There Were 10 in Bed and the Little One Said... "Roll Over, Roll Over"

The event went something like this... I actually missed the first time she did it. I put her on her tummy and ran to the bathroom real quick and when I came back, Lo and Behold she was lying on her back. I knew there was only one way she could have gotten there so I very excitedly put her back on her tummy and watched her roll over again! Then I thought to myself..."How dumb! Get your camera... hello?!?!" So I again, excitedly put her on her tummy and managed to capture her rolling over!! She did it at least 5 times, and just did it 2 more times for daddy after we got home from church.

I am so amazed... I know its possible for them to roll over this early, but it doesn't seem too common. At least in the "what to expect the first year" book... rolling over is listed under the "may possibly be able to..." for month 3 and she is only 6 1/2 weeks old. I think I made a joke about her walking by the time she's 6 months in my last post... but i'm not sure how much i'm joking. She is such a strong little girl!

So happy I captured this moment to share with you all!!

The 6 Week Mark

Well, I do realize that it has once again been several weeks since I've blogged. I can't even say that its because I've had to take care of Makaela all the time... I just haven't thought to sit down and blog. But, I thought since Makaela is preciously sleeping, I would take some time to update on whats been going on.

I am loving life as a mommy and am SO thankful that the Lord has blessed us with Makaela. I don't think I could be any happier and I'm so thankful that I don't need to be working. I'm thankful that the Lord allowed us to start a family so quickly, and I really believe that being a full time mom is what the Lord has for me. What I do throughout the days is pretty much all the same so I will just tell you whats been going on with Makaela.

Where to start...bathtime. She has not been a huge fan of bathtime for the past few baths, and Nathan is usually not home when she is getting a bath. Hence... there are no pictures of how much she hasn't enjoyed bathtime, however, last time she loved her bath and Daddy was home (maybe thats the trick). We'll see how it goes tomorrow...

She also has not been a huge fan of tummy-time, but has recently taken a liking to that... again after she has been fed. We know the more time she spends on her tummy, the better... but she seems to be excelling so quickly! Today, she had her head lifted far beyond the 45* and was even using her arms to push herself up!! She will also stand up by herself--all we have to do is balance her and she does the rest of the work herself. She seems so petite, but she is so incredibly muscular! She is one strong little girl and has been since the day she was born. Must have been that extra week she got to cook :) I'm convinced she is going to be able to walk by the time she's like 6 months... ok maybe a little exaggeration :)

She started smiling at us about 2 weeks ago. It was hard to tell at first if her smiles were still just from gas or something. Nathan and I, on separate occasions, said "she smiled at me" followed by "at least I think she did." We quickly realized that they were intentional smiles and she is just a smiling machine now...as long as she's been fed and changed that is. Her little toothless smiles are so cute we just can't get enough!

She has also entered the "cooing" stage. Again, most often after she's been fed and she's happy, she will make all kinds of noises and they are just SO CUTE! We could just sit and watch her forever, and sometimes we do...needless to say there is an abundance of housework that needs to be done now. We just can't help ourselves though :)

Lastly, we have started to put Makaela into her crib and she doesn't seem to mind at all...in fact she might like it even more than the bassinet. She has given us 5-6 solid hours of sleep the last few nights before she decides she is ready to come sleep with mom and dad. She picks and chooses her nights when she sleeps well... that is... sometimes she will sleep for about an hour by herself, then if she comes to bed with us she will sleep for another 5-6 hours just fine. Sometimes she will sleep for 5-6 hours by herself and then she will come to bed with us and sleep for a while longer. We put her in her crib on Tuesday night for the first time and she has slept great each night since then. We are so thankful for this and are hoping the pattern will continue, but we'll see. We can only take each night as they come :)

Thats about it for now... she is just growing and changing everyday. I'll try to do a better job to keep things updated as she changes :)

How Bella Gets Her Exercise

I know that Makaela has been on center stage, and mostly will continue to be, but I thought I should put something up about Bella. We still love her too :)

She has actually become Destructor Dog since Makaela was born. This is mostly because I'm in bed pretty late into the morning with Makaela, and Nathan leaves for work which doesn't leave much attention for Bella so she finds other ways to occupy herself. Don't get me wrong, she does get attention... its just not usually in the mornings.

Makaela has taken to prefering to be walked to be calmed down. I can no longer just sit on the couch and do it...I guess I was getting too spoiled. Walking is good though because its better than just sitting on the couch, and Bella gets some exercise too. Whenever we walk the circle in our kitchen, Bella is always close behind. She is a little lazy though because if we speed up our walking, she doesn't keep up. She just continues to walk at her very slow pace, but we still get a kick out of her following us every time... without fail.

Also, for some reason, i'm not sure why, Bella is afraid of our kitchen dish towels. I should take this opportunity to note what a skiddish dog bella is... she actually often seems to resemble cat-like manorisms rather than dog ones. She will rub up against our feet arching her back... she uses her paws to try and grab our feet when we play with her, much like a cat with a ball of yarn...and the likes. Today we helped bella get some exercise by taking her outside with the dreaded dish towel. All Nathan had to do was wave it in the air and she would run laps around our backyard. By the time I got the camera... she had already been running for a while and was pretty tired out. I'm having trouble getting the video to upload, but I will keep trying. For now, hopefully the story is funny enough and hopefully I will get the video up before too long. Who said you have to take your dog on a walk to get them exercise? :)

2 week check up

I'm a little late in writing this, but I can't believe we're already past Makaela's 2 week check up! The time has gone by so fast already, and I know it will only continue to go faster. It definitely makes me very aware of how quickly its going and I hope and pray that I will never take any moment of our time with her for granted!!

On Friday we had our 2 week check up and the doctor said everything is looking good. She lost about half a pound when we left the hospital, but she was back up to her birthweight plus one ounce :) She shrunk 1/2 inch from birth... not really. They think she was measured wrong at birth because it technically should be a 2 person job, but thats not usually what happens. So she was actually a little shorter at birth than 21 inches, and she measured 20 1/2 inches at her appointment. Everything else is looking good and she's falling right around the 50th percentile in her growth categories so far... although I do think she is ahead of the curve in some areas. She has practically been holding her head up since birth and her neck continues to get stronger and stronger! She will also use her legs to stand up herself if we squat her down. Its amazing! The first time I squatted her down with my arms under her shoulders, she used her legs to push herself up into a standing position and then proceeded to stand for many seconds. Maybe she will be walking by the time she's 6 months... I hope not. The sooner she becomes mobile, the more work my job takes :) But we are just loving every minute with her and are having so much fun watching her grow and change each and every day.

My parents were the most incredible blessing to me and us the first few days they were here after her birth. When we finally came home on saturday, we walked into a house that was spick'n'span. I'm usually a very clean person, but I think my house was cleaner than I've ever gotten it to be myself! My mom and dad cleaned everything from top to bottom so we could come home to a clean house which I so appreciate because they know how well I CAN'T function in a messy house. They continued to serve us in so many ways.
Saturday night was our first night at home with Makaela, and as probably expected, it was quite challenging. Not only was it challenging with the baby, but Nathan had responsibilities at church on Sunday morning, and I didn't want him to be bothered or burdened by anything crying baby related so he could hopefully get a little rest to function. My mom had offered to take Makaela whenever I needed her to, but I felt bad going to her so soon. As I think about it now, I know it was some of my own pride in feeling like I should know how to do this and I didn't want to have to rely on someone so experienced so soon. Shame on me. I don't know how to do this, and I'm learning day by day as we go along. After about 3 hours of trying to console Makaela on Saturday night, I finally went to my mom sobbing. She graciously took my crying daughter and said "sweety, this is what i'm here for. Next time I want you to come to me before you get to the point of tears." Oh sweet outpouring of grace! It had to be around 4am when I disrupted my mothers sleep, but she lovingly and graciously took Makaela so I could try and get some rest also. The next night around 11:30 my mom woke me up and told me it was about time to feed Makaela. She told me to go feed her and when I was finished to bring Makaela to her. She was so sweet and was so concerned for me that I get some rest so I would be able to hopefully function once she left. I brought Makaela to my mom around 1:30 or so and my mom did not bring her back into me until almost 7:00am. WONDER WOMAN!! that allowed me to sleep for about 5 hours which I was so thankful for!!! This was just one of the many ways my mom poured her love and care out on me and us while she was here. She also made many meals for us to have once meals from the church stopped coming. Oh my sweet sweet mom served us in ways that I cannot describe. I told her she was God's love and grace tangible in our lives as he used her to pour out his blessing on us. I love you mom!!

Can I go on a little longer? I know I spoke so highly of my dear Nathan in my last post, but you have to realize that was only during our short time at the hospital. I could go on forever about the lst 2 1/2 weeks at home!!! I have seen my husband be a servant more than I ever have before. I have seen him serve in more ways than I ever have before. From the moment we walked through our door, he has done nothing but love and serve me even more than before and he has done all of this without a single complaint. During my first days of nursing and trying to get everything figured out, he was so faithful in coming to check on us and see if I needed any help or needed anything in general. He has pitched in above and beyond with even just the normal housework, and if he comes home from work and I'm feeding Makaela, he jumps in to do whatever needs to be done to get dinner ready to go. His servant heart has just exploded over the past few weeks. It is hard for me sometimes because I am such an independent person, and I have a hard time letting people serve me, but I know he desires to love me and serve me and this humbles me and forces me to not be so prideful in trying to do it all. Who knew that his servanthood would cause me to see my own sin in my pridefulness. Christ is the ultimate example of humbly serving, and my husband has striven to follow this example. In his efforts, I have seen Christ in him, and because of this he has pointed me toward Christ. I continue to love him more everyday and I am so excited to go through the journey of parenthood with him. Even more than going through parenthood together, I am so excited to see him father and lead Makaela as I have seen him lead me. It is my prayer, and it is our desire to honor Christ with this blessing He has given us, and as I see my husbands growth in his leadership, I know that he will continue to lead us this way as He follows and serves Christ himself. My beloved Nathan, I love you so much!! Thank you for your endless servant heart attitude and for setting that example for me.

"So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is( Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Philippians 2:1-11

Dance Party with Daddy

Nathan's dad has a reputation for getting the most gigantic balloon he can find for any new grandbabies. Since Makaela was born right before valentines weekend, he got a gigantic heart balloon that sings. We attached it to her changing table and she and daddy have little dance parties. I couldn't help but get in on one of them :)