Random fun

Life is good - now that everyone is finally healthy...knock on wood!! 
But, the girls and I are still really itchin' for spring to arrive (for real this time)  :-)
The other day, after meeting Kirby, we crashed Aunt Keri's house for dinner.  Plus, Erika was home from college for spring break, so Macy really wanted to get in some extra "cousin Erika-time"  :-)
Macy was a little more fussy than usual.  She wasn't hungry, she wasn't messy, she wasn't hurt...so why was she crying??
Being the "OH SO SMART MOM" that I am, I knew she was sleepy and simply thought we should go home and go night-night.
But no, my (older and supposedly wiser) sister had a much better idea...what does Aunt Keri do to remedy the situation? 

 Yep, she stripped off Macy's clothes & threw her in the sink!

 As you can see baths at Aunt Keri's house are SO much fun  :-)

 Keri's "Stall-tactic" was working quite effectively.

 Macy was content and having a good-old time.  Keri bought herself a few extra minutes with Macy  :-)

 Some day she'll grow out of sink baths and move her way up to the big girl tub, but for now she is having WAAAY too much fun in the kitchen...so who are we to take away something she so enjoyed so very much.  Besides her 15 pound little body is PERFECT for sink!

YEP, our little Miss Macy is 15 Months & 15 Pounds!

 McKenzie and Anna help offer their assistance.

  I love her crinkle face.

 hmmm...wonder where she gets this expression?

 nice hair girls!

after about 15 minutes, she lets us know, SHE'S DONE!

*******

Aunt Gayle is in town!!

 We love it when Gayle comes to visit  :-)  She lives in Colorado.  McKenzie is always excited when she sleeps in the room upstairs that is especially, and only, for her.

 awwww.  What a sweet picture.

 pinchin' cheeks!

 Gayle, doing what Aunts do best, teaching Macy some bad habits  :-)

McKenzie was excited once it was time for Macy to take a nap.  She had Aunt Gayle all to herself.  They played tag, hide-n-seek and a bunch of iPhone games.  She showed her how awesome she is at the Memory/matching games.  She also showed Aunt Gayle how to make cupcakes on the iPhone.  :-)

We ate lunch at El'Bees and then later, went to Grandpa Harnische's retirement dinner.  (that's another post).

oh, and while we went to the dinner, guess who babysat the girls?!

 My "Little Sis" Kylie.
She is so sweet and SOO good with kids  :)

 WAVING!  

I can't believe Kylie is graduating from High School next month.  CRAZY!  And, she has decided to go to Arizona State University.  Very cool.  You go girl!  The coolest thing, is that she is pursuing a degree in journalism.  How awesome is that?  :-)

I just asked McKenzie "who's in charge"?

****

We are still doing the "warm & fuzzy" jar...and it still proves to be quite effective!

Here is McKenzie's latest reward for filling it up.

 I found this adorable "Finger Printing Art Set" at Francesca's.  Figures...I was trying to be selfish and go shopping for MYSELF, and what do I wind up buying? Something for McKenzie!  :-( 

oh well, that's life right?

She thinks it's the neatest thing...and it really is!  You can do ALL sorts of fun things with finger-prints.

 I am very impressed by the level of creativity she has!

 She's playing "peek-a-boo" here.  I think she likes the tin container about as much as the actual supplies that come in it :-)

My Angel.

***

Like I said at the beginning of the post, I am so thankful when everyone is healthy.  It makes for much more enjoyable days.  We have been having a lot more fun lately  :-)  I truly enjoy each and every moment I get to spend with my girls, they are the highlight of my existence.

okay - well, Macy is waking up from her nap, so I better go rescue her from her crib!  (before she jumps out of it)  :-)

Then it's dinner-time and off to gymnastics we go. 

Toby meets Kirby!!

Ashlynn, Autumn & Mason have added a new member to their family.

Meet Kirby!

Isn't he the cutest!  As you can see, Ash is quite smitten  :-)

 

Kirby is a VERY good doggie.  He is four years old and was previously living with a foster family associated with "The Little White Dog Rescue".  He is lucky and they are lucky to have found each other  :)

 Toby came to meet his new cousin & brought him some special treats.

 Macy says "Hey, how do I get in on this snack-time?!"

 The doggies were playing & Macy was crying because they wouldn't share their treats.

 Tug-of-war!

 Autumn, Kirby & Macy getting to know each other

 Mason introduces his dragon (with an alligator in it's mouth) to Macy.  She was giving him the "stare-down".  "You don't scare me.  You're ugly, but you don't scare me."

 Macy actually started to cry when Mason took the dragon away.  too funny!  sorry kid, but I don't think we are going to be bringing any dragons home from the toy store anytime soon.   just sayin'.

 Batman and his bride!

 okay, so this is COOL!  See this dress Kenzie is wearing??  Ashlynn wore this in our wedding 8&1/2 years ago...and now McKenzie is playing in it.  awwwww.  As you can see it has been played in lots at the Harnisch House.

McKenzie is super-duper excited about being a REAL flower girl this summer!

I will leave you with this sweet image.

We love you Kirby, you are such a sweetie...welcome to the family!!

Cook Club & Waterloo Girls lunch

It was my turn to host Cook Club this month.
I chose a "slow-cooker" theme and assigned everyone a specific dish type, so we had a delightful full course meal  :-)
I have such a good time catching up with these girls each month. We never run out of things to talk about  :-)  Our "Cook Club" just gives us a good reason to get some much needed "girl time" (as most of us are married and have kids), eat some yummy home-cooked food and enjoy a few cocktails (those of us who are not pregnant or nursing that is)  :-)

Emily, Candace, Leah, Kirsten, Jill & Jenni  (I was taking the pic and was therefore not in the pic)

Joe took the girls to gymnastics and then to Sam & Louie's afterwards for some Pizza & Basketball.  What a good daddy!   :-)

*****

Yesterday I had lunch with some friends from high school.

In-gre-di-ent...yummy!!

Tina (known since 2nd grade), Jenny (known since 4th grade), Adria (kindergarten), Keli (7th grade) & me!

We had SUCH a fun time!!  I can't think of anything we did not talk about.  I am sure we were driving the rest of the restaurant patrons crazy with our loud voices, laughs and high school stories  :-)

We were there for over three hours and could have stayed much longer...but we thought it would be best to get back home to our families who were missing us.

Me, Tina & Jenny  (who is 26 weeks pregnant btw, doesn't she look fantastic!!  Her 2 year old Emma is getting a baby brother  :-)

 The girls on the other side of the table...Adria & Keli

 Adria joined our side for a quick "class of '98" photo-op.  hehe

I'm not really sure what Tina is doing here, but it's a good pic, so I'll just post it too  :-)

We are going to try and get together every 4th Saturday of each month for a Waterloo girls luncheon...so anyone read this blog who graduated with us (give or take a year or two) are welcome to join us!!!

Happy Down Syndrome Awareness Day!

Today, March 21, 2011 is World Down Syndrome Day.  On this day, we are encouraged to join in a world-wide celebration.  Do something to show that our support for people with Down Syndrome encompasses the WHOLE WORLD.
*****
Joe sent an email to his co-workers on Friday informing them that 3.21 is "Genes" Day.  For a $5.00 donation to Down Syndrome Alliance of the Midlands staff can wear jeans on Monday (which, as you can imagine, is not regular attire for their CPA firm :-)  Macy and I are even going to be paying his office a little visit!!
*****
Macy has done her part by playing a role in a not.so.local production about Down Syndrome featuring children from ALL OVER THE WORLD  :-)  Click here to view it (it's only 3&1/2 minutes long - you have time  :-).  She is 2:00 minutes in.  Her friend Eisley (who is also from Omaha and only 1 week younger than Macy) is also in the video, she is right at the beginning 9 seconds in.  

 

 Do you see her??  Macy's in the upper left hand corner...what a SUPER-STAR huh?  haha

Little E is in the upper-right hand corner in the tu-tu.  Is she CUTE or what!??  :-)

*****

Tomorrow night Joe and I are attending a DSA sponsored screening of the award winning HBO documentary "Monica & David" at Film Streams. 

Check out the trailer here.

*****

Macy sportin' her "Designer Genes" tee up in Ponca last fall  :-)  She will be wearing it again tomorrow!

Big Sis is DOWN & OUT!

Poor Kenzie has had a rough couple weeks...namely a super rough last couple days!  We went to her pediatrician a couple weeks ago to get advice regarding a new rash flare-up (she has always had really dry/sensitive skin), we came home with an antibiotic to treat a staph infection (as a result of her itching the rash) and an allergy medicine.  Doc is certain that the dark circles she's had under eyes the last few months are associated with allergies.  So we'll see if anything changes there.  Oh, one last thing, when he looked in her ears, he informed me that she has a double ear infection.  um.  okay.  She is a trooper and does not let most things get her down.  Ear Infections don't phase this kid one bit  :-) 
btw - since we were at the doc, and they have a baby scale, we weighed Macy...she is well into the 15's!  15.6lbs to be exact  :-)  Still very under-weight, but gaining & that's all that's important.

Sooo...back to McKenzie.  It all started Friday night around 10pm.  We heard crying up in her room.  "Sherri!" Joe yells.  I round the corner to see Joe hunched over hugging a hysterical McKenzie...I look closer to see a huge brown explosion all over her bed and all up her head-board.  yep, projectile.  Oh no.  Here we go.  Poor thing was shivering and pale.  :-(  It just breaks my heart to see her so helpless and scared.  I snapped into "cleaning/sanitation" mode, while Joe was playing the "comforting daddy" role quite nicely.  9 wardrobe changes, 4 sets of bed-linens, 7 towels, a carpet shampoo, kitchen wall scrub-down, 3 wood floor moppings, strip and wash living room couch cushions, wipe down of kitchen table & chair and 4 loads of laundry later...we have arrived at 9:15am Saturday.
Hate to break it to ya McKenzie, but it looks like we won't be going to Kinley's BounceU Birthday today afterall.   :-(  BIG BUMMER!!! 
We were going to try and "wait-it-out", but the girl was losing SOOO much bodily fluids and not holding anything down.  She was burning up and quivery.  I put a phone-call into her doctor and was advised to take her to the ER.  (just in case she was dehydrated and may need IV fluids as a result of all the vomiting).  Even though we thought this may have been an over-reaction, who are we to disobey Doctor's orders?
So we dropped Macy off at my sister Lisa's house, where Brook & Ally excitedly greeted us at the front door.  I knew McKenzie was DEFINITELY not feelin' it when she didn't seem to mind that her baby sister got to play at the Cooke's house - without her.  Normally she would have gone bonkers at this arrangement. 

Here's an iPhone pic of Joe and Kenzie waiting on the ER doc.  She was like this (emotionless.lump.on.a.log and not a care in the world) the entire time we were there.  Even our super nice nurse, Kylie, couldn't get her to crack a smile.  They took some labs and found that even though she has been losing so much, her little body is handling it well.  We were told she may have Rotavirus Infection.  And that Diarrhea is a very near possibility.  sweet.

 So home we went...with orders to keep giving her fluids, no food, watch for dehydration, etc...

 Here McKenzie is watching "Sid the Science Kid" on my iPhone.  I of course, placed 5 towels under, near and around her, as to help minimize "clean-up".  I also handed her this bowl to please use...and of course, this is asking a bit too much of a three year old.  The bowl remains bone dry.  The carpet & couch cushions?  not so much.  :-(  oh well.  It was worth a try.

 This has been the extent of McKenzie's excitement the last few days.  She does whimper "mommy" every couple of hours.  She gets bored and switches locations for a change of scenery every 5 or so hours.  So that's good  :-)  When she moves, she looks like a brand-new baby deer trying to walk for the first time.  Sad, but kinda pathetic at the same time.   :-)

She also managed to choke down some Pedialyte popsicles and ice chips, with minimal residuals.

 Poor baby.  Just catching up on her beauty sleep!  She is going to arise to be the FAIREST IN ALL THE LAND!  Now, it may appear that we've had a quiet household with our crazy toddler feeling under-the-weather and uncharacteristically mellow...but don't be fooled.  Macy has been very much over-compensating for Kenzie's lack of enthusiasm.  She has been, for lack of better words "bouncing off the walls"!  And getting herself into all sorts of trouble.  :-)  Atta girl.

 We were slightly worried as Doc informed us that Rotavirus is highly contagious.  How are we going to keep the girls separated?!?  They are usually rough housing with each other constantly.  Welp...let's just say the daily phrases of "get off your sister", "put down your sister", do not squeeze your sister", "McKenzie, for the last time, Macy does NOT like to be smothered in blankets!" have not been used much the last couple days.

Through this...I am reminded that being a mom is the most rewarding job in the world!  While, this picture is sad and heartbreaking, it is also reassuring and heartwarming.  Just when I think my baby girl is 3 going on 14 and all the sudden doesn't need her mommy like she used to, Miss Independent "let ME do it"...this happens.  A sneaky virus attacks her little immune system.  She turns weak and helpless. Her mouth is speechless, but her eyes tell quite the sob-story.  My usually spunky/feisty 3-yr old is emotionless,  She cries for her momma.   I pull her hair back.  A hug, kiss and a cuddle soothes her weary soul and puts her at ease.  I jump when I hear her sweet raspy voice whisper "scratch my back please".  McKenzie has never been much of a cuddler (polar opposite of her always snugglie sister).  She doesn't get sick often, hardly ever actually - she really is the picture of (knock on wood) perfect health.  But when she does...man, THIS girl goes down...HARD!

Selfishly, I think to myself, "It's nice to be needed"  :-)  Only a mommy and daddy have magic baby healing powers!
 

*****

She managed to drink several cups of watered down apple juice, crackers and peanut butter toast this evening (without any messy follow-ups).  I am confident she is on the up & up.  

Still, no pre-school tomorrow though.

And we better call and cancel that playdate with Heidi & Nathan too.  :-(

We should probably go a go ahead and postpone Macy's OT appt for Tuesday as well...Lucy is undergoing Chemo for breast cancer, no need to put her at further risk of infection.

*****

Good night all - and thanks for your kinds words and prayers for sweet McKenzie this weekend...she is of course going to be just fine.  :-)