Great day!

Today was so much fun!  We took Mac to an indoor playground that our pediatrician told us about.  He had a great time there.  He was the youngest person there though and I was very worried that he was going to get ran over by the VERY rambunctious toddlers.  He went down a slide for the first time and thought it was great fun!!!!!  I wish this lady had not been hogging it the entire time we were there so he could have gone down it more often!  Oh well, he will just have more sliding opportunities once everything thaws out!

On an Alaskan note, STILL in breakup...but so you can get an idea of what that is like I am going to put in a picture.  Joe loves all of the giant puddles because he likes to drive through them real fast and splash water everywhere.  You can no longer tell what color our cars are (no joke) but we are able to see grass for the first time since October!

Out to eat!

IT'S THE WEEKEND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Words cannot express how excited I am that it is the weekend and I can spend awesome time with Mac and Joe!  We went out to eat tonight at Hacienda which is a Mexican restaurant down the street from our house.  Mac was great!  There was even a lady at the table next to us who asked us how old he was, "he has gorgeous blue eyes," and even told us that he was very well behaved the whole time!  Mac was super wiggly in the high chair thing that is in restaurants....he even kept standing up in it....silly boy.  We tried giving him food off of our plate and he DID NOT like the refried beans at all (I am still trying to figure out how to get him to eat veggies).  He LOVED the cherries that our amazing waitress brought for him though.

On an Alaskan note, we are STILL in the middle of breakup (no lie this is going to last until probably May).  However, Mac's nanny posted a "shared" picture on Facebook of Spring time Anchorage.  I thought I would share the COMPLETELY gorgeous picture with ya'll!  Please keep in mind that I did not take this picture but it is beautiful!

 

Dunlaps Disease

Today, Joe said that Mac has "dunlaps" disease because his belly has "dunlapped" over his diaper.  SILLY!  Mac was in such a good mood when he got home.  Apparently he was not super happy the whole time with Erica today....whoopsie.  One problem that we are having with him is that he is REFUSING to eat his veggies lately.  It is driving me insane and I have no idea how to hide it to where he will eat it!  Well here is some pictures for you to make you smile!

On an Alaskan note...we are in the middle of breakup and I hate it.  There are huge puddles everywhere and mud.  Breakup is where all 130 inches of snow that we have gotten this year has started melting because the temperatures have been staying in the 30-40s.  The potholes have gotten GIGANTIC!  I thoroughly dislike breakup season but it does mean that summer is coming!

Toddle Time!

I think we can now call Mac toddler! He is doing better at walking every day. Here's a few videos of the big guy:

Mac's shenanigans!

Mac decided it would be fun to play with Bella. He is such a funny boy and Bella is very gentle with him.

Edit: Tried to upload the video directly from the blog and it didn't work. I'm uploading it to youtube now. I'll post it in a bit!

Just a lazy Saturday...

Today has been awesome (minus my cough and lack of breathing)!  Mac played a TON!  We went shopping for stuff for the camper and ended up getting pots/pans and a coffee maker!  We figured out that we need to get a hiking carrier for Mac.  We tried one on in Sports Authority (a Kelty brand one) and put Mac in it to see how it would feel/work and how he would do.  He really enjoyed being in it.  Get ready for a picture of him lounging....

check out that expression...

Today we also faced a challenge....cutting the fingernails of a SUPER active toddler.  I literally sat in the chair that Teela and Kenneth gave him with my legs wrapped around him to keep him in place.  Lord help me when he gets even bigger than he already is!  Battling over 25 pounds and 31 inches of Mac to cut his nails and to change his diaper is rough.  

  the battle begins....

The bear is learning to walk... We are in trouble!

And so it begins! Mac has started to walk, only a few steps here and there, but he has going from taking one step to multiples. He even took six steps to Jami earlier! I have a feeling that it won't be long before we are having to chase after him. He is such a happy baby! 

We learned today that Mac's walking has made himself his biggest danger. He was walking along the coffee table after a couple hours of playing (getting tired) and took a spill. It looked like he banged his lip on the edge of the table then fell back and hit the back of his head on the floor. It probably looked a lot worse than it was because he wasn't bleeding and didn't have any big bumps. After a few seconds of crying, it was back to playing! More walking videos soon to come!

Pretty preppy....

Mac is dressed SUPER preppy today and I LOVE it!  He was in such a good mood this morning and I love his crazy bedhead!

We are in BIG trouble!

Mac took 3 consecutive steps today!!!!!  While he was playing, he also kept taking 2 or 3 steps!  I am super excited to see my little man literally take that little step but at the same time I am TERRIFIED!  He is already difficult to keep up with...and I totally cannot imagine keeping up with a Mac on the go!  I have a super active, all boy baby!

Sneak Peak!

Here is the sneak pick of our family mini session with our fabulous photographer, Megan!  She is wonderful to work with and does such amazing pictures!

Fun day at "work"

Spring break is officially over for me and so back to school/work I went.  No bueno.  What makes it even more awesome is that I am rocking a giant cold/flu thing (hello Nyquil!).  I am being observed on Thursday by the head of the entire sped department in the Anchorage school district.  I am slightly nervous!  However, I am slightly proud of myself because my department chairs are the ones who picked me for her to observe....I am going to assume that is a good thing!  We will see how that goes.

Mac went back to Erica's today and apparently had a grand time as he was the only baby there!  Joe had to get him this morning to take him to the doctor's office about his extreme diaper rash and swollen weewee.  She gave him some cream that we have to put on it....oh the joys of rashes!

See?  I told you Mac had a grand time with Sam!!!!!

Tossing Mac!

Jami filmed me tossing/spinning Mac. He loves to be thrown... Good thing I am sure handed!
 

Mac's Surprise for Joe!

Joe woke up this morning to a BIG surprise from Mac....known as a giant poopy.  Apparently, Mac had poopied during the middle of the night and it had dried to his butt (yes gross).  What made this worse was that not only did he have massive diaper rash (which made him scream the entire day when we changed his diaper) but his little weewee also got infected and swelled up (wow, can't really believe I am writing about my baby's weewee on the internet).  Every time we changed his diaper today he got REALLY upset!

Mac was super cuddly with me when he woke up from his nap!

Later on today, we decided to do a family outing to Costco where we bought this new shelving thing to hold Mac's ridiculous amount of toys in the living room.  We LOVE Costco!  Joe loves to go around and eat the free samples.  I pushed Mac around in his stroller and gave him Cheerios to keep him occupied and not angry.  What I realized when we were walking around Costco is that we need to get Mac a new stroller.  We need to get a lightweight stroller that is actually tall enough for us to push him. The stroller that he has had reclines back so much that he is just uncomfortable because he likes to sit forward and see everything!  We need to do some "research" into what stroller we want to use.....

The new bookshelf in our living room with his toys...

Mac discovered his lego drawer

He tried climbing into the lego basket so he could climb to the top of the shelf...

Oh. My. Goodness.

Today started off awesome.  I woke up to Mac "singing" in the baby monitor.  I was stoked.  I thought that would be a sign that today would be awesome.  That awesomeness lasted ummmmm....an hour.  I refuse to pick Mac up every time he cries/fusses.  This just made him more irritated.  In order to punish me, he decided to not take a nap.  What a sweetie!

After a while, I became immune to the crying.  AND then the questioning set in.  Today, was the first time in a LONG time that I have actually felt like a bad mama.  I felt like nothing I did today was right.  This is not something that other mom's talk about which makes me feel/think that they are all perfect mom's and I am the totally messed up one.  Right now there is definitely not a smile on my face.

On another note, we moved our coffee table back into our living room so Mac could walk along it.  He had a great time playing with it.

 

SUCCESS!!!!!!

Erica (Mac's bomb diggity nanny) took Mac today so I can get some stuff done around the house and she is so amazing that she is also going to take him on Friday!  I got SOOOOO much done.  I feel super accomplished.  There is nothing more than having a clean and organized house.  All I have left to do is the garage and the living room.  I am in a predicament though.  I have to figure out a way to store Mac's toys that are in our living room.  They are ALL OVER the place!  I was thinking of one of those sideways bookshelf things that have canvas bins that go in it.  Thoughts?

I even reorganized Mac's bedroom....well I moved his crib and chair!  It opened his room up so much!

On a totally different note than baby and cleaning....Anchorage is on track to have a new snowfall record!  We have to have over 132.something inches of snow in order to beat it and I totally think it is going to happen!

The Iditarod is a big deal up here.  It is a huge dog sled race from Anchorage to Nome.  Yesterday, Dallas Seavey arrived in Nome first winning the Iditarod.  The cool thing about that is that Joe did a dog sled tour last winter with the Seavey family!

Oh the tears

Today I was able to experience a LOT of tears....from Mac.  He was a little cranky today!  The face he makes when he is upset is hilarious and so I just laugh at him while he gets upset (which probably just makes him more upset).  Mac is just adorable to me...even when he is ridiculously upset.  

Mac ate peanut butter and jelly for the first time today.  To say he loved it would be an understatement.  Mac pretty much loves all food except when he is upset.  I gave him green beans for dinner and because he was ridiculously mad so what does our baby do?  He starts throwing green beans everywhere.  NO SIR!

Today, we also had family pictures taken with our photographer Megan and her adorable new studio!  I am really kind of nervous about how those pictures are going to turn out because Mac was not super cooperative.  Every time he heard the click of the camera, Mac would either get a serious face or would crawl towards the camera.  As soon as I get a "sneak peak" of the pictures I will definitely share with yall!!!!!!

Jami and the big boy

Today was my first official day of Spring Break which means that I get to hang out with Mac all day!  He woke up in SUCH a good mood (which makes life much easier and happier).  He decided that he wanted to stand up to eat his breakfast of pancakes.  He LOVES to eat!

After he ate, Mac decided to DESTROY our living room with his legos.  I have pretty much given up cleaning during the day because he just messes it back up again!  When he pulls the DVDs off the shelf they just stay on the floor.  I honestly never thought that I would get to the point when I did not organize or clean (gasp!).  It is so much fun staying home with Mac.  He has the BEST belly laughs ever (and that is a big belly to laugh with).  He has this toy thing that spins racecars around and he constantly tries to sit in it like he is actually going to spin around.  He is so silly!

He did go down for a small nap this morning (which was awesome because it gave me a chance to get some stuff done).  When Mac is awake and going there is not really any down time.  He is not really a baby who just sits there.  He is into EVERYTHING.  He is definitely all boy and that is the best way to describe it.  He thinks bodily function noises are hilarious.  After he woke up, Mac had a lunch of cheeseburger casserole (yes I am an awesome parent who fed him that).  He then played a LOT more.  We had a grand time with the mega legos!  Right before Mac went down for his afternoon nap, he got super distracted by Sesame Street on the tv.  I currently have "lalalala....lalalala.....lalalala.....Elmo's world" stuck in my head which is not as enjoyable as you might think.....

AND (I have no idea how I forgot to add this initially)...Mac took a step today.  Just one step but it was a step.  Apparently when I was at the gym, Joe said that Mac took another step.  I am slightly scared and slightly super excited!  We are in big trouble when he starts moving even more.....

Super Mac!

Yesterday, we had an awesome day!  Mac was in a great mood and we played ALL day!  It is the best thing when he feels good and is in a good mood.  We also went to our friend Caryn and Nick's little girl (Cayla)'s first birthday party!

Mac is definitely all boy.  Some of his favorite games consist of flipping off of things (i.e. the sofa and the bed).  Jami got videos of Mac flipping off of the bed and being tossed by me.

He has also discovered a LOVE of our bedroom door.  He could literally spend hours opening and shutting the door.  He thinks it is great fun.

Our very enjoyable day ended with our little man watching Sesame Street!  You can tell by the pictures that he is starting to "slow" down....which does not mean too much by Mac standards...

The best part.

It is 9:36 (Alaska time) and I just experienced the most absolute best part of my day.  I went down to feed Mac and when he finished he just sat up, turned around, and then laid his head on my shoulder.  He promptly snuggled back down and went back to sleep.  We sat in the dark (with the only light being his nightlight) and just rocked.  It was amazing.

It is times like that that I remember how he was when he was smaller and it makes me smile.  When he was first born, he used to snuggle so much and he has kind of grown out the snuggling thing during the day (he is just super active BOY).  Now, when he does snuggle it is soooo sweet.  Granted, he takes up much more space on me now than he did before (that probably has something to do with the fact that he has over tripled his birth weight)....but I love it all the same.

Hands down BEST part of my day.

We are a little behind on posting videos.  I figured we would try posting them and see how this works out!  

This video we took yesterday of Mac playing.  He thinks it is hilarious to flip off of the bed.  Silly boy.

This is Mac sledding at Kincaid Park!

Jami is having a good time dancing with Mac before his birthday party!

Mac's birthday party!

 Mac was so messy after he destroyed his birthday cake!

Mac eating his birthday cake!

 Mac eating more cake....our little boy loves to eat!

Rocking the Vans!

And this is who Joe and I got to hang out with this morning!

And so it begins...

So my bestest friend in the world told me that I need to start blogging that way people/family can keep up with us.  I thought it was a pretty good idea!  We will see how this works out for me.  NEVER thought I would be one of those blogger people.

I figured I could use this blog to share what is going on with Mac as well as what we do as a family in Alaska!  And yes you will be getting a glimpse into the crazy world of us....

ENJOY!