Mother's Jod Description

POSITION:Mother, Mom, Mama, Mommy, Momma, Ma, Mummy

JOB DESCRIPTION:Long term, team players needed for challenging permanent work in an often chaotic environment. Candidates must possess excellent communication and organizational skills and be willing to work variable hours, which will include evenings and weekends and frequent 24 hour shifts on call. Some overnight travel required, including trips to primitive camping sites on rainy weekends and endless sports tournaments in far away cities. Travel expenses not reimbursed. Extensive courier duties also required.

RESPONSIBILITIES:The rest of your life. Must be willing to be hated, at least temporarily, until someone needs $5. Must be willing to bite tongue repeatedly. Also, must possess the physical stamina of a pack mule and be able to go from zero to 60 mph in three seconds flat in case, this time, the screams from the backyard are not someone just crying wolf. Must be willing to face stimulating technical challenges, such as small gadget repair, mysteriously sluggish toilets, and stuck zippers! Must screen phone calls, maintain calendars and coordinate production of multiple homework projects. Must have ability to plan and organize social gatherings for clients of all ages and mental outlooks. Must be willing to be indispensable one minute, and embarrassed the next. Must handle assembly and product safety testing of a half million cheap, plastic toys, and battery operated devices. Must always hope for the best but be prepared for the worst. Must assume final, complete accountability for the quality of the end product. Responsibilities also include floor maintenance and janitorial work throughout the facility.

POSSIBILITY FOR ADVANCEMENT & PROMOTION:Virtually none. Your job is to remain in the same position for years, without complaining, constantly retraining and updating your skills, so that those in your charge can ultimately surpass you.

PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE:None required unfortunately. On-the-job training offered on a continually exhausting basis.

WAGES AND COMPENSATION:Get this! You pay them! Offering frequent raises and bonuses. A balloon payment is due when they turn 18 because of the assumption that college will help them become financially independent. When you die, you give them whatever is left. The oddest thing about this reverse-salary scheme is that you actually enjoy it and wish you could only do more.

BENEFITS:While no health or dental insurance, no pension, no tuition reimbursement, no paid holidays and no stock options are offered; this job supplies limitless opportunities for personal growth and free hugs for life if you play your cards right.

Permission

I thought I would keep this around in the event that Mike ever lets Makaylee date. He keeps saying she cannot date until she is at least 25. I keep reminding him that I was dating him at 15, and had her at 25. That doesn't seem to bother him :)

APPLICATION FOR PERMISSION TO DATE MY DAUGHTER

NOTE: This application will be incomplete and rejected unless accompanied by a complete financial statement, job history, lineage, and current medical report from your doctor.
NAME_____________________________________DATE OF BIRTH_____________
HEIGHT___________ WEIGHT__________ IQ__________ GPA_____________
SOCIAL SECURITY #________________DRIVERS LICENSE #________________
BOY SCOUT RANK AND BADGES__________________________________________
HOME ADDRESS_______________________ CITY/STATE___________ ZIP______
Do you have parents? ___Yes ___No
Is one male and the other female? ___Yes ___No
If No, explain:___________________________________________________
Number of years they have been married ______________________________
If less than your age, explain:______________________________________________
ACCESSORIES SECTION:
A. Do you own or have access to a van? __Yes __No
B. A truck with oversized tires? __Yes __No
C. A waterbed? __Yes __No
D . A pickup with a mattress in the back? __Yes __No
E. A tattoo? __Yes __No
F. Do you have an earring, nose ring, pierced tongue, pierced cheek or a belly button ring?__Yes __No

(IF YOU ANSWERED 'YES' TO ANY OF THE ABOVE, DISCONTINUE APPLICATION AND LEAVE PREMISES IMMEDIATELY. I SUGGEST RUNNING.)

ESSAY SECTION:
In 50 words or less, what does 'LATE' mean to you?____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
In 50 words or less, what does 'DON'T TOUCH MY DAUGHTER' mean to you?____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
In 50 words or less, what does 'ABSTINENCE' mean to you?____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
REFERENCES SECTION:
Church you attend ___________________________________________________
How often you attend ________________________________________________
When would be the best time to interview your:
father? _____________
mother? _____________
pastor? _____________

SHORT-ANSWER SECTION:
Answer by filling in the blank. Please answer freely, all answers are confidential.

A: If I were shot, the last place I would want to be shot would be:_______________________________________
I were beaten, the last bone I would want broken is my:______________________________________________________________
C: A woman's place is in the:_______________________________________
D: The one thing I hope this application does not ask me about is:______________________________________________________________
E. What do you want to do IF you grow up?____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
F. When I meet a girl, the thing I always notice about her first is:______________________________________________________________
F. What is the current going rate of a hotel room? __________________

I SWEAR THAT ALL INFORMATION SUPPLIED ABOVE IS TRUE AND CORRECT TO THE BEST OF MY KNOWLEDGE UNDER PENALTY OF DEATH, DISMEMBERMENT, NATIVE AMERICAN ANT TORTURE, CRUCIFIXION, ELECTROCUTION, CHINESE WATER TORTURE, RED HOT POKERS, AND HILLARY CLINTON KISS TORTURE.
_________________________________________________________
Applicant's Signature (that means sign your name, moron!)
_______________________________ ________________________________
Mother's Signature Father's Signature
______________________________________________________________
Pastor/Priest/Rabbi State Representative/Congressman

Thank you for your interest, and it had better be genuine and non-sexual. Please allow four to six years for processing. You will be contacted in writing if you are approved. Please do not try to call or write (since you probably can't, and it would cause you injury). If your application is rejected, you will be notified by two gentleman wearing white ties carrying violin cases (you might want to watch your back).

To prepare yourself, start studying Daddy's Rules for Dating:

Daddy's Rules for Dating

Your dad's rules for your boyfriend (or for you if you're a guy) :

Rule One: If you pull into my driveway and honk you'd better be delivering a package, because you're sure not picking anything up.

Rule Two: You do not touch my daughter in front of me. You may glance at her, so long as you do not peer at anything below her neck. If you cannot keep your eyes or hands off of my daughter's body, I will remove them.

Rule Three: I am aware that it is considered fashionable for boys of your age to wear their trousers so loosely that they appear to be falling off their hips. Please don't take this as an insult, but you and all of your friends are complete idiots. Still, I want to be fair and open minded about this issue, so I propose this compromise: You may come to the door with your underwear showing and your pants ten sizes too big, and I will not object. However, in order to ensure that your clothes do not, in fact come off during the course of your date with my daughter, I will take my electric nail gun and fasten your trousers securely in place to your waist.

Rule Four: I'm sure you've been told that in today's world, sex without utilizing a 'Barrier method' of some kind can kill you. Let me elaborate, when it comes to sex, I am the barrier, and I will kill you.

Rule Five:It is usually understood that in order for us to get to know each other, we should talk about sports, politics, and other issues of the day. Please do not do this. The only information I require from you is an indication of when you expect to have my daughter safely back at my house, and the only word I need from you on this subject is: 'early.'

Rule Six: I have no doubt you are a popular fellow, with many opportunities to date other girls. This is fine with me as long as it is okay with my daughter. Otherwise, once you have gone out with my little girl, you will continue to date no one but her until she is finished with you. If you make her cry, I will make you cry.

Rule Seven: As you stand in my front hallway, waiting for my daughter to appear, and more than an hour goes by, do not sigh and fidget. If you want to be on time for the movie, you should not be dating. My daughter is putting on her makeup, a process than can take longer than painting the Golden Gate Bridge. Instead of just standing there, why don't you do something useful, like changing the oil in my car?

Rule Eight: The following places are not appropriate for a date with my daughter: Places where there are beds, sofas, or anything softer than a wooden stool. Places where there is darkness. Places where there is dancing, holding hands, or happiness. Places where the ambient temperature is warm enough to induce my daughter to wear shorts, tank tops, midriff T-shirts, or anything other than overalls, a sweater, and a goose down parka - zipped up to her throat. Movies with a strong romantic or sexual themes are to be avoided; movies which feature chain saws are okay. Hockey games are okay. Old folks’ homes are better.

Rule Nine: Do not lie to me. I may appear to be a potbellied, balding, middle-aged, dim-witted has-been. But on issues relating to my daughter, I am the all-knowing, merciless god of your universe. If I ask you where you are going and with whom, you have one chance to tell me the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I have a shotgun, a shovel, and five acres behind the house. Do not trifle with me.

Rule Ten: Be afraid. Be very afraid. It takes very little for me to mistake the sound of your car in the driveway for a chopper coming in over a rice paddy near Hanoi. When my Agent Orange starts acting up, the voices in my head frequently tell me to clean the guns as I wait for you to bring my daughter home. As soon as you pull into the driveway you should exit the car with both hands in plain sight. Speak the perimeter password, announce in a clear voice that you have brought my daughter home safely and early, then return to your car - there is no need for you to come inside. The camouflaged face at the window is mine.

She is growing up so fast

I already cannot believe it that my little baby girl is going to be two in less than two months, but does she have to continually rub my face in the fact that she is growing up to quickly right before my eyes??

Makaylee's vocabulary is exploding. Seriously, she will repeat anything you ask her to. She has started to use proper nouns, using me, you, and I all correctly. I have been trying to get her to count to 3, and all of a sudden she can count to 10! She knows all the sounds her letters make. If you ask her what an S says she will tell you ssssssssssssss. Yesterday while hunting Easter eggs Mike asked her where the eggs where and she held out her hands and said "I don't know!" Today was the killer though. I was bathing Makaylee and Kaiden and she was playing with the faucet and I told her no twice. When I said it forcefully after not listening the first time she turns to me and said "I sorry." It was to cute, and almost had me in tears. My baby just apologized to me for not listening. She builds with her mega blocks and can do it on her own, without our help now. She will tell me what she wants for each meal, and she is FINALLY eating real fruit as of yesterday. Not just freeze dried fruit. She ate fresh strawberries, raspberries, and is completely in love with fresh blueberries. Makaylee asks Mike how his day was (by saying "day?"), she will pick up the phone and tell me who she wants to call, Dada, Nana, or Grandma. If I say not right now, she will pretend to call them. She will come running and tell me when she needs a new diaper. This morning I actually found her trying to pull a diaper out of the box because she had pooped. She helps me pick up all the laundry and puts it in the basket. She will take things to the trash if I tell her, and helps bring me things when I ask. She is getting really good at putting Kaiden's paci in his mouth, even when he doesn't want it :) Kaiden has been wearing some of Makaylee's old gender neutral sleepers, and it just seems like so long ago, and at the same time, not that long ago that she was a tiny little helpless baby. Now she has an opinion about everything and is not afraid to share it. Go hug your babies, because they will be big before you know it!

E......L.......M........O

As a cheerleader in high school I think I had to listen to YMCA WAY to many times. I was a cheerleader all four years, and YMCA got played at almost every sporting even that we cheered at. You do that math. So if I never had to listen to YMCA ever again, that would be ok with me. Well, when you have a daughter who is obsessed with Elmo, you collect different elmo dolls. One of the elmo dolls we got somewhere along the way is the one that sings YMCA using E L M O. All of a sudden that doll has made it to the top of our toy basket and Makaylee loves to dance with him. Over and over and over and over again. Did I mention over again? So I thought I would share a video of her dancing with elmo:




I know, it is super cute! Makaylee has also become a little chatter box. She talks non stop all day long. But she is using real word now, not just toddler speach. She has an opinion on everything, and she will let you know it. She knows the sounds that all of her letters make. (ex S says ssssssss). We can go through the whole alphabet. She can count to 3, and almost 5, she just skips four sometimes. So we are working on that. She comes to get me as soon as she hears Kaiden crying, even if we are sitting in the same room. She tells me "Crying, check baby." Makaylee still loves Kaiden and wants to give him kisses all the time. Kaiden is starting to smile back at her and coo at her, so they do make a cute pair.

Kaiden is getting so big so quickly! He is starting to move into his 3-6 month clothes, though 0-3 clothes still fit. He has the opposite problem of Makaylee. She needs pants with a larger waist and short. He needs the skinny waist and long pants. What opposites! I actually think his eyes are going to stay blue. So Makaylee looks just like me with Mike's eyes, and Kaiden looks just like Mike with my eyes. How strange :) Kaiden's sleeping is still hit and miss. His gas is getting much better though. I now breastfeed all day and night. Except he gets one 4oz bottle of lactose free milk at night. This seems to make everyone happy, so it is a good system for us.

I have started doing a one stop shop for baths here to. Kaiden sits in his bouncy seat in the bathroom while I take a shower. Makaylee gets in with me, and I just fill up the tub while I am showering. Then when I am done I put Kaiden in the bath with Makaylee in his bath sling. Makaylee loves taking a shower with me and bath with the baby. Of course, she just loves the water, so she would stay in the tub for hours if I let her. Kaiden likes it because the bathroom gets all steamy and warm while I shower, so he doesn't get cold. Here they are in the tub:



Real men wear pink right? Kaiden is already in the large size swaddlers. I have two pink ones that are in perfect condition from Makaylee. So he gets to sleep in pink. shhhhhhhhhhh, don't tell him when he is a teenager ;)




Just cause it is a cute picture, here is what I will leave you with:

4 Shots :(

My poor little guys got 4 shots today! Poor thing. He did so good though. He cried for less than a minute. He is a chunky little thing at 12lbs 9oz! That means he is gaining two pounds a month. Chunky Monkey. Other than that he looks good and is growing well. He is starting to smile a lot more, though his favorite person to smile at is Makaylee. I hope they continue to love each other this much!

We went down to the park yesterday for my birthday. Mike came home early so we dedcided to go feed the ducks. Makaylee LOVED it. She was so upset when we had to leave. kaiden was unimpressed, but he slept through most of it.

Well, just a quick update on his Dr's appt!

Busy Sunday at our house!

What an exciting day! I got our first picture of Kaiden smiling (shown below) and Makaylee used the potty twice! All in all a good day!

Here is Makaylee on the potty, thee book is needed to keep her there:

Kaiden smiling:
This was actually taken a week or so ago, but I love it and have been meaning to share:

You can see more pictures of Kaiden here:

http://s2.photobucket.com/albums/y24/SSmiley908/Kaiden/

More pictures of Makaylee, including some from here little gym graduation here:

http://s2.photobucket.com/albums/y24/SSmiley908/Makaylee%20Ann/

So far, so good!

Kadien has been sleeping a 4 hour stretch, followed by a 3 hour stretch every night since we started the zantac. We even got the two kids to take a nap at the same time on Sunday. Almost two full hours of kid free time! What did we do? Nothing to begin with! Then we got up and cleaned the kitchen and dining room. Followed by making some gluten steak. Huh? Gluten steak, what is that? It is vegetarian steak. It is super good for you, and our first patch actually wasn't to bad, a little tough, but we can work on it. You use it in place of regular steak in recipes, or just eat it as is. I am trying some tonight in a stir fry, so I will let you know how it goes.

Makaylee has started to get a littl rough with Kaiden, so keep your eyes open at all times! She is not trying to hurt him, quite the opposite, she is trying to help. She likes to help burp him, and was doing great for awhile, except now she wants to burp him all the time, so if he is accessible, she just walks up and starts hitting him to burp him wherever is available. Feet, head, belly, it doesn't matter. We keep trying to explain this doesn't work, but she isn't quite getting it, or she is ignoring us, so we have to keep a close eye on her. She also likes to cover him with a blanket since Mom does this all the time. She just thinks he needs to be completely covered with the blanket, head including. So watch out Kaiden, you are getting hit, and your sister is trying to smother you under a blanket, but she has good intentions! She is also taking care of her baby, burping the doll, and feeding her, it is super cute. Though I wish Kaiden went to sleep like her baby doll does. She chucks her on the ground and says "night night" and walks away. Wouldn't that be nice?

We are working on Kaiden putting himself to sleep. For several reasons. It is such a luxory that Makaylee puts herself to sleep, but we use to rock her to sleep. Teaching her to put herself to sleep was very time consuming and difficult process. We hope to skip that. Also, Makaylee doesn't understand, leave mommy alone while I rock the baby to sleep. She already has to give up time with me while I am nursing him. Sometimes I can lay Kaiden in the co-sleeper and he goes to sleep with only a couple patting and shushing trips along with replacing the paci sometimes. Sometimes I put him in the swing and he falls asleep. So I let sleeping babies lie, and he takes a nap in the swing. At night he fights going to sleep a bit more, and it can take me anywhere from 20 min to an hour to get him to fall sleep in the co-sleeper.

We have started introducing the potty to Makaylee. We are reading potty books, and watching elmo potty time video, which she loves and is addicted to. We have a potty seat in the bathroom, and she usually sits on it about once a day. We are working on introducing the concept right now. I bought some pampers that have a "feel wet" liner, but she was not bothered by it at all. We have not had a successful potty trip yet, but I am in no rush at the moment. Although it would be nice to only have one in diapers, it is difficult to get her to the potty as often as I need to with Kaiden wanting to nurse. Maybe once we have all settled into a routine we can really start focusing on it.

That is about it for right now~

Who's baby is this?

So we started the zantac yesterday. I would like to know who stole the screaming baby? No, seriously. Kaiden slept for.........are you ready for this? Four whole hours straight last night, followed by 2.5 hours. Holy cow! What life luxury is this? Then he took a two hour nap this morning, followed by a three hour nap. What a great day right? Of course the kids refuse to nap at the same time. I did have a slight overlap and rushed to take a shower all on my own. Without Makaylee sitting in the tub trying to steal my shower water. It was a nice luxury followed by Makaylee waking up. So, you would think it would be a good day right? Well, no. Makaylee has decided to take over her brothers roll of complaining, crying, and just plain crankiness today. I guess you win some, you loose some right? I am not confessing zantac as the miracle drug quite yet, because it could just be an off day for him, so I will keep you updated on the progress. But I have high hopes that this does continue and we can resume some resemblence of a scheduled life.

There is hope for sleep!

Kaiden was diagnosed with silent reflux today. Basically it is acid reflux in infants except he is missing the main symptom which is throwing up. The reason he doesn't throw up is because he throws up, but swallows the puke before it comes out. This is worse than normal acid reflux because the acid burns on the way up and on the way down. Luckily, the DR perscribed baby Zantac. So we started that today, and I HOPE that this helps. Kaiden has not been a very happy baby when he is awake, and we thought it was gas, but I have cut out a bunch of things from my diet to try and reduce the gas, and that didn't work. I thought maybe he was sensitive to what I was eating because feeding times were becoming a battle to get him to eat. So I went to very bland food, and we were still having issues. This led us to the silent reflux diagnosis. It could take up to a week or so for the medication to make a difference. We are hoping for some better sleep, as right now Kaiden doesn't sleep for more than 2-3 hour stretches at night, and a 30-45 min stretch during the day if that. The Zantac unfortunatly does not stop the actual refluxing, but it reduces the acid in it so that it doesnt burn as much, if at all. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Profesional pics

Oh My Goodness!!!!!!!! Let me tell you how much fun it is NOT to try and get pictures taken with two kids :) Which we already suspected. We made an appointment for 11:15 this morning at kiddie kandids. We *suprisingly* all got dressed and ready to go and made it there early of all things. You would think we would know something would go wrong right? Well Kaiden took his two pictures alone just fine. Then when I went to change his outfit Makaylee tripped and fell head first on the babies r us floor. Oops. Mike calmed her down while I changed Kaiden. Then when we took her over and tried to get her on the platform to take a picture she completely flipped out and screamed at the top of her lungs. So we took a break and Mike walked around the store with her. Bought her a sucker (hey, not above bribery). Then headed back to the portrait studio. COMPLETE FREAK OUT. So we left. No one wants to pay for pics of a screaming kid right? So Mike went off to work, and I took the kids home for nap time. Makaylee took a super long nap, then back to the studio, and ready for another freak out when we tried to get her to take the pic. We worked through it though, and the photogropher was very patient. So we did end up getting some great pics. Though trying to get Makaylee to hold Kaiden for a pose proved to be impossible, so we said we would settle for one of the two of them in the same pic. Thank goodness Kaiden slept through both photo shoots. What are we going to do when we want them both to smile for a picture? We will cross that bridge when we get there. Here are the pics:

Kaiden might come home tomorrow!

Just a quick update. Kaiden's jaundice levels have dropped to an 8. So they took him off the lights and if his levels don't go up over the next 12 hours, then he *should* be able to come home tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!! We tried breastfeeding today, and he is a breastfeeding champ right from the start. We also took Makaylee down to see Kaiden today for the first time. She thinks he is really cool. She petted him, and gave him some kisses. She was completely okay with me holding him, but freaked out when we switched and Mike was holding Kaiden, and I was holding her. She is having some serious Daddy attachments right now. So all in all it was a GREAT day. I just hope tomorrow is even better because Kaiden is coming home!

Look what we did!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mike and I got to hold Kaiden! So, update for those who have not heard one in awhile. Kaiden had a miracle weekend and worked his way off the ventilator, skipping the CPAP, and going straight to oxygen tubes by Sunday. He was ready for feeding on Sunday, but at the first feeding at 1:00 he was to tired and tried to sleep through the feeding, so they had to put in a feeding tube. We went back to try again at his next feeding time at 5:00 and I got to feed him, but he had to stay in bed. Mike took his Mom and sister to the airport and then rushed back for the 8:00 feeding, and the night nurse brought a rocker over and let Mike hold Kaiden while he took his bottle. So Mike drove me to the hospital for the 11:00 feeding because we knew the night nurse would let me hold Kaiden for the feeding. We both fed him a bottle, and rocked him for about 30 minutes, Mike at 8 and me at 11. It was soooooooooooo wonderful to finally be able to hold him! I don't think I can describe how amazing it was to finally be able to hold Kaiden after watching him lay in bed for 5 days. We got to hold him again today! YAY! Other good news? Kaiden is off oxygen completely and breathing completely on his own! Oxygen tube was removed this morning and he was moved to a crib rather than the NICU bed. He is still in the NICU, but might actually be transfered to the intermediate care nursery tonight or tomorrow. He is still jaundice, so we have to get those levels down. He is currently at an 11.5 and needs to be at a 6. He only dropped a point all weekend, so slow progress there. Everyone is thinking that now that he is eating it should start dropping a lot quicker. I should be able to try and breastfeed him tomorrow. So here are pics of Mike and I holding Kaiden:

Here is my favorite picture of Kaiden so far:

Pictures of Kaiden

Our Bathroom remodel

So we are in the middle of a bathroom remodel. I know, great timing with the c-section on Monday. But, this is something we have wanted to do since we moved into the house. I am happy to say that the project is moving along nicely thanks to Mike working all weekend and every night on it. But the shower is almost done! Originally we had just a tub in this bathroom, but the previous owners had hooked up a shower head from the tub spout. Needless to say the drywall all had to be replaced inside the surround. Also the tub was cast iron so that was close to 300 pounds that mike had to remove. The new tub is in, and Mike undertook the process of putting up tile for the shower surround. Keeping in mind that he has never done tile alone before, this was quite the project, and it is done! It looks awsome. The only thing left to do is seal the grout and put the spout and shower head in. So, here are some pictures for those interested. Makaylee is so excited about the tub. She has been using a small inflatable tub on the bottom of our stand up shower, and she hates it. So she cannot wait to use the new tub. Tonight, Mike starts laying the tile on the bathroom floor! Our goal is to have the tub ready for use, and the toilet in by the time Kaiden comes. We shall see. The cabinets, sink and counter top may have to wait till after Kaiden arrives.

Belly Dancing!

Kaiden is a mover and a shaker now. His back is on the outside of my belly, so when he starts moving my whole belly goes with him. I caught this video one night, and it is great! So I wanted to share with everyone:

Kaiden's Coming home outfit!

I have found it!!!!!!!!! After much searching I have finally found Kaiden's coming home from the hospital outfit. I am so excited. For those who don't know, or remeber. Makaylee's coming home outfit was a purple outfit that said "Daddy's little princess." (I was going to load a pic, but it is on a different computer) So I thought it would be cute for Kaiden's coming home outfit to say "Mommy's little Prince" Well, apparantly that is a lot easier said then done! I have been searching for a couple months now, and have not found one at all. Even online. So I gave up on that idea and had a back up outfit already picked out. I went to babies r us yesterday to get the remainder of the things we needed for Kaiden and I found it! It is new to the store, and I am so excited. Here is a picture of his outfit. I also have the matching bib:

Christmas is over!

Christmas was a success!!!!!!! We could not ask for a better reaction from Makaylee. She walked out into the living room and just stopped and gasped at everything. It took her a bit to come in then she started running from one thing to the next. The kitchen, fish, elmo couch, and easel. She didn't touch anything right away, and then she started playing. She LOVED everything. Well, everything except opening presents, and the rocking horse. We tried to get her to open the presents, but she just kept telling us no. So she watched us open the presents and played with the toys once they were out of the package. Makaylee also got a rocking horse that moves its head and tail and neighs from her Nana. She will not go anywhere near it and keeps saying "Bye Horseee" wheneve she see's it. We had to remove it from the living room.

Here are some pictures:

Her presents set up:


Here she is when she first entered the living room:
Looking at her gold fish. We got a real fish tank (10 gallons) that is now set up on her dresser in her room. This was just for Christmas morning. We named the gold fish Dorothy for the gold fish on Elmo's world and Hush for the gold fish on the goodnight show. Ever night we have to say goodnight to the fish now, and she says hi to the fish everymorning.
Exploring the kitchen:
So excited about the play food, which she LOVES

So that was our Christmas morning. Makaylee loved it. She was in a good mood all morning, then cranky the rest of the day. But she has been having a ton of fun playing with all the new toys. I am constantly picking up play food and kitchen accessories from all over the house, but she loves it! She makes a GREAT cup of tea and even spoon feeds it to you ;)

Santa is EVIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, that is correct. The jolly happy man with a bowl full of jelly is EVIL! Just ask Makaylee. So we knew it was not going to go well when we got in line (only two people ahead of us) and Makaylee saw santa and started freaking out. Mike picked her up out of the stroller and we gently tried to show her Santa. I asked if she wanted to go see Santa and she calmly replied "No." She was okay at that point, until she realized we were not moving away from Santa and were in fact moving closer to Santa. By the time it was her turn to sit on Santa's lap she was gripping onto Mike's shoulder for dear life crying and saying no over and over again. We even tried to let her hold Elmo while she was sitting on Santa's lap but Elmo got thrown at Dad in her haste to grip on Dad's shoulders once more. Mike quickly put her in Santa's lap so that the picture could be taken, and she could be picked back up. This was the lovely shot we got:

After which Mike picked Makaylee up while I placed our order for the picture. But the screaming did not stop there! In fact, the screaming did not stop for a good 15 minutes after Santa was seen. Mike walked her down through the mall away from Santa and his "North Pole" set up until she could not see it. When I caught up with them they were down a deserted Mall corridor and she was still screaming. She finally calmed down when we got her out of the Christmas dress so she could walk around with no memory of Santa near her. Hopefully next year will go better!