6 Months Already!

Mckenna turned 6 months old this week. We went to the doctor and got her shots, which she didn't like obviously. She has acted totally normal since then and hasn't been fussy, tired, or anything like that from the shots. Here are her stats:

Length- 25 1/2 inches (40%ile)

Head- 17 inches (75%ile)

Weight- 13 lbs 6 oz (5%ile)

So, as you can see, we are really working on the weight part now! :) Sometimes she will go for like 4-5 hours until I realize that she hasn't eaten. But the weird thing is that she doesn't act hungry and is happy. So, I am now feeding her every 2 1/2 to 3 hours. I am also feeding her more rice cereal and solids. We are going to weigh her again in 2 weeks to make sure that she gains weight. I have been doing this for the last two days and it seems like I am feeding her all of the time!! I encourage her to eat as long as she will (I shoot for 30 minutes). 2 1/2 hours comes around awfully fast when she eats for 30 minutes. As far as the solids go, she loves baby food. Weird enough, she likes carrots the best so far. But, with all of this eating, she really should gain weight. Other than that, she is doing really well.

6 months old

5 months old

4 months old

3 months old

2 months old

1 month old

2 weeks old

1 day old

It's crazy how much babies change! I have learned a lot the last 6 months...

• There is never a baby that is quite as cute as yours :)
• You won't be able to pay attention in church like you used to
• When you get a full nights rest, you are grateful
• Enjoy each developmental age they are in instead of looking forward to the next
• You can never have enough pictures of your baby
• Moms (grandmas) are the best people to go to with any parenting question (Thanks Mom!)
• No matter how long it takes them to go to sleep and how much you have to get done while they are asleep, you still check on them often to make sure they are ok.
• Now I know why all that moms talk about are their own children
• Their is immense unconditional love for your own children
• Even when you look back fondly of your life without children, you would never go back

I love being a mom! Some days it seems like I could be accomplishing much more, but I know that staying home and raising Mckenna and our future children is exactly what I need to be doing at this time in my life and that I am accomplishing much more by staying home with her than I realize. It is so great to be home with Mckenna and to learn from her and teach her. I am sure there will be many great memories to come too!

Sorry it has been so long since I posted. We have been pretty busy! Things are pretty much the same though. Devin is really busy with school, his church calling, and work. So Mckenna and I have had lots of bonding time :) Here are more pictures... of course!

Devin and Mckenna "studying"

Mckenna enjoying new foods

Waking up from a nap

Mckenna's favorite thing to suck on

5 Months Old

So last night, we started Mckenna on some rice cereal. Just like every baby, she didn't like it at all. Here is a video of her funny faces! :)



In the middle she started choking/gagging. For some reason the sound didn't load up with the video...but you get the picture.

Mckenna often falls asleep holding her pacifier...can't live without it!

Easter

Our Easter wasn't all that exciting, but I thought I would post pictures anyway. I hid some eggs, but obviously Mckenna didn't care but Devin sure had fun! We went to my parents house for dinner and found a few Easter eggs there too.









And a few other picures...nothing to do with Easter. :)






Devin and Mckenna watching basketball on TV.

Self Reliance

The last couple of weeks, I have tried to become more self-reliant and work on our food storage. I have been making pretty much all of our bread. It has been a lot of fun and it really hasn't taken much time.

One day I was went running while the bread was rising. I guess my run was a little too long that day because I came home and this is what I found (I usually let it rise in the oven because it is warmer in there and rises better). It worked out fine though because I just put it all back in the pan, let it rise again, and then baked it.

I got a recipe for home made laundry detergent from a friend. It actually works really good. We do about 2 loads of laundry per week, so I figured out that this would cost about $20 for a years supply. It involves grating a Fels Naptha bar, which takes some time, but other than that it is really easy to make.

We also found a good deal on strawberries, so we made strawberry freezer jam.

So, we have a little more food storage than we used to have, but we still have quite a bit to get. The hard part is just figuring out how much of what you use in a year. But when we go to the grocery store, we just buy a few extra things, which has helped a lot. I also spent a few days grinding some wheat, so we are getting there...slowly, but surely.

4 Months Old!

Mckenna is 4 months old! Time sure flies! We went to the doctor yesterday and she is doing great! She weighed 13 lbs 3 oz which puts her in the 40th percentile. Her height was 23 inches (17th percentile) and her head was in the 76th percentile! She is all over the board! Good thing she doesn't look that disproportioned! I guess she gets her height from me and her big head from Devin! :) She also got her shots. She really wasn't way fussy, mostly just tired. The doctor said that she is actually ahead developmentally with how she grabs toys and is already grabbing her feet. So, it was good to hear that she is doing well. We will start solids pretty soon, which will be kind of weird, but I'm sure I will post about it when the time comes.

These are pictures of a toy that Devin made for Mckenna. He tied some toys to her swing for her to play with!

Pictures, pictures, pictures

So nothing too exciting is going on here...which is a good thing. But, we always have new pictures of Mckenna!