Today McKenna ate the last tidbits of a jar of apple baby food. It's a big event for her as she has never actually finished a jar that I started before....it took her so long to eat the baby food before that I had to throw out whatever was left. This time it only took a week to finish one :)
Now she is officially 25 weeks old and growing so fast I can barely keep up. She now knows that rattles are supposed to be shaken, and is growing ever fonder of things that create noise. She also learned that if she taps on the floor and stares at the object of her desire long enough mommy will get it for her....seems she acquired more of her fathers traits than I originally thought.:)
Things in the homefront are going well, Mark made an awesome fence around the man shed outside so the little beans I will be watching when the childcare thing starts won't get hurt. The playground is almost done and is quite a hoot to play with, and we just bought a pressure washer which may be my favorite toy ever. There is nothing quite as magical as blowing dirt off the sidewalk. We have two weeks until our home inspector comes out to make sure we are child friendly so we have been busy little bees.
Another fun event that took place is our aquarium trip last weekend with KD. Mckenna actually stayed awake the whole time and seemed to have a good time. She sure loves fish!
Well, sounds like she is hungry so I better be off...before I go one last thought....
I entered McKenna into a cutest baby competition online and she didn't win! What's wrong with those judges??????

Yesterday was McKenna's official 24 week birthday! We celebrated by giving her zucchini gerber baby food for the first time (she ate only 2 or 3 bites so the jury's still out). Another big (very bad) thing that happened yesterday was that she climbed over the pillows I had stacked around her for her nap and almost fell off the bed. Yikes! So it looks like I need to start teaching her that she should take naps in her crib (which she HATES)
Mark & I will be spending this weekend continuing the process of becoming a legal and safe home for daycare services which I am really looking forward to as he and I scarcely get to spend quality time together anymore...go figure huh. But with all that has been going on here in relation to the daycare I know we are on the right track because the swingset is now McKenna's very favorite place. She is so giggly and happy when she is swinging, the higher the better!

The good news on the homefront is that some good friends of ours just had babies of their own. Amy & Tyler Banken just celebrated the birth of their first daughter Ada MacKenzie Banken on Friday April 14th. And Pete & Kristin Carlson celebrated the birth of their 2nd child Pete Jr shortly after on Wed April 19th (whom I will affectionately call Re-Pete) so little McKenna is going to have alot of good friends around her age!!!!!Mark & I have not yet seen Pete Jr, but we went to visit little Ada in the hospital and she is ADORABLE!!!! She was almost 3lbs lighter than McKenna when she was born so it was a little scary to hold her, but since I am a baby magnet now I couldn't resist!

I suppose that's all I have for now, I hope to get a chance to write again next week to tell everyone how this weekends adventure to the aquarium goes...it will be another first for McKenna.

Until then,
Jaime

So Jaime had the idea of taking some early Easter pictures of McKenna and they turned out great! I'm just the proudest Daddy in the world :)

Shawn and I did some backyard remodeling/landscaping this past weekend which turned out fairly well. If you don't count the 6" deep ruts I put into the lawn because of the tractor I rented. The firepit is now gone and we have about 20' by 20' more of pea graveled play space for the Day Care and McKenna. We got new swings for the swingset and I have all of the wood to build the slide area. Now I just need time to install. Hopefully it will be all ready for the Grand Opening of NellNell Daycare in a few months. Jaime turned in the paperwork so we are just waiting for a home inspection. We took the last of the CPR classes and Jaime is in the process of taking the 20 hour STARS training and when she finishes then I will start.

I finally got the truck back from the shop (it took them 2 weeks just to look at it). It drives great now and was a lot less expensive than I'd planned for so we got some new tires as well since the others were completely bald. Hopefully it will continue to run well since it comes in extrememly handy. Jaime has been driving it home from work at night, which makes it a lot easier on McKenna and me because we don't have to make the trek in to pick her up anymore right around bed time.

Best be off for now! Have a great Easter!

McKenna is officially 20 weeks old as of tomorrow, man how time flies, seems like just yesterday I was grounding her for life for the grief she caused me during childbirth! She has officially rolled over, although she is not yet an ambi-turner (that is to say she cannot turn both left and right only right at this point) and she had her very first taste of juice two weeks ago which was an experiance in itself. Her facial expressions were adorable when she figured out it wasn't milk! Right now I am working nights at Plywood Supply which has turned out to be wonderful. I love how fast I can get my work done without interruptions....it is a bit scary at times thought to be the only person in a giant lumber company working, I am definetly interrupting the rat parties at night time....I have a feeling the are going to surround me and nibble on my legs until the are only little nubbins one of these nights.
The best news I have to report is that I have had nearly 3 whole nights of 6 hours of sleep! McKenna has been sleeping until 5-5:30 am the last few days....and I am in heaven. It was really strange the first night to get that much sleep, I found myself wandering into her room like 5 times to make sure she was still ok. Hopefully she will keep up the lenghtly sleep times and I can reteach myself what a "nights rest" should be like.
Well, I am getting word from Mark that it's time to attempt another nights rest so until later.
J

It's amazing how much little stuff you have to do to start a home based daycare! Jaime and I attended the required orientation last week (an 8 hour class). Although we thought we had most everything done in order to get licensed, it turns out we still have quite a bit left to do. It's all good though because it'll make our house safer for McKenna and any other kids we might have in the future no matter what happens with the daycare.

I've almost got my router fence built in my shop. I took a few hours on Sunday while Jaime and McKenna were taking a nap and got quite a bit done on it. I haven't had any time what so ever to do anything in the shop lately. I still have 2 projects in the works left to finish (McKenna'sToybox/bookcase and the Dining Bench/storage).

McKenna is a little a little over 4 months old now! Crazy, huh? Time flies. McKenna is in the 90th percentile for her height now at 26-1/2" and 13 lbs +/-. Yeah, She's advanced.
We've all been pretty sick lately still. A long lingering cold left over from the flu we had (and caught from McKenna's daycare) in February.

Jaime is enjoying working only a few hours at night (not to say she doesn't work at home during the day, but she actually gets paid at night). She gets a lot done and doesn't have to deal with many interuptions. I'm enjoying my one on one time with McKenna during that period also. We play and dance and rest and I'm able to feed her every night as well. We're still trying to work out the car scenario, it's a hassle putting McKenna in and out of the car seat and running to and from work every couple of hours to drop off or pickup people. I drive to work in the morning at 6:30am, come home from lunch at 11:30 and Jaime & McKenna drive me back to work at 12:15 and go back home. Jaime returns with McKenna at 5pm to swap and I drive back home w/ McKenna and return to pick Jaime up at 8pm. It's quite a bit of driving in a short amount of time and really adds up on the mileage. We used to go through a tank of gas every 1-1/2 to 2 weeks, now it's one every 4 days or so, although we only live about 10 miles from work. I need to get my truck into the shop to get it more reliable, or get a second car I guess!

Well, I hope all is well with you and yours!
Until next time.....

So the past month has been fairly busy for us. Jaime and I have decided that she will stay home full time with McKenna starting in March! It was a tough decision and took some finagling with finances and schedules but it'll work out great for all of us I think. Jaime might continue to help out at Plywood Supply a few hours a night after I get off to watch McKenna, which would be beneficial for both parties involved. We'll see how that goes.
We are in the process of getting a daycare license so Jaime can watch a few kids during the day so McKenna can make some friends and we can make a little money as well. We've started to childproof our home which is actually kind of fun. I'm making a wrap around bench in the dining area so we can have some more storage and seating, and we've already moved the furniture around so the living room and dining room are child friendly. We'll be moving the guest bed from the nursery into the office and we're getting a few more smaller cribs or mats (depending on the ages we watch) that will go in the nursery. We have signed up for first aid, adult CPR (we already took the child CPR), an 8 hour training/informational class, and a few others. I still have to take a 8 hour AIDS class and we have to take a 20 hour STARS training program as well. It's amazing how much is required to be licensed as a daycare from the State of Washington! I'll also be adding a linked NellNell Daycare Website to our main NellNell.com site for the parents and kids, so you can check that out in the near future as well.
McKenna started her first days in a local daycare on the first full week of February while Jaime puts in her last month of work. Wouldn't you know it, the very first week she was there she got sick with a fever and a raw throat and such. We took her to the doctor who prescribed some amoxicillan and assured us it was now or later, but it still makes me mad. And to top it off, McKenna then passed her sickness on to Jaime and I, who both got it pretty bad and had to stay home from work for a few days each because of it. Doh!
Well, that's not all but it's late and I best be off to bed. If you haven't checked out the new McKenna pictures on our main site please check them out when you have a moment. McKenna is starting to smile and giggle quite a bit now, and it's quite contagious (almost like her daycare virus)!
Hope all is well with you and yours,
Until next time...

Oh, PS, as promised here are a few pics of the new man room changes.

Jealous Yet?

:)

Well, it's been quite awhile since my last post. I've been pretty busy around the house installing some new things we received around the holiday season and building some things to organize some things we purchased during the holidays. We've changed the "Man Room" around a bit, We stacked and turned the washer/dryer to make more room for seating in front of the TV and with the help of Jeff, I built a cabinet/shelfing system to house the washer dryer and cut down on the noise a bit. It looks pretty good, I'll post some pics in the near future when I have a moment. Jeff and I also installed a new bathroom fan in the main bathroom. We got a little confused on the wiring, so I ended up hiring an electrician friend to come out and finish it up. Jeff helped me run a new icemaker water line under the house so we now have an icemaker and water dispenser in the kitchen on our fridge. Next up for household projects is installing the bamboo hardwood flooring in the 2nd bathroom and entry doorways Jaime bought with her Christmas money. I've never done that before, so it should be fun, what could possibly go wrong??! ;)
McKenna is growning up fast. She's 2-1/2 months old already. She's starting to smile and giggle when you make funny faces or tickle her and she is trying to talk a little bit as well. It all comes out as "GGGOOOGGGDDDDRRRR!". Yeah, she's advanced. :-0 I've started sleeping back in our main bedroom again as she is almost sleeping through the night. Jaime feeds her at 9pm before we go to bed and then again at 5am or so.
Jaime went back to work for a few days at the beginning of the month and is kinda of hit and miss until our daycare starts up in February. We're still trying to figure out how we can work less and be at home with McKenna more when Jaime does go back to work. I think that will be a never ending battle.
Jaime, McKenna and I visited my mom in Moses Lake this weekend. My brother Shawn came down as well and we fixed up a few things around her house. "Grandma Joy" watched McKenna while Jaime, Shawn, and I went to see King Kong at the theatre. It was pretty good but waaaay too long. The CGI was excellent, Kong was realistic, and Jack Black was funny. All in all a 3-1/2 diaper rating out of 5.
Other recent movies and their ratings:
Wedding Crashers = 3-1/2 diapers
Red Eye = 4 diapers
Into the Blue = 4-1/4 diapers (most of that is for Jessica Alba)
Must Love Dogs = 4 diapers
Fantastic Four = 3-1/2 diapers (most of that is for Jessica Alba)
Nip Tuck (Season 2) = 4 diapers
Thankfully LOST is back on TV with new episodes now, if you haven't got hooked yet, it's not too late! (The Title of this blog is taken from the episode last week)
I hope all is well with you and yours and that you had a wonderful Christmas and New Years. I know ours was splendid.
Until next time....

What a year we have had! As I write this post I am holding the most beautiful baby in my arms. She is definetly the best gift I could have gotten for Christmas & I can't possibly explain what a joy it was spending her first Christmas with her. She is quickly beginning to show her own personality which is so much fun to see....she has the magnetic personality of her dads and the stubborn pout of her mom together they can be a leathal combo and both Mark & I are preparing for a life without the word 'No' in our vocab.
I am getting closer and closer to going back to work which makes me sad because I am going to miss out on so much of her firsts. I am half expecting the daycare to call us shortly after she starts going to tell us she is too high maintenance and they can't watch her so I will be forced to stay home :) She can be quite a handful but it is so worth the price. I can't imagine life without our little precious and can no longer remember what its like to not be a mom.......you never think that your life can literally change overnight but it does and when that happens it is the most wonderful event you could ever imagine. Being a mom is amazing, it is also the toughest job out there so I now have a new appreciation for all of those who care for children.
I hope everyone who reads this has a wonderful holiday season and is as fortunate as Mark & I have been this year. Thank you all for being so involved in our lives and for helping us out so much this year. We love you all.
Jaime

It's official Today's top news story "Gerber baby loses cutest baby in the universe competion to previously unknown angel McKenna Gwen Beadnell." Her prize is an endless supply of diaper changes and a lovely convertible crib complete with all the amenities a 0 year old may require.
I am having more fun with her as each day progresses and continue to be amazed with every thing she does. December 18th was her first official "non gas" smile and for the last three weeks she has been gloriously holding her head up on her own. Mark & I are getting pretty good at figuring out what she wants and although she still maintains her right to a quality temper tantrum, they are becoming fewer and farther between. It's amazing to me how routine she has become in her habits already, she wakes up within 5 minutes of her feeding times almost every time now <-not forgetting to wake me as well, isn't that sweet?! Around 9:30 am and 1:30pm every day we turn on Ray Charles and dance which she also reminds me of. Ray Charles and Brad Paisley calm her right down and I recommend to any having children in the future to find a few favorite musicians and listen to them the last few months of your pregnancy....your baby will be familiar with them like McKenna is. I plan on writing to Brad Paisleys fan club soon to thank him for all the times he saved us from impending cry fests. With McKennas first Christmas just around the corner Mark and I have been busy shopping and cleaning up. It's nice the first year of her life because I can buy her all practical stuff as she won't know the difference, this will be the first and last year I can do that I'm sure. It seems to be a theme this year of practical gifts because as a gift for our house Mark & I got a new improved whirlpool duet dryer, that's right eat your hearts out ladies it can dry plastic (including plastic tableclothes) and has a wrinkle guard so clothes never wrinkle. Since it can do 24 towels or 16 pairs of jeans at a time I plan on letting my laundry pile to the ceiling so I can baske in my squalor before I wipe it away. Let this be your warning if you plan on visiting. :) This year we got a frasier fir tree and we will soon post pics on our website of McKenna in front of it. It's pretty but already very very dead. Can't win em all. Well, to all who read this, Merry Christmas and New Year.

Jaime and I went to see Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe last Sunday while Jeni babysat for us. It was kinda weird the both of us being without McKenna for the first time. I was looking around the whole thinking there was something I should be doing. I had my cell on vibrate in my pocket with my hand on it the whole time making sure I didn't miss that "urgent" call.

The movie was great. The CGI animals were pretty realistic (one of the things that I was hesitant about), especially Aslan the main Lion, voiced by Liam Neeson. It's amazing what they can do nowadays. The story, if you don't know, has some fairly obvious religious undertones which coincide nicely with the Christmas season. It's certainly worthy of a theatre experience with the surround sound and so forth. I'd give it 4-1/4 out of 5 diapers.


We bought a little Christmas tree (5') on Saturday as well and I put up the Christmas lights around the house. We actually had snow on the ground for awhile, but now it's just really cold (for Seattle anyway, it's been below 32 at night and in the mid 40's during the day) I've almost got my Christmas shopping done although that doesn't account for much because I'm only getting stuff for Jaime & McKenna this year (sorry everyone else). Jaime has pretty much been done since July. We had wrapped presents all over the house for awhile now.

I finally finished the last math class that I have to take for my degree last week as well. I completely bombed the final but still managed to pull a 3.9 out of the class. Which leaves me with a 3.88 overall and still in the Phi Theta Kappa thing (which I pretty much just joined up for the plaque). I'm taking this quarter off to adjust to parenthood but plan to slowly get back into things in the near future.

Until Next Time,

Happy Holidays! from The Beadnell's.

We gave McKenna another bath last night.
She is just the most precious thing you've ever seen, ok...so I'm a little biased.
I posted some new pictures on our nellnell.com website. We almost lost her in a poker bet on Thanksgiving night, but luckily I won her back a little later on... More later on....Hope all is well!

So as you can see, I'm trying out some advertisements on this blog and also on my main website. I've already made a few bucks, and it's really easy to do. Please let me know when I've gone too far, I'll try not to over do it. But listen to this.....If someone signs up for NetFlix from the Ad on my sites, I get $9.00. The google ad under the netflix banner pays a couple buck per 1000 clicks and the ExpoActive ads on the right side pay out at $.05 per click! And then there is the Mozilla FireFox download, which pays $1.00 if someone downloads it through my site and starts up the Firefox browser. Also, if you have a website and want to advertise through google on it, you can sign up for Google AdSense through the very bottom link and when you make your first $100, they send me $100. All of these only pay out on unique IP Address clicks, so it's no use clicking multiple times to try and make me rich (although I appreciate the thought). How easy
Actually, I highly recommend both Netflix and Firefox. I use both very frequently.

In addition to the advertisements, I'm starting my own online store. Selling TShirts, Mugs, and so forth. I'm still working on the logos and pictures that are going to be on the stuff, so give me a week or so before you start buying tons of stuff! :) Should be fun to get Shirts and stuff made with McKenna on them or any other kind of silly stuff. If you have a design in mind, let me know and I'll add it to the store!

Thanksgiving was nice. It was Jaime, McKenna, myself and Jaime's Mom, Dad and Sister for dinner. Jaime had been cooking misc things throughout the week and then Jeni (Jaime's sister) came over to help with the turkey on Thanksgiving morning. We played poker after the food and Jeni's boyfriend Brian joined us. Lots of fun.
We actually went out shopping on Black Friday too, got up around 4 and went to the Fred Meyer sock sale and to the mall. It didn't really pan out too good though. It's hard to shop without any money! :)

On another, I love being a dad. It's just so fun to sit with her laying against my chest and to watch her little face scrunch up or smile or grimace while she sleeps. It makes all of the crying and poopy diapers worth it. I feel bad for Jaime now because when I come home from work sometimes she looks exhausted having been up with McKenna for most of the night and what not. (As I'm sleeping in another room during the work week).
I can't believe it's already been over a month! We got professional pictures taken with the three of us the other week. They turned out pretty good for the most part (if you take me out of them)



Besides that, on the movie front it's been pretty lackadaisical. I watched Murderball, which gets a 4 diaper rating. It was really interesting and gave me a different point of view on situations life throws at you. The Devils Rejects gets a 2 diaper rating. Pretty lame. Certainly not a kids movie or for those that don't like stupid horror/camp movies. It's the 2nd movie from Rob Zombie (House of 1000 Corpses was his first). Melinda and Melinda was an ok movie, a 2-1/3 diaper rating. I'm not a huge Woody Allen buff, and this plays like a semi typical Allen movie. Jaime and I have gotten hooked on another TV show as well, this time via Netflix. We thought we'd give Nip/Tuck (the first season) a try and really like it. It's not for the children but is pretty good TV, for that late night, drama type show; 4 diapers.
Jaime and I are hoping to go on a date this weekend if we can find a babysitter....Narnia comes out on Fri and we have been looking forward to seeing it for awhile. If you know our infatuation with the Lord of the Rings movies (I collect the swords and some memorabilia), J R R Tolkien and C S Lewis were friends and were in the same writers club in their youth. They shared ideas and often reviewed each other's ideas and stories. It should be a good movie.

Other than that, Have a great Holiday Season! And be Safe!
Happy Holidays,
Mark, Jaime, McKenna, Monster and Dakota.

I'm back to work now...After taking 2-1/2 weeks off to spend time with Jaime and our new little one, McKenna. Jaime is still at home for another couple months and has her hands quite full from what it sounds like. I wish I could be there as well to see the new everything is that I'll most surely miss. I'm also sleeping in another room because McKenna wakes up every few hours for feeding or cranky time. I keep telling Jaime she has to nap when Jaime naps during the day, hopefully she'll get some rest after the schedule we're trying to establish takes hold!

Our new little bundle of joy is so cute. Even when she's screaming. Which lately has been a lot. We've found that when she screams and you blow on her face, she stops for a second and raises her eyebrows and squints her eyes and look right at you as if to say "What the ?" and then continues to fuss. It's quite cute.

We thought she had an eye infection or pink eye or something because her left eye was gunking up all the time and was really red. We also thought that she had a fever and was taking her temperature with 3 different thermometers every few minutes. Jaime called the doctor and they said it was a blocked tear duct, happens in about 80% of newborns and isn't serious at all, just to keep cleaning the gunk with a wet cloth. Now why couldn't they have told us that before we freaked out for 14 hours straight??? :) I have a feeling there will be many, many more instances like that.

One thing I have to say is thank God for digital cameras. I would be so broke and in debt if I had to pay to develop all of the pictures we've been taking of her.
As we do every year, Jaime is cooking Thanksgiving dinner for the family. Although this year instead of the entire extended McConnell/Probst family we're just going to have Jaime's mom, dad, sister and friend as well as Jaime, McKenna and I. There will be lots of food, and hopefully some naps as well. I get Thursday and Friday off work, and have now homework to do over the weekend so that should be nice.

We've seen a new dvd's lately Bewitched gets 2-1/2 diapers. Christmas with the Kranks gets 2-1/2 diapers. House of Wax gets 2-1/2 diapers. Land of the Dead gets 3 diapers (just because it was so campy but still made seriously, and it had a guest cameo by the Shaun of the Dead director and lead actor). Also, we finally finished the first season of Veronica Mars which gets 5 diapers.

That's it for now, keeping checking out nellnell.com for new baby pictures and other fun stuff. Also, I've added some more links to other friends sites. Check them out when you have time.
Hope all is well with you and yours, and have a great Thanksgiving!

A Play by Play

• Wednesday Night
• 11/2/05 11pm. Slight water leakage, Jaime says "I think my water just broke"
• Thursday Morning
• 11/3/05 12am. Larger water leakage, Jaime says "My water just broke"
• 12:15am. Contractions 4-5 minutes apart, although they are not painful. Called Dr. Steinberg (OB/GYN), their office gave us the go ahead to go to the hospital and get evaluated.
• 1:30am. Checked into Stevens Hospital, got a room assigned (#711). Jaime got "gowned" and had her vitals taken. She was hooked up to a monitor for her and the baby. Contractions 3-4 minutes apart, still not painful. Tried to sleep a little.
• 3:00am. Contractions starting to hurt, still 3-4 minutes apart.
• 4:30am. Contractions hurting A LOT. 2-3 minutes apart
• 6:45am. epidural installed and Jaime is examined. 5 cm dilated & 75% effaced.
• 8:00am. An adjustment to the epidural placement (it was only working on her left side). Got a little rest, not sleep necessarily, just peaceful napping.
• 9:40am. Catheter installed. Jaime doesn't seem to be in too much pain, looks like the epidural adjustment worked.
• 9:55am. Examined, 8-9 cm dilated. 95% effaced. Dr. Siscoe's (the on call delivery doctor) guess is that we'll be holding our new baby around noon!
• 10:42am. Examined, 9-10 cm dilated "Anterior Rim" (Whatever that means). Our nurse Amber said our baby has a "cute head". :)
• 11:28am. Examined, 10 cm dilated. "Ready to Go". We'll start pushing as soon as the anesthesiologist gives her more medicine, it's starting to hurt more.
• 11:40am. More epi. medicine and they gave Jaime some oxygen in preparation for pushing.
• 11:55am. Starting pushing with the contractions.
• 12:37pm. Still pushing, nurse said our baby's hair is dark brown or black.
• 1:00pm. Still pushing, Jaime is in a lot of pain. The baby is in the correct head down position and her head is turned correctly, but her shoulders are turned so that they are hitting Jaime inside and won't come through easily.
• 1:30pm. Jaime headbutts Mark because I'm invading her space while trying to comfort her. (More to follow from Jaime's point of view)
• 3:00pm. We've got a beautiful baby girl! Welcome to the world McKenna Gwen Beadnell!
• Lots of tests and exams and waiting and talking ensue. (All normal for the baby, Jaime still has trouble with her calf muscle on one of her legs from the epidural, and lots of pain)
• Friday Afternoon
• 11/4/05 4:00pm. Discharged and head for home to begin our new life as a family! Where do we pick up the Instructional Handbook...?

So if you're counting that's:

• 16 hours of labor after her first water breakage \or
• 12 hours of labor after it started to hurt \or
• 3 hours 5 min of intense pushing

Everyone at Stevens was very nice and helpful. Although we would of loved to have Dr. Steinberg deliver our little one, we were left in very capable and gentle hands with Dr. Siscoe. All of the nurses throughout our 37-1/2 hr stay were great. At times we had up to 6 attending to us at the same time! So, thank you very much Stevens and staff! We very much appreciate it.

She's here! Finally :) McKenna Gwen Beadnell arrived to us at 3pm on November the 3rd, 2005. She weighs 8 lbs, 15 oz and is 20 inches long. Has a full head of black hair and is as cute as can be. (My newborn can beat up your newborn!) Jaime is doing pretty good, she had a tough delivery (long) and now has Strep Throat as well. She's been trying to get her rest, and I've been trying to do all I can to make sure she gets her rest. There are some thing I just can't do however (breast feed), although sometimes when I'm burping McKenna, she doesn't realize this and tries anyway.

Getting used to waking up every few hours has been difficult for both of us...and the poop that comes out of her....OH MY! The first 10 or so was this dark dark black sticky tar...I was thinking of patching up some road out front of the house with it. For those of you that have had babies I'm sure this is not surprising, but OH MY!...now we're in to a lighter brown watery kind....easier to clean up, but it doesn't always stay in the diaper! OH MY! In the last 3 days since we've been home we've done about 10 loads of laundry already. Anyways....enough of the poop. (I've got more stories if you want to hear about it, that means you Jeff)

So all is well, even better than well...it would be perfect if Jaime was feeling better. We're just so happy that McKenna is here and she's healthy and beautiful and ours!

The next blog will be a breakdown of our time at the hospital.


Until next time.....
Love,
Mark, Jaime, and McKenna

Remember to check out more pictures at: http://www.nellnell.com

One word can describe the last few weeks....overwelming. I am slowly becoming one of those "Hermit People" you see on talk shows that stay at home, blinds drawn only to remove themselves from bed to eat or use the lav. If I had much longer to go I may require a Maury Povich intervention. Lucky for myself (and Mark) we only have a short time until little Nell Nell is here. I have officially forgotten what my feet look like and am starting to forget what my legs look like as well. I am assuming that if I do get post partum depression it could have a lot to do with seeing my thighs again for the first time in months (I hope they break me in easy with the mirrors) . I am truly excited for the moment labor starts and can honestly say I am not afraid at all (yet) about the labor process....so those of you who told me your horror stories about labor have failed at your task to shock and bewilder HA! Today we visited a wonderful daycare and I think it may be the one we choose when the time comes. It's alot like a prison enviroment...low lighting, high tech surveillance and a yard out back to exercise in for half an hour a day. Brilliant! The other great news is that two of our best pals have just announced they to are expecting a rugrat (set to land sometime in April 06) so baby girl will have a pal to play with when Mark & I go out with our pals too! Play dates in our future...all signs point to yes!

12-1/2 actual days to the "due date" to go. However, on our last doctors visit on Tuesday the doctor said she'd be surprised if we went that long. Jaime and I are keeping our fingers crossed! Jaime is having a lot of BraxtonHicks contractions and feels like she's ready to go any moment. Although I think the baby will have the last word on the when part. We've found a pediatrician for the little one that comes highly recommended and isn't taking new clients unless it's by referral....but we got in :) Still looking for a child care place and going over all of the possibilities. Jaime is working a little less at work, but is still very tired at the end of even her shortest day. She takes lots of naps, and drinks a lot of water. We take walks on our breaks at work which I think helps a little bit.
I've been pretty busy lately with work and school. The last few weekends I helped Jeff put the start of a shop in his garage. It's a similar setup to mine in the design of the counters. His garage is fairly finished with drywall, so it looks a lot cleaner. It should be a good setup for him.
We haven't watched many movies lately, but I am renting the entire 1st season of Veronica Mars with Kristen Bell. It's a great series. 4-1/2 Diapers
We're also hooked on ABC's LOST. (Me more than Jaime, I think) There are TONS of cool websites and theory boards out there...it's really got a lot more to it than just the surface of the show. It's a great mystery to try and solve before the next installment airs. A Strong 5 Diaper rating.
If you've been watching you might want to take a look at some of the following websites:
http://www.oceanic-air.com/ this is a great site with lots of hidden "easter eggs" to discover
http://www.oceanicflight815.com/
http://www.lost-forum.com/index.php this site has some pretty interesting theories
http://lost-media.com/
http://thelostnumbers.blogspot.com/ some people have WAY too much time on their hands
http://www.thehansofoundation.org/ putting the clues together one by one.
http://www.dharmaindustries.com/

Well, until next time

So Amy (from work) hosted a coworker shower for Jaime last night. I think all but 4 women showed up from work (I even went to see what it was all about). Once again, everyone was very gracious in their gift giving to us and the baby. Amy did an excellent job in organizing things (as always). They played a few games and ate lots of goodies. Kathy and Kimberly had a cake made with an edible ultrasound picture of the baby on it. It was pretty cool....(actual picture of the cake to follow). Our house now looks like a Babys R Us showroom!

Last weekend we installed a new toilet in our main bathroom (the other wasn't flushing wellmost of the time and was constantly running). Jaime bought it as her birthday present from her mom and dad (Thank you Rich and Marilyn) And it should save us some on the water bill because it's a lot more energy efficient.
Let me tell you, it's a kings throne :)

Last Friday Jaime and I went to see A History of Violence w/ Viggo Mortensen (aka Aragorn). It was a little slow moving at times, and in my opinion the acting was not so great in parts. I think this had a little to do with the directing and the pace of it. But it was a great premise and I really like Viggo. There wasn't much violence in the movie, but when there was....holy cow...they made it matter. All in all, an ok movie, worth a matinee or a rent. 3-1/2 diapers.
Until next time....

So Jaime and I ventured to the Puyuallup Fair to take in the cotton candy, animals, and of course the Brad Paisley/Sugarland concert. It was lots of fun, although there HAS to be a better way to do the parking and traffic control in that town, Geesh! We saw lots of animals (both human and the animal type), ate lots of foods that we probably shouldn't, and walked around a little more than normal. All in all a fun outing.
The concert was great, Sugarland was good and Brad Paisley was awesome. He's just such a great performer and really funny. If you've never listened to the lyrics to his songs you should give him a go. You'll never guess who showed up at the concert and sang a song with Brad....no.....no....William Shatner...that's right, Captain Kirk himself. It was pretty funny. I guess Brad Paisley did a guest spot on his latest album and they sang that song together at the concert.
For my latest movie review, I'd highly recommend Shaun of the Dead, giving it a 5 diaper rating. Not for the kids, as it is pretty gory with lots of cussing....but a hilarious campfest movie none the less. And for the kids, Because of Winn Dixie. It wasn't really well acted, nor was it one of the best movies I've seen, but it was entertaining, in a 'oh look at that dog smile' sort of way. I'd give it a 2 diaper rating. Dave Matthews played a bit part in it (he should stick to singing), and Annasophia Robb, most notably from this years Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, was pretty cute.
School started up for me last night, my last math class required for this degree! I just hope I can finish it with a half way decent grade and without being away from Jaime and the baby too much.
All in all, everything else is going fairly smoothly. Jaime is starting to feel a little more tired and run down, but the baby is moving around a lot and seems to be in good health from what everyone can tell.
Until next time~


"Babies have big heads and big eyes, and tiny little bodies with tiny little arms and legs. So did the aliens at Roswell! I rest my case." -William Shatner

So.... Jaime had her first baby shower and let me tell you, Baby NellNell is going to be spoiled! I went over to my brother Shawn's house for the day and when I came back there were presents lined up against the wall almost to the ceiling.... Lots of blankets, clothes, and hats, and most of the "big ticket" items like a highchair, stroller, playpen, etc. It was very, very nice of everyone to be so thoughtful and generous, and to know that our little one is and will be so loved by everyone. Jeni and KD (Sister and best friend, respectively) put the shower on and from what I hear did an excellent job. There was scrapbooking, in which family and friend attendees made a custom page addressed to the baby for a future scrapbook. They also played a guess the poo game, where diapers were passed around with melted candy bars in them and the attendees had to guess what kind of candy bar it was. All in all it turned out great and we hope that everyone had a good time and want to thank everyone involved for the gifts and attention. And we still have another baby shower in the near future that our friend Amy is putting together with co-workers!

As for everyday life, Jaime and I have completed our child preperation classes and a pediatric CPR certification class. Jaime's belly is getting bigger, she's ready for the little one to come out. The baby is getting longer and bigger, which is pressing on Jaime's lungs and innards, at times making it hard for her to breath and sleep....but I guess that's normal?! We're still waiting to win the lottery, keep your fingers crossed :) School starts up for me again this coming Tuesday, I'm just going to be taking one math class, hopefully it won't be too much with everything else going on. I'm also taking Jaime on a date to a Brad Paisley/Sugarland concert at the Puyullap Fair this Saturday. It should be pretty fun, probably one of the last real "dates" we''ll have in awhile!

We watched Crash last weekend, with Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon and, Sandra Bullock ....an exceptional movie! I'd highly recommend it. A 5 diaper rating!

Well, until next time....