Young Party of Four

Dear Mackenzie, How is this happening? How is it that I am already sitting down to write your 2nd birthday letter??? I remember during your first year when it would feel like ages since I last wrote you a monthly letter. Yet, I haven't written one in 6 months and I feel like I just did it yesterday. I can't believe our little 7 pound, 6 ounce bundle has turned into this amazing, adorable, precocious little 2 year old! Stop it! Slow down! Stay little for just a bit longer! Anyone that doesn't think you are Daddy's mini me needs to have their eyes checked... So much has changed with you in the last 6 months, yet you are still the same fun loving, friendly, outgoing, always happy, little girl... just with added, random temper tantrums as we reach the age of 2 and your need for independence continues to grow. I think the biggest change for you over these past 6 months has been in your verbal skills. My goodness... you are a talker! The difference between now and 6 ...

Baby’s Size: Large Eggplant (Yep, 2 nd time this veggie has come around… this one is apparently just “Large”) How far along:  28 Weeks Total weight gain: 15 pounds. I put on another pound this week. If I continue to gain a pound a week for the remainder of this pregnancy and manage to make it to full term, I will have put on 27 pounds… exactly what I did with Kenzie when I delivered her at 37 weeks.      Sleep:  Pretty good. I’m taking numerous trips to the bathroom at night. Nothing surprising. I’m also having some difficulty kicking whatever this sinus/allergy/cold thing is that Kenzie started with two weeks ago so it keeps me up a bit at night with congestion. Maternity Clothes:  For the most part.   Food cravings:  Nothing too much at the moment.  Symptoms I HAVE: Heartburn city. What’s new? I’m tired but we have been busy with Kenzie’s birthday party so I have been running around like crazy. Now that we are done ...

I'm sure I mentioned in my post about her birthday decor that I am going to ride the wave of being able to use whatever theme I want for my kids birthday parties (that also fits their personality) as long as possible. One day I will likely be surrounded by Doc McStuffins, Jake and the Neverland Pirates, or some other Disney cliche. Not that I won't make that our own too and overall, my #1 priority is my children enjoying themselves, but for now... I'm excited to plan and execute a party where Kenzie has a blast and I get to put personal touches on it. She won't remember this party, but my hope is that when we show her pictures one day she knows that we put a lot of time and energy into it to make her happy and that she really enjoyed herself. Last year, for Kenzie's first birthday we had a luau because what July-born child doesn't deserve a luau birthday at least once in their lives? This year the theme was a bit more difficult for me. In the end, we went with...

We celebrated Kenzie's second birthday this weekend. This year her theme was "Pinwheels and Pink Lemonade". I plan to continue with cutesy themes as long as I can get away with it. I figure that soon enough (next year likely) we will be moving on to Doc McStuffins, Jake and the Neverland Pirates, or some other Disney cliche type party. Trust me... I plan to make that our own too though. Last year we had a pretty large party for her first birthday but we stayed a bit more low key this time around. My goal was to make as much of the decorations as possible. Pinterest helped out a lot in that respect. I cannot claim that I am nearly this creative on my own. Here's a run down of some of the decor we used/made for her party this year. Kenzie's cupcake/drink table. All of the pinwheels you see that are not super sparkly and bright were made by yours truly. They are ridiculously easy. They do not actually spin, but that was never my intention.We started with ...

This week's edition of "Friday Favorites" is a bit light in content. With Kenzie's birthday party approaching rapidly, I have been really busy with decorating, cleaning, etc. I am super in love with Kenzie's birthday outfit tomorrow for her Pink Lemonade and Pinwheels 2nd Birthday Party. Can't wait to see her in all of it at once tomorrow. I might have a bit of an obsession with iced coffee lately. I have had it every morning this week. Guess I will need more decaf k-cups. Pool time!  Kenzie learning to put on her own shoes. Couldn't come at a better time. I can't really bend down at this point to do it for her. 

Baby’s Size: Head of Cauliflower How far along:  27 Weeks – Welcome to the 3 rd (and final… duh) trimester!!! Total weight gain: Around 14 pounds. I did put on about a pound this week (by the way… we are going back to using my scale as the true scale for now) but that is to be expected. Still gaining nicely and not really putting it on anywhere but my belly. I will take that as long as I can. I remember being bigger overall with Kenzie at this point.     Sleep:  Not good the past few nights. That is all Kenzie related though. She is going through a weird thing where she seems to require me being in her room for hours. I am trying to deal with whatever it is, but I am often so tired that I just end up sitting in her chair (while she is in her bed) and dozing a bit until I am sure she is back asleep. I haven’t gotten more than a few hours sleep each night for the past few nights. It’s a weird thing but I know we will get through it and she will grow out o...

I think we have dubbed this trip the official "1st Annual Cousins' Vacation" in honor of Kenzie and Evie spending their first overnight together at a place other than their houses. We hope to be able to do something like this annually. Kenzie had a blast! We had a great time too. This all started about a month ago when Julie and Eric let us know that they had a 2 bedroom condo in Palm Beach as part of their annual Florida beach trip and that there was one night when no one else was using the second bedroom. They were awesome enough to offer us the opportunity to stay with them for the one night. Our plan for this summer has been to not take a vacation. We are in the midst of preparing for baby #2 and we have a lot going on this summer so it seemed like our best option. So an opportunity to spend a night away from home on the beach was a welcome idea. Julie and Eric were planning to stay in Palm Beach this year so the drive wouldn't be too bad and being away just one...