That's Schtarnks!

I don't know what schtarnks is exactly. It's a word that McKenna made up. And going by her context clues, I would say that "schtarnks" is not a good thing. She says it like one might say "That sucks." Granted, I'd rather hear my little girl say that something schtarnks rather then sucks so Erick and I have picked up on the habit as well.

So anyway, you know what really schtarnks? That I have had a million and one cute stories and updates on the girls but it's been so long since I've been able to blog about them that I feel like some of those stories are just going to have to fall by the wayside.

But a few things I am remembering off the top of my head:

* McKenna likes to pretend that she is Princess Jasmine and that Kyla is her pet tiger, Raja. She'll squeeze Kyla's cheeks and say "We don't need that silly Prince Achmed, do we Raja?" She also likes to walk alongside Kyla as Kyla crawls and holds onto her shirt and says "Come on, boy."

* Kyla is pulling herself up and cruising now. She had her 9-month appointment (even though she's 10 months old). She is 29 inches and 21 pounds, 3 oz. So she's 75th percentile for both height and weight. Looks like she's going to be taller than her big sister....much like her Auntie is taller than Mommy!

* We took the girls to Seaworld on Thursday. McKenna saw a commercial where Shamu flies around the world and ever since then, she's asked to go to Seaworld pretty much nonstop. So we promised we'd take her for her birthday. She had a blast! She was completely mesmerized by the Shamu show, the dolphins and the Baluga Whale. Kyla's favorite part was anything that gave us the opportunity to clap (one of her three favorite past times. She likes clapping, screaming for fun and shaking her head no just to see if we'll mimick her). Oh and she liked pressing her nose to the glass and trying to give the Baluga Whale a kiss. We got some cute photos and video.

* Did I mention we bought a video camera? We had one but it stopped working the day that Kyla was born. : ( So sad. So we finally bought a new one and just in time to capture McKenna's karaoke performance at the Fair. Is there anyone that reads this blog that HASN'T seen the video? If someone hasn't seen it, just say the word and I'll post a link next time. But I don't want to overload on videos and I really want to share this one today....

McKenna's First Year

Tomorrow is McKenna's third birthday. *sniff* She really seems so grown up lately too. Tonight I gave her and Kyla a bath together. Usually, I'll take Kyla out first and get her dressed while Kenna plays a little longer. Tonight, while I was dressing Kyla, McKenna got out on her own and wrapped herself in a towel, came out and got herself dressed in her Princess Jasmine nightgown and slippers, combed her hair and put in a headband. Then she asked me nicely if she could have some honeydew. She sat quietly, eating her snack and watching Beauty and the Beast. While she did that, I went to straighten up her room and she came in and helped me. And as soon as we were done, she climbed into bed and told me goodnight. She knows her birthday is tomorrow and she can't wait for her Little Mermaid party so she was anxious to get to bed.

As I was closing the door I told her "Night, night. When you wake up in the morning, you'll be three." And the mush that I am, I got all teary-eyed when I said it. I just can't believe the little tiny baby in that video is now my three-year old daughter who is already starting to spell words and write her letters, who is about to take her first art class and a dance class, who fearlessly took to the stage at the fair this year....she is really growing up.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

McKenna's Birth Story

On Monday, July 28 I had a doctor appointment and the doctor said I was still dilated to a 3. She said she stripped my membranes a little and still expected that I would go into active labor on my own.

On Wednesday, July 30, 2003 at 6:30am I woke up and felt a little trickle. I stood up and walked into the bathroom and made it there just in time before I felt a big gush! My water broke! It was time to go to the hospital! I woke up Erick who (because of his job) was on a sleep schedule that had JUST put him to sleep about 10 minutes earlier. We both ate something, Erick took a shower and I finished packing our bags. I called my sister (who was going to be in the L&D room up until the pushing phase) and told her to meet us at St. Joseph Hospital (she actually beat us there by almost an hour).

After checking in, they put me in a gown, hooked me up to an IV (I was in the 40% of women who tested positive for GBS and therefore required antibiotics), strapped the double monitors on me (one monitored my contractions and the other monitored the baby's heartbeat) and did an internal exam. I was dilated to a 5. My contractions were rather sporadic and not ideally effective at this point so they added a small amount of Pitocin to my IV. This got the contractions coming hard and fast and I labored without pain relief until 4:30pm. The contractions were absolutely miserable by the time the Anesthesiologist came in and I had a little difficulty remaining in the "arched back" position he needed me in to apply the epidural. After a few minutes, he completed his task and I was able to lay down again. I felt a few more strong contractions and then (thankfully) was relieved of the pain! God bless the inventor of the epidural! From this point on, the labor was a piece of cake compared to the pain I'd felt prior! The doctor checked me again and found I was now dilated to a 7. With 3 cms to go and seeing that I was feeling much better, Erick decided to lie down and take a quick nap (at this point he had been awake for well over 24 hours).

Within an hour I felt a lot of pressure and let the nurse know. She said that the baby was probably getting close so she checked me again and I was a 10 already! She asked if I was able to stand the pressure a little longer. I said yes. Technically, we could start pushing once I was dilated to 10 but she thought it would be a good idea if I rested and saved my strength and let McKenna make her way down the birth canal naturally for a while. The whole time McKenna's heartrate had been doing great so we knew she was handling the labor process well. We agreed to wait a little while longer.

Around 5:45pm the nurse said it was time to start pushing. Erick woke up and came to my side (a little bewildered at how quickly everything had gone while he slept). He was the perfect labor coach. He encouraged me in exactly the way I needed to be and stayed strong and positive through the whole process.

The nurse asked if I wanted a mirror so I could watch McKenna enter the world. I said yes because I really believed that seeing myself progress would motivate me. Nope. It made me nauseous and I wasn't able to concentrate. I asked her to take the mirror away. The doctor came in and I had a few more sets of pushes. I felt the pressure of McKenna but absolutely no pain. At 6:11pm our beautiful daughter entered the world. The doctor handed McKenna to Erick first and he placed her on my chest. We were both so overwhelmed and thrilled and awestruck at seeing her that honestly, the memory is like this fantastic and magical blur in my mind. I remember the feelings I felt, I remember the excitement in Erick's voice and the look on his face. But I can barely remember what was said. All I know is that I get a lump in my throat whenever I think about that amazing moment.

They took McKenna to the baby table to clean her up and Erick went with her. She cried just enough to score a double 9 APGAR score and then she was comforted to have her Daddy by her side. They stitched me up (I was fortunate to have only suffered a 2nd degree tear in the 'preferred' direction) but I was totally oblivious to the entire process. I couldn't take my eyes off my little girl. They wrapped her up and handed her to Erick who brought her to me. We were a family now.

McKenna weighed 7 lbs., 10 oz. and was 20 1/2 inches at birth. She has her Daddy's hair and eyes and her Mommy's nose, lips, hands and feet (or as Erick says "She's me from the eyes up, she's you from her nose to her toes.") She is a very calm and laid back baby! She barely ever fusses, she eats well, she sleeps well and she makes adorable and expressive faces! She LOVES lots of kisses and playing with Daddy's goatee, she doesn't love cold baby wipes.

There is absolutely nothing that could have prepared us for how much we love this little girl. When she wakes up to be fed and I hold her in my arms, she looks up at me with the most precious face and I feel like my heart is literally overflowing with adoration for her. As a new parent, I am almost taken aback by how much love I feel for her. And it strikes me that God is the parent of us all and He loves us even more then I love McKenna. And I know that I am not worthy of either blessing.

McKenna Then:


McKenna Now:


* In the middle of writing this post, McKenna woke up saying she was hungry. We don't normally allow snacks after bed but since it's her birthday, I let her get up and we shared some cookies and milk. It was a sweet moment to get to sit with her and talk in the quiet of the evening. Of course, she wanted to talk about our favorite parts of the fair, our favorite parts of the chili cook-off and our favorite parts of Seaworld. LOL!

Well, I'd better sign off because I need to make the goodie bags for tomorrow and I want to try to scrap a little bit too. Hopefully I'll get to bed early because I don't want to be too tired for the party tomorrow. That would be "beezlebuzzlebo" as McKenna would say. ; )