Baby, Oh Baby!

Baby boy is due February 3rd and we couldn't be more excited.  McKae may not completely understand it right now, but she sure knows what a baby is when she sees or hears one crying she signs "baby".  What a great sister she will be to our lil' man!  We are ready to add some blue to our family :)

Her first word was "da da"

Doesn't every little girl hold a special place in their heart for their daddy?  Well our lil' miss sure does.  Actually I am pretty sure those two had a connection while she was still in my tummy.  Before we had found out the gender of the baby, Jordan knew for sure it was a girl through an experience he had.  I on the other hand thought it was a boy.  And boy was I wrong.  Then from the moment she was born she has had her daddy wrapped around her finger.  Every morning she wakes up she says "daddy" and starts looking for him.  ANYTIME we hear a knock on the door, she assumes it is dad getting home from work and runs to the door, all smiles, saying "daddy".  These are just a few pictures I couldn't help but share of the two loves of my life.

Jammin' to some tunes... Just like dad

 Bike shopping with dad

Grocery Shopping with dad (yes she is strapped in for extra comfort with the paper towels)

 Riding the carousel at the zoo

 His face is blurry, but golfing with dad

packing her up

We consider ourselves the luckiest!

I'm not afraid of hard work!

I learned an important lesson last week, or maybe more like 2 or 3.

Sometimes being a mom is HARD.

Up to this point there have been a day here or there that can be hard, but this was incredibly different.  McKae was super sick this week with a fever between 100 and 105.  I felt like each day was a cycle... nap, spiked fever, medicine, lukewarm bath (anything to get the fever down), and then repeat for a week.  Lets just say that I learned a whole new definition to the word hard.  I wouldn't say the week was necessarily hard because of the taking care of a sick child, but mainly because I would have an emotional breakdown when she would scream or cry and an emotional breakdown from worry and the unknown.

I think I have had my eyes opened to the true love a mother has for her children.  It is infinite and when your children are in pain, you too are in pain and would do absolutely anything to make it better.

    

    I also learned that when possible, a family is best when there is a mother and father.  I truly could not have survived this week without the prayers of family, but most importantly Jordan.  He is my rock.  He is the one who can keep me feeling positive and confident.

  I am so grateful for the priesthood in our home.  With a worthy priesthood holder in our home McKae was able to receive a powerful blessing and one that strengthened my faith and the belief in the Savior.  

Luckily McKae's fever disappeared after a week and now we are just getting back to a nap schedule, actually eating food, and venturing out of the house.  Despite the fact that being a mom is hard, I wouldn't trade it for anything and am grateful for the opportunity to be the one to hold baby girl when she is sick and laugh with her when she laughs.

It ate my finger

Yup, It's true.  The sewing machine ate my finger. 

Went in one end and out the other

I still remember junior high school when my friend put her finger through the sewing machine and I always wondered... how do you even do that?!

Well, I still don't know how, but I know it's possible.

If you have a sewing machine...use with caution.

Take me out to the ball game

Cause' its 1,2,3 strikes you're out at the old ball game.

Some of our awesome friends from Utah bought us some baseball tickets to the Houston Astros when they found out we were headed to Houston.  We have been looking forward to this game for a long time.  We had a blast!  McKae was actually one of the stars in the crowd... she caught a fly ball!  Who knew we had a baseball prodigy on our hands.

and we have a walker on our hands. This girl has been walking around non-stop for awhile and she loves it!  She did awesome holding dads hand to walk around the stadium while we went looking for our snacks.  The Astros colors are orange, blue and white, so naturally the biggest BYU fans in Texas decided to wear our BYU shirts to represent both teams.

Our future baseball star... taking after her daddy! 

Thanks Hodges for the tickets!  We just wish you guys were with us at the game.  The Astros ended up losing, but it was just fun to relax and sit in the air conditioned stadium.  

some things never change.

some things never change.

#1  Today the baby was napping and i was doing my hair with pandora playing in the background and suddenly a really good song came on and next thing I know my phone has become a microphone and i'm singing in the mirror.  Embarrassing as it was I still had a blast.  I love that girls have the wonderful talent of turning any object into a microphone and singing/lip syncing at the top of their lungs.  It brought back some good times.

(when i was an efy counselor)

 #2  Girls are tight, pretty much forever.  Missing the besties today and have had a couple of "internet play dates" with them.  I know it has been only about 2.5 weeks, but it's awesome how girls stick together and can pick up right where they left off.  Thankful for girlfriends :)

(missing all my girlies... sad I don't have a pic of everyone)

and.... some things do change!

#1  We are Texans, yes it's true.  We have texas license plates and drivers licenses.  It is pretty official.  We are loving Houston and getting to know new people and most of all partying with family almost daily.  We have already made it to the zoo, the pool, and eaten a lot of ice cream just to stay cool.

(my niece wanted to hold the baby)

#2  McKae is starting to walk more and has gotten rid of bottles and her pacifiers (except for at sleeping times - pacifiers).  She can say "cheese", and will smile big for the camera.  She climbs on everything and crawled all the way up a slide by herself at the park.

#3 My scripture study has changed... for the better.  Jordan has some crazy work hours and so I have been waking up a little earlier to have quiet time to read and it has been amazing.  I can see the biggest difference about reading in the morning.

#4  School vs. work-  Jordan is working about 12 hr. days, but works hard and looks like a super professional.  We are so proud and grateful for his job and his desire to work to provide for the family, but we always look forward to when he comes home.

#5  Before we left Utah, we had to go to McKae's 1 yr. check up with the cardiologist.  They did an echocardiogram again and she was amazing!  All 4 of her holes in her heart have closed up.  We are so grateful and happy that we have a healthy baby.

I have always been so afraid of change, but I'm finding out more and more that change isn't always bad.  Sometimes it can be great and it sure provides for a whole lot of rollercoaster rides, but hey, who ever turned down the chance to go for a little adventure :)

Look Whooos turning one!

How does one go from this...

 

 

to this?!?! in what feels like a day.

 

 

McKae is 1!  She is our big, grown up girl who has got some tude' and quite the personality.

At age one...

-she loves to play hide and seek (and she's good at it)

- she is miss independent and likes to feed herself with a spoon

-she has taken 10 steps, but prefers to crawls b/c it's faster

-she won't take babyfood and is a bit of a picky eater

-favorite foods: pickles, beans, olives, and crackers

-she loves to laugh, most of the time politely

-she LOVES books

-she has 7 teeth

-she will raise her hand when you ask her a question... (i.e. "who loves daddy?" hand will pop up, but only if Jordan asks the questions)

-she loves "Jesus wants me for a sunbeam" (probably just watching mom and dad make a fool of themselves while jumping up and down

-she will clap her hands to "if you're happy and you know it"

-she loves to chase the vaccuum and have the blow dryer blown in her face

-and she is just the smiliest, happy baby girl that we love!

 

 



We celebrated McKae's 1st birthday about a month ago and it was a blast... and a bit stressful! We were in the process of packing up our house to move to Houston the next week, but we still wanted her to have a party. So we had just a few close friends and family over and played games.



 

 

Little owl cupcakes 

 

 

McKae's Bestest Buddies

 

To our amazement, McKae was quite the 'delicate' cake eater.  She would eat one sprinkle at a time and maybe dip her finger gently into the frosting.  She never really dug in, but she still enjoyed all the sugar.

Jordan and I truly consider ourselves the luckiest people.  We are so happy and grateful for our sweet McKae!