Life with Makena & Tayler

Makena-ism

2009-06-23T20:29:00.000-07:00

Today in the pool

Makena: Mama. Mama! Push me in.

Me: Okay. (gently pushes her off the step & into the pool)

Makena: (swimming back to the step) That was so not cool, Mom! (in her best 13-year-old accent)

Sigh... I guess it starts young.

Above - a couple of pictures from, last month, I think - we drove to the lake for the day, hiked around a bit, threw the stick for Lola, & had a picnic lunch. All in all a fun Sunday!

So long!

2009-06-03T21:16:00.000-07:00

Wow! It has been a long time since I have written here. I have had a hard time finding the time. Well, let's see - the girls are good. Michael and I are good. Lola's good.

Makena: We had our last day of the Parent/Child program at Sac Waldorf. We were so sad to say goodbye to Teacher Marie. It was great to have that special time with just Makena and I each week. I am pretty sure she looked forward to it and I know I did. Thanks to Auntie Debi to watching Tayler on Tuesdays so we could have that. Makena starts preschool in the Fall. How is that possible? My kid is going into preschool... She is loving the pool so far this summer. Not as daring as she was last year, but still getting braver each day. I think after we go through swim lessons again then she will be swimming the length of the pool again. I am hoping to put her in soccer in the fall as well. The girl can kick a ball!

Tayler: She had her last "Tayler Tot Tuesday" with Auntie Debi. I know she LOVED having that time with her auntie. Even for the last couple of months when she had to share Auntie with Baby Declan every other week. Tay and I will be doing the Parent/Child class next year with Teacher Marie and also a dance class once a week. It will be fun to have some one on one time with her. Tay is enjoying the pool this year too. She is getting braver on the big step & even trying to practice her "kickers" while her Daddy or I float her around the pool.

Lola: Our sweet Pitbull. Not much new with her. She is still the non-barking, food-loving, girl. A dog park is opened just down the street & she is definitely a fan.

Michael: Is working hard - both on MKM Customs (on ebay) and with Wakeair.

Me: Having tons of fun, and staying busy staying home with the girls. Although "staying home" is a relative term. We are BUSY! There are days I'd like to tear my hair out - but I think that's normal. We have a lot of fun though. The girls crack me up every day. The things they say, the things they do...

I'm going to say as I always do - I am hoping to keep this updated more often.

A couple pics...

And for whatever reason - they post to the top!

Updates

2009-03-09T19:50:00.000-07:00

My baby girl is 3... Three!

I posted some pics on my facebook page. Check them out there. I still have not mastered posting them here.

Girls are good. Michael and I are good.

Need to finish cleaning my kitchen after the party yesterday. I'll post some more tomorrow.

I'll leave you with a Makena-ism.

When she has to poop on the potty she likes privacy - no one in there with her.

What she asks for:

"Mama, please leave, I need private seat."

I LOVE that kid!

Half marathon

2009-01-08T20:50:00.001-08:00

I figure the more people I tell - then I cannot flake out. That and doing early registration. Christina and I are going to run a half marathon in May. She ran it last year, but only trained four times.... Her feet paid the price, so she wanted to do it right this year. And she roped me into it.

No really, I do love running, but haven't done it in YEARS. So - carrying around a little extra baby weight - I am excited to have started training with Chrissy and getting back in shape. It feels so great to be back into it. We are starting slow, but boy am I still feeling it. Lola is LOVING it!

So I'll keep everyone updated on our progress. I am looking forward to it!

We have a new dog park close to our house. Lola loves it. So far we have not met other dogs there that actually want to play with her. They have all been ball dogs - but we are hoping. She really is a dog's dog and misses her Bear. We are considering rescuing an middle-aged Rottie. It will be awhile yet, but I think she would love it. The girls like the walk to the dog park and enjoy watching Lola run around like a crazy pup.

Here are a few other pics just for fun. Kena wanted me to take a picture of our feet one day... Silly girl. We went to playgroup today and she & Tay had a great time. Ken & Kandice's house remodel is gorgeous. For the first time in forever all the girls & kids were there. They all actually played nicely together.

Okay - still having issues with the pictures... Will update tomorrow.

Hey - two times in one week! Pretty good...

Time to play catch up

2009-01-03T10:50:00.001-08:00

A New Year's resolution for me: update this blog at least once a week!

We have been up to a lot since my last post:

Makena is potty-trained, day & night! It happened one weekend a few months ago and we haven't looked back. Of course there has been an accident here or there, but for the most part she is doing excellent. We are so proud of her & mama is happy to only be washing diapers for one.

Tayler turned one on November 16. Wow - the year has flown by. She took her first step the Tuesday before her birthday, but neither Michael or I saw it. She was with Auntie Debi while Kena and I were at our once a week Parent/Child class at the Waldorf school. Darn it! She is walking and practically running now, way past the early monkey walk. She still doesn't have many words, but the girl knows how to get her point across. She is signing more, all-done and we are working on please, thank you, milk, and eat. Speaking of milk, we are still nursing about 4 to 5 times a day & unfortunately, 2-3 times during the night... I keep telling myself she will be sleeping through the night soon. Makena was well on the way to weaning by this time, but I think it will be some time before Tay is ready.

Christina & Dan got married on Oct 25 - in Reno at the courthouse. We were halfway there & running late when we realized we left our garmet bag & toiletry bag at home... But hey, at least the girls look cute! It was a sweet & simple ceremony and we are so excited to have Daniel as an official member of the family. Poor guy!

Declan Harty Leonard was born on December 16, 2008. Welcome little cousin! He is as cute as can be. In the picture is the first time that the girls and I got to see him. For those that don't know the other gal in the picture is Jan (or Granjan) Declan's other grandma, Kali's mom.

We had a wonderful Christmas with family. Of course we missed all of our family that could not be with us. This was our first Christmas with out Bear and that was a bit weird. We found some old photos of him the other night and then the next morning Michael was making me an espresso drink and there was a Bear hair in my cup! We always said that we would be finding his hair for the next 20 years. We miss you Buddy!

I especially missed him the other night. We have always closed the girls doors at night. We have monitors in their rooms, but you don't always hear everything. Tayler woke up and I went in to get her and noticed that Kena's door was open. First thing I did was look at the alarm panel - still red. With my heart in my chest I walk in and she's still sound asleep. Whew! If Bear was still with us I would not have even looked at the alarm because he was such an amazing guard dog. He was the kind of dog that didn't bark, just to bark - only when he thought there was danger. He was one of a kind. Lola, while I love her to bits - so not a guard dog. While some are intimidated just because she is a pitt bull, she just as soon love you to death than anything else. Turns out that Makena woke up and didn't want her door closed, so she opened it and went back to bed. That happened a couple nights in a row, so now we leave her door open.

We took the girls to the snow last weekend. It was a lot of fun. There was not much interest in sledding - but playing in it was a big hit. Michael would stick Tay down in the drifts and she thought it was the funniest thing. We threw snowballs, ate snow, and enjoyed the beauty of it. Tayler was tired & hungry so she and I headed back to the truck for awhile, but Daddy & Kena stayed out for another hour or so. They even built a snowman! We took Lola, but it was a bit hectic with two kids, two sleds, so she got out for a bit, but had to hang out in the SUV for most of it. Poor girl - but she did enjoy the car ride.

Okay - and not sure what the deal is with the pictures... I am trying to figure out how to move them around. I did have them in order of how things came up in the blog, but I don't know what happened. So hopefully future posts will be a bit more organized!

Things to remember

2008-10-04T11:10:00.000-07:00

I have been terrible about keeping this up to date. But here are a few things I want to remember.

From Makena:

When she wants to do something again she'll say : "One last more. Just one last more." so cute.

Every thing is five. She can count higher (in English & Spanish) but when we see a ton of birds in the sky and I ask how many she says "Five! There are five mama!" Also when she wants something (like M&Ms) she wants five.

Tayler:

Yesterday she was standing holding onto a toy- let go - and stayed standing by herself! She did it twice - not too long before she's walking I bet. She says doll. When she picks up a dolly she will look at me and say doll over & over. So her words so far: Bath, Dada, Mama, Doll and she says something for Kena, but haven't been able to make it out yet.

In other things, we are still at a stand still with potty training. She goes every night before bed, & sporadically throughout the day. Tayler is still up once a night, but getting closer to sleeping through the night. We went away last weekend to a friend's wedding & stayed overnight without the girls. We had a great time, but I forgot a part to my pump - my boobs were a bit painful... Aunt Debi & Uncle Dave took the girls for us and they did great! I should be getting some pics emailed to me soon - so I'll show you what we look like all dressed up.

Once I figure out how to post pics easier here I'll get some new ones up!

Way too long

2008-09-09T21:21:00.000-07:00

I know it has been way too long since the last time I posted... A lot has happened, my baby girl Makena has become a big girl over night it seems. She can swim half the length of the pool - UNDERWATER!! She is still not potty trained, sigh, but what can I do. We started her Parent/Child Program at the Waldorf school and I LOVE it. She had so much fun and so did I. The two hours flew by. We had free play, painting, circle time, lunch and a very fun walk to the river & the farm. She got to see a llama, sheep, a cow, a pig, chickens (& feed them), a goose, & a cat.

Tayler, meanwhile, had a ton of fun with Auntie Debi during school time for Makena. Thank you Auntie Debi for all that you do for us! Tayler is almost sleeping through the night, most nights. She sleeps from about 8/8:30 until about 6am, then comes to bed with Daddy & Mama until about 7am when sister wakes up. She is babbling a ton. Still only talks about the bath, but I would swear she's saying Dada some days. She waved unprompted to Daddy as he was leaving today. We do walk him out each day.

We have figured out why Makena is no longer sleeping until 7am... The train... The other morning Mike went in her room and she said "Daddy, the choo, choo wake me up - it LOUD." And then there is the Dish Network dish that is not in use, but they apparently do not take down the old ones. It is mounted outside her closet & is super loud squeaking when it is windy. Mike is working on getting th

at down this week. As for the train... we tried putting the humidifier in her room on high and even it wasn't loud enough to drown out the whistle when Makena is in the light time of sleep.

Michael is back in the Real Estate profession. So any referrals send his way. He is really excited about this new endeavor.

I will leave you with a couple pics, with more to come!

Tay's first popsicle

Pleeeeaaaassseeee Sleep............

2008-08-10T20:35:00.000-07:00

Can everyone send some sleepy vibes our way?

Let's just say that Miss Tayler is NOT a good teether. As in, for the last three nights I have been up every hour from 8pm until 7am, literally. I get up, stumble into her room, rock her & put her back in bed. She doesn't want to nurse, she doesn't want to sleep with us, she doesn't want me to stay in the rocking chair, on the couch, etc.

Michael let me sleep from 7-9 this morning - otherwise I'd be even more of a walking zombie.

And I hear her calling again...

Okay - I'm back & edited to add that for extra fun - when she gets a fever (in this instance from teething) she likes to projectile vomit as soon as Tylenol & Motrin hit her lips. So I have given her Hylands teething tablets and they seem to help some with the pain.

In other exciting news - she said her first word! And no, it's not Mama, or Dada, or even Kena, but it is "bath". Or her babbling equivalent of it. She has repeated it on several occassions since Friday and it is definitely what she means if only understood by Mama & Daddy.

So cute! Makena sings the Coldplay song "Green Eyes" to Tayler in the bathtub. They both have blue eyes, but hey, you take what you can get.

In Makena news, we are back to a standstill on potty training, sigh. She is doing really well with swim lessons. Working everyday at home on her "kickers, paddles, & bubbles". I'll have to figure out how to upload a video so you all can see it. Precious! Not so precious that she apparently has decided to give up naps during the day. We have tried all the usual & some new tricks to get her to sleep & nothing seems to work short of driving her around in the car for an hour & a half. Which, is well, not practical. So I put her in her crib for some "quiet time" in which she reads about 15 books, builds a fort, and hangs out with Sulley, her big, stuffed monster. She actually does okay with no nap, except around 5pm she hits a wall, is herself a monster, and by 5:30 we are through it. We just do an earlier dinner & earlier bedtime.

Michael and I tried real sushi for the first time the other night at http://www.mikunisushi.com/ it was so good! We will be back there for sure.

Other than that still getting settled in the new house, and enjoying time with friends & family.

Me! Me!

2008-08-07T08:15:00.000-07:00

Okay I have never done the tag thing, but my friend Jamie tagged me so I will attempt it. I am not that computer saavy... So here is my friend that tagged me:

Simply Jamie: Me! Me!

First, share 7 facts about yourself. Next, tag people at the end of your blog by leaving their name and a link to their blog. Last, let them know they’re tagged by leaving a link in their blog.

My 7 things:

1) I love staying home with my girls, even though I never thought I'd be a stay-at-home mama.

2) Even though I love staying home with them, I sometimes miss working full time, but couldn't imagine leaving them every day.

3) I have a profound dislike of moving. Probably because I did it so often growing up.

4) I love to read.

5) I love a grande decaf mocha with whip from Starbucks.

6) I would like to learn more about photography.

7) I have come to identify myself with my long hair but want to maybe cut it off.

I don't really have anyone to tag - so if you read this, then considered yourself tagged!

Swim Lessons & the Pink Potty Chair

2008-08-06T10:45:00.000-07:00

We started swim lessons on Monday. It was a bit of a rough start because Makena wouldn't nap that day so she was grumpy. But after a long talk with Daddy she was ready to go. Tayler went under water for the first time & wasn't thrilled with it. I wimped out and had to have the instructor do it the first time. I took her under the second time & it wasn't as near as scary as I thought it would be. (Yeah, right says Tayler) But we just make sure to make really happy faces when she comes up. We are the only ones signed up for the time slot so we lucked out with private lessons!

Tuesday went much better - Miss M took a long nap so she was ready to go. Apparently someone turned off the pool warmer though so the water was a bit chilly. Tayler was not happy... Makena did really well with her "paddles & kickers". She is also learning how to pull herself out of the water on the side of the pool. Elbow, elbow, pull, pull, pull, tummy, knee, knee. And she is jumping in to Michael. No one is probably too surprised though - as daring as she is. Tayler was freezing in the water after about 10 mins - so after dunking her under & doing a few kicks & playing on the stairs I took her out, dried her off, & nursed her a bit.

Michael & I bought M a pink free-standing potty chair the other day. We have had varying success with PTing. She wakes up dry from night time, & will pee & poop on the potty when she wants, but is just not that interested in actually toilet training. So, we thought - we'll buy a different chair & see how she does. So far today - it seems magic. She keeps running over & peeing in it - doesn't want a diaper on. It might just be the novelty or maybe we are finally making some progress.

I am hoping to get some pics uploaded tonight - so I will either make a new post or edit this one.

Did you fart?

2008-07-30T21:22:00.000-07:00

We are playing in the playroom last night & I hear Makena saying "Did you fart? Yeah. Whew! Stinky!" & lifting up the tail of her pony. She was brushing it's mane & tail and after each brush saying "You so pretty. Your hair sooooo pretty."

We went to the Aquatic Center for our niece & nephew's birthday party last Saturday & a kid tried to push Makena under water. Mike was right there & took the kid's arm off of Makena. Later that night he taught M to say "Don't push me - that's not nice!" (& to point her finger.) So she keeps telling me "Mama, if a kid push me I say "No push me, that's not nice and I point my finger." It is so funny when she does it.

Tayler has started waving. It is adorable! She did it a couple weeks ago, but nothing since. Then, today she started again. The girls are really enjoying the playroom. Tay plays so independently already - makes me sad she is growing up so fast. No sleeping thru the night yet, but doing well in her crib.

We went to look at the proofs of our family portraits & Tayler's belated six month pics today and they turned out amazing! If they put us on their blog I'll link you to it. I am so excited to get them up in the house.

Packing, Moving, Unpacking

2008-07-25T10:31:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

Well I moved the blog, because this one is so much easier to use.

We have spent the last couple weeks packing, moving & now unpacking. Whew! It is a lot of work doing all this and having the kids around. Thank you so much to Auntie Debi for all your help with them during this hectic time. Also, thank you to everyone who helped us move - we appreciate it so much! Hopefully we will get the pictures hung this weekend and it will really start to feel like home.

The girls are getting huge! Makena cracks me up

with all she has to say. This morning on the way to the gym - "Mama, where we going?" I say to the gym - she says "You want to exercise?" I say yes and she says "Makena play with kids, no hit them, that not nice..." I say "Yes, no hitting, we play nice with our friends." She talks in sentences - and has comprehension - when did that happen - my two-year old going on 13.

Tayler is growing fast. She is crawling every where, babbling, laughing, yelling. She now yells at me when I take something away from her - and fake cries. Makes me laugh. Still a very happy baby - which people always comment on.

Both girls love the pool. We start swim lessons on August 4th with both of them. Michael and I will be doing the classes with them. I think

they will be fun.

Had other pics, but erased them on accident... So here is the one that survived - need to get back to unpacking - more later...

Fourth of July

Pool time

2008-06-05T21:49:00.000-07:00