6 months old, already!

I can't believe it has already been 6 months since Makenna Grace was born! I mean that is half a year, people! She is such a joy, and challenge, all rolled into one! Even though it was a rough start, getting used to having 2 kids, I just can't imagine it any other way, and I am so incredibly blessed to have 2 of the most beautiful baby girls a mommy could want! (The pics are a bit blurry, because she just won't sit still these days!)





What Makenna is up to at 6 months:

-She is about to pop out a tooth, any day now! (Or at least it seems that way..)
-She is almost sitting up!
-Any day now I feel like she is just going to start crawling!
-She is eating cereal pretty good now, with fruit. She especially LOVES pears! (Just like her big sister!)
-We have about gotten her to only wake up once at night. Last night she only woke up at 12:30, and then slept the rest! It has been that way for about a week now (with the exception of the two nights with the UTI over Thanksgiving!)
-She takes 2 naps. Sometimes she'll even take one without being in the swing!
-She discovered her hands this weekend. She just sits and stares at them, watching them move.
-She LOVES her jumparoo. Actually she just loves to jump! On our laps, in the jumparoo, really anywhere!
-She LOVES soft blankets. She reaches for them and buries her face in them when she is taking a nap or sleeping at night.
-She is just the happiest baby! So fun!

We are taking her today for her 6 month check-up to get all her stats! We also are taking her to the urologist next Thursday to find out what we need to do about her "urinary reflux". :( Hopefully all will go well! I'll update on her soon!

Still Thankful

We had a very eventful Thanksgiving, but I am most definitely still thankful! On Thursday we headed to my grandparents house in Zavalla, TX. We arrived there around 11:00. When I got Makenna out of the car, I noticed that she was a bit warm, but hoped that it was just from the ride there being a little toasty. After a couple hours, she was still warm, and beginning to get a bit fussy. I began to worry that she might have another UTI, because she was acting very similar to what she had been acting before.

(Sidenote: I have forgotten to blog about this, but since Makenna had that UTI about a month ago, her pediatrician recommended that we have some tests done to make sure everything is ok. It turns out that she has "urinary reflux" which just means that instead of all of her urine coming out when her bladder is full, some of it tracks back up into...well..her kidneys maybe? I don't know where it goes. It just doesn't come down! haha. Anyway, this happens sometimes in tiny babies, so supposedly it can be fixed by taking some antibiotics for a few months. We are seeing a urologist on December 9th to find out more details.)

We called her pediatrician, but since it was Thanksgiving the only person on call was a resident, who was not allowed to call in prescriptions to out of town places. We then had to make the decision of whether or not to just head home, or try to find an Urgent Care clinic in Houston (which is where we were headed for the remainder of the weekend). We decided to just take her to Urgent Care, and when we got there, there were kids screaming in the background, from what we found out were turkey knife related injuries! It was pretty crazy. I digress. Anyway, the doctor listened to her history and since she had a fever of 102.4 he went ahead and gave her a prescription. I am thankful for this, and also thankful that the UTI did not get to the point the other one did. She still had some issues sleeping for the next 2 nights, but what else is new! :)(The only bummer was that it cost 100 buckaroos to take her to the clinic!)

The other unforunate thing that happened was on our way home yesterday night. We were driving between Montgomery and Navasota and all of a sudden this HUGE 18-wheeler tire was in the middle of the road, and there was nowhere to go but over it! It made a very loud sound, which scared the snot out of Kailey and I who were riding in the back seat. None of our alerts on the dash went off, so we were hoping it didn't do any damage. We were wrong. We stopped in College Station and found that our bumper on our beloved Swagger Wagon was cracked in like 4 places. It is pretty bad. But, once again, I am SUPER thankful that the only thing that is wrong is the bumper, and that the tire didn't fly up into the windshield after the car in front of us hit it. Things could have been so much worse!

So, even though Thanksgiving wasn't as fun or smooth sailing as we had hoped, we are definitely so blessed and so thankful for all God has given us and the protection he gives us each and every day!

I will do Makenna's 6 month post this week. I can't believe she is already 6 months old!

Thanksgiving

I was about to sit and write a post whining about everything I am irritated about (with school) at the moment. But then, I felt convicted that instead I should write a Thanksgiving post. (Because, people, we still have Thanksgiving to get through! It seems like this year 9 out of 10 people already have their Christmas trees up, which really bothers me!!!). But alas, to the positiveness!

I am thankful for: (not in order of importance!)

T- Teachers who are so fun to work with

H- Health of me, my family, and my friends.

A- A loving Savior, who gives me grace, even though I don't deserve it.

N- New car AKA the Swaggerwagon

K- Kings- AKA my family

S- Sisters!

G- Girls! My 2 beautiful girls!

I- Ice. Sonic Ice in my diet coke to be more precise.

V- Voyage of the Dawn Treader. And all the Narnia books. Brilliant symbolism. Makes me see my faith in a whole new light!

I- I guess I'll put husband here. I kept waiting on a letter that coincided with husband, but it never happened! I have the best husband in the whole world, who is patient and loving, even though I have oh so many faults! Not to mention, that he keeps our house clean, and I don't know what I would do without him!

N- Next month! I LOVE December! Kailey turns 3, We have our 7 year anniversary, and I have two glorious weeks off for Christmas break!

G- Giraffes. I mean they are just really cute animals!

Almost a Very Sad Post

This was almost a very sad post. Our dog, Addie, went missing yesterday evening. We, unfortunately, didn't notice she was missing until around 8:00pm. Kailey, as we were putting her to bed said "Where's Addie?". This is when I realized, that I hadn't seen Addie at all since I had gotten home from school, around 5:00! Ever since we have had the kids, Addie has definitely taken a backseat to them, obviously. It was the most sickening feeling, realizing that I hadn't even realized she wasn't around. I think in the back of my mind, I thought she was in the backyard, because she loves to stay out until dark on days like we have been having. (We think what must have happened, is that she ran out of the garage when Casey was getting the girls out of the car)..Whenever Kailey asked where she was, we began looking in every room for her, and all over the backyard. We couldn't find her anywhere. Casey then left and drove around the neighborhood to look for her, with no luck. So we then hung up signs around the neighborhood in the hopes somebody found her, and would return her to us, safely. This morning, Casey got a call saying somebody had seen a small black dog running around, but the dog had collars on, and ours, unfortunately did not. (1. Addie NEVER runs from us, she always stays right beside us. 2. Her tags jangling always disturbed the babies while they were sleeping, so she hasn't worn her collar in about 3 years.)Most of today I felt so very sad, everytime I thought about all Addie has been to us, these past 5 years. So, I set in my mind to write an "Addie Tribute" post. Luckily, this story has a very happy ending, but before I tell you what happened, here are some pictures and things about our special Addie.

When Casey and I first got married, I wanted a puppy SO badly. We did not have very good jobs when we first got married, and didn't have very much money, so we didn't buy a puppy. In October of 2005, Casey and I went over to his sister's house, and she asked Casey to go and get a box from the garage. At the time, I was selling Homemade Gourmet, and it was a HG box, so I assumed it was having to do with that. They told me to open the box, and here is what happened:


Out popped a 2.2 pound solid black, gorgeous Miniature Schnauzer! I immediately burst into tears, because I had wanted her for so long! Casey's sister, Casey's parents, and Casey had all pitched in to buy Addie for me for an early birthday present. She is still the best birthday gift I have ever recieved. For the longest time, Addie was our baby. She has always been the sweetest, most loving dog that I have ever had. She is definitely the BEST dog I have ever had, and I have had a BUNCH! The only time Addie makes noise, or is hyper, is when somebody comes for a visit. Other than that, she is always so calm and loving.








Ever since having Kailey, Addie has been SO gentle with her, and her and Addie are buddies. Kailey's first word was "Addie". She went around her school classroom talking about Addie, and her teacher had no idea what she was talking about! Here is a link to a post I made about the first time Kailey and Addie played together.




When we brought Kailey home from the hospital, and when we brought Makenna home from the hospital, Addie did this same thing:


Makenna is just now starting to notice Addie. It is pretty cute how she reaches out for her and gets excited when she sees her.

Addie is my naptime buddy. She always comes to find me when I am taking a nap and takes a nap with me, under the covers. She knows that is the only time she is allowed in the bed!

So, as you can see, Addie is a pretty important part of our lives. Thankfully, this evening, Casey got a call from a neighbor who had seen one of her neighbors with a little black dog, yesterday evening. She gave him the lady's name and number. Casey followed up with it, and it turns out the lady lives on the street behind us. We met her in the park, and the dog was in fact, our Addie! I was so incredibly thankful and so happy! I love this dog so much, it would have made me feel horrible to know that somebody kept her for their own, or was mistreating her in some way. So, even though we found her, I wanted to go ahead and post about her, so you would know just how great she is!

5 months old!

Makenna turned 5 months old on Monday! It is crazy how fast time is flying by! Here is what Miss Makenna is up to at 5 months!

- She is getting over her horrible UTI adventure, finally! I am so happy!
- She eats 4 ounces every 3 hours or so, still!
- She still wakes up at least once per night, sometimes twice!
- She can roll from back to tummy, and then gets mad whenever she does, because she doesn't know how to roll back and hates being on her tummy!
- She still LOVES whenever she hears Kailey talking to her! She just laughs and laughs!
- She is the happiest baby!
- We have started putting her in her exersaucer, some, even though she is way too little, just because she hates being on her back now and she wants to play with toys!


- She doesn't like cereal, yet!
- She is 13.5 pounds!
- She is wearing size 2 diapers!

Even though she keeps us up at night, she is such a joy, and we are so blessed to have her!

Rough Weekend

This has been a rough 4 days. Makenna started running fever during the night Wednesday night. Luckily, Casey is off on Thursdays, so he was able to stay home with her. The fever continued throughout the day, and even got up to 104.2 during the night on Thursday night! The only way she would sleep Thursday night, is if I held her, so I did! I stayed home with her on Friday, and even took a trip to the doctor. He looked at her ears, listened to her chest, etc. He said that since her fever was so high that he wanted to do a Urinalysis. When Kailey was about 5 months old, she had a UTI, so I had already thought this might be a possibility. He also decided to do a flu test to make sure that wasn't what was wrong. I waited about 30 minutes, and then he came back and said that the urine was clean and that he would call me back to let me know about the flu test. Makenna and I came home and the poor little thing was listless and barely moving. She then proceeded to throw up any time I gave her Tylenol or fed her. It was horrendous. Finally, I guess she decided to just quit eating all-together to avoid throwing up. When the doctor called me around 6:30 on Friday, he said the flu test came back negative, but that her urine showed some white blood cells, so to start her on some meds until the culture came back on Sunday. Well, the girl would NOT take the meds. She just kept spitting them out at me. Plus, she still would only eat about 2oz every 6-8 hours, which wasn't helping the situation any. Friday night was honestly, the most horrible night ever. She literally sat up screaming until 4:00 in the morning. Casey and I just traded off holding her as she screamed. She wouldn't eat anything, she just screamed. All day Saturday she was acting more normal, but still would not eat much. Saturday night she slept more normally. She woke up at 11 and 2 screaming, but Casey was able to get her back to sleep. By this time, I began feeling sick as well, so I was no help to him. At 5:30 when she woke up, I was able to get her to eat 2 oz. Sunday, this morning, she was doing ok. I felt incredibly nauseous. Luckily, my mom and sister were in town, so I was able to sleep, while they took care of the girls. This afternoon, I called to get her culture results, and found out she indeed does have a UTI. I am incredibly overwhelmed and upset, because I can't get her to take the meds or eat. Anytime I give them to her, she throws them up. I just really don't know what to do. I am so incredibly worried about her. I know God is taking care of us, because of everybody that is praying. Kailey heard me crying earlier and said "mommy. God has the whole world in his hands! He has the tiny little babies in his hands!". This was amazing to me, and definitely a word from the Lord. I know that even though this is a really hard situation, He is taking care of us. I just wanted to blog about this, to get it off my chest! I'll let you know how it all turns out, I am looking forward to the other side of this situation!!

Pumpkin Pics 2010

We went this past weekend to the Dallas Arboretum to take our traditional "pumpkin pics". We had some technical difficulties, to say the least, so we didn't get as many pics as I would have liked. My camera died at one point, so these are the good ones I got on my phone. We will probably have to have a retake, at least of the girls, to get some for our Fall Cards.








Every year, we take pictures of the "cousins". Here are Kailey and Caden last year:



This year we have two new cousins, Caleb and Makenna. They are getting so big!