The Animal at our House

Makena is talking a lot and I figured I might as well try and put up this funny video I took of her the other night. She tells us what an animal is by its sound...except an owl, which she says! And we just bought a fish for her named Sky. She wakes up in the morning and points toward the kitchen where Sky lives so she can see her "Sh". She also was obsessed with pointing at the camera while I was taking this so it makes for a funny little video. Happy watching!

DADDIES!!

Let me just start this post with letting you know that my daughter has issues. We've known from day one that she was going to give us a run for our money. She is going to be a special teenager, I'll tell you that. She has NEVER wanted to sleep in her own bed, and must think that she is an adult or something because her perfect sleep is probably from 11:00 pm to about 10:00 am. I don't mind the late waking, but me and my husband do like a little wind down time together...ALONE. So, to the situation. I stayed up way too late last night messing with my blog...hence the beautiful new background :) I finally pulled myself away, climbed into bed and...Makena wakes up screaming. It wasn't her normal just let her cry it out cry either. We figure her mouth is hurting from her...I don't know 15th and 16th teeth coming in! So I pull her and myself out of bed so my husband can sleep and try to calm her down. Here's another little secret about our girl--she's SENSITIVE. If she's hurting you know it, and she turns her little fits into uncontrollable episodes. It's just lovely. This is why no one needs to ask if we're ready for another baby. We still have one, don't you know??? So I was just holding her, letting her cry when in walks the knight in shining armor. This was all well after midnight and my sweet husband is up before 6:00 to go to work. He came asked what he could do and then took her from me and in minutes she was calm and back to sleep. I stayed with him for a while until he told me to go to sleep. In our house it's rare that mommy is in bed alone, so I went and laid there thinking about the great man I married and all the thing daddies do that aren't recognized--at least at our house!

*He's a GREAT bath giver. I used to do it, but that was when I was doing everything and this is the perfect dad-child bonding time.

*For some reason she sits with him and will fall asleep...just like that. Not with mommy!

*He does great cartwheels-I have video to prove it-which means he still knows how to find that kid inside. That's very important in having kids!

*He leaves for work at 6:30 every morning. I don't even open my eyes before then and when I do it's just to say goodbye and roll over for 3 more hours of sleep...the 10:00 wake up don't you know!

*He loves miniature golf, playing catch, frisbee, surfing, bocce balls, watching barney (okay...that's a lie). He has played ice hockey, soccer, baseball, football, golf...which means ANY sport that our kids could learn to play he can teach them.

*He is patient, and helpful, and never complains when I ask him to do ONE MORE THING!

* Just by looking at him you can see that he loves his daughter, and would do anything for her.

The list goes on and on, but what more could I ask for. Dad's out there take note. It's like that saying: Anyone could have a child, but it takes someone really special to be a father. I

I am extremely grateful for the man that is the daddy to my little girl! I love you honey and know of all that you do! Thanks for being the best daddy around!!

Our New Favorite Family Outing

Our new favorite thing to do together is take walks together in the evening. I don't know if I have mentioned this in our other blogs...but I'm pretty much obsessed with it. I grew up on a dirt road, and our last apartment we were on the third floor and the only things down the street were the hospital one way and Ralph's the other. So when we moved into our new place and saw that like 10 blocks were all linked with a trail and parks and a lake that are all off of the main road I was excited to say the least. So last week I think we went 3 nights. We have played basketball, flown a kite, and just ran around the field. Makena LOVES the doggies that we see and she is excited every time we tell her to get her shoes for a walk! Hooray for planned communities...who knew what a dream that would be for us. Fresh air and family time. Who could ask for more??

OH THE WEEKEND!!

Hallelujah, it's the weekend! It's funny! It seems like on Friday that the week has flown by, but when you're in it man does it take FOREVER to get there. For the last like 5 weekends we have been super busy with moving and all and then last weekend we were out of town at my parent's house so this is our relax weekend. We have NO plans, Tyler's already asleep on the couch -it's like 7:30p.m., and that's a sign it's a needed rest!! I stay at home all day, but when Friday comes I'm just as excited as I used to be during the work weeks that I had the weekend off. So here's to the unplanned weekend! I hope everyone has a fabulous time whatever you do, and enjoy spending time together!! Because you know it's another 5(...4 days this coming week :) ) until the weekend comes again!

The Hairstylist

So Makena's hair has just been getting so long! I try to pull it out of her eyes, but no! It is always coming back to cover her eyes and my dear husband comments on it multiple times a day so...I decided to take matters into my own hands and give her bangs! AND...it doesn't look half bad. Everytime I look at it I think I need to trim some more, but that must just be my inner hairstylist coming out because I didn't actually botch it! Now my little girl really looks like a big girl and it makes me amazed at how fast the time flies. On Tuesday she'll be 16 months old! Where have those 16 months gone? It makes me slow down a little and enjoy all the craziness because I know with her these moments won't happen again!

OH, GOLF!!

For those of you who know my husband you know that golf ranks right up there in his life as a top priority. This includes and is not limited to watching-any and all rounds on t.v. (yes, there are more in a week than just 3 hours on Sunday!!), playing-and we're not talking a round or two here and there this is a monthly if not more thing. That doesn't include driving range visits, his eBay fixes on buying equipment...isn't there always something better than you have?? Every year he attends the Buick Invitational which is a big tournament that Tiger Woods (I'm sure you've heard of him) wins every year, and this year at Torrey Pines Golf Course in La Jolla, CA they held the U.S. Open, a major tournament (for the non-golfers, I'm sure there are many, this is one of the top 4 competitions all year. Tyler obviously went to it, and had a blast. Talked about it for days...Lucky me, for his graduation my parents bought him and my dad a round of golf on that same beautiful course for the 5th of July. It's really expensive to play, really hard to play, and the highlight of Tyler's golfing life!! I am excited for him too, but the difficulty of this course leads to more practice time and long conversations about...GOLF! Help me out here...But for all the whining that I do about the OBSESSION that he has I'm glad I know how dedicated he is to things that he loves and how hard he will work to make sure things are perfect! Maybe golf will just turn out to be the game he loves the most. Maybe someday it will make us some money-hey, a girl's gotta dream. But I love my husband and loving him means living with all that he loves too. Lucky for him Torrey Pines is calling his name, and what that means for me is a day with my mom and a chance to hear lots of stories. Tyler- I hope you break 100! I love you!

First Summertime Trip

Makena and Logan playing in the pool at my parents house.

Makena really loved palying with my necklace. So much so that soon after this she broke it. I guess that's what I get for sharing everything with my daughter. But she is so cute!! Luckily my mom came to my rescue and fixed it for me.

So this past weekend we went up to my parent's house. I went to a baby shower and Tyler obviously went golfing and then we just hung out. Makena got to play in the pool with her cousin for the first time and she loved it. Up until she stuck her face straight into the water and scared herself and me half to death. It was fun while it lasted. It's so fun to see her growing into an independent kid though, sad sometimes but exciting. Since it was SO hot this past week we bought a pool too, but it isn't set up yet. We're getting so excited for summer and swimming here at home, and going to the beach, and taking walks a few nights a week around our new little community. It is already making for fun memories and quality family time! Hooray for summer!