Mackenzie: 6 Month Update

Our sweet Kenzie has been with us for half a year! Its so funny to think that she was ever this mystery baby inside my tummy. I feel like I've known her forever, and that she was definitely meant to be part of our family. 

At her 6 month check up they confirmed that we have a happy, very healthy baby girl! Apparently Kenzie is fat and tall. She weighs exactly 20 pounds and is 27.5 inches long. (97th and 94th percentile!)  Marley weighed 20 pounds, 15 ounces at her TWELVE MONTH check up. These girls are so different!! 

We made amazing progress over the last month with getting Kenzie to sleep without being swaddled. Aside from her naps being slightly shorter, she handled it so well. She really didn't bat an eye, and continued to sleep through the night without any trouble. 

Every change we throw at her, she handles it like "no big deal guys." She's loving solids, and hasn't gagged once. I personally think she loves chewing on the spoon because she's teething, and its a bonus for me that food gets in there too.  

A lot of people talk about how 2nd babies are a lot more chill and calm, but Kenzie was SO hard during the first couple months that I thought they were crazy. FINALLY I'm starting to see it, and Kenzie is really calm and easygoing now. 

Here's how other things are going...

Mackenzie Likes

Letting us know she's awake by kicking her feet...like REALLY hard.

Sitting in the high chair

Playing with her sister

 Being outside

Being held

Choking on her drool
Waking up at 5 am about once a week, just to remind us who's in charge
talking to her toys

Shopping with Mama

Bananas

Thinking catnaps are as good as long naps

Splashing in the bathtub
Soaking bibs with drool
Waking up with so much energy, then sleeping through 
the bottle like "Why'd you wake me up?!"

Stretching her little neck to watch you leave the room

Being rocked to sleep with her binky
Catching Daddy's eye
Sitting up by herself

Mackenzie Doesn't Like

When mama takes too long to get the bottle ready

Sleeping with a poopy diaper 
Staying awake while Daddy holds her. He's so warm and snuggly!

Getting left alone in a room too long

Having a wet shirt

 Getting her nose wiped

We're so lucky to have this sweet baby in our family! She really has the sweetest spirit. There are some days where I can't believe she's all mine. 

Wish us luck, over the next month we are going to make the 12 hour drive to California to visit family, and hopefully get these girls sharing a room. 

Busy Boxes (On the cheap!)

Over the last month, I have been working on compiling activities for our 
VERY busy 2.5 year old.

Because we also have a 5 month old, there are a lot of times where she needs my attention and the toddler needs to entertain herself. Problem is, I have one of those kids that gets bored with their toys quickly and needs a little more stimulation.

Thus, busy boxes became my mission! I wanted something with a good variety of activities already in one place so it seems less overwhelming. I've put together one for each day of the week, using a lot of things from around the house. You don't need bins as big as I used, they were on sale at Wal-Mart so I figured why not. I couldn't bring myself to pay more for a smaller box, and luckily we have a basement for storage space.

My husband laughs at me because I have turned into a bit of a hoarder. Whenever I empty a container of something, or finish a roll of paper towels, chances are I will save it. I've started to keep a box down in the basement of things like that, 
and then I mull over what I might use them for. 

Here are some of the things I came up with on my own...

Color Sorting Buttons

I created this using lunchable containers, with construction paper taped to the inside. These buttons came in a bag with shapes, and a bag with letters from Wal-Mart in the sewing section. They were a little pricey in my opinion ($4.50 a bag) but they will be so useful, 
I talked myself into it.

Popsicle Stick Color Sort

This was made from yogurt containers, with construction paper and packing tape. (Packing tape acts as a great barrier for those little fingers that will most likely try and tear the paper off) The colored sticks were in the craft aisle at Wal-Mart, and can also be used in 
a bunch of different ways!

Cookie Cutter Color Sort

Costco formula tins are something we will not be short of for awhile! That's what I used for this activity, along with cookie cutters from one of those 101 piece sets (purchased from Wal-Mart about 5 years ago). I don't have enough tins for all the colors yet, because I only recently started saving them. To switch things up, you could also use those rainbow Popsicle sticks for this too. Cut some holes in the lids for another option to keep them busy. 

Straw or Pipe cleaner Activity

I used an old Parmesan cheese container, and cut up some straws. You could also use pipe cleaners. I always save those containers because they're also great for holding cereal or goldfish in the diaper bag.

Cardboard Bead Threading 

Start saving those paper towel and TP rolls! I saw something similar to this on pinterest, but changed things a bit. The original post used pipe cleaners to make the string, with a loop at the end. I felt like my toddler would break that to pieces in less than 10 seconds, so I decided to use ribbon tied to some of those lovely rainbow popsicle sticks.   

Cookie sheet Magnet Activities

You can get this cookie sheet from Wal-Mart for .88 cents, and the magnets for about $1! There are TONS of possibilities for your little one, depending on their age. You could start by just getting some animals or letters, and then move up to matching games. There are cute little wood animals that come already painted (from Michaels), and just smack a magnet on the back. The activities pictured above came from the Pinterest world.  

 Not everything in our busy boxes is made from stuff around the house. I also found a LOT of activities from Pinterest, that were more geared towards my child's interests.
Those activities require a little more work, mostly LOTS of cutting. I recommend investing in cardstock and a laminator so that your work doesn't get crumpled to pieces. 

I worked on those during naptime or after the kids went to bed, while camped out on the couch watching some Netflix! 

The great thing about these boxes is, that everything becomes new and exciting because it gets brought out once a week.  Go through your toy bins and pull things out that might be getting lost or forgotten and you'll be shocked how interesting they will become. 

Here's what else is in our boxes:

Puzzles
(Melissa & Doug ones are my fave!)
Books
(TJ Maxx is the BEST place I've found for cheap board books.)
Spiral Notebook for drawing
(Right now with back to school, stock up! Its fun to see their imaginations 
at work with blank paper)
Laminated tracing pages
(To be done with dry erase markers and LOTS of supervision!)
Lowercase and Uppercase matching
(We have one where the matches make a butterfly)
Shape sorting pages
(Use those lovely buttons, or cut out your own shapes using 
paint samples from Wal-Mart...they're free!)
Shoelace threading
(Melissa & Doug)
Coloring books Or Printable Coloring Pages
(Dollar tree has a great selection! Switch between crayons and colored pencils each day, 
or even Markers if you're brave!)
   Velcro popsicle sticks
(In the sewing section at Wal-Mart they sell little adhesive circles, 
you can work on learning shapes this these.)
Washable Paint
(For days when you're feeling adventurous!) 
Beanie Babies or Stuffed Animals
(This way your living room doesn't become overtaken by plush. 1-2 in each box will reduce the clutter.) 
Laminated Playdough Mats
(You can find letters, numbers, or shapes on Pinterest.)
Colander Threading with Pipecleaners
(Dollar store!)

 What I have found works best for us is that I give her a couple of activities to play with in the afternoon before nap time, and then the whole bin in the evenings. Since we started using these activities, tantrums and grumpiness have decreased a TON and I don't feel overwhelmed. 

There you have it! I hope these ideas help you get started on your own stash of activities to have on hand. Winter is just around the corner, so these will be so helpful and keep everyone from going crazy! 

Marley Stories: August

Here's another round of silly Marley stories from the past month...

At cousin Jackson's birthday party, Marley walked over to the table cloth that had birthday cakes on it, and tried to blow out the candles. 

After her cousins party, and seeing an episode of Word World where they made a birthday cake, Marley has become obsessed with birthdays. She likes to carry things over to me and say, "Happy Birthday Mommy!" and then blow out imaginary candles. 

And today I caught her singing Happy Birthday while sitting in the high chair during breakfast. When I asked her who's birthday it was she didn't answer, so I said "Is it Nathan's birthday?" (Because his birthday was just a few days earlier) and She said: "No. Maybe Papa's...?" 

Marley runs around our living room a lot. The other day I caught her running over to our little nook by the front door, where she then leaned against the wall, let out a big sigh, and said: "Whew! That was close!" (She then did the same thing again about 3 more times.)

**^Edit: Like a week later she also said this while I was reading her a book, and almost dropped it on the floor.**

We were reading her ABC book and when we got to the page where "H is for House" she pretended to knock on the door. I asked her who was at the door and she replied, "EVIE!" with a big grin. (Evie is her cousin, and she is ALWAYS the one who is at the door now, when Marley is pretending.)

Every week Marley and I watch "So You Think You Can Dance" or also known as "The Dancin' Show" to Marley. She dances all around the living room during while we watch. And has gotten really good at "Shaking her booty" as we call it. 

Marley knows she is not really supposed to play in Kenzie's saucer toy. She's not hurting anything, but it drives me crazy because she will climb in, but not be able to get out. So the other day when she climbed in the toy, I told her she had to get herself out. After ignoring her for awhile, she finally got out and ran around the room shouting, "I'm Free!!!" 

The other day I noticed Marley stretching to reach her water cup on the floor. She grabbed her cup and said, "Thank you hand!" Followed with, "You're welcome!" What?!? Silly kid.  

While Marley was eating breakfast we were talking about parts of her face. I taught her words like chin, cheeks, and forehead. Later that night she came up to me, pointed to her cheeks and called them "chickens."

A lot of days, I am the sole person Marley interacts with. As a result, she thinks "Thank You Mommy" is what you say to ANY person who helps you. We're working on that... 

We were playing with letters from an alphabet puzzle, and I got Marley to read the words "cat" and "box." I was feeling pretty excited, until I tried to get her to read the word "zip." She went, "Zuh...iiii...pppp..." and then exclaimed: "OSTRICH!" Oh well, we're still proud of our little reader.

During sacrament meeting a cute little baby in our ward was making noise. At one point he screamed really loud, and made the sound, "BAAAAA!" That caught Marley's attention, and she promptly yelled: "SHEEP!!!"  


Things Marley says wrong, but are oh so cute:

Helicopter = hot-a-top-ter

tuba = poopa
triangle = cry-angle
band-aids = bandages
butt paste = poop paste
swimming = sweeeeem-ing
so delicious = soda-licious 
ice cream = ice crean
ketchup = chep-up




We sure love this sweet, silly girl!