Sleepover, Sesame, toothpaste Dance Party FUN!

Our baby girl is growing up! Let the sleepovers and girl drama begin. McKenzie is already talking on the phone, insists on picking out her own outfits and shoes, needs her nails painted so she can be like "mine Anna" and she drinks out of a "big girl" cup now! She was even invited to her first "friend" party...oh and did I mention the "sassiness"?!? Where did she get that? hehe Now, if only she would master this potty training gig already! She seems like a giant in her size 5 diapers compared to little miss Macy in her preemie sized diapers. haha!

****
Below are some pictures from a couple recent sleepovers over at cousin Anna's house. Lucky girl!
Thanks for taking all the pics Keri :-)

Kenzie, Cousin Anna & Cousin Danielle - Dance Party USA! This was a couple weeks ago.

Pedicure time!

All the color choices! WOW! My mommy doesn't have this many colors?

Silly girls :-)

Anna, Sarah and McKenzie at last nights sleepover.

Sure Keri, they slept all night huh? I'll bet they stayed up, shared secrets and giggled the whole time!of course, it's important to do your bedtime exercises!

Dance Dance Dance

Let's "hug it out". Sarah (the cutie on the left) is McKenzie's best friend from daycare. She's Joy's daughter :-)

GIRLS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN!!

********
McKenzie sure is one very fortunate little girl, she has so many friends and family looking out for her, who are all there for her at the drop of a hat.
When we were in the hospital delivering Macy and then over at Children's NICU taking care of Macy, soooo many people were quick to ask about McKenzie and offered to help out by watching over her. All the offers were greatly appreciated. Rest assured that during that time McKenzie was VERY much taken care of. She felt as though she was on a mini vacation, having a GREAT time. She spent a couple days with Grandma & Grandpa Harnisch, which is ALWAYS so much fun for her. She just loves going to play at their house in Fremont. Jerry & Lynette even brought McKenzie to the hospital a couple times. Once at Lakeside to meet baby Macy for the first the first time. And then again when we were at Children's Hospital. It was SOOOO nice to walk out into the waiting room, while Macy was having her echo done, and see McKenzie there. What a nice surprise! She ran up to me and gave me the BIIIIGGGGEST hug ever! oh boy did I need that!!! A little "kid therapy" goes a long way when you are going through a tough time. It was at that very moment when I sat back, watched and listened to McKenzie, and realized that she is growing up SOO fast. I swear, she grew a little and increased her vocabulary and annunciation skills tenfold.
Then she spent the next couple days with Grandma & Grandpa Lee. And oh, did Grandma Lee have something special in store for her...she took McKenzie to Sesame Street Live!!! LUCKY! boy did she love ELMO. Grandma even bought her a big Elmo balloon. :-)

What great seats!

All the cousins enjoying the show! Dylan, Colton, Danielle, Brook, Dalton, Mason, Anna & Renee.

Elmo rocks, definitely a crowd favorite.

******
On New Years Eve night Anna stayed over at G&G Lee's house for a little celebration. And then she slept over at Anna's the next night.

uh oh!

Look Keri, art...toothpaste art! gotta give them some credit on creativity and resourcefulness :)

One of those days, cousin Erika & her friend Natalie took the girls to "Pump it Up", an inflatable playground place. The girls had a blast. Anna especially, McKenzie was a bit more "cautious", not quite as daring as Anna.



So as you can see, McKenzie was VERY much taken care of and in good hands. Oh, and of course, how could we forget about Toby? Ja & Bethany took care of our puppy dog for us that whole time. Thanks guys! You are the best!! So glad you live in the neighborhood :-) We appreciate all that you do for us as well.
*******
It was so nice and comforting to know that she was okay and having so much fun. Because of this, we were able to really spend all of our time by Macy's bedside, holding, cuddling and feeding her. She really needed us. Actually, I think that should be the other way around, we REALLY needed her, we needed to be there WITH her, there was nowhere else we could have imagined ourselves to be!
It was pretty sad actually, as I looked around at the many other babies up their in the NICU. Of course, they were being well cared for by all the nurses and doctors up there, but soo many of them, just about all of them, were alone. They did not have their mommy's and daddy's up there. There were a few mom's coming in and out to feed, but no one else was "hanging" out up there like we were. I did not get it, it made me confused and sad. But I suppose not all of those babies were from Omaha, many were transported from far away. Plus, many of those babies' parents probably had jobs or families to tend to. They probably did not have the same support system that we had, that would have allowed them to simply put all of their other life priorities on hold, so they could tend to their brand newborn babies every need. Thank you family for taking care of our "other priorities" FOR us :-)
****
Well, we are off and have fun, busy day in store. Macy is going to visit daddy at his work and meet his co-workers. Then we are going to visit with Great-Grandma Salisbury. We also have several friends coming over to the house afternoon & evening :)
After that...BUNCO time! I am very much looking forward to getting together with my girl friends for our monthly Bunco gathering. I may even join in the fun and have an adult beverage (or 2). :-)