Week of firsts...

Good evening everyone!

This was a week of firsts for the McGraw family. Monday, August 22nd, Emily started her third year of teaching at Athens Christian Prep. Tuesday, August 23rd, Macy got her first set of shots. She was such a trooper, and it was honestly harder on Emily than Macy. Macy really took it like a champ, but Tuesday night was a little more difficult than normal probably because she just couldn't get comfortable (Bless her heart!). This is definitely one of my favorite pictures of Macy so far...

Wednesday, August 24th, Macy had her first day of Angel Keepers. She did really well and Mommy and Daddy did alright too, probably because we were all in the same building. She looked so cute her first morning, but Mommy was surprised when she picked Macy up in totally different clothes. Apparently, Macy had spit up all over her original outfit and the extra outfit Mommy had packed. So for tomorrow's day of Angel Keepers, Mommy packed four extra outfits...
The very best thing that has happened this week is that Macy has now started responding with a smile while you are smiling at her! She has been smiling and laughing all the time! Overall, it has been such a wonderful week for us, McGraws. It has been so nice to get into a routine, but also nice that Macy and Mommy still have Tuesdays and Thursdays together. All day today we just cuddled under the covers, slept late and smiled and laughed a lot! Such a wonderful day!

Hope your week was this good! So much love!

First Day of School!

Welcome back everyone! Happy 1st day of school to most Texas students! It was crazy going back to school after this blissful summer with baby Macy, and it was not without it's own set of problems. First of all, I misread my schedule and was late to my first class... Awesome. I heavily rely on powerpoints and the use of technology and my projector, which of course was MIA for my first class. I found another projector by my next class, but of course it decided that it didn't like my computer, or something... So both classes were completely thrown off, but hopefully we can make up time over this week. Right now I am just so tired, stressed, and have a million things on my To-Do list, but I guess that is every teacher!

Me and Macy on my first day of school!

We had a wonderful night, Cliff made us dinner (Caribbean Jerk marinated chicken, with black beans and veggies!) and then we went on a family walk! Another first for today was working out with weights again since I've been pregnant. I couldn't believe how good it felt! I'm really trying to step it up in that area now that I've been cleared by my doctor. At my doctor's appointment last week, I got on the scale (EEK!) and it revealed that I had lost 36 pounds since the day before Macy was born! That is awesome but there is still so much work to be done! Everything kind of settled differently after Macy arrived, and I had really wanted to lose some before but wasn't working out too hard while trying to get pregnant. I have now made a goal to lose 30 pounds by Christmas, and Cliff upped the ante by telling me that if I reached my goal he would get me a special surprise!

 I have had my eye on a pair of these shoes for several years and Cliff knows that, so it was the perfect motivation! He is just the best husband ever, for more reasons than I could ever write on here!

5 generations

So we all know that the beginning of the school year is always hectic. Well, this year let's add a precious little girl to the mix and the only thing that equals is more crazy. We have really been enjoying our little girl, and the past four weeks have really flown by. I swear I mean to get better at blogging, but time just goes so fast! Anyway, I guess with each post I will continue to promise to get better at it. The biggest thing that we have done these past few weeks is visit Midland for the first time. This is where she met most of the McGraws for the first time, including her great-great-grandmother, Ruth a.k.a. Monnie.

From left to right: Molly McGraw (Cliff's sister), Wanda McGraw (Cliff's grandmother), Tim McGraw (Cliff's dad), Ruth Gunter (sitting, Cliff's great-grandmother), Cliff McGraw, Macy McGraw, me, and Terri McGraw (Cliff's mom)

My poor baby girl was in quite the mood that day because she kept on getting passed around and was just beyond tired!

Our little family!

Macy and her Uncle Kenneth!

(Technically he is Cliff's cousin, but we granted him "uncle-hood")

Macy and Bevers (who isn't technically family, but who are we kidding- he's family)

Other than that, we haven't done much different. We enjoy our cuddle days, and being together. She has become so much more alert in the past few weeks, and when she's looking at you it actually looks like she sees you. Every once in a while you will catch her smiling and laughing to herself, which always makes me wonder what's so funny! A new Macy favorite is bath time! She is beyond funny in the bath tub, and I will have to post a video soon! Some of my favorite photos from the past few weeks!

Coming up on the blog:

• My first day of school, and first day working out again!
• Macy's first set of shots (sad day!)
• Macy's first day of "school"
• Beginning some home redecorating
• Cooking! I have felt the need to start cooking. (There are several reasons for this: the need to feel more domestic now that I am a mother, limited restaurant choices in our home town, as well as obvious health and cost reasons) I have found several recipes off of other people's blogs, and Pinterest (oh how I love Pinterest), so I will keep you updated on what we are eating here in the McGraw household! Tonight was outstanding! Cliff grilled chicken seasoned only with lemon and cayenne and I made broccoli from the recipe I found on Pinterest here. Yes, I know next week is the start of school, and yes I know that I am crazy for aspiring to cook every night next week...

So, for all of these these things I will have a reason to blog and so therefore you should be hearing from me a lot more in the coming weeks!

So much love to all of you!