Saturday, November 19, 2005

I know... its been a while...

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I apologize for my lack of pictures and updates. A lot has been going on here at Fort Knox, most of which I don't care to mention. I have uploaded a bunch of pictures and found a few more that I forgot last time, so this post is filled with pictures. I'm sure you all will love that.
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Makayla has changed so much. She has become a pushy... independent baby. She has learned that if offered something she doesn't want she can flap her arms around in front of her and squint her face and people pretty much get the idea. She has also learned to push my hands away if she doesn't like something I�m trying to do... like whipping her nose or switching out her earrings. She has also become extremely determined when she wants a toy... or to be picked up.
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She has mastered crawling but still likes to "low-crawls" from time to time. (Low-crawl is a military maneuver that requires soldiers to use only their arms and legs to move forward on the ground. Very tiring if I may say so myself.) I think she has discovered that her grunting gets my attention really quick because that�s what she does when she decides she needs to be picked up. One of the best feelings in the world is when she grunts until I pick her up and when I do she lays her head on my shoulder and grips onto my shirt and holds on for a few seconds. Then she turns around and starts attacking her toys again. Its almost like she�s telling me "I just wanted to give you a hug and tell you I love you."

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She is such a sweetie pie. After forcing myself to sit back and let my baby learn to do things on her own I realized she can pull herself up on furniture and inch around it. I have a really bad habit of not wanting to see her struggle. Anytime she is trying to do something like pulling up on the furniture I always help her up. She can also balance for a few seconds... so I'm sure walking is right around the corner. Here she is testing her ability to balance and get to me. She never moved her butt off the couch though, but she tried.

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She loves her toothbrushes. In the mornings and after her baths at night I always brush her teeth, then hand her the toothbrush and let her do it her self. She mostly just chews on it, but at least she is getting familiar with it.

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Part her demonstration of independents is her ability to turn her mobile on and off. I put her classical music CDs on anytime she takes a nap or goes to bed, but I guess from time to time that just isn't enough.
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She is still in love with books and doesn't mind spending time by her self. Here she is "reading" in her bed by herself. This makes my life harder. She is content long enough for me to take a shower and get ready for the day.

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Most of the time we play on the floor in the living room, but from time to time we play in the floor in her room. I really need to get her rug for her room.Image hosted by Photobucket.com

Here she is consentrating REALLY hard on the toy I was playing with. To me it looks like she is really sad, but I promise she is concentrating!Image hosted by Photobucket.comImage hosted by Photobucket.com

See... this is the toy she was watching me play with. You pull the lever down and the arrow in the middle turns around as it tells you the sound the animal makes that it was just pointing to. It looks like she is trying to figure out how I got that arrow to turn around and talk to her.Image hosted by Photobucket.com
It is very rare that Makayla will fall asleep in anyones arms. She is so used to putting her self to sleep in her own bed. I was lucky this day. I enjoyed every min. of it because I'm sure it wont happen again any time soon.
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We had a great first Halloween. She was a ladybug. And the cutest ladybug I have ever seen, if I may say so myself. A girl I work with brought her 2-month-old son over and we walked the 2 of them around the block� just o show them off.
This is the one of the outfits she wore during the day before it was time to dress up. Image hosted by Photobucket.com

I was trying to get a few cute pictures, and she was trying to watch TV. She was actually waving her arm right before I took this picture, as if telling me "MOVE MOM, your in my way!!!"
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Here is Kayla and her pumpin buddy. She would NOT let go of that hanger. I have another picture of her whinning becuase I took it away. I'm telling you... pushy... pushy!Image hosted by Photobucket.com

This is Madeline... another pumpkin buddy that she has. Madeline is about a month younger than Kalie.
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Theres that darn hanger again, but she has such a sweet expression... how could you be mad?
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And finally a perfect smiling lady bug. I could not get enough of her in this outfit. I took pictures with the camera, my camera on my phone, and video taped it.
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Heres Duncan doing a little yard work, and Kayla "helping." I really hate yard work, so I appreciate any help I can get. I have the biggest yard on the whole block. What was I thinking when I decided on this place?

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Theres that smile we all love!
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And again!
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Heres a happy baby at bath time. I remember the days when she HATED baths. Now she loves it. I know you are probably all thinking she is to big for that sink, but she slips and slides so much she wouldn't last in the big tub. We are going to try is soon though.
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Here she is enjoying her Noggin shows. The only time she really pays attention to the TV is when Moose and Zee are on there. (Zee is the bird you see on there now.) She also loves the credits and the songs they play.

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I have got a few phone calls lately asking me about the board that I had recently. I think I explained what a board was the last time I mentioned it so I wont go into that again. This board that I went to this past week was for soldier of the year and I won! There were a few more tasks to do this time, but it was fun. I am SO happy that it is over, but more stressed out about the next one that I have to go too. The next one will be soldier of the REGION! Talk about over whelming. It will be in Virginia, so I will be away from my baby for probably a week. All of this time away from Makayla is the reason I�m NOT re-enlisting.
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Hope you all enjoyed the pictures. I will try my hardest update more often. I have so much on my plate right now, but I am going to get better at managing my time soon.

Sunday, October 02, 2005

Like I promised...

Well.... I never really promised but we are back in action. I know the main reason most of you come to this page is to see all the pictures, and I have been depriving you all. Now that I am back in action with my free internet I can get back to putting pictures on here. Let me stop with all the talking and get right to the reason you are all here.

Here's Kayla with the most angelica look I have ever captured on film. She gives me this look a lot, but I just never have a camera on hand when she does.
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You can't tell me she doesn't make those toes look yummy!
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As if she could get any sweeter... here she is snoozing on my bed. It's rare that she takes a nap anywhere besides her bed. She usually whines and complains until you put her in her own bed.
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Here we are on a cold morning getting ready to leave for daycare. OK... so it wasn't all that cold, but she was just so cute in her beenie and matching shoes... I couldn't help it.
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This is another morning we were getting ready for daycare. Now... looking at that smile you would never guess it was 5am.
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This wasn't such a happy day. This was the first time she got a really bad rash. It was horrible! I had to let her have a little naked time after daycare. She loved the air on her cute little bottom, and I couldn't help but grab the camera.
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This is Makayla and our friend Maya. Maya is one of my favorite little people! Her mom was in my unit in the army, but is now out of the army, and getting ready to move to New York. It makes me sad cause I won't be able to watch Maya and her new baby sister grow up. I guess thats part of the military life.
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Here's Maya again... being the sweety that she is. I love that girl.
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Kaylie has more money than any other 8 month old I know. Every time I have a bunch of ones in my wallet I give some to her for her to look at. Then we make a trip to her piggy bank and drop them in there. Plus the money from my baby showers that was given to me by people who couldn't find a gift. That was about $120.00 alone.
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Her and her purple ball. She loves this thing. Usually I put her on the couch or chair with pillows around her so the ball wont roll away.
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And the green balloon. She had a blast with this thing!
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"Look at that pretty girl in that mirror there!"

"What mirror where?"

"Who could that attractive girl be?"

OK... for those of you who don't watch old classic musicals, your probably thinking I have lost my mind. That song is from the movie "West Side Story." Me and my mom used to watch it all the time. Every time I see this pictures that's what I think about. I really wish my mom could have been here to experience being a grandma.
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Here is Kayla and her Aunt Jessie. Jess loves this little girl so much. I know she missing her right now. Don't worry thought. X-mas will be here soon enough and we can swap babies again. By the way... there are a bunch of pictures of me, Duncan and Kayla on Adam's site along with a lot of the rest of the family. I think that site has more pictures of me than this one!
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Look at this smilie baby! I can't get enough of that smile.
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And finally a picture of the teeth. I had been trying to get this picture for the longest. I think we have another one of top trying to come in also.
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Here's Makayla, her cousin Adam, Aunt Peggy and Great Grandma. I love how close Duncan's family is. Every Sunday they get together and have breakfast at Grat Grandma's house.
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She has mastered picking up Cheerios and eating them. I would say she gets about 75% of them in her mouth now. It was funny watching her when I first gave her Cheerios. She would concentrate so hard on one, and when she got it in her hand she would still be looking at the tray with the most confussed look. It was like she was thinking "Now where did that thing go?"
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Hey Cheerios... just a heads up... you could make a lot of money with this face on one of your advertisments!
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That's it for the pictures tonight. And for those of you that don't get a call fron Duncan tonight I have to tell you. All day today She has been saying "da-da." It is so sweet. We were out shopping all day and every where we went she was saying it. Duncan came to the house from staff duty (24 hours sitting at a desk, with NO SLEEP) and I was trying to get her to say it. Of course for about 15 mins. she was just looking at us like we were crazy. Finally she gave in and made his day.

Well, I hope you all had a great weekend, and I hope your Monday is enjoyable.