Summer Fun

August has been a fun month for us! Amy and I took the kids to the Wiggles Concert at the Paramount theatre in Seattle. They loved it!

We have made several trips to the Woodland Park Zoo...

And, we have had some fun BBQ's with friends...

Mix in our trip to Anderson Island, Sean's poker party, and a few girl's nights out for me and it has been a pretty great end to the summer! 

Oh yeah, and did I mention how much we are loving these girls of ours?

All Smiles

Mara at 7 weeks- full of smiles! And we love that she is developing a uni-brow... she really is my daughter! :)

A Marti Weekend

The Marti family came to visit last weekend and as always, we have a blast with them. The Harvie's hung out with us a lot as well so there were seven kids under the age of 5 running around - it was wonderfully chaotic! The kids played so well together and seeing them run around laughing and playing reminded me so much of my own childhood.

This photo makes me laugh and really shows how far we have come- great to see these fantastic guys with their babies. They are truly wonderful fathers and husbands. Funny to think that ten years ago, when I met them, we were all carefree and partying our way through college!

Bill and Sarah have BIG and very HAPPY babies and their youngest, Karter, is no exception! He is 8 months old and weighs 23 lbs! I was highly entertained by these photos of Karter and Mara (who is gaining weight like crazy but is still so petite next to this sweet boy!).

On Saturday, Sean's cousin Blake (one of my favorites in the McKenna family, I must add!) came over and cooked us breakfast- he loves to cook and is fabulous at it! Thanks Blake!

Hailey and Kennedy had a great time playing together. Hailey was so patient and attentive to Kennedy... sweet, sweet girl. Can't believe she starts kindergarten this fall!

We are already looking forward to our next Marti weekend!

Island in the Sun

The past three months have been hectic... to say the least. Just to summarize... in the past three months we have moved into a new house, Sean started his new job, I finished up my school year and began my new "stay at home mama" gig and oh yeah... we had a baby! Mix in unpacking, potty training, two-year old tantrums, long work days for Sean, sleepless nights with a newborn, a touch of postpartum depression and voila! You now have a family that desperately needed some down time! Which is why I was thrilled when Sean said he could take a few days off so we could take a "mini-vacation" on Anderson Island. As I have mentioned before, Sean's family has property over there and we are lucky enough to be able to spend time there whenever we want.

So we packed up our family of four (and by the way... we now have so much crap to pack with two kids that we had to take two cars) ... and headed to the Island. We had a fantastic time! It was the first time in the 10 years that I have known Sean that we had the place all to ourselves. Of course, we love spending time with family when we are over there but I have to admit, it was nice to have so much time with just our little family. And, we did have a few visitors which was great. Amy came over for a day as did my friend Melissa and her two girls.

Here are just a few things we loved about our "mini-vaca"...

And last, but certainly not least...

Happy Summer!

Mara at Six Weeks

 Our sweet Mara is six weeks old already! We are seeing smiles everyday but I have yet to capture one on camera. I should also mention that she is only waking up once at night... she sleeps from about 10 pm- 3:30 am, drinks a 4 oz bottle and the goes back to sleep for another 3-4 hours.

I am feeling rested and extremely fortunate!

Pretend Play

Kennedy has really been understanding "pretend play" lately. She plays with her dolls a lot and talks to them as if they were real. She often carries her purse around and tells me she is going grocery shopping. And, she loves playing with her toy kitchen and having tea parties. It is so fun to watch her imagination develop and I am constantly amazed by the things she says during these play sessions. So often they are things that Sean and I say when we are talking to her or in conversation with each other. I sometimes forget how much she learns from us when we aren't paying attention.

And, as I stated in a previous post- all pictures now involve a fake smile accompanied with the phrase "cheeeeese..." We are hoping this phase will pass soon so we can again see her eyes in photos!

Sticker Patrol

Being the little sister can be difficult... especially when your big sister is obsessed with stickers!

Newborn Photos

I chose not to have professional newborn photos taken of Mara. I thought it made more sense to spend the money on professional family photos when she is a little older. But I have been trying to take some "newborn photos" myself over the past few weeks. Here are a few of my favorites.

Mara at two weeks old

Mara at four weeks old

Mara at five weeks old

Baby Announcement

Here is the baby announcement I sent out to our family and friends last week.

Tub Fun

So I have discovered that when you have two kids, you will pretty much allow any form of entertainment in order to grab a quick shower, run a comb through your hair and rub on some deodorant. This includes letting your two-year old turn your bath tub into a play area.

And, just in case you were wondering why Kennedy's eyes seem closed in most recent photos... it is because she says "cheeeeese" and shuts them whenever a camera is pointed her direction. We look forward to many pictures like this until this phase passes.

While big sister played in the tub, little sister took a great morning snooze in her bassinet. I got an entire 15 minutes to get ready today!

Sisters at Four Weeks

Everyone says how much Kennedy and Mara look alike but I have to be honest, I think they look pretty different!

Kennedy at four weeks old 

Mara at four weeks old

Mara at One Month

Our little snugglebug is one month already! Mara is a fantastic baby and we are enjoying her so much.

At one month, Mara:
- weighs about 7.5 lbs (we weighed her ourselves on our home scale so this is an approximation)
- still has a head full of dark hair (crossing my fingers it sticks around as I think it is so darn cute!)
- drinks between 3-4 oz of formula every 2-3 hours
- sleeps 2-3 hour stretches at night (in her bassinet)
- loves her swing
- has a moderate case of acid reflux so we have to keep her upright for 15-20 minutes after each feeding
- does not care too much for the pacifier at this point- she likes the real deal :)
- seems to resemble my side of the family at this point - she and Kennedy both have my nose and mouth but Kennedy has Sean's eyes. Mara seems to have my eyes... she will change so much over the next year though that it is hard to really know...
- is a content, easy baby!

Love you baby girl!

Thanks to Katie for these cute stickers for her monthly photos. Love them!



Namesake

When we were choosing Mara's name, we wanted to choose a special and significant middle name for her as Kennedy's is very special and significant (Renee, after my mom). We chose LeeAnn after Sean's grandmother. She has been a very special person in Sean's life (and mine too for the past 10 years). We wanted to honor her in a special way and thought this would be perfect. So I was happy to snap this photo of Mara LeeAnn with her great-grandma LeeAnn!