Videos...

I don't have too much time to type out a blog but I wanted to upload these silly videos of our goofball real quick...

Bye-Bye Sweet Potatoes



Wheres Makenna?!

.Wow.

The love I have for this little girl amazes me more and more each day. Before she came a long I thought my heart was jam packed with the love I have for my husband, family and friends. And then I found out I was pregnant. I was instantly in love and amazed with the little life that grew inside me. My heart grew. Then she was born. I was never one to believe in "love at first sight". Until I saw that beautiful little face for the first time. She was instantly my world. Its not that I loved the other people in my life any less. The heart that I thought was full, rapidly expanded. Its hard to imagine how your heart could grow that much so quickly until you go through it yourself. Every day more and more of her personality came out. She has always had a strong personality. I knew this since before she was born. It was and is Makenna’s way...or the high way. Its hard to describe but you could see in her eyes...from the day she was born...that she was frustrated being a "helpless" baby. She wanted to go... there was no denying that. Someone told me, when she was only a few weeks old, that she looked "mischievous in a quiet way". That was her to the T. She was always alert. Always observing. Always aware of what she wanted...and how to get it. And that still hasn't changed. If anything its gotten MUCH stronger. She never felt like a newborn to me. I never had that baby that would just eat, sleep and poop. I had a little girl who was taking in the world. Some babies follow the flow...Makenna creates the flow. Of course it is tough sometimes. Her stubbornness, her strong will, her determination. But I wouldn't change it for the world. I wouldn't change a thing about her.

Okay, enough mushy stuff.

Its taken me about a week to write this so here is what has been going on in the world of Makenna…

- Last Tuesday morning she woke up with her first cold. Heartbreaking. It was a bad one too. Fever, runny nose, horrible cough and even an upset stomach at one point. She is still a little congested but seems to be feeling better. Luckily the fever only lasted about 2-3 days. Broke my heart to see her that miserable.

-The wave. She waves at everything…even if there is no one there. She doesn't know she is “waving” yet but she is definitely figuring out how to do the motion. I've been working with her to try to associate it with “hi” and “bye”. Along with blowing kisses.

-She “talks” a lot more. For the past few months she has said “hey”. Super clear. Now I'm not that crazy…I know she is only 7 months and doesn't really know what she is saying. She is just making sounds that sound like words to us. But A few times it has sounded like she has said really clear words. Once when she sneezed it sounded exactly like she said “goddddd” like she was so annoyed with her rotten cold. And then she was playing with her Fisher Price Learning Puppy and it said “hug me” and it sounded like she repeated it right back to him. So cute.

-Along with talking more, she now sings. Its soooo cute. Its rare it happens, usually if she is playing in her crib. It reminds me of Ariel on the Little Mermaid. A bunch of "ahHhh" sounds put together at different tunes.

-Today she discovered she can initiate peek a boo. Our bed is up against a window and she goes to the curtain, swings it around her while I say “where's Makenna…where’d she go?” and she swings it back popping her head out and laughing. So funny. I wish my video camera wasn't dead so I could have shared it with you guys! Maybe next time.

That's all I can think of at the moment. I will have to get the camera out again since she seems to be feeling a bit better. Definitely over due for some pics!

My little flirt...

I wonder how babies know how to flirt...or act shy. I guess its instinct or something. She has always been a little flirt, smiling at waiters or guy friends. But now she has learned she gets more of a reaction if she plays the cute little shy girl. We are in trouble. Here's a play by play...

She starts off by finding her victim. Usually a innocent guy friend of ours, maybe a store worker or a waiter. They dont notice her too much at first. She stares. Sometimes smiling and maybe a little giggle. She catches their attention, they look over and she blushes, grins ear to ear and turns her face to hide it. Or if she can, hides in Mommy or Daddys shoulder. No man can resist. Not only does this little stinker have us wrapped around her little fingers, she has learned how to wrap other people around them too. Trouble.

In other happenings. We are back on a bad sleeping routine. I am currently reading The No-Cry Sleep Solution: Gentle Ways to Help Your Baby Sleep Through the Night. Praying that it works. I will let you know for sure when Im through it!

I know there are a ton of other things to report but I cant think of them at the moment. Hopefully in the next day or two I can get on a post again.

Till then...!

Every day I fall in love with her more and more. Just when I think- that there is no way to love anything more than I love my little monster, she does something that makes my heart grow bigger. Like I have said before, she has never been a cuddle bug. She is always "go go go...and don't try to hold me down with your hugs and kisses." But I get those rare moments that she will stop and let me kiss her like crazy and smile back. Or she will put her head on my shoulders and just hug me. I melt. We are so blessed to have such this amazing little girl in our lives.

Her 6 month appt was Monday. She is 20lbs, 28 inches and is in the 97% for her age . We saw a different doctor at the office and I loved her. She was immediately surprised how big Makenna was for a 6 month old. She couldn't believe that she was crawling already... Which she has been a pro at for about a week now. She also never heard of baby led weaning but was interested and said she was gonna look it up. Kinda weird that she was the second doctor that Ive seen that hasn't heard of it. It makes so much sense, I am surprised more people don't do it.

Makenna is starting to mock sign language also. Its so cute. She will do the sign for "milk" which is opening and closing your fist, kinda like you are milking a cow. She hasn't really used it to ask for milk but she is getting the motion down. She understands it when I do it right before I feed her though. It wont be long.

Speaking of things happening quick- she is a stubborn and determined little thing. She has gotten very good at pulling herself up on things and standing. She stands at the couch, in her crib, walls, boxes...anything she can. She has figured out how to sit back down and tries to transfer from one object to another. We cant stop her. I tried to slow her down because I was worried she would fall but she is actually really good at it. She has only fallen a few times and didn't get hurt, she usually catches herself. Pretty soon she will be walking, then we are all in trouble! Here are some videos of her in action...







The playroom is now under construction. I'm so excited! But since we have to walk through that room to go up the stairs, we are back in the spare room downstairs. We moved her crib down this time instead of having her sleep in the pack n play. So far, its a huge success. She was having trouble sleeping upstairs. I'm not sure if it was the new environment or the fact that we aren't in the same room, or that its a bit cooler up there, even with the space heater. She would fight me when I tried laying her down and would wake up every hour n a half to two hours- which is worse than when she was a newborn. So far, since we moved back downstairs on Saturday she is back to every 4 to 5 hours. Sometimes more. I am pretty excited about that. I was stressed and overtired with the lack of sleep.


Off to chase my little monster...

Eat. Sleep. Play.

Okay, so I lied about the sleeping part. She is not a fan of that, still fighting naps and she totally throws a fit a night now. I don't know where the baby that would just lay in bed talking to herself went. Every night is a struggle. But on the upside, she is loving the eating and playing part! Ready for a picture overload?


Eat.

~Mango~

~Sweet Potato~

~Cantaloupe~

Play.


...Apparently I only take pics when she is in her jammies. She has such cute outfits too, Ill have to get on that!...

.The End.

Mommy's Girl

I really need to keep up better with these posts! So much has happened, its hard for me to remember and document everything.

Makenna is now fully on the move. And very proud of herself. She has been scooting for a while now but 2 days ago she took her first "real" crawling steps. I was so proud, and so was she! She doesn't do it 100% of the time yet though. I think its hard for her to do on the wood floors, she had a better time with it at my parents last night on the carpet. Of course she cant just stick to crawling for a bit. Nope. Not my Makenna. She has to do the next big thing. For about 3 weeks now she has put her feet and hands on the floor and sticks her little butt up in the air like she is just gonna stand up and walk away. So silly. Today she decided since she crawled 2 days ago- now she should stand on her own. She climbed one of her toys to the point where she was just standing, holding on. She has some serious determination. Of course I was right next to her in case she took a spill. Every great step she does, I'm so proud of her! Its so exciting to watch her grow. But at the same time I'm thinking "oh crap". No more stepping out of the room for a second. No more turning around real quick. She is making sure my attention is on here 24/7. Little stinker. I really am proud of her and the excitement I have for her ever accomplishment definitely outweighs any "oh crap" moment.

I love that she loves me, I love her hugs, I love how she blows raspberries on my neck and belly, I love her little slobbery kisses that only a parent could love, I love the way she looks at me and smiles when I come in the room. I cherish every moment. But in the last 2 weeks she has been extremely clingy. All she wants is Mommy. It breaks my heart for Waylon, when he has had a long day and just wants to spend time with her and she just wants to cling to me. I know its just a Mommy phase but I want her to cling to him too. I want her to find comfort in other people, not just me. Some days she is better than others though. And she still has fun playing with every one else. Especially her wrestle time with Daddy.

She is too funny. She cant get enough rough housing. My Grandfather (Father Pop who recently passed in October) did this trick with all his daughters and most of us grandchildren where he holds the baby up and they stand on his hands. Super scary to watch. I never thought I would be okay with my baby doing that. A few days before Christmas Waylon joked about getting her use to doing it. The next day she was. Am I a crazy Mom? Maybe. But seriously, he isn't going to drop her. He is super quick when it comes to reactions and she is really stong. I wouldn't let anyone else do it to her aside from him. And she LOVES it. She smiles and laughs and does her happy yell. I know Pop would be proud of her, I just wish he was here to see it.

In other news we are full force going with the baby led weaning. She is doing much better. She has learned to chew and swallow the foods. She will spit out any chunks she bites off that are too big. We have tried sweet potatoes, broccoli, mango and cantaloupe. All of which she loves. And then she has had grapes and peas in her mesh thing so she doesn't choke on the skins. We also picked up these Gerber graduate puffs. She loves them. They are quick dissolving she she doesn't choke. And they are good for her learning to use her fingers for grabbing.




My little girl is growing up.

Tomorrow is the first day in a while we don't have plans so I am going to play around with the camera and try to get some good shots. Until then...

Christmas!

Hope everyone had a good Christmas! Ours was wonderful.

Christmas Eve we went over our friends/my parents neighbors/waylons cousin/waylons boss's house...yeah, confusing. It was great. My Mom & Dad actually gave us our Christmas gift early, that night- a video camera! Now we can record all Makennas cuteness to share. :o) Although I am having trouble uploading the videos onto the computer. Hopefully one of these days I can call Canon and figure out what the problem is.

Christmas morning Makenna gave us the best gift that a 6 month old can give, she let us sleep in a bit! So sweet of her. We started the day off at home, just the three of us (and critters of course). We woke up and had breakfast and opened gifts. She loved eating the wrapping paper and could care less what the actual gift was. So silly. Once the toys were out of the box she was loving it though. Then around 2 we went over my parents for dinner and gifts. Makenna made out like a bandit. We also didnt do to bad! My brother got us a pretty sweet 75-300mm lens for our camera. I am still playing around with it but so far, I love it! I cant wait to go to the Bronx Zoo and get some shots in the spring.

Im kicking myself in the butt becuase I didnt take any pictures of christmas day since we played with the video camera the whole time. It is what it is though, atleast we have the video to look back on.