15 months

My baby...well, toddler, turned 15 months old today! I am reminded everyday that she is no longer a baby. She is so smart and is just growing and developing leaps and bounds!

Beautiful profile on a beautiful girl.

A little about Macee at 15 months:

• She is such a smarty pants. She can follow commands (not like a dog, but like a child obviously). When we ask her where something is, she immediately goes to find it. When we ask her if she wants to watch Elmo she'll run and pick out the Elmo DVD she wants to watch.

• Macee is saying "hi", "mama" and "dada". She loves Zoe and tries her hardest to say it, but it comes out as just a stammer. Still cute though. She waves hi and bye and says "hi" for both.

• She is a social butterfly. Every person that makes eye contact with Macee at the store will comment on how happy and cute she is. It's only because she's showing off to them. Little do they know, she was just being a stinker on the last aisle. I mean, she's always cute, but she's not always happy!

• Macee has two moods: mad or so happy and hyper. Very rarely is she in between the two. I can only imagine what our teenage years with her will bring...

• Is there ever a clean house with a toddler around? Oh my, she is like a little tornado running around the house! It's insane.

• She has perfected her tantrums. I don't think she needs anymore practice, but apparently she thinks that she does.

• Macee is a loveable little thing. She has learned how to give kisses, but is quite selective on when and who gets them. Ben gets many more kisses than I do.

• She LOVES being outside playing at the park or just being on a walk. She is such a daredevil at the park and will show up any other kid there. She will go down slides that her 3-4 year old friends are scared of. I wonder where she got that from???

Her slide of choice. It wouldn't matter if dad was there to catch her or not, she's going anyway.

• On that same note, Macee is extremely tough. She hits her head or falls more times than I can count in a day, but every time she just looks at me to make sure that I saw what happened, maybe rubs her head a little bit, then goes on playing. 

We went to the doctor today and she did amazing with the shot. Only a few tears then she was fine. Here are her stats:

weight: 22.5 lbs, 50%

height: 31.5 inches, 75-90%

head: 47.5 cm, 90%

Sunny December day at the park. We love Arizona winters!

Ben and I both just love Macee to pieces. We often times wonder how we were so blessed to have such a beautiful, spunky girl in our lives. We could not imagine anything different.

home sweet home

Kellie, this one is for you dear. :)

The yard needs a little TLC, but we love the curb appeal!

We moved! A month ago. I am slightly behind on life as you can tell. Sweet Kellie has been kindly bugging me to get pictures of the house up, so here they are! So, this may be quite a boring post for anyone else reading.
Here is a small, very condensed version of the last 5 months. Ben and I started to get the bug to buy a house about a year ago. With him graduating and us knowing that we a) love it in Maricopa, AZ and b) will need to be living here for a number of years to come due to Ben's job and his student loan payback program, we decided that when our lease was up, we definitely wanted a home of our own. It was time to settle in and get comfy around here. No more moving every year for us! Yay! It was early May when our home went on the market for a matter of minutes before our amazing realtor, not only because we're related, called us up and told us about it. We weren't even pre-qualified yet but it was a short sale and we loved the curb appeal and the price. Luckily, there were some strings pulled and we were able to do a quick walk through to see what we could of the house. There honestly was not a lot to see though because it was completely full of junk from the previous renters. We decided that morning to put on offer in. Luckily the offer was accepted the next day. Jump forward 5.5 months and we close on the house just hours before the contract was to expire. Talk about stressful! Since we didn't know if the short sale would actually go through, we did not have any boxes packed. The day we closed, we started throwing boxes together, cleaning our old house, painting our new walls, and moved it all in. It took us 4 days. We were amazing. It really helped babysitting help from friends and neighbors.
Anyway, we feel so blessed to be in this house. We absolutely love everything about it. It is the perfect home for a growing family. Well, not growing right now. But, we hope to grow our family sometime in the future! Now for the pictures.

Standing at the front door. You can see the desk with a little Macee playing at it. What a good mama I am to put her on a swivel chair all alone. One day we'll fill up some of this massive room with some formal couches. Love the shutters all all the windows.

Sorry for the terrible lighting. It looked better on my camera. Standing in the hallway that you'll notice on the bottom left of the above picture. Looking into our living room/kitchen and out to the huge backyard.

Much better lighting. You can see the hallway and front door there. Obviously looking into the kitchen. The beautiful table there...we just refinished it and love it. I'm standing at an archway that leads into a small hallway that splits into Macee's room and the master bedroom. There's a symmetrical hallway on the other side of the cabinet on your right that splits into spoiled Macee's playroom, a guest bedroom, the laundry room and garage door. There is a big bathroom that joins the two hallways. Make sense?

Most favorite part of my laundry room. The sink!! And counter. And tons of cabinets.

The master bedroom. I'm standing at the entrance into our bathroom with a huge tub and walk in closet. We love those!

happy halloween!

Ward Halloween photo shoot

I am so behind on this blog. It's been a combination of not being on top of life and being so busy lately that's done it! With Macee getting older, I can completely understand the need to be a stay at home mom. Just keeping up with her would be enough, but adding the house work and my job at the hospital on top of it is overwhelming to say the least. I will jump back...a month?!...to Halloween. I seriously don't know where to time goes. Macee was the cutest stinking pig on the street! Holy cow. I can't even believe it. We had a lot of fun going to a ward Halloween party where she got to show off her costume to all of her friends. And show it off she did! She made sure that everyone saw her, waited until they told me how cute she was, then acted shy like she didn't know what to say back. She totally knew what she was doing. We closed on our new home the on October 30 (I'll blog about that later), so Halloween was pretty small around our house. We took Macee out to trick-or-treat just a few doors to show her how it's done. She definitely had more fun eating the chocolate and running through the yards and up and down the sidewalks. She'll get it next year. This year was just practice to make sure she'll be good at it. :) Ben and I had a blast just watching her and seeing her excitement with all the other kids around.

See, loving the chocolate more than the trick-or-treating

At least Ben tried to be festive with his orange shirt. I was too focused on the house to remember how to be festive.

grandpa ashdown

Ben and I just returned from Utah for an event we wished didn't have to happen. My grandpa Ashdown passed away early Monday morning at home with some of his children and grandma by his side. Grandpa was 84 years old. His cancer that was found in June quickly spread throughout his body, leaving him too weak for any treatment and ready to return home to his Heavenly Father. The funeral was an amazing tribute to grandpa's life and I don't think there was a dry eye in the entire congregation. It is so difficult for me to realize that he has passed. I will no longer see him sitting on his couch reading a book. I won't ever see him working hard in his garden, in which he was so proud of. I will no longer hear his intricate stories with such detail and memory. And the hardest of all, I will not be able to see him adore the rest of my children. Grandpa was an amazing man. He loved his family with everything he had. He was an amazing example of what a husband should be and always treated my grandma with so much love, admiration and respect. Grandpa was a hard worker and a man of great service. No one was exempt to his service and his good example. He touched hundreds, if not thousands of lives. He had a strong testimony in the gospel and lived it in it's entirety. Grandpa lived life the way that we all should. Heavenly Father needed his special spirit to continue his work on the other side. I know with a surety that grandpa is with our Heavenly Father. I know that when he was finally able to meet our Maker, He was able to tell him"well done thou good and faithful son". I am so grateful for the knowledge that I have. I know that I will be able to see grandpa again. I know that he is up there playing with his unborn great grandchildren and teaching the gospel, bragging about his amazing eternal family. I pray that the Spirit will help me get through this process of grieving. It is hard and seems like my feelings change minute by minute.

This pictures were taken by my talented cousin. He did an amazing job at capturing the emotion of this event. I think it was difficult for everyone involved.

 

where did that year go?

Where in the world did this last year go? My baby is no longer a baby! It seems like she has truly turned into a toddler these last few weeks and celebrating her birthday yesterday just confirmed to me more that she is a big girl now! But, boy do I ever love this big girl of mine. We will be doing the cake fest on Sunday so I will definitely have pictures of the big girl then.
For journaling purposes, at one year old Macee has turned into a spunky, strong willed child. She is not timid with anything. Her laugh is more like a squeal and makes my day. Zoe can get her to laugh the best. Macee loves watching her play and especially loves sharing her food with her. She has gotten her tantrums down to a science, but is hopefully learning that tantrums don't get her what she wants. Her hair is still a beautiful red, although I don't feel like it will stick forever. It is just long enough to put a tiny ponytail on top of her head. I love, love the way her blue eyes compliment her red hair. I may be biased, but I think she is beautiful. Macee is so good on her feet and never chooses crawling over walking. She can stomp her feet and turn in circles, and does this frequently when she is playing. She dances, or bounces, almost every time she hears a song and has recently started trying to sing with the song. I think I'm going to have some serious music/dance lessons in my future! Macee is still a fish and loves water. She just recently learned how to stay a float, with her legs under her, when using her arm floaties. She will only eat using her hands. Having mommy help with a spoon is not going to happen in her world. She is eating almost anything we have for dinner, but her favorites include grapes, beans, crackers and cheese.

Here are her one year stats:

weight: 20 lbs, even; 25th percentile

height: 29.25 inches; 50th percentile

head: 47 inches; 90th percentile

Happy Birthday! We sure love you Macee Moo!  I can't thank our Heavenly Father enough for sending us such a beautiful, sweet baby girl.

labor day

Largest man made fountain.

Fountain Hills, AZ

First thing I thought of when I woke up on Labor Day was "we gotta get out of this house!" I have been tired of being couped up all day long since Ben hasn't been feeling awesome. I made the decision on my own that we were driving to the lake. Ben decided that if he was going to a lake then he'd be going fishing. We got everything all packed up and went on our way. The drive is about an hour and a half, but it is quite pretty getting up to the desert mountains. When we finally got to the lake, we were told we had to buy the parking pass to enter in town. That sucks. It would take 20 minutes to get to town and then 20 minutes back. I decided it wasn't worth it because of course everyone and their dog was at the lake on Labor Day. On our way back we stopped at Fountain Hills. We have been here before, and I'm pretty sure there is a post on it, but this time was even more fun than before! There is an amazing splash pad that goes all summer long. It is just packed with kids in swimming suits or clothes alike. It took Macee only a half a second to realize that water was spraying and then she was off. Running around with her tongue sticking out and arms out for balance. She ran through every fountain of water there was over and over again. She watched the older kids with amazement as they had water dumped on them. She squealed with delight whenever she finally aimed her run just right and ran straight over the top of the fountain. She would find a puddle and sit in it for a rest. She was a hoot to every single adult there and I think she totally knew that she was being watched. She would stop at some of the adults and cheese at them before running off into the water again. Oh, she was cute. Ben and I sat there and watched her for about an hour before she was all done and ready for some gold fish. She is now sunburned, but she was sure happy to be out there showing off.

Stolen bucket. The little girl wasn't completely trilled.

 

 

Arms out in mid-run

Drying off and pigging out. No, we did not let her drink the soda.

After the fun at Fountain Hills we decided to get our fishing in. We just went to a little park here in town that has a fishing pond. We got there too late and sadly didn't catch anything. Macee did have fun playing on the playground though. How could we expect a baby to just sit and fish?

Tired and sunburned

happenings

There has sure been a lot of happenings going on around this place! To say that I am ready for a break, for the trials to stop, and to know what the future will bring is an understatement. When it rains, it pours. I have always said it, and now I'm feeling it in it's true power. With that being said, we did have a party before the trials started. Anyway, on to the post...
Ben spent a nice five days in the hospital. Something we can call a small, well...large, trial. It was on Monday that he felt a "bruise" on his right elbow. The bruise remained on Tuesday. On Wednesday he rested his elbow on the table and yelled with pain. He showed me the swelling that just began. He went to the urgent care. They sent him home with an anti inflammatory medication, calling it bursitis. Saturday he helped a member of his Quorum roof his roof. He came home with the swelling reaching down to his wrist. On Sunday he took off his white shirt to find that the swelling had reached up to his shoulder and was now almost double the size as his other arm. It was extremely painful. My selfish self, and Ben being so busy, we justified not going to the hospital to sit in the ER for hours. He again went to the urgent care for antibiotics. The immediately sent us to the ER. Dang. Macee had a sleepover with my cousin, Allison. And we sat in the ER. They decided to admit him for 24 hours, which later turned into 5 days, for IV antibiotics. Long story short, an MRI was done. He had a pocket of infection on his elbow which needed to be drained. So surgery took place. Yes, surgery, completely under to cut this elbow open. How can an infection be this intense?? More antibiotics given, packing to drain the pus taken out of the incision and days later he was home. The doctors don't know where the infection came from. They say it could be as simple as a mosquito bite or dry skin on his elbow. He's quite embarrassed that he was put in the hospital for a Staph infection! For heaven's sake, he's a healthy 26 year old guy. He keeps saying that he hopes people know he does have good hygiene. :) The incision is still wide open and draining some infection. He's on some nice pain meds and we're doing our best to keep everything clean in there.
I'm terrible and forgot to take any pictures of his stay. It wasn't that glamorous. I was so focused on just staying alive! Thanks for all the help from the Relief Society president and my cousin.

With the open elbow, I am sad to say that our swimming days are probably over for the summer. Although I am not sad that summer is coming to an end. So here is a funny picture of Macee to lighten up this dreary post.

Macee loves to go all the way under the water. She comes up smiling almost every time. We throw her back and forth between us, letting her go completely under. We laughed so hard when we saw what she looked like under there! Eyes and mouth wide open, in complete shock.

four years

      Happy anniversary to my honey! I am sitting here while Ben is at work and Macee is napping. I can't help but feel extreme gratitude for my life and my loving husband. Ben and I are celebrating four years of marriage today. We have accomplished so much in those four years. We went to school full time together and both graduated with bachelors degrees. Ben doing it in record time. We worked our butts off to not use student loans. We moved to Arizona, being only one of the four times we had packed up and moved in our marriage. We welcomed our sweet Macee to our family. Ben got his masters degree...also in record time. We have been blessed with great jobs. We have grown in the gospel with our church callings. We have struggled together. We have triumphed together. But most of all, we have learned so much together. Through this experience both of us has grown. Both of us are better people because of marriage.
      I am so grateful for Ben. He is truly a blessing in my life. He has taught me patience, selflessness and most of all, humility. He works hard for our family. He has sacrificed a lot for us, although I may not always recognize it. He always puts his family first. He is a great example and priesthood holder. And most importantly, he is an amazing dad. He is my best friend. He is someone I know that I can always turn to. I know I can always get advice from him, or sometimes unwillingly receive therapy. I know that I don't always appreciate him enough, but I couldn't be luckier to have Ben in my life.
      I love you honey! I'm looking forward to many more years with you. I can't wait to see where we end up!

macee's photo shoot

This is my all time favorite. I can't get enough of her beautiful blue eyes and cheesy smile.

Macee is turning a year old in September! I cannot believe she is getting so old! I had Ben's cousin take her pictures while we were in Utah. I wanted her to take one year pictures for us, but since we won't be there in September, they happened in August. I loved the way they turned out! I have to say that I have one stinking cute baby! I know, I'm biased. I realize that this is a lot of pictures, but believe me, I could have posted so many more!

"So big"

A tantrum waiting to happen

another utah vacation

Getting ready to go to Utah took a long time! We had planned a big trip, with Ben going to Alaska with his dad and me staying in Utah for 2.5 weeks. Both Ben and I put in a lot of hours at work before we left, getting ready for the absence. Ben also had a lot to buy and prepare for his fishing trip to Alaska. Macee was a trooper and put up with all of our business and lack of attention. Macee helped her daddy tie a few of his flies. Apparently her fly did a good job at catching a lot of fish. 

It was so nice to finally get to Utah where the weather was so much cooler! There was actually a few storms and overcast which we loved. Macee could not get enough of being outside. We played in the grass, in the dirt of the garden, on the swing, and most of all in this fancy ride...the wheelbarrow. Wow, did she ever love the wheelbarrow. We went outside to push around and ride in the wheelbarrow multiple times a day. When riding in it she would just kick back and relax eating a fresh green pepper like an apple. My daughter is crazy. A baby liking a raw green pepper?

 

We spent a lot of time playing with Grandma Harding and Aunt Crystal, Tiffany, and Uncle Joey while the boys were gone to Alaska. We had an entire craft day, picked and canned raspberry jam, played outside some more, gave the dog a haircut, had a couple of bridal showers for Crystal, and just had a good time. It was a full week of catching up and having some fun. We were happy to have our boys home from Alaska, but we did live up the days they were gone!

We picked the raspberries in Huntsville, where Ben's grandparents live. They were huge. And delicious. As you can see in this picture, Macee really loved them as well. I love how she was running around in her diaper and shoes. I didn't want to have to deal with raspberry stains. Can you blame me?

Grandma and Grandpa Creamer great went on a mission to Tempe, Arizona. So, we know the same people in our stake. Grandpa great wanted a picture with Macee so I could show it off to our Stake Presidency. Funny man.

This picture cracks me up! Macee was giggling for the entire 30 minutes we let her play in the sprinklers. I'm pretty sure she would have played in them much longer, but her lips were turning blue. I had to stop her to warm her up. She would run as fast as her little legs would let her. She had no fear and didn't worry about the water in her face one bit. All I can say is I need grass and a sprinkler in my backyard! I would be set.

When we weren't outside Macee sat by the door dreaming she was outside. Well, dreaming or crying to be outside.

We "helped" Grandpa Ashdown build his house. This "shower cap" is a plastic cover that a new fire detector comes in. It gave us all a good laugh! By help, I can proudly say that I did keep him company a lot and I learned how to cut a few pieces of tile.

I hesitate to even put this picture on my blog. Can you say frumpy? Oh my. Everyone says I just need better posture. I'm pretty sure I just need exercise. I was able to visit my grandma and grandpa Ashdown, in my pajamas. I was not expecting to be part of the picture! It is so fun to see these two adore Macee. They sure do love all 128 of their descendents. Grandpa Ashdown has been quite sick, battling lymphoma. Luckily, he looked so good and was beginning to recover. We are so grateful that he is still with us!

I also had so much fun visiting some friends. Unfortunately, this is the only picture I have of our get togethers. I love seeing my girls and getting all caught up. They love Macee like she is their own niece.

 

I feel like this post does little justice to the things Macee and I did in Utah, but I'm too tired and absent minded right now to think of what else we did. It was super fun to visit with everyone. I loved letting all of our family see how much Macee and grown into a wild woman. Her personality continues to grow and I know they had so much fun with it! She is not understanding that she can't go outside in the middle of the day here. There are a lot of tantrums happening at the back door! 

we're walking around here!

Macee has been taking a few "falling" steps for a couple weeks. By falling I mean that she had minimal balance, but was instinctively taking the necessary steps to catch herself. Just yesterday she decided to do the real thing and took off walking. Not long distances, but with some serious balance with places to go. It is the cutest thing to watch the joy that she gets when she realized she just walked. She is sure loving it and continues to push her limits!  

http://youtu.be/CzZfuS6AotA

http://youtu.be/dVADc6tfwQ8

nine months

Don't mind the "D". The picture was taken for a father's day present.

Macee turned nine months old yesterday. I can't believe how fast the time flies! A cousin brought to light that she has officially been out of me as long as she was in me. Wow, that's weird. I couldn't love my baby girl more. I am so grateful that I have had her for nine months, and I can't wait to have her for many, many more! She is growing and developing so quick, but I will try to recap everything she is doing right now. Macee is a strong girl with a strong will. She has become a champ at standing on her own, holding on to nothing at all. She is able to squat down to her toy then stand to play with it, then squat back down again. Yesterday, she took two independent steps chasing a ball. She was so excited to get the ball that I don't think she realized she was walking. She is clapping and giggling a lot. Macee is extremely expressive with her eyes. She uses those eyebrows to their full potential! She loves to be thrown and teased. She has turned into a music girl. When the music is playing she stops what she is doing and bounces and shakes her head. It seems like she is doing it to the beat, but I can't tell because I myself can't recognize the beat. Eating is a frequent challenge. She is a picky little girl and will only eat on her terms. She has tried basically everything and prefers fruits...and chocolate. Macee is a mamma's girl all the way around. She requires a lot of attention from me and does not like when I leave. That could possibly be the redheaded temper showing through. We are quickly finding out what needs more baby proofing in the house and I feel like I am continually running around in circles trying to keep the house clean. Macee is still a really good sleeper. She consistently takes 2 hour and half naps a day, sometimes longer. She also sleeps 11-12 hours at night. Morning does come really early, but she hits the sack at 7:00, giving her mommy and daddy some time to catch up! This girl continues to get more and more beautiful everyday.

Here are her nine month stats:

weight: 18 lbs 8 oz; 50th percentile

height: 27 3/4 inches; 75th percentile

head: 46 cm; 95th percentile

Happy nine months, Macee girl! We love you with all our hearts and are so grateful for the joy you bring us everyday.

swimming

By far, my favorite past time activity to do with Macee is swimming. I love getting this girl in the water and watching her splash around. She does not mind the water in her face one bit, which is completely different than her mamma. She has already started practicing her kicking. Before you know it, we will have an Olympic swimmer on our hands! Once Macee gets tired of the pool, she likes to get out and crab walk around, checking out the pool furniture and dirt. It's darling. We can spend hours at the pool, loving up the sun. Yes, sunscreen is used like it's going out of style around our home. But what do you expect with a family full of fair skin living in Arizona?

ashdown get together

My parents came into town a few weeks ago for my brother's graduation. We had originally planned to go to Cancun, but planned to stay and play in Arizona because as you can imagine, money is tight for grad students! My parents were gracious enough to give up their beach vacation for the desert. Unfortunately, my little brother was not able to come down, but we did have the rest of the family together, which was great. First, we spent a few days in Tuscan, where my brother, his wife Elizabeth, and daughter Harper lives. They had planned a little day trip to an outdoor wildlife zoo. We were able to see some wild cats, humming birds, too many reptiles, and an assorted other animals adapted to live in the desert. It was hot as you can imagine, but the babies did so good in their strollers, munching on their veggies. It was fun to be able to see that there are so many animals who live here.

After Tuscan we made a trip to Sedona. I already mentioned when Ben and I made a trip up there about a month ago. It was just as beautiful as before. I loved the red rocks with the dark green trees. It is such a different climate up there, with such different scenery. We spent some time swimming, barbequing, staying up late laughing at games, eating a ton...and going to slide rock! The much anticipated slide rock. I was so excited to go. We were warned to have grungy clothes, as they would be ruined from the rocks, so we stopped at a thrift store and loaded up on grungy clothes, including some sexy Coors beer swimming suit shorts for Ben. We were just trying to fit right in with the crowd. We stuck the babies in the pack n' play on the side of the river. They loved playing with their toys (still learning how to share) and watching all the people go down the river. Come to find out, we were overly grunged out and would have been completely fine without the clothes. The water was so stinking cold, but sliding down the rock was so fun! It almost took a slip on the rock to actually get yourself in the water, or in my case Ben to hang on tight to. 

We stayed at the river for so long. The babies were completely exhausted. As you can see, Macee fell asleep in the baby carrier on the walk back to the car. It cracked me up!

We were in Sedona for two days. We spent the rest of our time together in Maricopa, staying at our place. We had a barbeque with my cousin's family and uncle. It was great for my parents to be able to see them and catch up with their lives. We swam and played disc golf. My parents were nice enough to take on both of the babies so we could go on a date. It was a much needed date. We saw Hunger Games, and completely loved it. Ben and I also planned to see the Sea Life Museum. It was really neat. There was a variety of sea life to look at. Macee really loved watching the fish, as you can tell from the picture.
The babies are finally old enough to really notice, and want to interact with each other. It was so fun to watch Macee look up to, and watch Harper. They played great together, until sharing became an issue or Macee realized I wasn't close. She's had a mamma's attachment issue lately. It is amazing to realize how different two babies can be from each other. They are five months apart and are at similar stages, but their temperament is completely different. Macee is a wild woman. She lives large, moves fast, and gets what she wants by being as loud as possible. Harper stops to breathe. She notices details, stays calm, and is content with anything going on around her. It makes me wonder how there can be such a big difference when they're cousins!

It was sad to see my parents leave and to know that the next time the family gets together will be in a long time. Brady and Elizabeth will be moving to Seattle, so planning times together will take more work and money. However, both babies were ready for their schedules to be back to normal with their own cribs. Macee had a hard time recognizing and getting used to grandma and grandpa, because as I mentioned before, she has an attachment issue to me. I think that was hard on them, but I do still know she loves them! It was much better when we could be home and Macee was in her own environment with the change of people around her. We will be seeing grandma and grandpa again in two months and I can't wait to see what stage Macee is in then. She just might be walking. I'm so glad we were able to get together and can't wait to see everyone again!