McKay 6 months old

Since I last posted there have been a lot of exciting changes with McKay! He turned 6 months old on Feb. 8 and I cannot believe how fast the time has gone and how big he is getting. He is a little shy of 17 lbs and is about 28 inches long.

Some recent achievements:

January 25: McKay finally got his Binky in his mouth all on his own! Rejoice! Now we are hoping he will be able to put it in his mouth in the middle of the night when he cries for it so we don't have to wake up and do it! When that blessed day finally comes I don't care how many Binkies I have to buy to litter in his crib as long as I don't have to do it for him anymore!

Just a little too attached to his Binky

Feb. 3: Openly admitted to a friend that I was concerned that McKay was not rolling over yet

Feb. 4: McKay rolled from his back to his tummy...go figure! He is a rolling machine now, even doing continuous rolls, and is very determined to get whatever catches his eye (especially phones and tv remotes!) These days I never know what position he is going to be in and what kind of trouble I am going to find him in. To say the least, he is loving his new abilities!

 When McKay wakes up in the morning we LOVE to play with him in bed. This is the view we usually have of his slobbery hands coming at our faces ready to grab eyes, noses, cheeks, and hair.

Reaching for his toy

So proud of himself!

 Feb. 4: Today we fed McKay his first solid food besides rice and oats. Pears were on the menu. We lasted only a week with spoon feeding...way too messy! Now we are doing the infa-feeder and he sucks those bottles dry! We have introduced him to pears, squash, bananas, and sweet potatoes. So far his favorite seem to be the bananas! I am starting to understand why they call these foods solids...as displayed by his poop!

Not loving the pears

I dare you to get that spoon in my mouth!

All done! I don't think any of the squash made it in his mouth!

Feb. 13: McKay loves to sit up and he sat up for 4-5 minutes straight without our help, as before he could only stay up for less than a minute on his own. It does help that his belly is so big he can just rest it on his legs, but hey we are counting it!

A few weeks ago, sitting up with a little help

Look at me! I can do it all by myself!

Just chillin on the bed

Feb. 14: I am just a little bit obsessed with checking on McKay in his crib to make sure he is doing well. Today we found him asleep on his tummy for the first time. He wrestled himself out of his swaddle, rolled over, and fell asleep. Because he is turning mobile, now I never know if he will be turned around facing the other direction, scrunched up in the corner, or right where I left him. Either way, I love to see the cute ways he sleeps and look forward to finding him in some crazy sleep positions in the future!

Sleeping Beauty on his side. Love those cheeks!

Oh what a hard day

A few facts about McKay:

His favorite blanket is the blue and brown blanket above that Great Grandma Smoot made for him. 

He LOVES to be standing. Whenever I put him in a sitting position, most of the time he is pushing off his legs just begging to stand up. As soon as he is up he gets the gummiest, cheesiest, heart melting smile on his face. He is soooo proud of himself! We may have a little show off on our hands!

Hi Mommy!

Daddy holding me by my jacket

This makes me laugh so hard...Maybe he realized we were laughing at how cute he looked in this teddy outfit!

 He loves toys and being in his froggy bouncer and bumbo.

Playing in froggy

Playing in Bumbo

 He also loves tv and is a glue head just like his parents!

King of the house

Cranking his neck up to see the tv!

He loves his cousins!

Gabe and McKay, best little buddies

He loves bath time!

I love McKay for how sweet and good-natured he is. He is such a happy boy and fills me with joy everyday. There is nothing that smile of his can't fix. I am such a sucker for him and learn so much from him daily. Some of these lessons include, but are not limited to:

Trying to accept the fact that I will be tired the rest of my life. I have learned that with him around my to do list may have to wait and the house may not be as clean as it should be. I am learning that his schedule is never going to work with our church schedule, but we happily continue to go, even if it means the two of us have to spend the majority of it in the mother's room. I am finding that our weekends are exciting as long as we can bring a Pack 'N Play with us or the outing ends no later than 7:00pm. I have learned to be prepared to get out the door so the second he wakes up we can run our errands and try to get back for the next nap. I have discovered that finding a babysitter is probably the thing I hate most, and hearing the report back from the babysitter is even worse. I am learning that no matter how careful I am I will get spit up on, but I will never learn to love the smell of rancid milk! I have discovered that I am a complete control freak when it comes to McKay. But mostly I have learned how much I can love. I love Him and Les so much and I am finding how blessed I am to have such a wonderful family. I love my McKay for the joy he spreads everywhere we go, which is why we call him our "Sunshine Boy." I love watching him grow and change. I love how Les and I are his favorite people in the whole world. I love how he is constantly trying to get my attention and when he does I get a huge grin. I love his giggle. I love his chubby body. I love how curious and easily distracted he is. I love how interested he is in people. I love how impossible it is becoming to change his diapers because he can't sit still for longer than 1 minute. I love how how is constantly grabbing his feet and sticking his fingers in his mouth. I love hearing new sounds and squeals he is making. I love how he watches his hands and how everything is so new and is such a wonder to him. I love how his Binky and Binky chain can entertain him for hours. I love feeding him and having that cuddle time with him. I love having him as my buddy and I love going everywhere with him. I am so thankful for him and how he has changed our lives for the better. 

Lastly, a few more pictures that I love of him.

Such a big boy!

My little fox

Chillin with daddy

Chewing on his fingers

Posing for the camera

Baby Mac 4 and 1/2 months update

It seems like every day McKay gets stronger and learns new tricks. Now that he is 4 and 1/2 months old he is weighing in at 16 lbs. He is one healthy boy!

Some Recent Developments:

• He graduated into size 3 diapers two weeks ago. I am definitely loving them especially now that I am not washing poop explosions daily out of his clothes...my clothes :), and his blankets. 
• About a month ago we realized that the back of his head is getting flatter and flatter due to sleeping on his back, being in his car seat and swing, wiggling on blankets, etc... Yeah, bad mom award, I know.  I promise I really do hold him A LOT! So of course we started to panic and have been doing a few things differently.
• First of all, we got him a Bumbo. And might I add, he looks so darn cute in it! I think I have taken a million pictures of him in it! This is seriously the best purchase we have made for him to date and wish we had gotten him one sooner. His little neck, despite how much those cheeks must weigh, is getting very strong and he loves to play in it and see the world from a new angle. We love to take him from room to room in it so he can feel like he is part of the action, as he is a social little guy. His fine motor skills are really strengthening and he loves to grab toys and touch everything he can get his little hands around.

Playing in my Bumbo

• Next, we implemented side sleeping. This has actually saved my sanity because he became an incredibly worse sleeper when he graduated from his bassinet, because he was no longer snuggled up in the same position all night. Instead, he became really restless, and as a result, I became really ornery because he was waking me up more than hourly needing to be re-wrapped and was cold, wanting his Binky, etc...So I did a little internet research about side sleeping and found some good ideas I decided to implement. We rolled up multiple towels in his Pack N Play to support him front and back so he can't roll onto his tummy or back. Don't worry, we make sure none of them are close to his face! We also rotate him each day so he doesn't get flat spots on the sides of his head too! Since then, he has been sleeping his record high amounts of 8 hours! Which leads me to my next point.

Side sleeping

• With him sleeping so restlessly and crying for his Binky from 2:30-4:30 am, then practically swallowing his Binky whole each time I put it in while I tried so diligently to put off his feed until the proper time (because let's be honest, the kid isn't going to starve to death!) I decided it is time to give him a little rice cereal. The breast milk just was not enough for our 16 pound boy and mom was ready to put him up for sale during the night a few times. I put about 2 TBL in an 8oz bottle of milk during his evening feed. He loves it and I love it because now, combined with the side sleeping, he is sleeping like a champ! 

• Next, we have been much more devoted to giving him multiple tummy times a day to get him off his back and head. He doesn't hate it as much as he used to, but he doesn't love it either! However, he is getter better and stronger!

Tummy time!

Like every boy, he loves to hang out in his underwear!

•  His current schedule: Unless we are out and about, McKay is asleep at 9:45pm like clockwork. We feed him about 8:30-9:00pm and he wakes up around 4:00 or 5:00am to feed (with a few Binky calls before then). Then he wakes in the 7:00 o'clock hour for a short feed, and the 9:00 o'clock hour is his official wake-up time. He will stay awake for about an hour and a half then goes down for a short 30-45 min. nap around 11:00. We then eat, play, bathe, do infant massage, etc until he goes down for his long afternoon nap which goes from about 1:00-4:00pm. He wakes up ready to eat and receive a lot of smiles and attention! Between 4:00 and bedtime, he only falls asleep for a short 30 min. nap somewhere in between and can get fussy about 7:00 because he is overtired and over-stimulated, but does not want to give in to sleep. And go figure that just about everything starts around 7:00pm when every kid has had it with the day!
• McKay is either starting to teethe or is just extra drooly, but is constantly chewing on his hands, my hands, toys, blankets or whatever he can get in his mouth. 
• He is a really alert boy and loves to face outward and watch everything that is going on. He is a perceptive little guy and loves to study and take in as much as he can. His head follows whatever is moving round him.
• Wherever we go, people comment about how calm he is. I attribute his temperament to Les...definitely not to me! I also attribute his good looks to Les as most people say he looks just like his daddy. Although I think there is a little bit of Grandpa Hair in him.
• He still gets mistaken for a girl when we are at church or around town, so just for fun...I hope McKay and Les will forgive me... I decided to dress him up like a girl to see if he would make a cute one! haha Good thing Les isn't home! All we need to do is pierce his ears and put a bracelet in between the fat roll of his wrist and I think he could pass!

My beautiful little McKayla!

Not sure how he feels about being in girl's clothes

So prim and proper!

• He has discovered his feet and loves to watch them wiggle and grab them when he is practically folded in half.

What are these white things?

Chillin' on the couch

4 months

 Cute pics of my big 4 month old boy!

Hair up

Hair down

So precious

Look how long I am!

Big Buddha

Mmmm breakfast!

He hates the camera flash so I have to sneak the smiling pictures in when he isn't expecting it.

Hanging with daddy

Uni-brow!

Oh hey!

Working hard to sit up

Baby Blessing

On Sunday, December 5 we blessed Lester McKay Essig, making him 4 months old. If we had waited much longer he could have crawled up there! It was such a special day to have both of our families, including extended family, there to support us. I can't express the joy I felt seeing our sweet boy surrounded by the Priesthood and by so many people who love him. I am so grateful to have a worthy husband who was able to give him his name and blessing. I woke up at 3:50am on Saturday night to feed baby and noticed Les wasn't in bed. I found him on the couch studying the scriptures and writing in his journal, preparing himself for the blessing. McKay was blessed with a healthy body which will serve him well all his days, and with patience, kindness and charity. He was given the ability to have a sound understanding of the gospel and will be a good example and leader as the oldest child of our family. He was blessed to serve a mission and to marry a righteous girl in the temple. It was a beautiful blessing. Les' dad stood next to Les and had the assignment of keeping the Binky in Mac's mouth, since my biggest fear was that he would cry through his blessing. Thankfully, he didn't make a peep! In fact, my dad (yes his eyes were open...it is an inherited trait in our family) said McKay was wide-eyed looking around the circle at everyone. He was probably wondering what in the world was going on! I was an emotional wreck during and after the blessing, my heart was so full. I leaned over to Shauna and said, "On days like this I totally get why you had 11 kids! These are the pearl moments of life. Les and I both bore our testimonies. I was so happy to hear Les' thoughts. He too was emotional and said, "Let me assure you, I have cried in just about every corner of the church today!"  It is crazy what a baby does to a tough guy, because Les rarely cried before McKay. We are so crazy about our little boy and had such a wonderful day. Following the service, we all drove out to my parent's house for the funniest dinner. The ham was "shoe leather," the potatoes were burned, a batch of cookies were spilled and thrown away, and a whole salad was dropped outside. Someone was trying to get us down after such an uplifting meeting!  Even still we had enough food to go around and it was a nice evening spent with family. 

In his blessing outfit

On the way to church. I wasn't taking any chances on him pooping through the pants. Those were put on minutes before the blessing.