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!
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