11 & 12 Weeks

11 Weeks old and Agnes is smiling at people all the time and has started grabbing toys.

12 Weeks old and Agnes loves music! She has a musical mirror in the car that she likes to listen to, if it isn't playing she'll cry until we turn it on.

10 weeks

10 weeks and a visit with Santa!

9 weeks

9 Weeks. At her 2 month appointment she is 11 lbs and 10 oz and is 22.5 inches long. Yay! Baby Girl!

8 weeks

Our 8 week old wee miss!

7 Weeks and the Bus

 Agnes is 7 weeks old this week. She is such a fun baby, though she seems to go from hot to cold pretty quick. One minute she'll be smiling and laughing  (in her newborn way) and then the next she will be screaming like she's never had anything to eat in her life. She will enjoy seeing her cousins for Thanksgiving next week and all the attention and cuddling!

Jeffrey had a big day today. He rode the bus home from school! Now I know that doesn't seem like a huge deal, but he's had to show me that he can be a big kindergartner and go to the art room to wait for his teacher on his own in the mornings. One of his teachers used to meet him at the front of the school and walk him up to class on his own to avoid the chaos of all the kindergartners meeting in the same place. One day he told me he wanted to go and wait with his friend and since then he's been going in with the other kids. Then he said he wanted to ride the bus so we set a goal to go to the art room 5 times on his own to show me he was ready to be dropped off  by the bus at school in the mornings. Today he did it so he got to ride the bus home after school.

Jeffrey has come a long way this year. It has taken a lot of coordinated work from us and his teachers and the others at the school to get to this point. We will be meeting with a psychologist next week to see if the diagnosis of Asperger's is right and then to start working with the district to get his IEP started. We still have things to work on, like his handwriting but I have learned to appreciate every single little victory we have.

6 Weeks

It's hard to believe it's been 6 weeks since sweet little Agnes was born. The time has gone quickly. She's awake more often and loves to interact with us. She has been smiling at us (and not just gas smiles) for a few weeks. She is adorable! We all love her so much!

Happy Halloween!

 Luke Skywalker

 Our Kansas Sunflower

At the school parade on Halloween.

The Peanut

 2 Weeks Old

 3 Weeks Old

 4 Weeks Old

5 Weeks Old

Our Wee Miss

Meet our wee Miss Agnes. She was born on the 25th of September at 4:42 in the afternoon. She weighed 8 pounds and 8 ounces and was 20 inches long. She came after a long day of waiting to a room full of anxious and happy women (thanks Mom and Paige!) and to a daddy who was up late in the MWR in Afghanistan waiting for her announcement.

She was given a name and a blessing this past Sunday the 7th of October so that daddy could do it before he went back to Afghanistan. We blessed her in our home in between conference sessions with the bishop and a few friends and neighbors over to celebrate with.

She was named Agnes after my Dad's mother's Aunt and Louisa after my sweet Gram and my mom. No one guessed it before hand but Aunt Sherri was close guessing the middle name. She is sweet as can be and we all love her so much!

D-Day! (is not until Saturday)

Still no baby, but guess what? I'm OK with that. I'm not really due until Saturday. I am uncomfortable, I can't sleep at night between the waking up to go to the bathroom and the aching hips and back, I can't walk around the store because it feels like my hip joints are jelly and may just fall out, recently my nose has become so stuffed that I can hardly breathe half the time, and I have painful contractions almost every night. But I'm not loosing my mind with impatience.

I have a friend who is two weeks behind me and already trying desperately to have her baby. I saw a girl at the doctor's office who was begging the midwife to give her an earlier c-section date because she was suffering "unbearable heartburn" (Guess what she got? A prescription for Prilosec. HA!). My baby will come when she is ready (or when the doctors decide to evict her at 41 weeks) and so I'm going to be patient and wait for her to be ready.

But there comes a point where a person can only take so much of "no baby yet?" or "just checking to see how you are today?" Makes me want to quit answering the phone or reading texts or going out in public. I promise friends I will let you know when she is here, if there's time I will even let you know we're on our way to the hospital. I will be shouting it from the tops of buildings. I cannot WAIT to have the ability to bend over and pick things up or drink water without feeling like I'm going to throw it back up or to wear pants that have a zipper in them.

So just know, I'm here, I'm still pregnant and when that changes, I will let everyone know. *End pregnant lady rant.* And to make up for the rant, I will share my belly profiles from 34 to 39 weeks, enjoy, I don't often allow pictures of me this late in the game.

Baby Girl's Blessing Dress

So it's not the best picture of the dress, but here's baby girl's little dress. I need to hand wash it and her bonnet but I am excited to see her wear it. I wanted her to wear something vintage (I don't think I have my blessing dress here or if I do I decided she could wear something different. Jeffrey wore a little suit my mom had made when she thought I was going to be a boy along with some vintage family shoes.) and I wanted to use one of my mom's baby dresses. She only has a few that she wore but one of them was handmade from an army parachute with hand embroidered flowers. I took it out to look at this last time, but forgot to ask her to let me borrow it. So I came up with plan B.

Etsy is full of awesome finds if you have time time and patience to look through thousands of listings. This little dress was on sale for $8. It was listed as clean and in like new condition. Some had small holes or tears in the dress that wouldn't have worked. But I spent four days searching for every combination of "vintage, white, gown". Let me tell you, there were a few that would have been so cute! But I couldn't justify spending so much on one little dress. I made the slip for it with a pattern I made from the dress and wanted it to extend a few inches with lace on the bottom. I still need to wash it and press it, but I still have time for that before we bless her.

Do you know that feeling when you picture something and then it turns out exactly the way you had imagined it? I know Cory gets that more and more often with his photography, but this is my version of that happening. From idea to reality I am proud of this little project!

Why am I so stuck on vintage? Both of her names are sweet little hand-me-downs and I thought it would be only fitting to have her blessing dress be the same. So to whatever little mother toiled and labored over this "like new" dress and bonnet I am very grateful. Their handiwork is not lost or under appreciated by me.

First Day of School

 We had a BIG milestone in the MacNeil house this week! The bean started Kindergarten! In a slightly smaller milestone, mommy had to learn to regularly get up before 9 am. We had breakfast where he told me about his dream (which was about Lego Batman) and then got ready for the day.

 So I tried to take the typical "first day of school, stand outside the door" picture but the sun was too bright and Jeffrey wouldn't look at me. Silly kiddo. But I just LOVE the look of little kids with HUGE backpacks and white socks and school shoes. It's adorable to me.

When we got to the school we went to the art room where all the kindergarteners meet before school. Their teachers come to get them and on the first day Jeffrey got a name tag and was very excited to line up with the other kids in his class and go. He blew me a kiss from the line and off he went. His teacher is already out in the hallway leading the kids on their way but the girl on the left is the student intern for his class.

The first day was great, no problem. The second and third days have been a little bit harder for him to get used to, he hasn't wanted to go when it was time to line up and go. One of the aids or the student teacher have had to wait and walk him up after. He LOVED class yesterday, got to play freeze tag, loved having lunch in the cafeteria, and playing on the playground. With Jeffrey it's just the change that gives him a little anxiety, he will get used to it and soon he won't even want me to stay, but we always have a few nerves whenever we start new things here in the MacNeil family.

Five Weeks!

So tomorrow will mark 5 weeks until my due date. I've been busy with final preparations and thank goodness my mom is here to help because I've gotten way too big to bend over for almost anything. While I am still panicked occasionally and have moments of worry, I am feeling much calmer and getting ready for baby girl to make her arrival. We got her blessing dress and slip finished and are planning to bless her at home when daddy comes to visit us all in the beginning of October. He's already been assigned several pictures this mommy wants taken and he's excited to take lots of pictures of her. Jeffrey is excited to finally see the baby and talks to her almost every day. He has been asking about when he was a baby and wants to know if the baby will do the same things.

So the plan is that my mom (and possibly sister) will accompany me to the hospital when baby is born. I might be able to send everyone a text while I'm in labor, but I'm not promising anything at this point, planning to go natural again. Cory may be able to be in the delivery room with us via Skype which will be pretty cool. I will give my mom a list of people to text and send a picture to after baby is born but I am not going to be making any phone calls for several hours after baby comes and I feel better. She can send any updates or news about baby after she's here. If I don't have your cell phone number or you aren't able to get texts or photos you might just have to wait for a while to find out baby's here. It's not to offend or exclude anyone but after Jeffrey was born all I wanted to do was sleep and my mom doesn't hear well on the phone so she won't be making calls for me. If you don't think I have your number let me know and we'll add it to our list. If everything goes well we're only in the hospital for 24 hours and so we'll have more time after we get home for calls and such and we'll update facebook and the blog as soon as we can with pictures (if anyone has Skype and wants to chat we'll put the little peanut on the webcam, it will be a live PeanutCam, haha!).

Meanwhile on Facebook a little while ago I said that I would give $20 to anyone who could guess what we were planning on naming the baby before she was born. No one guessed correctly yet so my $20 is still safe, but the offer still stands. If you want to play our little game and can can guess our vintage style name for baby before she's born you will be the proud owner of a crisp new $20 bill, or whichever one I have in my wallet at the time. (Here's the previous guesses: Clementine, Emma, Abigail, Eliza, Josephine, Louisa, Johanna, Elizabeth, Rose, Katherine, Victoria, Polly, Dinah, Hepzibah, Eleanor, and Rowan.) I'll give you a clue, the first letter is from the first half of the alphabet (from A to M). Maybe next week I'll give out another clue.

Panic at Seven Weeks

There are less than 10 weeks until this baby is set to make her appearance in the world (7 to my due date, though if Jeffrey's week and half delay is any indicator I may just have an October baby). And this momma is is FREAKING out! It's been 5+ years since I have changed a newborn diaper, gotten up for 12, 3, and 6 am feedings. I can't remember how to mix a bottle of formula, I never did figure out breastfeeding last time, how to fasten a car seat, and for some reason in my mind I don't have enough blankets. I AM, however, blessed with a vivid recollection of how painful it was to deliver a baby, the recovery process and the emotional toll of no sleep. Not only that, but I will have a 5 year old who is just starting kindergarten and will be jilted from the only child position to worry about on top of a husband who is halfway around the world.

I distinctly remember saying to Cory "I know things will be crazy and you will be deployed, but I really feel a sense of peace and know it's time for us to have another baby." I've decided whoever that woman was, she's a raving lunatic. I am so blessed that my mom is here and will be here for the next several months. (Even happier that there's no return date on her ticket, so if it all falls apart she can be here to help mop it up.) I just don't remember feeling this sense of panic when Jeffrey was born. Life does go on though, whether I'm ready for it or not, and I'm sure it will work out just fine in the end. I just have to keep in mind that women have been having babies forever and I'm not the only one who's ever thought that 5 or 6 more blankets might be useful to have.

Photo Session

 While we were back in Utah and I was still in my "cute" preggo phase (I've entered the "I'm always uncomfortable and getting bigger everyday" phase.) I decided to do some pictures of my bump. Since Cory wasn't here to take them I had to go somewhere else. The picture above is Jeffrey's 5 year picture. He was surprisingly into the whole photo shoot this time. He couldn't wait for it to be his turn to take pictures.

 This is actually my favorite picture ever! I wanted one with the two of us and the baby and it turned out just the way I pictured it. The little sash is something I got from etsy and will use in a photograph of baby once she's here and daddy can take a few pictures.

Our little family right now while daddy is gone. It's still weird to look at a picture of myself and see straight teeth.

Family Reunion

 We took Anna home and went to the Porter family reunion a few weekends ago. Jeffrey enjoyed the crafts all the kiddos got to make and being able to hang out with cousins and aunts and uncles he hasn't seen in several months (some in years!). Here are his pet rocks, the one on the right is a puppy and the one on the left is a baby. Uncle Steve and Aunt Sherri helped him paint and finish them since it was so hot and mommy was trying to keep cool.

 The kids also made paper rockets and then launched them from a launcher Uncle Scott made. Jeffrey didn't want his to be launched but he cheered and yelled when everyone else took a turn and let their rockets fly.

 With  such a whirlwind trip we had to bring along a lot of things to entertain Jeffrey during the 15-16 hour car trips. He knows a few of the rest stops by the treats they have. There's one in Kansas that has popped popcorn and was a mandatory stop both ways on the trip.

Here he was watching a movie and repeating all the lines to the previews. He's such a funny kiddo.

Our feet are firmly planted in Kansas for the next few months. With baby coming in 9 or so weeks and then a wee little girl to keep healthy through the winter we won't be making any more forays into the wide world until Daddy gets home.

Hi-Ho Silver! Away!

Jeffrey is a fun kiddo. When he decides he likes something he really gets into it. A few weeks ago he bought a toy gun and mask from a store. When Po (Grandpa Brown) commented that he looked like the lone ranger he asked who that was. I've been listening to old time radio podcasts on my iPod in order to fall asleep at night and one of them is a western show and is playing the entire series of The Lone Ranger. So on our way home from the reunion I played an episode for him. He LOVED it! He listened with his mask on and gun in hand, probably not too unlike kids who listened to the show during the original run. I am supposed to call him the Lone Ranger whenever he's wearing his mask and tonight after his bath he requested listening to an episode. As I write, he's on my bed listening to the iPod wrapped up in a blanket. I love my Jeffers, he has got so much personality and he makes me smile.

The Fourth of July

 So I love the fourth of July (and not just because it's my birthday). When I was little I HATED having a birthday on the Fourth. My parents always insisted on going to fireworks or lighting fireworks in our front yard and I was always indignant over the fact that they were not honoring my "No Fireworks on my birthday" edict. Maybe they, like I have now realized, thought that I would get used to them and they didn't want to have to miss out on everything just because they had a kiddo who was scared stiff at the sound of them.

Well they say karma exists and my friends I'm here to tell you it's true. Jeffrey doesn't like loud noises. So much so that at movies or public events he spends most of the time with his fingers in his ears or trying to get me to cover his ears from the sounds. I am going to just take headphones along next time and he can listen to music or something or earplugs so he won't have to be so nervous.

As you can see here, he threw a few snappers. He liked them but had to throw them with one ear plugged and the other against his shoulder. My friend thought it was funny so she took a picture (because I forgot my camera) so we could send to daddy.

We had a pretty good night and survived the fireworks intact. Every year he gets a little braver so maybe one day we can just watch without having to hide under a blanket. And yes we do match, I'm a sucker (teehee or maybe a seersucker) for matching and if daddy were here, he would have been matchy-matchy too!

The Solar System

 So for the last three weeks or so my niece has been here in Kansas with us. She has been awesome, she will play with Jeffrey while I take a nap every day and entertains him the rest of the time. She likes to be crafty and creative and so I gave her free reign of the craft room. She made her necklace and earrings just a few days after she got here.

 Jeffrey got this solar system to go with his Leap Frog Tag reader for his birthday. He is OBSESSED with the solar system now. He has listened to all of the facts about the planets several times and has even renamed our family after the planets.

 Dad is Mercury. I don't know exactly why but Jeffrey says "He's supposed to be little."

 Jeffrey is Saturn and he's the ringed planet. I've had to call him Saturn more than once.

I am Pluto. Once when I told him I wasn't even a real planet he offered to change me to Uranus. I told him I'd be Pluto.

Last day of Swimming

The swimming lessons here in Manhattan are scheduled in 2 week sessions. We just finished the first one and today the last 10 minutes of class was play time. But first Jeffrey had to try and do a front float. I have to admit this is the part of swimming and water that I like the least. Claustrophobia leads me to reject sticking my entire face in the water, so I've been useless at helping him.

 

 He also had to work on his front glides. I love Jeffrey's ability to listen to what his coach says and then repeat it almost verbatim to me when he tells me how to do it later. "Put your arms up like a needle and then shoot like an airplane away from the wall." We have a week break and then start another session and hopefully he will continue to improve from there.

Jeffrey went right up to the slide when the time came for playing. He went with his coach twice and then went on his own at least a dozen times. He had a really good time and has gotten really comfortable with the pool. It's been fun to watch his improvement in just the two weeks we have been in class.

Bobs and a Bed

 Jeffrey has been getting really close to doing 10 underwater bobs in a row during swim class (we go every week day) but hasn't quite gotten there. Yesterday he worked pretty hard and got close but got a little water in his nose and couldn't go on. Today there was a girl who joined his group from the preschool group and did all 10 bobs as soon as class started. Jeffrey (either inspired by her performance or not to be outdone in front of Coach Joann) decided he was going to do it too. So he did. I was so happy for him. He was pretty proud of himself when they called his name during the huddle after class was over. He got a sticker for his chart and will start working on floating on his back and tummy tomorrow.

His reward for passing level 1 was to find a red angry bird like the one we somehow lost during our move. We went to three different stores and finally found the huge one you see in the picture at the book store. He has named him Jupiter and has carried him around all day long. Jeffrey is VERY attached to his angry birds. They are his BFFs and more than once I've had to pour them a bowl of dry cereal too.

We also got another twin mattress delivered today for the bottom bunk of Jeffrey's bunk beds. We got the beds from our awesome landlords in Colorado but with only one mattress and with only one kiddo to fill it we didn't see much need to get a second. But with my mom moving here for a while to help with the birth and baby we decided it was time to get one so everyone could be in their own beds.

Swimming Lessons

 So now that we're back in Kansas it's back to life as usual. We started swimming lessons at the city pool this week. Surprisingly one of Jeffrey's primary friends is in the same class with his siblings so he had a friend right away.

Other Utah Adventures

While in Utah Jeffrey went bowling, which he loved! He was always happy for however many pins he knocked down. He also wanted to go mini golfing which wasn't so much of a game as hitting the ball wherever we felt like.

To entertain the kiddos one day we made roads from blue painter's tape on the front room floor and they drove their cars all around the town. One of the girls owned the car wash and had very strict hours, the other owned the parking garage where you could only park a couple of cars at a time and Jeffrey drove where as Lightning McQueen asking "Doc" (Played by Sugar) what he should do next. It entertained them for quite a while and Jeffrey has talked about it a lot since.

One of the best parts about staying with Uncle Scott is playing with Uncle Scott. Here he was playing basketball for the first time ever! He had a little beginner's luck and was happy to tell daddy about his baskets later.

 Jeffrey also decided on this trip that he liked the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving point. He liked it so much he wanted to go twice, I offered the aquarium or the zoo, but he wanted to go see the dinosaurs again.

 Here he is trying to blend in with the dinosaurs on the wall, it's something he learned from his Penguins of Madagascar game and he has reenacted in lots of different places. Today he did it at Hobby Lobby so the fabric cutting lady wouldn't see him. She thought he was very funny!

Here's the smiling shark, he likes this more than the giant turtle one room back, that one really freaks him out for some reason. But when he went with Grandma she helped him sneak past it and they got to this room with the funny shark.

Here's the last video, he was building an island for the dinosaurs and telling daddy all about it. He's enjoyed making videos to send to daddy on the iPod. He enjoyed it so much that after he and the girls would have the iPod, there would be 10 or so videos that they had decided to make for him. It always made me laugh.

Jeffrey's 5th Birthday Presents

Copper Mine

 So while in Utah, I tried to have something for Jeffrey to look forward to each day. He does better when he knows what to expect of his schedule and what's coming. He likes to say "Monday is swimming, Tuesday we're going to the park, Wednesday we're going to see Uncle Steve, etc." We are all much happier and we avoid lots of Jeffrey breakdowns when he knows what to expect of his schedule. 

 

So while looking through a coupon book I found a coupon for free admission to the Copper mine. I went with my sister and her little boy for a little while. It was during field trip time and there were so many junior high aged kids just sitting around. We had to wait patiently to get a look at things and overall our whole stay wasn't too long, but it was fun to get out.

 Jeffrey's new obsession with maps and directions made him entertained by this compass rose for quite a while looking at all the directions, "Here L, let's go southwest, come northeast..."

 The giant tire is always entertaining for kiddos. Jeffrey wanted to climb up it and had to be shown the sign that said "No climbing" before he believed me that it wasn't a toy!

We watched a couple of trucks driving down the mine and one that was spraying water on the road to keep the dust down. That may have been one of the more interesting parts of the trip according to Jeffrey.