2 Years

Gary and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary this past Monday. We have decided trying a new restaurant each year and this time Gary suggested Cucina Toscana. Um, DELICIOUS! Pricey but worth it. The best part of the meal in my opinion was the THICK, Belgium chocolate hot chocolate. It was to DIE for! Yep, that's right. I would go back just for the tiny cup of hot chocolate we got.

Our awesome dessert on chocolate chip gelato

Our waiter making our Caesar salad dressing on the spot. It had anchovies in it (I was very nervous about that!) but it was actually pretty good. I loved how he put the salad on a plate covered with freshly grated Parmesan cheese

The BEST thing that happened to us in this last year!

Such a happy boy

We also built this house this last year. It was a great year and can't wait to see what year 3 brings!

I love you babe! Thanks for the wonderful year! Here's to many, MANY more!!!

6 Months Old and Milestones

McKay turned 6 months old January 6th. Where has the time gone and where did our "little" boy go? Stats from his appointment are: Weight 19.10 lbs. (85%), Height 28 in. (95%), Head circumference 17 1/4 cm. (50%). Our pediatrician informed us that we needed to get a bigger car seat seeing that McKay's legs hang out of the one we have. At 6 months? REALLY??? He is wearing 12 month clothes. We have a chunker on our hands but we have always known that. I just claim that we are breading him to be some kind of sports player (football, basketball, soccer...?) at BYU. No really, up until January 1st, all he ever had was breast milk. What the heck? Starting January 1st he had his first taste of rice cereal. He wasn't sure about it at first but now I can't feed it to him fast enough. McKay also broke his first tooth January 6th! A few days later, a second tooth came through. We never would have known if we weren't feeling for them because he hasn't been fussy at all. Seriously, he is such a good baby.

This little chunker's legs are too fat for his Bumbo anymore. We finally broke down and bought him a highchair.

Right before he had his first taste of cereal

6 months old today (Jan. 6th!) He loves to smile and is such a happy baby!

Taking a bath in the kitchen sink. He is fascinated with water and where it is coming from

McKay sits in daddy's sink and "plays" and "eats" everything in site while momma is getting ready next to him. He loves to suck on the faucet head and has learned lately how to turn on the water...by accident I'm sure. But he has gotten wet more than once when I have turned my back for 2 seconds

He has finally realized that is HIM looking back in the mirror. He giggles at himself when his sees his reflection in anything. And look at that hair! He has 2 callouses in the back that turn opposite ways. So it is hard to do much with his hair and this is how it turns out often...combed down in front and spikey in the back.

My new highchair!

Eating my rice cereal and loving it! Momma decided the shoulder straps were a bit much and were one more thing to get messy with food. And yes there is usually always a bib on him but all 3 we owned were in the wash that time

On January 17th, McKay had his first wheat teething biscuit. He only had to examine it for one second before he devoured it. I had to turn off the video camera twice to fish out chunks of biscuit that he was choking on. He was too excited about it and wanted the whole thing in his mouth at once.

"I have cracker all over my mouth but it sure was good!" Gary is kind of a neat freak. He doesn't love his son being so messy. I think it gives him some anxiety when McKay reaches with messy hands and touches things. He came home today and saw cracker all over the floor and asked right away how we were going to clean it up. It's kind of humorous.

McKay continues to put everything in his mouth. He loves taking his daily iron supplements and loves, loves, LOVES Tylenol or Motrin. He gets excited when he sees a dropper, silly boy. He is finally on a decent sleep schedule. In bed at 7:30pm, wakes up once during the night (although the last few nights he has slept through the night...is this for good...???) and then up at 8:00am. He takes 2 naps a day and is good about laying down awake and falling asleep on his own. He still loves to be held and cuddled at night though when it is first time for bed.

When McKay gets really excited (which is most of the time), he starts kicking his legs, his whole body tenses up, his wrists start turning in cirlces and his toes curl. He gets the biggest smile on his face and sucks in his breath. It's so funny to watch. He babbles a lot and started saying "dadadadada." Gary is certain he is saying "Dada." Keep dreaming hun! He claps his chubby little hands together now and we have taught him Pat-a-Cake.

Ever since McKay was a newborn...literally....I would sing the Cougar fight song to him. Multiple times a day. Now I still sing it to him...not daily...but often enough. He loves the "rah rah rah rah rah (x3)..GO COUGARS!" and as I do that, I'm doing the fist pumping, rolling of the hands and final air pump with him! He just grins away the whole time. Well, as I feed him at night, I sing Primary songs to him. He loves his head to be rubbed in the process (something else I started when he was a newborn) falls asleep breastfeeding. One night he had been asleep for 5-10 minutes and I sang him the Cougar fight song cuz I had sung every other Primary song I knew. I got to the rah rah part and he pulled off, popped his eyes open at me and smiled till that part was over. Then he shut his eyes and went back to eating and fell asleep again. It was HILARIOUS! I called Gary in one night to show him...yes, it's humorous to me so if I need a good laugh, I will sing the Cougar fight song to him while he is sound asleep, just to watch him be wide awake for the end. I know, mean mom. But if you were to see it, you might think differently!

We have started reading books to McKay before bed and he is starting to sit more still while we read. You have to read fast though to keep his attention and as usual, the books always tend to go towards his mouth. We will continue to teach him that "books don't go in your mouth." Bath time is still his favorite part of the day. Tonight was his first "poop" in the tub. He started tooting and then before I knew it, there was yellow poop in the water. Great. Not my favorite moment being a mom and "cleaning" it up.

We have been trying to slowly introduce new foods to McKay. Things still have to be totally pureed for him or he gags and chokes. We tried mashed potatoes the other day....um, ya, didn't go over so well. He didn't seem to like them at all. I have let him suck on little Clementine oranges and he LOVES the juice from the orange. Tonight we gave him some baby food green beans. He actually liked them and kept opening his mouth for more. He likes his food warm. I don't love the thought of him eating only baby food and hope that I can start pureeing whatever we are eating and giving him food that is a little more nutritional. I don't know why McKay is so good when he eats but he rarely puts his hands in his mouth when I am feeding him. He has learned that "momma will do it" when I get the spoon close to his mouth and he reaches for it sometimes. Gary likes that besides getting so messy with the teether biscuits, McKay stays relatively clean during his rice cereal/baby food meals.

McKay hates being on his tummy. The second we put him there, he rolls right over. He only turns the same way too. We are working with him but he is stubborn. Wonder who he got that from...??? I don't know how he will ever start crawling when he refuses to be on his tummy but maybe one day. If he is on his back, he rolls from side to side and is close to going from his back to his tummy, especially if he is reaching for a toy.

We love our happy boy. I LOVE getting up in the morning and listening to him talk to himself in his crib. He doesn't fuss unless you leave him in there for a long time. Every morning when I first go in, I sing to him "Good morning, good morning!" from Singing in the Rain. He smiles, tenses up and sucks his breath in because he is so excited to see someone. He makes us smile. He makes life 100% better! We love you little one!!

Christmas in Nevada...

This year was the first time I haven't had to work a Christmas shift in over 3 years. So we were lucky to be able to head to Nevada to spend Christmas with Gary's side of the family. McKay went on his first airplane ride and was an angel both ways. Everyone from Gary's side of the family was together on one occasion or another so it was great for McKay to meet some cousins and uncles he hadn't met before. We had a good relaxing vacation full of food, games and laughing. We found out we have a lack of pictures but that's because we were to busy recording everything!

McKay is starting to enjoy books

Just chillin' on the bed

Opening presents. McKay loved the bows

Matthew and Tate making cookies for Santa. Love these boys!

Our family on Christmas

Uncle Adam with McKay and newest baby to the family, Ryan

Uncle Nathan. McKay loves hats

Christmas Goodness

White Chocolate Oreo Bark... need I say more? This is the easiest, yummiest recipe ever!!

Makes for great neighbor/friend gifts!!

Splish Splash I Was Taking a...SHOWER???

When I get home from working a grave yard shift, I am exhausted. Usually McKay is just waking up and wants to play. I just want a shower and my bed. Guess who wins? Not me! But, I did have the genius idea of sticking McKay's Bumbo in the shower with me so I could fulfill one of my desires but be with him at the same time. Come to find out, he LOVES the shower! I don't know why I was surprised. He loves his baths but you should see him in the shower. He is constantly reaching up and trying to figure out where this steady stream of water is coming from. When he gets too slippery for me to hold, I stick him in his Bumbo, turn on Gary's shower head (wow, looks like we needed double shower heads after all!!!) and let warm water fall on the little guy. He is entertained for the length of my shower...which is quite long after a night shift. I love watching him try to discover his surroundings.

Yes, my baby looks like the white Michelin tire guy...look at all of those rolls! His eyes get so red because he sticks his head forward right into the stream of water, then jerks back when he realizes he can't breath in the water! It's kind of funny to watch. He is a regular little water bug. Do we have a swimmer on our hands? Maybe so...! For now, I will enjoy my showers with my little guy until he gets too big to be showering with his momma.

Thanksgiving

This is a late post...but our Thanksgiving was unique this year. I was supposed to work the night before and the night of Thanksgiving. So we were not able to go to Idaho with the rest of my family to spend Thanksgiving with our extended family. We opted to go out to eat...which in my family is a travesty. But I wasn't going to make dinner just for the 2 of us. Lucky for us, my brother Chris decided he didn't want to make the long trip up to Idaho just for the day. So he went to dinner with us. We decided to go to Little America. I was STUNNED at the number of people waiting in line to eat. I guess staying home to eat a home-cooked meal on Thanksgiving isn't the norm that I thought.


Chris was around McKay for the second time since he was born. His comment, "When did he get a personality?" You should come around more often older brother. Your nieces and nephews would love to get to know you and your hilarious, fun-loving personality.

I ended up getting called off for both of my shifts, lucky me. It was nice to be with my little family.

My dad was nice enough to babysit McKay for me and Gary so we could go to dinner and the Jazz game last night. In fact, come to find out, he had his own Jazz tickets for the game and gave them up because he said he would have rather babysat Mr. MaGoo. After he left, Gary and I go into McKay's room to check on him and this is what we found...

Um, DAAAADDDDD???? Blankets are NOT ALLOWED to be on baby's faces! We called him to give him a hard time (jokingly) and of course he seemed devastated! He said he had checked on him a half hour earlier to make sure this very thing had not happened. He claimed McKay was just trying to get him in trouble! Ha ha. We love you Dad and appreciate you always willing to help us out! McKay told us you are a very fun babysitter and he also loves you very much.