Happy 5th Anniversary!

Wow we look so young and skinny!

On May 26th we celebrated our 5 year anniversary. What a wonderful 5 years it has been. We have had our good times and our hard times and have loved every second of it. Although 5 years doesn't seem like such a long time when thinking about eternity it is crazy to look back at all that we have done in that time. Our greatest accomplishment being our beautiful boy. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to be married to such a wonderful man. I'm thankful for all that he is willing to do for me and our family. He has overlooked so many of my flaws and dealt with my craziness for 5 years I hope he can handle them for the next 50+ years. To celebrate our anniversary we did 2 of our favorite things. We went to dinner at Red Lobster, yummy seafood, and went to see a movie, Night at the Museum Battle of the Smithsonian. We celebrated the day before so we could have a wonderful afternoon date while my parents watched McCoy for us. The next night on our actual anniversary we just spent a night at home watching a movie together after the baby went down for the night. It was a nice casual evening, just how we like it. Looking forward to next year!

Happy Birthday Jeff!

We celebrated Jeff's 29th birthday on May 6th. Jeff doesn't usually like to go all out for his birthday so we had a nice day at home. He chose to have steak stroganoff (a McGuire family favorite!) for dinner. I then got him an ice cream cake roll from Baskin Robins. Seriously that is the only place I could find one and they are pricey. The sad part is that I ended up getting the wrong kind of ice cream in the cake. Next time I will just make it myself. I had ordered an exciting present for Jeff but because he checks our account constantly I had to wait to order it the night before his birthday. I got him an acoustic/electric guitar. We had quite the experience trying to get the guitar. The address change in Paypal didn't work and so it was shipped to our old house in St. George. At least 2 weeks later we had Jeff's mom, Bonnie, drive by to see if the person living there happened to get it delivered to the house. Lucky us it was just sitting there on the front porch. So this weekend we finally were able to pick up his guitar. I hope he had a great birthday.

The Last Few Weeks

Here is what we have been up to lately...

A little April Fool's Day fun.

Easter Egg Hunting is exciting!

Mini Photo Session

Enjoying a day in the sun. (Don't worry we used sunscreen)

Helping Grandma. He loves laptops!

Just sitting there being a little charmer.

A Lot of This:

Starting to climb on things.

Most Recently This:

He has begun to pull himself up on to everything!

Needless to say we have had a lot of falls and a little crying. He still isn't up into a full crawl but has perfected the army crawl/scoot and can get anywhere VERY fast! I'll have to get the crawl on video. He pulls his feet up by his bum and pushes with his toes and pulls with his arms. He is also a professional at downward dog. Why is it that every child is interested in the dog's food and water? As soon as I put McCoy down upstairs he quickly makes his way to the tile and toward the kitchen to the dog's things. Poor dog probably starves from me picking up her things. I love the picture of McCoy with my mom. If there is a laptop on the floor he will find it. He, like most kids, loves the keyboard. So there is a lot of "helping" Grandma on the computer. It's a good thing he is so cute. I almost forgot his 6 month stats. He weighed 15 lbs 5oz, 25th percentile, length 27 inches, 75th percentile, and head circumference 17.5 inches, not sure what that is I think around 50th percentile. He is long and lean, just like his dad.

Another silly thing about McCoy is that he loves Glenn Beck. While eating dinner we will often put him in the exersaucer to play. My dad will usually be watching Glenn Beck during dinner. Sometimes McCoy will be whinny but as soon as he hears Glenn Beck's voice he calms down. I am not sure what it is about his voice but McCoy is only interested in him. It is hilarious to see.

While the weather has been nice lately Jeff has been able to get out and golf some. He has enjoyed going with friends and family. You can find Jeff, my dad, my brother Bob and my brother-in-law Bracken on the golf course almost every Saturday. He has also turned into McCoy's crawling toy. We call him Jungle Jeff because McCoy will just crawl all over him. Thank goodness for dads!

I have been spending most of my days chasing McCoy around. I have my hands full but it is the best! I also get to spend a lot of time with my mom and sisters which is also wonderful. Just this last Monday my mom and I were able to go with Julianne to her big ultrasound. The babies are growing great. She did find out a few weeks ago what she is having, two girls and a boy. After the appointment we went with Kris and Peter to lunch at Chili's. Monday morning Erica and Bob had their second baby, Gavin. So we all went to visit them in the hospital.

He's Mobile!

McCoy has definitely been keeping me busy the last little while. The day after the last post I wrote he figured out how to scoot around. He decided it was time to be mobile. A few days after that he started an army crawl. He continues to just do the army crawl but man can he move. If he sees something across the room that he really wants, such as the laptop, he is over to it in seconds. While playing with his toys he likes to get up on his hands and knees and rock back and forth. I realize that it is just a matter of days maybe weeks before he is doing a real crawl on his hands and knees. Although this army crawl is definitely working for him so who knows, he may stick with it. He amazes me with his strength. He also loves to go up on his toes and hands and stick his bum way up in the air. It is crazy to see. So needless to say I spend a lot of my day chasing my boy or making sure that he has enough toys around to keep him happy. I love my crazy boy so much.

Another one of his favorite things to do right now is spit. He likes to stick his tongue out and blow air so his lips vibrate. He thinks it is funny. He also likes to scream when playing with his dad. Jeff will scream and McCoy will copy him. He is funny. The other night McCoy was in his bathtub and Jeff came in to play with him. Jeff would duck down and jump up and say "boo." When Jeff would duck down McCoy would stick his head up as high as he could and try to see Jeff over the side of the tub. It was hilarious. He does this often now.



Obviously we are greatly entertained by McCoy. As for other things, I'm still loving my short hair. It takes at least half the time to do my hair now than it use to. It is so nice to not have my hair laying on my back all the time and not up in a ponytail all day. Jeff has been up to the usual, work. He is sad to leave in the morning because McCoy is so fun, but he plays with McCoy all evening. Those two boys love each other SO much.



Tomorrow my baby turns 6 months old. I can't believe that! I'm still just amazed. It seems like so long ago that he was a newborn. My life couldn't be more blessed at this moment. To have a beautiful, healthy baby boy and so much family around to love him as much as I do has been wonderful! He has an appointment on Monday so I'll do a post then with his stats.

Baby Tag!

I thought these questions were fun. It will be nice to look back and remember my first pregnancy!

1.Where were you when you first found out that you were pregnant? On a cruise ship

2.Who was with you? My entire family was on the cruise but it was just Jeff and me in the room

3.How did you find out that you were pregnant? Home pregnancy test, yes I took one on the cruise with me

4.What was your first reaction to finding out you were pregnant? Excited and a little scared

5.Who was the first person you told? Jeff of course!

6.Did you plan to get pregnant? Yes, that is why I took the pregnancy test with me.

7.Did you tell everyone else right away? No, I told my family but I let Jeff decide when to let his side know. We didn’t tell friends until 14 weeks.

8.Was everybody happy for you? Yes, we had been married for over 3 ½ years so everyone felt like it was time.

9.Did you go out and celebrate? Well I guess just being on a cruise was enough of a celebration right?

10.Did you want to find out the sex? Oh yes! I can’t wait for something like that. I needed to know what to look for when shopping, I didn’t want everything in yellow.

11.What was the sex? A boy!!

12.Did anyone throw you a baby shower? My mom, sisters, mother-in-law and sisters-in-law. It was way fun! I also had a ward shower thrown by 2 friends in the ward a month after he was born.

13.Did you get any outfits at the baby shower that you just knew that you wouldn’t put on your baby? No, I guess everyone has really good taste.

14.How much weight did you gain? 35 lbs,

15.Did you lose all of the weight that you gained? Not yet. Hopefully soon!

16.Did you get any stretch marks? Yes! I got my first stretch mark at 14 weeks. I guess I don’t have stretchy skin. I’m covered in them. I even used the lotions and things and nothing helped.

17.What did you crave the most? In the beginning I wanted fruit, lots of fruit. It was February so it was impossible to find good fruit.

18.Did you crave anything crazy? I wanted Cheese Whiz and crackers. I couldn’t bring myself to buy any until the end.

19.Who or what got on your nerves? I’m not sure. I think that most everyone got my nerves at some point. I was hot all the time and I didn’t love that.

20.Did you have any complications during your pregnancy? Morning sickness isn’t fun. No real complications during pregnancy thank goodness but I didn’t have a fun labor and delivery.

21.Where and when did you go into labor? I started having contractions on Saturday morning at home. I went with my mom to Target and Costco, where they got stronger. I ended up leaving for the hospital around 5:30.

22.Did your water break? My doctor broke it.

23.Who drove you to the hospital? My mom and dad. Jeff was trying to get things ready that day since I was going to be induced the next day. I wasn’t sure what they would decide to do so I let him stay to finish it.

24.Who was in the room when you gave birth? Jeff. I ended up going in for an emergency c-section so of course I had a few doctors and quite a few nurses.

25.Did you go early or late? 6 days late

26.How long were in labor for? Total since we arrived at the hospital 17 ½ hours until McCoy was born. Unfortunately I was still in my c-section for about 1 1/2 hours after that because of problems.

27.Did you have any drugs for the pain? Yes an epidural but it didn’t work the entire time.

28.Did you go natural or have a C-section? C-section

29.What was your first reaction after giving birth? I was so happy to have him out finally! I looked at him and couldn’t believe that I had carried this little one. About a half hour after Jeff took him to the nursery I fell asleep from the exhaustion.

30.How big was the baby? 7 lbs. 12 oz. 20 ½ in.

31.Did your husband cry? Not that I remember. He was so happy. I didn’t get to see him for more than 5 minutes after McCoy was born though.

32.What did you name the baby? McCoy Jeffrey Erickson

33.Does his name have any significant meaning? Of course Jeffrey after his dad. I love the name Jeffrey! McCoy happens to be our really good friend’s last name. We had mentioned the name as a joke but both of us fell in love with the name.

34.Did you have any visitors? Yes, my mom, dad, Ju Ju and Kris were at the hospital when I had McCoy, they got to hold him before me. Mel (Jeff’s dad) and Annette came a little later. In the next few days we had our friends KC, Sally and Maycee. Also my best friend Rebecca Delight. Jeff’s sister Lisa, her husband Mike, and their son Weston.

35.Did the baby have any complications? He was really stuck. When they went to get him out during the c-section they had to pull and push really hard. Poor kid had a horrible cone head. He has 2 large stork bites (red spots) on his head.

36.How old is your baby today? 5 ½ months. He is getting too big!

37.When is the next one coming? Not for a while. I don’t think I can handle another one too soon. McCoy is a ball of energy.

38.If you could would you do it all over again? Oh yes. As much as morning sickness sucks and as bad as my delivery was I would do it again. I’m just amazed by the love I feel for my little baby. It doesn’t hurt that I get to schedule my delivery the next time.

39.Tag five: I tag whoever wants to do this who has had a baby.

One Fun Week!

Things have been quite fun around here the last week. First of all I got my hair cut on Wednesday. If you didn't know, or couldn't tell, I have been gradually cutting my hair shorter and shorter. Well I decided this time I was going to cut it shorter than my shoulders. Jeff has only seen my hair this short in pictures. I went to my wonderful hairdresser and told her how short I wanted it but did not know what style. (She also colored my hair darker, which I love and need because I have gray hairs!) I told her I wanted to keep my bangs but for her to just do whatever she thought would look good. Most of the time hair dressers love me because I'm not too picky and I often just tell them to choose how to do my hair. She did an awesome job! I don't know what others think of my hair but I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT! Thanks Nikki!



Jeff plays on one of our ward basketball teams. (There are 2 in our ward.) They are playing awesome this year. They had a game today which they won putting them in to a spot for the final four teams in the region. We have only gone to see 2 games, I know we are bad but some have been really early. McCoy loves watching basketball on tv and loves it just as much in person. We are excited to go watch Jeff play on Saturday!

McCoy of course is changing daily. On Monday night he was playing on the floor on his stomach as usual and did a few push ups. Meaning he was up on his hands and his toes. By today he has started pushing up so high that he sticks his bum in the air. He wants to move forward so bad! He is really good at moving around in circles and can inch his way forward a little but that kid is dying to crawl. Tonight he started bending in his left leg while he was up on his toes. I'm afraid he may be crawling too soon. I'm excited to see his changes but as he becomes more mobile he doesn't want to be held or snuggled as much. He is also so wiggly while being held. When I was little I loved sitting on my dad's lap and he called me his "wallorer" because I couldn't hold still. I think McCoy is my little wallorer! We love his little personality. One of our favorite things is that when he sees you he gives this huge smile and pulls his hands up to his face because he is so excited. He can look away for 5 seconds, look back and smile at you just like it is the first time he has seen you in days. McCoy has also started to really notice Cede. He will just lay on his stomach and watch her play. He has started reaching out to her and petting her. Well it isn't really petting as much as grabbing or hitting but she doesn't mind either way. Harley, Julianne's dog, loves to play. She thinks that McCoy is laying on the ground trying to play with her. It is so cute!

Practicing his push ups

Starting to get mad because he wants to crawl

Checking out Cede

Cede giving him a kiss. I realize that some people are
probably freaking out about this but I won't let her kiss
him more than twice and really how am I going to keep
this from ever happening.

Getting in their starting postitions to play

Let's Go!


(Sorry for the picture overload. I couldn't help it. He was just too cute today!)

So Much Going On!

Rolled over while holding the blanket. He thinks he is funny.

Wow, I haven't posted in a month. Things have been quite crazy around here but I'll try to catch everyone up on what has been going on with our family. McCoy has his 4 month well check on February 6th. He weighed in at 13 lbs 12 oz, was 24 1/2 inches tall and his head circumference was 16 1/2 inches. He is just growing like a weed. About a week or so before his appointment he learned how to roll over. He learned how to roll from his stomach to his back one day, mostly just because he wasn't too excited about being on his stomach. I wasn't very good with tummy time, I always gave in. The very next day he taught himself how to roll from his back to his stomach. He only did it once that day but the next day we couldn't keep him from being on his stomach. He was like a rolling maniac, which he still is. He enjoys being on his stomach so much that he gets mad when his neck gets tired and he should roll onto his back. He is still smiley as can be. It doesn't even matter if you are smiling at him, he will smile at you.

My snuggly boy

McCoy has also been very interested in our food. He will sit and watch the fork move from the plate to our mouth. So about a week ago we decided to try t feed him rice cereal. My sister Kris said that we would know if he was ready for it. He certainly was ready for it. He loves rice cereal. So we have been feeding it to him twice a day.

First bites
(You can see his fuzzy hair lit up by the sunlight, he is getting more every day)

He would get mad if I didn't feed him fast enough

Back to being happy!

He's also a talker. He really enjoys hearing his own voice. While he is playing he just talks and yells the whole time. He makes funny sounds using his tongue. I find him pretty amusing. Along with the rolling over he has started using his arms to push himself up. It's like he is doing push ups all the time. It's like he learns something new and just moves on to the next thing. I'm not looking forward to chasing him around once he learns how to crawl. Don't get me wrong I'm excited for him to crawl, but my baby is growing up too fast. I didn't realize that he would grow so quickly. I'm trying to take as much time snuggling him right now as I can. I realize that he won't be my snuggle bug forever.

Like I said earlier things have been crazy around here. We finally sold our house in St. George and we are so excited to be able to find a place to rent. Two weeks ago my mom went to the hospital for heart problems. She had had a heart attack earlier in the week and hadn't known, but that night she started having chest pains and was throwing up a lot. Finally the pain was so bad she figured she was having a heart attack. It was quite a scare for the family. The main artery to her heart was 100 % clogged so they put a stint in which helped the blood flow get back to her heart. That first night we were not given very good news. We were told that she only had 20% heart function and that so much of her heart was dead muscle that would most likely not recover. We were also told that she could cardiac death at any point. She would not be able to have a normal life again. Within a few hours some of the muscle had come back and her heart function was between 35% and 40%. She came home 5 days later and has been doing well since. We know that a lot of her recovery was due to prayer from many people and we are so thankful for that. Two days later my little sister, Julianne, found out that she is having TRIPLETS! Yes I said TRIPLETS. We are so excited for her! This means that my parents will more than double their grandchildren in a year. The triplets will be hard work but all of her family is here for her.

Valentine's weekend was so fun. I will do a whole separate post on that because Jeff and his friends planned the funnest trip and they deserve a post just about how great they are!

One more thing, I just wanted to remind everyone that I'm going to make my blog private soon. So if you haven't given me your email address please do! Anyone and everyone!