My Sweet Baby Girl...

I have been told by friends who were second and third-born children how important it is take just as many pictures of Mackenzie as we did of Campbell. Luckily Brad had just bought a new camera lens for Christmas; we were ready to take lots of pictures of Mackenzie. The challenge I have realized... who takes the pictures? With Brad chasing our busy toddler and me taking care of Mackenzie, taking tons of pictures to document every moment is not so easy. But here are some of my favorites from our first week with Mackenzie.

Love all that curly brown hair!

Time to go home!

What's so funny Mackenzie?!

Mackenzie Arrives!

I never would have guessed that Mackenzie would be arriving 3 days after my last blog post. We had planned everything perfectly! My doctor recommended a planned c-section one week prior to my due date. However, that was the weekend of the MLK holiday and our friends who had generously volunteered to watch Campbell for a night were going to be in CA. So I suggested we schedule the c-section for January 17th. It was perfect. Campbell would spend the night at our friends house on Jan 16th; Brad and I would have our first night to ourselves since Campbell's arrival, and then we would get up super early on the 17th and check-in to the hospital for Mackenzie's arrival.

Ms. Mack had other plans. Friday night, Jan 13th, I worked till after 10 PM to get everything done before going out on maternity leave. I finally got into bed around midnight and realized I was having contractions. I convinced myself they were braxton-hicks (the "fake" warm-up contractions). I got out of bed to sit on the couch and drink gallons of water to try to stop it. Finally at about 3 AM I woke Brad up to give him an update - I was having contractions and all the water in the world was not stopping it. We paged my doctor. He agreed I needed to go to the hospital. Great... what was our plan now. Who was going to watch Campbell at 3 AM?!?! I hopped in the shower to shave my legs (because who knew when I would get another chance to do that); I threw some clothes in a bag (because I was totally not ready yet and hadn't carefully packed a hospital bag like I did with Campbell); and I jumped in the car to drive MYSELF to the hospital. Brad stayed home with Campbell!

I waddled my way to L&D around 4 AM and got checked into the hospital - yep I was having contractions about every 5-10 minutes. We had a few options, take meds to try to stop the contractions and go with planned section on the 17th or move forward with delivery that morning. As a precaution I was given the meds any way, but Brad said let's go for it. Mackenzie would be arriving today. Next step, find someone to watch Campbell. As grandparents scrambled to change their flights (everyone had planned for the 17th!), a fellow resident was willing to come to our house at 8 AM and spend the day with Campbell. I was scheduled for a 9:00 AM section which luckily got pushed back to 9:30 AM. Brad made it to the hospital at 9, and Mackenzie was born at 9:44 AM - exactly one week before my due date, as my doctor had originally suggested! I guess she listened better than me. Welcome to the world Mackenzie!!!

Family Photos

For months, I wanted to take family photos of the three of us before the arrival of #2. I also thought it would be fun to have some bump pictures. But between all our schedules, it was not easy to settle on a date/time. So our family photo session was combined with the bump session, and we finally got our family photos taken with me at 38 weeks pregnant!

Our photographer was awesome - thanks Amber for the recommendation!! Rather than feeling like a photo session, it was more like playing at City Park for an hour with Campbell. We had a blast. Campbell hadn't been to City Park in months, and he ran all over the park and museum grounds checking everything out. Here are some of my favorite pictures.

It's all about Hygiene!

One thing we've learned about Campbell is that despite being an insanely messy eater, he is a very clean little man. He loves taking baths, brushing his hair, and he especially likes brushing his teeth. We only have to ask him once if he wants to brush his teeth, and he immediately responds by saying "teet" and B-lines it for the bathroom. He thoroughly brushes all of his 11 teeth for about a minute and hands the tooth brush back when he's done. We hope his good hygiene habits keep up, but we're not holding our breath.

Swimming!

For months I've wanted to take "mom and baby" swim lessons but I didn't know where. Our friend told us about Love Swimming, and we immediately signed up. Campbell and I have been taking lessons since the end of September, and we love it. Campbell's favorite part is jumping in (more like wiggling and plopping in) from the side of the pool. My favorite part is the heated, salt water pool that feels awesome at 7 months pregnant. Least favorite part... putting on a maternity swimsuit every Saturday!

Big breath! Close those eyes and mouth!

Kick Campbell kick!

YEA! Way to go C Man!

Dallas Visit

First weekend in October we went to Dallas to see family and attend our first football game with Campbell. With baby #2 arriving in January, we won't be traveling to Dallas for Christmas this year, so our October trip was like our trip to Dallas for "the holidays." We had lots of fun seeing everyone and as always wish we could have spent more time visiting with everyone.

Campbell just learned his first word that week before our trip - "duck." So we tried to see as many ducks as we could. We visited Lakeside park and fed the ducks. We saw the ducks at Northpark. And my favorite duck sighting... as we walked into the fair grounds for the TX/OU game, Campbell saw giant "duck" shaped boats on the lagoon and exclaimed duck...duck...duck over and over again. He also started saying snack and learned uh-oh while we were in Dallas. Brad and I were endlessly amused at asking funny questions and waiting for Campbell to reply with "uh-oh." Needless to say we are having so much fun with our toddler and are amazed every day with all that he learns.

Whoa! Close to the ducks!

Campbell trying to get closer to the action at Northpark!

Ready for my first football game!

Checking out the petting zoo at the Texas State Fair! Of course we saw ducks. And a Longhorn!

If only Texas had been so tough. Our seats were right behind the cannon, so we spent the first half hanging out in the concessions area. [Dad said no to sitting by the cannon with Campbell's little ears!] Then it was nap time...

Busy morning at the fair = exhausted Campbell!

Super cool necklace Aunt Jessica.

Cool fountain Paw-Paw. I wonder if any ducks are in there.

We're Walking

Campbell has been taking little steps for the past few weeks, but during brunch on Sunday August 28th, he walked (while holding on to my hands) from our table to the kitchen and back! We were so excited. Since then he has been totally focused on walking. He raises his hands and squawks to say "give my your index fingers I want to walk across the house!" We've taken some videos with our camera, but of course the files are too large to upload here. As soon as I figure out how to get the video uploaded, I'll add it. In the meantime, here are some new pics of the little monkey!

Campbell loves to help Waylon eat his food! Now if only Campbell would eat his own food!

Saturday morning breakfast!

Way to pre-wash that spoon before loading into dishwasher. Such a great helper!

I love my music table! And now I use it to walk around the living room.