Family Updates

Here are just a few more, random things:

Max started nursery about a month ago and he is doing wonderfully!  He loves his class and the transition was really easy for him (it definitely helps that Makenna is in his class with him AND they start class with treats!). : )  Now if we could only get the two of them to be good during Sacrament meeting…

I need to remember to take pictures of the kids before church more often to show the Grandmas how cute they look in their clothes (pretty much ALL of the kids’ Sunday clothes came from Grandmas!).  For some reason, I remembered to take pictures one particular Sunday.  Max looks so grown up!!!  And Makenna is wearing a cute little dress my mom made her!

In other news, Makenna is finally completely potty trained!  She has been during-the-day potty trained for months now (actually, close to a year now!), but she was still waking up with soaking wet diapers every day, so I was scared to try her in panties at night (hello, run on sentence!).  Finally I decided that since she will be three soon, I should just attempt to put panties on her.  The first night she woke up once during the night soaking wet.  The second night she woke up once during the night soaking wet (at the exact same time as the first night!). But that was it—she hasn’t had a single accident during the night since then!  I’m not sure why wearing panties made such a difference for her, but, in any case, we can now say she is totally potty trained!  Woo hoo!

Hmm, what else.  Oh, so most of you know I’ve had a problem with my leg for over a year now.  Whenever I walk very much or run, I get this huge knot to come up above my ankle and it is extremely painful.  Well I went to my doctor and he didn’t have a clue, so he sent me to an orthopedic surgeon. I had to wait a month to finally get seen by this guy! After MANY tests (and ANOTHER month later), he finally concluded that I had a “zebra” (which apparently, in doctor lingo, means something very rare and unheard of)—I have a hernia in my lower leg!  I guess people NEVER get hernias in their lower leg, so this is really weird.  Because it is so rare, he wanted to send me to another, more seasoned doctor.  So  he made me an appointment with another orthopedic surgeon.  It took me ANOTHER month to get in to see this new doctor.  At my appointment, the doctor told me within five minutes that he didn’t feel comfortable doing my surgery, so he was sending me to ANOTHER doctor!!!  Seriously people?!?  I guess there are two possible ways to do the surgery—cut right where the hernia is and try to push the muscle back behind the tendons and fat OR to cut at the top of the muscle and cut at the bottom of the muscle and try to pull the muscle straight.  Since no one has this problem, the doctors aren’t sure which surgery is the best, so they keep pushing me off on other doctors.  This new doctor is supposed to be the best there is, but I can’t get an appointment with him until MARCH!!!  So after working on this problem for over a year and working with orthopedic surgeons for over three months, I have to wait two more months just to see the next doctor!  It is getting pretty frustrating, especially because after I finally see the doctor I have to wait until whenever the surgery is.  I’m just ready to be out of limbo and to know what is going on and to get the problem fixed!  I guess after I have the surgery I will have to stay totally off my leg for 3-5 days and then take it easy for 6-8 weeks.  They had better hurry this all up because we move the end of May/ beginning of June!

And now, just for fun, here are some individual updates (Yes most people do these type of things at the very end or very beginning of the year.  But hey—It is Sunday, we don’t have church until the afternoon, the rest of the family is napping, and I’m a bit bored, so why not?):

Max:  Max is seriously growing up so fast.  He turned 19 months on the 12th.  He is still such a shorty (at his 18 month check up he was only in the 25th percentile for both height and weight!) though!  Seriously, he is ELEVEN inches shorter than Makenna (but only four pounds lighter!)!  Max more than makes up for his small stature by his mischievousness!  That guy is into EVERYTHING!  He has already figured out how to open doors, cabinets, and drawers (despite child safety locks that Makenna still hasn’t even figured out how to work!).  He will climb up on anything he can reach.  He loves to destroy pretty much everything!  But he is such a cutie-pie that we can’t help but forgive him! 

Max loves to play with rocks, sticks, balls, and cars.  He also really loves to “talk” on the phone (but only when no one is actually on there!).  The other day, Max held up a baby doll to his ear and said, “Hello baby!” : )  And even though Max loves all of that “boy” stuff, he is always willing to play Barbies or dress-up with Makenna!  He also loves to carry around his baby!  I guess that all comes from having a big sister! His most favorite toys are little bowls and spoons.  He loves to stir and “eat” and “feed” other people.  Max still loves his “ginky” aka his blanket.  I’m not sure why he got so attached to this thing, but he absolutely cannot sleep without it.  Whenever he is sad or tired, we have to go get his blanket to calm him down.  He is also very possessive over his blanket.  Most arguments between Makenna and Max stem from this blanket!  I have to admit, I’m pretty sick of it! : )

Max really loves to play outside with Makenna.  They sit out under the trees and who even knows what they are doing out there!  They love to walk around the house with buckets and shovels and pushing strollers and carts.  They also have a blast playing on their swing and going down the slides.  Max is big enough now that he can climb on it all by himself!  He also got a tricycle for Christmas, and he and Makenna love to ride down the slope of the driveway on their bikes and in their toy car or bus.

Max is SUCH a talker now!  He can repeat absolutely anything you tell him to-- Makenna has fun with that one!  He can also say many things on his own.  He still only talks in three or four word sentences, but he usually can make his wants be known!  He does, however, get frustrated when we can’t understand him.  He loves singing and he can “sing” a lot of songs with Makenna.  He usually gets the tune right, but I’m not sure that he is actually even singing real words!

Max is now in a toddler bed!  He is getting so grown up, we decided to convert his crib over to a big boy bed!  He is very proud of being able to get up on his own now.  However, he now thinks that “nap time” means “get up as soon as Mom shuts the door and play in your room” time.  He definitely isn’t getting as much rest in his new bed!

Makenna:  Makenna is our grown-up daughter!  She is definitely past the baby or toddler stage now!  At almost 3, we think she acts like almost 23! ; )  Being so super tall definitely causes people to forget how old she is.  When we went to the doctor for Max’s check-up, the doctor asked her how old she was.  She was being a little shy and didn’t respond, so the doctor started guessing.  “Are you four or five?”  Makenna shook her head no.  “Okay, are you five?”  No again.  “Four?”  Nope!  “Six? Three?”  No.  So I said, “Makenna, tell the doctor how old you are.”  “Two.”  The doctor looked at me and said, “No she’s not!  How old is she really?”  I told him she really was two and he spent the next few minutes arguing with me!  : )  I also think that when we go to the movies or something, the workers think we are lying and saying she is only two to get a cheaper ticket!

She also for sure has one of the largest vocabularies of any two year old I have ever even heard of!  Not only does she speak in complete sentences, but she also speaks in complete PARAGRAPHS!  Both her tone and her language is so grown-up!  Maybe she seems so grown up because she thinks she is the mom and the boss!  She is always bossing Max around:  “Max, don’t say “ginky,” say “blankie.”  Don't talk like a baby—talk like a big boy!  We don’t talk like babies around here!”  She  loves to tell her daddy, “Say excuse me!” or tell Max, “Don’t make a mess!  You clean that up right now!”  She is SO funny to listen to!  But her little mouth also can get her in trouble, “Mom!  You are not the boss; I am the boss!  In fact, you are just crazy!”  (She may have heard me say that “you are not the boss” thing before, but I have no clue where she got the “you are just crazy” from!)

Makenna still enjoys music and singing beyond anything else.  She can hear a song once, and instantly have it memorized!  She loves listening to the group “Mercy River” in the car and she knows EVERY SINGLE SONG on my CD!  Other favorites include songs from High School Musical, “Popcorn Popping,” “Book of Mormon Stories,” “Sing a Song” (from Sesame Street), “I Am Like a Star,” and “I Am a Child of God.”  She knows so many songs, in fact, that she will often be singing a song that we have never heard of!  Anything from a movie, commercial or tv show, or from nursery or the library is instantly put in her list of songs!

Makenna will finally let us read to her—but only if she can repeat it back to us!  She has never liked to be read to, but she is finally allowing it.  She loves “Fancy Nancy” books and reading from the illustrated scriptures.  Each night, we will read one story from the New Testament book.  If Austin is reading, he will read a line and Makenna will turn and tell me and Max what he said. : )  She is also a little drama queen because she will add lots of feeling and flair to the story when she repeats it!

Hmm, what else about Miss Makenna (I’m taking longer than I meant too and writing too much and now I have to hurry in order to go and get ready for church, lol!).  Makenna’s current obsession is anything and everything princess.  She has the princess Barbies and the small princess dolls that she loves to play with.  She is also really into dressing-up like a princess and only responding to “Princess Makenna.”  She says Mommy and Makenna are princesses and Daddy and Max are princes. : )  She loves wearing clothes with princesses on them and she absolutely adores all of the Disney Princess movies.  Out of all the princesses, I think Cinderella is her favorite and you often hear her singing, “Cinderelli, Cinderelli…”  We took her to see the Repunzel movie, and now she only wants me to style her hair long in the back so she can “have long hair like Repunzel.”

Makenna begs me to “do school” with her everyday.  She can recognize each letter in the alphabet and she knows all of their sounds.  We are working with putting that together to figure out how to spell words.  She can recognize all of her numbers to 10 and she can count (with only a little help) to 50 (although she doesn’t like to go past 31 for some reason!).  She knows her birthday is March 7 and Max’s birthday is June 12 and we are working on learning the months of the year.  She knows all of her colors and shapes (including random shapes like octagons!), but sometimes she likes to tell us the wrong one just to be funny!  She really loves learning, that’s for sure!

Makenna is a social butterfly.  She is never happier than when she has friends over or she goes to a friends’ house or she sees friends at the park or library!

Okay, I’ve really got to be done, so one last thing about Makenna.  She really loves hearing about Jesus and other gospel related stories. She can always recognize pictures of President Monson and Elders Eyring and Uchdorf.  She will point out to you if she sees pictures of someone praying or scriptures or getting baptized.  She can tell you stories about John the Baptist, Jesus, Nephi, Ammon, and others.  She remembers our lessons on the iron rod and says that if you follow the iron rod you get treats. : ) In church last Sunday, she was busy drawing pictures when she sat up and said, “Mom!  He said Nephi!  He is talking about Nephi!”  At church she also loves to point out who the bishop is and she always wants to know who each and every speaker is!

Anyway, this is a super long “history” on my kids, but now I’m really glad I wrote it so I’ll have it forever! (If I ever manage to get all of my blogs printed out, that is!)

As for the rest of the family, Austin is busy with his monthly rotations, weekend night job at 24 Hour Fitness, working on his masters, and writing blogs for some doctors.  The kids miss him SO much when he is just gone for the day so I have no clue what they will do when he is gone for SIX MONTHS later this year!

I’ve just been busy going to the gym every day (I want to get rid of 40 more pounds before we move in June!).  I’m busting my bum but I still have SUCH a long way to go!  I’m also trying to stay on top of the housework (which gets to be harder and harder the older the kids get!) and preparing things for the kids to have “school.” 

Anyway, shoot, now I only have 40 minutes to get me and Makenna ready for church (Max is still sick so he and Austin are staying home).  I’ve GOT to go now!!!  If you made it to the end of this SUPER LONG post, thanks for reading and sorry for any errors or mistakes, I don’t have time to proofread! : )