Good Morning

From the moment McKaila woke up, she was asking to hold "baby McKenna" as she calls her. I told her as soon as she was done eating breakfast she could hold her sister. She was so excited and couldn't wait to finish up breakfast. The minute she was done eating, she was asking for her sister. So, I sat them in McKaila's chair and had to take a couple pictures.
These girls are so adorable and we are so happy that they love each other so much already.






- Posted using BlogPress from Heather's iPad

Location:Adams Ave,Biloxi,United States

Pure Happiness

I love days when everything seems so easy. Where I can get up before both the girls and get stuff done around the house and get myself together. Or when McKenna wakes up before McKaila so I don't feel like I'm running around trying to get breakfast going, diapers changed and everything in between.

But what makes things easy and makes me fill up with happiness is when after the 3 of us are all full from breakfast, the girls are full of smiles. So, even when all of us all wake at the same time and I'm running around trying to get them both going , seeing these two girls smile makes me forget about all of it. It makes me feel so lucky to have 2 happy and healthy girls.

This is what happens when Daddy doesn't put away his stuff. McKaila takes them and wears them

 

 

You can never resist a sleeping baby. Especially one that loves to be all cuddled up next to you and loves her Minnie blanket

USS Alabama

This past weekend, all we really knew was we really wanted to get out of Biloxi for a while. So, we decided to take a drive. We ended up in Mobile, Alabama, which is about an hour drive from Biloxi. We didn't really know what we were going to do there, so we just ended up driving around. We came across a mall, which we talked about walking around there, but then I looked across the way, and there was Burlington Coat Factory, so we ended up there, since we don't have one here.

While McKaila and I were shopping, Courtney was in the car feeding McKenna and looking up what was near by. He found an outdoor shopping area that we thought would be great to walk around. So, after our shopping was done, we decided to head out towards that way. Well, on our way there, we came across the USS Alabama and it just looked to cool to pass up.

McKaila was so excited to get on the big boat

 

 

 

 

 

Looking out to downtown Mobile

 

McKenna was sound asleep for our whole tour on the USS Alabama

 

 

Next to the boat there is a hanger full of planes and next to the hanger in a submarine that Courtney and McKaila went to go look at while McKenna and I stayed in the air condition

 In the submarine

 

Happy girl

 

It was terribly hot outside and weren't really prepared to be outside in the heat, but we still had lots of fun. This is when an adventure outside of Biloxi becomes a great thing because you get the chance to find really cool things that you didn't know about.

 

 

And we ended the day in Mobile by getting to watch the sun set.

 

Smiles

I am truly enjoying every minute I have with the girls. I feel blessed that I am able to be a stay at home mom and be able to watch all the new things that happen day after day. It does make me sad though that Courtney is missing out on all these things, but he does get many pictures during the day, so hopefully in that way he doesn't feel like he's missing out too badly.

One thing that I truly love is seeing their first smiles. McKaila and McKenna had their first smiles around the same time, about a month and a half old. Getting to see those smiles for the first time, brought tears to my eyes both times and not in a bad way. The smiles on the girls faces are magical and I will never forget them. Seeing smiles on their faces and seeing that they are happy, makes my heart smile. It's the best feeling. These girls are amazing and I am blessed to have them as my daughters.

I know a couple blog posts ago, I had put that McKenna had her first smiles. Since then, I've been trying to get a picture of that beautiful smile, but every time I brought out my phone to take a picture, she would stop, of coarse. But today, I finally got one. I got more than one. She's smiled a lot before, but she's never smiled as much as she did today. I'm so happy that I was able to capture it on the camera.

 

 

 

 

Since McKenna loves to stand and sit to see everything these days, I decided to get out the Bumbo this morning. I didn't really think she would like it a whole lot since she is still little, but she seemed to really like it. Of coarse, when I brought the Bumbo downstairs, McKaila started saying it was hers, so when McKenna was done with it, McKaila had to try it out again.

 

 

 

Growing To Fast

Like most people, I dread Mondays. I don't look forward to Monday's just as much as the next person because on the weekends, I enjoy getting the help with the girls when Courtney is home. Then, Monday comes and I'm on my own again, with no help. But, I've got to say, I'm getting the hang of these two girls now. Yes, it still gets a little overwhelming at times, but I am truly loving every bit of it!

Today (Monday) has gone by great. Yes, I am a little sleepy, but it hasn't been like any other Monday. The girls have both been so great and guess what, both girls are currently sleeping. McKaila hasn't taken naps since we lived back in Waldorf, so having this time for myself has been great! I'm hoping that this nap thing for McKaila lasts because I really want to update the blog more often.

 

 

McKenna has been growing so fast it seems. She's no longer my 6 pound little baby. We did have her weighed and she's now currently weighing in at 9 pounds. McKenna has been smiling a lot more and in the last few days she's been loving standing up on her legs. She could be crying and you hold her up to stand and she's calm as can be.

 

 

As for McKaila. Every day she's saying new words. It's crazy the words that she comes up with and says so clearly. She has a great imagination too! She's always got her stuffed animals and they are always talking to each other.  She's becoming such a big girl and it makes me so sad. I'm not ready for her to grow up.

These two girls are my everything. They are the reason I wake up in the mornings! I truly feel blessed beyond words with these beautiful girls.

 

Family Pictures

This post is way over due, but it's better later then never!

Our plan all along was to get family pictures done while I was still pregnant with McKenna. Well, it didn't exactly happen like I had hoped. We weren't planning on spending the money to get professional pictures done, so we bought a tripod to put the camera on. I wanted to take pictures on the beach with the sun setting, but I also wanted to take other pictures. So, we went searching for the perfect spot to take pictures and every where we thought would be a great spot, ended up not being so great. In the end, we ended up at the beach.

We get to the beach and there is no sun set because it was over cast and it was extremely windy. What a huge bummer. We did get one picture taken before we rushed back to the car because we were getting pelted with sand.

 

 

Days Go By

As I was rocking McKenna to sleep this afternoon, I looked at the clock, and couldn't believe that it was already 3 p.m. I really thought having newborn and toddler to take care of every day, the days would just drag. To my surprise, it's been the total opposite. The days have gone by so fast. It's nice getting a little break in the day when Courtney comes home for lunch, then before I know it, he's home from work for the day.

The days have gone by fast, but it hasn't gone without any struggle. It's been pretty difficult to have a baby that doesn't want to be put down and a toddler that just wants to play. In the end, there we were, all 3 of us, on the floor playing with puzzles and coloring. It was still a little difficult on my end, trying to do all this stuff with one hand because McKenna was in the other, but we worked it out! McKaila was just happy to be playing with Mommy and sister.

 

This past weekend, I did get the chance to stay at home with just McKenna. It was the first time it was just me and her while Courtney took McKaila to get groceries. It was very strange to have it just be me and her without McKaila running around the house, making lots of noise. But I did really enjoy it. It was great, rocking McKenna to sleep and be able to let her stay in my arms as long as possible. I took it all in, that is for sure!

 

 

 

 

You will start to notice that in all the pictures of McKenna sleeping she has her blanket up to her face. That's the only way she will calm down and fall asleep is if she has her blanket on her face in one way or another and wrapped up in her hand.

 

Here is a picture from the other day of how she fell asleep. She is such a cutie!!

 

 

Some fun news about McKenna!!

She started smiling yesterday and she's been doing a lot of cooing!

 

This is off the topic of the girls, but I'm really excited about these!

 

 

This is our new addition to our front porch area. I've always wanted to get rocking chairs for the front of our house, and finally we have them, thanks to the hubby! They have these sales on Keesler where they sell stuff from the Fisher House and the hotels that they have replaced and Courtney scored these from the Fisher House. One of them is from Cracker Barrel and the other one was made around the area! Courtney is excited to start sanding them and stain them! And I'm excited to rock McKenna and be able to watch McKaila play in the front yard!

 

On My Own

Courtney is now getting back into the swing of things at work after having 20 days off from work when McKenna was born. Now it's up to me to take care of the girls on my own. To be honest, I was very nervous about that day. I wasn't too sure if I could handle it all on my own. Every thought came rushing through my head. What am I going to do when both of them are crying? when they both want my attention? and so on. But like always, I was nervous for nothing. It hasn't been too bad. Of coarse there are times where I feel like there isn't enough of me to go around, but in the end it all works its self out.

I am incredibly thankful that McKaila is wanting to help out with everything McKenna. She helps hand me bottles when I am burping her, hands me her blankets and always wants to make sure she's happy and when she's not, McKaila is giving McKenna her pacifier. McKaila is one wonderful big sister that is for sure and we are always reminding her of it too!

Pictures of McKenna and McKaila at around the same age

This is what I call LOVE

Getting some Boppy time in

But after a while, it's nap time for McKenna

 

This is a picture of McKaila that I took of her yesterday for my dad, but I had to share it with everyone because she's so stinkin' cute

 

 

When she saw her Tigers shirt, she tells me that her shirt is like Papa's. And proceeds to tell me all day long that she looks like Papa. How cute is that?!?