So she's 4 months old...

Makayla has been doing so much lately, I think I might leave something out. Well, let me jumped right into this cause I know you have all been waiting on some good updates... and this is a good one. So... at 4 months:

• She has found her hands... or maybe her mouth... i'm not really sure. Either way her fingers are always in her mouth. She even gags herself, but I don't think she realizes she does it. After she gags, she looks around with this look on her face as if trying to say "hey... knock that off!"

• She likes to play with her toys now. I lay them on top on her and she will hold them, look at them, and chew on them... if she can get them into her mouth.

• She can turn herself around in her excersaucer, and plays with 5 out of 8 of the toys that are on there.
• This girl "talks" and smiles non-stop. Her personality is really starting to shine through.
• She sucks on her tounge and lips, which ends up making the kissing sound, so of course I can't help myself. I have to blow kisses back to her.
• She now props herself up on her arms when she is on her tummy, and attemps to reach for toys that are put in front of her.

• She has masterd our bedtime routine. We have dinner, a bath, a story, and a prayer. I then lay her in her crib on her back and she will roll over to her right side, cuddle up with her blanket and binkie and fall asleep on her own. Even during the day when she is tired I can lay her in her bed with a blanket and binkie and she will go to sleep on her own. But she has to have a blanket to put in her hands, and against her face.
• She now likes bath time. She doesn't mind getting washed up, or getting her hair washed, but she gets pissed when we have to rinse her hair.

• She sleeps through the night. Well... for our military life, it's sleeping through the night. I have to be up at 4am and I get her up around 5am.
• On the weekends she wakes up around 5am to get changed and eat, then she goes back to sleep until 7:30am. Then we go to mommy's bed for a "nap" until around 10am. I know.... I know... sneaky mommy!
• She eats ceral and green beans from a spoon, but still drinks 5oz of milk with it. She is suck a porker!
• And... for the big surprise...drum roll please.... this morning she rolled from her back to her stomach twice and this afternoon she rolled from her stomach to her back four times! I was so shocked I couldn't stand it. This morning she was laying on our bed, so she MIGHT have been using my weight pushing the mattress down to roll over, but I have to give her this afternoon cause she was laying on her blanket, on the flat floor and she did it 4 times back to back with out hesitation.

I can't believe how much she is growing already. When I first started this page I was scared the posts were going to be about nothing for the first 5 or 6 months, or at least until she started crawling, but boy was I wrong! I could get on here every day, because that's about that often she does something to amaze me.

I am almost completly caught up with her scrapbook. I just have her first trip to Virginia to put in there. That creative streak I got the other day really payed off, and actually lasted 2 whole days. I have started printing off the pictures from my digital camera on the 30th of every month, so I can keep track of which pictures of her go with what age. So today I will get the VA pages done, print off the 3 month pictues and get those pages started.

For those that are wondering my family reunion is from the 1st of July to the 4th of July (I think.) It is going to be in Oakland Ca, and as far as I know we are going to have a pretty good turn out. It will be my sisters first time on a plane. She will be in Cali longer than I will, but at least we will get to see eachother.

I have a feeling I missed a few things to put in here, but there's always tomorrow. She has an appointment tommorow so I will be back on here to let you all know how big she has gotten. I hope you all had a great Memorial Day Weekend!

Family Reunion... here we come!

That's right. I just booked both my plane ticket and my rental car. All together $605.00. A little more than I had hoped for, but it is easily manageable!
I am so excited. I will finally be able to meet my sisters for the first time. I know one of them is going to be there, and I am hoping and praying that the other ones comes also. I get to meet my nieces and nephews... I just can't wait. I haven't stopped smiling since I made the reservations. Ya know... me and one of my sisters have been in contact with each other for at LEAST 13 years and have never met in person. We are both very ashamed of ourselves and deserve a slap on the wrist for waiting this long. But its finally here Tiff!!! Only 34 more days... I can't wait!!!
I can't wait to see everyone!

Green Beans are a GO!!

Thats right... Kayla has started with the veggies today. I was talking with this lady who did an "evaluation" of Makayla at almost four months, and she said it was a good time to start her on some vegetables. I have had her eating cereal for the last couple of weeks and she is doing great with that. This lady says its good to start the veggies around four to five months so they have that nutrients in their bodies when their teeth start coming in. I thought that made lots of since (plus I get really excited when we get to try new things) so I rushed out and got some green beans and carrots. I decided I will do green beans for 3 or 4 days just to make sure her system is OK with that. I don't want to do all different types of foods in 1 day and have her break out or get irregular bowel movements and me not be able to tell which food she had the reaction to. When she started to eat them she was really hungry, and I don't think she felt like she was eating so after maybe 5 spoons she started crying. I gave her the 5oz bottle I had for her and when she was done with that I gave her more green beens. She didn't make any weird faces like I thought she would. I can't begin to imagine what it would be like to be experiencing taste for the first time, even if it is just bland baby food. I'm personally not big on vegetables, and neither is Duncan, so I figured maybe I can break the chain with her. We are not going to do fruits for a few more months. I want her to get good and used to the veggies first... then we can start on the sweeter stuff!

As you can see we made quite the mess with this. She had the biggest bib she owns on and still managed to get her shirt dirty. This bib goes all the way to her knees and can wrap around her shoulders, but those arms and hands NEVER stop. So much for keeping the shirt clean but ya gotta love it.

I have so much more to tell you all, but I hit a "creative streak" and if I don't use it on the scrapbook right now it will disappear and it will be another couple of weeks that the scrapbook will be neglected. I have completed up to her 2nd month, so wish me luck that I get caught up since next week will be the begining of our 4th month with Makayla... YEAAA!!! Expect a big update on the 4 month post!

I wonder.....

There are so many things I wonder when I look into Makayla's eyes. I wonder who is she going to turn out to be? What types of things is she going to enjoy as a child, and teenager? Will she have a knack for sports, art or theatre? I wonder how good in school she is going to be and how many friends she will have? Will her and I be close when she gets older, and will she tell me about her crushes and first love? What about the first time she gets her heart broken? (Lord have mercy on that boy! :o) Or even the first heart she breaks? I wonder if she will walk on her tippy toes when she is a child like I did, or be shy and quite like I was? Will she be like her Dad and Grandma (Jill) and be liked by everyone that meets her? Maybe like her great Aunty Louise and Aunty Rose and strong in every situation thrown her way? Hopefully she will be like her Grandma (Paula) and smart and quick to learn everything put in front of her. Maybe she will be silent, mysterious, but very wise like her Grandpa (Lonnie), or have the greatest sense of humor like her Grandpa (Danny). Will she be family oriented, love to learn, into music, like beautiful scenery, a fashion guru, or a tom boy? All these things I wonder, but have to wait to find out. I don't mind waiting to find all these things out as long as I have her smile to see everyday when I get home and every morning when I wake up. For now I want to enjoy her as a sweet innocent baby, and allow her to enjoy her childhood. All the rest can wait for a later date. I love you Makayla!

What a weekend

We had lots of fun this past weekend. Duncan's whole family was in town. His Mom came in from Virgina, his Dad from Kansas, and his Sister, Brother in law and Nephew came from Texas. Since they are all so spread out it is always fun for them to be all together in one place, especially now that there are 2 Grandchildren. Makayla got to meet her cousin Adam for the first time. It was fun watching them check each other out. We were promting Adam to say 'baby' and point to Makayla, and sure enough he did.

Adam is such a cutie! Me and Duncan had a blast with him. I can't wait til Makayla gets to the age where we can play with her!



Makayla's Uncle Chris had his 21st birthday Saturday. They had horse-shoe and Volleyball set up. Duncan's dad and I sat on the side lines of the Volleyball game and watched Duncan, his Sister and his mom play volleyball. I don't think anything could have made Duncan's mom more happy than to spend the weekend with her children, husband and Grandchildren.
Here we all are from left to right starting at the top is Adam, held by Chris, Jessica (Duncan's sister), Duncan, Me holding Makayla, and the proud Grandparents sitting in the chairs.

The is Jessie- holding Adam, and Chris. Look at Adam sucking that thumb! He is just as in love with his thumb as Makayla is with her pacifire.

Here's Aunty Jessie admiring her neice. Between her and her mom, I barely saw Makayla the whole weekend. Of course Makayla didn't seem to mind. She seems to love everyone, especially if they have a conversation with her.

This picture of Jill and her 2 grandkids was taken at the bowling alley. I think we were playing pass around the babies more than bowling. Everytime someone had a turn it seems like they were holding one of the little ones and had to find someone to hand them off to.

Makayla is starting to do more and more lately. Friday we were all headed to Makayla's Uncles parents house and we stopped to eat at Taco Bell. Makayla was sitting in her car seat, on another table, while we all ate. I happened to look over just in time to see her holding onto the sheep that is dangeling from her carseat. When her hands slipped off of it, she concentrated so hard until she had it back in her hands. I was so in shock I gasped for air almost giving Duncan and his dad heart attacks. They said they were expecting to look over and see her falling off the table or something. Sorry guys! I just can't help it. When I see her do little things like that I get so excited.

We had a great weekend, and a hard time starting back to work on Monday, but we managed. Somehow we always manage, we are just not always happy about it. It's Friday again, so we can enjoy the weekend and spend time with our gorgeous baby! I hope you all have a great weekend.

Happy Mothers Day!!!

Today is my first Mothers Day, and it was great. I love being a mommy! I found my calling... it's being a mom. I remember telling people "If my mom wasn't my mom... she would be my stalker!" Now I understand... if my Mom thought I was half as great as I think Makayla is, I can see why she was the way she was. All day I have been thinking of my Mom. I wish I could have spent my first Mothers Day with my daughter and Mom. I know my mom and my Grandma were here with us in spirit.

We had a pretty relaxing day. We slept in till around 10 a.m. then went to Denny's for breakfast. We stopped by the mall on the way back. We pretty much stayed at the house the rest of the day. I played with Makayla while Duncan shinned our boots for the up coming week. For some reason he enjoys doing that. I hate shinning my boots. I can iron the uniform, but I really don't like shinning the boots. We also watched a really sweet movie called The Notebook. If you haven't seen that movie, and you like good love stories you really need to see that movie.

Yesterday Makayla and I went to the mall. I didn't have any money with me, but I managed to buy Makayla a pair of glasses and about 4 outfits. Don't ask how I manage to always buy this little girl something, but she just looked so cute in these shades when I put them on her. She had to have them.

Makayla's newest fascination is her hands. She loves to hold her hands and chew on her fists. In this picture she is going at her fist like it is going out of style. You can also see the eczema on the right side of the face. The left side was SO much worst. The day after I started the cream on her face it was already clearing up. Her face looks perfect and is so soft now.

Well, we are watching Chris Rock's stand up comedy show, so I'm going to end this. I hope all of you great mothers out there had a wonderful day!

Happy Birthday Dad!

I know... again, i'm a little late! Duncan's birthday was on Saturday. We had a pretty relaxing day. A co-worker of mine watched Makayla while we went to the movie and out to dinner. We saw XXX 2, which wasn't to bad. There were some very unrealistic parts, but that's what you go to the movies for right? Then we went to eat at Red Lobster. I couldn't wait to get back to my baby, but we had a really good time.

Duncan shared his birthday with Makayla's 3 month "birthday". It seems like just the other day I was on here writing about her turning 2 months old. Man these days are flying! Well, when it comes to her the days fly. If you ask me about work it's a different story. Funny how that works.

I finally made the transfer, fully, from her bassinet to her bed. She is doing great! I am doing... well, lets just say I think I get less sleep with her in the other room, even though she sleeps through the night. :-) She is talking so much more now. She has learned to scream... a little bit. It was really cute the first time she did it. I was standing over her and talking to her in the usual baby talk. She was talking back with a huge smile on her face. All of a sudden she let out this high pitched scream and her face turned serious. It looked like she shocked herself. I started laughing and she started smiling again.

I think she has started teething. Have I posted about that already? Anyways, some days she just doesn't seem like herself. She seems kind of grumpy at times. I check her temp. but it's never out of range. She drools like crazy some days, then others there's nothing. I guess we will wait and see.

I took her to the doctor today because her face has been really dry and red. After the lotion and baby oil stopped helping I decided I better get it looked at. The doc said she has a mild case of eczema. She gave me come hydrocortisone cream and told me to keep her face moisturized with something heavy like vaseline. She now weights 14 lbs and is 24 and a half inches long! I know... I know... she's getting so big! I bet she passes me up in height when she gets older. Hopefully she sees it as a blessing and not a curse. I really hated being the tallest girl in grade school.

Here are the pictures that we had taken of her when she was 2 and a half months old. They are kind of blury because I had to take pictures of the pictures. We really need to get a scanner. But at least you all are able to get the main idea. I will have some pictures in the mail soon.

I have a little more time on my hands now that Im done with the class I was taking. I won't be able to take another class until October. Fort Knox has run out of tuition assistance. We can find the money to build schools over seas, but now its taking away from our own people. Sorry... just had to get that out. Anyways, heres Duncan reading to Makayla so I could study for my final. I usual do the bedtime routine but I really needed to study. It paid off, cause I passed with a B.

Today I put Makayla in her saucer (as you can see below) so she could see me while I cooked dinner. She was so tired. She usually does some kind of complaining when shes tired, but this was the out come today!

Well, I am extremely tired so im off to bed with the rest of the pack. I'm not going to take the time to proof read this, so bear with me!