more photos

(all the above pics were taken by our friend, SJ - thanks bud!)

At the request of Auntie Deana, I decided to post a few more photos of my beauties and some of their friends. I am so in love with my kids right now!!! (maybe it's b/c all 3 of them are asleep right now). They are just so precious. I've heard too many heart wrenching stories lately that have just brought me to tears. Life is precious. I praise God for my beautiful family, and I pray that He will always be glorified.

Today, is Ella's actual 1st birthday. I've been a little emotional and thinking back to that scary day. The more I recall, the more I realize how much God brought life to Ella. She came into this world not breathing - she was a blue baby and it took several minutes for her to be resuscitated. She had Apgar scores of 1, 1, 7 (that is bad!). Then she had a seizure from a grade III brain bleed. Then possible hydrocephalus and she had to have 3 spinal taps things to remove the excess fluid. We were told that brain damage had been done, but it was unknown how much. She went on to have a couple EEG's, MRI's, CT scans and several ultrasounds on her brain. Ella finally got to come home one month later and on an apnea monitor for 6 long months. But, after all those months, this little girl is a miracle. She is still little, but is doing amazing things. Dr's can say one thing, but we have a Greater Physician who is beyond all modern medicine. I praise the Lord Almighty!

HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY ELLA!

Best Friends!

I'm finally back to the world of blogging. It's been a busy past 3 months. Jason and I did the dreaded p90x. We're finally done, so I have a small period of time to blog tonight. By the way, p90x was totally as unenjoyable as it sounds, but 100% worth it!

Ella turned 1 on October 2nd. We had a huge birthday party for her with lots of friends and family! Thank you to you all! Ella is such a joy. She is crawling and pulling up to everything...but not even close to walking. I love this girl so much! Carson and Cooper are so precious, too. Carson is doing so well at school. He loves to sing, sing, sing. Coop goes to preschool once a week and is loving it. Coop is learning a lot of songs, too from hearing his big bro sing :)

11 months

11 Months this picture depicts all (Ella bugging Carson...Cooper bugging Ella.....)
Party of 5!

Baby Dedication at church (Daddy picked out her dress)

Boomer!

Sooner!

My 3 JOYS!

sleeping beauty

one day I know I'll miss all these cars randomly on the floor, so I had to take a pic of them

Cooper - 2.5 years - 1st day of preschool 2010

Carson - 4.5 years - 1st day of pre-k

Carson - 1st trip to the dentist

I totally missed updating with Ella's 10 month post. And, the pics are somewhere on some hard drive that isn't my laptop. So, sorry baby girl, no 10 month pics on this blog :( Ella started officially crawling about 2 weeks ago. She is a busy girl and into EVERYTHING! Her brothers are starting to think she is a tad bit annoying. But they still can't keep their hands off of her. She says "bye-bye", "baw" (ball), and an occasional momma and daddy. I think she spouted out "uh-oh" today. Ella loves to clap, especially when her brothers sing "If you're happy and you know it clap your hands..." She also gives us a nice Boomer Sooner touchdown here and there.

Carson started pre-K a few weeks ago. He loves it!!! I was a little concerned that he wasn't going to get out of the car, but he is a big boy. He loves to learn. He finally went to his 1st official dentist visit on the first day of school. He was a pro! We found out he has a loose tooth along with an extra tooth. Dr. M. said that just means he's that much smarter :) We were supposed to go to the dentist on the day Ella came home from the hospital back last November. Obviously we chose to take her home instead of getting our teeth cleaned.

Cooper started back to his preschool one day a week. He's still trying to get back into the groove of it. I have enjoyed spending a little one on one with Coop when big brother goes to school and little sis is taking a nap. It's a very special time that I'm soaking up making memories!

Carson asked the other day how much longer he has to go to school. It's so weird! We are officially in school......forever!!!! I know you Mom's all understand. It's sad, but it's so fun watching them mature so much. The days are long but the years are short! (stole that from my friend, MB)

We have started planning for Ella's big 1st Birthday! Can't believe it's almost here!

pics

9 months....hard to find a good pose
2 legged race (Carson in blue, cousin Reid in red, Uncle Mark coaching)

doing a great job! CRASH! this was hilarious!

she doesn't quite like her bows these days He loves his sister
His Dad is #1 potato sack race (Jason came in 2nd b/c the guy in the blue cheated)

turtle race - thanks James for the turtle....which didn't move an inch!

Grandpa and Ella. I love this pic!

9 months later - the room is finally complete

Girly!

Aunt Deana painted this. Amazing!!!!

All boys!!!! Carson, Cooper and cousins Reid and Parker

Redhawks GameBowling with Auntie Deana

I'm trying to get Domestic!!!
My 1st cake

Homeade cinnamon rolls

Delicious pretzels that are fun to make with the kiddos

(I stole the idea from here: infarrantly creative)

9 Months +

Ella turned 9 months on 7-2-10. I'm starting to get a little teary eyed that my baby is one.....but not so teary eyed that I want another one. We are officially finished (as of a year ago thanks to my good ole hubby). Enough of that! Ella's stats (as of 7-2) weight: 15lb 7oz (3%) height 26.5 inches (10-25%) head 50%. She's sill on that same growth curve. What's with my big headed kids? Big brains!!!!! Ella is finally 100% sitting up, except when her brothers knock her down or she decides to tip over in the bath tub. She absolutely loves taking a bath with her big brothers! She also has started pulling up to standing. Once she stands up, her legs turn to jello and she crashes. She's not crawling yet. Jason keeps trying to encourage her, but I'd rather her not crawl/walk for quite awhile. She has starting babbling and sounds like she is saying "Dada" quite often. She said "bye-bye" last night over and over. The boys still are begging to wake her up every morning. I wonder if they will ever get tired of their little sister.


Carson finished up the t-ball season and had a lot of fun. So did I! We were definitely ready for a break, though. We got papers in the mail yesterday that he is enrolled for pre-k for a morning class. Oh my did the tears well up in my eyes. My babies are growing up. Cooper is back to his good ole cheerful self. I've missed his precious personality. That boy definitely brings joy to my soul. If you ever need a good laugh, come hang out with Coop a bit. He always makes me smile.....even when he is in trouble.

I'm taking a cake decorating class in hopes of making those cute little cakes for my kiddos. We'll see how it goes. I probably should learn to make dinner before skipping on to the desserts. Jason is busy, busy, busy keeping our yard pretty.

We are a busy bunch of 5 these days. In a small way, I'm ready for school to start so that we can hopefully get ourselves into some kind of routine around here. Ella still sleeps so well. It is the most amazing thing I've ever seen. Now it's about 14 hours a night with at least a 2-3 hour nap during the day plus a couple of 15 minute naps while we're driving in the car.

Whew! I'm done rambling for now. Pictures will soon follow!!!

8 months - this is a long post!

MacKinnon Miracles (March of Dimes walk)

T-Ball rivals but best buds (Carson is making the best face here) T-ball buddies

He had to wear brother's t-ball socks (always making us laugh)

Eating

Estep cousins

Brotherly love :)

Last day of Mother's Day Out

MacKinnon Cousins

Miracles - Ava and Ella

First Day of Church

Sweet little Ella is 8 months old today! We are having tons of fun with our little angel. She weighed 14lb 9oz on June 1st. It is so nice to be able to get out and about! We have been to church twice now. The 2nd time, we gave in and took her to the nursery since she tends to get a little talkative in church. It was tough letting her go, but I did survive. I've also managed to drag all 3 kids to the grocery store. The comments have begun "Whew, you've got your hands full....glad its you and not me......how old are they....." They are all 3 such a blessing to us. Some days are overwhelming, but at the end of the day, I can't help but feel incredibly thankful for them all!!!

2 weeks ago, Ella got her first ear infection. She had no symptoms. I had taken her to the health department for a hearing screen (custom screen for preemies that stay in the NICU). Well, she flat out failed the test. The audiologist did another test that showed Ella had fluid behind both eardrums which would make anyone fail the hearing screen. So, off to the doctor we went. That weekend (May 23rd), I discovered our little girl got her 1st tooth! What a surprise. The boys were like 9 months before they started sprouting teeth. She was only 7.5 months....or really 6 months. I guess she likes to do everything early. She is the happiest baby ever. An ear infection and teething and no complaints!!! We are super blessed.

We had a huge group of family and friends join us walking for the March of Dimes. Our team name was "MacKinnon Miracles". We walked in honor of Ella and her cousin, Ava, born at 33 weeks (she is now 2 years old). I had some college friends come up to walk with us. I feel so honored to have the support of such good friends and family! Thank you ALL for walking with us!!! It was a lot of fun!

I dragged Jason and the kiddos to Watonga this past weekend for some alumni fun. We watched football on Friday night and then spent the night with JC, Amy, Tucker and Mason. The boys had a blast!!!! Then on Saturday we went to a parade and afterward they loaded up to watch me play basketball. The gym was somewhere around 100 degrees (how could I forget that this gym had no A/C?) Anyway, I had a great time playing with some great friends!

Carson is still loving playing t-ball. Its crazy how much I can get into a t-ball game. I love it!!! He is being such a good big brother to Cooper and Ella. He also has discovered his neighbor friends on each side of our house. We have a neighborhood loaded with little boys. It's going to be so much fun! Carson has been inviting them over daily to play. Cooper has managed to have 2 ear infections in the past month also....he, as opposed to his sister, has been a grouch!!! I can't decide if it's the infection or just being a 2 year old. In between his grouchiness, he is a lot of fun. Always making us laugh. He's still my baby boy....always will be!!!!!!!