McKynzie Month-by-Month

This is McKynzie at the hospital. Probably not even a day old.

This is her going home outfit. Josslyn has a matching one that says Big Sister. This was way to small for her. But I made her wear it anyway. They were going to match dang it!

My mom came to help for a bit and she was about 2 weeks old here. And entirely comfortable wherever.

One month old!

Two months old!

Three months old!

Four months old! (Note how she continues to get more wiggly.)

Five months old! She kept taking the sticker off her belly. It was very annoying.

McKynzie's Birth Story

At our last doctor appointment the Wednesday before Easter, our doc made a joke that he had to teach Sunday School on Easter and he'd rather not, so he was hoping to get a call Sunday morning that I was in labor. But it was not to be. I didn't feel huge, but I was extremely uncomfortable and ready for the pregnancy to be over. We celebrated my birthday on Saturday and Easter on Sunday. By Monday, which was our due date, I was totally ready for the pregnancy to be over and hoped that a lot of walking on Monday would do the trick. Monday night I was feeling some contractions, but they didn't every get too close. But I decided to sleep on the couch instead because I just couldn't get comfortable in the bed. I had contractions all night about every 20 ish minutes. I felt much better pushing through them this time than I ever did with Josslyn.

In the morning they were about 8-10 minutes apart, so I woke Nate up at about 8 a.m. and told him to get started, get dressed and ready to go and we would see where we were at. After getting Josslyn up and dressed and fed, and the rest of us dressed, fed, and packed, we headed to Nate's parents to drop off Josslyn. In the car the contractions slowed down a lot and I was pretty disappointed and worried that I would be sent home, but we decided that since it was already 10 a.m. and Nate obviously wasn't going to work, we would head in anyway. They still were pretty slow all the way in to the hospital but since I was a day after my due date they went ahead and admitted me anyway. After getting settled, they checked me to see if I was progressing any, and I didn't expect any at all, but the nurse announced I was already at 4 cm!

I was so surprised! They then ordered my epidural and we only had to wait about 30 minutes for him to come in. I have been really blessed (especially after hearing MANY horror stories) to have two really excellent epidurals. I could still feel the pressure, but was not uncomfortable. I could still lift my bum and move my legs. It was wonderful. I felt totally present in the moments of my children's birth because I wasn't totally bent over in pain, but wasn't so numb that I couldn't participate in what was happening. From this point it was a waiting game. My doctor came in at about noon and broke my water and I was at about 5-6 cm then. After he left things really moved quickly. The nurse came in to check on us about every hour and kept telling me the other nurses had told her to turn down my pitocin because it was obviously too high if my contractions were going that crazy and she kept having to tell them that I wasn't on any! This baby was just ready to come!

When my doctor had come to break my water he joked that he was sad he'd had to teach Sunday School, but he had a board meeting that day at 3:30 so I could make it up to him by getting him out of that instead. Well at about 3:20 I started to feel a lot of pressure. The nurse came and checked me and I was at a 10 and ready to go! She called my doc, who was happy to skip a meeting and come over to us instead! He came in at about 3:30 and I started pushing and baby girl slipped right out at 3:38 pm!

She was so big! I knew she would be bigger than Josslyn, but she was about a pound and a half bigger than her sister! She weighed in at 8 pounds 5 ounces and 20 inches long. All of us were surprised at how I had been able to keep this big girl in me. I also realized that all the adorable newborn size outfits I brought for her to wear were NOT going to fit her. But we were happy to have her, and quickly! And glad I hadn't changed my mind about going in when the contractions slowed down in the car. From start of really active labor to birth was only about 7 hours. I have said a lot since then that I if raising kids were as easy as my pregnancies and especially this delivery had been, I'd have a whole bunch.

We love our two girls to the moon. They are happy and beautiful. They are so smart and we love having a house of princesses and pink! We have frequently heard how much McKynzie looks like Nathan and Josslyn has always looked just like me, so looks like we have one of each of us!

The Laursens

It's been a really long time since I've published on this blog, but I would really like to keep up on the blog, if nothing else than to just to be able to remember these things about my babies when they were young.

Currently we live in Logan. Nathan is working for Utah State, and though he is busy and it takes him from home a lot more than we would all like, I think he really likes working there. He likes the people he works with and he likes working with the students and helping them learn and do better. He likes when he goes somewhere and works hard to improve something and I think that he has done that here.

I am busy being a mom. I love being able to stay home with my girls. It's really hard and some days I count down until bed time so it's quiet, but I love being a mom. I love watching them grow and learn. I love seeing how smart they are and watching them figure every little thing out. I feel bad when I sit in my pajamas until 3 pm, but who doesn't do that?!

Josslyn will be turning 3 soon and I just love how smart she is. She is so quick to catch on to things, and remembers every little detail of everything you ever tell her. Which obviously is hard sometimes when she remembers things you don't really want her to, but I wouldn't change how smart she is for a second. She recently started a ballet class, which is literally the light of her whole week. She loves going to see her teacher and it really is amazing to watch her shriek with excitement when Thursday rolls around. She has always loved singing and dancing. She knows more words to songs than I do and can memorize songs and dance moves like it's nothing. She continues to surprise us everyday with how articulate she is, how smart she is, how outgoing she is, and how much she loves life! She is especially a really good big sister. I definitely believe the oldest are meant to be because they naturally have this amazing ability to look out for their siblings. She doesn't love sharing her toys, but I think this is mostly because McKynzie is a baby who slobbers all over everything and Josslyn says "that's gross mom, SPIT!" Now the next challenge is potty training, which of course, she is smart enough to realize she'd rather wear diapers and not worry about having to take a break from toys or playing to go to the bathroom.

McKynzie just turned 5 months old. Despite a recent inability to stay asleep, she is really the joy of everyone's lives. She is so happy. Loves to smile and play and gets really mad when you leave her in a room by herself. Wherever you are going. McKynzie has to go to. Where Josslyn was my tiny, petite little baby, McKynzie is my chunker. She continues to grow like crazy and is so much bigger than Josslyn ever was. In fact she wore a dress to church the other day that I'm pretty sure Josslyn wore when she was about a year old. She can roll all over, she loves to sleep on her belly in particular. She is starting to sit on her own, she usually does much better when she has something to hold on to, but falls over when she tries to look around. She'd really love to crawl. When something is out of reach, she lays on her belly and yells at it until someone comes and pushes it closer. She is starting to push off things with her feet so crawling is not far behind!

Our family is so blessed. And even though sometimes we are not sure what path to take or what things to do with our lives, we know we are trying hard and our happy girls make it all worth the struggles we face.

Hopefully I'll keep better track of our lives. I know there are little things that I would like to remember that I never will unless I take a picture and write it down!

Inspirational Story of the Day

After a long, exhausting, frustrating week where Josslyn virtually got no sleep, my testimony was super strengthened today. Josslyn has been struggling sleeping. She seems super uncomfortable, we could hear her in her bed in the early morning hours just talking and singing and playing and just generally NOT sleeping. No matter how much we rocked her, gave her warm milk, read to her, she just wouldn't go back to sleep. And what was worse, she wasn't taking very good naps either. We were all frustrated with each other, short tempered, and TIRED.

Last night Josslyn slept amazing. 11 hours straight, and went easily down for her nap. It was the best night we've all had in a while and I've been in such a better mood today. Not short with her. She's been a lot quicker to smile, and hasn't whined at all. After I put her down for her nap I looked at my phone to find a text message from my sister in law asking if we had slept good last night, because my 5-year-old niece and made sure to say in her prayers last night that we all get a good night sleep. Without even knowing, or possibly understanding, how rough our week had been, a 5-year-old little girl has been able to bring peace to my home from 1000 miles away.

There is absolutely something special about that little girl and I am so grateful to have her a part of my family. And Josslyn is lucky to be able to have a cousin like that. And Josslyn sure loves her!

Easter Picture

This is a comparison picture. Josslyn last year at Easter versus this year. She's changed so much!

The Happenings

Hello Blogger World!

Josslyn had her 15 month check-up the other day so I thought I would post an update on our little joy and post a few of our activities up here in Washington. Although admittedly...I sadly haven't taken many pictures. In fact I took out the camera the other day to take a picture and it was dead and I didn't even know it. So most of these pictures are from my phone, but still awesome.

Josslyn is 15 months and almost 2 weeks old. She is absolutely the best thing about every day. She is amazing. Here are some neat things about her.

-Josslyn is 30 inches long and weighs 22 lbs. 5 oz. Both of these things are in the 50% percentile so she is just the perfect size!
-She loves to be outside. If it's sunny we have to be outside, no questions. If you put her shoes on she will stand at the door saying bye bye until you let her out.
-She is determined to do things all on her own. She won't eat unless you give her a fork and spoon and let her do it herself. Which is super messy, but always fun. In her opinion, everything can be eaten with a fork if you let her try. This also includes climbing and walking. No need to crawl or down stairs, I'll just walk. Fortunately, no major injuries yet, but I'm not counting on that lasting forever.
-She is a talker! I seriously wish I knew what she was saying. She'll give you the lecture of your life, including pointing that little finger at you and I love watching her lecture strangers the most!
-Josslyn is learning to count. She loves to count everything. Her legos, her dolls, her shoes, her bows, the stars on her shirt. Whatever you point out, she will count it. Somehow there is always three of everything. I've been working on trying to tape it, but she's into the stare at the camera when it's pulled out stage.

 She seriously just carries her ball around. Sometimes she'll kick it or throw it. But mostly just carries it around.

Josslyn's favorite spot in the whole house. Will spend hours here. My mirrors are always covered in fingerprints.

 Super baby!

Josslyn's Birthday and Trip to Utah

We had a wonderful time over the weekend of Nate and Josslyn's birthdays. We were able to go to Utah and see all our family and friends and it was so great to be able to celebrate Josslyn's birthday with everyone. She is so spoiled and I love it! She had a great time, got to spend LOTS of time with her cousins, which was her favorite part!

On Wednesday the 12th (Nate's birthday) we flew to Utah and spent the night with my brother and his family in Bountiful and Thursday morning (Josslyn's birthday) we headed up to Logan. First thing when we got there was we had to eat at Chili's! Nate and I LOVE Chili's, but the only one in the entire Western half of Washington is in Seatac Airport. WHAT?!?

We have Josslyn's birthday party that night at the Pizza Pie Cafe in Logan. It was perfect! So many people came and we had such a great time. Josslyn got so many presents and had so much fun seeing all the kids and eating her favorite thing...pasta.

 Mom, can I have more?!

 So many presents! We were able to fit pretty much everything from her birthday into our suitcase, only had to leave two things from Christmas behind to get sent on later.

 Super cute cake from Shaffer's Bakery in Logan. They gave a free small one for Josslyn to destroy and eat. It was amazing. I was so nervous about ordering over the phone from two states away, but they did a really great job!

 My gorgeous baby girl. Doesn't that smile just say it all? What would I do without her?

This is pretty much the extent of the cake eating. She played for a second. Nate made her eat some and she spit it out and played with the toys on it instead.

Give the baby kisses!

We had such a great time! Thank you everyone that came and helped and was there for us. We were so happy to be able to share this moment with everyone!

We also did Christmas with our families while we were there. Since Nate and Josslyn's birthdays are right in between the holidays, we did what we could to get everything squeezed in while we were there. We went to the Zoo Lights at Hogle Zoo with Nate's family and we had such a good time. It was raining pretty hard, but we bundled up the kiddos so good that Josslyn promptly fell asleep and missed the whole thing!

We went bowling with my family on Saturday, and we are super competitive. I didn't loose! Yeah! And Josslyn slept through most of this experience...I swear this kid doesn't sleep this much at home, we must have just worn her out or something.

We stayed at Little America Friday and Saturday night and it was so fun! We went swimming and played and generally made a mess. Josslyn LOVES the pool. She would splash all around and then look to make sure I was watching and wave like crazy and then splash and laugh some more. It was so fun!

I didn't take many pictures obviously. Too enthralled with the moment I guess! But here's a good one right before we went to the airport to come home to rainy Washington!

Happy Birthday to the two best people in my life and thank you everyone for coming to share it with us. Can't believe my baby is one!

Okay...here are Josslyn's ONE YEAR STATS!

-Josslyn is 19 lbs. 13 oz. (Pretty tiny. I'm not sure of the percentiles, but we love our little girl.)

-She is 28.5 inches tall

-She can eat pretty much anything you set in front of her, but she really hates weird textures.

-We are starting this week to get her off bottles and onto milk.

-She is WALKING all over. About a week after Thanksgiving she decided she didn't really need to crawl anymore and finally let go of the furniture. She is starting to get so much faster, and it's so cute to watch her walk all over the house and tell stories and play with toys.

-Josslyn LOVES music and dances to pretty much any TV theme song but especially Big Bang Theory and Phineas and Ferb.

-Josslyn has four teeth in full and three more have broken through. All up front right in the middle, she started with her very front teeth and is working outward. She love to use them. You give her the tiniest cracker and she will bite it off instead of just sticking the whole thing in her mouth.

We hope everyone is having an amazing holiday season!