Mackenzie is 3 weeks old today!
As you can see she has changed so much already since she was born. We went for her 2 week weight check last Wednesday and she was already up to 9 pounds! She is getting very strong and holds her head up more and more everyday especially if she can hear you talking. She is very easy-going and sleeps through all of the chaos that her older siblings create. In fact, sometimes I almost feel that she sleeps better when they are home and running around in the house. She is eating and sleeping well. I can't complain at all. She is going 3-4 hours at a shot during the night. Which means that I am getting better sleep now than when I was pregnant. Dom, Jon and Cassie love her to pieces, smothering her with love and attention. Dom loves to turn the music on in her pack-n-play and sing to her. He is amazed by how soft her cheeks are. Jon insists that she is called Mackenzie Ellen, not just Mackenzie. Cassie is convinced that any movement at all is crying and that I need to give her my immediate attention when that happens. In all the transition from 3 children to 4 has been smooth for everyone.....although our pediatrician says to prepare for the honeymoon to end!
Is she becoming a drama queen already or practicing to block her face from the paparazzi?
Snug as a bug!
Mackenzie is well-traveled already. She has made daily trips to drop her siblings off at grammy day care and school. Several trips to Binghamton have proven to be positive experiences as well. Mommy and Mackenzie both had checkups a week after leaving the hospital. We left the doctors' offices at 11:00 having just given Mackenzie a bottle. She slept through lunch at the Olive Garden, shopping at Walmart and Lowes, and the return trip. 5 hours total!! Her carseat is a safety net if we are having problems getting her to settle into a good sleep. Strap her in and tuck a blanket around her and she's out like a light.
Jonjon had his first train ride on the 28th. He was joined by Daddy and Cassie. It was the weekend of the Maple Festival and all three took the train from Marathon to Cortland. Dominic wanted nothing to do with the train. As you can see from the blurriness of the photo, the train wiggled a lot which in turn rocked Cassie to sleep about halfway into the trip. The festival was our first outing as a family of six. And it was great! We spent about 5 hours at the festival. The girls rode in the double stroller and the boys got to walk for the first time ever. Everyone behaved. No one had a meltdown. We returned home at 3:00 pm and let everyone nap before we headed off to Aunt Katie's for a fun night with family. We even stayed out until 10:00 which is a huge deal if you know anything about how scheduled we keep our kids. Bedtime is normally 7:30 for everyone. When we got home, Norm and I both commented about how great of a day it was. A great family day as we called it. We are looking forward to many more in the future.
We know that with 4 children under the age of 6 including a newborn that we have to roll with the punches and pray for the best. We also know to expect the unexpected which is where the next 2 photos come into play. One of our first nights home I sent Norm off to BIG SIRENS to watch the SU game. Before he left we put the kids to bed so that I only had to contend with Mackenzie. I fed her a bottle and put her back to sleep around 10:30. A trip through the house to pick up the day's clutter helped me to find an unexpected package under the stairs.
At first it looked like Jon's beloved blankie and monkey had been left downstairs which was a shock to think about, but then I realized that the owner of the blankie was curled up Anne Geddes style under the blanket. Being a big brother to 2 sisters is wearing him out. He had come downstairs to go potty. The light was still on in the bathroom and the toilet seat up (LOL) , but he was so tired that he just curled up in a ball underneath the stairs and went back to sleep right there!!
