And She's Off!

Well, not yet, but soon. Here is a video of Makena trying to crawl. I wish she would focus on trying to roll over from her back to stomach instead, so she would stop waking herself up. I would much prefer that over her becoming mobile right now!

Today's Pics

Just a couple of pictures of Makena. I don't have a fun story to tell about her. She just eats, sleeps, smiles and watches the world go by.

Dress Up

Karis is entering the "dress up" phase. She often goes digging through Makena's bottom drawer and pulls out something she wants to wear. She'll ask me to help her put something on but I tell her that it's too small for her. She doesn't take "no" for an answer so she'll try to put it on herself. I was hoping if she practiced enough, she'll start to dress herself and that'll be one less thing I have to do. But, unfortunately she keeps putting her foot in the pant cuff (wrong end!) so I don't think she'll be dressing herself any time soon. Darn!

Here are a few pictures of some clothes she found in the hallway... random pair of Halloween slippers, a jacket and a little cap.

Having a little difficulty with the zipper:

Karis likes putting on this knit hat she has. When we were getting ready to go out one day, she came downstairs like this:

Our Crazy Happy Kid

Here is a little video of our crazy kid with endless amounts of energy. This was taken at the end of the day when you'd think she would be winding down and doing a quiet activity.

Why Do People Laugh At Me?

People always laugh when they see Makena chillin' in her seat on the kitchen counter. I'm not sure why. She loves her little seat where she can watch me cook and do dishes. It's her favorite spot.

Today's Pics

Hanging on the couch together... doing their own thing. One day they'll actually be playing together. I can't wait!

Things I learned about Karis today

Okay, so this first piece is not altogether "new" news to me. I know that Karis enjoys, really enjoys climbing and jumping and being reckless in many ways. Recently, Lena and I have been talking about investing in a bounce house (and renting it to friends to offset the cost) because we think Karis would love it. And, selfishly, I thought it'd be an "easy" way to watch her and have her wear herself out. Today, Karis went to cousin Jessi's 3rd birthday where they had a bounce house.

So we have confirmed that she loves the bounce house. We also heard that the versions sold for home use are not industrial strength and quickly give out at the seams. =( But, the main thing we learned is that even after much bouncing (I cannot in good conscious call it jumping because she never seemed to get good enough footing to jump) a bounce house DOES NOT wear her out. We went to another party later today and, without a nap I might add, she continued ahead full steam. Where does this child get her energy? I had someone mention tonight that if our world was re-sized to match the ratio our kids experience, we'd be wiped out very quickly. I cannot imagine going up and down our stairs multiple times a day if each stair step was 2-1/2 feet.

The other thing I learned about Karis today was quite painfully personal. For the past 19+ months I have sung to her at bedtime. The past couple of months she has repeatedly requested that I sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." I noticed that she asks her mother to sing "The Itsy Bitsy Spider." Anyhow, I'm not a great singer, but after the hundreds of time repeating this song, I think I'm starting to sound good. Well, tonight Karis again asked me to sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" but shortly after I started, she moved both of her hands towards both ears and simultaneously placed one finger from each hand into each ear. And then she left her ears plugged until I stopped singing. If there is any good out of this, she did then ask me to sing "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" and didn't make the same gesture. Time will tell if I'm again allowed to sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" to her.

And if you have a Facebook account, you can see two videos here:
LINK TO Video 1 of Karis in bounce house

LINK TO Video 2 of Karis in bounce house

Life with Makena

I can't believe four months have gone by and I haven't blogged much about Makena. I definitely want to remember what my babies are like at each stage and putting it down here is the only way I'll remember. I've gone back to past posts about Karis and realized how much I forget. It's been tough to get a quiet moment to be at the computer for an extended amount of time. Each day is always busy with plenty of things demanding my attention.

Makena is living up to her name -- happy one. She smiles and coos and laughs often. I love when she falls asleep on me at the end of the day and as she's drifting off into deep slumber she starts to laugh. It's such a great way to end the day! My favorite time with her has become during her last feeding around 7 pm. Derek is upstairs putting Karis to bed and the house is quiet. Makena and I hang out on the couch and work on her bottle. We take burping breaks and we end up "talking" and smiling at each other for quite awhile.

Makena's personality makes her a pretty easy-going baby. It took me awhile to realize that at first because each day was so busy and crazy.

It was difficult to get Makena on a schedule. Unlike her sister who was like clock work, Makena's days were quite disorganized for the first few months. She slept for longer periods during the night and to make up for it she would nurse more often during the day. Each day's schedule was different so it made it hard for me to get out since I couldn't nurse Makena in public (with Karis running around loose!). However, her lack of schedule made her more flexible which was a huge blessing. She often had to wait to be fed while I got Karis' lunch ready or changed a dirty diaper.

At four months, she is finally on a schedule! I stopped nursing Makena when she was about 3 1/2 months old. It was a hard decision to make but there were so many reasons why I decided to do it. Nursing Makena was never easy so it was very taxing me and very time consuming.

Makena started to skip a couple night feedings at 8 weeks. She did it for a couple days and then did it consistently at 2 months. Then, at about 3 months she started waking up more at night. I assumed it was because of a growth spurt -- at her 4-month appointment today she weighed in at 16 pounds which puts her in the 93rd percentile! Just recently she has gone back to only one feeding at night. Phew!

My biggest challenge with her right now continues to be the feedings. Even with bottles, she still has issues. She gets gassy and spits up a lot so it's hard for her to finish a bottle. Each night it takes about two hours to get her to finish her extra-large feeding and down for the night. I plan on switching formulas to see if it makes a difference.

She rolled over about a month ago for the first time. She now rolls over and wakes herself up. She loves to show off her strength and stand up. She gets so proud of herself when she does.

One thing Derek and I are enjoying is having an infant that actually likes car rides. If you've been a reader of our blog for awhile now, you might remember how we mentioned Karis used to act like she was in a torture chamber whenever she was in her car seat (click here to read post). Makena doesn't mind the car seat (the same one Karis used) at all!

It's also been much easier to get Makena down for a nap. Karis would always fight taking naps. Makena does too at times, but for the most part it's been pretty easy to put her down.

Here are a few pics of Makena at 3 months and at 4 months.

3 months:

4 months:

Oh, how she's grown!

Time to brag on Karis a bit

Before I brag on Karis, I have to set the stage.

Since Makena has been born, life has been quite busy and hectic as one might assume. Add to it an office move, a new pastor, a trip to the hospital for Lena's back, 4 celebrations in 9 days (Lena's birthday, Father's Day, our anniversary, and then my birthday), one bigger than usual birthday party for my 40th, extra consulting hours for Lena, co-workers on vacation, and holidays (Mother's Day, Memorial and Fourth of July) to name a few things.

I am fighting a pretty gnarly sinus and now chest infection at the moment. I haven't had good sleep in a week (and Lena even longer... like 4 months). I have all kinds of stress from a few once-a-month meetings this weekend, and being part of the wedding party for a friend getting married all day Saturday.

So today, I prayed for strength and peace while I cared for the girls all day. I knew, absolutely knew that I could not make it through today on my own. Normally, I begin thinking I can do it all by myself. One day of being wise is a good start. After I prayed I looked Karis in the eyes and told her I was sick and wanted her to do her best to be good today for daddy. She was that and then some.

She proactively played by herself. She didn't hang onto me nor constantly want me to hold her. She didn't get jealous while I held and cared for Makena. She even put away many of her toys after playing with them. I enjoyed watching her make her similar figurines play together. I was surprised that she could even find them amongst all the other varieties.

My highlight was shortly after Makena fell asleep this afternoon. Karis went to the mattress on the floor in Makena's room and patted the pillow - that indicates I was to lay my head down with her. But she stopped me and motioned for me to help pull down the blanket cover first. She has never used a blanket, only watched us. Then she motioned for me to pull it back up onto both of us. She pointed at me and said "da." Then she pointed to a small, unoccupied space on the pillow and said "ma." I said "Mommy is at work" and she quickly replied "yah." The she put the side of her head on the pillow so she could face me. And she smiled at me.

Karis is always on the go. She doesn't ever walk anywhere... she is always running from point to point even in the house. For her to slow down and relax is amazing. I am thankful for the precious moment that I was able to share with her today. I will cherish that moment for a looooong time.