February

So now that February is over I figure I'd better post about what happened during the month before March is over and I have February AND March to post about! Even though February is ONLY 2-3 days shorter than the rest of the months, it sure seems to fly!

McKay watching a 'show' in the morning. Looks comfy huh? He really enjoys watching Word World, Clifford, Curious George,and Thomas the Tank Engine.

Thursday the 11th was my birthday. Jordan had a basketball game that night so we spread out the 'celebration' through Friday. I talked with each of my siblings on (or pretty close to) my birthday as well as with my parents and Grandma. It was a nice birthday.
McKay enjoyed helping me open my presents.

Say 'CHEESE'!

I love kisses from my little man!

Spoiled, Spoiled, Spoiled!
My Dad's sister, Nancy Bailey, happened to be in town and came to see me on my birthday. It was great visiting with her. We don't get many visitors out this way, and I got a visitor on my birthday! It was a very pleasant surprise.

On Friday Jordan got off work early and we ate at Buca di Beppo. Afterward we had Ghirardelli Turtle Carmel Brownies with vanilla ice cream. Yeah, it was as good as it sounds. When I told McKay we were having birthday cake, he was SURE it should be an Elmo cake, just like he had for his 2nd birthday (seriously, the kid has a memory like no other). He now knows that his birthday is in July, and he is either going to have a 'train show' cake, a 'cars show' cake or a 'brown bear brown bear' cake. We'll see what else he comes up with before his birthday!

Ever since his birthday when he didn't know he was supposed to blow out the candles (how would he know??) we've been talking about what happens on your birthday each time an opportunity comes up. Now he knows, you blow out the candles on your cake and pretends to blow them out anytime he sees a candle or a picture of birthday cake.

McKay really got into the valentines day spirit and started working on making valentines in January. He made some for his Grandma and Grandpa Moser, Nanna and Papa, Dustin and Chantelle, Mommy & Daddy and a few more for Nanna & Papa. Each one was a little different. He used paint, water color paints, glitter glue (with help of course) markers, crayons, paper, etc. I forgot to take a picture of the valentines we sent to Arizona but you get the idea.

Jordan surprised me on my birthday & early for valentines day with a dozen roses. I loved having our place smell like chocolate and roses for a few days. What could be better?

McKay counting the numbers on the phone. He has 1-8 down, but he often forgets 9. If we help him with 9, 10 is totally there. Then it is anything from eleven to fourteen to seventeen etc. :) Good job buddy!

Talking to Nanna and Papa on Valentines day. They loved the valentines he sent them and a few days later he got a letter from them full of valentines. It happened to be the same day we talked about the mail carrier at our house for preschool so he got 'mail' in the morning from Mommy and then mail from the mail carrier in the afternoon. McKay LOVES talking on the phone, and is SURE everyone who calls is Nanna and Papa and I get in trouble if he doesn't get to talk to them too.

We've had a lot of rain this year so we take advantage of the days that are dry to go to the park. Here McKay is making a pizza out of sand that we pretended to eat. Yeah, I wasn't joking when I said he LOVED the playgroup activity when we made pizza. In fact, he still asks to make pizza each Sunday when we go to church. He'd pile the sand up, then say 'all ready mama' and hand me a pretend piece of pizza to pretend to eat. Then he'd make another one, telling me it was 'almost done' as he worked on it. His vocabulary has grown by leaps and bounds in the last couple of months and we are loving his new communication skills!

McKay can put his underwear and pants on (he picked out his clothes this day - he often has an opinion on what he wears now) and he LOVES to wear his snowman socks. He is also a very good exercise buddy for me and can even remind me of what exercise I haven't done yet by showing me. Here he is on his 'turn' with the bands. His arms go up and down and he counts each one.

Here he is another day making pizza on the bathroom counter with a measuring cup and water.

The two Saturdays in the middle of the month, Jordan & McKay left while I stayed home doing taxes. They had a lot of fun together. The first Saturday they did a bunch of miscellaneous errands Jordan had been wanting to get done. He was so pleased with how well McKay behaved, he took him to eat at 'the star'. (Carls Jr.) McKay doesn't eat fast food very well (wonder where he got that!) but he thinks the star is pretty neat and constantly asks to eat there. Unfortunately for me, there is a Carl's Jr on the other side of the parking lot of the grocery store.

The next Saturday they went to story time at the library and McKay showed Daddy where to go. Afterward they went to Stan's, a little donut shop near our home that supposedly has the best donuts around. They picked out some donuts and McKay had one with green sprinkles he was really excited about. They got to the checkout and found out they only accept cash. Jordan had used all his cash the night before when he and I went to a Utah Jazz & Golden State Warriors basketball game in Oakland so they had to leave the store empty handed. McKay was d.e.v.a.s.t.a.t.e.d. to say the least. He was so upset and cried all the way home and into the house. He finally calmed down enough to eat lunch and then remembered the 'green' and started crying again. We finally gave him a green popsicle and Jordan promised to take him back another day (still haven't been back). It was so sad!

Spring is here!

I love being able to open the windows and let the fresh air in. We don't get to every day yet but we'll take what we can get.

Things to Remember

2-22-10
McKay's communication skills have really taken off in the last month or so. Some of my favorites of his new phrases are: Watch this, all ready, and almost done.

McKay has learned to take advantage of the moment we leave the room for a minute to get what he wants.

McKay's new favorite color seems to be purple. He always wants to use the purple bowl, eat purple grapes, and get a purple sticker after story time at the library.

2-15-10
Today at the park, McKay made pizzas that we pretended to eat. We'd finish one and he'd make another, telling me it wasn't ready yet. Once it was ready, he'd pretend to hand me a piece that I'd pretend to eat. I am loving the world of pretend!

2-14-10
McKay likes to build 'T's and Y's with his blocks.

McKay's imagination is taking off and he can find shapes and letters EVERYWHERE, from his food, to his blocks, to the clouds, etc.

2-11-10
Today I gave McKay a stack of books and told him he needed to sit on the couch till the timer dinged and read books. It was either that or finish his quiet time in his room, on his bed, while the roofers pounded on the roof. He read ALL the books for over an hour. And I LOVED hearing him read and talk about the books he was reading. Way to go buddy!

McKay was SO excited for my birthday today and now knows that his is in 'uuLLaey' (July).

2-2-10
McKay now knows what it means to 'pass gas' and will tell me each time he does.

2-1-10
I love when McKay sings. He usually sings songs he's made up or primary songs when he is not sleeping during nap time.

I love it when McKay says 'thank you Mama'. He says it so sincerely anytime I do something for him.

Woodland

Last Saturday, February 6th, Jordan ran the Woodland 10k race. We woke up during the night to rain pounding on the house and wondered what it would be like in the morning. We were hoping for no rain but after all it IS the rainy season now so what could we expect?!?
As we drove to the park McKay kept saying 'ya, yay!'

The top pictures are of the the same field. The one on the left is from the swings and the one on the right is at the finish line under the pavilion looking out at the rain pouring down! The bottom pictures are the trail head. The ground was so soggy! The 50k race started before Jordan's, and the 30k and 17k started 15 minutes after his. Between the rain and all those people... what a mess!

McKay enjoyed swinging on the big kid swings while we waited for Jordan to run. We hurried and snagged the swing after a little girl got off (she dried it off for us :)) but he only got to swing for a few minutes before a cloud burst and we ran for cover!

Jordan loved splashing in the muddy puddles. Hey! So did McKay! Some things never change. :)

They don't even look winded do they?
Jason ran the last race with Jordan too. It is nice to have someone there we know.

Our family with the Eggers family after the race. Jordan said he enjoyed this run more than the last one. The hills were more gradual rather than straight up & down! And running in the rain was nice. Once again, the views were amazing!

26 Weeks

Things to Remember

1-26-10
McKay has a small ball that lights up when you hit it against something. Jordan got it at BYU when he was recruiting. The light stopped working so McKay used the plug on my curling iron to try to give it more power by trying to plug the prongs into the ball. Even though it doesn't quite work that way, I was impressed with the connection he made!

1-25-10
McKay likes to spin around to get 'dissee' (dizzy) and pretend to crash into walls and furniture.

McKay likes to tease me and say that when the stoplight turns purple, we can go. As a side note, green is his new favorite color.

1-24-10
Jordan asked McKay what we should name the baby. He said 'Nanna, Papa, Dustin'. :)

When we say 'love you McKay' he says 'luf u kay'. He repeats what we say - buddy, handsome, etc. So cute.

1-22-10
Our library has a parking garage under the library so I usually give McKay the option of parking up or down. He always says down. Who wouldn't when you can reach the buttons to push on the elevator? The funny thing is once we get under ground, McKay whispers everything he says to me. "Mama... hi!" I am not sure why but it sure is cute!

Jordan came home from Costco with something for me he didn't want me to see so he came in the house and walked backward into our bedroom. McKay thought that was pretty neat and followed him, backward. THEN he thought Jordan should carry everything into the house backward and he did the same.

McKay loves cookies and enjoys having one after he finishes his dinner. One evening we were all eating cookies and McKay pointed to a chocolate chip he could see in his cookie. Then he took a bite and said 'bye bye'.

McKay's latest thing is to point at us and say 'no touch, no touch', especially when he and Jordan are 'wrestling'. He also likes to tell us to 'shhhh!' for no apparent reason. I think he got this from when we were at Jordan's company holiday party and the sitters were trying to get the kids to sleep. He completes the ensemble by putting his finger to his lips.

1-12-10
McKay has become quite the negotiator. When he asks for something, he'll count to 5 or 10 or sometimes even seventeen (skipping a couple to get to it) meaning he wants that many crackers or shows or whatever it is we are talking about.

1-10-10
McKay counted to 10 all by himself when he was counting the toys he'd thrown on the floor in the kitchen. It was the first time Jordan and I had heard him do it.

McKay loves to mimic our movements or words/sounds to tease us. He thinks it is SO funny and does his best to catch our eye and grin so we know he is teasing us.

1-9-10
McKay instantly laughs when he falls down or over unless he gets hurt then he cries. He rarely cries though and it is so funny to watch him laugh at himself. Often he will pretend to fall again and again, laughing at himself over and over.

1-8-10
On our way home from having lunch with Jordan, McKay looked out the window and said 'woah!' I asked him what he saw and he said 'choo choo'! Sure enough, the line of cars waiting to turn left DID look like a long train. The rest of the drive McKay was on the lookout for more trains. Anything lined up is a train: vitamins, chairs, toys, magnets, etc.

A man Jordan works with gave him some powder that is like chili powder but different. McKay spotted it on the table and was sure he wanted some on his cucumbers just like Daddy. So Jordan put a little on one and gave it to him. We told him if he liked it he could have it on the rest of his cucumbers. The cucumber barely crossed his lips and he said 'ya, more'. We just watched him and the more he chewed his expression changed and he changed his mind. 'no me, dada sauce'. I'm pretty sure he won't be asking for it again!

McKay says 'Hi Santa!' to the Santa on our neighbors roof every time we drive by.

1-3-10
After being in AZ for a week and a half, McKay is anxious to go back to 'Dustin's house' and constantly asks if that is where we are going when we get into the car.

See the train of shapes? McKay loves to play with play doh.

One of McKay's many towers of blocks. Lately McKay plays with his blocks a lot and comes up with all sorts of shapes. I love watching his imagination develop.

McKay's visit to the Discovery Museum with Daddy. He loves the 'mu-ee-um'.

Dice!

Life size monopoly game outside of the museum.

Pizza Pizza!

Today for our ward playgroup we made pizza! McKay loved it. He wore his apron and after a little help spreading the dough, he did the rest on his own. He spread the sauce, cheese, pineapple, sausage, Italian squash and a few olives and mushrooms on his pizza. After it baked in the oven, we ate it! Several moms commented on how cute he looked with his little apron. He was so excited to make and eat pizza. It was a great activity.

While we were waiting for our turn, (we had to do two shifts since there were so many people there), McKay enjoyed running in the gym with the other kids and playing with the basketballs. After we ate our pizza, he played hide and seek with the 3 1/2-5 year old kids and had a blast counting and finding the other kids with whomever was 'it'. I'm glad they let him tag along and that he is comfortable playing with them.

Shame on me, I forgot my camera!

Bye Bye Pacifier

Friday night McKay left his beloved pacifiers for the pacifier fairy with a note telling the fairy to take his pacifiers to new little babies who need them, since he is too big for them now. He usually uses his blue 'pas', and I keep his two green pacifiers in the cupboard for when he wakes up at 2 am asking for his pas and/or when we can't find the blue one. He likes the green pas better than the blue one because it is softer. Had I thought about it, I would have just had him set out the blue one rather than pulling out the two green pacifiers too. He saw those and said 'baby one, me two'. He was willing to give up the blue one but not the two green pacifiers. He popped one green pas in his mouth and I told him it was okay to suck on it one last time. At that point, Jordan doubled over laughing (somewhat silently) at the situation. McKay finished sucking on that one and said 'baby two, me one'. We were getting closer!

We showed him some pictures of new babies and showed him how small they are and then talked about how many big kid things he can do. Finally, he surrendered the last pas, saying 'me no pas (shaking his head no), baby pas (nodding his head yes)'. We reminded him the pacifier fairy would bring him a surprise for his pas and he went to bed without his pas for the first time in his life.

He only asked once for a drink of water and when I went in there he said again, 'baby pas, me no pas'. And that is how it has been at each nap time or bedtime. He remembers he gave his pas to the new babies and goes to sleep. We are so proud of McKay! Our boy is growing up on us!

McKay was excited to see that the pacifier fairy left him some Magic Sand, the Brown Bear book collection, and some silly putty, which he played with off and on all day long. He's only used his pas to sleep and has kept it on his dresser the rest of the day for quite a while, which I think helped. He sure was cute trying to negotiate how many he was willing to give up and if we didn't feel it was 'time' to be done with the pas it sure would have been easy to let him keep it a little longer. Now he has 4 months until his little brother is born and I don't think (hope) he will be taking his brother's pas now, and yes, we are hoping for another pas baby!

McKay enjoying his surprises' with Daddy.

Bonus pictures:

McKay likes going to Trader Joes. They have good samples and he gets stickers and a balloon most of the time. It is hard to tell but he has stickers on each cheek, on top of his head in his hair, and on his chin, as well as the stickers you can see. They only stay on for a few minutes. For some reason, his hair is always the first place he puts stickers.

That's our boy!

The First Week of a New Year

So far this year:

• McKay has decided he doesn't need to sleep during nap time. Once McKay makes up his mind, we are finding it is difficult to change it. He did take a nap after church on Sunday though, when we told him if he slept he could have a cookie when he woke up. First thing he said when he woke up? Cookie! We are NOT giving up on naps yet!
  
• I have been doing menu's based around what is on sale at the store. I usually plan our meals around what is on sale but this time I am writing it down and making sure I have all the ingredients for what I plan to make. I am also making a special effort to make sure we have lots of fruit and vegetables at each meal (again... it is SO EASY to slack off on this one). I LOVE knowing what is for dinner ahead of time. Now if I can just keep it up all year...
• Jordan started off the year by working the first Saturday after we got back. That made my week of no naps longer but it is nice to have his Saturday for the year out of the way.
• Our church is at 9 am and we are surprised to say we love it! We came home, had dinner, took naps, had home evening and spent the evening together. Something about having church at 1 pm with a toddler has made us love 9 am. AND we were even early, something that was awfully hard to do with the 1 pm time. Hope we can keep that up all year too. :)
• I've started a list of meals we enjoy, categorized by main ingredients, for those times when I have NO IDEA what to make and nothing sounds good.
• I am definitely in the 'honeymoon' phase of pregnancy. My energy has returned for the most part and my belly is growing by the day (it seems anyway). Our boy is very active and I LOVE IT!
• McKay and I went to the library today and replenished our supply of books to read. We also went to the grocery store and since I only needed a couple of things, we just used a small basket. My helper held one handle and I held the other until it was too heavy and then we both held both handles. We used the self check-out and McKay insisted on bagging the groceries for me. It definitely would have been easier to use a cart but then we wouldn't have made several people smile at us throughout the store!
• I am trying to get as much as I can done now, before tax season hits in full force since I will only have a month after it ends before our baby is born. 4 months really isn't all that long when you think of it that way!
• After a couple of weeks of fighting with my new haircut, my hair will be curly for a while. It looks cute (or so people at church told me) I like it again!
• Jordan has basketball twice a week now that the church basketball tournament has started. He is also doing a 10k the first Saturday in February.
• McKay has been eating a ton. I think he must be going through a growth spurt. His nursery leaders even noticed he was eating a lot.
  
• It's gonna be a great year!

Happy Holidays

This year we were able to spend Christmas in Snowflake. My brother Chris flew to our house on December 16th, just after finishing his last final for the semester. We spent a day taking it easy and a day in San Francisco (somehow I don't have any pictures of SF). It was fun being in San Francisco when everything was decorated for the holidays. The tree at Pier 39 was enormous! I also confirmed my suspicion that I prefer to have Jordan do the driving in San Francisco. Especially at 5 pm on a Friday afternoon! McKay loved having 'ris' to play with and the two of them came up with lots of games. I enjoyed preparing dinner by myself and uninterrupted!

Saturday morning we packed the car and Chris, McKay and I headed for southern California. Jordan still had to work until Christmas Eve so we left him here. It was sad to have to leave him! We got to Palmdale just in time for a ward Christmas dinner in my Aunt Mary's ward where Chris also served as a missionary. We spent the next couple of days visiting people Chris served with on his mission. It was enjoyable to meet so many people who were so excited and surprised to see Chris. I went to the Spanish branch with him. 2 years of Spanish in high school helped me understand parts of what they were saying but not everything, especially the talks. One Spanish sister even wanted us to come to dinner - she has a daughter she thinks would be PERFECT for Chris! ;)

Monday morning we headed for Snowflake. I was still trying to figure out how to travel with a potty-trained boy who can't 'hold it' for very long as well as dealing with frequent potty stops for this pregnant mama so the drive took FOREVER! About an hour from Snowflake, McKay had had it. He was all smiles though once we got in the house to see everyone. When it was time to drive home on January 2nd, Jordan and I decided to drive straight through rather than stopping in southern California. We stopped twice. The first stop took 6 minutes (according to the GPS) and we just got gas and used the restroom. The second stop was in Kettleman city, pretty much the only place to stop between here and so cal and everyone else had the same idea so it took about an hour. Overall, the drive took 13 hours. McKay was a champ. The last 20 minutes he was upset but as soon as I took him out of his seat to go in the house, he was out cold on my shoulder. Poor kid! The only other thing that happened on our drive back was that just after Bakersfield, we hit a huge patch of dense fog. I think it is the thickest I have ever driven through. We were glad when it cleared up. The DVD player we purchased along with the lunch and snacks my Mom packed for us enabled us to make the drive in the time we did. McKay loved the cucumbers & banana she sent for him.

We didn't quite get to do everything we had planned for our visit (does that EVER work out?) but we did get to do a lot including the following:

• McKay loved getting to help decorate the Christmas tree. Our place is so small we don't have room for a big tree so I just set up a small tree on a table. It takes about 5 minutes to decorate. He enjoyed helping Chris with the lights and finding different decorations to put on 'his spot' of the tree. After he went to sleep, his spot got spread out. :)
• McKay liked having Dustin hold him. He'd put his chin on Dustin's shoulder until one of them was ready for a change. McKay got Dustin's name down right when we got there and anytime we went anywhere, he wanted to go back to 'Dustin's house', including for several days after we got back to California.
• We've discovered McKay loves to play games (YAY!!) 'Yasee' (Yahtzee) and Perudo were games we played a lot while we were there. He was constantly asking to play 'dice' and always had his own cup to shake along with the rest of us. He also enjoyed playing other games that were more for his age and the phrase 'my turn' was added to his vocabulary. Perudo is a game Aunt Mary gave the family for Christmas. Definitely one we'll have to add to our collection!
• Due to circumstances beyond our control, Jordan spent Christmas Eve at the Shereton in Phoenix. He enjoyed seeing the rim and beautiful snow covered mountains on his flight to Show Low Christmas morning. We were so happy when he arrived safely!
  
• The day after Christmas we had family pictures taken. We are excited to see how they turned out. We were also able to attend my cousin David's wedding reception.
  
• Jordan & I celebrated our 4th anniversary by staying a night at a resort in Scottsdale. On the way down, we stopped in Queen Creek at the house we bought with my parents in July so Jordan could see it. We had some great Mexican food and had some pretty awesome pancakes from US Egg. We enjoyed being together, just the two of us. We had been in Arizona long enough McKay didn't want to leave and was perfectly happy to wave 'bye bye' to us so he could stay at Nanna and Papas. When we came back we got a lot of 'hi mamas' and 'hi daddy's but not our usual big hug when we've been gone. We're glad he loves being with Nanna & Papas!
• Nanna took McKay sledding in Heber with his cousins. He wasn't too sure about going down by himself but with Nanna, he was fearless! We met them in Heber at Melinda & Devin's on our way back from the valley.
• Nanna gave McKay a haircut while we were gone. Probably the best haircut he'll get till we go back next year. :)
• I got a much needed haircut and a 1 hour massage Jordan gave me for Christmas. Jordan cashed in his Valentines day gift early and got his first 1 hour massage - and loved it!
• Jordan and I were able to do a session in the Snowflake Temple on New Year's Eve. Wonderful!
• Mom & Dad were in charge of the New Year's Eve party so they had it in the guest house. We had a lot of fun.
• McKay loved spending time with his cousins, aunts, and uncles and I loved that he was so comfortable with everyone and his surroundings that he wasn't constantly by my side.
  
• We played lots of games, watched a few movies, and made lots of memories. McKay loved seeing everyone and was quick to greet them with a cheerful 'hi'. He could even say every one's names, though Chantelle & David were a little harder to recognize.
  

McKay and Uncle Chris watching Brant open his Christmas presents Sunday morning at Aunt Mary's house.

McKay helping Nanna make cookies.

McKay playing a game with Chris on his computer.

Not to be outdone by his uncles or papa, McKay did a few pull ups too. Chris found it was easiest to put McKay on his shoulders and let him do his pull ups from there, complete with grunts and everything.

McKay helping Nanna Anna make labels for goodie plates.

I didn't notice until we had been decorating for a while that McKay was putting all his decorations in the same place!

Watching a show with Uncle David.

Sweeping the floor.

David, Chris, McKay & Papa playing in the Tee pee.

McKay wore them out with his running games. :)

Opening presents Christmas morning.

McKay was so happy to see Daddy and had a blast opening presents. Christmas gets more and more fun each year!

This Elmo shapes/mailbox toy from Nanna and Papa was a huge hit!

Yet ANOTHER train!

Playing Games
Cars, Thin Ice (check out the tongue - lotsa concentration going on there!) and Scooby-Doo dice

Hide & Seek or Gray Wolf. I think they started with one and moved to the other. I am sure it was a variation of the game since they were playing with a 5 year old, a 3 year old, and two 2 year-olds. No peeking here!
Somehow I only got Dustin's feet but all three uncles were playing with the kids.

We wanted to watch a new movie we'd gotten for Christmas but McKay had other plans. HE wanted to play 'yasee'. So we started Yahtzee, then the movie. The movie won his attention but the minute it was over, he was ready to play 'dice'!

Choo Choo!

Hey look! The chairs in the guest house are set up like a train for the New Years Eve party!

McKay, Kindsey, Kenton, and Kardon ready to watch Ice Age in the house. McKay sat on the couch and Kindsey sat right next to him soon followed by her brothers. There's room for one more! Any takers?? Thanks Dustin and Chantelle for taking care of them while we were at the New Years Eve party!

We enjoyed playing Mad Gab, eating delicious snacks, and doing a white elephant gift exchange. Aunt Sheila really scored this year with an unopened 2008 wolf calendar and a 2XL "Real Plumbers Pump Iron" t-shirt that could fit at least 2 of her in it. (click the collage to get the full effect.) I wonder where that gift came from??!? Maybe it will show up at next years exchange. :) Stewarts also got the fan that has been going around for 20+ years. I'm not sure how they got so lucky! We had a great time with lots of good laughs and memories made. Insert 'Oh my!' from Kimberly.