Christmas Update!

Family self-portrait.

I never seem to have enough hours in the day! Between Mackenzie and my family being here time on the computer is quite rare for me, so forgive me for taking so long with an up-date!
We had a good Christmas. We all got some great gifts and had a nice day relaxing. Dakota was with us till Christmas morning so it was great to see her. Out of all the gifts she received she was most impressed by the Twilight shirt my Mum bought her.
She enjoyed spending time with her little sister, although she started to worry a little when every time she held Mackenzie she would cry. We all told her not to take that personally as Mackenzie has days when she just wants her Mum and Dad!
Mackenzie looked so cute in her Christmas dress, although I think she might have wondered what the fuss was all about! We kept her in it until everyone got their photos, although I realised once she was out of it that me and her did not get a photo together. In fact I realised today that we haven't had any photos just me and her since she was born! I guess I'm going to have to work on that!
Tomorrow she will be four weeks already, and I can't believe how fast the time has gone. She is doing great and growing by the day. We have been having a little trouble getting her to sleep at night, but last night we had a big break through. We are now working on a bed time routine. We give her a bath (using lavender products) which she really enjoys, then she goes into her pjs, has a drink then goes to sleep. Last night was the first time she slept in her own bed. She did that all night until her 5am feed where I fell asleep before putting her back to bed. I guess I'll only have myself to blame when she's still sleeping in our bed!
My Aunty Coral made her the cutest little teddy bear which my Mum bought over with her. He's a little brown bear dressed up in a purple rabbit suit. I have decided to name him Henry after seeing a picture of my cousin's son Henry sleeping with his bear! (He has the same bear as Mackenzie, but his is in a red rabbit suit) Henry and Mackenzie were born about a week apart, so I thought this would be a cute way of keeping them connected even though they are on the other side of the world from one another! (I hope you don't mind Amanda!!) Mackenzie loves her Henry bear and I've included some pics of her hanging out with him.
As for John and I we are doing fine. John got his leave extended and will be with us until January 12th. We are very excited about that! It's been great having him here, and I'm sure he's loving the opportunity to bond with his little girl. He is so cute with her, and I especially appreciate him taking her in the mornings for their little Daddy - daughter time. This week I finally got out and bought myself some new clothes. Since giving birth I have had one pair of jeans that fit me and a lot of over sized pj pants to wear. I've lost I'm thinking about 30 pounds thanks to the gestational diabetes! I still want to lose some more so yesterday I took advantage of the sales and got myself some new clothes. You can't believe how happy I was to see that I now fit into size 16 jeans!!
New Years will probably be an early one for us. Belynda is heading out with some friends of hers, but the rest of us are staying home. I will possibly be awake feeding at midnight, but if I'm lucky I might actually be fast asleep! Whatever your plans I hope you have a happy, safe and fun new year and that 2009 sees nothing but good things come your way!! I'll be in touch again next year!!


Mackenzie with her Henry Bear!



She loves her Henry!

Asleep in her crib for the first time (she either sleeps in our bed or in a portable crib in our room)

With her musical sea horse that she got from Santa

Dakota and Mackenzie

Mackenzie in her cute Christmas dress!

Mackenzie and her Daddy!