Rocking that baby!

The other morning I got Mack out of bed and went to brush my teeth. When I finished, I checked my room, her room and down stairs and couldn't find her. Finally, I called out for her and heard her little voice coming from the baby's closed bedroom door saying " I'm just rocking him!" . "Him who? " I wondered out loud. Here's what I found ( taken from my phone which doesn't have the best camera quality)

My handy man

Look what Mike made for our train themed nursery!
He did such a great job and I love it. Even better- when the baby is old enough, Mike can unscrew the trains from the track and it's becomes " Baby's first model railroad".

Go Blue!

Mack had been asking Mike to do the 350 piece Michigan Wolverine puzzle that Aunt Meg sent for Christmas so they set out to complete it. The puzzle is a tricky one with many pseudo- straight edged pieces ( and even a football shaped piece) built into the puzzle. About 15 minutes in ( and after actually having gotten a few pieces together) Mack lost interest but Mike plugged along:
He managed to finish it by the end of the day:
But wait. What's this? The puzzle-completers worst fear! Who could be to blame?
Here's my guess......

Outsmarting the dog

Poor Duncan , with only his back claws, often becomes Ellie's favorite play toy when he shows his fuzzy face down stairs. Most of the time he doesn't seem to mind but often Ellie doesn't get the hint that play time is over. Duncan solved that problem:

Not My Idea of a good time

They don't make hospital bracelets as fashionable as they used to, do they ? It seems like , if you have to go there, they should make this little souvenir a little more exciting.

Things were great, a normal evening in our house. I had gone up to bed and Mike was right behind me, buttoning up the house for the night when a suddenly horrible pain grabbed me and didn't let go. Not when I was standing. Not when I was laying down. Not in the shower. Not throwing up. My back felt like it was being sliced into and the last time I felt THIS kind of pain, I was in " back labor" with a stubborn Mackenzie. The pain was mostly to the right side and I could feel lots of baby karate chops so that was reassuring. And the pain didn't let up and then get worse again like contractions do( it was constant) . It was apparent that this was not a baby problem. So I tried to wait it out; Mike tried to massage it out. Nothing. So at 2:30 am we decided it was time to go to the hospital. And though I know I have countless people here who would have brewed a pot of coffee and stayed up with Mackenzie or even came to our house to stay with her( and have since chastised me for not doing just that!) I just knew she'd be upset and worried if she woke up only to find we were gone. Off we went to the ER. 8 hours later , we left the hospital, pregnancy approved pain pills in hand, the diagnosis: Kidney and gall stones. The kidney stones were to blame for the horrific pain , the doctor said. The gall stone seems to be harmless for the time being and they are hoping it stays so because, even a simple laproscopic gall bladder surgery is risky with a pea in the pod. I was , yet again, so incredibly thankful for Mike who took good care of me and held down the fort while I slept the day ( and my pain meds) away and I couldn't be prouder of Mackenzie who soaked up so many compliments from hospital staff about how well behaved she is. As they say, all is well that ends well and I hope to not have to check into another hospital until Delivery Day!

320 pages o' fun

Mack and I finished her preschool book this week. We started it in July and have had so much fun working through it that we're both kind of sad that it's done. So we're off to look for another today ( that we haven't already done!). In the mean time, we've been doing the BrainQuest Kindergarten cards Aunt Meg sent Mackenzie for Christmas which is just as fun with no pencils required.

Page 319! Mack did this page all on her own- backwards 3 and " z" and all! The bottom drawing is a self portrait complete with pig tails . She's been drawing her dimple in all of her pictures lately but opted out of it today.

My name is {Mackenzie}
I am {3} years old
I have {green} eyes
I have {blond} hair

Her own best teacher

Mackenzie was playing with a stack of unused envelops and thinking of who she wanted to send her " letters" to. She brought me a stack of letters that she'd addressed to people she loves. There was one for " Grammy" and one for " Cam". I was impressed because she managed to correctly write and spell both with out any help from me. She is just a little sponge, constantly reading new words and learning to write new things by sounding them out! Every day she asks me if that's the day she gets to go to school when really, she's her own best teacher! The look of pride on her face when she brings me a new creation is irreplaceable.

24 weeks

Baby news aplenty this week-

We had an ultra sound on Monday with more photographic proof that we are, indeed, having a boy. The tech found our sweet boy laying as low as he can possibly get in my belly ,stretched out long ways. She even caught this adorable picture of his stretched out legs ( top) and a profile picture that shows a nose looking very similar to his big sister's:
The geneticist wants to see us back at 32 weeks just to continue to monitor the baby's growth. They want to be sure my celiac disease doesn't inhibit growth for him .Even though I've been gluten free for 5 years , I won't turn down an ultra sound!

I am certainly feeling pregnant these days. My belly, at times, feels like it's made of metal and daily naps are a must . This little guy is constantly low down in my belly and he is growing pretty big ( 1 lb 10 oz ) so I feel movement a good amount of the time which is fabulous but leaves me feeling pretty sore most days. I had a horrible stomach virus which subtracted about 10 lbs from my weight. While no one ever likes to be THAT sick, it sure helped cover up my Christmas indulgences on the scale this week:
Things are moving right along and we're looking at a 39 week repeat c-section in just over 100 days ( give or take) ! What's next in the pregnancy journey?
Every pregnant woman's dream- Glucola! The " sugary" drink used to test for gestational diabetes. Isn't that a treat? Don't let the " lemon-lime" label fool you, this stuff is like drinking 10 ounces of pure sugar.

One more thing. I snapped this picture of a book Mike checked out from the library and this just reminds me of yet another reason why I love him so much:

Monster dog

We have affectionately named Ellie " Monster Dog" . She is quite the attention hog and wants to be right where the action is. See?

Peeking under the puppy/baby gate at the top of the stairs. Those are what you call " puppy dog eyes" :
Helping Mack with her bath. It's hard to say who eats more bath bubbles- the girl or the dog:
The cat's don't even get privacy when they go through the cat door:

Wild Fort Lupton

Look who Mike caught playing in the field behind our house:

There's a new photographer in town....

Last week Mack was frustrated. She wanted to take pictures using her Leapster Explorer, a preschool learning toy, but the memory kept filling up and needing to be deleted which is quite annoying when your mind is full of creative photo ideas. So I decided to let Mackenzie play with my old point and shoot camera. I showed her how to use it and off she went! In two days, she filled my memory card with almost 400 pictures. Mike and I both got a kick out f the pictures we found. It was like going on a journey with Mackenzie, she took a picture of everything she saw long the way! Here are a few of my favorites :

Inside of the fridge:
The TV screen:
Inside the dog crate looking out:

And one of many self portraits:
And of course, there were quite a few of her furry friends:

Be thankful that I spared you the pictures of the cat hair ball and my ..ahem...pregnant behind.

Artist

Painting is a well loved activity around here. It's even more fun lately to watch Mack put images she thinks of onto paper and then actually know what it is she painted ( versus the usual " Oh! Look! You painted a butterfly!" followed by " No, Mom. That's not a butterfly. That's an upside down sea star wearing a tutu ( or something like that) " followed by a disbelieving shake of her head)
Here is a very proud Mackenzie with her penguin. Which is a girl. You can tell by it's very fashionable green eye shadow.

Have you seen our new puppy?

Mack has always loved playing " puppy" but she's recently taken it to a whole new level. She LOVES to run around the yard with a toy in her mouth and I find it odd to say that I LIKE playing fetch with my daughter. Who says that? But the excited panting and smile on her face as she chases these toys around the yard or follows Ellie around sniffing things is contagious. I actually find myself cheering " Go get it, Girl!" even though Ellie is lazily watching from the patio. This, indeed, may be the oddest post of my blogging history:

Happy New Year 2012

Knowing that Mack wouldn't make to midnight ( at least not with a hefty price paid bright and early the next day in the form of an ultra crabby three year old) , the new year started at 8 pm in our house. We filled the time before then watching a movie and snacking on Mike's home made potato and tortilla chips ( which were delicious!)
The evenings accessories:
Mack is excited about the poppers:
And the sparkling cider:
Watching Mack dip her cracker in cider felt a little bit like communion:

Old Man Winter?

Did you forget that you're supposed to be freezing our tootsies off? The average temp for this time of year is in the low to mid 40's. Today it was 70 degrees! You can bet we took advantage of this great fortune. The windows were all open, the jackets were stowed away in the closet and we ran around the yard with Ellie , soaking in the sunshine: ( you can click on the collage to see it bigger)