Mackenzie Rae

Meet Mackenzie! She was born Thursday November 1st at 8:07 am. She was 6 lbs, 13.9 oz and 10 1/4 inches long.

Our first family photo, just a few hours after Mackenzie was born.
 

Michael's Mom got Emma this book on being a big sister - She let Michael read it to her at least 5 times in a row.
 

Daddy and Mackenzie.
 

I love this picture of her.
 

Just killing time before we could leave.
 

She was sleeping with Daddy when I took this.
 

Leaving the hospital.
 

Big sister and little sister the night we got home.
 

We have a date

November 1st, 7:30 am. That's when we'll finally meet baby #2! Yay! So glad to finally have a date, now the countdown can officially begin. :)

In other news, I'd like to thank Marie for jinxing me. Until Marie came over with a wrist brace on a couple weeks ago, I'd never heard of pregnancy induced Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. And now I have it. It's awful. I finally broke down last night and bought a brace for my right hand since it hurst worse than the left. It's awful to feel your hand going numb, to not be able to make a fist in the morning, to have no strength to pick anything up, and to have to take breaks while eating because you can't hold the fork. Thankfully, I only have a couple weeks to go. Unlike She-Who-Jinxed-Me, who has quite a ways to go.

A Camping We Will Go

So we're heading out shortly for our annual camping trip. Too bad it's going to be cold and rainy. Last year, it snowed the day we left, so I guess rain is a slight improvement. And for those who think I'm crazy for going camping 3 weeks before having a baby, know this: We have a cabin, I'm taking lots of magazines, books and scrapbook supplies and I plan on doing a lot of sitting and eating. :) Michael gets to chase Emma this year!

Yesterday was Michael's last football game. I think we might have a little female football player in the making!

 
 

And I'm curious - do these look like apples to you? No? Exactly. They're pumpkins. Yet Emma insists on calling them apples. No idea why. For the record, she still calls apples apples, not pumpkins. Sunday after church we stopped and got our pumpkins and cornstalks so now it feels as though fall is officially here.

 
 

 
 

All in order

We've been noticing this lately - Emma making sure things are all lined up in a row. Bins, toys, shoes, etc. Tonight, it was stickers. She was putting stickers on her shirt and she lined them all up in a row. Then she took them off her shirt and put them on the floor. (Sorry about the blurry picture)

 
 

It's Tribe time now. And yesterday Emma and Michael were quite cute in their matching tribe gear. :)
 
 

We tried

So Renee was here last weekend. It was so much fun and I'm so glad she was able to come visit! We hung out, scrapbooked, talked and took plenty of pictures, of course! The weekend flew by. After being phone and email friends for 3 years, it was fantastic to meet her in person. Thankfully, no awkwardness! It was like we'd been friends for life! Emma loved her, which I loved.

 

 

Here's a belly shot - 34 wks, 3 days. I'm feeling huge!
 

Speaking of pictures...she attempted to take some family pictures of us. Yeah. That didn't work out so well. I didn't really think it would but I wanted to try. Emma just will now sit still or look at the camera! These are the best of the bunch. Yes, the only way we could get Emma to smile was to pull her up in the air. Crazy girl.

 
 
 

 

She did get a couple good picture of just me and Michael though.
 
 


Saturday night Marie came over and we all scrapped. And yes, ladies, I'm posting these goofy pictures!
 
 

 

This is cool.

So glad the announcement is up because it's been killing me to keep it a secret!

Meet the 2008 Simple Gals!

:)

In less than 2 hours..

I'll be picking up Renee at the airport! I'm happy because I've so been looking forward to our weekend. And Michael's happy because her visit means the house is really clean right now. :)

A nice surprise

So, this is pretty cool. Saw it when I read Simple Scrapbook's blog tonight.

Simple's blog entry - Fiskars TV

When you click on the Fiskar's link, it's the 9/17 episode. So fun!

This is why Emma doesn't eat ravioli more often

Because it's a giant mess! After lunch, she had to have a bath to get all of the sauce off her. But, at least she enjoyed it. :)

 
 
 
 

Stupid RLS

So, one of the not-so-fun pregnancy pains for me has been Restless Leg Syndrome. Or, as Michael calls it, Dead Leg. In my case, even more so Dead Foot and Ankle. I had RLS with Emma but it's been much worse this time. (Gee, seems like I've been saying that about everything this time!) Friday night I was up until 3 because of it. It's now 2:10 AM and here I am blogging. If you've never experienced RLS, it's the most annoying and awful sensation. I just lay in bed constantly moving my legs and feet, trying to make the sensation stop. Finally, I have no choice but to get up and walk around because it alleviates the discomfort. I decided to read some more about RLS when I got online just now. Something I've done before but I thought I'd refresh my memory. And I'm glad I did. Turns out an iron deficiency can worsen your RLS symptoms. Hmm...I'm anemic this pregnancy, and I haven't been taking my iron supplement because it makes me sick. Maybe that's why it's been so bad lately! Guess I really do have no choice but to start back on the iron tomorrow.

Enough of my complaining...

Here are some pictures of Emma making a mess in the house. As you can see in the first picture, she obviously got into a box of tissues when I wasn't looking! For the record, to reach this box of tissues she had to climb up on the couch and get them off the ledge. And all those toys? Yeah...that's what my family room looks like on a daily basis. :)

 
 

In 9 short days Renee will be here! So excited to see her. I'm really looking forward to a fun weekend of talking, scrapbooking, relaxing and picture taking.

Wednesday, I'll be 33 weeks. We've started getting ready for the baby. The first step obviously was getting Emma in her new room, which went off without a hitch. See this page The nursery has been cleaned and purged of Emma's items. Baby clothes have been washed and put away. This week I'll be getting the bouncy seat, etc all out and ready to go.

Nesting has completely set in. I'm actually starting to panic. I've had all these things I've wanted to do and kept putting off. Now I know I really need to get them done because once the baby is here there isn't going to be a lot of spare time. So I've made my list and am slowly checking items off. Am I going to get them all done? Probably not. But I'll make a good effort!

Time to go do some laundry and maybe by then, sleep will come!

Wheeee!

She's a little big for the swing, don't ya think?

 
 

We got the baby swing out for some friends to use when they were over a couple weeks ago. We left it out because Emma was playing with it, putting her baby doll in it, pushing it, etc. Then two days ago Emma climbs up in it, no problem, like she'd done it a million times before. And there she'll sit. She opens and closes the tray, says "Wheee" and just hangs out. Crazy girl.

9/11

You should read this:

102 Minutes
From the Publisher
The dramatic and moving account of the struggle for life inside the World Trade Center on the morning of September 11, when every minute counted.

At 8:46 am on September 11, 2001, 14,000 people were inside the twin towers-reading e-mails, making trades, eating croissants at Windows on the World. Over the next 102 minutes, each would become part of a drama for the ages, one witnessed only by the people who lived it-until now.

Of the millions of words written about this wrenching day, most were told from the outside looking in. New York Times reporters Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn have taken the opposite-and far more revealing-approach. Reported from the perspectives of those inside the towers, 102 Minutes captures the little-known stories of ordinary people who took extraordinary steps to save themselves and others. Beyond this stirring panorama stands investigative reporting of the first rank. An astounding number of people actually survived the plane impacts but were unable to escape, and the authors raise hard questions about building safety and tragic flaws in New York's emergency preparedness.

Dwyer and Flynn rely on hundreds of interviews with rescuers, thousands of pages of oral histories, and countless phone, e-mail, and emergency radio transcripts. They cross a bridge of voices to go inside the infernos, seeing cataclysm and heroism, one person at a time, to tell the affecting, authoritative saga of the men and women-the nearly 12,000 who escaped and the 2,749 who perished-as they made 102 minutes count as never before.

I read it a couple years ago and it was phenomenal. Made me cry. Amazed me with the stories of heroism, how selfless so many were that day. Read it

That Peyton Manning is a hoot!

Yes, I really said that. After watching this commercial. Have you seen it? It's hysterical. Okay, maybe it's not that funny. But when I saw it last night and I laughed and laughed. Then I tried telling Michael about it. And for some reason, while explaining it, I found it even funnier. I was laughing so hard I couldn't talk and I was crying. Michael just said "What is wrong with you????" Then, after I could breathe and talk again, I said "Boy, that Peyton Manning is a hoot!" Which caused my husband to look at me very strangely. Yes, I said Hoot.