We Are Thankful...

...For Mckenna Grace
... For family that loves us
...For the house we live in
...For our steady jobs
...For so many things that we can't list them all!

Thanksgiving was extra special for us this year! We spent the holiday weekend in Iowa with the VonBon family. Mckenna seemed to fare the long 7 hour trip to Karen and Chuck's home in Templeton, Iowa quite well. She was a little crabby once we got there but she was a trooper in the car. This trip we brought Patches and Rylie along and they did quite well too! Both dogs took turns sleeping on Mckenna's car seat, it was so cute!

Friday we spent the day with Grandma and Grandpa VonBon and Great Uncle Jim and Auntie Marge. We all spent some quality time playing and watching Mckenna. It is fun to watch her facial expressions and look into her expressive eyes. Jim was lucky enough to have her cuddle up on his shoulder!

Friday evening Laura and Chris returned from Hawaii and joined us at the lake. Saturday Laura and I spent some time together while Matt and Chris stayed home with Mckenna. Sunday we went to church and then hit the road. It was a great weekend and we were not ready to go back to reality!

Happy Belated Thanksgiving to you all! Love from The Lucas Family!

Hanging Out

Well... I survived my first full week at work! It was a full week of reacquainting myself to my students and my classroom! It was hard for all of us to get on a schedule. By Friday Mckenna seemed to be getting used to things, she was sleeping through the night until Friday then she started to wake up wanting to eat again... maybe she is going through a growth spurt!

Friday night Matt and I went to dinner and a movie. We went to see The Blind Side... a must see for everyone! It was so good! We really had a good time together! Saturday we got our early Christmas present from John and Charlene, new furniture. If you have been to our house you know that we NEEDED new furniture, you will no longer sink into our couch! We rented a movie Saturday night and just hung out, the three of us, a family night! Mckenna spent much of our time hanging out sleeping on my chest and Rylie curled up next to us... a picture perfect opportunity.
Here's to another SHORT work week! Happy Thanksgiving to all!

I have been trying to post a video of Mckenna playing on her discovery mat because it is such a kill to watch her. This doesn't show exactly how funny she looks but it gives you an idea. She loves to lay under it and play! It is like our survival, she will play up to 30 minutes at a time. Matt said yesterday, "remind me to give Jim and Marge a big hug... this is the best thing ever!"

Enjoy!

Then and Now

This morning when I was picking out Mckenna's outfit I put the same outfit on that she had her newborn pictures in. I am amazed everyday at how big she is getting and I thought it would be neat to compare a newborn picture to one taken today. My photography skills are not as good as the woman at the hospital but I think I did the trick! :)











We have had a pretty calm weekend so far. Today we all slept until 9, when we got up Matt did some yard work and I spent some time playing with Mckenna and manning the laundry. We are watching the Mizzou game right now and Mckenna is sporting her Mizzou dress! Doesn't she look so cute?
Mckenna still doesn't have a sleep schedule down. She generally goes to bed between 9 and 10 but when she wakes up again it is usually different each night. She has teased us (or shall I say me) a couple of times, sleeping until 5 or 5:30 without getting up during the night but it never happens two nights in a row. I have been reading a lot of material trying to figure out how to get her to sleep through the night but most of what I read says that it is a developmental thing and there isn't anything to change it! I just hope she is a good girl next week and gives her momma some sleep!

Monday is quickly approaching and I am not looking forward to it... this too I will live through... More to come next week!

Time Flys...

When you are having fun! How did two weeks fly by so quickly? Mckenna is now 6 weeks old! We have done a ton in the last two weeks... I will try not to write too much!

Halloween was spent in Iowa. Mckenna didn't get dressed up as anything but she did wear her 1st Halloween onsie all day on Friday. Matt carved two pumpkins for her, one said "Mckenna Halloween '09" and the other was a simple, cute face. He worked so hard on them even though we were not here to put them outside! What a great dad!

Iowa was great! Mckenna did quite well on her first 5 hour car ride. We stopped once for Matt and I to use the restroom and another time to feed her, other than that she slept the whole way! We celebrated Jim's birthday with him on Friday night. Saturday mom threw such a nice shower for Mckenna! She had the house all decorated for the fall and had some nice fall treats made! It was so nice to see everyone! She slept the whole day and believe it or not she really slept pretty well that night! Sunday we had breakfast with Mom and Dad and then we stole Mom and headed home!

It is such a blessing to have the mother that I have. We had such a nice week together. She was a HUGE help to Matt and I. It was nice to have a third person to hold Mckenna when we needed to get some things done! We miss having her around, it is amazing how fast I got used to seeing her everyday and how much I miss her now! Mom and I took Mckenna up to school on Wednesday and shared her with my team teachers, the sixth grade teachers, the principals, the students, and many other people who crossed our path that day. She of course slept the whole time! The rest of the week we went out to lunch a few times, went to Target a few times, went to the mall, and relaxed!

Dad made the long trip on Friday to pick Mom up... and to spend some more time with "kenna benna"! They babysat for us on Friday night so we could go to a birthday party. True to the new Matt and Jenna we only stayed out for about 2 hours! :) Saturday Grandma and Grandpa Lucas came over for a BBQ and we enjoyed the 70+ degree weather! We were sad to see Grandma and Grandpa VonBon leave on Sunday!

I will return to work next Monday and I am not looking forward to it! I will miss my days with Mckenna. Her smiles in the morning and our naps in the afternoons!

Here's to another week! Love you all... I promise to update again this weekend! :)

4 Weeks Old Today!

FOUR WEEKS?!? We had our 4 week check up at the doctor on Friday. Mckenna is now 7lbs 15oz and 20 1/4 inches long! She had her second Hepititus B shot on Friday and boy did that take its toll on her. The picture above is of Mckenna sporting her pink bandaid from the shot! She didn't have such a good day. She was fussy and wanted to be held all day long. Needless to say I was tired by the time Matt came home! To make Friday an even longer day, Matt had to go into work at 4:45 a.m. to make up time from Thursday, when he was sent home due to a water main break. Mckenna didn't go to bed Friday night, or shall I say Saturday morning, until 1:00 a.m.

Mommy and Daddy were very tired and stressed Saturday so Grandma Lucas came over to spend time with Mckenna. We went grocery shopping and to Buffalo Wild Wings and stayed away a whole 2 1/2 hours before we decided we were gone long enough! :)


Mckenna is starting to smile at us when we talk to her. It is quite exciting! Matt thinks that Mckenna just thinks he is crazy, she tends to look at him with her big blue eyes and a puzzled look on her face! I will close this post with a picture of Rylie watching over Mckenna in her swing.


We look forward to our visit to Iowa next week! Love to you all!

What a beautiful day!!!

Today is a day that I have been waiting for since the day we brought Mckenna home! I thought being home at this time of year would be great because the weather would be perfect and Mckenna and I could get out and WALK! Much to my dismay this has been the third coldest October in history! Matt would say... "it's the Lucas luck..."! Today it is about 68 degrees outside and Mckenna and I went for that long awaited walk! It was delightful, I used my Iphone to play some music for us and we walked for a good 45 minutes! As you can see Mckenna enjoyed it so much she fell asleep!

This was the first weekend we didn't have visitors. We miss all of our visitors but it was nice to be the three of us! Saturday night I was reading to Mckenna out of the Precious Moments Bible and tears came to my eyes because I can remember reading this book with my mom! It is so neat to share these moments with MY little girl! Mckenna fell asleep as we were reading about what God created on the 4th day but I kept on reading! This will be a book we read countless times!

Matt's favorite "thing" to do with Mckenna is SING! I know this doesn't surprise many of you who know Matt well! I came home last night from getting some ice cream and as I approached the door I could hear Matt singing to her. I opened the door and there he was standing in the middle of the living room swaying back and forth singing to her! What a precious site! I am so proud to be the mother of his child, he is such a great dad! The picture is of Matt and Mckenna doing the "mini-me" pose, as Matt calls it, it is one of Mckenna's favorite ways to be held by him.


On to less sappy things... this week we realized that Mckenna doesn't like the bouncy seat but likes the swing. We bought one of those traveling swings and she seems to like it. I snapped a couple of pictures of her sleeping in it yesterday. We can tell that Mckenna is getting older... 3 weeks old to be exact... because her sleep/wake patterns are changing and she spends less time sleeping during the day.









Well, here's to week 4 with Mckenna home! Hopefully this nice weather will hang around so we can get out and walk some more!