Puppy Plunge

Last Tuesday we got to take Baxter to the annual Puppy Plunge at the Eagle Pool. The pool always invites dogs to come swim in the pool the Tuesday after Labor Day. We couldn't get there until after my XC practice so we were a bit late. But, Baxter made up for lost time by being extra hyper. He was so excited that he didn't know what to do with himself. He ran circles around the other pups and then Justin finally threw him in! Bax didn't know how to get back out of the pool, but impressively climbed out (didn't figure out the beach entry thing)! The whole things was just too funny. Check out some of our videos below!

Mack slept through the whole thing!

There were lots of big dogs everywhere!

And then there were some little dogs! I don't even know who this is, but we took a picture of her because her two little pups were just paddling away while she held them like this!

It was like they were on a treadmill!

Justin puts Baxter down a frog slide!

Baxter enters the Puppy Plunge

Baxter climbs out of the pool!

Labor Day BBQ

We really enjoyed the Labor Day BBQ at the Brummers. Cayle was born six weeks after Macklin but the little guy is longer than Mack already and getting cuter every day!

The boys had fun playing together....Check it out!

Baxter also came to the party to hang in the Brummers nice fenced in yard. The Brummers have three little wiener dogs and they loved chasing Baxter around. It was so funny to watch big ole Bax get held off the porch by their little pups.

Grandma Kathy's Visit

Last weekend, Grandma Kathy came to visit Macklin! We had a great time with her

and I am pretty sure that she enjoyed Macklin!

She came in on Thursday, September 2nd and made us dinner and we celebrated Justin's birthday (see previous post). Me and her got to hang out with Macklin on Friday and she babysat while I went to practice. She got to hang with Mack some more while we had our church small group.

On Saturday, I had my first meet and Justin took Kathy down to the canyon. They had a great hike and she got to watch Justin and Baxter swim in the river.

Macklin just chilled out in the Chariot!

On Sunday, we all went to the Eagle Pool to take Macklin for one last swim outdoors.

I love his face in this picture!

Here is one more gift from Emily Kerr (Kathy's friend)!

Macklin wasn't quite as happy about this one as he was about the doggie hat and mitts!

And, finally, we got to hang out with our friends at a Labor Day BBQ. We took this family picture in their backyard and I absolutely love it! Everyone looks perfect! Kathy wanted an evergreen tree in the background for her Christmas picture....

lucky for her the Brummers had a little one growing right in their backyard!

First Meet Tomorrow

My mind is racing tonight with lots of anxiety over my team's first cross country meet of the season tomorrow. I am so excited to see my kids in action, but I am also nervous for them. Tomorrow we are headed to Denver to run in this HUGE pre-state meet. It will be an awesome chance to run at the state meet site (in hopes that we will make it there some day!). The kids are nervous, especially the freshmen, but they should know that their coach is also nervous.

But...am I more nervous about them running....or....about the fact that I have to find a way to pump 2-3 times tomorrow while I am around 50 high schoolers all day! Can't tell yet!

Either way, I am for sure going to miss my little man. Tomorrow will be the longest I will be away from him for one time! Ahhh!

5 Months Old

First off, I can't believe he is 5 months old already!!!!!

A few things you should know about Macklin as he turns 5 months old...

Weight: 15.5 pounds (on our home scale)

Length: 26.5 inches (again, unofficial)

Sleeping: We did have an interruption in sleeping patterns at about 4.5 months. He kept waking up and even wanted a full feeding in the middle of the night! Good thing that only lasted two weeks and now he is sleeping through the night and up to 10 hours. He has slept a whole night on his tummy too! The little guy is just moving around! No more swaddles for him!

Naps: Have gotten a lot better now that we are on a more regular routine! He goes down for a nap 1.5 hours after waking up in the morning. He sleeps for 2 hours or more at that time (awesome!) and then takes another nap in the afternoon (less structured but still a good one!)

Eating: All nursing still, 5 times a time. It only takes him 20 minutes now!

Playing: Everything continues to go in the mouth. He loves his stuffed animals. He loves to roll around and move himself on the floor. We have borrowed a jumper from our friends and he is liking that more and more. Still a sucker for the calming powers of the swing. Loves to laugh at Baxter! Still likes to be outside! Is starting to grab at food and things while I am holding him (ex. grabbing my plate while I am holding him at dinner).

Attitude: During the past month we did put him on meds for acid reflux. I really do think they have helped his fussiness due to stomach and throat pain (we had a break in between bottles and he went nuts again). He does get fussy if we messed up a nap or something, but still a rock star kid. We are getting spoiled. Our other kiddos better be this good in the future!

Grandma Kathy is Here

Today Grandma Kathy arrived! It is so fun to have visitors now that Macklin is growing up. Each time someone comes they are amazed at how big he has gotten!

Kathy came with some gifts from Emily......

Macklin was excited to see one of his grandmas!

Kathy made us some homemade pizzas and we celebrated Justin's birthday again!

What a lucky guy he is!

Happy Birthday, Justin!

Today was Justin's 27th birthday and we celebrated with a family lunch date! Mack and I took Justin a fried chicken lunch at school, complete with mac n' cheese and stuffing (random I know) AND a homemade birthday cake! It was quite the effort to get all of that (most of all, Macklin) to school and ready to surprise Justin at 11am! Lunch got even earlier at the high school! But, we prevailed and Justin was surprised by the complete lunch and cake. It was my very first effort at making a cake from scratch. I didn't really have an option when my boy was napping and that was the only time to make it this morning. And, by the grace of God, I had just enough sugar to pull off the task.

We had to wear the shirt again for his daddy's birthday!

The birthday lunch was necessary since the super wife that I am planned a XC commitment tonight! I know, I am dumb (the spike night went well for my XC kids though). After Macklin and I got done with the team, we got to give Justin his gift! He had been wanting some new ear buds, so I got him his first "nice" pair of headphones (some Bose pair). I think the gift was a success! Macklin loved the tissue paper that I wrapped them in!

Check it out....