Guess who is 11 Months Old?

We had a great celebration leading up to Makena turning 11 months old. Granny B, Papa, and Uncle T came for the weekend. As you can see here, we had a lot of fun.
Papa, what are you doing?

Big girl with Uncle T.

Granny B made her Easter dress...It looked great on her! Thanks Granny B.

This is Makena's serious pose.

"Mommy, you are in big trouble."

More serious face, but beautiful I must say. And Great Posture!

Papa, Granny B, and Makena..

"I found one and I am putting it in to my basket!"

Ahh...what a cute little girl in her bonnet.

Big blue eyes...just like my Daddy's!

Here are Riggins and Makena waiting on the arrival of Granny and Papa..

Easter Morning with Daddy...

11 months old today! Don't I look precious in my polka dots!?!?!?!?

Clap clap clap...

" I can almost touch my nose."

Blowing kisses

My new fishing hat!

Mommy's cutie pie!

My little Diva!

Funny girl!

(Thanks Grammy and Gramps for the T-shirts...I have worn both but Mommy managed not to get any photos.)

At 11 months...

Makena is:

20.5 lbs

30 inches

- She is trying more table food but is currently in a phase where she will only eat a few bites of something. (Waffles, yogurt, chicken, broccoli, enchiladas, french toast, just to name a few.)

- She loves studying anything new. She is still very observant and is good at figuring out how they work.

- Helps Mommy put clothes into the washer and dryer.

- Loves containers. She likes to put things in and take them out. (Shape sorters are the best.)

- Can drink out of her sippy cup alone.

- Can hold a spoon and feed herself...still messy but she loves it.

- Loves to feed Riggins and pet him (when he'll let her).

- Taking a few steps around the coffee table but still prefers crawling.

- Likes to sit in the grass outside and play with the leaves.

- Likes to watch Riggins get the bubbles...makes her laugh so loud.

- Likes to put her hands on Daddy's TV, but give a big smile over her shoulder when she does it becuase she knows she isn't supposed to do it.

I love my little girl and it has been amaizing to watch her grow. I pray that God will watch over her.

A budding friendship...

Our first "child" is becoming a true friend to his sister. Although Riggins is 4 times the size of Makena now, you will see in the photos who is truly in control. Yes, we probably have to teach her to get out of his way but for now whomever holds the treat bag is in control. :)

Since I have been home, Makena and Riggins spend time looking out the windows to see what the world has to offer each morning.

Here are some other special March pics...
Monkey face...Makena shows me her "monkey face" when she is finished eating. So CUTE!
Makena is very good at opening and closing the shutters.
Her spring bonnet (before Daddy cut the grass)
Lots of concentration to open and close the shutters...and try to pet Riggins all at the same time.
Smiles and laughter...a pure and perfect light in the world.

Week 2 - Fish, Hives and Calves

I thought this was a pretty good example of how our little girl is growing up so fast. The first pic is when she was 2 weeks old. The second is when she was 10 months 1 week old. She still likes to stretch out from time to time. Still so very precious!

I took this pic the first week I was home shortly after a rain storm looking out our front door.
Now on with the story...week 2
What a great adventure we had during week 2. We went to the Dallas Aquarium with Tiesha and her girls. It was a fun day. We saw some cool fish, flamingos, a jaguar and many other animals. It was a little crowded as it was spring break but we managed just fine. Rainy and Tanna in front of the fish tank.Mommy, Makena, and Rainy with one of the cool fish behind us.This shows how many people were there. The tunnel was completely packed. Mommy and Makena taking in the sites...Then Makena took her first trip to Daddy's office. I can't believe it was the first time. She is almost 11 months old...crazy. I still need to take her back to my office to visit. She was pretty little the last time I took her.

On Wedneday Makena and I went to meet Maria and Aidan at the Local Diner for breakfast. After a little french toast and yogurt, Makena started throwing up. It appeared to be due to some drainage she had been having. I got her cleaned up and we headed home as we were a little late for nap time. After throwing up all over herself as we pulled into the driveway, I thought it might be best to get her cleaned up in the bath. Makena seemed to be having a good time in the bath, but then after another round of throwing up while trying to get her to sleep. I noticed one of her eyes was puffy and red and her face had little bumps on it. After inspecting the rest of her body, I found that she was covered in hives. I immediately called the doctor to see what I should do. Dr. T requested that we come to the office which resulted in a diagnosis of hives as well as 2 ear infections. Since we were scheduled to go to Rising Star for a number of days Dr. T loaded us with knowledge on how to deal with anything from allergic reactions to ear pain. There is no way to know what caused the hives as she had been exposed to everything she had that day multiple times before. However, I now own Children's Benendryl in case we have anything like that again.


After getting meds and saying good-bye to Daddy (he went skiing with Brad), we were on our way to RS. Makena got her first experience with the cows. She also spent time with Great Uncle Bobby and Great Aunt Debbie rocking on their front porch.

Riggins inspecting the cow poop...he likes to eat it (gross!!)...which is why the calf looks so alarmed.

Makena with Papa feeding the calves some cake...yum.

We also got to visit with Makena's Great Uncle David, Great Aunt Joy, and cousins (Brandi, Abbey, Ella, and Hannah. Here is Brandi and little Hannah.
Makena thought the indian head was pretty neat.

Brandi and Ella

Burkley and Hannah

Abbey and Great Aunt Joy

Makena trying to move Burkley out of her way...Burkley never budged.

What a great trip! Mommy came home sick but it was good to be in RS and the extra help on the worst day was great too!

Week 3 has now been completed..Daddy made it home safely with only a few bumps and bruises.

Don on the slopes of Breckenridge.. Brad on the hills of Breckenridge..

First week home together...

What a week it has been!! I have loved every moment of being at home with Makena. However, there are moments I feel a little lost because I am not sure what to do next. We started off on Monday with Makena smashing her finger in a drawer. She had a very delayed reaction to the pain or she got scared when she couldn’t get her finger out, I am not sure which. Although, there was a little mark, my little tough girl was fine within a minute or two. Monday continued with a celebration play date at the Davis home with Makena’s friends…Cale, Ellie, Heidi, Karl Mikal, Makenna, Trevor and Layton. We had tons of fun. I should have taken my camera. Thanks to Amy, Amy, Anna, and Chelsea for making it a special day!
Tuesday marked 12 years since Don (Sr.), Makena's grandpa, left this world for that mansion in heaven. It is hard for me to get my arms around the fact that I never knew what makes up so much of the Carroll family. Everyone misses him greatly, but we all know his new home is perfect and strive to be there with him some day. Wednesday we went to bible study and enjoyed time with the Coats and Gscheidles. The little ones were all over the place. A joyful sight. Makena even side stepped her way down the table to get to stacking tower (toy).
Yesterday March 11, Makena tranfered herself from holding on to the couch to the coffee table. It will only be a matter of time before she is cruising all over the place.
As of today, Makena is just about back on her old schedule. I think being home with mom has her out of her element.
The one thing I am going to have to work on is the silence. Although I know silence is good in some cases, transitioning from 10+ hours of phone calls and adult conversation to a lot of silence and hardly any adult conversation has proven a little strange.
I do want to take a moment to ask God to watch over a number that are in pain or need extra comfort/healing tonight...Cox family, Pool family, Angie and P

10 Months and Mom's new career

Here is a funny pic...about a month ago Makena put herself in the bucket. She loves to take things out of containers and put them back in again. So it didn't surprise me when she decided to do the same to herself.

On Tuesday, we went to the doctor for Makena's "9 Month" doctor appointment. Yes I realize today she is 10 months old so we were a little delayed. However, she is doing great. Dr. Tomecko said she was a "beautiful chubby little girl, which equates to healthly". I recently switched to a new doctor as I just didn't feel like I could talk to our old doctor. Dr. T was the one who checked Makena out of the hospital and is very personable. She also said she was ready to start eating what we are eating. Honestly, that scares me a little as I have this weird fear of her choking but I know we'll get through it just fine. She has been eating puffs since before Christmas so she is progressing to chunkier food just fine. Makena is at 20.2 pounds and is just over 29 inches tall.

Wednesday marked the end of day care. Makena spent from week 13 to almost month 10 at Creme and she has enjoyed it a lot. The people there are fabulous and they love her to pieces. Here she is with her friend Megan playing with the car.

This was her first teacher Laurie...we don't have pics of the other Laurie and Jennifer but we hope to go by this next week and snag one.

Here are her last teachers Ms Jesse and Ms Donna. They have taken great care of her over the last few months. They surprised me with a few extra photos from the day on Wednesday. I thought this was so sweet and captured Makena's new adventurous spirit.

On Thursday, Grammie came to keep Makena while I finished up the week at work and on Friday, Granny kept her. Granny also stayed through the weekend to get a few extra hours of Makena time. We appreciate our family so much for taking the time to help us get through this week.

So that brings us to Friday, which marked the end of my time with BofA (for now). I had a great day...not even a tear. Thirty members of by BofA family joined me for lunch to send me on my way. I am looking forward to my new career as "mom"...not that I didn't have that career before but now I don't have the stress of being mom, wife, and manager. I feel so blessed to have the opportunity and a supportive husband to make this work for us. My faith is strong that God has a wonderful plan in store for us. He gave me my job and now I know He will give us what we need.

And today marks 10 months for Makena!! Happy 10 months baby girl!!!

Makena is

- trying to talk more and more...a translator is still needed

- pulling up on everything

- waving more

- exploring

- favorites

- loves her cookie jar

- loves carrots

- her train