Fever, family, food, and everything in between!

We've been without a working computer for a few weeks, and I've been itching to update this blog! So let's get right to it!

June 5th

Makena was very clingy and had a slight fever in the evening. Went to bed and woke up crying and so congested that she was getting frustrated with nursing. Took her temperature a few times (I don't care if the thermometer is one of those fancy 1 second ear ones...it still takes too long when the baby is crying and squirming!) and the highest reading we got was 101.7 so we called the night nurse. Poor baby was miserable. We sat in the steamy bathroom and got some saline nose drops and sucked out boogers like crazy. It was a rough night, she woke every hour from midnight till morning. :( Took her to the Dr on Monday and he said she just had a regular ol' common cold.

June 7th

We went to the Silicon Valley Duck Race for the first time! We sponsored 3 rubber duckies, but didn't win anything. It was cute though, and my parents and Diana and Nickel and Sofia came along. Makena wanted to eat this tiny duck of my mom's, but I love how in the photo she looks shocked at seeing such a little rubber duckie! lol.

Then Grandmo pushed her around in the stroller for a few minutes and she fell asleep!! Her first (and only so far) stroller nap! She pulled her hat down and covered her face and was out for about 45 minutes. A miracle!

June 14th

I went to a La Leche League meeting. I have these red sore dry patches on my areola and I think it's because Makena has gotten lazy with her latch. (And I've gotten lazy about correcting her...) Later that night Pam was sitting on the floor next to Makena who was doing some tummy time, and I was on the couch watching tv. Pam yelled "Look!!" and I stood up and looked and said "what?!" and Pam said "She just rolled over!!" and sure enough she was on her back! Pam says she just caught the very end of her rolling, and I missed it entirely. No fun!

June 16th

We had been watching like hawks and finally she did it again and we both saw it clear as day- Makena rolled over, from tummy to back!

June 18th

Pam went to work and her boss was waiting with a box of her belongings and she texted me and said she lost her job. So that sucks. She's still looking for something, and it's been tough for sure. :( The bright side is that she gets to be home a lot now to be with us! And she's gone back to teaching a few soccer classes with her old job.

June 21st

While taking this photo outside our apartment (for a few days she loved sticking out her tongue like that. So funny!) we both looked at the camera to see how it came out...and then realized neither of us was holding Makena up! She was sitting all by herself at 5 months (and 1 day) old!

June 23rd

I know we have no income other than my about-to-end unemployment benefits and the money I make babysitting, but I can't resist and buy an Ergo Baby Carrier. I'd been wanting one for a long time and they were on sale at babysteals.com and I had to act fast before they sold out!! And it's a fantastic product and I'll use it for a long time! Breaking the news of my impulse purchase to Pam went over much better than I thought it would. lol!

June 25th-28th

We flew to Denver, CO for a wedding and to have Makena meet more of Pam's family, her granny and Uncle Kyle. The flight was okay, she wanted to grab and put everything in her mouth.

We were glad it was only about 3 hours! And we had some bad turbulence that had me gripping the seat and Pam's leg. The pilot kept telling us "Just a few bumps, nothing to worry about," but the fasten your seatbelts sign was on the whole time and they even had to stop drink service so the flight attendants could sit down. It was rough. Especially for me who can't stop imagining worst case scenarios all the time! Ugh! But we landed just fine (as I walked off the plane an older woman patted me on the arm and thanked me for being a good mom. I think I said "Oh, thanks?" and she said she didn't hear a peep out of my baby and that's the sign of a good mother. LOL!) and got our rental car and made it to Kyle's house. At the wedding the next afternoon she slept the whole ceremony, and then Pam was lifting her up to blow on her stomach and she was giggling so adorably. See?!

Then we went back to Kyle's house and Makena got to meet Pam's mom for the first time! We went to Downtown Denver and met up with Pam's friend James and then later Dwayne. The next day she got to meet Pam's brother and we went out to eat brunch then took photos in City Park.

Then it was time to leave, so we drove to the airport and Makena was exhausted and finally fell asleep for the drive. At the airport we had hours to spend and Dwayne gave us free food since he works at a restaurant there. We spent a lot of time at a great toy store and then sat at the terminal while our flight kept getting delayed. But it wasn't too bad at all, and Makena rolled over back to tummy for the first time! The ride home was a nightmare, it just took forever to get in the air and Makena was SO fussy. We finally got flying and the lights dimmed and she nursed and fell asleep across our laps. And we held her like that the entire time until we landed and she woke up.

July 2nd

Swimming! Makena got to wear her adorable bathing suit and we took a dip in the pool at my parents apartment! She loved it, and we loved it! Her favorite part is splashing, and she laughs when she splashes water in her face!

On July 4th we didn't have any plans, but Makena did wear a cute outfit!

She also had her first taste of real food!! Pam was eating a peach and we let Makena lick it. She loved it! Also, about a week before that we had bought her a sippy cup, and she LOVES drinking water from it. Then we slowly started adding more first foods...She bit a banana on 7/7, sat in her high chair for the first time and tried avocado on 7/9, had a couple spoons of homemade rice cereal on 7/13, and on 7/15 we went to Whole Foods and bought a bunch of different fruits and veggies to make for her! She had sweet potato that night for dinner and got a special treat- a Baby Mum Mum...which is an organic rice cracker type thing for babies that dissolves almost instantly in her gummy slobbery mouth. She loves them!!

July 10th

We went to the park with my sister and the kids. Makena wore the outfit they bought her.

July 11th

We went to San Francisco and had a baby reunion for all our birth center friends who had January babies! This is the group photo from April (Maya left before we took it)-

Lakota, Makena, Quinn, Chloe, Rowan, Jaesun, and Esme, about 3 months old!

And this is the same group (with Maya but missing Quinn)-

Chloe, Jaesun, Lakota, Rowan, Makena, Esme, and Maya, about 6 months old!

It's always nice to see everybody and catch up. We wish we lived closer and could get together more often! They are a great group of people and babies, and as an added bonus both Esme and Quinn have 2 mommies. :) And we seem to all share similar thoughts on parenting which is nice.

July 16th

Makena is a rolling machine! Pam and I were doing some housework and we had her laying on a blanket in the livingroom. We kept noticing her roll over 4 or 5 times in a row, especially to try and reach Donte as he would walk by. So cute! She can definitely purposefully roll over now when she wants to. She still really hates being on her stomach. She's even starting to dislike being on her back, all she wants to do is sit. But she keeps trying to reach for things and turns her body while sitting and falls over a lot. And she cries almost instantly and want to be sat back up. It's exhausting...she has us trained well! Yesterday she fell hard while trying to grab her sippy cup. Instead of bringing it up to her face (like she knows very well how to do!) she leaned her head down and fell right into the cup. Screamed!! It took lots of cuddles to soothe her but then she was over it and wanted her cup again.

July 17th

We went to my nephews 9th birthday party, and Makena was the star event. All the little kids loved handing her things and she just loves watching children play! After the party we drove to Fresno to visit Kimberly, Susan, and baby Kansas. Makena slept in the car... until she woke up. We stopped in Los Banos and I fed her, then she cried the entire way to Fresno. Finally fell asleep as we turned onto their street. Of course. Let me tell you, driving while your baby is screaming is one of the hardest things ever. It's awful. But we got there and we all went to bed. The next day we played with the babies and went swimming! (And played with their new underwater camera!)

July 20th

We left Fresno and on the drive home Pam was sitting in the backseat with Makena. She was feeling in her mouth and said she thought she felt something. We stopped for lunch at Casa de Fruta and sure enough, Makena has her first tooth!!!! The last couple days have been tough, this teething thing is no joke! She's been super fussy and clingy and crying about everything. What happened to our sweet cheerful baby?! Last night was super hard. She woke up around midnight screaming and I couldn't console her at all. So I decided to try the Hylands Homeopathic Teething Tablets, and literally within seconds she was asleep and SMILING! It was so adorable, I am a believer in the magic of those little white tablets!!

Today is July 24th. Right now Makena is sitting on the floor playing with her toys. I had the Boppy around her back to help soften her toppling over, but she's scooted across the blanket (while sitting the whole time!) and is now about 4 feet away and facing the opposite direction that I put her in. At this rate I don't know if she'll crawl...she cries when on her stomach and can move around pretty well while sitting! Annnnd she just fell backwards with a thud. That Boppy pillow was so helpful sitting over there on the other side of the blanket. lol. She's crying, but it's not a painful cry, just a "I'm pissed off that you aren't helping me to sit up again" cry. I'm talking to her and she's fine. And now she's not crying at all but keeps grabbing at her mouth. Poor thing, I'm pretty sure either another tooth is about to pop out or the first one is hurting her. Oh good, now she's grabbed a book and is occupied with that while she sings a lovely song for me. :)

I'm going to get dressed and head out for a walk. Pam scouted out a nearby playground that has baby swings covered in shade if you go before noon!