Sisterly Love

Since the day we first told Morgan she was going to be a big sister she has been excited and ready to take on the role of big sis. We knew that she was going to be amazing at it, we just didn't know how amazing. Since we have come home Morgan has been wonderful. She absolutely LOVES her sister and tells her so many times a day.  I thought I would take a moment to show off some of the wonderful things Morgan does for her little sister.

1. Morgan is in charge of keeping an eye on Makenzie in the car. She loves helping out and always keeps me informed on what her sister is doing, meaning letting me know if she is awake or sleeping because that is about all she does right now. Morgan also helps out when Makenzie will fuss in the car by saying, "shh...shh...don't cry, it's okay."

 

2. Morgan loves to hold her little sister and snuggle. 

 

3. In the mornings her first stop now a days is into our room to find her baby sister. She will drive right up to the pack-n-play, peer in, and whisper "good morning sister." She knows that we never wake a sleeping baby so she then quietly will drive out of the room and start her usual morning routine with breakfast.

4. Morgan wants to include her sister in everything she does. On this day she and I were making some yummy chocolate covered bananas. Although Makenzie is too little to help out, Morgan doesn't quite understand that so she wanted Makenzie in the kitchen watching every step too.

There's Makenzie in the background helping out with the treats.

5. Morgan likes to help with giving Makenzie her baths. If you ask Morgan what she is in charge of she will tell you, "her stinky feet."

Big sis washing her sister's "stinky feet."

Assisting with getting her pjs on.

6. Morgan teaches her sister all about tummy time. This is an area where Morgan has a lot of practice, in fact, we still try to do at least 30 minutes of 'tummy time' for Morgan each day so it works out perfectly. Morgan can now hold her head up high and she encourages her sister to do the same saying, "you can do it sister."

Morgan even shares her toys nicely. Here she was telling Makenzie all about her new Bar.bie doll.

Love that smile.

7. She loves on her sister with gentle hugs. We have told Morgan that as soon as her sister is big enough to handle them she can give her some of her world famous hugs. Morgan loves to squeeze you nice and hard when she hugs you, it really is the best hug in the world.

**When the girls were playing on the ground together that morning we took some cute videos, but they are too long to post. Morgan gently touched her sister's ears and said, "sister, you have tiny ears." She also told her sister, "you are my best friend, I love you."


8. Morgan likes to help feed, burp, and diaper her sister. She follows us in for just about every diaper change. Morgan is in charge of the wipes and throwing the diaper into the diaper pail when we are finished. She is so funny with the diaper pail. She puts the diaper in, pushes the handle down, and then lifts it again to make sure the diaper 'disappeared.' She is like one of those people at the blue mailboxes that have to double check that their mail actually went into the mailbox. She then helps with one bottle a day. If I wasn't nursing Morgan would probably feed her sister every meal if we wanted her to. She is just absolutely amazing as a big sister!

We are just so thankful that Morgan has transitioned so well into her new role as big sister. I am so glad that she got her wish of having a little sister. I know that they really will be best friends for the rest of their lives. There is no friendship in this world better than that of a sister. (I love you Jen and Chris!)

1 Week Old!

 It is so hard to believe that our little Makenzie is already a week old. The time has just flown by since her arrival and it is already hard to remember what life was like when we were just a family of 3. Having Makenzie in our lives just feels so normal and we are so thankful she is here to complete our family.

1 Week Stats:

Weight: Birth: 7 pounds 3.3 ounces, Left the hospital at: 6 pounds 14 ounces, 1st drs appointment: 6 pounds 12 ounces.

Eating: Like a champ! She is primarily breastfeed, but will take breastmilk from a bottle.

Sleeping: Like a champ as well! We just hope she keeps it up. She usually sleeps from about 9 or 10 pm until 2 or 3, wakes to eat, goes right back to sleep until around 6. Again she wakes and then goes right back to sleep until sometime between 7-9. She is such a great baby!

Makenzie's Top 10 Moments of Week 1: 


 1. Meeting her big sister, Morgan, for the first time. They were instantly in love with each other and have enjoyed each others' company every day since.

2. Meeting her grandparents: Donna and Charley

 Meeting Pa

 Meeting Nanny

 Makenzie will get to meet my mom, her Memere, on June 6th!!! We are counting down the days until her arrival. This June marks 3 years since we have seen her last.

3. Meeting her Aunt Georgia. We are so blessed to have such good friends in Matt and Georgia who live so close. We are so excited to watch our girls grow up with their kids, Lucas and Macie.

4. Got to go home for the first time. 

 Her first car ride with her big sister.

 5. Slept in her pack and play bassinet for the first time.

 6. Was left with a babysitter for the first time: Aunt Georgia and her cousins, Lucas and Macie took such good care of her.

 

7. Went to her first doctor's appointment. 

8. Went to Target twice. We actually took her there one morning while Morgan was at preschool and I forgot to take pictures to document her first outing. We went again over the weekend as a whole family. Morgan was excited to show her sister her favorite store. 

***On a side note: I love this canopy we bought for the carseat and would highly recommend one to any new mom.  By having it on the carseat it is a way of telling people to leave your child alone. I can't tell you how many strangers used to walk right up to Morgan when she was brand new and stick their filthy hands right on her. Thanks to this canopy not a single person has been able to touch/breath on our little girl.


9. Makenzie got her first bath at home. Since she still has her umbilical cord she had to do a sponge bath on the counter. Morgan is very excited for her to lose her cord so she can take 'big girl' baths with her sister. 

10. Her big sister fed her a bottle. 

It is hard to believe that now as I am typing this over a week and a half has gone by since Makenzie joined our family. The time is flying by and I will try my best to keep up with blogging so you all can keep up with how our little girl is growing.

Doctor's Appointment for both the girls

Friday morning we had to get up and get going. Both Morgan and Makenzie had doctor's appointments with the pediatrician. Morgan had been scheduled for the 18th for her 5 year old check up for a few months now. It just happened that with the timing of Makenzie's release from the hospital that she would need to be seen the same day so I called to set up her appointment and was able to arrange to have the girls seen together so we wouldn't have to make more than one trip.

Makenzie all ready for her first doctor's visit.

Heading in with Daddy.

Waiting patiently... Morgan was sharing a horse book with her sister.

Makenzie went first for measurements.

Getting her weight checked...she was at 6 pounds 12 ounces that day.

After Makenzie was weighed it was Morgan's turn to go get her measurements. Our little peanut has grown...but not much. At five years old she weighs 31 pounds 7 ounces and is 39 inches tall. As they finished up Morgan's measurements they asked me to take Makenzie on into the room to start her exam. Makenzie did great and was an excellent little patient. While we were starting her exam Morgan went on to complete her hearing and eye exams. She and David then joined us as we finished Makenzie's appointment and prepared to start Morgan's. Nearly 2 hours later we were finished. I love that our pediatrician spends so much time with our girls and makes sure he covers everything and discusses all of our concerns.

Here were their stats from today:

                       Morgan:                                            Makenzie:
Weight:       31 pounds 7 ounces (3%)                    6 pounds 12 ounces (21%)
Height:           39 inches (3%)                                  19 inches (21%)

At least they are both consistent with their percentiles. Although Morgan is a peanut and barely hanging on to the charts we are glad that she is consistent and is growing along the proper growth curve, just at her own rate. Makenzie will be returning on Tuesday for a weight check to make sure she is gaining.

Preschool Promotion!!!

I can hardly believe that Morgan is finished with preschool. It seems like just yesterday that she turned 3 and we were preparing to begin preschool at VIP. I have to say that the experience of preschool for Morgan has been amazing. The staff and teachers at VIP are exceptional and have done such an amazing job preparing Morgan for kindergarten. David and I have already decided that hands down Makenzie will be going to VIP for preschool. Although it would be so much easier to take her to the preschool at my school and having her at VIP means having David going into work late everyday for 2-3 years....it will be so worth it. We are just so thankful to everyone at VIP who has been a part of our little girl's preschool experience. I know Morgan is really going to miss them all.

Thursday evening was preschool promotion. David's brother, Brad, came down from Phoenix to meet Makenzie and see Morgan's promotion. My dad and JoAnne stayed to see it as well. So around 3 David went to school to pick up Morgan with Brad. Morgan was so excited to see her uncle. When they arrived home the rest of the crew was there: Donna, Charley, my dad, and JoAnne. We grilled up some hot dogs and hamburgers and enjoyed a nice family dinner thanks to Donna before heading up to the high school for the ceremony.

Our little graduate! She looks like a mini-professor. So cute!

Our family. We are just so PROUD of our little graduate!

Morgan waiting to get on stage to perform.

During the promotion celebration each class got on the stage and sang a song. Morgan's class sang a song to the tune of Who Let the Dog.s Out but they sang about the letters doing each of the letter sounds and signing the letters. It was very cute. Morgan loves to sign the letters...of course some letters are easier for her to make than others. It is actually great OT work for her hands.

Can you tell she is trying to belt out the words?

A, ah, ah, ah, ah.....

Love how happy she looks up there. She loves being on stage!

At the end all the classes together sang Kindergarten Here We Come!

Uncle Brad and the graduate.

After the celebration was over we all went back to our house for some dessert. Well...most of us. We actually did not bring Makenzie with us. I didn't want to expose her to all the people and GERMS. At first we thought we were going to have to ask one of the grandparents to sit out promotion (not that any of them would have minded one on one time with Makenzie), but Georgia volunteered to baby sit for us. We are so thankful to have such wonderful friends so close by. So on our way up to promotion we dropped Makenzie off. Makenzie did a great job for the most part, but woke up very hungry so I ran to Georgia's to feed her before heading home. By the time Makenzie and I got home everyone was there and playing outside on Morgan's swing set.


Knowing me very well and knowing how hard it is to leave your 3 day old baby Georgia sent us text updates throughout the promotion with pictures too!

The cousins hanging out together: Macie, 3 months, Lucas, 2 years 6 months, Makenzie, 3 days

Sleeping peacefully!