Is it really almost Thanksgiving already??

I can't believe the holidays are just around the corner! Christmas music is blaring from stores and decorations are going up ... ahhh, I LOVE Christmas. The music, the family, the snow, the lights, the crisp air, the general festiveness ... But it has come REALLY quickly this year. Seems like it gets quicker and quicker each year. (Has anyone checked? Maybe they're shaving days off of each year and hoping we won't notice.) Time really does fly when you have kids!

Maezie is full-on crawling now. She's actually getting pretty fast already! I know that Kyleigh didn't start crawling until after she was 8 months old, so for Maezie to be crawling this well at 6 months is pretty surprising. Kyleigh walked at 9 months, so I'm assuming that Maezie will probably walk around that same time too, if not earlier. I'm going to be busy very soon! She also sits up on her own without support but hasn't quite mastered being able to sit up from a laying down position. Her first two teeth are on their way. Her bottom middle left tooth will be poking through the skin in a matter of hours, and her bottom right one won't take but a few more days now.

Maezie is still in the bassinet in our room. I know, I know, she should have been out of that thing several months ago - but she likes it! And so do we. It has a great vibration feature on it that Maezie REALLY likes and we use it all the time. (Like we bought rechargable batteries for it because that's how often we use it!) But now that her motor skills are so advanced, we really can't have her in there anymore so we are going to have to move her up to the crib. Kyleigh is still IN the crib now, so that's a bit of a problem. My parents are giving us the bunk beds that I used to sleep on as a kid (aww!) for the girls. When they come for Christmas they'll be bringing the lower bunk with them. So until about a month from now, we don't have anything to move Kyleigh into. So she'll be staying in the crib and Maezie will be in the pack 'n' play until the big girl bed gets here. I'm hoping that I'll be able to take apart the vibration thing and somehow re-attach it to the pack 'n' play. I ordered a little mattress and some pack 'n' play sheets so that it will be a comfy bed for Maezie. (Sorry Kyleigh, I know you used to sleep in that thing while you were in daycare, but I didn't know until recently that an extra mattress and sheets existed for it!) The pack 'n' play will also be in our room for awhile. Until Maezie is ready to give up her night feeding completely, I don't think it's wise to move her into Ky's room.

I'm a bit nervous about Kyleigh being in a big girl bed. Not because she'll fall out, but because she'll never go to sleep! She can climb out of her crib now, but she knows that she's not supposed to. So most of the time, she stays in there and eventually falls asleep. But what happens when there are no more crib rails to signal to the child, "stay in here"?? Hopefully it won't be too bad of an adjustment. I'm going to go out and buy Dora or Tinkerbell sheets or something that will maybe, possibly, if I'm lucky, entice Ky to stay in the bed when she's supposed to be.

Thanksgiving is just three days away. (Excuse me, but wasn't it just Halloween like last week??) Matt has to work ALL DAY LONG on Thanksgiving Day. I can't believe that!! Grrr! So I was thinking that I might just skip the holiday cooking since he'll be gone all day anyway (and it's not like Kyleigh and Maezie would know they were missing anything) but then I decided that since he's got to work all day long that I'd better cook up something wonderful for him to come home to. He'll be in definite NEED of a nice Thanksgiving Day meal by that time, I'm afraid. I cooked my very first turkey EVER last year for Thanksgiving, and it came out SOOO amazing! I think I'll try that again, and maybe have some mashed potatoes, creamed onions (that's an Allison family tradition that Gloria started) and green beans. You can't go too wrong with that. And it just isn't Thanksgiving for me if there isn't any Chex Party Mix, so I'll be making that too, I suppose. I hope I can find a smaller turkey this year. We were eating leftover turkey for a long time last year.

Well, if I don't post again before then, Happy Thanksgiving to all! Blessings be upon you from our mighty Lord and Savior, to Whom we are thankful for all things. :)

Update on Miss Maezie

My little baby is growing up! Just in the last few days she has mastered sitting up unsupported, rolling around like a little barrel, and chewing on things. She can even eat graham crackers now!

Today she took her first "crawl". It was only two little scoots forward, but it was exciting! I'll have to post pictures soon when I catch her in the act of doing it again! :)

Halloween 2008

Playing at the bean bag toss

Kyleigh was a cute little kitty cat for Halloween this year. Daddy stayed at home with Maezie so that she could snooze while Kyleigh and I went out for trick-or-treating. We only went to two houses (two of our neighbors) and then also went to our Calvary Chapel's Fall Festival. Kyleigh had fun there playing the games and getting candy. We even won a cake at the cake-walk! It was a lot of fun. I like that our church provides a place for kids to dress up (not scary costumes though!) and get candy, stay off the streets, and a Chrsitian message to boot! :)