A BIG Surprise!

Makenna learned a new trick:

Can you believe it? She is WALKING! Today at church she was standing up without pulling up on anything. Then she decides that she doesn't want to crawl-so she starts only walking on her hands and feet with her bum in the air. So tonight I decided, let's practice walking! So she walks back and forth between me and Austin but she won't let go of our hands. So Austin decides to trick her: as she is walking to me he let's go of her and she walks a few steps to me. When she realized what she had done, she starts clapping like crazy. And then all of sudden she went, "Wait I can walk!" And she just went off walking like crazy. Yes, I know, babies walk. But I think this is the coolest thing ever. And even though she already has a big bruise on her forhead from falling, she is pretty dang excited too!

Yesterday-fantastic! Today, not so great

So yesterday was beyond fantastic. Today? Horrible! We had our appointment today at DES (it's a place for like state medical, financial, and so forth aid). The appointment was scheduled for 8:00 am. We got there and the place was so packed! Oh, let me back up. I had been to DES once before; it is a very gross, dirty place in a not so great area. Anyway. So we got there and the place was packed! I signed in and we didn't have a place to sit. Wouldn't you think someone would give up their seat to a pregnant lady holding a baby? Nope! Finally someone had their name called and we took their seat. And we waited... and waited... and waited... at 11:00 (yes, 3 hours later!) I went up to the desk and talked to the receptionist. She said they were running very far behind. They were seeing client #5 and I was client #27! Yes, you have it. In three hours, they had seen 5 people! So I went home and we had lunch and I put Makenna down for an hour and came back when they opened up after lunch at 1:00. We got there and sat to wait... and wait... and wait... Makenna was so cranky! I had woken her up to get back there by 1:00 and she was just so tired of being there (and so was I!)! She kept crying like crazy! So I called Austin and when he got done with class he came to get her at about 2:30. And I continued to sit and wait... and wait... and wait... I was the very last appointment to be seen today, even though other people had arrived after me! They finally got me in at about 5:15. So I met with the guy and he took my information and he said he was going to get me a card (I assume that meant we qualified). He came back. Oops! DES officially closed at 5:00 and all of the cards were locked in the vault... and they are closed until Tuesday because of Martin Luther King Day... so we have to come back Tuesday morning at 7:00! Great! The perfect ending to the perfect day: 8 hours at DES and nothing to show for it! I love Arizona state government (can you read my sarcasm)! My head hurts... I'm ready for bed.

The Perfect Summer Day... in January!

Today was absolutely the best summer day! And the great thing about it? It's in January! While other people are suffering through horrible cold, nasty weather, we get to enjoy weather in the 80s! What made it such a great day? Well...

Makenna got up this morning and we had breakfast and played with her toys for a while. Then we headed to the library for Babytime. This is a fun time full of rhymes, songs, and books for babies. Then we headed home for a nap (mom finally got the kitchen and a bit of laundry done), lunch, and a little bit more playtime.

At about 1:00, Makenna and I headed out for our walk to the park. It was actually pretty warm out there! We stopped at the park to play on the swings (once again, Makenna gave the best pouty face when it was time to get out!) and to sit by the lake and watch the silly ducks.

Next we walked to Dad's school and met him by the reflecting pool. It was nice and relaxing there! We walked home and put Makenna down for a quick nap while mom ran to the store. When I got home, Makenna was already up (Austin said she didn't really even sleep at all). So we got dressed and headed to... the pool!


Makenna loved it when I walked around so she could kick her feet in the water!

Uh-oh! She's getting ready to splash mom!

Makenna had so much fun sitting on on the steps. She would walk around and splash water everywhere. She also liked standing on the second step and hitting the top step.

Mom and Makenna at the pool. Yes, I know, Mom looks about 8 months pregnant instead of 4... don't judge! : )

We had such a fun time at the pool! Austin came with us and took pictures and played for a little while, but he didn't get wet. Afterwards, we sat on the grass to dry off and played for a while. Now it's time to grill out for dinner. I love winter time!

It's a... boy!

A Lot of Firsts

We have been having a lot of firsts lately... Once again, these firsts all have to do with Makenna!



Let's see... Makenna has been learning some new words. This week she has learned to say "Thanks." She will hand me something, I will say "Thanks," then she will take it back and say, "Thanks." Well, mostly she sounds like "Ths..." but we know what she means! She has also started shutting books and saying, "The End!" Once again, coming out like "Thnd." But still, so stinkin' adorable!



Today Makenna showed us that she knows how to take her own clothes off (sort of):



Okay, dress is over her head...

But wait, it won't come off!

Still trying... what do I do now?

Heh, just wear it on your head!

Ha ha, babies are so goofy!

Let's see, what else? Oh, we took Makenna to the park for a picnic on Saturday for the first time (my dad is mad that we can have good enough weather to go to the park!). We spread a blanket out by the playground and watched some kids playing volleyball. Makenna was so mesmerized by watching that ball go back and forth! She didn't move for like 20 minutes! We then took her to the swings. She never wanted to get off! She would just clap her hands and kick her feet! But swings got a little old for mom and dad... so we took her to the baby slide. She loved that one too! Once again, dad got a little tired of pulling her up and down the slide! But it was a great outing! Afterwards we went for ice cream, once again, a favorite of Makenna's! I have pictures of all of this, but for some reason I can't get them off my phone! I don't have a cord to connect my phone to the computer, and when I e-mail them to myself the attachments don't show up! So if anyone knows how to do this I would be very happy! They really are super cute pictures!

This video shows Makenna with her first "real" baby doll (by real, I mean it's not stuffed):

Christmas and 9 month pics

Hello from the sick house! Austin is stuffy and coughing up a storm, I have a horrible sinus infection, and Makenna is still coughing with a runny nose! Augh! We just got home from Idaho on Friday and we still haven't even unpacked. We are living out of our suitcases (which are sitting, overflowing, on the dining room floor). I have got to get things cleaned up because it is about to drive me nuts!

Anyway, like I said, we spent Christmas in Idaho at Austin's mom's house. When we first got there, Makenna was pretty darn sick so we had to take her to Austin's old family doctor. Then she got better by about Christmas day and I spent the whole rest of the trip only seeing Austin's bedroom. I was so sick and stuffed up that it hurt to lift my head! A horrible way to spend the Christmas holidays!

Anyway, it was still a nice break. We came home with so much stuff! Makenna especially; I don't know where to put all of her toys! We went to Wal-Mart yesterday to look for a toy box but couldn't find one. But the child is literally overflowing with toys! Thanks to everyone for making Makenna have a great first Christmas! I think the video camara is still in the car (told you we haven't unpacked!), but I think we have some videos of Christmas we can put up when we finally bring that in.

For now I am just going to post a few of Makenna's 9 month pictures (finally, she turns 10 months on the 7th!). They are pretty cute but cost us a pretty penny! I had an appointment to get the $3.99 pics at Wal-Mart. But Makenna slept through the appointment. I tried calling them a million times to tell them we were going to be late, but they never answered the phone. So when we got there (30 minutes or so late), someone else was getting their pictures made in our spot. So I said we could just wait. The lady was so rude to me and said we couldn't wait and we couldn't reschedule our appointment, too bad we just missed out. So we couldn't be a walk in, even though the people getting pictures made in our spot were apparently a walk in!?! So I was mad and just went to Sears (the first place I could think of) and didn't even ask how much their packages were. Lets just say that I spent way, way more than I was supposed to! And Makenna was tired and cranky from being drug all over the place so some of her pictures are not happy!


This is our little smiley baby showing her teeth (she now has 5 of them through with more trying to come in!)

Look at that little tongue sticking out!

This is one of the sad pictures. Can you see that little tear?

This is the one that I got the most of--she looks so sweet!

There are lots more pictures, but these were my favorite! Anyway, just got done giving Makenna a bath so I guess I should head into the kitchen to straighten up before bed. Tomorrow will be a busy day of clean, clean, cleaning! Hopefully we are all well and I actually feel up to cleaning!

A load of stuff

Holy Cow! It feels like forever since we have posted. I guess it basically has since it has been at least a month now. A lot of things have happened and as luck would have it, we caught a few of those things with the camera. I'll just start throwing things up and see how it goes.

This is Makenna and her cousin, KD during Thanksgiving break in Alabama. The two hit it off right away. We had to pry them apart sometimes to stop the kissing and hugging.

This is Pam and I at my white-coat ceremony. Basically they put a white coat on me and then I sat back down for an hour. I guess I look more official now.

This is Makenna with a black eye on her right eye. She slipped at the daycare and hit her face on a table leg. It looks nasty, but at least that means she is up and holding on to things. We expect her to just run off one of these days soon, she is that close to walking.

I took this picture at our ward Christmas party last week. We were feeding her mashed potatoes and she got it all over her face. As you can tell, she wasn't too impressed with me taking her away from her food. Pam says she looks like Santa Clause.

This is right after I gave Makenna a bath the other night. You can't really tell, but I spiked her hair up to give you an idea of how long it is getting. Hey look, you can also see my honker and double chin.