The Perfect Use for our Backyard!

When we moved into this house, we were in love with the big backyard. It's so big & open, but it's only drawback is that is a bit hilly. However, we said it would be the perfect place to sled. Little did we know when we said that back in the fall that we would actually get enough snow to really put that hill in our backyard to its best use! We got an old plastic storage container to use as our georgia ghetto sled! BUT it worked pretty well as you can see (and when you hear our friend Ashley saying it won't work, she isn't referring to the sled, just telling Mackenzie if she didn't sit in the back that it won't work :) :

Atlanta Snow Storm

A few weeks back, we had the most snow I've seen in Atlanta in the 13 (yikes!) years I've lived here.We got about 6 inches I think here at our house. It was so much fun for Mackenzie to get to play in so much snow. The roads were so bad that Daddy had to stay home with us for 2.5 work days! Each day the snow would melt just a tad, then the temps would drop and refreeze what had melted so it turned into about 5 inches of snow under a sheet of ice. That made the roads so bad that we had to stay home ALL week. We were a bit stir crazy by the end of the week, but luckily for us, Baby Ella lives right down the street so we got to play with her & visit her house so wecould at least get out of ours! Especially when the daddies went back to work at the end of the week, but we still didn't feel comfortable driving with two little ones!

Here's some pictures from our snow fun on day 1:

Our house in the winter wonderland :)

Daddy & Mackenzie ready to hit the snow!

She loved the snowman we built - she called him Frosty

Our family picture.....Keelyn wasn't willing to turn around - her favorite position is up over the shoulder!

"Baby" Ella & her family. She got the chance to wear her full snow suit bought by her grandparents that live up north!

Nappin' Fun

Nothin' like a good ol' nap with your Poppee:

This is rare.....it is hard to get her to fall asleep with someone else in the bed - she just plays and talks to that person. She has to be really tired (Christmas did that to her I guess :) ). It was funny.....we were wondering where Poppee was. Then, I went to get Mackenzie up & found him in there! Prissy got in on the action as well :P

Grandaddy's Girl

Mackenzie loves all of her grandparents, but has always had a particular fondness for her grandmothers. Keelyn seemed to know this was the case from the get-go, since her grandmothers were busy with her big sissy, she enjoyed being held by her grandfathers! During their visits in November & December, she slept best when on Grandaddy's chest :) She would sleep for hours on him & certainly didn't do that anywhere else (even in mommy's arms!).Here's a few pictures of Keelyn & her Grandaddy:

2 Months Old

Hi all,

Sorry I haven't officially introduced myself on the blog yet, Mommy is quite busy (I don't know what she's busy doing???) and just now let me have the chance to write my own blog. She says my big sister used to write them to document how she was growing at each month. So, I think I'll do the same.

I'm now 2 months old & getting more used to this crazy world I was brought into....initially against my will, but I'm kind of diggin' it these days! I've started really enjoying my bath time, and now it even is the main thing that soothes me late in the evening. Although I always cry when they take me out of the bath! (alot.....what can I say, it's COLD when I get out!).

I've started smiling alot. My first social smiles were happening around 6 weeks, but I didn't do it too much yet. By the time I was two months, I was smiling a good bit more. And now, we've even caught some on the camera.

Mommy has nicknamed me her princess & the pea. Something about a story about a princess that was so particular, she could feel a pea through a ton of mattresses. Mommy says I am particular like that....like if I'm comfy in one position while you're holding me, if you change it ever so slightly, I will not like it! But what's wrong with that?? I'm just a girl who knows what I like :)

She also thinks I'm funny about sleeping at night. Some nights I'll sleep 7-8 hours, even threw a 9 hour stretch in there for good measure recently. BUT I can easily wake up after 4-5 hours of sleep. Very unpredictable, I am! I just like to keep that Mommy of mine guessing! She thinks it's good that I sleep for long stretches sometimes & she thinks they are happening more and more.....with less of the 3am/4am variety. It just baffles her a bit, she calls me a sporadic sleeper. She says my big sister just kept incrementing, very little backtracking. Again, fun to keep her on her toes!!

Mommy says I wasn't the happiest camper for a few weeks due to some acid reflux, colic, etc.....She thinks she & Daddy just don't have easy babies. But they say I don't cry as loud as my big sister & that I've really started to be a much happier baby thanks to getting older & getting on some meds! Now, I'm pretty content unless I'm hungry or tired. Mommy feels a little guilty that she has to let me cry in my swing or bouncy seat, and she didn't do that much with my sister. But her other mommy friends of 2 kids says it is building flexibility in the second born. She hopes so! She wishes she could always pick me right up, but I hope to prove to her in the coming months that I'm a happy baby and can handle it :)

I guess that's all for now. I'll be back soon (especially since mommy's so late on posting this, I'll be 3 months later this week!! YIKES!!!)

-Keelyn

Finishing Up Christmas

Coming in at just under a month late (HA!), I'm now finishing up my Christmas postings :) After opening up gifts and hanging out at my parents' house, we went back over to Meemi & Poppee's house for a Christmas dinner (my parents came too :)). Here's a few more pics from our Christmas evening:

Meemi & Mackenzie (saying 'CHEESE' while eating some cheese!)

Grandaddy & Keelyn

Christmas Afternoon

After finishing opening presents with Meemi & Poppee, we headed over to have Christmas #2 with Granmommy & Grandaddy. Mackenzie was a bit more "with it" at Christmas #2 and was a little more aggressive in opening presents (also wanting to open others gifts as well!). The good times continued for her & I hope she knows in future years how blessed she is to have such great, loving grandparents who are not afraid to spoil her a little and love on her a lot!

Demonstrating her mad gift opening skills :)

What's that Granmommy?? (I like how Granmommy is demonstrating the use of a pink boa :))

Trying on her new high heels, or princess shoes!

Granmommy adding to her accessory collection with her first watch

Apparently exhausted from the events of the morning, this is how Keelyn spent the afternoon!

After gift opening, some Wii playing provided entertainment! I can't believe my parents got a Wii before we have one!

Christmas Morning

We spent the night at Brannon's parents' house on Christmas Eve. Luckily, due to a late night & also the fact that Mackenzie still didn't really get what was about to happen.....we didn't have to get up to early on Christmas. In fact, we ended up waking her up in the morning because I wanted to get things started as soon as Keelyn had been fed....so we'd have the full amount of happy baby time to open presents! I'm sure it won't be too long before she's waking us up! I'll enjoy it while it lasts!! It was so fun watching her this year. Every Christmas just gets better as she gets more & more into the fun of Christmas morning. Here's some photos of our morning:

Our little cutie, full tummy, chillin' in her favorite place (bouncy seat), waiting for the action to get started!

Daddy bringing her out of her room....

Slowly walking in.....not sure what to think!

Checkin' it out :)

Not sure what to think as she starts checking out the Santa goods.....

Ooooh - Santa brought me "picable me"!!! (Despicable Me is a favorite movie of hers)

Trying out her artistic skills on her new easel from Santa

Keelyn is not sure what to think of Daddy in a piggy hat!

She was really good at unwrapping the goods this year!

Pleased with her uncovered treasure :)

Feeding her new baby doll....gotta love this age when the opening goes so slowly because they want to play with each item as it is opened :P

Keelyn - falling asleep after getting worn out from all the excitement!

Christmas Eve

We drove down to Tallahassee for Christmas this year. One last Christmas there before we probably (of course, we've said this the last couple years!) start doing Christmas waking up in our own home on Christmas morning. But for now, we made the trek. We went down on the 23rd, in the late afternoon, so Mackenzie would nap. And I spent all morning packing (I even hired a babysitter to watch Mackenzie so I could pack!). She did great on the way down. Slept for about 2 1/2 hours, we stopped to eat & feed Keelyn, & then she watched a DVD the rest of the way. (Oh and Keelyn slept pretty much the whole way :) )

We stayed the first few nights at Brannon's parents' house. But on Christmas Eve, his family plus our family went over to my parents' house for a Christmas Eve dinner. Things have definitely changed as Mackenzie was having a hard time sitting for dinner, so someone was up running around with her while the rest of us ate! That's life with a 2 year old, I guess! And I think someone had to hold Keelyn while we ate, too. No more calm, every sit & eat dinners for a while I suppose!

After dinner, we headed out quickly to a Christmas light display at a local park. We've done this two years in a row & it's a lot of fun for Mackenzie. She ran around and looked at all the lights (and wore herself out!) with everyone running around after her. Then, it was back to the house to get her ready for bed. I think she was in bed by 10pm, which is good considering all we did that night! (Plus, it never hurts for her to sleep a little late on Christmas morning!).

Playing piano at Granmommy's house

Walking hand in hand with her grandmothers thru the lights

Petting a lighted reindeer

"Run wiff me, Uncle Jake!"

Some of the lights at the park

Best Big Sister Ev-ah!

Mackenzie is really getting to be such a good big sister. I can't get over how good she is doing with this huge change in her little life. The worst we had was a few weeks of lots of whiny & extra crying & a little bit too much loving on the baby (hugs where she was laying on the baby!). But all that is returning to normal & as Keelyn is getting bigger & getting out of the difficult/fussy newborn phase (slowly, but surely!), she is more fun for Mackenzie. She lets Mackenzie hold her without fussing, she smiles & coos at Mackenzie, and I can see the beginning of a great little sisterly bond!

Terribly Wonderful Twos :)

I wanted to record some of the fun that Mackenzie provides us with these days. I hope, despite the challenges of the two year old year, that I remember how truly fun this age can be. I heard someone else call them the terribly wonderful two instead of the other famous name for the twos :P. And I think that is good to think of it that way, instead of dwelling on the difficulties of parenting an emerging little person full of their own opinions!

Mackenzie is such a chatterbox. She talks ALL. THE. TIME. Seriously. Well, she does still go into shy mode occasionally with new people. But other than that. ALL. THE. TIME!!! And I love it. She is constant entertainment.

She often calls Keelyn "her best fwend". How sweet to know that she already truly loves her little sister. She has picked up on what I tell her & now whenever she's doing something (say eating some yogurt, for instance), and Keelyn's just chilling, she'll look at me & say "when Kee-wen gets older, she eat yogurt wiff me??". And like everything else this chatterbox says, she requires me to acknowledge what she's said (or she'll repeat it until I do!). I am so happy she loves her baby sister, I know that there are many people who struggle much more with sibling rivalry. Maybe my day will come, but for now, such love. I'll have to remember this early love to get me through any future rivalry!

She's becoming very aware of feelings & how she can create various feelings in those around her. I have many times told her when she's disobeying that she's making me sad. Now, if she disobeys (typically this is not coming/walking away when I want her to come to me!) she'll look back & say, "You sad??". Then, when I say yes, she'll often change her ways and come to me & obey. Then, she'll say, "I make you happy?". "VERY happy", I answer!

She's developed a strong sense of what music she wants to listen to on the radio in the car. She's currently enrolled in music class again with Brannon & we listen to that CD alot in the car. She'll say "Don't Like/Want this Song" repeatedly as I skip through the songs until we get to one she wants to listen to. Or if she knows exactly what she wants to listen to, she'll tell me the title to find. And sometimes, when she actually allows me to put it on the radio instead of her CDs, and a song comes on (usually a song with a male singing) she'll say, "No Man Singing Mommy!", meaning she wants me to change the song to a female singer! Or if it is on commercials, she'll say "No Man/Woman Talking!!", and of course, that means change the channel to a song I want Mommy!

And lastly, with an ever-expanding vocabulary, comes some almost correct usage of the English language & other "Mackenzie-isms". Some favorites of mine:

• When I ask her if she was good at preschool, she'll sometimes say "I no eat my fwends". This means she didn't bite her friends! Or so I think, I don't think she struggles with cannibalism :) She actually hasn't bitten anyone in quite some time, but this sticks out in her mind as something to note I guess because I harped on it for a while.
• One of her favorite songs is "The ABC's", only she calls it "ABCD's".
• I love the common mispronunciation of the letter 'L' using a 'Y' sound instead. I will miss her saying things like, "Kee-wen is so yittle" when she learns to correctly say little.

Me & My Girls

A few photos with Mommy :) in their Christmas dresses!

Bye Bye Meemi!

Well, all good things must come to an end & the extra help from Meemi was definitely a good thing. In fact, I had had a LOT of help on & off since Keelyn's arrival & the departure of Meemi was the beginning of my longest stint without any extra help! Somehow, we survived the 2 weeks or so on our own & made it to Christmas when I went home to Tally & got help from both sets of grandparents again!

Thanks for coming Meemi! We had a lot of fun!

Keelyn & Meemi

Mackenzie & Meemi

And just for fun, check out how much Mackenzie has grown in a year in this Christmas picture with Meemi last year

Fun with Meemi!

Mackenzie & I had a great time having Meemi around for a few extra days. I enjoyed the extra (much-needed & appreciated!) hands & Mackenzie enjoyed all the fun provided by a visiting grandparent :) We spent one afternoon making sugar cookies & she had a blast. We have decorated with sprinkles on cookies before, but this was her first attempt at cutting out different shaped cookies & then sprinkling them. What fun! And the added bonus - you get to eat cookies when you are done!

One funny thing that happened after they were cooked, was she was bringing one from the kitchen into the living room to show me & then eat. She ended up tripping because she was watching the cookie & not where she was going. She was soooo upset when it fell on the ground & broke. After calming down & choosing a new one, Meemi warned her to walk very carefully. I have never seen her walk so slowly in my life. She did NOT want to drop another precious cookie!

Sorry the video is sideways, but I'm limited on editing time these days!

This cookie-making is hard work!

So excited to eat her gingerbread man cookie

Just a little wound up after eating her cookies!

Wow, mommy gets to get in a picture when Meemi is here!

She sure does love her baby sister! I am sooo glad the jealousy issues have been minimal :)