A Day in the Life...

My last attempt at grad videos

2010-07-19T23:51:00.007-04:00

Alright... seeing how my daughter is weeks away from being a kindergartener I figured I would give these preschool graduation videos one more chance to upload. And after ALL night they are up! Crazy internet!!

They had a "potluck" type of get-together afterwards. We decided to make graduation caps out of mini muffins, icing, shortbread cookies, licorice and m&ms. YUMMY! She had a blast making them. Mostly because I let her nibble on all the goodies as we went.

While we "baked". . . Mykah played...

Then we were off to the party!
When she marched in the shyness set in...

And it lasted through all of the songs! All of the songs they sang she had been singing around the house for WEEKS before this big day. I told her way ahead of times on numerous occasions that when she was singing them at graduation there would be TONS of people there watching. She seemed more than ok with all of that. Then the big day came...

By the end of it she was all warmed up and ready to sing. And yes... (if I haven't already mentioned this) I did cry a little during this song. It was just SO sweet... and sad. Saying goodbye doesn't mean the same thing to kids though... so she was fine with it all.

Before we headed out I got a couple of shots of the 2 of them. The pictures may all be crap, but be glad I got ANYTHING! I was operating the camera, video camera and taking care of Mykah. Talk about a tired momma!

Seems as if this might work

2010-06-26T12:29:00.003-04:00

The internet seems to reject the idea of any type of video from me. Some times I luck out though... :o)

A chapter has ended

2010-06-06T19:27:00.003-04:00

My baby... yes... my BABY is done with preschool! I have a flood of mixed emotions. I am SO happy that she is going on to something more challenging. So glad that she will be making new memories and new friends. I am welcoming the upcoming changes and challenges, but this all means something else as well. It means she is growing up!! I know... its not like I can change that, so I might as well embrase it, but its all happening SO FAST!! It seems like she was JUST Mykahs age! Like I was just spoon feeding her and changing her diapers. Now she will have homework and afterschool activities! Like I said... I am welcoming these upcoming changes, but WOW... my baby is going to be a KINDERGARDENER!!

Some shots of her and her 'teachers' in preschool/ daycare. :o)

Ms Stephanie

Pizza party to celebrate

Ms Saggera (I need to check her spelling...)

Mrs Charlene - the teacher of Kaylas group. A truely amazing teacher!

Ms Elaina

Now for me to go back and post about her graduation. I need to get video on here for that. We all know how iffy the internet is with me and video. :o)

My amazing....

2010-05-28T11:05:00.003-04:00

Had a teacher’s conference this past week. Mrs. C. and I laughed quite a bit. Yes... my daughter still has issues sitting still during the preschool programs circle time, but we both agreed it’s probably boredom. I mean... when you take five year old that can read, write and do simple math, and start teaching them the sounds of letters... they are going to get bored.

Anyways... that was only one of the good laughs we had. We both shared stories about Makayla and her amazing creativity. We think it’s amazing just how creative she can get. She will take an ordinary book... take the characters and make up a completely new story. Then she will re-take those same characters and they will be doing something else entirely. It doesn't have to be story book characters either... it can be a couple of rocks, sticks, blades of grass, pieces of paper... ANYTHING and this kid’s imagination will go straight to work.

We talked a lot about her absolute LOVE for animals. I mean it’s crazy! She is NOT the typical girl with a love for babies, barbies or dress up stuff. She is ALL about her stuffed animals. They are her absolute favorite toys hands down! I have tried to show her different things when we go toy shopping, but she just frowns at me shaking her head and quickly find her way to the PetShops and stuffed animals. Yes… she still loves her PetShops, and still wants to buy them regularly, but she doesn’t insist on taking them everywhere like the stuffed animals.

Truly an amazing big sister! I mean REALLY amazing. I’m sure that has a lot to do with the fact that Mykah can’t talk and isn’t mobile. Once those things start happening, and he’s annoying her and taking her toys… I will report back with what type of sister she is then. :o) For now she LOVES to play with him. She loves making him laugh and usually laughs to the point of tears when he does something she thinks is funny. One day she asked me “mommy how come when I laugh at Mykah I get tears in my eyes?!” I told her “that’s when something is REALLY funny!”

Happy stinking Mothers Day.....

2010-05-10T00:12:00.000-04:00

Really I shouldn’t be like that… REALLY!... I love the fact that I am a Mother. I absolutely adore the two people on this earth that have given me that title. I am SOOO lucky for what I DO have, but this day always makes me think about what I DON’T have! Today seemed especially horrible. I think because I now have NO parents… none! Not even the one I rarely saw and had a half-assed relationship with while he was here! My dad passed away on the 19th of last month, and even though today is Mothers day I couldn’t help but think about them both. While I am happy that my dad was able to meet my kids, it SUCKS that they will never know him. Makayla is 5, but I am absolutely positive when she is older, and shares the story of her grandparents, my mom and dad will be skipped over with a quick “I never met my mom’s mom, and I met my mom’s dad when I was a kid, but I don’t remember it.”

I secretly hoped and prayed that starting my day with Church, which I haven’t been to in YEARS, would somehow make the day deal-able. Well, let me tell you this… Church is nowhere near the same when you are holding a nonstop squirming 7 month old, and constantly telling a 5 year old to sit still and be quiet. I did enjoy it, but I felt more frustrated when I left that when I arrived.

So here it is 9pm, and I am sadly… happy that this day is over. Not that tomorrow my mom and dad won’t be on my mind, but at least when I look at my phone, check facebook, or read my e-mails there will not be CONSTANT reminders that I am now a parentless parent.

Can't do what I planned to do...

2010-04-07T01:07:00.002-04:00

And DAMN is it frustrating! I planned on posting a bunch of videos when I restarted this site, but for some reason the entire internet seems to reject my videos. Wondering if I’m doing something wrong. Lately I have I been ALL about the video camera. I pick that up more often that I do the camera these days.

It’s Ok... I can blog here with no pictures right?!... I’m sure I’m getting a lot of weird, blank stares out there! haha.

We had a great Easter. The Easter Bunny made a sneaky appearance when we weren't looking. He left eggs along the side of our house, and when we got to the back of the house we saw that he left Kayla and Mykah a basket on our swing. Sneaky sneaky bunny. :o) Kayla was excited and Mykah was... well... 6 months old so I’m sure you can guess his reaction to it all.

Why did I start this page up again?...

2010-03-29T01:16:00.001-04:00

Oh yea… to share stories and thoughts about the kids. That’s right! To bad I STILL have no time or motivation to keep it up.

Anyways, Sunday night here. Both kids in bed. I’m doing laundry and wandering internet while my mind wanders over the last 28 years of life. Crazy to think of where I came from and where I am now. I’ve been thinking a lot about the past actually. I think it all stems from recent visits with my dad. My brother, his son and grandson, his sister, me and my 2 kids got to visit with my dad for a while a few weeks ago. While I was at training last week my kids went with Aunty Louise to visit him again. She said he really enjoyed seeing them. He was all smiles and telling everyone so proudly that those were his grandbabies. I HATE that it has come to his recent situation with cancer for us to start a relationship. But I do enjoy the fact that my kids can put a smile on that man’s face. I wish I was there it see it again.

Kayla really seemed to enjoy her time with Aunty Louise. I know Aunty Louise enjoyed spending time with them as well. Mykahs second tooth came out while he was there. :o) He is still the happiest little guy anyone comes across.

Off to fold my laundry and get ready for tomorrow.

Disney on Ice

2010-03-03T11:06:00.002-05:00

On 25 February Niki, Jasmine, Nana, Kayla, Mykah and I all went to Disney on Ice in San Jose. It was a first for all except Niki and Jasmine. We all had a great time. The show was included Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy (of course), Cars, The Lion King, The little Mermaid and Tinker bell. I think I enjoyed the show a little too much! Me and Nana were amazed at the skill level of the skaters. Makayla said her favorite part was Lion King. Even though I enjoyed it all I would have to say my fav was probably Tinker Bell. And if I had to take a guess I would say Mykah’s favorite part was Cars. NOT because it is a boy, but you should have seen this little guy following Mater around the ice with his eyes! It was SO adorable!!

brief updates...

2010-02-23T16:57:00.002-05:00

A couple weeks ago we (Duncan and I) were asking Makayla if she had a boyfriend. She had been mentioning this boy named Aiden, who is the same kid who gave her a birthday card, so the ‘boyfriend’ question was only appropriate. She answered with “NO! I’m not going to marry him!”

A few nights after that she asked me about Aunty Jessies wedding. I told her it was in November. She asked “What am I going to be? Adam is going to be the ring-around-the barrier.” I told her she was going to be the flower girl. I asked her what a wedding is. She responded with “It’s when people kiss! I don’t want to have a wedding!” haha

On the Mykah news front... I was absolutely convinced my son would never eat from a spoon. He absolutely hated it. He would not only spil the cereal or oatmeal back out, but would also start crying if I gave him more. Well... I disovered the secret. He likes his food mixed with his formula NOT just water. He now loves the stuff. We haven't done anything more than cereal and oatmenl, but he is all about it. The doctor wanted us to wait until 6 months to start feeding him "food" anyways.

He also just learned to roll over. Up until yesterday he was absoluetly content laying on his back. He showed no desire at all to do much else. Of course the night after I was telling Nana that... he started rolling nonstop. Now getting back over to his back is another story. Hasn't figured that one out yet.

Playing together

2010-02-05T19:37:00.002-05:00

I was in the kitchen washing dishes and I could hear him cracking up. Of course by the time I grabbed my camera the laughs were toning down.

A Mother of a WHAT?!

2010-02-02T10:25:00.005-05:00

Oh yes... that would be the mother of a FIVE year old! Yes... my little girl is five years old. I am without words. Time flies truely TOO fast! It seems like just yesterday she was Mykah's age. A few months ago we decided to give Makayla a slumber party for her 5th birthday. She invited her 2 best friends – Jasmin and Imani. Imani also has a little sister who came. So Saturday around 4 -5 all the girls showed up. Kayla was so excited. We had pizza, snacks and cake. Even though she choose a kitty birthday theme, she wanted a Care Bear Birthday cake. The girls all played for a little while longer, then it was time to roll out the sleeping bags. I was surprised at how well they all sat and laid in their sleeping bags. They watched Flushed Away and Sleeping Beauty (both movies Kayla got for her birthday.) It was around 10:30 when the movies were finally over. Jayda and Jasmin were the first two to fall asleep. Imani fell asleep next and of course Kayla was the last one. She rolled around until after 11! I don’t know how my child manages to stay awake for so long. Heres a couple of videos for now. Hopefully another video and some pictures to follow. Now if I only had the time.

Videos...

2010-01-27T23:48:00.002-05:00

I have come across a BUNCH of videos that I have wanted to upload. Plan to do it here, little by little. Some may get pretty old, but this one if from just the other night.

2010-01-23T23:25:00.003-05:00

Just thinking.. and man is there a lot to think about! Some time around 10 December of 2010 I will be getting out of the Army. The thought is REALYL nuts to me. Not that I have been imagining myself staying in the Army, but the fact that I am getting my resume and KSAs together, really makes it a reality. There is SO much to plan in the short 11 months that are ahead of me! Moving Kayla a few months after starting her first year of school, finding a job from the other side of the country, the traveling/ coordination for the move... It can really be a bit overwhelming.

On the job front, my plan is to start applying around May. I plan to apply for TONS of jobs. Apparently just getting my foot in the door is what needs to be my priority... even if its not in my ideal location. Once I get an idea of where I may be working, I will be able to get a handle on schools and daycares in the area. WOW... this all seems like so much.

Ok... deep breathe... lets remember why im doing this....

Ever wondered how sweet my daughter is?...

2010-01-21T23:29:00.004-05:00

Tonight, after reading a few books. I told her to get ready for bed. Mykah was sleeping on the couch next to us. She says "wait mommy... I have to say Prayers for Mykah so the angels can watch over him." Yes... pure sweetness. :o)

She adores her brother. Usually a day doesn't pass that she isn't singing or talking to him. She makes up little songs with his name in them. Its cute.

And don't even get me started on how he looks at her. WOW! I don't think I have ever seen more love in the eyes of a baby. Truely a perfect pair.

Well... got homework to do. And a workout to do... and some Sex and the City to watch! haha
(also considering changing my URL... but don't know yet.)

Back in the swing. . .

2010-01-21T11:01:00.002-05:00

I have got to get back in the swing of things. I have use to be so great about posting pictures and updates, but lately I just don't have it in me. I still TAKE pictures, but rarely do I post them to flickr any more. And when was the last time I actually did an update on either child? I guess now that I have 2 children, and am still in school and still working I just don't force myself to find the time. That really has to change. There are so many little things that I REALLY don't want to forget.

Got to get bck in it!...

Thinking more about using this site again.

2009-11-10T15:35:00.001-05:00

Well, we all know flickr has been like my second home! Most of our lives have been documented there. For some reason uploading videos has been a pain lately. Looking for other options for our videos cause im sure everyone is wanting to see those as much as pictures.

So, lets see how this site works with uploading videos. Will try more later. Just wanting to see how this does. :o)

We had a great weekend

2009-01-23T21:32:00.001-05:00

We had a great weekend
Originally uploaded by Melani

While I contemplate picking this blog back up… figured I would work on linking my blog and my flickr… to make this a little easier. Let’s see how this works.

just about three years later

2009-01-23T21:26:00.002-05:00

It has been so long since I have blogged here. I have read through it and kinda miss this thing! Since I have joined flickr I have spent most of my time putting pictures there and leaving tid-bits of my life there. Kinda debating whether I should pick this back up...

Happy Easter!

2006-04-16T21:59:00.000-04:00

And a great easter it was! Makayla doesn't understand the concept yet, but she had a great day. It sort of started at daycare last week. She had a ice cream party and a easter egghunt that Duncan and I both attended. He was able to come back for the weekend and it just so happened to be Easter weekend so that was great. Kayla was of course was loving it. She didn't want to give him any space and he didn't mind.
Here is our girl tearing up some ice cream. She just learned to use a spoon so she wanted to eat it out of the cone with a spoon. All of the other kids were going at it with out the spoon, but not my little girl.

Here she is showing off for her dad. She had these two eggs and was completly satisfied with that.

We tried so hard to get her to pick the eggs up and put them in the basket, but she wouldn't hear of it. All she needed was her 2 eggs.

Today we lounged around the house all day. We planned on going to church, but that didn't work out. We did the whole egg coloring thing and gave her a basket. Her basket had books, DVDs, elmo toys, and ducks in it. Of course she reached in and grabbed one duck and that was all she wanted. This little girl is way to easy to please.
As we have all noticed, Duncan has a habit of buying Makayla the biggest stuffed animals he can find. This is the duck that made the cut for this easter. He was to big to fit in the basket, so he hung out on my swing until she found him.
Here she is pulling that purple duck out of the basket. She makes us laugh. We run around the store finding all this stuff that she would love and spend all this money on all if it, then she pulls out the cheapest thing we put in there and is completly happy with that.
And of course she loves her purple duck. Here she is making out with it!
I'm not really sure why she looks scared in this picture. It must be something about that bush. I know why I don't like the bush. I have to keep it neatly trimmed or I get "nasty-grams" in my mail box about it!

The weather out here has been crazy. We have thunder storms in the mornings, then hot sun in the afternoons. We finally had to break down and pull tags off of our shorts and pull out the sun screen and sun glasses.

Hope you all had a great Easter! There are more pictures on the flickr site.

Morning at the parks

2006-03-26T13:19:00.000-05:00

The weather finally got nice enough to go to the park today. I put her in her wagon and we went to 2 parks. Doesn't she look excited about being out of the house? The weather has been so cold around here lately we can't do much except go walk around Walmart, or the mall.

One of the parks we can see if we look out our back window, and the other is down the street. It is actually the playground for the elementary school I know Jill knows where I am talking about. For those of you that don't know Jacob and his family were here at Fort Knox when Jacob was around 7 years old. They actually lived in a house right down the street from where we live now. He tells me some of the most interesting stories about when they were there. Most of the stories make me so happy I have a girl. LOL
Here is Kayla when she first got out of her wagon. She seemed really nervous about walking in the grass. I think its because it was so uneven.

She stayed in one spot and pointed at everything she saw. The funny part was when she started walking and fell. (Sounds mean huh?) This little girl would NOT let her hands touch the ground. She even broke one falls with her forehead because she was trying to keep her hands off the ground. It reminded me of Diyosa talking about how her daughter never wants to get her shoes dirty. LOL When Kayla would fall she would try to stand up using her arms, without putting her hands on the ground. I couldn't stop laughing. Unfortunately I couldn't get a picture of it. When I went to take a picture of that my camera said that my memory card was full. :-( Sorry... maybe next time.

Once she got walking there was no stopping her. We walked over to this gate and visited with the dog. She really enjoyed him. I did too until he threw that big stick at my baby! Of course he only wanted to play, but if I didn't grab her when I did it would have smacked her on the head. When this dog stands on his hind legs his head and shoulders are over the fence. He could jump out of he really wanted to.

Yesterday we went to Value City to look at some lawn furniture that I am going to get. Of course she read most of the way. I turned the music off so she could read to me. It lasted about 10 mins. It was really sweet.

And in case any of you are wondering... this is the new way to wear necklaces. Makayla is setting a new trend! LOL
I love this girl!

Makayla hads her 1st "Incendent Report" written up on her on friday. I know the words "incedent report" sounds so bad. Try hearing this over your voice mail "Hello Melani this is Mrs. Graves from Kaylas class room. Can you call me back when you get a second. Makayla is fine, but she had an incedent this morning that I would like to tell you about." My heart jumped out of my chest! I just pictures some kid biting her, or her biting some kid, or her falling and bumping her head. A million things ran through my head. I called back and she told me that when they were serving breakfast one of the ladies put grits into a bowl and Makayla reached in to grab them, but they were still really hot. Of course Kayla screamed. The lady got the grits off of her hand as quick as she could and put a cold towel on her hand. There was no blistering or anything like that. I was so relieved to hear that. It might sound weird but I was thinking "thank God she only burned her hand." A lot worst could have happened.
I gotta run. I just laid Kayla down for a nap. Now I have the rest of our day to plan out. Hope you all have a great week.

I almost forgot

2006-03-22T21:16:00.000-05:00

I have yet ANOTHER site for everyone to check on. This time it is a VIDEO site!!! I know... how exciting! There are only a select few that I will let have this site. I haven't password protected it yet, and there are some videos on there that I don't want any wierdos to look at so e-mail me, or leave a comment, to get the site. There are some really cute videos on there. Some of her dancing, walking, playing with her new hippo toy, laughing, taking a bath, and the very first time she ever reached out and grabbed for some toys in front of her. The bath ones are the reason I'm not putting the site on here. I have no way of knowing who looks at this site. It is really sad that I have to be like that, but this world isn't the safest place. Hope yall don't feel like im over-exagerating, i'm just an over protective momma! :-)
Here are some pictures from the last trip we took to the zoo before Duncan had to leave. The first three are some of my favorites. She couldn't get enough of him this day. I really think she knew he was going to be leaving.

Here she is seeing ducks for the first time. She must have said "du" a million times that day after seeing them. There was no animal in the zoo that she didn't call "du!"

This is another shot that I love.

A picture of me! WOW... that's rare.

I love cats, so here we are checking one out. Of course Kayla re-named him "du!"

Look at the curiousity in that face. This girl really amazes me. I can't remember what I did before she came along.

It's Official...

2006-03-19T22:00:00.000-05:00

I am now the mother of a toddler! Makayla started walking for good on the 6th of this month. Before then she would take a few steps here and there, but nothing constant. On the night of the sixth I guess she figured "they know I am walking... so I might as well give in." She got up and circled the house probably a dozen times like she had been walking all along. We were SO excited! Now all she wants to do is walk, and believe me, I don't mind. This girl is heavy!
I think a lot of her walking has to do with the fact that she has moved into the next age bracket daycare room. Up until she was 13 months she was in the "infant room". Anyone who knows Kayla knows that she was bored out of her mind in that room. They had a small "boxed-in" play area that had very immature toys. She could entertain herself but we all know that Kayla is extremely observant and it is hard to be observant of children that are doing less that you. Now she has moved up the the 13 months to 3 year old room and she is doing great! I LOVE this room. It is the best thing for her. They have an art room where the kids get to paint and draw and stuff like that. They have a gross motor room where they get to climb. They have a wonderful outdoor play ground which has a garden in one corner of it. The kids grow fruits every year in their garden and get to pick the fruit when it is ripe and make a fruit salad. They also teach them to self serve their food when it is time to eat. They have designated nap areas, and story time. I could go on and on about how wonderful this room is, but I think what I like the most is the communication between me and the daycare providers. The other room never really updated me on how she was doing and I HATED that. The "lead" in this new room tells me everything Kayla does from the dozen times a day she wants to wash her hands to the pulling of hair on a little boy who wanted to sit in the seat she was sitting in for lunch. (Yea... she thinks shes a bully, or maybe he thought he could pick on the new girl! LOL) The providers all seemed as excited as I was about her walking. I just love this new room. I can't say that enough.
A lot has changed here in good ole' KY. Duncan is officially out of the army and loving that. He unfortunatley took a job with his dad who works for th military, but is currently in Georgia. Duncan HATES being away from Makayla, but makes more than enough money to support his family. I am so happy that is able to look at the big picture of things like this. We both know that finacially this is what is best. We all know i'm broke... i'm in the military! LOL J/K... well, not really!
Another new thing around here is the constant use of the "R" word. That's right. I am in my window to reenlist and they are doing EVERYTHING possible to get me to do it. They sure are making it sound tempting, but I would have to end up in Cali to actually consider it. They are trying to get me within 2 hours of Napa with a huge bonus, so we shall see.
Now for the good stuff. PICTURES!!!
Our princess is still a book worm, and I completely encourage that. Here she is in the middle of her bedroom floor looking at some books. Notice how she has to pull ALL the book off the shelves so she can look at one of them for 20 mins.

Another reading session. I put her in our reading chair and told her "read this while mommy cleans up the mess." Sure enough she opened it up and started pointing at the pictures and "reading." She is too much.

This was one of the rainy days that we had last weekend. We spent a lot of time in the house so we had to switch between the living room with the toys and Noggin channel and her bedroom with the toys and her childrens music CD's.

Another thing her new daycare room is teaching is writting and coloring. I was so surprised that she knew what to do when I handed her a pen for the first time. I went and got this magnadoodle because it isn't so messy.

Here is the toddler walking around "the island" at 0600am waiting for me to get ready to take her to daycare. That little squooshy face she is making is because she was trying to run. She gets really stiff and tries so hard to run, but really never picks up the pace and ends up throwing her balance all off. It is the funniest thing to watch.

This was another 0600am picture. Every time I see this pictures I can't help but laugh. We were sitting at the table waiting to leave for daycare. We were having our usual morning conversation and I was so tired I kept yawning. Every time I would yawn she would mock me. I could not stop laughing. I don't think I ever got a "good yawn" in that morning.

My little helper, still loves the dryer! Now I can get her to throw laundry into the washer and pull things out of the dryer. By the time she is 2 I might be able to take that off the list of things I have to do every weekend and add it to hers. LOL J/K
This is one of her new toys that she got some time in the last couple of weeks. It is an inflatable hippo. She can crawl through the mouth and the back is full of "chucky cheese" balls that she can jump around and play in. She loves this thing.

That's it for the pictures for now. I don't know how many of you check the flickr page that I have set up, but there are a few other new pictures on there. It is so easy to add pictures to that page. I can upload them right from my camera! I really love that page. I can update it quicker and easier than this page, so check it often!

A few changes

2006-02-20T10:30:00.000-05:00

As you can all see I have made a few changes to the page. The pink was really starting to drive me crazy, and I have always loved blue. I also added a link on the right side to the Flickr account that I have created. A lot of the pictures that are on there are going to be duplicates to what I already have on this page, but flickr is extremly easy to use. On those days that I don't want to type a bunch I can post a few pictures on there and leave short captions. The only thing about Flickr is there is a limit to how much I can upload each month... and I have already reached that limit. It's ok though. I will pace myself better next time. Hope you all like the changes!

Snow... snow... go away...

2006-02-20T09:38:00.000-05:00

It snowed here in KY the other day, and the snow still has not melted. Me and Makayla had a chance to go outside and play in it. She didn't really "play" but it was fun. I don't think she was as thrilled about the snow as I was. I was excited for a while, then we had to do some running around. That is when I was ready for this suff to melt. I hate driving around in the snow. My Mazda seems so light when the roads are icy.

Here is my little Knox house... all covered in snow. One thing I love about when it snows is how beautiful the trees look when the snow is covering them.

As you can see from the pictures... I could not get her to smile to save my life. She wanted nothing to do with the cold. I think she was uncomfortable in all the clothes.

She has this thing right now about standing on cement. For some reason she won't sit down if you place her on cement. She will stand there until you pick her back up. In this picture she didn't want to let go of my finger.

Once I slipped my finger out of the tight little grip she stood there for a few moments while I snapped a shot or two and waited patiently for me to pick her back up. Not once while we were out there did she crack a smile. Not even a grin!

Now... there is a sunny day we went over to the park to swing. I think I already posted a picture from this day on a previous post, but I really love her look on this picture. It is so sweet and innocent.

This picture isn't so sweet, but it was the only way I could get a shot of her teeth. I had to make her mad so she would yell at me, then I took the shot and gave her lots of hugs and kisses to make up for it! She has all 8 of her front teeth finally and actually has 1 moller all the way in and another on the way. I don't know if you can see the two front top teeth, but my daughter has a GAP!!! I really hope that fixes it self!

Here she is a few moments before I decided I had to have a picture of the teeth. This was Valentines day and she is with the elephant her daddy got her. This is the second valentines day she had a stuffed animal that was bigger than she was.

I'm sure we all remember this picture! Look how tiny my baby was. It is really crazy how time flies. (Sorry it's so small. Last time I put this on the site I resized it down to this size and it won't let me go back to the regualr size without destorting the picture.)

Here is the big girl we are used to seeing! She was showing me her block that came with one of the toys Sally sent her for Christmas. This is her way to say "Thank you Sally. We love you!"

Here she is all bundeled up and ready for daycare. It gets really cold around her at 0530 (5:30am for you civilians).

This was another cold day. Are you seeing the pattern here? At least soon winter will be over. Then you all will see the cute spring/summer clothes she has already. She is in 24 months already... can you believe that?

Another sweet face for me.

Makayla is starting pick up on everything I show her. If you look at the toy in her right hand it is a blue cirlce. Well... in her left hand she is turning the container to find the right spot that it goes in. So far she has learned the red square and the blue circle. This little girl is so smart. It amazed me how much she picks up.

Here she has found the blue circle and is putting her toy in the slot! And incase you are wondering... yes that is a watch on her wrist. It didn't last to long, but is was really cute.

This girl loves hanging out with her dad. Especially when she lets her play with his phone. I don't let her play with mine so she loves this!

Makayla is still being stubborn and refusing to walk. She takes a few steps here and there, but once she realizes what she is doing she flops down to the ground. I don't know what else I can do to make her walk. I will just have to wait until she gets confident in herself.

Happy Bithday to us!

2006-02-04T10:40:00.000-05:00

Makayla is officially 1 years old... and I am officially old! We had a party here at my house for Makayla. It was really fun. I think she was really happy to have other kids around the house. Here are a few pictures of her special day. Here she is with her hat and balloons. She LOVED those balloons.

She was concentrating really hard on what was going on here. She has become such a nosey little somebody.

These are two of her new toys that she is "sharing" with one of her buddies. No matter which one I gave her, she was more worried about the other. (Can you see all the curls in her hair. It used to be so straight!)

Here is her new wagon. She studied the box for a while after the paper was torn off of it. Of course the tearing of the paper had to be done by me or her dad. She still wants nothing to do with unwrapping.

Here she is watching her dad put this thing together. I think she wanted to make sure it got done right.

After it was finally done she got to go for a short ride. Looking at the weather you would never believe it was January in Kentucky. It is usally freezing and snow covered this time of year.

For some reason dad wanted to do a lot of "off roading." Surprisingly this thing never tipped over.

Makayla had a blast with her cake. We got her a regular cake that she shared with everyone, then we got her a cake that was just for her. She tasted a little bit of the frosting and then went crazy!!! She had both fists in the cake and was stuffing it in her mouth like she had never eaten before.

She really could not get enough of it. At one point she picked up the whole thing, including the cardboard it was sitting on and was trying to put it all in her mouth. Needless to say, after that she had to get a quick bath and a new outfit, but it was all worth it. That was her with her first experience with sweets, and im sure it wont be the last.

The rest are not from her birthday. Here she is reading. It is so funny to watch her read. She will grab a book and sit down with it on her lap. (Like her lap is big enough to hold anything) Then she will open the book and start "reading." She will even point at certain things on the pages as she "reads." Every night when I read stories to her before she goes to bed I point out things that are talked anout on that page. Im sure thats where she gets that from.

Here is some more reading... even though the book is up-side-down.

Here she is hanging out with dad.

And another trip to the swings. She really enjoys the swings.

OK... now this is where you see how weird my daughter has become. Here she is "making out" with the dryer. Her first love. LOL

But I think this is why she is in love with the dryer. Its her a place where only she can fit. I put her in her and she loved it for some reason.

She looked around for a while then made her self at home.

She just looks way to comfortable in there.

I think I mentioned before about how horrible her first bath was. All the screaming and trying to crawl out. Well... that has changed. She enjoys her baths now. I showed her how to splash with her hands, and she figured out how to spash with her feet, so now she has a blast. She still hates to have her hair washed though.

Thats it for the pictures for now. I hope you all enjoyed them. Kayla is in Virginia right now with her dad, so I have time to get some scrapbooking done. The only thing I have done so far is try to catch up on some sleep. I miss my girl already though. I can't wait for her to get home. She is going to get her first hair cut while she is there. She is going to get her first hair cut from the same person her dad got his first hair cur from.

Unbelievable

2006-01-22T21:09:00.000-05:00

It is crazy to think that in 8 days my daughter is going to be 1 years old. I look at her and it is hard to believe that she has been on this earth almost an entire year, but at the same time it seems like she has been here forever. I ask myself all the time "what did I ever do before Makayla?" I can't remember life without this girl. She is the highlight of my day... everyday.

It is also crazy, or should I say embarrasing, to think that it has been 2 months since I have updated this page! How could you all let me get so far behind. I will have to say that Jill and Duncan have been on me about the page so I will give them credit. But rest of you should have been overloading my email about this. OK... I will stop trying to point the blaim!

Makayla is now NONE STOP!!! She can stand, but chooses not to. She has taken a few steps here and there, but would much rather crawl. I don't know why she doesn't trust herself. She has fallen a couple of times, but not enough to discourage her... I don't think.

Christmas was fun. We were trying to hold out on getting a tree because we knew Kayla would be all over it. When we were finally ready to get one there were no good ones left so we just got a fake one. It didn't look so small until we put all the gifts under it. It ended up fitting perfectly in that spot though.

Also... you can see three of Makayla's christmas pictures over the TV. They are so cute. I wasn't here for that. I was at one of my many boards, but Duncan did a great job at picking out the dress and getting the pics taken. It took him three days and a number of phone calls to me to pull it all together, but he got it done. Good job dad!

We decided to let her open one gift on Christmas eve. It looks like she was trying to open it but she was really trying to use it to stand up. We had to open it for her.

Christmas morning was no different. Her touching this elmo bag was as close as we got to her opening gifts.

After 3 nights of wrapping all these gifts Duncan and I sat there and opened them all back up. She would not touch the paper to save her life. Even if we opened it a little and let her see it. She would just point at the open part... like this.

When she got a hold of the toys she would play with them momentarily and then move onto the next.

This is definatley her favorite. Every time you shake elmo his mouth opens and he talks and laughs. It was cute for the first 2 mins. Now it is REALLY getting old.

She got lots of book to add to her collection. We still read every night, so its nice to have more variety.

These two are also favorites. I'm sure you can all guess which she likes better. Elmo... of course! They both do the hookey pookey. This was the point of the morning when I got mad and almost threw my tape recorder. I had it all ready to go but for some reason the stupid thing didn't want to work. Makayla was dancing with those two dolls and the recorder wouldn't work. I was so mad... I REALLY wanted that on tape.

Of course after all the gifts were unwrapped she sat in the middle of the paper and played for probably 20 mins. She kept looking at me as if to say "Now why in the world would you spend all that money on toys? You should have just bought a couple rolls of wrapping paper and some bows and let me go at it!"

Duncan's mom flew in Christmas afternoon and spent a few days with us. She lucked out because her grandson was also in the area. We went down to see them Christmas evening. Adam has grown so much. It was crazy to see them standing next to eachother. Adam is over a year older than Makayla and Kayla is almost the same height as him. Here they are playing with a walking and barking toy dog. I'm not sure Makayla knew what to think about it. She just kind of watched it. She stuck her hand out to touch it a few times but pulled it right back. Adam on the other hand liked touching it... mainly to puch it over.

Heres Duncan and his handson nephew.

Here's Chris (Adam's dad) and Kayla in a santa hat.

This is the sweat shirt we got for Makayla (and her grandma). We all got a kick out of it. She has almost grown out of it... so Jill...I will be sending it to you soon!

By the end of the night Makayla was so tired, but would not go to sleep. The crazy thing is that she wasn't cranky at all. She just laid in my lap or her dads lap and just watched everything that was going on.

Heres Makayla on a swing for the first time. She liked it, but a couple of times she started to look like she was getting sick. Most of the time she just stared at the ground.

Have I ever mentioned to you all that Makayla loves books? Here she is with her new leap pad. She popped the book right out of the base and started flipping through the pages. I sit with her and the leap pad, but I don't think she likes it as much as me reading stories to her. That is fine by me because I love reading to her. Watching her point to different things on the pages and turning the pages is the best.

This picture is for all of you that think my baby never gets stressed out. LOL I crack up every time I see this picture because she looks like she just has so much on her mind that she just can't take it any more. In reality she is just really tired.

Like I said earlier... she can stand! We had her distracted by looking at the moose on the noggin channel. (Another favorite of hers) She stood there for a while, but once she realized she was standing....

she lowered herself to the ground. Never taking her eyes off the moose... as you can see!

Here is Makayla checking in with her Bible. She goes over to this Bible a few times a day and just opens it and flips through a couple of pages. She never pulls it down to the floor and never tears any pages. I should probably knock on wood though.

Another favorite and first word of hers is the duck. My bathroom is decorated in rubber ducks and she loves them. She actually says duck now. Its more like "du" but were getting there.

She must be in heaven now... she has a duck in her hand and the moose on the TV!

While im thinking about the bathroom... let me tell you all. I have moved Makayla from the kitchen sink to the bath tub for her baths. The first time she was in the big bath tub she freaked out! She was screaming and trying to crawl out. She was acting like I was trying to drown her. It was funny.... and on tape! (That just sounds wrong) Well, now she is much better. Once the tears stopped I was happy but now I have shown her how to splash and kick her feet so she loves it. Getting her hair rinsed is still not a favorite but no tears and involved so we are good to go.

Here is little miss smiles!

And little miss sassy!

Look how lucky I am... I get to see this numerous times a day. Can life get any better?

"Give me five Kayla!" And she does it. Its more like 35 cause she just keeps going and going.

Here she is experiencing bubbles for the first time. She liked it but she looked confused at the same time.

Well, I really want to update you all on what I have been up to but I want to get this posted to night so that will all have to wait for another day. At least you all get to see the princess.

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

2005-11-19T14:58:00.000-05:00

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.

Like I promised...

2005-10-02T20:26:00.000-04:00

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.

You can't tell me she doesn't make those toes look yummy!

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.

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.

This is another morning we were getting ready for daycare. Now... looking at that smile you would never guess it was 5am.

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.

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.

Here's Maya again... being the sweety that she is. I love that girl.

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.

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.

And the green balloon. She had a blast with this thing!

"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.

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!

Look at this smilie baby! I can't get enough of that smile.

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.

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.

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?"

Hey Cheerios... just a heads up... you could make a lot of money with this face on one of your advertisments!

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.

8 months old

2005-09-30T04:36:00.000-04:00

Today Makayla is 8 months old and life is getting interesting. She has been up to so much. She has changed her "danceing" from her one leg going up and down, to her whole body moving up and down. She also can get around the living room without a problem, but still is not crawling. She has 2 teeth that are completly in and I think she is working on another. She has also figured out how to "walk" around the house in her walker. Its wierd to be in the kitchen cooking something, and you look over and there she is! I think she likes her new freedom. I really have to baby proof the house now. I find my towels from the kitchen, in the livingroom, and find her under the dining room table pulling on the table cloth. She would be pulling out my files, and cords from the walls if her arms were a little longer.
She has figured out how to turn on and off her mobile. I laid her in her room yesterday and put her classical CD on for her. I went into my room to lay down and before I could get comfortable I heard a clicking and a different song coming from her room. I laid there confused for a while, then realized what it was. For the next 10 mins I listened to her turn her mobile on and off. She finally gave in and went to sleep. It was kind of weird because the day before I went into her room and started to change her diaper, but she was squirming everywhere. As I reached to turn the mobile on she watched my every move. I thought to myself "she is going to figure this thing out before I know it." Sure enough... I was right!
I recently went to Pennsilvania, with about 90% of my unit, for a conference and a Soldier of the quarter board. The conference was OK... there was just a lot of drama. I HATE drama! The board was good. Soldier of the quarter boards consist of Soldiers that all dress up in their Class A uniform (SO uncomfortable) and go infront of higher ranking Soldiers who ask questions to test your knowledge of different aspects of the military, as well as see how professional you can be under pressure. It is a competition. This time there were 9 of us. Some of us had been to boards before, while others (like myself) were experiencing it for the first time. We were all so stressed out and nervous. Here at Fort Knox we have been studing for about 2 months. It covered all kinds of areas like, leadership, M16A1/2, NBC, Counseling, current events, field sanitation, uniforms, NCOER's, the code of conduct, customs and courtesies, military justice, land navigation, first aid, and drill and ceremony. I think there are a couple of other sections, I just can't think of them right now. Althought I didn't see anyone else's performance, I think we all did very well. To my surprise I won! I was happy, but at the same time more stressed out. Winning just means I have to go to the Soldier of the YEAR board. I'm not really sure how I feel about that yet. At least this one will be here at Fort Knox, and I won't have to spend 4 days away from my baby.
The time away from Makayla was probably the hardest to deal with. I had 5 or 6 people asking me if I was OK. One person even went as far as to say "You really don't want to be in the army do you?" Usually that is a "smart ass" remark for a Soldier who has been getting in trouble a lot, so the first thing that came to my mind is "DAMN... what the hell did I do?" I had to explain over and over that I just missed my baby. My Interent is back up, so I am working on uploading some pictures. It's friday. I figure by Sunday we will be back in action, but no promises. :-)

$38.00!!!

2005-09-01T11:18:00.000-04:00

I can't get over the gas prices. Driving home yesterday after work gas was $2.45 and people were literally wrapped around the block waiting in line. We even had MPs directing traffic. Of course seeing all those people made me panic, so I jumped in line, only to find out that they ran out of unleaded and only had premium for $2.81! Well, I turned around and decided to wait till morning. At 6am this morning it was $2.71, there was still no unleaded and the line was wrapped around the block again. I was running late (as usual) so I waited till lunch. At lunch the line was wrapped around the block again so I went off post. People have been saying that they waited in line for over 2 hours yesterday to get gas! I just paid $3.09 a gal which ended up being $38.00 for 12.263 gals. I have to call someone from Cali tonight and find out how it is out there. It usually ranges from 30 to 40 cent more than here! I don't know how you all do it. I don't know what I am going to do when I get back there. Honestly I might not be there for to long once I get out of the military. Other... CHEAPER states are starting to look a little more tempting!
At least my gas tank will stay full for the next 4 days. We have a 4 day weekend and Duncan, Kalie and I are flying to Virginia to visit his family. We are looking forward to it. Finally a break from Knox. I'm interested in seeing how well Makayla flys now. This will be her 4th plane trip. She is so much more active now and stays awake a lot longer, so we will see what happens. Wish us luck and enjoy your Labor Day weekend!

Such an Angel

2005-08-31T12:44:00.000-04:00

I don't think I can thank the good Lord above enough for blessing me with such a good baby. Let me tell you what a good daughter I have. The other night Duncan and I went to O'Charleys for dinner with my whole unit. There was maybe 25 of us all together. Everyone met around 6:30 but we ended up having to wait because there was a party of 20 before us. I'm sure you can all imagine that it was pretty late when we finally got out of there and on our way home. We got home around 9pm and Makayla got her second wind. She was laughing at everything. She was rolling around and screaming playfully. I laid her in her bed while I took a shower and when I got out she was still up, laughing and playing. I turned off all the lights and sat with her in her glider and finally she relaxed and was ready for bed. So I laid her in her bed, and she rolled over and went to sleep.
Well, Last night I guess she thought she was going to stay up late again but she was fed, bathed and ready for bed by 7:30. I read to her and put her to bed at 8:00. After an hour of CSI I went up stairs to check on her and there she was... just laying there playing with her pacifire and blanket quietly. I had the light in the bathroom on so she could see a little. We got ready for bed and half way through Coach Carter she was still awake, just playing quitely in her bed. It was around 9:45 when she finally drifted to sleep. I can't get over what a good baby she is. Aunty Louise was right when she said I wouldn't have anything to worry about.
Makayla has picked up a few new things. Not only does she roll none stop, but she can scoot forward to get something that she wants. She also loves the mirror and has learned to "dance." I stand her on my dresser in front of the mirror and say "dance-dance-dance" and she stomps her foot or bobs up and down. It is so cute! Sometimes she will do it without the mirror, but the mirror guarantees a dance for at least a few seconds. I have to figure out how to get video on here so you all can see it.
She has had a rash for the last few days so every chance I get I lay her on a blanket on the floor with no diaper and let her bottom "air-out." She loves it! I fan her bottom with a diaper and she just lays there with a look of relief. When I stop fanning she starts smiling and laughing.
Well, I have to get off the computer. I have to head to the hospital and make sure my shots are up to date. I think I need 2. YUK!

bye-bye toothless

2005-08-16T06:46:00.000-04:00

The other night I was introducing Kayla to the sippy cup. While she was rolling it around with her tongue I noticed her gums looked really white in one spot. After hearing from numerous people that babies gums turn really white before the teeth pop out I stuck my finger in there thinking "I bet were getting close now!" We are pasted close... we are there! A tiny, but extremely sharp, white tooth has made its way through the gums. I was so excited I started clapping and saying "yeaaaah Kalie!!" She looked so happy, but confused at the same time. She was probably thinking "I don't know what I did, but I'm happy that you're happy!"
Makayla is becoming more and more determined to get what she wants. I lay her on my bed on her belly and lay things in front of her, but out of reach. She will get her knees under her, throw her face into the bed, and wave her arms all over the place. It is the funniest thing to watch. After a few tries of getting no where she starts rotating in a circle... probably looking for something closer that she can grab. She had become very good at scooting, rotating and even rolling from her back, to her stomach and back again. Sometimes when she is trying to roll from her tummy to her back she forgets to put her arm up and it prevents her from rolling. She will strain her neck in all directions looking for me. When she sees me she will huff and puff with a smile on her face as if telling me "I gave it my all... now help me out." She is just too cute!

Big Girl

2005-08-14T19:32:00.000-04:00

I have been getting e-mail after e-mail asking why I haven't been on here to update. One excuse I can use is that I am cheap! With the school I have right now I get free Interent as long as I am enrolled in a class, but after a certain period of time with no classes, the Internet gets cut off. I haven't signed up for any classes, and just don't want to pay for Internet. I'm at work right now it case you are wondering.
We had Makayla's 6 month appointment at the beginning of this month, and we found out what we already knew. This girl is HUGE! She is 18.1 Lbs and 27.5 inches long. For her weight she is in the 90 percentile and she is off the chart for her height. I think somewhere around 105 percentile. I can't get over how big she is. She looks like shes 8 months old.
She had shoots at this appointment, as usual. I think they went a lot smoother than usual, but Duncan didn't think so. Poor daddy had to hold her down. (I will have nothing to do with that.) After the shots I took her (as usual) and she would not look at him ALL day. Poor Duncan. You can tell his feelings were hurt. I felt bad... but not bad enough to hold her next time. :-) She was extremely tired the rest of the day. I gave her a little snack of 5 ounches of milk around 5pm, and at 6pm she was out. I tried to wake her up for a bath and dinner, but she wouldn't hear it. I layed her in her bed and had the bottle of water and formula mix ready, thinking she would wake up some time during the night ready to eat. I was wrong. She slept all night and didn't want to wake up the next morning for daycare.
Since she can support her weight on those chunky legs (surprisingly) I figured it was time to get her a walker. I took her to the store to "test drive" one. Test driving was out of the questions. I was shocked to see that those long legs actually wern't long enough. She couldn't reach the ground! She just sat there playing with the toys and swinging her legs around. Since she's growing so fast I figured we would go back and try again in a couple weeks.
At six months old Makayla is trying harder to do certain things. She tries to sit up, but ends up belly down, kicking her legs around. She tries to scoot, but again... it's just those chunky legs flying every direction. I think because she is so big it is going to be harder for her to move and get up. Thats a lot of weight to get in motion.
She loves playing with her toys, but I think her pacifire on the Pooh attachment is her favorite. When all the other toys are to far out of reach, she always has her trusty binkie. Half the time she doesn't suck on the thing, she just holds the string and swings it around. I think when it comes time to break her of that it might be easier than I thought. I figure I will just take the binkie off the string and let her have at Pooh bear.
Her "speech" is changing so much every day. She started out taking a deep breath and spitting. That then turned into taking a deep breath and screaming at the top of her lungs. Now she huffs and puffs like a little puppy that is out of breath. It is really cute. When I do it back to her she cracks up.
Speaking of laughing... she does that ALL the time. Almost everything makes her laugh. I love listening to her laugh. I will do everything I can think of just to hear that giggle.
She has mastered grabbing things. She stretches her arms out as far as she can, and if you hold something she wants to far for her to reach she arches her back and kicks her leg up in the air. I guess she thinks she will be able to reach farther like that.
I have so many pictures to share, but I can't get those on my computer at work. I will get into some more classes soon and will be back in the swing of things.

Sorry.....

2005-08-01T11:34:00.000-04:00

I know you have all been waiting for some kind of update on Kalie. I have just been enjoying every min. with her since she has been back. I WILL be back on here to give you all some pictures and let you know how my 6 month old is doing. Crazy... I know!
Right now i'm on lunch, and have to run. I just wanted to let you all know we are still here, so keep ckeck in with us.

Missing my girl

2005-07-18T21:19:00.000-04:00

I'm sure you all know that I am missing my girl so I guess I don't have to title this entry with it. I have never been so happy that the weekend is over. Just about every Monday I wake up thinking "Your kidding... right?" But I have discovered that the alarm never lies. Especially when I spend 20 min. ever Sunday night debating weather I missed a day of the weekend or not.
Today didn't really go as I planned. I planned on staying busy ALL day hoping to keep my mind busy. In reality I did NOTHING... and I do mean NOTHING. I inspected 4 trucks at 4:30am, but the rest of the day was history. Me and a girl I work with sat in my car all morning and talked. We did go inspect another truck, but that only took about 30 mins.
We did PT (physical training) and I am actually getting more confident in my strength, so that was a plus. I might just pass my PT test next month.
After PT I discovered how crazy I have actually become. When driving to my house you come to a stop sign and you have to turn left. Well, from that stop sign you can see where Duncan and I park our cars. Well, his car has been sitting there since Thursday night, and I know this because I dropped him off at the airport. For some reason when I turned the corner I was over come with excitement when I saw his car. I just KNEW that my baby was in this house waiting for me. What a disappointment when I discovered it was all just part of the craziness taking over my brain.
Tomorrow I leave for Indianapolis, so wish me luck. I won't have my house to clean a dozen times or a million pictures of Makayla framed all over the entertainment center. I will be in a hotel with a swimming pool so maybe there is hope. SHOOT... I don't have a bathing suit. Well... just keep the prayers coming.

Gotta love music

2005-07-17T19:48:00.000-04:00

Today started off really slow. The fact that I didn't go to bed until around 6am is probably a major reason. I got up around 11 and told myself that I was not going to pace the floors of this house again all day today. So there I was walking back and forth up stairs. Not pacing, but walking back and forth. *wink* After making and remaking my bed, taking a shower and scrubbing the tub, (As if that thing can get any cleaner.) I got dressed and migrated down stairs. I sat down and listen to the new neighbors outside with their children. They just moved in last week and they have 3 daughters. I was tempted to ask if I could borrow just one of them. Instead I e-mailed Diyosa and asked her if I could borrow Yani for a few days. So what do you say? I promise I will have her back to you by Friday night! LOL
Well, instead of plotting on how to temporarily kidnap someone's child I decided to go to Target. On the way I realized I could BLAST my music and listen to all the rap that I don't listen to with Kalie in the car. So there I was... flying down 31W, (rap makes me speed... don't ask why) wondering, "How in the world did I use to enjoy this?" So I turned it down, and slowed down. (Maybe it's loud music that makes me speed. *shrug*) Either way it made me starting thinking of all the music that I love, and the "tag" that was given to me a long time ago by Diyosa. Here let me check........ May 25th to be exact. What a procrastinator! So here we go:

1. Total volume of music files on my computer? As much as I love music I have none on my computer. I recently had to resent my computer to its original state and I lost all my music.
2. The last CD I bought was? More like CDS: Pretty Ricky "Blue Stars", Greatest 90's hits, WOW Gospel, Mariah Carey "Emancipation of Mimi", and the new Bobby Valentino.
3. Song playing right now: SWV "Weak" I know... I know... that is hella old! It's on that Greatest 90s hits CD.
4. Five songs I listen to a lot or that mean a lot to me: I really love inspirational/ motivational music. Lets see, the first 5 songs that pop into my head are Mariah Carey "Hero" and "Anytime You need a friend", Destiny's Child "Survivor" and "Independent Woman", Brandy's "Movin' on" and "Top of the world", and Will Smith's "Just the two of us". OK... so that's more like 7. Be happy I stopped there, cause I could go on for days. I love music! I would listen to music rather than watch TV any day. The Brandy and Destinys Child songs have all been played dozens of times in a row in the past. Thay have all helped me get through really hard times in my life.
5. Ok, now it's my turn to tag 5 people. Let's start with Duncan's sister Jessica, the other Jessica, Steve from high school, and Phaedra. That's her real name. I think it's so cool. Plus Crista and Randi... you guess were tagged with. I guess yall are as bad as me with the procrastination.
Well, I will probably be back later but for now I am going to get something to eat.

Starving at 4:30am

2005-07-17T04:30:00.000-04:00

That's right, it's just about 4:30 in the morning, and I have yet to go to bed. OK... so I knew I was going to have a hard time with Makayla being gone but DAMN!!! This is getting ridiculous. I have been up for going on 21 hours and am not even close to being sleepy. I did force myself to lay down. I couldn't sleep, so I watched a couple episodes of Girlfriends (haven't seen that show in forever). After forcing myself to turn that off and laying in the bed for about 45 mins I discoved I was hungry. So here I am.... eating Ramen Noodles... blogging about nothing. My brain isn't functioning, but it seems to be going a million miles a second.
Alright... now that I have something in my stomach I can go to bed and sleep peacefully.
Wishful hoping... I know! Just keep praying for me guys... I have 5 more days to go. (that almost brought a tear.) :-(

Going CRAZY

2005-07-16T16:05:00.000-04:00

I'm sure you have all guessed that I am losing my mind without my little one here. Friday when I dropped them off at the airport I was EXTREMLY close to driving off as soon as Duncan stepped out of the car. I did very well. I did get lost when I was driving back to post. My eyes were watering something terrible, damn allergies! OK, OK... so I was crying, and not paying attention to the signs. Can you blaim me? There has not been one person that I have talked to since they have left that has not said "You ACTUALLY let them go?" All I can say is "Yeah..." while i'm thinking "I KNOW!!! I must want to be sent back to Napa and put into the Napa State hospital!" (The state nut house for those that don't know.)
I haven't been able to sit still since they have left. All day at work on Friday everyone was asking what was wrong. They are used to me being positive and smiling, which was not the case yesterday. I told them Kalie has left me for the next 5 days. They were surprised I was doing as good as I was. After work I paced the floors of this lonley house until CSI came on. I watched 2 hours of that... sort of. I still couldn't sit still and that's my favorite show. I got to talk to her before she went to bed and sounded like her normal, happy self. Her grandma has a nursery in her home and the crib has the same theme as Makayla's room, so i'm sure she felt comfortable.
Ok... I have done 4 loads of laundry, washed and rewashed my dishes and her bottles, have scrubbed my bathroom and kitchen, refolded all of Duncan's close in his drawers (it never stays that way), reorganized mine and Kayla's drawers, and cleaned random things such as garbage cans and cabinets! I can think of a million other things I can clean... so im outta here. I have been sitting to long.

Look at that daddy's girl in the making. I love that smile... and miss it SO much.
Pray for me... i'm going CRAZY!

Not enough time with the fam...

2005-07-14T23:19:00.000-04:00

We and Makayla made it back to Kentucky safe and sound. Sorry Aunty Rose and Aunty Louise... I know I should have called as soon as we touched down. I have never been good at that. I remember leaving their houses late at night and telling them I would call when I got home.... and never would. What can I say... after an hour or so of driving there would be a million other thoughts in my head. Don't worry, I'm sure it will come back to haunt me when Kayla is a teenager. :-)
We had a GREAT trip. I finally got to meet my sister and Nephew.

They are so great. The more time I spent with them, the more I got mad at myself for waiting this long to meet them. I missed out on so much because I am such a procrastinator. I never realized how quick time was passing. My nephew was 1 years old when me and Tiff first started talking. Now he is 14! I can't believe I missed all that! Well, there is not point in kicking myself in the butt now. We have united and we WILL see eachother on a regular basis.

Their flight to Cali was a first for both of them, and they did great. I think my nephew did a little better than my sister, but she made it and thats all that matters. We spent all of our time together. The only time me and my sister were seperated was when I went to the store to get Kalie some more formula. We went to San Fransico together. Going over the Bay Bridge was a first for them. I think it was the first big bridge they had ever been on. Tiffany couldn't get enough of the scenery. She really loved looking at the mountains. I enjoyed showing them around because it made me look at thing that I have always seen, in a new way.
The family reunion was also great. There were soooo many of us, and the whole family wasn't even there.

We had so much food it was ridiculous. These 2 tents had 3 tables each and all the tables were FULL of food. We had everything from hot dogs and hambugers to ribs and greens. And lets not forget all the sweets. Yum... is all I can say. I think we ended up having to throw some of it out.

We were sort of rushed out of the camp ground area that was reserved for us, but we still had fun. It was nice to see people that I hadn't seen in a while, and meet people that I had never meet before. For most of the people there, the only way I knew we were related was because of our purple shirts.
Here is me and Tiff. Don't we look a like? Now I know what I would look like if I had dark skin... and she knows what she would look like with light skin. hahaha

And here is my hansome nephew! Is it just me or does he look A LOT older than 14? You should hear his voice! He sounds a lot older than 14 too.

And as you can see Kaylie had her little family reunion shirt also. We had her stylin with the knot on the side. To cute!

This is the only picture I have of me and Makayla together. Usually she is all about the camera but of course today she has something else... more interesting to make faces at.

In this picture, from left to right is my Aunty Rose, Aunty Ruby and Aunty Louise.

Our family picnic was on the 4th of July, so we didn't go out anywhere to see the fireworks. We did get to see a few around the city while we were drivng to my cousins house that night. I always love to see Fireworks over the water around San Fransico. I think those are the best.
One of the family reunion events was a trip to Paramounts Great America. I went on a few of the rides with my little cousins, but could not convince my nephew to get on any of them. Tiffany said from the begining that she didn't ride roller coasters, so I never presured her. She enjoyed watching her niece.

Heres is a couple of pictures of the kids acting silly, but having fun.

Hey look... me and Makayla got to take a picture with a famous..... dog?

Here are a few of my cousins. From left to right is Tanya, Shauntel, and Pooh.

Here is Pooh and her son Dejon. Now... Pooh and Duncan have had conversations through me. Well, when he saw this picture he was like "That's Pooh?!?! Dang... your cousin looks GOOD!!"

In these pictures my little cousin Patricia is helping me keep Kayla in her night time routine. She helped me with her bath, by brushing her hair after.

She also read her a couple of bed time stories. I was impressed at how well she could read. She's so sweet.

Here is Makayla playing with her cousin little Johnny. I thought Makayla was chunky... until I saw this boy. Surprisingly he can walk on this huge legs of his. It wasn't really the size of his legs that made me think "he shouldn't be walking!" It was how bowed they are. I have to get the other picture of him up here for you guys to see. He is SUPER bow legged, but SUPER cute!

Now I know I uploaded more pictures than that! It took me 3 days just to get all the pics up here. I will go ahead and publish this because there are a few people out there that I told this would be done before last weekend was over. OOPS. Well, with Makayla leaving this week all I wanted to do was spend time with her. Tomorrow morning Duncan and Makayla fly out. I will get into how I feel on another post. I have already dropped enough tears for one night. I will also put those other pictures up and get the the tag that was given to me a LONG time ago. All I will have is time.... lonely time.

As we prepare to depart

2005-06-28T21:02:00.000-04:00

Makayla and I have been getting ready for our trip to Cali! I am so excited. I can't believe at the end of this week I am actually going to be able to meet my sisters for the first time, as well as the rest of my family. I can't wait!! I actually need to call my sister and get the time and airline so I can be there on time. We don't want her waiting on her first trip to California. I hope the weather is nice out there. Makayla has bunch of shorts and her bathing suit will be packed just in case anyone wants to hit the pool or beach. I know we will be going to the beach. Possibly the beach that my Moms ashes were scattered at. That will be nice. I wanted to go back there the last 2 times I was home, but it just didn't happen. I know my sister wants to see a beach, so there's my free ticket.

Makayla has become quite the rollie pollie. We lay her on her back to play and before you can get 2 steps away she is over on her stomach. She usually will stay on her stomach for a few mins. then she starts getting irritated. We roll her back over and as you can guess she pops those legs in the air, throws them to the side and is back over on her tummy. She has even started rolling over in her sleep, or I should say when she is trying to go to sleep. This is how I found her last night... crazy girl.

She is still working on holding her bottle. I think she has figured out that if she drops it enough times I will just give in and hold it for her. I tried propping her bottle one morning, before daycare, to see if she didn't see me if she would try to hold the bottle. That didn't work to good either. She ended up falling asleep and her left hand just happened to be positioned so that the bottle wouldn't fall. Doesn't she look extra huge in that jean outfit? Anytime I put her in clothes that don't look "babyish" she looks so grown.

We have finally mastered the bath. She never cries anymore. Not even when we rinse her hair. She does gasp for breath as if the water is going over her face and she can't breath. I was looking at how long her hair has gotten and I couldn't help it. I had to buy some rubber bands just to see of we could get a "pony-tail" going. She had the smallest, cutest pony-tail I have ever seen. This was the outcome.

Hey... can you believe Makayla is going to leave me for 9 whole days? Duncan wants to take her to Virginia on the 15th of July. I don't know what I am going to do without her. My entire daily routine evolves around her. When he was telling me he wanted to take her to see his family I started crying. I can't imagine 9 days without her. Most people say... "Hey... you should enjoy the break." I don't need a break yet. Lets wait until she hits her terrible 2's... then we can talk about a break! Hahaha. I will probably be OK, but that is going to be a LONG 9 days without this face...

We are watching the end of CSI right now and even though I have seen this one I always like to see the CSI's break it all down to the criminals. Makes me want to change professions. Hahaha

Happy Fathers Day

2005-06-19T22:44:00.000-04:00

I don't think there are any fathers out there that read this page aside from Duncan, so happy first fathers day Duncan! We had a relaxing day. He went with me to clean the kennels. He did the dogs and I did the cats. I was hoping he would change his mind about wanting an animal after cleaning up so many piles of poop, but I was wrong. He still wants animals. I don't think I can handle any pets right now. I still have to 2 poms and 1 cat in California, waiting for me to come home.

After coming home and showering, we went to O'Charleys for lunch. The rest of the day he spent counting his change: $87.00 yeaaa, I did laundry and we squeezed a couple of movies in there. He got a card from me, a card from Makayla, and I did a scrapbook page for him and put it in a "shadow box". It turned out really nice. Again... if anyone comes to visit they can see it! hehehe! Makayla also "made" him a framed picture of herself while she was at daycare. She put her little toe prints all around the wooded frame. It is really cute.

She also took a bath in the sink tonight instead of in the baby bath tub. Although this picture doesn't show it... it was really unsuccessful. My poor baby was slipping and sliding all over the place. Some how her Nana managed to give her a bath in her sink and it was successful, and that was a couple of months ago. Oh well... I will just have to wait until she can sit up on her own, so back to the baby bath tub we go.

Anywho, It's late... I'm tired and still have stuff to do before bed time so im outta here!

Lazy mommy

2005-06-12T20:51:00.000-04:00

I know it's been a little while since I have been on here. Life just gets kind of crazy at times. I seem to use that excuse a lot huh? OK... OK... OK... I'm just really lazy! There... ya happy? The truth shall set you free. LOL

We have been up to a lot lately. Duncan has been in and out of the field and I have just been racking my brain with all kinds of new decisions I need to make. I won't go into any of them right now because I am still in the "planning" and deciding stages. Don't you hate when people do that? They mention something that you end up wanting to hear about, but they just won't tell you what it is. How about this, when I see any of you in person I will tell you about my new issues! Does that make anyone want to come visit? If not, I bet this face does!

Anyways, I think I said in my last post that I was going to tell you about the doctor's visit. It was a really long visit because some people just don't communicate well. I had an appointment at 11:30, but was called a week before and asked if we could come in at 9:00 because the doctor needed to leave early. Not a problem! We got there around 8:45 and didn't get seen until around 11:00. I was so irritated, but I stayed my calm, "go with the flow" self... as usual. Hey, I was getting to spend time with my baby when I was supposed to be working. No complaining from me! Makayla weighed 15lbs 3oz and was 25 and a half inches long. She is in the 75 percentile for her weight and the 90 percentile for her height. This girl is going to be so tall... it's crazy. Then again, what can we expect? Duncan stands at 6'3 and I am tall for a girl standing at 5'7.

I have been working with Makayla in holding her bottle and she has been doing pretty good. I use to just put one of her hands on the bottle while I hold it. Once she started putting that one hand up there on her own, I decided to try both. She will put them both on the bottle, and can hold it for a min, but I think it gets a little heavy for her.

She has also tried a few new foods lately. She has tried carrots, peas, squash and sweet potatoes. She seems to like them all. I think her favorite is the cereal, and carrots, but I think she gets bored with eating off the spoon sometimes. She will start whining and crying after a few bites, but when I give her the bottle she is perfectly content.

Her favorite toys right now are her blankets and her music toy that she lays under. If she is laying somewhere she will whine until you give her a blanket. She likes to cover her face with them. I had this blanket laying next to her today. Duncan calls me from the other room and when I get there this was the scene.

I don't know if you can tell from her eyes, but she is smiling under there. She had her whole head covered, and when Duncan asked her what she was doing, she pulled the blanket down just below her eyes and smiled.

She has learned to change the music on this toy. If you push the 2 things that are hanging, the music will change. I don't think she does it to change the music. I think she's just reaching for the butterfly.

She also owns her first bathing suit. It is the cutest bathing suit I have ever seen. I think just because it is so small. She hasn't been in the water with it yet, but it is really cute.

This weather has been to crazy for swimming lately. This past week is was supposed to rain. Imagine that... rain in June! Man I miss Cali. Anyways... it was super hot this whole week. Just walking 10 steps to your car at 6 in the morning and you need to re-hydrate cause your already sweating!

Well, it's Sunday night and I have a uniform to iron and boots to shine, so i'm outta here. I hope you all have a good week. At least you get to start it with new pictures of the cutie!

So she's 4 months old...

2005-05-30T21:43:00.000-04:00

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!

2005-05-28T20:01:00.000-04:00

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!!

2005-05-27T20:12:00.000-04:00

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.....

2005-05-23T22:48:00.000-04:00

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

2005-05-20T17:49:00.000-04:00

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!!!

2005-05-08T22:30:00.000-04:00

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!

2005-05-03T22:56:00.000-04:00

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!

We have pierced ears!

2005-04-27T23:41:00.000-04:00

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!

2005-04-20T21:38:00.000-04:00

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!

2005-04-17T21:44:00.000-04:00

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!

2005-04-05T22:10:00.000-04:00

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!

Happy Easter!

2005-03-27T22:15:00.000-05:00

Makayla's first Easter was really layed back. We all just layed around the house and did nothing. It rained all day, so it was a little gloomy. I studied for the test I have tomorrow. Duncan played video games and cleaned the house. And Makayla slept a good 90% of her day away. Right now she's laying on my lap and looking at the picture of herself that is on the screen . She has become such a smiley baby.

Even when she's doing something that she really doesn't like. For instance... her car seat. She really doesn't like being in there unless it's moving. Usually I have to talk to her and make funny sounds and faces at her when we first put her in there. She can't help but let a few smiles slip out. She is also learning how to use her voice for something other than crying or grunting. I forgot how great baby talk sounds. It has been so long since I have been around young kids. I miss the job at the daycare that I had before I joined the military. Having Makayla is better than the daycare job though, because I don't have to send her home at the end of the day. She's all mine!

We dressed her up yesterday and were going to get her pictures taken, but you should have seen the picture place. I think everyone was out trying to get Easter pictures taken. Then we went by the mall to have some pictures taken with the Easter bunny, but he was on break, and we had a bowling date to meet, so that fell through too. I just took a few pictures with my camera instead. I am planning on having some more pictures of her taken this week. Hopefully all of Kentucky won't be there when we go this time. Its kind of funny because she ended up with 3 Easter dresses. The one she has on in the pictures below (which is a little small), one her cousin gave her (which she will be taking the pictures in), and one Grandma gave her which is still a little big for her.

Bowling was really fun, even though im not good at it... at all. I did actually break 100, and beat Duncan one out of three games! YEAH... me!! Kayla slept the entire time. I was surprised because closer to the end of the night they started playing really loud music, and she never budged. It's funny how she sleeps better in the noise. I try putting her in her room to nap during the day, and she will wake up after 30 mins.

Well, I think she's a little tired of laying on my lap. Plus I have to finish studying, so we are going to go. I hope you all had a great Easter!

I know... it's been a while.

2005-03-23T21:27:00.000-05:00

I cannot believe how busy I have been. It really is crazy how much time this little tiny person requires. She has been busy, busy baby lately. Aside from her first plane trip to meet one side of her family, she also has her first long car trip to meet the other side of her family. That's right... she got back from California on Monday, and that same week she was on the road to Virginia. It was about a 10 and a half hour drive. She did great though. Of course at this age all she does is sleep, so she always does great. :-)

Here's daddy reaching in the back seat while driving, just so the little princess could hold onto his finger. She was a little cranky until she got a hold of that finger, then she was fine but refused to give it back. I'm sure he didn't mind.

Kayla arrived around 12:30 in the morning, which wasn't expected by anyone. Duncan had a key, so he just let himself in and walks calmly into his mom's room, with Makayla. Even though she was scared out of her mind, it didn't last long once she got her hands on Makayla. Her aim was to spoil the baby, and she gave it an honest effort, but Kayla wasn't there long enough. Which is almost a good thing since I am the one that has to live with the little girl. She did have fun with her though. She got to show her off to everyone at work, give her a bath, get her dressed, feed her, and all the other stuff that she just loves doing. Here they are loving each other. You should have seen Makayla studying her face. Especially when she would stick out her tongue, or talk to her. It seemed like Kayla was already trying to copy her with the talking and sticking out of the tongue.

Makayla got the meet two of her second cousins while she was there. They both enjoyed holding her and were really happy that she was strong enough to semi- hold her head up. I have to agree with them... it does make it easier to hold her when you don't have to worry about that head flopping around.

Her great Aunt also really enjoyed getting to meet her. She was just about as determined to spoil her as grandma, but like I said she just wasn't there long enough.

In this picture she looks so amazed and interested in what her Aunt was saying. This is how she gets when people talk to her. She starts moving her mouth and making noises trying to talk.

Well, another unfortunate first that she has while she was in Virginia, was her first accident. Don't worry... it really wasn't that bad, but it was an accident. Duncan accidentally hit a deer. I know I was in shock too. Everyone was fine. Makayla was still awake in her car seat, just looking out the window. She never even dropped the binkie out of her mouth. The deer was killed instantly, or at least that's what I tell myself so I don't worry about her suffering. Now... for those that might have a weak stomach, you might want to skip the next picture because it has the "evidence" that insurance companies look for when you say you hit a deer.

Well, aside from her first airplane ride, first car trip and first car accident, she also has her first week in daycare. I ended up getting a list of FCC members, so I started my "interview" process. I called them all, but only three had an opening for an infant. I went to see all of them, but REALLY liked the first one I meet, and that is who takes care of her now. I have been back to work for 3 days and everything is going really well. We dropped her off for a few hours Monday afternoon and went to run errands since I had late shift (4pm to midnight) and the whole time I felt like I wanted to cry. I never actually cried, but that famous "frog" was definitley in my throat the whole day. The next day when I went to work, I had the same feeling, but it just wasn't as intense. And today I had that feeling until lunch time. I went and spent my lunch with her, and after that I was better. Here's a picture of her right before I left her on the first day. I have yet to get one of her and the care provider.

Her care provider really seems to like Makayla. She only takes care of her two sons and Makayla, which was one of the things I really liked. She says she doesn't plan to take any more children any time soon and I sure don't object. The fewer the kids, the more time she has with her handsome little boys, and my precious baby. She always tells me how good Makayla is. I think everyone is surprised at how good she is. She will sit, or lay for an hour sometimes without a complaint. She does the best when she can see you. She really is a good baby... and im not just saying that because she's mine! (I know... we have all heard that one a million time, but im serious! hahaha)

Heres that precious face we have all fallen in love with. This picture was taken yesterday. She sat in her seat for about half an hour before she fell asleep and watched Duncan play on the Internet. Right now shes laying on the couch, watching her daddy watch a Looney Tunes movie. She's been there for a little over an hour. HEY... and she rolled over a few mins ago!!! Well... kinda. She was laying on the middle cushion of the couch and Duncan was sitting on the cushion next to her. All of a sudden she arches her back like a little rolly polly, and ended up on her side (towards her daddy). Then she turned into a wiggle worm and ended up on her stomach, and up pops the head. That's why I say she "kinda" rolled over. I think the weight of daddy on the couch gave her a little help.

Ok... one more thing, then you all can get back to what you were doing. We went to the doctor at the end of last week, because she needed a slip that says its ok for her to be in daycare and she weighed 10 lbs 6 oz and was 21 inches long. This little girl is growing so fast. It's hard to believe this Sunday she will be 8 weeks old. She is so alert and strong for being so young. She holds her head pretty steady now. You should have seen her the other night. It was the cutest thing. She was lying on our bed, on her tummy and was kicking her legs like she was trying to crawl. I put my hands behind her feet and she was actually able to push herself forward with those little leg muscles. I just held my hands still and let her go to work. She went a good 6 inches, before she got frusterated. We both laughed our butts off. We just can't get enough of this girl. What did we ever do before she got here?

We're back...

2005-03-16T19:12:00.000-05:00

So... did you miss us? I know, its been a while since I have been on here, but we have had a heck of a couple of weeks. For those that I haven't talked to, or seen, Makayla and I went to California! Thats right... the big CA! We had a lot of fun, but no where near the time we needed. I was able to see the majority of my family, but only a few of my friends. The whole trip was a surprise for about 98% of the people. I had to tell one of my family members, just incase something happened to us on the way there, we wanted someone to know where we were. So my Aunty in Oakland was the lucky one to have to keep the secret, and man did she do a good job! We were able to surprise all of my cousins. But the first place we stopped was my Aunty's house in Sacramento. She was so happy to see us it took all she had to not cry. A couple of tears found there way to the surface, but for the most part, she was strong.

Here she is enjoying her Granddaughter. (I know your probably wondering how my Aunt is Makayla's Grandma. Since my mom isn't here I have about 3 people that are like a second mom to me and this Aunt is definetly one of them.) At first she thought Kayla was going to be really spoiled, but was shocked to find out this little girl will lay wide awake without anyone holding her for a long time if you let her.

My dad was another person we saw when we were in Sacramento. He could not take his eyes off this little girl. He just held her and smiled. This was the first time I have ever seen this man not watching a basketball game that is on TV... right in front of him! My dad is so obsessed with basketball I have seen him watch a basketball game that was being commentated in Spanish! But the beauty queen held his interest, as you can see!

A friend of mine stopped by my Aunt's house while we were there also. He was impressed and was one of the only people that says she looks like me. Then again... he's never met Duncan, so maybe thats why.

Next we were off to good ole Napa! I had to rush to catch my best friend before she went to pick her son up from school because I knew she would be leaving as soon as she picked him up. And sure enough she told me she was planning on going straight to the mall. But we were able to catch her. She wasn't as strong as my Aunt. She started crying as soon as she layed her eyes on us. She planning a trip to Kentucky sometime next month, so we look forward to seeing her.

Another one of Makayla's "Grandma's" came to see us while we were in Napa. She is my moms best friend from highschool. She couldn't wait to get her hands on this little girl. She called the night before she came to find out what the earliest time was that she could show up the next day! She is such a sweet heart. I can see why mom my made sure they stayed friends all those years.

My brother had to be the funniest person we saw the whole time we were there. My moms best friend and I practically chased him around the house with Kayla, trying to get him to hold her! He refused to even get close to me when I was holding her. I laughed so hard. What was this little 10 LB baby going to do to this grown man? Finally when no one was around I got him to hold her, just long enough for me to snap a picture. He was completly stiff the whole time, but he over came his fear. :-)

I didn't get all the pictures I wanted when we were in Oakland. I was only able to capture 2 of my cousins with Makayla. We all got so caught up talking about her and sharing different "mommie stories" I forgot all about the camera. Heres one of them holding her. He stopped by for only a few mins, and it seemed like after he held her that was all he wanted, because he left right after that.

This other cousin of mine held Makayla almost the whole time she was there. She had to leave for about an hour to take her son to his swimming class, but as soon as she got back, Makayla was right back in her arms. Everyone tried to convince me to leave Makayla with them, but I think she gave the best attempt with the words "You can leave her with me until you get out of the army...I promise I won't have her calling me mommy!" What's so funny is I think she is really serious! Hahaha my family is so crazy.

Makayla was a perfect angel on all the airplanes we went on. The people on the planes looked a little annoyed when we were all boarding. I think they thought she was going to scream the whole time, but she slept most of the time, and just looked around when she was wake.

Here she is making those cute faces that keep my laughing all day!

And here she is showing her angelic side. You can't tell in this picture but her eyes are starting to turn a lighter brown already... I think!

Wow... that is a long post! There is so much more I can say, but I better get dinner started. We'll be back soon though... with more surprises!!!

6 hour sleeping stretch!

2005-03-06T22:15:00.000-05:00

Thats right! Last night Makayla slept for six hours straight without waking up. I doubt that will happen again any time soon though. She was really tired because we had a long night. We all went to Duncan's 1st Sgt's house for dinner. Well, after dinner we started playing board games. We played Military Pictionary (really hard), regular Pictionary, Outburst (really fun) and Scategories, Well, the 1st Sgt is already a very loud person, and everyone there was getting really into the games. We were all yelling and screaming at the top of our lungs. There were 2 other children there who were sleeping in the living room, and were completly not phased... at all. But my poor Makayla just couldn't stay asleep. She was OK for a while, but when something exciting would happen like cheating, (I won't say any names... 1st SGT) we would all get really loud and her little eyes would pop open. I was shocked she didn't get cranky because she was so tired, but she was a perfect angle the whole time. I was also shocked she didn't fall asleep as soon as we got home. She was up for a couple more hours when we got here, but when she did go to sleep she was out for a whole 6 hours. She usually does 4 hour stretches, so that extra 2 hours really made me happy. I needed it as much as she did.

Today wasn't as exciting as last night for Makayla, but I am really excited! I bought a new digital camera today! Its a Kodak with 6.1mp, compared to the 2.3mp that I have been working with. I know... that camera is really old, but all the pictures on this page so far are from that old thing. They aren't to bad I don't think.

Speaking of pictures... here are some. These are from the old camera. This picture makes me laugh cause it looks like she wants to say "MAN do I have a headache!" But shes just trying to wake up. Its funny watching her wake up because she makes it seem like such hard work. It usually takes a good 5 to 10 mins before she can wake up all the way.

Heres her and her famous eye. Ever since she was born she always seems to leave her right eye closed more than her left. I was really worried for a while that she was going to have a lazy eye, but when she opens those beautiful eyes she makes my worries go away.

Heres her and daddy napping on the couch. They sure do look comfy!

Well, tomorrow I will try to put some pictures up here from the new camera. Maybe we can see if there is really that big of a difference.

What a night... and day!

2005-03-04T18:33:00.000-05:00

Last night around midnight, Makayla was up for her midnight snack so I figured I would post a few more pictures. I had her in one arm, and the other arm was typing away for your enjoyment. I typed 4 full paragraphs with one hand. I was bragging about how I have learned to do just about everything with one arm, and complaining about how at 1 month old this little girl has already learned how to fight her sleep. I went on with descriptions of each picture and other stuff that I can't remember right now, and what happens?!? I hit the button to post it... and the internet decided I wasn't logged in! So all that hard work, that would have taken 10 mins if I had 2 free arms, but took almost 45 mins, was GONE!!! Makayla had fallen asleep in my lap during all of this, so I figured I better go back to bed before I get really frusterated. Sure enough... as soon as I get up stairs... shes awake again, for another 30 mins. Its a good thing I don't have to go back to work until the 21st of this month.

Which brings me to our day! OK... anyone who has talked to me recently knows that I am dreading the day I have to put Makayla in daycare. Today I figured it would be a good idea to go over to the center to observe and talk to the ladies that will be working in the room she will be in. When I get over there the ladies told me that Makayla's not even registered! I told them I put her on the waiting list when I was pregnant and was told to call when she was born. After she was born, and I called I swear the lady told me she could start on the 15th of March. (I don't start back to work until the 21st, but I took an extra week so I could take her over there for a few hours a day so she could adjust. OK... OK... I needed an adjustment period too!) Come to find out... March 15th is the day I have an appointment to register her for the daycare. So basically she is still on the waiting list and when I go back to work, if nothing opens up for that daycare she will have to go to a FCC member until something does open up! For those that are not military... FCC members are people that watch children in their homes here on post. They are usually the wifes of military men. I was having a hard enough time dealing with Makayla in a facility that has cameras recording each room all day. Now I have to grasp the idea of her in someones house... where I have no idea whats going on. I just have to take some strangers word for it. I know those of you that have been in the game of mommie hood for longer than me are shaking your heads thinking "Everything will be fine, just calm down!" Way back in the day when I pictured myself having kids, I just knew that my Aunty Louise and Aunty Rose would be the ONLY people to watch my children. That was just the way it was going to be... no questions. Now, in a couple of weeks Makayla is going to have to be dropped off with someone... and I don't even know their name yet!!! Ok... I have to stop... im getting a little teary.

So on to the pictures! Heres the princess chillin on daddy chest. She loves to be layed on your chest. Its one of her favorite places.

She looks a little confused in this shot. I think she gets it from her dad cause thats the same look I get from him after asking him the same question 7 times while hes watching T.V. What is it with men and zoning into the TV?

Here she is... ready to head to the grocery store. It was snowing outside, but we really needed some food in this house. So im out freezing my butt off. We had to park a mile away because everyone else in Kentucky also decided they just had to get some groceries. I should have held off one more day cause the very next day it was sunny and semi-warm. I'm sure all those people were thinking the same thing. Who knew?

I also picked up the pictures we had taken of Makayla when she was 2 weeks old, so those will be in the mail soon enough. Which reminds me... Aunty Louise and Jill... I haven't forgotten about either of you. I will e-mail you both the pictures I promised really soon. I'm working on baby time here... so be patient! Im sure you both understand!

Already one month old!!

2005-03-02T23:15:00.000-05:00

I figured if the month of February had 30 days in it, today Makayla would be 1 month old. I can hardly believe it! She is the best thing that has ever happened to me. I couldn't be happier. At one month old she has won the hearts of people across the country... literally. Everyone I talk to from California, Texas, Kentucky and Virginia have fallen in love with her and can't wait to get their hands on her. Soon enough, is all I can say... soon enough!!! As for accomplishments at one month old she is able to hold her head up when you put her on her tummy. Its a little unstable but its up there. She also stays awake for about 2-3 hours in the middle of the day. Yesterday we gave her a bath in an actual baby bath tub and she liked it. Well, I should say... she liked it more than the sponge bath she usually gets on a towel on the counter. She still doesn't like getting her hair washed. I think its because her head gets cold faster than the rest of her body. She loves to be talked to, no matter what its about. The other night Duncan described an entire wrestling match to her and she was perfectly content until he stopped talking. She also loves her mobil hanging on her crib. She doesn't sleep in her own room yet, (she sleeps in a basinet next to our bed) but I put her in there in the morning when I need to take a shower. I usually get about 15 mins to shower and get dressed before she gets bored with the mobil.

Well, here are some pictures since I know thats the main reason you guys all come here! I was going through all the shoes she has and these are the only ones that almost fit. I thought they were really cute, so I had to put them on even though she has about another half an inch before they actually fit!

This was tonight right after bath time. The towel she is laying on was what she used to get bathed on, but we have upgraded to the baby bath since her belly button stump has finally fallen off. I was so happy to see that thing go. It was driving me nuts.

Heres me and my pride and joy! I don't really like this picture of me, but for those that visit the page, that don't know what I look like... here I am.

And daddy and his baby girl. The more he figures her out, the more fun he has with her. He can't get enough of her. I'm sure once she gets older she is going to be a daddys girl, and she'll have him wrapped around her little finger

It was brought to my attention earlier that leaving comments was limited to people who had an actual blog account. Well, I have changed that. So if you have tried to leave a comment and it wouldn't work, try again. If it still doesn't work, e-mail me and I will try to find the problem. For those that have left messages... thank you for the compliments. They are all going in her scrapbook!

Hello again

2005-02-27T01:20:00.000-05:00

You know... they say the world is a small place, and im sure we can all agree with that, but what if they said the Internet was a small place? That seems kinda wierd... right? Well, let me be the first to say that the cyber world is just about as small as the regular world! I have been out of highschool now for almost 5 years, (wow... I felt really old writting that!) and the last 5 years that I have been out of highschool I haven't had any contact with anyone I went to school with. Well yesterday I checked my e-mail to find a message from a girl I went to school with. OK... that doesn't seem wierd... I know, but she didn't have my e-mail address, and I didn't have hers. She just happened to be a member of the same mommie forum that I'm a member of! I posted that I had a new web page for little Makayla and as she read it she figured out it was me. I was really surprised to hear from her, and found out that she also has a daughter who I think is around 1 years old. She is such a cute little girl, who also has her own web page. You should check her out. http://www.diyosa.com/babya/ ( I might want to check with mommy and make sure its OK to put that link up there!)

As for us here in KY... we are doing great. We went to the mall today and stupid me forgot to bring the camera. I didn't think Makayla was going to wake up cause any time we go somewhere she sleeps the whole time. But she did wake up and you should have seen her eyes! I think shes getting to the point where she can see more than a foot in front of her face, and I think all the lights were really impressive to her. She wasn't awake for long after daddy picked her up, but it was cute while it lasted.

Here are some pictures of Makayla this morning. Usually she hates to be naked. As soon as she realizes you have taken her clothes off she starts throwing a fit. I guess she decided I was getting to know her to well and had to change things up. She laid there and was really happy for the longest. When I did go to put her clothes on, as you can see from the picture, she was not a happy baby and she made sure I knew that.

These are just random shots I took. That bear was one of the things me and Makayla woke up to Valentines morning after Duncan had left for work. I was a little confused about the "Our first Valentine" part because we were together last year, but later he explained that it was OUR first Valentine... as in the three of us. Its so funny how that bear is almost twice as big as Makayla.

And by the way... sorry the pictures are so small... im still trying to figure out how to get the size right, so bear with me!

Im trying this again!

2005-02-24T17:44:00.000-05:00

OK... i'm trying a new way to post pictures. I was getting tired of putting each picture in a different post. I tried this earlier, and the pictures were HUGE... so im going to try to resize them and see how this works.

Heres Duncan and Makayla looking at eachother like the other one is crazy! I think they are both still trying to figure eachother out...

And here they are hanging out on his lunch break.

Well, im gonna try posting these two pictures and see how it turns out! I really hope this works. Even though I had to resize each of them by hand, it beats putting each of them in a seperate post.

Can you say cutie!!!

2005-02-23T22:44:00.000-05:00

Im holdin my head up... kinda!

2005-02-23T22:43:00.000-05:00

Smilie baby!!

2005-02-23T22:42:00.000-05:00

Just look at me stretch!

Ok... I know I told you guys I would talk about the labor next time I posted, but I didn't get the pictures from the hospital on my computer yet... so you'll have to wait a little longer. But these pictures are from today. I just can't seem to put the camera down. It seems like every time I do she does something really cute, and I have to grab it again!
Today was a great day, but one thing that no other mother ever explained to me was how much longer EVERYTHING takes when you have a baby. I knew getting ready to go somewhere was going to take longer, but I didn' t think time in actual places was going to take as long as it does. We went to a baby store today to look for some more books and everyone in there stopped us to say how cute she is. The lady that worked there was even calling people off their lunch breaks to come out and see her!!! All I could do was smile and think to myself "She is pretty cute if I may say so myself!" So I figured... "Hey i'm in a baby store, I have to expect to get a lot of attention here, with such a young baby." Next was the scrap booking store, which was the same thing, then Walmart! It took all day just to buy 6 things total from 3 stores. I guess its another adjustment I have to make as a mom.

Let me back up a little bit!

2005-02-22T22:43:00.000-05:00

She has the cutest face!

2005-02-22T22:41:00.000-05:00

She has the funniest expressions!

It just occured to me that I jumped right into updates, when most people that are going to be reading this page were no where around when I was pregnant. I should have started this webpage when I was pregnant so everyone could keep updated on that also. Well, I can backtrack and give a quick run down of how the pregnancy went. For the most part everything was extremly smooth. My first trimester was probably the worst. I was ALWAYS... and I do mean always sick! I never actually threw anything up, I was just constantly feeling sick. And man... could I sleep. I swear if I wasn't working... I was sleeping. Thank God Duncan was around to make sure I woke up long enough to eat... or I would have staved.
There was really nothing that stood out about my second trimester. I started to gain a little weight, but it wasn't anything significant until the end of that trimester. Of course at the time I thought it was a lot! I also had quite a bit of back pain, but it wasn't to bad, and I got lots of massages! hehehe... lucky me!
As for the last trimester... thats when the real weight gain began. I really didn't start showing to much until around the 7th month. All together I gained 35 lbs. and now... three weeks later, im about 5 to 10 lbs away from my original weight. I think im pretty lucky in that department.
And labor.... oh my!!!! I think im gonna save that one for the next post, and more pictures... I know. Im gonna try to get some of the pictures from the hospital on that post too so check back soon!

And... we are up and running!

2005-02-20T16:25:00.000-05:00

Makayla 3 weeks old

Today is the first day we are posting to our new webpage, even though Makayla is already 3 weeks old. Can you believe that... 3 whole weeks and she is such a cutie as you can see!!!
This webpage is to keep all of our family and friends updated on how we are doing since we are so far away from home. April of 2007 we will be leaving Kentucky and going back to California. Until then our family can come to this page and see how we are doing.
I'm finally back to my old self again. I still have a little back pain, but i'm completly capable of taking care of myself again. I thought this day was never gonna come. I was sure I was gonna be in pain for the rest of my life.
Makayla is such an angel! She sleeps a lot right now, but when she is awake she is so calm and peaceful. She loves to be talked to held close, but HATES bath time. When she was born she was 6lbs 10 oz. and 19 inches long. At her 2 week appointment she was 7lbs. 11 oz and 20 inches long!!! Shes already eating 4-5 oz, every three to four hours and has the cutest round face and belly.
Duncan was mad about going back to work, but is adjusting OK. He has a four day weekend right now, so hes enjoying his time with the little one. I'll be putting more pictures up, as soon as I get them all on my compter, hope you all enjoy!