The splash pad and story time

So after we ate lunch on Father's Day, we headed over to a local town square shopping area that has a splash pad for kids. Back when I was pregnant with MacKenzie, we had gone out to eat at one of the restaurants in the square and seen all of these little kids running around in the water, but this was the first time that we got to take MacKenzie there. Delaney was there as well, but she wasn't quite ready for running around in the water.





Then that night, Ryan read stories to Mac and Laney in Mac's bed.




And my fave is below. It looks like Delaney is screaming to get out.

Ryan's girls

Fathers Day with his two little girls. We went to a little Italian buffet eatery for lunch on Father's Day. Delaney mostly slept and MacKenzie played with crayons and colored pictures for the grandparents. Ryan also finally got to go hit some golf balls that morning at the driving range after a couple month hiatus. After lunch we ventured over to some nearby water fountains for MacKenzie to run through. Those pictures will be up tomorrow. Enjoy these for now while I get caught up.

S-U-C-C-E-S-S

Delaney has finally slept through the night. 10pm-6am. 8 hours. It was so nice not having to get up at 2 or 3am to feed her. Of course, it might have something to do with her new diet....she now gets a little rice cereal in her bottle.

She had her two month checkup on Tuesday and boy has she grown. She went from 20 inches to 23 1/2 and from 7lbs 6oz to 11lbs 7oz. She is now in the 80th percentile for height and the 68th for weight. MacKenzie was the same for height, but didn't weight as much. But the doctor felt that Delaney was spitting up too much so she told us to put rice cereal in her bottles to see if that solved the problem. And that first night on rice cereal, she slept 8 hours and didn't spit up. I was hoping it wasn't a fluke...and on night two, she slept 7 1/2 hours. So I would call it success. Kenzie started sleeping through the night at 9 weeks, so Laney is right on track with her.

As for her other achievements....she is smiling LOTS, and I finally got a picture of it. And from the looks of this picture, she just might have two dimples instead of just the one like we had thought before.

Life's a beach

Last Sunday, we decided that taking a day out of the weekend to do something fun was a good idea (just like the trip to the zoo the weekend before), so we decided to head to Galveston and play in the Gulf. MacKenzie hadn't been there since before she had started walking. We figured with how much she enjoys the backyard pool that she would love the beach. And boy were we right.

She played in the sand, she ran around in circles (squealing with delight), she ran in the water, she crawled in the water, she rolled around in the water, she did not want to leave the water! We packed a little lunch, flew a kite, built some sand castles (which Kenzie promptly destroyed), and attempted to keep everyone from getting sunburned.






Delaney slept in her bouncer in the little shade tent we brought along. So not so exciting for her. But still a good day. And we even went over to "The Strand", and area of Galveston with little shops and stuff....definitely somewhere my parents will want to go the next time they come down. Bunches of little junk shops. Ryan is glad he saw some bars so he will have something to do when this happens.

It's the zoo, doodley do!

On Sunday, instead of our usual day of trying to get things done around the house, we decided it would be a better idea to take the girls to the zoo. And as MacKenzie loves animals, we invested in a year long membership to the zoo. It really wasn't that expensive and the zoo allows you to bring in your own food, cooler and all.

Last time we went to the zoo, MacKenzie was right around a year old...and still not very interested in the animals...but boy was she interested this time!



(Yes, we are still working on her brushing skills. The wooden handle probably wasn't what the goat wanted to be brushed with. But...she did give all of her attention to this particular goat and ignored all of the other animals.)
She loved the giraffes, the elephants, the cows, the bears (which were having private time in front of everyone), the petting zoo, and the carousel. We worked on animal noises and went home sunburned and exhausted. Delaney chose to sleep. But we did bring her out for a photo op in front of a bird.

Sadly we did not get to take a picture of MacKenzie in front of the elephant shaped bush. The Houston zoo had a baby elephant named Mac. So the first time we went to the zoo, we figured it would be cute to get her picture in front of the elephant bush. And the next time we went to the zoo, we took her picture again in front of the elephant bush. But this time, when we went to where the elephant bush should have been, it was gone. We're pretty sure it's because Mac the elephant died last year. So sad.

Won't someone feed the children!

Once again, MacKenzie does not think that we make her food fast enough. And she knows what shelf in the pantry has most of the foods that she likes. Unfortunately, that shelf also contains other food items that maybe aren't quite what she things they are. We turned around yesterday to discover her enjoying some potato flakes. But I guess the name on the box explains it all.

A crowded bed, pigtails, and corn on the cob

MacKenzie is still doing great in her big girl bed. Of course, we had to take her garbage can, diapers, wipes, books, toys, and other items and put them out of her reach. Otherwise, they wound up in bed with her. The only thing she had left was the stuffed animals sitting on her toy bench. And this is the scene we found the other day when getting her up from her nap. Apparently all of her stuffed animals also needed to take a nap with her. And that is how it has been for the past few days. Her only special request now is that the baby doll sleep on her pillow because that is apparently where baby needs to sleep.




Pigtails. I have wanted to put Kenzie's hair in pigtails for so long, but it took forever for her to have enough hair to do it, and then when she finally did have enough hair, I was certain she would not let me go near it! She barely tolerates the brush, let alone letting me put tiny elastic bands in it. But I gave it a shot anyway....and she hated it!!! But we had success! And it is adorable. Here she is in pigtails, going and getting the morning paper with daddy.






Of course at the end of the day, when the pigtails came out, her hair was less than cute. But I couldn't pass up the opportunity to display her eating one of her new summertime favorites....corn on the cob. I wasn't sure how well she would take to it, but apparently all kids are born with the knowledge of how to stick olives on their fingers before eating...and how to enjoy corn on the cob.

A Tale of Three Birds

So we have an oak tree right outside our back door. And for the past two years, birds have a built a nest in it. Last year we got to see one little bird grow up in it. This year, there were three baby birds! So we watched them get fed, watched them get bigger, and watched the parents dive-bomb the three dogs whenever they were outside (which was really funny). A few times, I'm pretty certain they clipped Emma on the back from the way she reacted.



Well, last week the baby birds were finally able to fly from the nest. And unfortunately they liked to fly to the back bushes and hide. The fate for two of them was not so happy. It wasn't Emma, it wasn't Bailey, but Daisy who took it upon herself to collect the baby bird trophies for us.


So this year, once again, we saw one baby bird grow up.

Catch up time!

I know, I know, it's been a while. But two is kinda crazy and we had guests for 5 weeks. Enough excuses.

Delaney is growing.....I can't believe it, but we went to the Dr. the other day and she is over 10 pounds! She has started smiling a little, but I haven't been able to catch it on camera. She especially loves to smile at her butterfly toy.

MacKenzie is learning new words everyday. Turtle, gecko, please, thank you, daisy, flower, emma, necklace, and on and on. She is like a sponge! And she loves her baby sister...always poking her and trying to cover her up with objects (like a blanket). My fave is when Delaney is in her bouncer and Mac likes to make it bounce for her.....I'm waiting for Delaney to shoot out of it like a slingshot, but it's better than Kenzie being jealous.

The whole house is almost sick at the moment. Kenzie has a double ear infection and bad cold, Ryan has an upper respiratory infection, and despite my attempts to avoid them, I feel the beginning of a sore throat. I'm sure my efforts will be useless, but I'm attempting to shield Laney from it all....I dread getting out the nose sucker.

Ryan is still working hard at Fluor and I'm still on leave....it's kinda nice to be at home with Laney during the day, but the past few days with both of them home has been pretty crazy. Anyone who says being a stay at home Mom isn't hard is INSANE! My job at Fluor is much easier than juggling these two. Ryan said that sometimes I just needed to let them cry so I could get stuff done, but that is no picnic either! I told him to imagine someone crying while he tries to use the bathroom at work or eat his lunch....not very relaxing is it! Moral of the story....being a stay at home parent has yet to offer the bon-bons and afternoon cocktails I had hoped it would!

Onto the pictures!


Delaney doing what she likes best....sleeping.


Kenzie in her pool! She loves the pool, but she loves the hose filling up the pool even more! It is best not to get too close when she has the hose.


This is from an attempted group shot from when the Lovchik grandparents were in town. I love how crazy Delaney looks.


Here's MacKenzie riding on her toys.




And here's MacKenzie caught in the act....she went into the pantry, got out her cheddar bunnies and proceeded to eat them...apparently we weren't fast enough at getting her breakfast ready.

And the finale...Ryan and his girls at breakfast (excuse the bed head on Ryan.)

Two week catch up

So Miss Delaney is now over two weeks old. Unfortunately her jaundice and drug-induced extended sleeping cycles have ended. Which means she will go for hours wide awake and doesn't particularly like to go to sleep in her bed (she much prefers the comfort of someone's arms).

She had her first sponge bath (below) and real bath after her umbilical cord fell off. We were a bit worried that her pretty little hair bow was going to be in her head forever as it was glued in by one of the nurses at the hospital. Luckily we discovered it was water dissolving glue after the bath.

MacKenzie enjoyed the Texas sunshine and playing with Grandma and Grandpa Haynes. She forced them to play with her in the backyard dozens of times a day. Below she is pointing out one of her most favorite parts of the backyard...the airplanes. She loves spying all of the airplanes that go overhead. We have a small aircraft airport a few miles away so she likes to spy the little jets when outside.

Behind her you can see Ryan's ever-growing garden. His snap peas have exploded and he has to harvest them several times a week, he's got some tomato's that just need to ripen, and some giant sunflowers about to bloom.



Below is apparently MacKenzie's supermodel pose.

And here are some shots of sisterly bonding. MacKenzie loves to point out all of Delaney's facial parts: eyes, nose, mouth, and ears.



And she even discovered that Delaney has a belly button, too!

Jen plays photographer

I have other pictures to post, but things have been crazy around here. Mac got a bug bite that took over her entire arm, Delaney decided she doesn't like to sleep unless you are holding her, and this flu thing is driving me crazy and making me a recluse.

On the upside, we took some pictures for announcements. Ryan got me a fabulous camera year before last for Christmas and then some lighting this year. Below is one of the shots that we took and then I doctored up in Photoshop.

The Sisters

Just thought I would show a little comparison of the two...MacKenzie and Delaney. Here are some pics where MacKenzie is about the same age as Delaney.

Welcome Delaney Ryan!

Well, the family of three is now a family of four. On April 17th at 7:34am, Delaney Ryan Lovchik made her debut at 7lbs 6oz and 20 inches long. She had a TON of dark brown hair and dark blue eyes.

The entire time that I was getting sewn up, she serenaded the room with her powerful lungs. Daddy got to hang around her while she got checked, weighed, and measured.


She ended up being slightly jaundiced, just like MacKenzie, so she spent much of her hospital stay sleeping.

Grandma and Grandpa Haynes brought new big sister MacKenzie to see her new sister. She is very good at saying "baby". She wasn't real interested in new little sister, and at this point, I don't think that she realized that "baby" was going to be coming home with us.


Below is an attempt at the first family photo. As you can see, it worked out well.




One thing MacKenzie does like about Delaney....new old toys. When MacKenzie was a baby she did not like being in her bouncer, but the minute we brought this thing out, MacKenzie claimed it. She likes to sit in it with her new Doodle pad that Grandma bought her creating masterpieces.


As we are all very tired, this will be a short post, but the requests for pictures has now been fulfilled!