How I Spent My Fourth of July

How I spent My Fourth of July

A Photo Essay by: Katie McPhee

I started the day by scrambling to find 4th of July-appropriate clothes for my kids.  I always skip over the cutesy holiday-themed clothes at the store only to find myself wanting to dress my kids up the day of! ha. I guess I should learn. Then I had to take the traditional "Happy Independence Day" picture of the kids.  Now, this is no small feat with a toddler; add in an infant and you have a recipe for hilarious outtakes!

Close enough: one kid is smiling.  Mission accomplished! 

Outtake: When she's done, she's DONE.
We're working on things like "don't throw brother when you're done holding him" right now. 

It was also Malcolm's two month birthday, so I had to take the token shot of him.  This was also filled with digging around for pictures of Lucy on her two month birthday to compare.  Turns out I didn't think this was something worth photographing, but I did have some horribly lit videos.  I managed to snap photos of Mal, but skipped the video.  He coos.  He smiles.  He drools.  It's adorable, but makes for a very slow video as he does none of these things on command.  

A word on this flag: I got this flag when we drove to southern Georgia to surprise Seth when he returned home from his second deployment (to Iraq).  It's a great reminder to me of the sacrifice of many (all gave some, some gave all), who keep our nation free. 

Naturally big sister had to photobomb! 

 Naps were taken.

Naturally there were naps.  This guy is a sleeping champ! 

Daddy felt sparklers were in order.  Perhaps we should have warned our child that she'd be holding a stick of fire, and that sparks would shoot off of it (hence "sparkler"), but we didn't. We stuck that stick in her hand, lit it, and laughed at the look of shock and utter terror that flickered across her face, good parents that we are! 

"Hey, this will be so fun!"

The smile before she realizes what she's holding. 

And there it is!  Probably should have warned her. 

Okay, maybe I can do this... 

Nope, still terrifying after all. 

She'd rather take care of brother than play with sparklers 

She sort of warmed up to them after a while. 

She got smart and wouldn't hold them any more. 

Still pretty unsure. Had to hold onto dad for reassurance. 

I stopped to capture the magnificence that is the hydrangea in front of our mailboxes. 

Then berry-picking was in order.  Blackberries.  On the fourth of July.  Tons of them.  Let that sink in for a moment.

A blackberry crisp was concocted by my wonderful husband (no photos because we dug right in), and we settled in and prayed our children slept through the explosions going off all around our home.  I'm not going to lie, we contemplated being "those people" that called the cops to report the illegal fireworks (they're banned in Renton), but turns out our kiddos slept right through, so we avoided crotchety neighbor status for another year.  

Malcolm at 2 months

Happy two months, Mr. Man!  Malcolm now goes by buddy, brother, Mr. Man, Mr. Malcolm, "broyer", and Chubby Bubby.  He's proving to be a happy baby, and loves to eat and sleep!  He holds his head up, tracks with his eyes, and is very smiley!  He coos and smiles at us.  He's not such a big spitter as his sister was, but he certainly has his moments! 

He's topping the charts with a height of 25 inches (99th percentile) and a weight of 14 lbs, 10 oz (92 percentile.  His head has dropped to the 90th percentile.  He's wearing 6 month clothes already.  I finally had to give up trying to stuff him into my favorite 3m clothes a week or two ago.  He looked so uncomfortable. My baby is just growing up too quickly for this mama! 

He smiles at his reflection in the mirror hanging over his activity mat, and smiles at people he knows. He's very ticklish everywhere, but especially on his sides and his chin. 

He scoots himself all around his bassinet now, and we often find him at the other end from where we laid him down, usually sideways to boot.  Big sister is adjusting well and loves to help with diaper changes and giving him his paci (his "dino") when he's upset.  Just yesterday she put him back to sleep by giving him his paci when he woke up fussing. I was amazed! 

Sleeping is serious business

My dapper little guy! 

My favorite of his many expressions! 

Malcolm got to meet his Uncle Seth this month! 

Seriously -- this expression is the BEST! 

Uncle Love

As you can see he was not thrilled to be wearing his too-small pajamas.
But these were my favorites and I had to record them for posterity before putting them away! 

After a massive, up-the-back blowout: sink bath at Dintie's house! 

My little super guy! 

Sibling love! 

TWO MONTH COMPARISON:

A Tale of Two Mac's

The oldest (McComb) and youngest (McPhee) Mac's in the family.  They're separated by over 99 years.  These hands have held so very many babies in their 99 years, and they're still just as capable!

Montana: One Last Time

Isaac's mom and dad are selling their amazing dream home in Plains, MT.  Once we knew they'd accepted an offer, we knew we had to make it out for one last visit!  It's such a beautiful location.

We packed up Nana's minivan (thanks, Mom!), grabbed Uncle Luke, and we were off!  Now, traveling with two small children is not always a walk in the park. Particularly when your toddler decides to be extremely constipated and screams like a banshee for the better part of the second half. Poor kiddo! After many, many stops to get out and walk, the worst was over (she pooped), and we finally rolled into Montana about 10.5 hours after we left. (It's a 7 hour drive).  Whew!  We all crashed, but were up and raring to go the next morning!

I was worried how Malcolm would do in the car for so long.  It turns out he's a great road tripper. He slept, would wake up to eat, and go immediately back to sleep. I was worried after he literally slept all day that he'd be up all night. Nope! He slept all night, too, except when he was hungry.

We're going to be in the car for HOW long?

Taking a break from the van

This is how Malcolm does vacation...

Delving into the treasure chest: childhood papers! 

I made this outfit for Ava Roo for her second birthday... Now my LuLu is wearing it. 

Gunkle Yuke with Malcolm

Seriously, this kid napped all over the place! 

How she insisted on sleeping. Yes, they are both asleep! 

This butterfly came to the hummingbird feeder. A moment later a hummingbird buzzed in, and he was NOT happy!

Picking "beyyies" with Daddy and Gunkle Luke

Grandma had the magic touch! 

Seriously. 

Lucy and her buddy, Matthew (aka "Mafoo")

We tried so hard to keep a diaper on her while he was there... Seriously, this girl spent three full days glorying in running naked! 

Daddy is hilarious! 

The best accessory for not having lost the baby weight? Wear the BABY! :) 

Swimming in the "wiver"

At the swimming hole

Lucy got to kayak solo for the first time.  She loved it! Clearly she's a natural. 

And just like that, we were on our way home... Thank you, Dave and Judy, for being fabulous hosts as always! And thanks, Luke, for stepping in and learning to make lattes and saving us all from caffeine withdrawals!!! 

This is what happens when you usually sleep 11-12 hours a night, and instead you sleep (maybe!) seven...

On the way home we found a church with a cool playground, so Lucy got to run around a bit! :)