Little Ballerina

McKenzie and I spent some time this morning dancing like ballerinas. I didn't do nearly as much spinning and jumping as she did (go figure) but we had a good time.




And then I started feeling all nostalgic...


Yes, that is the exact same tutu :)

I sure love my sweet little dancer. She feels the music like no one else I've ever met and she brings so much joy to my life.

Cloth Diapering

For those of you who haven't already heard, we're planning on using cloth diapers with baby Bate #2. And I've been getting a LOT of questions about it from friends and family lately. I thought I'd post all the reasons why, what I did to make it possible and all that jazz. So for those of you who want to know more about cloth diapers or just want to have a good laugh at my craziness, here is a ridiculously long post for your enjoyment.

Micah's cousin first introduced us to cloth diapers when I was pregnant with McKenzie. I'm not gonna lie, at first I was totally grossed out by the idea of washing and reusing diapers. But after a while we used them (along with a few my sister gave me because she also does cloth diapering) on McKenzie for overnight use when she had a super bad diaper rash. By morning it would be gone, and so I felt I was helping her little bum somewhat. It was also nice for those nights when we realized we were out of diapers and had these on hand until we could get to the store.

After many long discussions with my sister about the pros and cons of using cloth over disposable and also visiting her for 2 weeks and watching the whole process of using and washing them, I said to myself, "This doesn't seem too bad. I think I can do this!"

Here's why I ultimately decided on trying cloth:

1- Nothing bothers me more than spending money on stuff over and over again that I just throw in the trash. I would get SO annoyed every time we had to buy diapers. I kept seeing diapers as literal money that Kenzie was pooping on and I was throwing away. (Nice visual, I know haha)

2- When McKenzie was little, she had blowouts pretty often. What is the difference between washing onesies and pjs with poop from a blowout and a diaper? Not much. Cloth diapers have a good reputation for preventing blowouts- mostly because they have elastic in the back of the diaper that hugs the baby's back and holds the poop in.

3- Kenzie had a very sensitive bum and we could only use Pampers. Everything else she either leaked out of or got severe rashes from. Not fun...

4- I've been making my own laundry detergent for about a year and a half and it has saved us quite a bit of money. I don't feel that washing and drying these diapers will be too expensive since I've already found a way to save money in that area.

So when we decided we were going to try for another baby I really started to do some research on what diapers I wanted to use. I knew I liked the style my sister uses (bumGenius) but I didn't like how pricey they were. I knew that it'd be around $300 all at once to buy as many as we'd need and I wasn't sure how long it'd take for me to save up that much. It is still MUCH cheaper than diapering a child until 2 (or 3 in McKenzie's case) which you end up spending around $2,000. But you get the idea of why I didn't want to spend that big of a chunk of money "all at once," right?

Plus, even though the idea of a one-size diaper was awesome (not having to buy that many in each size and whatnot) I didn't like the idea of a smaller baby having a HUGE diaper on and not being able to fit in most of their cute little outfits.

I started feeling a little discouraged... and then like an answer to prayer, Micah's cousin (who started this whole thing haha) talked with me about making my own diapers. At this point I had started to feel comfortable enough with my sewing skills to think this was actually a possibility. She had made a bunch for her kids (and the 2 she gave me when Kenzie was born) and they were super cute and fitted in size so they weren't super bulky. A few months ago she was approached on a cloth diaper forum to be a tester for some patterns and new materials of an up-and-coming company called, "Babyville Boutique." After showing me their instruction book and how unbelievably adorable their materials were, I was SOLD.

So I started saving my pennies and bought the book and a few packs of the PUL (polyurethane laminated fabric that is waterproof but somewhat breathable. You use that as the outside of the diaper so it doesn't get other things wet.) She showed me where to buy velcro, elastic and material to absorb the mess. With a lot of help from a wonderful family who donated some money for the cause and my Christmas money, I was able to get all the things I needed.

I've kept all my receipts for anything I've bought that is diaper related and so far I've spent $150.03. It may sound like a lot, but here's what I've made with it so far-
17 newborn diapers
15 small diapers
1 medium diaper
1 wetbag (I'll explain in a minute)

My plan is to have about 20 in each size so I won't have to do laundry every day. We have 4 guys renting our basement so we have a laundry schedule to keep. Right now I'm washing on Mondays and Thursdays. Once baby comes I plan on switching to Monday (all day) and Wed and Fri until 3 pm. (That way I'm not hogging the washer and dryer all day, plus most of them aren't home during the day anyway) My cousin-in-law was kind enough to sell me some of her used diapers to add to my stash, and was also willing to trade me 4 diapers if I would make her a doll. Done and done!! So my newborn stash is complete, and I'm getting super close to finishing up my smalls. Once I finish making the mediums I should be completely done. Unless this baby is a major chunk, medium should be just fine. (I tried one one Kenzie the other day and although it was a bit snug, she technically could have been fine with it).

So here is what I purchased to make this possible-

-LOTS of PUL (1 yd white, 1 yd pink, 1/2 yd blue, 1/2 yd black, and 3 of the 3 pks of Babyville prints in gender neutral colors)
-Flannel to line the newborn size and make "soakers" (I had quite a bit on hand and bought random remnant pieces at JoAnns)
-14 yds of 1/4" elastic
-about 10 yds velcro (a 1:3 ratio of hook and loop)
-2 yds micro terry (absorbant material)
-2 yds suede cloth (to line the smalls and mediums)
-60 pk of snaps (to snap soakers to diaper)
-snap pliers
-instruction book with patterns
-fun labels to decorate them (not necessary, but fun)

I bought everything at JoAnns or Hobby Lobby with coupons and sales except for the micro terry, velcro and elastic. Those were purchased from verybaby.com (I actually bought half of the velcro and elastic from my cousin-in-law because I ran out and she had a ton on hand)

If you've done any kind of research on cloth diapers you'll find that a lot of people prefer to use snaps over the velcro. I am not one of those people. I made a pantie cover for McKenzie and used snaps on it and I don't like how difficult it is to get a perfect fit. Plus I figured if I can make this as easy as possible (and most like disposables) for Micah and anyone else who might happen to change this baby's bum, then I'll do that. The velcro is just like the normal tabs you'd see on a regular diaper and gets the perfect fit every time.

Some other essentials you need when cloth diapering are a wetbag and a diaper sprayer.

A wetbag is basically a bag you keep in your diaper bag to put the dirty diapers in until you can get home. You use the PUL so it is waterproof and you can either close it with a drawstring, velcro or zipper. I chose to make mine with a zipper- and I actually am going to try to take it apart and do it again because to be honest, I suck at sewing zippers. You can also make a big one to keep all your dirty diapers in until wash day, or just use a garbage can with a lid and be sure to hose it out every once in a while.

A diaper sprayer is like a mini-shower head that attaches to your toilet and you can use to spray off the excess mess.

source

Not only is it really helpful for diapers, but for cleaning up messes while potty-training as well. Even though we had been using a few cloth diapers here and there for McKenzie, we haven't bought one yet. I had just been using the spray bottle the hospital gives you after you have a baby. I would fill it up a few times and spray excess poop into the toilet and then take the diaper out to the laundry room to wait for laundry day. It was ok for us since it was only every once in a while, but I will be buying a sprayer to attach to the toilet for this one since I'll be doing cloth full-time.

Another question people have asked me is if we will use cloth wipes. I know we won't do it all the time (and I really don't expect Micah to use them) but when I'm at home I plan on using a spray bottle with a wipes solution my cousin gave me and I'm cutting up all of McKenzie's old flannel receiving blankets and sewing them into little square wipes. (I have my eye on some other baby blankets that are WAY better than those, so it isn't a huge loss to cut them up.) I figure it'll help a little with not having to buy as many, but it obviously won't be something I can do all the time. I can only ask so much of my hubby and babysitters ;)

If you're like me and don't mind all the extra hours of making them yourself to save some money, I say go that route. There are so many different styles and patterns you can find online or go buy the Babyville book like I did. It was a great resource for me and walked me step by step through making them.

I honestly don't know how many hours it took me to make all these diapers, but I do know that it was a LOT and that it went much faster to do an assembly line. When Micah and I were watching a movie after Kenzie was in bed I would lay out my fabric on the floor and cut out a ton of diapers. Then another day I would do the first sewing step, then another day I'd sew all the elastic on, then another day I'd flip them out and topstitch, and then another day I'd do all the velcro. It was quite a process. I did have fun though having sewing days/nights with my cousin-in-law and other friends too. I suggest doing that ;)

Here are a ton of links to sites that sell diaper making materials. I've only ever bought from verybaby.com, Hobby Lobby and JoAnns. But I got all this info from my cousin in law and she knows her stuff. (Her notes are written with each one, not mine)You'll have to copy and paste the links into your browser.

This one often has coupons if you sign up for their newsletter. They also have free shipping on $35+ orders, so I always wait until there are a few fabrics I want to order and then order all at once. :) A lot of times they have Babyville stuff, but it might be cheaper to get that from JoAnns with a coupon?
http://fabric.com/

I've ordered Loop tape, hook and loop, elastic, and PUL from this shop before and they were nice to work with. If you sign up on their Yahoo group and then set up an account with the yahoo info, you always get a 10% discount:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kidsinthegarden/
Occasionally they send out coupon codes as well that can be used in conjunction with the Yahoo group discount:
http://kidsinthegarden.com/shop/

These sites are fairly reputable for supplies like PUL, inner and soaker materials, elastic, aplix (velcro), etc.:
http://verybaby.com/ecom-splash/COREseo.html

http://www.celticclothswholesale.com/fabric_2/PUL-Fabric-brDiaper-Making-Supplies.htm

http://neptunefabrics.com/

http://www.wahmsupply.com/PUL-Fabric_c14.htm

http://www.diapersewingsupplies.com/pul-fabric-prints/

This site started carrying Babyville PUL recently:
http://www.fabricdepot.com/index.php?page=CatalogPage&pageid=187042

These guys have some unique inner fabrics (zorb) and their customer service is good but sometimes the shipping is slow. They're in Canada I believe:
http://wazoodle.com/index.php/

You can also search for PUL fabric on Hyena Cart and Etsy:
http://hyenacart.com/
http://www.etsy.com/

Sewing supplies:
http://ctsusa.com/

If that sounds like too much of a hassle for you (which I totally understand) or if you don't feel confident enough in your sewing skills, buying them is always a great option too. My sister wrote an excellent Q&A post about how to buy them online and what kind of deals to look for. I highly suggest if you plan on buying some, you read it. Click here to read that.

I sure hope that was helpful. I feel like I wrote my whole life story... whew! If you still have any questions or if I forgot to explain something, let me know by leaving a comment.

I feel like I need to add this-

I don't think less of anyone who chooses to use disposables. Obviously we did with McKenzie. I know there are tons of people out there who do the cloth diaper thing who stick their nose up at people who are "destroying the environment" or whatever. Believe me when I say, I am only doing this because I feel it is what is best for our family. I don't ever want anyone to feel like I'm judging them.

(And in case you were wondering, I have the same issue with breastfeeding... It drives me crazy when moms attack other moms who don't breastfeed for whatever reason. Some people can't or it just doesn't work for their family, and that is fine by me. You do whatever is best for your family, and I'll do what works for mine and no one needs to get on anyone else's case about it. Ok?)- *sigh* ok I feel much better now :)

Carpe Kairos

I've been having a rough couple of days. McKenzie has been extremely moody (ups and downs that would put most roller coasters to shame...) And it has me kind of down.

So when I read an article that my friend Mindy shared on her blog, I felt it captured exactly how I feel most of the time. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE being a mom, and I am truly grateful for the chance I've been given to be one, but there are days I just want to rip my hair out... and the lady who wrote this article captured those feelings so perfectly. So for your enjoyment- here it is:

-----

Every time I'm out with my kids -- this seems to happen:
An older woman stops us, puts her hand over her heart and says something like, "Oh, Enjoy every moment. This time goes by so fast."
Everywhere I go, someone is telling me to seize the moment, raise my awareness, be happy, enjoy every second, etc, etc, etc.

I know that this message is right and good. But, I have finally allowed myself to admit that it just doesn't work for me. It bugs me. This CARPE DIEM message makes me paranoid and panicky. Especially during this phase of my life - while I'm raising young kids. Being told, in a million different ways to CARPE DIEM makes me worry that if I'm not in a constant state of intense gratitude and ecstasy, I'm doing something wrong.

I think parenting young children (and old ones, I've heard) is a little like climbing Mount Everest. Brave, adventurous souls try it because they've heard there's magic in the climb. They try because they believe that finishing, or even attempting the climb are impressive accomplishments. They try because during the climb, if they allow themselves to pause and lift their eyes and minds from the pain and drudgery, the views are breathtaking. They try because even though it hurts and it's hard, there are moments that make it worth the hard. These moments are so intense and unique that many people who reach the top start planning, almost immediately, to climb again. Even though any climber will tell you that most of the climb is treacherous, exhausting, killer. That they literally cried most of the way up.

And so I think that if there were people stationed, say, every thirty feet along Mount Everest yelling to the climbers -- "ARE YOU ENJOYING YOURSELF!? IF NOT, YOU SHOULD BE! ONE DAY YOU'LL BE SORRY YOU DIDN'T!" TRUST US!! IT'LL BE OVER TOO SOON! CARPE DIEM!" -- those well-meaning, nostalgic cheerleaders might be physically thrown from the mountain.

Now. I'm not suggesting that the sweet old ladies who tell me to ENJOY MYSELF be thrown from a mountain. These are wonderful ladies. Monkees, probably. But last week, a woman approached me in the Target line and said the following: "Sugar, I hope you are enjoying this. I loved every single second of parenting my two girls. Every single moment. These days go by so fast."

At that particular moment, Amma had arranged one of the new bras I was buying on top of her sweater and was sucking a lollipop that she must have found on the ground. She also had three shop-lifted clip-on neon feathers stuck in her hair. She looked exactly like a contestant from Toddlers and Tiaras. I couldn't find Chase anywhere, and Tish was grabbing the pen on the credit card swiper thing WHILE the woman in front of me was trying to use it. And so I just looked at the woman, smiled and said, "Thank you. Yes. Me too. I am enjoying every single moment. Especially this one. Yes. Thank you."

That's not exactly what I wanted to say, though.
There was a famous writer who, when asked if he loved writing, replied, "No. but I love having written." What I wanted to say to this sweet woman was, "Are you sure? Are you sure you don't mean you love having parented?"
I love having written. And I love having parented. My favorite part of each day is when the kids are put to sleep (to bed) and Craig and I sink into the couch to watch some quality TV, like Celebrity Wife Swap, and congratulate each other on a job well done. Or a job done, at least.

Every time I write a post like this, I get emails suggesting that I'm being negative. I have received this particular message four or five times -- G, if you can't handle the three you have, why do you want a fourth?

That one always stings, and I don't think it's quite fair. Parenting is hard. Just like lots of important jobs are hard. Why is it that the second a mother admits that it's hard, people feel the need to suggest that maybe she's not doing it right? Or that she certainly shouldn't add more to her load. Maybe the fact that it's so hard means she IS doing it right...in her own way...and she happens to be honest.

Craig is a software salesman. It's a hard job in this economy. And he comes home each day and talks a little bit about how hard it is. And I don't ever feel the need to suggest that he's not doing it right, or that he's negative for noticing that it's hard, or that maybe he shouldn't even consider taking on more responsibility. And I doubt anybody comes by his office to make sure he's ENJOYING HIMSELF. I doubt his boss peeks in his office and says: "This career stuff...it goes by so fast...ARE YOU ENJOYING EVERY MOMENT IN THERE, CRAIG???? CARPE DIEM, CRAIG!"

My point is this. I used to worry that not only was I failing to do a good enough job at parenting, but that I wasn't enjoying it enough. Double failure. I felt guilty because I wasn't in parental ecstasy every hour of every day and I wasn't MAKING THE MOST OF EVERY MOMENT like the mamas in the parenting magazines seemed to be doing. I felt guilty because honestly, I was tired and cranky and ready for the day to be over quite often. And because I knew that one day, I'd wake up and the kids would be gone, and I'd be the old lady in the grocery store with my hand over my heart. Would I be able to say I enjoyed every moment? No.

But the fact remains that I will be that nostalgic lady. I just hope to be one with a clear memory. And here's what I hope to say to the younger mama gritting her teeth in line:

"It's helluva hard, isn't it? You're a good mom, I can tell. And I like your kids, especially that one peeing in the corner. She's my favorite. Carry on, warrior. Six hours till bedtime." And hopefully, every once in a while, I'll add -- "Let me pick up that grocery bill for ya, sister. Go put those kids in the van and pull on up -- I'll have them bring your groceries out."

Anyway. Clearly, Carpe Diem doesn't work for me. I can't even carpe fifteen minutes in a row, so a whole diem is out of the question.

Here's what does work for me:

There are two different types of time. Chronos time is what we live in. It's regular time, it's one minute at a time, it's staring down the clock till bedtime time, it's ten excruciating minutes in the Target line time, it's four screaming minutes in time out time, it's two hours till daddy gets home time. Chronos is the hard, slow passing time we parents often live in.

Then there's Kairos time. Kairos is God's time. It's time outside of time. It's metaphysical time. It's those magical moments in which time stands still. I have a few of those moments each day. And I cherish them.

Like when I actually stop what I'm doing and really look at Tish. I notice how perfectly smooth and brownish her skin is. I notice the perfect curves of her teeny elf mouth and her asianish brown eyes, and I breathe in her soft Tishy smell. In these moments, I see that her mouth is moving but I can't hear her because all I can think is -- This is the first time I've really seen Tish all day, and my God -- she is so beautiful.Kairos.

Like when I'm stuck in chronos time in the grocery line and I'm haggard and annoyed and angry at the slow check-out clerk. And then I look at my cart and I'm transported out of chronos. And suddenly I notice the piles and piles of healthy food I'll feed my children to grow their bodies and minds and I remember that most of the world's mamas would kill for this opportunity. This chance to stand in a grocery line with enough money to pay. And I just stare at my cart. At the abundance. The bounty. Thank you, God. Kairos.

Or when I curl up in my cozy bed with Theo asleep at my feet and Craig asleep by my side and I listen to them both breathing. And for a moment, I think- how did a girl like me get so lucky? To go to bed each night surrounded by this breath, this love, this peace, this warmth? Kairos.

These kairos moments leave as fast as they come- but I mark them. I say the word kairos in my head each time I leave chronos. And at the end of the day, I don't remember exactly what my kairos moments were, but I remember I had them. And that makes the pain of the daily parenting climb worth it.

If I had a couple Kairos moments during the day, I call it a success.
Carpe a couple of Kairoses a day.
Good enough for me.
-Glennon Melton

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So yes, there are times (more than I'd like to admit) that I grit my teeth, roll my eyes, mutter under my breath, raise my voice, cry, and count down the minutes until bedtime so I can have some peace and quiet to myself. But what I need to remember is that for all of these moments:






There are at least twice as many of these:










And those are the moments I look forward to remembering when McKenzie is all grown up.

An Interview with McKenzie

I found a print-out called "Mommy and Me" that is basically an interview with your child that you can do every year and put in their memory book (I liked this one because it has a place for them to write their name) So here is McKenzie's interview from today- Jan 16, 2012.

What is your whole name: McKenzie Lynne Bate

How old are you: 3

What is your favorite color: pink

Who is your best friend: Yia Yia (my mom)

What is your favorite animal: um a snake!

What do you want to be when you're all grown up: an elephant

What is your favorite movie: the ice age one with the dinosaurs

What are some of your favorite books: "All by Myself" "Just me and my puppy" and "Just me and my mom" (All critter books by Mercer Mayer)

What makes you happy: Heavenly Father. He tells me about coloring!

What makes you sad: That Yia Yia doesn't go to school.

What is your favorite food to eat: carrots and apples

What is your favorite song to sing: Ring around the rosie

What game(s) do you like to play: Daddy's car one and the ABCs on the computer.

She was very quick with her answers. But then again, she tells me most of these things all the time :)

Little Sister

I went in on the 27th and had another ultrasound done so the doctor could get a better look at Strawberry Shortcake's heart and face. She was very cooperative and held still long enough for us to get a great profile pic.

Everything looks great and she is healthy! We can't wait to meet her :)

Merry Christmas!

We hope you all had a great Christmas spent with family and friends. We had a beautiful holiday season reflecting on the birth of our Savior.

We started out Christmas Eve at my grandparent's home with my mom, aunt and uncle and the cousins. We had an early turkey and ham dinner and exchanged gifts. My mom had to work later that night and couldn't sleep over, and we weren't staying over either since we had church early the next morning.

Kenzie has been sporting a super-cheesy smile lately, which you will get to enjoy several times as you read through this post :)


My mom bought the kids some super soft blankets and she had me embroider their names on them. It was a fun project and definitely helped fine-tune some of my sewing skills ;)






Meme had a painting project for the kids and Kenzie was very proud of her reindeer. (She had me paint the brown part, but the rest she did all by herself.)


Then it came time to read the nativity story and act it out. Kenzie started out wanting to be a shepherd, then an angel, then she didn't want anything to do with being involved, and then she ended up being a wise man at the last minute. She just couldn't make up her mind haha!


After acting out the nativity and talking about why we celebrate Christmas, we went home. Papa (my dad) came down first thing in the morning and shared the magic of Christmas morning with us.





I was inspired to make this after I saw something similar on Pinterest. It is a way for me to let my honey know why I love him for different reasons every day. I just use a dry erase board on the glass :)


This was our gift for the grandparents. Kenzie was pretty excited about them. This was also inspired by Pinterest ;)


Kenzie was pretty happy with her gifts. We had a pretty small Christmas this year due to Micah having been unemployed for a few months. But because of this, I think this was one of the best Christmases we've had. I'm determined to make Christmas small from now on because I want our children to understand the true meaning of Christmas, not "Santa brought me all this awesome stuff!" Kenzie did end up getting a lot of fun stuff from everyone else too, but I'm glad it was spread out during the day and not all at once in a heaping pile under the tree.


One of the wonderful things about Christmas being on a Sunday is that we were able to go to church. It was a beautiful reminder of why we celebrate Christmas- the birth of our Savior. He is the best gift any of us could ever receive.



This has to be one of my favorite pictures of the day- I love that they are both laughing :) These two are pretty funny to watch when they are together. Kenzie sure loves her silly Papa!


Next we went to my mom's house. We didn't get to stay too long, but we had spent a lot of time on Christmas Eve during the day together which was really nice. Mom spoiled us pretty good as well. Kenzie was pretty excited about the Strawberry Shortcake stuff she got. And along with some great gifts for me and Micah, my mom got me a gift card to JoAnns fabrics (which is pretty dangerous haha) and I've already bought a bunch of stuff for baby sewing projects for little sister. Thanks Mom!

Then we went up to Ogden and spent the rest of the day with Micah's family. We had a great time laughing and being silly- evidence of the silliness just below... haha. However, we didn't really get that many good pics from them, so I need pics from Mom and Dad's camera as well as everyone else's, ok? :)



We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!!

Early Christmas

About 2 years ago the support beam in our couch snapped and the cushions sank to the floor. We were sad because we loved that couch and it was really comfy. It had lived a long life through my grandparents, my mom and then was passed on to us when we were married. We knew we couldn't afford a new couch for a while, so we stored all our extra blankets and pillows under the cushions to hold them up. Doing that was such an easy fix and it worked so well that most people never knew that the couch was even broken ;)

A few months ago my dad called and said he and his brother were getting rid of some furniture and wanted to know if we were interested. Free furniture? Of course!! So at the beginning of December my uncle rented a Uhaul and we were able to get a couch, chair and ottoman from my dad, and 2 dressers and a mirror from my Uncle Tim and Aunt Alisa. We are so grateful for these beautiful pieces of furniture and can't thank you all enough! We sure do love them!






We're hoping that someday when we're in a different home we can use these dressers as our bedroom furniture. Until then, they will look beautiful in the living room. The wood matches perfectly with my glass curio cabinet so it works out :) The mirror that is supposed to hang over the long dresser is actually hanging over our bed. It looks great (although I'll spare you the pics of our room haha)


So once again, thank you daddy, Uncle Tim and Aunt Alisa for the wonderful early Christmas gifts. We will take great care of them!

It's a....... GIRL!

We went to the doctor yesterday to get the big ultrasound and found out that our baby is going to be Kenzie's little sister. And Kenzie is very happy :) She got what she wanted haha!

It was fun to see our sweet baby from head to toe. She was actually being kind of shy and was face down so we didn't get a look at her profile, or a really good look at her heart, so we rescheduled another ultrasound in 4 weeks. We did get to hear her heartbeat, so I was relieved to hear everything sounded great, but they still want to get a good look at her valves to make sure. I actually laughed out loud because this is exactly what happened when we had Kenzie's 20 week ultrasound. Baby is already showing us that she is just like her big sister ;)

The other funny thing is, this baby moves A LOT (just like Kenzie, who was nicknamed "baby dance dance" and "Elasti-girl" in-utero) she just likes to move more in the afternoon and evening and when I'm sitting up. The ultrasound tech told me to "drink a Coke or something sugary before you come in so we can get that baby to wiggle around some more." I don't think it'll be a problem finding something sugary to eat or drink seeing as how my ultrasound is scheduled 2 days after Christmas... haha

My mom came down and recorded some video of Kenzie's reaction (we were really wondering what her reaction would have been if baby had been a boy... She had told us many times that she would be sad, so I wanted to capture the moment haha)


Waiting to find out

The big moment!

Yes, you heard right. McKenzie wants to name her sister "Strawberry Shortcake." haha!

Unfortunately, the only picture that turned out really well was one of her little feet (pictured above). I'll be sure to post some better ones when we have our next ultrasound.

Halloween!

I know I'm way behind in posting Halloween pictures, but here are some from the festivities this fall-

Kenzie didn't want to cut up her pumpkin, so we let her use Sharpies to decorate it.


Micah was totally excited to be scooping out the guts haha!



We got invited to go to Jason, Colie and Nathan's house to make a pumpkin patch treat. Kenzie thought it was yummy (even if Mommy ended up eating most of the candy haha)


Nathan showed me his spidey powers.


In Micah's family, the Halloween party always has a theme. This year was old school cartoon characters. We went as the Flintstones :)


Kenzie interviewed Batman.

Here's a picture of all the family-

Here's a list of who you can find:
Tweety Bird, Elmer Fudd, Granny, Popeye, Olive Oyl, Chipmunks and Chipettes, Spiderman, Yosemite Sam, Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson, Waldo, G.I.Joe, Strawberry Shortcake, Ironman, Batman, Robin, Fred, Wilma and Pebbles Flintstone, Wonder Woman, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, Carmen Sandiego, Inspector Gadget, and the Cat in the hat.

Then it was time to trick or treat. Kenzie told me for about 4 months that she wanted to be a witch for Halloween. Luckily my friend Nickie had a witch costume that was her daughter's that she let us borrow. Kenzie loved it! (And she has already picked out her costume for next year. She wants to be a mummy... we'll see if she remembers when Halloween comes around again.)



We had a great Halloween this year and we're looking forward to next year!