Mackenzie - 11 Months

Mackenzie,

It's May 11, 2014 (Mother's Day) and you are 11 months old today.

 Your personality grows with every milestone you hit. You really came out of your shell when you started crawling and pulling up on things. You have stood up a few times without hands. I think you are a few months away from walking.

Chloe showed you how to play the piano

You are talking a little. You say "uh-oh," "hi" and "up." You tried to say ball and you are so close to ma-ma and da-da in the correct context.

You love to look at pictures of yourself. There is a 8x10 in the hall of you and we have to point at it and talk about it every time we walk past it. You laugh when we tell you, "That's Mackenzie. That's you!"

You still take two naps a day. You are so sleepy...you go to bed around 6 or 7 and don't wake up until 7 the next morning. All that sleep and you still take long naps. Every now and then you'll skip your second nap.

You adore Chloe and you enjoy chasing her around the house. Most of the time Chloe enjoys it, too. You love being outside and bounce and wave your arms like mad when I raise the garage so we can go for a walk. It's difficult to have you outside because you want to be on the ground crawling. That's fine, but you also like to eat everything you find on the ground and we have too many acorns and leaves for that to be safe.

first spaghetti dinner

Your favorite foods are broccoli and bananas. You are doing well with your sippy cup but you really don't want your formula in it at all. Only water. Not sure how well this transition from the bottle is going to go next month.

love those legs

We took you to the church nursery a few weeks ago and you were hyperventilating from being so upset. You really are quite cautious of strangers. Your separation anxiety is going away, but VERY slowly.

your father's daughter

You are wearing 9-12 month clothing and size 4 diapers. You are wearing a size 2 shoe. You're hair is getting blonder by the day and your dimples are still so adorable! :)

new swim cap we found shopping with Shorty

We love you Mackenzie Jewel!

Mackenzie - 10 Months

Mackenzie,

Today is April 11, 2014 and you are 10 months old!

You started pulling up to stand yesterday. I think you are a little late, but once you started pulling up you were a pro...like most things you do.

using everything you can to pull up

You are eating two and sometimes three solids meals a day. You are drinking out of your sippy cup like a pro. I need to start switching your formula to the sippy cup with your meals.

Your favorite things are still your sister and bathtime. You really enjoy being outdoors, but it's a challenge for me since you want to eat the leaves.

You laugh a lot these days...mostly at Chloe. You girls are really great together.

goober

You are saying mama, dada and baba. But I still don't think you are using them for any particular reason. I swear you've said "up" and "hi" a few times. It's a bit early, but Chloe talked early, too. I have my listening ears on now every time I'm with you to see if what I think I'm hearing is real.

my Texas girls in the bluebonnets

You can clap and wave now. You really only wave if we say "bye-bye." You are also pointing. The other night at dinner you thought it was funny to point at dad while you were eating. You guys spent a few minutes pointing at each other and amusing yourselves.

You are about to celebrate your first Easter! Shorty made these two dresses for you and Chloe.

Sisters - Easter 2014

I can't believe we will be celebrating your first birthday in two short months!

We love you, MJ!

Mackenzie - 9 Months

Mackenzie Jewel,

It's March 11, 2014 and you are 9 months old today. I remember this time last year. We were at the rodeo and you weren't due for another 3 months. Now you are here with us!

9 months old

You are crawling now and starting to pull up. You haven't made it onto your feet yet, but you are getting on your knees and getting pretty close. You have a bruise on your cheek where you crashed trying to pull up on the wall.

inspecting the grass. probably watching your sister.

Your favorite things are: your sister, being outside and bath time. You dislike: being fed, having your nose wiped and when we take something away from you.

You have 5 teeth. You are starting to use your pincer grasp to feed yourself. You have refused to eat baby food the past week and only want things you can pick up yourself. I'm still not able to get you to use a sippy cup very well. We have three months to get it done. 

You are always pretty serious. Seriously cute.

You love any attention from your big sister.

You are still sleeping from 6:00pm to 6:30am. Thankfully time changed so now it's more like 7-7:30. Your 6pm bedtime made it hard to do anything in the evening. You take 2-3 naps. Usually only 2.

You are saying baba, dada and mama. Just the sounds. You aren't associating them with anything.

eating the grass

 You love being outside in the grass. If we open the door, you crawl as fast as you can towards it. Sometimes we get some tears when you don't make it before we shut the door.

This brings me to my next point. I've always said you were our chill baby. That's still true. BUT, you can throw fits like I've never seen a baby do before. Case in point is the video below. You like to rock on the rocking frog. See what happens when you don't get your way in .2 seconds.

I think we have a new drama queen in the making.

an attempt at a good sister pic

snot face wants to see the camera.

You are wearing a size 4 diaper and 12 month clothing. We go to the doctor on Thursday to see how long and chunky you are...kidding. You really aren't that chubby of a baby. You are perfect and squishy!

pulling up to your knees

playing with the cute baby in the mirror. I adore this picture.

beautiful

feeding yourself. a morning ritual.

snot faced and swinging in the backyard

Chloe likes to push you in the swing.

We sure do love you, Mackenzie.

Mackenzie - 8 Months

Mackenzie,

Today is February 11, 2014 and you are 8 months old today! It's been a rough month for you little girl. You have kept an ear infection through one round of antibiotics and are currently on a second round. You were sick most most of your entire 7th month.

On top of that, you are getting your top teeth. I'm pretty sure all four are trying to come in at the same time. You already have two lower teeth. Considering all the pain that you're in, you've been a pretty happy baby. You are fussier than normal the last week or so though. I think it's mostly teeth because we never even knew your ears were bothering you. We only found out you had an ear infection because we took Chloe to the doctor and they heard you coughing so they wanted to look in your ears.

8 Months old

You can get yourself into a sitting position now and you started crawling today. You don't crawl very far, but you will be zooming around soon. Chloe's pretty excited about it. But I suspect her tune will change once she realizes that it's more difficult to keep you away from her things. She's pretty good at sharing, but on her terms.

You babble a lot now. Lots of da-da-da and ba-ba-ba. We are trying to get you to clap and wave. 

You are much more interested in eating now. You like carrots, sweet potatoes and oatmeal with pears. You don't really like any of the meats...pureed meat sounds disgusting.

Your favorite toy is a squeaky monkey teether.

You love to cuddle. As much as you like to be alone in your room for quiet time, you like to be near someone when you are with us. You prefer that someone to be Chloe, but you settle for mom or dad.

Chloe dressed MJ up in her best

You can still fit into 9 month clothes, but are quickly outgrowing the onesies because you are so long. You are wearing a size 3 diaper, but I think we are about to move up to 4. 

Chloe is always asking to take pictures with her sister.

You take two naps a day and you are champ at putting yourself to sleep for naps and bed.

love these girls

You love, love, love bath time! We are letting you and Chloe take baths together because you sit up so well now. It makes bath time so much easier on this mom. haha. Plus, you girls like to splash together. 

bath time prep

You still look like you are going to be our little blondie and you have just as much (if not more) hair than Chloe did. It's harder to see your hair because it's lighter than hers was, but there is a lot of it. You have a bit of a reverse mullet. It's longer at the front, top of your head. We used to style it into a faux hawk, but it's too long to stand up now.

see my teeth?

We are enjoying getting to know you, MJ, Kenzie Kenz.

Mackenzie - 7 months

Mackenzie,

Today is January 11, 2014 and you are 7 months old today! You are pure joy, my dear. You have the most amazing disposition. You still rarely cry. Hunger and exhaustion are your triggers. I will say that you have no wind-up. You go from "happy as a clam" to furious in seconds with no warning.

You are not feeling well in this picture. :(

There is no way to tell right now, but I wouldn't be surprised if you are more of an introvert like me. I maintain that you have your dad's temperament. But you seem to really need your alone time like your mom.

You are letting us see more of your personality every single day. It's taken you a while to warm up, but when you did...you didn't hold back. You love to smile now and do it frequently. You laugh a lot, too...mostly at Chloe. You started to say blah, blah, blah last week and are quickly moving on to other consonant sounds. You prefer to practice talking alone in your crib. Once you master the sound, you will talk to us. (Now you may understand more of my reasoning for thinking you may be an introvert.)

Chloe hurt her arm...we went to the E.R. for X-rays. They say it's not a break.
We go to her doc tomorrow for a more thorough exam.

 You have started solids...I think I put that in your last post. We are still only feeding you solids once a day. You really don't seem to like them. I prefer more of a baby-led weaning style. So we are going middle-of-the-road with it. I'll do partially what your pediatrician asked of me and partly what you seem to prefer.

You aren't crawling; although, you do scoot backwards. You are really good at pivoting your body and rolling to get what you want. It's so funny! You are sitting up so well now. When you want back down on the ground, you just crash to the floor. You haven't cried yet despite the fact that you've bonked your head on the ground pretty hard doing it. You are a tough nut. But that doesn't surprise me...your sister is, too.

Your dad and I are leaving you with Shorty for the first time as an overnight. We will be in Europe. It's so hard to leave you. Especially since you seem to have your first cold. But, you are in great hands. Shorty was the best mom to me...she'll be a fantastic grandma to you.

I really feel like we finally connected, Mackenzie. I loved you before I met you. But, it has taken me longer to get to know you. I think part of that is your personality. I think more of it is that I have Chloe to take care of, too. It's a side effect of being baby #2 and not having your mom in your face 24/7 because she's distracted by your older sibling.

I love you so much! We all do. You bring so much joy to our lives. Our little family feels so complete with you here.

Mackenzie - 6 months

Mackenzie,

It's December 11, 2013 and you six months old today!

You were a whopping 18lbs. 9 oz. today at your doctor appointment. That's 90th percentile and you were 27.5" long which puts you in the 98th percentile. They say you are supposed to double your birth weight by 6 months. I will say you've surpassed that by a good 3 pounds. ha. You are wearing size 3 diapers and they are looking a bit snug. You are wearing 9 month clothing and quickly moving into the 12 month gear.

I can hardly believe it's been six short months since you casually and quickly came into our world. You are a joy! You are back to sleeping through the night. 6:30 to 6:30 is a good bet. You nap like a champ! What can I say? You love your sleep! And only on your tummy.

I could almost set a watch to your schedule. Which is funny, because I didn't try to get you on a schedule...I didn't have the time or the luxury with having two children. It just happened. If I don't have you in your bed by 6:30, you let me know and VERY LOUDLY that it is time for bed. It's funny, but problematic when we need to be somewhere later in the evening.

You started solids last week. At first you hated it and made awful faces at me every time you took a bite. The past two days you have seemed to really enjoy it. You've had bananas, peas, butternut squash and sweet potato. Your favorite seems to be the squash and the peas. You despise oat cereal and I don't blame you...I'm not going to make you eat it. It smells and looks like cardboard.

You are still all about your sister. You touch her whenever she gets close enough and you will not look at or respond to me or Mark if she is within eye or ear shot.

You are now rolling over from front-to-back and back-to-front easily and often. Your favorite toy is your foot. If you don't have socks or footie pjs on, the foot is in your mouth.

You are also quite 'chill' or as I like to loving tell you...a bit lazy. You drool while you eat your bottle & still have to use a slow flow nipple because you like to eat so slow. You can sit up, but you would rather slump over and play with your feet. I can tell you won't be in a hurry to do anything as you get older. Please don't misunderstand. This is wonderful! You are a perfect compliment to our family and exactly what we needed to balance out the mania!

We love you, Mackenzie Jewel!

Mackenzie - 4 Months

**edited 


Mackenzie,

It's October 11, 2013 and you are 4 months old today!

4 months old

Time is flying! 4 months seems too old. In some ways, I'm glad you're getting older because you can play and interact with us more. But, I want you to stay little and squishy and cuddly. Pretty soon, you'll be on the move and I won't be able to hold you like I do now.

tummy time

more tummy time

 You've learned to roll over from back to front (3.5 months). That's all you would do for about a week...then you discovered your hands and feet. Now you prefer to be on your back playing with your digits. You also now grab rattles and shake them a bit. Everything goes in your mouth!

You are funny! You'll just wake up one morning and have a new trick to show us. There isn't any practicing and failing...you just do it. You seem to only attempt things when you are certain you'll accomplish it. Except for crawling. You try really hard to scoot to your sister and it really frustrates you that you can't do it. I think you'll crawl much sooner than Chloe did simply because you want to be near her.

pumpkin patch - horse ride

You have regressed in sleeping a little. You go to bed at 7, but wake up pretty consistently around 5:30. Not too bad. It's still 10.5 hours of sleep. I just don't like getting up that early. 

pumpkin patch

You haven't started solid food. You probably won't until closer to 6 months. I'll watch you and if you show an interest in eating, we'll try some rice cereal. For now, milk keeps you full. 

nap time

We've gotten a few giggles from you, but no big belly laughs yet. 

Chloe asked to hold you

Your favorite thing with the exception of Chloe is to take a bath. You get so excited when I take you into the bathroom and start prepping the water. You just lay in the tub and smile at me the whole time. 

morning walk...looking up at mom

I'm looking for teeth because Chloe started teething around 4/5 months. I don't see anything, but man you are drooling and chewing on your hands a lot.

Cohen's 5th bday bash

You are a big girl. You are 15# 11oz (80%) and 26 3/4" long (95+%). You are wearing 6 and 9 month clothing. 

When we went to the doctor, the nurse practitioner was so excited and spent extra time playing with you. She said your brain is developed like a 6 month old. This is based on the fact that you are grabbing toys with both hands in the middle of your body and pulling them up to your mouth. Apparently the ability to symmetrically use both hands to pull this off is quite an accomplishment for a 4 month old. She says she thinks you probably started seeing color quite early and that she wouldn't be surprised if you crawl and walk early based on your gross motor development. She also said it's no surprise the day you figured out this trick that you stopped rolling over; it takes a lot of work and focus and you are totally engrossed in developing this part of your brain for now. I wish I recorded what she told us word-for-word. It was fascinating.

We love your dimples and your reddish/blonde hair!

"Spider Monkey"

We love YOU, MJ!

P.S. You are going to have another aunt! Your uncle Josh proposed to Claire this past month.