Closer to a year than being born!

It may seem like "well duh" but mike said the other day... "Mackenzie is closer to being 1 year old than a newborn!" We cannot believe she is 7 months old. We have had 7 months with our precious baby girl. Lately I have been thinking back to the day she was born a lot. I loved the whole experience of starting labor (not even knowing I was actually having contractions!) to calling my mom and asking her if she thought I was really in labor and should go to the hospital! It is so fun to look back on that day. How special a day it will always be to me and Mike.

Now Dear Mackenzie - a lot has happened this month! We have met your great grandfather on Daddy's side. Then we had your first Halloween, you got your second tooth, we have experienced the trials of teething & you've had part of your first thanksgiving!!! You slept through most of it or were grumpy...

Since the time change in early November you have been sleeping from 6:30pm to 6am. We go up and start bath and bottle at 6 and your usually asleep by 6:30! For a while you were waking up between 4-5:30am and we would give you a bottle and hope hope hope you went back to sleep!! It was a while that you went about 10 hours in between night bottle and early morning. Since you've been sleeping through the night since 5.5 months it was weird to have you go so long in between bottles. I would justify getting up if you slept 10 hours and couldn't let you cry! But since about 6.5 months you've been going pretty much 12 hours in between! You still have 5 bottles a day. Every 3 hours you eat- 6oz ,6oz ,6oz, 5oz, 7oz at bedtime! This is in addition to two solid feeds a day! We have tried lots of food and are still seeing what you like or don't like. Surprisingly you liked carrots and green beans. You hated peas and no longer like acorn squash.  We still puree very thin.  I tired giving you some banana pieces and you just gagged.. and made yourself throw up :( :( It was not good!!

You started making a clicking noise with your tongue mimicking me & daddy. You also said mama & dada!!! We know it's just you babbling but it's fun to hear you trying a bunch of sounds now instead of just vowels. You've had your first snow and didn't know what to do with it. We took you outside and you just looked around and did not really even notice the snow...
When mom & dad come home you recognize us and get excited. Your regular babysitters are Grandma, Nana & Aunt Kyla. Aunt Rachel has babysat you too!  Dad and I still try to have one date night a month and take a trip away once every 3 months or so.  We love you very much & miss you when we are gone but we want you to have time with other people also.
We are finding out the right amount of prunes to help you go # 2!  You had your first official blow out where I had to run you to the tub! It was so not fun ;) Its such a learning process with food... someday you will be eating finger food & that seems very weird to me still.
Your favorite toys are Kiki the elephant, dumbo, books to chew and your jumperoo. Thank goodness friends let us borrow it - you jump once or twice a day for about 10 minutes!! The best thing (when your in a good mood) is you just sitting up and playing with your basket of toys. This is done independently and I can go do some things around our house.
You love ice cubes in your mesh feeder for your teeth and your sippy cup to chew on :) your growing so fast! Your now 17+ pounds and in size 3 diapers!!!
Here are some pictures from this month...

So pretty for church :)

Love you <3 

Mom & Dad

This Weeks Menu

Here is our menu this week filled with *Pinterest* recipes!  Enjoy! Disclaimer - I believe in homemade meals but not *always* SUPER healthy cooking.  So yes sometimes its packaged & sometimes it may not be the most healthy - but its better than McDonalds or take out! Plus its homemade and love was put into it :)

This week I made two breakfast muffins so Mike can take them to work and I can heat something up quick.  They are "somewhat healthy" compared to donuts or just coffee!

The first one I made was a hash brown & egg bake.  It turned out good!  I think next time I will add more hash browns & actually buy the right sausage (I bought italian sausage instead of breakfast - it does give it a kick though!)  The recipe I used is this one.

Just today I made oatmeal muffins and they are SO GOOD! Let me be upfront and say I did not use stevia sugar packets - instead I just used regular sugar.  I also did not use any oil just added a bit more banana.  Instead of milk chocolate chips I used white chocolate and I cut the recipe in half.  The muffins are thick and maybe that has to do with no oil?? Oh I did add cinnamon as well - so so tasty! Here is the link.

Monday - We just had breakfast for dinner.  Some pancakes & breakfast sausage links. Easy & delicious.  Plus some coffee makes it a great evening.

Tuesday - Roast beef sandwiches & some Arby's fries (easy quick meal with a baby is always a good idea!)

Wednesday - Okay here we get to the Pinterest meals.  We are making zesty italian chicken pasta.  You can find a link to the recipe here !  I will update on if its good or not.  It sounds good & looks good (pictures lie though!) so we will see!

Thursday - Left over night.  We always do one left over night to try and clean out the fridge.  Plus Sunday night has become pizza night so we most likely always have some pizza left.  This week it will probably be the italian chicken pasta.

Friday - Ranch Pork Chops.  We will see how this turns out.  It does call for   4-6 pork chops and 2 cans of soup but I am just doing 2 pork chops and maybe 1 can of soup.. we will see if thats enough liquid ! Recipe Here

Saturday - We usually order out and Sunday is pizza day!

Im working on making my own recipe book from recipes I have made and actually liked.. I have so many books that I pull from but having them all in one will be great.  Have a great week.

<3 Alisha