I haven't seen it in 100 days

Macey's new love as of late is Strawberry Shortcake.  Who knew something popular when I was a kid would be still around 20 something...okay, okay 30 something years later.  She makes Buddy watch it with her too.  I really do try to regulate how much tv she watches but in the past week every time I turn around she is firing up netflix and turning on the Strawberry Shortcake film. The funny thing is she has certain parts she likes more than others so she'll click forward on the parts she wants to watch or watch certain segments and play them over and over again.  The other day she wanted to watch Strawberry Shortcake again and I just didn't want the television on.  I told her we were going to leave the tv off today.  She gave the biggest sigh and said, "But I haven't seen it in a hundred days!"  I was more thinking that you've probably seen it 100 times in the last few days.  Everything is 100 days now.  I'll go play at someone's house in 100 days.  We'll go grocery shopping in 100 days.  I don't need to go to bed for 100 days.  Maryn was always chose a day of the week when she was a kid...Macey is just more general I guess.

Compliant Discipline

We have the girls sleeping in the same room now.  They are going to be getting bunk beds soon which they are excited about.  I saw a website where you can make tent like covers for the bottom of the bed.  WHY NOT!  We have had a few problems with the girls not wanting to go to sleep because they goof off.  Let me clarify this...Maryn wants to sleep and Macey wants to play so she will bug Maryn relentlessly.  Macey is my little night owl.  It's been funny to watch because she'll sleep longer than everyone else.  Maryn is always up at the crack of dawn.  Last night same story, Macey was goofing around stashing toys under her pillow and goofing off.  Matt came in and asked her if he needed to take her blanket away.  Without hesitation she held up her blankie for Daddy to take and preceded to continue what she was doing.  Matt was lost for words so he turned around with her blanket in tow and left the room and came and told me about it.  With a half smile he said, "I've been beaten at my own game."

Another Macey moment this past week was we were sitting down playing Farkle and buddy was snacking on some graham crackers.  Macey was half-heartedly playing so we let her do whatever.  I wasn't paying attention but I guess Macey went around the table took Maryn's stuffed giraffe threw it in front of Matt and Buddy to create a diversion and snatched one of the graham crackers out of the bag and went back around the table to sit down to eat her cracker hiding her cracker under the table and taking little bites so Buddy wouldn't notice she took his snack.  Matt was watching everything out of the corner of his eye.  I'm gonna have to watch that girl a little more closely.

JC Money

This cute little girl I have here is a handful but she is a sweet girl.

And everyday she is making me smile by the funny thing she says.  We've had a little bit of trouble adjusting with Maryn gone.  Macey feels like she needs to bully Mason since Maryn is not here to protect himself but we're working on it.  I've been working with her on the computer.  She can already use the mouse really well.  We've also been hitting the ABC's and she can sing the song and recognize a lot of her letters..Her new favorite phrase for everything is "I love it"!  Also if I ask to curl her hair(even though she has a natural curls sometimes we like to get wild with it) anyway after we're done she asks me to grab the camera to go shoot pictures of her.  Thus the pic up on top is a result of the "Momma, go get the camera and take a picture of me."

Today I was getting cabin fever and for no reason at all decided to go to the mall just to walk around.  I NEVER do this and when we got to the store Macey was asking which store we were at.  I told her JC Penney.  She said "Oh, JC Money" and I said, "you mean JC Penney" and she said, "Yah, JC Money".  It took me the second time to understand why she was calling it that.  Clever little girl!

What the kids and I have been up to

This past month with all the drama I've been trying to keep the kids busy.  The coolest thing that happened was Maryn was in a parade in downtown Salt Lake.  I was only with Maryn for a short time before I had to B-Line it home to rescue hubby but was able to get some pictures of her.  She was so excited.  Afterward she got to attend a cool carnival and get her face painted.  I think the family she was with got a pic and he was going to send that to me.  I saw a picture of it and it was a beautiful pink butterfly.  I wish I could've been there with her but she had so much fun.  Notice the bangs.  We got her hair cut over a month ago.  I'm still not used to them.

The girls have also been taking advantage of the non-rainy days and trying to bike as much as possible.  Not sure what's going on with the weather but it feels like home in Seattle almost not that it's a bad thing just different then what we expect Utah weather to be.  Macey has gotten really good on her bike at pedaling.  Matt ended up raising up her bike a bit so she is not solely relying on her training wheels.  She is doing so much better at directing where she is going.  Before she would look at us and steer and would end up running into things.  She is my active girl...always going, going, going.  I compare her to a little pinball in a pinball machine.  She is literally bouncing off of everything.  Her dark brown eyes melt your heart though.

Now buddy guy, my little cheeser is finally walking.  It's so cute to see him pop up and walk about 10 steps before he crashes in giggles on the ground.  He is so proud of himself he'll walk a few steps then sit on the ground to clap to congratulate himself only to get up again and repeat the process every few steps.  It's pretty funny to watch.  He has also taking a liking to our train table.  I know I've said this before but I'm really really enjoying having a boy.  He takes his cars and drives them all through out the house over the furniture over us.  He is finally sleeping somewhat better.  This picture below is when I ask him to cheese for me this is what I get.  

I have been keeping my mind and hands busy with an upcoming Baby Shower for a gal in our ward also working on a crocheted blankie for my friend that is to have a baby any day now.  I made a Baby Pictionary Game for the shower, we're going to have a piggy for people to donate money if they want and I finished a rag quilt.  I'm contemplating which desserts to make for it and I'm plagued because I wanted to do cake pops but they take so much time and that's not a luxury at this point right now so I may have to settle for the easy route.  Easy but good none the less.  You can never go wrong with a cream cheese dessert of any sort.  Just a thought.  I think it would be fun to own a store where you could have desserts and appetizers that are ordered for special occasions and then you can rent out games or have people by the games you design for the showers.  You could even include the shower invitations.  That would be cool!  It would be the ultimate baby shower store plus if you needed gifts for the baby you could buy them right there.

Funny moments of the day

Some of the funniest moments(and sometimes the most frustrating) are most often than not at the dinner table.  For those of you who have regular family dinner you know what I'm talking about.  For those of you who don't...YOU'RE MISSING OUT!!!  Go eat as a family because you'll never get that time back once your kids are grown!!  Enough said!  Anyway...last night at the dinner table the kids did pretty well eating so they each got a scoop of ice cream.  Daddy was busy feeding our little voracious eater buddy guy while the other kids were smackin' their lips eating their ice cream.  Matt and I looked up at the same time when Macey decided to grab the salt shaker and douse her ice cream with salt.  Simultaneously Matt and I said "Macey".  Matt told her that she was going to still have to eat that.  So, Miss Macey Face took a huge bite of ice cream with a Cheshire cat grin on her face.

We waited.

Mind you she was smiling this whole time.  In a few seconds the salt taste hit and still with a smile on her face she closed her eyes slowly but briefly as she swallowed.  She giggled as she looked at us then ate the rest of her ice cream.  I wish I could have been recording this all go down it was hilarious!!  This kid is bulletproof.  This is the kid that loves tabasco sauce, LOVES horseradish sauce and loves hot salsa.

Also, later that night Macey was pestering Buddy as always so buddy started swinging at her.  Macey was repeating "OW! OW! Buddy NO!" while Mason put the hurt on her and out of it came Buddy's first word "OW" not once but twice.  These two were destined to be brother and sister.

Valentine's for Daddy

This year I got a restraining order from Matt that I couldn't enter the kitchen for Valentine's Day.  Such a bummer!  Actually I've been banned from baking for the past month.  Supposedly sweets and such are not good on the waste line...who knew?!?!  I usually end up giving them away and Matt gets the leftovers so it doesn't affect me much.  I'm having serious baking withdrawals. So I put away my raspberry white chocolate cheesecake I was going to experiment with and got out my left over scrapbooking supplies and had the kids make Daddy some "hand"made valentines.  I think they turned out rather cute.  Daddy loved them so much he had me add on pics of Macey and Mason on their valentines and he is going to hang them up in his cubicle at work because the old digital photo frame died.  I sure need to get my kids into a professional photographer.  I swear Shan I keep thinking I need to call you but it took me 4 years just to get Maryn in...I'm pathetic!

I enlisted a good friend to come over and make "hand"made valentines for their Daddy too.  Matt and Doug had no clue...we snuck the kids over when they were at a training meeting.  And I actually kept it a secret until Monday morning!!  It was pretty amusing trying to get the little ones hand prints on the paper.  We learned that next time ink might be a better choice for the little ones and that red paint doesn't come off very well and trying to get a hand print from a sleeping baby didn't work out quite like planned.  The kids still had fun doing it.  Macey loves to look at her handprint and thinks it's the coolest piece of art in the world!

 

I haven't forgot about my middle child

I DO NOT want Macey to experience middle child syndrome!!!  I am a middle child and ya can't help but feel slided when you have minimal pictures of your childhood and there is very little stories or memories of what you were like.  I think that's why I've tried so hard to capture everything about my kids childhood.  I've been keeping a journal for all the kids because I want to be able to go back and say yes this is what you were like.  Maybe it's for my own satisfaction.  I'm not always the best at writing but each of the kids have a lengthy write up of their birth stories and how excited/scared we were to have each of them.  The last 2 years have flown by and I want my Macers to know that I have not forgotten about you and Mama promises to get your first year scrapbook finished.

 

Sweet Macey Face

Happy Birthday Macey!!  I'm so sorry baby girl you're sick today.  Out of all the days to be sick it had to fall on your birthday.  Mommy is contemplating moving your birthday to tomorrow so you can enjoy your cream cheese frosted cake and actually play with your new toys.  I can't wait to see the look on your face when you see what Daddy picked out for you.

Macey is our explorer.  She has an obsession with touching everything in her sight, especially her brother.  She's known as Macey the Detroyer, Macers, Face, Mace and CC.  She has big brown eyes that will melt your heart and a cheeky smile that you know she's getting into something.  We love our Macers...life is a roller coaster ride everyday with that girl but we wouldn't change it.  We love you Mace!

Not Enough Hours in the Day

I have something to admit...and this one is a toughy for me because usually I have all my ducks in a row but I'm overwhelmed. Sometimes I wish I could duplicate myself so I could get done everything I need to and have enough hands to help everyone that's demanding my attention. So, people say going from 1 to 2 is hard...I'm thinking 2 to 3 kids is kicking my butt. A few things I've learned in the past couple weeks.

There is no point in buying anything nice because it's going to get destroyed anyway.

Don't take 3 kids to a decorating store because it will end up in shattered glass and peppers on the ground.

Probably going to the library will have to be a special thing for Maryn without Macey...going with 3 kids is impossible and ends in ripped books.

Never and I say NEVER AGAIN will I bring all three kids to a doctor appointment for me.

If you think something is high enough and out of reach of your 21 month old...you probably need to put it even higher.

My crafts and free time are a thing of the past.

But then there are the sweet moments...

Maryn telling me I'm the best mommy in the whole wide world.

Macey giving me a hug not asked(begged) for.

Mason making his first cooing.

I'll take the good with the frustrating. Just need to find a little bit of balance in this whole crazy mommy world.

p.s. Since I took that picture of Mason his cheeks have expanded further. Hard to believe I know, but seriously those things are huge! Gonna need a wheel barrow to tote those cheeks around.

Words are worth their weight in Gold

Macey has seemed to come full circle with her words finally. Matt and I thought there was something wrong with her because she hardly ever talked. We were so used to little miss Maryn chatterbox who started forming words at 6 months. Little did I know Macey had no need to talk because her sister did all the talking for her. In the past month Macey's vocabulary has exploded. Which is funny because my friend said you can tell she has a lot to say and once she started talking the words were going to flood out of her mouth and they are. I've noticed the words that she uses the most are the ones she can associate with her sign language. And when we got more dedicated to reading to her religiously every night she can't get enough of books and will repeat the words we read. Yesterday she said her first full sentence. I'm going to have to check with Matt because my brain is fried but it was on the lines of "Where did my blanket go?" as she was looking in every corner of her room to find it. Some other things she says are, "baby geeking" which translated is baby sleeping. When we ask her to say Mason's name she says Macey. Then when she tries to says Mason's name she say Mainkin and tries and tries to say it right then settles with May May or brudder.

Her hair had a tragic accident thanks to Me this week. I needed to trim her bangs and got a little scissor happy when my fever was high and it didn't help I was listening to my other half telling me I need to trim more off the sides. NEVER CUT YOUR KIDS HAIR WHEN YOU HAVE A FEVER. Which ended up in tears for me because I cut my babies beautiful hair off more than I wanted to. She kept moving and the hair kept getting more uneven and there is a point of no return where you have to accept it and stop even though it looks horrid. Hopefully she can forgive me later in life. I don't want Macey to get lost in the middle so hopefully we can defy the middle child syndrome and make her feel as special as we can.

Wish I would've grabbed the camera

Matt told me to grab the camera yesterday when we were going out the door but pregnancy brain took over and I forgot it. Fishing season has come upon our family yet again so we took the girls to a little community pond nestled in Murray and Taylorsville. Very cool park by the way. I think it had four different play toys, volleyball pit, barbecue places, soccer fields and nice baseball field. It even had a fish cleaning station off of the pond that was in the park. Maryn and Matt took off to try to get fish for supper and I followed Macey like a puppy playing on all the toys. I got tired of walking so forced her to go over where Daddy and Maryn was so I could sit and relax. She immediately went for the water. We had her water socks on not out of choice but because we left her little shoes in Boise. It was a good thing we had them on. She would bend over in the water and pick up rocks and throw them where Maryn had her line cast. Maryn kept saying Macey get out of here you're gonna scare the fish away. It was pretty comical. Macey kept creeping deeper and deeper in the water. She lost her balance but I was able to catch her. Yeah...so much for relaxing. So, I was next to her on the bank watching her and she leaned over to pick up a rock and for some reason her head just kept going and she fell all the way in the pond. I picked her up by her onesie and she had this look of shock on her face like Mom why didn't you stop me. I couldn't stop laughing. This kid knows no boundaries. That apart from trying to eat the worms and the power bait Macey is a handful. Matt was able to catch one 12 inch rainbow trout. Maryn was bummed and said that she hated that pond and never wanted to fish there again. I'm looking forward to this summer.

FINALLY!!!

Finally, a night without throwing up! Macey has been throwing up everyday for the past 8 days. You think and say it's not possible...Oh I assure you it's possible! Our family got hit with this virus that I hope no one has to experience. Except Macey just couldn't get better. Every night I'd try to be hopeful that she would have a good night but would not be able to keep anything down. Towards day 6 and 7 I would just start to cry when the vomiting started because I could do NOTHING to help her and knew I'd be up the rest of the night listening for her. We finally got the go ahead from her pediatrician to go and rehydrate her in the hospital yesterday. She was such a champ. I was for sure that she was going to thrash and fight but she sat there like a big girl and actually watched them put the IV in and get her arm wrapped up to secure the line. Maybe I have a little nurse or doctor in the making. She started giggling when they wrapped her arm in dinosaur gauze. She didn't cry at all with all the stuff they were doing to her. The crying started when she figured out she had to sit and couldn't get down and play...then she was mad. I am so thankful she slept through the night. There were a couple of cries but nothing like what the past week has been. I'm giving this 3 days of good nights then I'll feel good about sleeping without worrying again.

Thank you to our little jello angel who came over and brought Macey jello last night when I was getting her prescription filled.

Crash Murdock strikes again and again

Macey is up to no good again. The sad thing is she gets hurt when I'm in the room most of the time. Two days ago Macey decided that she was going to run into the door jam head first. I was on my way upstairs to check on her. I had my friends kids over and suddenly the 2 oldest girls were screaming Macey fell. I walked upstairs because the scream wasn't too out of the ordinary and when I went through the door there was a trail of blood behind Macey and I couldn't even see her sweet face through the blood. I snatched her up and ran downstairs and put her in the sink(thank goodness I had finished the dishes that morning). I got the nearest cloth, wiped away the blood and put pressure on it. That's very hard to do with a 1 year old by the way. After I got the bleeding contained come to find out the wound was only about less than a quarter of an inch wide but pretty deep. I was so amazed that much blood came out of that little puncture wound. I was also surprised that I didn't freak out. The only thing going through my mind was gotta stop the bleeding. And what was even more amazing than that I was able to not get any blood on me. Maybe subconsciencely I was thinking I don't have that many maternity clothes so better be careful. It took about 15 minutes to get the little stinker to hold still to put the butterfly strip on her head. That held it together until my friends huband came by later and put some better strip on her head. Thanks Doug and Alison!

So, she didn't stop there not more than 2 hours later Macey was walking around and had gotten a hold of some tweezers. I was reaching my hand saying Macey hand me the tweezers when she darted forward and perfectly put them in the wall socket! A huge flash of light appeared, I swatted at Macey to push her back(probably not the smartest thing) then all the lights went out. She looked a little worried and I looked down at the plug in and there was smoke and charred whatever on the wall. LOVELY! I'm just glad she had made a complete circuit with the tweezers when she put it in the plug. The rest of the day I was within two feet of her worried she was going to try something else! She keeps me on my toes and is crazy. I'm too lazy right now to download the pics off my camera so I'll post them later.

Yes, she is licking the Tabasco sauce off the bottle. Matt fed some to her at Thanksgiving and she loved it. So, she grabbed the whole bottle trying to drink it. Guess we'll have to figure out another punishment for bad words when she gets older.

Macey "No Fear" Murdock

My crazy kid decided she didn't want to be in her crib anymore yesterday. I put baby Macey down for a nap and she was mad. She was screaming at the top of her lungs then all of a sudden I heard a HUGE thud and the screaming stopped. I'm thinking...there is no way...as I was running top speed up the stairs and when I opened the door baby girl was on the ground outside of her crib trying to get her blankie and dolly out. The little stink fell out of her crib. She must've landed on her feet because she was standing straight when I opened the door and not crying. When she saw me she smiled and started running from me because she thought she was in trouble. I grabbed her and checked all her arms, legs and head. I was panicked a little bit because I couldn't stop thinking of when Maryn fell out of her bed and broke her arm. I'm still amazed Macey didn't hurt herself and more amazed how in the world she got out of bed. Then she climbed up on the rocking chair and tried to jump off of that. She's only 13 months old. Kiddo, Mommy's heart can't take things like this.

Baby Macey's Birthday

It's been a month already but Baby Macey had her first birthday party. We took her to Target the night before to test the toys out and bought the ones she laughed and squealed with the most. Aren't we full of surprises! No worries, we let Santa do all the gift giving for Christmas.

I made Macey a cake that was pink of course. She wanted it so bad especially the candle. When we were singing Happy Birthday to her she caught a little bit of the cake. I was for sure that when we gave her a slice of cake she was going to dive into it. She was very meticulous how she ate the cake. She was swipe her finger into the frosting lick her finger and flick it out of her mouth. It was the cutest thing.

After the cake we had 2 presents for her. We were laughing so hard because when she was trying to get the wrapping off and the present kept talking to her and she got this startled look on her face then would laugh nervously. Here's a few pics of the party.

Happy Birthday Baby Macey

Just about a year ago I had know idea I was going to have a baby this exact night. I went to the doctor for my check up to find out I was dilated to a 5 1/2. After the appointment I went and picked up Maryn, chatted with a friend only to find out upon arriving home I started effacing and fast. Called Matt up and told him maybe he should start heading home. Started packing my bags and making arrangements for Maryn, received a blessing, then cleaned the house. Yes, I cleaned the house. Finally, Matt convinced me to go and I made him stop at Wendy's for a burger because I was starving!!! We went to the hospital and I walked up to the desk to tell them I was going to have a baby that night and the gave me a look like yeah right. I walked around the hospital for 3 hours and she came as quick as anything I have ever experienced. She was whisked away from me and I didn't even get to see her because there was no doctor to deliver her. Finally I saw her tiny body in Matt's arms. She was so beautiful and perfect.

Macey we're so glad you chose to come to our family. You bring so much happiness into our home. I love the way you can brighten any day with your huge grin. It's so funny to hear your duck conversations. You have such a silly disposition. You have the most beautiful dark brown eyes. You make me laugh when you start grooving to music. You have such a love for your older sister, it's amazing. Happy Birthday Baby Macey!!!