Happy Halloween!

This year for Halloween, Macyn was a ladybug! Last year all she wore was a onesie that said, "This is my costume." So it was pretty fun dressing her up this year. I got the costume at the 2nd hand store for $5. We didn't go too many places trick or treating, just to my high school friend's, my parents, and the inlaws. We even made time to watch Scared Shrekless on TV. All in all it was a fun 2nd Halloween!

False Alarm

On Thursday we had gotten a call from daycare that Macyn had a fever. She stayed home during the afternoon and was fine, but then her fever spiked again Thursday night. Friday we thought it would be best for her to stay home as well, and I noticed she was beginning to get a spotty rash on her tummy. I didn't think too much of it since it could be heat rash, etc.

Saturday the rash got worse. Saturday night it was all over her back and face. It looked like the chicken pox. I knew she had gotten the chicken pox vaccine the previous week and sure enough, there is a chance your child could get a mild case from the vaccine. I then started doing more research with chicken pox, but her spots never blistered. After reading up on Chicken Pox, I didn't think this was the culprit, but there was definitely something else going on.

I then decided to look up MMR. And 1 out of 5 children have a reaction to the Measles part of the vaccine. After more research, it turns out that about 10-14 days after the immunization, a child could spike a fever and a rash that pretty much looks like the measles (google measles rash if your really interested). Its not contagious but it lasts anywhere from 3-5 days. Macyn's isnt terrible, but definitely noticeable. I am just happy that its not chicken pox!!! And sure enough, her fever started 10 days after she got vaccinated, and the spots started 1 day after that. She has had spots for 3 days now, and hopefully they will start to go away. I REALLY hope so since she has her 1 year pictures on Saturday!!!

I am not a doctor by any means, but if this ever happens to your child after an MMR vaccine, just know that this is somewhat normal and not to worry! (but check with your doctor, just in case)!

It has begun....

Macyn learned a new trick tonight - push her chair to something she wants and stand on it in order to reach it. I have a feeling this is going to lead to even more baby proofing, and the things she cannot reach are now reachable!

Another thing she did this afternoon was moving her car that was wedged between the end table so she can get behind the couch. She then proceeds to push her car, and get it wrapped up in some cords.I just don't know how much stuff I can gate off. Right now we have one in the doorway between the kitchen and laundry room, from the kitchen to the back door, for the dvd tower, and one closing off the surround sound. We also have the trash can pushed under a desk, but that doesn't work either. She will crawl under the desk and push the trash can out from under there, and then open the lid. She has also figured out how to open and close the drawers in the kitchen.

AND to top it all off, she is definitely starting to walk more. She walked from her crib to the hallway all by herself without being told to do so. She also walked from the dining room to the living room with only one stumble.

I thought the baby proofing we did when she learned to crawl was enough, I never would have imagined how much more we will have to do!

Wild Rice and Cheese Soup

I have been in the soup mood lately and I am tired of Chili & White Chicken Chili (the only soup DH likes) so I was thinking that I should try some other soups, and if he doesn't like it, too bad! My strategy worked, and he didn't like this one either, but I thought it was super good. And easy! And quick! Here is the recipe:
1 pkg. bacon
1 large onion
3 cans cream of potato soup
1 pt. half & half
1 pt. milk
3 C. American cheese (shredded)
1 C. cooked wild rice

Brown bacon and chop; add finely chopped onion. Add potato soup, 1/2 & 1/2, milk, American cheese, and rice. Heat thoroughly, but do not boil. Eat with fresh baked bread or crackers.

I followed this recipe but with a little modifications in order to make it simpler. I bought 1 jar of real bacon bits instead of the bacon. I think next time I would put in 2 jars instead of 1. As I was typing the recipe, I realized that I forgot to add the milk to my soup! Ha! No wonder why it was so thick! But it still tastes good! I also think if I were to throw in a can of chicken it would make it good - kinda like a chicken, cheese, & bacon soup. Since DH doesn't care for the soup, I packed the extras away into lunch sized containers and bags to freeze for later. I am definitely adding this one to one of my favorite recipes.

Fall Fun

Since it was such a nice day, we decided to have a little fun and let Macyn plan in a pile of leaves! She liked to kick and crinkle them in her hands. However, she wasn't too excited to have the leaves fall on top of her:
And what's a day outside without the dog trying to steal her attention? Exhibit A:

1 Year Checkup

We had Macyn's checkup and found out some stats! She weighs 19lbs 8 oz (20th percentile) and is 30 1/2" tall (90th percentile). So shes still super tall and still a lightweight. The Dr. said they usually thin down a little bit once they learn how to crawl. Even though she may not weigh much, don't be fooled by how much she can eat! She literally eats an entire adult serving of food. Like the other night she ate a muffin an an entire slice of pizza with a sippy cup of juice. Here is a picture of her chillaxin' at the table.

At her checkup, she did okay with her shots and not so good about her finger prick. Her shots didn't seem to bother her at all, but she cried and cried about the finger prick. It doesn't help matters either when the lab lady doesn't know what shes doing and proceeds to drip Macyn's blood all over my khakis. Sigh. I am just HOPING it comes out in the wash. If not, I am totally going to send the clinic a bill for my khakis. Why not? The hospital charges you for everything! Including your oxygen tubing, a box of kleenex, and a water bottle which is "complimentary."

Okay, in reality, I don't think I will send them a bill for my khakis, but if I have to go buy new ones, there goes my clothing budget!

Walkin' on Sunshine

The past week, Macyn has learned to take steps here and there all by herself, but it seems like she is starting to get the hang of things! She can't totally stand by herself (well, she can when she feels like it) but she usually pulls up onto an object, and if you put your arms out she walks to you! I still think it will be a while before she can walk independently, but either way, it's exciting to see her progression!

1 Year Old!

It's hard to believe that Macyn is 1 year old already! This past month her personality has really started to come through, whether its her happy self, or the attitude she throws. She knows what she wants, and she wants it NOW! She hasn't started to walk yet, but it is getting closer and closer every day. She will let go of what she's hanging on to and try to walk to DH or myself. She is a master at push toys and climbing up steps, and in and out of various items. She also likes to climb onto toys to get to something else, like onto the couch.

She likes to share whatever she has. Whether its a toy, food, or pacifier. She will grab your hand, open it up for you, and then place whatever she wants to share into your hand....and then smiles :)

She is also getting quite the appetite! The other night she ate an entire slice of pizza, and usually eats a full grilled cheese sandwich for lunch. She loves her juice, but we wish she would figure out how to tilt up her sippy cup! She also has 8 teeth now, and we think shes working on her molars.

She has also started to blow kisses and jabbers a lot. She also likes to dance, whether its in her car seat listening to music, or watching the music channels on TV. She likes to say mum, mum, mum, mum or ba, ba, ba, ba...and then some random consonant/vowel combinations and some screeches.

I am sure I am missing a "milestone" this past month, since it seems like she does something new everyday! We love her so much and can't imagine life without her! We will find out her height/weight on Wednesday, but it still seems like she is tall for her age. I guess we will have to wait and see!

Birthday Girl!

We decided to throw Macyn a party for her 1st birthday that included her aunts, grandparents, and great grandparents. It was a great time, but the birthday girl herself was a little overwhelmed and a little bit crabby. Oh well, I think she still had fun, and had even more fun after she got on a sugar high from cake and ice cream! Here is the day in pictures:

First, attempt to take some pictures of the birthday girl, but then quickly find out that leaves and the grass are way more fun than taking boring ol' pictures. Here is our best shot:Then once the party starts, have the birthday girl wear her hat - not fun in her opinion:Then be completely non-interested in opening presents:Except the present from Mommy and Daddy - her first dolly!Once finished opening presents - cake time! She ate more ice cream than cake in the end, but it still made for a good picture!
Then take a picture with all her presents: a rocking chair, puzzle, 2 outfits, pajamas, tights, boots, 2 toys, a doll, and stroller.
That's the party in a nutshell. Her favorite gifts so far are her dolly, toys, and rocking chair. She LOVES the rocking chair...and loves to stand on it too :)

Ladybugs!

No, I am not talking about Ladybugs Movie which features Rodney Dangerfield and a boy who dresses up like a girl to join the Ladybugs soccer team, but I AM talking about Macyn's birthday cake. I spent 2 nights baking the various cakes, shapes, and re-baking them once I realized I forgot to turn on the oven. Hey, this is what happens when its 11:45 and you can barely stay awake. The baking itself was pretty easy, but the decorating was a lot harder than I thought it would be. This is no where near perfect, but not too bad for a first time ever decorating a cake with something else besides sprinkles.I made both ladybugs, my sister wrote the words & swirls, and I did the borders. It was super time consuming but way cheaper than ordering a cake. All I can say is, I have a lot more respect for people who can decorate cake! I was proud that I could pipe a line around the bottom of the cake! ha! The main cake was marble, the ladybug was chocolate, and her smash cake was white cake - something for everyone. And we still have leftovers, can't go wrong with cake leftovers :)

Last year on this date...

Last year on this date, I got admitted to the hospital! As soon as I got admitted, I had my DH take one last picture of me preggo, and here it is!As I went through the day, I remembered when I did certain things - what time my appointment was, what time I got admitted, what I was wearing, and what time I got induced. Amazing how I can still remember exactly where I was, what I was doing, at certain times a whole year later. Even more amazing that I can remember those details, but cannot remember where I left my shoes, keys, and phone in the mornings before work!

Reflecting

Since Macyn's birthday is a couple of days away, I have been sitting here reflecting what I was doing at this time last year - and I remembered! It was our last birthing class where you are supposed to invite your parents. We invited mine and went out to eat at Los Tulipanes because their anniversary was the same day too. Its really hard to believe that last year, this was my last night without having a child in the house.

It makes me sad, makes me happy, but all worth it. It makes me think about what happened too - how tomorrow I would have gone to my appointment at 11:00 and get admitted to the hospital. How scared and excited I was all at the same time. Just thinking about this makes me teary eyed and makes me realize how fast time goes.

I definitely cherish every moment of that, and if you want to read how everything went down, just look back to October's posts last year. I also attached all my belly photos I took. Starting at 6 weeks and taken every 2 weeks. Hard to believe that this was my life last year.

It feels good to reflect on how our lives have changed. We have laughed & cried, but it is totally worth it. And SO happy to be blessed with our little girl. Love you Macyn.

Future Gleek

Over the past few weeks, Macyn learned how to bust a move. She really showed off her moves tonight when we were watching Glee. DH & I are fans and usually re-watch the episode each week....so I think we have our daughter on our side as well. Welcome to the Gleek family!

Pumpkin Patch

We decided to go to Diane's Pumpkin Patch (look it up on facebook) this afternoon. We originally wanted to try out Pumpkin Land since it is closer, but they aren't open on Sundays. DH and I both worked with the owner of Diane's Pumpkin Patch at the grocery store in high school so we thought we would go there instead. I cannot say how AWESOME it was! The owners are the greatest people, and it has the nice little hometown feel. Here are some pictures that we took today.They have free wagons to use to go the patch which is pretty large! They also had goodies you could buy, pumpkin painting, some animals, cutouts where you can put your head, a free wagon ride, and tons of photo ops. The pumpkins were super cheap too. We each got one and our total was $8, and these are no small pumpkins! It was even more fun to look for some in the patch. The same person runs a tree farm at Christmas so we are thinking about hitting that up this winter.

I believe Diane's Pumpkin Patch will be a tradition from now on. We didn't go last year because 1) Macyn was a newborn, and who really brings newborns to a pumpkin patch? and 2) Last year there was a small layer of snow on the ground, but today it was a nice 78 degrees!

But all in all, but was an awesome place to have some family time on a Sunday afternoon, and we will definitely go here in the future as well.

Epic Fail

How to go from this:To this:
To This:
Step 1: Wash gold bathroom rugs and throw in the blue rug from the other bathroom, just because it makes more sense to wash more than 1 rug.

Step 2: Make sure the blue rug bleeds onto the gold rugs in order to make a dull green sage colored rug.

Step 3: Since the new color reminds you of puke, run to Walmart and buy nice tan colored bathroom rugs to replace them.

So, if you ever want to change the color of your rugs, now you know how. And if want to keep the color of your rugs, don't throw another colored one in with them.

Birthday Invites

The time has come to mail the birthday invites! I designed these myself and had them printed at Hills. I also took the picture myself. I hopped on over to WalMart and got some lady bug stickers to put on the back of the envelopes - and added a dashed line for that little something extra. Now that we have the invites down, we have the cake to go. I think I may be in over my head with the cake, but I will be sure to let you guys know how that goes!

Target Fun!

After the rough day at church (see previous post), we decided to leave right after and go shopping. Going down to Sioux City wasn't so bad since she took a much needed nap the entire way. We hit up Menards then stopped at Long John Silvers for lunch. My oh my does she like hush puppies!! After that it was on to Sears & the mall, the Card & Party Outlet, Old Navy, & finally Target. I am sure this isn't so much fun for an 11 month old getting in & out of the car, in & out of the stroller, and in & out of carts. She was starting to get fussy on the way to Target and wasn't too happy about sitting in the cart. So we came up with a new idea - how about putting her IN the cart! I thought she would just sit in there and ride around. No-sir-ee. She wants to stand up and swing her body back and forth and laugh! Here are some pictures (they aren't very good quality, as they are cell phone pictures)I thought for sure she would topple over at least once, but she never did! She especially liked going over bumps between the carpet and tile. I will definitely have to keep this one in mind while grocery shopping....as long as there aren't glass jars and eggs in the cart, of course!

Sunday Best

After having Macyn go to bed late the night before, she decided to get up at 5:30. Then stay up until 6:45, and then go back to bed until 8:00. WHEW! But we decided to go to church anyways, and she didn't last more than 15 minutes before I brought her to the nursery. I have this bad feeling in my gut that they had their hands full! Anyways, what is church without dressing your baby in something cute?! Today she was sporting the black & white retro dress with some white tights and Mary Janes. I couldn't really get a good smile picture of her since she was completely exhausted, but I did get a picture of her standing up and looking outside (and blowing on the window).
And yes, that is a full head of blonde hair. I just wish more would grow on top so she can get out of the "mullet" stage!

As for the "Sunday Worst," there isn't any...since the Vikings didn't play today. Hopefully in the future, the Vikings can be featured on the "Sunday Best." :)