A Pumpkin for my silly Punkin

Today we started our first tradition as a family! We went pumpkin picking at a local farm. It was fun! My parents came along also. We all had lunch at a pizza place up the street then headed to the farm. It was a really cute place with a market, I had never been there. Makenna amused everyone with her silly noises on the hayride out to the patch. Such a goof. I know she wasn't as excited as I was about our new tradition but next year she will be! I found a really cute pumpkin sweat outfit on sale at Babies R Us so she was adorable and festive too! It ended up being pretty warm and sunny though so the sweat shirt didnt last too long. Because the sun was shining so much she didn't really want to open her eyes up bright eyed like she usually does. But we ended up getting a few good pics anyway!













~In other news~

- We are moving along pretty quickly (considering) upstairs. Makenna's room will hopefully be done by the end of the week. We have both her room and our room painted. Mr. Jersey is working on getting up the wainscoting and then comes the flooring. I'm excited for it to be done! It will make life much easier and more organized!

- I found a new arts and craft project. I was browsing through Etsy a few months ago and found these ADORABLE letters (I forget the Etsy seller so if anyone knows, let me know so I can give them credit!).

They were pretty pricey though so I figured Id try it myself. I used orange instead of the pink since her room is orange and yellow. They aren't 100% finished but here is what they look like so far-



The Latest in Makenna Developments

~She still hasn't figured out how to get back onto her back after rolling onto her stomach. She definitely tries though so I give her credit! Although in the last week she has become a belly sleeper due to it, she seems to like it better.

~She is holding herself up MUCH better while on her stomach. She can actually push herself up so high that she can peek over the top of the pack and play. We are definitely rushing to get her room done and get her in a crib!

~She laughs! I have gotten a few giggles out of her in the past month- here and there. Nothing I would really consider a laugh though. This weekend she decided just about everything is funny. And her laugh is SO adorable and contagious! Yesterday my Dad was sitting with her on their deck and Cedar (the old-man family dog) would come over to check out Makenna and she would laugh her butt off! She is use to her little Neiko so maybe the sight of a big dog (he is a lab) was exciting! Mr. Jersey was playing with her in front of mirrors yesterday too and she loved it. So cute.

~She blows bubbles. Like its her job. All over the place. I constantly have to have a rag with me because she is a drooly mess!

~She thinks anything that is in reach of her little arms is hers. And hers to taste. No matter if I'm holding my phone, a drink, if we are in front of the keyboard...she's goin for it!

~She has decided she doesn't need nap time. Yep. No naps. She isn't too bad with it actually. She doesn't usually get "over tired" since she goes to bed around 7:30 now that its darker earlier. Sometimes she will fall asleep during a feeding for about 5-10 mins but then she wakes up bright eyed and ready for her clown (thats me) to entertain her! I would like her to take some kind of nap during the day though, it would be so much easier for me to get things done...and I wouldnt have to do a mini novel of a blog at 11 pm.

~She is trying to sit! She is over being held like a "baby". Not that she was ever REALLY into it though. If you try to have her relax in your lap- she is doing little crunches to pull herself up. She is still wobbly but definitely in the next few weeks she will have it down and be sitting! When she has something in her head, there is no stopping her!

~We have also decided that I am going to teach her baby sign language. I saw it on an episode of Quints by Surprise. They taught their babies it before they could talk so they could communicate with them. Seems to be a fun activity that Makenna and I can work on during the day once she is a little older and can mimic us better.

~She has decided that Neiko is her bff. She loves petting him, grabbing his ears, nose, feet and tail. Neiko TOTALLY eats it up. He loves it, he loves her! He doesn't even get the slightest bit mad when she tugs on his ears or tail. He just comes back licking her. Its hard to believe that I was concerned how he would be with a baby or if he would be insanely jealous. He loves that Makenna is a part of our family and gets just as excited to see her as he does us.

~Lastly, I'm not sure where she got it from but she makes this silly dinosaur noise when she is excited. Mr. Jersey seems to think it came from one of her toys that makes a lion roar noise. Maybe!



Wu! That was a long post. If you hung in there with me- you're a champ! I hope every one has a great week and a Happy and safe Halloween!

Heaven has gained an angel

The world has lost an amazing man. My Pop, or Father Pop as I have referred to him as, passed away on the 12th. This weekend we had the services in CT. It was hard. I absolutely adored my Pop. Although I didnt see him as much as I would have liked, I always felt close to him and I completely admired him for all he has done. He led an amazing life. A husband of a beautiful woman, a father of 6 girls, a grandfather of 12 and a great grandfather of 2 little girls. Not to mention he has been a catholic priest for 17 years and has had his own parish for 11 years.

He has been through SO much throughout the years medically. I cant help but be relieved that he isn't in pain anymore and that he is happily looking down on us with my Nana. He will be missed more than words can express though. Its hard to believe that he wont put his hand on my face and say "hello beautiful" in his deep voice when greeting me anymore. Or I wont hear his laugh or get one of those warm and comforting hugs he was so great at. Im not sure its fully hit me. Its hard to stop and realized the magnitude of it all while taking care of a 3.5 month old 24/7. When she goes to sleep or is with her Daddy and I get to focus on other things it starts to hit me. I keep telling myself that he is in a better place though and although Im not sure what I believe in religiously, I truely believe he is with my Nana and looking down on us.

I'm also so glad he was able to meet and christen Makenna a few weeks ago. Not only was it special to me and something I will never forget, it gave my family the chance to go up and see him. With our family living in many states, its hard to say if we all would have made it up there to spend time with him one last time.

I'm sure Pop isnt in Heaven blogging and wont read this but if I could I would tell him how he has always been and will always continue to be a big part in my life. He will never be fogotten and will always be missed and loved.










Rest in Peace, Pop

Keep rollin' rollin' rollin' rollin'

Makenna is now offically on the move! She rolled over on the 9th. She has been arching her back and laying to the side for about a week or more now but Saturday, she woke up determined. She realized that if she kicked over her leg that she could ALMOST roll over...if that little arm didnt get in the way. She wasnt giving up though. Finally she realized she had to pull her arm in closer to her body...VICTORY! So there she was proudly on her belly. But after the "now what" realization set in, she panicked. Her arms and feet went flying all over as she yelled like she was mad at me for putting her there. Im not gonna lie, it was a little funny watching her flop around. I was hoping she would realized how to flip herself over but she didnt. Everytime I flipped her over to her back, she was right over onto her belly again in a matter of seconds. She was proud.

My reality hit in that night though. My proudness (pretty sure I just made that up) quickly turned to sleep loss. After her 5 am feeding I laid her into her bed and there she went, onto her belly...and the flopping/ screaming began. Awesome. I flipped her back onto her back and there she went onto the belly again. Of course I couldnt leave her there, she wouldnt calm down and I couldnt sleep knowing she wasnt comfortable being on her belly. After about 1/2 hr of sitting with her and trying to get her to stay on her back I gave up and brought her into the bed with us so I could hold her and know she was okay. She didnt want to cuddle though, she just wanted to roll. We went back and forth between our bed and her bed for about 2+ hours until she finally was tired enough to fall asleep with us in bed.

Last night, I got smart though. I ended up stuffing a rolled blanket under the sheet so she couldnt roll over. Of course she ended up getting herself rolled over after a while but atleast it wasnt an all night thing.

Im hoping she calms down with the rolling over or learns how to roll back onto her back, quickly.

Also, she seems to have a new goofy habit every week. Two weeks ago she would puff our her cheeks and make this almost kissy face with her lips like a little monkey. Then last week she decided it would be cute to stick her toung out, all the time. Goof. This week she will roll to her side and put both her hands up to her cheeks and pushes her cheeks in while making all kinds of silly sounds. Little miss personality. I dont know where she comes up with this stuff!

Being a stay at home Mom sometimes drives me nuts to be stuck in the house most of the week but I couldnt imagine missing out on all these little moments with her and watching her grow and learn.

Blessed in more ways than one

As you can see, I changed the blog name. I'm not 100% satisfied with the new name but didn't feel the old one fit well since most of my writings have been about my daughter and not our animals. I have decided that I am going to print all these posts and put them into a book for her also, starting with the during the pregnancy posts. I think it will be neat for her to read about everything when she is older. I just wish I started the pregnancy posts sooner than I did so I had the entire pregnancy. But- whatcha gonna do?!

Anyway, the Christening in CT was this past weekend. It went AMAZING. Makenna was in such a great mood. She slept almost the whole way up, we stopped about 45 mins before we got to my Grandfathers for a bathroom break and she woke up so I fed her. Then she was awake the rest of the trip and happy to see everyone once we got there. I'm pretty sure she didn't miss one person with the smiles. Around feeding time she was super gassy and screamed- a lot. We got her fed, dressed and calmed down though. Then we headed over to the church (which was just a short walk since its right next to the rectory). Side Note: If you remember from the previous post, my Grandfather is a catholic priest and has his own parish in CT. End side Note. Father Pop (as we sometimes call him) made the ceremony pretty quick though. Makenna started to fuss a little and then turned it into her goofy noises as she usually does. Everyone got a kick out of it. The ceremony was really special and intimate since it was a few members of the family and we were the only ones in the church. The day couldn't have been more beautiful, even the weather cooperated. After everything was done, a few of us stayed in the church for a bit to take some pictures while everyone headed back to the rectory for lunch. We layed Makenna down on the floor and she let that little personality shine. She was talking, smiling and kicking around. She had a blast. Her Godmother (my cousin), Godfather (my brother), my Aunt and Uncle...they all loved it. I'm pretty sure we got about 200 pictures between my Uncles camera and mine. After about a half hour the smiles began to turn though so I headed back to feed her, change her and put her down for a nap. A few laps around the house in the stroller did the trick. They key is to use the bumpy grass though, she doesn't like a smooth ride as much.

Then Mr. Jersey and I got to spend some much needed time with the family. It was great sitting around the table chatting and laughing. Later, my parents took my Dad's side of the family for a walk into the adorable town to see the little shops. They took Makenna for a walk with them also and she loved it!

Everyone ended up staying for dinner also before they made their journeys back home. It was so good seeing everyone and we were so thankful they could make the trip. I'm really glad everyone got to see my little munchkins personality also. The last few times we saw everyone she was a big time fusser so this was a nice change. Also I'm really glad she got to meet Pop and her Godmother Kathryn. They are both really important people in my life and I was so happy she got to meet them. Oh, and also my cousins Chris, Buddy and Shannon who she hadn't met yet!

All in all, aside from some missed family, I don't think the trip could have been more perfect. We have such amazing family and I cant thank everyone enough for joining us and helping make the day so perfect!

Here are some pics of the day!












On Monday Makenna and I had a little photo shoot to try to get some really great posed shots of her in the dress. Take a look!