Dedication

Mackenzie Joy Lankford - Dedicated in front of family & friends on October 19th, 2014!

What a precious day we will always remember.  We wanted to have Mackenzie dedicated in front of family & friends to show our commitment in raising her to know the Lord and in a God- honoring way.  We believe that Mackenzie will have her own choice to know Jesus someday but want to surround her with examples of Christians who are trying their best to follow Jesus and be holy like Him.  Mike & I cannot wait (and already do) to read her bible stories, to tell her about all God is doing in our life and actively walk out our faith in front of her.  We are thankful to be saved and are blessed to be given the gift of being her parents.

We are very thankful to have so many family members and friends who know Jesus and who will be such great examples of how to live a life filled with love, joy, surrender, patience and peace!  We had a house full of people we love who Mackenzie will get to know as she grows up!! 

We can't wait to see how she grows to know the Lord and pray daily that she does come to know Him.  We pray for her salvation, her walk with God to come early and clearly, for her to be gracious and kind to others, to love easily and openly those with disabilities or people who are different than her, for her to be patient and obedient to her elders, to be filled with JOY, to be childlike in her faith, to continue to be healthy, for her future husband to know the Lord at an early age and have a beautiful walk with Him, for her to be an example to her classmates and peers, for her to have every opportunity that she wants, for her to try her best and so on... 

Here are some picots of her dedication! 

Great Grandma Jo

Mackenzie loved Barbs hair! 

My god father Dan.

Kyla, Mom & Dad (Aunt Kyky, Grandma & Grandpa)

Great Grandma George Anne

Monty & Kathy (Papa & Nana)

Hanging out Watching the Bears

Mackenzie got to go out to dinner past bedtime.. 

It was a beautiful day!  Thank you everyone for coming out & supporting us!

Half Birthday!

Dear Mackenzie,

You are 6 months old!  When you woke up I sang you a 1/2 birthday song :) I cannot believe its been 6 months since you were born... time is flying!!! I feel like summer came and went in a flash and now its already fall.. on to winter.. 

We had your appointment yesterday and you weigh 16 pounds 10 oz!  You are right above the 50%tile and you are growing perfectly.  You are 27 inches long and thats still the 90%tile!  I hope your taller than me but not as tall as Daddy (a 6 foot daughter seems a bit crazy!).  You did so well after your shots - only cried for about 30 seconds and then I distracted you with a book :) You have started solids but don't seem too interested and definitely don't "love it" like some other moms say their babies do!  You like sweet potato the most and we just tried pears yesterday!  You seem to like those.  I was worried about the whole solids thing but the Dr. said to just get up to 3 "meals" a day by 9 months.  So we will keep trying! 

You are still sleeping through the night with a bottle at 6:30pm and then around 6am.  Sometimes you go back to sleep after the bottle at 6 which is really nice for me!  You eat 5 times a day about 5oz.  Its been a new transition over to formula since we ran out of breast milk!  I had 250oz frozen but that went quick when I stopped nursing/pumping.  You haven't had a bad reaction I just needed to figure out how much you can eat without spitting up.  You still take 3 naps a day and usually one is long (1.5 hours).  Lately naps and daytime have been hard because you were going through 1. a growth spurt 2. a wonder week and 3. teething... 

You now babble a lot, sit up on your own, have two teeth!!!, pass toys from one hand to the next, pick which toy you want to play with and love music.  You listen really closely when mommy sings and think its funny when I do weird voices.  You laugh when I open my month really big and blow a fake bubble!  Its probably hilarious to others what I do to entertain you ;) Or I look crazy.. buts its worth it for you to be happy! You are wearing 9 month onesies, 6 month pants, 9 month sleep n plays and 9 month jackets.  Your so long and your arms always hang out of things!  Your favorite toys are becoming things the light up and play music.  You still put everything in your mouth.  Sometimes the stroller and basket the toys go in seem to be what you want to chew on.  You have also recently discovered tags and suck on those until everything is so so so wet! You are learning to shake toys and make noise pounding them on the high chair.  You still love walks and getting outside.  We have been blessed with warmer weather in late October so thats been super fun! 

You met your Great Grandpa Wally this past weekend!  You behaved very well for having a crazy schedule and having both Mommy & Daddy come down with the flu.  It was horrible! You had a good time though sleeping at Nana Kathy's and even going to the Chicago Botanic Gardens.  Your favorite was the waterfall garden.  

We have Halloween coming up and your costume is cute!  Its suppose to be really cold but we will try to go to a few houses.  I am excited for all the holidays coming up and experiencing them with you for the first time.  Daddy is excited to but not so excited that Mommy wants a cute outfit for each holiday! haha it will be worth it! 

Some recent pictures of you..

Your tooth came 10/14

Big girl sitting up!

I believe this was green beans.. hahaha 

Love you!

Vacation

Mike and I had the privilege to go to Sea Island Georgia on a reward trip through his work!  We knew about the trip since before Mackenzie was born.  Of course before she was born I stressed over leaving her, how I was going to "stock pile" my milk, what to do about pumping on the trip and so on..

The trip was a lot of fun!  I am so glad Mike and I had the chance to be together and have some quality time. Here are some pictures of the trip!  We got to experience things together & do some things seperate.  I enjoyed the spa while Mike golfed ;)

Day 1 - arriving and seeing the hotel grounds!

Front of Hotel

Leading to the river!

Back of the hotel 

Mike liked these!

Being silly :)

Our pillowcases!!

Me holding up the hotel... I don't know why I put my arms like that!

Day Two -  Shooting School 

Dueling pianos after dinner.

Day 3 - Spa Day!! & Last night!

Dinner the last night as a group :)

A tree swing (set up for a wedding).

Last Day... hanging out before taking off.

 Thankful for my husband and all the hard work he does.  I am blessed to have him as my husband, Mackenzie has a great Dad.  He works very hard to provide for us.  We would not be able to enjoy these trips and the life we have without trusting God to continuously provide, trusting Him for the season we are in & thanking Him for working in us and through us as a couple!

We missed you Mackenzie but mom & dad were soooo glad to come home and see your sweet face!
<3

Sleeping through the night!

So.. I promised myself I would remember the last MOTN feed I had to do.  It was last week Thursday , October 2nd.  Mackenzie was up around 3 and I gave her a bottle.  It took her forever to eat it as if she wasn't REALLY that hungry but was just used to being up then!  I remember thinking how long it was taking and getting a bit frustrated.. {I was & am dealing with a cold}.  Since I wasn't feeling well Mike said he would do the night feed Friday.  Mackenzie was up at 11:30 and would not stop crying (which is our tell she is hungry) so Mike fed her after about 30 minutes of "shh & some butt patting" that wasn't working.

Then comes Saturday {Mommy is feeling worse} and so Dad gets to do night feed for the 2nd night in a row! This whole dad doing the night feeds is very new since I just stopped nursing in the middle of the night {that's with MOTN is by the way}.  So.. we give formula in the night since its easy to shake up and not have to heat up down stairs..

Anyways, Mackenzie cried a bit here & there but she did not need a feeding! Woah!  She has only done one FULL night before {when my mom watched her while we were on vacation - post coming on vacation soon!}. So we were surprised but happy!
Then comes Sunday, Monday.. and now Tuesday night!  No MOTN feeds! WOO HOO Mackenzie is sleeping through the night {for 4 nights!}.  We hope is stays!!! Last night was went down early at 6:45 and woke up today at 7:15.  She is a sleeping champ!

Have you ever wondered is Mackenzie has bad days since I only post about mostly good days? Well... she does.  Just like any human being we have good days & bad days.  Plenty of bad days.  But her bad days are nothing to post about unless you want to hear about random projectile spit up, napping for only 45 minutes {yes, for her that's bad... yikes and its not even that bad}, being fussy because of who knows what {is it... teeth, wonder week, growth spurt, cold, hot, hungry, you get the point!}. Now MY bad days are much worse... mostly because I make them that way!  Its my perspective and the attitude I choose to have sometimes.  I started a bible study on joy and this is from today:

John 17:13 "I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them."
Joy is Mackenzie's middle name- its also a fruit of the spirit, something that comes from God and God alone.  Joy does not depend on our circumstances, how our day went, our talent or anything else from what this world can give.  Joy comes from God and knowing that I am doing my best to live for him and do his will throughout the day.  He brings me joy when I trust him, thank him for my abundant blessings, pray through my trials and in the midst of darkness he can bring joy if I allow it!

Here is the definition of joy by Rick Warren:

Joy is the settled assurance that God is in control of all the details of my life, the quiet confidence that ultimately everything is going to be alright, and the determined choice to praise God in every situation.