A Visit!

This past Friday MacKenzie Joy was blessed to get to meet her Auntie Joy - the amazing woman that we named our little girl after. It was amazing to watch her totally relax in Joy's arms and just rest. As MacKenzie's mommy there is not greater gift than seeing the joy and love in someone else's face for my little girl, so watching that on Joy's face was great. MacKenzie pretty much slept the entire time they were here and she was a prefect angel - after they left she gave mommy and daddy the biggest poop in her diaper yet - thus she got a little fussy just before they left.

Jeral and I chose to name MacKenzie Joy after this lady for a few reasons

1) She is one of the most amazing woman I have ever had the privilege of spending time with.

2) Just as I will never regret the decision to choose to travel to Abbotsford to see this amazing woman as my counselor, and have her journey with Jesus and me towards health - despite the days I was rather ticked off with her bluntness and honesty. I will never regret the decision to choose to adopt my daughter - despite the days I cried and hated how my life was put under a magnifying glass. Holding my little girl makes all of that worth it. Both choices had many hard moments and yet looking back I will do not regret making those choices.

3) My daughters name will always serve as a reminder of the three years I spent hashing everything out and working on walking towards being a healthier person. I never want to forget the lessons learned, or the time Jesus allowed me to have with my daughter's namesake. Thus we chose a name that would always remind me of that time and remind me to attempt to make healthy choices (even though drink Coke - Cola may be a unhealthy choice I continue to make).

4) Just as our daughter MacKenzie Joy has forever changed our lives and filled our hearts with much love - her namesake has forever changed our lives and MacKenzie's life - though MacKenzie does not totally understand that yet!

So there you have it why we chose to name our daughter MacKenzie Joy. So all in all Friday was a great day for both MacKenzie and her mommy - despite that fact that when I asked Jeral to get me a treat someone told him to just say no!!!!! Yet in the end Jeral remembered who he sleeps with at night and got me the treat I wanted!!!!!!!!!!! Thus making a great day even better!

Soothers and Stuff

Soothers can be your best friend or they can be your worst enemy. Monday night the soother was mommy and daddy's worst enemy. MacKenzie seemed to spit it out and cry every half and hour or so, just as mommy was drifting off to sleep. Thus there was very little sleep going on that night!

Despite the lack of sleep mommy and MacKenzie went to Kamloops the next day to visit Grandma, Auntie Jocelyn, and cousin Ty-Ty. We had a great time visiting - the day was a little long for MacKenze and her tired mommy yet it was fun. Ty-Ty totally loves his little cousin and loved touching her hands, and her head (despite the fact that we tried to keep him from going for the head), and smacking her feet! It was very adorable.

We have been trying to switch MacKenzie to powder formula - however she is getting way more gassy so we are just going to stick with liquid for now. I would rather have a happy and well feed baby then a baby girl who screams every time she is feeding due to the gas and then screams for a hour or so after.

I love my little girl so very much. I love playing with her and watching her smile and coo. I love watcher her chomp the ear of her teddy bear. I also love my little boy. Last night after I put MacKenzie down and I lay down he went nuts. So I lay there for an hour just rubbing my glorious tummy and and talking to may amazing little boy. I am looking forward to the day that I have both in my arms!

One Month Old!

Our beautiful little girl and her one month old picture taken with the big teddy bear!

Our Daughter is now one month old, and the 30 day period of consent is up. Yesterday was the last day that the birth mom could revoke consent for us to adopt MacKenzie. After the 30 days the birth mom would have to petition the courts to get MacKenzie back and she would have to go through a home study and so on. So we are relieved that the 30 period of consent is up.

What a journey this has been. When we first started the journey to adopt I was terrified. I was afraid we would be rejected as a couple, and be left childless. Oh the days I cried in my counselors office and the days I cried privately in my own room. Now we have our beautiful daughter MacKenzie Joy, and the crying still happens (mostly little Mac though - however I cry too knowing our daughter will face much pain and heartache in the years to come about being given up, so she could be embraced and loved by us).

Looking back on this last month the journey has not been easy - yet I would never trade a moment of it. Being pregnant and having a new born is different, yet that is the only experience I know so I am not able to say it is not normal because for us this is our normal. This is our journey. A journey we are grateful for.

I love watching Jeral stare at his little girl and watch his heart totally melt and fall in love with her. I love watching our daughter coo in the arms of her father. I love watching her snuggle in and relax in his arms (when she is not being fussy). I love holding her even when she is screaming. I love that I get to be the one to be there for her after the screaming is done, and I love being the one whose arms she falls asleep in. She is my little girl - my MacKenzie Joy!

Now with all this being said I also am looking forward to the birth of my son. I am not sure how we will manage everything and yet we KNOW this is where God has lead us, so we know He will give us the strength to do what we are able to and the humility to ask for help.

Baby Shower and Pictures

Past and present this picture is of our daughter with her mommy's first stuffed animal ever! So adorable!

MacKenzie Joy's feet in the hands of her mommy!

MacKenzie looking like what is going on? Why are we taking all these pictures!

Looking like what the heck - Ummm not sure if I like all this going on!

MacKenzie's face of oh not what did I do while mommy is laughing her head off because of what took place in the picture below!

Yep that is her peeing on mommy!!!!!!! It is funny how those things do not really matter at all anymore. She can pee on me and I am totally fine with it.

MacKenzie holding her daddy's finger

MacKenzie Joy resting on the big teddy bear that Daddy bought Mommy for our first married Christmas!

Our first family picture! Both Jeral and I felt very strongly that we wanted to have a family picture of just the three of us. MacKenzie is our first child and when her little brother comes then we will do a family photo again! So this is our little family!

Little Mac on the teddy bear again!

Just looking cute! We love our little girl so very much!

MacKenzie again with her mommy's first stuffed animal - as a little girl my lamb was called lambkins!

MacKenzie in her daddy's hands! Jeral is such an amazing daddy!!!!!

So there you have a photo up date of our little girl! Yesterday was our churches baby shower for little MacKenzie Joy and we feel so very blessed by our home church! We know that we are not going to be raising our children totally on our own. We have an amazing network of friends and family around us. Not just here in Armstrong - we have amazing friends and family all over and we are so blessed by all of them.

On Thursday our little girl will be one month old. How times flies - some days I feel as though we just picked her up from the hospital, and then now a month has gone by, and we only have 2 and a half months until her little brother arrives. We still have lots to do before then and yet if it does not all get done then that is life. The most important thing to us is holding our children and letting them know we love them, not just with words -also with actions!

Turning 31

Wow I am now 31 years old! My sister asked me the other day what I wanted for my birthday and I had a hard time coming up with anything. The reality is I have everything I have want - my daughter in my arms, my son in my tummy and a wonderful husband to share this all with. Nothing else seems to matter right now other than them.

So what did we do on Saturday - well on Friday we headed into Kelowna for a day of hanging out with my cousin and then off to dinner, then the mall for some more maternity clothes for me, then to the hotel for the night. MacKenzie did great until we got to the hotel and it was as if she realized that we were not going home for the night and she got upset. It took us until 3:30 am to calm her down enough to sleep. Oh well and to bad for the people in the room next to us - if our daughter needs to scream and cry well then she can and we will hold her and tell her we lover her so very much through it all. Saturday we went back to the mall and shopped - mostly for MacKenzie and a few things for Jaris. Funny how kids change things - in the past we would always go shopping for us, and now I get way more pleasure out of finding cute things for my kids! All in all it was a great way to spend my Birthday - with my daughter and the man I love.

So being 31 is not so bad actually I love the 30's and would not want to go back to my 20's. I have a feeling that life is only going to get sweeter with age!!!!!

Two Times in One Day

So today was rather funny! Around noon I was cuddling skin to skin with my daughter. Note to self next time keep the diaper on. MacKenzie peed all over me and the love seat. Jeral and I got a good laugh out of it despite having pee all over me and all over the couch.

So now fast forward to around 3:30 pm. My friend was over taking pictures of our little miracle girl, and pictures of us as a family. Well during a few of the pictures our daughter was once again without a diaper, and about 5 minutes before I whispered to her "pee on daddy now!" Well Leanne be careful what you say because about 5 minutes later as I was holding MacKenzie she peed all over me again!!! Twice in one day you have got to be kidding. At least my friend was able to capture it all on her camera. This photo is coming out at MacKenzie's wedding when she is older!

Orange Yuckiness

Jeral holding our little girl! She is so tiny in his arms!

So today I had to go in and drink that yuck orange stuff for my Gestational Diabetes Screening. So me being the tired mommy I was choose not to go in right away at 8 am, instead I headed in for 8:30 am and well I sat there waiting until 11 am when I finally got in and they tried to tell me there was not enough time to do the test before the lab closed. Well I was a little bitchy, and told them that I had been waiting for over 2 hours and that my husband was home with our 3 week old daughter so I could get the test done today and therefore it had to be done now! Maybe I could have been a little nicer, however I am a sleep deprived, pregnant, hormonal, and at the point a very hungry woman - there is nothing nice about that - just let me do the dang test and then get me some food! Oh well here is hoping everything is fine and I will not have to take insulin.

Little MacKenzie is doing well! She is growing and more and more aware of her surroundings every day. Tonight I had a little light and moved it from onside to the other and she moved her head to follow the light! I think that is pretty amazing for a 3 week old. We absolutely love and adore our little girl! I love snuggle and cuddle times, and so does Jeral. I also love it when MacKenzie is rest on my tummy and Jaris starts kicking away - great bonding time!

We picked up our new Mini Van on Friday. I was at first a little weirded out at how natural and normal it felt to drive a mini van. I do appreciate being able to get in and out of the van with ease and the fact that we will have room for our growing family. I do miss my little Honda Civic just for the power it had however I do not need to or want to drive that fast anymore! Pictures of the van to come later!

A Day of Shopping

She was sleeping so peacefully and mommy decided not to resist taking a picture of my precious daughter! I need to remember how precious she is when it is 1 am and she refuses to go to sleep except on my chest! Truth is I love cuddles!

Today I had to go to the hospital for my Gestational Diabetes Check up so Jeral and MacKenzie came with me, and we made a day of it shopping around in Vernon. I guess this was the test drive to see if we actually could get away on my birthday in a few days. MacKenzie did great! Also Please Mum had a sale and everything in the store was 50% off so we got her some very cute clothes! Jeral and I were commenting that now it seems all we do is spend money on MacKenzie, or on things to improve her life and our soon to be here son's life. Guess that is the way things will be for a while and we are totally okay with that!

27 weeks and Dr.'s Visit

Today was little Mac's two week check up, and she did great. She is back to her birth weight and then some! Mommy and Daddy are so proud of her! The doctor would not say one way or another if little Mac is teething, all she said was that at this age and weight she would not recommend giving her Tylenol, so we will find other natural remedies to help with this.

I am struggling with finding the balance between sitting all day and bonding with my daughter and trying to get the things that need to get done, done. I am not worried about things like vacuuming, it is more like the laundry that she has spit up all over, and sterilizing the bottles, so we can make sure that the thrush clears up and stays away. The dishes get done simply because I may as well do them while I am cleaning the bottles! Oh well they will get done, even if it is Jeral who has to do them!

I am now 27 weeks pregnant - with 13 left to go before Jaris is born. Here is hoping he is on time and not late! Gotta love Braxton Hicks contractions - at least when they come I know I have done to much for the day and need to relax - not a hard thing to do though when I get to hold my little girl close to my heart! So far all is well in the pregnancy and we are looking forward having both our children in our arms!

Amazing Husband and Father!

My husband truly is amazing. He has decided that it is important for his daughter to bond to him, so in the evenings he wants to take care of her and let me relax, get away (not that this mommy is ready to get away anytime soon), or have time to get things that I want to get done, done. Wow thank you Jeral! I sure do love you. Knowing that I will have time to shower in the evenings is great! I actually won't have to worry about being a stinky person, yeah for that! Anyways I love my hubby!

Parenthood 101

Sleeping quietly and mommy could not resist taking a picture! We love her so very much and cannot imagine our lives without her!

Daddy holding MacKenzie the was that seems to calm her down. Poor little girl has had some very rough days!

Daddy feeding MacKenzie

Wow! First just let me say wow - we have an 11 day old daughter who is teething. That sure explains that past few days. She has two teething coming in already, and she has thrush on top of that. Just when I thought we had a little more time before dealing with the teething thing.

I also found out in the middle of the night that it is never wise or safe to just use a receiving blanket under our precious daughter to change her diaper. At 3:30 am I was changing her diaper and as I was switching diapers an explosive wet one came flying out, all over mommy, and the body pillow, and the sheets on mommy's side of the bed. Good thing daddy was good with getting up and changing the sheets.

We are muddling our way through figuring out this parent thing and to be honest I know that we will be figuring out how to be parents long after our kids have moved out and gotten married and our parents themselves. Good thing for God's grace!

Here are a few mroe pictures of our little girl!