Friday, May 28, 2010
Verbal Explosion
I just have to share...in the past 4 days Mac has said 4 new words! This morning he said "book," yesterday was "please" (pronounced "knees"), and before that he said "sit" and "me" as he pointed to himself! I'm so proud of my little guy!
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
The Name Game
When we were picking out names for Mac we went though all the possible embarassing nicknames that kids might come up with one day. Technically "Mac" is a nickname anyway...We quickly figured out that no matter what name you select for your child, someone can find a way to make fun of it or pick another name for them. We had planned to keep the name a secret but someone (Eric) got a little too excited and spilled the beans at a wedding when I was about 7 months along. It took less than 5 minutes for one of our friends to call him "Big Mac." Since then he has also been dubbed "Mac-aroni" and "Mac and cheese." I actually find these names cute, but you see where I'm coming from.
This kind of leads into something interesting I found out about my Grandmama today. Grandmama goes by the name Mell, but that is not the name she was given at birth. I have always known that when she was born her name was Lula Vermell...yes, that was her name. I also knew that her parents did not name her. The doctor took it upon himself to disregard the parents wishes to name their daugther Mell, and throw in a "Lula" and a "Ver" in front of it. When she married my granddaddy she legally changed her name to Mell Gantt (her maiden name) Robinson. I thought that was the end of the story, but it wasn't. Apparently, Lula Vermell was not her birth name. The doctor that delivered her named her May because he didn't like the name Mell. Somewhere along the line it was changed to Lula Vermell (by who I don't know) until she eventually changed it. Can you imagine giving birth to a child, telling the doctor the name you had chosen, only to have him pick another one for you??? Who does that? I didn't say this was an interesting story...just something I discovered =).
And since we are on the topic of names...the big story is that Mac said his name last night! I have been working with him for a few weeks now to say his name. I usually get a blank stare and he runs off to play with the dog. Last night he finally did it. As you can tell he gets very distracted, very easily, and it took me about 30 minutes to get it on tape, but he did it!
I am trying to get all his new words on tape so here's another one:
This kind of leads into something interesting I found out about my Grandmama today. Grandmama goes by the name Mell, but that is not the name she was given at birth. I have always known that when she was born her name was Lula Vermell...yes, that was her name. I also knew that her parents did not name her. The doctor took it upon himself to disregard the parents wishes to name their daugther Mell, and throw in a "Lula" and a "Ver" in front of it. When she married my granddaddy she legally changed her name to Mell Gantt (her maiden name) Robinson. I thought that was the end of the story, but it wasn't. Apparently, Lula Vermell was not her birth name. The doctor that delivered her named her May because he didn't like the name Mell. Somewhere along the line it was changed to Lula Vermell (by who I don't know) until she eventually changed it. Can you imagine giving birth to a child, telling the doctor the name you had chosen, only to have him pick another one for you??? Who does that? I didn't say this was an interesting story...just something I discovered =).
And since we are on the topic of names...the big story is that Mac said his name last night! I have been working with him for a few weeks now to say his name. I usually get a blank stare and he runs off to play with the dog. Last night he finally did it. As you can tell he gets very distracted, very easily, and it took me about 30 minutes to get it on tape, but he did it!
I am trying to get all his new words on tape so here's another one:
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Happy Happy Birthday!
Happy (belated) birthday to my wonderful husband! Eric turned 30 on Friday and I threw him a little party at the house to celebrate with friends. For the past 2 weeks, all I have heard is how old he is going to be so I decided that a kids party was in order complete with games, candy, and of course a pinata. We had a great time.
We had planned on going and riding go carts on Saturday at noon with some friends. And by the way, these are not the Celebration Station caliber go carts people. These things go 60 miles an hour and might possibly be the most fun thing I have ever done! Unfortunately it just wasn't looking like enough people were going to make it out so we decided to cancel. My dad and step-mom had offered to watch Mac for a few hours while we went so I called to cancel and Eric and I got a wonderful surprise...they offered to take Mac for the day! We got to have brunch with friends and made an impromptu lake trip. I don't think we have been able to be that spontaneous since we got a dog! It was a wonderful carefree day! We had dinner plans, but as we were leaving the lake, my Dad called and said that Mac had been crying pretty much all day and it might be a good time to come and get him. I was a little sad, but it really had been such a great day I wasn't too disappointed. When we got to their house Mac apparently just needed to see us because he perked right up when he saw us. We kept our dinner plans and boy and I glad we did! Mac was quite the entertainer that evening. We went to a place called Raia's in the Heights. I strongly recommend it if you are ever in the area. We sat outside with a great breeze, a few bottles of wine and some friends. When the food came Mac decided that he wanted to eat the spaghetti off of his daddy's plate and it was too funny....
And a few extras:
He has learned how to "sniff" the flowers:
We had planned on going and riding go carts on Saturday at noon with some friends. And by the way, these are not the Celebration Station caliber go carts people. These things go 60 miles an hour and might possibly be the most fun thing I have ever done! Unfortunately it just wasn't looking like enough people were going to make it out so we decided to cancel. My dad and step-mom had offered to watch Mac for a few hours while we went so I called to cancel and Eric and I got a wonderful surprise...they offered to take Mac for the day! We got to have brunch with friends and made an impromptu lake trip. I don't think we have been able to be that spontaneous since we got a dog! It was a wonderful carefree day! We had dinner plans, but as we were leaving the lake, my Dad called and said that Mac had been crying pretty much all day and it might be a good time to come and get him. I was a little sad, but it really had been such a great day I wasn't too disappointed. When we got to their house Mac apparently just needed to see us because he perked right up when he saw us. We kept our dinner plans and boy and I glad we did! Mac was quite the entertainer that evening. We went to a place called Raia's in the Heights. I strongly recommend it if you are ever in the area. We sat outside with a great breeze, a few bottles of wine and some friends. When the food came Mac decided that he wanted to eat the spaghetti off of his daddy's plate and it was too funny....
And a few extras:
He has learned how to "sniff" the flowers:
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Update
Thanks to an email from my brother-in-law I realized that I have not done my monthly update on Mac (thanks Andrew). The past 2 months have been so hectic, but I love sitting and writing these little notes to Mac. They make me think about all we've done and how much he's grown. It makes me happy and sad all at the same time when I realize what a big boy he is becoming.
Today Mac is 15 months old. Broken record here, but I can't believe its gone so fast! He has had a nasty little stomach bug the past few days that has resulted in the rinsing and washing of multiple pairs of pants as well as a 2 pound drop in his weight. The doctor told us to keep him away from dairy and fatty foods until the end of the week and then slowly reintroduce them to his diet to avoid any additional diaper disasters. He acted like he felt fine today so maybe he's on the road to recovery. We decided to forgo his 15 month shots until next week when he will hopefully be completely back to normal. He weighed in at 23 pounds (like I said, he was 25 last week) and measured 32 inches long.
Mac, at 15 months:
-You run to the door in the evening when I tell you Daddy is home
-Heisman is still your best friend
-You know how to say dog, bird, mama, dada, light, yes, and no
-You know how to sign "please"
-You know how to sign "come" for your puppy
-You walk around the house yelling "dog"
-You will stop in your tracks and dance if someone sings the ABC song
-You love music
-You love to dance
-Your favorite place to be is outside on the deck
-You love to eat strawberries
-You won't go to sleep unless Mommy or Daddy sing you a song (or 2 or 3)
-Mommy sings "Beautiful Boy" to you every night
-People stop me to tell me how beautiful you are
-You wave "bye-bye"
-You love to climb the stairs (if only you could get past that pesky gate)
-You make your Mommy and Daddy smile everyday!
Today Mac is 15 months old. Broken record here, but I can't believe its gone so fast! He has had a nasty little stomach bug the past few days that has resulted in the rinsing and washing of multiple pairs of pants as well as a 2 pound drop in his weight. The doctor told us to keep him away from dairy and fatty foods until the end of the week and then slowly reintroduce them to his diet to avoid any additional diaper disasters. He acted like he felt fine today so maybe he's on the road to recovery. We decided to forgo his 15 month shots until next week when he will hopefully be completely back to normal. He weighed in at 23 pounds (like I said, he was 25 last week) and measured 32 inches long.
Mac, at 15 months:
-You run to the door in the evening when I tell you Daddy is home
-Heisman is still your best friend
-You know how to say dog, bird, mama, dada, light, yes, and no
-You know how to sign "please"
-You know how to sign "come" for your puppy
-You walk around the house yelling "dog"
-You will stop in your tracks and dance if someone sings the ABC song
-You love music
-You love to dance
-Your favorite place to be is outside on the deck
-You love to eat strawberries
-You won't go to sleep unless Mommy or Daddy sing you a song (or 2 or 3)
-Mommy sings "Beautiful Boy" to you every night
-People stop me to tell me how beautiful you are
-You wave "bye-bye"
-You love to climb the stairs (if only you could get past that pesky gate)
-You make your Mommy and Daddy smile everyday!
Monday, May 10, 2010
Snuggie Time
Eric and I were fortunate enough to have a mini-vacation this past weekend in San Antonio for our friend's wedding. Gorgeous weather, great food, and wonderful friends, but when Sunday morning came around I couldn't wait to get home to see Mac! That is one of the perks of having a kid; you are actually excited to come home after a getaway!
Mac had a great weekend with my Mom and probably didn't even care that we were gone, but he pretended to be excited when he saw us =). Once we got back to the house it was time for Mother's Day presents! I opened my cards (Heisman even got me one!) and then I saw my gift. Mac has started to get excited about ripping paper so he helped me out a little and there it was....a pink Snuggie. Now, I'm not going to lie, I make fun of all those Snuggie commercials. It's just silly! But, I put on a big smile and said it was the best gift...BUT THEN...Eric brought out another gift (apparently the Snuggie was a decoy). My wonderful husband got me all 13 of the Beatles albums! He said he has never seen me so excited about anything. I have been listening to them non stop since then. And even Mac is getting in on the action:
Mac had a great weekend with my Mom and probably didn't even care that we were gone, but he pretended to be excited when he saw us =). Once we got back to the house it was time for Mother's Day presents! I opened my cards (Heisman even got me one!) and then I saw my gift. Mac has started to get excited about ripping paper so he helped me out a little and there it was....a pink Snuggie. Now, I'm not going to lie, I make fun of all those Snuggie commercials. It's just silly! But, I put on a big smile and said it was the best gift...BUT THEN...Eric brought out another gift (apparently the Snuggie was a decoy). My wonderful husband got me all 13 of the Beatles albums! He said he has never seen me so excited about anything. I have been listening to them non stop since then. And even Mac is getting in on the action:
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Just Like Daddy
Mac is so much like his daddy it's scary. They obviously look alike, but the similarities go beyond that. Too bad for Mac that he inherited his Daddy's least flattering quality; his cholesterol. Eric has had high cholesterol his entire life (he was put on medication at 16) so we knew that there was a chance that Mac would have it too. His pediatrician said that once he turned 1 we should have blood drawn just to see what his levels showed. After taking him to Texas Children's I got a call from the doctor saying that his total cholesterol was 262, his LDL (bad cholesterol) was 212, and his HDL (good cholesterol) was only 50. In case you don't know, for a healthy ADULT male, total cholesterol should be less than 200, LDLs should be no more than 100, and they want HDLs to be a minimum of 60. So basically, that's not good. Because of this, Mac is going to go back to Texas Children's to be seen in a preventative group for children diagnosed with hypercholesterolemia (high cholesterol). Since Mac's cholesterol is hereditary and not due to poor diet it is more difficult to treat. My goal is to keep him off of medication as long as possible, but the truth is, even if Mac ate nothing but veggies everyday, he would still have high cholesterol.
Cholesterol comes from animal fats so we have already switched him off of whole milk (per his doctor's instructions) to 2%. We are also going to become a white meat family and save the red meat for special occasions. I really hate that Mac has this because I know that I can't fix it for him. No matter how healthy he eats it will never resolve itself. My hope is that if I teach him how to eat healthy, but still indulge every once in a while, he will eat that way even when I'm not the one cooking for him.
Cholesterol comes from animal fats so we have already switched him off of whole milk (per his doctor's instructions) to 2%. We are also going to become a white meat family and save the red meat for special occasions. I really hate that Mac has this because I know that I can't fix it for him. No matter how healthy he eats it will never resolve itself. My hope is that if I teach him how to eat healthy, but still indulge every once in a while, he will eat that way even when I'm not the one cooking for him.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Beach Time!
Friday night I was so mad at the weather man. He had promised me a beautiful sunny end of the week/weekend and it was not looking good. We had planned to take Mac for his first beach trip Saturday and I was really sad the weather was not going to cooperate. To my surprise, I saw a little bit of sun peaking out through the clouds when I woke up so we decided to go a head and drive down to Galveston. After bathing Mac in some sunscreen (I'm afraid he has his Daddy's skin) we headed for the water.
Mac was not okay with that. It was a little choppy and from Mac's little view it probably looked like we were taking him into 50 foot waves. He held on for dear life and completely freaked out when we tried to let him get his feet wet.
After a few more failed attempts we gave up and decided we were sand people. Mac (and Eric) had a fun time building and knocking down sandcastles. Mac walked up and down the beach (keeping a safe distance from the water) checking out, well, more sand, and the birds.
In an attempt to amuse my child, I made a huge error in judgment and fed the birds. We had some goldfish snacks so I grabbed a handful and thew them in the air. Within 5 seconds, the 2 birds I was feeding turned into about 20 and they would not go away. For the next 5 minutes they just hovered over our heads waiting for a snack. Suddenly I had a horrible vision of birds swooping down and pecking at my son so we walked away thinking they would catch the hint but no such luck. I'm sure the people around us really appreciated it.
Here are a few more pictures from our fun day!
Mac was not okay with that. It was a little choppy and from Mac's little view it probably looked like we were taking him into 50 foot waves. He held on for dear life and completely freaked out when we tried to let him get his feet wet.
After a few more failed attempts we gave up and decided we were sand people. Mac (and Eric) had a fun time building and knocking down sandcastles. Mac walked up and down the beach (keeping a safe distance from the water) checking out, well, more sand, and the birds.
In an attempt to amuse my child, I made a huge error in judgment and fed the birds. We had some goldfish snacks so I grabbed a handful and thew them in the air. Within 5 seconds, the 2 birds I was feeding turned into about 20 and they would not go away. For the next 5 minutes they just hovered over our heads waiting for a snack. Suddenly I had a horrible vision of birds swooping down and pecking at my son so we walked away thinking they would catch the hint but no such luck. I'm sure the people around us really appreciated it.Here are a few more pictures from our fun day!
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