Well, it's been a while since we last updated you on Mack in general so I thought it would be a good idea to do so now that she's 7.5 months.

In general, she's an awesome baby. She doesn't complain much, she sleeps like a rock, and is even getting to where you can put her down in her crib during the day (and she actually sleeps) for long periods of time.

She got her first official cold and ear infection the weekend of July 4th. It prevented us from going out, but to be honest we probably would have stayed home anyway since her bed time is around 8:00. We would never have known about the ear infection if she didn't have the cold; she seemed altogether indifferent to the ear infection. She didn't exhibit any signs of pain or tug at her ear at all. We took her in for the cold and that's how we found it. She's all better now, and no worse for the wear.

When we took her in they weighed her, and she was only 16 pounds. She's probably 16.5 now, but still on that steady 25th percentile track.

She's rolling and close to standing at this point. She still loves to sit and play with her blocks and toys, but if you're near her she just wants to use your arms to pull herself up. She can't quite figure it out with furniture, but she's a pro if she uses your arms. She LOVES her bounder (the over-the-door one) and her walker, and has even figured out how to move forward in the walker! For a while there we thought she might go through life in reverse! :)

As for food, I'm making all of it and it's both fun and rewarding. I love knowing htere is nothing other than plain old food in the portions, and it's so much cheaper than buying jars of food. She's had a lot of different things (besides her liquids and her organic brown rice cereal):

Veggies:
- Sweet potato (her favorite veggie)
- Corn (not a vegetable but a grain...I'm still putting it here instead of with fruits)
- Carrots (with butter)
- Peas
- Rutabaga (not a favorite)
- Squash
- Broccoli (ok, she hasn't tried this one yet but it's frozen and ready for her)

Fruits (she prefers these in general since they are sweeter):
- Avocado
- Banana (a favorite)
- Peaches (not a favorite; probably too tart)
- Strawberries (her absolute favorite fruit)
- Cantaloupe
- Apples (she loves them when I add cinnamon)
- Pears (she loves these just like her daddy)
- Mango (another favorite)
- Kiwi (ok, so she's yet to try this, but it's frozen and ready for her)
- Plumots (same goes for this one...just need to get her to try it but we have to rotate it in slowly)

I'm almost convinced she's had more veggies than Josh at this point. :) She eats really well and is getting the hang of holding her own bottle when we put the handle on it.

All in all, things are going well here. She's changing every day and is so adorable right now. We're enjoying every moment with her and she loves to hear from all of you so keep sending those cards and greetings!

Yesterday was Mack's 6 month doctor visit, so we have some numbers as to how she is doing.

Weight: 14.84lbs (25th percentile)
Height/Length: 26.5in (75th percentile)
Head Circumference: 44cm (90th percentile)

So, basically the numbers say she is a tall skinny kid with a big brain. The doctor said we should start increasing the calories she eats to see if we can put some weight on her. Beyond that the doctor was very impressed with her progress.

She got another shot yesterday and she didn't like it at all. It added into a very stressful day for daddy because she didn't get any sleep so she was in an odd mood all day.

That is all I have for now.

Josh

Just a quick update for everyone. Mack's 4 month doctor visit went off without any major issues. She got hungry while we were waiting for the immunization so she ate again in the doctors office.

I didn't get nearly as strong of a reaction from her after this shot. The screaming was still there, but I didn't get the blood curdling one and I didn't want to cry myself. She also calmed down pretty quickly.

Her stats...

Weight: 12lbs 11oz (25th percentile)
Height/Length: 24.5in (50th percentile)
Head Circumference: 41.5cm (55th percentile)

She stayed on track from the previous visit in Height and Head, but she dropped a little in the weight (from 49th to 25th) but the doc thinks that she looks great and said she's just got a great metabolism and burns off what she eats quickly.

That's all for now.

Josh

So, my other web hosting company messed up and didn't re-up my domain. For the most part it's not that big of a deal because we really use this one more, however it does mean that everything related to sc-side02.com is dead (it would cost me $160 just to have the ability to pay more to use it).

I am going to do a more thorough job of sending e-mails to people that use that e-mail for me, but I wanted to post here because most of our links to pictures and videos were to the sc-side02.com domain, so if you notice anything here working wacky or if any of your links that you used to get files are dead, let me know and I can send you the new address as I have already transferred most of the files to this domain.

Josh

In honor of Josh's birthday, Mackenzie slept NINE straight hours last night. The amazing thing is that she went ten hours without eating and then ate normally (there was no voracious, "I'm about to die if I don't eat" kind of activity). It was an awesome night, as Josh and I were able to get eight hours of sleep and then all have some fun together this morning at 5:00 when Mackenzie got up.

Clearly she knows her parents love sleep and wanted to give her daddy the best birthday present of all!