Pictures from Jennifer

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THESE ARE PICTURES FROM FEBRUARY 2010

May 2010

I always thought it was a cliche' when people said that time passes more quickly as you age. I now know, especially since I have little ones, that what they say is true.

I am amazed that 4 months have passed since I have last shared our family stories, pictures and videos of the kids. It is truly awesome to watch Mason and Makenna grow and flourish before our eyes.

Mason has grown into quite a little boy. He has entered the "why?" and "what for?" phase of his life. I now understand, after answering a string a questions in a row, why my mom would say, "BECAUSE I SAID SO!" Tim and I are encouraging his imagination, exploration and absorbtion of our big world. His current passion is "going swing" on our little play set in the back yard (which he helped daddy, grandpa and Uncle Cory assemble, by the way). When his inertia slowly decreases, he shouts out, "ready for a push mommy!" He is happy to share his daily swinging with Makenna who lounges in the infant seat next to him, happily chewing on the strap that holds her in place.

Makenna is entering my favorite stage of babyhood. She is sitting on her own, but is not yet mobile. We have just begun feeding her solid food. She wasn't too sure of rice cereal, but seems to be enjoying her latest concaution of banannas and breast milk. Makenna (or Kenna) has turned out to be quite an easy-tempered baby. Everyone told Tim and I that we would have a little hellion since Mason was mellow; well, she is doing her best, in her infancy, to prove that theory wrong. She does, however, have a little temper (who knows where she got that from?) and I am sure we will encounter the hell-raiser phase in her teenage years.

We are blessed beyond reason to have two kids that sleep. On average, the kids will wake themselves up between one and three times a week: a pacifier falls out, sheets get tangled, or a diaper gets too wet.

The kids have been in relatively good health lately. It seems we have had more run-ins with the common cold, allergies, and ear infections over the past few months. Mason has had a snottie nose since February and we just can't seem to get him better. I finally started giving him allergy medicine today and hopefully, that will make a difference! We should buy stock in Kleenex with as much tissue we have been going through in this house!

Kenna will have her 6 month appointment in the coming week. I had to take her into the clinic on a Sunday (two days after she actually turned 6 months) and our little hefty-Hannah weighed a whopping 19 pounds 9.8 ounces. She is moving OUT of 9 month clothing and is getting ready to show off her dimpled elbows this summer (if it ever gets here).

The coming weeks yield an exciting development for our family. We are going to start potty training Mason the 3rd week in June. It is time to kick the diapers! Tim will be home with the kids this summer (since summer school was cut due to budgeting issues) and will be the front runner on facilitating the potty training. I will be so proud of my big boy (well, both big boys: Mason for training and daddy for stepping to the plate)!

So, I know I am WAAAAAY behind in posts ... here are a few pictures from January: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AbMnDJi3ZN2T-A

February and March should be separate posts from Shutterfly (on the blog page).

I hope this finds you all doing well! I will hopefully post again soon to re-cap the next months (April - August) ....

Jenn

Family Resemblances .....

I am on the left, Makenna is on the right ....

Mason is on the left, Makenna is on the right (look at the face similarities) ....

Mason is on the left, Jake (his cousin) is on the right ...

Christmas has come and gone ....

This Christmas was a blast! We spent Christmas at our home for the first time and found it to be quite enjoyable. It was fun to watch Mason open presents and understand the true joy and excitement of family and giving during the holiday season. Santa and Mrs. Clause spoiled him this Christmas because Mrs. Clause just couldn't help herself! To this day, Mason runs around saying, "open presss-ents" when he sees a box or package.

Mason's new activities have involved taking pictures and singing (among other things, of course) ... he runs around with various objects on his forehead yelling, "say CHEESE, mommy" ..."say CHEESE, daddy" ..."say CHEESE, (what ever he is taking a picture of ... Connor, Nawwla, Sisssy, Gaamma." It was quite cute for a while, but I drew the line when he pointed it at my ginormous ass and said, "say CHEESE, diapa."

The singing is quite cute. His favorite song (now that Christmas is over and he is no longer singing "Santa Clause is Coming to Town") is Frere Jacques. Tim, who has an unabashed hatred for the French, is thrilled that his 2 year old loves to sing a French song! Mason and I enjoy singing all the popular nursery rhyme songs together at my piano; it is quite endearing, if I don't say so myself.

Mason continues to be a great big brother to Makenna (or Sisser Kenna as he lovingly calls her). If she spits out her pacifier, he will crouch down next to her and put it back in her mouth; he then proceeds to say, "iss OK." Now, when he kisses her, he follow-up by saying "awwwww" because that is what usually escapes my mouth when he is being such a considerate big brother.

Makenna is doing great! She sleeps (on average) 6 1/2 to 7 hours at night. She is getting stronger each day and can hold her neck up for longer periods ... we laugh because she is our own, personal bobble-head doll. She is also a social butterfly (she gets that from her Auntie) ... she prefers someone to be in the room with her while she is awake and will squeak, squeal and squawk until someone comes to get her if left alone for too long. She smiles easily and has started to coo in response to being googled at (which, is quite often, I must admit). Makenna is going through her awkward teenage phase right now ... she has her baby acne and a mild case of dandruff (aka cradle cap).

Makenna's hair is HILARIOUS: she has a mullet, a hurricane of a cowlick in the back, and she has a "horseshoe ring" shaped bald spot circling her head (from laying down) ... its pretty funny and the pictures of her hair during this time will definitely be blackmail photos. All in all, I feel so blessed to have an easy-going and fun little baby. I must say it has been very nice since Mason is such a busy little boy!

Tim and I have been surviving during wrestling season. Although it hasn't been as hard as I thought it would be (with Tim being gone all the time), I am tremendously grateful for the help and support I have in our family and friends; I don't think I would be surviving this time with out their assistance. Needless to say, I am greatly looking forward to March when he will be done with wrestling.

March also marks my return to work. I am having mixed feelings about returning. On one hand, I will be very happy to have my adult time and to once again, be able to use my brain in an intellectual fashion. On the other hand, I will miss hanging with the kiddos, not having to get out of bed at a certain time, and being able to stay up REALLY late to do fun things like blog!

As always, I have included a link to pictures depicting the remaining portion of December and the various Christmas parties we attended:

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AbMnDJi3ZN2T8I

We hope you all are doing well!

Love,

The Browns