Yesterday I started making baby food! It was way easier than I thought and it is going to be super cheap too! Macklin has eaten a few things...blueberries, rice cereal, bananas, and avocados. Blueberries were a random first food. Then I went to rice cereal and he gulps that down! Then I tried putting a banana and avocado (different times) in that little mesh bags for him to try too! Avocado is really the one thing he has eaten a good chunk of (for all those 40-60 year old moms, avocado is the new recommended first baby food! crazy, eh?).

Since he is approaching this big eating stage, I thought I would whip up some things to work with. So, yesterday, with the help of this great website and my magic bullet (which is perfect by the way!) I made a ton of baby food!

We made green beans, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, carrots, avocados, and then froze some more bananas too. I just baked or steamed the veggie, then put it in the magic bullet with water. So easy! Out of one squash (at 50 cents a pound) I got like 30 tablespoons of baby food. I was planning to put them in ice cube trays and freeze them. But my mom gave me the idea of just putting the tablespoon portions onto a wax paper sheet and freeze them. Then I took them out and put them in baggies. It did take most of the afternoon, but totally worth it and I don't plan on having to do it again for a while! So fun to know that I am making pure veggies for my baby to eat! Keep you posted on what he likes best!

Here are some of the bags I have frozen!

Don't they look like that old dot candy?

My boy with avocado on his face!

Eating!

Playing

The last two days Macklin and I have done a lot of playing! He is loving his jumper now! And he even got ahold of the newspaper today....and because it crinkles...he is super fascinated with it. Had to do a little cleaning after that one though!

Woohooo for Naps!

What a difference five days can make!

Macklin is THRIVING on the new schedule that we have been doing for the past five days. I pretty much came to the conclusion that he wasn't napping enough and getting overly tired and then not sleeping much at all. A well rested baby sleeps well and a tired baby is crabby often...that is what I have learned.

We were all about schedules at first (who would have thought, Melinda likes organization and schedules??? No!!! Oh wait, yes, if it involves me, organization abounds!). We followed BabyWise principals (I know, everyone has their thoughts on this, we like it) and had a happy little newborn. I only read up to the 2 month sections as I thought that was all I could take in. I planned to come back to it later. Well, instead of coming back to it, we just kept doing the 2 month cycles and then I realized my boy was 4 months old! So, I missed a few things in there. So, from 8 weeks to 4.5 months Macklin was doing great. But for the past month, his sleep and naps have been way off and nothing has been regular thanks to busy schedules and inconsistent parents (us).

Last week I was in search of a new routine and found one on a mommy site that follows BabyWise principals (as posted earlier). After thinking about our lives and recommendations from other mommies, here is the routine for Macklin:

7am wake up and feed

8:30am nap (has been 1.5-2 hours)

10:45am feed

12:15pm nap (more like 1-1.5 hours)

2:30pm feed

4pm nap (lucky if he is in bed for an hour)

6:15pm feed

8pm off to bed

sleeps til 7am the next morning!

So, today was an amazing day for Macklin. I even tried to take him to Young Life again and he didn't make a peep the whole night. He just watched and took everything in!

It is amazing how happy a happy baby can make his mommy!

Now, I am just bummed that he wasn't this well rested for the past month!

Poor first child....his parents have to learn on him!

Date Night

Tonight Justin planned a super fun and simple night out for us

(thank you to the Brummers for watching our less than happy boy!).

While I was at practice, he got everything ready.

Justin picked me up, we went to drop off Macklin and then.....

We had a picnic in the back of our truck with a mountain top view of Gypsum! It was awesome! The picnic was complete with picnic blanket on our truck mattresses, wine with real glasses (and milk because I drink milk with everything), corn, potatoes, and sloppy joes! It was super fun to just be able to spend an hour and a half hanging out with my hubby.

We watched the sun set, chatted, and then went back to grab our little man.

Oh how life has changed in the past 6 months, but my husband is still the best!

Macklin's First Trip to the Dentist

Yesterday I had my 6 month dental check up. As a new mommy, I wasn't quite sure what to do with Macklin for these situations, but the ladies at the dentist said that I was welcome to bring him along. I thought it was worth a try!

I brought him and he did awesome for the first 30 minutes. But, as it approached nap time, he started to get a little fussy. I tried to calm him down a bit, but that failed as soon as I put him back in his stroller. My hygienist said that I could have him in my lap! I tried that and it was awesome! Not only was he quite, but he got to watch everything that was happening and loved all the tools that made noise. He did rip off my little splash bib and toss it on the floor, but the hygienist was super cool and not phased by it one bit. What a great trip to the dentist!

On a side note, it is day three of our new napping plan and things are going super-duper! Macklin laid down for all three naps yesterday (even though they varied in length from 1.5 hours to 20 minutes) and then went to bed at 8pm (with no night feeding). He woke up at 9:15pm and we let him cry it out for 15 minutes and then he was back to bed. I woke up surprised this morning to find that he didn't wake during the night. It is 7am and I am going to go grab my happy little baby who is awake and playing in the crib. PS-I am dressed, have eaten breakfast, diapers are in the laundry, have pumped, and I already did one Young Life project. Holy smokes! I hope this new schedule keeps up!

Macklin Can Sit Up

Look at me...I can sit up now!

Well, most of the time. Thanks for catching me, Mommy!

Don't worry, he laughed!

Mack loves his daddy!

So precious!

This is a new face I haven't seen yet!

Still a sucker for the bath pics...he is so big!

Just wanted to give you all a brief update on our precious little man...

-5 and a half months old now, still a 50% baby. We think he is pretty skinny!

-loves his toes

-loves to grab anything in sight (including plates that I am eating from)

-loves to crow down his rice cereal (haven't added anything new this week)

-can sit up now (unless his diaper is bunching weird)

-is getting on a new feeding schedule with 4 feedings three hours and forty five minutes apart

(trying to loose the late night one this week to go to 4 instead of 5)

-is getting on a new nap schedule where he is awake for just about two hours at a time

(keep you posted on these items as we are just starting!)

-enjoys his jumper way more now, especially when his daddy puts it outside

while he does yard work :)

-moves himself in multiple circles while playing on the ground

-has a strong neck and back now

-still a sucker for the swing

-hears our voices and smiles

That's all I can think of for now!

PS-Anyone that follows BabyWise, I found a sweet blog....

http://www.babywisemom.com/

Bryce Meets Macklin

This past weekend we got to see Bryce and Katie Stuckenschnieder (who knows if I spelled that correctly). They are from Ohio but were in Denver seeing Katie's BFF and we met them for some afternoon adventures in Winter Park Saturday afternoon. Bryce was Justin's closest YL kid in Mid-MO when he led in college. We had to miss their wedding this past spring because they got married 5 days before Macklin was born! Anyway, it was awesome to see them and refreshing for Justin to see one of his old kids really making an impact for Jesus (Katie and Bryce do YL in Ohio now).

Bryce and his new little buddy!

Baxter fights a bear! Just kidding, I forgot what kind of dog this was, but we decided it was a goodledoodle mated with a polar bear! It weighed over 100 pounds!

Growing Boy!

So....Target needs to work on the size of their Newborn clothes. Macklin was given this sweet, sweet outfit by Tracy Felton. I decided it was what we were going to bring Mack home from the hospital in. Little did I know then that he would be so tiny and this outfit so big. Well, I saw it in the closet yesterday and decided we should put it on him again! What a difference! He is five and a half months old now and this finally fits! I should say that the pants don't fit anymore due to his big ole diapers!

I think he is a little happier in the outfit now!

Monday/Tuesday

Just a normal Monday and Tuesday for Melinda and Macklin!

Wanted to share some pics and videos!

Monday night with Sabrina, Abbie, and Alana over, we gave Mack some rice cereal.

It was awesome! Check out the video. He likes having things in his mouth...so he loved it!

Today he just looked so cute I couldn't not take a pic!

Lumberjack Mack

And tonight he had his whole toe in his mouth!

He can only do this when his diaper is off because

there is so much padding between his legs otherwise.

7 New Posts!

OK, so I got a bit behind, but I didn't want you to miss out on Macklin's life!

There are seven new posts....don't miss them!

Macklin Eats Blueberries

Today was just another lazy Sunday with the family. But, one exciting thing happened...Macklin ate some real food!!!! I know, I know, blueberries isn't exactly the first recommended food for babies. But, we had this little pacifier sucker thing and we had blueberries, so we thought we would try it! He liked it for a bit and then started making funny faces! Tonight we were at WalMart and got some rice cereal...So we will start with the regular approach tomorrow! It is just so amazing how interested he is in food. He will try to grab everything and put it in his mouth! He really wanted my McFlurry today! Keep you posted on other foods as they come!

Here is a new little outfit that my parents friends (the Reeds) got him!

He is now wearing 6-9 month clothing.

Macklin just hanging out in his swing. He really likes to look at the fish these days!

XC Update

After two meets, my team is on the rise! I have been so happy with their performances and attitudes! I have a lot of talented underclassmen and some good juniors and seniors to show them the way. I officially have 50 kids on my team (24 in 2008, 30 in 2009, and now 50 in our third year as a team!). I am really happy with my numbers and now we just have to get everyone in shape! We finished 5th and 7th (out of 13) for the girls and boys, respectively, yesterday and we had our first medal in a while (one of my freshmen girls placed 6th!).

Our next meet is this Friday in Grand Junction.

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....