Macey at 6 and 7 months

Our sweet little girl is growing so quickly!  She babbles all the time.  I know she isn't really saying anything but she is just practicing to say, "ma ma mamma and da da dadda" it is so fun to hear her little voice.  She started eating baby food in the middle of February and she loves her food, except when she is sick.  She loves to play toys and she especially loves to observe everything her older brother is doing.  Dayton loves to "giggle her". She is pushing up on her hands and rolls to what she wants.  She just started pushing up on her hands and knees this last week.  It is slow but she will learn fast.  She reaches for everything and she moves herself in circles to get anything she can reach.  She is an extremely good baby!  She will eat cold baby food and she even takes a cold bottle without complaint!  Not your average baby!  I am proud to say we are still nursing.  At 6 months we started supplementing a few ounces a day, which is a huge difference from Dayton when we stopped nursing at 6 months and started supplementing at 3 months.  I don't know if it is a girl that is different, no thrush this time or if it is the second baby, but I have been pleased.  On the other hand she has been a terrible napper and always has been.  But she is a lay and leave baby and that is wonderful, until Sundays come then we walk the halls.  We changed to a bigger binki when she turned 7 months.  She is doing a better job sleeping through the night.  It took 3 months to get her back on schedule to sleep through the night again.  She is sitting well with support and soon she wont even need that.  She is a growing happy and pretty healthy baby! We love her and hug, kiss and snuggle her every chance we get! 

Macey always has something hanging out her mouth, her are a few occasions I have grabbed the camera and caught a picture! Silly Girl!  

Bird House Update

       Just a quick update from the Bird House. Dayton turned 3 on January 7th and we had a birthday cake at my mom’s while we were visiting after Christmas and then we had another small birthday cake on Dayton’s actual birthday when Blaine was able to come home for a few days.
       Macey started eating solids on January 11th and she has been a happy camper ever since. She can almost out eat all of us at dinner. She loves her baby food. She is 7 ½ months old now and she is such a happy, bright and beautiful baby. She has a tough time taking naps but other than that she is a wonderful, good and happy baby! Her favorite person in the whole world seems to be her older brother. She rolls everywhere and she can scoot on her hands backwards. She is on the go and doesn’t want to stay put.  Her first tooth is almost through and out happy baby has been pretty miserable. We definitely needed her in our family!!
       Both of the kids make us laugh daily as well as want to pull our hair out, but regardless we love them so much! Blaine came home from Wyoming on March 2nd after being gone an entire month! I am hoping he gets to stay put now but time will tell we just enjoy being together and take each day as it comes. We love having our daddy home!! We have also loved the taste of spring in the air!

Happy 3rd Birthday Dayton!

Macey's first time eating rice cereal!

We were all dressed and ready for church one day and then church got canceled because of a snow storm.  We had to take the opportunity to get them in their cute church clothes, Macey's dress was from lily (Auntie Shelley) for Christmas! She is beautiful especially in purple!

Dayton decided to take a nap in Macey's bed one day

This was so cute and funny!

Dayton LOVES trains! Everything is a train!  He also pretends everything is a lantern like on Polar Express, he waves it in the right hand and says "choo choo".

Macey backed herself into all sorts of corners and haulers to get out!

Happy Valentine's Day

Heart shaped french toast for breakfast!

Happy First Valentine's Day!

 

Check out our beauty queen's hair!

Still best friends! Dayton is even sharing his toys.

Flying a Kite for the First time

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Dayton's picture he colored in Nursery

Our Mini Vacation!

Dayton is fully potty trained now! it took a month in the making but he has definitely exceeded my expectations! We promised as incentive to go to a hotel and swim if he would go poop in the potty. We took him to Tremonton to the hotel there. We took him to Brigham City to spend some of his birthday and Christmas money. We also got our taxes done that day too so it was a two for one trip. He bought a Thomas puzzle (24 piece!) and a train, of course. He can do the puzzle all by himself. He is very good with puzzles and memory match games. I hope that means he will be very smart!

Macey's first time swimming...she loves the water!

Pre and Post Christmas (in picture form)

     MERRY CHRISTMAS

(there's a small explanation of our adventures at the end following the pictures)

Decorating the Tree

& Preparing for Christmas

 Macey's First Christmas ornament

Seeing daddy after a week gone

It's hard to get a steady picture of wiggly baby

Dayton cried for Santa again this year but after Macey had her turn on Santa's lap then Dayton was ok to have his turn too.  He still talks about sitting on Santa's lap and getting a candy cane

I found Dayton staring at "Frosty" for a few minutes one day, long enough for me to grab a picture, that's a long time for a toddler!

Macey at 4 months

Our BEAUTIFUL happy baby!!!

"all by myself" he told me and pushed me away when he wanted to hold her

The Sorensen Family Party

Dayton was so excited to be the "sheep, baaaa for the nativity" 

'Cindy Lou Who'

Christmas Eve with the Bird family

On the year the siblings are with their other sides of family for Christmas Eve we eat crab and lobster

New snugly jammies from Grandma and Grandpa Bird

Christmas Morning

Macey's First Christmas!

Check out my hottie husband

(His smile is priceless)

Dayton had to help Macey open all her presents

Sledding in Rexburg

(Sadly these are the only pictures we got of Christmas in Rexburg)

           Our favorite time of the year has come and gone too quickly, I am just grateful for modern technology to capture the moment so we can keep re-living it. Time seems to fly under normal circumstances except for the past 2 and a half months Just a little history to catch us up to date, Blaine has been working in Wyoming since the middle of November, actually two days after our anniversary. (We were fortunate to spend our anniversary (5 years!!) together; a relaxing night at Lava Hot Spring without the kids). Blaine was gone a week and I went to my parent's house because I didn't think he was going to be home for Thanksgiving. It turned out that he was able to come home but just for the day. So I loaded the kids and drove home. We spent 8 wonderful hours together as a family. We decorated the tree, set up the village, made peanut brittle and then went to Malad for dinner. We sadly had to part ways again and Blaine had his 5+ hours drive back to Wyoming and the kids and I drove back up to Rexburg to stay with my parents to pass time (the kids have been such troopers to put up with all this). Blaine come home, nearly a month after he first left, (except for the 8 hours we had together on Thanksgiving day) on his birthday. It was so good to have him walk through the door. He has a special presence with him and our house is lacking that when he is gone. Luckily he had to come home to haul hay. We were able to spend time together right before and just after Christmas. Blaine even got to come to Rexburg to celebrate Christmas there with my family, it’s been awhile since he has been able to go there with me because he has been so busy working. I have been so blessed to have an amazing husband who scarifies much for us.

          This Wyoming deal has been a tough and challenging experience for our family. The saying, "distance makes the heart grow fonder" is starting to ring true for the both of us, it is just sad that we have to put the distance between us to know that it is true. I take for granted life's greatest blessings and I am learning to embrace those blessings more. Life is not easy but hopefully I am learning what the Lord wants me to learn through the trials and tribulations I have been given. This life is a time to learn valuable lessons and improve our character, hopefully I am doing both!