July 30, 2007 - So maybe being a bad blogger just means that I am being a good mommy? That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. So much has happened since I last wrote. Macy had her 6 month appointment and blew us out of the water with her growth in two months. At her appointment, which was June 26th, she weighed 17lbs 13 oz (88%), was 27 1/2 inches long (off the chart for height) and her head had grown 1 full inch. My little munchkin is getting big. She jumped from 3/6 month clothes to 9 month in a matter of weeks. We think Macy will be a tall girl if this keeps up. We just got back from a 2 week trip to Vermont and New York and visited a ton of family and friends. Macy met many family members, for the first time, her: Great Grandmother Major, Great Grandmother and Grandfather Williams, her Great Aunt Lynne, her 2nd cousin Jenny and boyfriend (almost Uncle) Pat, her Great Aunt Ann and Great Uncle Bob, her Great Uncle Dave and Great Aunt Carole, Uncle Michael, Aunt Andrea, cousin Josh, Great Aunt Sandy and Great Uncle Tim, 2nd cousin Todd, Great-Great Aunt Pat. I think that is it for family at this meeting.

Macy has started to say “Da-Da” and is rolling over with ease. Macy has been eating solid foods for about a month or so and just two days ago, started to sit up on her own. I assist her in getting to the sitting position and she does all the rest. She usually stops when she gets tired and shows us by slumping over or falling backwards. We try and catch her.

Motherhood is amazing! I will post some new pictures tomorrow but I have to go put Macy down for the night.

Good night Everyone. Sleep tight.

June 3, 2007 - Wow, how time flies…I can’t believe that Macy is already 5 months and 1 week old. She is growing by leaps and bounds every day and I now fear that my little tiny munchkin will soon be a little girl, then high schooler and soon heading for college. Okay, that was a little dramatic but you understand. She is just now starting to fit into 6 month old clothes and I am not ready for that. Macy and I are taking a trip to Florida on Tuesday so that she can meet her Uncle Brent, Aunt Donna and cousins Darian, PJ and Maya. Maya is 20 months old and I bought Macy and her matching dresses so we can take some pictures of them together. I hope they will like each other. Macy pretty much likes anyone that will show her attention or better yet, walk around with her. I have been told that this will go away shortly and that she will not be happy with strangers. I pray this phase doesn’t start until after our trip. I plan to have a bunch of new photos to post when I get back. Daddy can’t go as he has to work. What a bummer.

May 17, 2007 - Today Macy met another set of her grandparents, my Dad and Tasia. They flew in last night to visit for a week. It is so good to see family and have Macy meet them for the first time. This, of course, only makes me wish we or all of them lived closer. Family is great and I am happy that I have mine.

May 12, 2007 - I wanted to post a quick note to say HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY to my mom. My mother and I are not only that, mother and daughter, but I consider my mother one of my best friends. I have learned so much from her and I can only hope to pass this knowledge onto Macy one day. I pray that Macy and I will become close friends and love spending time together the way I feel when I spend time with my mom. Having my mom visit for a month made me realize even more how important she is to me and also just how important family is. At the end of the day, family is all that really matters. I would drop anything, at anytime for a family member and know they would do the same for me. Having that knowledge that someone(s) love you that much makes taking risks and new adventures that much easier. You know that you will be loved no matter what. Until I had Macy I thought I knew what unconditional love was but now I have to say I REALLY know! Okay, whoa, got a little off course there. Sorry about that.

Anyway, Mom, I love you and am so happy that you are my mom and my friend. Thanks for all you do and who you are!

May 11, 2007 - So a couple of days ago Macy learned that her foot could in fact bend all the way to her head and to make things even more fun, fit in her mouth. I have been putting my foot in the mouth for years but not in the cute way she can. I have to say that I am pretty excited about this new development. I always heard that babies did this so I was thrilled to find out Macy was right on course. It is strange what makes a mom proud! By the way, Macy can also do lots of other wonderful things but this is just the newest one. Yes, I am bragging and have I mentioned how cute I think she is??? Well, of course I do, I’m her mom and #1 fan. Macy has changed our lives so much and I really couldn’t be happier. Waking up to Macy smiling up at me makes the day complete, even if it is really early in the morning.

It is starting to get pretty hot here during the day so Macy and I spent a couple hours in the front yard playing and reading today. It is nicely shaded by our big tree and it felt wonderful to just lie on the blanket next to her and enjoy the outdoors. I hope she loves it outside when she gets older.

Still working on getting new pictures up. Sorry for the delay.

May 5, 2007 - Life in the fast lane does not accurately describe my life anymore. You might think it does with my lack of blogging lately but I can explain that. I am still amazed at how much one little, tiny person can change your life. We had the wonderful fortune of having my mother, Grandma Gigi to Macy, come and visit us for the month of April. Hence, no blogging from me as I wanted to spend as much time with her as possible. Grandma was only supposed to be here for two weeks but Macy talked her into staying much longer. It was GREAT! For me, having an extra set of hands around was wonderful as Marc was working tons of hours and not here too much. The timing couldn’t have been better. For Grandma, it gave her an opportunity to get to know Macy and spend some great quality time together. I think it was wonderful. My mother and I are very close and I can only pray that Macy and I will be like that someday. I’m working on it but time will only tell.

Some major milestones for Macy from April to May (I know there are more but don’t have the time to write about them all):

April 26th (Macy’s turned 4 months old) we went to the pediatrician. Macy now weighs 13lbs 3 1/2 oz (83%), is 25 1/4inches tall (41%) and her head is in the 58%. Macy got 4 shots and only cried for a short time. The appointment went well and Macy got a clean bill of health. Mommy and Daddy were very happy.

Macy rolled over from her tummy to her back three times one day. Unfortunately, we think it may have been a fluke as she has not decided to do it again for us. We got it on tape for proof though.

Macy is grasping objects with both hands and her grip will soon fall into the “super hero” range. How can such small hands pull my hair with soo much force??? Side note: most objects head directly into Macy’s mouth. We did discover that she can get almost her entire hand into her own mouth now.

Macy has found her feet and is really quite fascinated by them. You really don’t need expensive fancy toys, just feet. If I had known that, I could have saved us some real money.

Daddy has taught Macy to make rude noises with her mouth and then smile. It’s actually quite cute but will need fixing in the future, that much I am sure of.

Macy is now sitting forward in her stroller and jog stroller. I think she is enjoying our daily walks more as she can see that much more when we are out.

Macy, Grandma and I saw a bear on a hike we went on at Roxborough Park. At first it is cool and exciting but the fact that I am the slowest runner in the world kind of freaked me out. Luckily we were close the car and drove away easily. It wasn’t that close but still…bears are very fast. I’m so glad it wasn’t any closer.

My Dad and Tasia (Grandpa and Grandma Benson) are coming to visit us in a couple of weeks too. Macy can’t wait to meet them.

I posted a few pictures but was told I have to delete some before I can add more. Will have to take the time and do that soon.

Hope everyone is well, healthy and safe.

April 1, 2007 - I can not get myself to let Macy just cry it out.  We are starting to have a few issues with putting Macy to bed at night.  She likes to be held and cries like crazy if we put her down too early.  How can you let your baby cry?  Is this just something I will get over?  Do you harden to the sound of your baby cries? Will I be a bad mom if we do let her cry herself to sleep?  Why is it okay to let them cry themselves to sleep?  I know I hate it when I do that.  I always wake up with a headache and sore eyes.  Maybe I am not tough enough yet?  UGGGHHHHH, parenting can be so hard on a person.  Why don’t babies come with instructions so that we can sleep better at night?  Instructions would stop a whole lot of my incessant worrying. 

Oh the bright side, Macy is holding her head up really well these days and doing great with her tummy time.  She is reaching for objects and smiling lots.  Here is a little laundry for you. 

I posted some other new pictures of Macy too.  Hope you enjoy them.

March 28, 2007 - I was lying in bed last night (more like 3am) and had just put Macy down and couldn’t fall back to sleep.  I realized that Macy is so lucky to be born into our families.  The one thing that I have always relied on was the fact that my family was always behind me 100% (even when my decisions might not have been all that popular).  To know that you can go out into the world and have that support is amazing.  I hope that Macy will feel that same way.  Whether she decides to be the President of the United States or work at Starbucks she will always have her family behind her. 

March 25, 2007 - Was that a giggle I just heard?  I think that I finally heard Macy giggle on Saturday.  I was making funny noises trying to distract her and I am pretty sure she giggled.  It was wonderful to hear.  She hasn’t done it since but I know that more are on the way.  I can’t wait.  Macy is really getting good at holding up her head and tummy time is getting even better each day.  It’s fun to watch her grow and learn new things.  Children are so amazing.  All the smiles and funny noises make up for those not so fun crying jags.  The only thing I wish for now is that our families would move closer to us.  I miss my family a lot now. 

March 18, 2006 - So at this point in Macy’s life, I keep wondering how much she should know.  According to some, she should probably be reading and walking while others think that sleeping all day is a great accomplishment.  I talk with Macy all the time, sing her silly songs that I continually make up and read to her but always wonder if that is enough.  I keep thinking that she should know Spanish and French and Sign Language by now.  Of course, I don’t know any of those myself so that is a problem too.  At the end of the day though, the one thing that I do know is that I love Macy more than ever and if love is enough…she will do fine in life.  She won’t go one day without feeling loved by me or her dad.  Parenting is full of challenges I am finding but after talking to others, I don’t think I am struggling anymore than anyone else.  Each day is new and exciting and Macy is a true blessing.