I found ten minutes

Well, to be honest I would rather be sleeping right now. I have to stay up to feed Mackenzie one more time before going to bed. The last couple of nights she has gone six-hour stretches! Sleeping a little longer each time has been really nice and I'm already dreaming of the day I can sleep all night again. On special days I might get to take a nap while the kids are napping - but not today. I really could have used one too. Reilly was up then Mackenzie then Reilly again. Reilly didn't end up sleeping at all and I am too scared to leave her in her room for too long. She is always finding trouble and most commonly when I go in there she is diaperless and has peed on the floor. She has used her princess potty several times, and would probably camp out there all day if she didn't let herself get distracted. Every time the princess potty makes music, that means it's candy time! I am pretty sure she only pees on the potty for the candy. Whatever though. I only give her 3 skittles at a time. 

We are doing well in general and staying plenty busy. We aren't busy with the Holiday bustle really, just everything else. I realized that I do about ten loads of laundry every week, so we are folding stuff just about every night after the kids go to bed. There are a lot of diapers to wash when there are two kids wearing them! If I can get laundry washed and dinner on the table in the same day, I'm feeling pretty good. I am also still working at the church part time and have spent some extra time there due to buying a building and having to move. We have been in the new place for ten days and I still feel so far from organized. Reilly also has her own little role at the church because she always helps get the chairs ready for Sundays by making sure the envelopes and pens are there. We are blessed to have the flexibility to bring the kids to work when I need to! There are some pretty fun toys there too, so Reilly doesn't mind that much.

Last week Mackenzie was being unusually cranky, and it turns out she had a virus and a really bad rash to finish it off. Poor kid! She has become very smiley though and is really a sweet baby. She is already 3 and a half months old, so she on her way to being a big girl now. She does great with standing and is super strong in general. She is getting more and more curious and aware and will just sit on your lap and look around. 

Reilly has been obsessed with Veggie Tales lately. I'm not a huge electronics person (all the toys I put on her Christmas list are wooden), so it's hard for me to let her watch VT too much. What that turns out to mean though is that I am singing VT songs ALL DAY. Her favorite is "God is bigger than the boogey man", but she calls it "creeping my bed." When she first started talking about that song we were confused and slightly alarmed. We didn't know what she was trying to tell us. She also has decided that her favorite color is green.  It turns out that just about everything I do in the kitchen is dangerous because when I'm in there cooking or cleaning, Reilly tells me to be careful - probably once every 5 minutes. It's sweet she is so concerned. Most of her prayers before dinner or bed go something like this: "Dear Jesus, thank you food, vitamins, Tebow, amen." Whenever I ask her what she wants to eat, she'll say "broccoli rice." When I actually give it to her though, she hardly eats it. I don't know if it means what she thinks it means. 

Anyway, time to do a dream feed and SLEEP! Can't wait. Enjoy some pictures below:

A Few Pictures

Some Updates

Well, Mackenzie is 6  weeks today! Time has really gone by so quickly and my baby is growing up so fast. She already looks so different. She is also very strong-she holds her head up a lot and was trying to roll over earlier this week! She went from back to stomach, but couldn't figure out how to get her arm out from under her. It has been fun having her be more alert and she has her dad's eyes. We are also doing well with a routine. I feed her every 3 hours starting at 7am and she is usually tired about an hour after waking. She likes to sleep swaddled, and once she gets all bundled up, it usually doesn't take her long to fall asleep. We've been blessed with two very easy babies - I really hope it lasts with Mackenzie! 

Reilly has been talking a lot lately - speaking in sentences a lot more and repeating what we say. We've also started her on vitamins, and they might be the highlight of her day. Whenever she hears me getting out my vitamins, she runs over and asks for hers. Most of the time she hangs on to them, savoring the delicious cherry flavor for as long as possible. She also loves to share my fiber drinks and if I don't drink most of it before giving it to her, I hardly get any. We're definitely getting healthy at our house!
This morning Reilly was drawing pictures with Daddy and she asked him to draw "hair, eyes, nose, feet, knees." I clarified that she wanted him to draw a person. Of course she did.
She also sang a song over and over for more than 30 minutes. It included all the hand motions, but we couldn't understand a word. She told us she learned the song at church.
Chris also has her saying "GO Broncos!" whenever he can get a word in.

I have a lot more pictures of Mackenzie but they are not available to me for this post. I will hopefully put them on soon!

Mackenzie Rose is here!

We are happy to announce our beautiful newest addition! 

Mackenzie Rose Loyd

8.26.12

10:08am

7 pounds, 15 ounces - 19.5 inches

My labor was only 7 and a half hours long, and progressed wonderfully. I didn't have a normal labor experience with Reilly, so I didn't quite know what to expect. It was still very hard and I don't want to do it again until I forget what it was like. :) It was of course worth it though!

 Reilly has enjoyed holding her new baby sister very much. A couple of times since being home she has run to the couch, put a pillow on her lap and said, "baby please." We also are learning how to be careful  around the baby and have luckily only had a few minor incidents.

I was very insistent on leaving the hospital as soon as possible and we were discharged after 24hours. Recovery has been completely different than the first time and SO much better. I am not exhausted like I was last time and feel like I can actually enjoy the newborn stage. Unfortunately with Reilly I was tired for weeks, rested whenever possible and because of that, missed out on snuggling my newborn. :( I am grateful to get to do it again.

We are all doing wonderfully and are settling in to being a family of four. Mackenzie is eating and sleeping better than I could have hoped and we are already getting into a rhythm. I have another week and a half off from work and all my sisters coming to help, so I am excited to just sit back and it enjoy it.

Cheers

Reilly is TWO!

Two blog posts in one week is quite unheard of these days, but I thought I would quickly let you all know about Reilly's second birthday! We have had so much fun these past two years with her, have been blessed beyond measure because of her, and can't wait to see what this new year has in store! MOST of the time she is a real sweetie and she brings us so much joy.

Reilly slept in today (must have been treating herself) but once she was up and running we started off her birthday right with a real treat: fruit smoothie! Then we put on her ballerina dress. The day continued normally until after nap time when she and I made a birthday cake! She saw me put the butter in the bowl and was already running over with her stool and saying "Mommy help! Mommy help!" She loves to help me bake anything. After we were finished it was snack time and I let her watch a Baby Einstein while she was eating. We played outside until Daddy came home, ate dinner, took a bath, and then had cake and ice cream. And more ice cream. Couldn't say no to that face.

I believe in the video Reilly tells you that she is two and that it is a "happy day." She has been saying those two things all day - maybe she really knows what is going on? I wouldn't put it past her because she is pretty smart. :) Well, I had better cut this blog off now lest you start having too high of expectations.

Happy Day!

Reilly Taking a Trip

Before I shot this video today, Reilly had everything you see in the video except her hat. She had already bid her farewells to me and left the house but came running back saying "hat! hat!" Once she was sure she had all see needed, she set off again. Luckily for us she didn't get too far. :)

July So Far

Reilly usually likes to read a bed time story and here she and Chris got cozy with the caterpillar and read her number book. It's always the number book. On the bright side, she knows a lot more numbers than she used to. :) Whenever I can get her to read a different book I always jump on the chance because it doesn't happen very often. Also you will notice in the picture that Reilly was wearing her new pajamas which include a little green tutu. It was in instant favorite.

We are hearing a lot of new words everyday, but Reilly always love to put "big" in front of words. So, we always talk about the big dog (who lives at cousin Felicity's house), big trucks we see out the window, big balloons, etc. Whenever we leave the house (even just to get the mail) we have to say bye to all the toys and the house itself. It takes us a while to get anywhere. Reilly constantly asks for "one more" and when we say no more, she asks "two?" When she gets hungry she either says "snack" or goes straight to "mac and cheese?" We don't eat mac and cheese very often, so it's a nice treat. Her "milk" sounds a lot like "no" (which is confusing) and when she wants water she says "R." When don't get to see my parents as much as we would like, but we are constantly talking about/calling on a fake phone Papa, Nana and Gigi. Reilly usually graces them with a song while she is talking to them on her fake phone as well. We also get some nice tunes out of Reilly whenever we are driving in the car. 

As far as everything else goes, July has been much cooler than June and therefore much more manageable. PTL! On Thursday I will only have 5 weeks left to go of the pregnancy but still hopefully enough time to get all prepared for her arrival. One of our bigger tasks will be to figure out how to fit in all the extra baby stuff we will need in our midst. We are also working on transitioning all the cleaners and other toxic chemical laden things OUT of our house. Reilly had a few close calls that I can remember, and after doing some research we found a company that offers many different products (cleaning, bath items - among other things) that are non-toxic at a great price. Facts are facts and you just can't watch your kid every second of the day, so the better solution is to get rid of the harmful things that they might get into. It will give me a much greater peace of mind...especially since there will be two that I will have to worry about. :)

Other than that, we are hoping to take things as easy as possible (although just yesterday we bought a used table and chairs that needs refinishing...not exactly relaxing).

Thanks for catching up with us!

IA, ND trip

Unfortunately I didn't take very many pictures on our trip to IA or ND. Below you will only find three. 

It was a long road trip to Fargo and Bethany graciously took the back seat and played with the kids when they all weren't snoozing.

Although we didn't get to the pool right away, we did eventually. Reilly had a great time splashing!

 Liam also enjoyed himself. Bethany and I didn't really enjoy the pool much at all for ourselves. I guess that's what happens when you have kids! Neither Chris nor Josh were able to come up for the wedding and it helped Bethany and I appreciate how they are normally there to relieve us when we need it.

As far as I know, the wedding went off without a hitch. We also had a lot of fun on the dance floor afterwards. Reilly found a friend and they were twirling all over the dance floor long after everyone else was exhausted. She didn't resist going to bed that night!

Reilly and I flew stand by home on Delta, and didn't have any problems. It's so nice when you make the flights you are hoping to! It did wear me out though, and I am not planning on taking anymore trips until our train ride back home for Thanksgiving. I'm exciting about taking a train! It was our cheapest option for our soon to be family of four.

I am 29 weeks as of yesterday and I am trying to not take my remaining time for granted. Multiple friends over the past couple of weeks have delivered up to FOUR weeks early, so that really doesn't give me much time. We also "celebrated" our four year anniversary yesterday. We didn't really celebrate though. We just had a normal dinner, which was just so-so. :)

Until next time.

Children's Museum

The kids group from our church decided to plan a day to the children's museum so that we could all get a group discount. When you say discount, we are THERE. This was our first time there and we were pleasantly surprised at all the fun options there for kids.

 We had to get on the gear before we could board the fire truck.

 In deep thought on the fire truck

 In the train making room...we had lots of trouble with that pesky bridge

 Bubble laboratory! This girl loves bubbles and these were the biggest bubbles of all time!

 Shopping at the store, picking up stuff for dinner

Getting creative with the paints

Cool Kid

Reilly found Daddy's glasses and enjoyed the view!

Reilly and Camden

Here are a few memories with Reilly and Camden! They have a lot of fun together and are partners in crime. Camden does a great job of saying Reilly's name and also calls me Cole. Reilly isn't quite there yet...but any time now!

After Camden found one of Reilly's necklaces, it was reading time! I didn't set any of this up - they got the blanket and all cozy all by themselves!

Then they climbed up onto the love seat and lounged a while.

This was the Easter egg hunt hosted by CCU. They didn't find too many eggs because there were older kids around who actually knew the drill. It worked out though because they really don't need candy anyway. Reilly did get to lick a melted snickers out of the wrapper though.

We also had a day at the zoo. It was the kids, Lauren (Camden's mom), Chris and me. Camden didn't want to hold my hand, but was very happy to hold Reilly's.

This picture is a little out of order but here they were hugging goodbye. How cute!

They were able to see an orangutan up close and we could hardly tear them away!

Final catching up

For some reason Reilly thinks Bears on Wheels is one of the best books ever. Not that is a bad book, but when you read it 10 times a day it just gets super old. I was so thrilled that Chris was reading it to her here...because that meant I didn't have to.
Reilly has really enjoyed playing outside during this crazy warm weather, but the flower pots have been her downfall. She plays in them whenever I'm not looking. Once I happened upon her playing in the potting soil, asked her to stop and went back inside for 30 seconds. I come back outside to find her IN the pot. There is no question that she has been eating it too.

Checking the mail while we're outside has become a daily ritual and she asks about it all day until we go outside and do it. She just says "mail? mail? mail?" It's also a great excuse to put her shoes on, so she points to her feet and says "shoe!"

We were also given a swing set by cousins, and Reilly has enjoyed it so much. It keeps her entertained for a good long while as well, so that's AWESOME.
Here Reilly is having a little afternoon snack with Mommy. Since I am around 20 weeks pregnant (we have an appointment tomorrow and hope to have a better estimate of when we're due) I have multiple meals a day... and I always have to share. Reilly won't let it be any other way.

That is all for now. Be sure to scroll down though because I did two posts before this one (all in the same day. Yes, I know that breaks the code of conduct for bloggers.)

Iowa Trip

This is how Reilly reacted when I told her we were going to IA. Just kidding. I don't even know what this picture is from, actually.

It was a last minute decision once some plans changed and I saw that the flights looked good to and from Omaha, so away we went! We got in late Thursday night and flew out on Monday morning. Reilly was good on the plane as usual, but things always go better when we have an open seat next to us. The flight back we didn't, and we were both happy to get out of there and be home. :)
Bethany and Liam came to my parent's house as well and it was great to see them both! Reilly enjoyed helping us giving Liam a bath. Holding him like you see here was a true chore because this boy doesn't know how to bend and sit! So, I had to support pretty much his whole weight because he was a stiff as a board in the bath tub.
My dad was able to take a few days off as well, so he and Reilly had some good bonding time at the piano.

We of course made a few trips to Bamboo Village plus did some hometown shopping. All in all, a great vacation. I am pretty sure it will be the last time that I travel with Reilly by myself though. I just don't have the energy anymore!

From months ago...

Sorry I have been a lame blogger lately. As I sit here typing my kitchen floor needs to be washed, the kabobs need to be skewered and I need to figure out what I'm making for a small group snack tonight. Two weeks in a row I was feeling very summery, so for small group I made strawberry shortcake for one week and blueberry buckle for the other. Now I am afraid that I set the bar too high. It's a terrible place to be. But anyway, since it's been so long since I blogged I thought I should bump it up to the top of my list - even though I have plenty of stuff to be doing. :)

Reilly loves fruit in general (even when it's bitter and nasty by my definition) but when we bring out the smoothies, she's all over it. We do water them down...but don't tell her that!

This is her enjoying her after-smoothie face in the mirror.

Months ago I spoke about snow pictures, and these are it! I have no idea when these are from, but we did indeed go out and play in the snow. I very accidently got snow in Reilly's face and that was when the fun stopped. Can't blame the kid.

Now whenever it's chilly out or snowing Reilly puts a hand on her chest and says "brrr!"

And Then There Were FOUR

We just had our first appointment two days ago (Monday the 27th) and we found out that we are around 15 weeks pregnant! Now, last pregnancy I was more aloof, but I definitely have felt every day of this one. I thought I was around 11.5 weeks when we went into the appointment, but it turns out they calculate the weeks differently and actually start counting before you're pregnant. Weird, I know. So, I haven't been pregnant for any longer than I thought, but I do have 4 LESS weeks to count down to. So, that's GREAT! The estimated due date is 8.23.12 with the disclaimer that they really don't know for sure. It is mostly my fault because I failed to keep track of things on my end. Last time they were able to calculate it because I wasn't so far along for the first appointment. But, since this baby is already so big, they did their best at measuring. We will have a better estimate at our 20 week ultrasound, which is only a month away.

I was definitely more nauseous this time around which was disappointing. My first pregnancy was so easy that I didn't even know I was pregnant. I was really hoping that would just keep repeating itself, but no such luck. The worst is over though and I'm well into the second trimester. Lately I've also be able to stay up past 8:30pm, so that's treat. Running after a one and a half year old PLUS not being able to just lay down whenever you want takes a pretty big toll on your energy levels. I've also had to get up to go to the bathroom every night since week five and a lot of the time can't fall back asleep. It doesn't do me any favors.

Reilly has been talking a lot more lately which is fun. She knows at least 15 animals noises with an elephant being the latest. She also SAYS elephant by just rolling her tongue around. And this is how new languages are born. One of our favorite animal noises she makes is a giraffe. And what does a giraffe say? Reilly would tell you "YIP!" We couldn't figure out why she would say that until we realized that her plastic giraffe named Sophie makes a rubber squeak. We just play along. Reilly points to about 10 different body parts and has tried to say some of those names too. She also somehow gets personally offended every time we try to pick up her toys because when she sees what we're doing she runs over and says "nooooo!"

I've got Camden here today along with Reilly and they are quite a Team Disaster. I always have a dilemma on these days because I never know if I should stay up and clean up the huge mess they've made, or if I should just ignore it all and take a nap. Although, it's also a nice partnership because Reilly loves to peel oranges without caring to eat them. This results in a lot of peeled Cuties lying around our house that don't get eaten. When Camden is here though, he is happy to take care of any food that Reilly is getting rid of. Especially oranges. One less orange I'm stepping on makes for a happy mom. :)

That's all for now. Cheers.

Veggies

We've got a big girl that loves vegetables! I was cutting up broccoli for stirfry and Reilly just couldn't wait. I was also making eggplant parmesan tonight and Reilly ate two rounds of eggplant raw. It didn't look appealing to me, but she was happy!

Tonight Reilly was busy doing her nightly rituals and aspirating her own nose! It was pretty funny to see but she kept us on our toes making sure she didn't slip it in her mouth afterward. She also sneeked her toothbrush into the toilet water-she's so quick we just can't keep up.

Reilly's 18 Month Statistics:

24 lbs. 11 oz. (56th percentile)

2' 10" (95th percentile)

We happily were snowed in today, mostly - aside for costco and Reilly's appointment. Chris even had a snow day for the first time ever! We have lots a snow and hope to play in it tomorrow. If you're lucky you'll get pictures of it before summer.

Cheers.

Whistling While We Work

Reilly had a great time finding treasures in the dishwasher today!

Sorry it has been so long since we posted last. We hope you all had a great Christmas! We went to IA this year and had a good time playing games and eating food - as per usual. We were there for 5 days but it went quickly, as vacations always do. We didn't have our near death experiences like two years ago either, so that was great! There actually wasn't a flake in the sky so the snowstorm we enjoyed a few days before we left had to get us through Christmas.

Now we're in a whirlwind of tasks that need to get done for different jobs before tax deadlines. The IRS needs to die!

The other big thing we've been dealing with is BITING. Reilly likes to bite when she doesn't get her way. Super unfortunate, but we're working through it. She gets multiple flicks on the face a day. If anyone has any other tips, please share!

Hope all is well with you!