Playing with Grandma's New Camera

John, McKenna and I visited my mom and step-dad in California last week to walk in the Huntington Beach Alzheimer's walk and attend my friend Jocelyn's bridal shower. We were able visit with Aunt Blair & Uncle Jared, see my cousins and spend time with Great-Grandpa, we had a great time!

My Mom got new camera for her upcoming birthday (November 29th... only 21 shopping days left) so of course we needed to try it out... since John and I are 'professionals' (most of the good shots are as a direct result of the camera being amazing, not us being amazing).

Here are some of the fun photos we took:

It was Halloween while we were in California, we brought along McKenna's costume. She was a Marshmallow Peep this year, and lasted in her costume for about 10 minutes. Just long enough for this photo op (taken with our point and shoot, don't blame the nice camera for the bad lighting):

Basically, I'm compiling black mail photos for her senior ad in her high school yearbook. I believe all parents should do this. Pretty pictures aren't nearly as entertaining to look at. Something has to make her ad stand out other than her amazing looks. Hopefully she doesn't hate me for my evil nature... maybe she'll appreciate it one day, or at least have sufficient fodder for her Mommy Dearest novel.

A Visit From Grandma!

I'm going to stop making excuses for not blogging more often. I'm busy. That's going to be my permanent excuse. Hopefully McKenna will forgive me some day. This is for you McKenna... Your mom had a job, a one year old, a husband, and a very active travel schedule during this period of your life... sorry I didn't spend more time blogging, but honestly, I wanted to spend more time with you rather than writing about you.

That being said, I do have a moment for a quick update! Our little baby girl isn't so little anymore... she's still not walking (which is totally fine by us, seeing as she's easier to chase when she's crawling), she does cruise around the furniture, walls, stairs, bookcase, trunk, coffee table, she talks constantly and uses her baby crack, er, Baby Sigining Time experience for good use, she can sign: eat, more, all done, baby, bear, bug, please, shoes, sleep, book... I'm sure there are more she hasn't mastered yet so to me they don't look like anything.

She still loves her red wagon that Aunt Blair got her for her birthday. Here are some photos of her climbing in, out, around, on top of, over it etc...

Also, Grandma came to visit this month! We had so much fun... sadly, McKenna was coming down with the flu during most of Grandma's visit (yes, the real flu, not the stomach flu) so she wasn't her normal outgoing self. She did let Grandma hold her while she watched Baby Signing Time. Here are some pictures:

And finally, here's one picture of her wearing a sweatshirt that Nancy Cowden bought for her last fall, and I thought she'd never fit into it... look how tall she is now!

Blogging Sabatical is Over...

Alright, enough is enough. No more heckling people...I will post. I had to go back to work in the office full time after McKenna's birthday on the 24th of July, and thus have run out of time for blogging... not to mention the fact that McKenna had the stomach flu for a week... so I will take a few moments to update everyone on what's been going on in BMac's life.

Since my last post, McKenna has learned all sorts of new tricks, is a crawling speed demon, has learned to say: 'wow,' 'baby,' 'bear,' 'yah,' and 'no.' She no longer drinks from a bottle, drinks cow's milk instead of formula and has proven to be quite the adventurous eater. Some of her favorite foods include, salmon, filet mignon, tilapia, barbecued chicken, grilled vegetables, corn on the cob (or off the cob in her case) and grilled pizza (yes, really grilled, as in made on the grill).

She had a fantastic birthday, complete with 40 of her closest friends (I'm still recovering from that shindig). Her Aunt Blair sent her a sweet Radio Flyer wagon for her birthday, here she is with it after I put it together:



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The night before her birthday, we made pizza on the grill... as you can see she thoroughly enjoyed it:

Then on her actual birthday we took her to the municipal water park, called the Broomfield Bay. She had a blast, but John and I were less enthusiastic... it was probably the most dangerous pool we've ever been to, and in my estimation they needed about twice as many guards on their main pool (I have high standards, Wild Rivers has ruined me). Here are some pictures of us in the pool:



As I mentioned earlier, we had a huge party for BMac's Birthday, we had about 40 people in our little house... which would have been fine, if people could have spent time in the yard as originally planned, but of course, like a typical Colorado summer day, it rained.

Here's a picture from the party:
Here's a link to the rest of the pics.

BMac also had the worst stomach flu I've ever experienced a few weeks ago... even though she doesn't look sick in these pictures, she really was... but I needed to take pictures of her new reading chair...
Ok. That's all I've got for now... More in the future, I promise.

Amazing Crawling Baby...

I know it's been a while, but we've been busy! John and I went to Mexico for a week and while we were away McKenna started to test out her motoring skills... I don't consider it legitimate crawling, what she's doing now is legit.

Here was her previous method of moving... which was extremely frustrating to her...

Then she finally did it! Here she is crawling successfully forward (deliberately at least) for the first time on video:

And because of her new crawling ability, she's found the stairs...

I can't believe how much faster she's become since I made these videos. I'll have to shoot some more so that you all can see the newer, speedier McKenna. I'm beginning preparations for the first birthday extravaganza... more on that later.

McKenna's First French Kiss...

So while I was in Illinois visiting my friends the Pittman's... holding cute little Sam and running around with Josh, McKenna was at home breaking rules...  I know now that I cannot wait to have the birds and bees talk with my 10 month old daughter... she is way too advanced to not receive the 'how far is too far' speech.  I've warned her multiple times that boys are only interested in one thing, yet she still didn't listen to me.  Thankfully Dad was there to capture the moment on video so that I could explain which parts of her actions were inappropriate.  McKenna, when you're reading this later in life, know that I was only acting in your best interests and I understand that it's tempting to make out with every boy that asks... I know Jack is handsome, but that isn't an excuse.  All I want is for you to have a little self control. That's it. That's all I ask.  Wait for mister right, not mister right now.   Here's the offending behavior with McKenna and Jack:

 

I think I'm going to go wash her mouth out with soap now... mostly because I kiss that mouth, and apparently she gives kisses to any person (or animal) that's willing.   

Eww...

A Test of Patience... and I Failed MISERABLY.

This has been one of the most frustrating days I've experienced in recent memory. McKenna is getting so big, and so mobile... I knew this day would come. The day when I'd have to move her crib mattress into the lowest position. This morning when I went in to get her, she was sitting up in her crib, I thought it might have been a fluke. Then after her morning nap, she was sitting up again... then this afternoon she was more talkative in her crib than normal. I went up there to investigate, and this is what I found: I chose to sit her on the floor with some books, and I headed to the garage to get some tools. McKenna now crawls backwards, so she had wedged herself against the wall which made her cry. I moved her into the middle of the room again, and went to work on the crib. I got out the instructions so I'd remember how to remove the drop side... that part was simple enough, except for the fact that the instructions were written by a non-native English speaker. That's where the simple process ended. McKenna has begun to have separation anxiety in the last few weeks, and that includes anytime she can't see my face (I am ridiculously good looking). I was on my hands and knees removing the ma tress frame, and she couldn't see all of me... she lost her mind. Here's proof: So after I rocked her for 10 minutes so that she would stop freaking out, we went to the basement together got the Pack N Play, put it in the guest room and I laid her in it... finally she fell asleep. One point Mommy.

I proceeded to go back to work on the crib, which I'm convinced was intended to be put together by gnomes, seeing as my hands are too big to fit between the legs and crib sides to screw in the ma tress frame. Not only are my hands too big, they provided me with an Allen wrench that is so small I could hardly get a grip on it. Once I got the crib a part, it look like a bomb went off in McKenna's room:
I wish I'd had a tape recorder to catalogue my inner monologue, but I fear it would have been censored by Blogger. It was that hard to put the thing back together. It took me an HOUR. For those of you who know me well, you know that I am pretty technical, I have never met a 'some assembly' required project that has bested me. This one almost did. Best evidenced by this picture (note that I put the drop side on backwards):
When it was all said and done, I was pouring sweat, wishing death on the crib's manufacturer and designer, and vowing to buy a new crib for the next kid because I'm going to have a bonfire to celebrate McKenna's move to a big girl bed. I swear I showered today, even though it doesn't look like it: I had apparently blocked from my little pea brain how difficult it was for John to assemble this thing in the first place. NEVER AGAIN.

On a lighter note, our friends JJ & Angie came up with their new son Daniel for dinner last night... here are some pics of McKenna & Daniel playing together and the proud Dad's with their kiddos:

McKenna's Thirst (or Taste) for Adventure

The month of May has been filled with many adventures for McKenna thus far.  She's really starting to be curious about the world around her.  We've spent a lot of time outside exploring our backyard (all 5 square feet of it) looking at the different types of leaves, playing in the grass and learning about the vegetables in the vegetable garden.  McKenna even had her first swimming experience, albeit in our hot tub, not a real pool.  We can tell she's going to be a fish like John.  Here she is sitting on my lap in the tub:

I think I previously posted about McKenna's toy baskets that we have under the sofa table in our living room,  she's now figured out that if she scoots all the way under the table, she can reach inside, or tip them over, or climb inside: 

She also has discovered a great love for baseball caps, meaning she takes after me.  Here she is enjoying mine as a snack:

Speaking of snacks, McKenna loves to share her snacks with us.  Here are a couple of videos of her sharing her Cheerios with us:

And finally, like every parent I believe I have the smartest baby ever... this video proves it:  

I'm sure we'll have more pictures to post later this month!