Our Time at Home

Here are a few pictures of our time at home!

The night that we arrived home from the hospital, Ezra was very insistent that Mckenzie watch Treehouse with him.  

All bundled up and ready for bed.

Mckenzie's first Sunday at Church at 3 days old.  Her little booties I wore as a baby.  

And then the Visitors Came (and More Special Treats)!

We had told our family to come in the afternoon - thinking that would give us a few hours of just Steve, Mckenzie and I to bond, relax, and enjoy our baby girl.  Funny how things work out...Steve's parents were at the hospital waiting for us to be moved to our room.  My parents had Ezra and Ryder, so they had taken them to a park nearby to blow off some steam!  

When Ezra and Ryder arrived into the room to meet Mckenzie for the first time, I wasn't sure how it would go.  Ezra had talked lots about his baby sister and wanting to meet her for quite a while...but when the time came...who really knew how it would go.  

And he poured tons of LOVE on her!  As soon as he arrived, he asked for his baby sister and told his grandpa and grandma's what her name was.  When he asked if he wanted to hold her, he immediately said yes....and was totally okay with it until she started to fuss :)  

Ryder - he's still pretty young to understand everything.  He looked at Mckenzie like she was something foreign...wanted to not so gently touch her head and that was end of his attention span :)

The grandparents turn :)

Mckenzie's first bath:  My mom has given 4 out of 5 of all her grandchildren their first bath.  When the nurses talked to me about Mckenzie's first bath, I said that we needed to wait for my mom...it was important to keep that tradition between my mom and my children.  Mckenzie did really well - not a peep...my mom is a natural on keeping babies from crying when being bathed.  

Mckenzie at one day old....pretty in pink!

Daddy and his little princess

Mckenzie and her two doctor's:  

Left is Dr Brown - our doctor in Edmonton (at 2 days old)

Right is Dr Van der Merwe - our doctor in Lloydminster (at one week old)

And She Arrived!

We were scheduled for our c-section at 9:30am on June 20.  Steve and I arrived at the hospital at 8:00am and were super excited.  We changed into our scrub gear and waited and waited and waited.  At 9:00am we were informed that we were being bumped due to an emergency c-section.  So we waited some more.  Soon after, we met Dr. Griffiths and were informed that Dr. Brown would not be able to make our c-section because of the bump.  This was something that would normally stress me right out since I am very particular now which doctor cuts into me!  But we were immediately happy with Dr. Griffiths and were comfortable with her performing the section.  Around 11:00, a student resident came and got us and we began the exciting walk to the OR room...however, just as we would turn right into that super important door....a nurse came rushing out and said to put us into a recovery bed...so we turned left instead.  A STAT c-section came flying in...there was a bunch of yelling for help and it seemed within seconds that we could hear a baby crying (everyone ended up healthy and okay afterwards!).  It was at the moment that I put my own anxiousness and "I just want to hold my daughter" thoughts to the side and began to pray for these families that for some reason were having difficulty delivering...we had a healthy baby, so to continue waiting was something that we could continue to do.  

At 1:00, I was moved into the OR room and they began the process of getting me prepped.  Once I had the epidural in, Steve was brought in shortly afterwards and within minutes, I felt the incredible pressure of the doctor's pushing on my chest....I remember saying "here we go!".  And then I heard her CRY!  It was the most beautiful cry and I started to cry as well.  We had our daughter and she was perfect!  

This was at the start of our waiting period :)  My hubby rocks the scrub look!

My first look at our beautiful daughter! 

Family and friends...meet Mckenzie Sarah Parkinson, weighing in at 7 pounds 5 ounces and just under 20 inches long.  A perfect little bundle of sunshine in our home!  

Dr Griffiths and Mckenzie

I'm real big on names having meaning, so when we were deciding on names...she needed to have a name that was strong, beautiful and would represent everything that she was and would become.

When we came across Mckenzie, we both fell in love with it...I even more with the meaning.  The middle name Sarah is from my best friend.  We can only hope and pray that Mckenzie has the characteristics and personality of Sarah - if she even has a fraction of it, our daughter is going to be an amazing person!  

So what does Mckenzie Sarah mean:

A child of a wise person, a princess.  

And that she is!  A Princess!

All It Took Was A Meltdown!

We have been so very busy this last little bit and I was becoming VERY overwhelmed.  We didn't have the nursery ready at all - you could hardly see the floor with all the "stuff" that was in there.  I didn't have a crib set up or even bedding.  It (that being the room!) was a complete disaster.  Two weeks ago after my doctor's appointment in Edmonton, I headed off to IKEA to do some shopping and pick up some baby items.  Ryder and I were successful - picked up a pink crib, new light, and found the perfect bedding!  

We brought everything home...and then it sat....until a little meltdown last Saturday night.  My best friend had stopped by for a visit on SAturday and was super excited to view our nursery...she walked into it and was like "ummmm, you do know that you are having a baby in a week and a half!".  Yes, that was the end of patient and calm Correna :)  

Steve was working on the Sunday, but was home before the boys and I got home from Church....when I arrived home...this is what I walked into :)  It's PERFECT and BEAUTIFUL!  We still need a few more items (trying to find a perfect "You are My Sunshine" thing to put up on the wall) and window valance...but we can place our baby girl in here and it will be just wonderful!  

And see, Sarah....you were worried :)

6 days left!

So the true countdown has begun!  We are down to t-minus 6 days until we get to meet our daughter...and we are beyond excited.  Steve even said last night, that he would be totally okay if she decided to come early...it wouldn't surprise me if she wanted to...my body feels very ready!...but I am also taking comfort in the fact that everything is scheduled for the 20th and that is just alright with me!  

Did you know that June 20th is the first day of summer!  I thought it would be fitting then to do my maternity photo's at Sandy Beach...after all who doesn't like the beach during the summer!  Our great friend Kristen with Lime-Light Photography did them...and as usual - she did a fantastic job and we are thrilled with her work!  Thanks Kristen for capturing these memories for us one last time!  

Note: I am 9 months pregnant in these photo's and I love the fact that I don't look 9 months pregnant :)  We took these photo's with only 9 days left till baby girl makes her arrival :)  And yes, I am making myself feel good with these last two sentences :)

This is one of my favourite pictures!

My cousin, Coral, gave me this necklace...one heart to represent each of our children!
My second favourite photo!

I had ZERO plans to have any pictures taken with the boys which is why they are dressed in play clothes.  My mom came to watch them and took them to the playground during the photo shoot, but Kristen in her excellent wisdom convinced me to a few pictures and I'm so glad that I listened!  They are special little photo's!  Especially since I don't have any with my boys because I'm the one behind the camera most of the time!

Kristen told them to kiss the baby....and this is what we got :)

This will most likely be the last photo's you will get of baby updates...I know that I haven' been really consistent on it - life is CRAZY....but I promise you all, that once Baby Girl arrives...you will be overloaded with photo's :)   

Ryder Turns One

So I'm sure that you all know that I love to plan fairly "extreme" (that's what Steve calls it anyhow) birthday parties for my children.  I'm afraid that Ryder got the shaft a bit (compared to Ezra's 1st birthday party anyhow), but we still had a great time celebrating his first year of life and anticipating all that the second will entail.  

We celebrated Ryder's 1st birthday one day early since Steve was off, June 5.  

Our original plan was to have the party at Steve's parents place in their backyard....but the weather did not at all cooperate for us, so the morning of the party, we moved it to the gym at our Church.  The kids had a great time playing with the balls and everything.  

I decided to do a Dr. Seuss Cat in the Hat theme party for Ryder.  The invite I found on Etsy - it was perfect!

Lots of the printables that you will see where also from Etsy....I love Etsy!  

The favours were marshmallows dipped in red and white chocolate (made from a local lady in Lloyd) so that they looked like The Cat in The Hat's hat!  The colour scheme was Cat in the Hat blue and red.  The cake was made by a super talented woman in Lloyd, Carmen from Ernie's Coffee House!  I will continue to use her - she is awesome!    I made the cupcakes to look like Thing 1 and Thing 2's hair....it works, but you have to put the cotton candy on at the last minute as it will melt the cotton candy.  

It was my dad's birthday on June 5 as well...hence the Thing 1 and Thing 2 characters on the cake.  

And for supper we had KFC (it worked out awesome that the party fell on $2.99 Tuesday...cheap supper!)

Ryder had a fit when I took the cake away to get it cut! :)

Present time - Ryder was so blessed!

Ezra and his best bud, Zeke

Ryder got 2 sets of TOMS shoes...He is way more fashionable than me!
I so badly want a pair of TOMS - my youngest son has beat me to it.  

Ezra and Ryder with their great-grandmpa Oliver

Our family of five!