Oreo Cookies and Stuff

Mark and Hayden always cook breakfast on Sunday mornings. Hayden always has to help, she cracks the eggs and then cooks them. I must say they are the most delicious eggs I have ever had! Gracie always has to have a snack when she is in the high chair, she had already had her oatmeal, so Mark decided she needed to try some of Hayden's mini oreo cookies. I think this is probably one of her favorite meals yet! He started out by soaking them in milk to make them soft and well as you can tell by the picture things got a little messy. When I walked in the kitchen this is what I found, and yes I did make Mark clean her up!!!

Yummy, Yummy:

On another note, this picture was from last Thursday, Gracie loves spaghetti as much as Hayden and I. She made such a mess, she had to go straight to the bath tub. You would be amazed at the places I found some of this meal! Hayden thought it was so funny that Gracie got to make such a mess. Everyone knows what a clean person I am, but I actually don't mind the mess with food as long as she eats and enjoys it. Mark absolutely does not like spaghetti, so it is a meal we have to eat when he isn't home!

Spaghetti without a shirt:

Mimi bought Hayden and Gracie some new clothes and shoes over the weekend, I know everyone is surprised, right! They are some of the cutest little outfits and shoes. I have so many favorites that it is hard to decide what Hayden will wear to school everyday. I thought since she has ballet on Mondays that this outfit was perfect for today and I love the socks too! Once she put it on I had to take a picture of this BEAUTIFUL little girl.

Ready for School:

Gracie gets to go to ballet today with us for the first time. My Mom has been keeping her on Monday afternoons, but she had a doctors appointment today. I hope she does good, I bet she is not going to be happy when she can't crawl around in there with Hayden. I guess I will have to take lots of snacks and toys!

What She Wants To Be

Hayden informed me tonight that she wants to be a teacher when she grows up. I was so proud even though I know she will probably change her mind a thousand times. She was watching Dora on TV and the show was about growing up and being successful. She is only 3, I don't think I even thought about things like that until I was a lot older, we have always been told she is very mature for her age. As parents, you always want your kids to be the best that they can be. I never really understood that when I was growing up, but my Mama always told me that one day I would. Well, many years later when I look at my babies, I know that I want them to be the best at everything. Hayden is very intelligent and confident, and I truly believe that one day she can be anything she wants to be. I guess we will have to wait and see what she eventually decides on.

Date with Dad

Tonight was date with Dad at Preschool. It started out with the perfect outfits for both of them. Mark picked Hayden's blue dress, it is his favorite. It just so happens he has the same color shirt that I picked out for him to wear. When they first got to preschool Hayden had to show her Daddy where she put her book bag and lunch box everyday. Then all the kids started saying the pledge of allegiance and apparently they were all surprised that the Dads knew it too! They also start everyday of Preschool with a weather person, this one has to pick if the weather is sunny, cloudy, or raining. Then they have a day of the week person, who has to pick what day it is, Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. After all of this they have their bible study, this week they are studying Adam and Eve. Then comes the fun, Mrs. Christie puts four names on the floor at a time and the kids have to find their name. Mark said they all did a good job! The letter of the week was C, so they made a caterpillar on the board and had to name something that started with the letter C. They usually go outside and play after all of these things, but of course with our flood, the playground was to wet, so they pretended to wash their hands and had cookies and sprite with their Dad. To end the perfect date they sang a song about how much they love their dad and at the end ran and gave their dad a big hug. Hayden also made her daddy a special gift, it is a car freshener to put in his stinky work truck. It smells really good and she put special stickers on it for him. It says on the inside that every time you smell this freshener you will think of me (of course I cried when I read it). Mark and Hayden weren't quite ready to end their date night, so they went to Wendys with Adam and Kierstin for dinner. Mark said that Hayden and Kierstin are definitely the best kids in the class, there were some little boys who were very loud and not very good tonight. I thought this was funny because Hayden and Kierstin both tell us all the time that they get in trouble for talking. I am so glad they had a great time. I know it was hard for Mark to take time off work, but he is such a good Daddy and knows how important it is to do everything with our precious girls.

Here they are getting ready to leave:

Baby Talk

Today Gracie said Hayden for the first time, she also said Daddy and Bye Bye. She has been saying Da Da for Daddy, but for the past week it has officially been Daddy. Instead of saying Mama all the time she just screams until I come to see what is wrong. It is so funny when she says Hayden, it is almost like she is frustrated. Maybe she is frustrated, it is going to be interesting when she can tell us exactly what Hayden has done to her. Right now when Hayden does something to her, Gracie screams very loudly and Hayden hides somewhere until I make her tell me what happened. They actually play very well together the only time I hear them fussing is when Hayden takes something away from Gracie. The good thing is that usually when she takes something away it is because Gracie really doesn't need to be playing with it (like eating chalk).

Hayden is the best big sister ever!!!


We have been trying to get Gracie to walk. She has taken one step, but when she did it I got so excited that I scared her. She fell right down and looked at me like she did something wrong. So I started clapping and told her yay you did it, but she still looked at me like I was crazy, so I guess when she gets ready to take off she will!

Sesame Street

Hayden went to see Sesame Street Live with Stephanie and Kierstin last night. Stephanie said she was a very shy and good the whole time. Hayden said she had so much fun, she has been telling us that Ernie knocked Big Bird down and Cookie Monster fell down. She also got to have her favorite thing, cotton candy. Stephanie said Kierstin didn't care for it too much, I don't blame her I don't like it either (it is just way too sweet). On the way home as if the cotton candy wasn't enough, Stephanie stops and gets hot donuts with sprinkles. Hayden is going to want to spend more time with Stephanie and Kierstin to get treats like that. I'm so glad she had a good time being that this was her first trip with her best friend without Mommy and Daddy. Stephanie had told me that Hayden could spend the night, but I was afraid she would wake up in the middle of the night looking for Mommy and Daddy. Yes, that is because she still sleeps in our bed, but we are perfectly fine with that. After everything we went through a year ago it is hard to let her sleep anywhere but right beside us. My grandmother tells me all the time that she needs to start sleeping in her own bed and I politely tell her that isn't going to happen right now! She has started talking about sleeping in her bed, so I guess when she tells us that she doesn't want to sleep with us anymore, we won't have a choice.

Mark and I both agree that once Gracie is old enough to sleep in a big girl bed that her and Hayden can sleep together. I think it will be cute. I can only imagine the conversations they will have. They will have so much fun together!

Ballet

Hayden started Ballet today. Mimi and Pop took us shopping yesterday for the perfect outfit and shoes. It is all pink, which is mine and Hayden's favorite color! It is so cute on her, of course she is cute in whatever she has on. I am so excited she is starting new things. There are only two of them in the class, but I think that is going to be good for Hayden to get used to everything. The other little girl is also in her preschool class, so that made it lots of fun for them today. It was interesting watching Hayden listen to the teacher and try to do all the steps. She did very well for her first day. There were only a couple of steps she isn't to sure about yet, but she has many more classes to get it perfect. She will go every Monday after preschool and in May they will have some sort of recital. Ms. Jordan says it is more like a demonstration of what they do in class. I can't wait to see what she learns and gets out of this. Everyone knows me well enough to know that I tried to take lots of pictures and I did video some of it. The pictures were hard to take being that she was always in motion.

Playing

Hayden and Gracie have been playing together all day. They have played dress up several times. Gracie isn't to sure about it, Hayden puts all kinds of silly things on her and she just cries. Hayden found a box of baby stuff under her bed and thought it would be fun to dress up in it. The picture speaks for itself:

She is actually wearing a sleeper, baby pants, Halloween socks and Hat:

It's too funny! I thought this would give everyone a good laugh. Gracie actually had on a hat and bib but she wouldn't keep them on long enough for me to take a picture. I laughed forever this morning when they came through the house. On another note, I caught Gracie sitting on the fireplace today. I guess she is going to be a climber. I thought maybe it was a one time thing, well I was wrong! She now goes over to the fireplace and turns to make sure I'm looking, smiles really big and starts working them legs. She doesn't like getting in trouble, she just sits there and cries and looks at me like I have totally broken her heart. Mark says it is because I baby her to much, but that isn't true at all.

Labor Day Weekend

Believe or not we really didn't do a whole lot this past weekend. Mark went dove hunting on Saturday morning, and I went to the grocery store to buy something to cook for the Georgia Game. I dressed the girls up in the Georgia Bulldog outfits and showed them off to Nana, Steve, Mema and Pop. I had to sport them around to show everyone just how adorable they are. Of course Mark wasn't very happy with the Dawgs, he says there were a lot of bad calls (actually he used other words), but it was fun to get together with some friends. Heath and Alisha came over to eat dinner and watch the game. Alisha brought her little bitty baby bunny for Hayden to play with. We told Alisha not to let Gracie get a hold of it because she wouldn't be very nice, I can only imagine what she would do. Hayden got to feed the bunny milk out of a spoon, she thought that was hiliarious. Then Alisha played blocks and read lots of books, that is something Hayden always wants Alisha to do. She likes for Heath to chase after her and play outside. She showed Heath how she drives her tractor (Gator). Mark says she drives like her Mommy, I guess she will get where she is going really fast. She has finally figured out how it works and now we can't get her off it. She even parks her tractor where we park our cars (it is kind of cute). Hayden finally went to sleep while she was watching Dora with Alisha. I am sure that Alisha really enjoyed that movie!

Sunday, we played outside a good bit, and then Mimi and Pop came over for some BBQ chicken and ribs. Yes, I know we eat ribs every weekend, they are Mark's favorite. We all played outside and pushed Gracie in her pink swing. At first she looked a little scared, but I really don't know why because she swings all the time. Maybe I started out a little to fast for her taste! Mark and Pop chased Hayden in her tractor on the Bad Boy Buggy (golf cart). She would pass them and laugh the whole time. Of course she has to practice watching where she drives, instead of looking forward she was looking back at Mark and Pop. I kept waiting on her to run right into something (she has run into my Mom's car door). Good thing she has a while to practice. After lots of playing Gracie went night night and Hayden wanted to read books(I know big surprise). Mimi and Hayden went in Hayden's room and read until it was time to eat. It was a fun afternoon, it is nice to be able to spend time outside again!

Monday we went to Wal-Mart and ate Hayden's favorite meal, Chinese. She loves it, she isn't like most kids she could care less about McDonalds. She wants real food. On the way back home Hayden wanted to touch Gracie in her car seat, but Gracie didn't want to be touched. Gracie started crying, so we told Hayden to quit. Then Hayden cried for 5 minutes because she really wanted to touch Gracie. Have you ever heard of anything so silly! Mark also taught Hayden how to shoot a gun. Yeah, I know I wasn't to sure about that, but I went out and watched and she pretty much just sits beside him. She wore her ear pods (that is what she call ear plugs). I guess because of the head phones for the ipod, it just made sense. The shots didn't bother Gracie in the least, I figured they would scare her. We took the girls for a ride on the Buggy later in the afternoon. Gracie thought that was fun, she really hasn't been on it a whole lot. She kept looking at Mark and laughing. We even took Peaches and Waylon, can you imagine what we looked like coming down the road? Gracie didn't want to take a nap all day, not sure why she picks and chooses when to sleep, but she always goes to bed early. Hayden didn't want to go to bed either. I had a feeling it was going to fun this morning.

Learning to Hunt:

It took me forever to get Hayden up. I kept telling her your friends are waiting on you, and she would say "I don't care, I want to sleep". That is why Mommy and Daddy kept telling you to go to bed last night. It then took her forever to eat her breakfast and get dressed. So tonight the Stancil's are back on track, we will be eating dinner, taking showers and going to bed early(or at Hayden will be). I hope she isn't too tired at school! Anyways on to the cute pictures of the weekend:

Gracie playing outside:

Teaching Waylon to Hunt:

Gracie loving her Baby:

One Year Check Up

Well on Thursday morning I took Gracie for her one year check up with Dr. Beeber. I found out really fast that she does not like Mrs. Pat (the nurse) or Dr. Beeber at all (not even a little bit)! She started screaming as soon as Mrs. Pat came into the room. She was rockin and rollin on the scales, so we aren't sure exactly what she weighed. The closest Mrs. Pat could get was 19lbs 8oz, I personally think she weighs a little more. She was 29 1/2 inches long, which means she is 25th percentile for weight and 70th percentile for height. They think she might be tall and slender (I don't know where she could possibly get that from). I think that she is the perfect size. She is pretty much the same size as Hayden was. The only difference was that Hayden weighed 8oz more but was 3/4 of an inch shorter. So after we got the measurements through lots of screaming, Dr. Beeber came in and you would have thought they were abusing her (I am not exaggerating)! Of course he thought it was funny, I'm sure he gets that a lot, but Hayden has never acted like that. Gracie absolutely does not like anyone to touch her that she doesn't know (once again not sure where she got that from HA HA). Dr. Beeber said that she is a perfectly healthy one year old. That the weight and height were good and she can now have whole milk(YAY). Now we don't have to buy that expensive nasty formula once a week, even though Mimi and Pop have always helped us with formula and diapers. They don't know how much we appreciate that! She also had to have two shots (poor baby). She got the Measles shot and Chicken Pox, which he said both could have side effects a week later. I hope that doesn't happen, Hayden never reacted to them. However, once Mrs. Pat gave her the first shot, Gracie started crying and getting very upset. Then I noticed that she wasn't breathing at all, Mrs. Pat started blowing in her face, and she still wouldn't catch her breath. So then Mrs. Pat told me to shake her a little, still nothing. Finally Mrs. Pat blew one more time and she finally took a breath. Talking about freaking out (that was me). I started crying immediately when she caught her breath. No one knows how scary it is until you're the one waiting on her to breathe. The bad thing was that we still had one more shot to go. She actually did okay with the second one. Dr. Beeber heard Mrs. Pat and myself and came to make sure everyone was okay. He said that if she holds her breath long enough she will pass out and then immediately wake back up. I guess that should make me feel a little better, but it doesn't seem natural to me.

After our exciting check up we went to visit Nana and Steve, they kept Hayden for me. Hayden had a great time and Gracie showed Nana how she does flips on the bed. She basically rolls over and waits on your reaction. She thinks she is really doing a flip like her big sister. Mark and I have on video too, it is hilarious. We stayed at Nana's for a little while and then went to visit my Mema and Pop. Pop's birthday was Sept. 4th, so we dropped by to say Happy Birthday and give him a card. Gracie started getting fussy from her shots and all the excitement of the day, so we came home to take naps, or at least that was my plan. Well, the girls had a different plan, they slept all the way home and was ready to go when we got out of the car!

I am so glad we had a good doctor appointment, now we don't have to go back until she is 15 months. I wonder what will happen on that one!

Happy Birthday Baby Gracie!

Today you are one, and it has been a wonderful year. I can't believe how fast time goes by. Last year on this day Daddy and I had to leave Hayden at Egleston at 4am with Mimi and all of the wonderful doctors and nurses to go have you. It was one of the hardest things we have ever had to do. When Daddy and I walked out of Hayden's hospital room all of the nurses on the 5th floor were clapping and cheering us on. They were so excited for us, but all we could do was cry because we had to leave Hayden there. We really wanted Hayden to be there when you were born, she was so excited about you and she loved to talk to you and rub Mommy's belly while you were inside. The perfect day was supposed to be that Daddy would go out in the waiting room after you were born and bring Hayden back to meet you first. Mommy even had special outfits for you both to wear.

We knew Hayden was in excellent hands at the Hospital and we knew Mimi and all of our wonderful family wouldn't let anything happen to our big girl. When we got to the car, Daddy helped me get in, and then I just sat in silence as he drove to the hospital. There were so many mixed feelings in my head that morning, but I knew it was time to meet you. We couldn't wait to see you and love on you, so we started getting excited as we arrived at Rockdale Hospital.

When we finally got all the paperwork and questions handled it was probably about 8:30am. Doctor Garrett came into the room and started the induction process. It seemed to go by so fast to me, but I was a little out of it. I think it seemed like forever to Daddy, but he was very good and remained seated for the most part (he likes to pace). At 12:30 they called Doctor Garrett back to deliver you. I will never forget what she said when she got ready "This is a big baby, why have we not already taken her?" Daddy and I started crying and told her all about Hayden and what had been going on. She couldn't believe everything we had been through and that you were so patient about it. At 1:04pm the most precious angel was born. It took you a little longer than we would have liked for you to cry, but when you did it was one of the most beautiful sounds we had ever heard. When Doctor Garrett laid you on my stomach Daddy and I looked at each other and at the same time said "she looks just like Hayden". There was a lot of crying that day. Once the nurses got done cleaning you up, Daddy went to the waiting room to get your visitors. Pop, Nana, Steve, Grandmama and Aunt Julie came back to see you and of course they all thought you were perfect too! Everyone got there turn holding you and I will never forget Grandmama saying "this baby came into the world smiling." You have been smiling ever since (my little happy baby). Later in the afternoon Kim and Artie came to visit and Uncle Randy. Everyone thought you looked a lot like your big sister. It was a wonderful day and you were an excellent baby. You were so quiet we could barely hear you cry (now we hear you loud and clear).

Daddy and I brought you home on Sept. 4th, which is the same day Hayden was released from Egleston. Mimi and Pop brought Hayden home late that night, she had to get one more dose of her antibiotic before she could leave. You were sleeping in your favorite place the pink swing. Hayden was very confused, upset, and tired when they came into the house, but when she seen you in the swing her eyes brightened up. She wanted to hold and feed you, so we put you in her arms and she gave you one of your first bottles. It will always be one of Daddy and Mommy's favorite memories of our girls. It was truly priceless!

Hayden loves you so much. She helps take very good care of you. She has helped change your diapers and feed you everyday. I hope you two will always be very close and maybe even be best friends and always be there for each other through the good and bad times. I bet no one will mess with the Stancil Girls!

Gracie you are truly an amazing little girl. You are so smart and beautiful. You have had lots of accomplishments this year from rolling over, talking, sitting up, and crawling. Hopefully soon you will start to walk, I think you are a little scared. You have always slept all night except for when we went to the beach, you just really love your bed. Your comfort level is to throw your arm over the bumper pad in your bed, it is so sweet and you immediately reach for it as soon as we lay you down. Although you can have a little bit of an attitude problem sometimes, for the most part you are sweet. Everyone thinks you act like me when you're mad, but I think it is just your way of getting our attention. We don't think you will have a problem with being shy, you always let people know exactly what you want (I think that is probably a good trait to have). We love that you are always smiling and scrunching that perfect little nose up. It is so cute watching you chase Hayden around the house, now she can't hide anywhere. Daddy and I love listening to you and Hayden play and talk together. Sometimes Hayden acts more like a parent, but one day you will get to pay her back. Right now you are definetly a Mommy's girl, but I'm sure that will change as you get older. I think all little girls become Daddy's girls at some point. There is something about the comfort and strength of a Daddy that every little girl needs, and always know that you will always be Daddy's little girl no matter how old you are (and Hayden too). It is a very special bond that you will understand one day. Just promise not to forget completely about Mommy.

I hope you have an excellent birthday. This year you really don't understand what is going on, but next year you will be so excited. We can't wait to see what all you accomplish in the next year.

WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH ANGEL

DADDY, MOMMY, and HAYDEN

Precious:

Big Girl:

First night at home:

Beautiful Birthday Girl: