Keeping up with Cora

This is what she looks like when she comes home! It makes me laugh uncontrollably!! It looks like she is showing me how proud she is of her hair! :) If you look very very closely, you can see that first tooth shining on the bottom!

On Christmas Eve, we stayed the night at my parents house. Dustin did Christmas with his parents and brother at midnight, where he received his iPhone 4!!! Mackenzie did not sleep good at.all. She was up three times, and she was ready to play every time she woke up. Finally, we broke down and all got up around 7...

Along with my awesome new Embroidery Machine!!

She hadn't had a nap all day, so we were so glad she took a 2 1/2 hour nap at her Grandparents house!

I am awful! I did not get one family picture of us on Christmas day! :(

We had a wonderful 1st Christmas with Mackenzie...

We had a very low key weekend...

Friday night, we went to our Christmas Party, and Mackenzie and I woke up Saturday not feeling very well.. We cleaned up around the house Saturday morning, and I went with mom Saturday afternoon to run some errands. We went to the Crazy Lady Antique Mall, then headed to Fort Smith for some groceries and I got Mackenzie a super cute ornament from Inscriptions.... "Born to be a Hog's fan" (I will post pictures later)

Sunday morning, we were still not feeling very well, and Mackenzie didn't need to go to the Nursery at church with a stuffy nose! We can't chance getting the other sweet babies or caregivers the cold. So, we stayed home while Dustin went to church.

Mom just text me and said that our Sugar Bowl tickets should be in the mail by the end of this week!!! Woo Pig Sooie!

I just finished the most adorable shoes ever!! They turned out better than I even imagined!

Last night, we had our Christmas Party for our Life Group. We picked up Mackenzie from Mrs. Sherry's and got her bathed, fed, wrapped gifts, grabbed some food for the potluck, and got ourselves ready in 2 hours! (And we weren't late!) :)

We had a lot of fun. We ate and played dirty santa. Dustin started out with the CUTEST Razorback ornament that Angela painted, but Lindsey B. stole it from him. And, I started out with a vintage Razorback, but sweet Shaina stole him :) We ended up with bamboo place settings, candy cane decorations, bath oil, and a picture frame! It was a lot of fun.

I am loving these sweet pajamas from Children's Place.

You are weighing about 18 pounds (25-50%) and you are 26 1/2 inches long (25-50%) You are wearing Size 3 diapers, Size 9 Months Clothes, and Size 2 shoe.

You would rather be spoon fed instead of taking a bottle these days. Right now you are really in to yogurt, blueberries, bananas, soup, and tomatoes.. And how could I forget.. PICKLES!
You are pulling up on everything! I cannot believe you are big enough to do that!! You are a really good crawling.. You crawl straight to daddy's magazines in the bathroom and immediately start chomping down on them.

Just this week, I have seen you clapping and waving bye.
You LOVE going to Mrs. Sherry's. There are so many big kids that you can play with. Your nickname from Mrs. Sherry and Mr. Jim this month is Stinkpot. Which is appropriate since your diapers STINK!! :) You just cut your first tooth (it is on the bottom), and you want to chew on everything.
Your hair is out of control! I just love how much hair you have! (It is longer than mine!) You are loving bath time. We just recently started giving you your bath in the bath tub and you LOVE it! You splash and chase after all of your toys, and you are so good to let me lay you down and wash all that hair!
You want to go to bed a 7 p.m. on.the.dot. You want your bedtime bottle about 6:45, then you are satisfied if we go lay you in bed...which we love!! Sometimes you sleep through the night, but most nights you want a bottle at 3 a.m.

We had to get you a new car seat, because you were getting to big for your old one. We had been researching online for a while and I really really wanted this Safety 1st 'Air' Car Seat...After 23 minutes on hold with Toys R Us, we got it for $120 off!! I was sold! And you really like sitting up like a big girl! You can turn to the front when you hit 22 pounds.

We love you more and more every day! Time has just flown by, and we have enjoyed every second of it. It is getting so close to your very 1st Christmas, and I cannot wait! You are such a joy. Everyone always comments that you are such a happy baby. You are a big ham (especially at church) You are a huge blessing sweet Mackenzie! Love you to pieces!

I know what you are thinking... Yes, I backdated this post! :) Thanks to Jessica S. for telling me I could do that! I know I have been MIA for a few weeks... And here is just a little bit of what has been going on... Hannah gave her favorite niece a pickle!!

I have been reading Sarah's blog for a couple months now and I just love that she posts their Must Haves of that particular month. You can see her post here. I have also been reading another blog, and recently Jessica posted about her daughter, Cora's, favorite toy she played with while she was alive. I think that I will remember every single detail of Mackenzie's life, but I forget those little things all the time! I am going to try very hard to do this at the end of every month, so I can remember what Mackenzie's very favorite things were!

I listened to this CD a lot when I was pregnant. When she was just a couple months old, we were on our way home, and Mackenzie was not happy. At. All. I put this CD in on Track 12 (Don't ask me why that certain one?) and she INSTANTLY stopped crying. It is called Capri, and it sounds like such a sweet lullaby. Since then, that song has been our saving grace! We do not (and cannot) go any where without this CD.

At first, we thought it was hysterical! As soon as she hears the first strum of the guitar she quits screaming immediately. After listening to this song a minimum of 1000 times in just six months, it is getting pretty crazy... but whatever it takes! I keep promising my mom that I will record this, because you honestly cannot imagine how dramatic this is until you see it. I will try to keep my camera with me on the go!

You can hear the song here

Mackenzie, I cannot believe how fast time has flown! You are almost 7 Months old and I haven't even gotten your Six Month post up yet! You have changed so much in the last six months, and you are becoming more and more independent.

You are such a good eater! I am so glad that we feed you homemade baby food! So far you have had apples, bananas, pears, peas (which you don't like), green beans, avocado, carrots, and mashed potatoes.

When we went for your 6 Month check up a couple weeks ago, you were weighing in at 17 pounds (50-75%) and you were 26 3/4 inches tall (75%). You wore 6 month and 6/9 month clothes, size 2 diapers, and size 2 shoes.

You are chewing on EVERYTHING, and you have all the symptoms of cutting your teeth, but we still are toothless!

I love that when we say your name, you look for us, and you are starting to jabber a lot more! You love feeling different surfaces (carpet, hard wood, etc.) You love to slap your hands on anything near you, and you are starting to kick a whole lot.

************************************************************

Here is a letter from Daddy

Stinker,

You are getting so old so fast. It seems like yesterday that we left the hospital with you and your head of hair that many bald men would die for. I didn't know what to expect when you came into this world but I knew one thing. You were mine. I also knew that one person would not get to ever meet you so to make sure everyone including you knew she was around we included what she went by in your middle name. Thats right, Berlynn is not just another name. Ber comes from my sister, your aunt, that died 2 years ago. She was only 28 but she was smart and fun to be around. Your mother and I agreed on that name because in a way we want you to be like her. I want you to have her brains, and by the looks of things you are ahead of schedule. You are only 6 months old and you always make me smile, just like your aunt did. You are trying so hard to stand up now and can almost do it and you never give up, that's the Oaks in you. One day I will explain how your mother and I met. Once you were born, I didn't know what I was gong to do to support you and your mother. And to be honest, I am still working on it but I am not giving up. I have been told I can go back to what I was doing, but honestly, I find it hard to think about how much stuff I would miss with you growing up and going through my childhood when I didn't have a parent around and the other parent was always working to make things better for us kids. I do not want you going through what I went through but also want you to have a great childhood and not have to worry about anything. I have been awaken at all hours of the night the last 6 years or so and will have to admit that; when you cry at night I do not mind getting up with your mother to come change your diaper and make your bottle to feed you. I love seeing your face with those bright blue eyes and that smile that is like you are up to something. I do not complain one bit or regret anything and want you to always know that. I love you and always will.

Love,

Dad

We ventured out with something we haven't tried tonight....

Dustin cut the avocado in half, removed the pit, and I took a spoon and fed it to Mackenzie! Wow! How easy is that?

She really liked it... Dustin convinced me that it was really good so I made him try it first. After he took a bite with no complaints, I figured the least I could do is try it - I mean if I am making Mackenzie eat it, Isn't that the least I could do?

Haha.... I was not impressed! I told Dustin that it tasted like roots... you know like tree roots? He asked me that what parties that I was going to where serving roots? haha! :)

We are also going to try pears and mashed potatoes this week. We bought her this really neat strawberry teething toy that vibrates when she chews on it. I have a video of her using it for the first time that I will try to post later.