Small Packages?!

We've just had a wonderful new addition delivered to our family...

Maylee Belle Hancock

Born:      June 26, 2012

Time:      6:18 p.m.

Height:     21 inches

and...

Weight:      9 lbs. 15 oz!

They say great things come in small packages, but Maylee was not such a "little" package!

Here is our little 10 pound miracle...

Meagan did amazing!

After 40+ weeks of pregnancy the doctor decided that an induction was in order.

Everything got started at 3:15 and a short three hours later

Maylee Belle joined our little family!

Joking, Meagan just said that we'd warn people that there were a lot of us, but we never warned them how many cameras came with us. :)  Maylee will have to get used to the lime light just like Mikayla.

Speaking of pictures, Meagan did so well in fact that a short 12 hours later she had the window to our room wide open to let as much light in as possible, and did a little mini photo shoot.  

Here are some more shots of our little 'Belle of the Ball'

And of course one of the first questions from everybody is...

What does Mikayla think?

Any Questions?

Not sure at first, but...

She warmed up. :)

Aren't my girls just so beautiful?!

I'm one happy man.

And 24 hrs later we were home, happy and at peace.

Maylee slept the whole ride home. Hopefully that's a good sign. :)

Yep, Maylee may not have been the smallest package, but she sure is wonderful!

Welcome Home

Maylee Belle!

Dude it!

One of our favorite Mikayla-isms right now is "dude it"-meaning "do it" or "I'll do it myself".  Watch out world-Mikayla is gonna dude it!

P.S. If your garden loves making zucchini as much as ours does we've found this bread to be a delightful breakfast treat.

And, no, still no baby yet...

Baby's Heart

We got brave and let Mikayla go with us to our doctor's appointment this past week.  All she's talked about to anyone in person or on the phone since is the "baby's heart".  She'll tell you what sound the heart makes, usually while patting her chest where her heart is.  She is SO excited about the baby.  She keeps telling me "baby out", meaning it's time for the baby to come out of Mom's belly.  You're telling me!  We can't wait!

Sunday School Lesson

Mikayla came home from church on Sunday and decided her babies needed a lesson in honor of the Sabbath.

Sharing her nursery handouts with them.

Lesson subject?  Look to the light?

She's forever telling me that they're cold so she shines her ever so warm LED workbench light on them to warm those babies right up.

Our Web-Footed Friends

When we mentioned to my Dad that we'd like to get a duckling or two for Mikayla to help raise and then take to the "marm" (farm) it didn't take a lot of convincing before he was sold on the idea.  We got an email the next day saying these fun little guys were on their way.

Yeah, maybe a couple more than we had in mind, but that's the way Grandad rolls!

Dustin went to the garage to grab a little light for them and Mikayla ran to her tool bench to get her light for them.

Mikayla pretty much hangs out in the laundry room next to her "babies", as she calls them, a good chunk of the day.  She just gathers her junk and sets up camp next to them.

P.S. I swear she does wear pants these days.  We start the day with them, but as the day wears on I guess they become optional or something.

Early morning swim with the ducks.

Random side note: Mikayla is sitting here playing by me and I just looked down and she is kneeling on the floor, arms folded and eyes closed saying a prayer.  I love it.  She teaches me so much.   I don't know what inspired it, but she prayed for Mom, Dad and baby.  Sometimes I wonder what is going on in her head that she just can't express yet.  I'm positive she has so much to teach me and I can't wait for the chances that we have to learn together.  

If only I had the confidence...

The confidence to look like this and think I was beautiful.  Not only beautiful, but a world class singer, as well.

Yes, if I had this kind of confidence I'm pretty sure I'd cheer loud and hard for myself, too.

Early, early.

Ever since we've been working on potty training Mikayla wakes up early.  As in before 6 a lot of mornings.  I don't even know what to do with myself at that hour.  Yikes.  I won't complain too much because she stays dry all night, but holy cow it's early!  Then she yawns all morning long and tells me that she needs a nap.  Tell me about it, sister!!!  I've been trying to look on the bright side of seeing these early hours and so we're trying to enjoy the cooler mornings outside since we pretty much successfully slept through them before.

I took Mikayla outside to play bubbles the other morning and she had fun with that for about 30 seconds.  Long enough to snap some pictures and she was off.

Off doing what, you might ask?

Setting up her office.

Reading the insurance manual if you want to get specific.

I guess we just enjoyed the great outdoors in a different way...

Zoo!

After Mammy and Pappy watched Mikayla for a few days we met up at the zoo for a fun day with all the cousins.

Check out the curls Mammy did for her!

Mammy let all the grandkids feed the "raffes".  Mikayla was so excited to do it, but as soon as it started licking her arm she was done.  All she can talk about since then is story of the "zu", "raffes", "hand", "rarret" (carrot), "black" (for the giraffe's black tongue).

Conquering the Potty.

We're on day 3 of potty training boot camp around here.  It's gone surprisingly well if you ask me.  The house is a disaster, there haven't been any real meals in a few days and we've been hanging out in jammies pretty much full time, but we've had some success on the potty-at least enough to keep me motivated-and that's what counts!

I'm pretty sure every mom has to take pictures of her kid in panties for the first time and every kid hates the pictures later on.  I'm now convinced that it's a sanity thing for moms.  Taking pictures of kiddo bums in undies gives you a good reason to smile during the whirlwind that is called potty training!

She kept looking for "blue" (the blue purse) and when she'd find it she'd run off to the laundry room and try to get out the garage door, telling me that she was going to "Nana home".  I'm pretty sure she was thinking she could get out of potty training at Nana's house (and she'd be right!).

Each time she goes potty she runs to find her play phone, which is one of our old cell phones that we sometimes charge for her, to call someone (usually Mammy, Grandad, Nanny, Mom, or Bubba) and tell them"PEE PEE!" as loud as she can.

She also called 911 once in the process.  Not good.

Notice the chocolate on her face?  She gets 2 whoppin' chocolate chips when she goes potty.  She loves chocolate chips and I used to give her more when she went, but she'd always ask for 2 so that's what she gets now.  We're big, exciting spenders right?

Wedgies.  Ugh.