Top 10 Things....

....to do when you are awake, breastfeeding at night.

1. Think about how dry your hands are and wish you had some lotion.

2. Listen to the heater turn on and off and on and off and on and off.......

3. Notice your husband laying next to you snoozing, and call him a few bad words under your breath.

4. Get a glimpse of your bottle of water sitting on your nightstand, but realize you can't drink it because your arm is being held hostage underneath your baby.

5. Brainstorm topics for your blog.

6. Think about turning on the TV to catch the late night viewing of Rosanne, but then realize you, once again, can't move your arm.

7. Stare through the crack of your door, out into the hallway, and swear you just saw something move out there.

8. Play "kick the cat" as it tries to make a bed out of your legs.

9. Realize your arm has just went numb and you can no longer feel your fingers.

10. Pray that your baby will sleep through the night soon!

****Jeremy wanted me to let every one know, "Just for the record, I DO get up to change McKenna's diaper every night. I am not just a lazy bum."

It's "March For Babies" Time Again!

Once again we will be participating in March For Babies in Indianapolis. The walk is 5 miles and takes place on April 25th. This year they have moved the location to White River State Park off of Washington St. The walk starts at 10 a.m.

This year we will, again, be marching as the team, "Macy's Miracle Marchers".

There are a few ways you can help!

1. Join us to walk

If you walked last year: go to http://www.marchforbabies.org/, log-in under your name and password you used last year. If you don't remember it or want to register to walk for the first time this year, you can create a new log-in and password. Once you log in you have 3 choices: Join a Team, Create a Team, or Donate. You will want to click on "Join a Team". It will then prompt you to type in the team. Type in "Macy's Miracle Marchers". Join the team, and follow any addition prompts to finish registration.

2. Donate

You can donate by clicking on the March of Dimes button on the side of my blog. It will take you to my page. You can either donate right there, or click on the link that says "Member of Team Macy's Miracle Marchers" and donate for the team. Not matter the size, we appreciate any donations to this wonderful cause.

3. Get The Word Out!

You can email or call friends, family, and coworkers to tell them about the event and refer them to our team page. If you have a blog, you can help out by putting a little something on your blog. Thanks for all the help in advance.

We will be doing team t-shirts again this year. Last year, they were between $8-9 per shirt. So, if you register to walk and want a shirt, or simply just want a shirt, please send me an email (jandkvanvleet@hotmail.com) indicating how many and what size you want so that I can get them ordered. The deadline for t-shirts is March 31st, and I will let you know at that time how much each shirt will cost. Here is what we are planning for the shirts this year.

*THE BACK OF THE SHIRT WILL HAVE A SPECIAL PICTURE DRAWN BY THE ONE AND ONLY MACY!!!!

Baby-A-Thon

Today was such a wonderful day!!!! I had some girlfriends over for our first Baby-A-Thon! Not only are all these girls great friends, but we all work together, were pregnant together, and had our babies all within a 10 week span!

It was so great to sit and chat about all of our babies little quirks, and compare the similarities and differences between all of them. One thing these babies all have in common...THEY ARE CUTE!!!!

3 girls and 1 boy!!! Sweet little Tyler was in a house full of 8 women. I think when it was time to go, his cries were nothing other than, "I have had enough estrogen for one day!"


Me and McKenna







Krista and Tyler





Lindsay and Lacey




Kim and Anna

All 4 babies in order from oldest to youngest (Anna, McKenna, Tyler, Lacey)





All of 8 of us.....Macy and Olivia were there too, but they were busy practicing their piano performance...which later involved Macy's wonderful rendition of "The Best of Both Worlds".

By the way...did you notice my new blog picture and title? I just love it!!!

Have a great weekend!!!!!

New Favorite!

I wanted to share the recipe of my new favorite meal (given to me from my mother). Jeremy has always been a huge fan of chicken parmigiana, and now I can make it for him at home. At first, I didn't think I would like it since I am not a big fan of spaghetti sauce. BUT I LOVE THIS! Here is a pic and the recipe.

3-4 boneless chicken breasts (pounded thin)

2 c. flour-enough to coat breasts

4 eggs

2 c. Panko bread crumbs

1 c. oil

Spaghetti sauce

Fresh mozzarella slices

1/4 c. fresh parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400*. Pound chicken and season with salt and pepper. Dredge the breasts in flour, then egg, then Panko bread crumbs.

Divide oil between 2 skillets and turn on medium heast. Cook breasts 2 minutes on each side.

Transfer to a baking dish & top each with a spoonful of spaghetti sauce, mozzarella cheese slice, and parmesan cheese.

Bake at 400* for 10-15 minutes. I serve mine with spaghetti or angel hair pasta. Enjoy!

A Morning Full Of......

.....Smiles and Tummy Time!!!! Check her out!!!

Have a FANTASTIC weekend!!!!

Wellness Check-ups & Shots

Today the family headed to Dr. Roscoe's office for Macy's 4 year check-up and McKenna's 2 month check-up.

Here are their stats:

McKenna (aka Big Mac)
weight: 10 lbs, 15 oz
height: 22 inches


McKenna is the easiest, happiest baby ever! Although she completely threw a fit by screaming and turning blue when they gave her all of her shots. Even Macy, our heart baby, had never turned that blue. Big Mac scared me for a minute! She was very hungry when we got home, so I fed her, and she has been snoozing ever since. Check out those thighs!

Macy (aka Small Fry)

weight: 28 lbs

height: 37 inches

Yes, my 4 year old only weighs 28 lbs. But when we look back at her previous weights, she has come a long way.

Macy at:

Birth: 3 lbs, 11 oz

1 year old: 11 lbs, 2 oz.

2 years old: 16 lbs, 15 oz.

3 years old: 24 lbs.

Poor Macy not only has her medical history against her, but she also has her "tiny" family genes against her. When I turned 4 years old, I only weighed 32 lbs, and was 37 1/2 inches tall. She sure isn't too far off from what I was....or my mom who weighed in at 30lbs at the age of 4. Dr. Roscoe showed us the growth chart, and she is on the way bottom line, and keeps climing right up the curve correctly. He said she is doing great!!! Check out my adorable 4 year old on Valentine's Day.

Toddlers & Tiaras

We've been snowed in for a couple of weeks now! Yes, we are bored beyond belief! Therefore when Macy decided she wanted to dress up like a princess so she could marry Daddy, I thought I would have some fun with it too. So, I did her hair and her make-up. Having a little girl that I can practice make-up and updos on is soooo much fun!


After getting her all dolled up, I decided she truly looked like one of those little girls from Toddlers & Tiaras on TLC. If you haven't seen the show yet, you have got to tune in!


Here is my little girl, minus the tiara.

I also decided, with the bikini that her Aunt Kathi and Uncle Mike sent her, she could totally be in the swimsuit contest portion too! Does my 4 year old have a 6 pack?

One Word Wednesday

Sisters

Wavy

Adorable

CAREFUL!!!

Strong



Sleepy



Sassy



Determined



Fun

Welcome To Holland!

I thought I would share with you something I came across after Macy was born. It was written by a mother, of a special needs child, by the name of Emily Perl Kingsley in 1987. At times when I am facing difficulty connected to Macy's health, I often refer to this.

Welcome to Holland

When you’re going to have a baby, it’s like you’re planning a vacation to Italy. You’re all excited. You get a whole bunch of guidebooks, you learn a few phrases in Italian so you can get around, and then it comes time to pack your bags and head for the airport – for Italy.

Only when you land, the stewardess says, “Welcome to Holland.” You look at one another in disbelief and shock saying, “Holland?” What are you talking about? I signed up for Italy?

But they explain there’s been a change of plans, and you’ve landed in Holland, and there you must stay. But I don’t know anything about Holland! I don’t want to stay, you say.

But you stay. You go out and buy some new guidebooks, you learn some new phrases and you meet people you never knew existed. The important thing is that you are not in a filthy, plague-infested slum full of pestilence and famine. You are simply in a different place than you had planned. Its’ slower paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy, but after you’ve been there a little while and you have a chance to catch your breath you begin to discover that Holland has windmills. Holland has tulips. Holland has Rembrandts.

But everyone else you know is busy coming and going from Italy. They’re all bragging about what a great time they had there and for the rest of your life, you will say, yes – that’s what I had planned.

The pain of that will never, ever go away. You have to accept that pain, because the loss of that dream, the loss of that plan, is a very, very significant loss. But if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn’t get to Italy, you will never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things about Holland.

Our Newest Edition To The Family!

All of you who know me well will be shocked to hear what Jeremy and I purchased this weekend.....especially my friend Lindsay (who, by the way, just gave birth to a beautiful baby girl last week). Congrats Lindsay!

Scroll down to check out the newest edition to our family!

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Yes, I am officially a "soccer mom". I said, "I will NEVER drive a mini-van!" Well, 2 months into life as a family of four has changed my mind! A few weeks ago when I tried to squeeze my butt in the backseat between the two car seats to feed McKenna, I realized the Jeep just wasn't going to work anymore! I also started thinking about our many, many trips to the lake house in the summer (3 hours away), and wondered where on earth Tucker was going to sit in the Jeep. I envisioned him, ears flapping, strapped to the luggage rack on top! So that is how we arrived to where we are now......proud new mini-van owners!!!!!! Wow, it still kind of hurts coming out of my mouth!

By the way......GO COLTS!!!

Snow Day!!!!!

It's a snow day here in Indiana! There is just something so FUN about being snowed in!!! Check out our fun in the snow!!!!

Have a great weekend!!!!

Macy's New Skill

This girl has skills I tell ya! So for all those men out there that say they can't do THIS, maybe they should take lessons from my 4-year old.

During the video, my camera ran out of memory, so I didn't get the end of it her new skill, but she finished it with just a teensy help from Mommy!

I love how she talks herself through it! Way to go girl!

Macy or McKenna?? 2nd Edition

Welcome to the 2nd edition of Macy or McKenna. Can you figure out who is who???

Okay....I guess it's getting easier to tell the difference. Macy was so tiny and petite....and actually 3 months in her picture, while McKenna (aka Big Mac) is only 2 months in her picture! You can tell by the chubby face who is who! As a matter of fact, McKenna weighs, right now, what Macy weighed at 1 year old! Yikes!

Check back tomorrow for a video of Macy's newest skill!

Happy Birthday!

Our little muchkin turned 4 last week! On Saturday, we took a great journey with our adorable Dorothy look-a-like to The Merry Ol' Land of Oz!

We headed to Emerald City....




walked on the yellow brick road.....

And even had a visit from The Wicked Witch!


We even ran into a few of our favorite Wizard of Oz movie quotes.

While in Emerald City, we participated in a flavored popcorn taste test, featuring some gormet popcorns from Not Just Popcorn.

We munched on meatballs, chips and dip, veggie pizza squares, but most importantly CAKE and ICECREAM!

Dorothy received lots of wonderful gifts from all of the flying monkeys, with one of her favorites being her double baby stroller!

Here we are on our journey, and YES, McKenna is sporting a mohawk (I just can't help but put it like that....it's so cute!)

Happy 4th Birthday Macy!