Happy Birthday Ray!

Today is Ray's birthday and we have been celebrating all weekend! Yesterday he went to gymnastics class with us and then we went on a day date to the movies and lunch thanks to Mimi (we're trying out another name since MamaRita is really long!). Today we enjoyed lunch with his parents at Mama Dips in Chapel Hill! Tomorrow we continue the celebrations with our trip to the beach! We're so excited!

Mackenzy and I have been busy yet up to nothing over the past few weeks. We still have our morning routine where I go to the gym and she plays at Mrs. Karen's house in the mornings for a few hours and on Fridays we go to gymnastics class. Nothing worth taking a picture over! However, our beautiful, tall, and skinny baby has finally outgrown her infant car seat... After weeks of searching the internet and taking to other moms, she now has a new convertible car seat (Thanks Mimi!). My car is small and convertible car seats are huge, but I finally settled in on this one because of the safety ratings and the Sure LATCH system- which is amazing by the way! It only took me 5 minutes to install in the car and it doesn't budge at all. Unfortunately, since my car is small, tall Ray is now squished in the seat when he rides with me, but that is a small price to pay for our daughter's safety! Just look at those long legs! She needed a new car seat! Below is a picture of her in her new Evenflo Symphony 65 with Sure LATCH! I'm glad she likes it because she'll be riding in it for a long time!


This is just a random picture of her in her exersaucer. I think she was trying to tell me she was hungry! I had to move it up to level 2 on the height thing because her legs are so long... I wonder who she gets that from!



Other exciting Mackenzy news:

• Mackenzy apparently said "uh oh" at Mrs. Karen's house when she fell down on her bottom. I haven't heard her say it yet, but I'm waiting for it.
• She started clapping her hands a few days ago and is now a clapping machine! Her new favorite song is "BINGO" because she can join in!
• She is taking a few steps while holding on to my hands and is cruising around the furniture. She only walks for me though and gives everyone else noodle legs! That's my girl!
• She says "Mama," "Dada," "Hey Nick," "Hey," "Ba ba" and a I swear she says "thank you" too. The lady in the doctors office also heard it!
• She points to things she wants or sees with her whole hands. We're still working on the 1 finger point!
• She follows me around the house and has to know where I am and what I'm doing at all times.
• Self feeding is going well with graham crackers, Cheerios, toast, Gerber puffs, and Gerber cheetos. She still prefers 3rd food purees when it comes to everything else, but we're working on it!
• Finally, I tried to give her a little formula the other day to see what she would do and she immediately spit it out! I don't blame her though. I tasted the stuff and it's gross... Formula fed babies don't know what their missing! I just hope I can find something nutritious for her to drink, because I don't plan on nursing forever!
  

Sprouting teeth is hard work!

Mackenzy currently has 2 cute bottom teeth, but over the past few weeks she has begun the cycle of crankiness/ sleepiness/ fussiness/ chewing/ drooling/ pooping all over again. After much prying, I was finally able to look in her mouth and she has sprouting 4 new top teeth at the same time. Poor baby! Apparently the new teeth are tiring her out because tonight she fell asleep at 6:45 (45 minutes ahead of her bedtime). We'll probably pay for letting her go to sleep so early later tonight, but she was so sleepy! Doesn't she look so peaceful as she sleeps with her booty up in the air?

Happy (almost) 10 months!

Mackenzy will officially be 10 months old in a few days and has made a few new discoveries over the past week or so. She discovered the toilet, toilet paper, light switch (turns the lights on and off), doors (she likes to open and close them), and the stairs... Her discoveries are always cute (well except for the toilet) and I love seeing her little brain working and her eyes light up when she realizes something new, but when she crawled to the stairs and up all of them (with me behind her of course) I got very scared! As soon as Ray got home we went to Babies R Us and bought a baby gate. Now instead of me keeping her away from the stairs, I have to redirect her away from the gate!

She also had her 9 month check up last week and all is going well! She is still a tall little munchkin and the doctor said that it's ok she's not a chubby baby. She eats several times a day (her food and ours) but burns up a lot of calories because if she's not sleeping she's on the move. Since she's on her own personal track for weight gain we'll be purchasing a convertible car seat next month. Even though the weight limit on an infant car seat is 22 lbs, the height limit is only 29 inches! She has about an inch to go before she outgrows the seat because she is tall... We've already put a new seat in Ray's car and she loves it!

This week we introduced pasta, peaches, graham crackers, and pancakes! She loved the graham crackers and pancakes, but she's wasn't to sure about the pasta and peaches...

When I'm getting dressed in the morning, I like to let her roam around the room and play with her toys. Every once in a while, she'll find something I didn't hide to well and makes a mess. On this particular day, she found the ribbon that I put in her hair...

Yeah I caught you, you little stinker!

Randomness!

Nothing much has happened over the past week... Mackenzy has been sleeping very well which has been amazing because sleeping has not been her strong point! She's been passing out around 7:30 every night and waking up around 4:00 or 5:00 to nurse and goes back to sleep until about 7:30. I can't complain about that, but I'm definitely enjoying it now since I know that trend can come to an end at any moment!

Some of you know that I'm in love with consignment stores and sales! I've been looking for this walker/ride on toy all summer and I finally found one! It retails for about $20-$40, but I found one for $8.50! All I had to do was spray it down with Greenworks cleaner and rinse it off and it looked as good as new! Below is a picture of her sitting on the riding part. It also turns in to a walker that she can push around the floor. I tried to get a picture of it but every time I took the camera out she would turn towards me and try to take the camera... Oh well! And if your wondering, she's chewing on a bag clip. Yes I know it's not a baby approved toy but she loves it an it makes her gums feel good so we let her have it sometimes!

She looks so grown in this picture!


Again, here is Mackenzy with her favorite chew toy. Once she sees it it's impossible to hide it from her because she'll go looking for it (object permanence milestone: complete!) She started baby gymnastics classes last week! She looked so cute with the other babies crawling all over the mats and jumping on the air track. I might be saying this because I'm her mom, but she was far more advanced than her peers and was the only baby that did a forward roll without crying and crawled through the barrel! She'll be in the Bugs (4-10 months) class for a few more weeks and then she'll move to the Birds (10-19 months) class. Maybe she'll be a gymnast like mommy! Although I'm hoping she'll like swimming, volleyball, or soccer...



I finally gave in and bought her some real shoes. Aren't they cute! Her first pair of Stride Rites! She absolutely hates shoes, but since she'll be walking soon we felt like it was time for her to get used to them. Nana thinks she needs some of those ugly walking shoes, but I just couldn't get myself to buy those horrible looking things! When she starts walking she'll get hard bottom shoes, but for right now flexible soles are good for her. I'm just glad she's keeping them on and we haven't lost one yet!

Here is Mackenzy with Ray right after she woke up one morning. I had to get a picture since the fro is getting taller every week. Every morning when Ray doesn't have to open the store she looks at him and says "Dada", smiles, and then hits him on the head. Now that's a wake up call!

Finally, a random picture from the beach. She's just being her silly, happy self! Have you noticed the muscles in her arms yet? I think she gets those from me!

First Trip to the Beach!

Mackenzy and I were able to head down to North Myrtle Beach for a few days because my wonderful uncle who let us have his timeshare for a few days! We drove down to meet my mom and Godmother and I only got lost once! Unfortunately, Ray was unable to go with us because he's something like important at Food Lion these days and couldn't take another vacation since he just started his new position...

On the way down Mackenzy slept most of the way but then woke up screaming and was very unhappy for about an hour because I hit a stretch of road that had no where to stop. When we finally made it to a McDonald's it was storming, she was cranky, and the power went off. The good news is that after a diaper change, a break from the car ride, and food in her tummy she was a much happier baby and I even got free food because the storm knocked all computers off so I couldn't pay for my food!

We has a very restful time and it was good practice for when we go to the beach again in August!

Day 1 of ocean exposure. It was very windy that day, but we went to the beach just to get our feet wet!

Me trying to convince her that the ocean is fun!

Practicing her swim skills in the pool at the hotel. She likes the pool much better!

Looking very unsure about all that water!

Kenzy holding on to me for dear life! She was not fond of the ocean...

A very sleepy Mackenzy and Mama Rita

Hopefully we'll get the timeshare again next year (hint hint uncle Pop!) and we can bring all the grandparents too!

Enjoying time with Mommy!

Well, I have been on summer break for about a week and it has been amazing! I've been able to get some much needed rest, do some much needed cleaning, and most importantly spend lots of time with my little stinker! I love being home with her and she keeps me busy every day! She still goes to play with Nana and Mrs. Karen so I can go to the gym (I'm not ready to put her in the daycare at the gym yet!) and I'm sure once Grandma/Mamarita gets back she'll get some time with her too.

Mackenzy has gotten to be so busy! She crawls, climbs on, and stands up on everything. Her new thing is to sit up and crawl away when I'm changing her diaper. Needless to say, if you came to our house during a diaper changing or bath time you may catch a naked baby crawling around the house. She's getting really fast too and once she spots something she wants she after it!

She's also been trying to give people things when you talk to her! She tries to feed me her sweet potato puffs in the morning and tried to give her Auntie Vaughn her teething ring. That's my little social butterfly!

The table is her new favorite spot in the house!

Posing with mommy! She was a little sleepy...

I think she's up to no good!

Her hair is usually up in some style that I came up with and I thought I would capture her afro before the styling! She has so much hair, even though we are still working on the hair in the back of her head! Isn't she a cutie!