My Sweet Boys

I always thought I was going to be a mother of boys. I guess I just thought of myself as being more of a "boy mom" than a "girl mom". I am Beyond grateful to have a daughter and can't imagine not having the chance to raise a girl. In fact I would love for us to get one more girl in the mix if we could!

There are times though when I look at my boys and it almost feels surreal to see them before me and think that this is my life in front of me, playing out right before my eyes. The boys I always thought I would someday raise are right here, right now. I feel so blessed, so lucky to have these sweet little men in my life.

I am slowly seeing the age gap between Conner and Kellen close in bit by bit. They have a lot of fun together when they are not harassing one another. They are so adorable and so sweet. They just melt my heart.

A couple of weeks ago Big Mama McKamey had to go under the knife and finally have an ankle ligament reconstruction that has been needed for years and years now. The only bad thing is that it has come at a time in my life where I need to be up and going and chasing 3 kids around. But for about 10 days that just wasn't an option. Todd took off a week and patiently took care of his pathetic wife and chased after the kids. I think it was a healthy dose of "Mr. Mom" for him....made SPAWAR not seem so bad :) Though we all know he missed us like crazy once he had to go back!

Then Sarah was a saint and offered up herself (9 months pregnant and all) and helped me/chased my kids (and her own kid) around for a week. I am so lucky to have such great people around that love me and take care of me. I couldn't be luckier.
The kids were great too. Makenna was a huge helper and did a lot of tasks for me day in and day out. And she really didn't even complain or groan about them either. I was Very impressed with what a willing helper she was. Kellen was a big helper too and loved to fetch me my ice pack and rub my leg and make sure I was okay. Such a sweetie. Conner tried to stay as patient with him gimpy mom as possible, though by the end he had really had enough of it! It's hard when you are old enough to understand that something is not the same and get frustrated about your mommy not picking you up and carrying you around but too young to understand the reason why all this is happening.

But I am in my hot pink cast now and all is well!

While Sarah and Brooke were here we took a trip over to playtown. We've been meaning to try it out with the kiddos and Brooke and this was a great way to get out of the house and give the kids something to do. We were there for 3 hours and none of the kids were ready to leave when we dragged them (literally) out of there. On our way in a lady just sat on the bench watching us come in the door: A gimp with her huge leg all wrapped up on crutches, 4 children ages 4 and under all being escorted by a pregnant woman who looks like her baby just might fall right out of her stomach at any moment. She looked at me and said "You must be crazy!" The reality is that getting out of the house that day was the only thing that was keeping us all sane.

These two girls are something else together. Makenna adores having Brooke as her little sidekick. She takes good care of her and loves knowing that Brooke is following her example. Brooke loves her "Kenna Mae" (as she calls her) and does a great job keeping up with her (which is not always an easy task). We can all tell you right now that these girls are going to be trouble with each other. I love seeing our daughters be so close.

Conner was also doing a good job keeping up! It was his first time at playtown on two feet. He was having a blast toddling around everywhere and climbing all over everything. He wants to be big so badly and he is starting to act the part more and more!

I just always laugh seeing these two together. Especially now that Conner is walking. And their features look so much alike. It's so funny.

Kellen used to be a bit shy at playtown. That is far from the case now. He is all over the place as much as Makenna is. This is the coveted toy of playtown...the little roller coaster. He could ride this all day long.

Brookie always gets a good dose of "big kid" life when she is here visiting with our family. She did a great job at playtown. She was off and running and being a big girl and having a blast.

Strut Your Stuff!

I swear one morning I woke up to this...

And then before I even knew it all I was seeing was this!!

Yes, Conner is most definitely a walker by every definition of the word! It is still crazy to me, when out of the corner of my eye I will see this little guy toddling past, arms up, wobbly step after step, just cruisin on past. I knew it was coming. Makenna and Kellen both started walking between 10-11 months. But it just feels like with Conner it snuck up a lot faster. Maybe it is because one day he was just taking one or two steps on his own. Then a day or two later he was taking 5 or 6 steps. And then really quickly after that he was getting across the entire room without falling. For some reason when I was younger and used to imagine having children I would always picture that moment where Mommy and Daddy are on the ground and their little baby is taking a few independent steps at a time back and forth between them. It still almost seems surreal (even when it is the third time around) to catch myself living out that moment.

These two pictures just melt my heart. So sweet. Such a proud Daddy!

Now the Con is everywhere! And I mean EVERYWHERE. He has become a real handful in the matter of just a week. I can tell already that he is going to be All Boy! The type of kid that climbs everything, wants to jump off tall things, try to scale the side of the playset, find a way to climb up to the roof, etc. I just see that energy in him already.

Now that he is pretty steady on his feet it makes it sooooo much easier to have him outside. And I think for Conner this is the biggest perk to walking. He wants so badly to be out in the back chasing Bella and trying to keep up with Kenna and Kellen. At least now I give him the opportunity more often. He is in heaven when he gets to play outside.

I feel like all week I Todd and I have been saying back and forth to each other "He's really growing up!" Such a bittersweet feeling.

One of Conner's favorite places in the back is on the trampoline. He needs to learn a soother way to climb off of it, but he is always quick to get right back on.

Conner is also at the age where he is just figuring things out- how they work, what they mean, cause and effect, etc. He knows to put the balls in the right holes to make them go down the slide and then watches for them to come out the bottom. He can give kisses when you ask for them. He knows what nap time and baba's are. If he sees you eating food or opening the fridge or putting him in the high chair he says "mmmm". Like I said, He's just really growing up.

And with his walking and growing come "boo boo's" The poor kids head has been covered in bumps and bruises the last week. He takes it like a champ, but he looks silly. This particular one was from trying to climb onto Makenna's bed. His foot slipped and he fell down and hit his head on her frame. He has already mastered climbing onto Kellen's bed and toy box and he is close to getting up onto the couch. And of course all of this is happening while I am in a cast. Wish me luck! :) We love you Conner and are so proud of what a big boy you are becoming!!!

That's Our Daddy

I know that I speak on behalf of all the kiddos when I say that we are blessed beyond words to have the best Daddy there could be.
It was Kellen's year to pick out the Father's Day card and he chose a great one with a SuperDad superhero on the front.

I don't think he chose this just because he happens to be into superheroes and action figures at the moment. I don't think it was solely because his Daddy would look amazing in spandex and a cape. I know that it is because to Kellen, Makenna and Conner their Daddy is someone they look up to! And not just because he is "Big Daddy", towering over them at 6'3''. But because he loves his kids with all his heart and his kiddos know it. Because he sets the example of someone our children want to grow up to be just like.

We love you Daddy. Happy Father's Day. Thank you for all you do for us. We are the luckiest!

I love this picture so much! We'll get the kids to work on teaching Daddy a new silly face for next years silly face picture!

Makenna giving Daddy her handmade Father's day gift. Very proud of her handy work.

The kids and I got Daddy a "Paul" book for father's day. The kids know how much their Daddy loves Paul and share in this love and affection.

The other day I was in the middle of putting up Makenna's hair in pigtails when Con woke from his morning nap. He was quite unhappy in there, so I asked Kellen if he would go in the room and give Conner a toy to play with while I finished Sissies hair. Well, there was A Lot of laughter coming from the room. And when I walked in Kellen had literally put EVERY toy in Con's room that was within his reach into Conner's crib. Needless to say, both boys were very happy, excited and proud of this!

Such silly kiddos.

Conner is already looking forward to the next time I ask Kellen to "babysit" again.

Daddy and Kellen were having some fun dressing up Kellen in his blankies. Well, they have become his blankies but they truly are sarongs...it's a long story. The point is, they were being silly and it was totally cute! I love Kellen's silly side.

A little blurry, but such a good pictures of the bud bud and his sis!

Such a handsome boy. And a good wrap job by Daddy. I was impressed!

Kellen is really into bringing his pillow and blankets out of his room and tucking himself, his toys, his stuffed animals, baby Toby in bed. Today Daddy joined in the fun as well.

Blue airheads. A new favorite treat in the McKamey household.

I love his hair. I love his eyes. I love that he holds his own bottle when I need him to. (My other two were completely lazy and always required/demanded mommies assistance at bottle time). I don't love that when I look at him now I am seeing less and less of a baby...

Makenna loves this picture of herself. She says it really "catches her missing tooth". And it does. Recently she has been very anxious for another tooth to come out. I told her she is going to have to wait for that. I tried explaining that the only reason she already has a missing tooth is because the dentist had to take it out early, but it really was not ready to come out on it's own. She gets a lot of attention for the missing tooth, being that she is really the only one in her group of friends with a missing tooth yet. We all know that Makenna likes attention. And we all know she is constantly looking for even more.

A friend of hers told he that if she hits her tooth on things enough times it will start to get loose. She has already done this once or twice now. It has not been easy trying to convince her that this is a Very Bad idea and she wants those teeth to stay in. Here's to hoping we don't see the tooth fairy again for quite awhile!

Compare and Contrast

...Just because it is fun to look at the kids and see in what ways they look alike and look unique from one another. Here is a look at all 3 kiddos right around 10-11 months old.

Makenna

Kellen

Conner

Kellen

Makenna

Conner

A Crazier Con

This silly boy is something else these days. He really is full of smiles almost all the time. He is such a cheery little guy. He is just so full of love and laughter. He loves to laugh and he has the silliest laugh ever. He very much likes to mimic and join in the load laughter from his older sister and brother all the time.

He is also into everything. Really, the boy doesn't stop moving from the moment he wakes up. And he loves to get into things that he is not supposed to. I don't remember Kellen being this way. He was pretty manageable and was pretty responsive baby when told to leave something alone. Conner on the other hand seems to have his older sisters love for getting into things and seeing just how much he can get away with. You have to really watch the boy around outlets. He loves to pull thing out of outlets, mostly my plug in air fresheners or nightlights in the bedroom. Seriously, no matter where I put my plug in air fresheners, he finds them and find a way to get to them. He loves the bathrooms, emptying the trash, pulling the t.p., flushing the toilet. I just feel like all day long I am having to move him and try to contain him somewhere/somehow that he won't cause trouble and get into things.

Really, the older he get the more he reminds me of Makenna, both in looks and in personality. He doesn't have the feist that Makenna has, but he has the same energy, same persistence, same ideas. At least it keeps me busy.

Look at that face! How can you not just want to smile right back?!

Such a ham!

We have two of these small tables in our house, and these tend to be Conner's favorite place to hang out. He is climbing in and out of these and laughing at himself for it all day long! Sometimes getting stuck going in and out, but that doesn't stop him!

Cute and trouble, all at the same time!

Con Loves, and I mean LOVES the vacuum. He is a nut about it. So much so that I can hardly get the job done if he is around. It's sweet and challenging all at once.

Just tonight Conner was standing at a footstool and let go and confidently took two wobbly steps on his own. His first independent steps. I knew it was coming! He has been starting to let go of the furniture and stand on his own a lot more and you can tell he has big ideas about walking. But to see him let go and take off and try it out and actually get a few steps in, it was a bit of a surprise! Walking is just around the corner!