Little Mommy and Terrible Two

We are three weeks off of the official "Terrible Two's" but I'm pretty sure it has already hit. This lil' girl keeps me on my toes! The above picture was taken a few weeks ago when her friend Rose was over to play. Kenz thought it would be fun to show her the drawers that are off-limits while I was blow-drying my hair and face painting ensued. She tends to be a lot more daring and naughty when other kids are around to show off for.
For a while there our mornings were a battle. She woke up with a smile and then 2 seconds later turned into quite the drama queen as she screamed over breakfast and thus began my ritual walks the second she woke up. I quickly found out that I could shove a banana in that cute screaming mouth, pop her in the stroller and after walking an hour she was forced to eat the cereal/milk I had brought along with us. On the positive side, all this walking means I am (finally!!!) back to my pre-pregnancy weight.
Despite the morning, mid-morning, noon, afternoon and nightly tantrums :) Kenzie is a very sweet girl. She likes to randomly give us kisses and hugs and is getting into dress up. Check out this cute skirt Grandma Shaw got for her:
And like any other little girl, she is SO into dolls. She loves to dress them and feed them their bottle. I caught her talking to them in her crib the other day. In a high-pitched motherese voice she was telling one baby to say hi to the other and then making them wave. All those sweet moments make the terrible two's bearable!

August Recap

The first week went like this: A couple days in Michigan and driving home then the rest of the week spent recouping. Poor Kenz ran around naked somewhat ignored as we caught up on sleep.

On the 9th, we celebrated this guys 27th birthday! He celebrated the day by starting Fall Semester of his 2nd year of dental school then later we played some volleyball and shared mud pie with friends.

On the 20th, we went to a dental school BBQ at Cherokee Park. The park is my favorite with it's abundant trails and playgrounds.

On our way out of the park, Keith ran the car into a ditch. This picture makes it look better than it was. The car high centered and we had to enlist the help of some strong boys to pull it out. I couldn't stop laughing. This poor car needs to last us 3 more years. It leaked what we hope was water the rest of the way home. On the 23rd, I had a doctor's appointment. It was a 9 week pregnancy ultrasound and they found that the baby was not growing like it should be. That week was really long as I was told not to do anything strenuous and we would wait and see. I started spotting Tuesday which continued throughout the week until my ultrasound on the 30th. I wasn't too surprised when they couldn't find a heartbeat and it confirmed what I already knew. I was given some Cytotec to help things along and I would never ever recommend it to anyone. That night felt pretty close to my labor with Mackenzie as I cramped and finally miscarried around 5:30 AM when I finally fell asleep.

It was disheartening because it was my second in a row and I had really let myself get excited about this baby. But my friends are incredible, taking Mackenzie for a few hours here and there so I could rest and go to several doctor's appointments. I have an amazing doctor here. Despite the loss, we feel really blessed and know that we will have a baby when the Lord wants us to.

These experiences have made me realize how much easier it is to have the support of family and friends. Keith really wanted me to hold out on telling anyone about the pregnancy (in case I miscarried again) but I was showing after only 6 weeks and I had several people ask so it got around quickly in the ward. I was incredibly grateful for that when I did miscarry and next time I'm not going to wait for the 12 week safety. After my sister miscarried at 16 weeks, I don't think I will ever feel safe and I'd rather have more people there to rejoice with me or mourn with me.

These experiences also made me more grateful for the knowledge I have in a Heavenly Father that loves and watches over me. My heart was turned to the Savior as I thought about the sacrifice He made for each and every one of us. My night of intense cramping was eased by the blessing Keith gave me and also my faith in the Savior knowing He had endured greater pain and that he could ease my burden. I felt Him with me throughout the night and I know the happiness I feel now is due to the peace of the Spirit in knowing the Lord has a plan for each of us.

Labor Day Walk

We found ourselves a little bored on Labor Day. Keith had the day off but needed to study a bit and we really didn't feel the need to go anywhere after all of our traveling this summer so we thought we would take a walk along the Ohio River. For you non-geography buffs like me, the Ohio River divides Indiana from Kentucky. It's a pretty dirty river but there are some fun parks and walkways.

A piece of downtown Louisville

No post is complete without a pic of this little girl

Michigan

Our neighbors Justin and Neha invited us to go to Michigan with them at the end of July. They planned a lot of fun stuff for us! We left Thursday night, all of us crammed into The Mirsky's car and arrived in Alanson, a small town in Northern Michigan, 10 hours later. We stayed at Justin's parents house and I wish I had taken pictures because it's beautiful. The backyard is a little haven with a huge hammock, a fountain, a fire pit and no neighbors. We spent a lot of time out there enjoying the nice weather and roasting s'mores. The pictures above are from Petoskey. Justin's parents live about 15 minutes outside of Petoskey which borders Little Travers Bay of Lake Michigan. Beautiful! We were able to go swimming and the weather was a lot warmer than I thought it would be. Kenz had a blast in the shallow water.

Justin's parents surprised us by buying a hotel room for each couple at a cute little B&B. It was wonderful to be able to stay overnight and see the island when most of the tourists were gone for the day. Please don't mind my hair. Not only did I forget conditioner, I forgot a brush and I was too cheap to buy one at the overpriced drugstore.

Mackinac Island

Justin's parents joined us on the Island in the afternoon and they were sweet to take Mackenzie to the park for an hour while we rode to see the "inside" of the Island. These are some of the shots we got.

The FUDGE

Mackinac Island is famous for its slab fudge. It definitely lived up to the hype and I find myself craving it often. In every shop you can watch the fudge making process. The ingredients are boiled in a large pot then poured onto the first table. When it's cooled down, it's formed into a long row of fudgy goodness then sliced for customers. If you're there for the last part and have enough gall to ask, they'll give you the hot scraps- yum! We sampled at several stores and our favorite combo was always peanut butter and chocolate.

Mackinac Island

The highlight of our Michigan trip was Mackinac Island (Google it I swear it's spelled that way). We chose the perfect day to go. The weather was in the 70's and overcast so we spent the whole day out. Because there are no automobiles on the island, the first thing we did was rent bikes. The path around the Island is about 8 miles and gorgeous the whole way as you can see in the pictures (Click collage to enlarge it). That top right corner is a shot of the Grand Hotel where Somewhere in Time was filmed. I won't bore everyone with pictures of all of the houses on the island but they are so beautiful!