A McKenna "Funny"

I had a doctor's appt this morning and decided to take McKenna along to see if she could handle coming or if it'd be easier dropping her with a friend for the morning the next time. I packed the portable DVD player (in case we were there for years) and she was a perfect, little angel :o)

The staff thought she was just the cutest thing ever and they thought she was hysterically funny after she and I entered the restroom so I could do the routine "tinkle in a cup". The restroom was directly in front of the nurses' station/reception area. McKenna decides that this would be a great time to use her outside voice and become my personal cheerleader for going potty!

"What you doin' Mommy?" yells my daughter. "Mommy has to go potty for the doctors, McKenna," I explain. "OH! You go pee-pee on the potty Mommy?" "Yes. Please whisper McKenna." "What dat is Mom?" "It's a cup that Mommy has to give the doctors, sis." "You put your tinkle in dat cup Mom?" "Yes. Shhhh. McKenna, please be quiet." "Eeeewwwww! Yuck!!! Blah!!! (more loud gagging noises). That's yucky Mommy!"

By this time, I know for a fact the entire, quaint, office can hear our bathroom happenings (sigh).

I quickly finish what needs to be done and McKenna feels the need to instruct my next few actions. "Wipe Mommy! Flush Mommy! Wash your hands Mommy!" And for the grand finale she throws her hands up in the air and shouts, "HOOO-RAAAAY!!!" I dreaded opening the door...but I knew we couldn't stay in there for ever. McKenna walked out first, ran up to the counter and yelled, "Mommy did it!!!!!" That's all it took for the entire staff to erupt in a fit of hysterics! And what did I do??? I took center stage and I took a bow for the audience :o)

The rest of the check up was routine with no more comedy acts. The nurses kept saying that she had made their morning and appreciated the laughs. My girl does tend to bring smiles to those she's around and I am oh-so-thankful.

We got to hear the baby's heartbeat, I've gained 5 lbs (oiy!), and the doctor told McKenna that the baby sounded "healthy and strong," so McK has repeated this about a million times today..."Mom, the baby is healdy and trooooong in your belly!" During our bedtime prayers we have been praying that Jesus would keep the baby in mommy's belly healthy and strong, so it was so incredibly fitting for the doctor to use these words. Thank you Jesus! We go back again in 4 weeks for our next check up, and whether or not I'll take my sidekick with me is still up in the air :o)

On a different note, I wanted to make sure and "record" that McKenna has learned her first Bible verse! She has learned I Corinthians 13:4, "Love is patient, Love is kind." She brought this verse home from church one Sunday and I felt that it would be a perfect one to practice for both McKenna and Mommy! She fills in the blanks. So we will say, "Love is _____." She will fill it in with "patient" and then we repeat, "Love is ______" and she says, "kind." This verse has been SO helpful when McKenna is NOT being patient or kind in her words, actions, or attitude. We will stop and I will have her fill in the blanks to say the verse and I'll ask her, "are you being patient/kind?" and she is usually honest in her response, "no". This has been fabulous when playing with others. I'm trying to teach her that we show love to others by being patient and kind...I'm really thinking she's putting it all together. I love using scripture to explain why we need to do what we do. I love knowing she is already hiding God's word in her heart. I pray this is something she'll continue to practice all her life.

And the fun continues...

Being 2!

So I don't know what I was thinking, but I will tell you anyway :o) I thought we would bypass the "trying twos" and that our daughter would maintain her sweetness, obedience, and gentle nature and never give us grief....like I said, I don't know what I was thinking :o) Alas, our daughter is NORMAL and the twos have HIT US!

There are several "incidences" that have happened and I just want them written down to keep forever. I'll enjoy sharing them with McKenna someday when she is able to understand why her mother has gray hair :o)

McKenna does better when she is able to wake up slowly. So in the mornings and after her nap she is allowed to watch a little t.v. After her nap, she watches this Letter Factory dvd by Leap Frog (I HIGHLY recommend this dvd btw). After the 25 min dvd, the t.v. gets turned off...this happens EVERY day. Well, on this particular day, our Princess decides she wants to watch Curious George after Frog. I explained to her that our T.V. time was over and it was time to play. This did not set well with our girl. She went straight into meltdown mode and had a complete come-apart moment. I completely left the room as she threw herself on the floor, totally ignoring this completely inappropriate behavior...until it went on long enough. I got her attention, made her calm down, and explained to her that it was NOT ok for her to act that way and that Mommy's answer is still 'no' and she needs to obey with a happy heart. She had collected herself and asked, "I hold you Mommy?" I said of course, so off we went to snuggle on the couch. Once she crawled up in my lap, she called for her Daddy to come into the room. Dave had heard the battle waging over the t.v. issue from another room. Dave came over, McKenna put her hand over my mouth (so I couldn't speak), and said, "Daddy, I watch T.V.?".....

Yes, our little 2 year old was trying to put Dave and I up against each other to see if she could get away with what she wanted.

Dave did such a GREAT job handling the situation. We were both HIGHLY aware of what was going on and what she was trying to do. Dave got down on her level and sternly said, "No ma'am you may not watch T.V. because Mommy already said No. When Mommy says No, the answer is No. Mommy and Daddy are a team and our answers to you will be the same." McKenna is not used to her Daddy talking to her in that tone, so she knew it was serious business. She was totally OK with our answer after that, and got down to go play.

Dave and I on the other hand...just had to stare at each other for a moment...Did that really just happen? What we thought we were going to be experiencing stuff like this when she was like 9 or 10...not TWO!!!! (sigh)

Story #2:
We were at the dinner table having a "clean out the fridge" type of dinner...so we had everything from tater tots and hot dogs to meatloaf and green beans. Our "trick" to help McKenna eat better is she has to take a bit of something "healthy" to get something like a tater tot. She is well aware of what she needs to do in order to get a bite of what she REALLY wants...but this night she tried to pull a fast one on us.

She took a bite of some of her meat/veges and we rewarded her with a tater tot. She took the tater tot and put it behind her back, reached back around to the table and asked for her treat b/c she took a bite. Dave and I obviously saw her "hide" the tater tot, but we asked, "McKenna, we just gave you a tater tot, where is it?" She shrugged her shoulders, held out her hands and said, "I dunno." I said, "McKenna, is the tater tot hiding behind your back?" "No Mommy"...sigh...

So we had to deal with the sneaky issue and then she got busted for telling 2 lies...Oh the joys!

Our girl has definitely entered into the independent, I wanna do it myself, I wanna go first, I will push the limits TWOS!!!! We are hanging on for dear life and praying everyday that we make the right choices in our parenting. The Lord has seen fit that Dave and I are the best choice to be McKenna's parents and we take that job very seriously. I know we have some more "rough" days and "consequences" ahead...but we wouldn't have it any other way. We adore our little-trying-redhead!

Baby Burke #2 is on Board!

We found out at the end of July that McKenna was going to be a big sister! We couldn't have been more pleased and excited!

Dave was at the firehouse for his shift on Sunday and was headed straight to Panera Bread to study for a big test Monday morning. Sunday I just felt "off" all day, so I took a pregnancy test Monday morning...PREGNANT!!! I was floored! You just never truly expect to see that word come up...don't think I could ever get used to it! I just knew I had to get to Panera to see Dave A.S.A.P. I loaded McK up in the car and off we went. I was able to get come up with a semi-fun way to share the news with Dave. I took this picture of the pregnancy test on our digital camera and was going to tell Dave to flip through some new, cute pictures I took of McKenna. We pulled up to Panera and Dave met us out at the car. I passed him the camera and told him to look...
His eyes bugged out and his mouth dropped when he saw THE picture! It quickly turned to a huge smile and we were able to celebrate as a family!!!!

It was also super fun telling both sets of parents! We got to skype with my parents, so we saw them on the web cam and could feel like we told them "in person". McKenna had been obsessed with drawing pictures on a giant dry erase board. The last time we had talked with Gigi & Pop, she had drawn them a picture...Well, we had a "hidden" message behind one of McKenna's drawings. When Gigi asked McK if she had a new picture to show her, we turned the board, put it close to the camera, and waited for it to sink in...we knew they got it when we heard shrieks and squeals of excitement :o)

McKenna got to actually help tell Dave's parents over the phone. We had practiced asking McKenna, "What did Mommy & Daddy get you?" and she responded, "A baby in mommy's belly." We talked with Dave's mom first and Dave and McKenna spilled the beans. Judy tried to stay calm because she wanted Dave to tell his Dad, so Jerry got on the phone afterward. It was equally as fun sharing the news AGAIN!!! :o)

Our due date is April 8, 2011. This is Gigi's birthday and our nephew Elliot's birthday, so it's already a special day on the calendar. We had our first OBGYN appointment and all went well. We got our first set of pictures and got to hear the baby's heartbeat. It just made everything seem SO REAL! McKenna went with us to the appointment and loved watching Mommy's belly on the big screen T.V. She listened intently as we tried to explain the little peanut of a baby inside.

My afternoons have been REALLY tough. Much more so then when I was pregnant with McKenna. I found that by 3pm, I was done for the day and down for the count. As you can imagine, you can lay on the couch all afternoon/evening when you have a toddler. I talked with my doctor and was able to get some medicine for the nausea. It has been great to take the edge off and has allowed me some MUCH better afternoons/evenings. I have to give a major shout-out to Dave for being the best husband/daddy ever. He's been gracious, understanding, and oh-so patient. We have had cereal for dinner, no clean clothes, and the house looking like a serious bomb went off! Thanks babe for picking up the slack and being a GREAT partner! I love you.

Dave thinks we are going to have a boy, while I think it's another girl. My mom and Dave's mom both say girl, my dad says boy. If you ask McKenna if she wants a baby brother or a baby sister she ALWAYS says "brother" or "baby boy"...so we shall see :o) In about 10 more weeks we will know who was right!!!!

Our sweet baby at 7 weeks.

Ode to Summer

In honor of today being September 1st, I thought I'd share some highlights from our Summer! It's been a GREAT summer, with lots of fun happenings! The pictures are a little out of order, but show the good times none-the-less!


In mid-August we drove down to West Palm Beach to see Keith & Hannah who had flown in for a wedding!

We enjoyed our time together at the hotel with the pool, and ventured out to the beach. It was a VERY quick trip (like 24 hours), but it was well worth it. McKenna LOVES her Uncle Keef and Aunt HaHa.

It's super nice to find fun activities to do INDOORS! It's SO HOT through out the summer, it's almost just unbearable to be outside if you are not in a pool. A new place opened up close to our house and we checked it out. "Big Air" is a huge room FULL of fun inflatables. McK was a bit timid at first, but once she saw how much fun Daddy & Mommy were having, she joined right in.

She was exhausted and ASKING to take her afternoon nap!
Pop & Gigi got McKenna this sand/water table for her birthday. We used it only with the water and it was fabulous on those hot, steamy days. Time with friends is always a plus. Josh & Brielle are some of McKenna's best buds.

We also ventured down town a bit this summer. We took in some "culture" at the Cummer Art Museum. The gardens were beautiful and it backed up to the St. Johns River.
Lots of Artsy fun!


McK's favorites were the "noodle art" and these other 2 crazy things with Daddy. There was a camera taking their picture as they were a part of the "art" :)
Time with Ezekiel is always entertaining! Ez and McK are besties! We got to watch Ezekiel one evening while Lauren and Mark went out. We decided we'll use these pictures for their wedding slide show one day! HA!

Dave had to work at the fire house on the 4th of July, but we were able to spend it with friends. We had a cookout at the Baughman's and then enjoyed the fireworks at the beach! We ended up seeing Dave at the firehouse on our way home, which was an added bonus!
Going to the Jacksonville Zoo was oh-so-fun! It was a PERFECT day to go! The big kids had all returned to school, it was overcast, and there was a major detour that probably led people to give up and go home! The first stop was the train ride, complete with juice boxes. It was a perfect way to see some animals and head to the water park!
A perfect way to stay cool!

The goats were definitely a highlight of the day! All 3 kids loved them. I think they could have stayed long if Vanessa and I weren't ready for lunch :)

Although Summer was so fun with weekly trips to the beach and pool, I am super ready for Fall weather. I look forward to having McKenna outside in her bikes, toys, cars, swing, side walk chalk, etc and not sweating to death! Yup...cooler times are a'comin' and we will welcome them with open arms! So long Summer...see ya next year!