flashes and backdrops

On second thought, I can't shutdown the iMac without posting some recent photos! There are 4,800 new ones of our little guy (that's probably not an exaggeration), so I shall limit it to just a couple. Here are our favorites from Chad's 6-month photo shoot!

quick catch-up

As previously mentioned, I keep a journal of all the moments/milestones I need to blog. Once the page fills up, and I can't procrastinate anymore, I attempt to post. Since the "giving-up hiatus," there have been several exciting developments. Here's the short version:

• We had a great first Christmas with Tyler! He received so many new toys, clothes and baby goods. Thus far, his favorites are the sit and spin toy, the music table and the little "chew toys" from daddy.
  
• NYE 2009 was very family-friendly. We all piled in the car with overnight gear and headed to Highland Village to see Andrea, Chad, Carter and Charlie. I made matching celebratory onesies for Charlie and Tyler. We had lots of fun, despite the fact that I never finished my first New Years Eve cocktail.
  
• Tyler sat up for the first time on New Years Eve, thanks to Andrea's help. He was clearly independently sitting two days later.
  
• Tyler started solids, rice cereal, on January 3 and moved up to carrots on February 2. Since then, he's snarled and eventually eaten peas, green beans and squash.
• He can arbitrarily say da-da-da-da-da and laugh. We're working on the ma-ma-ma-ma-ma sounds, but those take a more advanced vocabulary!
  
• We transitioned him to the big Euro bathtub on January 22. Thanks Carter Owen, for letting us try yours out first.
  
• This month, he has learned to roll himself under our living room furniture. He's even started bringing toys with him (smart baby), so he doesn't have to make a second trip! Today, he tried to push his musical table under the media console with him. He got a little frustrated when that did not go as planned.
  
• We went to his 6 month check-up on February 1. Tyler is still above the 90% for height: 27 3/4 inches, but dropped a little in weight percentile: 17 lbs 12 oz, which is around the 55%.
  
• He is laughing and talking all the time now! I love getting to know him. Everyday, I see more and more of his personality.
  
• Last week, he started raising his arms for me to pick him up. I'm convinced he has fully-developed his mommy attachment.
  
• He also discovered his pee pee a couple weeks ago. Chad was a very proud daddy that day. Ha.
  
• On Tuesday (February 16), Tyler started lifting his belly off the ground. I've been helping him practice crawling, and I think he's decidedly tired of mommy's assistance. It's a countdown to the day when childproofing is a must and cute home decorations go on lockdown.

We have been keeping ourselves very busy with playdates, Tiny Tots music class and plenty of house meetings. Yes, Yes, Yes ... WE ARE BUILDING A NEW HOUSE! I've officially purchased three home decorating books, including "The Nest Home Design Handbook" and "Domino: The Book of Decorating." This has taken my obsession to a whole new level.

So now that all my scribbled entries are checked-off in my notepad, I think I'll call it a night. I'd pledge a new post soon, but then ... I did just rename this "the occasional blog." So no promises.

new look. new expectations.

The McKinney Family Blog has a new look. Not only am I bad at blogging, I am also bad at giving up blogging. So I continue to share my shortcomings with the world ...

I've reinvented the blog with new expectations. I can handle "occasional."

Bye bye blog

I've realized that I'm not good at blogging. I'm giving up. You can find us on Facebook!