One month old!

Mackenzie is one month old today!  I can't believe how quickly this month has flown by.  My baby seems so big to me already. This month has been pretty exciting for us already.  I actually took her to the doctor a week ago because I thought she might have silent reflux and turns out she does.  She has trouble settling sometimes but is doesn't seem to be in as much pain now that she is on medication.  She weighed in last week at 8lbs 10 oz and 21 inches which keeps her at about the 50th percentile for both.

Most exciting in Mackenzie's development is that she rolled over for the first time last Saturday (at 3 1/2 weeks)!  I couldn't believe it (I thought Sophia was really early at 6 weeks!) and she did it twice so I was able to get it on video.  Mamaw and Tita were even up here for the night and were able to see this first.  Here are some pictures of the last month and video of the first roll.

 Noelle loves her new cousin :)

 Sophia has been such a GREAT big sister and helper for mommy!

 Mackenzie's first bath...

 Happy Thanksgiving...

Mackenzie's rolling over for the 2nd time!

St. Nick came for all of us even little Mackenzie, but you have to look hard to find her shoe...

In other news Andy and I decided we needed all the help we could get this year, so we invested in an elf on this shelf.  I was hesitant to do so because the elf is supposed to moved every night and those of you that know me well know how successful I'm likely to be with something I have to remember to do every night.  Although 3 nights in and so far so good.  In fact we decided we'd have some fun with it and Andy put together a good scene the 2nd night (see below).  It hasn't had quite the effect on behavior that we were hoping for and Sophia broke the one rule 2 of our first 3 days and touched our elf, Freddie, but we are working through those snags.  I mean realistically what else should we have expected from the 3 year old that teaches the rest of her preschool class to say "OMG" and responds to her Mamaw's request to do something (I can't even remember what t was now) with "now mamaw you know I don't listen".  An my favorite from this week is when I dropped here off at daycare this morning an her teacher told me that when the kids had free play yesterday she looked over in one of the areas while they were playkng and there was play dough all over the floor.  She asked who did it Sophia and one if the boy in her class got guilty looks on their faces and then Sophia got a smile and said "maybe the elf on the shelf did it!"  Nice, blame it on the elf.

Andy's masterpiece.  Freddie hosting a tea party with Sophia's stuffed animal friends...

Today Freddie wanted to leave a little reminder for Sophia.

Welcome Mackenzie Emma Herbst!!

We're very proud to introduce the newest addition to our family, Mackenzie Emma Herbst.  Mackenzie was born on Nov 6th at 3:08pm.  She was 7lbs 5oz, 20.5 inches long, and has a full head of hair! 

Getting ready to come home from the hospital...

Baby Update...Stay tuned for more!!

Woke up this morning and my water broke!  At the hospital awaiting our little.  So far the contractions aren't so bad compared to last time (knock on wood!).  Stay tuned for updates on the arrival of our little one!

Happy Birthday Jamie!!  Looks like you were right and our little girl is going to arrive on you birthday!

Big Sister in Training!

It's almost time.  I'll be 38 weeks pregnant tomorrow and the last few weeks have been quite eventful for us.  Sophia has been busy, busy, busy taking care of her babydoll and telling us about all the things she's going to teach her new baby (notice I didn't say her new baby sister...apparently this is her new baby).  We've been trying to spend these last few weeks getting in some fun activities with Sophia before the baby arrives.  Sophia also attended her big sister class at the hospital last night, now she's really all ready to take care of her baby.  Here are some recent pics. 

At the pumpkin farm in Morton about a month ago...

A couple of weeks ago at my 35 week appointment we learned that the baby was breech.  My mom came in town Thursday night so I thought it would be fun if she and Sophia came with me to my appointment to hear the baby's heartbeat.  What is usually a 10 minute appointment turned into a 3 hour ordeal to learn that our little girl is trying to come into this world butt first!  Now, stubborness...that she gets from me, but wanting to moon the doctors as she comes into this world...that has Andy written all over it.  And if you don't believe me what did my husband respond when I texted him to let him know his daughter was presenting butt first..."That's my girl!"  If she didn't turn by my 36 week appointment we decided we'd go in for what's called an external version where the doctors try to literally turn the baby around by pushing on your stomach.  As of my 36 week appointment the following Friday she was still in the exact same spot and looked like she had no plans to move from her comfy little position.  External version was on for Monday morning.  They do the procedure in the hospital because there are some slight risks, one of which is the possibility that it could trigger labor.  So equipped with the possibility that it might be our last weekend before the baby's arrival we decided to take Sophia out for some fun.  When we told her that mommy and daddy were going to take her somewhere fun and she got to pick where she wanted to go we threw out ideas like the children's museum, monkey joe's, etc...she decided she would much prefer going to the library.  Hearing this made Andy almost choke on his dinner!  Sophia gets her love of books from her 2 grandma's and her mom, but definitely not her daddy!  After Andy got over his shock and dismay we settled on heading to the library and then a trip to Monkey Joe's afterwards.  Everyone happy!

We took Sophia's friend Lauren with us to Monkey Joe's.  The two having so much fun running around that this was the only picture I could snap.  They actually were playing a real game of air hockey...as much as a 3 and 4 year old can at least :)

 Since Sunday was possibly my last day before having the baby we snapped a quick belly pic.  And for those of you thinking it...yes I am well aware that's a big baby in there.  (And just in case I wasn't I have had lots of people make sure to let me know!)

Alas, Monday morning came around.  Andy dropped me off at the hospital at 7am and headed off to drop Sophia at daycare and then get back to the hospital in time for the 8am procedure.  As I sat in triage getting ready for my stomach to be kneaded and rolled like cookie dough my doctor appears through the door cheerfully asking, "well did you feel her turn over the weekend?"  To which I confidently replied "Nope!"  So he grabbed the ultrasound and started scanning to verify the position of the baby and when he right away said "that looks like a head to me" as he scanned the lower part of my abdoment I thought for sure he was joking.  Turns out he wasn't....this little girl flipped on her own and she must have done it Sunday night while I was sleeping because I never felt her turn and at this point in the game you can see and definitely feel when your baby turns.  I was shocked...and apparently so was Andy.  As he got to the hospital and walked towards the room the nurses told him I was going home and didn't need the procedure and he thought they were joking too!  I was so relieved that this baby decided to listen!

So with no baby yet, last weekend we took Sophia  and met Lauren and Mindy at the YMCA for a community Halloween party.  Sophia has been looking forward to being a kitty for at least a month now and was so excited to finally get to wear her costume and get her face painted.

 I even wore my own kitty ears and went as a big pregnant mamma cat :)

 Hard to believe next year I'm going to have two little girls I get to dress up!

 Laruen (aka Rapunzel) and Sophia at the party...it's so hard to get these two wiggle worms to stay still for a picture anymore.  They get so excited to be around each other!

 On Sunday Sophia and I went to the petting zoo while Andy took advantages of the nice weather to get one last day of golf in.  We went with Jackie and Braeden...it's become a tradition for us to go every year in October.

 Jackie and Braeden with a puppy from the farm...Jackie is due exactly 4 weeks after me with her 2nd boy.  I'm not sure how Andy feels about the Herbst girls and Molle boys being so close in age!

 What does an Emu do when he sees a 3 year old coming at him?....run!

 Mommy can I take him home?

 Every year we've taken a picture at this sign...it's crazy to see how much our baby has grown!!

 Finishing up with the annual pony ride...

Here are a couple of ultrasound pictures from about a month ago...

 Sucking her thumb...

A foot...she has some pretty strong kicks that my bladder hasn't appreciated, but what a cute little foot it is!

Happy Halloween to everyone!

Even More Baby Pics

I can't get enough of these 3D/4D Ultrasounds.  These are from one I had on the 15th.  Some really cool shots.  I couldn't get the video to work on my computer, but I think it is an issue with the computer, so hopefully they'll work for you!

 These are my absolute favorite....it looks like there is a flashlight shining into my uterus...so real.  I know some people (ie Andy) are creeped out by this view, but I love it! 

 She was starting to smile a little in this one :)