"1, 2, 3!"

Today has just been one of those days. And it is only 2 o'clock!

Within 10 minutes of being up with Makenna she had been on time out twice. What is that all about? Isn't everyone supposed to be well rested and in a good mood in the morning?

I feel like the first half of my day has been spent counting to three, walking a little girl to the corner with a needy little boy in my arms (for some reason Kellen is anti-napping today) and breathing slowly so that I can try and maintain at least a little patience. Days like this make me wonder, "Is it my kids just being feisty and frustrating today, or am I just being snappy and impatient?"

The two things that I do not tolerate well, if at all, are screaming and hitting/kicking/pushing. And today has just been one of those days. Makenna NEVER used to hit or kick or anything of the sort. But I have seen her be on the recieving end of it a number of times at parks and playgrounds. And now all of the sudden she is trying it out. It is driving me nuts! She rarely does it very hard. Most of the time it is completely random and pretty mild, but still, it is unacceptable. Any advice from others that have gone through this?

Anyway, I am just trying to take a few minutes to vent and then remind myself how cute my kids can be and that I love and adore them more than anything in this world. I wouldn't have my life any other way. But wow, some days just get to you.

Kenna's juice mustache. She really like to talk about mustaches right now. Don't ask me why.

Kellen loks scared out of his mind here, but really he was just excited. He loves sitting up in his big boy seat now in the stroller.

Since Kellen has a binky, Kenna has decided she needs one too. So every once in awhile she will pretend like she is crying and want me to put her binky in for her. What a silly girl.

What a nude little stud.

Little water babies.

This was good for me. Whenever I look at pictures of my kids while they are sleeping I think to myself "How can I ever get frustrated with such cute, loving little kids? They mean the world to me!" I know I am only human and it happens to every parent. But it is good for me to take a "time out" myslef on days like this. Hopefully part two will go a bit smoother. :)

Good Days

The last week or so the kids and I have been having really good days. We have our moments here and there, that is for sure. But we have been having a lot of fun and I think we have all been really enjoying each other. We pulled out the camera a few times so here you go....your McKamey family (or should I say McKamey kids) update.
Kellen really is the sweetest little boy there is.
They decided to go with a serious pose on this one. My little models playing it cool.For St. Patricks day I was lame and did not bother dressing anyone up in green, so instead we made green cupcakes with green frosting and drank green milk. Makenna LOVED it!

I guess this is what happens when you have an older sister. You get dressed up in her pink sunglasses....and he still looks cute!

Makenna's jump rope adventures continue. This is what I discovered her doing most recently. I don't think I have yet seen her "jump" with the rope....she finds better uses for it.

HALLELUJAH!!!

After only 4 months of waiting, the trampoline that we ordered for Makenna at Christmas Time has finally come! Todd, the furniture and I all rejoice!

I have never known a child to love jumping more than my darling little Makenna. Seriously, she spends a good amount of time each day hopping, bouncing, jumping, something of the sort. And our beds and couch have been taking the brunt of it. (We made the mistake of allowing her to jump on furniture when she was little and it was cute because she was learning. But now she is big and a pro at it and the jumping was just getting out of control)

But all of that is better now. Kenna has her place to jump. She is only aloud to jump on her trampoline and she is happy as can be with that. There is no doubt that this purchase was worth every penny. She is on it constantly and will now actually wear herself out a bit. Even if it is only for a few minutes before she rests and recharges, at least it is something. It is just nice to have a place inside that she can burn some energy and keep herself occupied.
For anyone that has a "busy" child like I do, I highly recommend a trampoline :)

At least I can say I tried....

So, Makenna has been asking for awhile now to go to Sea World. She loves it there soooo much. And we have season passes, so we should go often. But since I had Kellen, I have been a little intimidated to take the two of them there alone.

But after a few weeks, Makenna's persistence paid off. So we packed up our bag and decided to go to Sea World for a few hours in the afternoon.
In a lot of ways it went much better than expected! Really, it did. But we had a couple of moments that I thought were worth sharing.

First, we are on our way out of the Penguin exhibit and about to head to the Shamu show (which starts in 10 minutes on the other side of the park, so we are in a hurry!) We get to the stroller fine (you had to leave the stroller outside) and I start putting Kellen in his seat. Out of the corner of my eye I see Makenna walking away from me. I call her name and tell her to come back here. She is getting further and further away. I call her name again. No response whatsoever! I then turn my full attention to her and realize she is chasing a pigeon. I start calling her name a little louder and firmer and start heading after her. The pigeon (and Makenna) head straight toward the line where people are waiting to go on a ride. So the pigeon, and Makenna, are weaving in and out, over and under, all the way through the chains and poles and people in line. And here I am, walking around the perimeter yelling her name (she is not responding in any way, shape or form...her focus is the bird) and trying to get to her...but of course I have the stroller, so how do I do that? As Makenna gets further and further away I realize I have to go in there to get her. So I bail on the stroller and leave poor Kellen with a Sea World attendant and take off weaving in and out, over and under, through the chains and line of people. Meanwhile, everyone in line is pointing and smiling and laughing at Makenna and saying things like "That is so funny" "How Cute" and "How Precious!" I am thinking "Yeah, really darn precious...You want her?" Finally I get to my darling Makenna and pick her up and carry her away. And, of course, as I go to step over the final chain to get back to the stroller my foot gets caught and three poles fall over. I pick those up and reassemble the line with Makenna in my arms (I don't dare put her down!) As we were walking away I was able to reflect on what just happened and see a bit of humor in it all. So I decide we will go on with our Sea World afternoon.
Right before we were getting ready to leave we stopped by the kids play area. I always let Makenna run around at the very end to tire her out completely before getting in the car. It's a sure way to get a nap out of her. In this play area they have areas for smaller children and little things to do on the ground. Then there are a few nets and stairs that lead up to a number of tunnels and bridges and what not that are up in the air. I have taken Makenna up there before when I've had someone to stay with Kellen. I told Makenna that we would not be going up there today because baby Kellen is too small to go up there and mommy has to be with the baby at all times. Everything was going well. We were playing down on the ground and having a grand old time. And then all of the sudden, of course, Makenna takes off in a sprint and heads right for the stairs that lead to one of the tunnels. I chase after her calling her name, telling her no, "Makenna, come here right now!" No response (you would think the child was deaf...selective hearing???) And so in the tunnel Makenna goes and I am stuck on the ground with the stroller thinking What now? Well, I followed underneath Makenna as she ran over bridges, through tunnels, across nets for a good 10 minutes terrified the entire time that I would lose sight of her in the mass of children over head and would have a missing two year old in this huge park. Finally Makenna takes the slide down, I grab her, drag her to the stroller, strap her in and say "We are going home!" And what is her response? "Thank you, mama! So much fun!"

This is just a picture of Makenna from today. She decided to put her panties on her head, so of course I had to capture the moment. It was later that I realized how appropriate this picture is for her. I call this picture "Butthead" :)

Seriously?!

My kids just amaze me and crack me up. Take a look...
Here is what I found today when I went to check on Makenna in her room. She was supposed to be getting herself a new pair of panties. When I came in this is what I saw...I guess this is Makenna's way of saying she is ready for summer. This pic is for all you people who think Kellen is as big as Makenna. He is not. He is darn close for being 2 years younger than her. And I know it won't be long until he is bigger than her. But here is how they stack up for now.My baby is big enough for the swings...awww...Kellen swinging.....Makenna swinging.....They truly are born with their own personalities. He's getting to be such a good sitter! I think he is really proud of it too :) It's so weird to see them playing side by side. Weird, but wonderful! Sibling love! She really does just adore him And lastly, I went to get Makenna to come inside and this is what I found...Makenna has wanted a jump rope for awhile now (she saw one on Elmo's world), so I got her one last week. After about two days with it she decided it would be great to use to repel down the hill in our backyard. Really it was quite impressive. She had to jump rope hooked onto the stump and was going up and down it. That's just SO Makenna.... The kid also wants a pogo stick (what kind of two year olds ask for a pogo stick??). As you can probably guess, she will not be getting one. Can you imagine what she would do with one???

A Vertical View....and other things

On the top of the exciting charts for the week is Mr. Kellen Boy's newest accomplishment. He has gone from staring at the ceiling to sitting up and, well, looking at a his toes a lot. Kellen started sitting alone the end of last week. At first it was a really bad impression of sitting alone, but he is getting better and more straight up every day. He is really getting the hang of balancing on that cushy behind and seems to love it.

He is also a rolling machine all of the sudden. Up until today he had probably only rolled 10 times or so. But today something just clicked and he now has it figured out. The kid probably rolled 30+ times today. He is only going from his back to his belly right now, but he seems to really want to be on his belly. It is so cute to see him doing these new things. And Makenna gets really excited over it all. But I also had my mommy moment today of "Oh, my baby boy is growing up so fast." :( He is going to be 5 months old in a couple of days. It just seems crazy to think that he will be crawling soon. It happens in a flash.

So here are a few pics of the little man doing his new trick. And then a few more random pics from the week for everyone to enjoy.

This is him the first night he was sitting....sort of the leaned over look. But he's doing it! And he is already so much better!Makenna trying so hard to pose and be a good girl Fun times when Daddy gets home

When we go to the park these days Makenna would gladly stay on the swing the entire time. She could swing for HOURS! I swear! It probably shouldn't bug me, and if it makes her happy to swing I should just push her for as long as she wants until we have to leave. But it makes me crazy. We are at the park to burn energy. There are slides and things to climb and jump of and hang on....go run! Don't just sit there! But she is cute doing it...sigh...

It never stops... My babies love their auntie! And we can't wait to see little Brooke whose cookin' away in that cute little belly.