Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! Keep up with us on our new blog, The Cronon Chronicles, located at http://www.cronon.blogspot.com.

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A Birthday and A Belly Picture

December 28 was my 27th birthday. It was my kind of day--I stayed in my pj's until we decided to go out to eat. Here are some fun pics from getting ready, and an 18 week belly shot.

Mackenzie is definitely my child. I hardly ever have my eyes open in pictures--either that or she's showing off the eyeshadow she put on!

She loves to have her hair brushed--can't you tell?!

Blue Willow Inn

On Friday after Christmas, all the Cronon's got together and ate dinner at the Blue Willow Inn & Restaurant. It was a bit of a drive, but it was beautiful.

Christmas Day

After Mackenzie opened her gifts from Santa, all the Cronon's came over for our annual Christmas Day lunch. There were so many presents, they were lined up from the door to the right side of the fireplace, plus 3 large gifts for the adults were hidden until time to open them.

Christmas morning!

Christmas morning was such a blast! Mackenzie came downstairs to find an empty glass of milk, and half eaten cookie, and most of the carrots gone. Santa sure was in a hurry!

Santa brought Mackenzie a really cool tent bed that she can sleep in anywhere and play in it too! While I was doing the shopping for Santa, I realized that most of the toys he was bringing Mackenzie were boy's toys--Cars stuff, tools. Although she absolutely loves anything and everything to do with Cars, tools, cowboys, dinosaurs, and all that stuff, she adores her baby dolls and playing family. We are so blessed to have such a great kid.

It cracked us up to see her diving head-first into the tent to get her presents!

Mackenzie and the Handy Manny tools she asked Santa for!

Christmas Part 3

After Mackenzie went to bed on Christmas Eve, Jon and I exchanged our gifts. He bought me/us a new laptop, which is going to make the last 5 months of my pregnancy and the first year of the new baby's life so much easier. I can blog from bed, or the couch, or wherever!!!

This is Jon's grilling set he has wanted for a few years, even before we had our own grill. His main gift from me was a gorgeous jacket/coat, but of course I have no pictures of that! (Also, we had to buy a new camera--my old one died. We got a really nice Nikon CoolPix. The only thing I don't like about it is the size--it's huge! It takes awesome pictures, and makes me look like a pro!)

Christmas Part 2

On Christmas Eve, the three of us and Aunt Beth and AJ went to a beautiful candlelight ceremony at church, and then Nanny, Papaw, and Uncle Chris joined us for opening presents.

Pretending to be a robot!

This bucket of Dinos was the first present I bought for Mackenzie, and I couldn't wait to see her open it. She has developed such an interest (you could almost call it an obsession!) with dinosaurs. Needless to say, she loved it!

17 Weeks

Belly pic at 17 weeks!

Christmas Part 1

On the Saturday before Christmas we celebrated with my parents, my sister, and her family. With one 13-year-old and 4 kids under 7, it was nuts!

We have been busy!

Many of you know that I do not bake. This is the extent of my skills. Last Thursday on my day off, I took pity on Mackenzie. She found my Christmas cookie cutouts in the Christmas boxes, and begged for 2 days to make cookies. Ten minutes, many bites of dough, and only 8 cookies cut out, she lost interest. They tasted great. And after all the taste-testing between me and Mackenzie, only a little of the dough was left to throw out!

Sampling the finished product.

The first cup of white milk Mackenzie has had in 2 years!!!

Jon took this one while I was in the shower. Apparently it was "Dress up like Mommy" time.

We went to Asheville over the weekend to visit my grandmother in the hospital. It was the first time Mackenzie slept in a real bed at a hotel. Our last hotel stay was Labor Day 2007. She did great, no problem at all. Of course, she had to wind down first! Regrettably, I forgot to take any pics of Mackenzie with 'Bama 'Ceil. Also, we were going to try to fit in the Biltmore, but with my lack of time management skills, it didn't work out.

When we got back in town from Asheville Sunday night, we stopped by the mall to see Santa. Mackenzie told us she was going to stand next to him, but when he held his hands out, she let him pick her up. Mackenzie stayed true to her word, and told Santa she wanted "Handy Manny toys, a Barbie, and a Care Bear".

After visiting Santa, we drove by the Lights of Life. Several times. Mackenzie has enjoyed the lights and decorations so much this year. In fact, she's our designated Christmas tree light-turner-on. She takes her job very seriously.

CHIROPRACTIC!
Ho!Ho!Ho!

We took this video one night this week after dinner. Suddenly, Mackenzie began to sing a song from "Finding Nemo" that Marlin and Dory sing. She hasn't watched Nemo in ages!!!! Anyway, it's cute. If you can't understand her, it's "No eating here, tonight, WHOO, no eating here tonight, WHOO, no eating here tonight, you're on a diet!" She was so funny! (Sorry for the sideways video!)

Family Resemblance?

My mom sent me the following picture after she saw my post with my 15 week belly. This picture was taken on December 27, 1981, the night before I was born. How eerie is it to see how much I look like my mom, and Mackenzie looks like my sister Michelle? Michelle was 4 1/2 years old, and Mackenzie is 3 1/2 now. I had not seen this picture in years before tonight, and I think it's so weird that in both pictures, we're in front of the Christmas tree, with the mom on the right, and her firstborn daughter at her right side, holding her toys with her head on the pregnant belly!

(and I just realized, you can't see it in my picture, but Mackenzie had in pink hairbows on both sides just like Michelle!)

15 Week Update

Here we are at 15 weeks, in front of the half-decorated Christmas tree. (Mackenzie looks sad, but she was trying to hold still while Jon figured out the new camera's red-eye remover!) Most of my 1st trimester symptoms are gone, although I still am exhausted (hence the half-decorated tree), and can get nauseated by some smells. The worst thing, though, is my sciatica. Yes, I work for a chiropractor, and I get adjusted all the time, but sometimes it's still a royal pain in the a**.

Our next OB visit is on Monday, and then we get to schedule an ultrasound. Since fortunately I have had no complications in this pregnancy or my first, I only get one ultrasound. We're going to try to wait until as close to 20 weeks as possible, so we have a greater chance at finding out the sex, since we won't get another shot at it.

We are excitedly preparing for Christmas. Mackenzie helped me hang our stockings tonight, and tomorrow we'll finish the tree. (I already have the baby's stocking to match the rest of ours--last year when I bought them at Target, I thought ahead and got an extra! Now we just have to name the baby and get an inital pen to go on the stocking for next year!)

P.S. As I was typing, Mackenzie started crying in bed. I went in to see what was wrong, and she said, "I need to hold the baby." I asked what baby she wanted, and she answered, "The one in your tummy!". So we got to cuddle for a few minutes before she decided she was okay. What a sweetie!

...

The past couple of months have been bittersweet for me. I definitely wanted to get pregnant and have another baby, but I am a little down that this is my last chance to be a mother of one. Mackenzie has always been such a good kid, and made us happy and thankful for her. I don't know if it is just hormonal me, or what, but lately she has been such a nut, and I'm so grateful for the times we spend together. I wanted to share a couple of things she has done recently to make me smile:



We were talking about the meaning of Christmas. I was sitting at the breakfast table eating Lucky Charms with her (the breakfast of champions, I know) and she starts talking about how Santa is going to bring her Handy Manny toys. I said to her, "Santa's so much fun, but do you remember whose birthday we celebrate on Christmas?" Mackenzie automatically says Daddy, since he just had one. I shook my head, and she proceeds to go into a list of everyone she knows. I stopped her and told her that we celebrate Baby Jesus' birthday. Gunning for punishment, I asked her where Jesus lives. She cocked her head, smiled, and said, "California?"


Mackenzie's favorite song right now is Rihanna's "Disturbia". She heard it for the first time on Dancing with the Stars (which she likes to watch almost as much as Jon and me) and every time she hears it in the car, she says, "Just like on Dancing with the Stars!!!" and bops around as much as she can in her car seat.

We had dinner in the living room (what a horrible parent I am). After Mackenzie finished and got down out of her booster seat (I'm not crazy--she doesn't sit on the couch to eat), she came and sat with us. Jon had the container of rolls on the couch, and I picked Mackenzie up and asked Jon to move the rolls, that they were going to smell like butt. Of course, Miss Copycat shoves her nose right in my face and says, "I don't smell like BUTT!!!!"


Talking about the baby one day, I got the bright idea to delve a little bit into the subject of the female body. After all, I knew all about how I was made when I was 3 (a long story involving a mirror, and embarrassing the crap out of my sister and grandparents!). Mackenzie brought up the fact that the baby was in my tummy, in the uterus. So I said, "And you have a uterus too, and one day when you're old like Mommy you can have a baby!" Definitely the wrong thing to say. Even today, at least a week after this incident, Mackenzie told me, "Mommy, I do not have a uterus and I am not going to have a baby." Adamantly.

I hope you enjoyed these stories. I know I have lots more, and I'm going to try to post more of what goes on day to day, and how sweet my girl is, and how she's growing up to be a wonderful person.

Enjoying the Wii

On Friday Jon finally got to really get into playing the Wii. He also had a partner in crime!

Thanksgiving 2008

As we do every year, we spent Thanksgiving morning and afternoon with the extended Cronon family, and then had dinner with my family (We missed you, Michelle & Eric & kids!). It was a nice, relaxing time. Mackenzie and Jon enjoyed playing outside with family, while I watched from the sidelines.

(Yuck, I hate having my picture taken. You can already see my 14-week belly!)

Jon and Jared in the yard.

Mackenzie...doing her thing.

Exploring Cousin Steve's front porch

Playing with the big girls :-)Exhausted!