Little Miss 10 Months Old

McKenna turned 10 months old the other day! (Please ignore the squash stained shirt in this picture)!! She is really starting to develop her own little personality. Last night, Amy and I and all the kids were practicing singing some carols for our upcoming Christmas carolling night (this is something we've never done before, but will definitely be a blog worthy event). All six of us were singing Jingle Bells and McKenna was sitting there staring at us wondering what was going on. Apparently she wanted to join in because the next thing we knew she was singing "daaadaaa, laalaa" at the top of her lungs all while clapping her hands. Oh my word, so cute!

She can roll all over the place and loves to take the books off bookshelves. She now weighs 20lbs 14oz and is wearing size 12-18month clothes. She says; Dad, Dada, Mum, Bubu(bottle) and a variety of other sounds. Her favorite thing to do is stand and she's getting pretty good at taking steps when you hold her hands. Most of the time she stays pretty still and likes to just sit on the floor and have everyone else wait on her. Christian, Abby, Nate and Emma are pretty good at giving McKenna whatever she wants, so she doesn't have much motivation to move.
A close up of McKenna's slippers! Love them!
McKenna's daddy seems to still get the biggest smiles. Christian gets the most laughs and I get all the snuggles! What a JOY our sweet McKenna Grace is!

Little Reader

McKenna loves touch and feel books. They really are her favorite "toy."
You can sit her on the couch with one of her books and she's happy for the next half an hour. No other toy can entertain her for such a period of time. It's rather amazing. She turns the pages by herself and touches the different textures she sees on the page! I love seeing her pre-reading skills develop at such an early age. Doesn't she look so grown up?

Little Miss Nine Months Old

((Sigh)) Guess who is officially nine months old now? Little Miss McKenna! She is inching closer and closer to the one year mark. It seems to be coming so quickly. There isn't an ounce of newborn left in her. She is a handful to hold. She has no interest in sitting politely. She wants to stand, pull your hair, stick her fingers in your nose, bounce up and down and try to crawl away all at the same time.
McKenna and I have been spending an extra amount of time together these days. She has pneumonia again (she had it in June). She had an x-ray on Saturday that finally confirmed it. This little girl has had her fair share of health issues, mainly respiratory. Unfortunately, she seems to be taking after me as a child and Emma too. This is what our last few months have been like: Aug 27th - first ear infection, Sept. 20th - second ear infection, October 13th - third ear infection (all the same ear), Nov. 8th - pneumonia. That's a lot of antibiotics which isn't good. Lots of stomach issues and a very sore bottom as a result of it all. And sleeping - forget it! For about a month now she's been waking up 3-5 times a night. I usually give up at about 4am and just bring her into bed with me. So we're both pretty tired and if I'm being honest I'm pretty grouchy most days too. I'm trying to enjoy those sweet moments in the middle of the night when she just needs some comfort because her ear hurts or because she's having trouble breathing through her nose. I know that I will long for these days one day, when I'll just want her to need me. When I hold her at night I do stare at her sweet face, perfect little ears and long eye lashes, knowing how blessed I am. Knowing what a miracle she is. Knowing I'm incomplete without her. Just the same, I'm just praying that we can get these respiratory issues straightened out quickly and that they won't keep coming back! Here's McKenna singing in her bed! She can now make a whole host of different sounds. She's quite a noisy girl and can really frustrate her brother when he's trying to watch one of "his shows." My favorites sounds are of course Dada and her latest one MumMum. She's not crawling yet, but she does scoot all over the place. Her favorite thing is standing. She would stand all the time if she could.

And look out, this girl has quite a grip! Christian actually thinks it's really funny when she attacks him. He gets close to her and says "Get me Kenna, get me!" They really have a good time playing together. McKenna's hair has finally started to grow. It's down over her ears just a little bit. She's tried some real food, but doesn't like it. Apparently, canned baby food bananas are much better than the mushed up real thing. Still just the two bottom teeth.

So that's the update on my cutie pie! I hope the next nine months don't go by this fast!

"From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another." 1 John 1:16

Slow Down McKenna, Slow Down

Slow down sweet girl! You're growing up too fast!

This dress is my absolute favorite and she wore it for the last time on Sunday. Nine month stuff just doesn't fit anymore. I could hardly get it buttoned in the back.
And here she is standing up. Ignore the fact that she's trying to eat the remote! She loves the remote and somehow gets her hands and mouth on it all the time.

Standing up in her crib too. Now don't get excited. She doesn't pull herself to a stand (although she can pull herself into a sitting position), I stood her there. But she can stand there for quite some time all by herself!
I can't believe she's almost nine months old. Oh my word! How did that happen?

Girl in the hood

Big Brother, Little Sister

It's so fun to watch Christian and McKenna's relationship develop! They are really starting to become friends. No one can get McKenna to laugh like Christian can. She loves taking baths with him because he's so entertaining. She laughs all the time when he's around. I love it! I love it that they love each other!

McKenna washing Christian's hair! They're so funny!

Christian had been playing peek-a-boo with McKenna and she thought it was hysterical. Of course he stopped playing with her as soon as I got the camera, but McKenna still thought it was funny when I was talking about it. Check it out.

8 Months Old Today

McKenna is eight months old today! In honor of this occasion she decided to make her first big mess! Check out the picture, she's even laughing about it! While my back was turned she pulled her sweet potatoes onto the floor. Her big brother saw it happen and he took the opportunity to correct her and explain that you get "discaplin" when you do things like that! Then he told me to put her in time-out! I can tell already that Christian is going to be a great tattle tale!

McKenna also marked this day with the arrival of her second tooth! I was actually really excited to see it because she was up five times last night. Yes, five times. I thought I was going to loose my mind. She just cried and wanted to be held. I knew something was wrong and almost took her to the doctor today to have her ears checked, but then the tooth showed up. Hopefully tonight will be a little more pleasant!

Just a few little McKenna facts:

-Weighs exactly 19lbs

-Loves to play with her toes

-Used to hold her hands together all the time and now she's stopped that (sad...it was so cute)

-Sits up quite well and can even catch herself when she starts falling backward

-Gives very wet kisses

-Loves to grab noses and ears. Don't even think about wearing earrings!

-Can hold a bottle by herself

-Favorite food is definitely bananas

-Flips from back to stomach and then screams

-Won't flip off of her stomach because she's too busy pitching a fit (so her brother "saves" her)

-Loves to hang out in her jumperoo!!!!

-Recognizes her name

-Says "dada" on command. Says "sss" and "gaga"
-She adores her binkie! She pulls it out of her mouth to "talk" and then puts it back in herself.

-Spends a lot of time "talking" to her binkie!

-Loves to turn her head around in the car and watch me while I'm driving. Seriously, it's the cutest thing to look back and see her neck all twisted around just so she can keep an eye on me. I've got to get a picture of it!

Happy 8 Months my sweet Kenna girl! We love you so much!!