Spring Break at Granbury

The view from my hammock

My peaceful moment to myself was quickly interuppted by Gabby and her cousins on the hammock.

Girls just want to have fun!!!

Alex and William hit it off great. No one told them to sit together, they just decided to sit with eachother. It was so cute, Alex walked up to William and said, "Hey, William. Wanna play a game?" And William said, "What game?" They never actually played a game, but ran back and forth a lot. So precious!

Mackenzie was chillin' in her Aunt Amy's arms.

This is so sweet. Look how peaceful she is. I have a picture of Gabby doing this exact face on my shoulder at that age.

Here comes the smiles!!!

She is happy that she's dressed in a Texas shirt. Notice she has started to grasp rattles. She's really growing fast!

It isn't often that all of my brother and sisters and their children can come together at one time. It just so happened to work out that way this past Spring Break. We drove the kids up to Granbury and stayed at one of the big houses my dad has built and is for sale. It was sooo awesome to have some breathing room. For those of you who don't know, I have a brother and 3 sisters. Mackenzie was the 18th grandchild...so you can see just how crowded it can be at one time. We usually hang out at my parents other lake house which has only one bathroom and a few bedrooms. Needless to say chaos can occur when we all gather there. But this time is was fabulous. We spread out and enjoyed ourselves. Gabby played with all of her cousins, especially Hannah and Emma since we never get to see them. Erica and Jason came unexpectantly because Jason's grandmother passed away and they were in Texas to go to the funeral. It was a sad time for them, but we felt blessed to get to spend some time with them. There are a lot of pictures from the kids going down to the lake. There was a small "beach" for them to play in the sand and throw rocks in the water. They all had a blast and they made some great memories building sandcastles and laughing with eachother.

Firsts

First complete family photo, after our first time to bring Mackenzie to church for the New Life Celebration

Chad's parents on the left, mine to the right

Check out the monogram,(Thank you Aunt Shannon & Uncle Mak)

Just a cute face!

Mackenzie is checking out Gabby's first tooth to come out.

She can't believe what she sees!

Yup, there it is! First tooth gone!

And we can thank that apple she was eating to get it out!

Thi picture has no relevance to this post. I just thought it was too funny! Maybe we can say first time Mackenzie tried on her church shoes?

Happy Valentines Day

My littlest Valentine

I know this post is a little late, but here are some new pics of Mackenzie and Valentines pics. I don't really have much time to write in more detail. I'm lucky to even be at the computer right now. Enjoy!

Rock Star

Gabby is so cute. She loves "writing" rock songs and performing them for us with the guitar that her Aunt Shannon and Uncle Mak gave her. Every song has the same words somewhere in the song...Rock Star. So I went with it today since we were a little bored. I did her make up and gave her some dangling earrings and we've got our little hip rock star.

Top 10 Things I Love About Having 3 Kids

They alway's fight over who can stand on the stool to see Mackenzie in her crib.

Kenzie and Gabs

"Kenzie Izabef" what Alex calls her

Doesn't she look sooo hip in this outfit. What a Baby Fashionista! Ha!

And now the Top 10 Things I Love About Having 3 Kids:

10. I now have the privaledge of changing back-to-back poopy diapers.

9. Every normal task now takes extra mental effort to think through juggling the 3 of them

8. One can be hungry, one can have a blowout diaper and one can need help all at the same time.

7. Learning the art of controling the volume of noise around the baby (still haven't learned it)

6. Kissing 3 adorable, bright-eyed faces every day.

5. Seeing them make eachother laugh.

4. Fitting everybody in the rocking chair with me.

3. Naptime

2. Knowing they'll grow up with eachother

1. Being 3 people's mom for the rest of my life

Well, you haven't seen a new post in a while and numbers 7-10 can explain it. Boy, did things pick up and get a lot more busier since my last post. Mackenzie had RSV at two weeks old, which meant that I have been on house arrest, not really, but we've been home basically for the last 3 weeks and we're starting to get a little, okay a lot stir crazy. She has gotten a lot better. Thanks for all of your prayers. The fun part is I am really enjoying watching Mackenzie change. She's even begun to smile at me...I know it's a little early for smiles, but she really has looked straight in my eyes while I'm talking mommy talk and she smiles. We call her Smiley Cyrus....a little silly, but who cares. That's what having a baby is all about, saying ridiculous things in high pitched voices. Anyhow, we are surviving. Chad and I have had a lot of evenings where we just look at eachother so deliriously and laugh. Sometimes, that's all you can do.

Week One

Well, we've all seemed to have managed the first week with three kids in the house. I know I am fooled in thinking that things are going pretty smoothly and maybe the transition will be smoother than expected. Things are going so well. It helps that we've had some very generous people bring us dinner. Chad did the grocery shopping this week with the two older ones...afterwards he was in disbelief that I can do this every week...needless to say, not an easy task. My dear mother has sent a cleaning company to clean my house this week. She has also come over to help and do laundry. My mother-in-law and father-in-law have been driving Gabby to and from preschool. My sweet neighbors have come over to visit bearing presents. And to top it off, Mackenzie's favorite thing to do is sleep. Seriously, I almost wish she would be awake a little more. She is sleeping pretty well through the night, only getting up once or twice to eat, but then she will quickly go back to sleep. The only problem is that she has taken a liking to our bed and mattress. Chad says we should go get her own mattress at Mattress Firm. The girl has fancy tastes. I know that things are going well, but reality will settle in soon...and the rigors of chores and life will start up just around the time Mackenzie will be waking up from her sleepy newborn stage. All I can do is trust and hope that God will give me the strength to keep up. So far, So good.

Mackenzie Elizabeth Dick

Well Andrea's arms are a little tied up right now, so it is up to me to announce the arrival of our precious baby girl, Mackenzie Elizabeth Dick. She arrived at 12:31 P.M. today January 8, 2009. She weighed 8 pounds 8 ounces and was 19 inches long. Much to the suprise of my wife who was convinced the baby was too small. Andrea was definitely as they say, all baby.

She gave us a tiny scare when it took about a minute for her to start moving and breathing. However she is eating well, sleeping well and doing everything as if she had been here for a while. She is quite the professional baby and quite beautiful with a great amount of hair. She also was born while my mom's phone, which she left in the room, was playing Texas Fight. So you could say she was born a Longhorn.

Andrea was a Champ again and is doing quite well. I hope you enjoy the pictures, and I promise Andrea will update more when she is up and around.