Thursday, December 15, 2011

40 days.

Yes, folks... it's been 40 days since I've blogged.  You have no idea how hard I'm kicking myself.

At the same time, perhaps when I look back at this blog (which is why I blog in the first place- to log memories) I will account this time for being the busiest- most insanely, CRAZY time of my life.  Unfortunately (or fortunately?) I have no wild stories or tattoos to show for it... just a big, giant headache and super heavy eyelids.  

Where do I even start?

I think my last blog post, I was procrastinating- writing about Maeve's 4th birthday.   Shame on me.  For real. 

Because its 2 months later, and sure enough, my memory is starting to fog out on a lot of the details.  Okay- FOR REAL- FOR REAL- I am planning on blogging about Maeve's 4th birthday.  And Henry's 2nd birthday... and a bazillion other things.  But I feel like each of those events deserve their own post.  So be patient with me... they're coming- I just want to take my time remembering and posting pictures.

In this awesome "40 day" post- I'm going to try and compile a list of the happenings/events that have gone on in the past (gulp) month... that way you can get really excited (I'm sure!) about all the awesome things that are coming up on the blog roll... and it will keep me accountable for blogging about said events.

I'll also give a little rundown on each family member... just because.  (Because you all care? :)

 First off, the list... the list of events that need to be blogged.   That WILL be blogged. :)
  • Maeve's 4th birthday
  • Halloween
  • Stella's first bout with sickness
  • Henry's 2nd birthday
  • Thanksgiving
  • my grandma
  • the Christmas show
  • my sand dollar luck...
  • wisdom tooth extraction
What an interesting list, eh?

Okay now... the cast of characters:

Ryan
Ryan is pretty much just amazing.  He adapts to anything- anytime, anywhere.  There have been so many changes, and he just picks up like its second nature.  He likes his job- I wouldn't call it love- but he definitely likes it.  He's not only husband of the year (in my book) he's also dad of the year.  With all the insane health emergencies we've been having, he's been the rock that I need.  10 times out of 10 he's there when I need him.  It may mean that he has to go into work earlier or work later, but he does it.  He is still running every morning at the crack of dawn, and apparently its a lot more pleasant to run in 50 degree "chilly" morning weather rather than subzero, wet, snowy weather?  His release is the beach.  (as is mine) But after being in an office all day, he really, really loves getting out on the beach.   Lets see.... his favorite food (or most commonly ordered/eaten food) is a fish taco with avocado... he's still in love with his Detroit teams, and he likes to say, "WE LIVE HERE!" whenever we drive over the The Bridge of Lions. :)

Ashley (mua)
I am 10 pounds away from returning to my pre-preggo weight.  (YAY)... although my eating habits are absurd... (thank God for nursing!)  You can usually find me at the local parks.  There are 2 I really love to go to:  Davenport Park and this awesome wooden park (very comparable to Loomis park in downtown Jackson).  I've recently become a huge fan of Zaxbys (well mainly their iced tea- they have HOSPITAL ICE!) and I had my first Arnold Palmer (1/2 tea, 1/2 lemonade) at Chick-fil-A the other day.  Photography down here has been awesome.  I had to take a leap in October, and ask a family if I could photograph them... but its kind of all taken off from there.  Thank goodness for social media outlets!  There are still (many) times when I feel like an outsider- like when I scheduled a photo shoot for the beach at high tide... (we showed up and the waves were crashing into the storm wall... definitely not able to even step a toe on the beach).  Or when I thought it would be brilliant to do some pictures on the bay front... beautiful- yes, windy as a tornado too.  I've met a lot more people in the past couple of months thanks to photography and the studio.  I am still missing my Michigan friends dearly, but I am so determined to make a life here.  I probably say this 100000 times a day, but its the truth:  "I love this town- I love this area.  If I could transport my house and my friends down here, I'd be in heaven." 

Maeve
Oh my Maemae.  She is seriously the best big sister ever.  I'm not sure where she got it from, because I was a very jealous big sister!  I didn't like my parents giving attention to my siblings... she, on the other hand, couldn't care less.  She's always telling me to "look at how cute Stella is" or telling Henry to say certain words, then turning to me and exclaiming "MOM!  Henry said my name!"  This kid is ALL about her sibs.  It's the most wonderful thing to watch.  Along with her great big sis traits, I have to also make a note that she is...
  • stubborn
  • a stinker
  • dramatic
She mimics anything I say or do.  One day, while waiting for my mom to meet me for breakfast, I was trying to phone her, only to reach her mailbox over and over again.   Out of frustration I said, "Ughhh!  Nana's driving mama crazy!"  Want to guess what the first thing out of her mouth, to my mom was? 

She's in love- LOVE- with my sisters.  She thinks they're the most beautiful girls on the planet (and they are).  She is still 100% girl... she loves make up- and has gotten many a make up kit taken away from her for putting make up on walls, carpet, etc.  She loves dresses, talking on the phone (to nana or uncle Ty), singing, princesses, etc.  She tells me crazy things all the time like, "Mom, I am a princess and so I do not play baseball, right?"  Right Maeve... right :)  She loves going to the park, chick-fil-a and Barnes and Noble.  She sleeps in my t-shirts every night (to be like me & nana) and she's a total ocean chick.  As soon as we "release" her on the beach, she's running through the surf.  She's so beautiful.  :)

Henry
My sweet mister man had his 2 year appointment.  As a lot of you know, I've been a tad concerned with his lack of language skills.  With much, MUCH relief, we were told that he is A-OK!:) He's definitely on the lower end of words and speaking, but he is sociable and still on track.  At the moment he can say a hand full of phrases like, "Ohhh what's that?" or "Where'd it go?"  and my favorite, "What's wrong?"  He is the sweetest thing.  Sooooo very sensitive.  All I have to do is get down to his eye level and give him "the look."  He's a blubbering mess after that, and all that comforts him is to be held and told that everything's fine.   He loves both of his sissys sooooo much.  And he's surprisingly very gentle with Stella.  There are moments when I'm cringing as he's trying to give her a hug, but for the most part he's really good.  He loves the beach and parks as well.  He's not a huge fan of the waves- if the ocean is particularly rough, he's a little bit hesitant.  But that's fine with me... I'd much rather him be hesitant than throwing himself in the water.  He drinks 24/7.  I have no comment on his bottle habits  (yes, I did say bottle...eek!).  He's obsessive with trains, cars- basically anything with wheels.  He loves fruit snacks and beans (black and kidney beans) and French toast sticks.  Currently, he is by FARRRRR the BEST sleeper in this house.  He takes a solid 2 hour nap each and every day and goes to bed at 8 and sleeps till 7.  AHHHHH-MAZING :)

Stella
My baby... that's not really a newborn baby anymore.  For real- this chick is going to be crawling in no time.  She rolls from one end of the living room to the other in a minute.  She too, loves her brother and sister.  They make her smile all day long.  But I'm fairly sure I'm her favorite.  Let's just say she's a big fan of nursing.  I think I've gotten myself into a badddd situation with her- I've let her nurse throughout the night- and that's ALL she wants to do now.  (heyyy... maybe that's why I've lost weight?)  She sleeps next to me from about 1 AM-6 AM and nurses as she pleases the entire time.  Insane, I know.  But she could very well be my last baby... so I'm trying hard not to rush her through the baby stage.  EVEN if that means zero sleep for us.  We moved her crib into our room the other day because it was decided that I would not trust Maeve to sleep with her.  Maeve would never, ever hurt her purposefully, but I could totally see her sticking a stuffed animal in the crib with her, or climbing in to sleep with her... both of which would be soooo dangerous.  For the 3 hours Stella sleeps on her own, she normally sleeps in her swing... the doc recommended this when she was sick, and we quickly found that she sleeps the most soundly in her swing (versus the bassinet/crib).  She's a porker.  I'm not sure how much she weighs- but at her last appointment which was 3-4 weeks ago, she was 13 pounds.  Really- she's growing WAY TOO FAST.  She's cooing, smiling, and in love with her fingers and toes.  She could very well be the most spoiled baby on the planet.  When I was preggo with her I felt bad that she'd probably be in a swing for most of the day because I'd be too busy with the other kids to hold her.  She made it known that swing life was not for her.  She is either in my arms or in someone else's arms ALL THE TIME.  She'll flip around on the floor for a bit, but she quickly gets upset and wants to be held... again.  It's another one of those things, that I know she'll outgrow fast- so I'm definitely not complaining about holding her.  Although it is VERY difficult trying to dress a 2 year old while holding a baby....

Okay... that should bring you up to date with the McKenney family. 

I will blog more in depth about those bulleted "events" as time allows. 

But... sighhhh... it did feel good to sit down and write for a bit.  :)

Thanks for reading! 


   



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