Here it is!
The smile I talk about but rarely capture in a picture. It melts my heart everytime!
Enjoy!
Pretty girl
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Picture of the Week *Meeting Santa*
December 2, 2012 by · Leave a Comment
Santa Success!
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This weekend we took Makenzie to meet the Jolly man from the North Pole and we were able to accomplish what we set out to do in one attempt, hooray!! We took her to an awesome little toy store called Bloomsbury Lane Toy Shoppe right in downtown Lancaster and it was a great experience! WNY Mommies, I highly recommend going here. There was no line, there were no fees, and we even got to meet the Mayor of Lancaster himself. Talk about dedication to small businesses in the town.
Here are a few pictures of Makenzie with Mr. Claus. She did great in the beginning but then got a little bit nervous. I’m pretty sure the tears were caused by her inability to vocalize everything on her list — new leg warmers, the end of the NHL lockout and endless Fancy Feast buffet for her big sister, Lex. The poor girl just couldn’t express it all at once!
So far, so good!
Minor meltdown
Shortly after the second picture, we called it a day and headed home… but not before our free family caricature! How great is this!?!?
Love those chubby cheeks on our girl!
So, it looks like our holidays are off to a great start. Hoping yours are just as jolly!
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Pictures of the Week *Giving Thanks with our little turkey*
November 29, 2012 by · Leave a Comment
Almost December?!? But where did November go? Before another month flies by, I want to post about our Turkey Day week. Denny was off work and we had a full week of family fun!
Here are some highlights:
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Makenzie’s 1st trip to Ohio!
We went to Cleveland for a night and Makenzie got to meet lots of family. Not only did our girl travel well, but Denny and I also fared okay. I was so nervous about all the “what ifs” while traveling with an infant that I was up at 4 AM before we left to check and double-check everything (we are such rookies). For any new moms, my best advice is to pack some extra outfits and the Stain Stick (especially if your baby shares her excitement in an explosive way like Kenzie does).
Makenzie and her always hilarious & crafty Aunt Lorraine
Makenzie meeting her cousins in town from Germany, so fun! Come back soon!
Makenzie’s GREAT grandparents. What a lucky lady to have 6 grandparents!
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Makenzie’s 1st Biggest Party Night of the Year!
Having two parents that went to one of the Top Party Schools in the Nation puts a lot of pressure on Makenzie, but on Thanksgiving Eve our little one managed to toss back a few bottles in the wee hours of the night! Party on baby girl!
Just about to pass out after a few Breastmilk Lites
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Makenzie’s 1st McGee Thanksgiving!
On Thanksgiving morning (after we started the turkey of course) we got to snuggle with our girl and watch the parade! I loved the parade as a kid and I can’t wait until Makenzie can enjoy it just as much. Then she gave us the ultimate reminder of why we are so thankful, a HUGE melt-your-heart grin (bonus – we actually captured it on film). Denny’s parents came to town and we had a great meal and Makenzie got some special time with her MaMaw and PapPap.
Can you handle the cuteness??
Kenzie and Mamaw. “Can you say pierced ears, Makenzie?”
The girl was passed out by the end of the day! Apparently she overate too.
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Makenzie’s 1st Quilty Thanksgiving
My parents and my sister and her family came up Saturday for another celebration! With 2 little kiddos under 18 months, it was a great (and tiring) end to the week. Kenzie LOVES her cousin Ryan and is super excited for another little boy cousin arriving around St. Patty’s Day.
Fun times!
Now that Turkey Day is over, we can tell Ryan all about Santa. 🙂
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So now it’s on to Christmas and New Year’s… We’re trying to enjoy every moment because it is Makenzie’s 1st holidays and the end of my maternity leave. Without sounding cheesy, we can’t say just how thankful we are to have such wonderful friends, family and beautiful baby girl!
See you in December!
Pictures of the Week **So Thankful!**
November 17, 2012 by · Leave a Comment
Maybe it was because I rocked Makenzie to sleep tonight and fell in love all over… Maybe it’s the crazy hormones (yes, still)…. Or maybe it’s just the warm fuzzies I get thinking of the upcoming holidays. But regardless of the reason, I feel very thankful tonight!
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I haven’t been great about updating this blog, or returning calls & messages, or finishing Thank you notes. In fact I haven’t been great at much lately (the Health Dept. would be scared of my kitchen floors right now) but I have been great at spending lots and lots of time with our sweet baby girl, and taking pictures to prove it.
So I thought I would make a quick slideshow of why we are so incredibly thankful this Thanksgiving! She will be 7 weeks on Turkey Day and she is getting so big and changing everyday! See for yourself…
Happy Thanksgiving from the McGees!
(click here)
Wishing you and your families a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving!
May your dinners be yummy, may your pants be elastic and may your Black Friday shopping adventures be fabulous!!
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Pictures of the Week *Makenzie is a month old*
November 11, 2012 by · 1 Comment
Happy One Month Birthday Makenzie Ruth!
(Mommy confession… it was actually last Sunday but I’m totally behind in everything)
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How did the past month go so quickly?! Our baby is already growing and changing so much!
Here is what Makenzie has been doing:
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Taking her one month photos! She didn’t love the day I put her in a tutu (clearly) so we got took a few more shots a couple of days later
- One month photo shoot, take 1!
- One month photo shoot, take 2!
- (Sadly the 1 month picky sticky got ripped during failed attempt 1, please envision her wearing it in this picture)
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Growing! Our little Beanette was 8 lbs 3 oz at birth and has grown to 10 lbs at her one month check-up. Way to go baby girl! She is pretty much out of her newborn clothes (yes, I cried) and into the next size.
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Enjoying Tummy time. She loves her playmat and does pretty well at holding up her head.
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Visiting friends and family! We are slowly but surely getting better at leaving the house. So far Kenzie has visited lots of our friends, cruised around the mall, enjoyed a lunch downtown and can practically drive to Target on her own. No matter where we go she can’t fight sleep.
- Out & about!
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Meeting her cousins! We’ve been loving all of our visitors and Kenzie was thrilled to meet Deegan, Connor and Ryan. I’m sure they’ll teach her lots of tricks.
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Smiling!! This is her newest and BEST trick. We haven’t captured it on camera but I promise it would melt your heart.
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That’s a quick recap of her first month of life. It is AMAZING how much we have learned since the day she was born, and we continue to find out more about Makenzie and being parents each day. We love her SO much and we can’t believe how fast time is flying. We are looking forward to many more adventures in the future!
Pictures of the Week *Happy Halloween!*
October 30, 2012 by · 1 Comment
What’s Bigger than the election and Bigger than SuperStorm Sandy?…
Makenzie’s 1st HALLOWEEN!!
(It’s honestly not bigger than either of the aforementioned events, but it’s pretty important to us )
Ever since I found out we were having an October baby I dreamed about taking her to Pumpkinville, a huge farm a few towns over full of corn mazes, live animals, crafts and thousands of pumpkins!
I envisioned a crisp fall day… I envisioned Denny and I dressed in fall colors… And I envisioned pushing Kenzie in the stroller while we kicked the fall leaves and sipped pumpkin spice latte…
And then we had Makenzie and got real. We realized bringing a newborn to a giant farm to pick out a pumpkin, in between feedings nonetheless, was not happening.
Enter Plan B… the convenient ice cream stand down the street that sells pumpkins and bales of hay. Hold the lattes, we’ll take the pumpkin express please!
So here she is on the big day of picking out her first pumpkin…
She was so excited she slept right through it all!
Denny and his little pumpkin
I might be partial but check out how adorable she is!!
And what’s Halloween without a costume?!? Yes, we may have deprived Makenzie of her first trip to pumpkinville but we’re certainly going to dress her up for the big occasion! We made a few trips to Target and Babies R Us to scope out the adorable infant costumes – pumpkins, ladybugs and bumblebees – but we couldn’t commit to any of these. Then one night at about 4 AM while I was feeding her, my sleep-deprived eyes spotted her red and white striped onesie in her closet, and BOOM her first Halloween costume idea was born…
Meet the Little (and cutest) Where’s Waldo!!
Just try and find that babe in the midst of all of her toys!
A costume close-up
We’re pretty excited for the big day tomorrow! She might not make it out to Trick or Treat, but we’ve done our best to capture the big moments of Makenzie’s 1st Halloween (okay, we haven’t yet carved that pumpkin, but we’ve still got 26 hours and 46 minutes and we work quite well under pressure).
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Happy Halloween to you!! May you have a wonderful holiday and get lots of delicious candy!!
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Pictures of the Week *Parenting Lessons*
October 22, 2012 by · Leave a Comment
I try to make this blog as real as possible, so I figured it would be entertaining to have a post about the reality of the first 18 days of being parents. We read the books, took the classes, listened to the advice, but now the real learning is taking place. And as much as we absolutely ADORE and LOVE her, it doesn’t necessarily mean we have all the answers. It’s like the movie Rudy… as much as he loved the game of football, he wasn’t destined to be the starting QB.
So here we are into day 18 of Makenzie Season. We aren’t first-string parents yet, but we are working our butts off and putting in the time. Makenzie is growing and doing great, and we continue to learn. Here is the highlight reel:
Lesson #1 – Never take for granted the stuff in life that used to be easy
The simple act of showering is not so simple anymore. Moms, any other advice on how to get clean when you the only one at home with a babe?
My morning view from the shower… luckily on this morning Kenzie was snoozing. I’ve had a few showers cut short by a screaming babe.
Lesson #2 – Dads are very innovative
When Dad’s in charge, never underestimate a good place for Makenzie to rest when you need both hands to cook dinner… case in point, her bathtub (even if she already took her bath for the day)
All swaddled and ready for a snooze in the bathtub!
Lesson #3 – Technology is your friend!
I have to be honest on this one. I couldn’t get through a day as a Mom without a smart phone. If I didn’t have a nursing app I would have no idea when Makenzie ate last. If I didn’t have a white noise app the poor girl would probably never sleep. Lullaby, schmullaby… my daughter only wants the consistent soothing noise of water and fans putting her to sleep. Perhaps she can already recognize that I’m a terrible singer?
Lesson #4 – Life is Not a Norman Rockwell photo
What Mom doesn’t envision life with her newborn baby as a series of Normal Rockwell photos??
Don’t get me wrong, we’ve had our share of sappy family moments… check out this picture; it kind of makes you think we are the Perfectsons, right?
Now let’s get real!!! Yes, we love each other. Yes we adore Makenzie. Yes we try to make our Normal Rockwell dreams a reality as much as possible, BUT this is real life, not a storybook. Take for instance Makenzie’s first photo shoot. We had an absolutely AMAZING photographer ready to go, but I didn’t time it right and Makenzie was a hungry baby (oops! deduct 10 points for Mom of the Year). Check it out:
We’re going to need a lot more than air brushing to make this a holiday card!
Luckily, Jessica (the amazing photographer), managed to get some unbelievable shots (see above the screaming baby photo) but I sure will try to manage her feeding time better next time. Live & learn!
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So for now my lesson is that I better stop blogging because this baby girl is hungry. Sending everyone a lesson-filled and happy week!
Pictures of the Week *The First Ten Days*
October 14, 2012 by · 2 Comments
Hi friends!
Mommy and Daddy have been really busy taking care of me so I thought I would help out and write this post. Since I’m only ten days old don’t pay much attention to my punctuation and spelling.
So far I’m really liking this place called earth! It’s much drier than my last home and I get to wear all kinds of cute clothes. Check out my outfit on the day I came home from the hospital. That was such a fun day! All the nurses waved good-bye to me and then I got to see my home, my room, and meet my big sister Lexi. She’s pretty furry (I hope it’s not genetic) and doesn’t seem super excited about me yet. I’m sure we’ll be BFF’s in no time.
Going home, wheee!!!
My days are really busy. I try to get lots of beauty rest although Daddy tells me I’m already the prettiest baby girl ever. Then I spend lots of time eating. Mommy and I sit in the big chair in my room and listen to the Lullaby station on Pandora. She says it’s the best app ever, but I’m not sure what that means. The other day we heard a song called The Rainbow Connection and it made Mommy cry (she seems to cry more than me and I’m the baby).
Snuggle time with Daddy! He’s the best!
I have been meeting all kinds of fun people too! There are lots of cool girls that live on my street and they want to hang out with me, yay! I hope they can give me some hair tips. After Mommy and Daddy give me a bath my hair gets fluffy and sticks up a lot. I might get made fun of at daycare if something doesn’t change.
Brrr!
This week my MaMaw and PapPap came from a place called Pittsburgh to meet me. They held me super tight and MaMaw brought me my very first Steelers cheerleader outfit! I think I’ll wear it for Halloween.
I LOVE MaMaw and we even have the same middle name. How cool!
I Love PapPap too!
While they were in town Mommy had a really nice lady come over and take my pictures. Guess who wasn’t excited about this? Yep, me. Mommy says that I must take after my Daddy because he hates getting his pictures taken. But it was right in the middle of my second afternoon nap and I was kind of hungry too. Despite this, I did my best to look cute and it worked. Mommy even cried when she saw some of the finished results (see what I mean about Mommy crying so much). Here are some sneak peeks of them.
Here I am in a pretty white headband!
I was pretending to sleep so they would stop taking my pictures here. But I did kind of like this tutu.
Daddy and Mommy kissing, eww!
Wow, writing this has really tired me out and I think I hear Mommy coming up to check on me! Next week Daddy goes back to work (super sad face) but I’ll be sure to help Mommy update everyone with our adventures.
xoxo,
Makenzie
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Pictures of the Week *The Week You Were Born*
September 30, 2012 by · Leave a Comment
Dear Beanette,
We are SO SO Incredibly excited to meet you!! I thought it might be fun to do a little post about what’s happening in the world during the week you will be born (here’s hoping you arrive this week). Someday you can look back at it and laugh about the terrible trends… meanwhile, your Dad and I will look back and get teary about how fast you have grown up.
(As a bonus, if you have wi-fi access you can read up on pop culture so you can make small talk with the other babes in the nursery)
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So, here’s what happening in the world:
- 2012 is the year of the Dragon (ironically, your Mom went to a high school that had a dragon as a mascot)
- The OU Bobcat football team is doing AWESOME! They are undefeated right now at 5-0! Your Dad and I met because we both went there and we even had our wedding there. No pressure, but we would LOVE it if you decided to be a Bobcat someday.
- The US experienced what your Dad refers to as the Ryder Cup meltdown today. It was an ugly day on the golf course for the Americans. I’m sure your arrival will brighten his week and he’ll forget about this golf course massacre.
- The Steelers are 1-2 and are still getting warmed up for the year. If you arrive before Sunday you can watch the Steelers take on the Eagles with us. Maybe you’ll bring them good luck!
- We also love hockey in the McGee house as you’ll some find out, but the NHL is in a lock-out currently (bummer!). We’ll take you to a Sabres game eventually.
- The Office is in the midst of their final season. Maybe sometime you’ll watch these shows in syndication on Nick at Nite.
- Obama is President currently and but Romney is running against him (kind of boring, right? Don’t worry, we don’t get too into politics in the McGee house)
- ‘We are Never Ever Getting Back Together’ is at the top of the pop charts. Justin Bieber has had a few hits this year too, but he’s way too old for you so please don’t catch Bieber Fever.
- Brightly colored skinny jeans are pretty trendy right now, but luckily your Dad and I try to avoid any clothes with the word “Skinny” in them so you won’t ever uncover pictures of us in these.
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There it is, fall 2012 pop culture in a nutshell, just for you! Please hurry and pick your Birthday soon! We really can’t wait to meet you.
Lots of Love, xoxo
Your Mom & Dad
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Pictures of the Week *What’s She Going to Look Like?*
September 23, 2012 by · Leave a Comment
Our only hope is to have a healthy baby Beanette! But since we’ve been waiting almost 39 weeks (or 9 years, depending on when you start counting) for this little addition to our family, it’s hard not to think about the other fun stuff.
:: What she will look like? ::
:: How will she act? ::
:: What hobbies will she have? ::
:: Which parent will she be more likely to take after? ::
SO many fun questions! We can’t wait to see her and learn all about her personality.
I think it’s normal for most parents to hope that their children get the best of both of them. So here is what we are hoping (but of course we will love her no matter what):
Denny’s nose… my ears… Denny’s pretty blue eyes…. my thumbs (they are in limited quantity in the Q family)… Denny’s calves and ankles… my patience… Denny’s athletic ability (golf & baseball mainly)… my writing ability… Denny’s Words with Friends ability (if that is even around when she gets her first phone)… my love of education (aka I’m a geek)
We also hope that she is not allergic to cats and we really truly hope she has a decent sense of humor. If she doesn’t have a sense of humor she is going to really think her parents are L-A-M-E and her teenage years are going to be incredibly rough for all of us!
Here are some pictures of Denny and I through the years. Take a look at what she’s working with…
LOVE this picture of Denny as a baby!!!
Me as a baby (eek!) sporting an infant-sized wifebeater and playing with a scary-looking reindeer
Denny looking super cute and very happy!
Me, and Yes I still make this face when I get caught in the Cheerios box
Denny & Scott, two cute Steelers fans!!
Me hanging out on the tire swing in my stylish matching sweat suit (and yes I have the same haircut as Scott – see above)
Right now you could be thinking, Whoa Slim Pickins for this little girl, or perhaps you are thinking Aww, she’s going to be cute! No matter how she looks, we know she is going to be the World’s Cutest, Most Lovable Beanette and we will love her to pieces!
Now we just have to keep waiting for her big arrival! Nine Days and Counting!
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