Life with Macy

She's not a baby anymore...

2012-02-08T19:57:00.001-05:00

I know Macy is growing up but it really hit me when I bought her these shoes yesterday. My baby is being replaced by a little girl! She will be a tween before I know it! I miss her already.

My logic used against me

2012-02-02T20:55:00.000-05:00

Macy wants me to carry her every where. It's a great joy when she actually wants to walk. I'm getting tired of this as she is getting bigger and heavier. I know she is fully capable of walking. Especially from our front door to our car. It's too hard to carry the groceries in and carry her knowing that she can walk!

Yesterday I tried to talk her into walking from our apartment to our car. I tried explaining that she is a big girl now and that big girls walk places. Big girls play at the park so if she wants to go to the park she needs to walk like a big girl. I told her that she's not a baby anymore, babies get held but big girls walk. I tried coaxing her into saying she was a big girl so we could go to the park.

We eventually made it to the park and she wanted me to hold her again. I told her she was a big girl and had to walk. She refused but once she saw her younger cousin Lily walking around she finally got out of my arms. We had a very pleasant 2 hour stay at the park. Macy and Lily did a great job playing by themselves while Tiffany and I sat on a bench.

Well, today guess what Macy said. "Macy, baby. Hold me mommy, peese!" This was not what I was trying to teach her! Apparently she didn't understand a word about the big girl stuff. All she got out of it was that she is a baby and babies get to be held. Throughout the day today I called her a big girl, or good girl, or happy girl and she would say, "No, baby" while pointing to herself. Aww, man. I'll have to come up with another argument to get her to walk more often.

Macy loves to read

2012-02-02T14:33:00.001-05:00

I know I mentioned before that Macy likes to "read" but now she loves to do it and does it more often. The other day I picked her up from the gym child care and there she was sitting in a chair "reading" stories to herself. I was able to watch her for a minute before she saw me and she was sitting there talking out loud tilting her head left and right like she always does when she reads.

Another time I found her sitting on the couch reading to Granny Dot during one of Dorothy's visits here. She still loves to sit on her rocking chair and read book after book. Sometimes she acts out the book or says the actual words that she knows. I think it's so sweet and cute. It's also cute that the length of the book is almost as long as her little legs.

January 2012 Photo Update

2012-01-31T21:11:00.000-05:00

Life continues to be tiring, exhausting, boring, filled with play time, crying time, dancing time, reading time, and a little of Ja and Laura time. Despite all that, we love our little Macy and we love our life with her. She continues to grow developmentally and verbally. We love to hear her cute little voice and she is still very polite. She always says please, thank you, and instead of just yelling no when she doesn't want something she says "No, thank you." We are impressed with all her new words and sentences daily.

We had a really warm Saturday in the beginning of January so we played outside at Greg and Holly's house. She loved being pushed by Ja in the toy car and eating goat cheese with Aunt Holly. We stayed for two hours and we still had to carry Macy away kicking and screaming because she didn't want to leave.

Macy wearing her new coat and shoes from her Great Aunt Linda. Isn't she precious?

Macy trying to hide in the corner while chewing on all the pieces of gum she found in my bag. If she noticed we were looking at her she said, "No, bye bye!" meaning we can't look at her.

Going through all my pictures from January we had a lot of Macy and Lily play time. It's fun to have Lily live so close. This time I was miraculously able to get pig tails in both the girls hair and neither of them pulled them out. They were so cute! Macy even wanted a clip in her hair like Lily had to hold her bangs back.

Another Macy and Lily play time. Notice Macy and her feet in the top pictures. We gave both girls a bath together and they loved it! It was the first time in a very, very long time Macy did not protest getting washed. I said we should schedule times during the week for Lily to come to bathe because it's so much easier bathing the two of them then bathing just one screaming and wiggling Macy.

Macy and Lily with their purses and phones.

Speaking of accessories, Macy wanted her hat, gloves, boots, and her pig pillow "purse".

Having a tea party with her friends.

More accessory cuteness.

She loves to go upside-down and pretends she's a clock.

I rarely, if ever, see Macy while she is sleeping so I had to sneak a picture one Sunday morning when I had to wake her up for church.

Ja made Macy her very own tent filled with friends and food.

Macy (or Simi as Mark calls her) and Marky watching TV together.

One afternoon Macy woke up from her nap talking up a storm to herself. I go in to get her and she had her socks on her hands and using them as puppets. Her puppets must have been talking to each other.

Cute Macy Things

2012-01-20T16:19:00.000-05:00

I'm hoping to make smaller posts on the daily things Macy does that are so cute. Hopefully I can keep it up.

Lately she has LOVED reading to me. She sits down, pats the ground or chair where she wants me to sit and says, "Mom, come." (She's started calling me mom now instead of mommy. Can she be that old already?!) I sit and she "reads" to me. I love hearing her voice, seeing her facial expressions change, and hearing her version of the story. If I ever try to say anything about the book or ask her questions she says, "No, Macy." That's her way of saying, "I'm telling the story!"

As expected, she is starting to have her own opinion on things and wants to do things her way. Lately she's been more compliant and it's been pleasant. For example, this morning I wanted to wash her blanket. She said no and wouldn't let me take it so I said "Ok, I'll have to wash it later." I walked to the washing machine and I hear her say, "Yes! Yes!" and she brought me the blanket. It's so easy to get her to do things when she thinks they are her idea. Like taking a bath, for instance. She hates it but sometimes we can trick her into thinking it's her idea then she's fine with it.

She continue to talk so much and learns to much everyday. I love listening to her version of things. She still loves listening to us telling her the "story" of her day.

Latest Macy Movie

2012-01-11T21:32:00.001-05:00

Here is a movie which coves November 2011 and half of December. Check it out on our Web Gallery.

Another Laura siting!

2012-01-09T21:58:00.000-05:00

A friend of the DeVore family found another website that is using my picture. Check it out at the Ivory Homes website. by clicking on the link.

Macy is one lucky girl!

2012-01-09T15:19:00.001-05:00

We went to the doctors today for Macy's 2 year old appointment. Here are her stats:34 inches long19 inch head circumference Only 23 pounds!The doctor said to feed her as many calories and fat that I can since she only gained 2 pounds in 6 months. Macy can eat lots of guacamole, hummus (which she loves), olive oil, even butter. The good kind of fat of course. She also gets to stay on whole milk instead of switching to the uncreamy kind. One day she'll realize how lucky she is because she isn't limited on her fat intake like the rest of us! And that she has good genes that keep her so tiny :)She did not like the appointment. She cried the moment we walked in the front door. She would settle down but cry again once the doctor or nurse walked in. Almost the whole time the doctor was in with us Macy pointed to the door and said "go! Go!" I don't know if that meant she wanted the doctor to leave or us to leave. She was trying to dress herself for while too. Once I was able to dress her again she calmed down and let me and the doctor talk.She was very brave for her shots and only cried a little bit. Silly girl, that's the only part that hurt! She was excited to get in the car and get a special treat for being so brave.

Christmas Adventures of 2011

2011-12-31T14:48:00.000-05:00

Once again we were lucky enough to fly back home to warm and sunny California for Christmas time. It was so sunny there that anytime we mentioned going outside Macy would shield her eyes with her hand and say, "No, eye!" Apparently she's not used to the sun always being in her eyes.

Before looking at all my pictures I thought, "Sure, I guess we did a lot." Now looking through them all I wonder how we had time to sleep! We were busy!

We got in the night of December 22nd and celebrated Macy's 2nd birthday at Chuck E' Cheeses.

After that it was a whirlwind of Christmas parties and more birthday celebrations. Macy and my dad got to celebrate their birthdays two more times. On Christmas Eve the Seymour family came to my mom's house to celebrate. We started by making gingerbread houses. I had to make one myself because Ja was off playing with Macy who was too shy to be with a bunch of people she didn't know. She was much happier after we ate dinner and sang happy birthday to her. We had to sing twice because she wanted to blow out the candles twice. During present opening time she pretty much stole all the attention because she was going wild with taking tissue paper in and out of a big gift bag.

Christmas Day we opened presents in the morning then went to church. Macy got up at 6 am (and went to bed almost 2 hours late the night before) so she was ready for her nap right as 11:30 a.m. church started. I was sooo glad it was only an hour long. She fell asleep in my arms while I read her books before nap time. She's never done that so that shows how tired she was, and that she slept for a solid 3 1/2 hours. We had to wake her up to drive to the Pundreson's house for Christmas festivities. For a reason we can't figure out she was not afraid of the Pundreson's lab puppy. She is scared of deaf, old, and blind pepper but not a bigger and more energetic puppy. Maybe it's Pepper's old age that is scary.

Macy got so many cute presents for her birthday and Christmas. Last year the theme was clothes and this year the unannounced but obvious theme was books. She got tons! We won't be needing the library for a while. She did receive some cute clothes too, 2 more play tents, a butterfly pillow pet, and more play food for her kitchen.

Here is the annual Francis cousin's on the stairs picture.

And my family (minus Kenny).

It was a little sad to have Christmas over in the first few days of us being in California but it did allow for us to fit in a lot of fun activities. Here are some of them:

Macy was able to get about 50 clementines.

Macy showed off her super cute personality night after night.

Last year my mom, my sister's, Macy and I rode bikes down at Newport along the sand. I had a great time so this year Randy and Ja joined us. We'll have to do it again next year so my dad can finally join. The weather was so warm we didn't really need jackets. Macy actually did great in the bike trailer until we stopped to ride the ferry; then she wouldn't get back in. Luckily our car was very close to the ferry so it wasn't a big deal. We ride all around Newport and saw some really cool beach houses. I hope it becomes a family tradition.

Knott's Berry Farm was having a special for police and firemen in December. So my dad took all of us to Knott's for very cheap. Although it got crowded we still had a great time. Macy really liked the rides and we got some video of her on them. It will be very fun to go again next year when her ride selection will be greater. She really loved both train rides there. Erica and Jesse were visiting from Idaho so they joined us too.

My grandparents came over to visit with Macy. I was worried how the night would go because as soon as Macy saw Grandma and Grandpa Seymour drive up she started saying, "No! Go! No!" We found the secret to her not being shy to people: serve them food! I had Macy give the grandmas some of her toy cake (which Macy calls pizza) and right away she was having a great time. She even went into the room with all the men and served them too. It was very sweet and I'm glad they got to see her as her cute little self. Not just a clinging little girl who whines.

Aunt Stacie and Aunt Jill took Macy to Chuck E. Cheese again and got her a blue airhead. Macy thought it was hilarious her mouth was all blue. We played at some parks, one had scary geese that walked up really close to us. My mom, Jill, and Ja went frisbee golfing while Macy and I hung out at the playground. Macy played with her new tents. Macy also LOVED her laundry basket rides from Papa but I only took video of that so stay tuned for that video.

We visited the DeVore's a few times. Henry was very sweet with Macy and she loved him for it. She calls him "Henny" and loved to follow him around. He is a great cousin and actually wanted her to follow him. One night the adults and Henry were going to go out for dinner but Henry didn't want to leave Macy behind so he stayed and played with her. He said Macy was so cute and he loved her. So sweet!

Macy loved playing in Granny Dot's pantry. At first she would take cans out and put them on the floor. Then Henry showed her how to hide behind the moving shelves. That was her new favorite entertainment. We also went to Kid Space with Henry and Macy loved it. It's the greatest little kid play space/museum. She could spend all day everyday there.

Since my dad will be retiring December 2012 we realized that Macy may be the only grandchild to see Papa as a police officer. I got a picture with Macy and my dad in uniform when she was a few months old but she was sleeping in it so it doesn't really count. This time my dad stopped by the house so we could get a better picture. He turned on the flashing lights for Macy which were very bright because it was dark outside. At first she shielded her eyes but when he turned them off she asked for more. He is a sergeant so he doesn't arrest anyone which is unfortunate because I really wanted to get a picture of Macy in the back seat getting arrested. She wanted to play in the car but that was definite no since there's a huge rifle in the front seat.

One day Ja went with Darin to La Canada so they could go frisbee golfing and see Mission Impossible 4. He so kindly took Macy with him so I could have a girls day with my mom and sisters. We decided to go to Sherman's Library and Gardens in Newport. It's a little botanical garden in the city. I think it's a hidden gem. I've driven past it many times but had to idea it was there. We had a fun time going to lunch and to the garden.

New Year's Eve was spent at the DeVore's drinking gallons of root beer for Nathan's annual root beer drinking contest. Not really that much, but it felt like it. We had to take a break in between drinking to make room in our stomachs for more root beer. After that we were a pretty lame bunch. We all (except Dorothy) went to bed before midnight. Lame, but we still had fun.

Ja, Devin, Dee, and I saw Wicked at the Pantages. We think it was our fourth time seeing it and it's just as good as the first time we saw it. We had a different Fiyero this time and we actually liked him better. He acted a little more brainless and ditzy and was comical doing so.

Holy cow, I think that does it! Even if there's more I can't fit anything else! Needless to say, we had a great vacation! I can't believe I almost forgot to add that Macy was an angel on the plan rides! That was a huge blessing!

Macy's Life at 2!

2011-12-23T23:00:00.000-05:00

I can't believe I've known my baby for two whole years! I guess I can't even call her a baby anymore. The day she turned two she changed so much. It's nice that we've been with family for her two birthdays and her two biggest milestones: walking and talking. Right on her second birthday her talking took off. She had a few words before but she now repeats almost everything we tell her. It's very cute and I love her adorable voice!

Macy continually teaches me how to love. I love her more than words can explain and if it's possible I love her more everyday. It's been wonderful getting to know her fun and cute personality over these two years.

I want to share some of her newest discoveries and talents so you can know her cute personality too. These are all things she up to right now:

Calls the camera "cheese" and puts it up to her face while she says it. Look closely at this picture

Loves to carry purses and uses anything with a handle big enough to go on her shoulder as a purse. Some times as were walking out the door she'll realize she doesn't have one and we have to go back to find one for her.
LOVES her new kitchen and playing with the food. She has a great imagination when it comes to eating the food.

LOVES her new castle that daddy gave her even more

She discovered her love of dancing. She dances whenever Ja plays the guitar or whenever she hears music.
A lot of her dancing is spinning in circles but also consists of head jerking and up and down arm movements.
Calls minnie mouse (and all other mice) "mommy mouse"
Being very shy around new people- or even people she hasn't seen in a couple of days. It takes a while for her to warm up. She only looks at strangers out of the corner of her eye
talks on the phone- she picks it up says hi, some gibberish, and then BYE!
Favorite food: (besides candy) pasta, black beans, shredded cheese
Favorite activity: playing with daddy,
Favorite color: purple (she's good at pointing it out but is quickly learning the other colors)
Favorite person: Lily. She also talks a lot about Papa and Jill
Favorite shows: Fresh Beat Band, Pocoyo
Sleeps with: baby doll, pink blanket, 2 binkies (beesees), cup of milk (milt), and a book
Likes nursery and "tells" is what she did her her own words and actions
Talks about Addie and Hallie a lot and wants to play with them
Good at having conversations with herself. She talks quietly and does things in her own world
VERY GOOD at saying please (peese) and thank you (tank you mommy). Most of the time I don't have to remind her. She says thank you for everything! During Christmas break my dad moved her car seat once and every time it was moved after that she would say "Tank you papa!" upon seeing her car seat.
Great at pretend play and will mimic the things we do and have showed her to do previously
Very good at feeding herself with silverware (and her fingers)
Anything that is small is "baby" and anything that is big is "mommy" or "daddy"
Often after she is done eating dinner she wants to immediately play with daddy
Will answer yes to questions but a lot of the time is an enthusiastic "YEAH!"
Won't ride in the regular cart at the grocery store. If she remembers she has to sit in reclined infant seat. I hope she doesn't break it, luckily she's small.
Terrified of animals getting close to her. She likes to talk about them but not see them up close. The other day she was scared of a butterfly.
Likes to count: 3-2-2-3-2-3
If she's doing an activity and we start to do it with her sometimes she'll say, "No, Macy!" which means we can't do it, only her.
Loves building "house" out of pillows
She's good at remembering certain events. Once Ja accidentally hit her head on the car and for a week every time we got in the car should would point to the spot, point to her head, then say daddy.
If something is done once, it has to be done that way every time
loves to play with my jewelry. Luckily she got her own jewelry box for Christmas so I don't have to lose anymore earrings.
Lately she's been very cuddly- I love it!
She greatly enjoys playing with her cousins. Yesterday she played with Caleb and Mark for 2 hours and threw a huge tantrum when we had to leave. Mark enjoys Macy too and calls her "Simi." Macy calls Henry "Honey" and loves to follow him around.
Loves going to Trader Joe's and sampling their cheeses. She is a lover of strong cheese. Here she is enjoying goat cheese with Holly.

Macy's 2nd Birthday

2011-12-23T22:05:00.000-05:00

Macy is such a lucky little girl! She has so many people who love her and want to celebrate with her. We didn't do a big group birthday party so we had a smaller group at Chuck E Cheese's. The attendants were: my parents, my Francis grandparents, Jill, Ja, Granny Dot, and Henry. Small and low-key and perfect.

When we got there Macy runs right to the rides. We let her sit on them but didn't have any quarters yet to turn them on. I thought she would love the little rides since she loved the little pony and carousel at the pumpkin patch. I couldn't have been more wrong, she was terrified once they started moving! She wouldn't go on them at all. I was worried that this party was going to be cut short, but she quickly learned the word money and loved putting the tokens in the games and getting the tickets.

We had about a million tokens so we let her put in as many tokens as she wanted into whatever games she wanted. As soon as she put in a token she would say, "More money peese!" At first she loved the one where it takes your picture with Chuck E. Then she liked the one that drew your picture. We have about 5 copies of each. Once we showed her the games that gave tickets there was no going back. She actually earned 226 tickets (maybe with some help from the adults).

Macy really enjoyed ski ball. Most of her balls rolled back down the ramp so I rolled them back up for her. Some balls even went behind her. We played this game many times.

We took a break from playing games to eat pizza, open presents (which she really loved), and had cupcakes. She really liked that we sang to her and that she got to blow out a candle. She wanted to blow again so we lit the candle and told her to blow. She then pointed to us which meant we had to sing again before she would blow out her candles. Macy also requested a 2nd song and candle blowing at each of her other 2 birthday celebrations on our trip.

She loved her Dora tent from Grandma

We were originally going to the Chuck E. Cheese in Placentia but changed to go to the one in Diamond Bar so it would be closer for Dorothy and Henry. We ended up being really glad we did because we drive past it every time we drive from my parents house going to my in-laws house. You can see it from the freeway so it's a great reminder of what we did for our little angel's 2nd birthday party and all the fun we had. When we would drive past Macy said "More chuckecheese, more chuckecheese!" She loved it so much that her loving aunt's took her again to spend the rest of her million tokens.

Happy Birthday Macy!

December 2011- Pre Christmas

2011-12-22T23:26:00.000-05:00

I've already blogged about our hot chocolate race, seeing the temple lights, and about Macy taking naps again so here is the rest of our month in pictures.

I bought Macy her own little Christmas tree. She loved to take the ornaments on and off,

I think children are born with the instinct to love band-aids. Macy loves to put on her "owie's" and also loves to hold the neosporin tube as well.

We went to a holiday concert at a local high school that was geared towards toddlers. It was really fun because Macy enjoyed it immensely. She did not want it to end and when it was over she kept asking for more. They had special guests that came and danced such as: Dora, Pooh, Tigger, Bob-the-Builder, Elmo, Cookie Monster, Big Bird, and of course Santa.

As the weather started to get cooler we often would walk around at the mall. Macy loves the lego bin wall at the Lego Store. She picks out a few, shows them to me and actually puts them back in the right bin.

She also enjoys going to the Disney store and playing with the stuffed animals there. Luckily she doesn't know anything about Disney movies so she doesn't throw and tantrum when I don't buy her the princess dolls.

As something special for me (and Macy) we buy a pretzel and eat it while relaxing in the massager chairs.

Our next stop is L.L. Bean. They have a waterfall and fish tank that Macy likes to watch. She pulls up her camping chairs, asks for her drink then relaxes.

Here Macy is missing her mall buddy Lily. She even saved a seat for Lily.

Right after I took this picture a huge catfish swam right at Macy and Macy was so scared. She ran to me and her little heart was beating so fast. We went a couple of times after that to see fish and she gets scared if they even look at her now.

This is a house close to us that we enjoyed looking at during Christmas. Macy touched as many lights as she could.

Can she get any cuter?! Talking on two phones (one is a wallet) at the same time with that cute little smirk!

Our mall buddies Lily and Tiffany joined us. Here the girls are at Barnes and Noble after hanging out at the Lego table.

Macy actually let me put pigtails in her hair! They lasted for a while too! I don't know how I did it because she hasn't let me since.

For a playgroup activity we went to the U.S. Botanic Gardens in D.C. Macy enjoyed watching the trains go around even though she wouldn't let me put her down to walk. My arms were tired at the end!

Izzy really wants to touch that pole but as you can see Macy is not about to let her.

Seagulls we saw in D.C. which of course Macy was afraid of once they started to move, even though they moved away from her.

What can I say? Macy loves to sit in little places.

And sleep in little places.

I know this picture looks like Macy was hanging herself, but she wasn't. The apron straps were not around her neck. She was spinning around so the straps eventually wrapped around some of her hair which she didn't like but she sure had a great time before that happened.

I found more pictures on my camera so here is an update from the original post:

Macy looked so sweet and pretty in her Christmas dress from Granny Dot. In Macy's words, "Tank you Dot!"

This was the very first time I got pigtails in Macy's hair. As you can tell if was very hard to put in because she was very wiggly. She did like checking herself out in the mirror though.

This is the second time I put pigtails in. They are so dang cute I wish she would let me do them more!

Crisis Averted!

2011-12-14T14:35:00.002-05:00

Macy did not take a nap Monday or Tuesday this week. On Monday she at least was quietly playing in her crib for an hour. Tuesday she only lasted 20 minutes in the crib. I was really worried because I'm not ready for my 2 year old to stop napping! How would I get anything done?! My day would be crazy Macy all day long!

Then I remembered, she took a 2 1/2 hour nap on Sunday. Why? She didn't go to sleep until 2:30 which is 2 hours later than she usually goes down. Today I put her down at 1:30 and it worked! She is still asleep and it's been an hour. Thank you Heavenly Father for that realization so I don't have to go crazy.

The only good part of her not napping is I was able to put her to sleep at 7:15 and 7:30. Last evening she must have been tired because she quietly laid down on my chest for at least 5 minutes while we watched TV. It was very sweet and reminded me of her newborn days when she would do that. As sweet as that was, I still love nap time too much to give it up.

I do love your cuddles Macy so you can keep that up too!

D.C. Temple Lights

2011-12-11T16:53:00.001-05:00

Macy loves looking at Christmas lights so we knew she would like to see the lights at the temple because she could go up and touch them. We, and she, were not disappointed. The lights were better than I remember. Perhaps, because now I see them through a child's eyes.

We were watching Lily that night so she tagged along with us. Both girls were very good. Lily pretty much didn't move from Ja's chest the entire night. The one time we did for a picture she cried. It was very cold so I don't blame her. Here are a few photo high lights. I just love little kids in big puffy coats!

I think Macy loved the Nativity the best. She could have sat and watched it the whole time. It was a recording of the nativity story in the Bible and only mannequins. She wanted to get closer and closer to it. It was very cute when we walked away and she kept saying, "baby, baby!" because she wanted more baby Jesus.

Macy's face shows how happy she was. She was so content touching every single light she could. I think the green were her favorite because she repeatedly went back to the green bush.

I love the moon in this picture

Hot Chocolate Race

2011-12-03T20:21:00.000-05:00

My friend told me about a 5k race that was called the Hot Chocolate Run and it was sponsored by Ghirardelli. She told me about it back in the summer when I was training for the Ragnar race so I thought sure, I can do 3.2 miles, no problem. I quickly signed up because I heard it can fill up quickly. I didn't even consider that it was in December. Luckily Ja was also on board and signed up with me (or I signed him up, hehe).

As we got closer to the race I was beginning to realize the logistics of it all. We would need to leave at 5:25 a.m. That meant we had to get a babysitter to come at 5:25 a.m. Tiffany volunteered herself and for doing so wins the best aunt and sister award.

We got to the race at National Harbor at 6:15 a.m. and it was dark and cold. The race didn't start until 7 so we had to wait around for it. We were encouraged to get there early because parking is always bad at a D.C. event. We walked up and down the start line to stay warm. I was cold but I think Ja was colder. He didn't have any gloves, had only his vibrams (no socks), and his pants were very thin. I felt really bad for signing him up and dragging him out there. He was a very good sport and never complained.

Then as the race was about to start we were told it was going to be delayed because there were traffic problems and delayed the shuttles that were bringing people to the race. Then we got a series of "delay start" announcements. We didn't start until 8. We thought we would be done running by that time. Since we hadn't done a race like that before we didn't realized how unprofessional and terrible it is to start a race late. My friend was very upset about it all.

I ran in thick running pants, a long sleeve shirt, a long sleeve exercise shirt, a wind breaker, a scarf, an under armor beanie, another hat, and gloves. I was still cold for awhile during the race. Eventually the scarf, gloves, and wind breaker came off but soon came back on after the race. It was cold! I ran faster than I ever have before and I felt really good during the run so that part was fun and exciting.

Afterwards we got some really good hot chocolate and fondue. I obviously didn't eat my fondue fast enough because it turned into a solid block of chocolate soon. It was that cold.

All in all I had a great time. I just don't recommend ever doing a RAM Racing event. Especially one that allows 20,000 runners in a place like National Harbor that can't accommodate that many people. And I won't ever do a large event like that for when it's the first time because all the kinks haven't been figured out yet.

November Fun

2011-11-30T09:01:00.000-05:00

The month of November was filled with many great days. Those included my birthday, getting my hair cut, playing in the leaves, enjoying the nice fall weather, Thanksgiving, and playing with daddy.

I had a really great birthday this year! Macy slept in for me and took a really long nap. Just that right there is great enough. Jonathan and Macy picked out some great presents for me to unwrap and got me flowers and balloons. Jonathan gave me a roasting pan and a sushi making kit (anyone care for a sushi making party?!). During Macy's nap I was treated to a manicure and pedicure. That night we went out for Thai food with some friends and it was so delicious! I love good Thai food.

This picture of Macy was the only one I got on my birthday. She came with me to pick up the babysitter and she wanted to wear her boots. Any non-white sock we have is called a boot.

Macy and I started to get out our winter hats and Macy wanted to play with them. I hope she wants to wear this hat when it's actually cold outside.

Macy and I took a walk one day and I coaxed her into playing with the leaves on the hill in front of our building. She wasn't too sure about it at first but then loved walking through the piles I made listening to the crunching sound.

I may have told her to jump in the pile of leaves but instead she laid down. Silly girl.

This was not staged. She got up on her own and sat down at the tree trunk base. I'm so glad my phone has good camera quality which allows me to quickly capture moments like this in life. I always have my phone with me but not a camera so it's perfect.

Some leave pictures I took.

Doesn't this tree look like it's on fire? I love the golden leaves!

Here Macy is playing with Daddy. She brought a blanket into the kitchen and made Ja sit on it and play with her necklaces. If you look closely at her baby, she has "boots" on too. Ja wanted to move locations to the softer carpet but Macy was very much opposed. We both know why the oldest child is the bossy one- Macy tells us what to do and we do it. She tells us where to sit and what to play with.

Ja took Macy to the grocery store one day. He tried to put her in the top basket of the cart but Macy refused. I think she knows how to read because there's a sign that says "Please do not place child in cart" right on the top basket. Instead Macy crawled into the bottom cart. Ja sent me this picture in a text with the caption "Macy is contained." I thought it was very funny.

Almost everything Macy does makes a huge mess. One morning I stepped on a tissue box to flatten it because it was empty. I foolishly did it in front of Macy Cakes so she knew just what to do when I brought out the new tissue box. I don't know what I was doing (probably doing the dishes) but I come out to this. All the tissues were taken out and was Macy stepping on the box. I was very pleased though that she was able to put almost all the tissues back in the box all by herself. I told her to put the tissues in and walked away not thinking she would do it but she did! I'm so proud of her.

Whenever she's quietly doing something that lets me do the dishes, put laundry away, etc. I'm always hopeful she's watching the cartoon I put on, doing a puzzle, or reading. However, I've learned that toddlers are only quiet when they are sleeping or making a huge mess.

This picture is Macy on her new favorite bike. We had a playgroup at the Falls Church Community Center. They pull out all sorts of ride on toys, foam blocks, and those collapsible tunnels and tents. When Macy found this bike she wouldn't get off of it. It was just her size. She still moved extremely slow with it but it was so cute to watch. When play time was over I literally had to carry her all the way to the car kicking and screaming because she didn't want to leave her beloved bike.

Cartoons are fun for all ages.

Macy playing in the hat and glove bin. She eventually took everything out and sat inside the bin. We had a great time trying on all the hats and gloves.

Ja likes to make us breakfast on the weekends and this was his yummy Dutch Baby. The skillet was also a birthday present on mine. So far he's the only one that's used it but I get to eat the results so I'm fine with that.

Macy having fun with her craft and sticker bin. I don't know what that face is all about.

This was the first Sunday Macy wore her cute dress so we tried to get some pictures before church. You can see the results. It's so hard to get a good picture of her. She is constantly moving and only looks at the camera for a split second. Oh well, we tried and I guess these pictures show her true personality.

This was at Target. Macy refused to get inside the cart so I let her walk. She then decided the wanted to ride in front of the cart. Luckily she didn't last too long hanging onto the cart. She walked the rest of the way. It's funny (and frustrating sometimes) how stubborn toddlers can be about things.

At our above Target shopping trip, Macy and I bought her a little Christmas tree. She picked out the little red star ornaments herself. I bought her a tree because the night before we walked around our complex to look at the Christmas lights and decorations that are up. To our surprise she LOVED it all and wanted to touch every single light. She loved watching the blinking lights, the snowman, and the reindeer. We figured that she would like her own tree with lights she could actually touch and ornaments she could take on and off. That has definitely been true. The first thing she does when she wakes up is run out to the tree and say, "uh-oh" because the lights are turned off. The lights must be on at all times while Macy is awake.

On November 29th, Macy, Tiffany, Lily, and I drove up to Pennsylvania to visit some friends. We were waiting outside for Tiffany to pick us up and Macy sits on this retaining wall all by herself and says, "Cheese!" Of course I had to take her picture! I think she said this because this is the wall she sat on for the halloween pictures we took and all the kids were saying cheese. She is constantly amazing me with her memory of little things like that.

Macy and Lily are ready to go. If you can believe it I ended up sitting
in that tiny space in between the car seats.

Macy loved going to our friends house. They have 4 young girls who love to draw, paint, and do anything artistic. Macy was in heaven with all the crayons, beads, paper, books, and play kitchen toys. To our surprise both Macy and Lily took 2 hour naps in their pack n' plays. We had a great time visiting and enjoyed some really good food.

November was a very busy and fast moving month. It was filled with a lot of fun activities too. We enjoy having Macy around so much and every night we talk and laugh about all the funny and cute things she does. We love you so much Macy!

Thanksgiving Weekend

2011-11-28T16:20:00.000-05:00

First off, I made two batches of delicious crescent rolls, two batches of mashed potatoes (we only ate one so I've been using the leftovers for other meals), and brussels sprouts. Trevor made the most amazing tasting turkey I've ever had. Every bite was infused with pure yummy-ness. Oh, and all the rest of the food was amazing too. We ate really well on Thanksgiving this year.

Macy enjoyed sitting at the "girl" table and enjoyed being fed a "choo-choo train" by Papa.

After dinner the toddlers were wiped out from all that bread they ate so they all got cozy by the TV and watched Charlie Brown's Christmas (for about 20 seconds).

Macy and caleb watching a video

On Friday Macy was able to enjoy her first movie theatre experience. She went to see the Muppet movie with all her cousins. Ja said she really enjoyed the previews and sat at the edge of her seat. She sat still for about 20 minutes of the movie. The candy that Granny Dot gave her helped tremendously. She then had fun walking around the theatre and trying out all the seats. That's what kid matinee movies are for, right? Macy now calls Dorothy "Nanny Dot" but we aren't sure if she's saying Granny Dot or Candy Dot because she pronounces candy as nanny. Granny Dot does always seem to have candy on her to give to little children so I guess it fits.

I went shopping during all that candy and movie business. I had a great time too :)

Then, we made the decision to forgo nap time and went straight to Bobby's Burger Palace in DC. It's a Bobby Flay restaurant and has great burgers and shakes.

Macy and daddy sharing a milk shake

THEN, it was off to the Newseum. We had been there before so we just let Macy walk around and go where ever she wanted. This was her favorite spot, the top floor of the museum over looking the street. She liked to look over and I could picture her starting to talk and some unfortunate soul below would get a binkie to the head. She must have thought of this too because she was really good about not dropping that binkie.

Trying the headphones for an exhibit

After all of that, Dee and I went shopping Friday night. We caught a few great deals I had missed earlier in the day so it was a great trip.

On Saturday my nephew Brigham was baptized so we had even more family time together.

It's going to be hard to live up to this Thanksgiving, food and company wise!

Laura's Big Haircut

2011-11-15T20:33:00.001-05:00

I've been waiting two years for this day...

The "before" picture

There are a few reasons why I let my hair grow out. After Macy was born spending money on my hair wasn't a big priority. I didn't have the extra money to spend because now we were buying diapers. I also didn't want to make someone watch Macy so I could get my hair cut.

Another reason is Jonathan always wanted me to have long hair. Since we've known each other the longest I've had my hair is shoulder length and it kept getting shorter and shorter. Once my hair grew past that awkward stage (you know what I mean if you've grown your hair out) I decided to continue to let it grow. I've made it that far so why not keep going? Part of me grew it out because of laziness another part was for Ja.

I was starting to get really tired my my hair. I wanted a change! In my prior hair life I would change something about my hair every few months. This was too long for me! I remembered my Aunt Martha would grow out her hair then cut it short to donate it. My hair isn't as pretty as her natural red, but I could still donate it and hopefully help someone in need. Out of curiosity I measured my hair one day; I almost had enough to donate. I gave my hair an extra two months and then I could donate the full 10 inches!

The "during" picture

10 inches of hair!

Final Product

Even though Locks of Love makes wigs for children, to me my hair donation was for my Aunt Karen. She battled cancer and had to wear a wig so this was my little way to help those that need wigs.

When I got home Macy wouldn't come near me for a few minutes and when she did she cried. She looked at me with her sad/scared face for awhile. I think she didn't know where her real mommy was. Eventually she let me hold her and wouldn't let go. While trying to take the above "final" picture she wouldn't look at the camera because she couldn't take her eyes off the hair on the table. All that day she would point to it and say "mommy." I feel like I've lost 10 pounds! I love my new hair cut. The hip new Laura is back!

Thank you Tiffany for watching Macy and to Becca for cutting my hair. I forgot to take a picture with Becca :(

Jonathan's 1st Pack Meeting

2011-11-13T20:59:00.000-05:00

I didn't want to be that blogger that only blogs about her child, but I've become that blogger. The last blog post about my hair and this one is my attempt at letting you know what Ja and I've been up to.

A few months ago Jonathan was called to me the Cub Master. That meant he wouldn't be team teaching our Sunday School class with me which made me sad. I knew he would be a great Cub Master though. All kids love him. Our ward combines with the Great Falls ward for Cub Scouts so Ja only has to be in charge of a pack meeting every other month. Last Saturday was his first pack meeting and I think it went great. He had made a little video from footage he took at the last pack meeting and the kids liked seeing themselves on the screen.

The topic was on citizenship so he had the boys learn about the meaning of the word, learn about the U.S. flag, and had a guest speaker come in to talk about his time spent in the army. The boys (and other family members in attendance) participated a lot and seemed to enjoy everything.

As the boys walked in they could answer questions about the flag code. Some of the questions were:

Is it against the flag code to wear the flag on an article of clothing? (It depends)
Is it against the flag code to print its image on anything disposable? (Yes)
Is it okay to wave the flag upside down? (Only if under duress)
Is it okay to use the flag to carry or hold objects? (No)

Then they talked about the meaning of the Pledge of Allegiance.

Their lesson on citizenship.

The guest speaker who spoke with the boys. He had them ask him all sorts of questions. Most were about the type of guns the used.

Macy and I hung out in the back.

Each boy who gets an award also gets a cheer. They chose one out of the bag, test it out, and then the boys vote to keep it in the "Cheer Box" or not. If you can imagine, Ja was a little rambunctious during the cheers and the boys thought that was great. Way to go Master Jonathan!

Trying on Shoes

2011-11-01T22:02:00.001-04:00

*I know these pictures aren't good quality (they were taken with my phone in bad lighting) but I had to share them.

If Macy ever sees a shoe that isn't being worn she has to try it on. She even tries to put Lily's shoes on that are too little. Here is a sequence of pictures of Macy trying on my shoes and some of Ja's. We love this little girl so much! We are having a great time playing around the house with her.

Halloween 2011

2011-10-31T21:55:00.000-04:00

Macy had a great Halloween! It's so much fun to watch her face glow up when she sees something fun. She has learned a new word, I bet you can guess it. Yep, it's candy. She says "andee." She is very aware of what candy is, what candy looks like, and where to get candy. We have to hide all traces of candy or that is all she will ask for. Sometimes she still finds it in our hiding spots. I'm sick of andee already and it's only November 1st!

We went to our gym on the 31st and they took the kids trick or treating around the gym. Afterwards they each got a Halloween cupcake. Macy was in heaven. She really loves being around kids her age and she of course loved the extra sugar. She was so proud of her little treat sack she colored on!

For our friends Halloween party Macy wouldn't wear her real costume so she only wore black pants with an orange shirt. At the ward party she wore her cousin Addie's old pink princess/dance outfit. It looked cute but we really wanted her to be a duck!

On Halloween day, an hour before the Colonies Halloween Parade I asked her one more time if she wanted to be a duck and she said yes! Here are the preliminary duck pictures. I'm really glad I took these even though she isn't wearing her orange tights.

She thought the costume was funny and liked petting the soft feathers. She didn't like wearing the hat for long. I don't blame her, the costume is size 6-12 months so I'm sure the hat didn't fit well.

Here we are outside ready for the parade to start. A lot of kids from our neighborhood showed up to walk from the Tot Lot to the Clubhouse. Macy really enjoyed seeing the other kids in their costumes.

Unfortunately she wouldn't put her hat back on but at least she had the duck body on. That thing kept her nice and warm for the crisp evening.

Here is a group picture. Macy actually enjoyed sitting on the planter and didn't want to get down. I guess she felt like she fit in with the rest of the kids. Either that or she liked little Robin sitting next to her. We did see him at the pool a lot last summer.

From here the kids walked down the the clubhouse. Macy didn't want to walk so I carried her. The whole time she kept saying "raid! raid!" because I told her we were in a parade. She was so excited. Along the route a few people came out of the building to pass out candy. Of course Macy wanted some. I couldn't get her to say trick or treat but she did say please. That's pretty good right? One lady passed out beanie babies so now Macy is the proud owner of Stilts the Stork. She loved that little thing and wouldn't let us touch it.

Macy showing off her candy bag.

Here is Macy our plump little duck enjoying her juice at the Clubhouse.

Macy also enjoyed the pizza. She eats by grabbing the food with her hand then pushing it onto the fork, then takes a bite. It's so cute, but can be messy. She then ate one bite of every piece of candy in her bag. She was so excited to open them and see what they are. She kept asking me, "was' 'his?" (What's this?) I would tell her the name of the candy and she would say "ohh."

Macy had such a great time at the party and really didn't want to come home. However, we were able to coerce her out and she must have been on a sugar high because she was crazy happy on the walk home. She was running, hitting me and laughing, laughing, talking about something, and just being happy. She must have been telling us about all the fun she had that day. It was so much fun to celebrate with her and I can't wait for all the years to come!

Just Plain Ol' Macy

2011-10-31T21:29:00.000-04:00

Since I'm using this blog to "journal" our lives here are some random pictures of Macy that I think are worth sharing. She is so dang adorable and continues to get more and more adorable everyday.

Macy loves umbrellas as you can tell from this picture.

But hates it when the umbrella is open in the car. She insisted that I open it but when I did she was mad that she couldn't move it around. Silly girl doesn't know about umbrella superstitions yet.

This is still her "smile" face. Every kid is entitled to at least one weird smile face right? I think it's very cute that she even points her little pucker out.

This is a great locker sequence. She got in there all by herself.

Going...

Gone.

Macy likes to play with the toaster while I prepare dinner or do the dishes. She likes to put things inside like a pot lid or a cup. She turns the knobs and has a great time. Luckily she can't turn it on yet. It will be a sad day when that happens. I don't know how I'll get anything done.

Aunt Jill bought Macy sparkly silver Toms. Macy wouldn't wear them at first but as soon as her cousin Mark offered them to her she likes to wear them. At random times throughout the day she'll point to her shoes and say "Jill Shoe" (her version of saying Jill and Shoe. I'm not quite sure how to spell it). She loves her Aunt Jill and talks about her often.

I thought it was strange that Macy wanted to get in the hamper. Later I found out that Jonathan had put her in it before. She was standing straight up in the hamper.

Hanging Out with Cousins

2011-10-24T22:42:00.001-04:00

Mark came over today to hang out with Macy. We played at the playground for awhile then went on a little walk. They had a fun time playing and chasing each other.

Lily also came over to join the party. Macy loves her cousin Lily so much. Aren't they cute?

Last Saturday Macy and Emmett played after their super fun wagon ride.

It's great Macy has so many cousins to play with. It's fun to watch them start to interact with one another and actually play together instead of just playing next to each other.

The Pumpkin Playground

2011-10-21T21:09:00.000-04:00

I am now the co-planner for our ward and a neighbooring ward's playgroup. My co-planner planned September's events and I have planned Octobers. It's been fun to learn about new activities for children and then to actually attend them. Because of the season of Fall and Halloween I decided to go to a Pumpkin Playground at Burke Nursery.

When we first arrived it was packed! There were tons of toddlers and preschoolers running around. Macy walked around holding my hand taking everything in. It's always hard when you plan something and have people attend with you and the event isn't great. However only three other people came and they said it was fun so that makes me feel better.

Things started to turn around for Macy when she saw this old carousel. It doesn't take quarters so all you have to do is push a button to make it go. I said if we ever have a big backyard we should buy old mechanical toys and the kids would love to play outside. Macy rode this 4 times and would have done more.

I say she would have done more, but she didn't because then she noticed the mechanical horses. She also loved these and could have ridden them all day long. I love that she has no real expression on her face to show her delight. I knew she liked it though because as soon as it stopped she said, "MMMooore."

Then we discovered these great slides they had. They were tal plastic slides and you sit on carpet squares to ride down. They were actually quite fast and even tickled my stomach. I really wish I had someone there to take our picture because Macy would grab my arm pretty tight halfway down the slide so I am very curious to know what her face looked like. I could have gone down the slide all day. That's another thing we would add to our awesome backyard.

There were large wooden train cars that Macy liked to climb in. She especially liked this one because it had little seats she could sit in to observe the other children.

Her smile face

Our next favorite activity was the wagon ride. I think Macy liked to so much because she thought the tractor that was pulling us was a train. She kept saying, "Choo!Choo!" Part of the ride went through a little forest of trees and there were Halloween decorations all throughout. Some of the other kids were scared of the decorations but Macy thought they were funny. She doesn't know what werewolves and skeletons are scary yet so she pointed and laughed at them.

Luckily Macy found this wet and muddy sandhill at the end of the trip. She also could have stayed there all day. Apparently there are little prizes buried underneath the sand somewhere.

Each child gets to take home a little patch pumpkin. Macy had a great time picking one out. She picked up quite a few before settling on one she liked.

The funny thing was once she found one she didn't want to take it home. She thought she had to put it back in the pile. I ended up carrying it to the car for her. The only way I got her to stop whining about it was to say we'll go home and tell daddy about the pumpkin. She liked that idea.

All in all, even though it was crowded and muddy we had a great time at the Pumpkin Playground. I'm already trying to go again next week because Macy had so much fun!

Macy the Impersonator

2011-10-17T21:00:00.002-04:00

Macy loves to watch this talking dog video on Youtube. She requests "dogie ooie."The funnier thing is she has started to say "yeah" like the dog does in the video. She will usually answer yeah for a question and sometimes she says it again in the dog "yeah." We usually laugh and then she says it again and laughs at herself. It's such a cute thing.

Macy's Top 25

2011-09-30T21:39:00.000-04:00

Because we couldn't pick just 10, or even 20.

For journaling sake, here are the cutest things Macy does as of September 2011. (In no particular order)

1. Her dad likes to make things appear from behind her ears. Whenever she is upset about something she points to her ear. For a while I thought she might have an ear infection but realized she is trying to make her binkie appear from behind her ear. Every night he asks her where her binkie is and she points to her ear.

2. She still LOVES her cousin Lily. When ever we talk about Lily she runs to and points at the front door. She knows Lily comes through that portal.

3. Speaking of Lily, when I get Macy up in the morning she automatically says Lily. She does this because I used to ask her what she dreamed about and I would ask if she dreamed about Lily. Now she gets straight to the point. She often says Daddy too. I bet she has good dreams.

4. More Lily- Every time Macy sees Lily for the first time she gets really excited and she runs up to Lily to say hi. Macy often doesn't say anything but her actions that speak louder than words. If Lily is coming to our house Macy can't contain her excitement and often wants to go into the hallway to watch Lily come off the elevator.

5. She points to her diaper when she says poo poo or pee pee.

6. She loves to watch "baby oooie" when she sees my phone. They are movies of her.

7. I put all the movies we made about her on a DVD and that's the first thing she asks for in the morning, "baby oooie, baby oooie!"

8. We've realized Macy likes to show off for people when they come over. She can get very wild! However, outside of our house she can be very shy.

9. Macy likes to help me empty the dishwasher by handing me the dishes one at a time. She also likes to throw the silverware in the silverware drawer. She is good at cleaning up messes too. When she sees me with a paper towel she has to have one too.

10. She still loves to color and will often dictate what color I'm allowed to use.

11. Her new love is Blues Clues. Macy wants to do what ever Blue is doing. One episode we had to put Macy on the toilet, brush her teeth, and get her dressed because that's what Blue was doing.

12. Macy loves to run. If we say, "Run Macy, Run!" She will run circles around the ottoman. She signs for more if we stop saying this.

13. We are trying to wean her from the binkie so she's only allowed to have it in bed. Sometimes during the day she wants to sit in her crib so she can have her binkie. After a few minutes she is ready to play again.

14. She loves her hair bows. If she ever hears the word bow she points to her head. If she sees someone or even a picture of someone with a bow, she points to her head and says bow.

15. Macy's smile face is puckering her lips.

16. She LOVES to play in the car- especially the front seat so she can drive us around. I don't mind because I get to sit and relax while she plays.

17. We have watched so many dog videos on Youtube. Macy gets so excited when she sees dogs from and distance and loves talking about dogs. She gets very scared though when she sees dogs in person up close.

18. Macy takes her coloring outside with sidewalk chalk and is very good at sharing with the neighborhood kids.

19. She actually sits still long enough to "read" books by herself. (30 seconds is long enough)

20. Like all children, Macy loves candy. I have to admit we've bribed her with candy to get her to eat dinner. We've had to find a new hiding spot for our sweets because she knew where our hiding spot was. She would walk up to the fridge, point up and ask for more (we kept it on top of the fridge).

21. Most of the time she is good about using her utensils. However she puts her food on her fork/spoon using her fingers then puts the fork/spoon in her mouth.

22. Macy loves to carry her purse out to the car with us. If we leave the house without it she stops and asks for her purse. She also likes to take her baby stroller.

23. If we are playing at home we are never allowed to lie down on the floor. She says "no,no,no" and grabs our hair to lift up our heads.

24. Jonathan has started to make a fort for her using the couch and blankets. She loves to crawl through the fort.

25. Macy loves nursery and especially loves all the action filled songs they sing. At home she loves to sing and do all the actions for songs. We've had to make up actions for some songs because she wouldn't sing them otherwise.

Do you like see food?

Apple Picking

2011-09-29T21:38:00.000-04:00

We went apple picking in September for play group. We didn't end up picking many apples (Macy wasn't interested) but it was nice weather and beautiful scenery. Here are a few pictures from that day.

Macy had the most fun eating while walking on the dirt road.

Great smile Lily!

DC Ragnar 2011 was awesome!

2011-09-28T20:53:00.001-04:00

I'm not sure how to start explaining how FUN the Ragnar race was. If you don't know what it is here's a little info:

- Relay race with 12 people running a total of 198 miles

- 2 vans with 6 runners each

- 2 days and running through the night

- The Ragnar motto: Run, drive, sleep?, repeat

Our van consisted of my dad (Papi), sister Jill (Jill the Kill), Jonathan (the Flying Frenchman), Tiffany (Pump and Dump), me (Runnin Mama), and my friend Katrina (Hurrican Katrina). Van 2 was Greg, Holly, Heather, Trevor, Kiersten, Alisa, and their driver Hank. The only non-family was Katrina and she was kind enough to fill in for a team member who decided not to run. More on her awesomeness later.

To make things more fun each team decorates their vans according to the team name. Our name was "Civil RELAYtions." We decorated with stars, and our names. At night we added awesome glow sticks and light up balloons to the outside of the van. Many vans also keep track of their "kills" (i.e. the people they pass while running). Our van had 83 kills and most of them were Katrina's. Everyone did great though.

If running three legs in 24 hours isn't hard enough try doing it on hardly any sleep. I slept about 2 hours the night before the race and 2 hours the night of the race. I still don't know how I was able to run, adrenaline I guess. I had one of the easiest legs out of the whole team so I wasn't too impressed that I finished my legs. I was very proud of myself for sprinting at the end of my legs to pass people so I could record some kills. People on the sidelines were cheering for me so that was exciting.

My dad had the hardest leg of the whole team. He ran for 7.8 miles and climbed 1,247 feet! The whole time we were driving the route in the van I kept saying, "No way, I can't believe this!" The hill kept going up, and up, and up, and up! The name of the leg was "You've got to be kidding me!" He was awarded with a belt buckle that has the Ragnar logo on the front and "I survived Leg 3" on the back. It's pretty sweet.

Every one did great on their runs, but Katrina did especially well. My sister had to drop out of the race due to injury. My dad finished the last part of her 2nd leg with a 1.8 mile run mostly uphill. In order to not drop out of the race, our team had to have another runner run Jill's 3rd leg. To make matters worst the leg was 8.5 miles labled as "hard." Katrina stepped up to the plate. She had finished her 3rd leg only a couple hours before starting to run again. We followed her along the course and she was smiling and looked great! Our whole team really owes her a huge THANK YOU for finishing the race for us. The last picture is our "Katrina is AWESOME" photo.

I know this all sounds totally crazy. and it is. Why do we pay people to set up a race so we can physically torture ourselves? Because its so much fun! I'm so happy I decided to run and had such a great team. I would do it again in a heart beat. Well, maybe in a year. I'm definitely going to do it again! If you run a Ragnar you'll be hooked too.

Thank you Mom for watching Macy so we could all run!

Grandparents Come to Town!

2011-09-26T15:13:00.001-04:00

My dad, mom, and sister Jill came to visit for a weekend. They mainly came so my dad and Jill could run the Ragnar race with us, but I'm sure they wanted to see Macy too.

When I picked them up at the airport Macy was quite scared some strange people got in our car and cried the whole way home. As soon as we got out of the car she was happy and laughing. She likes to show off her craziness in front of them and acted really wild. As soon as we got inside Macy wanted everyone to color with her at her little table. She even dictated what color everyone had to color with. It didn't take long for her to warm up and make everyone laugh.

More of Macy in September

2011-09-26T15:04:00.001-04:00

Things have been going well this month. Macy still loves and adores her cousin Lily. Macy gets so excited when I tell her we will be seeing Lily. She says her version of Lily (LLLLLLL) and then runs to get her shoes or runs to the front door. It's a good thing Lily weighs more than Macy because Macy likes to hug and tackle Lily to the floor. They are going to be such good friends when they grow up. Lily enjoys Macy too, but probably gets tired of the tackling :)

Macy has also started talking more. She can say: Mommy (which she says ALL the time), Daddy, juice, cheese, movie (ooie), smoothie (ooie), orange, Jesus (she said it once and won't say it again), Papa, woof woof, baby, grandma (nama), poo poo, shoes, Lily, and more.

I volunteered to be in charge of play group for our ward. Luckily we have joined with another ward so that means I only plan every other month. I'll start in October planning. I hope people come.

Macy started a toddler gymnastic class on September 20th. She was a little scared since it was the first time but I know she'll warm up in a few weeks. Her favorite is the parallel bars because she likes to walk through them. She also loves to hang on the horizontal gymnastic bar. Her friend Grant is in the class with us so the two of them should have a lot of fun running around.

Here is a picture update of our month:

Macy watching a movie of herself with Lily desperately trying to see the screen.

Macy climbed up on the bench all by herself and starting reading books. That is what I envisioned her doing when I bought the bench so it made me really happy. This face is what I got when I asked for a smile. She makes me so happy!

Love those little feet.

We drove down to Charlottesville for a NUCCA appointment and who should meet us there? LLLLLLL! Macy was so happy to see Lily. It was also a bonus that there was a old school merry-go-round that was free.

She loves carousels now and wants to go on every one she sees.

One night we were playing in her room and she wanted to climb into the cabinet. She thought it was so much fun.

This is Macy's "I-just-ate-Cafe-Rio-and-I'm-so-happy-face."

This was her first time wearing the sweater and white church shoes. She was such an angel. I don't think she can get any cuter!

My Jewelry/Craft Organizer

2011-09-08T14:34:00.000-04:00

When I saw this jewelry holder on the blog Make-it-and-Love it and knew I wanted to make one. I set out to buy the supplies, then went to the store again when I didn't buy enough supplies, then went to the store again when I cut the vinyl wrong and didn't have enough. This project took a lot longer than my usual quick projects but was totally worth it. I love the finished product and when I have enough little things to put in all the little pockets I'll most likely make another one.
How great is it that it fits snugly in the closet?

Macy in the morning

2011-09-02T15:01:00.001-04:00

I am so lucky to have a child like Macy. She is so easy going and happy. She will usually wake up around 8:15 but I don't go in to get her until around 9 a.m. She has a great time talking to herself, kicking the wall, and probably other stuff but that's all I can hear. Lately when I open the door she has already thrown her stuffed animals out of the crib or she does it after I come into the room. I finally decided to take a picture. We then play with Pooh, Piglet, and baby but throwing them in and out of the crib. She thinks it's hilarious.

She also likes to go to bed with two binkies because she holds one and likes to put it in her ear like this. Or at night she taps the second on on her eye. That's how we know she's tired.

Smile, Macy!

2011-09-01T14:54:00.000-04:00

Yesterday at the park Macy was being so cute. She wore a flower in her hair longer than 5 minutes which she hasn't done since she could reach her head. I just had to get a picture to capture the cuteness. Little did I know she would get even cuter.

Here is my first attempt at getting a picture. She moves so quickly it's almost impossible to get her looking at the camera. I whistle, snap, call her name and she never looks.

Here's the second attempt. Same thing, she moved before I could take the picture.

Then I thought, I'm going to try asking her to smile. Why haven't I thought of that before? Because I didn't think she would actually do it. Well, Macy proved me wrong. Look at her adorable little smile!

She wasn't showing interest in hair clips but I thought I would just ask her if I could put it in her hair. She leaned her head over so I could put it in. So much easier than I thought! I should have asked her months ago?! All through out the day she would point to her flower and say, "Whoa! Whoa!" She was so proud of her flower. Macy you are so sweet and cute!

The Pentagon Memorial

2011-08-28T15:01:00.002-04:00

I was reading the newspaper on Saturday and learned about the Pentagon Memorial. Did you know it existed and that it was the first September 11th memorial dedicated? I didn't. It's right next to the side of the Pentagon where the plane went into the building. It's actually a really neat memorial and I want to start taking visitors there to see it. I went to the Pentagon Memorial website and learned about the design and meaning behind the memorial and now I like it even more.

There are 184 benches and each bench represents a person who was killed that day, either in the Pentagon or on Flight 77. They are in an "Age Line" starting with the youngest passenger who was only 3 years old and ends with the oldest person killed who was 71. Each birth year has its own line and the lines are at a 45 degree angle so it mimics the flight pattern the plane took before crashing into the building.

Each person has his or her name written on the end of the bench. Another neat thing is the designer made it so if you're reading the name of the person and you're facing the Pentagon the person was in the building. If you're reading the name and facing the sky then that person was on Flight 77.

There is also an "Age Wall" around the side of the memorial which starts at 3 inches tall and gradually ends at 71 inches tall. I think it's really special how the designer was able to really represent each person that was killed that day.

Macy reflecting.

The ground was gravel which is very fun to play with.

Macy climbing to the top of the bench.

It also looks like it would be very pretty at night.

photo credit

Granola Bars

2011-08-24T13:37:00.000-04:00

I found a great granola bar recipe which has been my favorite so far. I changed the recipe quite a bit to be healthier and this is what I've come up with. I've made a batch weekly because we love them so much.

4 cups rolled oats (I've used both rolled oats and quick oats and can't tell a difference)
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 c softened butter
1/3 cup applesauce
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup craisins
1/2 cup nuts

Press into a greased 9x13 inch pan. (I spray my hand with cooking spray to press because it's pretty sticky.) Bake at 325 degrees for 18-22 minutes. When I take them out of the oven I press them again with the back of the spatula. Cool in the pan. When they are cool cut into your desired size.

Playing with Play Dough

2011-08-23T20:45:00.006-04:00

Macy, a monumental thing happened today. You played with ONE thing for ONE hour! Never in your life have you played with something for so long. I heard you love to play with play dough in Nursery so I made you some to play with at home. You loved it so much. I had to remind you often to keep it at the table because you wanted to walk around with your little creations but other than that you did great. We'll definitely be playing with play dough more often!

Beach Party

2011-08-20T20:38:00.000-04:00

We had a little beach party at Sandy Point State Park with some friends from the ward. It was perfect for all the little kids because it's in the bay making the waves very very small. Macy didn't get in the water, as expected, but she loved playing in the sand. It was actually quite relaxing because Jonathan and I got to sit and watch her play while enjoying the warm sun and beach atmosphere.

After the fun in the sand we walked up to the grassy BBQ area for dinner. The smart parents brought their stair gates to make a ring around the grill so the kids won't get burned. Macy loved playing with the buttons and toy part of it.

Macy and Hallie being cute friends.

Macy loves to run and had a great time chasing her friends around in the grass.

Macy and Hallie again enjoying themselves.

Macy is doing her hide-and-go-seek counting face in this picture. She likes to cheat by only covering her mouth.

New Macy Movie!

2011-08-17T22:38:00.000-04:00

Check it out on Our Web Gallery. It's called "Every day Macy."

I know it's really long but she is so much cuter now it's harder to cut the good footage!

Enjoy.

2011-08-15T14:13:00.000-04:00

Oh Macy... This picture makes me smile for so many reasons. I love your facial expression. It looks like you're saying, "Why are my parents so embarrassing?"

New Table for Macy

2011-08-13T20:38:00.000-04:00

We bought Macy a new little table and chairs from Ikea to help encourage her artistic creativity. (And to hopefully find something that she will do so I can make dinner. This hasn't happened yet but getting better.) The first morning she saw it she immediately ran over to it and started to color. Usually when Jonathan gets Macy up in the morning the first thing she does is try to find me. Now she goes straight to the table. Her friends like to play at it too. We are so glad we bought this for little Macy Cakes.

Family Pictures from Outer Banks

2011-08-11T15:06:00.000-04:00

Here are a few of my favorites. I say few because there are 634 images to choose from. The photographers really did a great job capturing the essence of each family.

Whole Family

The grandkids

My favorite little Angel

the little girlies

Someone isn't happy

a rare smile

All 5 born August 2009-August 2010

Macy and Lily

Macy the Artist

2011-08-10T21:35:00.001-04:00

As I mentioned before Macy is really into coloring right now. This is the only thing in her life she has done consistently for longer than 10 minutes. She loves picking all the colors, different pencils and pens, and high lighters. Amazingly she holds the crayons, pens, and pencils the proper way. I don’t know where she learned that. We think she is just a natural born artist.

This is one of my favorite pieces of artwork. She worked on this over a period of time and would make one line at a time. She would make a mark, take a break and come back to it. She even took it with us outside for inspiration.

Another amazing thing was Macy letting me take her picture while coloring. She likes to put her face really close to the paper when she is working. She is always so happy when coloring and loves to talk and show me what crayon she is using and what her picture looks like. I love my little budding artist! She is the cutest little artist ever!

So focused

She's showing me what she just did

See how cute she is crossing her legs?!

Praying Macy

2011-08-10T21:16:00.000-04:00

Macy has been excellent at reminding us to pray and to pray often. It only took us a few tries to get her to fold her hands and know she can also fold her arms. I wasn’t in the good habit of praying over breakfast and lunch but now we are because Macy insists we pray before eating. She folds her arms and points to us to do the same. She is generally very reverent but if we peek we catch her trying to pick food off her plate. However, her arms are still folded so does that count? I like to peek so I can see how cute she is being. She’s also very good at getting us to say family prayer at night. We’ve always been good at this but she now reminds us as soon as it’s bed time. She waves “come on” to Jonathan if he isn’t moving fast enough for her. She also always folds her arms at church during the prayers and at other people’s houses. I’m so glad that is one lesson that actually stuck.

Her latest thing is having us all fold our arms or clasp our hands. Jonathan and I have to do whatever she is doing. She tricks us by switching during the prayer sometimes. Often she wants to pray multiple times during dinner. We try to tell her we only need to pray once. If Macy ever isn't paying attention and misses us saying Amen she will not unfold her arms until we say another prayer or repeat Amen a few times.

Charlottesville

2011-08-09T21:28:00.000-04:00

We took the two hour drive down to Charlottesville to visit the NUCCA doctor there. The drive down there is mostly on a highway that goes through the little towns so it’s a beautiful drive. Macy did pretty good on the drive and only cried a little bit. After our appointment we drove to Monticello to go inside Thomas Jefferson’s home. It’s a beautiful home with very beautiful grounds. We took turns watching Macy while the other went on the tour of the house. Daddy was very nice and bought Macy chocolate coins during his watch and she loved them of course.

On the way home we stopped to get ice cream at a place called Moo Thru. The sign says it’s real dairy by real dairy farmers. It was very delicious and Macy loved her ice cream come. This time she only took a little bite out of the bottom. Her favorite part was the flavor sign. She walked in and out of it and was so happy.

The last hour of the drive I sat in the back with Macy and helped her color. She is very much into coloring right now. I put the crayons in her cup holder and she thought that was great. She would pick a color, draw a line, then show me the crayon and speak to me very purposefully. I really wish I knew what she was saying. It was so cute and I had a great time sitting back there with her.

Macy's first work of art (I did the sun and face)

Bike Ride Down Mt. Vernon Trail

2011-08-06T21:26:00.000-04:00

We decided to go on a family bike and roller blading ride on Saturday despite the chance of rain. It did decide to rain but luckily we had stopped by a tunnel to let Macy lose so we were able to find shelter from the rain. Macy had a great time playing in the tunnel so it turned out great!

Meadow Lane Park in Vienna

2011-08-05T21:24:00.000-04:00

This is the best park around us. First off it’s almost completely covered in the shade, it has many swings, and best of all it’s full of outdoor toys. Macy always loves to steal other kids toys. Actually this is how I found out about this park. We were at our pool swimming and she wanted a toy that another little boy had. I told the dad that no matter what I bring she always wants what the other kids have. He said, “Oh she’ll probably like this park in Vienna, it’s full of other kids toys!” We went last Friday and Macy played by herself (which is rare) for an hour! We just sat and watched as she went from toy to toy to toy. Other bigger kids were bossing her around but she would just stare at them and do her own thing anyways. Way to stand up for yourself Macy.

Je T'aime

2011-08-01T21:05:00.000-04:00

While Jonathan was off in North Dakota last week I embarked on a totally new art medium for me: painting. Our bedroom wall above our bed has been bare for the last 20 months and I couldn't find anything in the stores that worked. I made my own art by using my Cricut to make stencils and paint. My next step will be to not use any stencils but I am not a drawer or painter. Here's the finished product:

I especially loved my love birds.

I'm used to using paper for projects which makes for clean crisp lines so it was difficult to get used to the uneven edges of my letters and birds. All in all I enjoyed the project. Painting was the easy part; deciding the saying, the pictures and the layout was the hardest part. Next time I have a empty wall I'm going to try this again but using paper and do sort of a modge podge effect.

I Belong to the Church of Jesus Christ

2011-07-31T21:22:00.000-04:00

Macy walked out of nursery with a tag clipped to her that said “I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.” I thought it was so adorable! Jonathan picked her up and he said she was so proud of it and kept pointing to it and saying “uh, uh!” Even though the picture is bad I had to take one. I started to sing the Primary song to her and now every time she sees this tag she tries to clip it on and signs for more. She wants me to sing the song to her. How sweet! I want to keep the tag and hopefully it will come in handy for future FHE lessons.

Macy’s First Ice Cream Cone

2011-07-27T21:21:00.000-04:00

We celebrated my sister-in-law’s birthday with Thai food, cake, and ice cream. Macy loved the ice cream cone and started eating it from the bottom. Why is it that kids bite the bottom out first? How do they all know to do that when they shouldn’t?

Playseum

2011-07-26T21:19:00.000-04:00

Macy and her friend Grant went to a Playseum in Bethseda. Both of the kids had a great time wandering around to the different rooms that are set up with different themes (i.e building, dentist, grocery store, old children’s play room, etc). Here Macy and Grant are enjoying their morning tea before heading off to work. It looks like Macy answers the phone while Grant does the typing.

New Stroller

2011-07-25T21:17:00.000-04:00

Macy has been eyeing this stroller since the moment she first laid eyes on one. I finally broke down and bought her one so she would stop trying to steal our neighbor’s. Jonathan was gone in Fargo so before taking the picture I asked her to smile for daddy. She was so excited we walked around with that stroller almost every waking minute for the rest of the day.

Macy loves stickers

2011-07-22T21:16:00.004-04:00

One day Macy and I were playing in her room. We came across stickers and I would give one to her and she would run off with it. She kept coming back for more and then running off again. Afterwards I found the stickers on the window sill on our room and in the hallway mirror.

Outer Banks Family Vacation

2011-07-16T14:20:00.000-04:00

This year the DeVore vacation was spent all together in one house in the Outer Banks. It was so much fun! I thought it was the best family vacation we've had yet. The house of awesome, the pool was great, the beach was perfect, and the company was good too. We were able to relax and enjoy everyone's company instead of trying to see every tourist attraction out there.

The first night there Kiersten took pictures on the beach. They turned out great and here are a few of my favorites. They were a precursor to our Tuesday night photo shoot.

Monday was the 4th of July and it was so fun to be on the beach watching the fireworks. It was almost magical and one of my favorite memories.

Tuesday we had two photographers come to take on the mammoth challenge of photographing the whole Devore clan. The name of their company was Island Photography and they are a husband and wife team. They were so great! They worked at hyper speed so none of the kids tried to run away in the picture. After the whole group we took individual family photos and they turned out so great. Everyone looks beautiful with the beach in the background because the lighting was just perfect. Here is a link to just some of my favorite pictures. Macy cried for the first attempt at getting a family picture and screamed the whole time during the grandkids picture. Oh well, at least we got a few good ones.

Other than that we mostly stayed at the house. We hung out at the beach a lot because Macy loved playing in the sand and water. She wouldn't go into the pool for whatever reason but liked the hot tub. Macy also loved having all her cousins around to follow. It was so cute. Luc won her over one night by giving her M&M's. She would find, him tug on his shirt and point to the cupboard until he got her more. He is a very good big cousin.

Each night one family was in charge of making dinner for the whole group. This was a million times better than going out to eat every night. Plus, we got to try different foods from what we normally eat.

Jonathan boogie boarding

Macy longing to drive the go karts

The one outing we did was to the Wright brother's memorial. This is how Macy liked it.

Not at all. She cried and cried to get out of the stroller.

She eventually settled down when we let her out of the stroller. She had fun playing with the drain.

The last night the kids got to dig for buried treasure. Holly had a treasure chest filled with goodies and made red and white striped bandanas for all the kids to wear. Macy actually liked it and kept it on. And of course she liked all the candy inside.

We had a great vacation and can't wait to do it again next year. The only thing that we will change is the time we leave to drive there. Apparently leaving later in the afternoon is how to beat the traffic. It took us 10 hours to drive there when it should only take 5 1/2! Even if we have to drive that long again it will be worth it.

Watermelon Lime Smoothie

2011-07-16T13:53:00.001-04:00

I know the picture isn't great but I started drinking it and couldn't stop.

This is my new favorite way to eat watermelon! We made some last night for dinner and I had to have a second glass before going to bed because I was craving more of the sweet tangy goodness. Here is the recipe I used but you can definitely change it up as needed. I'm thinking of adding strawberries next time.

2 cups frozen cubed watermelon
1 ripe banana
lime juice from 2 limes (it has a strong lime flavor so cut back if you don't like that)
lime zest from 1/2 a lime
1/2 cup Sprite (or more to make is smoother)

Blend all together. Easy Peasy.

New Macy Movie!

2011-06-28T23:39:00.000-04:00

It's been too long since our last movie! So here you go, get comfortable and watch our cute little Macy!

Here is the link to our web gallery. It's the movie titled "Macy's New Tricks."

U2

2011-06-28T14:36:00.001-04:00

Last wednesday Ja and I went to the U2 concert in Baltimore with Greg, Holly, and Jacob. We really had Jacob to thank for it because his new favorite band is U2 so we all tagged along with him. On the way there I asked Jacob what song he wanted U2 to sing and he said Mysterious Ways. That was the second song they played and he was so happy. They played all my favorite songs too (With or Without You, One, and Beautiful Day). I realized I'm not a big fan of their most recent music so it was great they played a lot of oldies. The crowd was always happiest when early U2 songs.

The screen came down for a few songs and covered the whole stage.

Ja and I decided Baltimore is a little too far away (we didn't get back until 1:15 a.m.). Fortunately we had a great babysitter who didn't mind being out so late. We were so grateful because we had a really fun night!

A Quilt for My Grandma

2011-06-28T14:27:00.000-04:00

I was in the mood for a big project so I got some quilting books from the library so I could try a new pattern. I found this book which taught me about jelly roll quilts. I decided on the garden bouquet pattern which turned out to be harder than any quilt I have ever done before. Just the cutting alone took about 9 hours! However, like many things in life, the harder you work the better the results. Here is a picture of the squares all laid out.

It took 7 steps to complete each square. Having the jelly roll fabric was great because the fabric is already cut into 2 1/4 inch pieces. I only had to cut it the length I needed. As for the actual quilting part I only did stitch in the ditch. I hate free motion quilting because I can never get the tension right. Here is the final project.

My grandma said she really likes the quilt and put in on her couch so she can brag to all her friends about it. Someone asked me if it was hard to give something away that took so much effort and time for me to make. It wasn't hard because I know who I gave it to deserves something special. And I know my grandma will appreciate all the hard work that went into making this for her.

Our Little Heavyweight

2011-06-26T20:51:00.000-04:00

If you have ever seen Macy, seen a picture of Macy, or even heard of Macy you'll know she is not a heavyweight. Our trip to the doctor on Friday confirmed this for us. Here are Macy's 18 month stats:

Weighs 20 lbs 10 ounces

31 3/4 inches long

18 inch head circumference

Your 8 month old baby probably weighs more than her. I couldn't believe how light she was. I thought the scale was broken. I was expecting at least 23 pounds. Heavyweight or not, she is still the cutest and sweetest little girl. She is so playful now and loves to be chased and to chase others. She also plays her own version of tag. Her friend Grant was over on Wednesday and she grabbed him around the waist, said something in Toddler-ese and ran away. He must have understood her because he ran after her. They had a great time taking turns being "it." Macy is so grown up now she is ready for work! She wanted to be hands-free so she can drive while working.

In other big news, today was Macy's first day of nursery all by herself! She didn't cry. We got a report from a girl in our class who helps in the nursery who said Macy wouldn't sit down when she was supposed to (never does) and tried to take other kids floor mats and put them away (she's always so tidy, not). I can't believe my baby is already 18 months old. Is it sad to say I didn't miss her while sitting quietly still in Relief Society? I did miss her, but I also enjoyed sitting by myself not worrying about a little wiggly girl on my lap. Church is a whole new experience now! When I went to pick her up she was walking around the nursery room with her hands clasped behind her back watching the other kids play and get picked up. She also did not cry when she saw me. Knock on wood, but I think this nursery thing is going to work out!

Pony Brushes His Teeth

2011-06-24T15:28:00.000-04:00

We checked this book out from the library and Macy loves it. It shows how Pony brushes his teeth just like his dad does. He picks the toothbrush, puts toothpaste on, brushes up and down, round and round. Then he fills his mouth with water and spits the water out. Here is the last page:

Pony spits the water at his dad. The first few times reading it Macy actually laughed. Then she pointed at Pony then at his dad and gave a tiny chuckle. Now when I pull the book out she quickly turns through all the pages (faster than I can read them) to get to the last page. She still points at Pony and dad and gives her little "Uh? Uh?" talk. She hasn't shown this much interest in a book before. I think it's cute. The author (Michael Dahl) also writes other books with similar titles. I'm curious to know what happens in Duck Goes Potty.

Macy's First Over the Ocean Flight

2011-06-05T21:05:00.000-04:00

Can you guess where we went? See if you can tell by the end of the post.

Jonathan's parents were kind enough to take some of us on a trip. We went with Tiffany, Lily, Henry, Devin, and Deanna. Henry and Macy played pretty well together despite the fact they don't really know each other, but I guess that doesn't matter when you're kids.

We did a lot of relaxing on this trip. Since we've been there before we didn't mind just hanging out at the hotel pool and ocean right behind the hotel. Macy loved the pool right away and the kiddie pirate ship. we were all waking up early around 4, 5, or 6 am. This meant we were in bed by 8:30 or 9 pm. We usually got in naps during the day too. We were spoiled.

It was hard to take pictures because we were usually wet or in the sand. We did manage to get a few pictures.

Relaxing on the hammock.

Macy learned to hula.

First time in the ocean, not a huge fan.

Not a huge fan of the sand at first either.

Her favorite dolphin to ride.

By now she LOVED the ocean. She laughed and laughed when waves would crash on her.

She also loved the sand at this point.

It was so fun to watch her.

A few of my favorite memories are Macy starting to take 3 hour naps (she is continuing this at home too, knock on wood), Macy and Henry jumping on the bed together, actually exercising on vacation, all the time we got to spend alone because someone else watched Macy, eating shave ice and learning they are not all created equal, seeing the Warren and Annabelle Magic show (hilarious!), the warm breeze, watching Macy enjoy the ocean immensely, playing with Macy in the pool, and watching Macy play with a pool noodle in our hotel room.

I think Macy's favorite memory was of the smoothies. After getting one once from the pool bar, every time we walked past the bar she would point and say, "Uh, uh, uh!" Luckily her Papa is nice enough to indulge her and get her more smoothies.

It was definitely sad to come home after our wonderful trip to Maui.

Did you guess right?

Macy goes to California, Again!

2011-05-27T20:42:00.000-04:00

Three days after Stacie left Macy and I flew to California to spend some time with my parents. She did pretty well on the plane (at least well enough that I don't have any real memories of the flight). It was late when we got in to Granny Dot's house but Macy saw all the toys and had to play with them right away. She knew exactly where to go and what to play with. She must have a better memory than I remember.

We stayed at Granny Dot's on Sunday too because my parents and Jill had meetings all day so we wouldn't see much of them anyways. I decided to take Macy into nursery because she was extremely tired from getting up at 4:57 a.m. Nursery would have been easier than walking the halls. I figured people didn't know how old she was anyways. I stayed in with her though because she was grouchy. She was having a lot of fun until the last 5 minutes of church. I think we hit her tired threshold.

Monday morning we visited Dale, the man I worked for in Pasadena. He had never seen Macy so I wanted to say hello. Macy liked their little dog, Sadie, and even found the dog food and fed Sadie little pieces of it.

Then it was off to Yorba Linda. Macy had a great time with Grandma and Grandpa Seymour. Like last time, she takes a day or two to get comfortable with them. It took a little longer with Jill because somehow she would always manage to scare Macy by jumping or yelling. Macy explored the house and especially loved Aunt Jill's room with all the "stuff." Macy remember where all her favorite toys are here too, like my dad's record collection. We also started a new memory by putting water in bowls and tossing rocks into the bowls and pouring water out with measuring cups.

Eating toast with Nutella. Or should I say eating Nutella with toast?

Getting glammed up.

This pink bag was the absolute best find in Jill's room. Macy carried it around everywhere all week. I guess it was the perfect accessory for her.

We went to a few parks and to the library. On Thursday we met up with my friend Becca and her two boys Jackson and Sam. We had a great day at the park, Pinkberry, and a splash pad. It took awhile for Macy to want to go near the splash pad but she eventually thought it was fun as long as I was holding her. I really had a good time catching up with an old friend. Even if most of the time we were running in opposite directions after our kids.

I forgot her bathing suit so she is wearing Sam's. Doesn't she look like an old man?

If I'm within 30 miles of a Cafe Rio I have to go. So we went down to Newport, just Grandma and us. Macy loved, loved, loved their black beans and got them all over her face and arms.

Jill and I hung out, got lunch, went to the mall, and saw Water for Elephants. It was a good movie but made even better because I used my 2 movie tickets for $9 from Living Social. Jill being there helped too :)

My Grandma and Grandpa Seymour came to visit and took us out to dinner too.

The trip got better and better as Macy started sleeping in later and later. Her naps got longer too. We had a great week and it's always hard to leave.

Aunt Stacie Comes to Visit

2011-05-18T20:41:00.000-04:00

Macy loved having her Aunt Stacie come and visit. Well, loved her after the first day. Macy can be shy went she first meets someone. Of course Stacie quickly won Macy over by dancing around with her, laughing with her, and teaching her how to spit water out of her mouth. I also loved having my sister here to visit. It was fun having someone to watch reruns of Project Runway with while Macy napped. Stacie is also a good running partner. I hope someday I'll be able to live closer to my sisters so I can see them more often.

Here's a recap of our week.

Day 1: Visited Georgetown, got free ice cream at Ben & Jerry's, walked along the canal, and played at Francis Scott Key Park.

Day 2: Went to Macy's music class, played at the park. Went running at Teddy Roosevelt island.

Day 3: Went to the National Zoo.

Day 4: Visited the Torpedo Factory (an active art gallery), walked around Old Town Alexandria. Went running from the Lincoln Memorial to the Capital, walked back past the White House.

The Old Torpedo Factory

Cool cobblestone street

This is where Macy had her 7 month portraits done.

Our best attempt at getting all three of us.

Day 5: Embassy Tour of the World. Totally awesome. We toured 13 embassies.

Indonesian Embassy

Tahiti

Korea

Japanese Ambassador

Eating food from Ghana- it was kinda weird.

I think this wooden swing was from Pakistan. Macy loved it and didn't want to leave.

Day 6: Sunday, so we went to Church. Stacie was nice enough to take Macy so we could teach our class. She snapped a few shots of Macy lounging.

Day 7: Went to Arlington Cemetery to find a headstone for Ja's aunt. It was actually kind of fun hunting for one tombstone out of the 1000's.

Macy heard the bell tower chime and went down to "pray."

Day 8: Visited the National Cathedral.

Action Shots of Macy

2011-05-11T21:30:00.001-04:00

I know, more Macy pictures. She is the center of my world so why shouldn't I post everything I can about her?

I tried getting some better quality pictures, like ones I could hang on the wall, but she is way to active for one person to handle. I need at least two more people to help distract her. I did manage to catch a few good pictures for the "Macy's Daily Activities" album.

We both love her so much and enjoy spending so much one on one time with her.

Typical "I'm-happy-and-see-something-that-I-want" face

Cute giggle face

Another cute laughing face

She loves to pick the berries off the bush.

And tries to eat them.

She still loves sticks.

And loves to put them on this little shelf.

Along with her pile of wood chips.

Mother's Day

2011-05-08T22:10:00.000-04:00

I wanted to take some pictures with Macy because 1) it's Mother's Day and 2) she was keeping her headband on. We didn't get any worth framing because I can't really smile with a scabbed lip. But we tried and got a few cute pictures.

See what I mean? Macy was disgusted!

She is such an angel!

Chapped Lips Are Not Good

2011-05-08T22:02:00.000-04:00

Like I mentioned in my previous post, I was without chap stick on my flight to Utah. Apparently my lips got really chapped because that night they were bright red like they had be sun burned. I was applying chap stick non-stop. Well, Saturday night a gigantic cold sore grew onto my top lip. I've had plenty of cold sores in my life but I don't think I've ever had one this big. My whole top lip was majorly swollen and covered in blisters. Of course I had to take pictures to document the nastiness.

Day One: There is puss oozing out of the blister. The day I had to meet a bunch of new people at church.

Day 2: We bought Abreva so I was hoping I'd wake up and it would be better but it was worse. I had to fly home this day. I sat in the last row of the plane and I was the last person on so I had to walk past everyone. Embarrassing.

This picture shoes how swollen it was.

Day 3: This was the day after taking the prescription my sister-in-law Heather was nice enough to write for me. A little less swollen.

Day 5: No more swelling, now just a scab.

Day 7: This is today. The scab is almost gone and I can almost smile. I'm starting to feel like I'll never have a normal lip again.

All I can say is I'm never going without chap stick again!

American Mothers, Inc.

2011-05-08T21:47:00.001-04:00

Macy and I flew to Utah on April 28th to be with Dorothy and so I could attend the National Mothers Convention. It was a great trip, but almost didn't happen.

We were supposed to fly on April 27th. We get to the airport and no one could find my reservation. Apparently it didn't get booked properly. After talking to the Delta representatives for an hour we came to the conclusion that we would take a flight the next day since it was getting late in the night. I was very hesitant to go because Macy had a runny nose and hadn't been feeling well. It almost came as a relief that I wouldn't have to travel with her. I decided to go to Utah and I was so glad I did. We had a layover on the flight over and it turned out great. Our layover was in Detroit so it was only an hour flight. Macy is pretty good for the first hour of flight so this worked out well. Our second half of the flight was even better. We sat in front of two little kids, one Macy's age and a four year old girl. They all entertained each other and had a great time. I couldn't have asked for anything better.

The only bad thing was I didn't have any chapstick and my lips got really chapped. I'll explain this more in another post. Oh, and I also forgot Macy's shoes in Virginia. People probably thought I was a terrible mom for letting my daughter walk around the dirty airport and airplane without shoes. My friend Chelsey was nice enough to go and buy us some shoes so Macy could walk in Utah.

As soon as we got to Utah we met up with Chelsey and her son Truman. Here the kiddies are sitting at the Gateway like old buddies. Getting both of them to look at the camera was just too much to ask. They are still cute though!

That night we drove up to "This is the place" Heritage Park for dinner. Macy and I missed out on the festivities because she was having so much fun walking around the front lawn. Unfortunately within the first few minutes of being there Macy tripped and scraped her forehead pretty good. She got over the pain in about 30 seconds.

Now the rest of the weekend was mostly spent Macy free. Since Dorothy used to live in Utah she knew some people to ask to babysit Macy so I could attend the conference. The babysitter, Hannah, came to the hotel (The Little America) and watched Macy in the morning, fed her lunch, put her down for a nap, took her to her house in Salt Lake, fed her dinner, and put her to bed. For two days in a row! It was so nice! Macy did great and slept like a champ. Hannah enjoyed Macy and said she missed her after she left.

I loved being at American Mother's convention and listening to all the great talks about being a mother and motherhood. Everyone is a mother there so we all know what it's like. It was also fun because any time I did have Macy they all loved her and thought she was so cute. It's refreshing to be with such a large group of women that all believe in the importance of being a mother and spending time with your children. So many people I talk so ask what I do and when I tell them I stay at home with Macy they say, "Oh." And that's the end of the conversation. My life may seem boring so them, but it's rewarding and harder than going to work!

Elaine Dalton, the General Young Women's President, was there because her daughter was the Utah Mother of the Year. I was able to get a picture with this "celebrity."

Chelsey was able to come on Saturday for the lunch and two workshops. John Bytheway spoke during lunch and was so funny! He is great with his love of The Andy Griffith Show and his Barney impersonation.

Matt Townsend spoke during a workshop. He is a "relationship and communication expert." All I know was that he was hilarious! Everyone in the room was laughing hysterically and crying. He had great stories, and I think we learned something too.

The next workshop we went to was Hilary Weeks. She is an LDS singer and sang some of her songs for us. She also explained how she came to wrote them. Her song "If I Only Had Today" had everyone in the room crying. It was really sweet and made me thing of Macy. Chelsey, Dorothy, and I got pictures with Hilary.

Sunday morning we were able to attend Music and The Spoken Word in the Tabernacle. I was able to sit in the fifth row and Dorothy took Macy in the observation room in the back of the Tabernacle. Dorothy said she was amazed at how still Macy was sitting when she realized she was asleep! Macy never would have fallen asleep for me! Granny Dot has the magic touch. Macy then slept through the whole broadcast so there was no interruptions by her :)

Walking around Temple Square

Sunday afternoon we went to church at Dorothy's old ward in Holladay. It was a little embarrassing because of my before mentioned lip problem, but it was fun to meet people. Macy and I were really tired and since I would have spent the next two hours in the halls we decided to take a nap in the car. It was the best.

We spent the rest of Sunday taking our time, eating dinner, and visiting.

We flew out Monday morning. This time we had a non-stop back to Virginia but it was only 3 hours 23 minutes. Much more doable than the 5 hour plan ride to California. Macy did pretty well and we made some friends who even moved their seats so they could sit by us (despite the scariness of my lip). Macy had only minimal crying. We had a great flight and a great weekend!

Look What's Cooking Today

2011-04-24T20:45:00.000-04:00

It's been awhile since I've posted about a blog my friends and I started with recipes we've tried that we love. You should check it out if you're in a rut. It's called "Look What's Cooking Today."

Here are a few of the latest recipes I've posted lately:

lookwhatscookingtoday.blogspot.com

Count Your Blessings

2011-04-24T15:23:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was such a perfect day! As I was reminiscing about it the hymn "Count Your Blessings" came into my mind. I'm going to count them so I can see what God hath done. It was one of those days when you think to yourself, "I love living here. It's so great." We also kept waiting for something bad to happen, but thank goodness it didn't.

1. We went to an egg hunt at Holly and Greg's. Macy had a great time and knew exactly what to do when she saw those eggs. It's a good thing her little basket only holds about 5 eggs because she would have picked all the eggs within her reach. She was pretty easily distracted though when she realized the eggs had candy in them.

2. Jonathan helped me clean the house by scrubbing the bathrooms and spent a lot of time scrubbing the shower. I hate cleaning bathrooms so this was a huge help.

3. Macy took a 3 hour nap. We aren't sure if she slept that whole time but at least she was in her crib for 3 hours. I was able to get so much done!

4. The weather was absolutely perfect so we decided to go on a family bike ride. Jonathan pulled Macy in the trailer this time and Macy loved it. She was talking and having a great time. We realized she doesn't like being strapped in completely, so we did the strap across her lap and she was so happy. She didn't try to climb out either which was nice.

5. Jonathan took Macy out to the tot lot outside our building while I made dinner. Cooking dinner is actually enjoyable when you don't have a toddler screaming and pulling on your leg. They had such a great time. Macy just started going down the slide by herself. Here's a video of it.

6. We went to Heather and Trevor's to retrieve a lost sippy cup (and we got yummy dessert too) and when Addie saw Macy's pajama's she had to put her matching pajama's on. They then played ring around the rosy. So cute!

7. Macy when right to sleep at night without any fight. She does this most nights but it's always nice.

8. And today she slept until 9 a.m.! We are so lucky!

9. She looks so cute in her Easter dress Grandma Seymour gave her.

I Love OxiClean!

2011-04-23T18:49:00.000-04:00

I pulled out a brand new shirt (as in I've never worn it) from the dryer and there were weird blue marks all over it! It looked like it could be ink, but nothing else in that load had any marks. I decided to soak the shirt in an OxiClean solution for a few hours to hopefully save my shirt. Since it was already ruined it couldn't get any worse. Mind you, it had already been through the dryer, but the stains came out! I'm so excited! I now have a solution to all my stained clothes. And Macy's too. I wish I figured this out about OxiClean in the beginning of her life.

I've put some in the wash and nothing happened, but it really works when you soak the clothes. It's a great buy.

My First Weekend Away

2011-04-17T16:43:00.040-04:00

I was lucky enough to fly to California without Macy for a weekend. Boy, is traveling without a child so different! I forgot how relaxing life can be.

The happy couple

The purpose of my trip was to witness the sealing of my Grandpa and Grandma Seymour in the Los Angeles Temple. I would have flown around the world to see that if I had to. It was amazing to witness and to see all the friends and family members who were there to support my grandparents. It was also very amazing to see my dad get sealed to his parents. I've never live families be sealed before and to have my first one be my grandparents and dad was pretty special. When I was a child and I learned that I wouldn't be able to live with Grandpa and Grandma forever because I wasn't sealed to them I was really sad. I loved my grandparents and always wanted to be with them. I'm so happy they are now sealed to me forever. My parents, my siblings, and my children are also sealed to them too. Isn't that wonderful?

I actually got to be part of the sealings because I was the proxy for my Aunt Karen who has passed away. Now not only had I seen a live sealing, I got to be part of one too. It was an amazing experience. I don't know how else to describe it. There was not a dry eye in that sealing room. I was so happy that I could help my Aunt Karen be sealed to her parents for eternity.

On the way to the temple that day I had prayed to myself asking Heavenly Father to show me that Aunt Karen would be there at the sealing and I would know of her joy. As I was sitting in the sealing room waiting for Grandma and Grandpa to come in I felt this overwhelming warmth. It was definitely a burning in my bosom. I have never felt the Spirit so strongly as I had in that room. I knew instantly that Aunt Karen was telling me she was watching from above and that she was so happy to be sealed to her parents. I cried because I knew I had received an answer to my prayer and that Aunt Karen was there.

Another special part of the day was my cousin Bryce went through the temple for the first time because he is going on a mission to Alabama. Him and his brother Evan got to be witnesses while their mom was being sealed to Grandma and Grandpa.

That night Uncle Eric (Karen's husband) hosted a party at his house for Grandma and Grandpa so their friends could celebrate with them on this joyous day.

It was such an spiritually uplifting experience and I was so glad I could be there. I would not have missed it!

More Cherry Blossoms

2011-04-12T23:13:00.000-04:00

I forgot to blog about my trip downtown with Macy to see the Cherry Blossoms. We went April 4th on the most beautiful day. It was warm, sunny, slight breeze with a few clouds. I couldn't have asked for anything better. We took the metro because it would have been impossible to find parking downtown.

Here are some of my favorite pictures. It's almost impossible to get a picture of Macy that is in focus and a good shot of her since she is always moving. We had a great time!

Picking up sticks of course.

More bars in more places

She's a happy girl.

Trying to reach the branches

Her "Wooo" face.

She saw another kid climbing in the tree so naturally se wanted to.

She could have spent the whole day walking under these chains.

Best Purchase of the Year

2011-04-09T22:51:00.000-04:00

I've been waiting almost 4 years: I finally got a bike! It's blue, and it has pedals and gears. That's about all I know about it. But I love it! I had purchased a bike trailer for Macy at the consignment sale so I figured I needed a bike to pull her. We already went on a ride this afternoon and Macy liked it until the end when she was getting cold. I'm so excited we can become a biking family now!

Best Kept Secret in D.C.

2011-04-09T22:47:00.001-04:00

Kenwood Neighborhood in Bethesda. The whole neighborhood is lined with pink cherry blossom trees. It's amazing and beautiful. It looked like it was snowing pink. The trees cover the streets and provide a pretty pink canopy. Now these pictures are terrible because I didn't get out of the car but I think it gives a good idea. Thanks Janae for sharing!

Macy's March

2011-04-09T22:39:00.000-04:00

I realized I wasn't very good about posting anything during the month of March. Here are some photo updates for those people who want to read a post full my crazy little bundle of joy.

Jonathan received a "music" card for his birthday. Macy enjoyed it so much we listened to it non-stop the next day.

Macy loves to accessorize. She picked these out herself if you can't tell. Its her one pink glove (we lost the other) and a belt from one of my jackets. She had it on like a scarf.

Apparently it was "Don't Brush Your Hair Day."

Lily came over and Macy insisted that she sit on Lily's lap.

Then Macy wanted Lily to sit on her lap. It looks like Lily didn't mind the attention. Aren't they cute?

Macy also loves bags and carrying things. Here she can do both and she's in heaven.

More accessorizing. She loves scarves.

Mommy and Me trip to California

2011-04-02T22:58:00.000-04:00

My dad had surgery on his shoulder so he is at home recuperating. My parents hadn't seen Macy in a few months so I thought it would be perfect timing so visit while my dad needed company. Jonathan stayed home because, well, someone has to make the money. Macy and I had a fun Mom and daughter trip.

My flight to California was delayed for an hour. Macy had no clue anything was wrong. She had fun climbing on the airport seats, playing hide and go seek with someone, and getting her dirty little fingerprints all over the large windows.

Once we boarded I was pleasantly surprised that no one else was sitting in our row. Having three seats to play on would seem like enough, but it's not for Macy. She is only happy when walking up and down the aisles and in the back with the flight attendants. Thank goodness I had the nicest flight attendant ever in the back with us. She became such good pals with Macy; at one point Macy wanted the lady to hold her bag of food. Then Macy wanted her to take the food out of the bag and put it into Macy's mouth. She was so nice and let us play in the back of the plane with her. This made the whole flight so much easier. Macy only cried while the "fasten your safety belt" sign was on.

(On a funny side note, here is a picture of my stroller tag. I even spelled out my last name for her.)

We were very tired once we landed since it was 12:30 a.m. for us. Of course, Macy did not sleep a wink on the plane. We went right to sleep (Macy was asleep within 3 seconds of being in the car).

We had a great time at my parents. I learned:

Macy asleep after a walk. The street sweeper drove by and she didn't budge!

Macy takes a little while to warm up to new people that come into my parents house. Especially men with beards. My Uncle Mike just looked at her and she cried. Uncle Mike wasn't too offended- he said I did the same thing when I was a baby. If we were at someone else's house she was totally fine with new people.
Macy loves playing with doggie water dishes and doesn't hesitate to lick her fingers after they've been in in the bowl.
Macy is still afraid of my parents super old dog Pepper. It took Macy almost a week to get enough courage to touch the dog who hardly even moves. It was so funny to watch Macy try to slowly side step to a toy that was by Pepper.

Macy playing with wood chips and flowers with Grandpa. Yes she's in pajamas, it was bedtime but I let her have one more play outside.

Macy LOVES to be outside. I sort of knew this before, but we were able to be outside everyday whereas in Virginia we can't because it's still a little cold. Now I'm glad we don't have direct access to outside. Macy was always begging to go outside by scratching the front door because she knew in just one step she could be playing with wood chips and tearing apart my moms flowers.
Macy loves to put little rocks into a bucket. My dad came up with this game while he was playing outside with Macy. She would grab rocks put a few in a bucket, take them out, put them back in again.
Macy loves to wear things around her neck. She found this red ribbon and loved to wear it like a scarf. She also liked to put it on other's heads and necks. She found a keychain lanyard she liked to wear around too.
Macy loves to take records out of the cases and step on them.
My parents neighbor has an enormous dog that Macy could easily ride. Call it werid, but I had to take a picture of the thing.
Macy likes being a spectator at Jill's soccer game but she loved being a concession worker even more.

She's not the type to sit around and do nothing.

She was selling water to the fans.

Macy now likes to hold your finger when you walk with her. It's so sweet.

Macy and Aunt Jill out shopping

She can sit still and smile for a picture.

Macy with Papa

Macy loves to take food cans out of Granny Dot's pantry and would do it all night if you let her.

Unfortunately she discovered this as we were trying to leave.

Macy likes to put the doll's binkie in its mouth.

Jill has a great friend (Will) who dressed up as Mario for a school dance. He doesn't even go to Jill's school. They were Mario and Princess Peach.

Macy loves waterfalls and fountains and will try her hardest to climb into them. We went to Irvine Regional Park and inside there is a little zoo. The waterfall was the first thing you saw and we almost didn't get past it because Macy loved it so much.
Macy loves feeding the goats. Well, she likes watching me feed the goats. I put my quarter into the machine, got the food, fed the goats. Macy runs over to the food machine and points to it with her little grunts. I did it one more time then luckily something else distracted her.

This goat was really hungry.

Macy is afraid of Pepper, but she's not afraid of goats. We went inside the goat pen to pet them and she walked in like there weren't 20 goats roaming around her. I think she liked the fact there were little brushes for her to brush the goats. She knows everyone has to look their best.
Macy likes to dance in circles now. Every time she heard music she would spin once or twice then smile and clap for herself. I could watch it all day long.
Macy has a lot of family members who love her so much.

Tickle fight with Great-Grandpa Seymour

She still likes Great-Grandpa Seymour's wooden blocks and now loves to sit in the block wagon while eating the blocks.

Wood must taste good.

Macy now has her first molar! That took a while and lots of tylenol.
Jill gets squimish when she sees my dad's shoulder.

Rotator cuff surgery

Macy does not like flights were we have to get up at 5:30 a.m. and have to sit in a middle seat. (More on this story in the next post)

Picture taken while on the longest airplane ride ever!

Eating lunch. She gets thirsty.

Eating at the park

Eating frozen yogurt with Aunt Jill. Notice a pattern?

Our Worst Flight Yet- Crying, Crying, and more Crying

2011-04-02T22:17:00.000-04:00

And Macy wasn't the only one who cried.

Our day started off at 5:30 a.m., and a tired baby doesn't help any situation. We were on United which had little planes with very little leg room and very little aisle space. We also had a layover in San Francisco. Strike Three.

A few minutes before we were supposed to board an announcement comes on saying the pilots were on their way. They weren't even at the airport yet! Somehow we still took off on time, but still. There was turbulence soon after take-off in Orange County so Macy had to sit in her seat for longer than normal. She was not happy at all and screamed on the top of her lungs. Both her and I were excited when the seat belt light got turned off so I set her down in the aisle so she could walk around. She has does this on every flight since she could stand. I never let her wander too far without me close. Now I've never had this happen before:

The flight attendant came up to me and said, "She cannot walk around, she has to sit on a seat."

I then said, "But she'll scream the whole time."

"I don't care, she has to sit down."

After this little conversation I went to the bathroom and cried and it wasn't the only time I cried that day.

Luckily we made it to San Francisco and we made our connecting flight. When I originally booked this flight I didn't have to change planes. That was the reason I chose this flight over others. I was pretty upset when I had to change planes. So, Macy and I get onto another United plane with tiny seats and very little legroom only to find I have a window seat! I NEVER would have signed up for a window seat!

I asked the lady who was in the aisle seat if I could change seats with her. I was so happy when she obliged. It turns out she then changed seats with another man in another row so she could sit with her boyfriend. So far it's a man in the window seat and me in the aisle. Well, it turns out she didn't really speak English and she didn't have the aisle seat, she had the middle seat. So when the man comes who has the aisle seat I'm made to sit in the middle. It's a man, me, and another man. Great, this is going to be long flight.

I'll make the rest short. Macy screamed and wiggled and threw things and screamed pretty much the whole flight. I honestly didn't think I would ever make it home. I cried some more and prayed and prayed that Macy would sleep. I knew this was highly unlikely as she hasn't slept on a plane since she was 3 months old. Just as I was praying one final time I looked down at Macy and her eyes were closing. I was so excited! I gave a prayer of thanks. We only had an hour until we landed and I was hoping she would sleep the remainder of the time. However, it wasn't all sweet. I was sitting in an uncomfortable position and my back was really hurting while I was holding sleeping Macy. I was too afraid to move because I didn't want to wake Macy.

She was so tired! I tried to entertain her my taking pictures.

My happiness was short lived because she only slept for 30 minutes. She screamed and wiggled the rest of the flight.

The only funny part of this whole day was when I let Macy play with the diaper wipes. I had gone through all the food and toys I had and she wanted nothing to do with them. She likes taking wipes out of the container so I let her. All, 90 of them. The people siting across the aisle from us thought it was pretty funny to watch and I did too. I may have even laughed. This happiness was also short lived because then she screamed again when they were all out.

We finally landed then had to taxi for a few minutes because another plane was at our gate. Come on! I just wanted out of this terrible plane! It felt like I was in that plane for 3 days.

As we were getting off the plane people were telling me that Macy was a good baby. The man sitting next to me said he had twin boys and after one flight with them as babies people gave him and his wife a standing ovation when they left the plane. He said Macy wasn't that bad. Where were all the encouraging words during the longest flight of my life?!

I was able to capture her one happy moment.

Then (no, the story isn't over yet), I get on the wrong train at the airport so I have to turn around and get back on to go towards baggage claim. I finally make it there and wait for my suitcase. And wait, and wait. It doesn't come. I couldn't believe it! I just had the worst flight and now my suitcase, and more importantly, Macy's carseat, wasn't there! I was moving from frustrated to angry!

Turns out carseats come out at a special place so that was at the airport. Hallelujah! I was worried that Jonathan would have to turn back around and to borrow someone's carseat while Macy and I waited yet again for another hour.

I talked to the baggage lady and my suitcase was put on a different flight. Fortunately that flight was also going to Dulles. United would deliver my suitcase to me the next morning. The didn't offer to compensate or do anything for me. They are the ones who put my bag on the wrong plane! Can you believe these people?!

I totally broke down and cried as I was retelling the story for Jonathan. I don't think I had ever been happier to see him.

We finally made it home and slept very well that night. Before I went to bed I vowed I would NEVER fly United again. There were tiny planes, no leg room, incredibly rude flight attendants, no free food on a 5 hour flight, and losing my suitcase. Needless to say, I hate United.

Our Sweet Teeth

2011-03-09T20:17:00.000-05:00

I have had a real sweet tooth lately. After every meal I eat I want something sweet. Luckily chewing gum sort of fills my craving. I was very excited tonight when Jonathan said, "I've had a sweet tooth lately. I want something sweet." I knew just the thing to make that always satisfies my sweet tooth. Or satisfies anything really. If you make these you should eat some of the dough. I won't be surprised if it never turns into cookies. The only bad thing about these cookies is they never last long enough.

Chocolate Chip Cookies (from the Food Nanny)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, beat until light and fluffy:

1 cup softened butter

1 cup sugar

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

Add and beat for about 1 minute:

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

Slowly add to the butter mixture:

3 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

Stir in:

1 cup chocolate chips

Drop tablespoons of dough onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 8 to 10 minutes. Cool on a cooling rack. Makes 5 dozen.

Another Breakfast Option

2011-03-08T20:26:00.000-05:00

We love english muffins for breakfast but I hate buying them because they are expensive and they don't have coupons. So I usually don't buy them because they aren't a necessity like milk. Luckily for us, and you, there is a great recipe to make your own english muffins. They are so good! I could eat the whole batch in one day. Try them!

1 3/4 cups milk, warm
2 TBS sugar
2 tsp instant yeast
3 TBS butter, softened
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
4 to 4 1/4 cup flour, all-purpose or whole wheat
1 tsp baking powder

Combine the warm milk, sugar, and yeast. Cover with a towel and let proof for 5 minutes. In a electric mixer with the dough attachment add remaining ingredients and mix throughly for about 5 minutes. Do not add more flour, the dough will be sticky. When mixed scrape dough from the bowl one a lightly floured counter top. Fold dough over a few times until it forms a smooth ball. Place in a greased bowl and allow to rise in a warm place for about 1 hour.

Punch down dough and lay out on a surface sprinkled with corn meal. Roll out to desired thickness. (The muffins rise a little so roll them about 1/4" thinner than what you would like the finished product to be.) Cut out circles with a 3" cutter. Re-roll and cut out the leftover dough. Cover the muffins with a damp cloth and let rest for 20 minutes.

Heat frying pan to low-med heat. Sprinkle pan with cornmeal. Cover pan and cook muffins for 6-7 minutes on each side.

Cool on a cooling rack. Store muffins in fridge or freezer.

My New Lifestyle

2011-02-24T09:43:00.000-05:00

Wake up earlier?! What?! Now way!

For the first year of Macy's life I did not get up for the day before 8 a.m. Call me lazy, but why would I? My baby was asleep so I took advantage and slept too. I don't even mind revealing that sometimes I wouldn't get up until 9, 10, 10:30. All you moms know that getting up with your baby a few times a night is exhausting so I took advantage of my sleeping baby and slept as long as I wanted. It's not like I couldn't wake up earlier. I've done it plenty of times during high school (I never missed a day of seminary, yes all four years), college (this was much harder but I mostly woke up on time :)), and work. Things are so much harder when they aren't a necessity.

When Macy was about five months old I started working from home. I worked 2, 3 or sometimes 4 hours a day. It was great because I worked while Macy took her naps which at that point she was taking two 2-hour naps a day. This let me live my lifestyle of waking up when Macy woke up in the morning. We would hang out at home then a couple hours later she was down for a nap. That is when I would shower and then I would start working. It was great- I was able to get a lot of work done without getting up early. A win, win if you ask me.

However, once Macy hit one year I was starting to feel a little burned out. Luckily in my favor work was slowing down so I didn't have to rush in the shower and immediately start working. I finally started exercising regularly during Macy's first nap, then showered, and she even let me get a little work in before waking up. The days I didn't exercise I allowed myself to do things I wanted to do like, blog, crafts, and watch TV (gasp!). This allowed me to still get my two hours of work in during her afternoon nap. Like all my exercise attempts this one lasted for about two weeks. Except this time it wasn't my fault- Macy decided she only wanted one nap. This meant I had to change my lifestyle. If I wanted to get out of the house before 3 p.m. things were going to have to change.

I knew the solution was getting up before Macy in the morning. But this meant I had to wake up with an alarm- something I hadn't done on a regular basis for over a year. I really don't like alarms. I feel so much better when I can naturally wake up when I'm ready. However, I knew things really needed to change. As fate would have it one article on a blog I subscribe to was about having an organized home. The number one thing the author said has helped her have an organized home is to wake up before her kids. I already knew this is what I needed but it was helpful to have someone else say the same thing and that it's helped her immensely.

I would like to say the very next day I woke up with an alarm at 8 a.m. (Macy was sleeping in until 8:30 so I figured it would allow me to at least get in the shower.) Unfortunately it took me a few days to consistently get up early. Now I've been doing it for a few weeks and I don't need an alarm anymore. I can wake up on my own (or I don't go back to sleep when Jonathan wakes me up in the morning) and get up and get things accomplished. Because Macy is the best baby ever she has been waking up around 9 or 9:30 lately. This means I can slowly get up at 8, check emails, or watch a little of the Today Show before taking a shower. Today I was able to shower, take my time getting ready, watch the Today Show and write this whole post. It's now 9:33 and Macy is happily talking to herself in her crib. I have the cutest baby in the whole world. She knows it was hard for me to wake up early so she decided to sleep in a little for me to I can gradually get accustomed to waking up early and getting things done before 10 a.m.

Even though it was hard, I'm really glad I started waking up before Macy. It has allowed me to get things done in the morning without little hands grabbing at my legs. It also means that we can do things in the morning because I have already showered. Macy is only down for one nap but I feel I get more accomplished during the day and I feel happier too. I'm not burned out from work anymore because I can work during her nap then have time to do something for me. (More proof Macy is the best baby: her naps have been going on 2 1/2- 3 hours lately, knock on wood.) So, if anyone is still reading this (it's long I know) I want you to know that waking up before your kids is a great way to feel more organized and put together during the day. It's been a wonderful thing for me and I'm so glad I've been doing it.

New Macy Movie!

2011-02-19T12:47:00.000-05:00

I made two new movies:

1. Macy in the Fast Lane

2. Macy's 1st Birthday

Check them out!