A new family member!

So my sister in law called my mother in law saying that she had kittens from a friend that needed new homes. Char decided to take a mini road trip up to Sarah's place in Lemoore to look at/rescue one or more of these kitties. I wanted to visit her as well, so I packed up the girls and we headed up north!

Well, we arrive and go in the room that the kittens are staying in, and I found THE most adorable kitten in the WORLD! Char, Frank, and Patti fell in love with two other kitties and decided to take them home. Neither of those kittens was the one that I loved, so I decided that it was time for us to take in a creature.

We scooped up the baby kitten, whom Penny proceded to call "Princess" and we brought her home with us. I didnt ask Ryan (in retrospect, that probably would have been a good idea).

SO, he was a little irritated that I didnt consult him first about this animal, BUT she won him over, and she gets to stay!

Say hello to "Princess Baby Kitten" aka, Princess :)

Adventures!!!

Wow! I cannot believe that it has been 6 months since I last updated... JEEZ! Time flies fast when you are busy!

Things have been well, for the most part. Ryan and I have been busy working. We have started playing softball with a group of our friends on Sunday nights. Our team is called "Couples Counseling" because our whole team is made up of couples... We aren't too bad, but we definitely aren't the winningest team in the league.

Our Christmas was nice this year. We spent a lot less money than we did last year, but we took that extra time to focus on what the meaning of Christmas is, and we really enjoyed ourselves. We bought Penny a big girl bike, and she is really becoming skilled at it. Mackenzie was little, so the presents weren't a big deal for her, but she still received lots of cute little clothes and toys from family :)

In February, Ryan and I celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary. It feels like it has just zoomed by! We didn't do anything special, but we did go to see Avatar and grab some tasty dinner at our place, PF Chang's!

Fast forward to May! Ryan bought me a Sony Cybershot digital camera for my birthday/mother's day! It is the most amazing camera EVER! I was so surprised!!!

Mackenzie is really growing fast! She is double her birth weight, and is a little chunker! She is crawling now (as of may 10) and she loves to try and keep up with her big sister. She is a chatterbox too! Ryan calls her "Bucket" because she is a bucket of need, according to him. She is more demanding of your attention compared to Penny, but she is a little lover too, and cuddling happens often!

Penny's vocabulary is her most astounding growth yet. She can make complete sentences for almost everything she is trying to communicate to you, and picks up new words all the time. Her most recent have been "princess" "I want it" "can i please...?" " "share... (whatever she has, or wants)" and her colors have been improving too. I can tell she has a little imagination in there, because she calls every city bus that we see "pink"... and then corrects herself to say, "psh! its a white bus!" I dont know where she gets her little sense of humor, but she is a crack up! Sometimes though, she is too smart for her own good. Like today for example. I woke up and caught her in the kitchen with a pudding cup in hand... She had to have figured out how to open the baby gate, or climbed over it, found a pudding cup, opened it, and gotten a spoon... I was a little irritated, but like a good mommy, I let her finish it. Apparently, she worked hard to get that dang pudding!

I have been making some changes to my eating habits and my exercise habits as well. So far, by eating better and working out at least 3 days a week, I have lots 18lbs and a pants size. I ran my first 5k in April. I plan to run another on June 6, and hopefully another soon after that. It was a huge accomplishment for me. I have never liked running or jogging, so to be able to run is a great feeling!

Update 11-11-09

Gosh, I can't believe that it has already been 2 months since Mackenzie was born! Not much has changed, but there are a few things to share:

Mackenzie is growing fast! She can already hold her head up to look around, and is very inquisitive. She is a very unique baby, and is quite the lover. We were surprised to find out that she has two different colored eyes, one is light blue, the other is brown, and each eye has a small spot in it of the opposite color (very cool!) She loves to snuggle with anybody.

Penny is a fast learner. She has begun to say more words (her current favorite is "HI" which she says to Mackenzie about 100 times a day) and loves to read her books (current fave, the animal book). She can feed her food to herself with a fork and spoon, and loves to drink out of straws. She is a big helper, and likes to bring blankets and diapers and clothes to me for the baby. Kisses are her favorite thing to give, and we are all blessed abundantly with them every day. She can put shoes on by herself (usually just her Crocs, but she can put the velcro shoes on too, albeit on the wrong feet most of the time).

I will be going back to work on 12/3, and while I have enjoyed my time at home with the girls, I am really looking forward to having my schedule back again. I have been going to the gym to try and get back into shape, and I have a goal of a size 10 waist, which I haven't been since like 9th grade... BUT, the important thing is just being healthier, and I am well on my way. I try to squeeze a workout in any time that I can, and I have been successful at getting to do so 3x a week.

Ryan is also working out, he swears that he gained more weight during my pregnancy than I did (which might be true considering I only gained about 10lbs), but regardless, he is trying to get "ripped" in his words. He has a goal of being able to run 10mi. in one day, so we will see if he gets there. There is an ulterior motive here, a show called "Mantracker" in which you are essentially "hunted" while you try to make it to a finish line about 25 mi from your starting point and you have to trek through mountains with only a map and compass to find your way (with a companion of course)... but he and his buddy, Corey are OBSESSED with trying to make it on the show, hence, the working out.

Halloween was a disaster. Penny hated every aspect of the holiday, from the pumpkins to the costumes, and it was not fun for anybody. Part of her attitude was because she was trying to get over a cold that we had all contracted, but for the most part, she just was not interested and/or was scared by all things Halloween. Maybe next year we will have a little more happiness.

Other than that, we have been enjoying the kids, working, and hanging out with family. We helped celebrate my great-grandma's 90th birthday this past weekend and we're very blessed to still have her in our lives.

The Lucky-est day of the year

Sept 9 2009... I guess it was just in the cards...

4 am: Woke up for middle of the night pee, only to find soaked underwear... decided to go back to sleep because I wasn't having contractions or anything else.

6am: Getting ready for work, another gush soaks underwear, floor, etc... decided to call the Dr, who directs us to the hospital

7am: Arrive at hospital, litmus test provided for amniotic fluid, POSITIVE!!! Check for dilations/effacement; 6cm and 100%... lets get the ball rolling!

9am: Check again; 7cm

11am: 8cm

1130-1245: walking around, pacing, waiting... contractions are getting stronger, but still not intolerable

1pm: contractions are excruciatingly painful... coming every 2-3 minutes and lasting about a minute each

130pm: urge to push, dr comes in

142pm: Mackenzie Rose Lucky joins the world.

Interesting fact: The first baby born on 9-09-09, and she was the 9th baby born at Simi Valley Hospital for the month of September. (I am thanking the Lord that she was not born at 9:09 either am or pm, because then I am SURE that the media would have been notified.)

My labor is classified as "pre-term" as my EDD was 10-4-09, but according to the pediatrician and all the fancy tests that they perform on infants at birth, Mackenzie was definitely NOT early, and her actual gestational age was about 39 weeks at delivery, which would explain why my labor started on its own (which, as it so happens, was the way I had wanted things to work out!)

So that is my update... Lucky Family has now been officially extended to 4 members.

been a LONG time... Oops!

Hey all,

So it is Sept '09... here is what has been going on with the Lucky's since the last time I updated the blog..

-expecting baby girl #2 any day (technically, my due date is 10-4-09)
-Penny has learned to walk, turned 1, learned a BUNCH of new words (daddy, mommy, dog, fan, see, please, thank you, ama (grandma), apa (grandpa), baby, shoes, bye bye... thats all I can think of for now... she gives kisses to her baby (mommy's tummy), is learning to feed herself with a spoon, and tries to put shoes on by herself, but its a learning process.
-We got a new car (its a big ole' family car)
-Eileen was admitted to Simi Valley hospital Aug 31 (at 35 weeks) with contractions... we sat there for a few hours, but they were able to stop the contractions, and they sent me home on "modified bed rest" which basically doesnt exist when you still have to work and chase after someone who is 15 months old.

that is about it... we are expecting baby Mackenzie Rose any day now, the nurses goal for me was 36 weeks, and i'm at 36.5 as of 9-9-09... we will see what happens. Just taking things slow, day by day..

heard a heartbeat

And man, was it fast!!!! I don't remember Penny's heartbeat ever sounding like that, so maybe my feelings are correct (boy)!!! We will find out what we are having on May 5 at my next "well-being" checkup.
I am starting Yoga classes in a few weeks, I was able to find a local class that is pregnancy-safe, and I am really looking forward to that.
Penny has 8 teeth now, 4 each on the top and bottom, and has two more bottom teeth growing in... she's going to have a mouth full of chompers here soon! She likes to stand up by herself now, and will drag anyone who is willing around the house while she walks. She won't walk by herself yet, but if she has help, she doesn't want to stop. Penny also likes to "sing" in the car when we play music, it is the cutest thing I think I have ever heard!!!!
She has tried some new foods, namely: eggs, yogurt, steak, papaya, and toast(which is great because its excellent finger food i have discovered).... and i'm sure there is more, i just cant remember right now. I AM SO GLAD THAT SHE LOVES EGGS! Makes breakfast a little easier.

finally subsiding, just to have another

So, just when I think that morning sickness has finally subsided, for the most part anyways... God throws another obstacle at me.
Saturday morning, Ryan is walking to our door to go get Penny out of bed, and we hear "THUNK"... yeah, she climbed/fell out of her crib... OMG! Ryan felt so guilty ALL DAY, but I just had to tell him, it was bound to happen sooner or later.
So, the first two days she had a nice shiner, but the bruising goes away, so now she just has a nice little boo boo on her face just above her eye where she hit the carpet....
prior to this incident, she has not attempted to climb in, on, or out of anything.
after she escaped, she has since taken a liking to climbing up onto couches at anyones house, onto coffee tables, and kitchen chairs... so now i have to watch her even closer than previously... and it is driving me NUTS. I will have pictures of this incident maybe tomorrow