Boo Boo!

Sunday, July15 MaKayla had a rough day. She is pulling herself up with anything that stands still or moves. It is impossible to keep up with her anymore. I get tired just watching her sometimes. Ike nudged MaKayla while she was in the kitchen and the poor little thing fell and hit her lip on the tile floor. Her little lip bled and puffed right up. She wouldn’t let us look at it so we kept putting wet washcloths in the freezer and she would chew on them. At least she was keeping something cold on her little lip.

Later in the day she was feeling better and decided to look for Daddy. She found him through the sliding glass door out on the deck. She kept slapping the glass to get his attention. She was so cute talking to him through the glass.

We decided to outside and help Daddy put our new deck furniture together. It was so nice and sunny so I put MaKayla’s shades on her. She wore them for a little while before pulling the glasses off.

I love the clouds in the background, they almost look fake.

Tati bought some jumping balls and filled up the baby pool with them. MaKayla absolutely has a blast playing in with all the balls.

9 Month Pictures

MaKayla is getting so big so fast! Her personality has really blossomed. She has been pulling herself up on everything and is able to crawl faster than I can blink an eyelash. The other day I went into the kitchen to grab some Cheerios for her and by the time I came back I panicked because I couldn’t find her. She was in her bedroom pulling books out of a box. It was so cute. Sorry, I couldn’t get to the camera fast enough to take a picture. On Sunday, July 15 she pulled herself up on a Rubbermaid container that I had out to sort through her close and the container moved on her and she fell and hit her already sore mouth. The second front tooth that was fighting its way through must have hit just perfectly because it popped through and there was blood on her mouth and all over me. She didn’t want me to touch it so I just gave her an ice cold wet washcloth to bite on. After about 10 minutes of Mommy hugging and kissing on her it did the trick. Poor baby!

JcPenney’s has done yet another terrific photo shoot. I cannot comment enough on their customer service, timeliness and professionalism with children. And you can’t beat the price. The only hard part is picking which pictures to buy. That is why I like the $5 option to get all the pictures email to you low res. All in all we are very happy! MaKayla is quite a photogenic baby. She knows what to do in front of the camera. Her new thing is to open her mouth when we want her to smile. She is such a cutie pie! I only chose some of the pictures to post here, there are a lot more! Enjoy!

Angel Wings!

I would like to ask for those of you who pray to please lift up a very special friends of mine in prayer. Their sweet baby girl Hannah Elizabeth entered the kingdom of heaven on the 4th of July. This sweet little girl will be deeply missed and has left an impression on many hearts! It is comforting to know that she is with Jesus but the sorrow is still so heavy. Please take a moment and send up a special prayer for her Mommy and Daddy that they will feel God’s comforting hand on their hearts and lives.

For anyone who has lost a child no matter how early in the womb or out, the pain never leaves you but does lessen over time. I pray for each of you also that God will continue to give you healing, peace and comfort!

Remembering Hannah & Remembering You

We thought of Hannah today, but that is nothing new.

We thought of Hannah yesterday, and will tomorrow too.

And we also think of you as well, even though you make no outward show. For what it means to lose a child, we will never truly know.

Remembering Hannah will be easy, she was such a special joy each day. But we will remember your heartache as well, which we know will never go away.

You are in our hearts and prayers!

Up North over the 4th!

Andy, MaKayla and I went up to my parents cabin in Minocqua, WI for the 4th of July. We had a wonderful time. The lake was beautiful, there was plenty of deer and chippies, the evening campfires and just spending time with family is priceless! We had our first annual fishing tournament on the lake. Dad won with a 16" bass. Luke caught a 36" Northern (I might have the measurement wrong, I know a typical fish story) on a fishing trip with Papa. Thanks for having us up Papa & Nana!
Luke and Caden were inside watching Jaws.
Nana and MaKayla clapping together.
Ahh, kisses! She doesn't give them out very often. Lucky Papa!
How cute!

Happy 4th of July!

\We spent the day at the lake at my parent’s cabin Up North! I was a little worried that MaKayla wouldn’t like to cool water. She was a true water baby! She loved it!! Later in the evening we went to watch the fireworks while Nana & Papa stayed back at the cabin with MaKayla.
This little float was perfect. MaKayla is kicking her feet and water is splashing on her tummy. It is hard to tell by the picture but she is laughing.
This is the life! Lay back and relax while floating on the lake!
MaKayla started to shiver after she got out of the lake. Daddy wrapped up in a towel and held her tight. Note: Don’t use regular diapers in water, they swell up. The thing had to weight 10lbs.

A picture of me fishing after I just caught a bass. Andy didn’t get back with the camera in time to take a picture of my fish. The poor thing was getting really stressed so we let it go.

Wildlife Park

July 6th, Andy, MaKayla and I visited the Wildlife Park. We thought it would be a great way to introduce MaKayla to new animals without being too overwhelming. It is a nice size park for kids where they get to interact with the animals, learn about their habitats and learn about conservation. Andy and I really want to instill good conservation values for the future of animals. MaKayla loved being able to get up close and touch the animals. She was able to pet a rabbit, kitten, goats, pig, tortoise, and deer. She also got to see lots of larger animals like bear, tigers, wolves, all kinds of birds, fox, fish, rams, etc.
This deer was very calm and let us touch his antlers. They were very soft and fuzzy.
MaKayla and the tortoise. The tortoises were mating when we first arrived at the park. They are quite loud and it went on for what seemed like forever. I am just glad that MaKayla was too young to ask what they were doing.
The goats were all friendly. The kids (baby goats) were very rambunctious and fun to watch as they played. At one point Andy and MaKayla had about 15 goats surrounding them. They tried to eat everything in sight. Our shoes, shirts, shorts, pants, stroller camera bag, purse, etc. looked like a nice little lunch to them. One of them even liked MaKayla’s finger. It didn’t hurt her but it gave her quite a scare. Poor baby!

MaKayla loved this bear rocker that was in the gift shop. We let her rock on it for a few minutes and then decided to leave. We are taking advantage of getting off cheap right now and not having to buy souvenirs. We will have plenty of that in the future.

9 Months Old!

Friday, June 29th, Andy has a friend at work that invited us over to take a look at their clothes that their daughter had outgrown. His wife took me down to their basements where there was lots of bag of clothes. The Mom loved to shop at her favorite store Gymboree quite often. She also shopped at The Children’s Place and Gap. I went through one bag and only ended up taking out about 4 items. I started going through the second bag and decided I should just buy it all since everything was in excellent condition. About 20% of the clothes still had the tags on it. When she went shopping she would by the entire line of a theme (flowers, Hawaiian, butterfly, snowflake, ice skating, poodles, etc.) with everything to match including hats and shoes. MaKayla now has clothes through 3T. I will still be on the lookout for a few more things like pj’s and a few more winter items but for the most part she is set. As you can tell we were very lucky and I am cloud 9 with our purchase. I have sorted the clothes according to size and have started washing everything. It is going to take some time to get it all done but I don’t mind =). I have 6 large Rubbermaid containers overflowing with clothes. I think we are going to try the space saver bags to see it that helps with storing them. I will let you know how it turns out. Saturday, June 30th, we started off the morning with MaKayla’s 9-month pictures at JC Penny’s. MaKayla smiled for the camera like a pro. The pictures turned out so cute, I can’t wait to show them to you. Next, we went for MaKayla’s 9-month checkup. Poor little thing got one shot. At least it was not four like the previous appointments. Doctor Baptist said that she is very healthy and tried to walk off with her after the appointment. He was surprised that she would go to him and not cry. She is still in the 25-50% for her age weighing in at 18 lbs. 1 oz and 27 ¼ inches long.
Then we went to Aunt Vickie and Uncle Nick’s house to see their two new pug puppies Harley and Zoe. They are just adorable! By the time we got home the shot had started to kick in and MaKayla was not feeling the greatest. I put her on the floor with a bunch of toys while I folded clothes next to her. She tried to use one of her toys to stand up and she fell and hit her head on one of her blocks. Poor little thing got a goose egg and a bruise. I felt so bad for her! I know it is just the first of many bumps and bruises but she was already not feeling well. I nursed her for the last time and she calmed right down. It was nice that our last experience of nursing made her feel so good! It is really hard on me but I know that we bond in so many other ways.
MaKayla and Uncle Nick
Andy worked hard on the deck this weekend. The stairs are now lite and the railing is almost done. We ate dinner out on the deck on Saturday night it was so nice!
Last night I went in to kiss MaKayla goodnight before I went to bed and found her sleeping while doing the splits. It hurts just looking at her =). It was so cute, I had to take a picture.