Rainy Day

poor addison has been cooped inside for a long time. i have many excuses for not wanting to go out with her: i'm pregnant and tired, it too hot, i need to get other things done, she need a nap, i need a nap, and the list goes on. well i am no longer pregnant, it's not hot anymore (in fact it sometimes is too cold), and addy needs to get out. so while charlene was sleeping i got addison and myself prepared for the beautiful rainy weather outside and we took the "bwella" out with us. here we are in our matching hats. love how she put her hands on her knees all by herself, she's a poser!she loved it so much she kept it on the rest of the afternoon - how adorable is this picture?

i let her get those pink pants wet, splash in the puddles, and touch the rainwater. showing kyle and i the "wocks" she discovers has become a favorite pastime and grandma mccleve has a big collection to look at. sometimes on our way out the door she'll even pick up chunks of cement and think it's a rock so she'll hold it in her hand for the entire car ride. it's so cute to look back and see her holding her special "wock". here she had to show me just about every rock there was in the backyard. she got so excited when i "ohh" and "ahh"ed everything she brought to me.then daddy came out and she asked him to take her to see spike and caden next door. so this is kyle walking her over. it was a fun day for her. she got to play outside with mommy and then with cousins.

Christmas Traditions

we just got back from kyle's parents house. addison is loving that maeli and cameron are in town and is so worn out from all the "cousin plays" as kyle likes to call them. we watched "tangled" in the theater while grandma and grandpa took care of cameron, addison, and charly. later for dinner we of course went to the mckay favorite - texas roadhouse. we will have a movie gift exchange with all the mckays tomorrow night.

kyle took several pictures and heather made me crack up looking at them because she is making a different face in each one. addison and maeli are around the tree playing with toys. cameron is also on the other side of the tree passed out on the floor like grandpa on the couch and shawn who already went to bed. colin is playing the piano and everyone else can be seen in the picture. it was perfect to unwind next to the christmas tree, listening to music.

we had our annual christmas parties this year with both sides of my family too. we always eat first (a potato bar with the mccleves and soup bar with the browns) and then gather around for the fun gift exchange. friends were invited to both family parties and we had a great time with everyone.

this year, before we started opening gifts we heard funny christmas formal stories from jalee and devin who are both going to mesa high, and each had horrible dates. it was so fun to hear the stories from them - i'm glad they can laugh about them!
above: dad trying on the gift he went home with. amazing! below: santa leaves gifts for the grandchildren under eighteen. always one of the highlights of the night.addy opens her santa gift - books, her favorite!i wasn't thinking and forgot my camera so i grabbed these photos from alison's blog. the brown party was at clint and debbie's this year, my favorite place to have it at. new this year was the fire pit in the backyard. it was a big hangout and addison loved it.

above: cute grandma and grandpa! it's their first christmas together and we couldn't be happier to see them so happy too! below: the gift to steal this year. matt and celeste ended up with it, they're lucky!

(braiden, celeste, dylan (cj's baby) and matt's dad.)

some of the cousins having a fun time together. thanks for the pictures alison!

Happy Holidays

i made this christmas card on our computer. unfortunately it's too late to send it out now. hopefully i get around to it sooner next year. have the merriest!

Nap Time

we take advantage of any time that we can squeeze a nap into. kyle and i LOVE naps and sleeping in. addison has yet to realize how special they are, but charly seems to understand perfectly. we will try to establish a family nap time soon. it will be glorious.

notice in these pictures how tan charlene is right now. soon she will be whiter than white itself thanks to her mom and dad.

like i said, addison dreads nap time right now.

Because There Are Never Enough Pics

adding a baby to the family has made our family more tired and prone to napping with her. the other night i was the only one left awake just before 6 pm. bedtime came pretty early, not a usual occurence here.

my three yummies: charlene
addison

kyle

cute huh? i love them all. and because i know you need to see more pictures of charly and addy, here are some more.

addison loves being a big sister. i can't leave them alone yet because addison loves on charlene a little too much and doesn't realize her own strength yet. sure love seeing them together though.

the grandbabies are the center of attention everywhere:

beautiful charly mae. those chubby cheeks are amazingly soft and so kissable!

these are my beautiful babies.

Kyle Turns 26

four days after our little charly was born we celebrated kyle's birthday. it's gonna be crazy fun to have two birthdays so close together. we didn't do any big celebration, but we did go over to kyle's parents where they made his favorite dinner - taco soup and homemade rolls. addison helped kyle blow out the 26 candles on his cake after dinner. to her that was better than actually eating the dessert and afterward, she spent some time mutilating the cake with the spatula and candles. it's always fun when you're allowed to be messy!

we haven't gone out yet to pick up kyle's present. he wants black sunday shoes and reef sandals. no toys for kyle, seems strange to me.

Love This Girl

it took a second for her to cry when she was born and she still doesn't cry much. charlene mae mckay was born on monday morning just a few minutes after eleven. my membranes were stripped last tuesday, the day before i was 38 weeks pregnant, and i was scheduled for an induction sunday night. i checked into the hospital at eleven pm sunday and after monitoring the baby and myself for a while, my nurse hooked me up to pitocin at 1:40 am. then she told me that i was dilated to a three. i was so mad i had only progressed 1 cm since my membranes were stripped. i called kyle (who dropped me off at the hospital and drove a mile away to my parents home with addison - stinker) to let him know what was going on. then i went to sleep.

remembering that my contractions became painful within 15 to 20 minutes with addison's birth, i wasn't expecting to sleep for very long. it surprised me every time the nurse came in to check on me that i still wasn't in pain. thirty minutes, forty five minutes, and hour and a half passed without any pain. i could feel my stomach tighten every couple minutes, but there was no pain. when i compared that to addy's birth, i knew this labor was going to be longer than hers. at four a.m. i finally started to feel more pressure with each contraction and knew that pain would soon follow. i called kyle and told him to come to the hospital.

but charlene was in no hurry. when kyle got to the hospital, any pain that was starting to build left completely and we both fell back asleep.

dr. huff came in at 7:15 monday morning and broke my water. at that time i was dilated to a four and was upset with how slow i was progressing. i just knew this baby had to come within the hour like addison came 30 minutes after my water broke. this labor couldn't have been more different than addison's. one hour later and i was just starting to get pain with my contractions. i was so excited! gradually that pain became more and more intense and they continued to give me more pitocin. at 10:30 i asked for an epidural and had it at 10:45. my experience with the epidural was much better this time. with addison's birth i had a severe case of the itches for several hours, so when i told the anesthesiologist her answer was to give me less of the drug fentanyl. because of the lower dose of fentanyl, my epidural wasn't as strong and i could partly feel each contraction throughout the rest of the labor. it was perfect because i could feel when to push later on with out being in pain. my nurse checked my progress at 10:50 and told me i was dilated to a 9 1/2. she figured i was probably a seven or eight when i got the epidural.

five minutes later (10:55) she checked me again and told me i was complete! i was so excited. dr. huff came right in and i was pushing at eleven. charlene was born at 11:06. just over five minutes of pushing, it was so fast! i got that epidural at the perfect time. i wasn't in as much shock as i was with addison, but i remember right before i saw her i couldn't imagine what she could possibly look like except for exactly like addison. it was a shock to see how different she was.

she came perfect with all her finger and toes and i got to hold her right away. charly has a sweet bunch of long hair on the crown of her head. her ears lie straight back (thank goodness). she has adorable chubbiness tucked away in every little crevice possible. charly is completely her own person and looks nothing like addison or any of the mckay's except for her slight dimples. when looking at baby pictures, she shares similarities with my sister kenna and me.

interesting thing i learned from dr. huff about big babies: they mature slower than small babies and are happy to stay in the womb while small babies are under stress and mature quicker so they can come out sooner. so i have happy, healthy babies! as delivery approaches, babies shed their coating of vernix, but charlene was born with a thick coating if the creamy vernix all over, indicating that she hadn't started to plan her exit yet. if she had come on her due date (dec 15), she would've weighed about the same as addison (9 lb 7 oz); and if she would've gone four days overdue like addy, charlene would have been around 10 lb 1 oz! thank goodness i was induced!
quick facts:
name: charlene mae mckay
born: december 6th, 2010 at: 11:06 a.m.
weight: 8 lbs 14 oz height: 21 1/4 inches
hair: long and dark

note: even though she weighed less than addison, she measured bigger. addison was 21 inches long and charly was 1/4 of an inch longer. addy's head and chest were both 12 inches while charly's head was 14 1/2 inches and chest was 12 inches. i had three deep tears with addison and no tears with charly. healing has been a night and day difference so far. i wrote with addy's story that my recovery was great, and now i wonder why i said that. it was horrible; this recovery has been great!
charlene was named after her great grandma charlene brown (the one that was recently married) and her great-great grandma ella mae mccleve. we fell in love with that name a few months back when i realized that by naming her after grandma charlene and calling her charly, we could pay tribute both to my grandma and my late grandpa charles. how many people can do that?!

charlene is a beautiful baby, hugged and kissed to death by big sister addison who loves everything about her. two beautiful girls. i am completely happy!

Grandma's Dinner and Wedding

grandma and mel got married for time in the mesa temple today. it was beautiful and am so happy kyle and i were able to attend.the dinner on thursday was a lot of fun with good food, family and entertainment. mel rented a kareoke machine and he and grandma took a turn with it first. cousin kyle brown broke it in for everyone else and uncle carson was the constant kareoke monitor helping everyone get a go at the mike.

addison had so much fun running around the cultral hall with her cousins. it was so cute to see her little crack keep showing because her underwear couldn't keep her pants up. love that girl, she's cute. this is some of the family that attended the ceremony today. the new brown-stradling family. the first family get together will be in a couple of weeks for the yearly caroling party. it's gonna be fun.

now our family is is larger and i am so excited. family get togethers will be so fun! couldn't be happier for the happy couple. love you grandma!

Addison's Life in Pictures

addison is so old! i have been looking at old pictures of her, and remembering some funny things she used to do. i miss all of it. i can't believe she will be two in february - i don't think it's fair how fast she is growing up. she's such a sweet girl and she'll be a great big sister.

i gathered some old photos of her since the day she was born. beautiful. funny. charming. all words that have and continue to describe addy. the pics are in order from newest to oldest(backwards, i know). she's perfect in all of them.

December 2010
November 2010

October 2010

September 2010august 2010

July 2010

June 2010

march 2010

February 2010
January 2010

December 2009
November 2009

October 2009

September 2009

august 2009

July 2009

June 2009

may 2009
march 2009

February 2009

i miss how little she used to be. there were so many cute things she used to do, but has since grown out of them. i can't wait to do everything all over again!