Christmas

What a great Christmas! Originally we had hoped to spend Christmas in Idaho with our family this year, but doctors don't let you travel at 40 weeks pregnant. Even though we just had a quiet Christmas here with the 3 of us, it was still wonderful. Since Brett is in school we knew that this was going to be a small Christmas. A few months ago we found this cute kitchen set and shopping cart at an outlet store for McKinley. I have been so excited to give it to her for Christmas. We also got her a little princess tea set and an MP3 player. Even though we were on a much tighter budget this year, I think she got more for christmas this year than any other. She loved all of her presents. She has been cooking us food and having tea parties with us non-stop since Christmas. One of her favorite presents was her high heels that she got from her cousin Mason. She is always wearing them. We can't even get her to take them off to go to bed.

On Christmas Eve we watched the Polar express and then decorated Christmas cookies.

Before we went to bed we let McKinley open a present. She got some new princess pajamas, and she was very excited about them until we said that she could wear them to bed. She put her pajamas back in the box and tried to re-wrap them. Apparently she wasn't ready for bed yet. Once we explained that Santa wouldn't come until she was asleep she was willing to put on her new pajamas.

I think this was my favorite Christmas yet. Mainly because we got to spend the day together as a family, but also because I loved watching McKinley's face light up as she opened her presents. Kids sure do make Christmas fun. This year McKinley finally was old enough to understand what was going on, and she was so excited for Christmas. MP3 player-$10. Seeing the excitement on McKinley's face when she heard it playing her favorite disney songs- Priceless!

Some other exciting news is that I hit my due date today. My baby countdown is on zero. However, it would be more exciting if I actually had a baby. My doctor has been telling me the baby would come "Any Day Now" for weeks. She also told me that she didn't think I would make it to my due date. Well, I guess I proved her wrong. So does that mean the jokes on her or me? I'm scheduled to be induced on Tuesday. So one way or the other the baby will be here by then. Bretts parents are flying in tomorrow, so they will be here to help for the next week. It will be nice to have someone here to take care of McKinley while I'm in the hospital. We'll let everyone know when the baby comes. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.

Christmas Countdown

I can't believe that Christmas is a week and a half away. This is going to be an extra special Christmas for us. This Wednesday Brett's little brother Tom is coming home from his mission. We are so excited because Brett's parents and his little brother are going to come out and visit us the week after Christmas. We can't wait to see Tom! My due date is also sneaking up on us. Last week when I saw the doctor she told me that the baby could come any time now. I hit my 38 week mark yesterday, which is how far along I was when I had McKinley. However, I have a feeling this baby is going to hang in there until the end. Whether or not we have a new addition to our family yet Christmas is going to be great. Mainly because Brett actually has that day off, but also because McKinley has hit that age where she is really excited about Christmas. Every morning when we wake up McKinley will turn on the Christmas tree lights. If we leave the house, even just for a few minutes, she comes home and runs over to the Christmas tree and gives it a hug. Then she tells it how much she missed it.


On Friday night we had our Ward Christmas Party. It was a lot of fun, and we had a special visit from Santa Clause. McKinley was so excited when we told her that we were going to see Santa, but I thought she would be to afraid to sit on his lap. I was wrong. It was fun to watch her face light up when Santa walked into the room.



In the last week McKinley has become addicted to the movie the "Polar Express". She wants to watch it all the time, and when she isn't watching it she is walking around the house singing the hot chocolate song. On Saturday when we told her that we were going to ride the polar express she was so excited. We went with some of our friends to Crossroads Village. It was a lot of fun. While we were waiting for our turn on the train we walked around the village and visited Santa Clause and we saw a real reindeer.




It was such a fun night. Thanks for letting us tag along with you Hinds family, that made it even more fun.



This last picture is for my mom. She keeps asking for me to take a picture of myself while I'm as big as a barn. So here is a picture of me at 38 weeks.

I hope everyone is enjoying this Christmas season. What a wonderful time of year.

My Little Trouble Maker

I don't know how many other moms have had one of those days where you feel like your child is plotting against you. One of those days where you can't get a mess cleaned up before your cute little child has created another one. Monday just happened to be one of those days for me. And of course these days only occur while daddy is gone. Then as soon as Dad walks into the house they turn into Daddy's little angel and your husband can't figure out why you are so frustrated. Monday had been a down hill slide that kept getting worse as the day went on. During dinner I got to clean the kitchen floor twice. Once it was a glass of applejuice and 15 minutes later it was something that looked a lot like apple juice, oh.. but it wasn't. I cleaned up McKinley and was in the process of cleaning the "not" apple juice when I started wondering how she was conspiring against me at that very moment. I knew that when I went upstairs I was going to find another mess. Sure enough, I reached the top of the stairs just in time to watch McKinley finish applying lipstick to her eyebrows. At first I was frustrated. GREAT, another mess. After a few seconds I couldn't help but smile. She looked so cute with lipstick all over face, and she was so proud of herself. Instead of getting upset I got the camera. As you'll notice from the picture she thinks she is pretty dang cute, and I'd have to agree. I loved in conferenc when President Monson talked about how our kids dirty fingerprints will fade and then we will miss them. Its time to "Enjoy the Journey". Monday was a perfect reminder for me. I sure love my little "Trouble Maker", even when she is conspiring against me. :)

McKinley's New Room

The past month has been kind of crazy. I'm definately going through my "nesting" phase. Which I'm sure makes me almost intolerable to Brett, because I'm already obsessive compulsive about getting things done. We decided to switch McKinley rooms so that the baby could have her room, which is right across the hall from us. Her room turned into quite the project. It took a lot more time and energy then we were expecting. So for about 3 weeks while we were working on the room we had her stuff spread out amongst 3 different rooms. Yes, this drove me crazy. The worst part was that I couldn't just do the room myself and that Brett had no spare time to do it. Hallelujah, it is finally done. McKinley has moved in and adjusted well, and I have been able to get my house put back together.

The pictures don't really do the room justice. It turned out really cute. Good Job Brett! We also had a lot of help from one of our friends (Thanks Roger). During the 3 weeks while I was waiting for the room to be finished I made all sorts of decorations for her room. Now poor Annabelles room looks empty compared to McKinleys.

Last week we went in for our 35wk check-up and found out that the baby was breech. The doctor wanted to schedule me for a C-section on the 19th of December. We were uncomfortable about having a C-section and about having it 2 wks before my actual due date. We went back in to see the doctor today and found out that Annabelle had turned back around into the correct position. We spent the past week telling her that she needed to turn around, and she did. What an obedient daughter. Hopefully, she stays that way.

Catching up

Well, it has been awhile since I updated our blog. McKinley and I took a trip out to Idaho over Halloween, and then when I got back our computer crashed. I never realized how dependent I am on my computer until I didn't have it. We finally got our computer fixed and back to us, but unfortunately we lost all of our programs and files. The most disappointing part of the whole situation is that we lost all of our pictures. We save all of our pictures on the computer and the last time I saved them to a disc was last Christmas. All of the pictures we have taken since then are gone. I had our scrapbooks up to date through April, so atleast we have copies of some the pictures we took before April.
On a more happy note, we had a great trip out to Idaho. McKinley really enjoyed getting to spend time with her grandparents and her cousins. It was the perfect weekend for us to go out because Brett's uncle was getting married. So we were able to see a lot of Bretts family.

The last time we saw Brett's Grandma was 2yrs ago. McKinley was only 8 months old. It was really exciting to get to see her.

Brett was supposed to be in Honduras while we were in Idaho, but he was too sick to go. He got feeling better by the end of the week and his parents surprised us by flying him out for the weekend. He was only there for 2 days, but he was able to see his brothers and sisters that he hasn't seen in a year and a half. This was his first trip back since we moved. McKinley and I were really excited to have him out there with us.
While we were out there we got to see our new nephew Mason. He is adorable.

We were able to celebrate Halloween with family and with all of McKinley's cousins. My parents had a little Halloween party at there house for all the grandkids. It was a lot of fun. McKinley got a pair of vampire teeth and ran around trying to scare people the entire night.

We also played the game where you eat a doughnut off of a string. McKinley did impressively well. I was sure that she was going to just rip the dougnut off of the string, but she didn't.

On Halloween night we took McKinley to a Halloween party at my grandmas assisted living center.

While we were there I was able to get a 4 generation picture with my grandma. We were excited to get 4 generation pictures on Brett's side of the family and mine.


It was a great trip and we were excited to get to see all of our family.

Bad Luck

My poor husband has had some bad luck lately. A week and a half ago he got exposed to a nasty infection at the hospital and was put on 2 different, strong antibiotics. This week he was finally starting to feel better. Then on Wednesday while he was working on the nursery he shot himself in the finger with a nail gun and had to go get a tetanus shot. That evening he wasn't feeling/looking well. He was having body aches and he had a fever. The next morning he woke up covered in a rash. When he went in to the ER they told him that he was having a bad reaction to one of the antibiotics he was taking. They've taken him off all of his medications and now we are just waiting for his body to fight it off. The poor guy is so sick. His rash has gotten bad enough that you almost can't tell its a rash, because the spots are growing together. Brett was supposed to be going to Honduras on Sunday for a Medical Mission trip. He has been so excited and has already paid for the trip. The doctors have said that if he isn't completely better by Saturday then he can't go. It's not looking like Honduras is going to happen. We've decided that maybe we are getting a very loud message that Brett wasn't supposed to go to Honduras. However, we decided that McKinley and I are still going to come out to Idaho tomorrow. I hate leaving him when he is sick, but this will be our last chance to come see family for awhile and Brett has insisted that we go still.
Some good news this week is that we had another ultrasound on Wednesday and they said that the baby looks good. Her kidneys are still big, but are working well. They said everything else about her looks normal. We will continue to do ultrasounds every couple of weeks to watch her, but so far things look pretty good. :)

Our Crazy Week

It has been quite the busy week for us. I don't think I've ever looked at our calender and been unable to find an empty spot. However, inspite of being very busy we have also been able to do a lot of fun things this week. On Friday McKinley had her last gymnastics class. They are starting a new session, but I've decided that I'm getting to big/pregnant to be doing a mommy and me class with her. We'll probably start again this next spring. McKinley has loved gymnastics. Brett was able to come watch her at this last class. She was so excited to have her daddy watching. After every trick that she did she would run over to him for a "high five".



By McKinley's last gymnastics class she had really gotten the hang of things. I think she finally figured out how to get her long Maxfield extremities to work. I am amazed at how much more coordinated she has become.
On Friday night we had our ward Halloween party, and it was a lot of fun. Then on Saturday we had a primary activity. Normally, she wouldn't have come with me but Brett had to work. On Sunday we went to her friends Birthday party. They had a Halloween themed party. It was a lot of fun. They even had a hay ride.

Unfortunately I had dead batteries in my camera all weekend, so I wasn't able to get very many pictures.
In the very little spare time that I had this week I finished up McKinley and Annabelles's magnet boards.


This Saturday we fly out to Idaho. I'm really excited to come out and visit. McKinley can't wait to see her grandparents and cousins.

Crossroads Village

Last weekend we went with our friends to Crossroads Village. On the weekends in October they have fun Halloween activities. We took our kids and they got to dress up in their costumes and go trick-or-treating. They had a lot of fun activities and decorations.


This year we let McKinley choose what she wanted to be for Halloween. She decided she wanted to go as Sleeping Beauty, which is one of her new favorite movies.


McKinley enjoyed getting to ride the carousel and play in the little hay maze, but I think her favorite part of the whole evening was being able to go trick-or-treating with her 2 best friends Sammy and Sierra.

We had a fun night. Brett is going to be in Honduras for Halloween, so it was nice to be able to dress her up and take her trick-or-treating with her Daddy.

Traverse City

This past weekend Brett had an Anesthesia conference in Traverse City. Traverse City is a really pretty resort town that is up north. McKinley and I decided to go with him. We stayed at the coolest hotel that I've ever been to.

It was called the Great Wolf Lodge. In the foyer it had this big clock with animals around it. At night the animals would wake up and talk to you. Then one of the hotel employees would sit and read a bed time story to the kids.

The hotel was decorated like a cabin, with stuffed animals and old fashioned pictures and antiques everywhere.

All of these decorations looked really neat in the hotel, but the best part was that these decorations were all part of a game called Magicquest. I don't know if any of you have played this game before, but you get a wand and a special name and then you get to go on a quest. You point your wand at the different items/decorations in the hotel and they come alive and talk to you.

You go all over the hotel finding different items so that you can complete your quests. McKinley loved this game. However, by the last day she was walking around with her wand hidden behind her back so that she wouldn't accidentally turn on one of the scary animals.

This hotel also had a really fun waterpark in it. McKinley would swim 24/7. She is our little fish.

This waterpark had multiple water slides, a cute little splash pad, and this huge water fortress.

McKinley really liked this giant snake that was floating in one of the pools. She would sit on its head and pet it.

It was a really fun weekend and the hotel was amazing. However, I couldn't leave without making sure I did something real clutzy first. So me and McKinley took a nice fall down the hotel stairs on our way out. Apparently stairs hate me, because I fall down them a lot. Luckily, we are all fine and we didn't let it ruin our vacation.

My Little Helper

I have a tendency to be very uptight, and I'm a little bit of a stresser. Brett is always asking me why I don't take naps. During naps I just lay in bed thinking about everything that I'm not getting done by lying in bed. In the past I would relax by watching a little television, but there is nothing but garbage on TV anymore. Since we moved to Michigan I've discovered my inner crafter. It is what I do to un-wind and relax. Lately McKinley has become very interested in crafts too. She likes to be involved in whatever I'm doing.

A couple of weeks ago I made McKinley a craft box. I put leftover pieces of my scrapbook paper in it and some stickers. She'll sit next to me while I'm working on crafts and make her own little masterpieces. I have to keep my eye on her though, because she is always going for my scissors and my paper cutter. The other day I let her help me paint a step stool for the bathroom. She loved it. She likes to be my little helper. I can't do anything without her being right there to help me. Whether it is sweeping, mopping, dusting or folding laundry; McKinley wants to be right by my side helping.

Sometimes I have to remind myself how wonderful it is that she is such a good helper, because it definately slows me down. However, I'm really glad to have such a good helper since we are going to be getting a new addition to the family soon. I know she'll be a great help with Annabelle.

Great News!

A month ago we went in for an ultrasound and we were told that our baby's kidneys were to big. They suggested we come back in a month and have them rechecked. Last week we went in and received even worse news. Not only were her kidneys to big, but her head was to small. The doctor mentioned that this was probably the sign of some type of syndrome. We didn't know if we were looking at Downs Syndrome or something much worse. The news was very hard to take. No matter what happened we knew that we would love this baby unconditionally, but its hard to hear that your baby may have a serious medical disability. Today we went in to visit a specialist and have some more tests run. They performed another ultrasound that was able to show more detail. The doctor said that she thinks our baby looks really good. Her kidneys are a little big, but they appear to be working fine. We'll continue to do ultrasounds to keep an eye on her, but the doctor thinks that she looks healthy. We are so relieved. Thank you so much for all the prayers. We have definately felt your prayers and we really appreciate all the support everyone has shown us.
The next piece of good news is that on Monday we got a new nephew. Mason Blaine Miller was born and we are all so excited. McKinley was really excited to get a new baby cousin. We got to see pictures of him today and he is really cute. Congrats Jenni and Dan on the new addition to your family.
The last piece of good news is that my new OB has given me permission to travel up until week 34. So McKinley and I are taking a trip out to Idaho on October 25th. We are really excited to come out and visit family, and we can't wait to meet our new nephew. Brett is going to be in Honduras for a week, so instead of staying here by ourselves we are going to take a trip to Idaho.
Thanks again for all the prayers and support!

Apple Festival

On Friday night we went to the Apple Festival with some of our friends. It was a lot of fun. We are hoping to take a family trip to Disney World next fall when Brett finishes school. So we have wanted to let me McKinley try some rides before Disney. I was nervouse about whether she would enjoy rides, but she loved them. She almost got kicked off one of the rides because she wouldn't stop rocking the airplane she was in. It was funny that our 2 year old almost got kicked off of a ride. She got upset when the wouldn't let her rock the plane because she didn't think the ride was going fast enough. I'm even more excited to take her to Disney World now because she loves rides.

What a fun evening. Thanks for telling us about it Maren. We will definately try and go again next year. :)

Gymnastics

McKinley had her second week of gymnastics on Friday. She has been taking a tumble class at one of the local gyms. I have been very impressed with the teachers and the facility. McKinley absolutely loves going to gymnastics. She has two of her friends from our neighborhood in her class, which makes it even more fun. Her favorite thing to do is jump on the trampolines.

After class McKinley gets a stamp on her arm. She always gets really excited and spends the next week showing everyone her stamp, even though it was washed off by the next day.

Here she is with one of her friends from her class. We tried to get all 3 of the girls, but we couldn't get them to all stand still long enough.

Last week we went to Midland, MI with Brett. He had a clinical rotation at a hospital and we went with him. They put him up in a hotel that had 3 pools, a miniature golf course, a movie theatre and a bowling alley. So me and McKinley had a lot of fun while Brett was at the hospital all day. Then we got to have dinner with him when he got back at night.

I took McKinley minature golfing for the first time while we were there. She tried hitting the ball into the hole with her club for the first 2 holes, but then she got tired of it. After that she would pick up the ball and put it in the hole and then she would cheer for herself. We also went to the movie theatre once while we were there, and we went to the pool every day. McKinley loves swimming. Overall it was a really fun vacation, at least for me and McKinley.

"CAT"astrophe

Yesterday we went to our friends house for a BBQ. They have 2 girls McKinley's age that she loves to play with. They have a cat that visits their house. Its not their cat, its actually a wild cat, but its friendly and it catches their mice. We've been to their house many times and the girls will always pet the cat. It has always made me nervous to have McKinley touch that cat because I knew it was a wild cat. So I would always watch her really close. Yesterday she was following the cat around and apparently invaded its space, because the cat scratched her across the face. I was really upset at myself after it happened because I've always been uncomfortable with her being around that cat. I'm just really relieved that the cat scratch missed her eye, because she has scratch marks on either side of her eye. Poor little kid looks like she got in a fight. On Sunday night we were at some other friends house for a BBQ and she got hit in the head by a pop bottle. On of the little kids was down on the grass and decided to throw a 2 liter pop bottle up onto the porch. McKinley just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The bottle hit her right in the middle of the forehead. Now she has this red bump in the middle of her head and scratch marks down the side of her face. Poor little kid. She has been really tough about it though. After the cat scratched her we cleaned her scratch and put medicine on it. McKinley ran outside and wanted to play with the cat again. I couldn't believe she wasn't scared of the cat, but she wasn't allowed to play with it anymore. It reminded me that even though some pets/animals are very friendly they are still aniimals, and if you invade their space they will defend themselves. We'll definately be more careful in the future.