Pint-sized Swiffer

Macyn has been really into helping clean around the house, whether it be dusting, putting her clothes in the hamper, or sweeping the floor. I decided to make her own sized Swiffer! She always likes to drag it out of the closet, so I threw a cleaning pad on it and took out a few "joints" and ta-da! Macyn's own little Swiffer! Just so you folks know, I have already had to change the microfiber cloth since the first one was dirty from all her cleaning. I sure hope she keeps this up!

Sunday Best

Macyn's Easter outfit this year consisted of a hand-me-down dress from her cousin. It was a salmon colored plaid dress with a shrug for on top. She wore her peep-toe wedges to complete the look. I may be biased, but I thought she looked awfully darn cute going for her Sunday stroll on her trike :)

We also tried to get a family photo. It didn't work too well and we couldn't get Macyn to smile. That's okay though, its the funny pictures that we remember the most!

Easter Eggcitement!

Since I kinda forgot about bringing Macyn to the Easter egg hunt, we decided to have one for her instead. I hid the eggs (in plain sight) and she knew exactly what to do! She would run to an egg, put it into her new purse and then run and look for others. We also had a never ending egg hunt going - as soon as she would bring me an egg, I would quickly hide it again....an easy way to keep a toddler entertained!

She also got some other goodies from the Easter Bunny besides her new purse. She got some Color Wonder markers along with a Dora coloring book. As you can see Macyn already has the hang of the markers. For those of you who don't know what Color Wonder markers are, they have invisible ink that only shows up on the Color Wonder paper. Perfect for a toddler who can't quite stay in the lines (or on the paper for that matter).

She also got an Easter basket filled with a coloring book, chalk, bunny, candy, and books from her Grandparents. From the other grandparents, she received her very own fishing pole! This ought to be fun when we go camping this summer. The pole includes a back pack, mini tackle box, and sunglasses.

The real present came Easter morning though. She got her very own fold-up trike! I took a video of her expression but the sun was shining through the window so you couldn't see her face :(  Her expression was priceless though - an opened mouth SURPRISE look along with many smiles. She naturally hopped right onto her new trike.

She loves this trike! Its nice because it folds up in order to take it along with you and the seat also moves so it grows with your child too. This will definitely get lots of use!

Cousins

Cousin Caden came to visit and Macyn enjoyed sitting and playing with him on the couch.

Then they had a cousin bonding moment.

 Then Macyn decided to share her toys with the "baby." First up, her pink blankie.

Next she thought she would share her glow worm:

 and then her baby

....add Sponge Bob

 

and a busy bee...

All done! Macyn was proud of her toy sharing with Caden. As for him.....

 ...not too enthused!

Garage Sales

So, at city wide rummages I pretty much bought Macyn an entire summer wardrobe:

This is quite impressive considering I didn't find anything at all the first two days (except a Detroit Redwings sign for DH's Man Cave). I ended up buying 9 outfits, 3 dresses, 5 pairs of shorts, 3 pairs of capris, 4 shirts, pajamas, and a jacket. I am really hoping this lasts her all summer! Other things I found was a bike helmet for $2 and some water shoes for 50 cents.

I also found a storage bin thingy for $3 that is used to store some of her toys in the living room instead of allowing her unsupervised in her room all the time.

Board books are always a good investment as well. An even better investment considering we currently have all her books memorized.

 

Other great finds were a Coleman king sized airbed for $10, 8 tupperware drinking cups for 50 cents total, and 2 sippy cups for 15 cents. Rummaging takes a lot of time, but it is definitely worth it in the end. It saves money and I don't have to always travel 60 mins to the nearest city to buy her clothes. Most kid clothes are barely worn, so its even a better deal. So in a nutshell, Spring rummages = success!

Auntie Brooke came along too where she found this awesome remote controlled Hummer. She also bought Macyn this Halloween costume:

Poor Macyn, hopefully you will be happier at Halloween!

18 Month Photo Book

Since I bought the copyright released CD from Macyn's 18 month photos, I decided to take advantage of my free photo book from Shutterfly. Actually, it was a promotion that Pampers had going for Mother's Day. This is the first book I have made, and I'm anxious to get it into the mail! Here is the book I just created. It was pretty simple to use and didn't take too long for a beginner like myself. The best part is, its FREE! (except the $4.99 shipping charge). They always know how to get ya!

Click here to view this photo book larger

18 Month Photos

Macyn had her 18 month photos done today, and she had all kinds of personality to show off. Here are some of Macyn's many poses. I added captions corresponding to the number of the photo.

1. Strike a pose - channeling her inner top model

2. Sweet as pie smile

3. Daydream believer

4. "I concur"

5. Weighing the options

6. Staring off into the distance

7. Scowl

8. Are we done yet?!

We did get a few of her smiling which is waaay better than her 12 month ones where she didn't smile. She has a super short attention span and it was hard enough to keep her in front of the camera! I had to chuckle when I was viewing her session - they were sooo funny and comedic to see! If you readers want to see the rest, you can find them on the Hills site and use the same password. If you don't remember, shoot me a message and I will send you the link with login information.

18 Month Checkup

Macyn had her 18 month checkup and only 1 shot today! She is continues to grow with the same percentiles she was at her 12 month checkup. She weighed in at 25lbs 4oz (50th) with a height of 34" (95th) percentiles. Her head circumference was at the 50th as well. Her Dr. said she is probably going to be tall and once we measure her at her two year checkup will be an even better guess as to how tall she will actually be!

She met all of her milestones and is developing like she should. One ear tube is out and the other is on its way out. This pretty much means when we go to the Ear Nose & Throat in July, we will have to decide whether or not to have the tubes put back in. We are hoping she will not need them and that she has grown out of her ear infections. Other than that, everything checked out perfectly! We are blessed to have such a healthy, growing child.

Class of 2035

We are proud to announce that we have started Macyn on the road of Financial Peace University. As we were counting out our change jar, we decided to donate our pennies to Macyn's piggy bank. She had a great time "feeding" the pig and was able to sort out the brown coins from the silver ones. She was sad when all the pennies were gone that went into the piggy. When she sees money she knows right where it is supposed to go. I think this will begin to help out with rewarding her for good behavior and chores, and hopefully potty training. You're never too young to start saving money, right?!

Lunch Specials

Our city wide rummages aren't until next weekend, but I couldn't help myself from shopping over my lunch break in the town where I work. Their rummages started Wednesday and I only made it to 4, but I think I still came up with some good bargains. I picked up 5 sets of name brand pajamas. Two 2-piece sets (Carters & Baby Gap) and three 3-piece sets (Carters). I also scored some more name brand clothes at another sale. I scored a pair of jeans (Children's place), 2 shirts (Children's Place) and 3 tank tops (Children's Place). I also found a nice spring jacket (not shown) but its a 3T and will be great for spring next year. I paid $25 total for all these items which isn't bad considering each piece averages out to $1.25/item! I still have quite a bit of things I am looking for on rummages next week, but this is definitely a great start - and a great way to spend a lunch break!

18 Months

 Hard to believe our big girl is 1 1/2 already! Where does time go?! Macyn's vocabulary has improved this month. In addition to saying, "Hi," and "no," consistently, she has added a few words. She now says ball, kitty (kee-ee), Mama, Dada, Papa (Grandpa) Uh-oh, Buh bye, and Banana (a-naa). Another good milestone is she responds when you ask her something with either a head shake and "no" or she shakes her head yes. This helps a lot when you aren't certain what she wants. She continues to jabber and its really fun to ask her about what she did today. I will ask if she played with a certain kid and she goes "OOOOH" and rolls her eyes. It's pretty funny watching her facial expressions.

She also enjoys imitating us. We will say something and she will try saying it back. Today she was pretty adamant about playing with our camera so I gave her our old one to use. I showed her how to take a picture by holding it out and pointing to to yourself. So what does she do? She tries and takes her own self portrait!

 She enjoys pointing to everything and having us recite back to what she is pointing at. She can also pick out almost all body parts - eyes, ears, nose, mouth, teeth, hair, head, feet, toes, hands, belly, etc. The good thing she figured out is how to smile! Kinda like when you ask her how old she is, she holds up 1 finger. So when you ask her to smile she gets a big cheeseball one. I am crossing my fingers this helps during her pictures on Monday!

Other than that, she is a busy body. She is still teething and has 14 teeth - so 2 more to go before her 2 year molars. I seriously cannot wait until this is done. She is also an avid bird watcher. She seriously just sits in front of the window pointing and looking at birds. I am curious to find out all of her height and weight stats at her 18 month check up. We think she's tall - she has already made her 18 month pants floodwaters!

Chicken B. Ranch Pizza

This is what you call a lazy Sunday meal - but delicious nonetheless! Get some pizza crust and top with 1/2 cup Ranch dressing. Then put down some Mozzarella cheese, 1 large can chicken, cheddar cheese, and 1 jar of bacon bits. Then bake until the cheese is melted and the crust is crispy. YUM! Not as good as Pizza Ranch's or Casey's, but not bad for a quick 10 minute meal!

Sunday Funday

Even though Sunday wasn't as nice as Saturday (sans the tornadoes) we still decided it would be fun to visit the large city park. Macyn had a great time going over the bridge - with no hands! She also liked to ride the rocket ship, go down the zip line (with help), swing, and go down the slides. She was having so much fun and was a little upset when we left within 20 minutes. Mommy and Daddy were getting cold :) We are looking forward to warmer weather and more trips to the park!

Camping is in Tents

We decided to go tenting this afternoon......

In our front yard! It was such a nice day so we decided to practice pitching our tent before we go camping Memorial Day weekend. It went up pretty well, but not without a few hitches. We didn't stake it down at first and the wind took it. Once we did that it went up pretty smoothly. We looked like some rednecks who tent in their front yard (and with Christmas lights still up and dead garland) and had to hear kids riding bikes past saying, "Mommy, we should get one of those!"

Once we got it put all together, we played around inside and watched Macyn run from end to end, giggling, multiple times. My parents were also over today and they joined our fun as well.

 

 After playing in the tent it was time to take it down. We were amazed how quickly we got it back into the 2.5'x1'x1'bag on the first try. We received conformation on our Memorial Day weekend camping today, so vacation, here we come!

Sleepy Eater

Macyn did a first today - fell asleep eating lunch! This is beyond shocking for many reasons. The main ones being 1. She hardly ever naps (1 per day) and 2. She fights sleep all the time! I was secretly hoping she would do a header into her plate of oreo fluff dessert, but she spared us this time. It made for an easier clean up, that's for sure!

Mommy's Little Helper

In the previous post, you saw how Macyn likes to help with putting away laundry. She now enjoys helping by throwing things in the trash can. We are still trying to teach her what is trash, and what isn't. So if anything is ever missing, we can usually find it in the trash or diaper champ. Unfortantely (or fortunately) we found DH's wallet in the diaper champ. Ew, but glad we found it before the trash was taken out!

She still likes to help put clothes away (especially socks!) Now she likes to close the washing machine and dryer doors for me, and occasionally shuts it on my arm. But at least she is helping and it keeps her occupied while I am doing my chores.

For the record, the kid likes to dress herself. I am completely okay with this, even though she does look a little funny when we go out sometimes. I have resorted to hiding certain things like her 12 month jacket (she wears 24 month/2T clothes). For some reason she always wants to wear her navy jacket with flowers or her lime green and honeysuckle striped one. So I just let her express herself and wear what she wants. It makes for some comical pictures and great memories to tell her when she is older. If she wants to wear a Minnie Mouse romper with her boots with the fur, go right ahead, child!