You Know Your Child Knows Way Too Much When.....

You catch her trying to use your breast pump!

Check her out!!! No, those are not moles or beauty marks......those are spots of chocolate. Macy helped Mommy bake cookies today. She chose to eat them!!!

Here's hoping for another great year in 2010!!!!

Adventures of a 4 Year Old Photographer!

For Christmas, Macy received a digital camera from her Mamaw and Papaw. We gave her a crash course on how to run it and turned her loose. She has been running around for the last few days shooting photos. Tonight, Jeremy and I plugged in her camera to see what kind of shots she caught. We loved them so much we thought we would share. Enjoy!!!

Oh The Emotions!!!

As I sat watching my two beautiful daughters and my husband on this Christmas morning, I found myself have deja vu' of the same emotions we shared at the hospital (the first time united as a family of 4).

McKenna was sleeping, Jeremy was smiling, Macy was speechless, and I, of course, was crying. I am feeling so blessed today!!!

Our Christmas Traditions

I thought I would take some time today to share some of your Christmas traditions. We have been practicing these traditions since Macy's first Christmas, and we are so excited to start sharing them with McKenna this year.

The Elf On The Shelf: Our dear friend Eddy the Elf arrives each year on the day after Thanksgiving. He appears in a place where he can watch over us. Each night, he returns to The North Pole to report our behavior to Santa Claus. When he returns the next day, he chooses a new spot. But remember, don't ever tought Eddy or he may lose his magic :)

Santa's Early Visit: Each Christmas Eve, when we return from Grandma and Granpa VanVleet's house, Santa has made an early visit to our house. Each year, he drops off Christmas pajamas that we wear that night to sleep, and an ornament to be hung on the tree. It is so fun to go climb into out pjs and place those specials ornaments on the tree!

Story Time: After we get out pjs on, we all sit down to read The Night Before Christmas. Hopefully when Macy and McKenna have families of their own, they will be able to recite this story without the book :)

Santa's Cookies: A few days before Christmas, we spend our baking and decorating cookies for jolly old Saint Nick. That night, we place those special cookies on a very special plate made just for him. Of course, Macy wants to sample them..........as well as Tucker.

Wrapping Paper: On Christmas morning, when we all climb out of bed and make our way downstairs to the tree. There are lots of presents left from Santa! We always know who owns each present even though none of them have names on them. Each year, Macy's are wrapped in red paper, Jeremy's are wrapped in blue, and mine are wrapped in silver. Santa sent us a message this year to let us know that McKenna's will be wrapped in green.

Enjoy all of your special traditions! Remember the true meaning of CHRISTmas this year, count your blessings, and tell all those special people in your life how much they truly mean to you!

Hugs from the Heart,

The VanVleet Family

Holiday Candy Recipe

Here is a quick, easy holiday recipe that I thought you might enjoy!

Oreo Truffles

1 pkg. cream cheese
1 pkg. oreos
Baker's semi-sweet chocolate

Save back 7 oreos to be crushed later for topping.

Crush remaining package of Oreos. Mix with softened cream cheese. Melt Baker's chocolate in a pan. Roll Oreo mixture into small balls and dip into Baker's chocolate (covering the whole ball). Sprinkle with Oreo topping. Cool on wax paper.

Enjoy!!!!

Online Nursery

You can visit our birth online birth announcement at:
www.cradlememories.com

Once you get the the website, click "Online Nursery".

A hospital list will appear. Click on "St. Francis South Hospital"

You will need to fill in McKenna's birthdate, Nov. 30, 2009.

Then click on her name. Her picture turned out really cute!!

We are all doing great getting adjusted to life at home as a family of 4! Of course I have it easy right now with Mom here doing the cooking, cleaning, and laundry! Thanks Mom, you truly are the best!!!!

McKenna had her first doctor's appointment yesterday. When she left the hospital, she was down to 6 lbs. 14 oz., but in the last week, she gained 11.5 oz therefore is back up to 7lbs. 9.5 oz!!! Yeah for McKenna! Jeremy and I sure aren't used to weight gain like that. Macy was that weight when she was 6 months old! Yikes!

You Know There's a Baby in the House When.......

You praise God for getting 3 straight hours of sleep.

You are talking on the telephone when you realize there is poop on your hand.

Your dog has found a new position on your bed which includes burying his head under the covers.

Your husband comes running into the kitchen screaming, "ewwwww", and sporting poop on his leg.

Your freezer and fridge are filled with bottles of breast milk. Yum!

You haven't left your house in 5 days and have no idea what is happening in the "real" world.

You start dressing up your newborn for special photo shoots.

Your 3 year old, who is very tiny for her age, looks like a giant.

Enjoy this picture of Macy meeting her baby sister McKenna for the first time! McKenna was sleeping, Daddy was smiling, Macy was speechless, and I, of course, was crying!

Welcome Baby!

McKenna Molene VanVleet arrived on Monday, November 30, 2009 at 8:54 a.m. She weighed in at 7 lbs, 8oz, and was 19 inches long. As you can see, she is adorable!!!!! Mommy and Baby are doing great and planning on going home this afternoon.

Does A T-Shirt Really Say It All???

The other day at school, one of my favorite co-workers started coming up with some of the most hilarious t-shirt slogans for some of my students. And trust me, my students all have a special personality of their own, and totally need to own some slogans!!!

Well, in thinking about t-shirt slogans, Jeremy and I came up with some perfect ones for ourselves, Macy, and Peanut.

Jeremy

Kristen

Peanut (my little kicker)

Macy

100th Post

Well, I am going to dedicate my 100th post to this new little peanut....that seems to like it inside and not out.

Dear Little Peanut,

I can see that you are warm and cozy. I can only imagine how nice that must be, but at this point I would really love to see your beautiful little face. Just think, the sooner you come out, the sooner we can give you warmth and comfort in our arms. You can read right through me, can't you???? Okay, let me get honest. While wanting to hold you and see your beautiful face may be true, I also have ulterior motives!

If acid reflux is your way of giving me a WARM hug, it's starting not to be so cute anymore! The sciatic nerve that you have chosen to sit on is giving me so much pain that I have begun to walk around like the hunchback of Notre Dame! These stretch marks that you are so lovingly painting on my belly are not so attractive! And to be frank, I want my body back!!! Therefore, you have been served!!!



Love,
Mommy

So The Question Is.......

How much will Baby Peanut weigh?????

I can see that most of you feel that she will arrive between 38 and 39 weeks. That means during the week of Thanksgiving. At this point, I don't care when she arrives! I am totally ready!!!!

I am uncomfortable. I am NOT sleeping. I am having lots of back pains. BUT, I am feeling so blessed that she has been so good to me during this pregnancy, and has chosen to stay in a lot longer than Macy!

So, the big question is, how much will she weigh? I had an ultrasound at 31 weeks, and they measured her at about 4 lbs, 10 oz. This week, my doctor said he is guessing she is currently 5 1/2 to 6 1/2 pounds at this point. So, please take some time to enter your guess on the poll! It is located on the sidebar where I always put those lovely little polls.

Have a great weekend!!!!

Rockin' Out At The VanVleet House!

I have no idea where she gets her dance moves......must be from her dad!!!

I now know every single word to this Miley Cyrus song....it's been playing over and over all weekend long!

Sing Loud or Go Home!!!!!

Okay, so I have informed you of our weird conversations that Jeremy and I often have in the car, or in the evening after Macy goes to bed. Well, the other day on our way home from the store, I asked Jeremy, "What song would be your theme song?" That is when it hit us.....everyone has a theme song. I hope our family members aren't getting sick of us using them in our silly little posts, but here we go again!

Theme Songs......Sing Loud or Go Home!

Jeremy: As much as he tried to convince me that his theme song was "I'm Too Sexy", by Right Said Fred, I have given him the theme song, "Oooo That Smell" by Lynryd Skynryd. If you have ever smelled his running clothes, you know exactly what I mean.

Lisa, my mother in law: Just walk down the hall of my in-laws house and check out some of the pictures on the wall. Those pictures portray years and years of dancing and recitals in the VanVleet household. That is why we chose "Dancing Queen" by ABBA for her theme song. Dance on Mama, Dance on!!!!!

Corey, my brother: I have no idea why we both agreed on this being Corey's theme song, but we can just picture him busting a move to this song...."Mr. Roboto" by Styx. Although every time I hear the song, "We Don't Need Another Hero," by Tina Turner, I think of Corey. When he was little everyone teased him that she was his girlfriend......he hated it!!!!!

Kelli, my mom: Not only does this theme song just about sum my mom up in two words, but when I was about 6, she somehow managed to get her car in the parade route right before the parade started. To her enjoyment, this song was playing on the radio. So of course, she rolled her window down, cranked up the music, and jammed out on the steering wheel. Corey and I hid on the floor of the car! Mom's theme song is, "Wild Thing" by Tone Loc.

Dick, my dad: Okay, so last time we informed you that Dick's "job he could never have" is anything involving heavy machinery. So that is why we have decided his theme song would be "Stayin' Alive" by the Bee Gees.

Jessica, my sister-in-law: Jessica's theme song was soooo easy. It is "I Wish" by Skee-Lo. The chorus starts with, "I wish I was a little bit taller.......". Telling you that Jessica is only about 4'10" explains it all!

Baby Peanut: This little kicker and mover has won the theme song, "Rock And Roll All Night" by Kiss. And let me tell you....she just doesn't stop!!!!!

Mark, my father-in-law: For as much as this man works, he sure is a stress-free, laid back guy. Therefore we decided his theme song was "Take It Easy", by The Eagles.

Me: Jeremy really thought my song should be, "Witchy Woman" by the Eagles. I vetoed that, and he will be "man camping" on the couch tonight. So after my veto, and coming to terms with the idea of "camping" tonight, Jeremy decided my theme song should be, "Independent Women" by Destiny's Child. What a minute.....is this his way of calling me bossy???

Macy: When Macy was about 2, she loved it when we would play music so she could dance all over the living room. From the first moment she danced to this song, we knew it was her "theme song" because this little girl is one bad mama jama!!!!

Macy, 2008

Well, we didn't want Tucker, our dog, to be left out, so we gave him the theme song, "Boot Scootin' Boogie" by Brooks and Dunn. Self explanitory!!!!

Have a great week!

A Halloween Weekend of Fun!!!

We had a fantastic weekend! Yesterday morning Macy got to go trick-or-treating in her grandparents' neighborhood to visit her grandparents and a couple very special neighbors. That was just a little preview for her fun night out! Our GREAT friends came over for some trick-or-treating with their adorable son, Liam. And Uncle Corey joined us!!!!!

Here are some pics from our great day!!!

Then today, Macy got to attend her friend Elliott's 5th birthday party! Nothing like a bunch of girls dressed in their princess dresses drinking "tea"!

Well, I'm off to eat some chili, and then Jeremy and I are tackling the task of casting my big 'ol pregnant belly. Anxious to see how it turns out!!!

Happy Halloween

Baby Peanut Update

Well, I am in month 8 already!! I can't believe it!! Baby Peanut is now the size of a honeydew. And let me tell you this.....she feels like the size of a honeydew or even a watermelon.

Things are going great here, and I am now seeing my doctor weekly to monitor my progress. I headed in on Tuesday for my appointment and a scheduled non-stress test. For those of you who don't know much about a non-stress test, it is a test to check on fetal movement and heart rate for 20-30 minutes. They stick two monitors on your belly and give you a little button to push everytime the baby moves. I laid there for about 7 or 8 minutes and she never moved. Little Peanut was sound asleep, therefore the nurse practitioner came in stuck this loud vibrating instrument on my stomach and woke her up.......actually she scared her to death. Her heart rate jumped from about 135 to 175. Poor baby!!!

The machine prints out this pretty little report. The top line is baby movement and the bottom line is uterine activity. It was pretty interesting to watch while I laid there, having horrible heartburn, for 25 minutes. The great news is that Baby Peanut is doing really welll!!!! They said she "looks fabulous"!

So as I was there, I signed all my paperwork for my c-section. We are scheduled for November 30th. At that point I will be 39 weeks and 2 days, so I am very nervous that I am going to go into labor before that!! We would do it the week before, but it is Thanksgiving and my doctor is out of town.

When signing all my paperwork, I was informed of all the new hospital policies that are now in place due to the H1N1 virus. No children under the age of 15 are allowed to visit any of the patients. Yes, that means Macy. I almost started crying right there on the spot. Jeremy and I had already told her that she would be the first to see the baby. We were planning on really making her a part of sister's first few days. Also, they advised keeping visitors to a minimum for the sake of our newborn baby, other newborn babies, and all of the recovering mothers.

Therefore, we are requesting that visitors wait until we are at home and out of the hospital setting before coming to visit. We understand that it is difficult to not visit a cuddly little newborn right away, but we would rather not risk the health of her or the other babies. The good thing is, we will be at our home in 2-3 days following her birth, and will have all the hand sanitizer needed for visitors. Don't worry, we will post pictures as soon as she comes!!!

What A Post!!!

MckMama's post was very strong tonight. Take some time to read it!

http://www.mycharmingkids.net/2009/10/marriage-submitting-forgiveness-and.html

Such A Fall Kind Of Day!!!!

Other than waiting in line for 3 hours for the H1N1 shot, we had a fabulous weekend! Today was a day full of fall festivities....well as much as my 35 week pregnant body could handle. A few weeks ago, we headed to the pumpkin patch for a wagon ride and pumpkin picking....we finally carved the pumpkin today! Macy had a great time choosing the shapes and sized of her pumpkin's features. It turned out really cute!



We also made some cut-out Halloween cookies and decorated them with sprinkles. I think Macy ate more sprinkles than she added to the cookies!

To our surprise, we also had a cute fuzzy visitor today, who kept us outside for a goood 30 minutes watching! This fox has been traveling around our neighborhood for weeks now. About 2 weeks ago, I caught it running down the center of our road, turned and headed down the center of another road. Today I first discovered it in a neighbors yard who lives on the other side of the pond from us. It was so cute!!!

Oh yeah......Macy picked me a flower! She loves her Mama!!!