No Labor Yet

38 weeks tomorrow! i went to the doctor today and he stripped my membranes for me. totally forgot to ask him what i was dilated to and now it's KILLING me curious! doc made an appointment for me to be induced at the hospital on sunday (december 5th) at 10 pm. so this baby will probably be born sometime monday morning. ideally, i will go into labor on my own, but having fears of recovering like last time, i'm fine with delivering a week and a half early.

addy was so funny at the appointment. she usually cries when the nurse takes my blood pressure thinking that they are hurting me, and sobs "MOMMY!" today, though she was very calm and kept a close eye on me, watching my reaction to getting my blood pressure taken. later, after doc left the room, addison, who watched everything the doc did, walked over to me and lifted the over sized napkin from my lap to see what the doctor was looking at! from her angle she could only see up to my knees, but it it made me laugh. kyle got embarrassed even though we were alone and told me to not let addison do that. it didn't bother me though, i thought addison mimicking the doctor was so cute and hilarious! when she saw me laugh, she started to laugh too and i had to kiss her.

so far today (11 pm now) i have jumped on the tramp and walked a little with no obvious change. i've had only two small braxton hicks contractions the whole day! i knew not to get my hopes up from my experience with addison when i still had to be induced almost a week after my membranes were stripped. hopefully i won't have to wait and go on pitocin!

McKay Family Time

for every person that celebrates a bithday in the mckay family, that person gets to choose what they want for breakfast as well as where they want to go out for dinner that night. kyle and i didn't eat breakfast with his family, but we went with them that night when shawn chose to go to King's Fish House for dinner.

we got home, sang happy birthday, had cake, and roasted marshmellows. addison was too excited to roast any, she ate them right off the skewer. the rest of the night was fun with grandchildren hiding in forts while being chased by kyle and shawn trying out his present - a remote controlled helicopter.

it's so fun having everyone in town. they're all leaving this weekend, but will be back in a week and a half to two weeks for christmas!

Thanksgiving Feast 2010

thanksgiving this year = perfect. i got to sleep in until 11:30. the house was already clean in anticipation of family coming over (well coming up stairs), and all the food i was in charge of was already cooked as well.

above: L-R: jalee, heidi, kerstyn, casey, elissa, darwin, chad, mcall and caden. opposite: mom, dad, kinsey, loren, logan, connor, connie, brookie, and jenell. below: grandma, kevin, and jenell gather around the food.

the mccleve's ate at 1:00 on our back porch. the weather was perfect - even getting a little chilly once the breeze started. of course the food was great - yams (look forward to those every year), turkey, green bean casserole, rolls, salads, mashed potatoes and gravy, ham, and cranberry relish. i just learned this thanksgiving, that cranberry relish was for your turkey! who knew? i always have eaten my relish with my rolls and i guess kyle's always done the same too. relish on your turkey? that sounds so weird!

kinsey - still toothless

of course addison wasn't much of an eater until dessert came. cookies, cupcakes, chocolate delight, and a pumpkin pie were among our choices. i assumed everyone would bring a pie, so i made chocolate delight because who doesn't need a little chocolate. turns out everyone thought like me and there was only one pumpkin pie from darwin - thank goodness my mom brought a second just in case and i made a sweet potato pie the day before.

above: michelle and jesse concentrated on their food. below: kinsey, my dad, and my mom finishing up. mom wasn't too happy getting her picture taken.

after everyone one was full on good food, we started digesting in the living room and soon there were three ipads being played with and passed around. about that time, kyle and i left for his parents' home.

as always, kyle's dad showed me all the food they had and told me to help myself, but i was already having trouble breathing from all the food i had already eaten. so kyle and i sat down in the living room and started talking with the family already full on turkey. kyle's cousin emily and husband spencer came down from utah. i loved talking to her about her pregnancy. she is due in early april with two twin boys dallin and monson - love those names! i'm so excited for them!

the mckay feast with kyle's dad and cousin robert looking over it.

everyone was impressed with addison who is completely potty trained now. she is doing great, i just hope she doesn't go back to diapers once baby mac comes - which i hear is not uncommon. addy's favorite person was probably uncle kirt, who she was so excited to see. she yelled "DTURT!" all day and mostly just wanted to be on his lap. i think kirt was secretly pleased with this."DTURT!" addison is getting so big!

dil, exhausted from eating the turkey. cousin leroy won the weight-gaining contest this thanksgiving by eating 7 lbs worth of food.

stephanie and bobby taking yummy leftovers home

when i went to bed i found a thankful note from kyle on my pillow. i love how thoughtful he is. not only is he handsome and has the cutest babies, but he also is so sweet and caring and i know that those things aren't always packaged together!

mckay family. november 25th, 2010

thanksgiving has been perfect. this year i gave thanks for:

• kyle: husband and father extordinaire


• addison: most adorable and quickest learner


• healthy pregnancy: can't wait to meet this baby soon


• healthy moms: both our moms have been told this year that they are in COMPLETE remission from wegner's disease and ovarian cancer, two miracles.


• country and freedoms: and all those that lead and protect us


• gospel: the one thing that never changes and makes me happy no matter what happens
  
  

hope you had a wonderful day of thanks with the ones you love!

Addison's Dress and Accident

i love having my sewing machine fixed! i found a tutorial online that teaches you how to repurpose a man's t-shirt into a dress and three weeks ago i made this for addison:she wore it to church today with some white stockings. it's not perfect, but considering i haven't made a clothing item since i was in fourth grade, i was pretty happy with it.addison went to church in underwear today! she's done with potty training, but has trouble going poops on the potty. she's very good at telling us that she need to go poo-poo, but when we sit her down on the potty she'll get a scared look on her face and say "no!" the poor girl has sometimes even held it for a day or so because she's so scared. i put a diaper on her and told her to to poops in that last week, but an hour later she still hadn't gone. then, out of the blue, she ran to me in the office yelling "POO-POO!" so we went into the bathroom. when she saw the potty she started shaking her head and crying. i told her to just go in her diaper she had on, but i think she was afraid of getting in trouble. she started running around the bathroom on her tip toes and crying, trying to hold it. i felt so bad for her, but she wouldn't listen to me when i told her it was okay to go in her diaper. then all of a sudden she stopped crying, bent forward slightly, and her face went dark red. she couldn't hold it any longer. the past three days have been much better and i think she understands where to go now.

today she wore her new dress to church with panties and stockings. kyle took her potty just before and after the second. after church they came and waited for me to finish talking to several people in the YW's room. then megan oliver got my attention when she asked me if addison was potty trained and pointed to addy. i looked over and to my disappointment saw a huge puddle on the carpet between addison's feet. she was looking at the puddle, like she was curious about it along with megan's two little girls. so kyle took her panties and stockings off and cleaned her up while i soaked up the nice little puddle addison left behind. after seven or eight trips back and forth from the bathroom i was done. of course everyone who walked past me was wondered why i was on my hands and knees and asked me what i was doing. i think the whole ward knows by now that my baby marked her territory in the church building. all well.
now on to happy news. i went to the doctor on wednesday and found out i was 85% effaced and 2 cm dilated! hopefully this time around, i'll go into labor early and on my own. in the above picture (taken today) i am 36 weeks, three days along. three and a half weeks left. at this point, baby mac is so big that i often have to push my stomach back in where she is poking out to relieve the uncomfortableness - is that even a word? i'm hoping she'll be no bigger than eight pounds. cross your fingers for me.sweet addison kisses are the best thing in life - i can't get enough.

Picnic at the Park

above: addison sliding with daddy - she love him so much!

we went to freestone park to have lunch, play on the playground, and feed the ducks. we spent some time there and i had so much fun watching addison get out of the house. kyle and i don't have much more time having a family of only three, so i really love the time we have to dote on addison.

above: throwing the bread to the duck like daddy. below: kyle holds addison as she leans over the pond to feed a particular duck.

kyle: a handsome and playful daddy. i dare you to tell me he isn't yummy.

she is so special! look at that tongue stick out in concentration! love it!

i'm a darn lucky girl to have such a beautiful family!

Our Little Michaelangelo

addison is becoming an aspiring artist and coloring is her medium. unfortunately her creativity sometime shows in places where mommy and daddy don't appreciate it like she thinks they should. above and below: addy colors on the dry erase board in the office. today while mommy and daddy were busy, she found a dry erase marker and colored all over the walls and tv. after a time out and many tears, she tried her best to help clean it up.

What a Week!

that was kyle's facebook status today after getting back from a week of babysitting four extra kids. this job was harder than usual because we didn't know the family prior to babysitting them. that meant not only were we getting used to the usual things that come along with babysitting, but we were also getting to know these kids, starting with their names.

kyle and i are worn out from all the driving around, extracurricular activities, and entertaining four extra kids. thanks goodness housekeepers came three days that week - what a blessing. kyle thought so too and told me someday he will get a house keeper for me. i just say what my parents told me - you don't need a housekeepers when you have children! i always hated that.

addison loved having older siblings for the week. the youngest was three and even though they didn't always share and get along, i think they both had a lot of fun. kyle jokingly asks me every time we have a babysitting job whether i really want any more kids. i always say of course! it's nice right now, though, that we only have one - almost two - because we're a lot more mobile.

one thing kyle and i really liked about this family that we sat for was their morning routine. they had a cd they would start as soon as they woke up. the cd went through the list of things they needed to do before they were ready to leave for school. make bed, say prayers, get dressed, shower, eat, brush teeth, and have family prayer. between each job, they would have a certain number of songs that would play so they knew how much time they had for each job. the whole thing took about 45 minutes from the time they got up. pretty good. kyle got them going each morning for me and he said that cd is what made it possible for them to get to school on time. if only my mom had something like that when my sisters and i were little!

babysitting for other families is great, because you learn things that you can take back with you to your own family.

taken today. 34 weeks, 4 days. i had a lot of back pain this week, making taking care of four extra kids even harder. ironically, when our job is done, so is my pregnancy discomfort.

Pumpkin Carving Dinner Party

i love surfing the internet and getting ideas for parties, crafts, food and all kinds of fun stuff. i always save the pictures i find and some info about the project. since kyle got my sewing machine fixed for my birthday, i have worked on a couple of my sewing crafts and i used my cousin chantell's bridal shower as an excuse to make another craft.

above: the key hanger i made for chantell last month. one of the first craft things i done since i started searching them out.

some of the most exciting ideas i have collected have been themed dinner dates. some are for friends and family and others are just for my hubby and i. i came across one of these themed dinner parties that centered around fall which i loved. because halloween was just a few days after my party, i decided as an activity, we would carve pumpkins.

i planned for a set number of people and made individual servings. the main course was white bean and sausage stew served in pumpkin bowls. there were many ingredients - some of which i had never heard of or used, but it was fun to try and it turned out so good. i thought using pumpkins as bowls made the dinner much more fun, but that's just my opinion.

see the pumpkin centerpiece in the above picture? i made that too. it was my second attempt - my first was way too ugly to use as decoration so it's a dry board eraser now.

above: L to R. chantell and chad page, nathan and aleece martinez, michelle and jesse woodbury, and of course kyle and i at the end.

two of our guests brought the sides - a yummy salad and rolls while the other helped me out making some of the pumpkin bowls. kyle set the table - kyle has an eye for decorating sometimes, funny huh - and bought IBC root beer and cream soda. after we ate, we started the pumpkin carving. we had lots of laughs while we carved and ate candy. addison even came out and helped kyle and i with our pumpkin carving. she's too cute. right before everyone went home i brought out individual pumpkin pies with homemade whip cream - so good. i forgot to take pictures of the pies, but it's okay because the decorations i made out of dough and put on top of them didn't turn out. when kyle asked me what the clump of dough on top of the pies was, i told him it was suppose to look like a witch's hat and he laughed. it was that pathetic. all well, it's the taste that counts and i think it got an A+. i had so much fun doing my first themed dinner party. i'll have to think what my next one will be about - after the baby comes of course.