Fall Leaves

Makenzie wanted to play in the leaves...and of course I had to take pictures of it...

And as they always say, "all good things must come to an end..." (especially when you are not allowed to eat the leaves...which, by the way, she cried harder when I took the leaf away from her then she did when she got her flu shot. What a drama queen.)

The last one is my favorite. It is my desktop background. I just love it when she folds her hands when she cries.

Fun with Daddy

I was going through pictures on my computer when I came across these pictures. I didn't take them and I don't usually feed Makenzie cheerios off of a step ladder. When I questioned Nick why he was feeding her off a step ladder (she does have a high chair...), he said "I thought that it was better than the floor..." True....

Happy Birthday to Nick!

Today is Nick's birthday! And he is ruining his birthday by studying and and taking a test! But, I guess we can celebrate later. Here is little Nick on what I assume is his first birthday:

I just wanted to post a picture of him when he was a kid because he was so cute! See:

Okay, he still is so cute...

Happy Birthday Nick!

Funny Girl

Makenzie has been so funny lately. She loves to perform her tricks and often gets them mixed up. Her favorite tricks are: Blowing kisses, Where's mama's baby, Waving, Clapping, Saying Bye Bye, Ball, and Uh Oh.

I am starting to regret teaching her Uh Oh. She uses it as an excuse to throw everything all of the time. Especially to throw cheerios all over the floor. Only, she just says "uh." She hasn't' quite got the "oh" yet. Half of the time she says "uh" before she even throws something.

She also has decided she doesn't like most foods. I don't know where this came from...just one day decided she was picky. Fruits make her shudder and she will only take a few bites of puree fruit. She gags on real fruits because she hates them so much. She generally only likes orange baby foods (squash, carrots, and sweet potatoes.) If I bring her something that is another color she notices before I even feed it to her and starts screaming. She has also started to put her hand over her mouth so that I can't shove any food in there. She just screams with her hand over her mouth until I bring her something else. Peaches make her really mad though because they "trick" her. They are orange and so she things that they are something good...and then when I put it in her mouth she freaks out. Ugh. I know kids usually reach a phase where they become picky eaters but I was hoping that it would come later....


We used to keep a step ladder to block off the kitchen because Makenzie has no business being in there (contrary to her belief....). That lasted about a week before she figured on how to slither by it. Now, we keep a chair on the floor to block it off. So far so good.

Makenzie can stand on her own...but she doesn't like to. (She has even taken some steps) We always have to distract her while she is standing so she won't realize. As soon as she notices, she gracefully sits down:

(We couldn't get the picture of her standing... just her graceful descent. I guess she is closing her eyes because she is scared?)

Makenzie also wishes that she lived in the forties. After I put her bow on, she turned it this way and then posed:

She also has started taking her pants off during naps. Every time I go to get her, she is standing in her diapers and her pants are thrown on the floor. "uh"

I also can't seem to get her to stop eating bubbles. Apparently they taste better than peaches. She always ends up as Santa Claus after....

BYU Football

We have been going to the football games (of course....)! Makenzie actually really likes to go. She loves to watch the crowd and copy people when they clap. She also likes to get dressed up in her BYU clothes.

I never realize how much taller Nick is than me until I see pictures of us. Maybe next time I will stand on the bleacher.

Makenzie is yelling to help the defense...

She was very worried the whole Florda State game

And she can take naps during the games.....

A little white cougar!

Greed

I have so many things in my life to be thankful for. I know that. I think about them all of the time. I have way more things to be thankful for than I do to be ungrateful for. I know that. But at this moment I am not in a thankful mood, I'm in a greedy mood. With that said, I would like to complain about living in a small space. I want to make a list of all the things I am tired of (just to get it out of my system....)

- I'm tired being at home everyday and staring at piles of junk that I cannot do anything about because there is nowhere to put it!
-I'm tired of stacking things from the floor to the ceiling and then having to dig through to find what I need.
-I'm tired of not being able to have a conversation when the dishwasher, air conditioner, washing machine, dryer, microwave, etc. is on because they are all so loud and right in my face! I have to wait until I leave the house to run anything!
- I'm tired of not being able to turn on the TV, do dishes, do laundry, cleaning, shower and all of the other things that I would like to do while my baby is napping because the noise will wake her up.
-As Makenzie grows out of clothes, toys, infant baths, bouncy chairs, and all of the other infant things, I am soooo tired of having no place to put them! Stuff just keeps collecting!
-I'm tired of not being able to accommodate out of town guests because there isn't enough room for an air mattress to be put down anywhere!
-I'm tired of not having a place to put any food storage!
-I'm tired of tripping over chairs and step ladders to get from one side of my apartment to the other ( a total of about 10 steps)
- I'm tired of not being able to host anything

I know I'm greedy. The place we live in now once seemed like a palace compared to the last place we lived. I guess as I get more blessings I get more greedy and just want more. Pride cycle. Or maybe, we are just a growing family and we need more as time goes on. I don't know. All I know is that tomorrow I will try and go back to be grateful. But right now I will sit here and sulk as I wait for my baby to wake up so that I can take a shower.

PS
Nick is probably going to be so disappointed in me when he reads this. He is happy with so little. In fact, I think that the less stuff he has, the more happy he is. When I asked him what he wants for his upcoming birthday he said "Nothing. I just don't want you to get me anything and that's what I want." Who says that?? I think he is serious. But luckily, he usually puts my happiness first and I'm not going to be happy unless I can get him at least a stupid $5 present....

This Month

I celebrated my birthday! My sister-in- law (Katie) made me a delicious three level birthday cake! Thanks Katie!

Makenzie probably enjoyed the cake the most. She ate every bit she could with her hands and then put her head down and started licking the plate.

Makenzie got a "bike"



And Makenzie decided to start reading Daddy's text books. We found her like this...hiding in the corner...It is always so suspicious when she is quiet, but this time she was doing something good! Usually quiet means trouble....

Nine Months

Makenzie turned nine months on Sunday! She is growing up way too fast. Anyway, she had to go to the doctor yesterday. No shots this time! The doctor said she is doing great. Here are her nine month stats:

Height- 27.5 inches (50th percentile)
Weight- 15 lbs 1 oz (4th percentile)
Head- 44 cm (50th percentile)

I freaked out when I saw her weight. She has only gained six ounces in the last three months. But, the doctor said that this is normal for babies her age. He said that since she is particularly active for her age that is makes it harder for her to gain weight. He said it wasn't a concern since her height and head have been growing and her blood tests looked perfect. It made me feel better to hear him say that. I was sure that he was planning on calling DCFS or something. I asked him if I should feed her more often and he just said, "feed her when she is hungry."

Here are her tricks from the last three months:

Waves while saying "buh buh buh buh" (bye bye bye bye) (there is a video of it below)

Where's mama's baby ( I ask her "where's mama's baby" and she puts her hand on her head)

She can say "bah" (ball. and she always whispers it when she sees her ball. She whispers it because I used to hold up her ball and say "what is this" and Nick would whisper "ball" in her ear. So cute.)

Crawls for real now. No more army crawl....

Pulls herself to a standing position on anything and everything

Cruises along furniture and even between furniture if she can reach

Can close doors ( I will suddenly hear her bedroom door close and then I hear her start crying because she realizes she is stuck)

Can open drawers and pull everything out and make huge messes

She climbs on anything she possibly can

I will sing into her microphone and then put it up to her mouth and she will sing into it

She points at things

She picks little things up with her finger and thumb

She loves to be read to

Sometimes she will snuggle now! Yay! There is a picture below of us taking a nap together!

She says dada and mama (but she doesn't know what it means yet.....)

She has one tooth and one breaking through as we speak

She seriously follow me around the house all day long and anytime I stop, she will climb up my legs. She knows adult food is better than baby food. Anytime anyone eats anything, she will come out of nowhere and just beg and beg until they share. I can't even get her to eat her cheerios anymore unless I put them on a spoon. Here are some recent pictures:

These are her tantrum pictures. Heaven forbid I take something away from her.....

You can see her tooth!



" Bye Bye Bye Bye Bye"

I will post a video soon of "where's mama's baby". It's my favorite!

Utah County Fair

We went to visit the Utah County Fair a few weeks ago. I had never really been to a fair, but according to Nick, this one was pretty lame.

Makenzie did like looking at the animals. Especially the ones that made noise.

Our night ended with the "Rodeo." I have never been to a rodeo either. This was just local people competing. Some of the events took four men to do what one man usually does in a real rodeo. So, Nick said it was pretty lame. I'm not an animal rights activist or anything but I did think what they were doing to the animals was kind of mean. They were throwing ropes around the animals neck and then the animals would face plant in the dirt and then the guys would tie up the animals legs.....kind of harsh....

When Exactly Did This Happen?

Have you ever seen the movie Fifty First Dates? You know at the end of the movie, when she wakes up and finds out that she has a husband and a child? Well, she did. And so do I. Every day. I wake up and hear crying off in the distance. I can't help but notice there is another person in my bed...a man. I think to myself that it is a little creepy. He looks a lot like that cute boy from my singles ward that wouldn't kiss me. Well apparently he did kiss me and then we got married. Or maybe it was the other way around? We got married, then he kissed me? Did we even date? I don't know. All I know is that he is there and that I can still hear a baby crying. So, I get up to follow the crying. Naturally I walk toward the front door because someone obviously left a baby on my front porch. As I walk I notice all my skin and rolls flubbing around. That's weird, I think to myself. I could have sworn that yesterday I had a flat tummy. When I walk passed a closed door however, I notice that the crying is not coming from outside, but from inside my own house. Putting together the pieces, I realize that the baby in there must be mine. But when did that happen? If I think back really hard I kind of remember thinking once that I had had a baby inside of me for like two years and I was coming to accept the fact that it would never be out. I open the door expecting to see a newborn that I must have had yesterday and forgot about. But it is not a newborn. There is nine month old baby STANDING in her crib. She has to be mine, she looks like such a good mix of me and that boy from my ward. She is smiling at me like she recognizes me or something.

It's so weird, I can't figure out when all of this happened! Time is flying by and I feel like I can't keep up. So I guess I better go do what she does in Fifty First Dates and go look at old pictures and videos and see if I can figure out when all of this happened. Older people are probably laughing at me right now and will tell me "Wait until you wake up tomorrow, she will have her driver's license. And watch out for the next day, you will wake up a grandma." But my ears can't take the shock of such things right now. I mean, she's my little baby. She will be my little baby forever, right?