The Harnisch Family

The Harnisch Family

Aug 30, 2010

Why?

WHY?
Oh my goodness, make it stop!!  :-)  I love and appreciate my little McKenzie's inquiring soul...but if she asks "WHY" one more time...aaagghh...I am running out of creative answers.  Believe it or not, I do NOT know everything.  I am trying hard not to just reply with "because", but she's like a broken record sometimes, using this word at least 63 times a day.  She has an impressive wide range of topics she NEEDS to know everything about.  I suppose, being a journalist at heart myself, I understand her inquisitiveness.   :-)
I've gotta say that I do love this book very much. Along with Fancy Nancy, Ella B. Bella Dr. Suess, etc...this is among OUR favorites.  It delves deep into 100's of topics and really gets her (and my) wheels a turnin'.  It comes in handy when she asks questions about complex topics like storms, volcanoes, planes, various machines, boats, hot air balloons, etc...

*****************
Now for a "WHY NOT"...

Kenzie spilled some crumbs on the dining room rug.  I felt the need to vacuum.  Being the over-achiever (that I am usually not in the world of crumbs - I usually just let Toby handle the crumbs), I decided to move the table and chairs and give it a THOROUGH cleaning.  In my attempt at being a "clean freak" I was becoming very frustrated with the fact that my dog and toddler would NOT get out of my and the vacuums way.  MOVE.  NOW!  :-(.  Move they would not.  Kenzie just kept smiling in a cheesy teasy way.   
So I did what I think any mom would do in this situation ... grab the always.cooperative.8.month.old, and a camera.  Right?
We used our fancy flowery rug as a backdrop...tehe...why not right?
caught a little eye roll action on this one...
The girls and the doggie had lots of fun during our spur.of.the.moment photoshoot...me too  :-)

Aug 28, 2010

Back to the Doc

We've had a pretty good, low key week.  We've been intentionally laying low, due to Macy's cough, runny nose and raspy breathing.  It's not a deep cough or an extremely runny nose, but I certainly do not want it to get worse so we have slowed the schedule down a bit.  Plus, daddy was out of town all week for work, so even more reason to just take it easy...I even post-poned a couple playdates, bummer  :-(  But we don't need to get those LITTLE babes sick.  Also, my cousin gave birth to a baby girl a few days ago...can't wait to get over there sometime next week and meet baby Grace!!  Congrats Ryan and Ali!
Soo, We've been enjoying our neighborhood parks and have taken lots of walks due to this amazing weather!  Dare I say it feels like early fall?  LOVIN' IT!
We have also had quite a bit of cousin time.  McKenzie had a ball playing with cousin's Ashlynn, Autumn & Mason.  Macy even got a pedicure by Ash (Shelly, I need those pics  :-).  It's still lookin' good...got together with Brook and Ally a couple times.   Had fun at the Waterloo Park...well kinda...Kenzie's skin got all blotchy, turns out Brook's did too.  Weird.  Nothing a long "Oatmeal" bath soak and hydro cortisone cream couldn't soothe though.   whew.  Macy enjoyed her first slide ride.  Thanks Grandpa...I think she had fun.  hehe   below is a little video of her 1st ride on the slide!


McKenzie had another gymnastics class Thursday night with Cousin Anna, her friend Lyla and many other new friends.  She loves her teachers and has soo much fun there.  She talks my ear off all about it for several hours afterwards.  :-)
 **********
oh and I completed the design for the "MovinWithMacy" Buddy Walk Team shirts...check it out!
I am placing my final order Monday, so let me know TODAY of you want one and what size you want  $10.00  :-)
I initially wanted a BRIGHT pink color.  that would have really stood out and made a statement...but I thought I'd got with something a bit more gender neutral.   shucks!

**************
Due to the fact that Macy still has this persistent cough.  It's not getting any worse, but it's certainly not going away...so we scheduled an appointment with her doc.  Plus her breathing is getting a little more raspy.  He wrote us a scrip for another anitbiotic, but we decided to wait through the weekend to see if (hopefully) it get's better on it's own.  I HATE ANTIBIOTICS!  And Macy has already been on more than any 8 month old should be  :-(  oh and YES...she is 8 months OLD today...happy B-Day Macy!  As you can see, we really do celebrate every milestone.
While at the doc we also discussed her "eye roll" situation.  She has been doing this for more than 4 weeks now.  It's not becoming much more frequent, but each "episode" is lasting longer, around 2 to 3 seconds or so.  Which, again, doesn't seem like a long time...but long enough I'd say!  Can't pin point an exact rhyme or reason or see any solid trend to link it to.  She almost always arches her back and sometimes brings her hands up and rubs her eyes during and for a short time afterwards...
We've already had three docs examine her.  This time she actually did it a few times for the her pediatrician to see first hand.  Which helps him wrap his brain around it a little more.  We also had several iPhone video clips from home I could show him.  Actually, below are a couple clips from in the doc office yesterday while Daddy was holding her (she did it about 12 times in the 2 hour time period we were there). I was debating as to whether or not I should post these videos, but why not?  If anyone has any theories as to what this could be and why she is doing this, please chime in.


The next step...he is, once again, now that there's kind of a new development, going to talk to Macy's Pediatric Opthamologist first thing Monday.  I will send the 7 short videos I have to him and hopefully he can provide us with some answers or at least theories.  We may even go ahead and schedule an appointment with a neurologist, just to get a closer inside look.  I think I am probably being optimistically naive, but I am confident this is just some strange tic and she will grow out of it soon!
****
On another note, Macy's Therapy has been going very well.  She truly is an all-star in terms of strength and mobility.  We are still working on getting closer to pulling her tummy off the ground and bringing those arms and legs forward into a "crawling position".  She'll get there   :-)
We have been doing some Oral Motor Therapy.  Her tongue has been a source of frustration to me as of late...protruding a lot more and has really been giving me trouble when I try to spoon feed her.  I just can't seem to get a spoon around or ON her tongue.    :-(  Lucy has given us a couple useful mouth instruments and tongue brush kind of thing to stimulate tongue movement and hopefully strengthen it it a bit.  She responds well to this.  It will get better as we work to strengthen her jaw and facial muscles.
I have also learned, from her pediatrician, that there will be times, as she grows, that her tongue will be slightly larger than her mouth.  It is my understanding that this may happen off and on as her tongue and jaw grow at different rates and at different times.  Interesting.
****
okay, well we are off to cousin Ashlynn's Volleyball game...then off to celebrate my friend Nikki's 30th B-Day.  It's gonna be a good day  :-)
Have a great weekend y'all!! 

Aug 25, 2010

Deedah

Last night several of us DS Mom's got together.  I was super excited to have received "Deedah" in the mail, so I called out to the group for a viewing party!  
Deedah is a documentary about a seven year old girl who has a younger brother with Down Syndrome (or as Jonathan calls it "UP! Syndrome - AWESOME!").  The entire film was narrated by her and from her perspective, I loved it...Click here if you would like to see the Deedah Trailer

Jaeme offered up an awesome venue.  There is a sweet movie theater room at the Apartment Complex she manages...and how appropriate it was to watch this inspiring and uplifting film on the big screen!  Thanks again Jaeme  :-)
everyone brought yummy snacks
Jen brought her adorable brand new two-week old baby girl Mallory.  What a little angel she is!!  Congrats Jen.
Sweet Kennedy was there too, she just turned one year old! 
If anyone would like to borrow Deedah and see it for yourself, give me a shout-out, I will gladly share it!

Aug 24, 2010

Dog Days 'o' Summer



Just tryin' to stay cool!
The twins invited us over to go slip 'n' slidin last week!  McKenzie had a ball  :-)
Lauren is quite the slip 'n' slide all-star!
Weeee
Lauren, Dylan, Hannah and Lynn enjoyed cuddling with Macy.  awwww, she's so lucky to have such sweet neighbors!
As you can see Dylan is just smitten' by her  :-)
*****
The Cooke cousins came over to play yesterday, as their momma had a busy day of fire fighten' and rescue callin'.  Not a minute of shut eye did she get last night, so she was able to go home and take a little nap while Brook and Ally played here.
It was a nice (actually kind of chilly morning), so we hung out in the front yard.
Sidewalk chalkin!
Chilling in the Adirondack chair.
Macy and Ally join in the chalk fun.
Macy says "hey, where's my chalk"?  "Mom, Kenzie won't share!"
******
Gotta also LOVE impromptu Grandpa visits!
She's so loved  :-)
******
Cousin Heidi's wedding!
Pretty sure McKenzie thinks that her cousin's Ashy and Autumn are the COOLEST!  Check out the look of admiration.
Dad, Macy, Grandma Harnisch and cousin Harrison.  oh and check out Kenzie in the backround.  She's sneaking more chocolate kisses.
BUSTED!  caught ya chocolate faced.  The little stinker probably ate/mowd down 79 chocolate kisses that night.  aww jeeez.  But, I actually think this contributed to her "sugar" crash a couple hours later.   While we were dancing and having a good time later on, she was SNOOZIN' on two banquet chairs at our table.  hehe.
running around with Cousin Mason
bubbles!
more bubbles!
Gordy and Shelly dancin' the night away.  they, btw, just celebrated their 16th wedding anniversary.  Congrats guys!!
Heidi and Ryan cutting the cake!
That's Ella B. Bella talking to the beautiful bride.   photo courtesy of Leslie Means
What?  You don't know who Ella B. Bella is??  McKenzie sure does!  I made friends with Ella's mommy at Heidi's Bachelorette Party a couple weeks ago.  We really hit it off, not only because we were the sober ones (nursing mommas), but we also happened to have a million things in common with each other.  We both have 3 sisters, we've got the journalism thing in common, we have 2 daughters, we are on the Dave Ramsey financial plan...oh and Leslie published her first children's book a few months ago...something I would LOVE to do myself someday. 
Check out her website http://www.lesliemeans.com/ and get your very own copy of Ella B. Bella and the Magic Pink Shoes today!
Leslie is a very talented author, and as you can see, these illustrations are ADORABLE!  very captivating to my 3 year old.

We got the Ella B. Bella book in the mail last week and McKenzie just LOVES it.  It is soo cute.  We read it several times a day.  McKenzie was super excited to get to meet Ella in person this past weekend.  hehe  :-)
Leslie and her now famous Ella  :-) 
So there...now you know...I am newly inspired...I would LOVE to someday, perhaps, write a children's book of my own.  Who know's maybe there's a "Little Miss Macy" book series on the horizon.  :-)  Wouldn't be for a while, but, hey, a girl can dream can't she??
Anyone know a publisher and good illustrator?