Family

Yesterday my Grandfather died. He was 97, lived a fantastic, full, healthy life. With his death I realized that I no longer have any living grand-parents.

It has me thinking a lot about family. How ridiculously precious each unit is. Probably because Zoey's death "anniversary" is right around the corner. Four years.

I find myself flooded with the emotions that family brings. How amongst all the chaos some members bring(myself included) how each person makes us whole.

I think about Duane and McKenzie. I daydream of Zoey and her very important role(albeit short, but valued). I think how Brenton's birth will complete my own little family.

Each link has value- it can't be replaced. With death we learn how to adapt to their absence, but we never forget their existence.

Raising... Uhmm.... ME!

Anyone who knew me as a little girl often reminds me that McKenzie's vivacious personality is a replica of what my Mother dealt with when raising me. She's independent to the core of her being and quite stubborn. She often goes deaf when we use the word "NO" and we quickly have learned that in 90% of situations the best way to deal with one her of many naughty behaviors is to ignore her.

Along with ignoring her we give lots and lots and lots(notice, lots) of praise for good behavior. So far this method seems to be working; however, we still have noticed a lot of gray hairs in both Duane and I head.

She's exhausting. But we love every inch of her wild, stubborn personality.

We're still working on getting her to stay in her own bed. Her bedtime routine is bath, teeth, bed. We're often seen quietly putting her back in bed- without a word. Just as soon as she's put in she's back out. And the cycle repeats. She's quickly 'assumed' that if she shuts the door when she pops out of bed that we'll ignore the fact that she's awake. She's wrong!

One day we'll be grateful for her strong willed personality. We won't have to fear about her being bullied or being a push over as she grows. Getting there though is a LONG road!

On a funny note from this weekend- in the last week she has seen 2 old pacifiers. Today she saw one in a drawer- she got SO excited. Exclaimed, "My Paci is back!" Oooh- the yellow one! Hurry up, put it in your mouth!" It never did make it to her mouth and it was quite comical to see.

Big girl bedroom

We finished Kenzie's big girl room today! Wish us luck for bedtime. We're waiting on a cute decal for above her bed- but other than that we're done! Next is Peyton's room! Walls are a minty green. Hard to see that in the photos.