1 Year With McKenna

Dear McKenna,

A year ago, I was preparing to get up early for my scheduled c-section to have you on the morning of 5/23. You decided you couldn’t be tamed and come the night of 5/22.

One whole year! It’s been a big year for you and you definitely made the last month interesting:

• Biting is your new hobby - even though you only have 6 teeth - you do it well.
• You’re fully on the move and are favoring crawling over being held.
• You’ve realized you’re not an only child and “keep away” is critical to keeping the things you want to play with
• You’ve been obsessed with remote controls (and mommy’s attempts to give you toy remotes are UNACCEPTABLE)
• You can: wave, talk, pull up on furniture, scream over mommy and daddy’s work calls like a champ, and navigate where want to go pretty well
• You love: Eating “big kid” breakfast like your brother, morning walks, when your brother makes you laugh, being adored on videoconference calls and playing in Juno’s water bowl 

We also made sure to sneak in that last minute trauma before you tell your therapist about us ruining your life:

• We wouldn’t let you eat dirt, or paper, or plastic, nails, mortar, carpet chunks and pieces of brick from the new house construction 
• We dared to suggest that you drink from an expensive sippy cup instead of a bottle
• You fell off the bed within the first few days of being home while we worked 😬🤦🏼‍♀️😫
• We tried to give you birthday cake

And you rounded out with us (which we can’t afford bc you’ve now eaten through roughly a roll of toilet paper - aka your college fund):

• You’ve developed a hobby of pulling my hair out... By the handful
• Your enthusiasm for eating regular food has resulted in vomatronic moments that haunt me every time it’s dinner time
• You actively try to make out with Juno...

In the last month you’ve definitely grown into a spunky little person. While you’re more cautious than your brother, you’re not afraid to be opinionated and make sure we know you want your say. I love you for that and so much more for all the joy you bring to our family.

Happy birthday princess!

Love mommy and daddy

11 Months With McKenna

Dear McKenna,

It feels like yesterday I was writing your last blog post and I can’t believe soon I’ll be writing your 12 month post!

Here’s the highlights from the last month:

• You learned to crawl! You still prefer to be picked up but you’ve also started to enjoy the “freedom”.
• You’ve also amped up your want for regular food - eating fruit loops and Cheerios in addition to almost everything off mommy and daddy’s plates
• You’ve got your 2 front teeth now with a fifth tooth cutting in
• You can: give high fives, wave bye, pet Juno (mostly) easy, reach to be picked up, and are starting to learn how to pull up
• You love: playing with remotes, your brother’s matchbox cars, being held, bath time, and laying on mommy when you don’t feel good

Although we can’t leave the house due to quarantine, we’ve still managed to add to your therapy tally:

• I wouldn’t let you sleep all night in the car by yourself and woke you up to take you inside.
• With so many of your toys still packed up for our second move, your new favorite toy is the dog’s water bowl
• You may or may not have eaten dog food... and the fact that we aren’t certain about this is telling...

And you’ve paid us back in spades... therapy we still can’t afford since you’ve upped your formula intake in the homestretch to switching to milk...

• You decided that sleep was for suckers and have been on bedtime protest for the last month
• You time your appearances on my video conference calls with a hefty #2... my coworkers have seen me sniff more diapers than they ever should...
• After wanting food from your daddy, you repaid him... by throwing up on his plate. He went without...

We know your birthday next month will not be the one we originally would have planned, but we’re so grateful to have you here and looking forward to the next month ahead.

We love you princess,

Mommy and daddy

Ten Months With McKenna

Dear McKenna,

Moving has made this an active month for our family and you’ve been a champ throughout it!

• You cut another tooth and are up to 3 with the other top tooth coming in.
• You decided to amp up your first ear infection with a double ear infection 😬😫.
• You still refuse to crawl. Your motto is clearly work smarter not harder...
• You can: hold onto things and stand pretty well, sit up like a champ and grab for things you want... like Juno’s ear.
• You love: taking my glasses off... giving much levity to the WFH situation for mommy’s coworkers. You also love puffs and chips, zippers, when your brother plays rough with you and high fives.

Your therapy bill is long this month:

• We tried to help you crawl... sorry we wanted you to be able to go places.
• I wouldn’t let you play with the glasses you kept taking off my face... or eat my AirPods.
• You kept getting changed at daycare and wore a Santa onesie in March.
• We eyed your wipes when there was a run on TP at the store... 

Our therapy:

• Thanks to your ear infections, you screamed the majority of the time you were awake for 3 days... and now momma can’t get her hair done to cover up the grays you probably gave me
• Can dogs have dislocated ears? Because I feel like that’s a possibility for Juno.
• You wiped your boogers all over my shirt... Justin told me 12 hours later... after I had been at work.

It was a bit sad for us to leave the house you were brought home to but seeing your happy face reminds us that home is where the people are. (The snuggles you gave me when you weren’t feeling well didn’t hurt either... feel better but keep the snuggles).

We love you sweet girl!

Mommy and daddy

Nine Months With McKenna

Dear McKenna,

Another month has passed! We’ve started to see a lot of changes this last month as you’re growing more and more out of the baby stage.

• You now have 2 teeth that feel like a shark attack when you bite on my finger 
• You moved up to the car seat you’ll have until you turn 18 and were quite thrilled with your expanded view of your brother
• You’re getting stronger by the day and we can tell you are wanting to get some more independence (not at the sacrifice of being carried/held of course)
• Firsts: chips, sitting in a restaurant high chair, Nutella - and you’re in love, and eating meat (you wished it was Nutella)
• You can: say “mama”, cry and reach for things you want, pick up food and put it in your mouth, and turn on your aquarium 
• You love: your daddy, talking, standing, music, kicking, bath time and when your brother shares toys with you (although you’re not afraid to roll over and take a toy by force)

Your month’s therapy:

• We tried to help you crawl
• We figured out you were being a diva and made you hold your bottle yourself
• We tried to feed you things that weren’t Nutella

Our month’s therapy:

• You threw up in said new car seat on the first ride... a 4 hour ride down to Houston
• You puked on my freshly dry-cleaned sweater 
• SPECIAL GUEST THERAPY: You had a diaper so bad the daycare teachers called for back-up

We think you’ll be ready to be on the move this next month and can’t wait to see you take the world by storm.

Love you princess!

Mommy and Daddy

Eight Months With McKenna

Dear McKenna,

Another month of happiness has come and gone! And yet... I’m still missing rent checks from you and your brother...

Aside from being late on payment, here’s what you’ve been up to this past month:

• You got your first tooth with the second cutting through 
• You are rolling like crazy to get where you want to go and aren’t shy about grabbing things that are interesting to you... things like mommy’s glasses, mommy’s hair, mommy’s earrings...
• You have total street cred as the chill baby at daycare - keep it up as I’m sure it nets in extra play time and diaper changes 
• Firsts: self-entertainment session with toys, bruise (you rolled into a cabinet at daycare and the cabinet won), holding the bottle by yourself 
• You can: clap your hand on your leg, reach out to be picked up
• You love: playing with mail, watching Aladdin songs, your daddy, being tickled, sleeping on your tummy, and rough-housing with your brother

I worked hard to amp up your therapy needs this month...

• I sat you in a shopping cart...

• I walked out of the room.
• I made you go to bed when you were tired.
• Special guest therapy: your brother yelled at you through the wall, waking you up so that you could help him scream for the next 45 minutes...

And this month was a doozy in therapy for us:

• You got a stomach virus so severe I looked to see if our insurance policy would cover me accidentally-on-purpose burning the house down
• You gave me this same stomach virus...
• And then your daddy got it too...

You’re starting to get pretty mobile and it’s making me realize how fast this first year is going by - it’s fun to watch but also time slow down!

We love you little princess,

Mommy and Daddy

Seven Months With McKenna

Dear McKenna,

Your first Christmas is quickly approaching and we’re excited to see you join in on the excitement with your brother.

• You got the flu this past month and were not exactly please when I put you in a cool bath when your fever got over 104. Needless to say the week wasn’t very restful for either of us.
• You’re very contemplative when your big brother is being naughty - which is fairly often these days...
• You do NOT like when mommy steps away from you 
• You can: grab food and bring it to your mouth, reach and pull on things you want, play in your activity chair, sit (assisted), and do planks/push-ups better than your mommy 
• You love: Juno, when mama helps you jump on your bed, looking in the mirror, peek-a-boo, reading books together, and when Jase comes in and greets you during school pick-up

Your holiday therapy includes:

• We fish-hooked you... because you were choking and we wanted you to be able to breathe 
• Mommy stopped sleeping in the chair in your room after you were done being sick
• I put you in a pricey bouncer... because you like jumping

Our holiday therapy list is pretty long too...

• You have occasional ninja poops... it isn’t apparent you’ve pooped but then I change you and (of course) am short on wipes...
• You had a poop that still gives your daddy night terrors - it was bad enough he called me for moral support while i was driving into work 
• You had a blowout at daddy’s hunting place... a place where there is no running water... outfit trashed.
• You peed all over me and the towel I had your wrapped in... wrapped because I had just gotten you out of the bath

This month feels like it’s gone by exceptionally fast and before we know it you’ll be grown up. But for now, you can be “baby sister”.

We love you so,

Mommy and Daddy

Six Months With McKenna

Dear McKenna,

How has half a year gone by??

Part of my disbelief is grounded in the fact that it’s been 6 months and  I have yet to receive your share of rent...

What you lack in mortgage contribution you definitely make up in fun...

• You are iffy about eating baby food and, if you do, you prefer your food cold
• You’re taking in more around you and grabbing at things (including mommy’s hair and splurge necklaces... expensive taste already 😬)
• You can: Shake a rattle, kick half the water out of the bathtub and kick your aquarium on in your crib
• You love: bouncing, talking to your brother and watching him jump, applesauce, clapping, wrapping your toes around my hands when you eat, and when we sing “monkeys jumping on the bed” 

While you’re generally pretty chill about things, you’ve definitely let me know that you’ll be talking to your therapist about:

• The fact that we put you in a fairly expensive activity chair... you know... so you could play.
• I made the grave mistake of giving you food instead of giving you... food. The level of displeasure was noted and now we do formula first, then baby food.
• We put you to bed when you were sound asleep.

Meanwhile, you did your fair share of therapy-inducing trauma too:

• Your daddy has had to untangle your death grip... from my hair.
• I spent 45 minutes getting you bathed, lotioned, and dressed cute for an outing... you pooped up your back. I got you all cleaned up and changed. You puked. We didn’t go out.
• Daylight savings time. Enough. Said.

You continue to grow like a weed and we love seeing the little person you’re becoming sweet girl.

xoxo,

Mommy and Daddy