Day 203 - 'Big Church' for the Last Time

Macy showed us that this morning would probably be the last time we take her into 'big church' with us.... She was sooo tired after eating during the music, but she just didn't want to sleep. She was still VERY good, not making any noise or fussing, but she just could NOT sit still. She wanted to stand on our laps and bounce, or switch from me to Miguel and back again. We couldn't pay attention to what the pastor was saying because Macy was trying to get our attention. Normally she sleeps right through the message, so it's never been a problem, but I know next time she'll be visiting the nursery for sure! Actually, after the first service, I did drop her off at the nursery so Andrew and I could spend some time having a muffin in the coffee shop while Miguel was teaching his class.... and she didn't even fall asleep in there until right before we came to pick her up, an hour later! Crazy girl. :) But I got a quick picture of her sitting with daddy during church. Such a cutie.

Tonight we had Andrew's first baseball practice of the season. He's very excited to be playing again, but even more excited that coach invited him over one weekend to play and to go fishing! :)

Time for a hot bath before Monday gets here!!

Day 202 - Canton is for Girls

So Macy & I drove down to Canton to go to First Monday Trade Days with my sisters and niece,
Abigail. Didn't buy anything other than a new diaper bag with the girl's name on it, but we just needed to get out and enjoy the fresh air and sunshine and time with the girls. It was nice, and Macy was sooo good the entire time we were out. After Canton, we drove to Mineola with my parents and sister to see the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition as they were building a family a house out there. It was fun to see what goes on that you don't really see on TV (and vice versa). Then we drove home to Andrew & Miguel, who were waiting up for us. Seems they had a good day together, too, even walking up the big hill to McDonald's for a late lunch! :) The only pic I got today, was after I had to change Macy out of her Canton outfit because she sprung a leak, and so we put her in the cute little pink clothes that Marcie & Abigail brought for her as a backup outfit (since I left the bag of extras at home!!). I sat her up in the backseat before I loaded up the car to head out, and she just looked too sweet and pretty in the pink, that I had to get a picture. :)

Day 201 - Discovering the Tile

Macy is discovering more each day that there are lots of places for her to scoot around in our house...not just the living room floor anymore! She's scooted into the kitchen at times when I'm cleaning up, fixing a bottle, etc... she'll be right behind me on the tile, just smiling up at me with that "I found something new" smile :) But now that she's trying to sit herself up from her belly, onto her bottom, we have to watch her very carefully, because sometimes she topples over and she's likely to hit her head on that hard tile floor. We're just constantly teaching her redirection - turning her the opposite way, toward something fun on the carpet, so that we can avoid that first bruise on her noggin. :)

And because I'm venturing into some different photography areas (birth photography being my newest to venture into), I thought I'd better sharpen up on my extended flash photography skills. It's a wonder what a camera can do without using the on-camera flash - but it's also very expensive, because you have to have really good lenses (which I cannot afford!)... But when you're able to get an extended flash for the top (or to use off camera) of the camera, and a diffuser, and use it right - the pictures look GREAT. No shiny faces like an on-camera gives, no harsh shadows behind the subject. I love it. And it's going to come in very handy for any indoor shoots that I may have :) Just had to share! (because the pics you will now see from here on out will probably have much better lighting to them!)

That is all. Canton with Macy & my sister(s) tomorrow! And my mom & dad too, if they decide to come!! Can't wait to get away for a day!

Day 200 - Finding Her Binks

(So I happen to call her pacifier, Binks, so what?!) haha

Macy bug has learned how to find her paci almost every time she wakes up in her crib now. It's about the only time she sucks on it now - she doesn't take it during the day or when we put her to bed, but has definitely taken to finding it when she wakes up. So I've been proud each time I walk into her room to see her smiling behind that paci that she's somehow managed to find and get into her mouth. She's a smarty pants. :)

But today, upon waking up from her nap, her daddy went in to pick her up, and found her with her arm stuck way up in her sleeve, that she had sucked to no end, with the sleeve soaking wet... and he said she was trying her hardest to get that paci into her mouth, by using her hand that was stuck in her sleeve! It was too cute. And I guess she succeeded, because there it was, in her mouth, right where she needed it to be :)

We sure love that girl!

Day 199 - Squeals and Giggles

Macy has found her voice, that's for sure :) Tonight, she just randomly started squealing really loudly and then she'd giggle and smile after. Andrew is normally the only one who can get her to really laugh, but this time, no one was doing anything, and she was just yelling as loud as she could with happiness. It's too cute. We sure do love that girl. She is just always so happy :)

Day 198 - Reading with Andrew

Andrew is trying to read 360 minutes so that he can get a free ticket to Six Flags... so we've been doing a ton of reading lately! Tonight, Macy decided she wanted a free ticket too, so she scooted herself over and read right along with us. :) Well, we were actually reading an I-Spy book, so she was really helping her big brother find the hidden objects. She is one lucky girl, to have such a good, caring, loving, protective big brother. I hope they'll always stay close...

Day 197 - Chewing Swords

Yes, we're wearing our snowman (and Christmas tree!) PJ's tonight, cause it's gonna SNOW again tomorrow! CRAZY weather!!

I haven't yet mentioned it here, but Macy bug is really starting to sit up more now. She hasn't really been able to get herself up into a sitting position on her own yet, but if we put her that way, she pretty much can stay that way for a long time. Loving it. And holding her bottle - when she's hungry enough, she does it really good! Other times, she just plays with it, twisting it around in her hands, trying to chew on the side of it, etc... only resulting in milk up her nose, in her hair, sprayed on her eyes... Pretty funny stuff. But we're excited to see her doing a few more things on her own now. But the scooting - it's just gotten better and faster since I last posted about it. The girl is ALL OVER the place now. If she sees something she wants (my pink polka dotted socks), she makes her way over to it in no time. And then proceeds to chew it (making my toes tickled and soggy!) to death. :) Today she tried actually crawling - she used her hands to move her body, but then proceeded to just fall to the ground and scoot the rest of the way. Hey, whatever's faster works for her. No need to do that crawling business when my knees, toes, and belly work just fine, she's probably thinking. haha

She LOVES her brothers foam sword, too. Give her that, and she'll be happy for hours. No, really. Until she gets teeth, then it's bye-bye sword!

It was a good day with my Macy girl and my Andrew boy when he got home from school. :)

Day 196 - Hamburgers and Hairbows

Today we had the pleasure of having lunch with my friend Donna and her family. We met at a hamburger place near our house, and it was YUMMY as usual. Macy bug was dressed to impress in her little leopard print velour warmup suit and a cute little bow to match. Of course, when Macy gets ahold of the hairbow, her whole world goes dark ;)

Day 195 - More PJ's!

Second night in her (other pair of) new big girl pajamas. I ran to the store today while the boys and Macy stayed home and played with Genna & Micaela, who Miguel kept for Mari for a few hours. Then tonight, we went to an aunt's house for a graduation celebration for a cousin of Miguel's. It was a fun night, but we are all just worn completely out. I'm ready for a day of rest. Seems like Mondays are those days for me. Everyone goes to work and school and I can relax with the babies for a while :)

Tonight we end with a cute pic of Macy playing with a new toy that Jake let us borrow :)

Day 194 - Big Girl PJ's

Had a doctors appointment this morning, and after that, Macy & I went to the mall and did some window shopping. Ended up finding some big girl pajama's that were on clearance, so we had to get them :) My baby girl is growing up way too fast! And ignore Andrew's hand in one of the pics - he was trying SO hard to get the 'bunny ears' in the pic. :)

Day 193 - NorthWood Model

My friend and previous boss, Becky, at church, emailed me this morning needing the old pic of Macy in the NorthWood Kids onesie.... and one with a cute headband/flower/bow, etc... So I stuck her in the onesie again with a cute flower headband and grabbed such a sweet pic of her (in my opinion anyway!). :)

Funny thing is, is after I took the pic, I put her pants back on her.... after a while, I checked her legs to make sure she wasn't cold in the house, and that's when I realized that she didn't have her pants on anymore! Andrew and I laughed about that, cause apparently miss thing thinks it's easier to scoot around the room without pants, and she somehow shed them in the middle of her scooting.

Not sure if she's not feeling well or what, but she only napped once this morning, as usual, but then stayed awake ALL DAY LONG. Not fussing, which is good, but just so tired that she wasn't sure what she wanted. I'd put her in the playpen bassinet in our room for a nap, but she'd just cry and cry and cry, then I'd take her out and she'd play again for another hour or so. She ate just fine, but never took a nap. I was washing her sheets in her bed, and I'm wondering if she just couldn't sleep in the backup bed because it wasn't her "real" bed... She never uses the playpen in our room anymore, but I honestly didn't think she'd notice, but I'm now thinking she may have. Tonight I got her things clean and she went right to sleep when we put her down for the night. Strange. But regardless, she was still so good all day long, despite no napping. I am blessed :)

Guess that's all for today. Goodnight all!!

Day 192 - Sweet Baby Girl

Even when she's soooo tired, she's still soooo sweet! The batteries on my camera died tonight, so I had to use our backup camera, and I'm not used to it anymore, and had to work quick to get a few shots before she started fussing (it was bedtime and she was starving).... so unfortunately, the pics from today are kinda blurry. But they were still really cute, so I had to post them :) It was that or a pic of her sleeping in her crib, because that's where she is currently.

The pic of her and Andrew... he was supposed to be sitting behind her to help her back up if she fell over (she's learning how to sit up and sometimes still falls over), and he then wanted to get in the shot with her... but all she was wanting to do was chew on his feet. :) And he's so ticklish everywhere, especially his feet. So it was funny to see her grabbing his feet and him giggling :) I LOVE his love for her. Today I put her in the umbrella stroller like a big girl, to pick him up from the bus stop... she loved it and her little feet were just swinging back and forth the whole time... Well, when Andrew saw her in the stroller sitting up, the first thing out of his mouth was "Mommy, did you buckle her in??!!" Um, yeah Andrew, I did. :) He is such a little protector to her, it's so sweet. She's a lucky little girl! And we are lucky parents!!

Day 191 - Hand me downs

We didn't keep too many things from when Andrew was a baby. Probably because we didn't have the room for much back when we lived in an apartment. But there was one little sweat suit type outfit that I got for Andrew at the dollar store of all places, when he was about 6-9 months old. It was nothing fancy - just blue with a little dog on the shirt. But it was always one of my favorite things for him to wear and to hang out in. So I kept it.... And today, Macy wore it. :) And of course, I had to take a picture of her in it... and she looked just as sweet in it as Andrew did, 6 years ago!

Day 190 - Life is Fun

Macy girl was a smiley girl today. Seems fitting that she had to wear her fun yoga pants too :) Girl was all about posing and making cute faces for my camera today... and no, we didn't spike her milk (that one pic will show you what I'm talking about!). :)

Cameron had a rough day today, but we're hoping for more smiles from him tomorrow too... Macy has no idea what to do when he screams at her :)

Day 189 - Happy Valentine's Day!

We enjoyed our Valentine's Day together as a family and with my sister-in-law, Marisa, and her two girls, Genna & Micaela. And of course, Riley too :) Woke up and gave everyone their V-day gifts... Macy got a card and, well, she got a highchair yesterday. The kids played the Wii while Macy watched and napped, we had a yummy lunch thanks to Aunt Mari, and we just relaxed and had a good day together.

I went out for a bit in the afternoon before Miguel had to take Riley home, and when I came back, M & R were playing the guitar and singing together. Riley had Macy in his lap and while we were sitting there, her head nodded forward and the girl went right to sleep. This girl NEVER just falls asleep in random places. She has to be snuggled or put down in her bed to sleep... so seeing her fall over asleep like this on her big brother was just too sweet for words.

Just a few random pics from the day :)

Day 188 - New Things & Playtime

Got Macy a real big girl highchair today. Figured I'd be needing one with the other baby I keep, when he and Macy both start eating more during the days. She loves her chair :) It reclines - who wouldn't like it?! haha And I got her a little mesh feeder type thing that you can put fresh fruit and/or veggies in and it allows the baby to chew/suck on it without choking... we had one when Andrew was a baby/toddler, but he didn't like it... Macy - she's addicted! She attacks the thing when you hand it to her :) So she may not be a big fruit eater when it comes to baby food, but give her a fresh melon or grape in her mesh feeder thing and she goes to town!

Girl also got lots of playtime in today. Our nieces came over to spend the night and although I'm not posting those pics today, they played with my girl in the floor with all of her toys. :)

Happy Valentine's Day Eve! :)

DAy 187 - Snow Day AGAIN!

School was out - Work was out - I didn't have Cameron... So we had a nice family fun day in the snow! Miguel and the kids went and picked Riley up and came back and built another snowman. We got Macy out in the morning all bundled up. Sat her on a blanket and she sat up for a minute then fell backwards. It was cute. Took some pics with her and Andrew - she was in a good mood - he was just not wanting to pose I guess :) It's been a fun day, and at the end of the snow, this morning, the reading was 11 inches in our yard. Last night before bed it was only 8.5.... amazing that we got soooo much snow in just a days time!!! We LOVED every minute of it!!

Day 186 - Snow Day!!

We woke up to white EVERYWHERE outside!! Of course, they still had school since there wasn't ice anywhere, so we got Andrew up and ready to go and on the bus, and Miguel went in to work... Macy & I stayed home alone all day (Cameron was here either). Took some fun pics outside and then again when we were heading to the bus stop to get Andrew (they let them go an hour early!). Had a fun time playing in the snow when Macy napped - threw snowballs, built a snowman, etc. Well, it was fun until a fight broke out between two of our dogs who were fighting over the hotdog and pepperoni that we used for the snowmans face! :)

It's supposed to snow until midnight, and already, we've gotten about 8.5 inches of snow in this one day. It's surreal!!

Day 185 - 6 Months Old Already!

Can you believe I've posted a picture of Macy from every day of her life for 6 months straight?! I can't believe my baby girl is already half a year old!! As of today, she has no teeth, but chews every single thing she can get her hands on. As of today, she can now scoot across the floor (video posted) to get to what interests her. As of today, she deals with no separation and/or stranger anxiety. As of today, she is a delight and a blessing that we constantly thank God for.

In one of the pics, she's in the middle of the cereal boxes that she found sitting in the floor that someone gave us. She pulled each one of them from the bag they were in and enjoyed chewing on them and banging around on them :)

In the others, the 'real' 6 month pic, you can tell she wants to chew the paper....We didn't even get a good shot because all she wanted was to go after that paper - she could care less about our antics to get her to look up at us for a good shot. Oh well, the pics I got shows her personality and it captured the moments perfectly. :)

And enjoy the video of Macy bug scooting across the floor... it's not long, so watch it all :)

Day 184 - Tuesday Nothings

Just another day at home with the babies today. Looking forward to the colder weather that's to come on Thursday. Macy was cute as ever today :)

Day 183 - Back to the Grind

Back to work (keeping Cameron) today. Not a bad day at all, really :)

Day 182 - Chuck E Cheese!

After church with the family, we went to Chuck E Cheese for Jake's 3rd birthday. Macy was happy and enjoyed being passed around to anyone willing to hold her, and she looked cute as a little button, if I do say so myself :) Went and took some pictures of my old church that was burned down, and then headed back home to Miguel and the Super Bowl that I caught the last quarter of. (congrats, Saints!)

Enjoy the pics of my sweet girl!!