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! 

As Promised... 9 Month Stats

Ok, here they are:

Height: 28 1/2" - 70th percentile
Weight: 20 lbs, 1 oz - 80th percentile
Head Circumference: 18 1/4" - 95th percentile

The doc says she's happy, healthy and cute! The weirdest part of our whole visit was the news that babies are now supposed to stay in rear facing car seats until they're two... which means McKenna won't be able to experience the sheer joy of seeing out the front window for quite some time. Sad for her...but mostly sad for my back. She's HEAVY!!! So if anyone has any suggestions for new car seats that can be installed as rear facing and then changed to front facing when she's ready, let me know.

McKenna's 9 Months Old!

So it's almost official, McKenna's almost been on the outside longer than she was on the inside. Tomorrow we are headed back to the doctor's office for the first time in three months for a checkup... I have a feeling she's going to be near the 100th percentile for everything, she seem huge to me. I guess it's possible that I have a skewed perspective, since we were able to meet Daniel Hendricks (who seemed like a miniature person) , McKenna's newest in a series of new friends:
It's so fun to us that our friends are all having kids so that they can grow up together. There will be many more new babies this year (at the time of this post, there are at least 4 'cookin'). We can't hardly wait! Let the exponential growth continue!

Ok, here's McKenna's 9 month update: She's going to crawl soon, really soon, much to my chagrin. My days of sitting her on the floor with a pile of toys to entertain her are almost over. She's already learning the meaning of the word "NO!" and I'm entirely certain she understands what it means. Everything still goes into her mouth... her hands, my hands, the hands of strangers, and most recently, the knee of my jeans while I was still wearing them.

Still no sign of the word "ma-ma" in her vocabulary, although I've heard her say 'ma,' (maybe it was 'muh') so either she's punishing me for telling her no, or she things it's funny to be withholding. She rolls all over the place in her crib, and I often find her sleeping face down with her head in the corner of her bed. And yes, it still scares the heck out of me. She is showing signs of separation anxiety, common for this age of babies, but really it's only separation from me (secretly I like it, makes me feel important), she cries when I leave the room.

She brings joy to everyone she meets; she smiles all the time... I really do think she's the happiest, most easy going, mellowest kid I've ever met, and I'm not just saying that because she's mine. She really is amazing. I'll write a short post tomorrow with her 9 month status after we visit the doctor... stay tuned.

Cheerios and Easter-ish Photos

A lot has happened in the last few weeks, and I forgot to take pictures of most of it.  Sad.  

Grandma, Granddan, Uncle Jared & Aunt Blair came to visit... we had so much fun, and I didn't take a single picture of any of them... maybe they didn't actually come and we just dreamt it.   

McKenna went on her first brewery tour, no pictures of that either.  A child's first brewery tour is a seminal moment in a young life... and I have no evidence that it actually happened.  

I did shoot a video of McKenna mastering the fine art of systematically shoving Cheerios into her face.

 

I also got a video of McKenna laughing at me while I try to get her to say, "Mama." She has been able to say, "Dada" for quite some time.  She still can't say my name... but I think we'll get there eventually.

 

I finally had a softball game that was early enough in the evening that McKenna could come and show off her awesome softball jersey... when my mom saw these pictures, she asked if McKenna was playing 'shortstop'  HA HA.  So Funny, right? Or lame...

And, of course, I forgot to take pictures on Sunday when McKenna was dressed in her Easter best.  So I put her in a cute outfit today and put her on our dead... I mean dormant lawn and took some pictures so I could at least remember this age. 

Hopefully I'll remember to take pictures when McKenna turns one in July... we'll see. 

McKenna Has a TOOTH!

I know it's been less than 24 hours since my last post... but I thought everyone would like to know that the 'eagle has landed' ... the tooth has finally broken the skin! I am thrilled, not because I particularly wanted McKenna to have teeth (maybe she'd need them one day, but I don't want her to get older than this, we've already had long conversations about how she needs to stop growing), but because I wanted a good night's sleep... selfish I know.

She's been miserable for the last few days, so I'm sure this is a welcome release. Unfortunately for her, I've heard that the bottom two come together or in close succession...which means this respite will be short lived. My fingers are not looking forward to the continuing teething process. Here's a picture of our newest arrival (click on the photo for further detail):

The Blizzard of 2009

I met John during the blizzard of 2003... some friends of mine made me drive them over to this guy's house during the blizzard to play Cranium during the blizzard, and that guy turned out to be my future husband... who knew? So fast forward 6 years to the same week, and BAM! Another blizzard. This time it's not nearly as snowy, but we have McKenna, so we get to take pictures of her in the snow which is really fun! Her little snowsuit is too short, thus we couldn't put up the hood with the cute little ears on it... but it was still her first experience sitting in the snow all by herself.

The Giant 8 Month Old Baby

McKenna is officially 8 months old as of Tuesday. E I G H T... sounds impressive doesn't it? She's changed so much, her little personality is amazing. She laughs, claps, and feeds herself Cheerios. She's a regular (miniature) person.

Check out the difference between 1 day old and 8 months old:

She has also begun to throw herself from a sitting position onto her face/head/hands/side/front/back/etc... which unfortunately for her means she's face-planted on the granite fireplace hearth a few times. We finally wised up and bought a rug and a new chair for the unused space behind our couch so that she would have a soft landing strip for her new found love of flying.

Here are some pictures and a video of her trying out her new digs:

McKenna also graduated from the Bumbo chair (we'll bring it back to you, Mercer's...thanks for letting us borrow it) to a real high chair. She loves it, and with her added tray space, she now gets to feed herself Cheerios. It's like we've given her a special gift every time she gets a Cheerio, and because of that we're treated to a big cheesy grin.

Here she is sitting in her new throne (she's not feeding herself in these pictures, she's eating herself... she's working on her first tooth):

I saved the best for last... McKenna thinks that everything Dad does is soooo funny... In the following video (sorry it's a little dark), I was helping McKenna tickle Dad's toes... She's funny. I'm sure you'll agree. If you don't agree, lie to me and tell me that you do. That is all. Thank you.