Cold Turkey

I've officially been dumped....by my baby. There wasn't a warning...no signs. You know the old saying, "It's not you, it's me." Well, clearly in this situation, the saying was, "It's NOT me, it's YOU!" Who told him he could just decide when he wanted to quit nursing...all at once? That's MY job! It's not even that he just didn't want to nurse...it was his reaction at even the thought...crying, screaming, pushing and kicking.

It doesn't matter, what's done is done. It's now been three days and obviously McKay has moved on and I'll only sulk for a little while. Not that I loved every minute of it...we definitely had our issues (especially the first three months). I just don't understand how he can go from LOVING it, to completely despising it in the blink of an eye. I am enjoying the freedom and had been anticipating this day for months, but I wanted to do it on my own terms.

Happy Birthday to Kristin!

My cute and fun little sister is celebrating her birthday today and in her honor I thought I would share a few of my favorite pictures.

Five-year-old me holding 3 month old Kristin.
(Why can't I ever keep my eyes open for pictures?!?)

In this picture I think Kristin was eight or nine. It's a classic! Does it make you worry that this person could be the one filling your prescription at the local Wal-Mart? She actually is quite smart and doesn't dress this way all the time.
For some of her amusing pharmacy stories, click here.

We spent a lot of time fighting when we were growing up, but I'm seriously glad she's my little sister and that she now lives close by. She's so fun to be with and is a ROCKSTAR friend, sister, aunt and pharmacist!

EASTER

San Antonio

McKay and I took a quick trip along with my sister Kristin to visit another sister, Suzanne, and her family in San Antonio at the end of March. The time went by too quickly and I wish we would've stayed longer. I was able to revisit the Riverwalk, SeaWorld and my favorite San Antonio landmark...the Alamo. We also visited the San Jose Mission. The architecture was quite impressive and it's still being used as a functioning church.

What a cute family!

McKay loved playing with the girls, and his favorite item to play with was this mini-piano that was just his size.

Along the Riverwalk, McKay kept taking his socks and shoes off...so that's why he's barefoot and wearing a jacket. I'm glad it wasn't very cold...silly boy!


On the airplane ride home we had an empty seat on our row, so McKay was quite comfortable with his very own seat.



When we got home, Kristin was greeted with a cute little surprise. Her husband picked up a Teacup Yorkie for her while she was gone. McKay LOVES this adorable dog named Bear. (Just because I think it's cute doesn't mean I'll ever own one.)

Our Little Leprechaun

Papers and elements by Andrea.

Summarizing

McKay Update
We are now to the middle of March and it's only starting to sink in that my baby will turn a year old next month. Much of my days over the last few months have consisted of walking around my house with McKay holding on to my fingers. He takes us where he wants to go, pointing out things along the way. We've done the following things at least a bazillion times on our wanderings: inspected my closet, played with the washing machine lid, turned off and on the XBox, played the piano, turned off and on the lights, opened every door and drawer in the house, and turned off and on the water. We've also found time to swing, dance, eat Cheerios (a favorite) and go for walks OUTSIDE. He loves the computer the most (all of it---keyboard, mouse, cords, etc.) and we've had to sneak to use it so he won't be tempted. His little fingers can pop the keys off the laptop so fast. I'm probably leaving out some things, but I'm simply amazed at how McKay is getting more active everyday. He will take a few steps on his own, but only when we distract him from what he's doing. When he realizes he's walking alone, he sits down or lunges for one of us. I can usually get him to play by himself for a few minutes, but that doesn't last very long before he's calling "Mom" and off crawling to find me. We've tried having him push a walker around, which he can do, but he gets so mad at us and screams while he's doing it. I guess the walker doesn't give him enough freedom to touch and grab what he wants. McKay does his best talking when he IS mad...it's almost like he's giving us a lecture in his own baby language. He's very good with his use of "Mom" and "Dad", and usually calls for the one who's missing or who he's not mad at. It's amazing to actually hear those words come out of his mouth. McKay also has this thing with feeding his dad Cheerios. He will not feed them to me...ever...and I'm usually the one that feeds him. When we're both sitting in front of him asking for Cheerios, he'll always give them to his dad. Last night, we were both asking for a Cheerio but McKay kept putting them into his mouth until they were all gone. Finally, McKay took a mushy saliva-covered Cheerio out of his mouth and offered it to Nathan...which Nathan happily accepted. It was too cute to be gross. Besides Cheerios, McKay is crazy about bananas and guacamole!


Melanie's Wedding
Last month, my spectacular cousin Melanie married her sweetheart, Greg, in the Bountiful Temple. I'd been looking forward to this wedding for months. The day couldn't have been more perfect, and Melanie looked simply stunning. Unfortunately, my camera malfunctioned and I only ended up with a few pictures of the event.

The Happy Couple

It was tough to get a good angle amidst the crowd of picture-takers.


My Sisters and Mom

Grammy and McKay

Happy Birthday to My Magnificent Father!

(Taken at Melanie's wedding on 2/21/09. More pics from wedding at a later time.)