her very own blog

she'll grow up eating organic ;o)

she had corn on the cob for the first time last week and turns out after looking at it & playing with it for 10 full minutes before actually tasting it (she knew i wanted her to, so naturally held out) ...turns out, she's a fan :o)

an adorable snap before i determined i had to hunt down my camera.

yep...missy-moo loves her some corn-on-the-cob! she's had some aversion to trying new things off & on, but i believe miss independent enjoyed being in control of feeding herself :o)

it grieves me, however to know that the corn she is eating here was grown from a genetically modified seed. a seed that the most shady, money-hungry-at-any-cost company i know of has bullied over 80% of american farmers to grow. we are eating corn from a seed created to resist round up sprayed directly on it's crop. both the genetically modified corn seed (soy seed, cotton seed, etc.) and the round up were created and are owned by monsanto.  ...yep, our sorry government let them patent life & then let them sell genetically modified food without being labeled as such!) and just to let you know, if you aren't aware, but that same gm corn's is engineered into most everything you & i eat. think, peanut butter, syrup, cookies, ketchup, the beef or chicken you prepared have fed on it, it's in your coke, it's in baby food, pop tarts, chips, certainly most anything in a box, can or frozen in your grocery store. sigh.

i want to use this post to document the fact that the roo's daddy & i have a newfound appreciation for the benefits of eating organic. i've actually been buying organic for pailyn anytime i have the option. i've tried to limit overly processed foods from her diet (not easy!) although she'sa fan of toaster scrambles, goldfish crackers, & a couple cereals. carbonated sugary or diet (filled with awful man-made sweeteners) soda has never crossed her lips (except when her nana thought she'd sneak her a sip of diet coke just yesterday) (insert stern look here.)

i will be placing our first order for grass-fed beef later this week & we are headed to the local farmer's market thursday to place a vote (by spending money with local farmers) for fresh, organic fruits & veggies! i am the world's worst about getting all fired up about something, climbing on my soap box and then fizzling out before i take action, but i think, over the past couple years i've seen a change in myself regarding follow through...maybe hitting 30 had something to do with that, ha! 

i had very strong feelings about delaying vaccination with bennett, but coward down when his doctor stood up to me. with pailyn, i held my ground. i made decisions regarding what i, as an educated & informed mother knew/knows was/is best for her & found an amazing pediatrician who has worked with me rather than against me. we love you dr. d!

i feel equally strong about providing more healthy, nutrient-rich food for my family & hope to share that journey here on her very own blog! it's been a challenge living in small town mississippi to find organic food items! i'm willing to work to find what i want though :o)

i'll leave with the food, inc. movie trailer below. i absolutely believe it to be one of the most important movies you can watch with your family! the big brother (9) and sister (16) as well as the daddy & i were glued to the television the whole time, pausing to have discussion along the way. you can head over to amazon & have it in 2 days!

a joyful easter sunday

i'm grateful for my three! they clean up well :o)

it's always a challenge to get a snap on a sunday morning before church. i am awful about running us late, although...i will say, we've managed to be earlyfor at least two months worth of sundays! on easter morning chuck & i actually got up & went to the sunrise service while the kids slept (7am is waay to early for the roo!) and then we all went back for the easter ccantata. here is what i got before loading up:

pay was fascinated with the bling on heather's sandals. and then she thought it was cute to ruffle bennett's hair; she is *so* mischievous!

after church was lunch at aunt dedee's.

check out that hair starting to grow!

bracing for some hazel sugar.

remember my mention of her love for abby?

after a quick change out of church clothes & an amazing lunch we had to go get abby for her to love on.

to the backyard to fish & enjoy the beautiful day!

my big boy doing a little fishing :o)

we finished the day up with a front yard softball game! it was an absoluteblast!! i didn't even stink it up too bad :o) the roo, although napless, was fabulous...she just got passed around to those on deck to bat. it was a wonderful day :o)

the easter bunny came

and these three made out pretty well :o) enough candy for the big kids to get sick off of, sidewalk chalk & a fabulous slip & slide for them all to play with.

and the roo's bucket was pretty exciting too.

i love monkey is perhaps the cutest children's picture book i've read recently! easy to hold heart shaped crayons, sunglasses, an adorable camera by vtech, bath tints that smell fruity, peeps (major hit!!) and her absolute favorite...abby kadabby :o)

see the love?

i think bennett enjoyed the camera as much as she did. it has remained a popular toy & is super cute (and  i believe quite an appropriate toy for child)

she loves being read to! it has taken until recently-in the past couple months-for her to actually sit still enough for a story, but now she brings us all books and puts her arms up to indicate she'd like a lap seat.

the bunny hid eggs around the den. pailyn caught right on! she is loving emptying out things and then putting stuff back in. i.e.: the kitchen cabinet drawers...i allow her access to one with plastic cups in it while i'm cooking and it occupies her the entire time. she takes them all out, stacks them in different arrangements and then with a little instruction puts them back in the drawer.

this is a great activity for her, but i would much appreciate it if i didn't walk into the kitchen often to find she has played and not cleaned up after herself. stinker.

super excited about the praise she'd received for finding another egg. yay pay!!

now...time to get ready for church; we serve a risen Savior!

christmas eve at nana's

is always how we begin our christmas. we head there for dinner...sometimes we have breakfast food-pancakes, sausage, eggs, etc. this year we had fried deer meat (the last in my freezer as a matter of fact, gasp!) and biscuits...mmmm & we open gifts.

nana has always gone a bit overboard with christmas gifts-she always has. i get it though because i'm much like her in the aspect of gifting. i am not the parent who takes my kids to the toy isle each walmart trip & lets them select something & when they do see something and ask, the answer is generally 'no.' she was the same way with me as a child, so my guess is it's something that has rubbed off. but when christmas rolls around...all limitations are off (subject to available finances, lol) and we go a bit crazy on the little people & enjoy every second of it!

this year was no different...my three could have left nana's and not gotten another single thing & made out very well! we all love nana and her christmas spirit!

the roo loves gracie the dog!

check out that little round bottom would you! she decided she really wanted to check out the ornaments on nana's tree! along with anything & everything she didn't need to mess with (as usual). look at the determination on that baby's face...

(place family pic at nana's here)

we engaged her in a little elf action & had her help pass out presents.

only she liked to just hang onto them for herself :o)

the big sister with her neatly stacked packages...

pailyn, being the youngest got to go first. she dumped these fabulous shoes out of a bag and was in heaven chewing on them! she loves shoes in her mouth.

she also opened this steering wheel and loved it!!

bennett had two big wishes this year. one was a ds...he's wanted one for a few years and i've fought it. this year nana won out & got him one. look at the glee on his little face, would you?!

a new 'thing' of p's to do is to point at stuff. this is an ornament she was relentless about trying to snatch off the tree, so nana finally just gave up and gave it to her to play with (you know because i took away the shoes before she completely ate through he strap & the steering wheel isn't nearly as exciting as an ornament she isn't suppose to have). i will say, she selected a good ornament to play with...it was one nana had made featuring her (the roo) in a pink tutu.

me helping her get into one of her presents...

a favorite gift that (even though i helped nana get her prints on this dull clay plate weeks ago) i had totally forgotten about! isn't it precious?! a place in new orleans does these and nana plans on adding  to the collection each year with more plates and she mentioned a platter with the roo and the big kids too. how fabulous?! i confess, that our christmas lunch is far too big a spread to enjoy on 'fine china' so we opt for the hefty divider plates around here :o) ...it would be nice to do a little family meal during the holidays using these special dishes though. i love that momma helps create such great traditions!

and these last two i just love together! pailyn is chatting with her favorite pooch gracie and loving it. nana begins conversing to the big kids across the room and the roo hangs on every word. adorable!

nana sent us home that night with one more special gift and instructions to open it just before bed. another sweet, sweet tradition to blog & share pictures of coming soon!

her at eight months

i'm not totally liking the idea of eight months already, but she's here...eight & a half months actually! 

and before you think it...i know posts to her blog are growing farther & farther apart. shame on me, i know, but i must point out that i do try to tweet little happenings along the way & even if you don't follow me on twitter, i have the feed posted right there to the left. if you stop by & there isn't anything new posted you can at least get a taste of what's happening with the roo via my tweets! 

without further ado...some current going-ons with the roo:

• she's growing; still a munchkin, but i was able to put away all the 0-3 month clothes across the past month; she's wearing 3-6 month now and has moved up to size 2 diapers! she's a Rollie polly & is solid; just wee.
• she has a new little toofie (her first one in fact) on the bottom right. it's the most adorable little thing ever! pailyn has been chewing on anything she could get in her mouth pretty much since she got here, so i've heard, 'she must be cutting teeth' for nearly 8 months. as of 15 days ago, i can now reply with, 'why yes she is.' ;o)
• she has been off aluminum formula for about a month...this is wonderful! her new formula is almost half the cost & while she's still the spit-up queen, the current spit up smells wonderful compared to that nasty stuff's reak!
• this isn't anything new, but i have to point out that my baby girl doesn't meet a stranger! she is the quickest to seek out any face that will make eye contact with her & give them a huge gummy+one half tooth grin you've ever seen, complete with the dimple that springs to life upon a smile! i love that she's so social :o)

• she's a waver! she waves when someone new appears in her view. she waves when you ask her to wave. she waves back when she is waved to. she waves big with her whole arm. she waves small as though she's been through pageant training with her little wrist action & a cupped hand. adorable!
• add clapper to the list! she'll clap along with pat-a-cake or just when she's excited about something or anytime i say 'yeeeaa' and clap, she'll join in :o) like here:

• she's able to hold her own bottle; does it well, in fact. but...she's *so* not interested in doing it. knowing she's it for me...i gladly sit down with her & feed her her bottle.
• she is *not* a lap baby. she wants down. she's busy, busy, busy! she only cares to be held if the one doing the holding is up walking around...absolutely not at all interested in just sitting to cuddle. bennett spoiled me...he would let me snuggle him on the couch or rock him for as long as i'd like. not her. nope.
• i mentioned she's busy. understatement! that roo is all over the place. from one end of the den (the only carpeted room in the house other than the big sister's bedroom) to the other. she's a super quick crawler, and crawls a lot, but i've noticed, she only crawls to get to a spot where she can stand up. she pulls up on any & every piece of furniture; if there is no furniture around, she'll use the bare wall.
• she's cruising around like a champ! she's been doing this for nearly two months, but now it's second nature...it's walking from one end of the room to the other using pieces of furniture along the way. she's let go completely to grab onto another piece (occasionally), but only for a few seconds. she is capable of standing on her own, but doesn't know it yet, and that's fine by me!
• she know's the word 'no' ...to her it means, stop immediately and look at the speaker of the word. slightly smile and keep eye contact for approximately 5 seconds. immediately return to the action which prompted the 'no' and repeat. she gets her hand smacked (picture pokey outy bottom lip and real tears) and then relocated away from the temptation. 9 out of 10 times she heads right back to where she was. she wears us out, that roo!
• she is madly in love with the big brother! he can just look at her funny upon coming home from school and she'll squeal with delight :o) he can make her roll with laughter with little effort. i love watching them together! love!

• she knows her people. 'pay, where's daddy?' she looks at her daddy :o) repeat with bennett, & heather.
• mma maa mma maa mma maa...that's me, btw. :o) and she calls me by name when she wants me; mostly in a whiny kind-of way (reaching for me all the while), but sometimes just to say it. her firstest word ;o)  and only word. she's babbling all the time and i've heard dada dada, & nana among other things, but we're not going to count it until it's associated with something.

• it's been noted before that i'm blessed with an amazing night sleeper. seriously in the past 4 months i think i've heard her fussing one time during the night! she goes down about 10 (9 tonight) and is out until about 9:30 in the morning. blessed! trust me, i know.

 
 
 

• while the roo couldn't be a better sleeper at night. she is *not* a good napper. she might catch an hour (lucky me if she makes an hour & a half!) in the morning, but she'll fight any more sleep until bedtime. she often wins. she'll go through a fussy patch late in the afternoon, but shakes it off & goes full speed ahead until bed. an extra nap would be great, but i'm not going to complain too much.
• cutest going-on currently with the roo is her adorable hip twist. i'll explain. pailyn has begun crawling out of rooms or in directions she isn't allowed to go in. she knows these are off limit places, so she crawls fast. when we see her headed towards the door, we say 'pailyn! where are you going?' and she hits the breaks mid crawl places all her lower body weight on her right side and twists her left leg in the air while looking back/over at us. she holds the position for a few seconds then high-tails it toward her destination trying to outrun the capture she knows is coming. chuck & i love her pose.

i have so many photos & lots of commentary i want to share on her very own blog, but the time i could be spending here blogging goes to the real her! as it should.

things are seriously quite busy in the mageehouse & have been for the past year! the daddy and i have built our new internet business and are working hard to grow it; we welcome prayers on that front :o) it is going to be an amazing thing & i know our diligence & patience will be rewarded as we've prayed for & seek God's guidance & blessings every step of the way!

while developing landsource, my one time 'mad money hobby/job' of photography has transformed into a rewarding business! wife & momma will always be my primary roles & i am so blessed to be able to contribute through my passion of photography without neglecting the priority that my family is to me!

all that is said in order to say...i'm sorry for the apparent neglect to your blog, my love, but living you & loving you every second of every day is happening whether or not it gets written about here. you are loved and loved on constantly & maybe if you'd cooperate & catch an afternoon nap once in a while i might make some time to document your very own life on your very own blog a little more often. xoxo-momma

oops! something's not right! lol

when i have to step out of the house from time to time she & her daddy have a good 'ol time without me! this particular day i was gone on a shoot & came home to p dressed in this little onsie.

notice anything? lol. that silly daddy!

...but that's okay; they have a blast & he wore her little self out!

i get tickled imagining him trying to get to those snaps to fasten her backwards onsie up! (pics taken 9.14)

she swims with her daddy

and i had a blast watching! this hasn't been much of a summer for daddy...he's been super busy growing our new business!

we know the hard work will soon pay off:o) landsource is a concept that her daddy & i dreamed up nearly 10 years ago. we developed it, but didn't exactly know how or what to do with it. ...well when chuck saw the writing on the wall in the real estate industry we got busy!

after her daddy has spent the day on the road working, i can see how much it means to him to come home & have a huge bubbly grin flashed at him from his littlest girl! i find myself smiling just writing this. it's amazing to watch them exchange big expressive smiles.

eeek...back to what i was saying...for the first time this summer, their daddy spent some time with his little people in the pool. bennett got some one-on-one while the roo finished up a nap & then she joined the guys for some rays & waves!

i make it a point to always dunk her when we 'swim' ...a little blow in the face & under she goes...i've flooded her face with water since she got here; it worked with bennett & has worked with her too...she just loves the water! today was no different...chuck put her under & up she came with wide eyes!

i caught her just before a sneeze...lol...i love it!

she is such a splasher :o) my sweet water baby!

(taken saturday, july 11th)

her daddy's little girl

...that's what she is.

 

watching her light up when he walks in the room or when she hears his voice out of nowhere is just heart-melting material! chuck is an amazing daddy to heather & bennett...it's so warming to watch him with a baby girl. sweetness.

  

she loves him! they like to hang out in her daddy's recliner together & just chill.

 

and let it not go unmentioned that she's pretty much all about bennett too :o)

 

happy father's day chuck. we love you!

her first annual family day

at church. she sure likes being outside...

 

darn cute if i do say so myself!

 

our church family was pretty darn excited that the roo came out of her pouch for the day. she enjoyed all the attention she got, for sure!

  

she especially loves her mrs. mae...for all the prayers & texts & love :o)

 

and mr. billy...we <3 mr. billy

 

thanks to kaitlyn, aunt debbie, & cody for spending the day with us!

let's travel back in time a bit

the date: january 27, 2009:

 

her first mug shot...taken with nana's iphone :o)

 

 

she hasn't put her tongue in yet ;o)

 

p makes 5...a family complete :o)

 

pailyn...yourbig brother began months ago with, 'i want to hold pailyn first.' 'momma, who gets to hold her after you?' and so on. he came up with some oh-so-clever reasoning as to why heshould get to hold you before heather. according to ben...it's only fair if he gets to hold the new baby before heather, because she got to hold him when he was born. kinda cute, huh?

heather gave in to him & on her own told him he could hold you first. sweet :o)

 

she's 15 years older than you (the age difference between her & me, actually) ...the two of you should have a unique relationship...i can't wait to watch it unfold!

portrait of a family, blessed (and complete, seriously.)