2 Year Check up

Today we had Macyn's 2 year check up and she is a (mostly) healthy little girl! She tipped the scales at 28 lbs which is in the 75th percentile. She used to be right about the 50th, so the doctor was happy with her weight gain. Her height was 36" tall which keeps her in the 95th percentile! If the old wive's tale is true, that if you double their height when they are 2, that means she would be 6' tall! If that's the case, lets hope she is coordinated and can go D1 volleyballin'.

In other news, she will be getting tubes put into her ears again on Friday. Not looking forward to this (or my pocketbook) because its an actual surgery where they put them under anesthesia, have a recovery room, etc. I was surprised to find out she had a slight ear infection in the ear without the tube, so we have some antibiotics for that to hold her over until Friday. Since she still has the tube in her other ear, they will be removing that one and patching the ear drum. They will then put a new tube in.

I think if she wasn't at an age where hearing is so important to development, I would try and wait it out. But the fact that she pretty much hasn't been able to hear anything out of her left ear for 3 months now (filled with fluid, & not draining) we thought tubes would be the best option for her at this time. So thats the plan - I really hope she won't need them again.

Oh, and today when I picked her up from daycare she has a pretty big shiner - got hit by a swing again. Poor kid! Despite all these issues that arise, I realize these are minor compared to what others deal with, and I truly feel blessed for that!

Birthday Party!

Here is Macyn's party, through pictures!

Macyn with her cupcakes!

Auntie Brooke and Grammy T

Mommy & Macyn

A little Minnie, Great Grandpa V.A. and Grandpa V.P.

Macyn with the V.A. cousins

Great Grandma V.A. and Macyn

Macyn with Grandpa and Grandma V.A.

Macyn with her aunties (and Caden)

Macyn with cousin Caden

Macyn with Great Grandpa and Grandpa Y

Macyn opening her presents. This consisted of opening them as fast as she could, tossing them aside, and going to the next gift she could get her hands on.

I love this picture. She was crying because there weren't more presents. She kept saying, "more? more?" and then threw a fit. Hey, its her party - can she can cry if she wants to!

Macyn blew out her candle all by herself!

Minnie Mouse Cupcakes

Cake pans with cut off tops

For Macyn's party,  I made simple cupcakes - boxed cake mix and canned frosting. I did buy the pink fun-fetti frosting and added a little bit of pink food coloring to make it more saturated. I also put white pearl sprinkles on the pink cupcakes, and pink pears on the white cupcakes. I stuck 2 mini oreos in each cupcake to make it look like Minnie ears. I also created the giant cupcake with a pan I borrowed from work. It looks nice, but it was big mess! I filled both pans up to the top and they proceeded to overflow in the oven. I would scoop out extra batter ever 10 minutes or so. After they were completely cooked, I cut off the tops, so they would be flat when I put the giant cupcake together. Sooo happy it turned out (and that the cakes didn't stick!) Here is how everything turned out!

Fall Time Filler

Since Macyn's party isn't until 3:00, we had quite a bit of time to fill some time before the party. Even more time considering she got up at 6:00. Here is how we spent our time, "pre-partying."

Macyn helped Mommy make snack mix and fill cups. Gotta love M&Ms, Peanuts, and Candy Corn! After this, it was time to ride bike in the house. We had to move the table to make room, so it created an instant indoor driveway!

After that, we decided it would be a good idea to brush the leaves off the sidewalk. We all trekked outside and had a great time! Macyn tried raking, and we tried taking some family pictures as well.

After our outdoor fun it was time to eat lunch, take a nap, and get ready for party time!

Birthday!

Even though Macyn's party isn't for another day, we decided to let her open up her presents from Mommy & Daddy when she got home from daycare. (Mom was busy baking lots of cake and cleaning the house!) She wasn't too excited about her presents and was a little bit crabby. (Isn't that what the 2's are about?) Since we already gave her the kitchen when we rearranged the living room for it it to fit, all she had to open were some realistic pots and pans along with some utensils. All this stuff came from Ikea when we were in Minneapolis a couple of months ago. Here is how the kitchen turned out. Oh, and I built it all by myself!

Macyn has a great time playing with and it occupies quite a bit of her time. She loves to cook and give her baby a bath in the sink. The burners also turn on and she cooks things on the cook top, and she always remembers to turn them off. Here are some pictures of her playing with the kitchen and cooking with leftover sprinkles from the fun-fetti frosting.

After present opening, we ate a nice meal of chicken nuggets and shrimp. They are two of her favorite things and she happily devoured an entire plate. Then we had a late notice phone call for a birthday party (for her 1st cousin, once removed - I'll let you figure that one out) at the Ranch. So we let her eat a cupcake, blow out her candle, and headed over for some cactus bread. It was a nice little party and a nice family birthday with just Mommy & Daddy. Tomorrow will be the "big" party!

2 Years Old

Where has the time gone?! Our little girl is two years old. It seems like just yesterday I was holding her for the first time in the hospital. I never knew how much work kids are and how tired you always are (even 2 years later!) But, I wouldn't change it for the world!

Macyn is her own little person. She enjoys playing with her babies, cooking in the kitchen, and throwing tantrums when she doesn't get her way :)

She is also super sweet too. I told her my tummy hurt and she comes up and gives it a kiss and says, "All better!" Last night at the supper table, Josh said, "here wife!" and Macyn chimes in and goes, "Here you go wife!"

She enjoys saying please and thank you for pretty much everything, even though it doesn't make much sense. She loves to be tickled and often says, "Teeek ulll!" or "No Teek ull, Mommy."

Even though she says pretty much anything you ask her, sometimes we can't understand what she is saying. This usually results in a fit of frustration. Like last night, she was in the kitchen yelling, "BEES!" "NO BEES!" "BEES!" and we finally figured out she wanted a Mr. Freeze. Its nice that she can talk, but not so nice when we can't always understand her. She also talks with a slight lisp with her s's.

She has a hearty appetite (when she feels like it) and loves yogurt! She will sit down and eat an entire serving. Bedtime can still be a challenge. We still rock her and i feel ridiculous doing that with a large child, but I figured soon enough those days will be over. So I continue to do it and cherish it every time I put her to bed.

I never knew how much love someone could have for a child, until I became a mother. I still stare at her in amazement, that I created that. She's beautiful. Happy 2nd birthday Macyn, we love you!

Minnie Mouse Shirt - DIY

Since the dress Macyn wore for her Minnie Mouse pictures is too big, I came up with another idea as to what she should wear for her pictures - I would make her a shirt! I ran over to Walmart and picked up a white shirt, iron on letters, and ink jet iron on transfers. I also had ribbon and stick on jewels leftover from other projects.

I made a pattern of Minnie Mouse ears and printed them out on the transfer paper. I also laid out the way I wanted Macyn's name.

After that, I ironed everything on and added jewel stickers to make the 2. I wasn't sure if they would stick, but i figured I wouldn't wash it anyways. In fact, the iron on transfers do not suggest washing the garment! Crazy! I added a Minnie Mouse bow, and ta-da! A custom Minnie Mouse shirt on a budget!

Can't wait for her to wear it!