Random photos

Mommy reading stories to Makaia and Hana
Makaia got a stuffed turtle from her friend Maeve for her birthday. She has been cuddling it every night since! She loves turtles!!!

Makaia's friend Diana made some cupcakes and as you can tell, Makaia is enjoying them.

Diana gave Makaia her first set of Play-Dough for her birthday. Their friend Marissa joined in on trying it out for the first time. Makaia LOVES it!

2nd Birthday

Jumping on her new trampoline with Grandma

Makaia had a great birthday weekend to celebrate her 2nd Birthday on Feb.15th! She received lots of nice presents and made sure to thank everyone :)

Grandpa and Grandma Schmidt took us, Aunt Heidi and Uncle Kyle out for a nice dinner after the big party.
Daddy, Makaia, Braiden, and Jesse having some appetizers

The party favors that Mommy handpainted for each family/guest

Feeding a new baby doll

Feeding another new baby doll. We love this!

Birthday girl

Homemade ice cream cake in a flower shape. Every night for a week she wanted leftovers for dinner by saying, "Happy You" (ie. Happy Birthday to You)

One of Makaia's favorite things to do is swing on the swings and jump on her trampoline.

One of Mommy's favorite pics...kisses for Daddy! Makaia doesn't hand those out very often! Thanks to Grandpa Roux for catching this sweet moment on camera.

No sleep

Makaia is up at 3am with a nightmare. Into our bed she comes. 4am she is asking for Elmo & TV. Elmo is not on at 4am sweetheart. Go night-night. She's not convinced, so I did what any good, honest mother would do...I told her the TV was broken :) Then I took the battery out of the remote to prove that the TV was "broken." I wasn't discreet enough because she pointed to the back of the remote and said "battery." Ugh. Sweetheart, the batteries are broken too! I'm sorry :) Mommy will fix everything in the morning if we go to sleep!

January Milestones

Makaia is changing so much every week that each day has become a new adventure! We can hardly believe that she is turning 2 in a few weeks!!!

Here are just a few new highlights:

• We took the front of her crib off and converted it into a toddler bed. Due to her jumping skills (see video below), we put a side rail on but she still has space to get in/out by herself. The transition has been great and she sleeps better then ever.
• She can name all the characters on Sesame Street (except Oscar is called "trash") and her favorite is Ernie.
• She has also become a hug fan of Thomas the Train and the word "Thomas" is probably the most clearly spoken word in her vocab
• She waves "hi" and calls people by their name when she sees them
• Every time I get on the phone, she demands to know who I am talking to then screams until it is her turn to talk...my phone conversations have become very brief these days!
• She is getting much more comfy this month at gym class by being eager to participate and is much more willing to try new things that are out of her comfy zone
• She is starting her first art class tomorrow
• She can dance and sing along to her favorite songs and has her favorite videos memorized.
• She can say please, thank you, love you without us asking her to. We are particularly fond of the unprompted "luv you."
• She can eat her own cereal from a bowl without spilling the whole thing
• She can help me bake now and follows my directions.
• There is much more but I won't bore you with all the details :)

The beloved Ernie

She spotted this in the store and I told her that we had to put him back on the shelf because Ernie lived at the store. She screamed his name all the way out of the store (YES, I was THAT mom with THAT kid!), all the way home, and while I made lunch. I felt so bad that after naptime, we drove back to the store. She got Ernie and walked him to the cashier all by herself, handed him to the lady then demanded him back after Ernie was scanned, walked him all the way to the car and has held him tight ever since. Obsessed? Yes!!!

I told her we were going to go run errands so she put on her necklace (my hairband), grabbed my purse and said, "Go!"

Eating cereal

Jumping on her "new" bed.

Children's Museum

Our Children's museum offers free admission once a month and I took Makaia in January. She loved the bubbles the most and we both were ecstatic to do something free & fun out of the house!
Peek-a-boo in a felt house

Too scared to go in the bounce house

Cute naked baby alert!

Nothing better than a naked baby dancing!!!! This is her new "routine" after her bath each night.

Just another night at the dinner table, except we finally got her to eat something. And when she did....

Playing in her new kitchen.

Chit chat

I keep telling John that she likes to color with him best. Well, I finally caught it on video because a few days ago, coloring with Mama wasn't going to be good enough for her. You also get to see her pacifier addiction. That is "fosseee" she says right before her little fit. Fosseee is code for paci, i.e pacifier :)

The Holidays

Dear Makaia,
December was a whirlwind and you have changed so much this month. You baffle us every single day with your ability to comprehend your world and you have incredible coordination. Daddy comes home from work and usually says, "She can do that?" or "she understands that?" Yes, honey, she can! My favorite word this week has been "shirt" except when you say it, you omit the "r." I just love when you impatiently scream the word too! How am I supposed to keep a straight face?

You love your new play kitchen and have been fixing us all sorts of stuff, always loaded with fake pepper that you shake on. Your brain is such a sponge and you are saying new words every day. Just yesterday we were playing and you asked for the coffee. I had no idea you even knew the word. You also love the new art easel that Grandma Hopkins gave you. You really enjoy coloring with your "cans" (crayons) and often shout for "John" (Daddy) to come join you. He is your favorite coloring buddy! At gym class, your favorite thing is still the trampoline. All the other moms tell their kids to "jump like Makaia." You seem to pick up physical skills with such ease. I just wish you would give the couch a rest. It's a long way down to the wood floors. You have also started running around the block. Walking was sooooo last year!

You are coming out of your shyness a bit and are making friends. You melted my heart at gym class today when you were in the rocking boat and another little girl came up to you. You scooted over and patted the seat next to you in a "here, I'll make room, come join us" kind of way. I know you are a total sweetheart, but I was a little shocked since sharing has been a tough sell as of late. But, you can say "tank you" and "pees" which is very polite of you. You have a new baby doll that you really love (because she has a turtle on her shirt, and you love everything turtles!) and shared some of your crackers with her recently, so maybe you are catching on to the sharing thing? You also held her the other day and whispered to me. I said something to you in a normal voice and your threw up your "stop" hand and wanted me to whisper too. You are so darn cute, I can't stand it! We have been using your doll to show you that she can go on the potty just like us. When we tell you it's your turn, you reply with a "no." and walk away. You are still refusing to go there!

We are very excited that you appear to be coming out of your insistence on wearing shoes to bed. However, every old habit is replaced by something new. This month you have learned how to procrastinate for nigh-nigh (night-night) by asking for everything under the moon before we force you into your crib. It is always one more book, followed by one more wierd need to have something a certain way...tree lights off, then back on? What?! And finally, a sip of milk, juice, and water in that order. After several nights of bringing your individual sippy cups filled with your various requests, your father and I finally smartened up by bringing all 3 at one time. I apologize, our brains are a bit slow these days. You also insist on wearing your "ball" jammies every night (the ones with the polka-dots...we used to tell you they were balls back when you refused to put on clothes. You love balls so it got the jammies on you. Anyway, the name stuck.) When you have to wear something else, you always call the jammies by name of who gave them to you. Heidi jammies, Gammy jammies, Nana (Diana) jammies.

What else is new? Well, it has taken 2 weeks but the smoke smell is finally out of our house. Let's backtrack....2 days before Christmas, your exhausted father tried to cook pasta at midnight. He fell asleep while it was cooking and I finally woke up to the smoke smell at 2:45am (I meant to replace the smoke detector battery that day, but I figured it could wait until the next day. It couldn't!) God was really watching over us and luckily there was no fire, but EVERYTHING in the living room and kitchen had smoke damage and had to be washed. That is walls, plates, glasses, couch, chairs, toys. My purse had to be thrown out from the stench. You get the picture! You know, it was Christmas and I didn't have enough to do. Your father is slowly climbing out of the doghouse for that one.

The next day, we headed up to Daddy's family to celebrate the holidays. You loved seeing everyone and playing with your cousin Hudson. You call him "Huson" and get so excited when you know he is going to be wherever you are!
Then we came home and Grandma and Grandpa Schmidt came to have a second Christmas with us. Here are some highlights in pictures, although I didn't get any of your time with Grandma Hopkins or your Great Grandma Frances. Mommy is mad at herself for not taking pictures with them since I had my camera in my purse the whole time.

The advent calendar I made from scratch. Took a month to make, but we will have it forever. By the middle of the month, you really caught on to the surprise that awaited you in the pockets each morning. It still needs the numbers under each pocket for days 1-25.
Checking out the presents with Hudson

Aunt Michelle, Daddy, you, and Chris

Opening presents from Santa. Note: you have your shoes on so you haven't yet ditched the quirky habit at this point.

Sweetheart, I know you are NOT going to like this. Our New Year's resolution for you is getting rid of you pacifiers, or as you call them "fosseee." That is going to be h-e-double hocking sticks for all of us because at this point, you are an addict. Especially for your "boo" (blue) one. Blue is your favorite color, by the way. We also figured out that you are right-handed this month, which slightly disappointed your left-handed father. We will prove to him that creativity is not lost on right handers! Did he see the advent tree I made? Cheeesh!

Hugs for Hudson

With Auntie Michelle and Chris. They are so much fun!

So adorable in your red dress and matching shoes

With Gammy and Papa Roux

Playing with Hudson

Play food for your kitchen :)

Lunch at the bay. Trips to the bay and tidepools seem to be a staple now whenever we have people visiting. The weather is too nice not to go!

You cannot get enough of Papa!

"Gammy" and "Papa" Schmidt at the tidepools

Sunset at tidepools

Congratulations John!

This week, John received one of the awards for Employee of the Year at the Omni!!! This is the second time he has received the award in 5 years. The guy is an all-star :) Congratulations honey. We are so proud of you!

Sick Kiddo

Makaia got some cute new jammies from her friend Diana this past Saturday. On her first night wearing them, I had to take her to children's hospital in the early a.m. (She has croup!) Poor thing did not feel good at all. I decided she could wear her jammies all day long that day. Mommy + jammies + Elmo make everything better!

Best Friend Forever

Makaia and her BFF Diana

Thanksgiving

Had a great time in Fresno for Thanksgiving. Makaia and I both got sick with colds but here are some other highlights:

Posing with Grandma and Grandpa

Giving hugs to Great Grandma. Makaia warmed up to her right away and gave her lots of hugs. She must have a sixth sense that Grandma is amazing :)

John and my Mom doing test shots for the camera timer so we could take family shots.

Getting attacked by the tickle monster (Uncle Kyle)

Dancing with Grandma, Hana, and Elmo

Grabbing Grandpa by the ears at Aunt Heidi's house. This is how he kept Makaia entertained!

In the neighborhood smelling flowers with Grandpa

Pushing her new baby doll in its stroller.

Dancing Queen

She made me nervous with the slipping hazard (coloring book) on the floor, but this video is very representative of her personality lately.

Makaia loves Hana

Ahhh, another hour, another way to torment the doggie. Poor Hana was minding her own business (as usual) and Makaia just couldn't let her be. These pics were simultaneous with me saying "nice pets," "Makaia, leave Hana alone," and "Hana, just go find somewhere to hide!"
Hana is now currently on "vacation" at my parents house. Her Xmas present is a respite from Makaia's death grip on her fur.