Macie's Fun Part 2

Everyone seems to like the montage better. The photo book was cute, but when I post it here, you can only see one side. I am sure there is a way I could edit it and make it work, but I have not figured it out yet. Holly or Amy, if you know how, give me directions! So, here is the same thing as before in a different style.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Jeff's dad is in town for the weekend. Carson already has him building track and playing trains!

Macie having Fun

Here are some pictures of Macie having fun the last few days. You have to click on the picture and it will take you to another site where you can view the photo album. Leave me a comment on how this works for you. I thought I would try it this way since several people have not been able to get on the other way.

Having Fun

Unrequited Love

Some time last year Carson started telling me that "Windsey" is my best fwiend at school. I really didn't think anything of the situation until his birthday when I took cupcakes to the school. His teachers were very surprised because they rarely played together. Well, Lindsey is in his class again this year. Yesterday, they made best friend pictures. Here is Carson's.


I asked Carson why he chose Lindsey and he told me because she is cute. Later, I asked him if Lindsey put him in her picture. He said I don't think so. Apparently he isn't bothered by her lack of interest in him. We are going on a field trip in a couple weeks, I will have to see how he interacts with Lindsey!

Traveling

Jeff and I have loved to ski since we were dating. I actually have been skiing since I was a kid. My dad has a house and a condo in Breckenridge Colorado which makes trip a little less expensive. (he rents them both, I will try to get links to his by owner site) Once you pay for the air line tickets and the lift tickets, it is still an expensive trip. We still try to make it at least every other year. This year we are going with my sisters family in December. Everything is a little cheaper going at this time of year. Carson is actually excited about taking skiing lessons with Ann Bennett. Last time we were there, he was almost 2 and hated it because he had to wear all the gear. We will see how he does this time around.
I have really seen how little I like to take risks in planning this trip! Rene' booked her air line tickets on Sunday, but ours were still well over $300. Since we still have awhile there is a good chance the rates will go down. There are still plenty of seats on the flights we are looking at so it should be a safe bet to wait. But, it still makes me anxious. There are several options, but traveling with small kids some times are much better than others! Plus, Rene' and the gang will come through Atlanta so we can all be on the same flights to and from Denver. Since Macie does not have a seat (I am way to cheap to pay that kind of money for her when she can travel for free), it is nice to have 2 extra adults with us. Plus, Macie LOVES Ann Bennett. Needless to say, I have would really like to be on their flights.
This morning my mom sent me an email from Air Tran announcing a 72 hour sale. We would only get the discount going out, but it would save us $225. That will pay for one of us to ski while we are there (Carson's lift tickets will still be free!). So, I spent this morning waiting to see if Delta will match the rate. Their times work better for us and Rene' is flying Delta. I checked like 10 times today and finally the rate had fallen and I was able to get us all on the flight in the row dirctly behind Rene' and the gang. Should I have waited longer to see if the rate would go down any lower? Who knows, but for now I will just be happy for the savings I got on the flights I wanted!

The last 10 days

Last night, I read Jenny's blog. I was behind a couple days so after reading the most recent entry and crying like a baby, I went back to the previous entry. Jenny has a little girl who is just 10 days younger than Macie. Izzy was born one week after their daughter Catie died. I had followed Catie's site for several years and had the joy of meeting her the week before she died. Back to the point, Jenny said "It's funny how you can hit a week with a baby and all of a sudden they can do all of these new things that they couldn't do 10 days earlier." This got me thinking about all that Macie can do now that she could not do 10 days ago. Here is a list I can come up with off the top of my head.
1. Crawl, I mean really crawl on all fours moving around the house. Thankfully she hasn't discovered the steps yet!
2. Pull up on most things, she can not get her arms above her head to pull herself up, but she can certainly get to standing.
3. Eat all sorts of table food, chicken, cut up pears and sweet potatoes, bread.
4. Scream in a way that makes you think something is terribly wrong, when really she just wants you to pick her up.
5. Take a bath in the big garden tub with Carson.
6. Find the cat food in the kitchen in only a few seconds. (Poor Smokey is going to have to find a new place to eat. For the record, Carson never in all his babyhood got into the cat food)
7. Get the wipes out of the wipe box.
8. Convince me its not worth the fight to take it away! (see evidence below)
9. Suck her thumb! (She is putting her thumb in her mouth more and more. I am trying to have a pacifier handy to avoid having a thumb sucker.
10. I can not think of a 10th, but I am sure I can add move up a class at church. I don't think she will be able to stay in the youngest nursery now that she is a wild thing!

MOPS and Friday's picture

On two Fridays a month, I attend the MOPS program at Crabapple First Baptist church. I started going last year and have really enjoyed attending. Today our speaker was Jeannine. She has taken Macie's 3 and 6 month photos and will take the 9 and 12 month as well (If you click on her name, Macie and Carson are samples on her site). It was really interesting. I learned so much about my camera and what to do with all the settings. I am sure it will take lots of practice to figure out how to really make the right choices, but it was fun to learn a few things. In the middle of the meeting, I thought I should have brought my friend Amy with me. She is taking a photography class and probably would have enjoyed it.
A few Blogs I read have a Friday photos. Since I always have pictures and this entry is about photography, I thought I would try it out this week.

Carson getting ready to go to Awanas on Sunday
Waiting for Mitzi to pick him up for school.

Macie eating yogurt. It isn't really focused on her, but I will work on getting better with my new photo knowledge!

Preschool

Since Carson has started back to school, he seems to be picking up a lot of things. I thought I would share a few with you.

He has started comparing the size of his finger prints. They made a family tree on Monday and used their finger prints(see picture above). He was telling me that his pinkie was smaller than his thumb.

He has started talking about pretending. I think this comes from the girls he plays with in the kitchen.

Yesterday he told me that these books were his favorite in the whole world.

After chapel on Monday, he told me God made the things outside. This was great because at Awanas they were learning Genesis 1:1. However, as he was listing everything God made, he left the trees and the sky and the flowers and started with the sidewalks and all the signs. If was much better than Cole who cam home asking about the trinity!

I am sure we will have many more through out the year, but I thought I would share a few now. I got some cute front porch pictures the other day. Since we missed them on the first day of school, I got a couple while he was waiting for Mitzi to pick him up. He is very excited about carpooling with Cole and Connor. He was even a little mad when it was only him in the car on Tuesday afternoon. Once I upload the pictures, I will post them too!

Sick, sleeping and crawling

I thought I would give a Macie update today. First and most exciting is she slept all the way through the night twice this week. This was really nice because Jeff was out of town and she usually choses to be up all night when he is gone. The first night she slept until 5:40 and then went back to bed until after 8. The next morning, she slept until 6:45. She went back to bed, but I don't remember when she woke up. I am sure it is because I bought a video monitor so I could feel better about letting her cry it out. The last 2 nights she has been up again, but she was sick. She seems to have caught the croup from Carson. She took the same steroid for a day, but she was starving all day. Since I was not able to nurse yesterday, I chose not to give it to her. She does seem to be feeling better today, but she still sounds yucky when she coughs. She has taken a good nap today and is working on her second one.
She has also started really crawling. It is funny to me because she is now really slow. She takes a couple "steps" and then goes back to sitting. She won't do any of her other crawls now so she has really slowed down. She is working hard on mastering it. Once she is good at it, I will post a video.
I tried to get a picture of Smokey (our cat) to put up here the other night. She was sitting on the back of the couch watching Macie in the monitor. It was really cute. She is not a social cat and not a good kid friendly pet. But, she lets Macie pull her hair and doesn't scratch or bother her. She did hiss at her one day, but Macie thought it was funny.
We have enjoyed our visit with Grandma Joan. I hate that Macie was sick, but it seems normal. Carson has always managed to be sick when she comes to visit. She will be here through the weekend since Jeff has been gone all week. He should be home this evening if the weather and flights cooperate. (If you read this on Friday afternoon, I am sure he would appreciate a prayer for easy travel)

Soccer and Movies

Saturday morning, Carson started soccer. Here are a few photos.

Carson, Cole and Carter in the parking lot.

One of my favorites..Carson (4) and Carter (3) walking with Coach Brad.

All the neighborhood boys plus one other little boy on the team.

Next, we went to see a Thomas movie in a theater on the other side of town. I don't have any pictures from that event.

The final event of the day, was a dive in movie. Our neighborhood rented a big blow up screen and showed the movie Cars. The kids loved it.

The big screen Carson, Carter and Macie eating before the movie.

Cole, Carson and Carter watching the movie.

A promise after a busy weekend

We had a crazy weekend! There is so much to say, but it will have to wait until tomorrow or Tuesday. I am going to bed! I thought I would share the news that Macie pulled herself up today. Last weekend, she started pulling up if she help onto someone's hands. However, she could not do it on an object. After her nap today, Jeff and Carson went in to get her and found her standing up eating the crib slats. So, Jeff dropped the mattress to the lowest level and I put the chewing guards on the rails. I don't think she will be able to do it again for awhile. I think she could only get herself up because the mattress was high enough for her to get a good grip on the rail. Thankfully, she is still short enough that she didn't tumble out of the crib.
On another note, I bought a video monitor so I can let her cry it out some time soon. I will probably have to wait a week because my mother in law will be in town Tuesday through Sunday. Since the guest room is right by Macie's, it seems rude to let Macie scream all night! I'll keep you posted on the progress.
Check back in the next couple days for weekend pictures!

Lake Pictures

I finally got around to getting lake pictures together. Macie does not like the life jacket, but who can blame her. She did manage to get a good nap on the boat. Carson was not feeling well all weekend, but we got some get pictures. Enjoy.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Roid Rage

Carson was on a steroid for 2 days. He had 3 doses in about 28 hours. In those 28 hours, we learned he will never be able to hide steroid use from us. He could not control his emotions at all. He cried all day Wednesday for the slightest reason. I am the first to admit he is a crier, but yesterday afternoon was terrible! Not even his buddy Carter coming over to play helped. Thankfully, it worked and he is feeling good today. He no longer sounds like a seal and has his normal voice back. I also came to appreciate all the cancer mamas out there who have to deal with steroid weeks.
His second day of school went well. I dropped him off in carpool and he did okay with it. He refused to get out of the car and go with a lady he did not know. He said "no, my teacher is going to take me." Thankfully, Ms. Niki was right there and walked him inside. Hopefully, he will let someone else walk him in once he is use to the routine.
Macie was very cooperative today. She woke up and played in her bed for a little while this morning. She fell asleep on the way to school but woke up on the drive home. She ate a little when we got home. I put her in her crib and she played for 30 minutes before taking a 45 minute nap. She then slept for close to 2 hours when we got home from picking Carson home (including the time in the car). She was in bed by 7:30 tonight. The last couple days, she has also slept better at night. Hopefully, she will not backslide again!
We start MOPS tomorrow. I think I am going to be a table leader this year. I am really looking forward to it this year. My friend Valarie from church is going to come this year too. Her little girl is a little younger than Macie. She was born on Carson's birthday.
I'm working on getting pictures together from the weekend. Check back soon so you can see them.

Carson's first day

Carson made it to school this morning-after a visit to the doctor. His cough sounded terrible when he got up so I got everything together got the kids in the car and headed to the doctors' office. I called on the way and got an appointment. We saw Dr. Licata instead of Dr. Ani and he said Carson could go to school. The doctor gave us something to help the constricted airway and told Carson to use his arm bend to catch his cough. We got out of there in time to make it to school right on time.
Mom met us there with my purse so I got a few pictures, but we missed the front porch photos this year. Maybe I will try to get some after school. I walked him in today so I could tell his teacher about him being sick. I told her to call me if she thought he needed to come home. I will let you know how he does.



Carson and Ms. Janet-notice he has a Cars sticker from the doctor!

Afternoon update: It sounds like the first day went well. Carson was glad to play with his friends from last year. He told us he had some new friends and old friends. I forgot the camera when we went to get him, but he looked very cute waiting with the teacher to get in the car. Jeff didn't know that we were suppose to move the car before we buckled him into his seat, so on the first day, we broke the carpool rules!

Blog Games

I have been tagged by Amy in a blog game....

The Rules:
1. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts.
2. Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write on their own blog (about their 8 things) and post these rules.
4. At the end of their blog, they need to choose people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

Here are my 8 weird facts/habits:

1. I can touch my nose with my tongue. Jeff on the other hand can barely get his tongue out of his mouth.

2. I have watched Days of Our Lives since I was in pre-school. I am not kidding, I remember coming home and watching it with my mom. Now I don't really have time to watch, but I keep up by reading recaps on the internet.

3. I am not very exciting because I am having a hard time at fact number 3!

4. I decided to become a teacher while life guarding. I wanted to have the same schedule my kids. I worked in a neighborhood where the kids who were only at the pool on the weekend were not really included like the kids who were there all the time.

5. I had not intention of teaching math until about 100 people said to me you should teach math. One of the most significant was a high school teacher Coach Jenkins. Sadly, I learned a couple weeks ago he passed away this summer.

6. I have an irrational fear of roaches. I can not even kill one if I see it. If we had one in the house and Jeff wasn't around I think I would have to get Carson to kill it or call David Morrow! (David you better be prepared, Carson is afraid of any bug touching him)

7. I went to weight watchers for several years to have a more realistic body image. All of my close friends were too skinny so I felt like I was huge. I went back to weight watchers so I could spend time around people who would not be blown over by the wind. I guess it was cheaper than therapy! Now, I am going because I have 2 babies worth of weight to loose. But even at my goal weight I will be at the top of the weight range.

8. I don't have favorites. I can never commit to a favorite color, food, tv show, movie. It really bothered Jeff at first, but he has gotten use to it. He has also gotten me to say that Tulips are my favorite flowers.

I plan to tag Mitzi and Jenny.

We are back!

I was planning to give a full update from the weekend tonight. Jeff is at the Florida State Clemson game so I am home alone with the kids. I figured I would have plenty of time to get all the pictures together. But, I left me purse with my camera in it at mom's tonight. So, you will have to wait a couple days.
Carson is suppose to start school tomorrow, but he was sick all weekend. He did not have any real symptoms. He was running a fever (I don't know how high since I didn't have a thermometer with me) and didn't want to do much. Starting Monday you could hear a little in his chest although he isn't coughing much. He was feeling better today but still had a little fever this afternoon. I don't think it was enough to keep him out of school, but I will make that call in the morning. He was crying after he went to bed tonight "I want to go to school tomorrow." I promised him I would take him by the school to tell his teacher he is sick if he can not go for the day.
Check back tomorrow and maybe you will get a lake update and a first day of school update.