Makayla's Family

Scrapbook for Kellan

2011-09-03T19:39:00.001-05:00

I am home sick this weekend while Nathan and the kids are visiting his grandparents in Oklahoma. I decided it might be a good time to do some work on a scrapbook for my baby boy that is now 1 year old!

growing boy

2011-05-25T14:54:00.000-05:00

Kellan is an absolute doll. I have never seen a baby that is just so content. Maybe he is a little bit spoiled and possibly a big momma's boy, but he has been such a wonderful addition to our family. I didn't even notice it as it was happening, but it just seems like he has just always been with us.

He is trying to crawl, but he hasn't quite mastered the legs and arms at the same time. It is precious watching him try though. He loves to eat (hence the fact that he is 23 pounds and not even 9 months), the transition is going to be an easy one to table food because he eats anything that is put in front of him. Kellan also got his first tooth today. I guess that is why he has been more cranky than usual.

Siblings....

2011-05-25T14:49:00.000-05:00

Makayla absolutely loves having a little brother. I had no idea that she would be so happy not to be an only child. She plays with him all the times and irritates him part of the time. If he is not where she thinks he will be when she gets home from school she becomes very concerned that she can not find Kellan. It is adorable. Giving her a brother is one of the best things we ever did for that kid.

sick baby boy

2011-01-17T07:02:00.002-06:00

Last week I took Kellan for his 4 month wellness check-up. While she was listening to his chest she heard some wheezing, so she tested him for RSV. It turns out that he had RSV, and I didn't even know it. He ran no fever and had no breathing issues, so I just assumed he had a cold with a pretty bad cough. After the snow day I got to take two more days off work for sick baby. Nathan was able to stay home on Friday to keep him. He is feeling much better and is going back to daycare today since I am pretty sure that his ten days of being contagious are over. I'm pretty sure that he had this for about a week before we ever knew about it. It was seeming that he was not making any improvements and then all of the sudden he just stopped coughing almost all together.

Here is a sad, sick baby picture.

4 month stats:

Legnth: 27 inches

Weight: 19 pounds 2 ounces

snow!

2011-01-17T06:58:00.005-06:00

We were home for a couple of days last week due to snow. Here are some pics of Makayla playing in the snow.

whew!

2011-01-07T14:56:00.002-06:00

I think that most of my posts these days are just to explain why I haven't been posting, and here is another one. We traveled all over creation for the holidays. It was totally crazy.

Last week our whole family got strep throat except for Kellan. Yay!

I have been back to work since the Monday after Thanksgiving, and it is going great! I am loving the Jacksonville office and being closer to home.

I am seriously sleep deprived...That is all.

In 3 years...

2010-11-16T13:58:00.002-06:00

Nathan and I have gone from being just 2 to 3 and now 4

Our house went from being decorated to being baby proofed

Our social lives have been radically changed

We started going to bed earlier and getting up earlier

We started paying for daycare

Our home and family have changed for the better and will never be the same

grilled cheese

2010-11-16T13:55:00.003-06:00

We have finally found a Makayla approved vegan cheese! It is tofutti! Apparently is makes a great grilled cheese, or Makayla's Dad has the magic touch.

Getting ready for the holidays

2010-11-16T13:37:00.005-06:00

I can not wait to start decorating for the holidays this year. Here are some pics that we took last weekend to put on the christmas card. Actually most of them are pictures of Makayla, but we did manage to get one of her with Kellan.

9 weeks old!

2010-11-03T13:52:00.002-05:00

Kellan is 9 weeks old! He loves to coo and smile. Rolling over is also one of his past times. Kellan is just such a happy baby. At his 8 week check up he weighed 15 pounds and was 24 inches long. He has been in 3-6 month clothes for 3 weeks already. We are adjusting to having Kellan around and couldn't imagine our family without him in it!

Happy Birthday, Makayla!

2010-11-01T13:44:00.000-05:00

I can not believe that Makayla is already 3 years old. Here is a picture of her blowing out her candles at her Tinkerbell party.

Halloween 2010

2010-10-31T13:48:00.000-05:00

Here is our little Tinkerbell and her friend Mr. Skeleton!

Babies and pies

2010-09-29T15:28:00.004-05:00

We made some strawberry pies this week! Makayla made her own in mini pie shells. I think that a lot of her strawberries and filling went into the mouth instead of the pies.

Here are some baby pics to go with the pies...

Tummy Time and Weight Check

2010-09-10T11:29:00.005-05:00

We have been trying to give Kellan tummy time everyday. Suprisingly he actually seems to like it.

Kellan also had his weight check at Dr. Blair's today. Last Friday his weight was down from 7 pounds 10 ounces at birth to 7 pounds 3 ounces at his appointment. At his appintment today he weighed 8 pounds 5 ounces! Dr. Blair said that that wasn't possible because he could not have gained over a pound in a week, so she went and weighed him herself. She was really suprised when she saw that he really did gain that much weight! I am so glad that he is growing and healthy!

Braveheart

2010-09-10T11:25:00.004-05:00

At school yesterday Makayla decided to paint her face. Her teachers called her "braveheart" all day. If you look closely you can see a green circle around her right eye. It was too funny! Don't you love hands on learning:)

Kellan is here!!!

2010-09-07T14:30:00.005-05:00

Kellan Lee was born at 10:56 on August 31st. He weighed 7 pounds 10 ounces and was 21 inches long. I was thinking that he would be bigger than his sister but was a little smaller. I would assume that they would have weighed about the same had I made it to my due date.

His delivery was definitely an event...

I had been having contractions on and off all weekend and feeling really tired and sick to my stomach. Especially on Sunday. I don't think that I was really even functional the sunday before I had him because I was so tired....

On Monday I was having very frequent braxton hicks contractions. At 11:30 PM on the 30th I woke up with painful contractions that were never regular. When I showered at 5AM my contractions stopped, so I just went to work. I had a regular dr's appointment the morning of the 31st, and my dr said that I was between a 2 and 3 and not effaced much. After the appointment I went to the school and had a 3 sessions with clients. I was really tired from being up all night with contractions, so I ended my day a little early and went home to nap. Nathan picked Makayla up at school , and they got home around 4:45. They ate supper, but I didn't because I was feeling really sick still. After they finished eating Makayla and I cuddled up on the couch to watch elmo at which time my water broke. No huge gush thank goodness! We left the house about 30-45 mins later and drove to the hospital. The rest went really quickly. We got to the hospital around 7 or 7:15, and my mom got there around 7:30 to get Makayla. The nurse told me that I could have my epidural whenever I wanted it because I was in active labor. I was not that uncomfortable, so I decided to wait a while...Bad idea. The pain went from bearable to completely unbearable to the point I was sweating in about 5 minutes. At around 9 my dr checked me, and said I was at 4cm. Shortly after that I asked for my epidural. At 10 pm I had a really intense contraction and felt the need to push. I yelled at Nathan to go get a nurse, but as he was getting up from his chair my dr and the nurse walked in the room. I don't think that I have ever been so happy to see my dr. It turns out that I was complete already and my dr told me that there would be no time for my epidural. At that point it didn't really matter anyway. I was not completely dialated in one spot, so my dr had to force dialate me. That was not pleasant. At 10:15 I started pushing, and Kellan was born face up at 10:56. He didn't cry, but the dr said not to worry because he was fine and that the only reason for him not crying was because of the trauma of being born face up instead of down.

In summary... My water broke at 6:15, and he was born less than 5 hours later. That's really quick! I am glad that I didn't take the time to shower! There's no way that I would have been walking anywhere at that point.

We have been home since Thursday, and we are all doing great besides Kellan being a little jaundice. Makayla loves being his big sister. I think that she is really excited. He does wake her up at night sometimes, so if you have any suggestions on that I would love to hear them...

Just for Uncle Ryan!

2010-08-21T18:19:00.007-05:00

Makayla is wearing her Razorback dress in honor of her Uncle Ryan becoming a Razorback this week. We are all very excited! As you can see she thinks that she is a model in her new dress.

We will probably not be able to get this dress off of her tonight. She'll probably want to sleep in it.

Eventhough Uncle Ryan is more of a football kind of guy Makayla is trying to improve her golf swing. Uncle Ryan is not really much of a golfer, but I am sure that he would play with her if she asked:)

The only downside...We can't move to Fayetteville too! Even Makayla feels the need to protest our living in a town with nothing to do while Uncle Ryan gets to live in Fayetteville with more stuff to do than he has time to do it:)

Just a family update

2010-08-03T18:25:00.002-05:00

We have been really busy lately considering that I feel we have nothing to show for all the work we have been doing. That is kind of disappointing. Makayla stayed with my parents in Newport this weekend. I have to admit that I missed her much more than usual! I am always ready to pick her up, but I was really ready to get her this time. She typically stays just one night but stayed 2 night this trip. I wish I could say that we got a lot of work done around the house while she was gone, but we didn't. I think I was just worn out from the work week because we laid around practically all day on Saturday. We did go to Little Rock to eat and watch a movie on Saturday night, but I am sad to say that is the most we accomplished the entire weekend. Makayla did have a great weekend with her Granna, Grandaddy, and Uncle Ryan though.

She has been surprising me so much lately. Since she goes to school all day it is always such a pleasant surprise for me to find out that she knows something that I was unaware that she even knew. It always happens like that. Last night she told me to sit down on the mat in the playroom for circle (like circle time they have at school). I did, so she went into teacher mode and taught me the days of the week. I didn't realize that she even knew that. LOL! It's things like that I don't know about because I don't think to ask her "Do you know the days of the week?". The same thing happens with books. We will read her a book only to realize that she already has 75% of the book memorized. I always think "hmm...I guess they read this book at school too". We are just so blessed to have found such kind, loving people to take care of and teach our little girl!

Baby Update...Last week I woke up in the middle of the night to a couple of painful braxton hicks contractions. The painful ones let up but the contractions still continued. I called and talked to the nurse, and she basically told me not to worry about it because they had slowed down to a contraction every hour or 2. That is normal apparently. I don't know really because I didn't have them much at all with Makayla. Guess that's why we pay our OB's. I had my regular 34 week appointment today, and Dr. Williams wanted to go ahead and check me because of the contractions I have been having. Guess what?!? Not that it means anything at all, but I am already dilated to 1.5 cm. At least something is happening even though I feel a little weird since I am only 34 weeks. He assured me that it was totally normal for a mom who has already had a baby before. Once again...That's why we pay him the big bucks.

Just pics...

2010-07-10T06:50:00.000-05:00

I just liked these pictures of Makayla, so I thought that I would share them with you guys.

sprinkler

2010-07-09T19:28:00.000-05:00

It was really hot here a couple of weeks ago! Makayla decided to cool off by playing in the sprinkler. She liked it a lot!

Allergist and baby update

2010-07-07T19:18:00.005-05:00

I think that this is the only picture that I have ever posted here that I did not take myself. Nathan took this picture of Makayla in her crown at burger king tonight. We went out to eat as a reward because she was so good today during her allergy testing. She had to lay still on her belly for 20 minutes. I was so proud that she was such a big girl. They brought a TV in for her to watch while she was waiting on her belly. I did not expect her to be so cooperative, but I am glad that she was. No complaints here.

There is no bad news on the food allergy front, but there is also very little change. She is still allergic to milk, eggs, peanuts, and beef, but she was negative for pork and cashews. At least we didn't get the news that she now has more allergies. We can live with these allergies now just as we have for the past year and a half. It's just normal for us now I guess. At least now she can have ham and bacon.

I also went to the baby doctor yesterday. We had our last ultrasound. Kellan is a whopping 3.8 lbs at 30 weeks gestation. That is actually average not big, but 3.8 lbs seems big to me considering that he still has 10 weeks left to bake. His room is a mess, but at least Makayla's junk is not in there anymore. It seems to just be the holding pen for all of his stuff that we refuse to allow to take over the whole house until he is actually living here. We haven't even converted the toddler bed back to a crib nor have we rearranged the furniture to make it look a bit different than it did when it was Makayla's room. We are taking our time with the preperations, but I am sure that we will get it done in time. I fear that it will be just in time though because there is just so little time to do things like that when there is also a toddler running around.

A mind of her own

2010-06-17T16:16:00.000-05:00

Makayla definitely has a mind of her own... This is what she wanted to wear to church a couple of weeks ago. Her dress that I planned for her to wear is hanging on the door behind her. She did end up wearing the dress, but the transition between this outfit (nightgown,easter necklace, and church shoes) and her dress was not pretty. I'll just leave it at that.

I also have to add that she loves to take pictures on her bed like this. I had her do it once, and not she wants to smile for the camera everytime she lays on her bed like this.

27 weeks

2010-06-16T16:06:00.001-05:00

I can't believe that I am already 27 weeks along in this pregnancy. That only leaves 13 weeks before Kellan is estimated to arrive. I feel huge. After looking at this picture though I realize that my baby belly is not nearly as huge as it feels. We still have to get the rest of Makayla's things out of her old room, so we have made very little progress with baby preperations. I did pick out bedding last week when I registered. I am looking forward to getting his nursery together but am seriously lacking the energy to get anything done. We will probably get started after we get the bedding. I am just ready to meet him and see what he looks like.

Sidewalk Art

2010-06-15T15:56:00.004-05:00

Makayla loves to do art. Anything art...She will love. Right now she is really into sidewalk chalk and watercolors.
Her drawings are becoming much more recognizable. This for example is a giraffe.

This is a picture that she drew of a fish. She did both of these all by herself, and I have no idea how she learned how to draw real pictures. It's still very cute though!

visiting grandma

2010-06-14T15:50:00.004-05:00

We went to visit my Grandma in Springfield, MO this weekend while Nathan was in Oregon for his brother's graduation. Makayla had a great time visiting and spending time with Grandma. This was the last trip that we will be making anywhere far away until at least Christmas. It was not pleasant at all to travel that far in the car. All that driving gets really old. Luckily Makayla is happy in the car as long as she has her movie!

Makayla Loves her room!

2010-05-27T07:20:00.004-05:00

Makayla loves her big girl room! She really does. We don't love that she gets up half of the time in the middle of the night, but other than that she is adjusting well. The good news is that she is typically easy to get back into bed right away. I don't have any pics of the actual furniture because we had some issues and are exchanging two of the pieces today due to damage. This is a pretty cute picture of her though!

Zoo trip

2010-05-24T15:39:00.001-05:00

This is a picture of Makayla and Nathan from our trip to the zoo about a month or two ago. She has a great time. She is understanding so much more now that we realize at the time. A week after we went to the zoo we were driving down 630 to go eat, and she asked to go see the "amals". How in the world did she remember that is how we got to the zoo? Hmm...

Visiting Granna and Grandaddy

2010-05-22T15:34:00.004-05:00

Makayla is visiting her Granna and Grandaddy today. She has been asking to go stay with them by herself for a while, but we just haven't sent her lately. I think that she really likes the attention and special food that she gets there. You know how grandparents can be... These are pictures of her from last time we went to visit. They have a big yard, and she loves to run around and play.

Sorry no new pics

2010-05-17T13:54:00.005-05:00

I have actually taken a ton of pictures of Makayla since I last posted any pics. It just seems like time is a very precious commodity when a toddler is around. Makayla is taking up a lot of time these days. It seems that she is not happy playing alone.

We have also been super busy getting ready for Makayla's big girl room! Nathan cleaned the carpets with a rug doctor a few weeks ago. I don't know if the nesting has already kicked in or what my deal with the carpets was prior to that, but I just really felt like they needed to be cleaned. Whenever I would walk into a room with carpet that thought would take over. Luckily Nathan values my sanity and clean carpets, so he was more than happy to clean them for me. We had not ever cleaned the carpets ourself like that before, but I have to say that the rug doctor did just as good of a job as the expensive guys that we have had to come and clean the carpets for us in the past. I am a happy camper.

Tomorrow is a BIG DAY for Makayla! Her big girl furniture will be here. She is very lucky to have Uncle Ryan who is willing to pick it up for her. She loves her "big girl room" already. She loves to play in the open room that will contain her brand new big girl furniture tomorrow! Last weekend Makayla's Granna went with us to Little Rock to get bedding and things for her new room. I think I have mentioned that we have a VERY strong willed child. I asked her that morning before I left what color she wanted her "covers" for her big girl bed to be. She was very certain that she wanted purple. (I am not and never was a purple girl! I am 100% a pink girl.)I assumed that she didn't really understand what I was asking. When we got to Target to look at bedding her Granna and I showed her every pink bedding set that we found. No luck. It turns out that she really did want purple. Unfortunately she saw the purple sets that we never offered her. That is when we realized exactly how BADLY she really wanted purple bedding. Good thing that I didn't really care what bedding was on her bed because at that moment I realized that we were not leaving with our ear drums in tact if we did not have purple bedding. I have to admit that it really is cute for something that is almost all purple.

I don't know if I have posted this before, but Makayla takes gymnastics every Thursday at her school. The nice people from River City Gymnastics come to her school and being all of the equipment for the kids that choose to participate. Makayla has recently become much more interested in her "plips". (That is flips for the rest of us.) She typically does her "plips" in her currently vacant "Big girl room". I do have concerns that she will not be happy when she has to sacrifice some of her "nastics" space to make room for her new furniture.

Other than Baby Kellan kickin' up a storm in my belly this is basically what we have been doing recently other than parents going to work and little girl going to school. Things are definitely coming together at our house. Kellan has most of his clothes that he will need while I am on maternity leave and a few months after. I really haven't given too much thought to his room yet other than that I don't think I want to do sports themed bedding bedding because I haven't found any that I like. It is so funny that things that seem so urgent with the first baby seem relatively insignificant with the second. At this time with Makayla I felt an urgent need to prepare her room, but I don't seem to feel an urgent need to do much nesting at all yet for him. Poor kid. I wouldn't even have any clothes for him yet if I had not run across an awesome sale with deals that I would have had to be crazy to pass up.

I will post pics of Makayla in her new room sometime this week. Please pray that we don't have rain tomorrow and will be able to pick up her furniture and get it put together easily.

It's a....

2010-04-06T08:54:00.003-05:00

I went to the doctor yesterday to have my BIG ultrasound. It went great, and we got to see the little heartbeat again. I really wanted to see the baby moving around, so I ate some chinese food and drank a diet coke first. I haven't had caffine since I found out that I was pregnant. I'm sure that it was a shock for this little one. It did work though. The baby was rolling from front to back and side to side.
The gender was such a suprise. I was expecting it to take a while for her to be able to tell us what it was because Makayla had her legs crossed, so we had to wait forever for her to uncross her legs. We actually didn't think that we were going to be able to find out what she was that day, but when the ultrasound tech was done with all of her measurements Makayla decided to uncross her legs. It was then that we found out that she was a girl. It was very different this time. The baby was so active that it was just very obvious. I had no idea that it could be so easy to tell, but it can be very obvious when...

IT'S A BOY!

Goofy girl!

2010-03-17T14:45:00.000-05:00

Makayla is just so funny!
She always has us laughing about something. I don't really have much else to say, but she is just really funny!

Thanks Aunt Connie!

2010-03-15T14:43:00.000-05:00

Thanks for the Elmo clothes! They made Makayla really happy. Especially this sweater. She really liked it and wanted to wear it as soon as she got it out of the box.

Poop

2010-03-13T12:00:00.000-06:00

Makayla has been very focused on poop lately. Everything she sees that remotely looks like poop become poop and very yucky.

It is really funny to me because this whole poop thing started a couple of weeks ago when she was pooping on the potty.

The conversation went something like this:
Makayla: I pooped
Me: You did poop. Didn't you?
Makayla: You don't eat poop.
Me: No we don't eat poop.
MAkayla: YOU DON'T EAT POOP!
Me: I know we don't eat poop.
Makayla: Eating poop is gross!
Me: Yes it is gross!
Makayla: You don't eat poop.

We have never had issues with Makayla wanting to eat her poop. I wonder if there is a kid at school that likes to eat their poop or something, because Makayla is very passionate about not eating her poop!

Nice weather and funny clothes

2010-03-12T14:26:00.003-06:00

It has really been a nice week. Unfortunately nice weeks in March usually means that we have some severe weather here in Arkansas. At least this week was uneventful for us. Unlike the weather we had a couple of years ago. If you don't remember the tornado click here.

Since it has been so nice we were able to play outside a lot last weekend. Makayla played ball and played on the swingset. She had so much fun. I pushed her on the swing for what seemed like forever. It turns out that it felt like a really long time because it was a really long time. When we finally went back inside the house I looked at the clock and had been pushing her on the swing for 2 hours. I didn't know that was possible, but apparently that girl likes to swing.

Take note of this very silly outfit that she is wearing in this picture. Nathan dressed her. She is wearing denim shorts, a shirt that my brother got her in Florida, her polka dot jacket (this was my only addition), socks that are way too big and go all the way up to her knees, and her crocs from last summer that are 2 sized too small. All that matters is that she has clothes on when she is outside right?

Playroom fun

2010-03-05T06:14:00.000-06:00

We have been so happy with our new playroom that we added onto our house! It has been so great to be able to isolate the mess to just one area.

It gets messy and dirty sometimes. When that happens we have to clean it!Sometimes Makayla tries to recruit help.

Busy Work

2010-03-03T06:04:00.003-06:00

Ok. Makayla was out of school for 4 days for snow. Add that to the weekend, and you get 6 days of being stuck in the house. As I said in a previous post this week we were not prepared. We had plenty of food (well other than Makayla's milk which Nathan ventured out to get), but we were not prepared for the boredom that we would encounter with our little toddler.
She looks very satisfied in these pictures. Doesn't she? She wasn't the rest of the time! I do believe that this girl was having cabin fever much worse than either of the adults in the house.

After about 2 days of missing school things started getting pretty ugly. I was really regretting not buying the finger paints to replace the ones that she had already used. I finally remembered that I had scrapbooking supplies that don't have to be for just me! The stamps were a lifesaver. She had a blast stamping! She also loved that the ink was pink!

Week 12

2010-03-02T08:01:00.002-06:00

I had my second prenatal appointment yesterday. I am 12 weeks along now, so that means that the baby is big enough for his or her heartbeat to be heard on the doppler. I was suprised at how loud the heartbeat was this time. I'm sure that my doctor just had the volume turned up loud, but it was louder than I remember makayla's being. It could also have just been the position of the baby. Who knows? All I know is that this pregnancy has been much different. It has been way easier! Much less morning sickness and fatigue. Everything is just so exciting. I think that my perspective is also different this time since I have been pregnant before.

I go back to the doctor in 5 weeks for the BIG ultrasound. We only have 5 weeks before we find out if Makayla will have a brother or a sister!

Snow Day Fun!

2010-02-28T17:44:00.005-06:00

Wow! I never realize how long it has been since I last posted until I finally get around to posting again. Well it looks like it was about a month and a half this time. Not too good. I need to keep up better.

We have had much more winter weather this winter than normal. A few weeks ago we actually got about 10 inches! Yes, I did say 10 inches. That is not standard for an Arkansas winter. We were not prepared. I was off work for 3 days in one week for this snow.

Nathan and Makayla built a snowman. It actually hung around for at least a week after they built it.

Christmas morning

2010-01-09T06:55:00.003-06:00

This is a picture of Makayla opening gifts at Granna and Grandaddy's house.

This is a picture of Makayla opening her gifts from Santa.

Will post pics tonight...

2010-01-08T07:44:00.002-06:00

We have been traveling a lot over the holidays. For Christmas we went to Oklahoma to visit Nathan's grandparents and the rest of his relatives that live nearby and then went to visit my family in Newport. We just stayed home on New Year's Eve. On January 2nd Nathan, Ryan, and my Dad went to Memphis to the Liberty Bowl while Makayla and I visited with my Mom. It has been a hectic past few weeks, but I had a great break from work. I should actually be working now, but I decided to give you an update instead.

I do have some really cute pics of Makayla from Christmas that I will post tonight if we get our cable back on. I tried to post the pics this morning, but we are having a cable outage which means no internet. No pics on my work computer, so that will have to wait.

thanksgiving

2009-11-28T18:08:00.004-06:00

Happy Belated Thanksgiving!

We spent the holiday with Nathan's grandparents in Oklahoma. Makayla really enjoyed visiting with everyone and playing with the leaves in their yard!!!

Yes, it has been almost 2 months

2009-11-25T07:47:00.003-06:00

Here are some pictures of Makayla that I took at the Old Mill in NLR.

It has been almost 2 months since my last post. That is totally a reflection of how hectic our life has been lately.

Here's what has been happening lately:

*Makayla turned 2 on November 1st!

*Makayla's Uncle Ryan was busy playing football, so we all 3 went to a few of his games. Makayla had a blast. She loves football.

*We took some pictures at the Old Mill in Little Rock which is site of the picture that plays in the opening credits of Gone with the wind.

*We have been super busy with work and other activities, so there has been little time for anything else.

*Makayla's school has their thanksgiving feast yesterday. (I don't have any pictures though because I had to work and couldn't be there with her)

Grand Finale

2009-10-01T06:00:00.001-05:00

These are some pics from the coast that I took. The view was breathtaking.

Throwing sand

2009-09-30T21:52:00.001-05:00

Makayla now has expereinced the joy that can only come from picking up a handful of sand and chunking it at anything that happens to be in the way which was often herself because the wind was blowing.

Coffeshop Actions

2009-09-29T21:42:00.001-05:00

I use coffeshop actions to edit my pictures on photoshop pretty often. This is one of my favorite pictures that I took on the beach. I think that it looks great in color of black and white, but I used a few different actions for you to see since I know that many of you use photoshop.

original

classic black and white bitersweet vintage

chocolate
denim

Black and white on the beach

2009-09-28T21:18:00.004-05:00

I got the opportunity to take lots of pics on the beach that I thought would look great in black and white. These are by far some of my favorites that I took all week. little feet

Nathan's sister Candice

Kaylie

Kenzie chasing her Uncle Ethan

They were supposed to jump on "3", but Kenzie's "3" was never the same as mine. I still thought that this was an adorable picture.
Candice and her boyfriend-I love this picture.

Nathan, Makayla, and Me

McKenzie is always so vivacious.

Family pics

2009-09-27T21:03:00.000-05:00

We went to the coast at Newport, Or while we were visiting family. The kids and grown-ups had a blast. Nathan and his siblings played in the pacific while Melissa's girls went back and forth from the water to the sand. Of course I spent our time at the beach behind the camera while Grandma Lorri managed the grandbabies. The coast was beautiful, but I won't be revealing those marvelous pics until later this week.

I really wanted to take pics on the beach, so we managed to squeeze the tripod into our 1 suitcase that we checked for $20. (CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT WE REALLY DID HAVE TO PAY THAT JUST TO CHECK OUR LUGGAGE?) Anyway, I have never been to the pacific ocean before, so I didn't realize that there wouldn't be much pretty white sand on the Oregon coast. As you can tell we had mud. That is apparently what they have on the coast there, but we used the mud anyway.

These are the pics that I took of the family at the beach.

Melissa with her girls-Mistie (11), Kaylie (7), McKenzie (6)
The whole group-Me, Nathan, Makayla, Ethan, Melissa, Lorri, Candice, McKenzie, Mistie, Kaylie

Me, Nathan, Makayla

Nathan, Me, Kaylie, Mistis, McKenzie who is making glasses with her hands

Nathan with his siblings

nieces

2009-09-26T21:28:00.001-05:00

I am glad to take these precious girls as my nieces! They are adorable and full of life. I had so much fun getting to know them better while we were visiting. They are such a joy to be around. McKenzie is the youngest, and she is so energetic. I think that she was lapping the adults all over the place on the beach.
Kaylie is the middle child, and she is a very affectionate, peaceful person.

Mistie is the oldest child. She is very responsible and energetic. Poor Mistie got seasick on the whale watching tour.

Sea Lions

2009-09-25T22:04:00.002-05:00

Nathan, Ethan, the girls and I went on a whale watching tour. I bet we had 12-15 whale sightings while we were on the water which is apparently a lot of sightings for a 1.5 hour tour, so we picked a great time and place to go on the tour. It was tons of fun, but I am glad that we didn't eat anything before we got on the boat. Poor Mistie would have been in bad shape if we had eaten first. Sea Lions were also around in the water where we were. Here is a picture of them, but I didn't get any outstanding pictures of the whales because the water was choppy. I didn't want to take a chance of my lovely camera having a chance to swim with the whales in the pacific.

flowers

2009-09-25T21:00:00.003-05:00

I can't believe that we actually survived the plane trips. Let me tell you that it was not any fun at all being on a plane with a toddler for 4 hours. Makayla was not a happy camper. This week I will be posting some random pics from the trip. Enjoy!

blackberries

2009-09-17T11:04:00.002-05:00

Makaylas love blackberries. They grow wild in Oregon. We are hanging out at Nathan's mom's house today. I took this picture this morning of Makayla and her Grandpa Bob picking blackberries in their back yard. This is what Oregon looks like. It is very green. Sweet Home, OR where we are visitng Nathan's mom is in the Willamette Valley. I didn't realize that meant that there were going to be mountains right around the town. I just thought that there were mountains nearby. The area is very interesting to me because a town this size in Arkansas would have a wal-mart supercenter, but instead the people living here shop at locally owned shops like you see on Gilmore Girls or Everwood. It makes me kind of sad that we have a Wal-Mart on every corner in Arkansas thus making the small local businesses obselete. Anyway we are enjoying our trip and had a relatively good trip here on the planes. It could have been much worse. Makayla did very well considering that we had to hold her on our laps for 5 hours total.

We are going to the zoo in Portland on Saturday and to Newport Beach on Sunday and Monday. I will post pics of that later. I also have to add that I am super excited about our whale watching tour that Nathan and I are taking our nieces on first thing Monday morning.

Going to Grandma's!

2009-09-15T22:16:00.000-05:00

We are leaving for Oregon in the morning and will be gone for a week. It will be Makayla's first trip on a plane. I am leaving you with a picture of me as a motivation for me to update the blog while I am gone or very soon after we get back. We have lots of exciting things planned, so I know that I will have a lot to tell you about next week.

Nice Quote

2009-09-14T22:13:00.000-05:00

I found this quote, and I just had to find a way to utilize it. This is what I came up with.

4-wheeler

2009-09-13T22:06:00.002-05:00

Last weekend we visited my parents and brother since it was a long weekend. Makayla rode the 4-wheeler with my dad for about 10 feet.

It started like this.

It ended like this.

Just a pic

2009-09-12T22:05:00.001-05:00

I know that is what most of you check this blog for in the first place, so here is a picture of Makayla and me from last weekend.

swing set

2009-09-01T20:03:00.000-05:00

Makayla's granna and grandaddy got her a swing set. She loves to swing and slide. The swing set also has a teeter totter that she likes, but that is a challenge when you are an only child. Makayla has a difficult time understanding why her momma and Daddy don't like to sit on the teeter totter. It is because we are old and our knees do not like that, but she just doesn't get it. She'll understand when she gets older.

Where's my baby?

2009-08-30T19:50:00.004-05:00

I ask myself this question all the time when I see Makayla. She is clearly not a baby anymore. I think I'm fine with that. She is just becoming such a wonderful little girl. Makayla is becoming more independent everyday, and we are so proud of her.

Makayla's playroom

2009-08-29T19:47:00.005-05:00

We have been really busy lately, but we did get our new room and hardwood flooring completed. The playroom is so nice, and Makayla is very content to stay out there and play without running all over the house. The room is not very big, but it has made such a huge difference in our house. We are so glad that we made this investment in our home.

Praise-Ins

2009-07-17T18:08:00.000-05:00

Makayla loves craisins. She can't procounce craisins, so she calls them "praise-ins". It is adorable. She also really likes to use utensils as you can see. The first thing that she does when she gets her plate is ask for her 'poon.

As you can see our play room is almost done in the background. We are just waiting for the flooring installation.

Lovin' the water

2009-07-16T18:00:00.000-05:00

Makayla loves the water. Here she is playing in her sprinkler out in the front yard. She is so tan. It makes me jealous.

The Wonder Place

2009-07-15T17:50:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago we took Makayla to "The Wonder Place" in Little Rock. We met The Whites there, and I think that the kids had a blast. Lucas White is a a few months younger than Makayla. It is always great to get together with old friends from our college days. It is awesome that we were able to spend time together as a family with great friends and their family.

Awesome Day!!!

Oops!

2009-07-14T17:28:00.002-05:00

It has been a while since I have posted...again. I don't know how I used to be able to keep the blog up so well. I also have been neglecting my awesome camera. Here is a picture that I took on 4th of july.

It's been a while...

2009-06-15T19:26:00.004-05:00

We have been really busy. Summer is slower at work, but that has not given me any extra time for some reason.

Makayla is doing so great at Montessori. Her languagage is just exploding. She is such a spirited child.

Since the weather is nice we will be outside much more.

Last week we went to the zoo. Makayla loved the "cats".

Isn't she precious?

2009-05-11T12:30:00.000-05:00

I am biased, but I think that Makayla is just precious. I can't wait for the weather to improve because she has a ton of adorable dresses to wear!

Happy Mother's Day!

2009-05-10T15:08:00.001-05:00

Happy Mother's Day to all the mom's out there! Here is a picture from the day that I became a mom.

Outside Time

2009-05-08T12:17:00.000-05:00

Makayla loves to play outside. The weather has been so nasty for the past couple of weeks that she wouldn't typically get to spend much time outside.
Typically...That is the key word here.

At Montessori they consider learning as "Dirty Work". Montessori focuses on hands on learning. That means that in order to learn about mud she would have to experience mud. That is definitely happened this week. Not only has she learned about mud but also water puddles. She just had to learn how her bottom felt at the bottom of the puddles on the playground...Three times.

I will post some of those pics later on this week. I hope that we have more nice days like the ones in the pictures in this post because it has been raining here for 2 weeks.

In our world...

2009-05-08T12:10:00.002-05:00

We have had so much going on recently.

Makayla started Montessori this week. She is adjusting really well. They say that she is happy and is really doing well with the new routine. It is a big adjustment but it has overall been an easy transition her her. I really believe in the Montessori philosphy and know that we have made the right choice for Makayla and our family. She is already making new advances that obviously came from Montessori.

Nathan has been working a lot because his team lead has been off work due to surgery, so Nathan has been having to pick up the slack while he is gone on leave.

I am now school based at White County Central and am loving it! I am out there everyday and never have to leave to see people in other areas. It is awesome. I have been waiting so long for this kind of stability with a school.

Just a little news..

2009-04-26T14:46:00.002-05:00

I met my goal weight this week! Yay!

We have been really busy and preoccupied recently. Sorry no new pics. Maybe things will be better over the next couple of weeks. Nothing new going on with us. Makayla is definitely developing a personality. She is a girl that definitely knows what she wants and lets us know about it when she does not get her way. Anyway. We are still here but very busy.

I have a new rule though. No traveling until Memorial Day.

Egg Dyeing adjusted

2009-04-16T19:00:00.002-05:00

Due to Makayla's allergies we could not dye easter eggs, so we decided upon another family tradition. We will decorate easter egg shaped sugar cookies each year. If at some point we do get eggs back we will dye eggs in addition to our cookie tradition.

Makayla helped with the sprinkles.

Made a big mess...

and she still looked pretty! This picture really shows off her big, brown eyes.

Another comfy outfit

2009-04-14T18:43:00.000-05:00

Thanks Aunt Connie for the outfits!

I just had to post this pic because it doesn't look like Makayla much at all. I mean it is her so obviously it looks like her, but it just doesn't portray her personality at all. She is not really a stare at the camera type of girl. These days she just chooses not to look at the camera at all most of the time. She does love that doodlepro though. That girl could play with that thing all day.

Whew!

2009-04-12T19:44:00.003-05:00

We have been super busy over the past couple of months. It is amazing when I think about all of the things that we have been doing. I try to remember all of the traveling that we have done since February, but I just keep remembering things. It just seems like we can't get a break and just stay home with nothing to do. We did get a break last week, but we were all 3 sick. That made the break much less enjoyable because we didn't go anywhere all weekend except to a restaurant really quick because I didn't have the energy to cook. Makayla is better, but Nathan and I still have a little cough. We will be here next weekend, but we have to go out of town again the weekend after that! When will it end??? I think that I am going to have to put an end to it soon because I am so tired of traveling. The sad part is that we aren't traveling for fun most of the time. These trips are just visits with people.

I am just worn out because it is impossible to keep up with household responsibilities when you are out of town for 3 weeks in a row with no break in between the trips. It will take me weeks to get our house back in order again. Ugh! I did get laundry done on Friday in addition to some much needed cleaning. I try to do the cleaning a little bit each day, but I have issues with that soemtimes because I am just so tired at the end of the day. That is life though right? Aren't you supposed to run around in circles all the time.

Anyway I just wanted to give an update.

Happy Easter!

2009-04-12T18:28:00.002-05:00

I hope that you have all had a wonderful Easter. We did. This morning we went to church which was great because we have been traveling for what seems like months. Makayla had tons of fun in the nursery with the other kiddos. The easter bunny also visited our house and left some goodies.

I am so glad that we decided to hunt eggs yesterday because our weather today leaves something to be desired. This rainy and severe weather (that means that it is tornado weather for those of you that are not from around here) really needs to go. I absolutely hate tornado season! I dread the spring every year. I actually find it somewhat hard to believe that I have lived in Arkansas for 26 years and was never actually in one until last year.

Anyway we hunted eggs with the Abbotts yesterday morning and my mom and brother decided last minute that they also wanted to hunt eggs yesterday. Thanks Aunt Connie for all the outfits. They are adorable and look super comfy. (She made her easter outit in the pics.)

St. Louis

2009-04-03T08:42:00.003-05:00

We had so much fun on our trip. The weather was not good, so we went to the museum instead of the zoo. Makayla had so much fun, and made a build-a-dino at the museum. Leave it to my daughter to choose a boy dinosaur and throw a fit when we tried to get her to get another one. Good News! She still hugs it and kisses it, so apparently the purple and yellow t-rex was meant to be her friend. The trip was a huge success, and Makayla did great. She was even pretty good in the car. It was great to spend some time with our friends from college. The whole weekend was great. It even snowed before we left.

bubbles

2009-03-26T06:29:00.001-05:00

Makayla loves to blow bubbles. She can't blow them herself very well, so we blow them for her most of the time. That lasts about 5 minutes before she decides that she is a big girl and needs to do it for herself.

Bubbles and coloring are 2 of her very favorite things to do these days. She can sit and color at her table in the kitchen for 30 minutes and still be angry when I put her colors away. I didn't know they had that kind of attention span at 16 months. I am wondering why she will color for 30 minutes and play with blocks for 30 seconds.

Makayla is trying really hard to help out around the house. She likes to put laundry in the baskets (even if it is clean and folded), and she also likes to sweep the floor with the little broom. I don't know where this child gets this from, but I am not complaining!

Keep it up, Makayla, because mommy needs a housekeeper!

We are off to St. Louis today! Tons of pictures on the way next week! I hope that the weather is nice and warm but not rainy.

More red shirts

2009-03-24T06:26:00.000-05:00

I took a ton of pictures outside this weekend of Makayla in her red shirt. She just looked so good in it that you are going to get to see it all week!

I love my camera!

2009-03-23T06:19:00.004-05:00

I don't know how many times I have said this...
I LOVE MY CAMERA!
It is really a great camera. Sometimes the person behind the camera is not so great (like here considering that I cut off her head), but the camera is awesome!

so little

2009-03-23T06:13:00.004-05:00

I think that Makayla is getting really big, really fast, but sometimes I see pictures like this one that remind me that she is really little! This is a picture of Makayla in front of my brother's truck.

Making memories

2009-03-19T11:45:00.003-05:00

Makayla and I are leaving tomorrow to go with my mother to visit my Grandma in Springfield, MO for the weekend. I hope to have some good pics to post after the visit.

Last weekend we went to visit my parents in Newport. We took Makayla up to the local feed store in town where she got to see some chicks and visit with soome of the local personalities. We took some pictures but not many, and I don't have them with me right now since I am working.

Next weekend we are all three going to St. Louis to take in some sights with a couple of friends of ours from college. I am so excited about that.

I am so excited about all of our family activities this month. We go out of our way to make memories with Makayla because we don't get as much time with our as we would like to be able to spend with her. Our goal is quality time, and we are going to have a lot of quality time over the next few weeks. I am so happy to be able to share this time with her and give her these experiences.

Call it what you will.

2009-03-13T22:24:00.003-05:00

I'm starting early!

This shirt says "most likely to change the world".

She's got my vote!

She's a future president. Didn't you know?

I'm grooming her to be an activist just like her Mommy!

Call it what you will. Activist? Enthusiast? Bustler?
I choose activist. I don't know what you call it, but I do know that she has it.

Spirit, enthusiasm, zest for life and people...That is what it takes to be an advocate, and she has it all.

Let's all love our world

2009-03-12T06:00:00.002-05:00

I just love this shirt!

Medicalert

2009-03-10T21:53:00.004-05:00

Makayla is registered with Medicalert because of her food allergies. She has a bracelet, but it is still a little bit big. Makayla wears this medicalert shoetag to daycare much of the time.

The top of the tag shows the medicalert symbol which alerts healthcare professionals to special needs. Paramedics, police, and fireman are trained to check victims for one of these tags in the event of an emergency.

The reverse side alerts people to her allergy to peanuts and most importantly shows that she has had an anaphylactic reaction. There was not enough room for all of her allergies on this little tag, so we just put mutli food allergies. In the event of an emergency the professional can call the toll free number to get all the information about her other allergies and emergency contact information. Her physicians are also listed on her medicalert account to be contacted if necessary.

I think that I mentioned medicalert before, but I don't think that you had seen her tag before now. Sorry if you have.

Sporting her backpack

2009-03-07T21:48:00.000-06:00

Later this month we are going to St. Louis with The Reynold's (some of our college friends who still live in JB). I am so excited. I think that Nathan is excited about it too.
We got this backpack for Makayla to take on our little trip. She has a big nice diaper bag, but I don't want to take it because it is pretty expensive.

Can't you tell that she loves her new backpack. I wish I had taken a picture of her face when I gave it to her. She was super excited.

PS There is a lot of construction going on in the lot across the street. It sure looks better than the overgrown lot that we used to see out our front door.

For those of you that remember this...

2009-03-07T20:39:00.003-06:00

Makayla still does this. I really would like her to stop because is is very inappropriate, but it is totally cute.

I passed!

2009-03-05T21:30:00.002-06:00

I took my LCSW exam today and passed. That means that I am an LCSW (not really until I get the paper in the mail, but I really will be when I get my license in the mail). This is really exciting because LCSW is the terminal licensure for social work which means that there is no higher certification than that. It is terminal...like the end of test taking forever. If/When I get my doctorate I will be called Dr., but I will still be an LCSW. There is nothing higher than this.

WooHoo!

The culprit

2009-02-27T19:46:00.006-06:00

We have been having a heck of a time with Makayla's hair recently.

It just wants to fly all over her head instead of just staying where we want it to go.

We finally found the culrit.

CURLY HAIR!

Who would have thought about that? It just happened overnight.

BIG NEWS!

2009-02-24T06:52:00.002-06:00

I have big mommy news. I am not there yet, and this has been a long journey for me. The light at the end of the tunnel is drawing near. I do think that I will be able to maintain my progress because I truly want to be a healthier person. I have changed the way that I live my life. Thanks for your support!

I am 5 pounds from my weight watchers goal!

We are ready for spring

2009-02-21T16:29:00.002-06:00

We have not taken a lot of pictures during the last couple of weeks. It has been so cold and nasty that we haven't been outside much. We are definitely ready for spring.

Happy Valentines Day!

2009-02-14T07:12:00.002-06:00

Makayla is going to stay with her grandparents overnight for the first time today. We are going to Tunica. I am so excited about Paula Deen's that I even looked at the website last night, so I could see more about the food that I am going to get to eat there today.

Makayla had her Valentines party at daycare yesterday. I wish that I could go to those parties, but they don't invite parents. (I've asked if parents usually come.) I could still go I assume, but I don't want to intrude on their daily routine. They made canisters to hold their valentines out of formula cans. The teachers wrapped the can with pink or red wrapping paper, and the kids got to put hearts and stickers on their cans as decorations. Makayla has been plaing with hers since she got home yesterday. She also told me to tell you guys that the heart stickers taste the best.

I fixed VCTOTW Chocolate cupcakes with chocolate buttercream for the class party. They were good Jennifer told me that they were good, too. I shared. Yes, I am a good girl because I can share. Really I think that she wanted to taste these "friendly" cupcakes that I have raved about. The may be allergy "Friendly", but I can guarantee that they are not WW "friendly". They will go straight to your hips. I think that the main reason for that is that if you don't share a couple of them then you will eat the whole batch yourself. If you want me to share with you next time then you can let me know, and I will share with you too! Speaking of WW-I will hopefully be posting a huge milestone in my WW journey this week sometime when I get time. My meeting is this morning, so it is not official yet. I don't want to get your hopes up because I am NOT at goal yet, but I think that I am going to be hitting a huge milestone this week.

Grandaddy's cupcakes

2009-02-13T07:13:00.000-06:00

As you have already heard this week, we went to visit my Dad for his birthday last weekend. Here are a few cupcake pics that I took of the "safe" cupcakes that we made him. Everybody loves the safe cupcakes.

Random outside pics of Makayla

2009-02-12T06:58:00.000-06:00

These are just a couple of random outside pics from this weekend.

*Note the pile of branches in the backround behind Draco Malfoy in the background.* (His name is Drake, but I call him Draco Malfoy. You know the mean kid on Harry Potter?) That is the remainder of a 32 year old weaping willow tree in my parents front yard that they lost in the ice storm. They had to cut down another tree too, but obviously it wasn't in the picture. We are going back this weekend, so I will take more pics of the residual effects of the ice storm then to post next week. Makayla is going to spend the night with them by herself for the first time then while mom and dad go to Tunica to eat at Paula Deen's and shop at the outlet malls. Children's Place outlet here we come! Who needs to gamble when we can lose all of our money there;) lol.

Allergist Follow-Up

2009-02-11T21:54:00.003-06:00

We had our follow-up appointment with Makayla's allergist today. She said that since Makayla is doing well on her current diet that we should continue doing what we are doing, but that we still need to carry the epi everywhere with us just in case she is accidentally exposed. So far so good with the allergies. She will be retested in 1-2 years. It is likely to be 2 years because she had just had her first b-day when she was tested this time, and the allergist wants to give her plenty of time to outgrow some before retesting. That is fine with me because Makayla did not like the testing at all, and I do not want to put her through that again if she will probably get the same results.

Our life is back to normal. It is just a new normal that is minus lots of things that we ate before. Our meals are very simple now, but we are all happy with that. The fewer ingredients the better because there is less chance for cross contamination and mommy fatness.

Happy Birthday Grandaddy!

2009-02-11T06:51:00.001-06:00

Today is Makayla's Grandaddy's birthday! We went to visit them last weekend, so we decided to go outside to take some pictures. Don't we always go outside to take some pictures?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

My baby brother and my baby

2009-02-10T07:10:00.001-06:00

Aren't they cute? Plus I am wondering if a brother that is almost 10 years younger will ever be anything but a BABY brother? Apparently not 16 (almost 17) years later.

Uncle Ryan to the rescue!

2009-02-09T06:56:00.001-06:00

Makayla does not like the big dogs. She thinks that they are scary, and unfortunately they liked her. Uncle Ryan saved the day.

Love this!

2009-02-07T08:01:00.000-06:00

I don't know much about photography. All I know is the camera angle did something great to this piciture. It added a lot of motion to the shot.

Mom and Dad

2009-02-05T07:55:00.000-06:00

It is not often that you see pictures of just the 2 of us.

Family time

2009-02-04T07:52:00.000-06:00

I am so glad that I got my new camera for moments like this.

Leaves?

2009-02-03T07:57:00.000-06:00

We have no trees in our yard, so leaves are very intriguing to Makayla.

2009-02-02T07:49:00.000-06:00

We took some pictures at the park this weekend. I will be posting them throughout the week. Who knew that Cabot had such a nice park? We had a lot of fun.

She's thinks she's ready

2009-01-30T14:33:00.000-06:00

Makayla really thinks that she is ready for the playdoh. I disagree. I don't think she can handle the responsibility of the playdoh quite yet.