Hello Stranger!

It's hard to believe over a year has gone by since I last posted. What is going on in our lives right now? To start off we are expecting Miss Monroe Paige in a little less than four weeks. Yes, we are having another girl and yes I am crazy because Mckenna will only be 19 months old! Mckenna is in love with the "baby" or "roe roe" as she likes to call her and loves to try and see her by picking up my shirt and showing the world my tummy. Some say awww how cute....Me not so much. It doens't bother me at home but in the middle of Target, not my favorite time for Mckenna to talk to her little sister.

As for Mckenna she is growing by leaps and bounds everyday. She is truley a Daddy's Girl. I can't get over how big she is and how independant she wants to be. She recently started informing Matt and I when she was wet or dirty so we took this as a sign to start potty training. How great would it be to get one out of diapers just before the second arrives?! Mckenna picked out a pretty pink potty and Elmo panties. She loves to sit on the potty but has yet to go on it. Her teachers at school are so great and have her sit on the potty as well. It's just a matter of time before we master this milestone.
Another big step for her was getting a "big girl" bed. Her crib was recently recalled and I had to get rid of it. Instead of putting her in another crib Matt and I decided to get a toddler bed. We are finishing up our third week in the toddler bed and she is a CHAMP! She doesn't get out of it when it's time for bed and she has only rolled out of bed one time.

As for Matt he is busy as always. He recently had his tonsils removed and recovered quite nicely. He started getting sick last November and we couldn't figure out why or what was causing it. Finally six months and almost 30 pounds later his tonsils are gone and he now needs smaller pants! It is definatley not fun to watch your husband shrink and your belly expands!!! I am so thankful he is feeling better.

Next week Matt and Mckenna will fly to New York to visit family. Yes, Matt is taking Mckenna on an airplane SOLO! I will almost be in my 38th week and have to stay home. So while my mom, Aunt Sally and I get the house ready for Monroe, Matt and Mckenna will be jet setting to the East Coast. I have known of this trip for several months now but I still get tears in my eyes when I think of being away from Mckenna for four days. This will be the first time we are apart since she was born.
In order for Matt to be able to travel through the airport with Mckenna, the stroller and the carseat, I was asked to pack a bag early so he could ship it to his aunt's house. I made sure to make dressing Mckenna as easy as possible. Each outfit she has to wear is packed individually in a zip lock bag down to the shoes and hair accesory. I wish I was going to be there since last summer she was only six months old when she met everyone for the first time. Matt's mom will be there as well as his aunts so he shouldn't have to do much in the way of Mckenna seeing as they are ready to spoil her every second she is there! They are going to have so much fun. I am just hoping Monroe does not decide to make a grand entrance before they come home.

As for me, I am doing good. My pregnancy has been great and has gone by really fast. I can't believe we will have two precious girls in less than a month. If you look at the 3D ultrasound pictures of Mckenna and Monroe they look almost identical. I am very proud to say I have only gained 17 pounds so far and hope to not gain much more. I am still teaching at the private school in Kyle and am looking forward to having Monroe at the school as well. It is such a blessing to be able to have the girls in the same building as I am. It makes going to work so much easier.

Given my updating track record I am not promising anything but I will try my hardest to keep my blog updated. Hopefully I find myself here again in a lot less time than a year!

What could happen in 6 months?

Well.......A LOT


Mckenna will be ONE in 7 weeks and I have no idea where the time went. She has been walking for 3 weeks now and is trying to RUN everywhere. My living room now consists of a baby gate blocking the front entry and an ironing board on it's side blocking Mckenna from the rest of the house. This works for a little while until she becomes brave enough to flip (yes I said flip) her body over the ironing board and laughs as she lands on the other side. She is eating everything in sight and pretty much feeds herself now. Jake and Lola are quite fond of Mckenna when she eats because she ever so carefully stretches her arm out from her high chair and waits till the right moment(when I not "looking") and drops food to them. They also REALLY love when I take her out of the high chair and everything "stored" in her lap falls to the ground. Whatever makes clean up easier on ME!!!! Matt is busy as usual and is totally wrapped around Mckenna's finger. Every night when he comes home she hears the garage door open and she looks at the back door and starts screaming until he walks in! As for me, we started another school year and my kids are CRAZY but what's new! I am constantly haunted by laundry and dirty dishes but Mckenna makes it so easy to ignore them. I love every second I spend with her. I just wish they weren't going by so fast.

Martha Stewart, Eat your heart out!

I am going to start this post off with a little back ground in my ability (or lack there of) to grow petunias. Last year I planted almost 20 purple petunia plants in my front flower bed. Needless to say, before summer was even over they were all dead. Convinced petunias are not my friend, they were not on my shopping list this year when I bought flowers to redo the beds with. As I took on the overgrown flower bed pulling the weeds and turning the mulch into the dirt, what did my eyes see.....a tiny little petunia plant with one purple flower. I dropped the shovel and ran into the house knowing as soon as I shared this excited news with Matt he would leap from his chair and share in my joy. YEAH RIGHT! I got an eye roll and he went right back to watching ESPN. I carefully transplanted into my cute green Fiesta pot and placed him on my back porch coffee table. I am proud to say this morning he BLOOMED for the SECOND time. Yes, you heard me correct. Did I mention, the peas sprouted today as well. I am pretty sure my thumb became a little greener today.












Today I managed to replace 3 light switches, without electrocuting myself. We have had these timers for over a year now and they have yet to be installed. As I was watching the DIY network, they showed how to install a motion sensor in an outlet. It didn't look that hard so I was instantly inspired to give it a go. After staring at the breaker box for several minutes trying to figure out which of the four breakers labeled; switch/outlet; I should turn off, I went with all four. I wasn't taking any chances, I've seen Home Improvement and I was not about to be Tim Allen. I am proud to say, my front porch light now turns on at 7:45pm and turns off at 10pm and I don't have to flip a switch. Below you will see the before and after pictures. Oh yeah, I didn't electrocute myself either! All and all it was a pretty productive Sunday.

Mary Mary quite contrary.......Hope your garden grows!

Mckenna and I planted the seeds for our garden today. For those of you who don't know me well, my thumb is the darkest shade of BROWN. Since Mckenna is started to eat veggies, we planted peas and green beans. We also planted broccoli for Matt and okra and basil for myself. Hopefully they grow so I can try my hand at making baby food for Mckenna. I also need to mention, Matt and I are having a "friendly" competition. He planted two blackberry bushes and two blueberry bushes. He is very confident his fruit will not only produce more but will live longer than anything I plant. We will see. I plan to post pictures of the progress. Stay Tuned!

500 Eggs and 1 Diaper Change

Today we had an egg hunt in my classroom; 16 kids taking on 500 plastic eggs. It was total mayhem. How did I stuff 500 eggs you ask? Well......I didn't. Each table in my classroom had a bowl of candy and toys and plastic eggs. My kiddos really enjoyed filling the eggs. You would think with as many eggs as we had it would take at least 15 minutes to find them all. YEAH RIGHT! There was not an egg in sight in only five minutes.

After the speedy egg hunt we moved inside for our party. There is nothing like five year olds hopped up on Capri suns and cupcakes to make nap time completely POINTLESS.

Matt, Mckenna, and I were leaving shortly after our party to go the Valley for Easter so Matt came to the school to pick Mckenna up for some Daddy time. He knew about my party and brought my kids some candy and cookies; making him their new best friend. I need him to come to my classroom more often. As soon as he walked through the door a silence hit the room unlike any other. I looked at my kids and their chins were on the ground. One little boy was walking across the room and didn't notice him until he was right in front of Matt. He stopped in his tracks and just stared at him. Finally one little boy broke the silence with, "Mr. Matt did you grow?"

For those of you who have not heard, Matt is yet to change a diaper. Yes you heard me correctly, of the approximate 1,000 diaper changes Mckenna has been through in her four months of life not one of them has been done by her father. Well I am proud to say this is no longer true. During Matt and Mckenna's daddy daughter time there was a diaper change included. Now if you ask Matt he did no such thing. Little does he know, I emptied the diaper genie this morning before I went to work. When I came home Matt had Mckenna on the changing table and there was a diaper in the genie. It might have taken four months but better now than never. He is lucky he decided to do it when she was just nursing. Wait until the cereal and baby food kicks in.

Please Sir, May I have some more?

Mckenna had her first taste of cereal today. Once we got the hang of using the spoon and the right consistency she LOVED it. I read the box to make her first bowl. The box actually has a recipe for first time eaters. Apparently first time eaters need a straw because it was so runny I could hardly keep it on the spoon. Between Mckenna's constant moving hands, her tongue going 90 mph, and my unsteady hand, more cereal ended up on her bib than in her mouth. I am convince Mr. Gerber never mixed 1 TBSP of rice cereal with 5 TBSP of breast milk and tried to feed it to a very curious 4 month old. After I thickened it with more cereal the feeding frenzy was on.

I am ready for the pool......now if the weather would warm up!

We are going to the valley this weekend for Easter. Mckenna will be baptised on Easter Sunday in the Methodist Church in our home town. The same church Matt and I were married in. We are hoping the weather will be warm enough for Mckenna to go swimming for the first time. She tried on her gear last night to make sure it fit. She looks so cute. I can't wait to see her in the pool.