Good Bye Summer!

Summer 2013 has been one of the busiest and most fun summers of my life! 

~We started off the summer by moving into our new house in Yorba Linda.  We had lived at my parents house for 2 years, so we were deffinitely ready to be on our own again!  We moved into their house when Connor was 10 months old, so every major milestone was reached there.  We also had Cora while living there and made a lot of sacrafices so we could eventually buy a home of our own!  Thankfully that day came at the perfect time.  In January of this year my mom found a house in Yorba Linda that was selling Short Sale and we quickly fell in love with the house and made an offer the next day.  It took 5 months of waiting but our offer was eventually accepted and we moved in in May!  Connor and Cora each have there own room and I am so in love with being with my family! :)  I think because we lived with my parents for so long we really appreciate the quality time we get now that we have our own house.  Our favorite thing to do is walk around the neighborhood and watch movies in the back living room!

~Connor turned 3 in July and we had a Superhero Birthday party for him at the park.  Superman and Batman came to the party!  The kids flipped out! They loved it and it was so fun to watch.  They held a Superhero training camp and played with the kids for about an hour.  Connor had such a wonderful time!  In the last 5 minutes of the party Connor was chasing after a balloon and ran right into a tree!! :(  Poor little man got bad scatches on his face from where he hit and it definitely put an abrupt end to his party.  Other than that, he had a great birthday and loved his new bike and Superhero gear that he got.

~Cora started crawling at 7 months and is such a sweetheart!!! She is a Mommy's girl and loves to give her brother and Daddy kisses.  At 9 months exactly she is crawling super fast, cruising around the furniture and standing all by herself!  She is going to be walking before long.  She has 4 teeth and the best smile in the world! I am so in love with our precious girl!

~Sean got a promotion at ADP.  He is now Sales Executive and manages a team of 7 people.  I am so proud of him and all that he has accomplished at ADP in the past 2 years.  He made President's Club and we went to Maui in August.  It was the first time we left the kids for longer than one night.  It was SOO hard for me...my parents came and stayed at our house for the 4 nights we were gone.  I pumped 120 ounces of breastmilk for Cora and left endless lists and notes for my mom.  I was a wreck before we left, but after the limo picked us up and we got on the plane I started to really enjoy the one-on-one time with Sean!  We had an amazing time in Maui and I was amazed and proud with Sean's work ethic, bosses compliments, and co-workers praise of him!

~Connor started Preschool at Messiah Lutheran today!  He goes 2 days a week from 9am-1pm.  It was such a surreal day...I can't believe we are already at this season of life! School days! Wow, time flies!  Connor was so brave and is really such an independant and smart kid.  I am so impressed with him.  Sean and I went to Parent Night tonight and met some of the parents in his class, his teacher, and saw his classroom!  Everything was great.  His classroom is decorated with frogs and his teacher's name is Mrs. Violet.

~Today is the day after Labor Day and I can feel summer coming to an end!  Thank the Lord.  I am so over the heat and disorganization of summer.  Bring on the Fall, school, organizing, sweatshirts, and pumpkin lattes! ;)

Love~Jess

  

Baby Girl is here!

We welcomed Cora Ann Mackay into our hearts and family on December 4th, 2012 at 4:52am.  Having had a pretty tough pregnancy with morning sickness, tiredness, heartburn, and insomnia, I was so happy her delivery was very quick!  From start to finish it was 4 hours and 52 minutes.  The whole experience was exciting, fast paced, and wonderful!  Our nurses were so great and I was thankful to get an epidural at 8cm.  About an hour and a half after the epidural was given to me they turned it off and I was 9 1/2cm.  Thirty minutes later I started pushing and she was born!

Cora was 8lbs. 8oz. and 21 inches long.  She looked so healthy and chubby and beautiful!  She nursed right away and immediately pursed her big beautiful lips and cuddled up with me and Sean.  We took that day to relax, and then the following day big brother Connor got to visit!  He was so excited to see his baby sister.  He gave her kisses on the head, showed her his lolly pop and then was ready to leave! haha, Toddlers attention spans aren't that long!  But ever since then he has been a great big brother.  He is always concerned about where she is and loves her to go with us wherever we go.  He is also helpful!  He throws away diapers, retrieves blankets, and still loves kissing her on the head!  And just recently he likes to sing her 'Jingle Bells' and 'The Wheels on the Bus'.

Cora is now 6 weeks old and is growing very fast.  At 6 weeks she weighs 12 1/2lbs, piggy! :)  She is a great sleeper, most of the time, and loves being carried aroung in the Moby Wrap.  We've been busy since she's been born with Christmas, New Years, family, and friends!  We've taken her on hikes, to Disneyland, the beach and lots of other fun places!  She is a very good baby!

Here are some pictures of her so far!

2 1/2 weeks

4 weeks

Connor & Cora cuddling! xoxo

6 weeks- Look at that smile!!!

Love you Cora!  

Love, Mom

 

Love these great reminders

I read these two paragraphs today and wanted to remember them:

God, I know I ask so many questions.  It's because being a mom is the toughest priviledge I've ever loved.  I don't want to mess this up!  So I simply offer my willingness to be a great mom today.  That's all I have to give.  I trust You to fill in the gaps and give me the wisdom, patience, and discernment that will be required of me.  I love this child I call my own, but in reality this child is Yours first and You know them best.  Thank You for the honor to join You on this journey of walking this precious person toward phsyical, emotional, and spiritual maturity.   

I also loved:

When you aren't depending on your husband to fill you up, then he can make mistakes and you are still okay.  He can say the wrong thing, and you can forgive him quickly.  He can struggle and question his direction, and you don't fall into despair.  He can be your partner and your friend, because he does not have to be your Savior.  When you are living in the fullness of Christ, your children are being sloshed with His grace and tenderness...They can disappoint you and not bear the scars of your pride and your pain.  They can grow up to be vibrant, independent-thinking, loving adults because they did not have to be your Savior.

Mommy & Me Preschool!

Today, Connor and I started 'You & Me Preschool' at BUMPS in Brea.  It far exceeded my expectations of learning, exploring, playing, and socializing, and Connor absolutely loved it!  I loved the organization abilities of the teacher and her nice, extremely patient attitude!  Teaching and interacting with 2 year olds can be tough!   

Connor was very excited to go to "preschool" and loved everything from packing his sippy cup in his backpack to arriving and hugging his teacher.  He was able to play with a variety of toys; from trains, to animals, baby dolls, tools, painting, puzzles, trucks, doctor kits, blocks, etc.  As he roamed the classroom playing he just got more excited and more involved.  The kids were then gathered in a circle for music time where there teacher, Miss Kathy, sang songs with a guitar and then dismissed everyone to outside play. 

There outside area is even more amazing and I am so proud of Connor for telling me he needed to go potty in the midst of all the action!  (because I forgot a pull-up and/or extra clothes in case of an accident!)  Outside they have play houses, swings, playgrounds, sand boxes, water play....pretty much a kids dream!

After outside play all the kids sat at the table to snack time and scarfed down goldfish, bananas, yogurt, and pretzels!  All the playing definitely made them hungry.  After snack we got to play with a parachute and the kids got to pretend they were "ponies" and gallup around.  Haha-  This was definitely one of Connor's highlights of the day!  I think he's still pretending to be a pony.
I'm so happy that we decided to do this program.  It's once a week for 2 1/2 hours (which is kind of exhausting for Mom!) and gives Connor such a great jump on sharing, learning, and playing in a group!  Great job Connor! :)  <3

2 years and 2 months

 

Awesome playhouse at BUMPS

Busy, busy!

A child's work is PLAY! 

We are having a...

We are having a Baby Girl!

We are so excited to announce that we are having a Baby Girl!  At Connor's 2nd Birthday party we found out that we are expecting a GIRL!  It was such an awesome surprise and we feel so blessed!!!

I am now 6 months pregnant and this Baby Girl already has a special spot in all of our hearts.  Connor can now say her name and knows that she is in Mommy's tummy!  We have started to gather girl stuff and ordered her baby bedding.  All this girly stuff is so fun to look at and I can't wait to put big bows on her head and leopard shoes on her little feet! ;)

We are expecting Baby Girl's arrival December 2nd! We can't wait to meet her and be a family of 4!

Connor's run in with the MEASLES!

Connor got sick a few weeks ago and as every new symptom occurred we got more and more worried and more confused!  Thankfully he is completely OK now and after 4 doctor visits and a few sleepless nights we made it out the other side. 

Here is how it started: At first he got very fussy and was sleeping a lot for 2 days.  The next day he had a fever and a cough.  That night he could not go to sleep!  It sounds crazy but he was just so uncomfortable and unhappy that nothing could the little man to sleep.  We finally gave in to The Land Before Time movie around midnight, and watched it until 6am!!  As early as possible we headed to the doctor to see if he needed antibiotics. 

The doctor said he had a mild ear infection in each ear and prescribed him antibiotics. No biggie right?!?  Until...later that day he got a rash all over his body.  We had another sleepless night and poor Connor was itchy and miserable.  The next day we returned to the doctor and they said he had Strep throat and the rash was a Strep rash (used to be called scarlet fever).  They tested him for Strep, it came back negative, but the doctor still thought it was Strep.  The doctor changed his antibiotics and said he'd be fine!

Then the next day...his poor rash got worse and moved to his face.  We went back to the doctor yet again because it was a Friday and we didn't want to be stuck all weekend wondering if he'd be okay.  This time they quarantined us in the doctors office for possible chicken pox or measles!  Ah! At this point I was kind of freaking out!  Two doctors examined Connor's rash and looked in his mouth.  They ruled out chicken pox right away and thought it might be the measles or the mumps. They said they saw Koplik Spots in his mouth, which is used to diagnose measles, and his rash looked like a mild case of the measles.  They also said that the measles can cause ear infections, cough and fever.  They were both confident in there diagnoses and said nothing else can cause Koplik Spots besides the measles.  They asked us if he received the MMR vaccine, which he hasn't yet!  (We wanted to wait an extra year for his 1 year shots).  They then decided not to do a blood test because there is no treatment for the measles so it wasn't necessary.   

Red tongue and Koplik Spots

They assured us he'd be fine and just needed to stay hydrated, get lots of rest, stay away from other kids, and they gave us an antibacterial cream to put on his sores in case they got 'crusty'.  They did get crusty so we were thankful we had it. From what the doctors told us a bacterial infection is one of the major concerns with the measles.  Getting a secondary bacterial infection, which goes right to the bloodstream, can require hospitalization!  I lathered that cream on HEAVY! 

After a week of a rashy, sick toddler and being quarantined in our house Connor is now 100%.  The rash is gone and we are back on our regular schedule.  We went back to the doctor after Connor's rash was almost gone just to make sure everything was OK.  This doctor was weary of the measles diagnoses so we tested his blood to see if it was the measles or an antibiotic allergic reaction.  The results said it wasn't an antibiotic reaction, which we were happy about because we hoped he wasn't allergic to an antibiotic as common as amoxicillin.  And then the measles test came back inconclusive!  So pretty much that means that he did have some measles antibodies but not enough to provide immunity or to say positively that he had it.  So I guess we will never know for sure.

We are just thankful he is all better and didn't infect any of his friends!

Here are some pictures of Connor with his run in with the measles (or possible measles!)

Itchy Rash

Itchy Hands

Rash

Poor little man is not happy!

Finally sleeping

Got to sleep with Mom and Dad a lot!

Getting better with his anti-bacterial cream!

Con's new scooter

Thankful for the little things, which are actually the big things!

As I get older, I am starting to appreciate the value of thankfulness.  On good days and bad days, for the big things and the little things.  

I know it's easier said than done, and I still sometimes hate when nice, positive people tell me to be thankful for the little things on a monumentally bad day!  When the monotony of being a stay at home mom meets tons of laundry, sick toddler, and feeling useless for not finishing my Master's Degree right now...it's tough to be positive! 

But I do believe that this is season of my life right now (not always! just right now) and I am so thankful that I have the opportunity to fully embrace it.  My current season of life is full of yoga pants, doing laundry, making lunches, snacks, dinners, cleaning, reading books over and over, kissing owies, play dates, middle of the night singing, scrubbing floors, planning activities, and being home....a lot.  It can be monotonous and it can make you feel less important than one does having a 'real' job but it is my task to embrace it and make it great.

And don't get me wrong, I am thankful!  We chose for me to stay at home with Connor and have all the benefits that comes along with that.  Seeing friends throughout the week, swimming, park days, beach days, mall days, amusement parks, making my own schedule, teaching him things, having time for Connor and Sean, etc, etc, etc!!  I think it is just that constant struggle of wanting to stay feeling "important" in society, not just in my own family, and staying as the "mom" in my family.  Lol- such a struggle!  But such a blessing! 

Last month at Mom's Connection (through Friends Church) I got very inspired by a speaker that came in to talk to us about relationships.  He spoke about marriages, parenting, and friendships.  He was hilarious, inspirational, and motivating!  Out of everything he talked about the one thing that I really took to heart was how to be more thankful, and change your perception on life.     

 

So I took his challenge to write down one thing I was thankful for each day for 30 days.  I chose to write down one thing I was thankful that Sean did each day, because I definitely do not praise him enough! And this is good way to start.  Each little thing made my day better, easier, or more fun.  It was actually hard to write down just one thing!  And after a few days I really started noticing the positives, instead of the negatives.  It's a great switch in perspective and I definitely want to keep it going.

 

30 Days of Being Thankful for Sean!

1) Thankful that Sean had coffee with me this morning on our patio at 6am when he didn't have to get up till 7am.  2) Thankful that Sean and I have fun together~ Fun Disneyland date, and listening to music together in the car!  3) Thankful that Sean got up in the middle of the night to get me Tylenol because I had a headache and was scared to go into the kitchen!  4) Thankful that Sean gave Connor dinner and a bath so I could help a friend make tissue balls for a B-Day party.  5) Thankful Sean fed our dog in the morning before he barked.  6) Thankful Sean made me laugh and watched American Idol and Teen Mom with me!  7) Thankful Sean melted cheese on wheat thins and shared them.  8) Thankful Sean likes his job and gets so excited about closing deals and telling stories.  9) Thankful for Sean making me laugh about how I love Nordstroms and Shampoo.  10) Thankful Sean was sweet to me when I kind of cried dropping him off at the airport to go on a business trip.  11) Thankful Sean called me at 6am to make sure I was awake to go Nanny!  12) Thankful Sean is outta town so he can't see how messy our house is.  13) Thankful Connor looks just like his Dad.  14) Thankful that I went to bed early and finished reading my book.  15) Thankful Sean is coming home tonight!  16) Thankful that Sean, Connor, and I ate breakfast in bed together!  17) Thankful Sean let me sleep in while he gave Connor breakfast.  18) Thankful we all went into our jacuzzi after dinner tonight.  19) Thankful Sean cleaned the living room.  20) Thankful Sean likes country music!  21) Thankful I got to surprise Sean with a painted bathroom.  22) Thankful for a glass of wine and the jacuzzi with Sean.  23) Thankful Sean rented the movie Courageous.  24) Thankful we went to Church as a family.  25) Thankful Sean is such a good Dad and loves being involved.  26) Thankful Sean is so helpful when Connor is sick.  27) Thankful we went to the laundrymat together and did 7 loads of laundry!  28) Thankful Sean loves my family.  29) Thankful Sean went with me to take Connor to the doctor.  30)  Thankful Sean won an iPad at work!  He deserves it!

Disneyland Date Night




Dog Beach



3 generations of great men!

Cooling off

 

 

  

After doing this I realize that the cliches are actually true and being thankful for the little things is strangely therapeutic, especially on difficult days.
So today, I’m thankful!  For my family and great friends and my messy house.