Random Thoughts From a Mommy

This morning I woke up and realized, it's Mackenzie's first birthday. I thought I would have tears, but instead, I was greeted with excitement. My baby is one! It's been one of the most amazing year so far. Some ups and downs. That's to be expected though. Bryan and I have been trying to have a second baby for a few months now. So I decided this morning, what the heck, let's pee on a stick. I waited and saw no line. I was testing a few days early. So it wasn't surprising. But I thought, maybe I should wait a bit more. Then, a faint line appeared. It's my baby's first birthday and I found out today that I'm pregnant. I haven't told anyone. I am almost too scared to. The posts from here on out should be interesting. Stay tuned...

Dear Mackenzie, I've been preparing for this post for almost half a year. I wanted to write something with a mixture of humor and inspiration. Of course, now that your birthday is here, I am at a total lost for words. A year. It takes my breath away when I say that out loud. Time went by really fast before you were born, but it went by a thousand times faster since a year ago today. You passed each of your milestones with a blink of an eye. No matter how desperately I wanted to put time on hold, you kept going. It's hard to believe you're already a year old. Yet, I can't believe you've only been with us for a year. I really can't remember a time before you. The moment you were born (ok, maybe a few minutes after you were born after I made sure you were a cute baby), it was as if you've been with us our whole lives. I thought motherhood would change me. I thought somehow I would become a totally different person. That somehow, magically, I would become ...

Mackenzie can sign "please", "all done", and "love" at one point. The day she signed "love", I swear I melted like a pool of butter. But now she refuses to sign it, which is typical. Here's a video of her doing some signing and letting us know where Jesus lives :) She also knows where her head and "bee bo" (belly button) is. So you know, we're progressing. She asks "what's this?" and "what's that?" like every other minute. And she can say daddy like there's no tomorrow. And I don't remember exactly when it happened, but she consistently sleeps 12 hours a night now. (She was sleeping a good 8 hours at a time before, but 12 hours is a lot more blissful, I tell ya) She is now weaned to one feed a day - only in the morning. Which means our nights are FREE!!!! She had her first babysitter experience the other night. With the exception of a bump and a bruise (both of which weren't s...