Nine months has come and almost gone. Highlights that I can remember without looking at he calendar:
*Crawls EVERYWHERE! (she started crawling the day before she hit nine months)
*Started eating table food. She likes chicken, but not crazy about pork chops. She will feed herself crackers and puffs, but everything else goes straight to the floor. Bananas are her favorite.
*Stays with Daddy several hours every Wednesday while Mom goes to a photography class
*Went swimming in an indoor pool and loved it
*Pulls up on furniture often
*Cares little about "baby" toys. She prefers her toys that require more imagination or cause and effect.
*Her mattress was moved to the lowest setting

We went back to the aquarium on MLK weekend. We hadn't been since August, and her interest in the fish was amazing to watch. She really enjoyed watching and tracking the fish and sharks. After the aquarium we went to my parents' house and played and ate dinner. (My dad is the best cook and we love it when he feeds us!). It was dark when we got there so we didn't pet the horses, but we did play inside. She played her favorite game with Granny, take her glasses off, laugh,then pt them bac on her. She plays this with her everytime they are together. She also played with her little barn with Granny and Grandad. The picture of my mom with the mystery food (cookies) gave us a laugh that left us with a stomach ache at the end of the evening. If you know my mom she has never been able to cook and this just proved that it hasn't improved with age. The Tollhouse recipe was messed up in more ways than you can count. With enough tweeking we were fianlly able to get a few cookies that were good enough to eat and enjoy.

As McKenzie has gotten older and more able she interacts with Roxy more. Does Roxy like it??? I would love to know! I think sometimes she does and others she wishes she would go away. This month Kenzie has found that Roxy's bones are fun toys, and she doesn't care if Roxy is playing with it at the moment or not. Roxy is always so kind and gentle. She takes her bone and then gives it back. This game happens a lot like the Throw-it-Down and Pick-it-Up game. Roxy will eventually get the bone and leave real quick so she has a chance to chew in peace.
Another thing Kenz has found fun is crawling under Roxy and seeing the view from under her. This is quite commical to watch. Roxy usually stands very patientlly while the adventure takes place. I think it is because as Kenz moves under there Rox gets an occassional stomach scratch.

We finally had a break in the freezing cold weather so we went to the mountains. The 60 degree temperature gave us a bit of Spring Fever and we greatly enjoyed being outdoors. I am currently taking a photography class and I needed a few pictures to share with the class. Kenzie was thrilled when she was able to get out of her carseat and then stay outside. She has always preferred outdoors to in. We seen several deer on and right off of our path to the Elijah...what's his name's house. We had a picnic for Kenzie in a field, and then listened to her cry most of the way home.

Over the weekend I took a lot of pictures practicing what I think I learned in class. Man, that class is over my head! I'm learning, but the practice is much needed. It's one of those classes that you knew you were a dumbie before it, but you didn't realize how much of a dumbie you were until in the class.

She is trying so hard to crawl! She isn't quite there yet, but it won't be much longer. She laughs a lot now and will smile back at you if you smile at her. She can now clap and play peek-a-boo. (The clapping is my favorite and the peek-a-boo is Johnny's favorite thing that she can do). She squaels in delight but still isn't trying to talk. She had lost weight when we went for a weight check on Dec. 1st, but went back to ave a heat rash looked at and she had gained 15 ounces! She is up to 17 pounds and 12.5 ounces now. She is starting to pull up on things now occasionally. She stands in the bath tub nealy every bath. She experienced her first snow. She didn't seemt have much of an opinion about it other than she didn't like how it tasted. This month has been lots of fun, but I fear the teething is starting again.

Yay! It snowed! I took McKenzie out in the snow and we tried out her snowsuit. She looked like Rapphie's little brother on "A Christmas Story" (the greatest movie ever made), as she wasn't able to move. We basically sat in the snow and took pictures. Roxy kissed her, knocked her over, and she just layed there. I put some in her mouth and it was not appreciated. After afew minutes we went back inside. Getting dressed and undressed took more time than the actual event of "playing in the snow," but it was well worth it!

We went to see Santa! The REAL Santa! We went to a nursery on Northshore that has a Santa and reindeer to raise money for a charity for children for Christmas. It was a little rainy and very muddy, but definetly worth getting out in. There was a big sleigh and a jolly ole' Saint Nick. McKenzie didn't smile, but she didn't cry either. I don' t think she quite knew what to think. After sitting with Santa we went and seen the reindeer. I had never seen real reindeer, and can you believe that the reindeer farm is near Northshore? It was very interesting to talk with the owners. Reindeer lose their antlers once a year and they just fall off in the field. After they fall off new ones grow back. After our visit we stopped at Krispy Kreme and brought home doughnuts.

Seven months was a bit of a challenging month. Teething is not fun! She got her first 2 teeth. The two front bottom ones. They are pretty cute. She has only bit me once with her pearly whites and I think I put the fear in her for her not todo it again. She had her first Thanksgiving and given that she was teething it went well. She sits great now and is starting to try to crawl.

Six months....what happened during this month? Since I havn't been keeping this updated, and without looking at my calendar I will try my best to remember. We started sold foods. She loves all food! We keep thinking she can't eat all we make, but she always does. We went to the beach with my dad, Aunt Mary, Uncle Doug, and Aunt Caroline (these are not blood aunts and uncles, but as close as you can get). She dressed up as a cow for Halloween and went to a few houses in the neighborhood to say hello. We had an extremely scary experience at Target when she choked on piece of plastic attached to a pair of socks she was carring. A lady helped us and fortunatley the hemelich wasn't used, but it was close. This was the worst moment of my life. She can now sit on her own unsupported. She can roll over both ways but refuses to. She becomes more curious everyday.

I have loved every stage that she has gone through, but I love 5 months! She smiles all the time and you can almost see her learning. She can now make raspberries, gets excited when you get to two when counting to three to lift her up, loves to listen to yodelling, and chats with Roxy and Shakain often.

There wasn't a lot of milestones during the fourth month, but she smiled more often and more personality started to shine.

McKenzie has tried several other "firsts: since the last update. Because it has been so long since there has been an update I'm not sure when these things happened without her calendar. Around four months and a week is when we started and then gradually added new activities. We tried the Johnny Jump-Up first. She was very confused and expressionless. There was no jumping, only drool. Then we tried her 360 exercauser. This was a bigger hit. She can't reach the floor yet, but the keyboard is really cool! If you turn the page in the music book the sounds are different on the keyboard. She likes this! Next we tried the Bumbo. It's okay so far. She knocks all the toys off the tray as soon as they are placed, but she tolerates it. Then we tried the farm exercauser. She likes this! She can reach the floor and spin in it. She can also get all the toys in her mouth which is very important! She will stay in this for up to 10 minutes at a time. Last, the duck bathtub. I was tired of the mirrow, floor, counter, and me being covered in water after each bath. I didn't know how this would go since she can't sit on her own, but it is great! She kick and splashed and had the time of her life in this thing. It was so funny to watch her. I didn't know her legs could move so fast! She didn't have mom telling her to stop kicking, and mom didn't have to dry the bathroom when finished. This has been one of my favorite things that she has done.

We went to Atlanta for a cousin's birthday party and to meet one of Johnny's sisters and neice. While there we stayed at a hotel with an indoor pool so Kenz could swim. She did great! She stayed in for about 30 minutes. She smiled a few times,but mostly was just taking everything in and trying to figure it out. The water felt like a bath and we had the pool to ourselves.  

Kenzie has gotten good and grabbing hold of toys and getting them to her mouth. She can also throw a ball better than mommy! When she starts getting fussy in one room we get up and go to another and she remains quite content. She is so much fun to play with and talk to now. She "talks" all the time and loves for you to make the smae sounds back to her. She also like for you to make funny sounds with your lips and she tries to immitate. Her personality is really starting to come out.

My best friend, life long friend comes faithfully every two weeks to visit us (really to visit McKenzie). She couldn't be more or an aunt to Kenz if she was blood. She went with me to the eye doctor to watch Kenz and the to help me pick out glasses. At one point Kenzie starting fussing and I got so caught up in thinking about how thankful I was to have her there I forgot to do the test the dr. told me to. She was also there to say, "No! Don't even put those glasses on!" She knows I'm plain Jane and she pushes me to have a little style. I am so thankful and blessed to have such a wonderful friend who is just like a sis.

One of Kenzie's favorite things to do while playing on the floor is putting her legs up in the air. This is also how she gets herself to roll over to her side. When she wakes up in her crib, when she plays on the floor, when she gets her diaper chenged...the legs go up.

We had to wake Kenz up for church and she was lieing there sucking her thumb! She often sucks it at night, but we can only see it on the monitor in black and white. Our hearts melted at how precious she looked.

July 26th: McKenzie had shown no signs of rolling over or really any interest in it. She hates tummy time and just cries instead of trying to roll, so I thought she was a ways from doing this task. Then, I laid her on the ottoman and she leaded over to one side. I thought it was just a fluke because of how the ottoman is worn out. Then, when I went to clean out my classroom she was lieing in the floor and I looked over and she was on her side! This brightened my time there after shedding many tears of packing up and making my good-bye official. It reminded me that as sad as I am to leave my job, friends, and kiddos at TSD I will be home to see each milestone such as this one. My little girl will soon be rolling over...the first step to being on the move!

McKenzie is now 3months old and grinning often at familar face and strange ones too. She has found her thumb, laughs occasionally at toys, and can hold her head 90 degrees while on her tummy! She shows no interest at rolling over yet, but cries less when placed on her stomach. We are thinking we might have a lefty! She grabs mostly with her left hand and always gets the left thumb in, but not the right. Great Grandma, Grandfather, and Great Uncle are all left handed...so it's a possibility. Daddy is already complaining about having to pay more money for left handed gol clubs! (Udated at 3 months and 2 weeks)

Mckenzie is already two months old! She went for her 2 month check up on Wednesday, June 16. She had her first round of vaccines and did very well. She cried for 15-30 seconds and then was fine. She slept a lot more than normal for the next 2 days, but never ran a temperature. She weighed 12 ponds and 12.5 ounces (87%), was 23 3/4 inches long (88%), and her head was in the 40th %. The doctor said she was perfect (we already knew that though)!

Recently she has been able to hold toys when placed in hands, she has found the mobile in her crib (that she doesn't sleep in) and in her swing, she is able to track people and objects very well, and she smiles a lot more. She is becoming more social everyday and we can almost see her change.  She is a good sleeper at night, between 7 and 9 hours without a feeding, but doesn't nap well. She cat naps for 30-45 minutes 2-4 times a day.

Her motor skills are developing and she is able to hold toys when placed in her hands. She doesn't grab things yet but can get a firm grip. She can grab hold of her burp cloths and her Lovie on her own and lovs to bring them to her mouth.

A friend called and invited us to go to a photo shoot by UT photography students practicing lighting for studio shots. McKenzie, Mary Arsenault, and I went thinking it was a good opportunity for some free photos. We got several really good pictures out of it while she slept....then she woke up hungry. She was exactly 4 weeks old.

Daddy tried to give her a bottle around 4 weeks old. She refused it and cried. We tried again a few days later and she did great. At 7 weeks she has had 3-4 bottles and has done fine each time.

So now that we have a website I have to remember to update it...so far I haven't done a very good job! Today McKenzie is six weeks old! Time really does pass quickly. In the last six weeks she has changed a lot, but still not doing a lot. When she was born she weighed 7.4 and the day after we returned home from the hospital she weighed 6.10. She went to her 3 week check up and weighed 8. 12.  and had grown almost 1.5 inches. We had to go to the doctor for what was a clogged tear duct and she now weighs a whopping 10.3! Her eye has cleared and it never seemed to bother her. She has kind of developed a routine for herself throughout the day whcih makes the day go by smoother. She will sometimes fight naps and becomes very cranky in the evenings. She has started smiling at us this week! She can copy us when we stick out our tongue. She cal follow us with her eyes sometimes, but still doesn't turn toward noises. She has attended  church, a graduation, has gone to a graduation party and a birthday party, her grandparents' houses, a baby shower, Cades Cove, and several other places. Up until this point that's about what has happened in a nutshell. I will try to make more frequent posts now that I know how and not long ones that nobody is going to read! We love her dearly and can sit and stare at her. I never knew how quickly you could fall in love with something. We are so blessed to have her and we still lok at her and ask each other, "is she really ours?" We have had lots of love and support. Thank you everyone. We love you! 

January 28th, my birthday...but more importantlly we are having a 3D/4D ultrasound of McKenzie! We had looked foward all week to our sneak peek of Mckenzie, but she did not cooperate. The tech tried every way to see her, but we seen nothing. We rescheduled to go back and try again.We went back on Feb. 12. She was lieing perfectly for the ultrasound.....exceot her hand was directly in front of her face. We changed positions and even had a "baby alarm" put on my stomach to make her move and she didn't budge. We got the one picture posted below. We rescheduled again. We went back on Feb. 15 and the umbilical cord was in front of her face and wouldn't move. We gave up and got our money back. After she was born she slept with her hand in front of her face for several weeks.

My due date was April 22. I was sure McKenzie would be late, that is why I was surprised when my water broke around 11:55 pm on Sunday, April 11. We had had a busy day with church, lunch with friends, a nap, and the a cookout at a friend's house. We had been in been in bed for about 15 minutes when my water broke (in the bathroom, not in the bed!). I wasn't sure if it was it or not so I did some research on the internet. It was my water. I called the doctor and they said to go to the hospital. But, first I had to iron my pants, straighten my hair, and add some things to my suitcase. Then it was time to go. I hadn't had but maybe one contraction until we got in the car. By the time we got to the hospital 15 minutes away my contractions were two minutes apart. I was admited shortly after arriving. Beth, a friend from church met us at the hospital about an hour later to help with the delivery. I don't know wat we would have done without her! I was at 7 cm around 8 a.m. and things were progressing well. Everything then slowed w-a-y down and I stalled. I was stuck at 8 for a while and 9 for a long time. I was begging for drugs at this point or for them to "cut her out!" They gave me a half a dose of something when I was near 10 cm, but later found out it was an equalivant to Benadryl. After pushing for 45 minutes McKenzie Renee was born at 3:50 pm on Monday, April 12. She weighed 7.4 and was 19.5 in. She scored a 9 on her APGAR both times and went to nursing very quickly. We were the new proud parents of a beautiful baby girl.
My mom, Johnny's mom and my grandmother had been waiting in the waiting room since around 8:00 that morning. They came in after she was born to meet the newest member of the family. There were many people who came to the hospital to meet her and then a good friend was able to wheel us to the car when we were release to go home.

We went for our ultrasound on December 1, 20 weeks pregnant. Dad wants a girl, mom wants a boy- most importantly we both want baby to be healthy. Dad wins! It;s a girl! Everything looks good and healthy. She weighs 12 oz and her foot is an inch long. We went to Target to get baby something and we picked a pink dog. I kept wanting to get blue (I was sure the baby was a boy). It took me a few weeks for the idea of having a girl to sink in, but then I became very excited.

We found out we were pregnant with McKenzie on Aug. 13, 2009. I had been smelling and craving Raman Noodles for several days and Johnny kept saying, "You're pregnant." I continued to disagree with him because we had had a miscarriage right at a month before. I finally decided to take a pregnancy test while he was still at work just to prove him wrong. Sure enough, it was negative. I took the test, seen it was negative, and thew it away. I got on the computer for about 10 minutes and thought I'd look at it one more time just to be sure. I went and got it out of the trash and it had turned to positive! The line was very faint, but it was there. When Johnny got home I told him I wanted him help with something. I brough it to him and asked his opinion- if there really was a second line. He seen it too, but because of the recent heartbreak neither of us became too excited. I took another test the next morning and it read "pregnant." The journey was about to begin! After more than a year of trying to conceive, fertility meds, and a miscarriage we were blessed with our pregnancy with McKenzie. It was all in God's timing and we had no fertility treatment with this pregnancy. After several more weeks, an ultrasound that showed a healthy fetus, and many days filled with sickness we were became more and more excited and less concerned about another miscarriage.
The first trimester was filled with lots of sickness and tiredness. The second was bliss. The thirs wasn't too bad. All in all I loved being pregnant! I loved to feel her move and we enjoyed many evening trying to hear her heart beat. I loved Johnny feeling her each evening before going to bed. But, by the tenth month (there's a reason they say you're only pregnant for 9- it's because the 10th is so miserable they don't want you to know about it) I was ready for her to come on out! We were very excited to meet our daughter!