Food, Food, Food

Unfortunately these are not the pictures of Mackenzie's first time eating. Those pictures were adorable...included the dog helping clean her face. But sadly they disappeared via the Brice Monster who got a hold of my camera. When I went to download the pictures all I found were 42 pictures of the TV, the ceiling, the floor, etc. He must have deleted all the others first. Stinker! But here are a few of one of her first times eating "real" food. I don't remember my boys being quite so excited about eating. Mackenzie seems to love anything and is always reaching for what I am eating. She cried when I walked away with the yogurt I had let her try. She went to town on Brice's McDonald's ice cream cone. Too bad I don't have pictures of that. Yes, I know, I know, I shouldn't be giving her ice cream. (It was just a taste, not a bowl full). I have always been a relaxed mom about everything (except naps or anything to do with sleep--I am the Nap Nazi) but with baby number 3... its even harder to not share the things that I love (i.e. ice cream).

Its like when the vet says you should only feed your dog "dog food". Yeah, right! Half the reason I got a dog was so she would clean up the food the boys drop on the floor. I will say we hardly ever give her people food, when we do she goes crazy and won't leave you alone the next time you have something.

Yet, when the doctor asked me, at her 4 month well child check, if I was ready to start her on solids I said "no way!" Solid food means more money and more things to pack when I go places. But I realized after she kept diving at my food that she was ready. Besides, I have several days worth of frozen breast milk that works great for making rice cereal. I supposed I should use that liquid gold before it isn't good anymore.

Dane really wanted to help her eat. At first he thought he could just stick the bowl on her tray and she would feed herself. When I explained that she didn't know how he decided to give it a try. He found it harder than he thought and was excited when he suceeded.

Sweet Stuff

Last night I went to a "Mom's Night Out" at The Melting Pot. Cool place! Its a fondue restaurant. There is a little cook top in the center of your table where they heat up the dipping stuff. We were just planning on having dessert but I was starving so we decided to try out the cheese also. We had an interesting Carribean cheese and dipped bread, veggies and apples in it. The chocolate was yummy! It was called "Flaming Turtle" and had chocolate, caramel and pecans. We decided that chopped nuts in the chocolate isn't so great because it makes dipping everything else hard. I really like rice crispy treats, marshmallows, bananas and strawberries dipped in the chocolate. They also had cheese cake and brownies.

So, The Melting Pot was a great restaurant but the best part was going out with friends and feeling like a girl instead of always a mom. Thanks to Dan for not giving me too hard of a time for wanting to go out and making sure he was home to be with the kids. I was even able to leave Mackenzie home because she was asleep before we left. Which brings me to the sweetest part of the night:

Sweet, sweet, Sleep!! Yep, Mackenzie finally learned how to roll back onto her back. She learned to roll from her back to her stomach about a month ago. She really likes playing on her stomach but doesn't like to sleep that way. So when she would wake up she would automatically roll to her stomach and then get frustrated because she couldn't roll back over. (Its been a rough month of sleepless nights). But last night she was in bed before 7:00 and I didn't have to go in to her until 4:00. She soothed herself to sleep at least once and I even found her asleep on her stomach. Whoohoo!! She may have even gone back to sleep at 4:00 on her own but I needed to feed her. She ate enough :0) and then went back to sleep and didn't wake up until 7:30. Sleep, sweet, sweet sleep!!

Baby Entertainment

So I realized as I was editing pictures that we have a whole bunch of baby toys. Well, maybe toys isn't the right answer. Baby entertaining apparatus?? In my mission to take more pictures of Mackenzie doing something instead of just being dressed up, I ended up with pictures of her in her entertainments centers. I haven't quite figured out how to post things here yet so I am just going to do individual posts for each picture. Sorry...I will figure out the whole blogging thing...eventually.

The Swing

So the first item we used was the swing. I had a portable swing that worked well with Dane but he never really liked it and it was even worse with Brice. I knew that I wanted a full-sized swing with Mackenzie. Of course the first place I looked was Craigslist (the greatest website!!). I found the exact wing I wanted for less than half the cost of a new one. If you have used a swing before you know that it only gets used for the first 6 or 7 months so a used one is still in great shape. This one worked great at the newborn stage... basically used to keep Mackenzie sleeping. Now she only likes it if she is in the same room as me, facing me so she can see me and only if I periodically look at her and say something.

The Bouncy Seat

The next one we used was the "bouncy seat." Actually I guess even before that we borrowed a "Papasan Vibrating Seat". These are great for putting on the bathroom counter so that the baby can see you while showering, putting on make-up, and doing your hair. I never used one with Dane and I borrowed one for a short time for Brice...he liked it okay but wasn't crazy about it. I didn't want to buy one if Mackenzie wasn't going to like it. So I borrowed the Papasan Vibrating Seat thinger and she liked it. Back to Craigslist! I found a used one for $10. Whoohoo! This one lasts and even shorter amount of time than the swing so definitly better to buy a used one.

Entertainment Mat

Another baby item that I did have with both boys was the entertainment mat. But I had a really cheesy one that was a pain to put together and the boys never seemed that entertained by it. I saw one in the stores that I really liked...I am a big Baby Einstein fan! But, hello, $65 ?!? Are you kidding me? So again, Craigslist...here I come! I was so excited when I found the exact one "in like new condition with original packaging" for $35. Surprisingly, Mackenzie seems more into it now than she was before she learned to roll around on it.

Exersaucer

This one is perhaps my favorite. We had a hand me down one with Dane that wasn't nearly as cool. When I had Brice I had a great group of friends :0) who threw me a baby shower. I didn't really need much but I really wanted the Baby Einstein model. Brice loved it and I think it is probably Mackenzie's favorite of all her entertainment centers.

The new age Jumperoo

My friend Annie had a baby two months after me. She is the one who loaned me the Papasan Seat. She offered to let me borrow her free standing Jumperoo for a couple months until her daughter is ready for it. Its another one of those cool things that I wanted but had decided not to purchase (more $$$ but also it takes up a lot of space). Mackenzie really likes this one but isn't really happy unless you are near by watching her jump.

The Bumbo Seat

This is a newer item that is supposed to help baby learn to sit up. I always thought it was cool, but they are $30+ in the stores. I didn't get around to searching for one until last week (when I realized that Mackenzie could sit for a short period of time on her own, already). I didn't want to invest a lot of money in one because I waited so long and the window of use is closing. So I borrowed one. Its pretty cool. In the picture she is playing with yet another baby entertainer that we acquired when Brice was a baby. I thought it would be cool to take this Bumbo Seat to the Lake this weekend but didn't want to ruin one that I borrowed. So, guess what?! You got it! In about 30 minutes I am headed down the street to pick up a Bumbo Seat found on Craigslist for, you'll never guess....$5!!! Yay!! It can get destroyed in Lake Mead Mud for that much!!

The Jumper

And last, but definitly not least...the doorway Jumper. Now this is a classic! We've had this one since Dane was a baby. I am pretty sure my parents had one when I was little. Ours has been the apparatus of choice for hours of baby entertainment (and even some sleeping). The only catch...you have to have a house with molding around the doorways. Thankfully in this house we do. Today was Mackenzie's first time in it. She was a bit tired when I put her in the first time but later seemed to enjoy it. Do you think it would be too distracting to hang it in the doorway of the Primary Room when I am conducting or doing Sharing Time??

To blog or not to blog...that was my question.

I spend WAY too much time on the computer. Its not that I am "surfing the internet" or playing games but somehow between MOMS Club organization, bills, research on parenting, the occasional shopping, stuff for Primary, reading my three family websites, looking at friends' blogs, editing pictures and of course the endless email, I spend more time than I would like to on the computer. I had thought about creating my own blog but like I mentioned before, I have THREE family websites that I post stuff on (my parents their extended family, Dan's family and my grandma's extended family). But it seems like every week another friend tells me that they have a blog and that I should really start one too. But, I still was against it because I was about five months behind on my journal writing (which is also on the computer). If I was going to spend MORE time on the computer it really should be catching up and staying caught up on that. But then I had some time this week and, going all the way back to Christmas, I caught up. Hooray! Then I started thinking about a blog. I am justifying it with the hope that I will spend a few minutes every once in awhile posting my thoughts, and feelings and all the funny little things that happen when you are raising three kids. I am so horrible at keeping up in my journal that I dread it because I always have to catch up and never get around to writing about NOW. And when you are catching up you forget all the details...especially the feelings and the funny stories. So I decided "to blog" hoping that I will capture the real essence of life. So here goes...

Tutti Tot

This is a really long video, but it is really funny! I knew I had to get it recorded before they realized just how silly they looked! The end is the best.