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!

Lena's First Allowence

Ready to go shopping!

After the first week of Lena's goals we had to make a few adjustments.  We took "make bed" off of her list of chores as it was just too advanced of a task for her to complete especially considering she sleeps in a queen sized bed.  Secondly, getting a "pirate coin" at the end of the day for completing all of her tasks was too abstract.  She needed some more immediate and tangible reward for completing her tasks.  We opened up a piggy bank we had been saving to give her and began giving her a nickel for each task she completed on her goal chart.  If she finished all seven of her tasks she would get a quarter too.  Her other reward chart is now strictly for her pirate coins issued for making good choices.  This has worked out really well!  After a few weeks Lena got to open up her piggy bank and get ready for her first allowance shopping trip to Dollar Tree!

Getting the coins ready to take to the store.

Showing off her "gold tabloons" - three gold dollars

When we emptied her piggy bank Lena practiced her counting by grouping the nickels into rows of twenty.  She then traded them in for gold dollar coins.  She ended up with three precious gold coins to take to the store.  She carefully tucked them into a coin purse I gave her and we got ready to go.  Once in the store Lena was excitedly browsing the shelves.  She pulled items from the racks and chattered on and on about each item.  She ended up pulling several items into our basket and then she had to choose only three items to purchase.  It was fun to see what she was interested in.  She ultimately selected a heart-shaped Mylar balloon, a bag of ring pops, and a valentine snow globe.  The runner up items were a valentine goblet, a Sofia the First puzzle, a butterfly net, a set of ninja action figures, Strawberry Shortcake body wash, a bag of Cheetos, and a Scooby Doo expanding hand towel.  We then headed for the check out and she placed her items on the counter and handed over her three precious coins.  I think it was a good experience for her.

Excited about her purchases

Enjoying the "fruits" of her labor - a blue tongue from her ring pop!

 I am so proud of Lena for working towards her daily goals.  Some days she does better than others but she is becoming a great helper and I had so much fun with her today watching her spend her first allowance. 

Toddler Victories: The Picky Eater

Eating her zucchini noodles the way Daddy taught her.

Being the mother of a picky eater I have learned to celebrate the little victories.  You know... like "Wahoo! She licked a banana!!!"  But today was a biggy!  A mom victory for the ages!  At dinner tonight I got my daughter to eat not one, not two, but six different vegetables in one fell swoop!  And she liked it!

It has been a long challenge to get Lena to eat any fresh fruits or vegetables.  Over the last year we have finally gotten her to like freshly juiced fruits and veggies, eat carrots, apples without the peel and that is pretty much it.  Lately I have been trying out new recipes that have more veggies in them and tonight I made roasted veggie ragu with Italian turkey sausage over raw zucchini spaghetti noodles.    We sat down to eat and as I watched her put "noodle" after "noodle" into her little mouth I tried to conceal the utter shock and excitement that was bubbling from inside.  Then when she took big mouthfuls of the ragu sauce I fully expected her to spit it out but she didn't! Success.  I am making this ALL THE TIME!  Now I need to invent even more recipes that can accomplish what this one did.

First I pulled out all the veggies from the fridge that needed to be used up.  Tonight that was carrots, red onion, red bell pepper, and broccoli. Then I roasted them at a high temperature while I made the base of the ragu.  I simmered plum tomatoes, olive oil, Italian herbs, and garlic.  Then I put the roasted veggies into the Vitamix with the sauce and pulsed it to make it smooth.  Lastly I added the cooked Italian turkey sausage.

 I served the ragu over raw zucchini noodles that I made with my spiral slicer.  Lena at hers with lots of "special cheese" also known as Parmesan. 

New Year...New Goals...Elizabeth Gets In Shape

Goal 1: Cook better / Eat better

Goal 2: Move More

McKinley Jane: Five Months Old

Little McMunchkin (as her Daddy calls her) is five months old!  She weighs in at 14lbs 7oz, wears 3-6 month clothes, size 2 diapers, and has learned many new things this past month! 

Still the most smiley baby I've ever known.

Kinley Jane loves to play her own version of peek a boo with her bib or any blanket near by.  She can get really worked up and LOUD while she plays her game which is pretty entertaining to watch.

She began eating solids this month.  We started with rice cereal which she looks forward to everyday.  She got the hang of eating very quickly.  I can't wait to see what her favorites are as we try new foods.  We tried bananas next and she wasn't quite sure about them.  Mum mum crackers on the other hand are a huge favorite and if she loses her grip on it she cries and impatient angry cry until you hand it back to her.

Rice cereal with apples and bananas, YUM!

Not so sure about mashed ripe bananas for the first time...

 Kinley is almost done breastfeeding.  We probably feed once, maybe twice a day.  She is mostly on formula now.  Dan is teaching her to hold her own bottle.

Bottle time!

 Poor Kinley had a difficult round of teething just after Christmas.  No teeth just yet but they must be on their way soon.  In general though she is still a very good baby.  I always know she is getting tired when she starts making these grunting sounds. 

Boo for teething!  She would chew on her hands and whine when she was sore.

McKinley can now roll from her back to her tummy and back to her back.  She is going to be an early mover!  She loves her time playing with toys.

Time in her favorite swing.

She graduated to riding upright when we got our new double Bob stroller.  Lena loved having Kinley riding right beside her.  I can tell these two will be fast friends and I have enjoyed watching them interact together.  McKinley loves her big sister already!

First ride in the double Bob stroller.

Sisters - Lena calls her "Little"