Wow. It has been a while. I'm sure a ton has happened in the last few months.

The holidays were great. It is so much more fun when you have a little one. Especially since this year she kinda got it. She was excited every time she saw a Santa. We would be driving down the street and she would say "HooooHoooo!". Sure enough I would look out the window and see a Santa in someones yard. She loved the tree and the lights also. Every morning she would walk up to the tree and say "on? peas?" for me to turn the lights on.

One of my favorite parts of the holiday festivities was going to the holiday parade in the next town over (which is only about a mile from our house so we walked over). She LOVED all the firetrucks, kids and lights. I will admit I actually got a bit emotional watching her reaction and seriously had to fight back some tears. Her eyes just lit up and she was so amazed each time. I have no clue how I will ever take her to Disney World if a silly town parade makes me a sap.

Another one of my faves was when our town came around in the firetruck with Santa to hand out candy canes. She LOVED it. She was so excited watching them go around the neighborhood. All she kept saying was "Ho Ho!". Then, when the truck stopped in front of our house those big amazed eyes lit up again (I was battling holding back the emotions again!). And she nicely thanked the fireman when he handed her the candy cane and waved "bye bye". So cute. The one thing I was super bummed about was that my husband wasn't home to witness that one.

She loved the gift opening on Christmas morning. We started at our house, of course. She didnt show too much reaction to what the gifts were, except for her Elmo slippers. When she opened the box she said "Elmo!". Everything else she would unwrap and put to the side and say "more?" for another gift. Once we got to my parents house though- the game was on. She knew EXACTLY which gifts were hers (wrapped in Mickey and Spongebob). And quickly caught on that the Spongebob paper was toys and Mickey was clothes so she bee lined for her "BumBob" gifts...even climbing over everyone else's gifts to get to them. Too funny. She made out like a bandit too.

Then New Years weekend we went to Delaware to spend some time with the Potts side of the family. Always a good time. Makenna has a BLAST playing with all her cousins. She goes from not having many kids to play with around here to having 4 big cousins (7, 5 and 2 two year olds) and 1 little cousin (6 months) there. 

Aside from the holidays, one of the biggest thing to happen in the Potts household is Makenna is now fully weaned and sleeping through the night (since a few weeks before Christmas)! We still have occasional nights were she wakes up in the middle of the night but I think thats due to her teething with her canines. Poor kid. I just wish all these teeth would come in. I do miss the night time bonding and cuddles, Im not gonna lie. But I knew it was time for both of us.

Some more milestones in the life of Makenna?

She is talking a ton. Putting a lot of phrases together like "tan tu, Mommy" [Thank you, Mommy], "sit Eiko...down Eiko...no Eiko" [Neiko], She picks the main words in sentences we say to repeat. Example if I say, "No, No don't touch that's hot." She will say "hot" and nod her head. Sometimes I feel like there is an echo in the house :o) Also, "I see youuuuu" is a common phrase and she has been saying "coming" a lot. I guess I say "Im coming" to her frequently because now when she wants to to come with her somewhere she will hold out her hand (for you to take/follow) and say "coming Mommy". She does use it in the correct context too though.

She loves to sing and dance. And this little girl has rhythm- clearly she didnt get it from her Mother or Father. At the toddler Rhyme Time that we go to at the library, they sing a "Hello" song with the kids names in the verse (ie "Hello Makenna, Makenna is my friend, Hello Makenna and here we go again" repeating for the next kid in the circle). Makenna is a huge fan of this song. We sing it in the car all the time but we change the verses for our friends and families names. Now she sings the hello song by herself- well, she makes a darn good attempt. I will catch her in her car seat singing "Helwo Eiko...Helwo Mommy...helwo". She also likes when I sing the verses and she tells me whose name to use. I will sing the verse and ask her "now who?" and she will say "daddy" or "nana" etc.

She is doing awesome at eating on her own with a spoon or fork. She has always been a good eater- and always fed herself since we did Baby Led Weaning. But now she is becoming a master. Today we were out at Ikea and she sat in a chair (big girl chair, she hates high chairs- she wants to be one of the big people) and ate a half of a yogurt with a spoon and didn't spill a drop on herself. I was impressed!

She loves to be silly, loving (when its on her terms), loves to learn. As always loves when she has the attention of the room and will make sure everyone is watching (unless its people she doesn't know- then she needs about a half hour or so to warm up before she steals the show). She loves to make us laugh and totally knows when she is being funny...or bad...or smart.

Every stage of her life I say to myself "this is the best" until I get to the next stage and think the same thing. I know I am a little bias since I am her mother but she really is an amazing little girl. I'm so incredibly proud to call her ours. <3

Lefty or Righty? Or maybe both!

Lately Makenna has been throwing us for a loop. Ever since she was little she favored doing things with her right hand. So naturally we assumed she was a righty. Assume nothing. Now she is doing things with her left hand. Or both. Like eating- she eats on her own with a spoon or fork now (has for a few months) and more often than not she is using her left hand. In the beginning I corrected her and put it in her right hand but now Im not so sure. So I let it go and if that's easier and feels natural for her then maybe she is a lefty. My Mom caught her kicking a ball with her left foot the other day too. Silly girl. She always keeps us on our toes, never being predictable.

A few things I forgot about in the last post-

Her Bubba

She picked up on me sometimes calling Neiko, Bubba. Ive always done it but don't do it too often so I was kinda shocked when I heard her call her "Bubba" for the first time a few weeks ago. Sometimes is for him to come to her, sometimes its for him to "Go-way". Sometimes she sings a Bubba Song. I guess at 15 months Bubba is much easier to say than Neiko. But in the last few days she has been practicing saying Neiko, randomly. It usually comes out as "ek-KO" but thats close enough!

Last night she was sharing her cheerios with Neiko (she had enough and was concerned he didnt) and we taught her to tell him to "sit" first. She thought it was the best thing ever. And was even more funny when Daddy showed her all the other tricks we could make him do.

Shoes

She knows how to put her shoes on. She has velcro sneakers that she LOVES to put on herself and wear around the house. More often than not they are on the wrong feet but she has it down. She will even close the velcro. This has come in handy when she takes them off in the car, which she has done since she was about 6 months old. She hated shoes or socks on in the car. BUT this is usually what happens in the car, EVERY time she gets put in her seat (even if we are going to a store a block away)

-the shoes and socks come off

-the shoes go back on.

-I park the car, open the door on he side to see the shoes on, socks missing and the velcro out of the loop of her shoes

-She looks at me and says "Elp?" (aka help)

-I say "I thought I told you to leave the shoes on silly, where are your socks?"

-She says "ocks" and points to the seat or floor, or hands me a sock if she has it handy.

Everytime. No exageration.

 I decided I am going to create a new post every month (on the 29th) called "What I like". Since this blog is mostly for her and something to look back on, it will be fun to see what he current favorite or must haves were at the time. Hopefully I stick to it though! 

Latest happenings?

Yesterday she learned to lock doors... bad part of that was I was on the other side of the door when she figured it out. The door to our basement steps has a knob that's reverse (the lock is on the kitchen side instead of the basement side of the door) and we have a child saftey thingie on the doorknob. Well, I ran down the basement to get a shirt out of the dryer real quick. Literally takes less than a minute. Our basement steps are SUPER steep so I don't really like taking her down them if I don't have to. Well she didn't like being left (she LOVES to visit our snakes and ferret down there). So there she yelled at me. I heard the knob jiggle and figured she was spinning the lock thingie to try to get the door open. I run up the steps to realize, I'm locked in the basement by my 16 month old. Nice. Luckily our basement has a door (picture something out of Alice and Wonderland- this "door" is only about 4 feet tall) leading outside. So I was able to go outside and come back in through the backdoor (which luckily I didn't lock this time cause I usually do).
Lessons learned?
1. Turn the knob around and dont let your kids have access to locking you in the basement
2. Always have your phone on you
3. Dont piss off Makenna.

We have been going to the library once a week for Under 2 yr old "Rhyme Time" (this past Thursday was the 2nd time). They sing songs, dance, read a book, do interactive things.  Its really cute. Makenna is so shy around people she doesn't know or in big groups (wonder where she gets that from ;o). So most of the time she just sits on my lap and watches the teacher and the other kids. Majority of the stuff she knows what to do (like jump, clap, stomp, animal noises, etc) but she is too shy to do any of it. This past time she did clap a little though so hopefully each time she will build up some confidence. We dont know too many kids her age in our area so I really like her to learn how to interact and see how other kids interact. She is nice to the other kids, she just doesn't get how to interact and play with them yet. At the end of the session they let the kids free play and she always tries to share the balls and toys with the other kids and babies though so I guess that's a start!



The first set of molars- I hate them! This poor little girl. I feel awful. A month ago they were swollen and she had a slight fever over these darn teeth. Then things calmed down. She wasn't cranky, started sleeping more normal (well, "Makenna normal"), started self weaning and she even started putting herself back to sleep when she woke up. Then BAM the darn teeth pain comes back full force and she is back to waking up constantly, wanting to nurse more at night, avoiding naps and being a total crank-ster during the day (which cause also be from the lack of sleep). Not fun. I can feel them spiking through though so hopefully they pop in soon so she doesn't have this crazy pain...and so I have some sanity.

~These are a few of her favorite things~

- Telling Neiko to "Go Way". He does get in her face a TON but Im trying to teach her its not nice to say "go away"...esp since she has said to to people a few times, and today we caught her singing "la ah la da la...go way" in the car today.

- Elmo. And she is spot on for saying his name.


- Babies. She loves singing about them, talking to them...pretend crying like them (which sounds very similar to her "cat" noise). She loves it. He cousin Miranda was here a few days ago (I think she is 5 months?) and Makenna kept talking to her and when she cried Makenna would bring her bottle and say "baby...baby". She will make a great big sister someday <3

-Apples. Grapes have been a staple in our house but lately they have been replaces with apples. I think part of it is she just loves saying "apple". She really says it clear too.

 - Playing dress up. She loves picking up random pieces of clothing and "trying them on". Whether it be a pair of our shoes, a pants turned hat, shirt turned dress or bra turned necklace (true story) its fashionable. And she will often leave the room, and come back in and if you aren't paying attention she will get all excited to show off and say "Hello!" and giggle like crazy when you see her new fashion statement.

Here are some super blurry pics...

And some not so blurry but super cute pics from the park when her cousins Andre and Miranda came.

NOTE: The matching shirts were a TOTAL coincidence. Before we left the house for the park we both had to change the girls and did so separately, (not realizing we picked identical clothes)...and went with it anyway. They are too cute.

A little girl and her NEW best friend

Makenna has a new love. Of course Neiko (our dog) has not been replaced as the bff...he just isn't as easy to carry every where as Mickey Mouse. She has always liked when he walks out in the beginning of Disney Jrs Mickey Mouse Clubhouse...she would smile so big and giggle. My Mom and I found a Mickey Mouse at Target in the clearance section... $10! Win! She immediately wanted him out of the box and was kissing and hugging him. And has rarely put him down since. He goes EVERYWHERE with us. To the store, to the park, down the slide, to bed, even if we are only going down the basement to flip the laundry. He is always right there by her side...



Its so cute. The funny part of it though is he is almost as big as her.



It totally threw me off guard when she became so attached to him. She has never had an attachment to anything (except me). But this is love. And since she cant say "Mickey" she calls him "E". And if he isn't there, she is asking me for her "E".

She really just has a new love of stuffed animals. Which is awesome cause we have PLENTY since my ridiculous self couldn't part with my childhood stuffed animals so I saved them. Yanno, in case the world ran out of stuffed animals and my kids needed them. Sometimes I catch her trying to carry Five Plus stuffed animals at a time including Mickey, Two Giraffe (Raff as she calls them), a Monkey (aka an Eek Eek), a duck (her Uck). She doesn't like to leave anyone out of her little parties. Those five seem to be the more special ones lately. The VIP list.

She also loves putting them on her random walkers and ride on toys and pushes them or takes them for a ride. Santa is already planning on a nice baby stroller under the tree this year. Or maybe he should bring a wagon that way E, Eek Eek, Uck and the Raffs can all travel together!

A little girl and her best friend

I know I have said it time and time again but seriously, Neiko (our monster sized chihuahua) and Makenna are as BFF as they come. They LOVE playing together and definitely look out for each other. Example.

Today I was giving Neiko a bath in the tub. He hates baths. Although he doesn't fully freak out, you can definitely tell they stress him out. He was badly in need of one though. Anyway. I have Neiko in the tub...Makenna was behind me. All the sudden she takes off running and disappears out of the bathroom. So I call for her and don't hear anything. A second later she comes running in the bathroom. I'm still leaning over the tub, scrubbing the dog and I see her little hand pushing past me to get to Neiko. And in it? A piece of dog food. And in the other hand? A handful of dog food. She stood there and hand fed him one piece at a time, calming him down while I finished his bath. So cute. She is already so thoughtful and would do anything for her Neiko. Check out some pics of the bffs in action...







In other happenings, she is talking a ton now. She tries to say almost any word we ask her to. Some really clear ones are bye, hi, see ya later (which comes out as one word), Help, Up, Mommy, Daddy, Nana, Apple, Shoes, Car, Baby, Please, Thank you and Juice. Of course my favorite out of the bunch is Mommy. The way she says it and her little cute voice just makes me melt every time. I definitely have to get it on film. In the last week she has picked up almost every animal noise I have taught her including Tiger, Lion, Cat, Dog, Frog, Sheep, Monkey, Bird, Cow, Snake. And when you ask her what a bunny does she says "hop hop", what a lizard does she flicks her tongue in and out and what Neiko does- she pants like a dog. haha She really is so silly. She LOVES pretending to be a dog...crawling around on all 4s and coming over for us to pet her and tell her how she is such a cute dog. She also loves to dance...and sing. She has the cutest song that she made up herself. Not of words, its more a "dob-ie dob" kinda sound but its by far my favorite song ever. And of course the baby song where she sings "bayyyyyyyyy beeeeeee bayyyyyyy beeeee". Galloping is also a current favorite activity. She is just so active and fun. I really can't imagine her having a better personality. She is pretty shy around other people though (wonder where she got that from), sometimes I wish she would break out of her shell and let the real Makenna shine though.

As for the sleep issues, we are still working on them. She has gotten a lot better in the past few weeks though. In time!

Baby Shower Fun!

Currently I am planning a baby shower for my awesome cousin, Kathryn, who lives in Florida. Since she lives so far, we are having the gifts sent directly to her in FL but she is flying up this weekend for the Baby Shower. All the guests were asked to print pictures of the items they bought to put in a card or box for her to open so it still has the awwww cute-effect even though the gifts wont physically be there. We are having a small wishing well for her to open a few things though. I'm super excited. I have been working on the DIY details for a about 2 months now and becoming more obsessed with them each day. Her friends and family have done a great job helping out also and I cant wait to see the details all come together.

Here is a sneak peek- Kathryn, you better hit that little X and ska-daddle!






Invites

Dont mind the scratch, this was an extra.


The inside of the invite (obvs the info was changed)




Cupcake Toppers


Centerpieces (3 pieces)

Flower Vase


Picture Frame (there are 2 different styles)


Small Monkey Tin with Candies



Hershey Candy Bar Favors



Food Labels


Water Bottles







I also have a banner in the making. Ill most likely be posting pics from the day of the shower. Can't wait!

Silly Monster

I cant express how much I love this silly monster. She just has me cracking up all day. She LOVES to be silly and definitely knows when she is. She even laughs at herself most of the time also! She is SO smart too. We have never "baby talked" to her. Not even when she was an infant. I don't really believe in or like the whole baby talk thing. We don't want to teach her words that you make sound 'babyish' like "doggie" or "up-y". I kinda think its silly to teach them babyish words THEN teach them the real words. Why not just teach them the real words to begin with? I don't know, that's just my opinion- every Mom has their thing, right?

Anyway!

A few days ago, I was sitting at the computer...Neiko (our monster chihuahua) came and laid on my lap. Makenna decided this was not acceptable and SHE wanted to get in my lap. She came over and started pushing his bottom and said "go". Then of course it turned into a game for the two of them and they started playing. But she just amazes me with how fast she picks up stuff. We were just teaching her "go" the day before and to have her use it out of the blue and in the correct situation is awesome.

Also the other day, we were at the park and they have this steering wheel thing and she was standing at it and I asked her if she wanted to "drive". She turned to me and said "keys?". For me to give her the keys because DUH Mom, you cant drive without keys! Here is a pic...



And the silly little monkey climbed this big guy at the park all by herself. OF COURSE I was right behind her, spotting her, but she didn't need my help at all.



Another tale of sillyness- the other night I was rocking her to sleep (yep, the sleeping plan is still in effect!) and she was flopping this way and that way in my lap to get comfy. She ended up sitting in my lap with her back against my chest. I had my hands on her lap and she grabs both of my hands, puts them on her head and says "hat?". haha So silly. I couldn't help but laugh and of course she laughed too.

I have a feeling we will have a lifetime of laughs with this little Monster :o)