The Last Days

Our family of three is about to become four any day now so we are doing our best to fit in as much as possible before he makes his entrance. Thursday morning, I took McKay to the Discovery Museum for almost 3 hours. It was fun (and tiring).

He really enjoyed painting on this wall and told me today that 'green' was his 'favorite one' to paint with.

I tried to get him to say cheese and look at me to take his picture while he was painting. In the top left picture he is saying cheese but his eyes never leave the paint. Funny boy. He was very intent on painting his lines across the wall.

In the bottom pictures he is putting the black and white balls in the red circles where air pushes them up and they come down through the different obstacles. Every time we go we spend at least half an hour at this spot! He kept picking up all the balls at once to put them in and inevitably one or two would drop and roll across the room. Made me laugh every time but I couldn't convince him it would be easier to pick them up one or two at a time.

As always, the Water Works were a hit. Today when I asked McKay what he liked most about the museum, he talked about the green paint and that we had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich at the museum (for lunch). AND that he wanted to go to the museum again today!

Here I am at 39 weeks and getting more and more awkward by the day, it seems. At my appointment on Friday the doctor checked me and I am 50% effaced and dilated to a 1.

Today we went to the track again for the 4th week in a row and McKay and I did our 2+ miles while Jordan ran. It is a lot easier for me now than it was the first time we went. I've been walking for about 15 minutes each evening for the last couple of weeks too so I'm sure that helps. McKay LOVES going running and asks if we can go all week long. For the first lap he was several yards ahead of me the whole time. I finally caught up to him when he stopped for me to bring him some water. Several others at the track commented on how many times McKay went around and at how much endurance he has. My favorite comments from him today were the following:

"Good running, Mommy"

"I must keep going!"

"I must hurry!" (We are glad 'hurry' is part of his vocabulary now, though it doesn't necessarily mean he 'hurries' very often.)

Me: "Good running, McKay" (after he told me my running was good)
McKay: "Thank you, Mommy" (I love it when he say's thank you. It is so sweet and sincere.)

"Just do it, Jordan" (Copying what I said. This is the first time we've heard him say Jordan. McKay wanted him to put sunblock on his face and Jordan didn't want to. McKay changed his mind, much to Jordan's relief, and I helped him put the sunblock on.)

Things to Remember

4-28-10
McKay has started putting himself in time-out when he doesn't want to do something we've asked him to do. It usually only lasts a minute or so and then he happily does whatever it is, usually go potty or get dressed or from having gone potty. I think it is a control issue. oh boy... He usually either gets in the bath tub or puts his nose in the corner in the kitchen. Cracked me up the first time he did it, especially because we don't make him put his nose in the corner!

I told McKay he was my peanut butter and jelly sandwich boy and he said 'no me peanut butter and jelly sandwich boy, me kay'.

4-25-10
McKay likes to sing with me in church and will point to the words in the hymn book as he tries to sing the words with me. Today he even sang with a special musical number. :)

All the way home from church, McKay exaggerated his yawns to make 'mommy and daddy yawn too'. When he was successful 'all yawning!' :) He was successful most if not all of the time!

4-23-10
After Jordan had been gone 'sleeping at work' at a training in Fresno for a week, McKay told him he was 'really really happy Daddy home'. Every morning McKay would come wake me up and ask if 'daddy home'?

4-20-10
'Thats funn-A'

When we want him to repeat a word he'll say 'no me say (the word we want him to say)'.

At the end of a very wet day, McKay said it 'rain all day yong'.

I told McKay he was my peanut butter boy and he said 'no, me peanut butter and jelly sandwich boy'. That fits too!McKay taking advantage of Daddy leaving his massage pillow out. He knows how to turn it on and sat there for at least 10 minutes.

4-16-10 (Friday)
McKay woke up at 6 am today and came into my room with his arms full of his stuffed friends. He saw Jordan wasn't in bed and said 'no Daddy home?' I told McKay Jordan was in the shower and he got SO excited, put all the animals on the bed and ran to knock on the door 'Daddy, me come in?' He must have felt like it should be Saturday when Daddy stays home because he did not think Jordan should go to work today. 'Stay home first'. McKay has really really enjoyed his one-on-one time with Jordan since I have been so busy with tax season. It is so cute to see how much he loves his Daddy!

4-13-10
We had lasagna and salads for dinner and Jordan said 'good lasagna Mommy'. After each bite McKay took he'd say 'good lasagna Mommy' or 'good tomatoes Mommy'. Good example Daddy!

The next morning McKay told me several times 'good oatmeal Mommy'. Seriously made my day.

When McKay says the wrong word (yes instead of no or strawberry instead of grape, etc) he'll say 'Me said wrong one!'

4-12-10
McKay pulled one of my cookbooks off the shelf and began to look through it. He pointed to a picture and said 'Mommy, this one!' After I asked him if it looked good he started saying 'Mommy, this one looks good'.

4-11-10
McKay had an accident on the couch so while he was in the other room, Jordan worked on cleaning the couch. I pulled one of the clean cushions off to see if there were cleaning instructions. When McKay saw the cushions off, Jordan asked him why and he said 'me pee pee this one, Daddy pass gas that one'.

Tummy has become synonymous with baby for McKay so when he is full and doesn't want to eat anymore, he says 'Me baby full', as he rubs his tummy.

Everything is either 'perftet' or 'no perftet' (perfect).

4-8-10
I told McKay I was going to give him some medicine to help his runny nose and cough (since he insisted he wasn't sick - he is a boy). He drank the medicine, sniffed and said 'nose no run Mommy, thank you!' That is fast acting medicine!

Since McKay was sick I REALLY wanted him to take a much needed nap so I turned his bed around so he couldn't get out and put extra coverings over the windows to make it darker. Of course, it didn't work but I enjoyed hearing him sing the Itsy Bitsy Spider, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and the ABC's. He sang the ABC's about 30 times. He has known the ABC's for quite a while but lately he can't seem to get enough of singing the ABC song.4-5-10
When McKay doesn't like something we are eating or drinking, after taking a bite (or drink) he'll scrunch up his nose, shake his head and say 'no'. Makes me laugh every time.

4-2-10
'No perfect Mommy, me try again.'

McKay was looking at my tummy (baby) and noticed the baby doesn't have arms. I explained we just can't see them yet.

4-1-10
McKay has overcome his fear of the vacuum enough to help me vacuum. It takes A LOT longer but the grins of 'look at what I am doing! I'm so big!' are SO worth it.

Beach Day

Saturday was g.o.r.g.e.o.u.s. so we decided to take advantage of the day and head to the beach. First thing in the morning we went to the track. McKay ran another 1 1/2 -2 miles while Jordan ran 5 miles. Then we made lunch and headed to our favorite beach in Santa Cruz, Twin Lakes State Beach. It was a little cool when we got there but it warmed up. McKay was 'really really happy all going beach' and couldn't wait to get there.

Apparently, peanut butter and jelly tastes even better on the beach (if that is possible) because after every bite of his sandwich, McKay turned to me with a big grin and said 'good peanut butter n jelly sandwich Mommy'. I Love it! McKay knows how to spell his name and loved having Jordan write it in the sand. When we ask him what it says he'll either say 'me!' or 'Kay!' When we went back to our blanket he kept saying 'me go?'

McKay also enjoyed searching for sea shells and actually found quite a few. This is the first time he has taken an interest in sea shells and I think it is because he re-discovered his very first book, a touch and feel book, that has sea shells in it.

When it was time to go, McKay frantically kept saying, 'no ready no ready' so we had to bargain, one more bucket, one more dump with your dump truck etc. Today he wanted to go back to the beach again. Fun memories!

Here I am at 37 weeks. May is just around the corner!

Rainy Day

Wednesday it rained. And rained. And rained. When McKay called Jordan to say good night (Jordan spent all week in Fresno at a field engineer training) he told him it 'rained all day yong'. Yes, it sure did.

We had fun looking out the window and watching the rain come down for a while. McKay pushed the button on the camera to take the bottom left picture. When you're two, you're big enough to do anything. :)

(Notice the peanut butter on his face from his banana 'n' peanut butter snack. This kid LOVES peanut butter!)

Anytime I'd start to move to get lunch ready, McKay would say 'Mommy stay here'. He frequently sits on the couch to watch the rain come down and I think he liked the company this time. I decided it was a good opportunity to try to get him to sing the ABC's on camera. We've gotten him with the 'good' video camera but it is so much easier to do the lower quality video on my cannon to post. This way I don't have to edit. :)

McKay sings the ABC's about 30 times each day. He has gotten to where he says them fast to keep up with his leap frog fridge toy. But he sure does love to sing or 'whistle' the ABC's! He recognizes both upper and lower case of almost all of the letters.

Runner

McKay ran over 1 1/2 miles today! We went to the Santa Clara High School track this morning so Jordan could try running for the first time since he hurt his ankle on the soft track there. McKay and I walked a lap and then he decided to run like Daddy. I walked fast to keep up with him and became his water carrier. 'Mommy, more water please' as he'd reach his toward me to take a drink and take off running again. He kept on going and going and wasn't ready to go home when we were. He wanted to 'go all the way around again'. We compromised with a partial lap and headed home. You'd think that after a 2 1/2 year old ran over 1 1/2 miles he'd take a nap - no such luck!

McKay and I have cracked wheat cereal nearly every morning. Today was no exception! He eats it better than any other breakfast food.

On another note, I am now 36 weeks. Today my friend threw a baby shower for me. I thought it was going to just be a get together but everyone came with gifts! We got some really nice gifts for our new little guy including a box of 200 diapers, new wash cloths, burp cloths, lots of cute little outfits and a some other things. The theme was celebrating new life. We are so excited for our baby to come. We were pulling out the baby clothes today and telling McKay that the baby is going to come out of Mommy's tummy soon. McKay says his baby is coming out soon too. :)

Goodness

Fresh Strawberry & Nutella

Things to Remember

McKay drew this sun all by himself!

3-31-10
McKay likes to make 'pizza' by putting water on the bathroom counter. When he brings me pieces to eat he warns me it is a 'bi-bi bit too hot'.

3-25-10
McKay was too full to finish his food so he patted his tummy and said he had a baby in his tummy. Mommy has a baby in her tummy, McKay has a baby in his tummy, but Daddy doesn't. That makes Jordan happy! :)

McKay LOVES peanut butter and lately been eating it A LOT. He likes to make his own peanut butter sandwiches for lunch.

McKay says 'ready-set-go' and we all take a bite.

'Mommy really, really happy.' or 'Mommy really really happy me go potty?'

'Me happy, Daddy happy, Mommy happy, ALL happy!'

'Maybe this way.' McKay likes to say 'Maybe' at the beginning of his sentence.

McKay heard 'Oh Dear' on Winnie the Pooh and has started saying either that or 'oh boy', just the way he heard do on the show the one time he saw it.

'Me Big Boy!' Right now that is ALL he is - not the best, not crazy, not 'my boy'. He is a Big Boy!

McKay sees 'Y's everywhere. Some places include three crumbs on the floor that landed just right, cracks in the driveway, and freckles on my arm.

Anything connected or in a row is a train. Vitamins end to end on the table, yogurt on his pancakes, squares in the linoleum in the kitchen, etc.

'Perftet!' I realized after he started saying it that I DO say perfect a lot.

McKay STILL steps over cracks in the sidewalk. Jordan did it with him once when they went on a walk together.

McKay prays for his birthday, and (Daddy's) work right a long with Nanna, Papa, Baby, Daddy, Mommy, Me, McKay. I start him on his prayers and when we get to 'please bless' he takes over.

'Yapee!'

3-15-10
McKay really wanted to go to the park one Saturday so after he and Jordan finished their errands Jordan stopped at the park. They pulled up and McKay said 'Thank you Daddy!' and that made it all worth it.

McKay recognizes his name and knows what letter comes next.

3-14-10
McKay often laughs at himself when he throws a fit and feels silly.

3-12-10
The last few weeks McKay has been really into Ducky's. He wants to read the ducky book (Duck on a Bike) before his nap/rest and sing the 'ducky' song before going to sleep. We've had to refresh our memories on all the Ducky songs we know!

3-9-10
McKay wanted me to do an airplane for him to eat his lunch. Then he did the airplane for himself while he finished his food. We haven't done airplanes for a really really long time.

McKay drew a pizza on a piece of paper with a yellow highlighter for us to eat.

3-7-10
Jordan said 'Oh McKay'. McKay replied 'Oh Daddy'.

McKay said 'Mama says 'no toys in the bathroom'. Daddy says 'ahh!' (high pitched)'

When McKay gets the feeling to dance, he does. And he has some good moves!

3-6-10
McKay says "Daddy Best, Mommy Genius, Me Crazy" It hasn't changed for quite some time.

After going to lunch for Jordan's birthday, McKay said 'no go home' something he often says when we are out. So I asked him where we should go instead. He said 'nanna papas house'. Wish we could. As a side note, when we are getting ready to leave he will often say 'no go bye-bye, stay home'. Gotta love it!

3-5-10 (Friday)
McKay asked if we could have home evening tonight. He loves home evening.

McKay likes to play with my calculator. His newest words are calculator and highlighter. Must be tax season!

Man I love my little buddy!

McKay set up these pillows and was relaxing when I suggested he read a book. He got down and back up several times with new books to read. :)

March

Jordan plays basketball every Tuesday night at the church. He had been playing on Thursdays too in the stake tournament. That is until March 2. He came down on some one's foot and really hurt his ankle. He couldn't walk on it but he drove home (yes it IS his right foot) and banged on the window for me to help him in the house. Not what you like to hear at 10pm: "I need your help. I can't walk!" It was very painful and we wondered if he had broken it. A guy in the ward brought over some crutches (ironically the same guy whose foot was in the way :)) which saved us. The next morning we went to urgent care and x-rays confirmed that he had not broken anything. Ice and elevation was the advice. He was hoping to be done with the crutches well before his birthday on the 8th but it just didn't happen. He couldn't handle much weight at all. So Wednesday he stayed home and on Thursday and Friday McKay and I drove him to work and went to pick him up. By Monday he could put enough pressure on it to drive. When he went back to physical therapy for his elbows on the 9th the therapist took one look at his ankle and told him he needed to get to a doctor because he was pretty sure more damage had been done than just a sprain. He saw a doctor that afternoon and confirmed that he had torn ligaments and damaged tendons and would need physical therapy on his ankle. So, he has been going to physical therapy three times a week for a couple of hours first thing in the morning. It seems to be helping quite a bit though it will still be quite a while before he is back to running and playing basketball. Yesterday afternoon we walked to the park and back which is about 1.2 miles round trip. After about a mile he had had it and felt like he had pushed it too far. A week ago we couldn't even make it half a mile so he is improving.

We invested in some nice ice packs that wrap around his ankle and have definitely gotten a lot of use out of them. McKay likes to 'help' Daddy by bringing him the ice or by 'helping' him walk by holding onto his pants as he walks.

Hopefully his 27th birthday will be the one and only birthday Jordan ever has on crutches! The 8th was on a Monday (the first day he drove to work after his injury) so we went to dinner on Saturday and then McKay and I took him to lunch at Black Angus on his birthday. He requested a Pineapple Upside Down cake for his birthday. Y.U.M! McKay is getting lots of practice blowing out candles and is even more excited for his birthday in 'vulai' (July). He even prays for 'birthday' when he prays for 'Nanna, Papa, Daddy, Mommy, work (Daddy's job), Baby, and me'. If he forgets one he 'tries again'.

He got a hooded running rain jacket, a coupon for basketball shoes (kind of ironic...), trust/will software, Pilate's for Men, a vegetable grill basket, Trader Joes nuts, and several large t-shirts and lotion from my parents. He also got a card from Grandma and Grandpa Cardon on his birthday. Once again, McKay was very involved in opening gifts. Knowing this would probably be the case, I wrapped a lot of it. Birthday's are fun! I can't wait for July!

Saturday, March 13th we went to the Ano Nuevo State Park for a guided walk to see the Elephant Seals who come there to have their babies. We had made the reservations weeks ago - before Jordan hurt his ankle. The walk is about 3 miles on the sand so we were able to get our reservations switched to equal access so we rode a bus out to where the seals are and probably got a better view than we would have otherwise. McKay thought it was pretty cool to ride on the bus. It was his first bus ride and he kept looking at me with a grin and saying 'Bus Mommy!'

This pup was playing peek-a-boo with us. After a while, he and another pup worked their way up the beach to sun bathe. It was fun to watch them work their way up for a while, take a break, and then go again.
They start doing tours in the middle of December through the end of March so we were at the tail end of the season. All of the females were gone and most of what we saw were pups with a few older male stragglers.

Pups sun bathing. It is a natural reserve so nothing can be altered. We were fortunate enough to get to view most of what we saw near a dead pup. I was glad I didn't realize what the stench was until we were leaving. :)

This guy was huge. They stick their heads in the ground to sleep and can hold their breath for over an hour. They wake up long enough to take a breath and then go back to sleep. McKay thought it was pretty cool when this male used his tail to throw sand up on his back and kept asking for him to do it again. This guy also had scars all over his back from fighting with other males during breeding season. We would like to go again in December when the battles take place. :)

It was a beautiful day and we all loved being out!

We drove from the reserve to Half Moon Bay. At the recommendation of one of our guides, we stopped in Pescadero for some Artichoke soup. It was wonderful! We also stopped in at a bakery and got some garlic and artichoke bread which was also really good. My bread lovers (Jordan & McKay) really enjoyed it.

Everything is very green and there are fields and fields of beautiful yellow wild flowers. Love it!

I don't even remember what we were making but McKay enjoyed 'helping' me! This kid loves to make things and STILL asks if we are going to make pizza when we go to church. :) (We made pizza for a ward playgroup activity in January this year.)

McKay knows our routine when we go to the doctors office. He heads straight for his chair and keeps himself busy either with his doodle, eating goldfish, or coloring.

Snowman socks, train underwear and Mommy's shoes. :)

33 weeks

McKay looks forward to the weekends when Daddy doesn't have work and can stay home. By Thursday he is sure Daddy should be staying home. It is super cute. Here he is after they finished making cookies on Saturday - licking the flour off the table!

Castle Rock

February 27th was a rare spring Saturday when I didn't have taxes to do so we decided to take advantage of the day and go for a hike. It was threatening to rain but we decided to take our chances and wear hats and rain coats. We haven't ever been to Castle Rock State Park, about 30 minutes from our home, near Big Basin, so we decided to check it out. It sprinkled on us a little right when we got there but that was about it.

We loved all the waterfalls along the way. We've had a really wet year so there was a lot to see. It was beautiful and great hiking weather. McKay got a little cold since he wasn't walking most of the time but it wasn't too bad.

There was moss everywhere!
Most of the hike wasn't too bad but there were some spots where we had to climb using the rocks as steep steps or climb over big boulders. That part wasn't too fun for me but the rest was great.

29 weeks or about 6 months

Our destination waterfall is behind us. Too bad you can't see it. :)

McKay enjoyed hiking for the last 30-45 minutes and did quite well. Here he is walking 'over the bridge'. I was trying to take his picture and he was looking at the bridge so Jordan told him to look up. He did!

McKay loves to hike! We made the mistake of calling it a park though so he kept waiting for the playground to show up. We made another mistake by telling him we'd go to a playground after we were done hiking and he held us to it. So, even though we knew everything would be all wet and it was dark, we stopped at a park for 5 minutes while he confirmed that everything was indeed 'all wet!'

One view of 'Castle Rock'. The picture doesn't do it justice. It was huge.

McKay has decided he is done sleeping during the day so whenever we go out and he is in the car for more than 10-15 minutes, he falls asleep. Any suggestions on how you convince a child to take a nap when he really really needs it, would be great. He still takes a 'rest' in his room most days but it is usually very interrupted by trips to the bathroom. Sometimes he does have to go and other times he doesn't. I never know whether he really needs to or not. *sigh*

We were glad we took advantage of the break from the rain and the great hiking weather, especially when Jordan got injured playing basketball the following Tuesday. More on that one of these days when I get around to it!