Trip to Utah

Last week, Makenna and I went to Logan, Utah to visit my sister Amanda and her 11 month old baby girl Kate. We had such a fun time. Makenna absolutely loved seeing her cousin; she got so excited every time she saw Kate. Unfortunately for Kate though, Makenna expressed her excitement by trying to grab any part of Kate that she could get including her hair, hands, feet, clothes, etc. After being tugged on a few times, Kate decided that it was probably in her best interests to ignore Makenna.

We did lots of fun things with the babies. Here are some pictures from our adventures:

Makenna snuggling with her aunt Amanda

Swimming in the baby pool on the deck. It was freezing cold the first day, so Makenna wouldn't sit down, but just wanted to bounce and splash.

Sharing bath time with Kate

Playing with the sunscreen bottles

Eating fruit loops and animal crackers at the aquatic center. Makenna learned to feed herself these yummy treats while we were in Utah!

Amanda and I made floral headbands for the babies. It was a fun project.

Although not quite as fun as it was when Amanda made a hat out of the extra flowers! I think it might have been a little heavy!


We bought Makenna and Kate matching outfits (same size too). It was quite the struggle to get a good shot of them together. Makenna was more interested in trying to grab Kate, and Kate was more interested in getting away.

This was the best shot.
We had so much fun, and are so glad that we made the trip out there. Thanks for letting us come Amanda! We can't wait for you to come to Omaha, so that we can play some more!

My Water Baby

From very early on, Makenna has always loved her baths. She is so happy in the tub, and loves to splash, play with her tub toys, and suck water out of her washcloth. Recently I have discovered that this love of water does not only apply just to her baths.



Makenna also loves to go swimming. We have a pool at our apartment complex (one of the perks of renting) and she absolutley loved it when we took her a few weeks ago. The water was pretty cold, so I was worried that she wouldn't like it, but she adjusted to it more quickly than I did (she does have quite a bit of insulation). On Saturday we took her swimming again, this time for almost 2 hours, and again she loved it.



On Father's Day, I took Makenna out to visit her Grandma and Grandpa Bailey at their new house on a lake. While sitting on the dock, my dad put Makenna's feet in the lake, and she immediately started kicking her legs, and leaning over to try and touch the water. She definitly wanted to get in; it was pretty cute. However, she didn't know quite what to think about the fish that her Uncle Morgan was catching. I'm so glad that it is summer, and I am looking forward to taking Makenna swimming some more, and just being outside (inbetween the storms of course).

Tornados Round Two

Well, my hoping that we wouldn't have any more tornado warnings for awhile was dashed to pieces on Wednesday night. John was out of town, so when the sirens sounded at 6:30pm, I was on my own. Makenna and I headed for the shelter (workout room) and this time were there for over 2 hours. The system that passed dropped 7 tornados! It was probably the worst storm that I have ever been in, and I grew up here! The closest tornado to us was about 10 miles away. Sadly, one of the tornados hit a Boy Scout camp about an hour north of Omaha, and 4 boys were killed. Watching the coverage of this particular tornado on the news has been really sad, but it has also been neat to hear the stories of the survivors, and how the boys took care of each other. It has also made me so grateful that my family has been kept safe, and we are keeping the families who have lost loved ones in our prayers.

One Stormy Night

Living in Nebraska has definitely been a change in weather for us. While living in constant rain in Washington, I used to say to John, "if it is going to rain all the time, I wish it would at least storm a little bit". Watch what you wish for, right? For the last month or so, we have had numerous severe thunderstorms, most of which happen in the middle of the night. Lucky for us, we chose to live in an apartment with big bay windows in both of the bedrooms. We thought they were different, and would let in lots of light (both of which are true), but what we didn't realize is that they seem to magnify the noise outside. We have all been woken up in the middle of the night (Makenna included) several times during the last month during big thunderstorms. So far though, we have only had tornado watches and thunderstorm warnings, but no tornado warnings. Well, at least not until Saturday night.

John and I were woken up at 2:30 am with the wind and rain on our window. We got out of bed and peeked out the blinds to see the action. As soon as we climbed back in bed, the tornado sirens started going off. We quickly turned on the news just in time to see the map of our area, with the tornado symbols exactly 2 miles south of where we live! We jumped out of bed, threw on some sweatshirts and shoes, and prepared to head to the storm shelter. When I went in to grab Makenna, she was wide awake, lying on her tummy just looking around. I grabbed her, threw a big blanket over her head, and we ran down the 3 flights of stairs to the car. We jumped in and drove over to the storm shelter (a.k.a. the workout room underneath the apartment complex office). There were probably about 15 people in the room already, with the news on, and as we waited, about 35 more people trickled in. Luckily Makenna didn't seem to mind the middle of the night festivities, and enjoyed just looking around at people, and at her reflection in the mirror. After about 20 minutes, the worst of the storm had passed, and our trusty weather man gave the all clear to come out from shelter.

After feeding Makenna and putting her back to bed, I laid awake for another hour and a half before I was finally able to fall back asleep. I guess it took awhile for the adrenaline to wear off. Thankfully the tornado stayed to the south of our neighborhood, and although it did cause quite a bit of damage, no one was seriously injured. It was a pretty exciting night, but one that I hope we won’t have to repeat for awhile. From now on, I am definitely going to watch what I wish for!

Where is the pause button?

Have you ever wished that you could pause your life for awhile? Lately I have been feeling that way about Makenna. She is 6 months old now, and is such a joy. I feel truly blessed to have such a healthy, happy baby. She is doing all kinds of new things: sitting up, rolling all over the place, eating solids, getting her first 2 teeth (on the bottom), jumping up and down when she gets excited, and giving kisses (she may just be trying to eat my cheeks and chin, but I like to think that she is giving me kisses). She loves to play tickle games, pat-a-cake, and look at herself in the mirror. She loves her daddy. When John comes home from work, Makenna just stares at him wherever he goes, and smiles whenever he looks at her. She also loves other people, especially other little people like herself. At church last week we had people fighting over the row behind us because they wanted to have Makenna smiling at them.

Is she perfect? Of course not. She only takes cat naps (45 min. max), she loves to pull hair (mine and John's), she would definitly rather be held than play on the floor by herself, and she has her fussy moments. However, overall she is a better baby than I could have ever hoped for. If only I could find her pause button!

Makenna's 6 month stats:

Height - 28 inches 99%, Weight - 19 lbs. 14 oz 98%

Did I mention that she was a BIG, healthy 6 month old baby?

Mommy's Messy Eater

Makenna's first meal of carrots.

Our Wisconsin Trip

Last weekend, we took Makenna on her first road trip. John's Grandma Steeno passed away, and so we drove to Wisconsin for her funeral. It was about a 9 hour drive, and besides a major diaper blow out 10 minutes into our trip, Makenna did great. We first stopped in Steven's Point, WI to visit John's Grandma Pawlowski on the farm. It was the first time that Makenna met her Great-grandma.

Makenna and her Great-grandma Pawlowski

The next day, we headed to Fond Du Lac, WI to meet up with the rest of the family. It was so nice to be able to meet most of John's extended family that I had never met. They were all so wonderful, and it was great to be able to spend some time with them.

We are so glad that we were able to attend the funeral services for John's Grandma. I am also so grateful that we made a trip to Wisconsin last March so that I could meet her.

Makenna and her Grandma CeCe and Great-aunt Kathy

On the way home from Wisconsin, we decided to drive through Chicago and stop at the Shedd Aquarium. We were surprised how much Makenna enjoyed the aquarium. She LOVED looking at all of the colorful fish, and got so excited. It was fun just to watch her. Overall it was a really great trip, and we are so glad that we went, and that Makenna was such an angel for us!