Crazy Hair

To be perfectly honest, I have no idea why (maybe just because I wanted to laugh), I decided to wet Makaela's little brush and comb and comb her hair in all directions and let it dry that way. I took pictures of course, and I definitely feel the need to share them because they are so funny.

On a more sad note, the little red spot under her nose and on the side of her nose are because she pulled one of the baby gates over onto her self (ouchie!!!). It was so sad, but after just a minute of cuddling, she was back to her busyness of scooting around checking everything out. Here's her crazy hair!!!

Yes, just incase you are wondering, her eyes are turning green.

Neither Nathan nor I have green eyes--but its looking like she will.

Playin' the Piano

Alright, Makaela has discovered the Piano--and that she can reach it if she stands on her very tippy toes. It is so far beyond cute I don't even know how to describe it. So I'm not going to try, but instead I will just put up the video. Today, she started singing while she was playing--still trying to catch that on video. She wants to be like her daddy--can't blame her. He's a great guy to look up to. She is so blessed that He is her dad--she has no idea :) Look at her cuteness!!

Christmas 2010 Letter

Seasons Greeting Dear Family and Friends,

The Fogde's decided that as we approach our 3rd Christmas as a family, we should start sending a Christmas letter. It only took us (and by us, we mean Leanna) 3 years to make it happen. A lot of changes have taken place in our family that we wanted to be able to share with those of you who may not know.

Our most significant change came in February 2010. Our precious blessing Makaela Rose was born on the 11th of February at 11:48 pm. She weighed in at 7 pounds 15.8 ounces--so the doctors just bumped her up to 8 pounds even. I thanked them for giving the appearance of having to work harder for an 8 pound baby versus a 7 pound baby. She has been a tremendous joy and blessing in our lives, and she has spoiled us rotten! Usually it's the other way around. She is preparing to celebrate her first Christmas and we are so excited to see how she will react to gifts etc. As with most babies, she will probably be more interested in the wrapping paper than the gift inside :) Our time with her is flying by, and it's hard to believe that in just 2 short months, we will be celebrating her first birthday!!

The next significant change came in Nathan being approached about a position as a Music Pastor at Christ the Rock Community Church in Port Orchard, Washington. We had served at Wayside Chapel Community Church in Rosamond, California for a little over 2 years. The Lord in His perfect sovereignty called us to minister in a different church, and as we prayed about the opportunity, the Lord continued to reveal His will to us. Just 2 very short months later, we found ourselves all packed up heading north. Every intricate detail was perfectly orchestrated by our Lord--who else could perfectly provide renters within 2 weeks, provide a home for us to rent (sight unseen), and get our house all packed up--all within 4 weeks, I might add!! Praise be to our Savior for His overflow of grace, love and provision!! It has been so wonderful to be part of this church and to see the bride of Christ functioning the way God designed.

Nathan is very thankful to serve in a church and to be employed in a role where he is doing what he loves to do. It has been his heart's desire to serve in a music pastor capacity, and the Lord has certainly blessed him in that role and job. He is grateful for the relationships he has developed with the other pastors as well as other guys in the congregation. He is also grateful for the opportunity he has to shepherd people at the church, as well as being discipled himself. What a blessing it is for him to go to work knowing that he is serving his Savior and doing what he loves!!

I (Leanna) am blessed to be a stay at home mom. The Lord has been faithful to provide for our needs in such a way that allows me to stay home. What a wonderful blessing!! We certainly know that is not the situation for many people today, so we are especially grateful for the Lord's provision in that way! I serve in music ministry with Nathan, and the Lord has decided to stretch me in the role of accompanying the choir. So far, it has been a good learning experience (it always is when the Lord wants to grow you) and I'm even enjoying that role :) I recently became an Independent Consultant for a company called Homemade Gourmet. I'm enjoying using that as an opportunity to get together periodically with ladies from church--and of course we are enjoying eating their food!!

This Christmas, we are eagerly looking forward to the time we will be able to spend with our families. We are going to be visiting them for just shy of 2 weeks!! What a wonderful and relaxing time it will be after the busyness of Christmas in a church music ministry. We love it, but we also love the break after it all is done. We have been so reminded of the joy we have in Christ, and are so thankful for God's sovereignty in sending His Son to earth to live as a man--to live a sinless life as an example to us, and to ultimately bear the wrath of His father for our sins. What a blessing it is to know Christ. We look forward to spending this season reflecting on and celebrating all that He has done and given us.

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love, he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth." Ephesians 1:3-10

All our Love,
Nathan, Leanna and Makaela

Her onesie says "this is my little black dress" :):)

Imulse Buy

I just had to post about this because it was a hilarous situation and a great example of impulse buying :) The Samples a Costco are great--and we have never actually sampled anything that we immediatly put into the cart until Nathan got his hands on this bad boy...

Yes, thas right--Peanut Butter Snickers. He took one little bite of that suckers and mumbled something like "oh my gosh, we have to get these" followed by walking right back to the sample stand and picking up a bag. They are a little piece of heaven in your mouth--its true.

Dada

Makaela says "dada" "mama" "baba" "guh" "naynay" (why Nathan already gets Naynay and Dada, I have no idea. It's not like I'm the one who gave birth to her) :) Totally just kidding. Its so cute :) She did once say "dog" as well as "God". She still doesn't know that I'm mama and Nathan is dada, but she says dadadadadada all the time. It used to be guhguhguhguhguhguhguh, but has changed. She also added hand motions and she just flops her hands/wrists when she is sitting and saying dadadada.

The tricky thing about catching video of her doing things now is that the instant she hears the camera, she knows what it is and she races over to us and puts on a big ol' cheesey smile. So most videos, we now have to encourage her to continue what she was doing before because we can't actually catch her in the act anymore. :)

Jungle Jumper

This jumper resides at church, but oh how I wish it was at my house! She loves to play in this thing--but pretty soon I'm sure she will be walking and her love for it will be over as she finds new things to play with. But for now, its a great way to keep her occupied for quite a while. It was super helpful to use during Thanksgiving Dinner--then we all got to have 2 hands free to eat. Wohoo!!

The Dancing Queen

During Nana Karen's visit up here, Makaela decided she would bust out her dance moves. Here she is showin' off her stuff :) Her favorite way to dance is to just rock back and forth--I think she feels safest doing that, but she got a little funky here!!

Disclaimer: We don't necessarily endorse this music, but once we saw her starting to rock and dance, we had to find some music with a little more groove to it :)



This one, both Nana and Nathan are trying to help her groove--so I tried to catch them helping. Nathan was a little less than thrilled :)

Makaela Fix

I have some videos of Makaela uploading right now, but in the meantime here are some pics of her. Crazy to think that on Saturday she will be 10 months, and in just 2 months, we will be celebrating her 1 year birthday. How time flies!!

This is actually the most recent picture of her...taken just today :)

We enjoyed a wonderful visit from Nathans mom. She came up the week of Thanksgiving and was able to be stuck in the house with us during the crazy snow storm! Hopefully next time she comes we will be able to get out and do some fun things, although I'm sure she didn't mine having such a concentrated period of time with Nathan and Makaela :)

Makaela LOVES this Jungle Jumper at the church.

She has such a good time in it and she never stops moving while she is in it!!

Yes, Makaela does have a faux hawk. She still doesn't have enough hair to do much of anything with it, so periodically after I give her a bath, I do something crazy with it. :)

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas

Christmas decorating came early at our house this year--and by early, I mean before Thanksgiving. Thats right--with the snow so peacefully falling on Monday, we couldn't resist the urge to pull out our Christmas decorations. Besides, since we're going to be gone for almost 2 weeks over the holidays, we figured the sooner we put them up, the more time we have to enjoy them. So here is the Fogde Household all ready for Christmas :)

This year, we also decided to invest in an artifical tree. We thought it would be a little silly (as much as we love Christmas trees) to get a real one that would just die while we were gone. So, while we don't have the smell of Christmas trees in our house, it still feels very much like Christas :)

Winter Wonderland

So, way back in November (which feels like it was way back) we were forecasted "few snow showers". If by few, the weatherman meant a few inches, than yes, few snow showers :) Enough to keep us house bond for a few days as the snow and ice piled up making the roads a little too tretcherous for us to brave. Nathans mom was with us, and due to the weather he ended up staying home a lot more than he had planned. Also, due to the weather we didn't get to go out and do much fun sight-seeing, but hopefully next time she comes there wont be a snow storm.

The snow started falling Sunday right after we got home from church and continued to fall through Monday night. Monday night also found us with no power (which we understand is a very common thing up here). Our power was out for several hours, but came back on sometime in the middle of the night, thankfully. A good portion of the homes where we live were without power through Wednesday and even Thurdsay!! Thankfully ours came back on so quickly. It was a fun adventure to say the least :)

Here are some pics :)

3 Year Old Conducting the 4th Movement of Beethoven's 5th Symphony

I know this has gone around a little bit, but just had to put it up here. Too cute and too funny!

Our Little Cheerleader

Makaela usually loves to be thrown in the air. She picks and chooses her days when she like it and doesn't like it. Recently she started to throw her arms out to the side every time she was in the air, and not long after that she added her legs to that. Looked like she was doing toe-touches in the air. Couldn't resist taking a video :)

9 Months!!

Yesterday, we got to go see Makaela's doctor for her 9 month well baby check up!! I also scheduled her 1 year appointment--1 year--C.R.A.Z.Y.!!! I can't believe that we are that close already! Anyway, so Makaela is growing--out, but not up much :) She was 17 pounds, 4.5 ounces taking her up to the 20th percentile for her weight! And she was 26 1/2 inches long, taking her down to the 10th percentile. The doctor said she is just small and everything is very proportionate so he is not concerned. It was fun to look through the list of activities they will do in the 9-12 month range and see that she is doing all but 2 of them (well 1 1/2 kindof). One said that she may try to take a first step or two which she has not tried to do. The other said that she may start to say "mama" and "dada". She is kindof doing that, although not actually associating it with us. But everything else she is doing--most recently cruising around furniture!

Going back to the whole "mama" and "dada" thing--most of what comes out of her mouth is "guh". Occasionally she does utter sounds that sound like "mama" and she will occasionally say "da" as part of "dada". Sometimes even after Nathan sas "say dada" she will say "da". But there is one thing she knows for sure--and thats the dog. We've talked before about how much Makaela loves Bella, but now she tries her hardest to say "dog". It still comes out "guh" buts its a VERY definitive "guh". When she see's Bella she says "guh". When we say "Makaela, say dog" she says "guh" with much excitement and gusto! She knows dog but she just has not put together the right consonants yet :)

She loves--all fruit except Bananas. She liked them at first, but not currently a huge fan. She loves all veggies except for Avocado--which she did enjoy at one point. I think she is just getting picky :) She obviously loves Bella :) She loves to follow us anywhere we go. She loves strangers (uh-oh). She loves everyone at church. She loves to play peek a boo. And she loves lots of other things too--mind is just drawing a blank at this point.

Anyway, just wanted to update you on her stats :) Video of our little cheerleader coming soon :)

Trip to Cali

Last week Makaela and I enjoyed a short, busy and fun filled trip down to California. My parents were very gracious and they got me a ticket to come down and see them...and so they could also see Makaela :) We had such a wonderful time with them! It was far too short--but I'm sure it will always feel like its too short. Makaela actually got to see most of her aunts and uncles which was so much fun! She even introduced some of them to Chick-fil-A. She's such a good niece :) She also got to play with her 2 cousins on the Board side. It was so much fun to see her interact with them now that she's more interactive. Emma is 2 1/2 and Addy is 6 months and she had fun with them--for the most part. Toward the end when she was real tired and probably ready for some sense of stability to life again, she did not enjoy her cousins playing with her. She definitely had only child syndrome--but we aren't planning on changing that for a little while yet. For now, she will just have to learn to play nice with the kids around church and hopefully Christmas will be better! We are so excited to be back down there in just a month and a half or so! Time will fly, we are sure and we are eagerly anticipating time with both of our families!! Here are some pics and videos of our trip :)

Makaela Loved the Star Music Toy at Grandma and Grandpa's

Spending time with Great Grandma Helen

Grandma and Grandpa with their 3 grandgirls. Waiting for some boys to come along.

Ahem, Nathan Board needs to get on that :)

Hangin with nana Karen at Chick Fil A

With Auntie Alicia. She's providing grandbaby # 8 and girl # 5. Girls are winning :)

Makaela lovin' on herself in the mirror. Her face is a combination of squealing excitement with screaming frustration out of tiredness and lack of stability/schedule. Fun times :)

Uncle nate--He's the one who we're waiting on for some nieces and nephews :)

Darren's two girls Addy (6 months) and Emma 2 1/2.

So, here Darren and I decided to try and get a picture with all 3 girls. We have 1, Emma, who will sit still for a picture and smile at the camera. We have 2, Addy who is learning so much that she is enthralled with everything around her. We have 3, Makaela, who is faster than the speed of light and to get her to sit still without crawling to me for a picture is a miracle. Darren got a different angle of this shot, but I think for now we both failed at getting on with all 3 girls looking at us smiling that wasn't blurry :) So for now, this is as good as it gets.

One last thing, a video of Makaela with the star toy at grandma and grandpas. :) Thanks mom and dad for the trip and can't wait to see you at Christmas!!

Bella Vs. Nathan

So this video--well--back when we lived in Cali, Nathan used to play with Bella under the blanket all the time (which also meant I was washing the blanket all the time). We were a little less strict about Bella being on our couches at that time, however, the new (to us) couch she has not been allowed on. But in this particular instance, I couldn't stop it from happening. I also realize its very contradictory to tell Bella to "get down" and then tell her to "get him". I just gave up and let it happen. I'm sure she enjoyed the interaction :) Her whole goal is to get to Nathan's head which he is keeping mostly well covered. She did catch a break and got her little nose in there at which point Nathan started saying "OH GROSS! OH GROSS!"

Bella Vs. the Curtain

Yes, thats right, the curtain. As usual, I did not get the camera fast enough to catch the ferocious barking, but I did catch some of the growling. The vents are in our floor, and consequently when the heater comes on, the air blew our curtains out. Bella at first was laying on her bed--sleeping. But as usual, her 6th sense (the one that lets her know she's afraid of EVERYTHING) kicked in and she got up and started growling and barking at the curtain!
The noise at the beginning of the video is the episode of Dancing with the Stars that we were currenty talking about. I think I should just develop a once for all title for posts about Bella. Any ideas?

Our Lip Smacker

One day, Makaela just up and stated smacking her lips. She did it A LOT during the little breaks from drinking her bottle, but there were a few days where she was smacking almost non stop for most of the day! It was her most recent new trick :)

Kisses for Mom

Makaela LOVES to give kisses (oh great!!). So far, she only kisses people whe they are holding them. Sometimes they have to ask for them--but sometimes she just goes for it. It's so cute. But, why in the world do they always start off their kisses with big ol' wide open mouths?? I know she sees our lips puckered when we kis her so why the big ol' mouth, I don't know. And sometimes she has to think long and hard before she decides to go in for the kill :) Here are a few videos :)

Our Love Bug

I discovered that nearly every little girl spends her first halloween as a ladybug :) They are just so darn cute that way though that the whole world has to do that! :) So much for origiality! Cuteness is a different factor :) Here are a few pics from Halloween. We didn't go out--we decided that we'd feel a little silly trick-or-treating with an 8 month old who was clearly not going to be eating the candy. Instead we went to the local Fred Meyer to kill time and hopefully avoid having lots of activity at our house. Turns out our neighborhood is not as desirable a place to trick-or-treat. The candy would probably be lame in comparison to some other neighborhoods in the area--true story. :)

Our Little Love Bug

Makaela loves to smile for the camera, however, she was a bit confused to see the blinking light on the camera with no one standing behind it. Hence--confused look and no smile :)

Hello Fall, welcome to our home :)

Well, fall has finally found its way into our home :) It has take a little while, but the brisk weather and the combination of sunshine an rain inspired me to get those last few fall decorations taken care of :) I am a little disappointed, however, because I feel like I've scoured the earth to find gords and with no success! There is I might go to 1 or 2 other grocery stores, but I might just be too late. I have seen LOTS of squash, but none of the gords that have the shape of little yellow squash. But fear not, I will continue my search and hopefully come out victorious! In the meantime, I got some pumpkins and cut out the middle so I could insert little "pumpkin spice" candles. I saw this idea from my dear friend, Lisa, a few years ago and just loved it! Now the smell of spice pumpkin and cinnamon are fillng our house--and shortly the smell of pumpkin chocolate chips shall be joining the sweet aroma in our home. I just love fall :)

Bella VS. The Swiffer

Yes--another Bella Vs. Video :) We can probaby post these for the entirety of her lifetime. Here are 2 videos--similar but enough differences that both are hilarious. :) What else would you expect from her?

By the way, we don't know why she is afraid of the swiffer (or anything else for that matter) but it always adds a lot of laughter to our lives.

On a side note--please ignore the massive baskets of laundry (which is all folded) and the ironing board (which is waiting for quality time with me) that are out. I had to take a break to play with the dog :)

Homemade Gourmet Launch

Some of you know this, but some of you probably dont. I have recently become an Independent Consultant for a company called Homemade Gourmet. In a nutshell, its dinner made easy (and yummy!!) The product is essentially a variety of mixes (dips, spices, breads, breakfast, casseroles, salads, etc.) that you use to make your meal or sides. The way it works for most of them is you simply add a few basic pantry or refrigerator staples to the mix and dinner is ready! I would probably be biased if I bragged about how yummy they all are so I will just tell you how Nathan responded. He pretty much decided that he could eat homemade gourmet food for the rest of his life. We have not had one thing that he (or myself, or anyone else really) have not liked.


I decided to start selling this product up here because no one has heard of it and I thought it might be a good opportunity to try and pack a little extra money into our savings. A larger car and hopefully down the road a house will be in our future so the more we can save the better. :)


I love to cook, but sometimes its nice to just have something easy to throw togther for dinner and thats what Homemade Gourmet is and does.


I just wanted to update you on whats going on with me :) Feel free to check out my website if you're curious and want to know more about who they are. You can also feel free to order through my website if you want to. I've tried now a large variety of their mixes and have really enjoyed all of them. Check it out :)

www.homemadegourmet.com/leannafogde

Makaela's Best Friend

Currently, Makaela's best friend is Bella. She loves her! She waves to her through the window whenever she sees her and she gets so excited and pants. By the way, panting is still her most common form of laughing and showing excitement--but its still so cute :) She gets so excited when Bella comes inside and she always wants to share Bella's bed with her.
Bella, on the other hand, is not quite as excited. We don't think that she dislikes Makaela, but we definitely don't think she gets quite as excited to see Makaela as Makaela gets to see her. But anyway, they are funny and cute together. Bella is particularly funny in this video--and Makaela, cute. Go figure :)

Peaches!!

This video is of Makaela eating peaches for the first time. All I have to say is I could not shovel them in fast enough!! Never before has she opened her mouth so big and wide for any food...needless to say I think she liked them :)

Pull-Ups

As promised, here are some videos of Makaela. I think I mentioned before I'm still trying to catch her in the act of pulling herself up now because she is so fast, but here are some of her first attempts at pulling herself up on the couch. Whenevr Nathan helps her at the end--he doesn't pull her up at all--he just provides steady hands for her to use. The rest of it is all her :) Enjoy!

Just a little behind

Hello dear friends. It has been a while since I've posted anything, and I'm sorry. Our computer has been less than cooperative for a while, and now the keyboard is following suit. So I apologize for any silly spelling mistakes or lack of spaces between words. I will try to correct them as I go, but I make no guarantees :)

I thought since Makaela is officially 8 months now, I should post about her 7 months ;) I suppose I will just mesh them together in this post. (by the way, there will be a whole slew of videos to follow as they get uploaded). I must admit, my pictures of Makaela have turned into videos of Makaela because she is so active it seems like there is so much to catch! Plus I know that family who is far away (which is all of them) would probably prefer to see video of what she is doing. I have a few still shots that I'll throw in but mostly just video.

Like I said...she is so active there is so much to catch! After scooting like an inchworm for months, she finally decided she wanted to crawl for real. This started happening Monday, September 20th (and I really only know that because we were at a hotel when it first happened). I of course did not have my camera nearby, but eventually i caught her in the act--which reminds me--she totally knows what the camera is and she (probably like most people) stops what she is doing when she sees the camera. Thus, I have to be a little more sneaky or have Nathan around to help encourage her to continue what she was doing.

Lets see--she crawled for about a week before she was bored with that and immediately started trying to pull herself up on things. The first several times resulted in little tumbles but now she has mastered the art of pulling herself up. She crawls right over to the couch--one hand goes up--followed by the other hand and then she is standing--just like that. I'd imagine that before too long she will be bored with that and will move on to trying to take her first steps.

We have started to get into the age of discipline (oh boy). So far, she has responded extremely well (I do, however, know that it will not be this easy all the time). For the time being, if she is touching or in the process of starting to touch something that is a "no touch" I say her name and snap my fingers--she looks at me, and then I say no also using the sign language for "no" and she stops. Easy peasy, right? Not for long, I'm sure. But for now, I am extremely thankful for how well she has responded to discipline, and I pray that in the future as I know it will become more challenging, the Lord will give me grace and strength.

She is wearing mostly 3-6 month things now and few 6 month things (although they are still big on her). I had to finally retire all of her 0-3 month and 3 month clothes. She seems to be growing so much but I guess that's what all those solids do :) Speaking of solids, I have started making my own baby food--well not my own, but making it at home for Makaela :) It has taken her a little while to adjust to the different texture, but she is doing really with it for the most part. She hasn't eaten anything she hasn't liked--except for the texture of the homemade food which she is more used to now. She loves eating green beans, peas, carrots, squash, avocado, sweet potatoes, and she just had her first taste of fruit last week--peaches. Man oh man did she love those! I've never seen her open her mouth so big!!

As always we love her dearly, and while she does test our patience sometimes, she continues to be such a joy in our lives! We are looking forward to a visit with grandma and grandpa at the beginning of November and a visit from Nana over Thanksgiving. Before we know it Christmas will be here and we will be with all of our family which we are greatly anticipating! Love to you all--and I promise to post videos once they are all loaded :)

Thankful for my Husband

I know the title of this post made it sound like a serious post is coming, but all it really is is a video that I came across via a friend's facebook page and this video made me thankful for my dear husband Nathan--and thankful for his heart for music ministry :) This is funny--and while it may not be the "worst" worship ever, its pretty ridiculous.

Washington Home

Ok, for all you family out there who have been wondering where we're living, here it is. Some pictures of our home. Lots of the walls are still blank, but we do have things on the walls in the family room because thats where we spend the most time.

I thought I should start with Bella--I know you've all been missing her so much :) She has adjusted to washington quite well, however she doesn't love the drizzle. She goes from window to window looking for where I am in the house so she can beg me to be let inside :)

One view of the master bedroom (if you walk in the door the bed is to the left)

Another angle of Master Bedroom

Standing by couch looking toward doorway into kitchen.

We decided to use that corner as a play area for Makaela so we have

one of those big foam alphabet puzzles spread out and all her toys there.

Looking into the family room. We just got that sectional from a family on craigslist. It was a pretty good deal...needs a little cleaning up but was a good deal for the condition it is in :)

This is the guest room where you can stay if you come visit us :)

Office/catch all room :)

Makaela's Room

Kitchen--they painted it red which matches our dishes very nicely :)

7 Months

As always, where has the time gone??

It is so hard to believe that Makaela has already passed the halfway mark to her first birthday! C.R.A.Z.Y. I happen to be picking things up in our office and I came across the card that was placed on her little crib at the hospital with all of her information. I had a brief (and fleeting, i might add) moment of (insert cloud/bubble above head here) I want another baby. It is our hope, and plan, however to wait a while longer before we venture down the road of multiple children.
I love to go through and look at the pictures of Makaela from then until now--to see how she has changed and grown--to see how her personality has developed and how it shines through--and as I look at the pictures I am nearly brought to tears at the wonderful joy and blessing the Lord has given to us in our precious little girl. I am also convicted of the huge responsibility ahead of striving to raise a little baby into a godly woman, of living out the gospel in my life so it can be clearly displayed to her and of striving to train her in righteousness. I am convicted of the high calling of motherhood and am convicted of areas of sin in my own life. She might be little right now, but she is an observant little one and she watches my every action. She sees (even though she doesn't know it) my selfishness, my failure to be patient, my failure to be joyful always--she sees the way her mommy and daddy interact--how they love each other--how they fail to love/serve each other. I cannot think that because she is so little that this has no affect on her because it absolutely does. The way she sees me living my life is something that will be a major factor in her development and I am convicted and challenged to be living out the gospel in my life so that she may see the wonderful grace of our savior--and prayerfully that she may come to know that savior herself in a personal and intimate way one day.
Lord, thank you for your grace and for your forgiveness. Thank you for your strength which allows me to persevere. Help me to love and serve you in such a manner that our precious little girl will see you and will desire to have a relationship with you.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. (Eph. 1:3-6)

This post started off talking about Makaela's seven months, and turned into the tuggings of my heart for a moment :) But, on a less serious note...
We got to meet Makaela's new doctor on Friday. He was very kind, and I am sure that as we develop a relationship with him we will grow to love him. He was a little soft-spoken at first (and to be honest it did make me miss our old pediatrician), but our new doctor is a believer in Christ and a Biblical Counselor. Once he found out we were associated with some other patients of his (friends from church) he opened up a lot more. We are looking forward to having Makaela grow up seeing him and having him encourage Makaela in biblical principles as well.
She gained a whopping 4 pounds 10 ounces since her last visit which puts her at 14 pounds 11 ounces. You Go Girl! (It's amazing what solids and formula will do :)). She popped back on the charts around the 11th percentile and was around the 19th-21st percentile for her length/head circumference. The doctor says her projected height at the rate she is going will be 5'2" so maybe she is just going to stay petite for the rest of her life...lucky. But she is healthy as can be and other than those stats there is nothing too new to report.
We are working on liking homemade baby food as well as water...those are the upcoming tasks :)

Squeeker

Yes, another video :) But I have a hard time believing that anyone who checks this blog out minds seeing videos of Makaela...especially since most of you are family and are not close by :)
So Makaela squeeks like this frequently, and her face is just so funny and cute when she does! She almost always blinks her eyes (sometimes harder than others) when she makes this noise...and to watch the muscles contort on her face you know she is working hard to get such a high-pitched little squeek out!!

Makaela's Laugh

This video is not quite as good as the first one I took, but I didn't realize until after I was done taking the first one that Makaela was diaperless...so we decided to try once more with the diaper on this time :) So her laughing isn't quite as spontaneous, but its still cute :)

Bella and the Spray Bottle

Oh Bella...She has adapted quite well to Washington--although we haven't had a ton of rain yet so we will see how she REALLY does when that season comes.
Typically Bella is not a big fan of the spray bottle I use when I iron. It's just a bottle filled with water, but she does not like it. However, on this night she seemed quite fond of it...
And no...our walls are not really that color green. They are green but they are a nice green...not a lime green like they look in the video. :)

The Office--Parts 1 and 2

So Makaela LOVES the office. Not the actual show...but she loves the little intro/theme song. If she hears that, she stops whatever she is doing and looks for the TV screen to see it. Whats really funny is that when I uploaded this first video on the computer, she was in our office with me. She heard the video playing and started looking around trying to find where The Office music was coming from...so I had to play the video again purposely and take another video of her looking for it. She's Hilarious!! Enjoy these videos...they are short!!

As Promised...

Here are some videos of Makaela as I promised :) Still working on getting some pics of our house (I have to catch it when its clean and I never remember to...or its never clean :) one of the two...) But for now here's what Makaela is up to:




We have a few rubber iPod covers which have turned out to make great little teething "toys" for her. She loves to play with them!!

6 months and then some!

Yes, Makaela is now 6 1/2 months...nearing 7 months! We see our new doctor here in a week and a half and we are so excited to meet him! We have heard such awesome things about him that we can hardly wait! We are also so curious to get Makaela's stats now! She's been on cereal for about 3 months now and baby foods (veggies only so far) for about 2 months. She is also completely bottle fed now so she has definitely filled out more but is still just the cutest button!

Lets see new things--where to even begin. She is not technically crawling, but she moves around like an inchworm and she's fast! So while there is no official crawling, she is a very mobile baby. Life as we know it will never be the same. Sometimes we will purposely move things she is trying to get so that she has to keep moving and its funny because sometimes she gets tired and just lays her head down for about 10 seconds, then is back up and moving again. It's so cute! She has also just recently started going from her position on all fours to sitting. I should mention that her position on all fours is sometimes hands and knees and it is sometimes (more often) hands and feet. She has nearly perfect push up form!! She gets a good workout and stretching time in for her calf's everyday. Anyway, when she is on her hands and feet, she will bend one knee which puts her hip on the ground. Then she twists around so that she is sitting. She's amazing!

Still sleeping wonderfully--although has recently gotten into a spout where when I put her down for a nap and she sees me walk out she cries. It's so sad :( She typically wakes up somewhere in the 7:00 hour after about 11 hours of sleep which is also wonderful. We have decided that her efforts to laugh result in her panting like a dog. When we laugh, she starts panting.

She finally fits into her 3 month clothes--yes that's right--3 months. Hopefully by Christmas time she will fit into her 6 month clothes...or at least 3-6 month clothes :)

This is one very sleepy baby trying to eat.

Just hangin' out on the couch

Not sure why this picture uploaded sideways, but its just a cute outfit she has that fits her now and that she can wear because the weather is cooler!!

Hanging out with Grandpa

This is a new toy that some friends lent to us (probably because its one of those noise making toys ;) But Makaela has loved it and the noise of the piano hasn't bothered me or gotten annoying at all. Plus since she loves it, I can't complain!! :) Bella on the other hand does NOT like the toy piano.