How it all went down...

Well... our newest addition is here... and true to Boyd form, it was an eventful entrance to the world!!!

***WARNING*** 

I'm about to go into detail about my labor and delivery... read with caution :) haha

The day started bright and early... well not bright, because it was so early it was still dark outside!! We had to be at the hospital by 5:30am. We got all checked in and settled into our room. I was hooked up to machines and had pitocin by 7am. There was really no change in my labor for a while, until the doctor came in to break my water. From here, things start to become a blur!!! They seemed to happen so fast for me and yet, I didn't have Parker until 7:40pm!! 

My contractions started getting faster and more intense almost immediately after Dr. Robert broke my water. So of course, the epidural was soon to follow!! :) I don't mess around with pain!! Just like with McKenley though, the epidural was AWFUL!!! Come to find out I have a bit of pregnancy caused scoliosis, so she was having trouble getting the GIANT needle straight into my back and after several tries, had to use a different spot in my back... NOT FUN!!!! But finally, the needle was in and relief from the pain was immediate. 

Because my contractions were already so close together, they had me start to push... and push.... and push... and push.... and, well you get the picture. This was very different for me, because with McKenley I only pushed 3 times and she was out! WHAT was the deal!?!?! Turns out, Miss Parker was turned face up, which is not how they are supposed to come out!! They tried to have me lay on my side to see if gravity would help her turn... nope... flip to the other side... nope... sit straight up... nope.... the little lady was STUCK!! I continued this pattern of pushing and laying for almost FOUR HOURS!!! until it was finally determined she was basically wedged in that position and wasn't moving naturally. On top of that, she was starting to get a bit distressed, elevated heart rate, lower blood pressure, etc. So the hard decision was made.... off to the OR for a C-Section. 

Needless to say, I was FREAKING OUT!! This was not in my plans, I didn't know anything about a c-section, what did this involve? was Parker okay? was I okay? Ugh!!! So many thoughts!!! Thank God for Dr. Robert, she was so informative and walked us through everything. Casey was the MOST supportive husband in all of this craziness and held my hand through it all. Once we were in the OR, Miss Parker was out in no time! Finally, at 7:40pm, our little angel was here!!

8 lbs 9.4 oz

20 inches

7:40pm

Casey looked so cute holding her with his scrubs on!

I unfortunately, had to wait quite a while until I got to hold the little lady!! But finally, after stitching me up and wheeling me back into our room, I got my hands on our princess!!!

 Special shout out to our amazing doctor!!! Could not have made it through all this without her!!

And then it was all worth it once my whole family was reunited!!! (this was at almost 9:45pm... LONG DAY!!)

MAN!! What a day it was, but TOTALLY worth it! These three are everything to me and I can't imagine my life without them!!

McKenley's first Gingerbread house!

Our fabulous Mommy Group had a party last week to decorate Gingerbread houses, so of course, McKenley and I were there!! We had so much fun & believe it or not, she actually helped quite a bit!!! Oh... and she also ate a TON of candy!!! Here are some pics of the festivities...

One of the amazing moms made ALL of these house for us!! They were all ready for us to load with candy and icing!!

The house McKenley "picked"

 She was VERY serious about putting the M&Ms on the roof!

 And she would get SO excited when she would "accidentally" get icing on her finger and had to lick it off... just like her momma :)

 

 She also helped me with the windows, the snowflakes on the front, and the snowman!!

 The finished product!!! ... this is her "cheese"... yea, we're working on it!! haha

 And then it was candy time!! It was her first time to try candy canes, jelly beans (her favorite), Twizzlers, and Snowman Peeps... can you say sugar high?!?!!

 She is sooo proud of her "ginger house" as she refers to it & it is proudly displayed at our house!

Can't wait to do more fun Christmas activities like this with her... its been such a fun December already and I know there's more fun to come :)

How to plant bulbs -- with McKenley and Mimi!!

This past Saturday, Daddy and Grandpa David laid the pretty hardwood floors in Parker's room (pictures to come!!). While they were hard at work, we had to keep the princess busy, so her and Mimi headed outside to plant tulip and daffodil bulbs so we would have pretty flowers in the spring (fingers crossed I don't find a way to ruin them!!). Here are some step-by-step instructions on how its done McKenley style!! haha

FIRST... you should make sure you are very educated about flowers and the bulbs... McKenley told me all about them :)

THEN... dig a hole and toss the bulb in!

 Make sure to cover up the hole.

 Its ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY to stomp all over them to pack in the dirt... this was probably one of McKenley's favorite parts!!

 DON'T FORGET they need lots of water!!!

 This was her other favorite part...

 can ya tell :) haha

We can't wait until these bloom (again assuming my "brown thumb" doesn't find a way to mess them up before then!!) McKenley is going to love visiting them everyday. We love our little gardener and are so lucky her Mimi loves to do things like this with her!! Thanks MIMI!!!

Happy 21 Months Princess!!

Again, a few days late...

I can't believe we are just 3 months away from our little baby turning TWO!!! I feel like she is changing so much everyday, I can't even figure out where to start this update!!

Accomplishments and Changes...
- McKenley is turning into quite the little parrot!! She repeats just about everything we say and is starting to use 2 and 3 word phrases to communicate with us (unless shes just screaming at us... see struggles, haha). Her favorites right now are, "Thank you momma/daddy," "more please," "whats this?" and "whos dat?"... so polite and sooo inquisitive!!

- Her swimming skills are becoming more and more advanced with each week!! She is SUCH a little fish, absolutely NO fear in the water!! I can now drop rings down on the second step and she will dunk her head under and pull one up, it is the cutest thing. She is swimming under water for 10 seconds, and jumping from the side of the pool or the tower in the middle of the pool :). Her teachers say she is more than ready to move up to the class where momma no longer gets in with her!!! Don't know quite how I feel about this, is she ready? Am I ready?? So many changes, my little baby is growing too fast! But, this will help a lot when Miss Parker arrives!!

- MOO, OINK, NEIGH, QUACK, SSSSSSS, ROAR!!! I think she communicates most thoughts through her animal sounds!! She pretty much knows all of her animal names and sounds and is SOOOO animated when she tells them to us :)

- Colors!! We are now working on memorizing colors and it is pretty darn cute :) She is OBSESSED with coloring right now and if we could just get her to associate the right color with the right crayon it would be great... everything is "BU" (blue) right now, haha.

-Counting - She is familiar with numbers and LOVES to count things down, the digits just don't always come out in the correct order... "3, 4, 2, GOOOOO!!" haha, so cute!

- The pretend play is just getting better and better. Yesterday she was trying to put her baby to sleep and was patting her on the back saying "shhh, shhh, shhh, shhh" just like her momma does to her. She makes herself "lunch" and "dinners," and was even trying to get Minnie mouse to balance on the rocking horse because I guess she wanted a pony ride :)

Struggles:
- McKenley has decided she is going to be a picky eater again!! I am hoping if I stay persistent this too shall pass. We pretty much stick to a pasta, hot dog, chicken nuggets, yogurt diet!! haha... those and snacks!! Eesh

- The lovely 2's are just around the corner, and the fits and tantrums are starting to rear their ugly head! We are trying to do the timeouts and reason with her... but unfortunately that doesn't always work, haha... should be interesting with a new baby around the house... prayers are appreciated!!

- Our daughter is a TORNADO!!!  nuff said :)


Overall, I'd say we are pretty luck. She definitely makes us laugh NUMEROUS times a day and if we are lucky enough for Parker to be just a fraction as cute as McKenley is every day, then we are going to be kind of a perfect family of four :) And now to leave you with another classic McKenley shot to make your day...

Fall and Halloween....

Ok, I know its a bit late, but better late than never... right!?!?

We had SUCH a fun time this year! I love that she is actually understanding more of what is going on and is really getting into the holidays. We explored the pumpkins at the Arboretum...

went to look at pumpkins with Daddy, went Trick-or-Treating with all of our friends, and just had so much fun!!


We had so much fun celebrating with our little Abby Cadabby!!

Grapevine Aquarium trip

Check out the pictures from McKenley's trip to the Grapevine Aquarium today!! She had SOOOO much fun, we will DEFINITELY be going back!!

 

Thanks for going with us Julia, Liam, Kara, and Haley!!

Little girl is off to school!!

Well, I can't believe that she is big enough to go, but last week we started McKenley in a Mother's Day Out program at a local church. It has been an adjustment, to say the least, for both McKenley and I, but I know it will be such a positive experience for her, and it lets be honest, it gives mommy some time to get some things done around the house!!

Before the big day, we had to get some practice with her backpack and lunchbox. Someone should have told me to have her practice with the backpack packed up, because once there were things inside it definitely weighted my little lady down!! Almost fell straight backwards in the parking lot!! haha

Needless to say, she was SOOO excited about her new backpack, lunchbox, and first day of school outfit!! Little did she know that momma was about to leave her with strangers!! haha

Then it was off to check out her new school!!

Casey taught her how to say "bee" so she kept pointing to all the bees and yelling "BEE!! BEE!!" haha

Getting her things settled in her cubby and the bins

Ahh!! SOOO cute, her little name on her first name tag!! <3

BEEEEEE!!!!

I wanted to get a picture of her and the teachers, but things have been a bit crazy these first few days, so hopefully I can snap one soon. She isn't TOTALLY sold on the idea of mom leaving her all day, but slowly but surely, things are going better and better.  She does cry a bit when I drop her off, but the teachers say it only lasts for a few minutes and then she is off and playing!! Today when I picked her up, she didn't notice me right away and I got to see her running around with the other teacher, giggling and playing!! It made my heart feel sooooo good to see for myself that she WAS indeed having fun and wasn't sad all day that mommy was gone.

We can't believe our little lady is getting so big! Can't wait to see what all she learns at school!!