Mackenzie Katheryn Thorpe has arrived!

It only seems fitting that I am typing this post 1 week from her actual arrival into this world. On October 22, 2009 at 3:26pm Mackenzie Katheryn joined our family! Kenzie measured 20-3/4" long, and was 7lbs 14 oz. A far cry from the almost 9lbs that I was anticipating, however, a welcomed surprise!

After a tough delivery, we are all healthy, happy, and glad to be home. Ellie loves her baby sister, and things are going well so far with that.

Here are some pictures from the stay in the hospital. There will be more posts to come with pictures after we arrived home, and the like.

One of the first pictures (that was appropriate for the internet).

Getting weighed for the first time.

Not a happy camper

Mom and Kenzie sleeping

I think she spent the last 5 or 6 weeks in this position.

We have NO idea where the dark hair comes from - but I LOVE IT!!! This is quite the change from E, who didn't really have hair until she was about 2 years old. So hopefully it stays.

Kenzie and Mom - hanging out at the hospital

Kenzie and Mom - getting ready to go home. I was READY!

The Cupcakes

To celebrate Ellie's actual birthday (I promise this is the last post about her birthday), she wanted to take pink cupcakes to school for all the kids in her class.

So we sat down one night and made cupcakes. I was the "froster" and Ellie was the "sprinkler". Ellie decided to decorate a cupcake special for each kid in the class. Some she took more time on, and others she just threw some sprinkles on and said done, lets move on. It wasn't hard to tell which kids in her class are her favorite.

I am sure that the parents of the kids in Ellie's class love me, because there were so many sprinkles on these cupcakes, that I am sure they had a sugar high all night long. Sorry about that, but again, glad they aren't at my house.

To wrap up the weekend of Birthday Celebrations...

Ellie had a pretty fun filled birthday weekend this year. Part of it was because it was her birthday, the other part was that Tom and I are trying to spend a lot of time with her before the baby arrives doing special big girl things.

So to wrap up her birthday weekend we took her to the Ringling Bros & Barnum and Bailey Circus. Tom had never been to the circus, and I hadn't been since I was little. So it was enjoyable for all.

Ellie really enjoyed the animals, and the lady that got shot out of the canon. The balancing acts, clowns, and that part of the entertainment were a bit lost on her, and she just kind of looked around the during these times. She did really enjoy all of the animal acts though.

Her favorite parts of the circus? I would have to say the popcorn and the fact that her little boyfriend from school was sitting 2 rows in front of us tied for first. Once she realized that he was in front of us, that is all she could talk about, and wanting to go down and see him.

Ellie's Birthday Cake

Have I mentioned before that I don't like store bought cake? The thought of eating it actually makes me gag a little bit. I think that it is the grainyness (if that is even a word) of the frosting. There is one exception to this rule, and that is The Bundt Shoppe in Castle Rock. I love their cakes - however, they have cream cheese frosting on them. My absolute favorite.

That being said, I completely understand why I don't like the frosting on store bought cakes. They don't use any dairy (eggs / milk) in the frosting, because you would have to refrigerate the cake. Therefore, the sugar doesn't dissolve well in the liquid and shortening, and you get a grainy texture....

I digress...

So, as part of my standard MO I decided to make Ellie's 3rd Birthday cake, just like I had in years past. Except I had these dillusions of grangeour about what the cake should look like, how it needs to be Little Einsteins to fit into the theme, etc. So how was I going to make a Little Einsteins cake?

Well, I searched around on the internet, and found directions to make a cake with a rocket on top. I read through the directions, and decided that it wasn't too hard - and decided to go for it.

Mine did not turn out as well as I would have liked (and not nearly as good as the one I found on the internet) but it was recognizable, and the kids seemed to like it just the same.

Here are a few pics of the cake...


The cakes have been baked... 5 cake mixes later


Rocket has been shaped, and crumb coated....


Rocket has been placed on the base cakes, and everything is now crumb coated

Finally decorated... Just not that happy with the results

Cake is finished.

Ellie's 3rd Birthday Party! (FINALLY)

This year, for Ellie's 3rd birthday party, we invited a slew of kids to hang out at a park all afternoon and have snacks and cake. Throw into the mix, hoppy balls, a rocket pinata filled with candy, and otehr sugary snacks, and you have about 15 kids running / bouncing around extremely hyper. Which was great, because they were not at my house.

Ellie had a great time at her party, and loved having her friends there. The theme was Little Einstein's - which at one point was her favorite cartoon. I think since then she has moved through about 5 different favorite cartoons. I am sure we will cycle back to Little Einstein's soon.

Fortunately, the weather held out through the party - but as soon as the party ended - you could see the storm clouds rolling into the area. It was really one of the last nice days that we have had this year. So we were extremely fortunate considering it was an outdoor party, and we had no alternative planned.

The best part? Neither of the (2) extremely pregnant ladies at the party went into labor.

Here are a few pictures from her party.

Swimming Lessons

Over the summer, we frequented our local outdoor pool several times. It quickly became apparent that someone who doesn't know how to swim, has NO FEAR of the water. So I immediately enrolled Tom in lessons....

No just kidding about that, we enrolled Ellie in lessons. We had to wait until she turned 3 to take the first class, so we signed her up as soon as we could.

This is Ellie's first swimming lesson without the presence of one of her parents in the pool with her. She quickly adjusted, and LOVED playing with the other kids in the lesson. I can totally see Ellie as either the class clown / goof off or the flirt when she grows up. She completely flirted with her teacher the entire session.

Here are a few photos of Ellie and the swimming lessons.

The last picture, with the googles was her final lesson. She insisted on wearing the goggles the entire lesson, although I am pretty sure they were filled with water the entire time.

The Name Game...

For the past 33 weeks or so, I have been trying to come up with a name for Baby #2, affectionately referred to as La-a (pronounced La dash a). I had absolutely no problem coming up with little boy names, and even had a list of 3 or 4 that were really battling it out in my brain. Then, we found out for certain, that we are having a girl, and my brain exploded.

No, in all seriousness, we (Tom and I) have been having an extremely difficult time coming up with a name for Baby #2, and I honestly thought that we would be one of those people that were held hostage at the hospital until we wrote down something on the birth certificate that in hind sight would cause others (as well as ourselves) to say WTF?

I think the problem in my brain is how do I come up with a name that I like as much as Ellie's name? I can't use the rejects from her naming, because that would already cause her to be ranked #2, just as her name was 3 years ago. So we have to start from scratch. We have to come up with something new and creative. Something we loved. And we were blocked. Names were getting tossed around like wrestlers, and nothing was sticking. We had a few options that "weren't too bad" but nothing just screamed, YES! Like Meg Ryan in Harry Met Sally.....

That was all until the other day. I was successfully procrastinating my day away at work by catching up on my blog reading... oh I mean dutifully preparing my projects for others to take over in less than a week while I am on maternity leave, when I read a name. A nickname really. And liked it. The best part? The nickname was from one of the names that Tom and I had already considered, but tossed out, because we didn't like what we thought was the only nickname.

So then I started thinking more and more about this name. What middle name would go with it? Does it sound good with Ellie? How about Elizabeth? How does the whole name sound? What are the cons? Do people like being named this? Is this a mature enough name that it doesn't lead our second child into a life of pole dancing and porno films as a career path? Surprisingly, all of the answers were leaning in the right direction.

Now the big sell. How do I present this name to Tom without him immediately shooting it down because he doesn't like what we thought was the only nickname for it? So I wrote the full name and the nickname down on a piece of paper, and gave it to him. The other downfall for Tom? If he didn't like it - he might risk being killed, mutalated, or worse, because I had already explained to him that I really liked it. I think he was scared of dealing with the pregnant lady. However, I did preface, that I wanted to know his real opinion, and I wouldn't kill him or anything if he didn't like it, but I would be really upset, and probably would cry. (No pressure).

So the name was presented on the paper. He asked several questions. Does the name have any meanings that would associate it with Elf Councils, or Elf villages, like another name we were considering? Nope. Meaning? Nicknames? Teasing possibilities? Spelling? All of these answers also leaned the right way for Tom....

So the result? We have a name. That we both like. That doesn't mean Elf Council, or is associated with Elves in anyway. That has a good nickname. That doesn't lend our daughter into a life of pole dancing. That others like being named. That is easy to pronounce. That goes well with a family name as a middle name.

And the answer is.....

I can't say yet, I have to check with Tom. It wouldn't be fair to blirt it out with his approval. But it is the first name that I have been excited about in 33 weeks for a little girl.

So in 8 days, we may have a little addition to our family with the initials MKT.

More later on this.

Ellie is 3!

Over the weekend we got Ellie in for her 3 year pictures. This was the first year that we really didn't have to battle her to have her picture taken. She was really good about the whole thing and did a great job. It also helped that I had skittles in my purse that I was bribing her with. Here are a few of our favorite photos from the collection.

The Month of Celebrations....

October tends to be one of our busiest months of the year, quickly followed by the end of April / beginning of May. So, I have been slacking off on the blog posts lately in preparation for the month of October...

Oct 6 is Ellie's Birthday! Happy Birthday to my 3 year old! It is hard to believe that she is 3 already. We spent the weekend celebrating her birthday with a fun party with her friends on Saturday, and the Circus on Sunday. I will post more about those later. She told me last night (on her actual birthday) that she had a good birthday. For lunch, she had her favorite lunch, tacos. Dinner consisted of a meal of her request - cheese hamburger with apples. Not to be confused with a cheeseburger, even though in the world of adults, they are the same thing. She also took a snack of cupcakes loaded with sprinkles (Ellie's contribution) to school for afternoon snack. I am sure that the teachers / parents loved me. Especially after hyping them up on sugar all day Saturday, then again on Tuesday!

Oct 7 is our anniversary. This year we are celebrating our 9th anniversary - which is HARD to believe. I can't believe how much time has passed. Tom and I dated for almost 4 years before we got married as well - So Happy 9th Anniversary to us! To celebrate, I think we will be going out to dinner tonight, and then I will probably pass out on the couch. My standard MO lately.

We also have several friends birthdays, kids birthdays, and family birthdays throughout the month of October. I think I am the reason that Hallmark is still in business during the month of October.

Finally, we are expecting the arrival of La-a on the 22nd of October.

Oh - and the Rockies made it to the playoffs. So now we are watching football, baseball and hockey in our "spare" time.

So here is to a month of celebrations! I am hoping to have more posts up soon summarizing the exciting events we have attended / will be attending this month! Sorry for the delay.

36.5 Weeks and Counting

So this Thursday, officially marks the 37 week point in my pregnancy, and the last month has completely just flown by. We have been so busy trying to cram stuff into our lives before La-a arrives, that sometimes I wonder how I will survive when she is on the outside, instead of the inside.

Due to GD, I have monthly growth checks of baby La-a, which consist of an Ultrasound, measurements, etc. Our most recent growth check apt at 35 weeks put La-a at 6lbs 7oz I believe. We are looking at another 8+lb baby in my opinion. However, one of my OB Dr's doesn't seem to think that she will get that big. We will see who is right. They also tell me that she will have a lot of hair. To this I also laugh, as E is now 3, and finally getting hair.

I know a lot of my friends are against the idea of a scheduled induction. That the baby should come out whenever they want to, blah blah blah. Well, I am all for it. As you all know I am an EXTREME planner, and I like to have things scheduled. Added bonus #1.

Also, when it comes right down to it, due to the GD, my body is not healthy right now. My body is doing everything it can to support La-a, and I am second in priority. So the sooner this baby is out, the faster my body starts to take care of itself again. Added Bonus #2.

Added Bonus #3 - I really really really don't want a 10# baby. Scheduling the induction will allow me to prevent having a 10# baby, or worse, like that lady in Jakarta who had the 19.2# baby a couple of weeks ago.

So that being said, we have scheduled the induction for 39 weeks. La-a should be arriving sometime that day (hopefully). Hopefully, we will have a better name picked out for her by then. We have narrowed down the choices, but I just can't seem to settle on one over another, and nothing seems to catch my fancy like E's name did.

I think I have 7 more Dr apts between now and then, and I am anxiously counting them down.

That is the update as of now.... More information to come.