Easter

All dressed up and ready for school!

Easter was this weekend and although we didn't have all the days off that you Aussie's get we did manage to have a good time. It was a big day at school with egg hunts and parties and stuff, so I got the girls all dressed up and they looked so cute!! Yes the dresses were BIG, but when I saw them I just had to have them. I had to talk to Mackenzie's teachers about her keeping it clean and that I wanted it off before she ate, but both dresses made it through without a mark and will be pulled out again for school photo day which I believe is next week.

They are just too cute!!

Maegen had a rather uneventful day. The Easter Bunny went in there for a visit and we got some photos, but in the long run she was un-phased by it all. Her teachers got her a cute little basket and made us a card which I really love.

Mackenzie on the other hand had a lot of fun! She didn't really appreciate the Easter Bunny at all, but she got to participate in a egg hunt with her class and then a party for lunch. She bought home a basket of goodies that included bubbles and candy. She carried her basket around everywhere that night.

The girls with the Easter Bunny....love Mackenzie's face here!

Not happy at all!

Maegen kind of liked the Easter Bunny.

She's such a big girl now!

Easter at home was low key, but good. We spent most of our weekend getting ready for the following week and just hanging out around the house. Once Mackenzie finally went off to sleep on Saturday night I made a trail of eggs from her bed to the front door where I also put the little baskets that we had made up for the girls. The last time we were at Disneyland we got Mackenzie some chocolate coins that she loves so I included them in the egg trail. When Mackenzie did wake up she totally ignored the eggs and was excited for the coins! She went on a search for Donald Duck coins. We eventually got her back on track and she had fun picking up all the eggs and we balanced ourselves down the stairs. She got the movie Tangled in her basket so we enjoyed watching that while Daddy made pancakes for breakfast. Now we use every opportunity we get to bribe her with her chocolate, while John slowly pecks away at her stash. Hopefully he saves some for her! The rest of the day was nice, uneventful but nice.

John played x-box while I placed out the eggs!

The girls baskets and the trail to the front door.

Mackenzie passed out at the end of the trail.

We are all doing good here. Maegen is kind of struggling with a yucky cough at the moment so we are off to the doctors tomorrow to make sure it's nothing serious. Then the following day we are back to the doctors again as she has her 4 month check up. I can't believe she's 4 months already. Time is flying and she's getting so big. She is enjoying herself at school and last week she even rolled over all by herself. She went from her tummy to her back. I haven't seen her do it again, but she is definitely active.

On her egg hunt!!

Mackenzie is doing good and enjoying school. We are still trying the potty training, but it is very hit and miss. I feel that she is not ready as she's having trouble knowing when she needs to go, but she wants to keep trying so all I can do is continue to support her. She does however want to do it more at school than at home so I think she enjoys the peer pressure of it all. I am definitely looking forward to the day when it is all over and she is able to successfully go to the potty by herself.

Looking through her basket.

John and I are both doing good and keeping busy with work and home. I am enjoying being back at work, especially because I get to see the girls all day. Now that the ship is out of dry dock John is getting busy with everything they need to do to get the ship ready. We have become quite a good team at sharing everything that needs to get done and our days seem to become easier when we do it that way. I really love getting to spend time as a family!

Wow!!! What a stash!

Having a look at her basket.

Checking out Maegen's basket.

Maegen loves her Easter turtle!

Making sure her eggs are all still there!

Picture Update!!

Maegen taking a nap!

It has definitely been a while since I've updated the blog, so I'm adding a bunch of pics today that will tell you a little about what has been going on in our lives here in sunny San Diego. We are all doing good and have adjusted to our new life of work and school. Both the girls are doing great and growing up way too fast and John and I continue to try and balance everything that needs to be done in a day. Most importantly we are all happy, healthy and enjoying life. We hope you all have a wonderful Easter weekend, especially you Aussies who get a five day weekend!! Enjoy your ANZAC Day as we all use that day to pause and remember those who sacrificed and served to give us the wonderful Australia we all love!!

We have slowly begun potty training. Some days are good, others not so good, but we are in no hurry. She definitely is more willing to try at school and many times at home when we ask her to use the potty we are told "Kenzie do it with Cristina." (Cristina is her teacher)

Maegen has begun to sit at the table with us for dinner and loves it!! She has great head control and sits across from Mackenzie and smiles at her crazy sister. Dinner is now a lot easier for us all as John and I can eat without having to hold her and Maegen enjoys feeling included.

Getting Mackenzie to eat can be tough some days! We never know how our meal time will turn out and I don't think I'll ever stop stressing about whether she is eating enough!

We celebrated my birthday with a yummy red velvet cake! I had a very nice day with a breakfast at work and dinner with my family. We also went to Disneyland on the weekend.

Happy Birthday to me!!

In line waiting to get into Disneyland. We had a great day. Not too many people so the lines weren't that long and Maegen got to go on a few rides including Peter Pan, Small World and the Haunted Mansion. Mackenzie also enjoyed going on the Pirates of the Carribean ride with me. She calls it the scary ride and actually enjoys being scared!

Waiting patiently to get inside!!

Self portrait time on Dumbo!!

Maegen and Daddy posed for a pic on the carousel, but got off before it was time to go!!

This is one of Mackenzie's favorite rides

Time for a break for both girls.

Dancing with Daddy

This is my favorite place at California and I think Mackenzie might just like it too! It's a big room with a whole bunch of screens that play parts of the Disney movies...so much to see!

Maegen already wearing her sisters clothes....especially when Daddy is left to dress her and goes to the wrong draws!!

Mackenzie after spending the morning washing the car with Daddy

This is a diaper cake that my friend Lynda made for me...I'm finally going to take it apart!

Sisters having a talk while getting ready for school.

Maegen has a boyfriend at school already!! Connor and her enjoy tummy time together and holding hands!

Back to Work!!

Mackenzie with her teacher Ms Cristina (whoops....I uploaded the photos in the wrong order!)

So we are currently almost half way through our second week at work and school and it has been an adjustment!! It's fun, busy and exhausting, but I'm happy to be back. Unfortunately my hours have changed a little which makes for a long day, but we are getting used to it. I now work from 8 to 5. My day starts at 5:30 if Maegen allows me to sleep that long and ends when I pass out after getting dinner ready and getting us all organized for the next day.

Mackenzie with her one true love, Deuce

Maegen has settled in well and as her teachers let me know is one of their "good" babies. She is sleeping great and eating well and I love that I get to visit with her when I'm on break. She is now drinking the occasional 6oz bottle and we have been getting her to sleep almost the whole night which is great for me!! She's getting so big with each passing day and I can't believe she's 13 weeks already!

Maegen with her teacher Ms Michelle

Mackenzie is doing fine and is her usual busy self. She's been a little under the weather lately trying to kick a cold. She also had a little trouble adjusting to me being at work all the time and the longer day. When she would see me she would get upset and I started to avoid going to see her for fear of making her cry. Her teacher recommended that I do the opposite and continue to visit so that she gets used to me being back and it's been good. I now go and see her on both of my 10 minute breaks and get lots of hugs and kisses from her and her friends. She has become rather challenging of late which can be a little stressful. She's very quick to throw herself on the ground when things are not going her way and she has an answer for everything. We are trying to be patient with her as she is having to adjust to a new schedule, but I'm hoping it is just a phase because trying to negotiate with a two year old can be exhausting!!

Dressed up for St Patricks Day

My lucky charm!!

Mackenzie playing at school

John is doing good and has been a great help with keeping everything going around the house. He helps with dinner, makes bottles for me and will even come and pick up the girls every now and then which is really a great help. He's starting to get a little busier at work too as the ship is almost done with being in dry dock, but I'm hoping he doesn't get too busy because I need his help more than ever now!

On Wednesday just past John had duty and was gone the whole entire day and night! I had made plans to meet up with an old school friend who was coming to town so of course I didn't want to cancel with her. We met up and it was great to see her. When I got home I had to get the girls ready for bed, clean up and get everything ready for the next day...it was chaos!! The one thing I learned from that experience was that if John has duty during the week then I make no plans!!

Maegen all dressed up for her first day at school.

As for me I'm doing fine. I am very, very, very reliant on coffee now, but I'm enjoying being back at work. I work with four little boys who keep me very busy as they are big boys who still want to be babies so I really have my work cut out for me. On my first day we actually got to go home early and I was thinking to myself, this wasn't too bad, but when I got home I sat down to have a little rest and that was the end of me! Exhaustion set in and I was very grumpy and irritated with myself as I knew I had so much to do. Now once I get home I push through and get things done before I even think about relaxing a little.

I got a wonderful surprise this weekend!! John got me a early birthday/anniversary present and I'm in love with it! He got me a Mac laptop which means that I can now get on the computer a little more than I do now!! The main reason for the gift is so I can use it if I ever get back into school (it's near impossible to find on-line classes) but it's also going to mean that I can update my blog and go on facebook etc while I'm on my lunch break.

My sleeping angel?

Life is good. It's busy but good. We now look forward to our weekends so we can relax a little and hang out around the house, but we seem to be filling our days with all the things we don't get done during the week. I just look forward to the day when I sleep in past 7am!! Until next time...

Last Week Without Work

Maegen growing bigger every day!

With one more week to go before heading back to work I did my best to relax a little and tried to get organized for the next week. We also went and visited with my friend Brittny who had just had her baby. Her son Cameron was born weighing 9 pounds 13 oz!! He's such a cutie and it was great to catch up with Brittny and her family!

Maegen and her new friend Cameron and his big brother DJ!

Maegen sharing secrets with Cameron

Two cuties together!

Mackenzie and her best friend Deuce up to no good in the bathroom!

They love each other!!

Mackenzie eating her favorite food in the whole, wide world....chocolate!!

Self portrait time with my girl!

Mackenzie after having fun outside with Daddy!!

A Very Expensive Week!

Mackenzie loves the "Horses!"

We went back to Disneyland almost two weeks ago now and had a lot of fun!! It was nowhere near as busy as it was the Sunday we went so we got to do a lot more which was great! Maegen finally got to meet Mickey Mouse, but I have no photos of it on our camera. We did get some shots from the photographer there so once I locate them I'll scan them so you can all see. It wasn't the cute little meeting I had envisioned. Right before we were about to go into the room where you meet Mickey Maegen peed right out of her diaper and became most uncomfortable so in her pics she's crying! Mickey tried his best to soothe her, but she was having none of it!!

Me and Mackenzie on the Dumbo ride (my first ever time on it!!)

Maegen also got to go on a couple of rides. She was awake for Small World and looked about at all the flashing lights. We also took her in the Haunted Mansion, but she slept through that. Mackenzie as usual had a blast and can now recognize when we are almost there. As we got near she started calling out Mickey and got very excited!! I'm not sure when we are heading back next, but my birthday is approaching!

Mackenzie loves the Dumbo ride!

We have been at war with ants in our house lately, and I think I can now safely say that we have won. The Monday before we headed up to Disneyland we had someone come out and spray the house. We were told that we may see a few more about as they go off to die so we tolerated the occasional group of ants. We had a follow up appointment on Saturday which is part of our agreement and everything seemed fine, then on Sunday it was crazy!! We found ants going up and down the stairs so we had to have someone come out again! A guy came by on Monday and I showed him our problem and followed them about. We opened a window and there were hundreds of them!! It turned out that they were coming up and into the house via the trees that were too close to our house. This meant that we had to contact our HOA to get them to trim the trees.

The family enjoying Small World

On Monday afternoon I was showing John the problem with the trees when we noticed that one of the screens were off our windows. We went to investigate it to find out that someone had attempted to break into our house! We are unsure of when it happened which is totally scary so now we are in the process of getting the window fixed. Luckily for us the windows have some kind of double lock on them so they were unable to get in, but they really did mess up the window so we are thinking they may need to replace to whole thing. We then had to stop our procrastinating and get someone out to install a security alarm which we got on Thursday, so hopefully with that, plus all the signs about our house indicating we have an alarm will be a deterrent to anyone else looking to break into our house.

Maegen enjoying Small World.

On Thursday I also took Maegen to the doctors to check up on her weight progress. I knew that they would no longer be concerned as she has definitely put on some weight!! She is now 11 pounds and I can't remember how many ounces so that means she has put on 3 pounds in one month thanks to the formula!! The doctor said that the weight gain was fine because she is now in the 50th percentile with weight which is right where she needs to be! He also signed off on her medical forms for school so she is now good to go!
Maegen and I will be starting next week which means that this week coming is my last week of freedom!! I have a little running around to do to get us organized, but I'm hoping I will get a little time to relax and enjoy my final week at home.

Mackenzie at the Haunted Mansion

Mackenzie is doing great and enjoying school. Last week they celebrated Dr Suess' birthday so she got to listen to some stories and had a pizza party. Pizza is one of her favorite foods so I'm sure she was very happy with that! She is talking a mile a minute now...some I can understand while some of it sounds like gobbly goop! The other day she did the cutest thing when we got to school. She went into her classroom and approach her friend Deuce. She began talking to him, then bought him over to Maegen and I and said "Kiss Maegen". Deuce gave Maegen a kiss on her forehead and both of them were happy!

All wrapped up in her stroller!

So next time I write I'll probably be back to work! Keep your fingers crossed for me that Maegen and I for that matter settle in well and don't end up sick!!