This week has been another busy yet enjoyable week. On Monday we just spent the day at home with Travis and went walking with the dog. We went to mops on Tuesday. I babysat the kids but it gave MacKenzie the opportunity to play with other kids. I think that is very important for her now because she is going through this stage now that as long as I am in the same room she wants me to hold her. She still will allow other people to watch her and hold her as long as I am not there. On Wednesday we had a play date with a friend and I got the opportunity during that time to work on Mackenzie's scrapbook. I went in the afternoon to a local park where I meant with my moms club. The weather was cold the first half of the week but once it warmed up we started going for walks in the afternoon.
MacKenzie has gotten her schedule straightened back up. She is pretty much sleeping 7pm-7:30am. She does wake up once a night sometime but I give her her paci and she goes right back down. She has also gotten her nap times more consistent which has been nice. She is now taking two naps a day around a hour in half. It makes it a lot easier to make plans.
I had to take her to the doctors this week because her hands and feet turned purple. I think she is a baby that tends to get colder easier. Of course by the time I took her she was normal color and the docs said she was fine. She still hasn't gained any weight. She is 16pds 8ozs. She will go to the doctors on the 13th for the 9mo check up and also for her 6mo shots. Apparently some how they got skipped.

she tried her best to get over with them but I decided it was best for her to not join the animals

MacKenzie would laugh so hard when she got the actually tough the animals

Petting the zoo animals

MacKenzie watched Travis for the longest time while he was working outside

FUN EVENTS

This has proven to be a fun but relaxful week. Monday start off at full speed when MacKenzie decided that she would get into my fingernail polish. I am not sure how she got into because it had been sitting there for two weeks but she did. I wish I would have gotten a picture. She had it all over her hands her face and forehead. Once I realized she was ok it was hilarious. On Tuesday and Wednesday we decided to stay home and catch up on things at the house and to get her back on her schedule. She is doing much better although I can't get her to drop her feeding at 5 am. I like it in one sense because then she will go back to sleep til 8 or so but at the same time I know that she had been sleeping through the night and going til 7 or so the next day for over a month before our trip I know she doesn't need that feeding.
On Thursday I had the pleasure of taking MacKenzie along with her dad to the Norfolk Zoo. She is still a little young for most of it so she doesn't get the joy out of it that I do. She did enjoy the petting zoo though. She got right down with them and starting petting them. For all the moms out there don't worry I washed her hands right when we were done.
This week we also got to enjoy on Friday morning MOPS (mothers of preschoolers) which is every other Friday. She gets to interact with other kids which up to now has not been that important while I get to visit with other moms. I am really starting to work on trying to get MacKenzie around other kids.

MacKenzie playing with medeco

Her cousin Hannah is such a big help and always has so much fun playing with her

Playing with the chicks at Aunt Johnetta and Uncle Terrys

Trip to Charlottesville

Charlottesville

So this past weekend I made a trip to Charlottesville to attend a wedding in Harrisburg. It was a long weekend but nice to see friends. We started our trip out by meeting a good friend of mine Sue Hockensmith for lunch at apple bees. Then we spent the remainder of the day at my in-laws. MacKenzie did not do good with sleeping on the trip. As the nights went it got better. The first night (Friday) she was up til 9:30 pm finally went to sleep and was up from 2-4. She wasn't in a bad mood she just wanted to play which was not on my list of things to do at the hour. I finally decided a car ride sounded nice. Although I had never done that before it seemed to work. She she finally feel asleep and was back up at 6:45 for the day. So she ended up with 5 hrs asleep for the night which put me at less than 4. Which was great since Saturday was suppose to be a very busy day. We started our day out at 8:30 am where we joined the Charlottesville pregnancy center walk for life. We walked about 2 miles and I got to visit with some friends from my church that I attended for over 10 years. MacKenzie did great considering the lack of sleep and the time was now 9 am and she had been up since 6:45. At the end of the walk she went with my sister-in-law and her family for the day while I attended the wedding. MacKenzie had a blast playing with her cousins while playing with baby chicks and two dogs. The night she was exhausted and went down around 6 o'clock and slept til 6:45. She woke up twice in the night once at 9:30 where I went for the car ride again and once at 2:30 am where I fed her and she went back to sleep. On Sunday we drove to Waynesboro (its about a 30 min drive) and helped a friend unpack then we drove to Lake Monticello (a hr drive from Waynesboro) to attend my nephews birthday party. After that I drove back to my in laws where they kept MacKenzie allowing me to go out with a long time and best friend Kathy Adcock. Sunday night MacKenzie slept from 9 til 6:45 again. She woke up twice I fed her each time and she went back down. When she is at home she doesn't eat at night time so I hate when I have to feed her on trips but that is the only thing that will settle her down back to sleeping. Monday she stayed with my mother-in-law again while I went to Waynesboro again to help a friend. Once I got back we hung out at the house, went to dinner with family and then headed home. It was a very busy trip but its always nice to go back and visit. I can definitely tell that MacKenzie was tired from the trip. She took a 3 hr nap this morning and is on her second one now. She also managed to try and pant her fingers this morning. I wish I would have gotten a picture. It could have been a dangerous thing but since it wasn't I feel I can laugh. She had fingernail polish all over both of her hands and all on her face unfortunately I was unable to get a picture. I have no idea how she managed to get the top off the bottle in the first place. I plan on putting pictures up of the trip sometime this week. Hopefully this week we can just relax.

So this week I decided to try something new with MacKenzie's sleeping at night time. MacKenzie's bedroom is right next to our bathroom and bedroom and have have been having problems with her waking up every night around the time that we go to bed. I decided that I would move our toothbrushes downstairs so we could go straight to our rooms and this seemed to help. The first night she didn't wake up til 1:30 the rest of the week she woke up once every night but never at the time we went to bed.
MacKenzie had her first play date with a friend on thursday. We went to there house and played out in there yard. She was so good and really enjoyed interacting with another another kid. Also getting the new car seat has made our car trips alot better. She loves sitting up and being able to see everything.
I hope to post pictures next week since I don't have my camroe with me. MacKenzie is starting to pull up on things more and more. Twice this week I walked out of the room to walk back and find her standing up. The first time she decided to stand up to play with her leap frog toy and the second time she pulled herself up and leaned against the sliding glass door to watch travis(dad) clean up the back yard.
Last but not least Kenzie and I are on the road again. I have a wedding to go to in harrisonburg and kenzie will get a opportunity to play with her cousins and Saturday morning we are going for a mile walk to support the walk for life, which is for the crisis pregnancy center. I am looking forward to visiting with friends from my previous church and family members. I will post pictures of that next week

In the previous picture MacKenzie took 4 steps before she fell over. I was so excited. We also decided to buy a new car seat today. I have wrote in my previous blogs how she has really struggled being in hers and I wondered if it had anything to do with her having to lay down vs being able to sit up and see different things. She is really curious these days. The car seat that we bought was graco brand and it can sit rear facing or forward facing and it has cup holders as well. We took our first drive today with her being in it and she seemed to do much better.

Playing on the playground at the Grandparents

Enjoying a little time with the Grandparents new dog Max

8 months old

I can't believe how fast the past 8 months have gone. It seems like yesterday we were just bringing her home and at the same time it seems so long ago. MacKenzie is growing so fast and changing everyday. She is now pulling up on things and holding herself up for 5 mins or so before she falls over. She constantly makes noises trying to interact with those around her and she has this fascination with her ear. Every time I give her a bottle or she is laying down she pulls at it and takes her hand back and forth hitting it. I of course thought it was her getting a ear infection but now that I know its not I find it quite funny. She also really enjoys playing with animals especially dogs. I just love watching her as God is developing her into this beautiful girl. Everyday I see a new traitor or I watch as she discovers something new for the first time and it just brings a smile to my face. Being a parent is one of the best things that has happened in my life. I am so blessed and honored that God has allowed me this privilege.

8 Months Old

Williamsburg trip

She was so good sitting in the stroller playing with her toys

Williamsburg trip

I finally decided to take MacKenzie to the doctors on weds. Although she no longer had the 103 tempt she was still a little fussy and she was pulling at her ear a little. She had a ear infection the month before so I didn't know if her symptoms were from teething or a ear infection. The teething process as really brought on some bad habits. She is now waking up multiple times a night and is relying on me to fall back to sleep. Its really hard but I think I am going to have to let her cry herself to sleep. She is very strong willed when it comes to this. She ended up being fine her weight was 16pds 6oz putting in the 25th-50th percentile in weight 25 and 3/4 in. MacKenzie has had some struggles this week and I am hoping that this is going to be a short phase. one of them has been the car seat. She throws these fits for the majority of the ride. It definitely makes me think twice before I go out by myself because everything around here is spread out. She also has become very clingy. It doesn't necessarily have to be me who holds her but she wants to be held more than usual. I have also learned to hate and love the pacifier all in one. I have struggled with the idea of pulling it totally. We are working on right now using it only at nap time. We were just about there when we had to take a 19 hr trip to Illinois. We have started working on it again and now I am finding that it is one of the reasons she is waking up at night time. Its always so hard to know what to do as parents especially being new at this. I know the most important thing is consistency. We did take a couple of days to go out and have fun. We went to the pound one day and she absolutely adored the dogs. It was so much fun to see her interact with the dogs and laugh. On Friday afternoon we went to the Williamsburg outlet store with "Auntie" Susan and "Grandma" Lynn. MacKenzie is so blessed to have so many people in her life that love her. After the outlet mall we went shopping for her dedication dress. "Grandma" Lynn is making Mackenzie's dress for her it is going to be beautiful. I found some really cute summer clothes for her and I can't wait to put them on her. This week has had some challenges but also alot of changes. She is developing more personality and really starting to take off with the crawling. Everyday she is getting faster and faster. I also joined moms club international so I am looking forward to meeting some moms and giving MacKenzie a chance to interact with some other kids her age. She will be 8mo old on the 12th she is really starting to enjoy playing with other kids. I have also noticed that she is wanting more food and less formula and breast milk. She has two teeth that have come through all the way and more trying to come through. Next week we are traveling to Harrisonburg for a wedding so hopefully we will get some pictures posted of that.

"Auntie" Susan and mom

Papa taking a moment to play with MacKenszie while at church

MacKenzie decided to play with Nana's plant

Spending time with nana

MacKenzie had alot of fun playing with the easter eggs and grass

Taking a little break

Crawling

She is constantly going after the electronics

It was so much fun going with just the two of us

Poor girl had a face plant

Here are some recent pictures of some of our latest adventures

Beach Trip

Easter

We had a great Easter yesterday with our family and friends and most importantly worshiping our Savior. Although MacKenzie is not quite old enough to participate in the actual egg hunts it was still fun getting pictures of her playing with the eggs. It was a long day but thankfully I was able to get home and let her take a morning nap. This year our church had 4 services. The first one was Saturday where we had a little over 500 people attend and then we had 3 on Sunday one at 9, 10:45 and 12:30. We went to the 9 o'clock service thinking that MacKenzie could get home and take a nap and then I cam back for the 12:30 where I serve every week in the children department. Then after that we went to my parents house and we had a much smaller group this year of 14 people. We usually have 30+ it was nice having a little less chaos this year as it was such a long day at church even longer for my parents who both have full time positions at church one as the executive pastor the other as children director. We had a nice dinner, visited with family and friends and ended it with a movie. I always love opportunities to be able to gather with friends and family. It is a little more difficult having a baby knowing you have to throw in the naps, constantly watching another person and feeding. MacKenzie had done a great job adapting to sleeping in other houses and being around lots of noise.

Kings Dominion

Thursday night MacKenzie and I left with my mom and about 6 other people and we stayed the night at the best western right behind Kings dominion. Considering all the people that we had in our one room I think MacKenzie did pretty well sleeping. She was up twice in the night one of which she wanted to play and the other I accidentally woke her up when I dropped the pacifier on her face. I have tried really hard to keep MacKenzie on a strict schedule at night time because she does not sleep very often during the day. She takes two naps a day but very rarely are they ever longer than 40 mins. As long as she makes up for it at night time though I am ok with it. MacKenzie also did great at kings dominion. We put toys in her stroller and for the most part when layed it all the way down so she would have room to move around and play with her toys. My mom and her friend Lu watched her while I rode the rides. I did take her on the merry go round. I took her on a moving horse and she seemed to really enjoy herself. Apparently she also enjoyed that day some ice cream, cookies and a funnel cake. She didn't get sick and since she is only 7 mo old I am assuming they gave her little bites. She also managed to get two naps in that day again about 30 mins. I am so blessed to have such a easy going baby so we can take opportunities like this. That night we stayed at my Grandparents house. It seems to be a tradition that when we are close to their house and we have friends with us we have to stop by there. The next morning MacKenzie enjoyed herself by playing with a cocker spaniel puppy that is 6mo old. I have never seen her laugh so hard as she watched the dog run around and bark. I plan on posting pictures of her crawling and our trip to Kings Dominion.

On the Move!!!

ok so this week has been crazy and on top of that there is has been little sleep in the sprouse home. MacKenzie has started teething this week so I have spent many nights up trying to soothe her instead of sleeping. I really hope this stage goes by fast. Its been beautiful weather here so I have been trying to take advantage of it and get MacKenzie out. Some of the things that we have done in the past week have been going to the beach (which she loved), going for walks, we have especially enjoyed walking to get my younger sister from her school, and the park. I am really starting to enjoy this time being a mom. She is learning so many new things and I am able to start doing things with her. Also, last week MacKenzie started crawling so some things have had to change around here. I have to constantly have my eye on her. It's amazing how quickly they can get from one side of the room to the other