Christmas Movies

As we are in full swing Christmas mode, I am really enjoying all the Christmas movies playing on TV. It really helps get me in the holiday mood and stay in it through out the month of December. (Especially thanks to ABC Family's The 25 Days of Christmas.)

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE Christmas!!! And watching all the heart-warming, love your neighbor, help the less fortunate, embrace the crazy family plots just add to the season for me.

Below are my top 10 favorite movies of the season. What's your top 10?

10. How The Grinch Stole Christmas
9. A Christmas Story
8. The Santa Clause
7. The Santa Clause 2: The Mrs. Clause
6. While You Were Sleeping
5. Four Christmases
4. The Holiday
3. Elf
2. Love Actually
1. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

Try watching one to help lift your Christmas spirit!! Happy Christmas!!

It's The Little Things

Have you ever heard the expression "It's the little things?"

It can be used in reference to anything from relationships, work, life expereinces. For me, it really applies to anything and everything. It's the little things that can really get to me and stress me out or the little things that lift me up and put me in a good mood. And sometimes the little things that stress me out can also make me laugh.

With that said, as many of you know, I am still nursing my beautiful daughter. She will be 10 months old this week, so my body has not been my own for almost 10 months now. Breastfeeding is something that I truely want to do and would not give it up voluntarily. However, it can get old every now and then. I am doing this and working a full time job as well....which means I am pumping too. Each day, when all is said and done, I am nursing or pumping 6 times a day.

Last week, I was working in a different building than I'm usually in and had arranged for an area I could use to "do my thing." (That's what I say when I have to pump because most of the men I work with, get wierded out if I say I'm going to pump.) This area has a motion sensored light that turns on as soon as the door is opened and connected to a timer. Now, I've been doing this for sometime now, so I have a pretty good routine to get "hooked up"....for lack of a better phrase. So I'm sitting there "doing my thing" and about 10 minutes in I am sobmerged in pitch black. The timer has shut the light off since nothing had triggered the sensor in 10 minutes. Keep in mind I am still "hooked up" and the only source of light is my cell phone which isn't exactly a flashlight. I know the sensor isn't far away so I reach over the chair and start swinging my arm...no luck. I try stretching and straining...nothing. Frustrated, I use one hand to make sure I "stay connected" and the other to pick up the actual pump. I stand up and carefully walk a few steps and luckily trigger the light. As I sit back down I thought about how ridiculous I probably looked and I just had to laugh. At that moment my frustration subsided and my mood lifted. I'm laughing now just thinking about it. It was a tiny, little part of my day that would normally have come and gone without notice, but for me.... it's the little things that matter.

Fun, Family, Friends & FOREVER Since I've Blogged

Oh Blog...how I've ignored you!

I can't even believe how long it has been since I've blogged. Time goes by so fast. While the daily chaos and work take up time and energy, we've actually been pretty busy having some fun too!!!

A few weekends ago we made the drive up to my sister's house for Halloween and Alden's birthday. It was so cute to see all the kids dressed up and ready for candy and Alden ready to dig into cake and gifts.

Our little pumpkin!!!

Hermione Granger and Superman were great protectors of little Miss Ladybug as we went trick or treating! Especially when Superman would grab Hermione's wand and cast spells as well.

"Minomus!!!"

Emma Kate looked JUST like Hermione!!! I was so proud. As a HUGE fan of Harry Potter myself, I was so excited to see my niece and nephew so into it as well. We tried to find a Hedwig costume for Mackenzie, but no luck. However, she was a very cute little ladybug if I do say so myself. :) With everyone together for one weekend, we usually enjoy the company and embrace the chaos, as we are "our own freak show," but I thought the weekend was very relaxing. We just went with the flow with no agenda other to have a little birthday party for Alden and hit a few neighborhoods for trick or treating. If only my sisters would just move to Columbus. Ahhh...to dream!

The next weekend Chris and I went on a real, live, grown-up date!! For anyone with children, you know how exciting it can be. We realized we had not been out by ourselves for dinner since March!!! Wow! Now don't get me wrong...we've been able to get out of the house and hang out with friends, we just hadn't been out, just the two of us since our anniversary.

We had the best time!!! We looked at clothes for Mackenzie at Carter's, had a FANTASTIC dinner at Olive Garden and sipped Starbucks in Barnes and Noble for a few minutes. It was so nice!! We actually got to eat dinner at the same time. Normally we do the whole "you-eat-while-I-hold-her-and-then-we'll-switch" routine. We decided we cannot go another 7-ish months without taking time for just us. (We're already thinking about when we can go next.)

Then, just this passed weekend we enjoyed an impromptu cookout with friends on Saturday night. Mackenzie came with us and stole the show. Everyone went on about how cute she was and how well behaved she was! Yay! She really did do wonderfully!! It was great to just chat and catch up with everyone. We even had a surprise visit from our friend from New York who was in town. We really must get together more often to just chill.

All in all, a great few weeks! I'm looking forward to a few more great weeks in future as well. Thanksgiving with my grandparents, decorating the Christmas tree and maybe a trip to visit Santa Claus.

Milestones for Mackenzie

Well, I know it's been forever since I've blogged, but a lot has been going on. If you are still checking my blog, I promise you'll hear from me more now that things are starting to level out a bit.

Since today Mackenzie is 9 months old, I thought I would dedicate this entry to her and some of her milestones. She is growing by leaps and bounds, and keeping Chris and I extremely busy in the process. Today I was think about how fast time has gone by...it seems like yesterday I was still on maternity leave. I thought about how much she has changed and developed in the past few months and that got me thinking about how much she will change in the next 3 months, before she turns 1. (I can't believe she is 3 months away from being 1 year old!) It's sad and exciting all at the same time.

As you can see here, she is LOVING the addition of solid (mostly organic) foods to her diet! (Still on the prowl for organic myths and facts.)

She's started on solids when she was 6 months old. First was the baby rice cereal and now she is eating just about anything we give her. She really enjoys fruit and her new favorite is applesauce and strawberries. For veggies, she is all about the peas and carrots, just like her daddy. Recently we added the meat flavored baby food. That was a bit of an adjustment for her, but she's really getting into it now. Most of it ends up in her mouth, but I think she likes to make us work to feed her. Every now and then, she'll sit in her highchair wiggling her head back and forth like Stevie Wonder with her mouth open and squeeling and looking at us like we're the ones with the problem. It's actually pretty funny! :)

While she took to solid food pretty quick, the ExerSaucer has been an acquired taste for Mackenzie.

We felt certain she would really love this toy so we just kept trying to put her in it to see what would happen. At first she was only digging it for 5 minutes and she would scream if we left her in the room by herself for few seconds. Now?!?!?! She is already kicking her legs as we lean down to put her in it. When she really gets going, her fluffy, troll-like hair starts flying up and down and she jumps. I'll have to try and get a video of it to share.

Here you can see that she is sitting up all by herself. Even though she's been doing it for a while, it's still amazing and exciting for me.

She's reaching, leaning, grabbing and pulling anything near her straight to her mouth, which has been really fun. She just seems so independent now. She's not crawling yet, and for a while I was convinced she never would since she hates being on her tummy so much. Yet, after months of trying to give her "tummy time" she has finally warmed up to the idea. She'll lay on her back and roll over and over to move across the floor, sometimes stopping on her tummy to look around or try to reach for a toy or one of Darwin's bones.

It's totally amazing to me to see her learn and grow!! It is so much fun!! When I think about it, I realize that within the next 3 months she'll probably be crawling and maybe even walking. She'll learn to pull herself up and really do some damage then. I foresee a major baby proofing of my house in my near future. I'm trying to do my best to embrace and enjoy every moment because I know it goees so fast.

I'm so lucky to be blessed with a beautiful, happy, healthy, sweet little angel!! And I get to raise her with my HOT, wonderful, loving, helpful husband!!

A Weight Lifted

Welcome to Fall friends and family!! My absolute favorite season is finally poking its head out. I was happy all day on Wednesday after walking out of my house to a cool, crisp morning. Aside from the change in weather, I can tell Summer is on the way out because my calendar isn't quite as full.

As busy as we have been, we have had a ton of fun!! Between weekends with the family, visiting with friends, weddings, the high school reunion and all the other many gatherings we have created some great memories. However, through out all of it, I have had a small worry in the back of my mind. Several blogs ago I mentioned that Mackenzie's pediatrician said he wanted her to put on some weight. After an agonizing month, we hoped that she was gaining enough weight to alleviated any concern the doctor had. Although we had no idea what that was. We didn't know if he just wanted to see that she had gained something or if he was looking for her to gain a certain amount. Finally we had her appointment this week. She has put on 1lb. 3oz. and the doctor is thrilled!! (Whew!!) It seems Mackenzie may just be a bit smaller than the average baby. And it turns out that Chris was a skinny little thing until he was about 9 -10 years old, so it's probably just genetic.

Talk about relief!!! I thought my heart was going to pound right out of my chest when the doctor walked into the room. I know it may seem trivial to what some other parents handle, so I tried to relax and just remembered how lucky I am to have such an AMAZING and BEAUTIFUL family!!!

A Ton of "Firsts"

Hello Bloggers!!! Long time, no talk. Although my life has been pretty low key for a while, recently there have been a ton of "firsts" for Mackenzie.

The first "first" was this weekend when she went to ther first wedding. The brother of a friend of mine got married this weekend and Mackenzie blew everyone away!! She was passed around while we took pictures. Everyone commented on how cute she was and how well behaved she is!! We couldn't help but enjoy being the proud parents! (Pictures to follow later.)

The second "first" is that Mackenzie had her first sleepover WITHOUT me! She was totally fine. Me?........I was a little nervous, but I made it through ok. After the wedding we were planning to just go home, put Mackenzie to sleep and watch a movie. However, we knew a bunch of our friends would be hanging out afterward (and we would love to join them). Luckily, Mimi and Papa asked if we needed a sitter. We thought it wouldn't be bad if we just took her to their house to put her to sleep and then we could pick her up later. Well, when we were deciding what to do after the weeding, no one was really up for a bar and our house was the next best option. We love having our friends over, so we asked my parents if we could just leave her there for the night. It was kind of last minute, but they were up for it and we were very grateful!! (I barely slept 6 hours...next time I need to be better mentally prepared.)

The last "first" is that after almost 5 months of Mackenzie drooling constantly, she actually has a tooth coming through!! It's on the bottom front and coming in beautifully. I've tried getting a picture, but she keeps sticking her tongue out when I try to pull her bottom lip down. She is too cute!!!

She is growing up so fast!! It's kind of sad and exciting all at the same time! As soon as I get a picture of the tooth I'll be sure to share it with everyone.

A Day Worth Remembering

On this anniversary day of September 11th in a year of economic struggle, I find myself at a loss and look to the words of Paul Sweeney.

How often we fail to realize our good fortune in living in a country where happiness is more than a lack of tragedy. ~Paul Sweeney

September 11th, 2009 - A Day Worth Remembering