Happy 2nd Birthday Mack!

My sweet Mack

I cant believe that two years have come and gone. In some ways, its flown by. And in others it has seemed like a lifetime!

 

I'll never forget your delivery. You had gotten stuck, big fella, and Dr Pohl had to work for a while to get you out without your shoulder getting hurt. Being the phenomenal doctor that he is, I didnt really know that anything was serious... till I saw you for the first time. You were so blue, Mack. And you didnt cry. And all of these special nurses flooded our room and I couldnt see you.

Unlike with your sister, I already knew what it was to be a mommy. I was protective from the moment you were born. With Rhyan,  I was so overwhelmed that I didnt know what to do. When you were born, I knew it was MY job to make sure you were healthy and well cared for. And it scared me so much to see you be born blue and not breathing and crying... and not be able to help you.

I remember lying on the table asking over and over and over "is he ok?". Your initial apgar was a 3...
And after what seemed like 15 minutes but was actually more like 1 minute, they showed me your beautiful PINK face. And you were screaming. And it made my heart so happy :-)

Little did i know, you would do PLENTY of screaming over the next two years. HA!

Little man, you keep us on our toes! You are SO full of personality and emotion. You are quite "vocal" and we never have to wonder how you feel about anything. You are sure to let us know. You are quite the little talker! My favorite thing that you say, of course, is "mommy, i wuz you". Melt. My. Heart.
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You are a lover of all trains! Thomas trains, especially... but any knock off trains will do. You love to go over train tracks and tell us "its very bumpy!". You LOVED the Day out with Thomas that we did for Rhyan's birthday! At Rhyan's birthday party, some sweet friends (the Karmelins) gave you their sons old train table... and you were instantly in LOVE! In fact, we were finally able to successfully get you to do room time with you because of that very train table :-)

 

You have become such a good napper/night time sleeper. As of your birthday, you were still in your crib and you love it. You will ask to go nite nite and for nap! You still nap for about 3 hours a day and for 11 hours at night! After the months and months of having to deal with reflux and finally doing CIO, it makes me so happy to know that it all paid off and that you are well rested.

We are working on sharing your toys with your sister... you seem to think everything is "mine".

Your favorite night time routine is to read a couple of books (your favorites are "Little Red Caboose", "Baby Bible" and "Tractor on the Farm" books), then sing the Thomas theme song together, then we pray together and finish out the night giving kisses. Its become a fun game for us. We have 5 kisses: buffalo (tap foreheads), lion (rub cheeks), butterfly (eyelashes), Eskimo (noses) and fishy (lips). Its my favorite part of my day with you!
And then you say with me "nite nite, sleep tight, dont let the bed bugs bite, sweet dreams, i love you".
Its the same thing I say to Rhyan each night and the same thing I said to my Mommy and Daddy.

You are still a good little eater! And oh my word, how you LOVE your milk. I've never known a child that loved milk like you do!

You have great manners and add "sir" to everything... appropriate or not ;-)

After meals, you now take your plate to the sink and with help opening the fridge, you put your drink away!

You are in a size 5 diaper in the daytime and size 6 at night. You do not have any comfort items that you sleep with, except your thumb.

 

Mack, you are so stinkin independent. Its both a fun and frustrating trait. You want to do EVERYTHING for yourself and pitch royal fits if we have to help you, but if left to do it yourself, you pitch a fit too because you get so frustrated! It leads to a lot of frustration around here. haha! But son, we love you! And we know that the Lord can use your BIG personality and independence for His glory if you will let him.

Having said that, you keep us on our toes in parenting you. Most days, we feel like we do not do a very good job... but that keeps us humble and praying for wisdom and discernment with you. We are doing our best to be consistent with just putting you in your chair in your room if you're having a fit and telling you that you can come out when you are all done crying. Funny thing is, the crying gets WORSE for the first few minutes in there and then you'll come out and in your sweet little voice say "i all done mommy". What a booger! I know one day we'll laugh about all this ;-)

You love your big sister! And she loves you! You love to chase each other (although you get mad if she's too much faster than you!) and tackle her. You pretend to want a hug and then BAM, take her down!

 

 

Mack, you may keep us on our toes and drive us a little batty, but son, we love you like nothing else! You are so fun and full of life! Your laugh is contagious. Your smile is so so sweet. You are so playful and like to come up with games. You are creative! You are loving and kind and empathetic when someone is upset. You are Mack. And we are so very grateful for ALL that you are!

Happy Birthday to my little big man! I love you, McKinnon Andrew Ford!

Happy Birthday lil' Man Mack

Mack turned TWO on Friday... where have the last two years gone?!

FYI, i'm so behind on my blog b/c of procrastination for one, business for two and my inability to get my pics onto cd's so i can delete them from my computer and download new ones (my memory on my computer is about used up... no, i'm not computer savvy...). Excuses, excuses...


My Sweet Mack,

Two and a half years ago when we found out we were having a BOY, i remember some members of our family saying they didnt a stinky BOY... they wanted another girl. I wont name those family members for fear that it may crush your spirits (but hint, hint, their names rhyme with "ammy" and "ayer"). But now that you've been a part of our lives for two years and we've had that long to get to know you, not one single person wishes you were anything but YOU. Stinky boy and all. You are scrumptious! And we all adore you!

I've been really slack at doing your quarterly updates, missing your 15 and 18 month updates on the blog. Not to be mean, but you were pretty much in a bad spot from 15-18 months so it might be a blessing in disguise ;-). We loved you through it, but it was not the easiest phase for you, or us. Lots of screaming. Lots of crying. Lots and lots and lots of whining. And disobeying. And time out. Whew. I'm so grateful its over! (Please God, tell me its over!)

And now, you're TWO! And while we still have an occasional hiccup, you are for the most part SO much joy for our family! I think the fact that you had 1 year molars AND canines coming in between 15-18 months had a LOT to do with the bad phase, and I know that your two year molars are coming soon, but I'm really crossing fingers that we will all be able to handle it a little better when there are only four teeth coming instead of eight. Bless your heart!

At two years old you are:

-In size 5 diapers in the day, size 6 at night. Interested in the potty and actually squeezed out a little pee pee recently and on occasion you poopie on the potty. I'm hoping you'll be easy to train, but am not stressing over it. It'll happen when it happens :-)

-In 24 mo or 2T clothing

-Kind of a freak about shoes. We dreaded the day that you grew out of your favorite tennis shoes b/c you always pitched a fit if we tried to put anything else on you. For a long time (in the winter) I decided to not make an issue of it but now that its summer... well, son, you cant wear tennis shoes to the beach or pool. So I've bought you a pair of brown, cute sandals, a pair of crocs, a pair of flip flops and new tennis shoes. We've had melt downs about the flip flops which i'm assuming may be because you dont like stuff between your toes, so  we've moved on from those. You prefer your crocs which is fine, unless you get a spec of dirt in them which makes you freak as you yell "i dirty! i dirty". :-)

-LOVING Thomas trains and Cars best. You know most of the Thomas theme song and are sure to yell out each name of the trains during the song. You even go to bed and sing it to yourself (we hear you yelling "THOMAS! JAMES! ERCY!  ORDON! EELY! ENRY! EDWARD! TOBY!" haha... you miss some of the letters in the names, which i also love! You got a train table handed down to you from some friends and are pretty much in love!

-Able to count to 12 and only miss the number 4. I think thats pretty darn good!

-Know a LOT of your ABC's. Idk what letters you miss, but i'd say its about 1/2 and 1/2 right now?

-Loving to pray. You love to say certain words in the blessing at dinner time but, true to Mack form, you yell them :-) Makes for interesting looks if we eat out, for sure.

-ONLY sucking your thumb in bed now and only to get to sleep. Unless your teeth hurt and then we may see you pop it in from time to time but a gentle "mack... no thumb" and you pop it right back out. Funny thing now, though... at night I say our night nights and ask for a kiss and here recently you look at me and smile and pop your RIGHT thumb in your mouth. HA! You are a left thumb only sucker so you're definitely doing it to be funny. See how cute you can be?!

-Tackling your sister, chasing her and being a great, annoying little brother :-) You love to give her hugs and kisses at night, and laugh your head off when you slyly decide to take her down mid-hug!

-Quite animated! You make all kinds of funny faces and say words in funny ways to make us laugh. Sometimes I dont even think you realize you are funny!

-Burp a TON! We treated you for a month with reflux medicine to try to get your tummy calmed down and while it may have helped a little, you still burp tons. Funny thing is you always put your hand over your mouth afterwords, say "oh wow! i burp! cuuuse me!" and laugh. So cute!

-Eating sporadically... again, it may be the teething or the fact that your taste is becoming more discriminate... either way, I wish you'd stop spitting out food that you dont like. I wish you'd just eat the one bite and refuse more. Oh well... maybe one day! haha

-Love to sing all kinds of songs!

-Do REALLY well with independent play time now! Thanks to the train table!!! You were really struggling with adjusting to our new church and Daddy thought some independent play time may be helpful and while you screamed a good bit in the beginning, you now do 30 minutes a day HAPPILY and clean up after! Thank you Lord for progress! (you are also doing GREAT in church now, too!!! halleujah!)

-Love to wake Mommy up in the morning on the weekends. You run into my room and yell "Mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy!" like you havent seen me in a month! You crawl up on the bed and hug and cuddle with me and then pull back the covers and literally push up on the back of my head/face and say "up mommy! UP!". You are not very patient ;-)

-LOVING being outdoors. loving water!

-Still screaming a lot. But that is just you. Most days, its less than it used to be. You still get frustrated, but as you get older and more able to do the things your big sister does, you seem happier and happier!

-Constantly sticking your finger up your nose and saying "mommy, i dot boo-dies" LOL!

Mckinnon Andrew Ford
Your first two years of life brought all kinds of challenges. From your reflux and protein sensitivity to your sheer stubbornness and refusal to use sign language... we've had our good days and bad! But the longer I have the privilege to get to know you, the more I enjoy you!

 I absolutely adore you, my sweet boy! You have the funniest personality and are so playful. Its true that I call you a "bundle of busy"... and for good reason. You're like a monkey with all of your climbing and jumping! I definitely see ER visits in our future with you ;-). But you bring so much joy to our family, lil man. Your daddy and I adore you and Rhyan is quick to say how much she loves you and how you are her BEST FRIEND! She gets upset with us if we spank you or make you cry and says "you be nice to my brother! he's my best friend!" Your Daddy and I pray that the Lord will always allow you to be life long best friends!

We love you, sweet boy! We get frustrated sometimes because we dont exactly know how to parent you all the time... and you get frustrated because we dont understand you! You keep us on our knees, asking the Lord to give us discernment on how to be your Mommy and Daddy. But this much is true... being your Mommy has taught me SO much about how our Heavenly Father feels about us, His creation. I am NOT easy  to love and am not obedient all the time. I pitch fits when I dont get my way and scream when Im frustrated with the Lord sometimes. I'm not an easy child of God, and yet God loves me. And so it will always be true with you, my son... you may not be the easiest child to raise, but through you, God refines your Daddy and I and no matter what, we will always love you! Thats what family is! Unconditional, never ending love... and you've got it right here!

We love you little buddy!!!
Mommy

Fall pics

One beautiful day in early November, I decided to take the kids to our neighbors yard and get a few pics of them on this big rock, with a pretty tree behind it. I'm no professional, but i did think the kids did pretty well because of it being such a relaxed, unplanned thing :-)

Doing "itsy bitsy spider" :-)... he's a tough cookie to crack, btw... doesnt smile on command and with all of the ear infections and teething he endured in Oct, Nov and Dec of last year, we saw very few smiles. (I'm happy to say that so far, so good in 2013! knock on wood!)

I did NOT tell them to kiss... they truly do just love each other (for now! haha)

I LOVE that they were holding hands here :-)

Our babies being 2 years apart can be hard sometimes... but the relationship they share is priceless!

Oak Hill Fall Festival

Halloween fell on a Wednesday this year. And our church had its fall festival the Sunday before. We had taken part in the Dacula Festival the day before (Saturday) which was kind of a bust so we left and went to Shlaine's church (our old church) and took part in their festival where the kids ate chili and played on their playground, etc... but somehow i didnt get any pics?! :-( So on we move to our church festival...

When you first arrive at our church festival, they always take pictures to give you when they come visit (if you're a visitor) and share more about the church. Well, we may not need a visit from the visitation team, but we DO appreciate the scenery and thought we'd catch our own pic! Yes, i should crop. But i didnt. Hello, people. I'm just trying to catch up at this point! HA!

Rhyan had actually woken up with a random fever but didnt seem to have any symptoms. So we had kept her home from church that morning so as not to "share". But the festival was all outside and she was feeling much better and fever free so we went. And then the wind started blowing and we were so COLD! :-( And i felt bad for taking her, but she had a blast! So we just stayed a little while and let her play some games while Mack played and it was all good...

Mack and our youth pastor, Kyle (who looks like a youth himself!!!)

Mack kept wanting us to help him up this ladder and signed "please" over and over :-) Cute!

Btw, we didnt let Rhyan wear her dress b/c it was too cold and we wanted her WARM.

Here's my baby playing putt-putt for the first time! She did AWESOME!

We told her to try to throw the hoop around the post, so she walked up to it and tossed it. 

SUCCESS! Ha! We'll take it how we can get it :-)

So proud of herself!

And in this game you're supposed to toss the ball into the can... so again, she walked up to it :-)

Toss the ball into the boot?

Too hard! Dropping it is easier :-) After all, you've got to ensure that you get CANDY!

We had a great time with our babies! We ALWAYS love outdoor fun, although we enjoy it more when its warm :-) Not to be picky or anything! haha...

Ear Transplant anyone?

When Jeff was growing up he had a terrible time with getting ear infections. He had tubes. 3 times! And had some hearing loss that affected his speech for a while (although it was quickly resolved with some speech therapy). And it seems that he has passed on this lovely little trait to our sweet boy :-(

This is boring to most, I'm sure, but for my own records I'd like to make note of Mack's sicknesses this past few months.

At Macks 15 month checkup he received 4 shots. 3 regular vaccinations and one flu shot. Poor guy! 4 days later he was running a fever of up to 103.3! I called the nurse advice line at our pediatricians office and the nice lady assured me that it is totally normal to run a fever after the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) up to 103 and that it can last 3 days. That there was no reason to think that he was contagious or sick. So, on life went. On day 5, he was pitiful. His fever was so high and he was so lethargic. He was with Tracy (we were all still under the assumption that the mmr was the culprit) and she was so sweet to basically just hold him all day. But Thursday night, when he was still running a high fever, I put in a call to the Dr after hours.

And what she told me irritated me. "Oh no, this wouldnt be caused by the MMR. The MMR does typically cause a fever but it doesnt come until around day 7. Day 3-4 is far too early. This is either a virus or strep".
Wow. Score. So i had sent Mack, SICK, to Tracy's. Nice.

Turned out, it was a virus. And like most viruses, when it was over, he had a BAD cold/congestion.
Which turned into an ear infection. #1.

We got amoxicillin, took it for 10 days (um, FOUGHT him to make him take it for 10 days) and he seemed fine! YAY! For about 3 days. And then he seemed like his ears were hurting again?!

So I took him to an on call (adult) clinic. This pic is from our ride over. I think he was so exhausted that he was falling asleep anytime he got comfortable sitting up :-(

We were chillin in the waiting room when Mack started swallowing a lot. And i thought to myself "i wonder if he's going to throw up?" and about that time he puked all over me. Sad!

So he got stripped down

And then in the treatment room, it wasnt enough that we both smelled of puke, he decided he needed to crawl under the table and poop. The room wreaked. Enough that the nurse offered to move us to a different room! Embarrassed as I may have been, I was grateful for the fresh room :-)

The Dr said he still had an infection in BOTH ears and gave him a Rx of Ceftin. Which CVS took forever to fill while it was 9pm and my kid was exhausted and crying. I should have gone IN the pharmacy instead of going through the drive through. Something tells me that his presence may have sped them up ;-)

I left to go out of town on a girls trip (post coming) on Thursday night and felt so much better to know that he was on a new Rx and would be ok for his Daddy while I was gone.

WRONG! On Saturday, Jeff called and said he thought Mack needed to go to the dr again. So this time I told him to go to CHOA (childrens healthcare of atlanta). There, they said that he indeed still had a double ear infection and that ceftin is not a good antibiotic for ear infections. And that we really should not take him to an adult clinic b/c they dont know how best to treat kids (they said this very nicely).

Finally, this new antibiotic worked! (i dont remember the name). After 3 weeks of ear infections and nightly crying, he was finally doing better! This was all in October.

Then, he got another virus in November (early November). The fever, once again, left him with lots of congestion. We started suspecting the week before thanksgiving that he might have another ear infection, but we werent sure. He was still SO congested and the Dr had recommended once before that if he had a hard time breathing at night that we could give 3/4 tsp of benadryl. So we were doing that nightly to help him dry up a little and he seemed ok?

We made it through Thanksgiving and I told Jeff (just this week) that I just thought something was STILL wrong. That if i didnt give him benadryl he cried at night (a lot) and that didnt make sense. So we went BACK to the dr (7th visit in 10 weeks. 1. 15 month check up 2. one week later- virus 3. one week later-ear infection 4. 2 weeks later- ear infection 5.-4 days later- ear infection 6. 3 weeks later-virus 7. 2 weeks later- ear infection). And it is yet another ear infection!

So, we have him on Augmentin now. Its hard on the tummy so we're making sure he gets florastor (a great probiotic for babies) but we are so hopeful that this will be the last of the ear infections! According to a patient of mine who is a pediatrician, the "rule of thumb" is 4 ear infections in a year. She said that they may would even go ahead and consider it after 3 since its been in less than 3 months... but since we're already on the mend, we'll hold out till next time... hoping there wont be a next time!

He is finally getting sleep again, which means we are ALL getting to sleep again :-) It had gotten so bad that each night, Rhyan started praying that "Mackee will not cry and wake me up tonight"! LOL! I think we've ALL been praying that for a while. And now, we're hoping those prayers are answered. Permanently!