Just can't get enough! Say CHEESE!!!

Oh my, I can not get over this face Mckell keeps making! I could just eat her right up! I don't think she really gets it, but I say CHEESE and she gives me this super cheesy grin! I LOVE it! Mckell is getting so much more interactive and it's so fun- I really have the most adorable baby ever!

Play time with Sam and Kennedy, they were all born within a month of each other.

Mckell's a crazy sleeper just like her mamma!

I love all the funny faces she makes- she's a very alert and expressionate (pretty sure that's not a word) baby- I just love her to pieces!

My newest bow creation

Loving our mommy daughter time!

What happens when your baby starts crawling...

They get into anything they can get their hands on!

I was getting ready in the other room and came back to find Mckell in a mess of chez-its. She was loving the new snack and giggling like crazy.

Thanks Grandma Astill for my fun outfit!

ready set smile, laugh, and crawl!!!

The first video is of Mckell smiling in her sleep- watch her lips, it's pretty funny!

Video #2 is Mckell laughing- we love hearing her giggle!

The last video is Mckell army crawling- she's been doing this for over a week now- so cute!

We made it to Knoxville!

Mckell and I finally caught up with daddy in Knoxville about a week and a half ago. We were so excited and Mckell couldn't stop smiling- we sure missed him! We live in a really cool place and it's gorgeous outside. It's so GREEN here, I didn't picture it to be that way but I like it. We live right by a big lake and had a bbq with everyone there last weekend. It was a lot of fun playing soccer, ball, and just hanging out with all our summer sales friends.

Mckell and I in our SUPER cute outfits from grandma Rabe- thank you, thank you!!

Mckell was still sick when we got to Knoxville so I took her back to the doctor after running a temp of 103. The doctor said she still had bad ear infections and switched her antibiotics. He said if her fevers weren't going down or any new symptoms arise to bring her back in. So two days later when her temp was still in the 102 range and she had broken out in rash all over her body I decided to take her in again. I probably didn't need to, the doctor wasn't very nice and acted like it was no big deal. He just wrote her a prescription for diaper rash cream because of Mckell's diarrhea she had a really bad diaper rash. Anyway, over two weeks later- Mckell is finally sleeping through the night again, diaper and body rashes are gone, and fevers are gone as well and she's back to her happy self!

I tried to take pictures of her rash but you can't see it very well- it looked a lot worse in person.

I don't know if you can see but Mckell also poked her eye pretty good with a pen and popped some blood vessels in her eye! It was a rough couple weeks!

Next stop, Nashville TN!

I flew from Wisconsin to Nashville for a couple days until Courtland could come get us. My brother Ben and his family live in Franklin so we stayed with them. And our adventure continued with the whole flooding fiasco while we were there. We woke up to rain on Saturday and but just went along with our plans for the day. We went shopping and the mall we were at is now almost under water! Pretty crazy! I wasn't sure if Courtland would be able to make it in to come get us because a lot of the freeways were flooded but he came and we did make it out ok. We saw some pretty crazy things there though- houses partly under water, cars floating in parking lots, streets that were now river ways! it made the visit pretty exciting and we really had a good time with Ben, Kendra, Sophie, and Graham! Thanks for having us!

Pictures I got off the internet of the flooding- Crazy Crazy!

Mckell's face is hilarious!

One of the days we had a good time at the zoo.

Visit to Wisconsin!!!

It's been awhile since I've updated.. It's been a busy couple of weeks! Courtland and I survived the semester and are happy to have a break from school for a couple of months.

Courtland dropped Mckell and I at the airport the day after finals, packed and cleaned our apartment, and drove over 30 hours out to Knoxville, Tennessee! He got left with all the work and driving and I'm so grateful for him.

Mckell and I flew out to Wisconsin to visit my brother Jake and his cute family! We had so much fun playing and hanging out there. We haven't got to see them a whole lot because they've been gone for 3 years now and we were in need of some quality time with them. Mckell had so much fun playing with Jake and Jill's two boys- they kept her laughing and entertained. It was definitely my kind of vacation- no set plans or time frames we had to follow, just relaxing and playing when we wanted!

The day after we got to Wisconsin, I woke up with pink eye! I haven't had pink eye since I was a little girl so I thought it was pretty weird. I must have gotten it on the plane ride over or something. Worse- the next day Mckell, Nolan, and Luke all woke up with pink eye as well! I felt so bad- I got all the kids sick! So the next day we had to all go to the doctors and get antibiotics. Mckell and Luke had ear infections too- not fun! This is the first time Mckell had ever even been sick and I was feeling pretty bad. She didn't sleep much the next couple nights and was running fevers most of the day- so sad. It really breaks your heart to see your baby miserable. But even though we were sick- we still had such a good time and wished we could have stayed longer! Thanks so much Jake and Jill for being so sweet to us, taking care of us 'sickies', and showing us such a good time! Can't wait until the next time we can visit!

(the picture above is definitely not my best picture- Mckell and I with our pink eye)

Tub Time! Mckell's first time 'sitting' in the tub. She had so much fun with her cousins!

One afternoon we went to this super fun park that had a stream by it. Nolan and Luke had fun throwing rocks in the stream.

Mckell's first swing time- Jake and Jill sure showed us to a lot of 'firsts' for Mckell! So fun!

Funny- I think they all have the same look. They must be family!

Thanks so much Jake, Jill, Nolan, and Luke for having us!

Super busy next couple of weeks! But relief at the end of the tunnel...

Warning! Picture overload!

Total model shot..

For Easter we visited the Astill's and the Rabe's

traditional Easter egg hunt at the Rabe's for gift certificates and chocolate eggs- my favorite! Thanks mom and dad!

Couldn't get one with Mckell's eyes open- Thanks for the super cute dress Blake and Taryn!

The Jr Core is FINALLY coming to an end here in two weeks and I can not express how extremely excited and relieved I am! The Jr Core is BYU's first year of hell they put you through in their accounting program. And yes I mean hell because they can make your life that way because their program is ranked #1 in the nation. I used to think I was a decently smart or above average student until I went through this program and my self confidence got knocked down a few levels. However I am proud to say I am almost done and made it out alive! (most of you are thinking to yourselves 'big deal it's college', but seriously one of the hardest times in my life) Anyway, I have less than two weeks left of oral and comprehensive exams and then on to a fun filled summer! My first stop is Wisconsin to visit Jake, Jill, and their boys and I'm so excited! Get ready for some girls to even out the score there Jake! haha Then I will be flying into Nashville for a couple days at Ben and Kendra's for a visit until Courtland picks Kell and I up to continue on to Knoxville for a couple months.

6 month stats and a visit to Grandma Jeane

So we took Mckell in for her 6 month check-up and she is still such a tiny peanut!

weight: 13lbs, 4th percentile

height: 26inches, 58.4 percentile

head circumference: 16.5inches, 35th percentile

The only number I'm a little concerned with is Mckell's weight. At 2 months Mckell was in the 24th%, 4 months 10th%, now 6 months 4th%- should I be concerned? My pediatrician didn't think much of it, but I'm thinking that's not a good sign. For now I'm just going to start feeding her baby food at 3 of the feedings along with breastfeeding- any other suggestions?

On Sunday we stopped at my grandma Jeane's house for a visit and of course she had her famous homemade white chocolate easter eggs ready for us! She is such an amazing woman- love you grandma Jeane!

My perfect easy baby is finally (and I don't mean that in a good tone) turning into a "normal" baby. She is starting to get sassy and tell me her mind. It was pretty cute at first... but not so cute anymore- I'll have to post a video latter to show what I mean. But I know what you're all thinking, I still have no idea what it's like to have a "normal" let alone a "bad"? baby.

My baby is 6 months old already! AHHH!!!

Look at me mom, I can stand all on my own! Well... sort of

Still LOVING tub time

Going through the "I only like my parents" phase. Every time someone comes to visit, Mckell starts crying. I don't know if we need to take her out more to expose her to more people or what but when it's just me and Courtland and one or a couple people visit, she freaks out. But she does just fine at church and at the store?

Mckell has discovered her voice.. and I'm not sure I'm completely loving it..

The first video is of Mckell doing this new noise/mouth thing, not really sure what to call it. Kind of funny.

The second video is Mckell's outbursts of yells- very funny at first... not so sure how funny anymore- well, it just makes it hard to study and do homework.

Big thanks to my mom and Courtland's mom for coming down to Provo and helping out these past weeks! It's been kind of crazy around here because Courtland has been flying back and forth from San Jose, California for second round interviews with 3 of the big 4 accounting firms for summer internships. So far he has heard back from PWC and KPMG with offers so it looks like we will be spending part of the summer in California. We haven't decided if Mckell and I will go too because we're assuming it will be a lot easier to find just a room for him to rent vs a whole apartment for all of us (and a lot cheaper)! Summer internships are usually 6-8 weeks. So for the first half of the summer we will be in Knoxville, TN with APX again doing the sumer sales thing and then depending on when the internship is we (or most likely just Courtland- Mckell and I will just go back to Utah) will be in San Jose, California for the rest of the summer. Needless to say it's going to be a crazy summer with lots of packing and moving around and I HATE HATE packing! But I'm so proud of Courtland for getting offers- I have such a smarty for a hubby!

On the downside... I'm really not a big fan of California. Why you ask? I'm not really sure I just have a bad taste about it but it looks like that's where we will be moving once we're both done with school for at least 5 years! BLAH!!! I wish we were staying in Utah forever but I did promise Courtland I would try to be a good sport so any positive things people have to say about San Jose I'm all ears! (Just don't say you'll be close to the beach because that really doesn't entice me much.) But after those 5 years, I'm praying we'll come back to Utah. I really want to raise our family here, it's just not the same anywhere else. (guess I'm a bit bias) But I'm very stubborn and eventually we WILL be living in Utah, for sure at least when Mckell is older and friends become a big part of kids lives.