Mother's/Father's Day

Yes, I know I'm a little behind, but better late than never :)

We had a lot of fun celebrating Mother's Day and Father's Day this year.  My parents and grandparents came to our place in Columbus Mother's Day weekend, and we had a lot of fun spending time and celebrating with them.  Andrew made us a nice Mother's Day cake, and we spent the day just enjoying each other's company, eating good food, and being entertained by the kids.

For Father's Day we relaxed at home and tried to spoil Andrew, who is an awesome dad.  Both Jake and McKenna adore him, and he's very involved with them.  I know he doesn't get to spend as much time with them as he'd like, but he is great at playing with them and making them laugh every day.  He rocks the "dad" thing!

Being parents is a lot harder than we expected, but it's so much fun to watch Jake and McKenna learn and grow.  We're so grateful to be their mom and dad, and I'm so thankful we get to experience parenthood together!

Jake

Oh how I love my little Jake.  He's quite the hand-full and can be a little stinker, but he is so fun and full of life.

Jake loves to get out.  He asks often to go in the car.  I don't think he cares where we go, he just likes to explore and see new places.  He especially loves trips to the park.  His favorite part of parks used to be the slides and swings and playground equipment, but lately he just plays with the mulch and dirt.  He'd much rather throw that around than climb and slide.  He's 100% boy.  The more dirt, sticks, rocks, bugs, trucks, and loud noises, the better.

Jake isn't the worlds best eater, although he really isn't very picky.  He just doesn't like eating.  He'd much rather be running around or playing with toys.  He's almost 3 and hasn't even hit 30 pounds yet.  His last doctor's appointment showed him with a barely healthy BMI- he's so tall and skinny.  You can see every single one of his ribs- both in the front and back.  It's not out of a lack of effort on my part- I'm always giving him something to eat.  I have my best luck with lunch.  I let him watch a movie for 30 minutes before his quiet time and give him a plate of high-calorie food.  He loves nuts, cheese, crackers with peanut butter, and chicken nuggets smothered in BBQ sauce.  He also likes apples, eggs, green beans, fruit snacks, and anything chocolate.

Jake has so much energy and can walk and run forever without needing a break.  He walks more than a mile at a time at the zoo and never complains of being tired or asks to get back in the stroller- he'd rather walk and hold mommy's hand.  He's definitely not lazy!  That's another reason I can't get him to gain weight- he's always running around burning calories.  He's healthy, though.  And I'm very grateful for that.

Jake loves puddles.  He can find them a mile away and is always in them before I even know they're there.  Whenever it rains, I put Jake in his bathing suit and walk around our apartment complex letting him jump in every puddle as we go.  He loves it.

For how much Jake loves puddles, he doesn't love baths, particularly getting his hair washed.  Every time he gets in the bath he yells "all done hair" over and over until his hair is either shampooed and rinsed or I confirm 25 zillion times that it's not a hair wash day.  I'm not sure what the problem there is- it all started one day, but I'm not aware of any traumatic events.  Hopefully that's a phase he'll outgrow soon.  Poor kid!

Jake would play with the iPad and watch movies all day if I let him.  Much to his dismay, we limit his screen time, but his favorite movies these days are Monsters Inc and Monsters University, Toy Story, Up, Frozen, and Cars.  He also likes Sesame Street, Daniel Tiger, Caillou, and Mickey Mouse.  His favorite toys are cars and trucks, although he loves a change of scenery and isn't overly attached to 1 specific toy.  He loves things that light up and make noises and he loves pretending like we're airplanes.  Jake can spin and spin and then spin some more.  The kid loves to be "dizz," his term for spinning and dizzy.  Lately he's been having other objects spin with him to make them "dizz" as well.

Jake is getting so much better at listening to books.  It took until a few months ago, but I can finally get him to sit on my lap and listen to books before bed.  He enjoys pointing things out and telling me what objects are and what color they are, etc.  He knows about half the alphabet and can count to 20.  He gets to "M" in his recitation of the alphabet and always says 14 next.  It's cute and something I want to remember :)  Maybe it's the books, maybe it's all the practice, or maybe it's just coming with time, but Jake's vocabulary is increasing at a great rate.  He's talking up a storm and doing great.  I'm so proud of him!

My little 2 year old cutie loves his octopus shirt, hates wearing socks and shoes, and finds himself in trouble a lot.  He really is a handful and has trouble written all over him, but I love my Jake-man like crazy.  I'm so glad I get to be his mom <3

Sibling Love

July 2014

Jake spends a lot of time pushing McKenna over and yelling "MICE," which seems to be a combination of mine and nice- since I'm always telling Jake to be nice when he's yanking toys out of McKenna's hands.

McKenna is often trying to take what Jake is playing with and always wants to be right next to him.  I'm certain her intentions are good, but it drives Jake nuts.

Every few days they'll spend a couple of minutes not just tolerating each other, but actually enjoying being together.  Those moments I smile bigger than at any other time and my heart just melts.  I don't capture them on camera often, but this is one of those happy memories where they giggled together and I saw hope for a strong friendship someday.  Hopefully soon :)

McKenna's First Birthday Party

My mom and dad hosted a fun birthday party for our sweet little one year old.  We had a very hungry caterpillar theme, which seems to fit her well because she loves books and food :)

Andrew made miss McKenna the coolest cake.  Seriously.  It was a caterpillar coming out of a leaf, and it was beautiful and delicious!

McKenna had fun with the mini cake Andrew made her too.  She was so sleepy by this time that she went from laughing to crying to laughing again every couple of minutes, but she seemed to enjoy herself :)

McKenna received the cutest gifts for her birthday- thanks to everyone who spoiled her!

We love our little sweetie and had fun celebrating her turning 1!

Watch her grow!

My sister made McKenna the cutest banner for her first birthday party with a picture from each month of the first year of her life.  I figured I'd document it here too.  I can't believe how fast she is growing and how much she has changed in just 12 short months!

My baby is 1

I cannot believe how fast McKenna's first year has flown by.  She is such a sweet little girl.  She's always smiling and is so pleasant and cute.  She loves to laugh and is quite good at getting us to laugh  too with her cute antics and fun personality.

McKenna loves, loves, LOVES food.  She is a great eater and will spend an hour slowly enjoying each meal.  And if she ever sees someone eating food without her, she gives the stare-down that obviously says "give me some of that!" until bites are shared.  Her favorite foods seem to be chicken nuggets and hamburger, although it's hard to know what she loves most because she eats almost anything like it's the best thing she's ever tasted.  Aunt Kim predicts she's going to be a food blogger someday.  I can definitely see that :)

McKenna is an awesome sleeper.  She takes 2 naps per day which vary wildly in length, but usually average about 3 hours total during the day.  She sleeps close to 12 hours at night and wakes up every morning between 8-8:30.  She wakes up happy (until we change her diaper) and is always ready to play and explore.  McKenna is a serious pain to change.  It's a full body wrestling match and she is crazy, wiggly, and squirmy while we change her diaper and try to get clothes on her.  Sometimes I get her diaper on, wait a few minutes for a shirt, and then give her (and me) a break for a few minutes before attempting pants.  I'm not sure why she's so difficult during that time, but she's unbelievably sweet the rest of the day :)

McKenna loves waving and is quite the vigorous waver.  If she ever hears anyone say "hi" or "bye," the next several minutes are always spent in wild arms waving with a big grin on her face.  She has only said "hi" a few times, but she says "bye" over and over as she waves, and it's darling.

McKenna started saying a few words in the past couple of weeks.  Her first word that she said not mimicking us (like saying mama or dada when we encourage her) was ball.  She's very interested in balls and loves trying to steal them from Jake.  McKenna can also say "baby" referring to her dolls, Jake, bye, and bite.  She's making great progress with speaking and is good at repeating things if we encourage her to talk.

Our sweet little girl is a quick crawler, but doesn't seem all that interested in walking.  She's cruising along furniture and can stand unassisted for a few seconds, but hasn't made any attempts at steps.  She likes walking around when Andrew and I hold her hands, but I don't see her first steps happening within the next couple of weeks.

McKenna has all but given up on bottles and formula, but goes nuts over juice.  We're trying to get her into drinking whole milk, but so far she usually just fills her mouth and then spits it all out laughing.  She's also thrown up with her milk a few times, which has me a little nervous, but I'll just keep watching her.

Little McKenna loves being out and about and really enjoys our trips to the zoo.  Now that Andrew is back in school and taking the bus, the kids and I have our car almost every day now, and she likes getting out and seeing the world.  Her favorite zoo exhibits are the ones where she can stand against the glass herself and see what's going on.  She laughs at the monkeys and is enthralled by the aquarium with all the fish.  She, like Jake, enjoys the park at the zoo.  She's a good little climber and has recently gotten good at getting down from places in addition to getting up.  That includes the stairs.  We have a gate on our 3rd stair up and she can now get down the first couple of stairs when she's climbed up them.

McKenna's favorite toys right now are her glow worm, her new baby doll from Aunt Laura and Uncle Jim, and a talking stuffed dog from my grandparents.  She really likes toys that light up and make noise, and she loves books.  She is especially fond of lift-the-tab books and the touch-and-feel type.

Our little sweetie finally has enough hair for a pony tail (albeit a very small one) and a little whale spout on top of her head.  I am so excited that her clips now have enough hair to stay clipped in, and I'm really enjoying all her pink, dresses, and bows.  Having a little girl is fun, and having McKenna as my little girl has been wonderful.  She is so easy to love and is so sweet and full of life.  We love McKenna and have had so much fun with her the first year of her life.  We're so blessed that she's ours!

Andrew's top words to describe McKenna:
curious
happy
social
My top few words to describe her:
sweet
fiery
fun
adorable

McKenna has brought us so much joy and happiness this past year.  I love you, little miss McKenna Rose!

Written 9/8

I feel guilty that I have been a bad blogger these past several months.  2 kids are much trickier than 1. Especially my two little fireballs so close together. They definitely keep me on my toes!

McKenna sprouted her first tooth at six months. She got her two incisors first, then her two bottom ones, then her two front middle ones.  They all came within about a month.

She started crawling around seven months.  Slow at first, but now she's pretty darn good! She can even do a bear crawl to avoid tripping over her dresses.

McKenna and Jake have a love hate relationship at this point.  McKenna loves Jake and is always trying to play with him and be by him. Jake pretty much ignores her, except for when he hits her and pushes her down.  There are moments where he's really sweet to her. Rocking her car seat when she cries, bringing her a toy when she's sad, and picking up her sippy cup when it falls.  There are also moments when McKenna seems to get a fire in her eye and goes after Jake.  She can take things from him that he can't get back sometimes. She's knocked him over several times when he's taken a toy from her.  She's usually really sweet, but she doesn't let anybody mess with her. Especially Jake!

Jake is turning into quite a good helper. He loves to help me make dinner, unload the dishwasher, and clean.  This morning I used the restroom while McKenna was finishing her breakfast. I heard Jake yell "oopsie, McKenna cereal fall down."  I came out a minute later to find him sweeping the spilled cereal and watermelon with the broom into the dust pan. When that didn't work too well for him, he picked up every piece and set it in the dustpan. Then he went and opened the pantry and dumped the mess into the trash can with a very proud grin. It was so sweet!

This summer Andrew was very blessed to get a second internship at Chase Bank.  He had originally excepted an offer from capital one in Richmond Virginia, but the company wasn't too impressive, so he ended up working at Chase again. It was much more financially helpful, and it was also really nice to not have to move for the summer.  It was a little rough because Andrew had to take our only car to work every day, and I were stuck at home. We spent a lot of time at the park, doing chalk on the sidewalk outside of our apartment, and going on walks/runs with a jogging stroller I bought off of craigslist.

My mom also came down several times and stayed for a few days at a time.  That was a lot of fun! You want to parks, zoombezi bay, the zoo, splash pads, and all over town.  The kids love her, and so do I!