A Day with Melanie and Abby

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Earlier this week, we worked on taking pictures of a day that we were helping Melanie and Abigail so that we could show you what we are doing.

Aunt Sarah has the first turn, and it’s time for her to make breakfast.

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After enjoying a yummy breakfast, it’s now time for Abigail’s bath. Aunt Sarah has brought over her special bath toys, and Abigail plays everything from bug races to petting “Quack Quack” (her duck) during her bath.

Once Abby’s through with her bath, it is now time to get her dressed and fix her hair. Today she will wear the dress that Aunt Mary made for her. Aunt Sarah fixes her hair, and upon asking her how many “tails” she wants, she says “two”!

Aunt Sarah then goes home, and a little while later Aunt Anna comes over right in the middle of Abby’s blanket time. Aunt Anna starts the laundry, and then does school with Abigail. Today they will draw pictures. Aunt Anna also helps Abigail with her counting and numbers.

Next Abby has school with Mommy while Aunt Anna fixes lunch. Mommy helps Abby do the alphabet puzzle. Abigail likes the letters and can say all of them.

Mommy and Abby do blocks together, but Abigail prefers to sit in the tub during this time. : )

Now it’s lunch time!

After cleanup, it is time to change the laundry so Aunt Anna, Abigail, and “Na,” the baby doll, go down stairs.

Abigail helps by taking the sheets out of the dryer.

Now they move the wet laundry from the washer to the dryer.

“Hhmmmmmm is there anything left in the washer, Abby?”

Time to get the mail! Brrrrrr, it’s a little chilly outside so they won’t stay out for long.

Then it’s nap time. Aunt Anna helps Abigail get ready for her nap, and then Aunt Anna heads for home.

Grandma and Aunt Mary head back over after Abby’s nap to help again. Aunt Mary and Abigail are going to go on a walk with Gi-Gi and Grandad.

When they get home, Grandma helps make dinner and then reads books to Abigail!

Aunt Mary helps with dinner preparations and  other odd jobs. There’s always something to do over there, and everyone keeps very busy!

Then it’s time for Grandma and Aunt Mary to say good-bye and head home to eat their dinner. Daddy will soon be home, so Mommy and Abby will be just fine together until then!

“Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.” (Psalm 127:3-4)

32 thoughts on “A Day with Melanie and Abby”

  1. What a sweet life little miss Abigail has. Your photo essay highlights the virtues of a schedule. When help is needed, all one needs to do is check the schedule for meaningful ways to assist.
    You may want to check one of the photo book publishing websites and turn your photo essay of Abby’s day into a sturdy board book. It should be quite affordable and children love reading about themselves.

  2. Thanks for the pictures. I have been praying for Melanie and baby. When’s the baby due? Abbie is sure beautiful and getting so big!
    ——-
    Melanie’s due the end of August!
    ——-

  3. Absolutely precious!!! I love how your family all pitches in and helps each other. Abigail is growing so quickly and is so adorable! We are continuing to pray for baby Max and Melanie. It is such a blessing to see her being able to be up and about. 😀

    One of my new friends here in AL wants to come to your Birmingham Encouragement for the Homeschool Family weekend and want us to come with them!!! Soooo, Lord willing, we will get to see y’all again soon! :D:D:D

    Blessings,
    Vania

  4. That is such a precious letter to us! What a sweet little girl she is! I pray that all is well with you all! (Last night at a 4H meeting, I was sitting next to a lady who had your Managers of Their Chores book! It was so exciting to see it and I got to glimpse it…hopefully, soon I can order one!) Lots of Love, Mrs. Beth

  5. Nice photos! Good to see Mary has gotten braces. She’s a pretty girl and she will be even lovelier.

  6. I am not sure who to consider more blessed, Abigail and her parents or Abigail’s aunts and grandparents. Thanks for sharing your days!

  7. Abigail is getting to be such a big girl, and adorable as ever. It was so good to see a picture of Melaine. We keep her and baby in out prayers. It is such a blessing to have you all close enough to help out.

    Blessins, Mrs. Mari

  8. She is so sweet! What a fun peak into Abby’s day. It’s so nice to have family around you.

  9. Dear Maxwell ladies,

    What a sweet post! And adorable pictures! I was hoping to see
    more pics of when you’re at Nathan and Melanie’s helping! Praying
    for Melanie and Baby Maxwell! Rebecca K.

  10. Thank you for sharing this look into your daily activities helping Melanie and Abigail. What a precious little doll Abigail is!! That is amazing she knows her letters – – what a smart little girl! ~ I’m sure you all stay very busy, but what a blessing you must be to Melanie. Continued prayers for her and Baby Max, and ALL the Maxwell family.
    Love in Christ, Patti M. 🙂
    P.S. Did Anna cut her hair? It looks shorter than I’d remembered it in other pictures! (and she’s still so pretty!!). 🙂
    —–
    Yes, she got her hair trimmed to even it out :-).
    —–

  11. That was a lot of fun to see/read! Thank you for sharing. Praying here that all will continue to go well with Melanie and the new little one.

  12. Abby is so adorable! I love the pictures you took of her. Thank you for sharing! How is Melanie doing? I’m praying for her!
    —–
    Melanie’s doing well!
    —–

  13. This is just such a lovely post of how we all pitch in to help when one needs us. It brought back memories of when I delivered my 5th child and suffered an amniotic embolism. I was down for two months, but with my two older girls and the help of my sisters and mom we all made it through! God bless you for sharing your story, it helps cement that we are rasing our girls as keepers and not careerers:-) I am so encouraged by your girls example Teri!

  14. absolutely precious- I love this. It is especially wonderful to see a family come together to help. Thanks for sharing!

  15. I love this post… so sweet! 🙂 What a blessing for you all that you live close and can help out ~ the joys are doubled I’m sure!

    I do have a question for you though. What is your lighting in the indoor photos? The light is so smooth and nice. 🙂 Are you just using a speedlight and bouncing it, or do you have some other attachment, etc…?? Just curious!

    ——
    I think all the photos were taken using the 50mm 1.4 lens, so we didn’t have to use a flash, and adjusted the aperture as needed!
    ——

  16. I loved this series. What a precious family you are and Abigail with “2 tails” is just too cute.

  17. That is so nice that you live so close to each other! You all look like you are having fun 🙂

  18. Aww, what a sweet darling Miss Abby is! 🙂 I am sure Melanie and Nathan love having you all over and appreciate all that you do to help Melanie during the day. 🙂 How special and what a joy to be so near family! 😀 Thank you for sharing about your day’s over there! 🙂

    We are continuing to keep Melanie and baby in our prayers! 🙂

    God Bless you all!
    ~Miss Rachel~

  19. thanks for the reply! I see, you have the *nice* lens. =) I’ve heard that the 1.4 is really nice, I have the 1.8 right now and it is so much fun to use, except it won’t autofocus with my camera! 🙁
    —–
    The 1.4 is my favorite–I use it far more than my other two. A large reason I invested in the nicer lens was to be able to bless those reading the blog with the pictures! 🙂
    —–

  20. Oh, my — that Abigail is adorable! Thanks for the post and photos! It is wonderful that you all live so close and can pitch in when help is needed, and it must be so much fun to do it! There’s something about doing chores at someone else’s house that makes them seem not chores, you know?

  21. I loved this! So fun to see! We currently have an almost 3 yr. old foster daughter and so it’s really fun to see the things you are doing with Abby when you’re there – we do blanket time, too, which is a lifesaver some days for me to actually get a shower! lol Thanks for sharing a ‘peek’ into how you’re helping. What a joy to see! I am continuing to pray for Melanie and the baby! 🙂

  22. Melanie looks just beautiful ! 🙂 Still praying for her and new baby Maxwell. Abby is such a cutie with her tails as well.

  24. Sweet pictures!! 🙂 what a blessing that you are so close to Nathan and Melanie and little Abby. So glad to hear Mama and baby Maxwell are doing well!! Praise the Lord!

  25. It’s such a blessing to me to see these pictures and read about how everyone is doing. It feels like family sharing pictures with family , if that makes any sense! I look each day to see if there are new posts and absolutely love the pictures and the narration. It makes me feel warm and fuzzy! You are all lovely and I loved Abigail’s 2 tails!

    God bless you all,
    Susi

  26. You don’t have to post this, but did Mary get braces? I’m so excited for her! She looks so cute in them, too! It reminds me of a time in my life when I was growing up and there were so many exciting changes going on in my life! 🙂 I hope she also looks back at this age fondly!

    By the way, I love “day in the life” posts like this. Wonderful! I just love your family. <3

    —–
    Yes, Mary got braces 🙂 plus a palette separator, so she has a mouth full at the moment! I think she looks cute in them too :-). Sarah
    —–

  27. What a lovely day. Do please do another one like it. Maybe you could something similar about how each of you spend your day. I am praying for Melanie. I also think it is great having a scedule.

    God bless

    Ruth P
    —-
    Ruth, thanks for the suggestion; we’ll see if we can make it work :-).

  28. What a wonderful blessing you all are to your family. As an added bonus Abby gets to know her Aunts in a special way as they help care for her. Praying for Melanie and Baby Maxwell as well. Thanks for sharing this delightful insight into your family. I really did enjoy the pictures and making it into a book (as Kim C. suggested) would be a great keepsake for Abby to have.

  29. Thank-you for the pictures. It blesses my heart how everyone chips in to help, and most of all, how well Melanie and baby are doing. God Bless you. 🙂

    Nivia W

  30. What a blessing that you are close to help out. Who is going to help Melanie when you are on your trip?
    ——-
    Melanie’s family will help out a few mornings, and Melanie and Abby will manage the other days. Nathan will also be doing things we would normally do.
    ——

  31. I would love to know more information about how Melanie schedules Abigail’s day. For instance, does she put certain toys in each bin and use them during different times of the day? I am always looking for ideas for my two little ones. Thank you.

  32. She is just SO cute! Love her!

    Do the doctors think that Melanie will have to be on bed-rest the whole pregnancy? I’m glad to see that she is able to have time with Abby!
    ——-
    Time will tell!
    ——

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