First Smile

Yeah!! Finally today, October 21, Zack smiled. The first smile is supposed to come around 6 weeks, but alas, week 10 we are graced with his gummy grin. (Woah, Nate is going to love that alliteration.) Zack was just laying in his bassinet in the living room, loving the vibrations, while I was starting to get dinner ready. I would check on him every couple of minutes, and I soon found Mackay climbing up the side of his bed to see him. She has been a great helper these days. So she found his bottle, and tried to feed it to him. Amazingly, he started sucking. I eventually had to refill the bottle, and she kept feeding him. Every once in a while she would take the bottle out of his mouth to wipe his face off with the burp rag. So sweet. She then discovered that when the bottle was tickling his lips, he would smile. We continued to do it all evening with the same result. (And yes, that looks like red hair to me, too.)


I later found Zack tucked into Mackay's bed with Mackay's sleeping buddies, Stinky and Mooch.
And the last picture: Zack was at the entrance of the kitchen on Sunday while Nate and I were making dinner. I checked on Zack to find that Mackay had made a row. And taken Zack's blanket from him, like usual. Those two are pretty cute together. And I have a sneaky suspicion it will only get cuter between the two of them.

The Holy Ghost

Last night for Family Home Evening I prepared a lesson on the Holy Ghost. Sadly, we haven't talked about this much with Mackay in the past, so here is how the lesson went:

Me: The Holy Ghost can make you feel better when you are sad or hurt.

Mackay: The Holy Ghost bit my elbow and I said "Owww!"


Nate: The Holy Ghost can comfort you like a big, warm blanket.

Mackay: The Holy Ghost doesn't get to sit on the blanket.


This went on the whole lesson with Mackay just missing the point. Unfortunately, she knows what a ghost and monster is, so she can't wrap her head around the idea of the Holy Ghost. Maybe we should use the word "Spirit".

Talk Like a Pirate Day!

September 19th is National Talk Like a Pirate Day, and this is the third year that we've celebrated. We also partied with the Brockbanks last year, so it was fun to get together again to celebrate our traditions. We had the usual treasure hunt and pinata. We also covered the table in plastic wrap and ate with only our hands. This year we actually did a hand food with hamburgers and chips. And Nate and Brad ate their cake with their hands as well.
Last year Mackay was held while Abbie and Tori hit the pinata. But this year Mackay was old enough to understand and enjoy the festivities.
For this holiday we really don't spend a lot of money. This year I thought I would buy some fabric to make bandannas. And then we remembered that Nate's costume from last year (Barney from Flinstones) could make a really good costume for a pirate if altered slightly. And with the extra fabric from his costume I could make Zack a costume. And then Nate found an old leather jacket of mine that we were going to be giving away and thought that would make a great costume for me. (Yes, he cut the arms off of it.) Nate also destroyed a white collared shirt and a pair of jeans. Ideas snowballed into much bigger and better ideas, and now we are prepared for Halloween and many Talk Like A Pirate Days to come.
Like Father like Son
At the end of the evening we played Dance Dance Revolution on the Wii. Mackay saw the adults playing, and really wanted a shot. At first she just stood there with her finger up her nose (literally), but she eventually got really into it--and it was adorable.

Life Update

Life has been a whirlwind since Zack has been born--which has been nice. Sleep deprivation hasn't been too overwhelming, and we have managed to capture some good moments in life on camera.

Today I was feeling overly productive, and I cleaned Mackay's room spotless. A few minutes later I came in to see her own organization techniques. Visiting teachers came over later, which made her room look like a tornado had blown through. But at least for a couple of minutes I had serenity.
One evening Mackay and Nate were playing alone together. This is what resulted:
Then it was Mackay's turn:
I knew this would cause problems for me later, and this is a picture from the next day: We drill into their minds that they are only to color on paper, and then one crazy evening with Dad ruins it all.
I have been craving sweets, and I have made two desserts in the last week (very unlike me, and really not a good idea). It has been a fun thing that Mackay and I have been able to do together. Mackay's favorite part is licking the beaters.
One afternoon Mackay was wanting some cheese. So I cut her a few slices, but then Zack was needing attention. So I left her slices of cheese on the counter for her to grab as well as the block of cheese. Next thing I knew she was saying, "I have the big cheese."
She ate some good chunks out of it.
We have had rain pretty much non-stop for the past week. Which has been lovely! What a nice break from the heat. Though this weather would have been nice a month ago when I was large and uncomfortable with child.
Mackay was very excited when we told her she could play in the rain.
Mackay for some reason feels that Zack constantly needs to be wearing her shoes. The problem is that they don't fit very well, but she insists. Here is little tortured Zack:
Today's heart pumping moment: I left the living room for a moment to get something out of my bedroom. All of a sudden I heard Mackay saying, "He likes goldfish! He likes goldfish!" I ran into the room seeing Zack peacefully on the floor (thank heaven), and a Pepperidge Farm Goldfish lying next to him. Luckily it wasn't stuffed in his mouth, but I smelled his breath and it definitely smelled like goldfish. Again we emphasized, Zack does not eat food, he only drinks milk.

Happy Due Date

Today is Zack's official due date, so I wanted to recognize it in some way--and what better way than a blog post. I am so lucky and so glad to not be pregnant anymore. I really hate that more than anything, but with sacrifice comes love, and I sure love this little boy. Five weeks old today!

I did a little photoshoot with him today, and got some pretty funny pictures. You would not believe how un-photogenic a little one can really be. Photographers say you really need to take their picture in the first ten days, and now I see why. Though it is almost 11:00pm and I am extremely exhausted and I have got to get some shut eye before Zack's next feeding. But I wanted to give a little view of our growing boy. So more pictures will come in the next few days.

My Little Girl is Growing Up

Today is Mackay's first day of preschool. Well, technically pre-preschool. A lady in our ward was running it for extremely cheap, and Mackay desperately needed it--as did I. Mackay loves her baby brother, but it is a bit of an adjustment for us all. She needs more attention, and to get out of the house more. This was the perfect solution.

I told her yesterday that she would be going to school. She was so excited, she ran into her closet and started yelling, "Mom, where is my pink backpack?" Every time you would bring it up to her she would literally beam, smiling from ear to ear. She was so excited to do crafts, sing songs, learn her ABC's, and play with new friends.

So this morning before school I wanted to get a traditional "first day of school" picture. This is what I got. Mackay up on the bassinet yelling, "I'm going to school today!" I think this photo caught her in the "ay" part of "today".
Here are some other catch up pictures as well:

Mackay and Zack. She absolutely adores him. She is always saying, "He's so cute." "That silly kid." "He's looking at me!" "Watch, Zack!" She loves laying by him, loves helping to change his diaper, and loves reading him stories. In this picture she is waving Zack's arm saying, "Say 'Hi', Zack. Say 'Hi' to Mom!"
I left the room for a second, and came back to Mackay sharing her stuffed animals with Zack.
Nate goes running a lot in the evenings, and is always talking about all the frogs that he sees on his runs. He said that when Mackay is ever up late at night he was going to take her out to catch frogs. Well, one night turned out to be a late one, and so he took her out. They came back with a frog that Mackay was absolutely terrified of. I guess it peed on Nate, who dropped it, and then it jumped towards Mackay.
From Zack's photoshoot.
When we were getting ready to move, Nate had put an open box of Mackay's books up on top of a lot of other boxes. I don't know how she found them, but I couldn't keep Mackay down. She was constantly climbing to the top and reading her books. Which happens to be her favorite past time.
I also wanted to post some of Mackay's funny words:

"Are"--used at the end of a sentence forming a question. "Where's my puppy are?" "Where's daddy are?" Etc, etc, etc.

"Don't turn the light off. I'm still in here." Sitting in the corner of the kitchen eating "E-O's" (oreos).

"Come in my bedroom--it's story time."

"Okay, let's do that." A frequent phrase of hers.

"There's boys out there." Trying to convince me why I wanted to play in her room instead of be out in the living room with Nate and Zack.

"Oh my gosh." Every time I change Zack's diaper.

"Don't hit or go in time out." Speaking to Zack and his flailing arms.

"Zack, sneeze in your arm." Zack didn't use proper sneezing techniques.

"I want green honey!" Last time she had honey, her plate was blue. Yellow and blue make green. This turned into a major tantrum and time out.

In Honor Of Mackay and Zack

Not what I should be doing on the day that we are moving, but I wanted to post two seriously funny videos. One from Pampers, and one from Huggies.


For Mackay, poor girl...


For Zack, poor me...