walked into the living room and was happy to see all of his toys. After we played with our toys for a bit, we went and ate breakfast at MawMaw and PawPaw’s house. We stayed there for majority of the day. Christmas night my parents came and did Christmas all over again!

We loved being able to spend so much time with our family as we celebrated the birth of our Savior.

Here are a few pictures from Christmas.

The first thing he ran to that morning!

Taking a second to pose with his new toys

Cheese with mommy!

Daddy & Kolt opening his new toys

Checking things out

He knew what to do with his new trucks!

So sweet!

Cheese in front of MawMaw's tree

Sweet boy!

Family Christmas picture 2013

Christmas pictures with my family

I love this one of us!

Wild Man!

Wild man again...:)

Typical..haha 

Kolt's First Birthday

From December 8, 2012-December 8, 2013 our sweet boy accomplished so much and filled our lives with joy that we cannot put into words. On December 7, 2013 we celebrated Kolt’s first birthday Mickey Mouse style with family and friends. Along with food and presents, Kolt enjoyed getting to “smash his cake”. It took him a few minutes to get started but once he got the hang of it he loved digging in the cake.

We are so thankful we had so many loved ones at Kolt’s party to help us celebrate this sweet milestone in his life. Here are a few pictures from his special day.

Family picture before the party

A few of the decorations

I loved how his invitation turned out!

Pictures from birth-11 months!

Kolt's cake to smash and eat

Everyone's Mickey cake to enjoy

Cheese!

This is the look of success! :)

Lots of presents!

His 4-wheeler from Daddy & Mommy

So glad his best friend, Cannon and his family could help us celebrate!

The end of the day ended with Kolt asleep in the truck before we even left. He was so sweet during his party but it definitely wore him out being the birthday boy! We worked so hard at making his party enjoyable for him and I think we succeeded! I already have a few ideas for next year! :)

Months 10 & 11

We decided to combine months ten and eleven. It is hard to believe that the next blog I post will be about our sweet boy turning one year old! Over the past two months we have done so many fun things and Kolt has been able to experience several new firsts.

Kolt has begun to talk! He started out by saying “ma-ma” and “bye bye” both in one night while I was feeding him ice cream. His next word was of course his favorite that he says ALL the time, “da-da.” We love listening to his conversations he has with others, himself, and us. Kolt has also begun to start taking a few steps. He loves to walk from the front to the back of his pack and play on his own.

As a family we have been able to so many fun things over the past few weeks. We went to Mitchell Farms to the pumpkin patch. We all had so much fun! Kolt loved taking pictures and seeing all of the new things. This was also Kolt’s first Halloween. Despite the weather, we were able to get a little trick-or-treating in that night. He was the cutest pumpkin we had ever seen. Luckily he did not mind wearing his costume! We have been able to go to several football games together, which he loves. Recently, Kolt went to his first basketball game. He never took his eyes off of the boys running up and down the court!

It is also hunting season at the Maxie house. Kyle killed his first doe of the season a few weeks ago. Kyle wanted to make sure Kolt got a picture with him and his deer. Of course, without any fear what so ever, Kolt reached down and grabbed the deer by her ear, like he had killed it! I don’t think there are too many things that could have made Kyle any more proud!

While Kolt turned 11 months old, we were in Monroeville for ours friends’ wedding. We all enjoyed being back in Monroeville for a few days and seeing old friends and family. Kolt sure loved getting to spend time with his Big Daddy, Nana, and Aunt Sarah (especially where there was a toy emergency and they HAD to go to Wal-Mart).

These next few weeks will be filled with sweet family traditions and will fly by. We look forward to Kolt’s first Thanksgiving, his first birthday party and his second Christmas. I pray we, as well as others do lose sight of the real meaning of the upcoming holidays.

Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods. Psalm 95:2-3

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, his love endures forever. 1 Chronicles 16:34

Happy 11 months!

This was the best 10 month picture we could get!

One of our family pictures

This little boy loved playing with the cotton!

Family picture at the pumpkin patch

Kolt & Daddy driving the tractor :)

He loved playing with the pumpkins and tried to eat them!

Kicked back, just chilling 

Our big boy is 9 months old! The past month has been filled with more “firsts”. After weeks and weeks of agony from teething, his first tooth finally broke through! A few days later we noticed his second tooth breaking through. We were so proud for him! Kolt has also learned to wave hello and “bye-bye”. He loves to wave! He also enjoys waving to us when we tell him “no no” or come back. Kolt also loves to tell people “Hey” and it is so sweet!  He is trying so hard to walk on his own. I honestly thought that by my 9^th month blog, I would be able to say he was walking, because he wants too so badly!

Kolt loves going to the PCS football games. We sit on the grass on the side of the field so he can play with his toys. He loves to see daddy during half time of the JV games! He hasn’t been to his first college game yet, but that will come later on in the season.

During the week Kolt stays with his MiMi. There, he loves to play outside and play with their puppy Louie. They both have the same amount of energy! 

Also this month, Kolt stayed with his Big Daddy, Nana, and Aunt Sarah while mommy and daddy went to Atlanta for the Alabama opening game. He had a fabulous time! Mommy did really well also, being away that long from her baby. But I knew he was in great hands!

It seems unreal that I am already starting to make preparations and plans for his first birthday party. (It’s not that I am just that excited, but with our busy schedules, I need extra time!) We can’t wait to celebrate all of the upcoming holidays with our sweet boy! I know month 9 holds much in store for the three of us and we cannot wait to see what it holds!

“Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.” Proverbs 22:6

                             

Months Seven & Eight

Whew! That’s about all I can say right now! I know I am two month behind on my blogs but I am going to combine the past two.

Month Seven:

To sum it up, we have a busy little boy! During month seven Kolt took off crawling and he has yet to stop! He also started pulling up which resulted in the baby bed being lowered all the way. His favorite new sound he developed in month seven was growling like a “dinosaur”! He jabbers away all the time. He decided on his own to start waving hello when someone comes up to him. When he gets excited about something he starts clapping. His fine motor skills amaze us. He loves to sit and pick at things, especially tags!

During month seven, Kolt and his friend Cannon went to the zoo in Hattiesburg. They enjoyed looking at the different scenery, despite the heat! I definitely complained more about the heat than he did!  Also that afternoon, Kyle, Kolt, and I drove to Jackson to the Wildlife Extravaganza. Kolt loved riding in his stroller looking at all of the booths. That Sunday afternoon we rode out with daddy to check his deer cameras. Kolt is following in daddy’s footsteps.

The biggest adjust during month seven was mommy going to work. Kolt started going to his Mimi’s everyday while mommy and daddy go to work. We are so blessed that we don’t have to worry about him during the day, we know he is in wonderful hands. School starting back has worn mommy and daddy out, and Kolt too! He has started going to sleep much earlier at night!

Month Eight:

I don’t want to be one of those moms who always say “I can’t believe it has been 8 months” but time really flies by when you’re having fun!  Our family is now in a “school routine”. Mommy gets up and leaves for work at 6. Daddy gets Kolt up and ready and drops him off with MiMi at 7. Mommy picks him up in the afternoons and we head home to wait for daddy to get home from football practice. Things are about to get even more fun when we throw football games in the mix on Thursday & Friday nights!

Just when we think we have things put up so Kolt can’t reach them, he changes things to a whole new level! He pulls up on everything to stand and hold on with one hand. His new trick is to stand by the coffee table and beat it like a drum! He gets more and more brave every day. He keeps trying to take a few steps, which makes me very nervous! He loves to crawl with a toy in hand. He has two speeds: sneaky (which is slow) and turbo! He makes new sounds every day like telling me (very clearly) “NO” when I asked if he had a poopoo diaper on, which it turned out he was telling the truth!

Last weekend Kolt and I got to go and watch daddy play baseball. He was such a trooper to be there all day and in and out of the heat! I know he will love going to the football games this year! Tomorrow Kolt will start in his new nursery class at church, which is bitter sweet. We sure do love the sweet ladies that have taken care of him since he started!

And yes, while I type this I have a little boy that wants to help type!! I have had to backspace several times. He also likes to unplug my computer.  I know these were late, but better late than never!

“Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; his love endures forever.” Psalm 107:1