1st day

Maggie LOVED her first day of preschool, which began with a traditional special breakfast (pancakes with white chocolate chips and blueberries) on a special plate (must get the "You Are Special" red plate like I had growing up or make my own; all we had on hand was a birthday plate). Or, thanks to my friend Laurie, find some inspiration here.

Growing up, my mom always prepared a special breakfast for us. She actually did an amazing job handing down wonderful school traditions--like notes in our lunches. Until we were in high school. And even into college while we were away. And she is still the master of hand-written notes and care packages. I have learned much from her example.

Maggie loved making new friends, wearing her new backpack, learning about the letter "A," snack time, and playing with the kitchen toys in the classroom.

New tradition: Back-To-School's Eve

Inspired by this post and this post, I decided to replicate something similar for Maggie's first day of preschool on Friday.

Granted, I just did the meal. What's a girl to do with a 20-month old underfoot and a 6-week old in the Moby wrap (btw, my favorite baby carrier, go get one if you have an under-1 year old)?

Maggie picked the meal: parmesan chicken (Ina's recipe to which I added bamboo sticks for more fun eating), edamame (Aron and I had artichokes), risotto with asiago cheese, blueberries, and the best-ever-double-chocolate-chunk cookies for dessert (Maggie and I made them together and this is one of those recipes I've modified and feel I've finally perfected; they are addictive!).

We talked about school, what she's most excited about, and how she can be a blessing to her teachers and friends. I'm looking forward to the school year!

And I'm looking forward to future "BTSEs" and going more all-out with decor. This year it was a simple meal shared by our family. But, we loved it. And I need simple and manageable right now.

Is he his Daddy's son or what?!

"Cheese"

Curren is learning to smile on command and say, "Cheese!" Here's a snapshot of what it looks like. Or not (too early in the morning).

I sure love my boy!

BFFs

I really can't get enough of the sister love (and frankly, Curren is too fast to catch any good, sweet loving shots with Kate). I LOVE my sister, we are BFFs and I can only hope Kate and Maggie will be the same.

And I equally love to see Maggie and Curren giving eachother hugs and kisses. Since Curren's birth, I have regularly asked her, "Who's your best friend?" And over time, with my leading, she responds, "Curren." And now adds, "Kate."

It's a small thing, but the whole "my siblings are my best friends" will go a long way in life. I think it's important for us as parents to be instilling in our children from an early age that first, God loves them, second, mom and dad do, and third, their siblings are their best friends. They need to look out for eachother and put the others before themselves. They get lots of practice spending so much time together, don't they? Why not use such times as teachable moments?

Sweet Mel

My good friend, Melisa, was out visiting family a couple weekends ago and we were able to see eachother one Saturday morning. I was able to meet her 4th baby, a sweet boy named Beck (who is 3 months older than Kate), and we were able to catch up in person--so refreshing!

We met in 1997 when she was one of my roomates at a super fantastic Bible college in Estes Park, Colorado called Ravencrest. This experience changed my life and the friendships I made are still some of the closest I have today. Mel, along with fellow RC girls Laurie, Tina, and Elicia and I have made a yearly tradition of a girls-only trip. But, the last 2 years have been a bit crazy with babies being born (there are now 16 kiddos between the 5 of us and one on the way!) and just the stages of motherhood, so we are hoping to do it next year in PA (where Mel and Tina live). I love my girls! And I love that Mel was able to meet Kate as well as Curren (our last girls' trip in 2009 was to see Laurie in Atlanta and I was pregnant with Curren).

I'm so thankful for long-lasting friendships. Love you, Mel.

Miss Kate

Meet your new sister!

Maggie is absolutely smitten with her new sister! Smitten I tell you. She wants to be around her all the time, sings to her, holds her hand, brings her things, and is overall, very nurturing. Surprisingly, Curren is also very affectionate towards her, though his hugging usually involves laying on her and bumping her head with his. It's very sweet, really. He is constantly saying, "Ah!" when he sees her and leans his head towards her in affection. What Aron and I didn't anticipate was the extra attention he would need. He has been clingy/tearful much more often since her arrival, but thankfully, I think we are turning a corner.

I can't wait to watch these 3 grow-up together!

First meeting at the hospital

Kate Evangeline McKay

Be prepared for a picture-heavy post. Almost a month after Kate's birth, I'm finally posting her story and getting back into the blogworld.

Here's the story, in brief; my delivery was truly amazing.

My due date, July 26, came and went without much fanfare. I had been having contractions on and off for weeks and slowly dilating and effacing for weeks prior to her due date. I thought, "Surely, she will arrive any day!" At 41 weeks, I went to see the OB and was still dilated to 5cm and was 80% effaced and had yet to go into spontaneous labor. So we decided on a mild induction for Tuesday morning, the 3rd. We went in that morning and they started me mildly on Pitocin around 9am and by noon there hadn't been any change. My OB broke my water at 12:15pm and Kate arrived at 5:12pm after what I call 5 hours of labor and 3 pushes! God totally answered our prayers for an unmedicated VBAC (like Curren's birth). It was an incredible day, not knowing if the induction would work and yet being totally peaceful about the outcome. And God allowed me to really walk *moment by moment* through the whole thing. Such an incredible lesson for me. Kate was a whopper, too--9 lbs., 13 oz. and 20 inches long. We came home from the hospital that Thursday, and moved into a new home (renting from friends who are in Italy for a year--God's timing is awesome once again!).

And now, 4 weeks since her arrival we are doing amazingly well. I feel good about mothering 3; surprisingly, the transition has been smooth. I love having our own space once again and just being able to slow down and enjoy my oldest children while I, say, nurse Kate and am thus, forced to sit for long periods of time. It's good. Really good. I'm TRULY grateful to all the friends and family who prayed for me and encouraged me.

Heading out early to Starbucks to read, pray, and eat breakfast before induction



My good friend Cayla was able to be at the birth and was a wonderful support throughout. She was also our birth photographer. I'm so grateful she could experience this with me.

My good friend Dawnielle was also able to be at the birth and was an incredible support throughout--I got tons of back and head massages from her; so helpful!

I LOVE this photo because this is moments before delivery, I was in gnarly pain and Dawnielle was just whispering truth to me, saying over and over, "You did it! She is almost here! God is so good! Has is answering our prayers!"
This was the first moment I held Kate. I was just saying over and over, through dry tears, "THANK YOU, Jesus, THANK YOU!" I couldn't muster any watery tears for some odd reason, but let me tell you, the joy was OVERWHELMING!

My FANTASTIC-AMAZING-TERRIFIC husband! This labor and delivery would not have been possible without his constant companionship, support, truth spoken, prayers, encouragement, hand holding, feet massaging, and outpouring of LOVE.

I am one blessed woman.

siblings!

The blog is much overdue in an update--we've had so much going on this summer, it feels a bit daunting to write about it all. But, I have to start somewhere! Here's the first shot I have for you of our 3 sweet kiddos: Kate is here! She arrived August 3 and is an AMAZING baby so far (almost 3 weeks old!). I'm working on her birth story post and editing pics.

For now, I start with this sweet pic of the siblings on an old quilt in a friend's backyard.