18 months!!

I put Mackenzie in her own little music class because she loves music and dancing as much as Cameron does.  So I go in with her class like I did when Cameron was this age.  We have our class the same time Cameron is in his class.  We get out 10 minutes before his class ends so we can join his class the last 10 minutes.  It is so much better because Mackenzie gets to enjoy herself instead of us just waiting for Cameron at the studio while he is in class.

She is really observant and serious when she is in a new environment (just like Cameron....they have so many similarities) and she likes to take it all in.  We have gone to 3 classes prior to this and today she came out of her little shell.  I captured some fun pictures and a cute video.  I wish I had taken a video when they were playing musical instruments.  She was really into it.

We went to Mackenzie's 18 month well check last week and she was fine until we walked in the door and then she showed some signs of PTSD :)  She knew immediately where she was and was a little leery of being there.  She enjoyed looking at the "FISH" but wouldn't completely let her guard down.  After the Dr. checked her over and left the room, the nurse came in to give her a shot.  Mackenzie saw her put on the glove and that's when she went and hid behind the chair.  She knew immediately what was going on. She started to whimper even before the shot.  She cried bloody murder for about 3 minutes after and then when the nurse asked her if she wanted a troy/prize she immediately stopped crying and pointed to the door.  She is pretty tough, I think she was just really mad.   She is growing...still pretty slowly, but growing none the less.  She is 31" tall (27%) weighs 19 lbs 12 oz (-3%) and her head is 47 cm (51%).  She is just a cute itty bitty teeny tiny girl....and I love everything about her.  She says about 100 words consistently and repeats anything you say.  She knows what you are saying and talking about.  I think it's funny she knows the names of Cameron's stuffed animals.  She will go get them when I ask Cameron or her where MoJoe is or something.  She loves music, and to play her music class CD's while you hold her and dance.  Every day we go down stairs and play her songs and she puts her head on my shoulder while we dance around.  If she says "baby" to you that means she wants you to hold her and sing Rock a bye Baby in the tree tops....  I think I do that 50 times a day.  She laughs a lot and loves to tease Cameron by taking his toys and running.  She hides under my bed or anywhere she can after she grabs and runs!  Kenzie does EVERYTHING her brother does, including climbing on anything, jumping off everything, and just loves to copy what he is doing.  She loves to give hugs and gives the BEST kisses on the cheek ever....it is my favorite thing!  She is so friendly saying "hi" and waving to everyone everywhere we are.  Most people smile and say hi back commenting on how friendly and cute she is.  She is a great eater.  Usually eating more than Cameron.  She is a dipper and if she isn't liking some kind of food, just give her  any type of sauce for her to dip it in and she will finish off the food.  She always says "whoo wee" when you change her diaper.  She knows when she is poopie and she will bring you a diaper and say "whoo wee" I thought if I started giving her one nap a day, instead of two, she might sleep longer than her 1/2 hour nap.  But that isn't the case!  She takes one 1/2 hour nap a day now and still wakes up between 5:30 and 6:00 am every morning!!  We love our little Mackenzie :)

St. Patty's Day

Cameron wanted to wear his green and blue striped tie to church today (good thing because that is pretty much the only green thing he has).    After dinner Cameron helped me make doughnuts and we decorated them with green and white sprinkles.

I love how Mackenzie is dumping sprinkles on Cameron's doughnut while he isn't looking :)

He wanted chocolate cake doughnuts so that's what we made!

Mackenzie enjoys anything dessert...

After bath time we went searching for something the sneaky leprechaun left....we found these dinosaur pajamas in the play house.  Sneaky leprechaun!  Cameron was sooooo excited he could hardly stand it!  He was wanting/needing some new jammies bad and he said "how did that sneaky leprechaun know I needed pajamas?  That is so silly!"

Disaster strikes

It's been about 2 months since I discovered the roof was leaking into Mackenzie's room....the repair process has been a long one.  Her room is finally fixed and put back together.  Jeremy had gone on a camping trip with the scouts one weekend and I was getting ready to put Mackenzie to bed.  I don't use her changing table much anymore.  When I get her out of the bath I usually just take her to my bed or on the couch, sometimes just the floor.  Anyway, something make me think I should put her on her changing table that night to get her ready for bed.  It seemed like too much trouble to take her in her room so I decided not to, then I thought about it again....so finally I put her on her table.  She usually doesn't just lay still when you put her diaper on and her pajamas.  So she was kicking and rolling, kicking her lamp over.  As I reached for the lamp it knocked off one of the shutters I have hanging on her wall.  Behind the shutter was this lovely water bubble!! The ceiling was bowing and I was concerned about putting her to bed...what if her ceiling collapsed or this water burst through the wall??  I didn't know how bad it was, so I called a guy in the neighborhood that is a contractor to come over.  He got on the roof and noticed we had a nice ice dam and major snow back up.  It was going under the shingles and into her wall.  We have had a really bad winter this year with more snow than the past several years.  That mixed with the pitch of our roof and the angle where it ends right over her room (and one side of the garage) caused problems!

I called and made an insurance claim on that Monday and an adjuster came out about a week later and quoted the damage to her room but said they didn't do the roof adjustment quote so I had to call a roofer and he came to give his bid....such a long process!!  Then the insurance gave me the run around saying they weren't going to cover the roof because they don't cover "poor workmanship" or "normal wear and tear"  I had to fight that and after a week of no response we had to go ahead and fix the roof regardless if they were going to pay or not.  So finally after 5 days of roofers the roof was fixed.  Now the disaster clean up people could come in.  They tore apart the wall and found mold!  This created new issues.  They had to leave fans and a dehumidifier in her room for a week to dry it out.  I took everything out of her room including cleaning out her closet and taking down her curtains!  She temporally moved into Cameron's room, her crib and some of her stuff made if difficult for anyone to play in his room.  Cameron was so cute about the whole thing and let his sister "borrow" his room and slept downstairs in a sleeping bag....for about a week and a half!  What a brave little trooper he was.

The black spots are mold.

Because the garage didn't have insulation inside they didn't have to cut as much of it out.  They just cut a chunk of the wall and a chunk of the ceiling and then ran fans in there for a week.  After it was all dry they came every day to work on it all and put it back together.  It was super annoying to wait for workman every day and be home all day!  But we survived and it is back to normal again.  Oh and the insurance lady was giving me problems about paying for the mold removal etc saying we waited too long to report it and have the people come out etc.  However, after fighting it and the claim being transferred to a senior adjuster it was all covered!!  I never give up a good fight...

The mold specialist team had to go in and out of Mackenzie's window since they taped off her room and didn't want to expose the rest of the house/air.  He was wearing a breathing mask thing, but started taking if off when I took the picture.  I was trying to be sneaky, I didn't want him to know I was taking a picture.  So the disaster is over.  Thank heavens!  It could have been worse, so I am grateful it wasn't.  Hopefully we won't have any more disasters (fingers crossed)

60 degrees!!

 

Mackenzie is all about being outside!  Now that its "warm" outside we can comfortably be out there most of the day.  Today was actually 70 but this week it's mostly been 60-65.  Mackenzie cracks me up.  She is one determined little girl she just jumped on the fourwheeler and pushed the buttor...off she went.  I helped her steer a little bit here and there but she has no fear.  I am not sure she has much caution either.  It doesn't help that she has a big brother and she wants to do everything he does either.

 



she runs and jumps on the swing on her tummy (like she sees Cameron do) and likes to swing that way on the big swing.  She climbs up the ladder and goes down he slide all by herself.  She says ready, GO!

 



 

She is not afraid to get dirty, in fact she likes it and purposly dumps the bucket of sand on her after she fills it up.  What a fun little twerp she is :)  This is going to be a great summer!!

Ski day

Jeremy and I got in our annual ski day a few Saturday's ago.  It was the BEST day ever.  We had so much fun.  The weather was amazing!  The snow was good.  We have had a really good snow year this year so that was awesome.  We went to the Canyons and I had forgotten how much I liked that place.  We couldn't have asked for a more fun, enjoyable day.  The only thing I would change is the price of tickets!  I can't believe the tickets have gone up to $105 per ticket!!!  Good thing we had a majorly disconted coupon.  I remember back in the day when my parents would give us $100 at the begining of the ski year and we could go all winter with that amount....

I want to ski as a family and teach Cameron and Mackenzie, but I am not sure how that will be possible??

 

 

I think this might of had something to do with it being the best day ever.....Bruges Waffles right there at the base of one of the lifts!!  Jeremy made me ski a few runs before we "stopped" to get one.  It made me get down the hill a little faster :)  A little piece of Heaven on the slopes.

All aboard!

I took the kids to the mall the other day and after a little shopping we went to Dino Towne.  Mackenzie had only been to this little play area once before I think.  Anyway, the mall train parks right there by the enterance/exit to Dino Towne and that is where it starts and finishes the rides.  Mackenzie has a strong interest in trains and would escape the play area evey chance she got.  Every time she thought she saw the train, heard the train, smelled the train, or missed the train she bolted out and over to the train.  I finally caved in and we rode the train.  It's $3 a person, so I didn't really want to pay $9, but then a good idea came to me "hey we can use some of the money Grammy and Grampy gave you for Valentine's Day to ride the train!" I had fun just watching Mackenzie.  She was in heaven (until it stopped and she had to get off) she was so cute to sit on my lap and then she wanted to stand and look out the window.  I haven't gone back to that mall because there is no way we will be able to go there and not ride the train now!!

 



Cleaning

Cameron has always loved to help me clean.  He likes to use the Clorox wipes and clean stuff, spray Windex and wipe mirrors and glass tops, vacuum, pick up his toys, wash dishes (which is mostly playing in the soapy water with the scrub sponge and a few items), and his latest favorite thing to do is mop!  I was mopping the floor and he asked if he could have a turn.  So I let him have his turn, which ended up being 20 minutes!  He was entertained that long by it.  The funniest part is as he was mopping he said, "this is what I do mom.  I dream about cleaning."  Seriously could not stop laughing.  What a well rounded kid....and lucky me :) The next day he randomly asked if he could mop.  It seems to be in Mackenzie's blood too, she sees me cleaning and points and squeels for a wipe, so I give her one and she wipes down the walls and the floor.  The other day she was using the wipe on some of her toys.  With all this cleaning going on you would think the house wouldn't look like a tornado hit it every day!