Friday, December 31, 2010

Reflections of 2010

Last year at this time we were counting down the last few hours until we could shout Happy New Year! We were so excited for 2010. Our baby was going to be born. We were so ready for her.

Right now she's 11 months and 11 days old, and sleeping happily in bed.

This year has not been everything I dreamed it would be. It's been the hardest year of my life. Even thinking about it is overwhelmingly exhausting.

But 2010 brought me the baby I longed for, and she's absolutely amazing in every way, and that in itself is enough to make it a great year. :) We say all the time "Look at our baby, she's even more than we ever imagined she'd be!"

Looking back...

In January, after many days of waiting, Makena was finally born. The first few days home with her were a complete whirlwind of bliss. She was a wonderfully easy newborn, bless her heart for letting us sleep and hardly ever making a peep!! It was quite possibly the truest honeymoon period I've ever experienced. It was so exactly perfect. I totally had the hang of everything. All my years of childcare work had paid off. Being with my own baby all day was a very enjoyable piece of cake. February was when things started to get hard. Pam went back to work after only having 2 weeks off. I was alone with the baby all day long, enjoying long naps together but it was tough to get anything done around the house. I spent hours upon hours sitting on the couch watching tv and nursing/holding the sleeping baby. I hardly ate, even getting up to grab myself lunch took too much effort most of the time. Forget about doing the laundry.

During March and April at least I was leaving the house twice a week, even if it was to go to work. I took Makena with me, and I was (and still am!!) so incredibly lucky to have a job where I can bring her along. But it wasn't always easy! In fact, it mostly wasn't easy at all. 3 kids under the age of 2! Thank goodness they were all such great kids! The days I spent at home I mostly took cheesy photos of Makena, lol...

In April and May the transition and readjusting period was over and finally things were looking pretty good again. In May we went to Disneyland for Pam's birthday. We had so much fun! Pam would take Makena out on walks to give me a little break in the house by myself, and they always came back with a flower for me.

June. Oh, June. Pam lost her job. Suddenly we were almost completely income-less. And then I had 6 weeks off because the family I work with went on vacation. Thankfully, they continued to semi-pay me to semi-house sit. lol. We never have much money to begin with, so without Pam's paycheck we were quickly spiraling downhill. And we had just purchased plane tickets to Denver, CO. We went on the trip anyway. Makena got to meet Pam's mom, brother, and friends. And we went to a wedding! We really like Denver and I'd totally live there some day.

July was hot, as always I suppose. We drove to Fresno to visit baby Kansas and her moms and play in the pool. We went to the park a lot. We tried to get out of the house any way possible because our apartment became an oven in the heat.

Makena also took swim classes in July. We had registered for the class long before Pam lost her job. Makena was only 6 months old, and the youngest baby in the class. She loved/loves the water!


In August we left Makena with a babysitter for the first time. Meaning Pam and I were alone together for the first time in almost 7 months. The importance of taking date nights can't be stressed enough!! That night was the first time we had even both sat in the front seat of the car together. And I think we even held hands! It's amazing (and amazingly sad) how quickly "we" became Makena's moms. Instead of our worlds revolving around each other, Makena took all our attention. While I wouldn't go back and change a thing by leaving Makena more often, I do definitely wish Pam and I had made more time to reconnect and focus on us a little. We had a great time at the concert, but I missed Makena so much that it was almost hard to simply enjoy each others company.
August was also my birthday, and we spent a lot of time that month outdoors.


September brought cooler temps, finally. Pam got a job at the end of August working as a preschool aide, and she was still supplementing her income with soccer classes. We started to slooooowly get back on track financially. On Saturdays while Pam taught her soccer classes Makena and I walked to the Farmer's Market and people watched and enjoyed the free music.


October. Pumpkins and Halloween.

November had Thanksgiving, but we had a baby who seemed sick and not able to ever fully get rid of her colds. She spent a lot of time in her jammies watching Sesame Street. When did we become those parents who sat their kid in front of the TV?! Oh well. I love Sesame Street so much.


We'd been waiting for December. We got a tree and decorated the house. Wrapped presents. Listened to Christmas music. And we went on more walks of course!

And we had these beautiful cards made to send out, from a photo session we had done:

Makena met Santa. She didn't cry, but didn't smile either. They took this photo, and then we tried to get a smile out of her and she started crying. But she was happy when Santa gave her a little reindeer toy as we walked away. :)

On Christmas morning we helped her open her presents.

The Sesame Street stuffed animals were the hugest hit.


But this, is by far, the best part of everything that 2010 brought-

I cherish my nursing sessions with Makena. She tugs at my shirt now when she wants to nurse, and can even kinda sign "milk." She still fidgets constantly while nursing, rubbing her hand over my arm, pinching my neck, grabbing at my mouth, kicking her feet up, etc...

I love breastfeeding. I love how much she enjoys it, and I love the closeness it creates. It's a little break to sit and relax and comfort each other.

Friday, December 17, 2010

Christmas is a week away!!

One week until Santa! We have an entire wall in our bedroom that is stacked with gifts ready to be wrapped and placed under the tree for Makena. It's so ridiculous. But we just can't stop buying her things! Okay, I can't stop. I keep finding all these great deals that I can't pass up. I just got her a Little People toy house and car for under $20, and normally the house alone is close to $40. I think I may save that for her birthday though, since it's for ages 1 and up. ;)

And her party! Her first birthday party!! It's almost a month away, and we have the place picked out and need to send out invites and start planning!!!! I'm so excited for Christmas, but I'm equally excited for it to be over so that I can focus on her party.

Last week we were invited along to a photo shoot with Ian and Colin. Makena wore the cutest dress, thanks to Catriona!










Such great photos!! Makena is truly the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. She's honestly getting even more beautiful each day. Sometimes I can't handle it. It's overwhelming how much I love her and how wonderful she is.

It's crazy to us how much she walks now. I haven't seen her crawl in a while! People stop us all the time to comment on how advanced she is for her age. We were at Target today and I let her walk around in the toy aisles, and she and a little boy were playing with this toy vacuum and taking turns spinning the middle. Every time it played music they would both dance. And by dance I mean that little up and down bounce that all babies do. lol. The boys parents asked how old she was, and I said almost 11 months. And they said their son was 16 months old. He was still wobbly on his feet and slower, but then again Makena isn't very cautious or afraid. She reached to pull the toy down off the shelf (it was on the bottom shelf, but it was in a box that was taller than she is) and it fell into her lap as she sat down/fell. The dad rushed over to help her, and I told him it was okay, and sure enough she just stood back up and started playing again.

She has learned so many little things...

She can clap her hands now, and make an actual clap sound!
She waves bye.
She can almost blow a kiss. (Well, she puts her finger in her mouth and says "Mmm!" and that's all...lol)
She lifts her hands up when she wants to be picked up.
She holds phones up to her ear as if she's talking to someone.
She can put the rings on her toy.
She can stack her blocks.
She can throw a ball.
She can turn pages of her board books.
She can pick up the duck and/or hippo bath toys when you ask for them.
She can even put her dirty clothes in the laundry basket!



Tomorrow my mom is coming over to keep her occupied while I attempt to clean up this messy house and sew my Christmas pajamas.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

phone post

So I can nurse Makena and update the blog at the same time now, apparently! I'm laying in bed with her right now.

Monday, December 6, 2010

First big boo-boo!

Today, we were in Best Buy getting new phones, and Makena was walking around and went to reach into a bin of items that needed to be stocked and she slipped and fell face forward into the edge of the bin. :( Pam was standing with her, and I was nearby. She picked her up, looked at her face, and said "She's cut, there's blood!" And sure enough she had busted her lower lip and was bleeding. Her forehead also had a cut on it. Poor baby!

It was the first real injury she's gotten. There have been plenty of bumps and bruises ever since she started walking, but this was the worst, and the first one with actual blood. It was pooling inside her mouth and we didn't have anything with us to wipe it up so I used my sleeve. Pam took her outside to the car for something to wipe her up and to wash it out with some water.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

slow down!

Time is ticking by way too quickly.

I'm so excited about Makena's first Christmas, and then less than a month later her first birthday. And at the same time, I'm sad that she'll be one year old so soon! I see photos of her from when she was little, under a month old, and I almost can't remember. The shape and weight of her little body as I held her. What we did all day long. How often she slept, ate, how many diaper changes. How rarely she cried. The memories are already fading and it breaks my heart. Everyone always says how fast it goes, but I had no idea how soon I'd forget!

When did it go from this, me giving her kisses-to this, her giving ME kisses-
From sleeping like this, curled on our chests-
To sleeping like this, still trying to curl up-
But most of all, when did this little baby-
Turn into this big girl?!
It's completely mind blowing.

She walks around. Eats real food. Sits and plays with her toys. Laughs when she sees something funny. Her personality is coming out more and more each day.

And one day, these days will be a distant memory.

I need a pause button.

Monday, November 8, 2010

41 Weeks and 5 Days old.

Makena has officially been on Earth longer than she was inside my belly. I don't know if I can accurately put into words how this feels to me. I don't know if anyone would/does feel the same. But I do know this...

For 41 weeks and 4 days she was growing inside me. She was mine, only mine. We shared every heartbeat, every movement, every hiccup, every single part of life belonged to both of us, together. When I was pregnant and my belly would growl, I loved knowing that the baby inside me knew no hunger. My body did everything it was supposed to do, and kept her safe. I was responsible for her in a way that I can never get back. She only needed ME. If anything happened to me her life would be in danger. Now, she's her own person. Still dependent on me, of course, but she's her own being. Someone else could raise her and she'd turn out just fine. But while she was still a fetus, she was undeniably mine. There could be no questioning of our physical and spiritual bond. She was me, and I was her. We were one. There isn't another situation in life where you could possibly be so completely connected with another human being.

And then she was born, and later cut from the cord that had been our physical lifeline to each other. She was finally in my arms, but no longer a part of my body. I mourned the end of my pregnancy, and I still do. It's an incredible feeling, growing a human, and I'm grateful that I never took it for granted.

As she grew and explored the world around her, I was sadly counting down to this day. November 8th. Now she's been outside on her own for longer than she was inside me. Now the Earth has had her for longer than I had her. Now I don't feel the same as before.

She's older, still so young, but so much older than when she was first born. She's old enough to have her own opinions, and to show her emotions, and she can move away from me when she wants to. She is her own person. And now she's been her own person for longer than she was a part of me. Have you ever missed someone who was there next to you? It's kinda like that. Sometimes I miss her, I miss the part of her that was a part of me.

I don't know if I'm expressing my thoughts and feelings exactly right. But I do know that if anyone feels this same way, they know what I mean.

Friday, November 5, 2010

There she goes!

From The Wonder Weeks:
"Some babies have such a strong natural drive to master skills, that they don’t take the time to sleep until they are successful. You see this behavior already at a rather young age. These babies allow themselves no sleep before they have reached their goal. It demands much of them, and of you. That is a personal quality that can be very useful later in life, but at this young age these children must sometimes be protected from themselves."

The night I wrote the last entry (and spoke of how her night time sleep is usually great) Makena woke up multiple times. And she woke up crying many times the next night. And the night after that she awoke screaming and cried so hard I thought something was wrong. I picked her up and walked around the house and let her drink from her cup. She finally calmed down. We let her play for a little while and then we all went to bed together. It has been a rough week. She is having a harder time than normal napping, and getting her to fall asleep at night has involved a lot of tears and fighting.

Maybe she was coming down with a cold? Maybe her teeth were hurting? Maybe she was having bad dreams? Maybe it was just separation anxiety? Maybe she's not going to bed early enough? Maybe she just isn't tired? Maybe she was mad that I blogged about her and this was revenge?

Or, maybe she was so immersed in learning a new skill that focusing on it took every ounce of her being. And then, she finally did it..

She walked!!



I'm afraid she hasn't quite mastered it yet, which I'm pretty sure means we're due for a few more tough nights.

She'd been standing for a while now, and even standing up straight from a sitting position all on her own. She's done a few steps towards us, and a few from the couch to the chair. But this was the most we've seen! And how fitting that it was all for Elmo. lol.

Tonight she seems to be coming down with a cold. She has a fever of 101.6 and her nose was red and running. She was nursing a lot today and getting mad that the milk stops flowing after a while! Normally she's a quick 3-5 minute nurser, so after 10-12 minutes she was getting super frustrated (and I should have unlatched her when she stopped sucking and was just fussing, but I didn't) and she bit me. Not hard enough for me to react, but enough where the next time she nursed on that side it hurt, and sure enough I have a tiny little puncture mark. It happened once before, and a little saline water and Lansinoh on it heals it up in no time.

Pam rocked her to sleep and I heard her take her to lay down and the next thing I knew an hour had passed and I looked at the monitor and they were both asleep.

I used to be quite the early bed goer. But now, these night time quiet hours are so wonderful. It's my "me" time. And since Pam wakes up with Makena in the mornings and let's me get some extra sleep, this is my time to get stuff done. Or at least I SHOULD be getting something done...I've got some craft projects in my head and keep meaning to jump right in.

On that note, I need to look for fabric.


Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Co-sleeping

I couldn't wait to have a baby and when I was pregnant I couldn't wait to have a crib. Getting the crib set up and putting on the sheets was such a huge milestone. We were ready! The baby would have a place to sleep! Standing in her room I'd look around and think, "This is our baby's room, this is the door we'll open when we hear her cry and wake up. This is the changing table where we'll put on her clean diapers and clothes. This is the crib we'll reach into and lift her out."

When Makena was born I knew she wouldn't be sleeping in that crib for a while. We'd sleep with her tiny body between us in bed. A couple weeks, or maybe a couple months, we weren't sure exactly when we'd put her in her crib, but we definitely planned to at some point. But the months went on, and then she started to roll over and crawl. And we've had to re-think our thoughts on cribs. What is the point of a crib exactly?

crib
(kr b) n. 1. A bed with high sides for a young child or baby

So it's a place for babies to sleep. But why do we put babies in a crib... because it's safer? Baby can't be smothered by a parent or blankets? Baby can't roll out and fall onto the floor?

Or is it because it's convenient? An older child can't simply walk away and play with toys instead of napping. It's a place to attach the mobile. It's a beautiful piece of furniture. It completes baby's room- you can't have a bedroom without a bed!

But why? Why a crib? Why not bed with Mom? I've been really consumed with these questions for a while now. I'm not sure if I believe that cribs are the safest place for a baby to sleep. Everything you read says that babies need to sleep in a crib, on their backs, without anything near them so they don't die. Pretty serious stuff! But when you dig deeper, and read actual studies about baby sleep deaths, the numbers don't quite match up. Kinda like the whole vaccine issue. On the surface it looks like one thing, but as you research more your mind can be changed. Then again, like most things you'll find completely conflicting evidence. I think the bottom line is that you will probably dismiss anything that doesn't please your point of view. But I digress.

So we've been co-sleeping since day one. And it feels like home now.

Makena eats dinner at 6pm. When she's done, one of us starts the bath and gets in, then the other one brings in Makena. She takes a bath, splashes in her seat, and is washed. Then whoever isn't in the tub with her gets her out and brings her into the bedroom to dry off on a towel on the bed. The other mom gets out of the tub and gets on her pj's. Then we get Makena in her pj's and
read stories while she chews on her toothbrush.

Lights out, Pam leaves the room. I lay down with Makena and nurse her. When she's done, I motion for Pam (who is in the living room watching the monitor) to come get her. I give Makena a goodnight kiss then pass her over. Pam takes her into our bedroom and holds her and walks around in the dark until she falls asleep. Then she places her on our bed, which is still on the floor of her room. (There is her perfectly beautiful empty crib! And the monitor is pointing down at the bed. Also, in this photo I don't know why it looks like her armoire is tilted...)

We both glance at the monitor every so often to make sure she hasn't woken up, because she usually doesn't make a sound but she'll sit up in bed and try to crawl and fall off the mattress.

Around 30 minutes after she's fallen asleep she typically stirs, but she falls back to sleep on her own. We try to always give her the chance to get herself back to sleep before we rush in. But sometimes she cries out or flails around, so we go put the pacifier in her mouth and she grabs onto our arm or hand and falls asleep within seconds. Some nights this repeats a few times, but most nights one of us goes to bed with her and she sleeps better that way.

I get under the blanket and she instinctively moves towards me. I curl myself around her soft warm little body. The white noise machine is on, I hear the "waterfall" sounds and it drowns the TV from the other room. I can feel the rise and fall of her chest next to my body. I hear her breathing. I smell her sweet breath. I feel her light as a feather hair brushing against my cheek.

The draft from the window, the pitch black room, the cold of the sheets, the roar of a car speeding by outside... I'm so thankful she isn't alone in this room, alone in her crib.

Her body fits perfectly snug against my chest and stomach, her first home. She turns and reaches out for me, her fingers brushing across my shirt. She stops when they feel my skin, be it my arm or face, she knows she is home. After a few minutes of soaking up how wonderful it is, I scoot her over to the center of the bed and turn over, making sure a part of my body still touches her. I fall asleep knowing that the most important thing is just inches away.

This is where I belong. This is where she belongs. Mothers all over the world sleep with their babies. It's the natural thing to do. Why did we start putting them in cribs to sleep? When were they pushed from our bed? And when and why were they banished to a whole separate room?!

Granted, if Makena was a deep heavy good sleeper, I'm sure she'd be in her crib by now. Or would she? I didn't expect to fall in love with bed sharing. But there are a lot of things I've changed my mind about since she's entered my life. My only advice to any new mom would be to do whatever is right and works well for your family!

People often ask me "Don't you worry that you'll roll onto her?" And no, I really don't. I do, however, worry about her getting smothered in the blankets. And her and Pam snuggle very close together while sleeping, and that worries me at times. I'm just not a sleeping cuddler...I need my space. But if, heaven forbid, anything were to ever happen, I'd feel better knowing she was close to her mom (be it Pam or I) and wasn't all alone by herself in a cold bare crib. When people are dying don't they always want to be in their own home, in bed, surrounded by those they love? So as horrifying as that thought is, I feel more comfortable with the fact that at least she'd be next to us.

I kinda feel the same way about riding in the car. One of us always sits in the back seat with her. People think that's totally crazy, but for one, Makena isn't usually a good passenger and when one of us is bath there, she cries less. Also, if we were to get into a crash, how terrifying it would be to know she's in the back seat all alone. You can't even see her face from the front seat, since she's facing backwards. Sure we have a mirror, but in a crash I'm assuming that would be useless, as it's designed to fall back and not smash into the face of the baby. So one of us sits with her, and would be there holding her hand in a worst case scenario.

Are we ridiculous? Perhaps. But this is what works for us.

Now back to sleeping...
She almost always wakes up at least once during the night, sometimes twice. There are some mornings that I wake up and have no memory of if/when she woke. Did she sleep through the night? Or did I just never fully wake and nursed her in my sleep? This is so easy. There have been some rough nights, sure. But over 98% of the time our nights are bliss! We are not sleep deprived in the slightest. In her 9 months I think we've had maybe 2-3 nights that we wanted to pull our hair out. And they were EASY nights compared to the annoyance of having to get up and rock baby to sleep and falling asleep in rocking chairs and all those stories you hear about. Since she was a tiny newborn, Makena has slept very well during the night. We can't complain at all!

I know that babies who co-sleep wake up more frequently so they can nurse during the night. And I like that! The more breast milk she consumes, the healthier she is. And since her night feedings don't affect me at all, I can't complain. If I had to get up out of bed, walk down the hall, pick her up, feed her, stay awake long enough to put her back in the crib, and get back into bed...holy crap. No wonder nighttime sleep is an issue for so many parents!

But not for us. It's naps we could use help with. ;)

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Sleeping habits these days.

Sometime in August we moved our mattress to the floor of Makena's room. Our hope was to get her to sleep at night in her crib, but we'd still be super close by. She spent a couple nights in her crib, but I found it too much of a hassle to get up and get her to nurse in the middle of the night, and stay awake to put her back in. If she slept soundly through the night I'd consider having her sleep in her crib for sure. But I really truly love sleeping next to her warm soft little body. It just feels right. (I would like to have our bed be in our room, and free up the space for Makena to have room to play on her floor, but it's safest to have our mattress on the floor. Maybe we need to consider putting our bed and frame in storage and putting the mattress on our bedroom floor...hmm...)

Naps were still happening only in my arms after I nursed her, like it had been since the nay she was born. But then in September we tried seeing what would happen if I nursed her in the bed and then got up after she was asleep. That's what we do for bed time, so I'm not sure why we never considered it for naps. And, not too shockingly, it worked!!

Makena now takes 2 or 3 naps a day, for about an hour each. I lay down with her, nurse, and she either rolls over and falls asleep or I pop her off after she's fallen asleep, or I give her the pacifier and she falls asleep. Only she's been teething for about a week now, and very fussy so I've had to hold her and walk around/rock her to sleep. But the second her eyes close I can lay her on the bed and walk away. I suppose I could lay her in the crib, but she's used to the bed and sleeps better on it. Plus, if she stirs or cries out I can go lay down next to her and soothe her until she falls back to sleep. Hey, whatever it takes!!

Sometimes I take a morning nap with her. But usually I get up and eat, play on the computer, load the dishwasher, get dinner prepped, or whatever. I keep my eye on the monitor, because Makena rarely makes a peep when she wakes up. She'll just start to move, and then sit up, and then crawl towards the door. And since she's just on the mattress (even though it's only a foot off the floor) I don't want her tumbling off so I rush in and get her.


Right now she isn't sleeping well at all, she keeps crying and tossing and turning. :( She's been teething and the last few weeks have been tough. We get a few BAD days, then a little break, then more bad days. Ugh! Those top middle teeth are coming, and I hope they get here soon so she feels better! We even gave her some Motrin the other day because she was so miserable. She has her hands grabbing in her mouth all the time, and is clingy and weepy. Poor baby! A couple weeks ago she was so upset and had missed a nap and she was also on a terrible nursing strike (that was AWFUL. On 9/27 she was teething badly and bit down on my nipple as I tried to get her to latch on, and I yelled out in pain and pushed her away. She giggled. But then refused to nurse again...and it lasted 4 days. Every time I tried she'd just bite me and pull away. I was a mess. I had to pump and she didn't take a bottle so we gave her my milk in her sippy cup and with a medicine dropper. Then on the 30th I spoke to a lactation consultant and she gave me some tips and it worked! She nursed that night and has since) and I was at work and when the boys took a nap Makena finally was able to relax and she fell asleep in my arms as I walked around the house.

It's so nice to hold your baby as they sleep. It's just so nice. As much as I love that she naps by herself now, and it gives me a MUCH needed break, I love the chance to hold her while she sleeps. So many moms don't get the chance to hold their babies all day long, whenever they want to. But I do. And I like taking advantage of that!!

I think it's time for me to get to bed. It's after 11pm. Pretty late!! I keep checking the monitor and my empty spot of the family bed is calling to me. Besides, Makena will probably be waking up for her midnight snack soon. Not every night, but most nights she's up at midnight and 3 ish. Then awake for the day at 6am. But, since I'm literally 6 inches away from her, I don't even fully wake up. I roll over, feed her, and don't even remember falling asleep again. And the other night she slept from 8pm-5am. Maybe she'll do the same tonight?!

Eh, maybe not. She's moving around. I'm going to bed. :)

Makena loves...

I wrote an update when Makena was 4.5 months old about the things she loves, and I want to keep a record of her favorite things as the months go by! So here it is, a list of things that our 8.5 month old baby girl loves! (Note that some are the same favorites from when she was a "baby!")

Her sippy cup. Or really any cup!
But actually more than the cup, she loves the water inside it! Makena will drink water all day long. She loves using her own cup, but also loves taking sips from real cups. If I get myself a drink of water she automatically assumes it's for her and pants and squeals happily in anticipation. And it works, because I usually will give her a sip or two! (Babies are SO good at training adults!!) If I have a cup of juice or iced tea or something, and won't give her a drink, she gets quite annoyed with me and will whine and try to grab for my cup until I get it out of her sight or distract her.

Donte. And pictures of cats!
She lights up when Donte walks by and meows. She loves to stand in front of him (he's usually sitting up on the chair) and try to grab him. And he is SO GOOD with her. He just turns his head and inches away, but tolerates her pulling his hair and hitting him until a few minutes go by and he finally decides he's had enough. The whole time we're praising him for being such a good boy and trying to get Makena to "be gentle!" But nevertheless she ends up with a fistful of cat hair. Poor guy!

Laughing.
Makena loves to laugh. She cracks herself up! She'll be crawling around and just going "Ha...ha...ha!" It's really adorable. :) I'm so happy that she's such a happy smiley laughing baby!!

Her Fisher Price Laugh and Learn Farm.
I had wanted to buy it for her since I was pregnant! I talked about it all the time, and kept waiting for the price to drop. Then for my birthday I received it as a gift. :) Yay! And it's one of her favorite toys, she literally plays with it every single day. She can turn the light switch on and off, swing the door open and closed, pick the veggies, push the light on, flip the pages in the photo album, turn the pig's belly, and stand up and touch the chicken! I can't wait to see her learn how to feed the cow, turn the radio dial, slide the window back and forth, and drop the eggs down the chute. There is so much fun in this one toy!!!!

Pulling all the movies and books down. Or taking anything OUT from anywhere.
We've finally barricaded off her access to the bookshelf, but I'm sure eventually she'll make it over there again! She can't handle seeing something full when she wants it to be empty. A bin full of toys? Every toy must be out. A container of blocks? Each block needs to be out. A shelf of linens? A laundry basket? The diaper bag? A container of wipes? All are emptied in seconds if she gets her hands on them!

Standing.
She started by pulling up and then tentatively letting go with one hand... and soon the second hand followed and she's quickly grab on again......but now she will stand up all alone for a really long time, and even bend her legs and bounce up and down excitedly. When she gets worried about falling she just plops down. I keep trying to encourage her to take a step towards me, but she reaches her hands without moving her feet, and then sits down and decides that crawling is so easy. She's been creeping along the furniture more often, and gaining her confidence in her footwork. I can't believe she'll be walking soon!!

Her toothbrush. It's a simple little silicone toothbrush from Whole Foods. My mom bought her one, and then we lost it (we think it fell into the bathroom trash can by accident) and I just finally got her another one. We love the "bristles" and the guard piece so she can't gag herself (which, unfortunately Makena has just discovered how to do with her fingers and keeps making herself gag!!) and she loves to brush her teeth. Well, she loves to chomp on it like a teething toy, and I let her do just that after I give her 2 bottom teeth a good scrub.
My cell phone and the leather case. Need I say more? I suppose all babies love that which Mommy is always playing with!
Banging/pinching/pulling/grabbing. Ah, the not so fun stuff. Ever since she was inside my belly, Makena has been a mover! She likes to bang her hands on things, pull hair, and pinch our skin. Especially when trying to fall asleep. She will pinch and squeeze and rub her hand up and down my arm while I nurse her. She loves to pinch the skin of my elbow. And when Pam or I rock her to sleep she wiggles and grabs and pulls and pinches until she finally settles down and falls asleep. It's exhausting!! And it HURTS! She's pinched us both so hard that she's given us bruises, and she's even cut us when her nails have gotten too long. Sheesh!

Feeding herself. And eating in general! Here she's enjoying quinoa, beans, and sauce.

Spinach potato onion patties, black beans and cheddar cheese, and peaches coated in crushed cheerios.Scrambled eggs, potatoes, and toast.
Spoon feeding her purees can be challenging, unless she has something else she can feed herself. But she's even gotten better with eating purees, I think because her appetite is really growing these days. She loves eating, and it's a fun challenge for me to find new foods for her. I enjoy knowing she's eating good healthy food, prepared with love. :)

Baths. She still really loves taking baths, and will crawl into the bathroom and go straight to the tub if given the chance! We got her a little bath seat, and it's great that she can sit by herself now while we sit in front of her and splash and play. She also loves her new squirt and snap toys, and the aquarium storage bag that is suction cupped to the wall.
Driving the car.
She doesn't get too many opportunities to play in the drivers seat, but if I nurse her in the car she knows afterward she'll get a chance to "drive."

Her I'll See You In The Morning book. We read this every night before bed. Usually we read 2-3 books, but this one is always last and it's always her favorite. She loves it!

And, of course, Elmo. Specifically, Elmo's World. Just the title song alone is enough to get her to whip her head towards the TV! If she's fussy or it's a challenging diaper change or we need to quickly distract her, simply singing "La la la la, la la la la, Elmo's World!" is enough to buy us a few precious seconds. I've even noticed that asking "Where's Elmo?!" will sometimes work. lol.
Blowing raspberries on any exposed skin. If you hold Makena and she notices your shoulder skin, she'll put her mouth on it and give a huge raspberry. Kinda. Hers are more of the "wide open mouth hilarious fart sound" variety. Today she even pulled up Pam's shirt and did it on her stomach. She also likes knees and arms. lol.

Sharing her food with me. Recently she's started to hold out her food towards me, and I take a pretend bite (or a real one) and she gets a huge kick out of that. She will even do it with toys, put them up to my mouth, but as soon as I bite them she grabs it back and quickly puts it in her own mouth. It's the thought that counts!

Naked Time! I think most babies like being naked. When Makena fights a diaper change and we're just sitting around at home, I'll let her go sans diaper whenever possible for a little while. I was about to write that a little pee on the carpet wouldn't be a big deal, and then I remembered the time when she started to poop. lol. But honestly, Donte makes a much bigger mess when pukes up a hairball. (One time, Donte pooped in my lap. But this isn't really the place to write about that.) Anyway, nakedness. It's nice to get back to your humble beginnings every now and then! And isn't a naked baby one of the cutest things?! They are so...perfect. Rolls and all!
Up next, an update about sleep!