We have pierced ears!

Last Sunday we took Makayla to the mall and got her ears pierced. I couldn't believe the paperwork I had to fill out. They actually have a notary there! I was talking to the lady about the piercing and she said they would be able to do it because the notary was there. I thought I heard her wrong. I literally had to fill out 3 pieces of paper and sure enough the last one, the guy actaully pulled out the notary stamp and notarized it after I signed it. I started getting nervous. I felt like I was signing her over to the store or something. The only thing I have ever had to have notarized is the paperwork for "arrangements" for Makayla if I get deployed. Anyways, dad had to hold her...of course. What... I can't be the bad guy! :-) I have to be the one that comforts her afterwards! Kayla was fine while the lady was putting the dots on her ears to show me where the earrings would be. My poor baby SCREAMED her head off when she got the actual piercings. She turned so red! Duncan looked really nervous. He said he wasn't expecting her to scream that loud. She only cried for about 2 mins, then she was fine. She seemed a little touchy the rest of the day, but pretty close to her normal self. She has had the earrings almost a week now, and is fine until I have to clean them.




Something I found out during this whole event was that she has the same sign as me, which is aquarius, but she doesn't have the same birthstone. I was sure birthstones went by your sign, but I found out they go by the actual month you were born. Since she was born January 30th she has a Ruby birthstone and I have an Amethyst birthstone. I bought her some purple sunglasses the other day to match the earrings we were going to get her but... well we all see how that turned out.


Last night Makayla slept in her own room, in her crib! I have tried a couple of times to put her in the crib after she falls asleep, but she seemed to wake up and cry. It was confusing me at first. It was almost like she could sense that she was somewhere else. Then I thought about it. When she is in our room, in her basinett she wakes up, but is fine. She usually stares at the animals that are hanging over her head, and talks to herself until she falls back to sleep. Well, when she is in her crib and she wakes up, she is in a much larger space. It was probably making her a little scared. I was also checking out the firmness of her bassinett mattress and her crib mattress. The crib is a lot firmer. So last night I took a fluffy blanket that she has, folder it in half and laid her on that. I also swaddled her, so she would feel more secure. I laid her directly under her mobile, and waited. I pulled out my homework, sat in her glider and read for about an hour before she started with her usual wake up. Sure enough about an hour after she fell asleep she woke up (which she does in her bassinett also.) She wiggled her arms out of the swaddle, as usual, and stared at the mobil. I went over and offered the pacifier, but she spit it out and continued to stare. I went back over to the glider (out of her view), and just waited for her to cry. I read almost 4 sections of my book before I looked over again and she was asleep. I was so happy!



Well, around 1 in the morning I thought I heard her grunting a little, so naturally I reached over, into her bassinet to rub her head and tummy to comfort her and all I felt was a flat cold sheet. Next thing I know I am standing in the middle of my room with the lights on, with my heart in my throat and sweating. I honestly don't remember getting up, or turning on the light, but there I was... and there she wasn't! She made another noise from her room and I almost collapsed with relief. I went in there to check on her and she was still asleep. I tried to give her the pacifier but she spit it out and continued to talk in her sleep. I waited there for a few mins to make sure she wasn't going to wake up, then I went back to bed. Almost the same thing happened around 3 in the morning. This time I reached for her and jumped up, but realized what was going on before I gave myself another heart attack. She was working on waking up this time so I moved her to her bassinet, and rubber her tummy like I usually do and she went back to sleep until I woke her up for daycare.

You've just gotta love that cute face!

Grandpa came to visit!

Duncan's dad works in Kansas, and went home to VA to visit last week. On his way back to Kansas he stopped by Knox and stayed the night with us. We went out to dinner at a new Asian Buffet in a near by town. Duncan and I go there often. It's really good food! Makayla was actually a wake for most of it. Duncan's dad kept calling her a "normal sized baby." He was lucky enough to see both of his grandchildren in one trip.


His grandson Adam is almost 1 years old and is the cutest, chunky little guy. Makayla hasn't met Adam yet. The whole family is supposed to come to visit sometime early next month! We are looking forward to it. I know Duncan misses his mom and can't wait to see her. He's such a momma's boy! It will be nice for her to have both of her children and grandchildren together!


Well, as you can see, we have made a few changes to the page! I changed the background, mainly because I couldn't fix the side bar on the other one. This whole page is html formatted, and I know nothing about html formatting. I stared at the layout and tried to figure out how to get the sidebar back up to the top of the page, but it looked like a foreign language to me. I asked a few people, but they either never responded, or had no idea what I was talking about. I also added links to some of the sites that I visit on a regular basis (or at least try to visit regularly.) I was coached through making the links by Diyosa... thanks!

Makayla is starting to stay awake more during the day and sleep more at night! Like I said, she was awake for most of the dinner we went to this past weekend, and yesterday she was awake for almost all of Duncan's Volleyball game. She slept through dinner at Denny's last night, but when she went to bed at 10pm she didn't wake up again until 4:45am. (and that's with out the cereal!)

I also dropped my first tear the other morning when I was dropping her off. I know... almost three months later and now I want to start crying. It was just so weird. Makayla always wakes up in a good mode. I wake up at 4:15am and all the way up until I wake her up I am in a bad mood, cursing the army and day I joined. As soon as she wakes up she gives me the world biggest smile and I know everything is going to be OK. Well, that morning she just gave me a little smirk and that was it. She was fine while I changed her, fed her and talked to her. When I put her in her car seat she started crying. I figured she just wanted some more loves so I took her out and talked and rocked her some more, but nothing seemed to work. Duncan came down stairs to check on her. We fed her some more, burped her, but nothing seemed to work. I was running late so I just put her in her seat and in the car and off we went. I talked to her the whole way and she was fine for the whole 2 and a half min drive. When we got there she started crying again. I signed the paper work and took her out of the seat. She was just not happy at all. I felt SO guilty leaving her. The sitter's husband laughed at me because I just didn't want to hand her over. When I got in the car the tears were so built up. I tried to find any song on any CD to cheer me up. It was under control by the time I got to work. I called the sitter a couple of hours later to make sure she was ok, and she was sleeping. I guess she complained for a little while longer, but eventually just knocked out. She was telling me that her youngest son started cutting teeth at Makayla's age. It hadn't crossed my mind because shes not even 3 months old yet. Then I thought about it and the night before at Duncan's game she was drooling like crazy! I couldn't figure out what was going on. I thought she was just so mesmerized by all the people and balls flying around. She is still drooling a little. I guess we will find out soon.


Isn't that smile SO priceless? I can never get enough of it. That is all I look forward to all day. Usually half way through the day I come on this page just to see that smile.


I have a long day ahead of me tomorrow. I have to drive to Indianapolis to inspect the Crane Commissary. It seems like all of a sudden we are losing our food inspectors and our distict is giving us more to do. I could take the time and explain that... but I'm sure I would lose most of you, so I will leave well enough alone.

My little artist!

On my refrigerator is Makayla's first piece of art work. I knew I would be excited the day I was able to put something up on my frig. that was made with her own hands, or in this case, her feet! Her sitter said they are supposed to be indians. Isn't it the cutest piece of art work ever!

This wasn't the only first she has had recently. We went to the zoo last weekend. We didn't stay long cause it was pretty hot. Duncan cracks me up. He has fallen in love with the baby "backpack." It all started with a walk. He wanted to carry her in it for one of the walks we went on. We usually just push her in the stroller, but I pulled that thing out and he wanted to carry her in it. I think its kind of silly looking. I told him that and he said proudly "I'm carrying my daughter... I don't care what it looks like!" (That's the new entertainment center in the background... that took ALL day and half the night to put together. Pretty nice huh?)

That night we planned on going to the zoo the next day and he said he wanted to carry her in the "backpack." She loves it in that thing. She looks around, from side to side, until she falls asleep. I have no idea how she sleeps in that thing. It looks so uncomfotable. I used one of those carriers in the airports, when me and Kayla went to California, but if I could have used a stroller (conveniently) I would have.

Whenever we go to the zoo, I alway like to see the elephants so we took her over there. I always feel so sorry for them. I sort of torture myself when I go see them because I remember a show I watched on how the "break" an elephants spirits in order for them to stay so calm in captivity. It's really sad.



Duncan's favorite animal is the tiger, so of course we stopped to check him out. He was takin his usual nap. It seems like everytime we go there he is always sleeping. We both do the same thing. We stare at his stomach to make sure we can see it moving up and down. Hahaha... it always makes me laugh. Like they are really going to allow us to see an animal that has died, just laying there!



There have been advertisments about a new "white" alligator at the Louisville zoo. We were going to stop by there, but the line was ridiculous. We did see the giraffs. They are another favorite of mine.



We recently tried (but decided against) cereal. I mixed some for her in a bowl and fed it to her. She seemed to really like it. It took her a while to get it from the middle of her tounge to the back of her mouth, but she figured it out. I only gave her 3 spoon fulls, and as soon as I sat the bowl down to wait for Duncan to bring us the bottle she screamed at me.




I picked the bowl up and she started getting anxious like she does when she knows her bottle is coming. Its hard to explain how she acts when she knows her bottle is coming, but I will try. I lay her on my lap, and take her burp cloth and lay it on her chest/ under her chin. As soon as she feels that cloth on her she started tightening all her muscles. She pulls her legs and head up like shes trying to do crunches and her little hands turn into "white knuckle" fists. She fixes her mouth in a perfect little "O" shape and starts doing this grunting with the most intense look on her face. As soon as she gets the bottle in her mouth her body loosens back up. Thats how she was acting with the cereal.

We also tried the cereal in the bottle thing. I know... I know..."they" say thats not a good idea, but she did good. She never choked and she slept 7 hours. I know your probably thinking "7 hours! Why would you decide against something like that?" She started having really bad gas. She stopped burping after she took the bottle, which bothered us. All her gas was coming out of the other end, but it really started bothering us when she couldn't sleep at night. I think maybe her stomach was hurting, so we cut the cereal... for now.
Here are some pictures of her trying to crawl! She tries so hard and after a couple of mins. she starts getting frusterated. Her little legs move all over the place, and if she has something to push on, like my leg or hands she will actually move forward.




I have a lot more I can tell you all about, but it is Sunday night and we have to get ready for work tomorrow. Hope you all had a great weekend, and I hope Friday comes quickly for us all!

2 Months Old!

Ok... I know... i'm a little late. She's been 2 months old for seven days now, but we are busy around here! Let's see... where should I start? Well, the day Makayla turned 2 months old we had to go get her first set of shots. I felt sick to my stomach all day, I was so nervous. For the first time... when I went to pick her up from daycare, I wanted to leave her there. I kept thinking "At least here she's safe from the upcoming pain!" But I knew what I had to do, so we were on our way. I called Duncan twice on the way to the hospital, which is about a 5 min. drive, to make sure he was going to be there. The thought of me having to hold her freaked me out. We sat there for about 45 mins, but finally it was our turn. I thought they would have Duncan sit and hold her on his lap. Boy was I wrong. They laid her on the bed, and he had to use his arm to hold her arms down and his other hand to hold both of her feet. Then the doctor was grabbing her legs to give her the shots. My poor baby looked so panicked! It looked like they were holding down a wild animal. I paced the room while they poked one leg once, and the other twice. She only cried for a few seconds, then she was back to her smiling self. This was her when we got home.

And this was when I woke her up to eat and get changed. See that smile?

Well, I knew that wasn't going to be the hard part. The worst was yet to come. We laid down to take a nap while daddy went back to work. He had a Volleyball game in a couple hours so we were planned on getting some rest so we could go watch him play. A couple hours after we went to sleep she woke up and was screaming like she was being murdered. I woke up and felt sick to my stomach and had a screaming headache. I felt so horrible for her. I tried everything to calm her down, but nothing seemed to work. I talked, sang, rocked her, walked around the house, bounced her, but nothing worked. At this point I'm crying because I felt like "what's the point in me being "mom" if I can't make everything OK!" Plus my head was pounding and I couldn't get a hold of Duncan. Finally we turned to the glider in her room. THANK YOU MRS BROWN!!! After only a couple of second of "gliding" in that chair and talking to her she calmed down, and my headache started going away. Needless to say, that was a heck of a night!

Hey... like the Nike hat? I thought this was so cute. A friend of ours gave it to her since her daughter grew out of it. She looks so cute in it. That smile is so priceless! And "they" say real smiles don't start until around 3.5 o 4 months. No one can convince me that that smile is due to gas!

Now this smile might be from gas! Hahaha

Let's see... what else is new. This past weekend, we did some shopping. We got a entertainment center. Man is it nice! We were up until almost 3 in the morning trying to put the thing together. Talk about frustration! We were really going to tear each others heads off. I think if it took any longer Makayla would be down to one parent! (I think I would have won! Hehehe) I remember feeling that same frustration when me, my Mom and Grandma put together our first desk. What is it about putting things together that gets to people? Then, Sunday I bought a desk. Duncan went to his 1st SGTs house to watch a wrestling thing, so I put it together all by myself. Mainly because I didn't want a replay of the night before.

That swing was the best purchase I think I have ever made in my life! It's too bad we bought it the day after we put the entertainment center together. We REALLY needed it that night... REALLY! She loves that thing! She just sleeps her little butt off in there. I have to take her out and wake her up, just so I can play with her.

You should see her try to crawl. We lay her on her stomach and she kicks those little legs and holds her head up. It's really cute. Earlier while I was doing homework Duncan had her on her stomach on the chair and was talking to her like he was encouraging her to try crawling. He would say something like "You need to get the rest of your body up" or "Push up with your arms." Then I think he would feel bad or something because he was saying, "But your doing really good!!! Look at you go! Your such a big girl, look at you!" When she's trying to crawl she sounds and looks so helpless. Her head doesn't go all the way up and she grunts. Duncan picked her up and said he couldn't watch her struggle any more, it was to sad. It was to freakin cute! I'm not sure if that made sense to anyone besides me... I guess you would have had to been there.

After the "crawling" he gave her a bath. The whole time he was telling her what he was doing, like "Now were gonna wash your hair... are you ready to get out... we forgot the lotion." And so on. I think he was more talking his self through it, but she was content the whole time. She never cried!

In this picture, she's on my lap, and propped up on my knee. This was her favorite hang-out before we got the swing!

And last but definitely not least HAPPY BIRTHDAY ADAM(Tx)! Makayla's cousin Adam turned 1 years old today. And HAPPY BIRTHDAY ISIAH(Ca)! Her other cousin turned 4 years old yesterday! Wow... everyone's growing up so fast! Before you all know it, it will be Kayla's big day!