Sisters

February 2015 (Lena 39 months, McKinley 6 months)

In October 2014 we officially learned that McKinley is Lena's genetic sibling.  We had guessed as much since they have so many similarities: the shape of their mouth, the color of their eyes, the shape of their head, their noses, the way they sound when they sneeze, the fact that they both sneeze profusely in direct sunlight...I could go on and on...  The fact that they are genetic siblings is amazing for many reasons but primarily because McKinley, statistically, should never have been born.  

November 2014 (Lena 36 months, McKinley 3 months)

 Lena and McKinley were frozen in the same straw of embryos at the 2PN stage (18 hours after fertilization). (They were created and frozen together in 2006.) They were thawed at the same time in March 2011 and then spent 5 days together in a petri dish until they were blastocysts.  McKinley was then deemed by the embryologist as the "lowest quality" embryo of the three that were thawed and was refrozen.  Lena and her sibling (the embryo on the left) were transferred but we lost Lena's twin at 7 weeks. Three transfers later, in November 2013 McKinley was thawed again after having survived being frozen and thawed twice and was transferred and born 10 months later against incredible odds. They are now reunited again!

McKinley Jane and Lena Joyce together in a petri dish (the two embryos on the right) (March 2011)

McKinley Jane and Lena Joyce together once again at St. Jude (August 2014)

It was a very difficult decision for Dan and I to refreeze one of the three embryos instead of transferring all three.  I remember calling myself a "utilitarian" for choosing to refreeze McKinley to avoid jepardizing Lena and her twin by risking a triplet pregnancy.  I wonder now what would have happened had we transferred all three embryos at once...but McKinley and Lena are here now and together again! 

Lena loving on her sister in utero! 

A hug for McKinley when I was in my third trimester.

Excited to become a big sister!

Lena gets to touch McKinley for the first time.

Visiting baby sister on the day she was born.

Giving McKinley her Sunshine Bear

Holding McKinley for the first time and giving her the first of many kisses.

Lena didn't like having to go home with Grandma and Grandpa when we stayed in the hospital.  She insisted on giving McKinley a hug and a kiss before she left for the evening.

So excited to see sister during a hospital visit.

The big sister!  "She came out!"

A new companion to keep us company on our car rides.

Sisterly affection

Lena loves holding McKinley

Another chance to hold sister or "Little" as Lena calls Kinley

Kinley Jane hanging out in the boppy with Lena

On some nights Kinley joins Lena in bed for story time.

It will fun to watch these two miracle girls grow together.  They have come so far to both be here with us. 

Lena and McKinley with their Care Bears - Feb. 2015

McKinley Jane: 8 Months Old

Happy, Sweet Girl!

McKinley Jane is now eight months old.  She is becoming more and more interactive.  I see so many similarities to Lena in her personality as she enjoys being around people and animals.  She rarely cries at the nursery at church.  She has seemed happier this month and I wonder if it is because she is less frustrated being able to crawl and stand, or if she is healthy and well over her bad sickness from last month, or perhaps just glad to be back in our routine and sleeping in her own cozy bed.  Whatever the reason I am glad there have been much fewer tears this month.  One thing that has been fun to see is how much more Kinley has been able to play with Lena.  She is a little more sturdy now so she can roll  around and play toys with her sissy.  I think these two are going to be great friends

One of her favorite activities is standing and pulling items out of a box.

It is hard to get a still shot of this beauty.  She is always on the move!

8 Month Stats

18 lbs 9 oz

Size 3 diapers

Size 3 shoes

Size 9-12 month clothes

Two Naps: 9:30-11:30 / 3:30-5:00

Still wakes 1-3 times at night to drink a bottle

Getting into the bin of Easter eggs after the big hunt.

"Little's" most favorite activity of the day is bath time!

 8 Month Likes

Spending time with Lena

Getting in the water

Climbing everything

Getting into a box/drawer of "whatever"

Chewing on anything in sight

Randomly shrieking and yelling

Being held by Mommy

Being Outside

Eating Yogurt Melts

Visiting animals, especially Jersey and Figgy

I walked in one day when she was sleeping likes this!  Kinley is especially "bendy".

She likes to sit with her knees totally bent back!

8 Month Firsts

Pulling to stand

Shuffling while holding onto something

Babble (especially "da da da")

Eating first solids (bread, french fries, pizza, spaghetti, yogurt)
Waving (she holds both arms out and flaps them up and down)

I woke up one morning to find Lena and McKinley playing in the crib together.

Making friends with her buddy Miss E

The two "baldies" in the family.

McKinley Jane: 7 Months Old

Sunbathing on Ko Olina Beach on Oahu.

McKinley Jane turned seven months old in March.  This month marked at lot of firsts for Kinley.  For most of this month we were on a family vacation in Hawaii where she had her first plane ride (which went very well!), her first beach day (she loved the ocean water but wasn't so sure about the sand), and sadly she suffered her first big illness (a bout with a nasty cold that turned into the croup for which she had to have many daily breathing treatments).  The most exciting milestone though was that in Hawaii McKinley learned to crawl!  She got the hang of it very quickly and it seems that she may be an early walker since she is already pulling herself up to a standing position. 

Mom and Kinley at the Honolulu Airport waiting for our rental car.

Seven Month Stats

17.5 pounds

Size 6-9 month clothes (getting too small!)

Size 3 diapers

Nap Schedule: 10:00am-12:00pm / 4:00pm-5:30pm

Still wakes up 2-3 times at night

Relaxing around the pools at the Aulani Disney Resort.

Kinley used to be such a mellow baby but the last few months she has been very demanding and difficult.  She can get very mad and cries with an ear piercing cry until she gets what she wants.  She continues to favor attention from her Mama and I have to carry her around when she is in a bad mood.  Lena almost never cried when she was laid down to take a nap but Kinley usually has to cry for 5-10 minutes before she falls asleep.  Yet she still is so smiley much of the time.  She still loves to be around people and prefers being outside.  When we were in Hawaii we took many daily walks to soothe her.  She really loves the water!  When she hears her bath running or gets around a pool or the ocean she gets so excited!  She loves splashing!

Getting a ukuelele lesson from Daddy.

Seven Month Firsts

First play time at the beach

First airplane ride

First boat ride

First sickness (bad cold/cough/croup)

Began crawling

Feeds herself her bottles

On one of our many daily walks in Hawaii

Oahu March 2015

 In March we headed off to Oahu for a two week vacation with my parents and some of Dan's family.  We had a great visit with lots of pool and beach time, beautiful walks, some touristy activities, and some down time hanging with the family.

We started our vacation off with a short three night stay at the Disney Aulani (thanks Steve and Debbie!) just a short walk away from our Marriott timeshare in Ko Olina. Lena still hasn't had a true Disney experience so we were excited for her to meet Mickey and enjoy the resort for a few days.  The resort was AMAZING.  It had a lazy river, multiple water slides, great pool areas for kids of all ages, characters walking around everywhere, a really fun technology scavenger hunt, an awesome free hula show, a place where we could check Lena in to do activities while we did more adult activities around the resort, snorkeling in a huge man made reef....the list is endless!  We never left the resort during those three days and just soaked up all the fun.  One of the most fun activities we did was go to the character breakfast one morning.  That is where we got to take
 pictures with Mickey and several other characters and Lena got to dance and do other fun interactive things in between eating her breakfast.

 After our Disney stay we checked into our villa at the Marriott Ko Olina and we met up with my parents and Dan's family.  The Marriott resort is gorgeous.  We had stayed there before but were really busy doing touristy things on the island.  This trip we stayed at the resort more. The highlight for most of us was the beach time.  We loved snorkeling in the lagoons.  We swam with sea turtles, saw every kind of tropical fish, and even got close (kind of by accident) to a monk seal!  Kinley was fighting a bad case of the croup so she didn't get a ton of pool/beach time but when she did she loved it!  She is definitely a "water baby".

During our stay we visited the Polynesian Culture Center and stayed for their awesome show at night.  Lena had fun learning hula, going on a canoe, and fishing.  We also booked a few boat rides during our stay.  The first boat ride was for Dan's birthday and we went on a catamaran dinner cruise at sunset.  We had great views of Diamond Head and Honolulu.  The second boat ride was on a pirate boat!  Lena LOVED this activity and the people who ran it were seriously awesome.  There was sword fighting, water cannon shooting, treasure hunts, and all sorts of fun while we cruised the waters outside of Honolulu.

Because of the time difference the girls were up EARLY the entire trip.  Most mornings I would snatch the girls before they could disturb the peace too much, toss them in the double stroller and we would take our morning "donut walk" as we called it.  First we stopped at the resort grocery store to buy a super delicious but over priced "Long John" donut (creme filled with powder sugar).  Them we would stop and say good morning to the koi fish and king fisher bird.  Then we would leave the resort and walk along the beach path and head to the Aulani to wave at Mickey while he greeted buffet guests.  Then we would fly down the fun downhill sidewalk like a roller coaster and head back towards the Marriott stopping to watch waves, say hi to strangers, and see if any sea turtles were beached on the sand.  It was a ritual I ended up really liking being a morning person at heart.

We had a great time with family and the girls LOVED Hawaii!

McKinley Jane: 6 Months Old

Another month has flown by and Miss McKinley is six months old.  This girl is growing and she is on the move!  She gained 1.5 pounds in four weeks and has learned to maneuver across an entire room in a minute by rolling and scooting.  

She is forever a Mama's Girl and loves to be held, snuggled, and talked to.  I have to carry her a lot!  She is every bit as social as her big sister and has to be in the same room where the "action" is taking place.  While Mama is her favorite she has a special love for Grandpa's company, especially his laugh.

Kinley and Grandpa having some fun.

Kinley Jane loves her Mama time.

Six Month Stats

size 2 diapers (almost size 3)

6-9 month clothes

16.2 pounds
75th Percentile for height, weight and head size

two naps: 10:30-12:30 and 3:30-5:00

First ride on a a Merry Go Round at Knotts!

Loving the motion!

Mom having fun too!

Six Month Firsts

New Foods: strawberries, peas, carrots, sweet potatoes, apples, mango

First ride on the merry-go-round

Scooting (almost ready to crawl!)

First time in the jumper (and she loves it!)

Big smile - She sees something she wants!

Here we go....

The rocking begins!

She was rocking so fast I couldn't get a clear picture!

Valentine's Day 2015

"We love because He first loved us." 1 John 4:19

"Peanut" and "Little"

Happy Valentine's Day from the Shacks!  Today we celebrate our life together as a family of four and thank Jesus for giving us the gift of each other.  We hope as parents we can teach our girls about compassion, selflessness, and how to see their own self-worth as a daughter of Christ.  We hope we can model for them what it looks like to love another person both romantically and in other ways.  Lord Jesus help us to be good at loving each other the way you love us. 

Dan first asked me to be his girlfriend on Valentine's Day 2002

Dan had to work on Valentine's Day so we had a fun family breakfast together.  Last week Lena spotted these huge red Valentine heart plastic goblets and wanted so badly to get one for everybody in the family.  But we were on her allowance shopping trip and she didn't have enough money to buy them all.  So as a surprise I went back a few days later and bought them and used them for our juice during our Valentine's breakfast.  I suppose we will use them every year during our Valentine's meal as a fun family tradition. 

Lena helped me set our pretty breakfast table.

Getting ready to drink our juice out of our special goblets!

Mommy didn't have time to put on any make up yet, but "cheers" anyways!

Valentine's Menu 2015

"Sweetish" Pancakes

Bacon & Sausage

Fruit Salad

Apple-Spinach Juice

Apple-Banana Rice Cereal (McKinley)

I even tried to do heart-shaped fried eggs.

Dan's V-Day cookie stash.

Lena and I made special Paleo cookies (and some not Paleo) for Daddy to take to work.  We decided to make him Paleo Candied Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies

Lena had a blast decorating her cookies.

We also made some of Lena's favorite sugar cookies and took some over to our neighbors with some Valentines that Lena picked out at the store and wrote her name on.  (She can do a fabulous "L" and a pretty good "E" so far!)

Daddy always picks great flowers!

Daddy bought us girls some pretty flowers and Lena bought Daddy a little love snow globe with her allowance money.

"Little" getting in on the V-Day fun.

Lena loves the snow!

We hope your heart is full of love as you celebrate with your family!