Watch McKinley Grow - 1st Year - February 2014

I may not have been good at posting McKinley's Duck pictures as I took them, but at least I took them! :) Since I didn't manage to post these monthly I thought I'd start by sharing her 1 year picture and then going through all of them. Looking at these pictures you can see what a sweet and happy baby Miss McKinley was during her first year. I sure love my smallest munchkin! :)

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February 2013 - 1 year old

February 2013 - 9 days old

 March 2013 - 1 month old

 April 2013 - 2 months old

 May 2013 - 3 months old

 June 2013 - 4 months old

 July 2013 - 5 months old

 August 2013 - 6 months old

 September 2013 - 7 months old

 October 2013 - 8 months old

 November 2013 - 9 months old

 December 2013 - 10 months old

 January 2014 - 11 months old

 February 2014 - 1 year old

McKinley Grace has been such a blessing to our family! She is adored by all of us and has received more hugs and kisses during her first year than are possible to count. Her three big siblings could not possibly adore her more (sometimes to her great frustration and in her opinion loved a little too much or at least too hard)! :)

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At a year old McKinley is a pretty funny little girl and appears to be taking the position as our family clown. She loves to be the center of attention, entertaining us and making everyone laugh. Her jokes can be as simple as stopping in the middle of whatever she is doing pointing at you and yelling "Mommy" or "Daddy" followed by the sweetest little giggle as if she's just told the funniest joke ever. Of course from everyone's reaction you would think she had in fact told the funniest joke ever. :) She also enjoys animal sounds, especially the spitting camel. Her favorite joke is when you ask her where someone is that is clearly nearby and she responds with "Gaw gone" (all gone) with her hands raised and a puzzled expression which quickly turns to a huge smile and giggle.
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McKinley has the sweetest giggle and also one of the best belly laughs I've ever heard a baby use. It is priceless! She loves to be tickled and she is just so easy to make smile or laugh. One thing I especially love is that instead of saying yes (she does say no and/or shake her head) she breaks out in the biggest grin and laughs if you offer her something she would like. There was never a clearer yes in the world than Miss McKinley's! :)

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Having said that McKinley is usually a very happy baby, she is also showing signs of having a temper just like Reagan and Jackson. She has one serious scowl when she disapproves of something or someone. She looks and acts so much like Reagan that one of her nicknames is Reagan 2.0. All I can say is if we are right and we do have a couple of years of tantrums coming up, thank goodness this is our last round!!! :)

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There is no doubt we have another talker on our hands! Miss McKinley has never been quiet, but she has been picking up words left and right since turning one. She is much more on track to be an early talker like her big sisters vs Jackson. How early boys vs girls talk is certainly a stereotype that has held true in our house.

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McKinley took her first steps her birthday weekend, which Kelly caught on video for us, but she didn't really begin to truly walk until she was about 15 months old. Her favorite way to walk was with the top half of the Bitty Baby highchair being pushed in front of her. I really hope I can find the picture because she looks just like a little old lady with her walker whipping around the house. She was too funny (which I'm sure she realized)! lol :) Beyond walking, McKinley has been much more interested and determined to do forward rolls on our gymnastics mat than in learning how to walk. I wonder why that is???

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 We can also safely say we have another little bookworm in our family. :) McKinley LOVES to look at books and read. It is such a part of her naptime and bedtime routines that she basically refuses to go to sleep without reading. The first book she showed a clear preference for was Sandra Boynton's "Moo, Baa, La la la." Our family has spent hours laughing over this book as McKinley giggled and giggled at the silly pigs. Other favorites have included Brown Bear, Brown Bear, I Love You Every Little Bit, Skippy John Jones, several ABC books including Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, and Chick Chicka 1, 2, 3.

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Most of all, as I said before, Miss McKinley is one loved baby! We thank God for such a beautiful blessing and addition to our lives. She has most definitely and perfectly completed our family. We are looking forward to "Watching MicKinley Grow" and seeing how her personality continues to develop for many years to come. :) Happy Birthday baby girl! :)



Watch McKinley Grow - Duck Post - 0 to 6 months

In case anyone was worried you can see I have not neglected to record McKinley's growth with our big yellow duck like I did with the rest of the kids. I have only been negligent in my posting of said duck pictures... :)

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19 August 2013 - 6 months old

 

 23 July 2013 - 5 months old

18 June 2013 - 4 months old

19 May 2013 - 3 months old

24 April 2013 - 2 months old

17 March 2013 - 1 month old

26 February 2013 - 9 days old

 

McKinley is a little social butterfly. She loves everyone and responds to anyone who talks to her with a big smile (or two or three :). In the last week or so she is beginning to show a bit of bashfulness with a preference for me around strangers but it literally only takes a couple of seconds for her to warm up. If you are willing to hold her and talk to her, you can quickly become Ms. McKinley's best pal! :)

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While McKinley is quick to smile she makes you work for a giggle. Even after great efforts (most recently roaring at her has been a pretty funny joke) you rarely get a true giggle. I can probably count on one hand the number of times anyone has really gotten her to laugh. Having said that, however, her giggle truly has to be one of the sweetest and most beautiful sounds in the world. It is beyond precious to hear and watch her explode with happiness. :)

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We have not had McKinley's 6 month checkup yet, but at her 4 month one she was in the 20% for height and weight. I imagine this will be the case again as she was wearing an outfit just today that Reagan wore at two months. She is a little squirt but a happy little squirt! :)

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McKinley rolled for the first time at 4 months. Surprisingly she rolled the first time from back to front vs the easier front to back. Having said that, she still doesn't roll back to front consistently and obviously has a much easier time with the front to back, especially during tummy time. She might do better with the rolling if she ever let us put her down and/or her big sisters and I ever put her down... lol :) In the last week or so she has started doing a decent job of sitting up by herself although I would certainly not set her down and walk away quite yet.

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In this last month McKinley began to eat food. We started her out with rice cereal at night (pictures to come) but quickly moved on to oatmeal in the morning. This was followed relatively quickly by apple sauce or yogurt in the morning with her oatmeal and a veggie such as carrots, green beans, squash or sweet potatoes with her rice cereal at night. So far no hint of food allergies. Thank goodness none of my munchkins have had to worry about that. We are so blessed! McKinley has also discovered a love of Puffs. What do they put in those things? All of my children have found them and still find them to be completely addictive!

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We've been working hard to get McKinley to sleep thru the night. She's pretty much always given me 4 hours to begin with but then she'll want to eat every two hours after (occasionally more). In the last couple of weeks (especially since we've started food) I've been working on getting her to skip some of those feedings and she's been pretty receptive. She still wakes up but after cooing for a minute or two will fall right back to sleep. Accounting for those momentary coos I would say she consistently sleeps at least a good 8 hours before insisting on being fed. Such a good baby! :)

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McKinley is exceedingly loved and adored by all three of her big siblings. Even Jackson has fully come around. The first thing they do when they get up is to come and find her and then frequently dote on her throughout the day. They all love this sweet baby girl and the admiration is truly mutual. Watching your children play, interact and love each other has to be one of the best feelings in the world. I hope and pray they always remain close and enjoy each others company throughout their lives! 

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We are enjoying every minute of watching you grow Ms. McKinley! Your smile and love for life is contagious! I can't believe we're already half way to a year old and I wouldn't mind a bit for the next 6 months to go a little slower than the first. I know you'll be a precious toddler too but I sure love having such a precious baby in the house! Guess I better enjoy it while I can!!! :) 

McKinley's First Duck Post

The theme of this blog will have to be doing my best to catch up for a while. In that vein, let me post some semi recent pictures of McKinley's first two Duck pictures. Maybe some things like this will help me get back into the swing of things. Since I did this for the other three I can't justify not doing it for poor Miss McKinley! :) Besides, it's not that I haven't been taking pictures it's just a matter of getting them sorted and posted... On that note and with no further adieu, here are McKinley's first two Duck pictures. :)

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26 February 2013 - 9 days old

17 March 2013 - 1 month old

 McKinley is a little fussier than her big siblings were and she hasn't spoiled us quite as much with consistently sleeping thru the night, but she is still a honey bear and is certainly adored! Her big sisters especially can not get enough of holding her and loving on her. Given that she loves to be held all the time she's definitely in the right family! We all love her and we all love holding her and giving her lots of hugs and kisses too! :)