Five Months Big!!!

AHHH!! My baby girl is already 5 months old!! If I thought time with McKenley went fast, I swear if I even blink, I miss something with Parker!! She is hitting milestones left and right and amazing us every day with all that she is accomplishing.

This month Parker has gone swimming for the first time, attended her first Farmers Market and community festival, and attended lots of playdates with her new friends. We have switched Parker to all formula and she is not shy about asking for more! haha. We are quickly learning that anything and everything that was true with McKenley, Parker is going to do JUST the opposite!! We counted every ounce of formula that McKenley would drink and we never felt like she was taking enough, Parker on the other hand gulps it down so fast and is soooooooo angry when the bottle is gone!! McKenley loved the swing and the car... needless to say, Parker does not! The list goes on and on, we have to remind ourselves daily that our babies are completely different little ladies and instead of constantly comparing the two, being excited for what is to come with their fun little personalities!! I can already tell Parker is going to be our outgoing, little spitfire though!! She is already DYING to go chasing after her big sister! The bond those two already have is probably the best thing about having 2 babies so close in age, they are PRECIOUS together!! The giggles that are exchanged between them will NEVER get old!!

Ok, now on to what Parker has accomplished this month...
~ On the 27th we OFFICIALLY ditched the swaddle completely!! This is definitely an accomplishment because I am sooooo tired of fighting the battle of swaddle vs Parker's arms!! Her arms are winning every time and therefore no one has been sleeping!!
~ Parker has continued on with her amazing sleeping at night!! We are up to 11-12 hours consistently!! This is making a world of difference with my energy levels :)
~ On June 1st, Parker showed us that she can roll tummy to back and then back to her tummy all the way across the carpet. It is a bit alarming the first time you walk back over to the carpet where you laid her and she is no where near where she started!! haha
~ On June 17th, I started working with Parker on sitting up, needless to say, my little "go-getter" loved the new perspective!! She sat with the Boppy behind her for quite a long time! After just a couple of days she is already able to sit with no support for about 10 seconds!! And she is already reaching for toys while she's sitting up!
~ Her level of tolerance for the car has drastically improved! I moved her to the middle of the seat, instead of by the window, so that she can see her big sister as we go. I don't know if its that or just her getting older and growing out of the stage, but whatever the reason, only a small portion of our car rides are filled with a screaming baby!!! YAY!!!
~ I figured since she has had such amazing head control since day 1, it was time to bust out the trusty Exersaucer!! She LOVES it!! It has been nice to be able to sit her in it while I cook or attempt to eat to keep her entertained for 20 minutes or so :)
~ Her first dip in the pool happened this month and she LOVED IT!! She has already started splashing her hands and thinks its soo funny. I love that I have 2 little water babies <3

Speedbumps:
~ The naps, oooohhh the battle with naps! We are still only getting about 30-45 minute naps at a time (45 minutes is considered an amazing nap in her case). It has been really difficult to get her on a good schedule like McKenley was on, because we are always out and about keeping McKenley occupied. I've just been choosing the lesser of 2 evils, stay at home where McKenley goes stir crazy, or go out and Parker's nap schedule is all thrown off. *sigh* I just don't know which is the best to choose, I guess Parker is just going to be a very flexible, go with the flow type! It's been forced upon her! haha. At this point I would kill for an hour of just quiet during our crazy days!
~ Teething!! I feel like its too early for this problem!!!! But nonetheless, here we are! Poor baby's bottom gums are sooo swollen, I expect those teeth to pop through at any moment. This problem has led to our next struggle...
~ Baby girl had her first sick visit to the doctors this month :( All the teething, coupled with allergies, has caused her to have severe runny nose and congestion in her chest. Luckily, nothing drained into her ears, and with saline spray, plus the blue bulb (every baby's favorite thing!!), plus lots of Vicks... hopefully we can knock the drainage out ASAP!!!
~ Don't know whether to put this as a speedbump or an accomplishment... Parker has started to roll onto her tummy at night to sleep, this caused some problems in the beginning I think it was startling her, but now that she realizes its okay to sleep on her belly she is settling right in :) This does NOT eliminate my mommy-worry that she is somehow going to get facedown and not be able to push herself up, but hopefully I'll get over my issues! haha

Stats:
Diapers: We are now in size 2 diapers!!

Clothes: Mostly 3-6mo, but I have gone ahead and even put a few 9mo outfits on her!! WOW!!

Food: We officially switched to completely formula this month. I am so excited we were able to make it 4months breastfeeding. It was such a struggle with McKenley and although it still wasn't completely my cup-of-tea, I am so happy I was able to give my baby the most important nutrients she needed for those 4 months :) She is sucking down five 6-8oz bottles of formula a day!

Sleep: 12 hours at night -- YAY!! .... Four mini catnaps during the day -- BOO! haha

Weight: 15 lbs 10oz -- yes, our little chunker put on on a pound and a half in a month!!

I WILL have her 5 month pics up by the end of the weekend!!! Also on the horizon... solid foods, army crawling, and more adventures with her sissy!!!

Happy 1/3 of a year!!!

Ok, so I'm a total slacker when it comes to these monthly posts. Poor baby has only been with us for 4 months and I've already missed a month of posting!!! Ugh! Two kids makes being productive REALLY hard!! So please excuse me if this post is a bit longer (yes, longer than my usual long-winded self) as I try and update 2 months of her amazing accomplishments, the little lady has been busy!!!

APRIL:
In Parker Pearl's third month of life, she was very busy tagging along with older sister!! We celebrated Easter, visited the zoo, and had so much fun playing! Parker accomplished rolling from tummy to back (although she will never perform this on video for me!!), started playing more actively with her toys, started reaching out to try and grab toys, can track objects back and forth, and wants to move and chase her sister SOOOO bad!!

 

 I probably neglected to post in April because I was in a constant state of exhaustion!! We officially moved Parker into her room full time this month. I was hoping it would lead to her sleeping for longer periods of time... but I was wrong! haha. April was filled with 2 and 3 hours of sleep at a time and little to NO napping! I was laying her down for bed around 7:30pm and was then feeding her at 11, 2, 5, and finally 8am!! Whew, its exhausting to type! Part of the problem was that she WOULD NOT stay swaddled! I have tried every swaddle available (SummerInfant, Halo Sleep Sack, and the Miracle Blanket) and my little hulk baby always busts out! But, cannot figure out how to sleep without being swaddled!

Photo evidence...

 MAY:

OK, so on to May!! We continued on with no sleep this month, yay, haha. We started to move back towards 4-5 hours, but still nothing substantial and nothing regular. Parker continued to have tons of fun with sister, we went to lunch with Pops, celebrated Mother's day, went to her first Kentucky Derby party, explored new toys, and took our first trip to the pool!! Yes, we like to stay busy!!!

Accomplishments in May:

~ On May 24th, Parker rolled over from back to front (see proof here!!!)

~ After months of little to no sleep, we have had 5 nights of Parker sleeping 7-8 hour stretches!! Don't want to talk about it much so I don't jinx it!!! 

~ On May 22nd, Parker finally was able to get her feet into her mouth!! She has been trying so hard and could just never stretch far enough, haha

~Still going strong with breastfeeding!! This is a huge deal for us :) 

Speedbumps:

~ I'm hoping to not have to put sleep in this category for much longer!! But, naps are still a daily struggle. She is taking a pretty good morning nap, normally 1-1 1/2 hours, but other than that, its little 30 minute cat naps, the girl just doesn't want to miss anything!

~ Still trying to figure out what to do about the swaddle situation. I would love to just ditch it and never look back, but she has trouble sleeping without it, those darn arms always wake her up! So I've been trying to wrap her with one arm out for a while and then we'll try 2 arms and go from there. Fingers crossed!! 

Stats:

Diapers: Still in size 1!!

Clothes: Parker is solidly in 3 or 3-6month clothes, I was so sad to pack away newborn clothes, shes soo big!! I'm sure we will be fast approaching 6 month clothes soon!

Food: I am proud to say we are still going strong with breastfeeding. As many know, it was such a struggle with McKenley and we had stopped by 2 months.  I nurse Parker probably 70% of the time and she takes a bottle of formula the other times. We give her 6 oz of formula before bed to try and fill her little tummy up as much as possible!!

Sleep: Currently, and hopefully it stays like this, Parker is sleeping from 7:30 - 3am and then after being fed 3am - 8am. Sometimes Casey will do that 3am feed and I get an ENTIRE NIGHTS SLEEP!!! It's kind of amazing! Naps are still a struggle, but she is sleeping about an hour to an hour and a half in the mornings and then her other naps are about 30-45 minutes. Hopefully this too will improve. Part of the problem is that we are always on the go with sister, so its hard for her to be on such a set schedule like McKenley was.

Not headed to the doctor til next week and I will update these stats!

Weight: 14 lbs. 3 oz (75%)

Length: 25 1/2 inches (95%)

Head: 16 1/4 inches (75%)

Since this post is getting super long, I'll post her four month pics in a different post :)

Til next time~

Happy 2 Months... a little late

Its been 2 of the craziest, busiest months of our lives... and I don't see things slowing down any time soon!!! Our littlest princess has been with us for about 10 weeks now and we are having a blast with her!! (and yes, a bit exhausted as well, haha)

Here are a few of my faves from our 2 month photo sesh...

I'm in LOVE with those big brown eyes!!!

~ Parker is starting to enjoy her toys more and will sit and watch the lights and listen to the music for longer stretches of time... which is GREAT for mommy when she is trying to be productive :)

~ Parker's neck muscles are getting stronger and stronger!! She is able to sit and hold her head up on my lap and will tolerate tummy time for a longer period of time (still only about 5 minutes though, before she makes it clear she is DONE!!)

~ We hear ALL the time that she is "SOOO ALERT"!! Which is super cute, until you want her to be... not so alert, haha

~ Parker is DEFINITELY setting herself apart from her older sister. McKenley was always a pretty quiet baby... Lets just say, Parker's vocal chords are strong!!! 

Schedule:

We have been working hard on getting Parker on a schedule and SOME days, we are pretty successful!! During the day she eats pretty regularly, every 3 hours.  We let her "play" a bit afterwards and then, fingers crossed, she takes a nap.  She used to nap pretty well in her swing, but we haven't been as successful lately, and naps in her crib only last about 30 minutes... so basically, the little lady does not sleep much during the day :/ BUT, when I am at my break point of crying and exhausted baby, I try to remind myself that she is a pretty consistent sleeper at night!! I feed her and put her down at 8pm and she usually stays asleep!! I get her at 1130 and feed her again while she is basically still asleep and she stays asleep until about 5am!!! Its great to get a larger block of sleep makes all the difference :)

On the 25th, we went to the doctor to see how Parker was growing, here are her stats:

Weight ~ 11 lbs 3.5 oz (55%)

Length ~ 23 1/2 inches (95%)

Head ~ 15 1/4 inches (55%)

Diapers ~ Size 1

Clothes ~ mostly 0-3 months

Can't wait to see how our little lady grows and changes this next month!!

Parker Pearl ~ One month BIG!!

Can you believe it! It has already been a MONTH!! I am blown away by how fast time has gone by with our littlest lady. Things have been a little crazy around here to say the least, juggling two under the age of 2 can take it out of ya!! But I wouldn't trade the exhaustion for the world!!

First official sticker pics!!!

Here's a little bit about how things are going so far with our Parker (PS...it took me three tries of sitting down and typing this to actually finish this post!! haha)

Now that we are home and have successfully made it through our first weight check and her jaundice is completely gone, we've moved on to more pressing matters... like SLEEP!! :) Our days pretty much center around keeping McKenley entertained and getting Parker to take naps, oh the life of a stay at home mommy.

Accomplishments:
~ She has made it a few times at night about 5 or 6 hours which is AWESOME, its just not completely consistent, but I feel so lucky to even have gotten those few nights of more sleep!!

~ We have had 5 consecutive days of Parker sleeping in her big girl crib for one of her naps!! She takes most of her naps in her swing and sleeps at night in her bassinet, so I wanted to introduce her to her bed for nap time so that when we move her in there at night, its not a super traumatizing experience. So far, she has taken GREAT naps in her room & I'm praying the trend continues!! (fingers crossed)

~ The little lady is SOO strong!! She is already lifting her head and showing lots of neck strength

~ We've gotten lots of smiles and even some little baby coos!! I love that she is already talking to us & McKenley thinks its the funniest thing ever!!

~ Parker attended her first holiday party this month! She was so excited to attend our mommy group's Valentines Party. We had to have a photo shoot before we went...

Look how high she is holding her head up!!!

 ~ It is DEFINITELY an accomplishment/success in my eyes the relationship these two already have!! McKenley is completely obsessed with Parker. She is always so concerned with what Parker is doing, making sure Parker has everything she needs, and talking and singing and looking after her every movement. Aren't they just precious together!!!

Speedbumps:
~ So sad, the little lady has a clogged tear duct! :( Her right eye is constantly goopy and sometimes gets so bad that she can't open her eye after sleeping! It's supposed to clear up over time and I sure hope it does, because it looks so uncomfortable!!

~ Everything else that could be considered a "speedbump" is really just her being a newborn. She LOVES sleeping on mom or dad, and while we love the snuggle time, it is rather hard when you have a 2-year old ransacking your house!! haha

Stats:
Length -  22 inches

Weight - 9 1/2 lbs

Head -

Food -  She has been GREAT at nursing!! It's been such a more positive experience this time around and I am soooo thankful. She is eating every 3-4 hours and is definitely a growing girl!

Diapers - We blew through the Newborn diapers within a couple of weeks and have been in Size 1 ever since!! In comparison, McKenley was in Newborn diapers for almost 2 months!!

Clothes - Parker is still wearing Newborn sized clothing, but this won't last long, she is growing fast!!

Sleep - Making some great progress with sleep! As long as we stick to her routine of eat, "play", sleep, she seems to be pretty content! She's taking five naps a day, that are about 1 1/2 or 2 hours, and then goes to sleep for about 5 hours... yes, LOTS of sleeping!! We're really hoping she falls in line with the Boyd way of life... we LOVE our sleep around here!!

All in all, things are going a better than I ever thought they would, things just seem to be working themselves out. It get a little hectic around meal time for McKenley, because she likes ALL of moms attention, but overall, we are rockin and rollin with our two little princesses!! Now on to celebrating McKenley's 2nd birthday this weekend!!! 

The first few weeks...

Well... we are almost three weeks in to life as a family of four and all I can say is... WHEW!!! It's definitely exhausting, but we are surviving!!! It's weird that I've already almost forgotten what it was like to just have one kiddo, it's like Parker has always been here!! So here's how the last couple weeks have gone...

For starters, we were SOOOO excited to get to actually leave the hospital this time with our baby girl!! We could not wait to get home and finally get life started as a family of four!!

 McKenley has fallen right in line as the BEST big sister EVER!! She takes such good care of little Parker and gets soooo worried when Parker cries. From minute one, she was so gentle and loving. I can't wait to see how close they get as the months and years go by!!

The little lady is treating us pretty well when it comes to the sleep department. Sometimes at night she has 4-5 hour stretches of sleep!!! We're working hard to get her on a more regular schedule so that we can get those stretches more consistently. She is eating pretty routinely ever 3-4 hours... until the evening that is, when she wants to eat every 2 hours!! EESH!! She is napping okay, she just LOVES to nap on Casey or my chest... which makes it very hard to get things accomplished or play with McKenley. 

We had a doctors appointment last Wednesday to check on the progress of Parker's jaundice. She never had it severe enough to put her under lights, but she has had a low amount since birth. The doctor said it had not gone away completely as of last week, so we are off to see them again on Wednesday. Hopefully it has gone away enough by then that no further treatment is necessary.  Good news is, she is almost back up to birth weight!! She was 8 lbs 6 oz as of last Wednesday, which puts her in the 75%!!! She is 21 3/4" long -- 98%!!! Needless to say, she will probably have my height. Looks like poor McKenley may only be "big sis" in name after a while! haha.

 Here are a few phone snap shots that I have been able to capture over the last few weeks to show what the Boyd family has been up to... as you can see, lots of sleeping and attempting to keep McKenley occupied as much as we can!

Thats it for now! Hopefully I'll squeeze in time for another post soon!!

Princess turns 18 months!!

Ok, ok, I know, I've been completely MIA in my blogging, but with a new baby on the way I HAVE to get back into my routine so I can blog as much for him/her as I did for McKenley!!!

So, what a better way to get back on routine than to celebrate McKenley turning a year and a HALF and to share all the amazing things she is accomplishing each and every day!

Here are a few pictures to show you the great time we've been having the last few months!!

Summer outside fun!!

Loves her hats, Happy Fourth, first ponytail, helpin around the house, BOOMER!!

Accomplishments:
- TALKING, TALKING, and more TALKING!! After month of worrying, unnecessarily I might add, that our little one may never talk, its like everything clicked around 17 months. She went from staring at me blankly when I would try and get her to say "more" or "bye-bye" to trying to mimic everything Casey and I say... which is something we will now have to be careful about!! It's so fun to watch her work her mouth in a way to say "Deuce" or "WHOA!" and she gets so excited when she realizes she has successfully said a new word. She has started asking for things by name, "milk" and "snack" and definitely "Elmo"... which sounds a bit more like "Momo" :) We can't wait for her to start putting several words together!!

- Running, jumping, bear crawling, somersaulting, wheelbarrowing... this girl moving and grooving EVERYWHERE! We've been taking classes at the Little Gym and she soaks up all they have to teach her! She loves swinging from the bars, going upside-down, kicking the balls, and generally just exploring every inch of the place!
- She's beginning to pretend play... many of you saw the picture I posted on Facebook last week of McKenley "having lunch" with Monkey! She carries her animals around everywhere, reads to them, feeds them, gives them some of her milk and water, it is so cute to watch and it makes my heart at ease knowing she is going to be such a good big sister!
- Eyes, Ears, Mouth, and Nose, McKenley knows her body parts!! And even more entertaining is when she locates them on the dogs or mommy and daddy! 
- McKenley is learning more and more animal sounds all the time. It is the cutest thing to hear her version of what a cat says or to watch her make a "fish face" or a "bunny nose"... the girl loves her animals!

I know there are probably many more things, we are celebrating milestones with her all the time. This has got to be one of the most fun ages, she's turning into such a little clown and makes us laugh daily!

I don't have her stats yet because her doctors appointment is not until next week, but our little peanut is growing, but I doubt she'll ever be one of the bigger kids in the group. She is still wearing 12 month clothes and sometimes she can wear an old 9 month shirt!!
 
Food:
Our little "trash compactor" has now decided she has preferences on what she ingests... and boy are there A LOT of preferences!!! Her favorite things right now are cheese (cheese and more cheese), mosts fruits (LOVES grapes!!), crackers, ravioli or pasta in general, sometimes green beans, tortillas and guacamole (yes, shes her mothers daughter!!!), and eggs! Yes, you are right, you did not see any meats in that list! haha, our little lady has decided that meat is NOT on the top of her food list :) she'll occasionally eat lunch meat, hot dog, or chicken nuggets, but its very hit or miss!!

Sleep:
For the most part we are on a SOLID schedule!!! and I am loving it!!! (which is great since we have a new baby coming and schedules will most likely be thrown out the window) She takes about an hour and a half to two hour nap everyday between 12pm-3pm. Then she's up and moving until bed time around 8:30. MOST OF THE TIME, she sleeps for a full 12 hours and yes, has a wake time between 8am and 9am, LOVE that she sleeps in a bit :)

We are enjoying each and everyday with this little lady, I really couldn't ask for anything more!!! We are so excited how she takes to being a big sister and can't wait to see what all she learns next.

How could you not love this face:

10 months!!! WOW!

I think I say this every month, but I really can't believe our baby is 10 months old! Time has really flown by and the thought that we are only 2 months away from her being a year old is CRAZY!!!

This month McKenley has been making incredible progress with her motor skills, we are knocking down milestones one after another! It has become quite the task to keep up with her lately :) In fact, these monthly pictures are becoming more and more challenging!

Case in point....

I was out of breath by the time we were done!!!

Accomplishments:

- McKenley is now a full-on crawler! She still goes down on her belly occasionally because she still moves faster that way, but most of the time it is on her hands and knees!!

- She can go from a crawl, back to a sit! This was huge as I was getting very tired of having to sit her back up when she got tired of crawling! haha

- She got a fun new walker for Christmas and started taking steps behind it!! It is only a couple with mommy or daddy right there, but it is precious to watch her take little steps.

- Her favorite new thing is pointing...

... love that little finger!! Except when it is pointing back at me when I tell her "no! no!" Yes, I am serious, she really shakes her finger back at us when we tell her no. Boy, we're in trouble, haha

- Now that she is so mobile, she has started playing independently soo much better. It is so cute to watch her crawl from toy to toy and play. She was so excited to find that when you bang two blocks together it makes a very loud (and somewhat annoying) noise. 

- We now have 4 teeth! I love seeing her toothy little grin in pictures :)

- She successfully made it through 2 more holidays!

- AND loved her first visit to the Gaylord ICE exhibit...

Our very own Princess Fiona:)

Speedbumps:

-TEETHING!!!! Ahhh... I wish they would all just come in at the same time. We barely made it through the top two coming through and now that they are in, we got about a weeks break, and now 2 more are coming in on the top. I feel so bad for her because it couldn't feel good at all :( So, we just power through and applaud when they finally break through!!

- McKenley is starting to develop QUITE the stubborn side, don't really know how to handle this with a 10 month old, haha, but lets just say she definitely understands the word "no" :)

- Because she is becoming more mobile, we are starting to have more and more spills and "ouchies." This month we encountered our first serious "ouchie" that required a trip to the doctor!! This is a picture of her head after it met the corner of our coffee table :( She's all better now, after a bit of surgical glue was used to hold it all together!

Stats:

Length - 27 1/2 inches

Weight - about 20 lbs.

Head - 17 1/2 inches

Food - McKenley has pretty much decided to take pureed food off her "menu," haha. She has little to no patience for mommy and daddy spoon feeding her and would much rather move along to the independent portion of the meal :) She still has not found anything that she doesn't like, she shovels it all into her mouth without discrimination, haha.  We have found food that she CAN'T eat :( Her poor little skin does not agree with the strong acids in pineapple and tomato. You can see in the New Years picture above the red splotches STILL hadn't completely faded :/ Her love for "real food" has presented a whole new set of challenges for me, I have to take a whole new person into consideration when planning meals. Will McKenley be able to eat this? If not, what can I make her instead? She now has her very own shelf of food in the refrigerator! and if we go out to eat, I have to think about if that restaurant will have something for her to eat or if I need to pack something. I feel like my brain is on food overload!

Diapers - Still holdin strong in 3's :)

Clothes - She is mostly in 6-9 month clothes. There are a few 3-6 that I can still squeeze her in :) and some things that she has to go up to 9-12mo. Love our little peanut!

Sleep - Her new schedule that I mentioned last month is still going GREAT!! She takes 2 solid naps a day and is still sleeping from about 8pm-8am at night!! Its so nice to have a predictable schedule and makes it easier for me to get things done around the house :)

I honestly feel like everyday I can see a difference in her! She is changing so fast and we are trying to soak in every minute of it! I can't believe how much Casey and I love this little life, I didn't even know it was possible, every little thing she does amazes us... its a little sickening honestly :)

Happy 9 months!!

I cannot believe we are only 3 short months from it being a whole year since our little princess came into our lives!!! She is keeping us SUPER busy with all her movement now, we seem to be chasing her everywhere :)

Accomplishments:
- McKenley's scooting has gotten VERY quick! She is EVERYWHERE! Casey & I have had to be much more alert to where she is, especially if she is really quiet :) She still hasn't mastered getting up on her knees, but we are seeing more and more signs that this is around the corner everyday!! Its so much fun to put her down on the floor and just watch her move all around the house. She has been compared by many to a little lizard the way she "slithers" around, haha!
- She pulled up to an almost-stand on Monday!! The pack-n-play (broken down and in its case) has been our barricade since she became mobile. Looks like its not going to work much longer! She used the handle on the top of it & next thing I knew she was on her feet!! WHAT!!
- The princess had SUCH a great time celebrating her first Thanksgiving!

 - The doctor gave us the clearance to give McKenley just about all table-foods. So whatever Casey and I are eating, she can eat! (with some adjustments of course!) She has yet to turn down anything I have given her. By far, her favorites are blueberries, carrots, peas, and squash!! She's had a small amount of turkey and chicken, but now that they don't have to be pureed, she will start getting them more and more!!! She loves eating the food on her own & is tolerating me feeding her less and less!! haha
- She has started being vocal more and more! I hope everyone got to see McKenley wishing them a Happy Thanksgiving, it is truly one of the cutest things ever!!! We have even heard a "dada" in there a few times!!

- McKenley is still a SHINING star in swim class!! She is doing great with 3 seconds and should be moving up to 4 seconds soon! She even got to swim with daddy this month!

Speedbumps:
- We really haven't experience many issues this month, KNOCK ON WOOD!!! Since she has become more mobile, we are working on that fantastic little word, "NO!" The smarty pants definitely knows what the word means, but this doesn't mean she likes to obey it :)
- It would be very nice if she would learn to go from a crawl to a sitting position!! She gets so frustrated when she's tired of being on her stomach for too long and cries until I sit her up... hopefully that will happen soon!!

Stats:
- Length - 27in (25%)
- Weight - 17 lbs 12 oz (45%) - this went down a bit, so the Dr thinks she should be hitting a growth spurt soon... we'll see!
- Head - 17 in (30%)
- Food - She has decided that since she's SUCH a big girl now, she wants little to do with others feeding her and more to do with her feeding herself! Our next big items on the menu are solid meats and cheeses! She's eating 3 solid meals a day, pureed foods or yogurt and finger foods, and taking 4 bottles. We try to get atleast 5-6oz of formula in her, but she normally loses interest around 4-5oz :/
- Diapers - She is still in size 3
- Clothes - In all 3-6month clothes and some 6-9 (she grows out of the nighties with feet sooo fast!!)
- Sleep - We have finally gotten back on a GREAT schedule!! McKenley wakes up around 8 or 8:30 and then goes down for her first nap around 10:30 and sleeps until 12 (hopefully, haha). Then, we wake up and play for a while, eat lunch, play some more, and go back down for a nap around 3:30 and normally she sleeps until 5:30 or so.  McKenley goes down for the evening around 8:30 and sleeps through the night!! We are sooo lucky to have such a good sleeper!!


Her daddy and I are so excited to for the holidays this year. She is already the BEST present of the season. I can't wait to see how much fun she has opening presents and enjoying all the festivities and ESPECIALLY her first trip to see Santa!

8 Months big!!

Eeesh! Runnin a few days late with this post, we've been a bit busy with fevers and family and just all around craziness :)

Ms. McKenley has been SUPER busy this past month beatin down milestone after milestone. Casey and I cannot believe the things she accomplishes everyday! She's growing so fast and although we are so proud of her accomplishments, we just want time to slow down so we can soak in every last second!

Yeah... I'm a little obsessed! :)

 Accomplishments:
- McKenley is becoming MUCH more efficient at scooting her way across the living room (video to follow soon). It has always been Daisy trying to get McKenley's toys, well now we have to worry about the baby going for the dog toys!! Daisy is not happy that her toys keep disappearing!
- We took the princess on her first trip to NORMAN!!!
- She is getting much more accurate at getting finger foods into her mouth and not the cheek or losing it before it gets close to her face :) We have even started eating "real" food, like avocado and blueberries!!!

- I started making McKenley's food this month, which has been SOOO much fun! There is such a bigger range of foods that McKenley can eat when I make it myself! I think her favorite so far is a mix of pineapple and pears! YUMMY!!!
- Made it through another "first" holiday, Happy Halloween my little ladybug!

- Learned how to wave buh-bye!!! Yes, it takes LOTS of prompting, or it happens at completely random times, but it is THE cutest thing ever!! Tried to get it on video this morning, but she wouldn't cooperate, of course!
- We have also graduated to a sippy cup with a straw! She isn't completely successful at keeping all the water she has sucked up in her mouth, BUT again, cutest thing ever!
- In swim class, McKenley is now going under water for 3 seconds (I know, doesn't seem like much, but common, she's only 8 months old)!! I laugh every time she goes under, the instructor says, "Ready, goooooo!!!!" and she takes this deeeep breath and dives out of the instructor's arms all on her own. After 3 seconds we bring her back up and this small stream of water shoots out of her mouth like a little fountain! Cracks. me. up!!!

Speedbumps:
- Suffered through her first serious fever :( Last week McKenley's fever got up to 102.7!! Our poor baby was completely miserable. Luckily, it didn't last for too long, but boy was it awful. All we wanted to was to take her pain away!!
- Daylight Savings Time... yes, Daylight Savings Time IS a speedbump! I used to LOVE gaining that extra hour... NOT ANY MORE!! No one told me that babies do not realize they are supposed to sleep an extra hour :( Needless to say, we're a bit off the schedule that we worked so hard to create, hopefully it won't take too long to get back on track!! :)
Stats: (these are unofficial measurements that I have taken at home)
Length:
Weight: 17 lbs 3 oz
Head:
Food: She is eating all homemade foods at this point. So far she has liked everything I have given her! We have also recently discovered avocado and blueberries that she LOVES!! We switched to barley, instead of oatmeal, and she seems to not even notice! Next on our list of things to try: lentils, yogurt, eggs, asparagus, and eggplant! YUMMY!!
Diapers: She is officially in Size 3, big girl!!
Clothes: In all 3-6month clothes and some 6-9 (she grows out of the nighties with feet sooo fast!!)
Sleep: We are sooo happy she is still sleeping through the night, with the exception of when she was sick. She normally goes from 8:30pm - 8:00am (except after DST, it's 8:00 - 7:00 :/ ). Its a good day when I get 2 naps a day that are longer than an hour. Normally she gets one good hour and a half long nap and one 45 min nap. Hopefully that will improve!!!

I CANNOT believe we are on the downward slope to 1 year!!! She is getting bigger and bigger each day and doing more and more things that make me literally stop in my tracks and say, "Oh my gosh, shes growing up WAY too fast!"

I mean really, how could you NOT love this smile:

7 Months Big!!!!

I cannot believe our little peanut has been in our lives for 7 months now! I can honestly say, I don't even remember what life was like before her :)

I have to admit, I was a bit of a slacker last month and didn't post any of her stats or accomplishments :/ So this will be things that have been going on in the last 2 months!

Accomplishments:
McKenley has been SUPER busy these last 2 months:
- She is able to sit up completely on her own now! ANNDDD, I have even been able to walk a few steps away without the constant fear she is going to fall backwards and bang her noggin! (This is not to say we haven't had a few noggin bangs!)

- She has learned to bang toys together or against something & LOOOOOVES the big noise it makes
- McKenley is working soo hard to become mobile. She has mastered rolling front to back and back to front quite well and barrel rolls ALL over the living room! On top of that she has started a small bit of scooting. Whatever the strategy, she is able to get to the toy she wants, even if it takes her 10 minutes! haha
- Don't know whether to put this in the "speedbump" section or the "accomplishment" section, so I'll mention this in both :) WE HAVE TEETH!!! As of September 20th McK's bottom 2 teeth broke through!!
- FIRST GAME DAY!! McKenley is already brainwashed & loves her Sooners. I can't wait to post the first time she says Boomer Sooner :)

- PAAAARTAY! My social little butterfly has already been to 2 birthday parties. Her cousin Blake turned 3 and we visited the firestation & the Ms. Poppy turned one! Can't wait to celebrate with more friends as she gets bigger!!

- Casey discovered one of McKenley's favorite way to pass the time! Our little scholar LOVES reading Time Magazine... or chew it up :)

Speedbumps:
Although McKenley has been busy knockin down those milestones, these last 2 months have not been without our struggles :(
- About a week and a half ago, we had to make our first sick visit to the doctors. Our poor little girl fought her way through a yucky cough. It took us a full week to get back to our routine, YUCK! We did learn lots about how to fight congestion - prop the bed up, Vicks plug-in, sitting in the steam bathroom, and the ever hated "nose sucker"
- As I mentioned before, TEETH! Hopefully she'll let me snap a picture of them soon. Man can 2 little teeth cause so many problems! :(
- Her sensitive skin is still causing issues here and there. We had to get a prescription ointment from the doctor that really cleared things up, but after a week or 2 of not using it, the rough patches seem to come back. Hopefully it doesn't get out of control during the winter.

Stats:
6 months~
Weight: 15lbs 6oz (35%)
Length: 26 1/4in. (75%) ~ yes, long and skinny like her mommy... used to be :) haha
Head Cir.: 16 1/2in. (30%)
Food: McKenley has officially put herself on a 4 month schedule. Sooo, she has four 6oz bottles a day... well I offer them to her, who knows if she will actually take the whole thing! :) She has solid foods once a day consisting of a bowl of baby oatmeal and half of the Step 1 Gerber fruit or veggie.
Diapers: Still in Size 2!
Clothes: Our peanut is holding strong in 0-3 month clothes! haha
Sleep: McKenley is sleeping mostly through the night. She loooooves waking up because she has lost her pacifier (I have a love/hate relationship with that thing!) or because she has flipped herself to her back :) She normally takes 3 naps a day that are around an hour or an hour and a half.

7 months~
**Headed to the doctor soon for the 2nd round of the flu shot, so I'll have the official stats then**
Weight:
Length:
Head Cir.:
Food: We have moved to 2 servings of solid foods a day! She has a small bowl of oatmeal with 1/3 of a fruit in the morning & a large bowl of oatmeal with 1/2-3/4 of a veggie at night. She is still taking four 6oz. bottles of formula a day. We have also discovered the yummy little Puffs!! Video coming soon of her working on picking them up and feeding herself!!
Diaper: Still Size 2
Clothes: We are teetering between 0-3 month and 3-6 months :) I love that she's so little, we get much more use out of clothes!!
Sleep: After working through her being sick and teething, we are back on routine BETTER than before!! We have gone 5 night now without waking up at all!! (I try not to talk about it too much though b/c I don't want to jinx us! :)


WOW!! This was such a long post, and honestly I had a lot more that I could've talked about, because lets be honest, I LLOOOOOOVE talking about our perfect little princess. :)

I'm 5 months big!!

Who can believe that baby girl has been a part of this world for 5 months now!?! I know Casey and I still find ourselves sitting in disbelief that we have been blessed by such an amazing gift!

So I know I am a few days late, but our dear princess seems to be working on some teeth and has been especially cranky lately, so getting a good 5 month picture has been somewhat of a challenge! But, I finally caught her at a good moment today & got a chance to play around with my fantastic new camera!!

At first all I got was this....

You want me to do what?!?

Smile again!?! Jeez!

 But finally after MUCH ridiculous baby talk, gooing and gahing, and shaking and squeaking of her many toys...

Okay!! I guess so...

I'm too happy to NOT smile!!!

HAPPY 5 MONTHS BABY GIRL!! You are mommy and daddy's pride and joy!

And then at the end of the photo shoot, you-know-who had to get involved...

Her furry, four-legged sista!

KISSES!!!

Now, onto what Ms. McKenley has been up to in the past month!!
- McKenley is getting better and better at reaching and grabbing for everything... toys, my hair, our food... EVERYTHING!!
- She is actually starting to entertain herself in her ExerSaucer. She used to just sit and stare at everything and now she is pressing the buttons, chewing on the teething toys, and shaking the rattles. It has been fascinating to watch her develop with this toy!
- We have rolling!!! On a very few and random occasions, McKenley has made it from her tummy to her back.
- Because of the last accomplishment, we have been able to let her sleep on her tummy and this has led to 4 nights in a row of sleeping through the night!!!! Lets hope this trend continues!
- Baby girl has found her feet and BOY they must taste good! In the past 2 weeks, she has been working hard to get her feet into her mouth. It is the cutest thing to watch her roll around trying to stretch them far enough to get into her mouth.

Speedbumps we have encountered this month:
- The past few days McKenley has been a tad on the cranky side. She keeps sucking on her bottom lip which has led to the skin around her lip to be chapped. We think she may have a tooth coming in, lets hope it gets here soon so we can get past this funk!
- As I mentioned in a previous post, we started solid foods... and then we stopped them, haha! McKenley just did not seem interested in trying anything new and it became more of a struggle than anything else. But, now that she is a big girl at 5 months :) we are going to try again.

McKenley's 5 month stats:
I am taking her to the doctor on Monday to get her weighed and measured so I will update those stats then :)
Weight: 14 lbs. 4 oz.
Length: 26 inches
Head Circ:
Food: Big girl is eating 6 oz during the day and sucks down 8 oz before bed at night! To think I was worried about her not eating enough last month! ha!
Diapers: Officially in Size 2!
Clothes: The little peanut is still in 0-3 month clothes! Atleast she gets a lot of wear out of her clothes, haha
Sleep: We are back on track with naps, 2 naps that are both about 2 hours, an evening nap that is about 45 minutes, and sleeping from 9pm-8am through the night!! Must say, I am feeling pretty well rested at this point... I am going to enjoy it the fullest, because you never know if these things are here to stay!

I must say that I am enjoying my time with McKenley more and more everyday. Watching her learn and grow is so intriguing and I love to just sit and watch her little brain work! As we get further into August and all my teacher friends are going back to work, I get a bit nostalgic. Its a bit strange that I am not preparing with them for the first time in 4 years.  Part of me is somewhat anxious of this new journey I am about embark on with my little girl, its so different from what I've been doing in the past, but I can already tell she is going to continue to entertain me with all she will learn and all the new things she will be able to do!!!

Happy 4 months!!

WOW!!! I can't believe 4 months have already gone by, it seems like just yesterday Casey and I were rushing to the hospital from the school!

Today we visited the doctors for McKenley's 4 month check-up, and yes, that means more vaccinations! BLEH!!! :( Luckily, we made it through with minimal tears and lots of praise for McKenley's progress thus far!!

I made the mistake of waiting to take her 4 month picture until after the doctors appointment, so she was very stingy with her smiles, BUT I think I got some cute ones! :)

Things that McKenley has accomplished this month:
- Started to laugh, it is the cutest thing!! When we get her out of bed in the mornings, she is in the best mood and squeals and laughs she is so excited to see you, it TOTALLY melts our hearts!
- She definitely has noticed there are 2 furry creatures runnin around the house. She stares at Deuce and Daisy for the longest time! I think she is confused by why they are covered with hair!! She LOVES when Daisy covers her with kisses!
- We've ditched the "beanbag," as we have come to call it, at naps and at night! For those of you that know the story, it was not the smartest idea for Casey and I to let her sleep on that thing & it was a LONG 3 nights of weaning her off of it!
- McKenley will grab toys that you lay on her chest and bring them to her mouth to chew on them.
- Her hands have found each other! She locks her fingers together and then tries to chew on BOTH hands at the same time! haha
- We've started swim class!! (more pictures to follow later in the week)

Speedbumps that we have encountered this month:
- We are still dealing with some skin issues, I have to REALLY stay on top of the Hydrocortisone cream or her eczema will really flair up! Hopefully solids won't cause this to flair up at all!
- McKenley still hasn't rolled over yet. The girl is just so content hanging out on her back or in her Bumbo, she has no need to roll over! haha. I keep saying we're getting close, but I really think it's just around the corner!
- The last week or so, McKenley has decided to go on a sleep strike! She was taking 1 1/2 -2 hour naps, and now we are lucky to get 30 minutes max... lets pray this passes soon!

McKenley's 4 month stats:
Weight ~ 12 lbs 12.5 oz ~ 25% (they have now put her on the scale with babies born at full term!)
Length ~ 24 1/4 inches ~ 50%
Head Cir ~ 15 1/2 inches ~ 25%
Food ~ Anywhere from 4-6 oz - she is a very finicky eater, we never know how much she is going to take, which can be quite frustrating, but shes gaining weight like a champ so the doctor says not to worry!!
Diapers ~ still in 1's, but once we are out of the diapers we have, we'll be moving to 2's!
Clothes ~ my little peanut is still in 0-3 month clothes!
Sleep ~ we're struggling a bit with naps, but at night she sleeps from 10 - 6 and hopefully that length will continue to grow!

We have already started to see McKenley's little personality start to show. We think she is going to be a more reserved kiddo (don't know where she got that from with us as her parents!). She seems to like to sit back and just soak everything in before she can really enjoy herself. I witnessed this first hand at her first swim lesson with mommy! It's probably the cutest thing ever to watch her take everything in with those big eyes!

I am VERY happy that today is over. This round of vaccinations seemed to be a bit more rough on our little girl than the last set.

Luckily, she was able to make it through with the help of her "Lovey"!!

We got the go ahead to start rice cereal so keep an eye out for those pictures to come!!

Three Months old!!

This past Friday we celebrated 3 amazing months with our baby girl! I still can't believe that we are so blessed to have such a happy and healthy baby. We are so thankful for all the joy this little bundle has brought us!!

Things McKenley has accomplished this month:

• She is getting so much better at holding her head up, almost has complete control!!!
• LOVES her Bumbo chair!!
• Has rolled over to her side, but still can't quite manage to get to her back
• Made her first trip to the lake 
• Likes to stand up! Her legs are soooo strong!
• She is starting to talk to us.... VERY softly, she hasn't learned yet that she has a volume (I hear this is a blessing!). It is probably the cutest thing ever!! I have been trying to get it on video, but every time I pull out the camera, she goes silent! RRRRRRRRRRRR

Speed bumps that we have encountered this month:

• We've been dealing with some serious skin irritation lately. We went to the doctor today and it is in fact eczema.  The doctor told us to use some Hydrocortizone and it should clear up in no time!
• The little booger is still not taking all her bottles completely! But, after getting her weight today, looks like we have nothing to worry about, shes packing on the pounds just fine!! :)
• Ya... thats about it, shes pretty much an amazing baby! :)

Stats this month:

• Don't have exacts because it wasn't an official "well" visit to the doctor. But, she is up to 11 lbs 10 oz. and 22 inches long!! Such a growing girl! :)

Can't wait to see what our little girl can do in the next month!

CELEBRATIONS!!!

This past week has been full of celebrations! Some for the princess and some for others in the family.

McKenley has gotten to be SOOO great at going places with mommy and daddy. Saturday, McKenley met the BEAUTIFUL Sophia! Sophia is only 3 weeks older than McKenley and sure to be one of her very best friends. Lezlee (Sophia's mommy) and I are VERY excited about all the playdates to come :)

Sunday we celebrated Pops' birthday! 

She wore her "Grandpa's Girl" shirt to celebrate!

Exhausted after all the festivities :)

Soooo cute with Daddy!

 Today, we are celebrating McKenley being a part of our family for 2 months! Unfortunately, we had to start the celebration by visiting the doctor and getting 3 shots :(

War wounds :(

McKenley's current stats:
Weight: 9 lbs. 10 oz. - GROWIN GIRL!!! - 75 percentile (still on the adjusted scale of other premies)
Length: 21.5 inches - 95 percentile
Head: 14.5 inches - 75 percentile

Things that McKenley has started to do this month:
- Picking her head up while on her tummy and looking back and forth... Daddy and I think its only a matter of time before our munchkin is rolling all the way over!!
- She has found her tongue and loves to roll it around in her mouth and stick it out at us
- Decided that she likes her current formula!! (Mommy and daddy are VERY happy about that!)
- Follow items back and forth... she loves the mobile from Mimi!

Thank goodness it didn't take long for McKenley to calm down after her shots! Because it was time to take her 2 month celebration pictures:

Yes, Daisy HAD to be a part of the celebration! :)