Halloween

Another example of Keelyn's impeccable timing is that we got out of the hospital on Halloween & home in time to still take Mackenzie trick or treating. Well, her daddy did - I stayed home with the new babe. But I was excited that Mackenzie still got to enjoy her Halloween - I would've hated for her to miss out :) Not that she would've known what she was missing! BUT - she is at an age where she can enjoy it now.

I bought her a Tigger outfit, inspired by her obsession with our neighbor's blow up Tigger they had in their yard for the whole month of October. We had to drive by the house (which is not my usual way in/out of the neighborhood) almost every time we left/came home! At first she was scared of Tigger, then started requesting to see him & wave at him as we drove by! She was apparently still a little scared when they tried to pose next to him on Halloween night.

She also was lucky enough to get to trick or treat with

her little friend, Ella (or the cute little duck in the pictures!). Brannon took some video of her saying "Trick or Treat" & I love it! Amazing how quickly they learn things in order to receive candy!

Here's a few pics & a video that her daddy took of her adventures.....

A bit distracted by the jack-o-lantern lights!

checking out her loot

Hangin' with Mommy, Granmommy, and Keelyn upon her return back home (and sucking on a lollipop.....or "ya-yee pop" as she says!)

Saying "Trick or Treat"

First Visitors

Like I mentioned in the birth story post, Keelyn had impeccable timing in her birth. Waiting until my sister & parents came into town and she came the next day! Also, she so kindly waited until morning to start labor (unlike her sister who started labor in the late afternoon, causing me to labor all that evening and through the night.....). So, we got a good night's sleep and then labored during the day. MUCH preferred. Also, we got to call Meemi & Poppee on Friday morning, and they made it to the hospital just after Keelyn was born. AND Uncle Jake got to come later on Friday after he finished classes. So, everyone in our immediate families got to see her on her first day - which is nice considering NONE of them live in the same town! We also welcomed many friends/visitors at the hospital and at home our first week. She is so loved!

Meemi & Poppee's first glimpse

My friend Sara visiting the hospital

Mrs Claire visits too!

Grandaddy gets a turn!

Aunt Natalie holding Keelyn one more time before heading back to Colorado

Granmommy and her two granddaughters

Homeward Bound

Since mommy & baby were deemed healthy after the birth, we got to head home after our 2 nights in the hospital. This time, we weren't beating at the doors trying to break outta there like the first time.....mostly because we realized just how much harder things get when you get home & you can't send the newborn to the nursery for a few hours at night! But this time, what we were anxious for, was to get back home to our first little girl :)

This time, also, I got a little more dressed up for the going home adventure - since I knew there'd be lots of pictures and last time, I looked a bit rough! I even showered, dried my hair, and put on makeup. Everyone seemed impressed with that! I had bought Mackenzie a new dress and a coordinating one for Keelyn (I also bought a coordinating boy outfit that I took back!). They looked pretty cute, and I'm not partial at all! The first of many coordinating/matching outfits!!!

We got our first dose of reality right from the very beginning. Mackenzie wanted some candy, but I told her we had to wait til we got home (sucking on hard candy while driving makes this mommy very nervous about swallowing/choking while driving......) and a tantrum ensued. I think Keelyn was crying a bit too upon hearing the commotion, but soon settled back down to sleep. And about 5-10 minutes down the road, the big one settled down too. Welcome to reality, Mommy & Daddy!

Mommy getting Keelyn all pretty for the trip home.....something she'll have to get used to - beauty doesn't come easy!!

Sweet Keelyn's first glimpse of the outdoors! It was a beautiful day!

We're ready to go......

The Big Sister

Mackenzie was so excited to finally have her baby sister arrive. She sure does love babies and now she had her own to bring home (jealousy stuff came later after we were home!). Here's a few videos from their second meeting. I just love her wide open mouth coming in, in awe of baby sister Keelyn. The second video is one of my faves too....Me & my big sis holding Mackenzie & her little sis :)

It's a Girl! The Birth Story

Well, it's only been almost 2 weeks (wow!) since she was born & I'm just now getting a minute to write her birth story! Ah, well, better late than never :)

So, going back a couple weeks, on Wednesday, 5 days before my due date, I woke up feeling like I was having some minor contractions/cramping. It was really irregular, but I was nervous & called off our playdate for the day. I felt like a first time mom trying to decipher labor starting b/c the first time my water broke during my doctor's appointment and they sent me to the hospital and put me on pitocin. So, this was sort of new to me! I had my 39 week appointment that afternoon, and nothing had really happened & the contractions had subsided, BUT I was 4.5 cm dilated, so we figured it would be soon!

On Thursday I woke up and nothing.....ALL DAY......NOTHING!! I figured it wasn't going to happen that day. My sister had flown in on Wednesday & then my parents got in Thursday night. I started thinking that it wouldn't happen that weekend while they were here. But Keelyn had impeccable timing. We all went to bed that night with my whole family here,

and that next morning at 6:15am, I woke up to my water breaking. It was perfect. I didn't have to worry about getting Mackenzie to a friend's house (my biggest fear was dealing with that & postponing getting to the hospital!) since my family was there, she just slept on in her bed. And Brannon & I took off to the hospital with contractions just starting.

They checked me and there was a secondary bag of waters (never had heard of that) that still needed to break. They said they could break it or wait a bit and see if it broke on its own. We waited b/c I was unsure about using pain meds. Last time, my epidural experience

was not a good one, so I wanted to go as long as I could without it and see if I could make it. And she said once that bag of waters broke it would get a lot more intense. It ended up breaking on its own pretty soon anyways, and it did definitely get more intense. And fast. It felt like the contractions were right on top of each other. So, I took it as long as I could, but then had them give me a IV pain medicine to take the pain off. That helped, but only lasted an hour. I could have three of those but they said each of the later ones helped out with pain less & less. So, I tried to see how long I could go again without anything. It got to be too much, so I went for the epidural. But I did make it to like 7 or 8 cm (can't remember, a bit of a blur). Getting the epidural went much better - the doctor wasn't brand new, my leg didn't jump, they didn't have to do it twice, so much better!

And it felt nice. Gotta love that pain relief! I got to 10cm pretty quickly from there. But it was similar to last time. Apparently, my body dilates very quickly (even many

cm's before labor begins), and by noon I was at 10. BUT, my babies don't drop very quickly. The baby was still at "0" station. I thought I was feeling pressure to push, but since she hadn't dropped, we needed to wait a bit. WELL......also apparently, my body just doesn't take epidurals for long periods of time.... Just like last time, after a while on the epidural, it started to wear off. They actually had me already on a high dose b/c of last time it wearing off. And then, they tried upping the meds from there. They called the anesthesiologist back and really upped the meds. She said if that didn't work, then we could redo the epidural. Great. We waited and that last upping of the meds seemed to mostly work. I could still feel some pain but it was bearable.

That whole episode took about an hour. Then, we waited about another hour for the baby to

drop some more. Around 3pm, we were ready to push. And just like last time, she only made it to +1 station (instead of +2). Which I guess just makes it harder/longer to push. Oh, and they also realized that she was facing up - head down, but face up instead of face down. So, that makes

it harder to push also..... Anyways, we pushed for just over 30 minutes and at 3:36pm she was born - which I'm told is impressive for a baby facing that way! The midwife held her up & Brannon got to announce "It's a GIRL!". They placed her on my chest (a first b/c last time I ran a temp so they swept up Mackenzie for a quick check). I kind of laughed and turned to Brannon & said, "You were right!". He was just so sure the whole time that it was a girl.

What an amazing moment. Keelyn Ramsey McKay was born 7lbs 7 oz and 20.5 inches long. We came up with her name (& kept it a surprise!) by combining some family names.

Brannon's father's middle name i

s Keel - which is the town in Ireland that the McKays came from. And on my side, my paternal grandmother's maiden name was Keeling and my maternal grandmother's maiden name was Keenan. So, we kind of meshed them together to get Keelyn. And Ramsey, of course, is my maiden name :)

I am so happy to have experienced this feeling twice of giving birth to beautiful, healthy baby girls. We are truly blessed.

More Pics - Of My 2 Year Old Cutie Pie

Mackenzie & I are sitting at home in our pajamas this morning, listening to the rain pour outside the living room. She's enjoying a little Sesame Street and I'm blogging. Our playdate got canceled due to the rain, but this is actually just what I needed. We may not have another chance to lounge around lazily all morning long, just the two of us.

So, while we hang out on the couch, I wanted to post a few more pictures of our photo shoot - of the ones just of Mackenzie. I just love so many of these photos. I feel like we got more good ones than when I try to take pictures because she had both Brannon & I entertaining her while the photographer flashed away!

Family of Three Photos

This summer, I decided we really needed to get some official family photos made. We hadn't had any professional photos of us & we were running out of time while we were a family of three. I wanted to capture some family moments of this short time in our lives where there are only three of us (and the snapshot-ed photos rarely produced a good photo of all three of us). SO.....I scheduled a photo shoot! The shoot was about a month ago and I got the photos back just recently. Here's some of my favorites (it was hard to choose......) I'm really glad to have gotten these photos made. And it just seems so unreal that our next family shots we have made will have four members!

Mommy & Me Pedis

Today, I took Mackenzie to her first pedicure :) I've been wanting to get my toenails painted one last time before baby comes, because it might be a while before I can pamper myself again! I didn't get a chance to do it while Mackenzie was in school this week, but then I thought - Mackenzie would probably be old enough to enjoy going with me! And it would be a good chance for us to have a little one-on-one fun time before #2 arrives.

And she did great! We went and got some smoothies right next door to sip while we were pampered. She picked out her color - from a couple I showed her (she went with a red). Then, she sat very still & quiet while they did our toes. The ladies in the salon were totally oohing & ahhing over how cute she is! My pedicure took a little longer, but she stayed in her seat very impressively! Though, she didn't like the massage chair when I turned it on - she said it was scary! And after sitting there a while, she warmed up and started talking up a storm. Even singing 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" for the ladies & other patrons! It was a lot of fun. Can't wait to do it again sometime. Maybe one day with two little girls?

They Learn Early

It's so funny to me that little 2 year old girls can get so into their accessorizing so early! It seems Mackenzie & all her little friends are totally into their shoes already. Mackenzie, for some time now, has had an opinion on what shoes she likes. Mostly she requests her 'squeaker shoes' (ones that squeak when she walks around!). Unfortunately, she cannot wear those in all situations b/c she might drive some people crazy! And even though you can remove the squeaker - she doesn't like it when I do that!

More opinions on clothing are sprouting.....I saw a glimpse of my future in dressing Mackenzie just a few days ago. I had picked out an outfit for her to wear (typical) and started to get her

dressed. She started throwing a fit saying "NO WEAR DRESS!!!!!" Oh boy. We were already late (sadly, this is typical too!). BUT, I was willing to relent - asking her what she wanted to wear. She was too upset to communicate that & by the time she calmed down she just let me put on the dress I'd picked out. I think I'll have to start giving her more than one option. I guess she's starting to have more of an opinion on her daily outfits......oh boy!

Luckily, her enjoyment of accessories is growing. She actually wanted to wear one of her hats on Friday with a cute little outfit I picked out (she didn't protest the outfit - luckily, that was a one time thing so far!). Last fall, she did not wear hats unless they had a strap that she couldn't unstrap! So, this is an improvement that I like to see in her personal style!

38 (and 1/2) weeks

Today I had my 38 week appointment. Not much has changed. Still dilated 2 cm. Baby still pretty high/hasn't dropped (though she said this happens later & closer to delivery on second babies.....). I've now gone from thinking the baby might be a little early, to thinking nope, probably gonna be late! Pessimism setting in about that! Or maybe I just want to start prepping for the late option - that way, it will be a nice surprise if it comes even just a tiny bit early!

In light of not much other news on the baby front, I wanted to write down some of the differences of this pregnancy......some I may have mentioned early on in the pregnancy, but some are newer revelations.

• Weight gain - actually this is about the same. Looks like I will top out around 35 lbs gained - the high end of the recommendation. But I haven't barely gained anything in the last 3-4 weeks. Like a pound or two. I tend to gain ALOT in the 2nd and slow down significantly at the end.
• Swelling - almost none at ALL. This is really surprising. I was VERY swollen the first go around. And pretty early, like from the end of 2nd/very beginning of the 3rd tri. This time, I'm still wearing my wedding ring and I'm just over a week from the due date.
• Baby has consistently had a lower heart rate the entire way (Mackenzie's was higher). Old wives tales say that says boy, but this is not a reliable system, so it's probably a girl with a lower heart rate!
• Baby seems bigger. Has been pressing on my bladder WAY more than last time. Sometimes I will just go to the bathroom and still feel like I need to go. Which could mean it's just lower (boy?) but I've also had a tiny bit of heartburn & had none with Mackenzie. That means it's pressing on the stomach I think, which means it's higher (girl?) So, if it seems both higher & lower, I'm guessing maybe it's just BIGGER! The doctor did say today that I'm measuring closer to average size belly this time, so it may be a bit bigger. I'm expecting to break into the 7lb area this time :) Not big really, but bigger for a 5 ft tall girl!

That's all I can think of right now. I'm proud to say that I finally got my bag (mostly) packed this week & Mackenzie's bag. We're (more or less) ready for baby #2. And I'm now VERY interested in finding out the sex. Didn't bother me much the whole time not to know, but now I'm READY TO KNOW!

And so, we wait.......

When's That Baby Due?

I've reached that stage of pregnancy where everyone (including all strangers encountered) want to know when that baby is due? You get the lovely comments of looking like you're gonna pop, etc. Yes, yes - I'm almost due. 1.5 weeks til D-Day. And while the level of discomfort has increased & sleeping without a huge belly does sound appealing, I'm secretly hoping to make it to my due date.

Maybe I'm a rare breed in this? One reason is, having JUST moved, there are still some stuff I'd like to get organized/arranged, and another week would be nice :) And another reason is, though sleep isn't as easy as it used to be, I'm still getting so much more than I will get once the baby is here. Really, I sleep pretty well for a very pregnant girl.

But lastly, I just want to enjoy my last few weeks with Mackenzie. Though I'm very excited for her to

have a sibling - I know my life is far better b/c of my own - this marks the end of a phase of our lives. She has been my little buddy & sidekick for over two years and now we both will have to learn to share each other with a new little person.

And so, in light of the end of this era, I made Brannon take some photos of me & Mackenzie after church on Sunday. We had dressed alike in our sleek little black dresses & I made him try to snap some photos of her hugging/kissing the belly - which she likes to do. He did a decent job considering he's not the photographer in the family & the football game was about to start so his patience with the process was waning! As I said, she seems really excited about the baby. Asks when it's going to come out, tries to feed the baby her milk (puts her sippy cup up to my belly button!) and freely hugs/kisses the baby belly. I can't wait to see her help take care of our new little family member!

Patience.....Can I Have Some of That?

Lately, Mackenzie has been going through a bit of a whiny/fussy/tantrumy phase, that I could really live without right about now! These things come in waves I feel, we'll have a few tough weeks and then get back to life with a generally happy toddler. I can't help but wonder if she is doing this because she recognizes the changes that are coming very soon in our household.

For instance, she is VERY clingy right now. She wants me to hold her ALL the time it seems and cries/pitches a fit if I ask her to walk and hold my hand instead (the nerve of me, huh!?) Right now at 38.5 weeks pregnant, there are many times that I'm just not up for carrying my almost 25 lb toddler. I fear this will be our biggest challenge with the new baby. I think she will like the baby, but when I hold the baby & NOT her.....well I'm not picturing that to go over so well......

We also had a rough afternoon. I was so excited to start her new school with a clean behavior slate. When I picked her up last week, the teachers just loved her and said how sweet she was. It was nice to hear given our previous schooling experiences...... Well, that didn't last long. After many months of not biting, she decided to give it a go again today. Great. So much for a clean slate. Back to the drawing board of praying for good behavior while I'm away & giving rewards for good reports.......

That report left me with less than a

normal amount of patience when we got home. We had some struggles - like after behaving really well & cleaning up her playroom I decide to give her a rare treat - candy corn for good cleaning. After eating the handful, she pitched a fit because they were gone & I told her we're done for now. Tantrums ensued. Mommy reacting a little more angrily in putting her in time out. It wasn't fun. But we both (some are still taking) took naps. Hoping for a better evening. But really, more patience is going to be so hard to muster in a few weeks with minimal sleep I'm afraid :(

On a fun note - I've included a few shots from a little while ago of her playing in our new BIG backyard!

Pumpkin Carving

About a week ago, Mackenzie & I went down to Baby Ella's house (who lives a few doors down in our new neighborhood!) to carve a pumpkin. Ashley had seen an article in a magazine about a way to do a pumpkin by drilling holes and pushing little christmas lights through the holes. It was a good idea I thought :)

Mackenzie enjoyed "cooking" the pumpkin seeds after we pulled them out. She kept telling me as she stirred them with a spoon that she was making apple juice. Pretty impressive, huh? Turning pumpkin seeds to apple juice. She's a talented cook!

I'm sad to say that I don't have a final picture of the pumpkin...... It was a bit of work to punch the lights through the holes, so I brought it home half done. Then, upon having it sit on the counter for a couple of days, it got a puncture from the plug and I didn't realize it, and it proceeded to start to grow mold or something gross. So, it didn't get finished. It was a bummer. I'd like to try again, but wonder if/when I'll have time before baby #2 arrives......

Anyhow, here's the pictures of our pumpkin carving fun:

Scooping out the goop......

Cooking her apple juice

Pleased with her work!

New School & School Pics

Last week, Mackenzie started a new school in our new area of town, and I am really happy with it so far. And it was much needed after a few weeks off! Plus, they do something here that her old school didn't do - school pictures! And we made it just in time, as the picture week was her first week of school. I got her appointment time, dressed her all up in a cute outfit and went with her to try and get a smile out of her. No such luck! She had a perplexed look the entire time, which kind of looks like an angry face! Oh well! According to the photographer - all the two year olds have that type of face! At least we're in the norm!

Soooo......when we got home from school, I decided to take a few pictures of my own on our front stoop since she looked so cute & who knows what those other ones will look like!

"Cheese!" I got her to smile with a promise of an oreo...... Of course, she was closing her eyes & her dress got disheveled!

Daddy's Girl

Here's a few fun shots I shot of Brannon & his little girl at the cabin shortly before heading home. IT was a fun weekend, and hard to believe, it was our last little getaway as a family of three. Before we know it, we'll have F-O-U-R of us to pack up & take places. The adventure awaits....... Until then, here's the daddy & his only child for a little bit longer: