Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Big Boy and Bowling

4 months old. Can you believe it? Little Conner is 4 months old. For some reason this always feels like the first big infant milestone for me. It seems like babies change a lot around the 4 month mark. They start getting really good with their hand/eye coordination. They start rolling good and getting ready to sit and crawl and really begin to interact with their toys and do more social playing. It is bittersweet to think that Conner is at this point. In some ways it makes me sad that my baby boy is growing so fast. This always happens and their is no way of stopping it, but it continues to make me sad. But it is also fun to watch him change and grow and learn.
Yesterday we had his 4 month apt and Conner is doing wonderfully. He checked in at 16 lbs 11 oz (74%) and was 27 inches long (96%). Comparing him to his big brother, at 4 months Kellen was 18 lbs 9 oz and 29 inches long. So yes, I know that Conner is a big boy. But you can understand now why Conner feels like a small baby boy to me. Because in comparison to his brother, he is a fair bit smaller. Conner is our petite little McKamey :)
These days Conner is really good at grabbing his toys and getting them straight to his mouth. He always has his fingers in their too, and I believe if I took his binky away he would surely suck on his fingers instead of the binky. He is very close to rolling from his back to his tummy. He is always rolling onto his side and trying to reach for things. When he is on his tummy he is already doing this thing where he pushes off the ground with is feet and sort of scoots himself forward. Sometimes he even gets his knees up and under him. I don't know if its intentional or not, but it makes me feel like he is well on his way to being a crawler. He is also not too far from sitting on his own. So many big boy things happening. Happy 4 months Conner!

Already looking up to his big brother.

Kellen really just melts over Conner. He is so sweet with babies. And he just can't get enough of him. I just love watching them play together already.
Kellen got really excited when he found this baby baseball cap and quickly had to put in on Conner. He then proceeded to try and put his crocs on Conner as well. He thought it was hilarious that they were so big on him, so he kept putting them on over and over again.
Conner was a good sport about it all....he just loves the attention.

The cutest double chin I've ever seen.
Makenna has suddenly taken to running around the house again like this.
Last weekend we decided we needed to get out and do something fun as a family, so I thought that it might be fun for us all to go bowling together. It did turn out to be a lot of fun. Kellen sort of got tired out part way through, I was nervous almost the whole time that our kids would stick there hands in the place where the ball come back up and would chop their fingers off, and Todd and I bowled absolutely TERRIBLY! (That is the truth of how part of the experience was) But even with my mothering paranoia and our pathetic bowling scores, it was a lot of fun to do with the kids. I think we all had a lot of fun and it was just nice to go out as a family and just play together.
Todd was a very intense bowling coach for young Kellen.
Kenna loved that she could carry her ball all by herself.
She was trying to push the thing as hard as she could because she was sad that her ball wasn't going as fast as everyone else :( This eventually led to a small break down and tears, but we recovered and had fun with our slow rolling balls :)

Kellen, in his very boyish way, loved having the pins fall down and kept making good sound effects and arm motions along with it.
Kenna being herself
The one picture that proves I was there. I need to remember to tell Todd to take pictures of me at these things as well. I am always the photographer, so my kids will probably grow up thinking I never participated in these fun events.
Anyone from the Kret side of my family should just ignore this or else I might possibly be disowned by the family. In my defense, it is very difficult to bowl a good game when you are worried the whole time that your children are behind you having their fingers chopped off in the ball return. Or that you are going to accidentally smack them in the head with the ball, or you are bowling and telling your kids to stop running down the lane at the same time. My point is that my score should be excused to to motherly duties conflicting with bowling :)

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Warning: Potential Christmas Card Spoiler

I am soooo spoiled to have an amazing photographer as a sister. Sarah, you rock! Seriously!
I know that the more kids we add to the picture, the harder and harder it is going to be to actually have a family picture where everyone is looking and smiling. I was a bit worried that this was going to be the disastrous family picture year. But I was so wrong. We whipped these babies out so fast, and they turned out great. I just love looking at my family. It brings me so much joy and makes me feel so blessed.

This first picture is one of my very favorites. The looks on Kellen and Makenna's faces totally reflect their personalities sooo much. And there is little Conner in the middle...looking adorable and just tolerating it all. Gotta love it! Really captures the fam :)



Doesn't Conner look like he is glowing? I love my little babe!

How could a woman be luckier than this to have such handsome men around her all the time!
Just look at how much Kellen and Conner's features are the same. Their coloring is different and their head shapes is not at all the same. But everything else is almost identical. Certainly brothers without a doubt.
"Daddy's Daughter"

A Momma and her little Princess. I love this little girl soooo much.
And my boys! Really, they just make my heart melt!

And then there is this man, who makes my heart melt in a completely different way. We just celebrated our 3 year anniversary. I love this man more and more every day. He has made me the happiest woman and given me more than I could have hoped for. I love you Todd!

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

My Brave Babe!

I know that we all feel like we have the coolest kids in the world. And as parents we certainly should feel that way about our children, right?
Well, here is proof that my kid rocks!
About a month ago we were down at the mall with Grammy and they had one of those giant trampolines set up where you are strapped into a harness attached to bungee chords and you then have the ability to jump ridiculously high! When we first saw the thing Makenna started begging to go on it. At first I told her that she was too small to do it, because I genuinely thought a 4 year old, 30lb little girl would in no way be big enough. But when we found out that the weight requirement was only 20lbs I promised her we would come back one day when Daddy could be with us to see it.
So the other night we went back to the mall with the whole big fam for dinner at Oscars. And, as promised, we let Makenna give it a go on the trampoline.
I knew that Makenna would definitely go for it, but I expected that once she got started and realized Just how high it made her jump that she would be a bit timid about it and jump happily, but cautiously. Boy was I wrong.
She got strapped into the harness, the bungee's were extended and lifted her up and she began her jumping. She was in heaven. Pure joy and happiness radiating from her little body. She looked so proud and so thrilled with herself. So the operator of this contraption decided to see just how much Makenna could handle.
I will just let the videos take over from here.
Enjoy...


Seriously! It was the neatest thing to watch her do this. Let me tell you, when he grabbed her legs and stood on the floor and got ready to launch her into the air I got VERY nervous. Of course I was not about to let my nerves be apparent at all for fear that she would then flip out and get scared to death. There were moments when she was flying into the air that her face would change a bit and she would look a touch scared for a moment, but then she would quickly recover and her face would beam with excitement again. Without a doubt this girl had the time of her life. She had quite a crowd of people watching her and cheering for her by the end. And I kept hearing people comment about how amazed they were that such a small kid was brave enough to do that. I completely agree with them. You are a stud Makenna Mae!

After Makenna's turn we let Kellen have a go at it as well. Here is how that went over... :)


Kellen is such a cutie. I really did not expect him to do it. I can't think of many 2 year olds that would do something like that. Especially after watching your sister be launched up to the ceiling over and over again. I give him credit for even climbing onto the trampoline and thinking about it. Kellen is our more cautious one and it is one of things about him that makes him different and that I totally love. You are a stud too Kellen boy! My favorite part of his turn was when he gave the guy high 5. He is so adorable.

Friday, November 12, 2010

More of "Mini-Bud"


I know that solids are not too far away, so we were trying the high chair out the other day to see how he looked in it. He fit it quite well, which of course made me sad. But now I have found another great place to put him to play with his toys. As you can tell below, Conner gets all the love and attention he can handle. His siblings love him. If anything Conner probably wishes he had a little more personal space. But he totally soaks up all the love. He certainly the most popular kid on the block these days :)

See what I mean....love from all around! How could you not want to cuddle those chubby cheeks??!!

This video clip is especially for Grandma and Grandpa McKamey. Conner is getting so active and interactive these days. He has really good aim with his hands now and can get a hold of what he wants most of the time. This video is a couple of weeks old. I took it when he was first getting really good at batting at the toys hanging from his gym. Now he is grabbing onto them and grabbing and picking up/holding onto toys, not just hitting them. He is also great at grabbing hair, ear rings, clothes, necklaces, plates, basically anything that his chubby little hands can reach! I love the 4 month mark, which Conner is quickly approaching. They seem to change so much and their personality really starts shinning through. Anyway, here is our little man in action....

Monday, November 8, 2010

Tum Tum Tummy Time

Our little Conner is getting to be not so little anymore. It feels like he is really losing that newborn look completely and has now fully embraced the little baby look instead. It just feels like it is going by so fast.
Conner continues to be such a great baby. He is a happy little thing. He smiles from ear to ear any time someone stops to talk to him and play with him. He is cuddly as can be and is always happy to be held and loved on. He loves to look at and grab for toys. He is getting pretty good aim too and is really starting to fine tune his grasp and holding onto things. He is squealing and cooing and making all sorts of cute gurgly, baby noises that I just adore. I love this age and love all the fun new things that happen almost every day.
Conner did roll over about a week ago for the first time. He LOVES his tummy time, so he is not all that motivated to leave it :) He can roll himself onto his side pretty consistently, and he is also starting to try and sit on his own a bit. I still think he has to build a little more strength before he can really do it, but it won't be all that long. He loves to straighten his legs and tries to stand up constantly. Daddy will be pulling the jumper down and putting the swing away this weekend.
Conner just melts my heart. We love you little guy!


I think this blanket is pretty much Conner's official blanket. When he gets sad and tired all you have to do is cuddle this up by his face and he calms down and starts to fall asleep almost immediately. I guess I naturally have blanket kids.
I love this picture. Cute boys!



Friday, November 5, 2010

A Whole Lotta Halloween!

I have always loved Halloween and I love it even more now. Kids in costume are just too cute. And it is so fun to see the way they adopt their character roles and take is to seriously. It's just such a fun day!
We had a good Halloween this year. We went to church carnival earlier in the week. Then we went to a Halloween party on Sat evening. And on Halloween day we did a little pumpkin carving and trick or treating around Grammy and Pa's neighborhood that night. It was very fun for the kids and fun as parents to watch the kids have fun.
Makenna ended up in 3 costumes this year. She picked out a witch costume but was sad with it the night of the carnival when she put it on. She said it was scratchy on her and she just was not happy being a spooky witch. I felt sad for her so I surprised her with a clearanced off Supergirl costume because she said she wanted to be like Kellen. She loved that costume. But then Sat afternoon Todd and I were finding costumes for ourselves in my mother's box of costumes and we came across a mouse costume that my mother made and my sister, brother and I all wore when we were about 2 years old. It was still in good shape, and although the legs were short on her, the rest of the costume fit her fine. And she was in love with it. I forced her to wear the supergirl costume to the party that night anyway. I had bought it and wanted to make it worth the money. But we let her wear the mouse costume on Halloween night to trick or treat in. Silly little girl. She certainly got her costumes in for the year though.
And even Toddy dressed up! I loved it. Just keep scrolling down and enjoy!
Spiderman! The best part about Kellen being Spiderman is that if you asked him who he was he would say "BATMAN!" and he would run around with his costume on saying "BATMAN!" And I did offer him the batman costume at the store, but he wanted spiderman. He wanted to be spiderman but call it batman. So there you have it :)
Our non-spooky witch...Costume #1
I couldn't not put this picture in here. It's just classic. Yes Kellen, you may hate me for it. But you must admit that it is funny. You are still cute enough to pull it off though!
Spiderman giving out high fives. Such a stud!



Makenna Costume #2
The cutest mouse I know. She was obsessed with the tail on this costume. She must have told us 500 times, "Look, I have a tail" It was almost like a dream come true for her!
McKamey's to the rescue. Lovin' Makenna's tough face and Kellen's big muscles!
Costume #3 for Makenna. Supergirl certainly suites her personality. And she looked so cute in it!

One happy little dragon!

Somehow I got Todd to dress as a Nun. I love it! And it didn't hardly take any convincing either. I love what I have done to this man. Love you honey! The only handsome nun I have ever met :)
Mama Viking!

Kenna loved carving pumpkins this year. Well, she actually didn't care too much for the actual carving. She was too busy playing with the pumpkin guts. She loved cleaning out the pumpkin, and once it was all cleaned out she just played with the innards in a bowl. That is certainly my daughter. Love her!



He looks so huge here!! That's a McKamey boy for ya!
Happy Halloween...Squeak Squeak

Not bad for a 2 year old. He was very proud of his candy!