Future Softball Player...

Earlier today we were talking about softball at my parents house and my Dad casually mentioned how Mackenzie would be old enough to play before too long. Brian said he hadn't even thought about it. (I think she can start t-ball next year...) So later this afternoon he said he needed to go to WM to get a couple of things and said he was going to see if he could find a bat, ball, and a tee to see if Mackenzie liked to hit the ball. (She LOVES to watch him play!) And here are a couple of cute pics from their few minutes outside.

Mickey Wuvey

Any of you who know me (or actually Mackenzie) well know that she has been obsessed with Mickey since I don't know when... probably about the time she realized she could be obsessed about anything! Mickey Mouse Clubhouse was her favorite show and still is in the top 3. (I'll refrain from singing the Hot Dog song for your benefit...) And she had a little Mickey called "Little Buddy" or "Buddy" for short that she carried around with her EVERYWHERE!! When she went to 3 yr old preschool last August they were allowed to bring a "comfort item" for naptime, but I decided to have mercy on her teachers and not even try that... If I could get away with it that is! So I told her that Buddy wasn't allowed to go to school but he could go to work with Mommy. So the first day of school Buddy went to school with me and I even took a picture to show her!

One day after we had told Mackenzie we were going to have another baby we were asking her what she wanted to name the baby. And out of the blue she said "If its a boy I want to name it Mickey and if its a girl I want to name it Minnie." There it was... no discussion, no nothing. End of Story. Wellllll as you know Mickey isn't his name, although people still randomly call him that joking and before we found out what we were having people always talked about whether we would have a Mickey or a Minnie!

After buying a baby gift for a friends daughter we had to promise Mackenzie that when we found out what we were having we'd buy a Mickey if it was a boy and a Minnie if it was a girl... So the day we found out about Dylan we were in Wal-Mart buying a Mickey! Until the day we moved, the Mickey sat on her dresser because she was keeping it for her baby brother.

All of this dialogue for the sake of two pictures... a co-worker gave us a Mickey "Wuvey" (a term she picked up at school... Lovey with a "W") for Dylan at my baby shower and from that moment Mackenzie loved it! After Dylan was born she was so precious because she'd carry it to where it was and put it with him in his car seat or his bouncy seat or even sleep with it because "Brother isn't big enough to sleep with it, and he wants to share with me." We were having conversations pretty frequently about the fact that the Mickey Wuvey was Dylan's and not hers. Then I had a thought... why not add to Mackenzie's 5000 Mickey's and buy her a Mickey Wuvey too? So we did and she is THRILLED because they have matching Wuvey's!

All this to say, the other night she fell asleep with her wuvey by her face and I had to take a picture! So of course after that I had to go put Dylan's by him in his bed and take a picture of him with his! Ha!

P.S. I think I've inspired my next post... Mackenzie, The Mickey Chronicles.

It's a Skunk!

So Monday night while I was cleaning the kitchen Mackenzie decided to play a game with this big black rubbermaid box we have at our house... (over the weekend it had been a shell but read on and you'll see what it was this night...)

So the it went down like this...

Mackenzie : Mommy when I plop this box down say "It's a SKUNK!"

Me: Ok baby

THUMP! (Needless to say we had words about this being so loud since Dylan was taking his nap before we are dinner and he almost jumped out of his bouncy seat)

L: Wow... what is that in my kitchen?? Hmm... I don't know. Wait, what is that smell?? OH NO!! It's a SKUNK!! Where is Mackenzie she's not going to believe there is a skunk in my kitchen!

M : SILENCE... (Very impressive if you know my 4 yr old)

L: Some more random silly comments about a "skunk" in my kitchen.

Then I see this...

Yep, those are little 4 yr old hands sticking out of the "skunk".

L: Oh my goodness! The skunk has hands! WHOA!! The skunk has purple fingernails like Mackenzie does!! Mackenzie is NOT going to believe this!! (More random comments...)

M: Giggle Giggle

L: Wow, if the skunk has purple fingernails I wonder if it has purple toenails...

M: Slowly the hands creep back in the box.... and what emerges but...

So you and I realize that there is no way I can see her toenails from this angle but she's 4 so I played like I could.

L: I CAN NOT BELIEVE IT!! The skunk has purple toenails like Mackenzie too!! She will not believe it when I tell her!! I have to find her!!!

M: Giggle Giggle Giggle... Wiggle Wiggle Wiggle

L: Looking for Mackenzie in random places like the dishwasher, the sunroom, the fridge.

Then all of the sudden...

Who can resist that precious face? Even if I had to play the "skunk" game 4 more times after that!!

My Little Monkeys

Months ago I had gotten Mackenzie some Monkey PJ's from Old Navy because her and Poppy have this thing they always talk about called "Monkey Shorts". Nobody outside of our family would understand I'm sure, but its their "thing" and its so cute! So anyway I got her the girl version of these monkey "pajomies" and one day I realized they had a boy version and that I could get a 3-6 mo size for Dylan. So I've been dying for him to be big enough to wear them and a week ago on a Saturday they both wore their Monkey pajomies and I had to take pictures!!

I will admit that I forgot about putting Dylan in his until he was already asleep but like the good picture taking Mommy I am... I changed him right after he woke up!

Not a morning person... (think she'd even been up 2 hours...)

My precious little monkeys

If only her knee wasn't in the way... but still precious!

Giggling Little Boy!

One day when I grow up...

... I want to learn how to survive with two crazy kiddos, an even more insane job, an even more (like straight jacket kind of) insane hubby's job, a laid back husband, a non-filthy house (notice I didn't even ask for clean), and all the other things associated with being a Mommy/Wife... without feeling like I could fall into a pile on the floor. I mean the shoulder slumping, rib sucking in, so tired you physically hurt kind of tired! Is that too much to ask for??? :) Maybe it is a little much to ask for... when all I really should be doing is focusing on the blessings that God has provided in this Crazy Kennebeck Life!

Our God is GOOD!

My name is Lindsey and this has been my random thought for the day...

One pretty big milestone... and another not so big one.

Last week Dylan hit two milestones, one that was pretty big as far as new babies go and then one not so big one, but hey it's my blog so I'll call it what I want!!

Early last week Dylan started waking up fussing in the middle of the night and after the second night I realized it was becoming a pattern... He would wake up fussing because he would have scooted himself to the top of his cradle and his little baby soft spot was squishing up against the bars of the cradle. (Hey I'd fuss if it was me, so who can blame him!) I'd pull him back down to his normal spot but he'd end up doing it at least once if not twice more. After 3 or 4 nights of this I realized that it was time... Time to move Dylan to his big boy bed. AKA his crib. :)

It made me sad to move him to his crib... I don't know why but it seemed like it bothered me even more than when I moved Mackenzie. But maybe I'm just losing it... The night I moved him to his crib I had to sit on the couch and snuggle my little baby boy longer than normal before finally putting him down in his bed. I'll admit I almost cried, but I held it together like the good Mommy I am. Ha!

My Sweet Baby Boy

And the other not so big milestone... He started wearing 3-6 months clothes. All his pj's were getting to short so we had to move on up. He can still wear some of his 0-3 month stuff but only if it doesn't have feet or legs. I will point out that he was 3 months old last Tuesday, so regardless of how big our babies are, they aren't that big!! Ha!

Rocks... An Obession

Ever since the first day Mackenzie started preschool she had an obsession with bringing home rocks from the playground. It started with one or two, but now some days she comes home with pockets full!! Now I know what our tuition payments go towards... more gravel/rocks for the playground!! Within the first couple of weeks of Mackenzie starting school she brought me a rock home and said "Here Mommy, this is for you to take to work. You can keep it on your desk and think about me." It was so precious that she was thinking like that but still silly at the same time that she had gotten me a rock for my desk. But guess what... I took it to work the next day and it's still there! Our department recently moved to another area, and guess what I did. You got it... packed the rock right along with everything else. When I saw it, I couldn't help but smile and remember that precious day.

Thruout the weeks and months of preschool she has continued to bring rocks home. Sometimes she brings them home for herself and then some days she will bring home 3 or 4 rocks. Even before I had Dylan she started bringing him home little rocks, and saying she was going to keep them for him until he was big enough to play with them. It blessed my heart that even at that stage she was so in love with her little brother that he was important enough to get rocks from school too!

Just last week I turned around to find her making a pile in the middle of the kitchen floor of rocks that she'd brought home that day. I had to take a picture to remember these sweet moments!

And on Friday after her big "Zoo Picnic" she opened up her lunchbox on the way home (they brought lunch for the picnic that day), and said "Mommy! I picked flowers for you today at school!! But they're dying!" I told her that was ok I was sure they were still beautiful! And in my Mommy's eyes they were beautiful even if they were wilted and probably all weeds. That same day she brought home MORE rocks in a baggie for me and again I had to take a picture of the sweet memories.

It's funny how such a simple thing as a rock can mean so much to a 3 or 4 year old. And even more importantly bring such precious memories along with it!! I know personally I'll never look at a rock the same way again and when I stop to think, I'll always remember my precious little girl bringing home a rock for me to take to work.

My Best Friend Mattie

One of Mackenzie's favorite phrases almost since she could talk was "My Best Friend Mattie!!" Since the day Ashley and I went back to work the girls have been together nearly every day! So much so that some days when we would pick the girls up from Wanda's house we would hear stories about how they'd fought during the day... It was so funny because they loved (and still do) each other like sisters but also fight like sisters as well!

Check out these best friends last week at the Mother's Day Tea at First Baptist Preschool. I'm sorry I just don't think it can get much cuter than this!!

Ok... well maybe this does! I think its one of my fave pics that every came from Wanda!

I remember this picture like it was yesterday! (And that makes me sad...) Ashley and I both pulled up at the same time to get the girls and saw Wanda taking pictures at the front door. This pic was right when the girls saw us. Can you tell they were excited to see their mommies?

The girls couldn't look more different but they love each other with all of their hearts! We are so thankful that Mackenzie has such a sweet best friend!!

Crazy Little Man

Dylan was so funny Tuesday night when he was hanging out in his bouncy! So I had to take video... We can't find our DVD Recorder anywhere so I had to pull out the trusty ole Blackberry! Sorry for the video quality!! This video he was so excited when he was playing that I thought he was going to fling himself out of his bouncy seat! (Not really, but he was TOTALLY excited!) If you notice, he's only got on one sock... that's because somehow he'd kicked it off.



In this video he was just talking talking and more talking I just love listening to the baby "talking"!

Which is Which?

So I know if you look at pictures of Mackenzie and Dylan now you don't think they look a THING alike! But guess what... they do as babies!! After the head full of brown hair that's the first thing I noticed... How much Dylan looked EXACTLY like Mackenzie as a baby! Brian agreed with me but even my own mother didn't believe me until I pulled out pictures!! Thanks Mom! Ha! By the way, I want to say a special thanks to Ash for agreeing with me! Girl it felt so good that somebody else saw it without having to see the pics side by side and didn't act like I was a liar!! Ha!

So here are some pictures of my kiddos where they look sooo much alike!

If it wasn't for the blankets, bet you couldn't tell which was which... Mackenzie was about a month old and Dylan was 2 days old.

Both kiddos are about 2 months old here... Want to venture a guess? (Here's a hint... I'm keeping the pictures consistently placed...)

So I realize they are both going to hate me for these pictures one day, but their facial expressions are the same, and if you could see other pictures you would see they are even holding their feet the same... They are both 3 months old here.

Our Lives Changed Forever... Version #2

On February 11, 2010 our lives changed forever... for the second time!

Dylan Thomas Kennebeck was born at 12:31 pm on February 11, 2010. He weighed 8 lbs 10 ozs and was 19 1/2 inches long.

Ever since the day Mackenzie was born it was a joke how much she did NOT look like she belonged to us... So you can imagine how funny it then turned out to be when Dylan was born and he looked EXACTLY like you'd expect a Kennebeck Kiddo to look like. He had a full head of dark hair (which we later discovered was dark brown with lighter highlights like MINE!! Finally something my kids got of mine!! Ok other than Mackenzie acting exactly like me...) and looked so much like Brian! We even started getting jokes asking if we were sure he was ours since he looked so different than Mackenzie. Hey when you have kids that look so different you can't win!

We were so thrilled to have him here safe and healthy!! And SOOOOO thankful that we got to have him here 10 days early!! Had Dr. Watson let me go all the way to my due date I would have given birth to a 12 year old! Trust me! I have a really funny story of the day I asked how big she thought he was, but there is no way to tell it that makes it blog worthy so trust me... it's HILARIOUS! What can I say? We grow 'em big in our house!

Proud Daddy!!

Mommy and her baby boy!

But MOST importantly, Mackenzie the Big Sister and her Baby Brother! She doesn't look proud does she??

I'll admit, and anybody who was was around during my pregnancy can attest too... I was totally freaked out by the whole boy thing! I can handle a girl, hello I've already done it once and know what to expect. But a boy... freaked me out! We'll just say I was most freaked out by the little detail that makes boys and girls so different... (How's that for wording things carefully?) I knew in my heart I would be totally fine... I'm a big girl I can handle it but it was honestly more than a little scary to me... Even though I was freaked out I was so excited for Brian to get "his boy" because I know all Daddy's secretly (or not so secretly) want a little boy to play catch with and teach all the boy stuff.

Disclaimer: I know without a shadow of a doubt that Brian would have been 100% at peace had we had another little girl because he loves his baby girl with ALL his heart and is the BEST Daddy to her! 

Over the last 3 months I have been amazed by how much you can love not only one child but two! (And at how I can handle baby boy stuff... When it becomes big boy stuff it becomes Daddy's problem! Ha!) God has blessed us so much with not only Mackenzie but now Dylan as well! One of my most precious memories is one night when he was a few weeks old I was sitting on the couch getting ready to put him in bed and I just had this overwhelming sense of peace about how our family was complete. It made me start crying because I knew even more than I already knew that God had given us a precious little boy for a reason and I could not have been happier!

I got the inspiration for a post to catch everybody up on what we've been doing from my friend Ashley (Thanks Girl!), and decided this would be MUCH easier than trying to go back and post thing after thing after thing... : )

August

The most important thing that happened to us in August was that we finally told Mackenzie she was going to be a big sister! We told her by giving her a Big Sister bracelet that Nana made for her. We kept this pregnancy very quiet until I was into my second tri-mester because of the miscarriage we had earlier in the year.

Before Mackenzie started 3 yr old preschool in late August we decided to have a before school blow-out. So we went to Little Rock to the zoo and then to Chuck E Cheese. Needless to say all of us were worn out by the time we finished!!

After the before school blow-out came the first day of pre-school. Mackenzie has LOVED school since the first day she started! She could not love her teachers Mrs. Kay and Mrs. Monica any more! That makes it sooo much easier to leave her every day. Brian and I both took her to school on the first day and walked her inside, we had to remind her to kiss us because she was so excited to be there! Made me giggle and made me sad all at the same time!

This last picture is of Mackenzie's "Lil Buddy". Since he "couldn't" go to school with Mackenzie she wanted me to take him to work with me. So knowing my child, I even took a picture to prove he was at work with me.

September

September brought Playhouse Disney in Little Rock. We knew Mackenzie would love it but we had no idea just how much! She was so excited to see all the characters but especially thrilled to see Mickey! Whenever he came out on stage she became enthralled and had to wave at him! As you can also tell from the pics, September also brought an every growing Mommy...

October

In October Brian and I were lucky enough to be able to go watch the Southwest Classic in Dallas at the brand new Cowboy stadium. We had a blast getting to not only see our Hogs play but also beat the Aggies!! It was one of only two football games we were able to go to this year because Dylan was being rough on his Mommy!! Just wait until he's older... we'll give him a hard time for that!!

It's never boring when your 3 1/2 year old believe she has the world's best fashion sense! This day she taught me that a headband really does go with pigtails... And in turn produced one of my fave pics of her!

Since our old house didn't have much of a yard we decided to take Mackenzie to play in the park on Sunday afternoon. Brian and Mackenzie played... I sat at the picnic table feeling just lovely and pregnant (get the sarcasm?) taking pictures of their sweet moments! PRICELESS!!

Being the wonderful pregnant Mommy that I was, not much thought went into Halloween this year... Turned out good since Mackenzie was sick and all she'd asked to be was Ariel for weeks. Lucky for me, we had gotten an Ariel costume for Christmas... talk about easy!

November

Apparently nothing picture worthy happened in November... but there is one VERY BIG thing that did happen to us... We MOVED! We had our house on the market since Feb 09 and were very discouraged that it hadn't sold. We knew when we put it on the market it was part of God's plan for our family, but we also knew with a baby due in February we needed to be settled. One night Brian and I were talking about what we felt God was leading us to do and after much praying decided we'd give the house til the end of November and if it didn't sell we'd take it off the market. We were confident this was the decision God wanted us to make! Well you know how people say God can't do what He's trying to do if you're in His way? Wellllll that is apparently what he was trying to show us! I called our wonderful realtor one day to tell her our plans and guess what... she was showing houses to a couple who had looked previously but never made an offer. Long story short, we had a signed offer on our old house and an a signed offer on our new house by Saturday!! God is Good!!! We knew and still know that God worked all of this out according to His good and perfect will!! The only downside of moving was that we closed the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and I was 5 1/2 months pregnant! On top of that not only was I pregnant but having VERY bad Braxton Hix (and had been for a while) so I wasn't allowed to do anything but sit and watch while my wonderful friends and family packed, moved, and helped clean the old house. After all of our help fell thru on moving day I had a little pregnant moment, but God again provided by sending wonderful family and friends to help! I don't think there will ever be a day I don't look back at that situation and thank God for His provision! Still makes me teary eyed to this day!

December

December is crazy in any house, but ESPECIALLY when you are in a new house with boxes everywhere!! Here are some pics of our first days in our new house. Mackenzie's room was the first room we painted... the day after we moved! And of course even if the rest of my house was in boxes I HAD to put up my tree!! (Pregnant Belly and millions of white lights are not a good combination...)

This year we finally decided we should be "good parents" and take Mackenzie to the Christmas parade. I never cared much about it growing up but thought we should at least give Mackenzie the opportunity... Ha! We went with our friends Nathaniel, Mary, and Lottie Doddridge and had a blast!! Let me just add, it's very difficult to find clothes to keep a big ole pregnant girl warm!!

December also brought a milestone birthday in our house... Brian turned the Big 30!! And yes I was able to pull off a surprise party while extremely preggo and in a new house. Couldn't have done it without my wonderful friends and the help of a lying associate pastor... :) I thought I was busted the night of the party when he drove back by and his sister and one of my friends were at my house, but apparently God allowed me to be able to lie for one night!! Ha! As you can tell he was very surprised!

I decided that even thought I was miserable and pregnant I couldn't keep that from making a Gingerbread house with my sweet baby girl... So we did and it was even messier than the year before! Ha! But ohhhh the memories!! And yes... she's wearing a Belle dress!

Christmas was even more fun this year than it has been in the past because Mackenzie not only got more into Santa Clause but more importantly she really began to understand the true meaning of Christmas! Here are some of my fave pics from Christmas this year.

We made cookies for Santa late on Christmas Eve and Santa enjoyed the cookies! (and so did somebody else...) Santa even left Mackenzie a note telling her how good the cookies were!

While we were sitting on the couch waiting for the cookies to cook, we watched "Prep and Landing" one of Mackenzie's favorite Christmas movies. It's such a sweet memory because she wanted to hold both of our hands! :)

Can you tell she just woke up?? Ha!

Playing with her Ariel baby doll and coloring in her Tinkerbell activity pad with Daddy.

Cooking Breakfast at Nana and Pop's house!

January

I'm not sure if these next pics were actually in January but I know I was on vacation for Christmas so its close enough... Ha!

I made Mackenzie a tent in her playroom one morning when Brian was working because Dylan wasn't being nice to Mommy and I needed to lay on the couch. She had a blast playing in her tent while wearing her Belle dress and sitting in her "comfy place".

Because I was REALLY pregnant at the first of the year we weren't able to go watch our beloved Hogs play in the Liberty Bowl, so instead we stayed home and watched it at our house. I ended up taking down the Christmas tree that day and Mackenzie was a BIG help (seriously), she kept taking the lights to Brian to wrap up. But as is the case quite frequently lately she was dressed "interestingly". She was wearing her Sleeping Beauty dress, her sparkly flip flops and her new Minnie golf clubs. Gotta love her sense of style! Ha!

January

One night in January Brian went to put Mackenzie to sleep and I walked by her room and found a site that melted my heart... No words are necessary!

Ever since Mackenzie was a little baby I would go check on her at night (or even naptime) and never know what to expect... How she would be sleeping or where or with what. I walked by one night and laughed hysterically at what I saw... Just Mackenzie and Minnie... everything else was on the floor. So much for the room we'd cleaned up that day!

After looking for January pictures I realized just how miserable and pregnant I must have been because this was about it! Ha!

One other big thing that happened in January, was my baby shower at work. My sweet co-workers threw me a baby shower. We wanted to bring Mackenzie but thought she might be too shy around all the people and not enjoy it. So we opted to let her stay and play with her friends at school. Here is a picture of me at 35 weeks. YES I WAS BIG!! I realized just how big the day I saw this pic... Man we grow 'em big in my house!! Ha!

February

February was a very important month in our house... it was the month Dylan Thomas Kennebeck was born!! We were so excited for him to finally make his appearance!! (Some of us more than others... Ha!) I was measuring ahead during my entire pregnancy and after Mackenzie Donya knew what to expect plus "they" say your 1st baby is your smallest. I was SOOOO grateful when Donya finally told me that Dylan had dropped enough for us to go ahead and induce. (And thank goodness she did!! But more on that later...)

With our good luck Mackenzie came down with strep throat on Tuesday, and I was supposed to have a doctor's appointment the next morning to hopefully schedule my induction. Thankfully Mom took Mackenzie to the doctor and Brian went with me to my appointment. Needless to say she told us we were good to go! So we set up things to go to the hospital that night to start meds to see if I'd go into labor on my own. That night before we went to the hospital we had some last minute family time just the 3 of us. Here are some precious pics! The first two were of the Tuesday before Dylan was born and the last one was the last pic we got of just the 3 of us!

Just the 3 of us!

Well that catches you up all the way until Dylan was born. I hate to make this post any longer than it already is so I'll cut it off there! Lots of fun stuff has happened since Dylan was born! I'll try to get caught up on some of it, and then move on to current stuff. As always life is Crazy in Kennebeck Land!