My Beautiful Rolling (sort of) Baby

As I mentioned earlier, the weekend that Meemi & Poppee came was absolutely beautiful. When we got home from the zoo, we hung out with the doors open & played outside. Keelyn was on her mat playing with her toys - which she's really into these days. She studies them so intently. She seems so much more into toys than I remember Mackenzie being. I think Mackenzie just liked to roll around! No time to stare at toys! Keelyn is quite different. She looks at the toys & has little interest in rolling. BUT that weekend (at 4 1/2 months) she had her first non-spontaneous roll (she'd flipped in her crib a couple times) and Poppee was the only witness as we were all outside doing sidewalk chalk with Mackenzie! He yelled for me as she was trying to get over, but I just missed it. Then, I watched for a long time, and no second roll! Oh well :P She now rolls over from time to time in her crib, a lot of times at 4:30am and then cries & can't go back to sleep (so that's fun). So, I guess she can roll, but most of the time, doesn't care to do it. She is so different from Mackenzie...... Check out this post on Mackenzie at this age, or even actually a little younger :)

Anyways, here's a few shots of Keelyn as I waited for her to roll & captured her studying & playing with her toys:

So happy on her play mat

Notice the look of concern when her sister lays next to her! Mackenzie can be a little wild around Keelyn & she's not sure what to think of it :)

We're Going to the Zoo, Zoo, Zoo....

We decided with two extra sets of hands, we'd be adventurous and go to the zoo on Saturday when Meemi & Poppee were here. It went smashingly well, it was amazing. We didn't have a meltdown from either girl. Really, we didn't have any crying - just a couple of wimpers from Keelyn as I was getting ready to feed her. Other than that, nothing. Can you tell, I'm still shocked?!?! It was a great day. Weather was perfect.Warm, but not too hot. Couldn't have planned it any better! We were only there a few hours & decided to leave while we were ahead (a trick we are trying to implement pretty often!). Mackenzie LOVED seeing all the animals. She hadn't been since she was pretty little & wow! was she TOTALLY into it this time. We might have to get a season pass! (Or maybe we should stop while we're ahead??)

Best real smile shot of the weekend! With her Meemi :)

Meerkats Mackenzie & Poppee

Checkin' out the warthogs

Sweet Keelyn let Daddy hold her a good bit of the day - a real treat for him!

Approaching nap time, in the line for the most popular exhibit, the Pandas.....Mackenzie makes a little makeshift bed to lay down on!

The pandas were definitely worth the wait :)

Group shot (minus Daddy taking the pic)

Meemi & Poppee.....YAY!!!

So, once again, I'm behind on my blogging. Such is my life these days, and I am trying to accept it! So, here I am, trying to get caught up.......

We had Meemi & Poppee come visit two weekends ago. We hadn't seen them since Christmas - but it doesn't seem that long AT ALL. My life just flies by me these days! We had a lot of fun hanging out & having some extra hands. Here are a few pictures....

Enjoying Poppee's narration of a new book he brought her. Yes, it does say, "Everyone Poops". What can I say? We just finished potty training & I guess it's fun to read about!

They didn't believe that Keelyn was a particular baby at all.....she seemed to love being held by her grandparents this weekend & didn't have to have ME hold her the whole time. It was nice, I gotta say!

If you want something done right...... Poor Meemi, she was lamenting how many shots Poppee was getting with his girls, so I sent Brannon out to take a picture of Meemi & Mackenzie doing sidewalk chalk, but I had my camera on a manual setting & he didn't know. So this is what we got...... Sorry Meemi!!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

We're all sporting some green in our outfits today :) On a McKay family history note, St. Patrick's Day is actually the official date of Brannon & me being a couple. We'd gone on some dates before that, but were "officially" a couple as of 3/17/2001. So that's an entire decade we've been together. Wow. What a ride it has been! But I'm pretty sure we can't be old enough to be together that long, right???

Keelyn's first St. Patrick's Day. In a wardrobe full of pink, she was a little limited on her (clean) green apparel. This sweater was her sister's and had some green & I figured I better get her in it today as I was sure to take a picture and it might be getting too warm for it soon (yay!).

We went a little fancy for Mackenzie.....a smocked dress was her only (clean) green outfit this morning! This was a proud consignment sale find of mine :)

Spring Has Sprung!

Spring seems to be (more or less) in full force these days in Atlanta & I could not be MORE happy! We are loving going to the parks more & more, taking walks, riding trikes (okay just one trike!), and even last Saturday I made a picnic lunch for our family & we ate our lunch out in the backyard. What fun!

I couldn't get Mackenzie to pose for me to commemorate our little picnic, so I first just took a picture of Daddy. Then, when I handed Keelyn to Daddy and said I would just take a picture of

Keelyn - suddenly she wants in the picture! (I'm getting some mileage out of taking pictures of

Keelyn to get Mackenzie in the picture these days :P ). However, she still didn't want to look at the camera for this one..... Oh well, I like this picture anyways :)

One More Post About It......And I'm Done!

So, we had also bribed Mackenzie to do her business on the potty with a cupcake from a little gourmet cupcake place near our home before the princess toy bribes. And we followed through on that as well since we had proclaimed for about a month that she could pick out her own cupcake if she did it. After a couple days of success, on Saturday we took her to pick out a chocolate cupcake with chocolate icing. YUM!

Moment When I Knew it was for Real......

At gymnastics class, Mackenzie is the youngest and I was video taping her here wandering around a bit more than the older, more experienced gymnasts. Then, I found out there was a reason for it......she needed to go potty! I was so proud that she went and told the teacher and then came running towards me. She's really making me a believer :)

Potty Training.....Check!

Well, I hope I'm not jinxing anything, but it looks like we may be down to only one child in diapers! That's right.....Mackenzie seems to be potty trained!!! Can I get a big WHOOO HOOO????!??! We're going on about 5 days of doing all of her business on the potty.

Here's how it happened.... After so much success with giving up her paci after letting her pick out a princess doll at the toy store, I thought we'd try the same thing with going #2 on the potty (she was basically already trained for #1, we just had to get past doing #2). I gave it a few weeks in between, to give her time to be excited again over picking out a new toy. We went to the toy store and walked down the princess aisle. Which was funny in & of itself....she just couldn't decide on just one! "I want this one, no I want this one, how 'bout this one??".....so we put a bunch in the cart and then compared them. Even then she couldn't decide between a bigger princess doll or a cash register with princesses on it, or a little set of miniture princesses & a wand. Well, I determined that the register & mini princesses/wand were the same price as the big doll, so I steered her in that direction to get both because I had a plan for having two toys.....

We rode all the way home with her holding the toys in her lap, and me reminding her that she had to do her business to get the toys.

I told her that I would let the register be her potty toy - to be played with only when trying to do her business on the potty. The mini princesses/ wand would be the reward for going. She came home & immediately sat on the potty with the register and did her business. Thank goodness she needed to go, because she wanted to do it right away! And she got her reward. Wow. She is really motivated by new princess toys. First the paci & now this. Couldn't believe it. But here we are, about 5 days later, and she has been in panties ever since with no accidents. YAY!!!! I think it's safe to say, SHE IS POTTY TRAINED!!!!!

*Note: I'm opting to not include pictures of her on the potty.....I'm sure she'll appreciate that one day!! Although it was tempting because she looks so cute sitting up there, so little on a big potty, playing with her cash register. But that will be something I'll have in my mind to cherish as a little mommy memory!

Do Ba-Way With ME!!!

I hear this phrase all. day. long. Maybe I should translate this for you.....Do Ballet with me! And seriously, all day! After another exciting day at gymnastics, I wanted to show you Mackenzie's first love.....ballet. This was from about a month ago, but the love affair is still growing strong :) And we owe this future prima ballerina's love of dancing to watching the Barbie Nutcracker movie. Thanks Barbie!

FINALLY! Picture Frame Worthy.....

I was given a cute 'Big Sis, Little Sis' picture frame from a friend when Keelyn was born. And I finally have a picture I think is worthy of going in the frame :)

Mackenzie-isms: Conversations edition

The other day, she calls out to me saying "Look at me mom, I'm side-up down" while laying upside down on the couch. Pretty close, kid.

She is really into taking her vitamins & the occasional medicine (which is her allergy pill when spring is in full force). She doesn't get the medicine everyday, but she asks for it everyday when she gets her vitamins. The other day she informed me that she "needed to take her allergy medicine to help her poop come out." I couldn't help but laugh at that one! (And I secretly wished I could give her it to her & she'd go right on the potty!)

One night at dinner, I was encouraging her to try eggplant for the first time. She told me, "I can't eat egg-pwant....it makes my teef (teeth) hurt!". Hmm. Okay. Likely story.

Keelyn's Four Month Post

Hello World!

I turned 4 months old last week, and life is really cruising along. I'm generally much happier these days, but I have definitely developed a STRONG mommy preference. I can be perfectly happy being held by mommy, but hand me off to anyone (including daddy) and I will voice my displeasure quickly and loudly! Mommy says its a little hard on her, between me not taking a bottle AND wanting only mommy to hold me......I'm becoming a little high maintenance (if I wasn't already!). But she is adjusting she says, by using all sorts of baby carrying devices (sling, bjorn, ergo) and you'll see me happily attached to her hip at many points during the day :) She remembers Mackenzie having a strong attachment around this time too.....and it passed after a few months, so she says she'll try to remember to enjoy it because I won't be little for long!

Speaking of preferences, we've discovered that though I like to be held while I am awake.....I don't really love to be rocked to sleep. Mommy originally felt guilty about not rocking me to sleep like she did alot of with my big sissy. So, she just would put me in my swing when it was time to nap so she could keep managing my sister and I would cry but the swing would eventually soothe me to sleep. Now, she's decided to have me nap in my crib because I was looking awfully uncomfortable in my swing because I was trying to roll over in the swing as I slept. So, she wanted to rock me a little to help clue me in that it was naptime, knowing she wouldn't be able to take the time to rock me all the way to sleep, and then lay me down sleepy

(also the pediatrician recommended this so I would learn to soothe myself). WELL, what do you know...... I scream while she rocks me and then when she lays me down I go right to sleep. So, apparently I like to be held when I'm awake and not held when it's time to sleep. Pretty much the opposite of my big sister! HA! Gotta keep that mommy of mine on her toes :)

Speaking of my big sissy, I'm proving to be a bit slower in the rolling department. By this point, my sister had rolled over from tummy to back & back to tummy. Me....not so much! I did have one fluke roll over while swaddled in my velcro swaddle blanket, but with my arms loose, they get in the way & I don't really have the desire to figure all that out quite yet! Probably just a factor of my personality.....I wanna be held - mommy can take care of all movement for me! My sister, I'm told, wanted to be able to move on her own!

In other news, I'm cooing alot lately, making gurgling sounds, smiling & laughing, and enjoy reaching for my toys. Mommy says it's fun to see all these things again & to watch me start to interact with everyone especially my big sister. Sometimes I even laugh at Mackenzie, which makes her so happy! I can tell we are going to be such good friends. Mommy says she can already tell that Mackenzie is SOOO anxious for me to be able to play with her.

I still am not the best sleeper. Mommy says if I can't get it together, a cry it out session may be in my future....but I'm pretty convinced she's bluffing! My most typical night is to bed at 9ish, wake up at 11ish for a top off feeding, let mommy sleep for about 5-5 1/2 hours, wake up around 5ish, eat, back to sleep til 7ish. Mommy hopes for better sleeping soon, but is managing on this schedule for now..... It's working well for me, not sure what Mommy's problem with that schedule is?!?? Oh, and I pretty much can't stand eating that cereal stuff off of a spoon, so we've got a while before that cereal is in me and helping me sleep longer :p

Well, I guess that's about all I've got for now. See you guys in about a month.....

-Keelyn

During the photo shoot, I was checking out my dog, Skylar.

Then Skylar decided to check me out & give me a kiss on the nose!

Sweet Giggles

Finally got some good Keelyn giggles on tape. Enjoy :) I know I did!

Publish Post

4 Month Doctor's Visit

Last week, Keelyn turned 4 months old. It is just crazy how fast it flying by this time. In ways I am so happy (because I just love when they get older, can play with toys, be more content w/o mommy holding her 24/7) and in other ways I'm sad that she is growing up so quickly. And it's just crazy because when you are cooking dinner with a fussy baby attached to you and a toddler hanging on your feet, time cannot move fast enough and then all of sudden you look back and say, where'd the time go???

Anyways, I digress..... Since Keelyn turned 4 months old, we had her regular doctor's visit last week. And once again, I just seem to grow small babies..... I really wish I could chub them up a little to make sure they weren't so small on the charts, but this time I'm not nearly as worried about it. She weighed in at 10 lbs, 13 oz (just 1 oz shy of her sister at this juncture!) which is the 5%. Her height was 24 inches, or about 50%. So, she's growing nice and skinny :)

The doctor wasn't too concerned about the weight. She said she's happy and healthy and fine on all other points she looked at, including an impressively strong head/neck control :) That's my girl! She said she wished they didn't focus on the percentiles sometimes (and noted that as an adult, I might be in the 5% myself, HA!). She's gaining weight and that's what is important. It's just always hard when you have a 100% breastfed baby, I'd like to know exactly what she's getting, but she seems content after feedings, so we'll assume it's okay.

She also reassured me that Keelyn's sleeping habits were quite normal and told me we were just lucky with Mackenzie (I pretty much knew this!). She said I should start putting her down sleepy but not asleep to let her learn to soothe herself, especially since she won't take a paci. And if I wanted/needed to, she might need to cry it out at night if she's wanting to eat every 3 hours or so. I had been worried b/c being on the small side, I didn't want her to really need to eat if she was crying. Ironically, since that visit, literally that night.....Keelyn has been sleeping better/longer at night. Guess she heard what her option was, and didn't want to cry it out either! So, for the last week, she goes down around 9pm (last feeding around 8:30) and I wake her back up a bit by putting her sleep sack on her and lay her in the crib with eyes open. She nods off easily (that goodness!). I then wake her around 11pm for a little extra food before I go to bed! And she's slept til at least 5am, and sometimes 6 or 7am. This morning was a 7am'er and it felt GREAT! Please keep it up baby girl! I really don't want to do the cry it out in the middle of the night thing. Of course, I also don't want to be your personal pacifier for the next year!

Although due to the low weight, we did decide to go ahead and start her on solid foods right at 4 months. So far, she's not impressed, but with Mackenzie we started around 4 1/2 months and by 5 months she was eating, so I'm counting on a few weeks of spitting it out & crying before she'll actually eat anything! Here's a video of her response to the first feeding:

We've Come Full Circle

Today, I found myself sitting in a seat watching my little girl take her first gymnastics class (kind of like where my mother spent many an hour of her life!). I can't believe that she is this big already! We spent the morning watching a little DVR of a collegiate gynmastics meet to get her pumped up for her first class. It's just a little class at a local community center, but the price is just right for our needs :) She's been so into ballet, but the ballet class was a 'mommy & me', and this mommy doesn't want to have to be involved to that level with a baby strapped on me. And the gymnastics class was a mommy gets to sit and watch class. Perfect! Can't wait to watch her in the upcoming weeks! It is too stinkin' cute to see her in a leotard walking across a balance beam! Don't cha think???

And a few pictures as well..... She is going to class with none other than one of her best buds, Mady Kay. We got them to pose before class started - they love each other so much!

They sat right next to each other.....I mean RIGHT next to each other when class first started!

Mackenzie, ready for her dismount!

MK on the trampoline

Love this Kid

Ah, the ebbs and flows of a life with a two year old.....it's certainly a roller coaster ride. I feel like we are in a pretty good space right now. I heard from one parenting speaker that toddlers continually test boundaries to make sure they are still in place, then back off, then if something changes, they test them again.... Well, I find this to be true. We will be in a phase where we are constantly in the punishment/consequence mode. Having to be right on top of her & not letting much/anything slide. Then, she realizes (again!) that yep....still have to obey these parent people. And then, she is fairly obedient again for a phase. With the birth of a new sister, mommy being busy, lots of nursing/tv sessions, we were not too good at punishing her because we were just too busy. She got away with alot more stuff & consequently, was not being the most obedient child. But now, I'm getting my game back with having two kids and have been back on top of her making sure she obeys.....or else! And amazingly, after a few days/week of being very firm with her....guess what?? She's being a lot more obedient again. YAY!! I'll enjoy it while it lasts!!

We've also been working on potty training (again) for about a month. She is pretty much fully

trained to go #1. The other.....not so much. She has full control of it, but is adamant about not wanting to go on the potty for that #2 business. She wears panties most of the time now, and just waits until I put a diaper on her for naptime (though doesn't always make it, but does a lot). Well, I read online that you can try easing them into the potty by having them tell you when they need to go,

then putting them in a pull up/diaper and having them at least go stand

in the bathroom with the pull up on. That has worked a little for us too, but again, not always. I've just come to the realization that she won't be one of those kids that trains in a weekend. It's quite the long process here. But, we're making progress...... I look forward to the day that I can post that we are fully potty trained. Until then......I'm praying for patience!

And for fun.....a couple Mackenzie-isms.... She calls a guitar a "tar". No first syllable needed. She's known this word for a long time since she sees her daddy playing one all the time. She learned when she couldn't speak too well, so it was called tar. It stuck. She still uses the "Y" sound for her "L's". WHich I think is super cute! I love to hear her ask for one of her favorite treats....a "Ya-Yee Pop" (lollipop). A hard word when you can't say your L's!