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

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.

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.

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."

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.
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.

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.

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!!!"

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!

This is Madeline... another pumpkin buddy that she has. Madeline is about a month younger than Kalie.

Theres that darn hanger again, but she has such a sweet expression... how could you be mad?

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.

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?

Theres that smile we all love!

And again!

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.

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.

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.

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.