My Sweet Babies

Just wanted to share a few sweet pics of my babies. In the first one, Mack was happily cooing and then Rhyan rushed in to hug him. She loves her baby brother!

And after hurricane Rhyan came through with her love

Being admired by his fans, Grandmother and Uncle Jonathan

Handsome boy!

Funny faces :-)

I have about 200 pics of Rhyan holding "baby" by now... she loves to hold him but always wants a "piture"

Dont be jealous of the double chin!

Our BIG girl ready to swim!

Our babies bring so much joy to my life! I'm so grateful for them both!

Mommy/Daddy/Rhyan Day!

Jeff and I have been wanting to take Rhyan and spend a couple of days with just her before the summer is over. She's been such a great sport this summer, not being able to go and do very much. Its not a lot of fun to be stuck around the house with a Mom and Dad who are sleep deprived and dont want to play all the time... or to have to be quiet (which, if you know Rhyan, she is LOUD... so i dont mean that we try to keep it silent in the house when Mack naps... just down a decibel or so!) because her baby brother is asleep. But Rhyan has been a little champ this summer. She's loved her brother and not seemed to mind that its a little boring around here!

So last Wednesday we asked the fabulous Tracy to keep Mack for us so that we could take Rhyan out with the two of us after swim lessons. We debated on what to do and settled on something simple. And cheap.

We headed up to the mall of GA! We started out by exchanging some clothes at Macy's. Rhyan just loved running around the store!

Then we walked down to the little play area and let her roam. This was an interesting part of the morning b/c it was the 1st time Jeff and I got to observe Rhyan playing around strangers. She is pretty passive and it aggravated me a little that she wouldnt stand up for herself. Other kids were constantly breaking in front of her in line and getting on the toy she was getting on while she just backed off. We agreed that we may not make it through sending her to school w/o having to beat up on some kids for her :-)

Then we ate an early lunch at the food court.

Followed by a carousel ride. Which she loved. She petted her "horsey" while she rode and told him to go "higher" :-)

And lastly, the FOUNTAIN! This was the only part I had my camera for. It was in the van and Jeff was kind enough to fetch it for me. Such a sweetie.

She wasnt so sure about it at first, as you can tell from this pic!

But she quickly warmed up to the idea!

And decided that she was big stuff!

But not too big to ask Daddy to "mere" and play with her!

She put on her best "pease"....

... and tugged and pulled on Daddy... but was not successful in luring him in!

So she decided she would have fun by herself a little while longer :-)

When we told her it was time to go home she protested with a "noooo" and lay herself on the concrete. If she wasnt so tired, she might have earned herself a spanking. But lucky for Rhyan, her Mama and Daddy were pretty tired, too :-). So instead, I took the time to promise her that we'd come back some other day and that we needed to go home, to which she replied "i ty-yerd! onna go nite nite!".

And indeed she was "ty-yerd". 5 minutes into the ride home and she was out like a light.

It was a great time with our sweet firstborn and I'm grateful for the time we shared! Looking forward to another couple of outings this week before Daddy goes back to work!

Swim lessons!

Rhyan looooooves the "wah-der". She loves it, but doesnt really know how to respect it, which can be a little scary sometimes. Jeff says that if she sees a pool of water she'd jump in and sink to the bottom like a stone having no clue that its dangerous!

Which got us to thinking that some swim lessons could be good for her. I really wanted to do survival lessons, but they cost over $400 which just isnt an option while i'm on an unpaid maternity leave. So we went with the next best thing: Swim Atlanta!

We enrolled her in the infant/toddler class that requires a parent to participate. I went on monday and tuesday while jeff was teaching summer classes and then we both went on Wednesday so i could get some pics and video. Tomorrow is her last day, but even by wednesday she had already learned SO much!

Learning to follow directions and "kick, kick, kick!" when told to and "STOP!" when told.

Practicing getting in and out of the pool with "elbow, elbow, knee, knee" and in on her tummy!

Wall-walking is hard work, even if it is to the "itsy bitsy spider"

She doesnt really like laying back, but she takes it like a champ for a short time

Such a cutie!

"Kick, kick, kick! Paddle, Paddle, Paddle!"... reaching for the dino!

But her favorite part, by far, is when we sing the "wheels on the bus".
The babies on the bus go UP and DOWN!

And the wipers on the bus go "swish, swish, swish!"

The hardest part of the lessons are the "water zoom's". Mrs Jeanette counts to three ("cuing" her to let her know what's about to happen) and she dips her in the water....

"zooms" her to her daddy...

... and she comes up smiling! (usually)

But the best part is at the end when she gets to be "all done" and gives Mrs Jeanette a "big hug".

She's having a blast! Tomorrow's our last day and i cant wait to get some video of how great she's doing!

McKinnon: 1 month

Oh, little Mack, how i love you so :-)

Mack had his one month check a couple of weeks ago. But for some reason (couldnt be sleep deprivation, could it!?) I've not been great at blogging lately.

One month stats:
Length- 22.3 inches (71%)
Weight- 11lbs 6.7oz (82%)
Head Circumference- 15.1 inches (51%)
Up until his one month birthday, Mack was eating every 3 hours around the clock.
He on occasion would projectile vomit (eww) and because of this, the Dr recommended stretching his feedings out to every 4 hours. So we've worked to move there slowly and seem to be doing great with it :-)
He's a big eater, taking in on average 30oz a day, even at a month old.

He is napping well. Sometimes still in the bassinet in his pack and play but mostly in his bed.
He loves the miracle blanket!
He smiles occasionally, but i have yet to catch it on my camera!
Mack loves bath time! His little hand finds the faucet handle almost nightly and it appears he is holding on for dear life! ha!
Dr Messick says that we need to strive for an hour of tummy time a day. I find that difficult to do with a baby who doesnt stay awake for very long, but we're working on it. I'd say he gets about 40 min a day and it shows. He's doing great!
He's a doll baby.

We think we'll keep him :-)

Wanna know what I did today?

Well, my fabulous hubby watched both kiddos (and did so with grace!) so that I could be a part of a block party that our church threw in some old apartment complex's in Lawrenceville (aka: the ghetto! haha!).

A great guy/fellow Jesus follower came to do some training with us and encourage us on how to connect with people who we may not normally have relationships with. He was great!

I was on the "food" team for our group who went to Old Salem Apartments off Stone Mtn road. The apartments are 1/2 empty b/c of the economy... lots of families have moved in with other family members and vacated. But we still had a great time with those who still live there.

It was an opportunity to meet some people who 1. May or may not know the Lord as their savior 2.Are likely of a different culture and 3. Dont have much family around to speak of, much less a church family to love on them.

But they are the same in this way: our Heavenly Father loves them and desires that they be reconciled to Him. Now THAT is something I (or you!) can help with! So thats what we did today. We loved on these people and told them about a God who loves them :-)

Oh, and gave them hotdogs. Cause what says "Jesus loves you" better than a dog on a bun on a hot summer day?!

The weather was PERFECT. The kids were incredible (especially this one, very agile, one legged boy who beat the pants off some of our kids in a game of soccer! AMAZING!). My heart was blessed to be a part of it and to get outside my comfort zone and realize that there is life outside of my family. I needed that wake up call.

Check out the pics by clicking here and you can also read Tim's blogby clicking here.

Again, huge thanks to Jeff, the best Daddy ever :-)

4th of July Weekend: Part 2

4th of July weekend we decided to head up to Jeff's parents mountain house for some R&R. We left after Jeff's last baseball game for the summer season. I had been packing since 1pm and we left at around 4pm. Yes, it took that long. And this is what the back of the van looked like!

We were super grateful for our van :-)

For anyone who has ever gone to the mountain house and read the "visitor log", you know that every year my in-laws go there to spend some time. And every year, Andy makes note in the log that "for the ___th year in a row, Andy worked while Ronni slept".
Well, I got proof this year that the statement is NOT true.
BUSTED! :-)

In fact, it seems that all the men pretty much slept the weekend away...

And i'm even including this one in that statement :-)

Although, Andy did wake up from time to time to hold baby Mack. Turns out, my father in law is a super softie who cant stand to hear his grandkids cry :-)

Saturday evening we basically just ate and sat around and enjoyed one another. We pretty much repeated that senario on Sunday all day long :-) Ronni and Jeff did take Rhyan down to the golf course and let her feed the ducks for a while and play in the creek. She apparently looooved playing in the creek that day... which is why we thought she was being so ridiculous on Monday when we went back and she acted all terrified. Geesh!

Ronni was kind enough to take a few pics for me since I stayed back at the house with Mack

And Sunday night, Andy and Jeff took Rhyan to see the fireworks while Ronni and I hung out at the house and watched Law and Order SVU :-) Rhyan was up till 10:30 but did GREAT! She apparently loved the "pire" (fireworks) and kept asking for them the next night, too!

Wonderful memories. And possibly a new "tradition" :-)

4th of July Weekend

Life with a newborn can be so repetitive... living on a 3 hour schedule all day and all night, not going anywhere. So its a good thing those babies are cute! :-)

But for the 4th this year, we decided to get away to the mountains and join up with Jeff's parents for some time with family... and 4 different walls to look at!

We headed up on Saturday after Jeff's baseball game (summer ball is OVER! halleujah!). The kids did great in the car. Mack woke up wanting to eat about 20 min before we got to the house, so i squished my bootie in the back seat, whipped up a bottle in true mommy fashion and fed the little booger an ounce or so on the road to tide him over. He was great after that. We also contemplated letting Rhyan in on the little secret that the van has a dvd player but figured that for this 2 hour trip, she'd be ok. We're putting off letting her know about it till a long trip, knowing that once the secret is revealed, she'll be begging for barney in the car nonstop!

Saturday evening we enjoyed a great dinner and some relaxing and Sunday was just as great. I'll post about both later. But for now, I wanted to remember how we spent the 4th of July.

Sky Valley celebrated w/ fireworks on Sunday, so Monday we ventured out to the waterfall.

Rhyan loved it! But who wouldnt!?!

Propping up on Daddy :-)

She is so dramatic lately and pouts about everything. This is a typical "Rhyan face"

But I much prefer this beautiful smile!

A sweet lady offered to get a family pic for us! Mack's first trip!

We showed her the creek bed and she seemed interested....

So we let her play in it!

Meanwhile, Mack was catching some zzzzz's under a tree

The creek bed was a little rocky, so we headed down to the golf course area. There, this beautiful church sits and rings its bell on the hour and half hour. Its one of my favorite things about the mtn house... not keeping track of time w/ a watch, but listening for the bells...

Once again, Mack relaxed...

And Rhyan pouted and acted like she was scared (shes not...)

Seriously? Look at that face! DRAMA!

But Daddy went and found a golf ball to play with which made it all better...

For dinner, we had planned on going to a little restaurant in Dillard called the Cupboard. But it was CLOSED! We had been talking on the way up about how we'd like to try the Dillard House some day and it looked like that would be the day! Our opinion? Good but not great. Overpriced. But the view was fantastic! Out by where we had parked was a big pasture with horses so we took the photo op :-)

And this is what we got to look at while we ate. Nice!

Tuesday morning was filled with getting packed up (mostly by me) while Jeff kept Rhyan occupied. Well, this mattress kept her occupied. Here, she's counting... "Won, Two, Tree"...

JUMP!

She also enjoyed Pepere's old chair for a nice rest

We had a great time away. The kids were great and it was so nice to not have any agenda or schedule to keep... no phones or internet... just family, good books, tv, food and naps :-)

More on Saturday and Sunday tomorrow...