6 Months Old!

Macy Girl,

6 months…half a year…it seems like you got all big all of the sudden. Just a few blinks ago, you were this tiny, little newborn with jerky movements. Now when I hold you support yourself, looking all around. It’s amazing how fast babies change. And when does it happen? It seems like you just wake up one day and “Hello Little Miss Personality”…where has that sleepy newborn gone? Not to say that one is better than the other. We are so loving all your smiles and laughs and seeing what little Macy is all about. You are a very happy little girl…a dream baby. You are very content unless you are tired, hungry, or your teeth are bothering you and no one can blame you for any of those reasons! You don’t have any teeth yet, but your doctor said she can see the bumps there right below the surface. Your appointment went very well. Your stats:

          Weight: 15 lbs, 10.5 ozs, 49%
          Length: 25.5 in, 48%
          Head Circumference: 41.8 cm, 40%

You roll over both directions. You are starting to learn to sit up. You sit up with the boppy behind you and play for extended periods of time (30 minutes +). Without the boppy, just a minute or two. You can hold yourself up, but will fall over when you reach for a toy or something. You love playing with all sorts of toys. You are very “grabby” right now, always reaching for something, usually our faces. You love your big brother so much! My favorite time of day is reading to you both before bed. We sit on Graham’s bed together. He tends to get excited and can be pretty animated at times. Well, you just think it is the most hysterical thing in the world. You crack up. It’s amazing that such a little thing like you can have such a loud belly laugh. It shouldn’t surprise me as your brother has always had a hearty laugh as well.

We are just enjoying everything about you right now. I have heard that with having a second baby, a bit of the newness and specialness wears off. We have not found that to be true at all. In fact, quite the opposite. We have found that having an older child helps us appreciate how peaceful, tender, and precious a little baby is. Your tiny days are so short. Having an older child helps us see what we have to look forward to, but also reminds us to cherish all these special moments. Special moments are abundant. Our favorite is the same month after month; it’s just the way you feel in our arms. You are perfectly squeezable at this age. We also love how your smile lights up your face, blue eyes sparkling, and your cute dimple setting everything off.

Happy 6 months, Little Love!

Love,
Mommy


*Macy actually turned 6 months on 12/21.

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas!

pic by Anima Dolce Photography

Love,

Joel, Candice, Graham & Macy

2011

Santa Baby!

Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, my nephew came over and stayed the night. Being the “Cheer Master” that I am, I of course had a Christmas itinerary planned. Being the 9 year old boy that he is, he wanted to play video games with Joel! So, we did some of both and all were happy. :)

After dinner, we made sugar cookies. Hayden helped mix and cut out cookies. When it came time to do the decorating…well, he decorated 2 and then went and sat on the couch. So, I decorated 2 dozen cookies. Joel found this hilarious! For some crazy reason, he thinks I use my nieces, nephews and own children as an excuse to do activities that are really for my own enjoyment. ;P

Next on the itinerary was decorating the tree. Instead, Joel and Hayden played video games. That was fine by me. I am certainly not going to force him…more fun for me! :)

Sunday morning, we got up and out of the house and were off to Frankenmuth, MI to head to Bronner’s. Bronner’s is the World’s Largest Christmas Store. It is an enormous store of all things Christmas. The place is amazing. If you like Christmas, it’s your place!

The ride over was somewhat of an adventure in itself. Poor Hayden got extremely carsick, resulting in several vomiting episodes…in the car…with all 5 of us. Good times!! At one point we were in a quandary. He was so sick, we contemplated taking him home, but it was 40 minutes to Bronner’s and over an hour to his house, so we pressed on. By the time we got there, it was pouring rain and the place was SO PACKED. Weekend after Thanksgiving...turns out everyone had the same idea. Not that I didn’t think of that, but I don’t think anything could prepare you for just how packed it was. We had to park quite a ways away. As you can imagine, Joel was shooting me the eyes that told me so far he was not enjoying our outing. Ha!

All that being said, it was totally worth it!! As I said the place is huge, and if you have never been there before it is quite impressive.

Hayden couldn’t get over how big it was and just how many different bulbs, ornaments, displays, and trees there were.

We let him pick out several ornaments to take him. Graham loved it too.

We picked out a few ornaments for Macy and Graham and had them personalized.

We had a lot of fun! Well, the kids and I did anyway. On the way home, we encouraged Hayden to take a nap, which he did, so we had no issues with carsickness. Phew!

Deck the Halls...

We're not really late on decorating. I'm just really late on posting! We started putting up our trees the day after Thanksgiving, like we do every year, and spead the decorating out over the next week or so. We have two trees this year. One a bit more stylish, the other more old-fashioned for the kids. The kids' tree has colored lights, garland, beads, bows, candy canes, bulbs, and tons of different ornaments. Graham helped decorate his tree. He was SO into it. It was so cute to watch him get and ornament and run up to the tree.

The Kids's Tree, fully trimmed.... :)

Joel's ornament from 1985.

The ornament we bought for Graham last Christmas (we buy one each year).

The kids each have their favorite ornament.  Macy likes that little basketball, and Graham likes the working "See n' Say" ornament.

Admiring his work!

Kisses under the tree!  XOXO

Our other tree is decorated the same as we have been doing for years...white lights, with a gold and brown theme.

We almost had to cut a hole in the ceiling!  ;P

This year, Joel picked up these very interesting African ornaments.  Love them!  <3



A mama and her babe.



Lastly, our mantle.  Oh how it warms my heart to see FOUR stockings hung with care!

We have some other decorations around that I forgot to photograph...the railings are decorated with greenery and red bulbs, a wreath on the door, a small decorative tree, little snowmen around, and of course Graham's Christmas art is on display in the playroom.  Seeing all the decorations around makes me all warm and fuzzy!  I just love Christmastime!

Off I go...a little boy is home sick today and I hear him starting to whimper.  Have a great day!  Stay healthy...I'm trying to!!

Bookworm!

You might remember this post where I described the 1st time we realized Graham could spell his name…though he had been spelling it for a while.

Well, he has made quite a bit of progress in this area. A few days after that post, we saw him at the fridge arranging his magnets to spell his name. He did this with no help.

Then this week, we got a note from his teacher that he wrote “G r a” on the easel with no help. Yesterday, his teacher sent home a Santa hat that he colored himself, and on the back he wrote his name…all.by.himself!!

Didn’t he do such a good job?!! I am so proud of him. He has been practicing quite a bit. He works on it at school obviously, and also at home. Joel’s mom picked up this toy for him and I think it helped a lot.

He has been working on his reading skills too. Daddy and Graham started a game a while back where Daddy made flashcards for all Graham’s fake food. Then Joel would hide the food around the house and give Graham a flashcard and he would find the food. Well, Graham recognizes all the names of the food. The game expanded…everything in the house has a label, i.e. couch, chair, table, stairs, door, etc.

Labelling the door.

In all, he must have 50+ sight words. We’re working on teaching him to sound them out too. He tries and can always start the word with the right sound. He’s such a little bookworm!

Christmas Jammies

San Diego

I have been such a bad blogger, I know. There are so many projects and extras this time of year. I am loving it all, but when I finish up activities for the night, I don’t usually feel much like typing away. Oh and confession: I am totally engrossed in the show Brothers & Sisters. We have Netflix, so you can watch one episode after another, and that’s what I do…every chance I get…while nursing, sewing a stocking, folding laundry, etc. By the way, no spoilers please; I only just started Season 5.

So, onto the topic of this post…VACATION!! Well, a vacation for Macy & I anyway. Yes, that’s right, at the ripe old age of 4 months, Macy took her 2nd trip, but her 1st flight.

Joel had a work conference at Paradise Point Resort in San Diego, so for the bargain price of a frequent flyer mile “free” flight and a $200 spouse pass, Macy and I had a very inexpensive vacation. Graham stayed home. Grandma came to stay with him at home to keep things normal for him. We all had a good week!

As I mentioned, Joel was there for work. Macy and I spent our days doing fun stuff and met Joel for dinner each night, and several lunches too! We left early Sunday morning. Macy was a peach on the flight. No issues at all. When we got to the resort, we were pretty tired, so we got a carry-out lunch and took a nap. That night, was an opening reception with appetizers which worked out since we had a late lunch. Joel’s sessions started bright an early Monday morning.

On Monday, I did a lot of walking around the resort with Macy, partially to learn my way around, but mostly to enjoy the weather and get some exercise.

As for the weather, it was cooler than I anticipated, 60’s, which was about the same as home. I would have thought California would be warmer than Michigan, but I guess not. By the end of the week, it warmed a bit, but best of all it was very sunny. Anyway, I also used Monday to do a little research and plan our week. Monday night, there was a nice reception at night. Macy slept the whole dinner, so Joel and I actually got to carry on a conversation with other adults. Joel is used to this, but at times for me, it’s a novel concept!

On Tuesday, Joel’s session let out a bit early. The conference organizers plan one shorter day so everyone can actually go out and enjoy the area. Joel, Macy & I went to SeaWorld. It was great. We felt very bad that Graham was not there with us as there were so many attractions we know he would’ve have loved. He hasn’t been to a theme park yet, we plan to take him next summer. I loved the dolphin and whale shows. I actually cried during the whale show. They are massive, yet so graceful! Just beautiful animals.

A sight for sore eyes!



This walrus was so funny.  It kept chewing its food, spitting it out, sucking it back in, spitting it back out...over and over.  It was the oddest thing.  So, of course we thought it would be a good picture!



Whales!

Dolphins!

Tuesday night, we enjoyed a BBQ on the beach with the conference. After we ate, we sat at the bonfire for a while and talked to Joel’s coworkers and other attendees.

Wednesday, Macy and I went to the San Diego Zoo. That zoo was huge! We did A LOT of walking and saw the whole thing. I was so impressed with it. The habitats were really designed to be as natural as possible and it was really beautiful. Though I must say, at times it was a bit sad. Some of these animals, such as the elephants, I got to see in their natural habitat in South Africa. So to see an exhibit, no matter how good, it’s just not the same!

My favorite exhibits were the pandas and gorillas.

Macy stretching her legs at the zoo.

After Joel got out of his sessions, he took a taxi and picked us up from the zoo and we headed to Seaport Village to window shop and had a nice meal with a beautiful view.

Thursday, Macy and I went to La Jolla. It’s an upscale resort town. In true “Candice form,” I shopped all day in this upscale area and spent a grand total of $8. I bought Graham some cool colored pencils for a stocking stuffer, and bought myself two $1 nail-polishes, cuz I’m a big spender like that! After walking around town, I headed to the Cove, a gorgeous beach, and waited for Joel to join us. While I waited, I sat on a bench and nursed Macy (with a cover…no public nudity!) with the most exquisite view and the warmth of the sun on us. It was my favorite moment of the trip, and I will remember it forever. The thankfulness & love...for this beautiful earth & this beautiful girl. I am blessed!!

Once Joel joined us, we ate outside at a Bar & Grill that had live music (so I was a happy camper) and lots of specialty beers on tap (so Joel was a happy camper).

On Friday, Macy and I headed to Mission Bay, where we walked the path around the Bay for a while. Then we rested on the grass…Macy’s 1st time on the grass. Then she did some tummy time on a picnic table taking in another awesome view.

There is so much I love about this picture: the sun, the sky, the ocean, Macy's chubby cheeks, her little tongue out, her belly showing, her ruffly little butt...so precious!

When we got back to the resort, we took Macy to the beach at the resort so she could dip her toes into the ocean for the first time.

The water was cold, so that surprised Macy, but she didn't fuss.  A quick dip and dry and then we put her socks right back on.  :)

After, we ate at the resort. The next morning, we headed back home…another good flight with a sleepy girl.

The trip was so relaxing. It was wonderful to be able to spend so much one on one time with Macy. We were happy to return home to our boy. He may not have gotten to see the pandas in person, but we brought him back the book, “Little Panda,” from the zoo.  He has brought it to me to read EVERY night before bed. I guess it was a good souvenir!