Making dreams come true...

Wow, here today....gone tomorrow.

2008-09-18T10:51:00.000-07:00

Labor day party at Uncle Daves

Mckenna's first tube ride with Mommy and Daddy

Enjoying the sunset on the beach

Having fun at Nina and Papa's!!

It always seems that as soon as the school year is back in, Mother Nature decides that she's had enough of the hot summer heat and throws a huge damper on the summer memories in an instant. It has been beautiful weather though, just my kind of liking. Nice and warm during the day, and cool if not cold at night. They are actually calling for frost tonight.... as my dad says 'Bring it on and get rid of the ragweed'

I got laid off on August 22nd and am enjoying my time off with the girls and getting some much needed rest and recovery from all the busy hours of working. It is why I chose to go back to electrical for this reason, that I can work for 3-4 months, make some money and then take some time with the girls and collect unemployment. It is a nice break to have and I consider myself lucky.

The girls are awesome and are loving mama home, although I have our nanny Andrea come over at least once a week to play with the girls and keep their bond strong.

Mckenna is amazing, and smart and funny and just blows us away with her thinking strategies. She sings continually and is really getting into watching Robots and Cinderella. I don't know why, but she is enthralled with robots. She makes tea for me every morning in her toy room and watches my face to see how much I like it, even though she knows it's pretend. She plays well with her sister and loves to teach her new things like emptying all the toys out of the toy box and hiding in it. We laugh all the time at them and cherish them so much.

Caili celebrated her first birthday on August 11th and we had a big family party on the 10th. She took her first steps 2 sundays' ago though continues to enjoy her crawling much better as she does it at lightning speed. She goes up and down the stairs, crawls up on everything, and even loves riding Mckenna's three wheeler up and down the sidewalk. Her third tooth just popped through (finally!) as she has been very cranky and keeping me up at all hours of the night.

Caili's Birthday Party!!

I'll have to load pictures of the Elmo cake later....she loved it

Her hair is finally growing in long and blonde and curly like Mckenna's.

Ryan and I just celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary and heading up to Haliburton for 3 days back to where we went for our honeymoon. It was awesome and such a great time for the two of us to re-connect. We went fishing, and canoeing, and......ate dinner and just has a great time. It was a nice break from the kids and I enjoyed sleeping in until whenever I felt like rolling out of bed.

I am still running and run about 5 miles 3 times a week, hoping to reach marathon length before the spring so I can run either a half marathon or a full marathon before my 30th birthday. It's amazing how far I've come already in 2 months, although I can no longer run in the morning at 4:30 as it is too dark. I run when Ryan gets home so that I can get my 'me' time in. It truly is exhilerating and unexplainable as to how amazing it is to feel your muscles thank you while you run.

So, I can load some photos today, hope you enjoy and I'll try and write again soon!

Ally

Summer is here!!

2008-07-26T07:58:00.001-07:00

The dog days of summer have finally arrived and the weather is great. HOT but great and as much as I hate working in the heat, it's a welcome change to the long, long winter I had at home. Things are wonderful and this is my 4th weekend off work now, so I am enjoying work even better now that I have time with the girls and Ryan on the weekend.
Mckenna is growing quickly and after seeing a picture of her from last year at this time, I can't believe how much she has changed. Her baby face is gone, and she is turning into such a beautiful little girl. Her conversations with us are continuous and we have to laugh all the time at all the adult things she says without even realizing it. She sings song after song and carries a tune very well. Music is her passion, just like her mama's and she adores her sister Caili and told me the other day that they are best friends. It melted my heart, even as I looked out of the corner of my eye to see her whip a toy out of Caili's hands and try to thwack her in the head with her blanket. Let the sibling rivalry begin. Ryan and I keep telling Mckenna to watch out because Caili is going to be bigger than her and will eventually get back at her.
There are those moments in life that nothing else seems to matter and you wish you could freeze time, and the other night, as I lay down with Mckenna before bed, I had one. I was tickling her back and she was singing softly to me "Hush little baby" and I was almost asleep. I could feel Mckenna watching me and all of a sudden she just wrapped her arms around me, snuggled in as tight as she could and said "I love you too mama" and patted my hair. Those are the moments that I hold onto and try to remember in the midst of one of her meltdowns. Those are the moments a mother remembers for life and brings tears to her eyes whenever she recalls them.

Caili or Caili the Explorer as we all refer to her as, is just hillarious and frustrating all at the same time. She wants to be so independant like her sister, but is just too tiny to do most of it. She already climbs the stairs, walks all over the house as long as she has something to hold her up, wants to feed herself everything and trys to imitate anything and everything Mckenna does. Even helping me to put the dishes away when Mckenna does. She is very determined and gets frusterated when she can't do what she wants. She is so dang smart, almost too smart for her own good and gets bored very easily when she figures something out. She blows me out of the water as to how much further advanced she is than Mckenna was at her age. She understands so much that I say to her or ask her to do and knows when I say no, I mean no. Her smile is as contagious as the flu and her dimples are something else. Her and Mckenna tend to get silly together at the dinner table, and all Ryan and I can do is try to keep a straight face. They have a bond that I guess only sisters know of and I love watching them both learn from one another.
Caili still only has her two bottom teeth, though her hair is growing in quite blonde and curly when its humid or damp. She has to be close to 20lbs and loves food, (as long as she is feeding
herself) I can't believe she will be a year old in a few weeks.
I think back a year ago and remember just moving into our new house, trying to get everything ready for her arrival and being so tired, I never thought I would get through the pregnancy. Here I am one year later, already back working, settled into the house and raising two beautiful girls. Things have changed quite a bit in my life. I found myself putting so much pressure on my self to be what I thought a mother should do all the time, that the guilt of not being able to do it all was wearing me down. I decided that keeping up on the kids journal, and tracking every moment of their life on paper, isn't what makes me a good mother. It's being able to let things go, to play with my kids, to be there for them, to listen to them, to reason with them and to just be comfortable in the role as parent. Not to worry about what everybody else thinks, and just realizing that making memories is what makes a good childhood. I would rather tell the kids about stories of them growing up, than having them read them all in a book.
Time to 'me' is limited and I have started getting up at 4:30am to go jogging or to work out before I go to work. Some people think I'm crazy, but I'm more crazy when I don't make time to myself, so I've made it a priority to take care of me. It has made me much more happy and a much better mother because of it.
I will add photo's next time, as my mom hasn't loaded her camera photos on yet, and my camera is not here at the moment.
Enjoy the summer, sit back and let the laundry pile up. There is always tomorrow (or the next day too!)

Back to Work.....

2008-06-06T08:38:00.000-07:00

All messy after supper, and with her Papa!

Miah and Mckenna at the end of
April spending time together at the lake.

So I officially began back to work on May 8th for what was supposed to be a 4 day call at the casino. It has turned into EVERY day, including Saturday and Sundays until today where I have an afternoon off and the entire weekend. The girls have adjusted better than I could have hoped for and Ryan has done wonderfully in taking over watching the girls on the weekends and when I'm not around. It has been very difficult but very fulfilling in many ways. I enjoy my job and it has been a much needed return to myself and what I enjoy doing.

Caili is growing like a weed, crawling everywhere and babbling away saying 'dada', 'baba' and crawls over to me when I ask her to. She is pretty close to walking and pulls up on anything and everything she can. Her giggles are getting so hilarious that I can't wait until bed time so we can have our tickle time. She laughs and laughs when I get her ready for bed (as long as she has already had her bottle, otherwise....LOOKOUT!!)

Mckenna is amazing and is such a little mommy. She always has her eye out to make sure Caili isn't getting into something that she shouldn't. She has a tendency to take things out of Caili's hands when she's playing just so she can say 'no,no, no Caili!. That turns Caili into a sobbing little mess and then Mckenna gets to act like the hero and give her the toy back. Then she'll look at me and say 'See Mama, Caykee happy!'

Ry has had some overtime this week, but has enjoyed his shorter hours at work, especially since the nice weather has arrived. It has been beautiful the last few days, but very hot in the city at work. The breeze off the water at night is just amazing.

Both the girls love being outside and it is always a sport just trying to get Mckenna to come in for the night. She loves making mud pies in her outdoor kitchen and enjoys watching the many species of birds we have nesting in our many bird houses.

So, all in all, returning to work has been a blessing in disguise as I feel a little more like myself and have learned ( or am slowly learning) that the cleaning can come later....whenever that is!

Enjoy the photos!!
I wanted to post more but ran out of time.....will do next time.
Ally

Spring has Sprung!!

2008-04-25T07:29:00.000-07:00

What a difference just a couple of weeks make. It has just been beautiful this week and all my tulips and daffodils (about 200!) in my pond garden are starting to open. It is our first spring in our new house, so I get to see the garden develop for the first time. It is gorgeous.

We have been playing outside most of the time, either here or at Uncle Dave's place on the beach as he has more than us. Mckenna loves being outside and hates coming in, so I have to trick her to get her inside with a snack. We've been taking many walks when Daddy comes home as he is home by 3:30 right now, so it gives us lots of time together. The nature trail at the end of our beach is just beautiful and budding with birds, flowers and the bull frogs mating. We love listening to them. Just the other morning, we were all sitting at the table for breakfast watching the water and the bald headed eagles came and landed in our trees. They are remarkable creatures and huge. I couldn't believe that the branches would hold them. They were around for a few hours and then took off again. Their nest is somewhere around here, but we haven't found it yet. Then the next day, Nina and Papa came over to help around the yard and went to take Mckenna to my brothers and in the field accross our yard was a giant snapping turtle. It was so cool, as I have never seen one, and to watch the excitement in Mckenna's face as it bit on the stick my dad held was priceless. Do I miss the city?......How could I? Nature is my back door.

Caili is wonderful. Crawling backwards and gets wherever she wants. She is waving, clapping, signing 'more', kissing, and babbling loudly. She loves dancing to music and sways back and forth or rocks back and forth on her knees. She is on 3 meals a day now with milk in between and sleeping wonderfully from 7:30pm until 6:00am, then back to sleep after her feed until 8am. Mckenna can't wait to get into the crib with her and play once she wakes up. I love watching them play together and make each other laugh.

We took them both out on the boat the other night. We let Mckenna put her fishing pole in the water and Ryan had put a minnow on it to catch a fish. So we told Mckenna to real up and when she saw the minnow she was sssooo excited. She thought she had caught it, so we just let her believe it.

I've had the nanny working with us 2 days a week and things are going great. It is hard for her to do her job when I'm at home, so I try to get out of the house and do things. She is wonderful and very patient with Mckenna and Mckenna just loves her. It is only a matter of time before I go back full time, so I am soaking up every last minute with my girls.

Well, I hope to be in the city this weekend and can upload some new photos as this dial up internet is terrible to anything except paying bills and updating my blog.

Take care and enjoy the beautiful spring around you.

I'm a grandma!!

2008-04-04T15:15:00.000-07:00

I thought it was funny when Mckenna started breastfeeding her babies before bed, but she has taken it one step further. The other night while I was getting her ready for bed, she was lying on our bed and I asked her to pull her legs back while I slid her diaper under her bum. Much to my surprise....she started counting.....1,2,3...8,9, 10 then I heard 'Yay, the baby come mama!' I was so shocked I asked her to tell me again. Once again, she held onto her feet and proceeded to count to 10 and then told me the baby came out her belly. I died laughing! You see, she loves watching a Baby Story off TLC and asks me everyday to put it on. She gets all excited when the baby is born and cheers and claps. Little did I realize how much of the show she was actually picking up, until I watched her hold her legs back and count. Unbelievable! I had to call my mom right away and congratulate her on being a great grandmother. We had a huge laugh over it. I'm happy that she has the love of babies that I do, but what a shock it was. Thought you might get a laugh out of it.

We had a nice relaxing day today as it was rainy and yucky. Today during craft time, Mckenna wanted to make a card for Nina and Papa, which turned out well. Then we built a fort out of all our blankets and played it there for an hour or so. It was almost nap time for Mckenna so, I let her lie in the tent and watch t.v while I got some things done. I checked on her a short bit later and she was lying on the couch in the fort fast asleep. I kept it up all day and left it so daddy could play with her in it. She loves it so much, I think I'll keep it up until tomorrow.

Have a great night!

PIcture updates!!

2008-04-02T11:45:00.001-07:00

Our Ice Fishing Trip at the end of February....what a blast!

Pictures from the weekend my parents had the girls when we went away!

I call this the Many Faces of Caili, taken seconds apart....She is hillarious

Easter Pics from the morning....Not sure where the rest are that my mom took at her house. I will add them next update.

So I am at my parents today and am able to upload some recent photos.. Hope you enjoy!!

April Fools!!!

2008-04-01T08:45:00.000-07:00

Where is the spring weather? All this snow and cold weather is really starting to get bothersome and usually by today, I am in such great spirits with all the nice warm air and budding flowers, however, I think Mother Nature is definitely playing an april fools joke on us this year. It is a little warmer today, about 55, however, very ugly, cloudy and rainy. Makes a good day for crafts and cuddling.
This past month has been an emotional roller coaster for me and making my decision to go back to work, but as it approaches I get more and more excited. I miss work and I sometimes feel like I worked so hard for my apprenticeship that I deserve to be working and I know that it will make me a better mother as the time that I have with my girls will be just as special. The good thing about my trade is that it is not steady work and I could work for 6 months and make enough money to stay off for another 3-4 months.
I have found a full time live out nanny who seems wonderful and Mckenna took to her very quickly during our interview. I haven't completely decided on her yet, as I have another interview on thursday, but my gut instinct is telling me yes and so is Mckenna, which makes me feel much better.
Mckenna is doing wonderful and still increases her vocabulary on a daily basis. She is 100% potty trained during the day and now only wears her big girl undies and a diaper or pull up to bed. She is really into taking care of her baby right now and playing house. She will play in her toy room all by herself, talking to her dolls and baking cookies in her oven for them. She has about 5 dolls that are all her babies, and when they are hungry, she lifts up her top and proceeds to give them mama numnums (aka: breastfeeding!) I couldn't be prouder! I have talked a lot about me going back to work and she is getting quite ready for the idea, probably more than I am.
Caili is almost crawling, she waves and gives kisses and eats two meals plus the breastmilk per day. I can't believe the difference in the amount she eats compared to what Mckenna used to eat. Caili will eat 4-5 tablespoons of cereal with 1/2 jar of fruit for breakfast, and for dinner, 1 whole jar of food, 1/2 jar of veggies and 1/2 jar of fruit. She is growing longer which is good or I would have one pudgy little girl on my hands. She is very happy, sleeping better this week and loves playing with Mckenna and I on the floor. She dances anytime I sing to her and almost claps alongs with us, just hasn't learned to open her fists yet.
Ryan celebrated his 30th birthday on Easter weekend....still doesn't look a day older than 25 in my eyes. Still sexy as ever....even 20 pounds lighter than last year. Must be doing something right. His hours just got cut back at work which will allow him more time with us at home for the first time in a long time. Perfect timing for me to get back to work. If the nanny isn't trained or ready by the time I get called, Ry's boss said he'd have no problem if he wanted to take some paternity leave with the girls. I think it would be great for him to bond with them (and to see the many tasks that are completed on a daily basis that goes unnoticed!)
I am now using an iMac computer that was graciously donated to me by my brother so my pictures have to get transfered from my old computer and I only have dialup for now,so I probably can't even upload photos to the site, will have to do that from my parents house. My moms camera take better photos anyways.
So till tomorrow......I'll be in town and will try to upload some photos'!!

To Work or Not to Work?.....

2008-02-17T10:01:00.001-08:00

Caili's First Food!! BANANAS!!!

Mckenna Playing with the Camera with Nina!

The time is flying by me quicker than I like to realize and some big decisions have to be made soon about whether or not I will return to work full time or part time or at all. I have a lot of options, not that really appeal to the betterment of my children ( or so I think) I would love to stay home with the kids as I know this is the most important and influential part of their lives, however, I also love my job and love to work (Yes, money isn't bad either) So I am completely torn on what to do. My ideal would be to work part time as an electrician 3 days a week through the union, however, I don't know if that is feasible or even allowed through our union hall. I will be looking into it with in the next week or so. I have to decide with in the next 5-6 weeks as I have an available nanny at the next beach down from us. She is amazing and comes from a family of 11 kids. She is now taking care of two kids and the mother is due for her third any day. I would love to take advantage of her and Mckenna really likes her. Oh, if these answers could just sort themselves out so that I may return to getting some sleep. Any ideas??
Ryan went to Toronto this weekend with his Dad and Nana to go to a Toronto Maple Leafs game, so the girls and I stayed at my parents last night. Dave and I went out together downtown with a few of his friends and I must say that I really enjoyed myself. It was great having the adult conversations and also seeing the same people hanging out at the bars that were their 6-7 years ago. Some people never change...... It was a great night for bro and sis to hang out and I think the last time we were out together just the two of us was in Berlin, Germany when we were backpacking. My brother is an awesome man and I am very proud of him and how far he has come this past months. He is a terrific uncle to Mckenna and Caili and loves them like they are his own.
Caili has now started solids and has only had rice cereal, but seems to enjoy it. She had her 6 month appointment and is 26" long and 15.7 lbs. Mckenna had her two year check up and is 26 lbs and 33" tall. Growing well and growing fast!

*****EDIT***** Today is Feb 21 & they are allowing ph0to uploads today hopefully!! Enjoy!

The big 2!! Happy Birthday Mckenna!

2008-02-04T11:06:00.000-08:00

Pictures from our New Years Day get-together at all of our houses on the lake.

Caili and Einstein, my brothers dog.

We spent last weekend at my parents as I had my first 'girls night out' for the first time in a long time. It was great to spend time together with my mom and nana. We went out for Dinner and to the show to see 27 dresses. It was like a mini-vacation and the men stayed at my parents and had a great steak dinner. That's Mckenna drinking tea out of her new teacup in front of my parents fireplace.

Wow, a month gone already and now Mckenna is 2 today!! We had a wonderful birthday for her yesterday with all the family out at our place. She was so excited and was such a wonderful gift opener (if there ever was a title) She was very good about opening all the cards first and would exclaim in over excitement 'huaaah, look mama......2!' about her cards. When she opened the gift it would become even louder and funnier. For over a month I'd talk to her about her birthday and why it was so special. When I asked her what kind of cake she thought she would like back at Christmas, she told me a purple cake. So I explained to her that 'purple is a color' and that mom could make her any kind of purple cake. So she told me she wanted a purple 'Pooh' cake. So that was it from then on in, all she would talk about was turning 2 and her 'purple pooh' cake. She was so excited to go to the Bulk Barn to get the cake tin that I rented. Then today we had to return it and she said 'tank oo pooh, bye bye' when I gave it to the lady. It was touching.

Opening her fishing pole from Papa R

The Purple Pooh cake ( I dyed the mix purple for her!)
I was very impressed with myself I must say, it turned out awesome and she was so excited.

It is hard to believe that 2 years ago today, in less than a half an hour, my wish came true and my beautiful baby girl was born. It truly is a miracle and I thank god daily for the wonderful joy she and Caili bring to our lives. She is ssooo independent and at the same time still such a little baby. Her vocabulary is growing each day and I love watching her as she thinks before she says something as you can almost see the wheels spinning in her head as she figures out which words to put together. Her humor and confidence in herself is amazing. She is now completely potty trained during the day while at home. If we go out, she wears a pull up, but always tells me when she has to go to the bathroom. She loves watching herself in the mirror and has become such a little mother to Caili. She watches over her like a hawk and if we are in a store, she makes sure that if someone talks to her, they say hi to Caili as well.

Caili is growing and growing. She is starting to babble, rolls over and over, sits up almost by herself and just laughs and laughs at Mckenna. Thank goodness for good naturedness (word?)
as busy is definitely the word to describe our days. She loves her jolly jumper and will watch Baby Einsteins First signs video from start to finish, jumping the whole time. She is just beautiful and her dimples can help but make your heart melt. She is a very easy going baby and loves to look at things. Her alertness is amazing and she can almost turn her head 360 degrees to look at something.

In the beginning of January, Mckenna, Caili and Ryan all got the flu....very bad. I was caregiver for over a week and cleaned up more vomit and diarrhea than I'd like to admit. It was terrible to watch my two children (sorry, three!) vomit over and over knowing there was nothing I could do to bring it up any easier. I definitely used Tele-health Ontario my fare share that week. But we got through it and they are much healthier now. I was blessed not to get it, but I know I fought it hard one night as I had the chills and everything just for a few hours...then it miraculously vanished. We had my family out for dinner the day after Mckenna had it as we thought it was just a bout of food poisoning. Then Ryan and Caili got it on Monday, my nana and brother on tuesday, my mom on Wednesday and friends of there's on Thursday. It was the gift that kept on giving......only it really wasn't a gift.

The night the flu took over our lives and the family came for dinner, pictures my mom took of some of my Christmas decorating.

On a very positive note, I now am proud to say that I am no longer sleep deprived!! I didn't even know I was, until I bought the book ' The sleep easy solution'. Caili was always a good sleeper from birth, but around 4.5 months, she started to get to used to me putting her to sleep and when she would wake up in the middle of the night, I would rush in and give her her soother or feed her so that she wouldn't wake up Mckenna. Well, that got her into a bad habit and she never really learned how to put herself or soothe herself to sleep. Mckenna was also starting to rely too much on her baba's to go to sleep and when she woke up in the middle of the night, I would sometimes get her a bottle and just bring her into our bed. So I read the book, told Ryan what to expect for the first couple of nights, but promised it would all be over soon. By the THIRD night, Caili was sleeping 11 hours!!! I couldn't believe it. We worked on her first while Mckenna slept in our room in the playpen. Then after Caili was all set, I told Mckenna that I talked to the sleep Doctor and she told me that the baba's isn't helping her sleep anymore and that she shouldn't have it at bed time. I was expecting a huge uproar, but only got a soft ' kay mama' That night she slept right through almost and when she woke up in the morning, she didn't even ask for a baba. So now they are both sleeping 11 hours through the night and we have also worked on the naps with Caili. What a difference it has made in ME! You can never explain sleep deprivation to anyone, unless they are experiencing it too, or have experienced it. This book had one part on sleep deprivation and one of the examples had happened to me just 2 days before I bought the book. I feel so much better, am much more clear headed and happier and it truly has made me a much better mother as I am not so short fused. So, if you know anyone with little ones and they aren't getting much sleep, I 100% recommend this book.

Ryan and I are planning an ice-fishing trip with friends of ours at the end of January. The kids are staying with my parents and I know it will be tough for me to leave them for 4 days, but it will be a much needed vacation for Ryan and I. We had a blast last year and I was pregnant then, however this year, I will really be able to join in on the fun. We stay in a hut on the ice over night that is heated and eat and eat and eat (well of course there is drinking too!) This year we are going up to Lake Nippising and are staying in a different place that has a T.V and a VCR. Now what would we possibly need that for, unless we end up catching all the fish in the lake!

Ryan's work is still very busy and he is working around 54-56 hours per week. I am so appreciate of all his hard work he does to allow me to stay home with the kids. Maternity leave payments are next to nothing and if he didn't have such a strong work ethic, we wouldn't be where we are today. I think he is starting to enjoy me being home more as I have become quite a 'domestic goddess' as I once heard a home-maker called. I don't know how I could possibly work full time and take care of the house all at once with my husband working such crazy long hours. Kudos to all the families who make it work as I don't think I could. Ryan is just so amazing and I am blessed to have such a wonderful best friend and husband who continues to make me smile and laugh often, even when I've had a rough day.

I am leaving you with some photos to enjoy!!

Happy New Year!!

2007-12-30T11:31:00.001-08:00

Mckenna painting and Caili laughing as always

Our Niece Sam and Mckenna, opening gifts and celebrating together as a family

What a wonderful holiday it was with our family. Lots of fun, very busy, but lots of fun. We had our family down from kitchener and Ryan mom and our niece Sam stayed over from the 23rd to the 24th. We had a lot of fun and I made a great Christmas dinner for us. Mckenna was SSSOOO excited about Santa. It really does bring magic into the holidays.

My Nana stayed over the week before and we made a gingerbread house. Mckenna loved the fact that she could eat all the candy. I gave her a gingerbread man to decorate, but all she did was lick the icing and eat the candy. Was she ever spun afterwards.

We had a big snowstorm and it was just beautiful on the lake. Ryan took Mckenna out in her sled and to look at all the ice on the lake.

Caili learned to blow raspberries and Mckenna sat with us at the table for dinner like a big girl for the first time.

We stayed in on the 24th and relaxed as a family as I knew the next few days were going to be very busy. Mckenna and I put the milk and cookies out for Santa along with a carrot for Rudolph. When she woke up in the morning, she was so happy the Santa enjoyed her cookies and when she looked out the window, Rudolph had chewed up the carrot and left quite a mess on the ground under the tree. We had Ryan's Dad and Nana R over for breakfast Christmas morning for homemade belgium waffles.....there is nothing like them.

Eating Rudophs carrot before bed, Christmas morning under the tree, opening gifts

Caili with her gifts and Nana R and Mckenna

She loved opening her gifts and was very happy to help us open ours. It was fun and on Christmas day night, she wanted to put more milk out for Santa, thinking that if she did, maybe he would bring more presents...like she doesn't have enough!
On boxing day my family always does a crazy gift exchange and it is always fun. The kids were excellent considering how messed up their schedule was and Mckenna just kept playing and eating.
Mckenna's potty training is going very well....only 2 pull ups a day usually and she goes to the bathroom about 50% of the time now by herself. She still needs lots of reminders, but she is definitely got the just of how it works. She had a great time with her cousin Miah and Miah is going to be a big sister next August now!! We are so excited to have another cousin. It is amazing to see the difference just 3 months makes. Miah is very into imaginative play where as Mckenna just started with it about 2 weeks ago. Mckenna also doesn't understand the whole sharing thing yet, but was better on day two than on day 1.

Caili is doing amazing. I think she is really teething and there must be teeth coming in soon. Some nights have been hard, but this past week her schedule has been so messed up, I don't blame her. She is rolling overand found her feet and toes two days ago. She stands like she is ready to walk already and I know I am in trouble when she does. She is so nosy and has to see everything that is going on. She loves watching Mckenna and laughs and laughs at her when she dances for her.
So I am posting pics and video of the holidays. Ryan and I usually celebrate New Years just the two of us. He goes out and buys a ton of good food and we cook and eat all night. It's fun and much needed after such a busy week.
I hope everyone had a great Christmas and I wish you all the very best in the upcoming year.

Christmas Time is here....

2007-11-29T07:22:00.000-08:00

Our little angels 21 months and 3 months

I absolutely LOVE this time of year. I think it is magical and warm even when it is freezing and snowy outside. Anyone who knows me, knows that I listen to Christmas music throughout the year, and by Halloween, I already have CD's in my player. I don't know what it is exactly that brings out the festive joy in me, but I have Christmas fever big time. The last 5 days, I have been decorating our home and setting up the tree and to watch Mckenna's face as she looks at all the decorations is magic in itself. I think Christmas for me growing up was always about the excitement of the decorations, the family getting together, the toboggan rides down AKO hill, and the anticipation of going through the Sears catalog and writing our letters to Santa. I love seeing Mckenna's eyes light up as she points things out to me, or Ryan. It is what Christmas as a child is all about. We finally had our living room painted a beautiful dark green and with all the wood trim, beams and fireplace, it now looks just as we had envisioned. It is now our lodge and we love it. It is also the perfect color for Christmas and couldn't make me happier.

Eating Ribs with Daddy

Mckenna is doing amazing and has really taken to singing 'Must be Santa' and her 'HO!Ho!Ho! is even getting deep and robust. She is just so excited for Santa, it is all she talks about. Her favorite book at the moment is Dora's Christmas adventure with all the flaps that you can lift to find Santa's outfit and presents. She has definitely caught my holiday spirit. The potty training is slow, but that's fine with me as I don't want to push her too early. She is really talking so much now and puts sentences and words together very well. I can talk with her very easily and she understands everything I say and vice versa. She loves to dance and loves music. Any time their is someone singing on TV, she stops and stares until it's done. A couple days ago, there was some boyband on TV doing a live performance and it caught her attention. She didn't know that Ryan and I were watching her from the kitchen and all of a sudden, she started trying to do the moves that the guys were doing. It was hilarious to watch our little girl lifting her arms and bending her legs to imitate them. I think I will be putting her in dance class sooner than I think. She also watches the Big Comfy Couch and whenever Lunette gets down to do all her stretches on the clock (parents with little ones know what I am talking about if they watch the show!) Mckenna gets down and does all the stretches too.

Caili asleep after a long walk

Caili is also doing very well. She still has her bouts of her acid reflux, but much much better than the beginning. Her favorite time is when she is up on the change table and she just laughs and giggles at me. She giggled for the first time last week and it made my heart melt. I remember Mckenna's first giggle and now here was my second baby already giggling. She is the only baby I know who has cellulite on her face. I swear she has 3-4 dimples. 1 on each cheek and 2 on her chin. The fourth only shows when she really smile big, but I've seen it. Daddy is in BIG trouble. Between Mckenna and Caili's eyes and dimples, he better be prepared. She is also rolling already from back to stomach and stomach to back. I can't get over how strong she is and she is such a squirmy little worm. She watches Mckenna with amazement and it's almost as if they can read each other's little minds. She sleeps about 9-10 hours at night and then feeds around 4am and goes back to sleep for about 3 hours. I am truly blessed on the sleeping aspect of my girls. I've attached a video of Caili talking to me as she plays with her hands (which she always does)

The Girls watching T.V together

Last night we had my Christmas party at Bogies. It is always such amazing food and great laughs and last night was no exception. My parents switched houses with us and stayed with the girls and we stayed at their house. It worked out great, except that Ryan was supposed to take today off, but he took Monday off and couldn't take today as well. It was still a great night out and lots of fun.

After a few drinks!!

So I hope the Christmas spirit is getting into everyone as much as it has got into me. Ryan thinks I'm nuts sometimes with all my decorations, but I know deep down, he is just as excited as me, especially with the kids. I will attach photos of the decorations and our new living room at our next post. Take care and enjoy.

Halloween Happenings

2007-11-05T11:44:00.000-08:00

Halloween always brings back such awesome memories from childhood for me. I always loved picking out a costume and it was always a mix of clothes and whatever things we could find out of my grandparents or parents closets mixed with some accessories. Having children to share it with now really makes it special and this was one of the first of years to come. Mckenna loved cleaning out the pumpkin and washing the seeds. I drew the face on it and Uncle Dave cut it out. Mckenna just laughed and laughed when it was all lit up with it's candle.

Mckenna wasn't too enthused about the whole trick or treat thing until.....she learned that she got candy! We practiced at the door and she learned to say 'trick or treat', though it sounded more like 'twitweat'. Once she got that down pat she couldn't wait to get out and get some candy. Ryan and I couldn't wait for the candy either, a definite bonus in having kids. Mckenna was a 50's witch and Caili was a princess frog.

Mckenna practices trick or treating before we head out!

So out we headed and Mckenna LOVED everything about it. The kids, the costumes, the candy. She was in her glory and said 'HI' so enthusiastically when she saw the kids. We couldn't help but laugh. Someone was even handing out beenie babies, but when she realized it wasn't candy, she through it back at the poor old man. He just laughed and gave her a stuffed kitten instead of the horse she had. As we headed across the lawns as there was no sidewalk, I said to Ryan; "Just carry Mckenna to the next house as there are 4 without lights on" Well, as we were about to step down to the next property, I told him to watch his step and just as I stepped my left foot down, it ended up in a three foot hole that had a storm drain at the bottom of it. It was covered in leaves and was so much further down than the rest of the property. So I landed on my ankle sideways and my knee so that the baby didn't get hurt. I was in major pain and the baby was screaming. Probably just scared, as I took all the cuts and bruises. Mckenna was so worried about her mama. Needless to say, we cut the night short, headed back to my parents and iced my ankle. It was really swollen and my knee was all cut up.
The whole next day all Mckenna would say was 'Mama boo-boo knee down'. I love her so much!

So besides halloween, everything is great. Almost all our new windows are in along with our new sliding patio doors. It looks like we are sitting right on the lake now as opposed to beside it. Next project is plaster and painting. I can't wait to finally get that done so that we can hang things up on the walls.

Caili is doing wonderful and loves sitting up in her bumbo seat so that she can watch her big sister dance and laugh at her. She is going through a growth spurt right now and sleeps about 6-7 hours at night (except the last few nights as all she wants to do is eat!) Her hair is really growing in and it is so much lighter than Mckenna's. She has a fascination with her hands and is always playing with them. She thinks they are toys and stares and laughs at them. Mckenna amazes me at how good she is with her. Just this morning all three of us were sleeping in my bed and Mckenna reaches over and started rubbing Caili's hair and talking to her. It moments like that that take all my worries away.

I made use of the left over Candy sale at Shoppers and took Mckenna there to get her potty treats. She has been telling us for months now when she goes to the bathroom in her diaper but it was always after she went. Now she usually tells us before she goes, so I decided to start the potty training. The first night, she went all by her self. I put the potty in the kitchen and left her naked to run around and told her that when she goes pee pee on the potty, she can pick out a treat. Well, not 5 minutes later and I turned to look in the kitchen and there she was, sitting on the potty watching herself pee. She took the pot out of the potty that she was supposed to pee in and peed right in the toilet itself. She stood up and yelled 'YAY!' so loud. We did the pee-pee dance in the kitchen and then she picked out a treat. She was so proud of herself. We called Daddy right away to tell him. Last night she went on the big toilet right after her bath. Not so good to get the candy right before bed, but oh well, she slept fine.

So the cold weather is here, and Christmas is fast approaching. Another favorite of mine. If anyone knows me, I am the one blissfully listening to Christmas music long before the Halloween costumes are put away. It is my favorite time of year and I can't wait to decorate our new house this year.

Well, as everyone slowly gets busy for the holidays, I will continue to try and update as often as I can.

Thanksgiving

2007-10-09T10:21:00.000-07:00

As I sit here and feed Caili, I am amazed at what I've learned to do with one hand and one arm and usually one eye as the other is always busy doing something else(watching Mckenna, cleaning, reading or whatever) It is truly a year to be very thankful for with all that has gone on. Our new house, a smooth move into it, our family and friends, our two beautiful daughters, Ryans health, my health and everything else that has seemed to just 'work out'.
I don't have much time to write but wanted to attach photos from Thanksgiving day morning and our ever growing family. Mckenna and I sat on our dock and watched Daddy out on the boat. It was a beautiful weekend and we had a lot of time together. Mckenna enjoyed her first roasted marshmallow, Ryan enjoyed the weekend off, Caili enjoyed her breast milk, and I enjoyed our time together as a family. I've also attached a few photos of the inside of our house.

Oh where oh where does the time go?.......

2007-09-25T10:19:00.000-07:00

My days have turned into my nights which have turned into my days. Mckenna is starting to hit the early stages of terrible twos and it makes for quite an interesting day. Sometimes I laugh, sometimes I yell and sometimes I just give up. She is great with her sister though and just loves staring at her and stroking her head.
Caili is doing well and is in a growth spurt right now. Not sleeping as much as I would like during the day but sleeps amazing at night. I can't wait to see how much she has grown at her next appt in two weeks. She is a piggy and just loves mama's milk!
Our house is almost done being ready to jack up and as soon as that's done we can get the new windows put in. How exciting. It was really cold on Sunday morning and it was great to have Ry not have to work under the house until the afternoon so we had a fire and relaxed as a family inside. Haven't really had too much time to do that lately, so it was very nice.
My brother Dave and I took the kids to the park this week and Mckenna just loved the swings and the slides. It was great to see her burn some of that energy off so she would have a long nap. She loves the outdoors so much. Her favorite thing to do right now is walk around the property and pick up things to put into her little pails (She has 6 of them) She also loves the frogs in our pond and watches them hop in and out of the water.
Fall is quickly approaching and I am excited to watch everything change around us as we have such a beautiful forest behind us and so many surrounding the house.
Here are some recent photos.....Mckenna on one of our walks and at the park and also Caili in her first dress.
Enjoy!

One Month gone.....

2007-09-07T10:01:00.001-07:00

What an adjustment it has been, going from one to two, really not as bad as I thought it was going to be. Caili is an amazing baby as was Mckenna and is already sleeping 6 hours at night. I am blessed that way. She sleeps on and off during the day, but I'd rather get the sleep at night with her. She is almost smiling at us already and can hold her head up when on her stomach like I've never seen a baby do before. She has actually been doing it since birth, but the strength continues. She hates being on her back, so I have to sleep her on her stomach. SSSHHHHH, don't tell all the doctors, or I'll hear the lectures about SIDS. I know, I know, but we all slept on our stomachs as children and we are all okay. I might try her on her side as the Dr. suggested today at her one month check up. Still don't think she's going to like it.
She is weighing in at 8lbs, 8oz already. Not too sure if she's grown length wise though.
Mckenna is as amazing as I could of hoped her to be as a big sister. She loves watching her and I can see the anticipation in her eyes waiting to be able to play with Caili as she gets bigger. She has started only having one nap a day though will sleep 2 hours or more, which gives me a nice break just when I need it. She is also sleeping 11 hours a night which is great too, as I can feed Caili and still go back to sleep for a few hours before Mckenna hops into bed with me.
Ryan is doing well since his episode with the Caterpillar. His allergies are terrible right now due to this terrible Hayfever season we are having and being out on the lake surrounded by trees and forrest is not helping.
Our house is coming along well and we have the chimney all fixed and no more leaking into our bedroom. The excavating should be done after this weekend, enough so that we can get the jacks and concrete under the house. It will all come in time and I am thrilled to watch the house unfold to it's true potential.
I wanted to attach the recent photos my girlfriend Liz took when she was home last week. They are beautiful and these are just a few. She only started a couple of month ago and it a true natural at it with an amazing eye.
Hope everyone is well and enjoyed their summer. Fall is quickly approaching and I am so looking forward to watching the new season change out at the lake.
I will attach the house photo's next time....I promise!

Caili Dean is here!!

2007-08-17T13:57:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a ride it was, but I would do it again in a minute. Caili arrived last Saturday August 11th at 7:12pm after a quick hour and a half labor. It was amazing and a completely different experience than with Mckenna as I went natural and felt every last minute of her delivery. She looks quite different than Mckenna, though still has some of her features like the big eyes and little dimples. Mckenna only has one, and Caili has two.
I couldn't believe how quick it went and when it was done, I knew why she had waited all week to arrive. She wanted to be sure we were all prepared for her beauty and cuteness.
She is a great eater and sleeper. She will feed on and off for an hour or so, falling asleep for minutes at a time then remembering that there is plenty of milk for her, she'll awake looking for more before drifting off to her big sleep. Usually 4 hours at a time. Last night she slept from 11:15 pm till 4:10am. I felt great when I got up to feed her. Even made Ryan coffee and packed his lunch before heading back to bed for another 3 hours.
Mckenna is doing absolutely amazing with her new sister and just adores her. We have adjusted our bedtime routine to include Mckenna, Caili and I rocking in the rocker before putting Mckenna down for the night. She loves it and cuddles into Caili like it's her doll.
Ryan is amazing and has really shown his adaptability to new situations over the past week. He has really taken to having his two girls and is great with helping me out.
I've included some photos of us, there will be more!!
Take care and enjoy.

Today should be the day.....

2007-08-07T06:04:00.000-07:00

Well, we have been at our new house for over one month and have finally got settled in. I went to the Dr.'s last Wednesday and he told me that he didn't think that I would make it until the weekend as I was already 2-3 cm and 50% effaced.....so I went into panic mode as I didn't even have all the baby stuff prepared yet. Luckily our awesome neice Sam was over and helped me get completely organized over the next few days.
Here it is Tuesday August 7th and my contractions started this morning 7-8 minutes apart and 30 seconds long, so we headed to my parents house at 2:30 this morning. I got there, put Mckenna to bed, Ryan went back to bed and I had a bath, washed my hair, blowed dryed it and and then, poof, the contractions lessened. So off to bed I went after waking up my doula Kari already at 3:00AM.
It is now 9am and they are slowly coming back, so I think I will go and walk on the treadmill as it is pouring rain outside.
We are very excited and anxious to meet our new little one. Lets hope it's today as '7' is our lucky number. Maybe it will be a boy.....
I do have new photos but have yet been able to load them to my parents computer so that I can show you all our new house and recent family pictures. I know I will do it as soon as the baby is born.
Congratulations to the Campbell family on their new addition Finn!! Welcome to the world little guy.
Talk to you soon and keep us in your prayers please.

Love Ry, Ally, Mckenna and baby

Living Lakeside....

2007-07-11T12:53:00.000-07:00

We are finally starting to settle into our new home. Why was it so much easier the first time around?.....oh, I forgot, we didn't have a toddler!! It is absolutely beautiful and we feel like we are on vacation every day. The drive to work is not bad at all and knowing that we get to go home to it all at the end of the day makes it all worth while.
We have begun excavating under the house to dig our crawl space out deeper. One of the many things that we have planned for the house in the upcoming years. So many plans.....
Mckenna loves it out there and being able to watch her with the wildlife and play in the water makes it unforgettable. She loves being able to roam around and look at everything.
Ryan and I took her for a dip on Saturday night and she just giggled and giggled away. I would love to post some photos, but I don't have my computer up and running, so I can't upload any photos to my parents yet.
I hope everyone is staying cool in this hot, hot weather. We are fortunate enough to have the amazing breeze off the lake, though we did put the air on two days ago as the humidity was terrible.
I'll post again soon with some photos of our new place.

Final Day's....

2007-06-26T17:34:00.001-07:00

Well here it is Tuesday night already and tomorrow night we start loading our truck up. I am actually really excited right now. I am so looking forward to our new place and all the new memories we are going to have there.
Mckenna's room is almost empty and I thought I was going to be a little more emotional over it, but I am excited for her to have her new room that looks over the water. She will love it and will probably wake up every morning saying Fissies mama, fissies!! She LOVES fish and any mention of them and she shakes her head yes for no reason other than to show you her intense love of them.
I will be able to update from work and other people's emails. My mom gave me a storage key so I can store pictures on it, bring it to her house and upload them to her computer so that I can show everyone the latest pictures of us.
It is only 6 weeks now until Baby 2 could arrive. I am pushing for the 15-16, but I don't even know if it will last that long. It is sitting so low, I swear she has popped out a few times and said hello already. Maybe that was just my dream.....
So please wish us luck in our move and I will write soon....I promise.
Can't wait to see you all out there!

1 week till moving day.....

2007-06-21T17:00:00.001-07:00

The time is going by quicker than ever, with so much on our plates right now. It seems like someone keeps putting seconds on my plate, when I am ssssoooo full, I feel like I am going to explode.
We have packed our house quite well so far, with only the essentials left out upstairs and still a little more packing to do downstairs. It has been fun and stressful, but mostly a relief as I have been able to sift through 5 years of stuff and sort out our things. We had a garage sale on June 9th and did pretty well, so it was nice to see most of it go to new homes.
We had a great fathers day. Ry took his dad fishing and caught their limit of pickerel in just over 2 hours. I spent the day with my mom, dad and Bro over at mom and dads place, lying around and playing in the pool with Mckenna. Then Mckenna and I headed home for dinner that Daddy actually cooked for his dad, so it was a nice treat. Who would have thought I would get a break on Father's Day? Our neice Sam stayed with us for the weekend and we had fun.
Mckenna has an ear infection at the moment and her fever finally broke last night after starting her on antibiotics. It was up to 103.7 on Saturday night, so we had a bit of a scare.
So I don't know how often I will be able to post once we move as we won't have internet for a little while. I will definately post one more time before we move. The tears and all.......

29 weeks and counting...

2007-06-04T03:29:00.001-07:00

Well, I finally had a couple minutes this morning (up at 5:30 this morning, I actually slept in!!)
to take some updated photos of baby and belly. I can't believe I am 29 weeks already. 11 weeks is going to fly, especially since we have ssssoooo much going on. I am getting very excited though.
Ry thinks I'm hiding the fact that the baby is a boy because I sometime forget and say, 'Man he's really kicking right now, feel!' But, as far as I've been told it's a girl, but we could still have a surprise at the end of labor and delivery.

So, here I am in all my glory, or not glory, however you feel about belly pics.....

Have a great day, It's Monday and the sun is a shinin'!!

Water Baby

2007-05-30T17:39:00.001-07:00

Man, it is hot today...and Mckenna and I are really feeling it. I took her outside tonight to play in her 'pool' and splash around to burn some energy off before bed. She really loves the water and doesn't even mind how cold the tap water is out of the hose. She found out tonight that she can drink from the hose, push her friend Jada on her Dora car, and spray T.J the cat with the water. She was so funny and it really burnt her out. By 7pm she could barely walk anymore and was dying to go inside to bed. Yes, I am lucky enough that when asked if it's night night time, she will enthusiastically shake her head yes.
Our packing has begun as has my sleepless nights of organizing everything in my head. It is so real now and I am finding it harder to know that at the end of the month, this will no longer be our home. I am really dreading that day, but have decided that tomorrow I am going to film the house so that Mckenna knows where she first lived and had many of her 'firsts' in her life. It will be a sad day for me as we have truly made this our home and filled it with many wonderful memories. I know our new house will have even more, but it is amazing to think back 5 years ago and how far we have come already. I better stop....the lump in my throat is forming again.
Enjoy the photos and video. The pictures of Mckenna with her new bikini on is from tonight and the rest are from the last couple weeks.

Link to video:http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v717/ally92/?action=view&current=100_3092.flv

Good things come in three's......

2007-05-19T18:02:00.000-07:00

What can I say except it has been a whirlwind of a week.
Mothers Day was great and we spent it out at Dave and Sara's house on the lake. We had people come through our house at 10:30am so Ryan took me out for breakfast since he couldn't make it and mess up the kitchen. We thought it was just another uneventful showing, but low in behold, they put an offer in 4 hours later!! I was elated, but holding my breath. They came in low, we countered to what we wanted and they accepted 2 days later. Only financing and house inspection were the conditions, so once again we were worried about the financing thing as the last offer didn't go through because of that.

On Monday I had my ultrasound at the Dr.'s office trying to find out what the sex of the baby is. It took forever and the Dr. said I'd have to try again next time because the baby wasn't co-operating (go figure, it does have Ryan's genes) but he said it was 'pissing' him off that he couldn't determine the sex (Yes, he literally used that word, I guess he's comfortable with me!) So he kept poking my belly and making me roll from side to side and finally the shot came at the very end and I am SSOOOOO excited to say that we are having another GIRL!!! I thought I wanted a boy at first, but since they are so close in age, I really wanted another girl. The fact that I already had all the clothes and it would save us so much money had absolutely nothing to do with it!! ;) He is about 90% sure and putting that with my ultrasound at 18 weeks when the tech thought it was probably a girl, I'm guessing it's a girl. But we could still have a surprise on delivery day.

So we had the house inspection on Thursday, went great, no problems and the their financing went through on Thursday night and we got all the conditions removed, so our house was officially SOLD!! So why didn't I feel relieved? I think all the stress and exhaustion caught up to me that night and just overwhelmed me. I was running on empty for so long just going with the flow to get our house sold, that when it was finally done, my body and mind just gave in. Literally collapsed. We had our financing approved Friday and removed the conditions for our lake house and now it is officially ours!! What an amazing feeling.

We took my mom and dad out there today to see it and meet the people. They are a wonderful couple and I fell in love with the house even more. So much more I noticed this time and she showed me all the hidden storage ( A girls best friend!)

So the pics are of mothers day and I've included a couple links.... One to the new house and one to a video of Mckenna on mothers day and one of her playing outside in my makeshift pool. She had a blast.

http://www.mls.ca/PropertyDetails.aspx?vd=&SearchURL=%3fMode%3d0%26Page%3d1%26vs%3d1%26rlt%3d%26cp%3d%26pt%3d0%26mp%3d0-0-0%26mrt%3d-1-0-0%26Beds%3d0-0%26Baths%3d0-0%26f%3d%26ft%3dall%26o%3dA%26of%3d1%26ps%3d10%26ptgid%3d1%26pro%3d2%26ci%3d%26st%3dlakecrest%26zip%3d&Mode=0&PropertyID=5638288

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v717/ally92/?action=view&current=100_3068.flv

Enjoy!

Fishing for Coi

2007-05-10T19:40:00.000-07:00

My parents new house has 2 ponds and 3 waterfalls. 1 waterfall leads to this massive pond in the backyard, 1 leads to the pond in the front yard and one leads directly into the pool. It is amazing and Mckenna loves seeing all the fish and water. Tonight we laughed as my Dad tried his hardest to 'take Mckenna fishing' for the Coi in the front pond. They stay there over the winter as it is heated so he wanted to transfer some to the back pond. Mckenna was so excited to see them come to the top of the water to feed. She already knows where they hide the fish food and points to the container all the time.

I took some new pics of the house today to change up the ones already on the mls listing. The other ones were good for Christmas, but not for summer. I think these look much better, so here's hoping for some takers over the weekend.

Good news for Sara today....she got a full time nursing job at Met on the internal medicine floor. I am so excited and proud of her. She starts June 12 and is very pumped.

Baby is kicking ALOT tonight. I think it is all wound up over the Grey's anatomy episode. Can any more people die in that series? Got my heart racing tonight.

Yay...one more night of Ry on afternoons and then back to normal. The time alone at night is great once in a while, but by the end of the week, I am missing him.

Here are some of the new photos of the house....

Maybe today is the day

2007-05-09T17:15:00.000-07:00

I never thought that selling a house would cause so much anxiety, stress and sleepless nights. Where are the people who enjoy living in a nice area, in a beautifully redone home and are anxious to put in offer in so they can start enjoying it as much as we have. What a pain in the butt.....I will NEVER move again.

That venting being done, I will attempt the video link again. Here's hoping it works or you may keep seeing edited versions of this email as I get more and more frustrated.

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v717/ally92/?action=view&current=100_2941.flv

Link not working

2007-05-08T19:34:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I can't get the link to work...I'll try later. This blog set up has wiped me out!

Finally...

2007-05-08T18:30:00.000-07:00

It is long over due.... I know. I have been envious and loving every minute of reading everyone else's blogs. It seems like such a definitive way to keep the family and friends up to date on the happenings in our family. OUR FAMILY....the sentence still blows me away. Mckenna is already 15 months old and is such an amazing little human already. She has such a caring and compassionate side to her and this funny habit of having to put things away when she is done with it. I'm not complaining at all, it's just so funny to watch her with such determination to get her shoes back on the shelf, the newspaper back in the box after she's thrown it all over the living room and the chalk back in the box when she's done coloring outside. I know who she gets that from...I am a little obsessive about putting things back and cleaning things up when I'm done.Ryan is on afternoons this week and has enjoyed waking up and cuddling with Mckenna before she heads off to the babysitters. There is something to be said about watching the man you so deeply love and care for, melt over this tiny little girl. It is a joy that only mothers can watch and truly appreciate. I have included some updated photo's and some video of Miss Mckenna Grace. I am feeling well and can't believe I have only 14 weeks left of this pregnancy. It has truly flown by. I am still debating whether or not I want to find out the sex on Monday. I think I do, but then a part of me wants it to be a surprise too. Enjoy the pics and I hope to update more often on here then I do on email.