And He's Off!

It's incredible to me Just how quickly babies can change. How fast they can learn something new and how quickly life can change.

On Monday morning Conner woke up doing his same old thing...scooting and rolling and maybe taking one or two crawling steps here or there. Covering a lot of ground but still staying in one room. But he must have been studying the art of crawling while he was taking his afternoon nap. Because when he woke up and I set him on the ground he practically immediately took off crawling 7 or 8 "steps". I was shocked by this and not sure if I really saw what I thought I had. So I got some snacks out of the cupboard for motivation and sure enough he could practically cover the whole room on all 4's. It was just out of nowhere, suddenly he was crawling. Now a few days later the kid is EVERYWHERE! I think he had already had such a taste of mobility without crawling. He knew what it meant to want to get somewhere and be able to do it. And now he can do it fast. And now that he can do it fast he is getting everywhere and anywhere he can. He has already decided he loves to cruise down the hall and play in Kellen's room. There is a lot he can get into in there and a lot of short furniture for him to pull himself up on. He is so cute to watch crawl around. He is thrilled to be on the move and you can just see it in his face.

And although Kellen has moments of frustration that his things are no longer as safe from Conner's reach as they once were, both kids are thrilled to have him crawling and are having a blast with him. Even when Kellen gets annoyed that he grabbed something of his off the coffee table he will very sweetly tell Conner "No no Con. That's mine." and he will then find something else to give Conner that he is allowed to play with. And I think Makenna has just adopted Conner as her new pet. She loves to have him follow her around the house. She will call to him like a little puppy, entice him to chase her around, throw toys for him to go and get...it's very cute and sweet to watch. And though it makes more work for Big Mama, it also adds a whole new element of fun and excitement to the home.

Conner's crawling approach is on one knee while the other leg is up and uses it's foot to push and propel him around. Silly looking but cute and effective all the same.

Just look at the joy on that face! Does he just look destructive or what?!

Standing tall and proud!

Conner loves that he can get to his sibling and request/demand their attention now. His siblings appreciate the love and attention if you can't tell by a smile like that.

Now that Con is crawling and can get to furniture more easily he is standing All the time! He loves to stand and is cruising along the furniture. Today he started going from the coffee table to the couch and vice versa. It was the first time I had seen him move from one piece of furniture to the next. He is already learning all those pre-walking skills. Please pray for us! :)

Silly boy. I blow dry my hair for a couple of minutes. Next thing I know he has crawled into our wet shower. Please dismiss the mis-matched pj's....such things happen when you are doing a middle of the night in the dark diaper change.

Whenever I feel like I am losing my baby, that he is growing up to fast, I just go and look at him while he is sleeping. They always look so little and sweet and baby like when they are sleeping. I cherish all these moments so much!

Scariest Bunny EVER!!

I told you! I bet you weren't expecting it to be this bad, were you?

It is really a terrible picture of most everyone except Makenna...I guess I don't look to bad either :) But Kellen wasn't going in without me and was still trying to get away. Just seconds after this was taken Conner looked back, realized 'what' was holding him and totally freaked out and started to scream. Poor kids. I am sure they are having nightmares. Funny memories though! Happy Easter!

A couple weekends ago we went up to Auntie Rah Rah's for a little while and went over to the outlets near her house where they were having a bunch of fun Easter activities. When we first got there we stood in line to get a picture taken with the Easter Bunny. It was only $5 for a picture, which we certainly couldn't resist. However, it was without a doubt the Freakiest looking Easter Bunny I have Ever seen. Here we were expecting to see this cute cuddly looking bunny to sit with.....but no. This thing was straight out of a horror movie...no joke! I will try and get the picture scanned and on here. Anyway, Kellen was freaked out by this initial activity and a bit scarred, so he just stayed close to mom and hung out on the stroller the rest of the time. (I don't blame him one bit!)

Makenna and Brooke had a good time checking out and holding all the cute little animals that they had at the petting zoo there. So cute!

Brooke was a bit nervous about holding the chicks, so she just sort of poked at them instead. Makenna had recently hatched some baby chicks at her preschool, so she was all pro at this baby chick holding thing!

Grammy was trying to let Brookie give the baby duck a kiss. Not interested.

Conner being tortured by his siblings and having these ridiculously big shoes put on his feet. He didn't seem to mind so much!

Now THIS is Love!!

I have known people to like Mac n Cheese, even Love Mac n Cheese. But Kellen's LOVE for these deliciously cheesey noodles has taken it to a whole new level. I think Kellen would eat Mac n Cheese 3 times a day every day if I would let him. I tried telling him if he ate too much Mac n Cheese he was going to turn into a noodle himself.....this didn't seem to bother him one bit :)

9 Months?! 9 MONTHS?!!

On the 17th little baby Conner turned 9 months old! Now that he is closing in on the year mark, I feel as if I am being forced to face the reality that my little baby is not going to be my "little" baby for much longer. He is growing, and growing fast. In the last 2 months even he has changed and matured so much! I feel like every day he is doing things new, mastering skills more, and interacting in an older way than he was the day before. And every day he just seems cuter, smarter, sweeter and funnier than he was...if this is even possible.

I love this little boy to pieces. He just fits into our family so well. His personality brings such a great balance to our home. He is such a joy and a love to be around. He seems to just make all those he is around happy and smiling and is just a peaceful, loving little soul. I really feel like as he gets older and starts running around with his brother and sister that he is going to bring an element to the dynamic that will be such a blessing to our family and home. Since being pregnant with him I felt like he was going to be the peacemaker of the family. Knowing him and seeing the boy he is growing into becoming every day just confirms this for me. We are so blessed to have Little Con in our lives.

Conner had his 9 month check up today and everything went great. He is healthy and strong and doing all things that little 9 month old boys should be doing. He is 22lbs 1oz (75%) and 30 1/4 inches (95%). The doctor took a look at his hemangioma and thinks that it has stopped growing, or if it is still growing it is VERY slowly and will most likely stop any time. We are definitely feeling at this point that there is no need to treat it right now and we will just wait and watch for it to start to go away.

Here is what Conner boy is up to these days:

-Finally cut his first tooth (bottom right tooth). He has 2 more coming in close behind...his bottom left and his top right. But the top tooth that is almost in is not his front tooth, but the one right next to his front tooth. He is going to look like a fanged baby for awhile :)

-He is getting all over the place by a combo of rolling, sitting and scooting. Just this week he is starting to actually crawl on his hands and knees for small distance, then drop on his stomach and then do it again.
-Conner started pulling himself up to standing about a week ago. He stands up at the tub, the coffee table and in his crib. Tonight he even started cruising along the coffee table and was taking a few steps holding on to the furniture. Watch out!

-Last week he started saying "mamama". I do consider this him saying my name because he only really says it when he is getting sad and frustrated and is wanting me to pick him up, or if I walk out of the room and he is calling for me. So cute!

-He is getting better and better about feeding himself finger food and we are trying new snacks every day. He will not eat breakfast in his high chair. If you try he will just scream his head off. Other meals he is fine in there, but just not breakfast. He wants to be on the ground playing, so breakfast is a bit of a chore with him. He is definitely not as interested in food as his brother was.

-Conner is getting a bit more separation anxiety, but nothing that is not manageable at this point.

-He is sleeping through the night completely about half the time, the other half he is usually only up once. He is taking 2 naps a day, each lasting 1 - 2 1/2 hours.

-Conner has definitely taken upon himself 2 nicknames. Con, or The Con and mini-bud. It is the cutest to hear the kids (especially Kellen) call him Con. Kellen will go up to him all the time to give him kisses and say sweet things like "Oh, Con Con" or "Hey little Con" and also "Hey Conner babe". So sweet. So much love!

Conner is a total spaz during meal time. He is always moving and bouncing and grabbing at everything when you are trying to feed him. He makes it just about as difficult as possible to get the spoon successfully into his mouth, all baby food intact. I don't think he dislikes eating, I think he just feels there are much better things to be doing than eating....like playing. Usually I try to clean up and keep things tidy while I feed him and he knocks baby food everywhere. The other day I just gave up and let him make a mess and see what the after effect was. There is is.

The best way to get all the toys out of the bucket is to just put your whole self In the bucket.

And this is where the fun begins!

Always Something New

Having 3 young kids at various ages, it feels like there is always something new happening with someone, or many new things happening with many people. It's fun this way. It keeps this interesting and new. It's always fun when someone develops a new trick. And even if there is nothing new happening, our days stay exciting and crazy doing the same old things. How can stay at home mothers ever get bored?

First off is dear Kellen boy. I feel like sometimes these days Kellen will sort of falls into that middle child trap. Yes, I know he Is our middle child right now. Some day he will be one of a few (or at least a couple) middle kids. But I guess it feels like sometimes Kellen doesn't "stand out" as much. And of course, having been a middle child myself, I feel for this. Makenna is the oldest, doing all the big, new things first. She is also much more pushy and demanding of time and attention and the spotlight....not in a bad way...she just likes to be noticed and makes sure she is. Conner of course is the ooey gooey squishy cute little baby that you just want to cuddle and kiss and who needs a lot of care as he is the most dependent. And so that leaves Kellen sometimes out of the spotlight. He is 2, which brings with it a lot of not so enjoyable attributes. He is sort of content to just hang out with you all day, being your little sidekick, entertaining himself or playing with whoever has time to play with him. I feel like sometimes he can fall in the cracks, and I Don't want this to happen and Never want him to feel this way. So Kellen boy, this is a shout out for you! I love you, my middle boy!

Kellen is acting Very 2 these days. Not quite as much of a typical 2 year old as his older sister was, but he is certainly much more feisty and mischievous than is normal for our sweet hearted bud bud. He is into everything. The other day he was caught under the dining room table, emptying a can of formula scoop by scoop onto a dish towel (thankfully for him he hadn't done too much yet...that stuff is expensive and could have unleashed a lot of mama furry if he hadn't been caught so early in the act! :) ) Then 5 minutes later he was caught with a tube of toothpaste, once again under the dining room table, squeezing the toothpaste into a bucket from his room and taking little tastes here and there. Luckily toothpaste is spicy for him so he didn't eat too much. We are also going to need to put a high lock on our garage door because he has now decided he likes to sneak into the garage, which of course if full of all sorts of things any child should not be playing with. Boys. I tell ya, they are nuts! But I love him in all his nutty ways. He is also getting more coordinated and more brave. He is a tough cookie at times, but is such a softy at the same time. He can now sing the whole ABC's and does it quite cutely!

I love this picture.....total monkey face.

This is one of Kellen's loves these days....Rhinos! He loves his Rhinos. His love for Rhinos makes it very fun to take him to the Zoo. This day the Rhinos were in the water, which was a first for me to see and brought with it much Kellen excitement, laughter and smiles!

Conner is not officially 'hands and knees' crawling yet (though he easily could be any day now). Despite not crawling, he is everywhere! He rolls, scoots and sits himself up to get to just about anything he wants. He is Sooo close to pulling himself up on things consistently (he has stood up by himself at the coffee table once). He spends a lot of time on his hands and knees. He knows his hands can move, he just needs to figure out how to get those knees going forward.

I love this picture of Kenna. It was taken while tickling her. She is a tickle monster. She wants to know where every one's "tickle spot" is and will try to sneak and attack it and tickle you any time you do not suspect it. I have had to teach her that there are times it is inappropriate to tickle people (when Mommy is trying to cut up apples, carry Conner, take a drink, brush her hair, etc). She just has a lot of tickling enthusiasm and it is really quite cute and a lot of fun. It brings much laughter into the McKamey household!

I love these two little boys, and they love each other. I see them bonding more and more these days. And Kellen has really impressed me lately. Now that Conner is on the move he gets into everything...including Kellen's stuff. Kellen does not like his things being messed with too much, so this brings about some Kellen frustration. But on a number of occasions recently the following scene has played out: Conner gets something of Kellen's. Kellen goes over and takes it from him and in an annoyed tone says "No No Conner. That's mine!" Conner starts to cry. Then quickly Kellen goes to his side and comforts him saying "It's okay baby. It's okay Con" and gets him a toy or his blanky to make him feel better. I know a lot of 2 year olds that get annoyed with their younger siblings. I don't know many that take the time or care to comfort them when they have upset them. Kellen has one of the biggest hearts I know!

Conner is a clapper now and loves to cheer on himself and give anyone and everyone a round of applause. It sort of gives you good self esteem having him clap for you all day.

My cute brown boy.

Grammy and her little Con. Conner is enjoying being the youngest Grand baby before his little cousin Kip arrives on the scene this summer.

We always have fun when Brookie is here. She was having a good time sporting Kenna's helmet. Cute or special? Maybe both?

Kenna's newest trick....cartwheels. It is not a Full cartwheel, but it is darn close! Especially for being self taught and only 4 1/2. She is good. She has also learned to whistle (sometimes cute, sometimes not) and can whistle darn good. Once again, something that surprises me to see from a 4 1/2 year old. And once again self taught.

Yes, we love the Zoo. And yes, I will probably keep taking pictures when we go, even though we will have been there a hundred times. It's still always cute.

Beach in April...Why Not??

We pay good money to live in San Diego. I am going to make sure I take full advantage of all it's perks!!!

Makenna is working hard on going on the monkey bars solo...she is doing really well too and is very proud of how well she did the other day at the beach! She even stopped a few strangers to share the good news with. That girl makes herself at home with just about anyone!

The swingers. This is about the only activity that Brooke could really enjoy on the playground because she freaked out if you set her down the minute that the sand got her. Silly girl.

The Con Con!

Kellen boy. It is sometimes nearly impossible to get this kid to smile for the camera, so I have to trick him into it. He was loving this spider web thing to climb on. His coordination is definitely getting more advanced these days.

The little ladies...they are such good buddies. I love to see how close these two little girls are. It gives me comfort that she has a little girl cousin close enough in age...just in case she never gets herself a little sister. I am certainly not holding my breath that she will. At least she will have Brookie to have that relationship with.

You never know what you are going to get when you ask this girl to stop and take a picture. This was an interesting pose....look at her foot by the way. Ouch! She is going to have her mother's joints, I can tell!

Sarah attempting again to put Brooke down. Didn't go over too well...

I love watching these two playing together. Surprisingly Kellen was the one that was really running around the craziest. He was splashing and having a blast. Makenna was as well, but Kellen embraced it in a way that just surprised me coming from him.

Yes, you are right. That is exactly what he is doing. He had come and told me he needed to go pee pee. The bathrooms were farther away than I was willing to walk. I tried to explain that at the beach it is okay to just walk into the water and go pee pee there. He just looked at me in shock at what I was telling him. I then got distracted for a second taking a picture of Sarah and Brooke and then a couple walked up to us asking if we could take a picture of them. Sarah suddenly says "Amanda, look at your son!" and I turn around and see this. I am proud of myself for taking a picture before getting to him and ushering him along and getting his pants back up. Silly boys. Moments like this though make me laugh and enjoy having a sons!

My second favorite picture of the day (second to Kellen peeing on the seaweed). Such a cute and totally Brooke sort of face. Silly goose.

The end result. I was surprised by just how wet the got. If I had anticipated this much wetness I would have brought towels. But we managed just fine.

Once again, Brooke doing what Brooke does best.

I could just look at and love this baby all day long.

The other reason I love days at the beach...it totally wipes your kids out! It was a real struggle to get him up from his nap. He just looked so cute there too, with his yellow Gatorade mustache!