Post-Binky Update

First of all, Thanks for all the advice and stuff about the Binky's. I was really freaked out about getting rid of them because I thought she would never sleep well again! Well, we are on day 3 and its really not that bad! I have had 2 nights without a peep! No getting up looking for binky's, Not even getting up just to cry. She has stayed asleep all night long. Its fantastic! I took some advice and have been timing her crying and just been letting her put herself to sleep. She only cries for about 10-15 mins total! Bedtime just isnt as enjoyable as it used to be with the cuddling and singing songs stuff. Now she cries and hates it. Today when I told her it was time for bed, she actually started begging to go into timeout....So she doesnt really enjoy it, but its getting better. I should have done this a long time ago!



P.S. As I write this, she is in her bed crying and yelling.."Im Happy, Im Happy". Poor thing.... :(

Bye Bye Binky Party!

So Makella has had a binky since she was born and she loves it! I had every intention of getting rid of it before she turned one....But that never happened. She got really attached to it and I tried replacing it with other things, but it never worked. For a long time she has only used it at bedtime. But when she sleeps, she has to have 2 of them. One in her mouth and one in her hand. Taking even one of them away was a BAD idea. Its been starting to annoy me that she likes them so much and she has been waking up like 3-4 times a night when she cant find them. So I finally decided that I had enough! All day yesterday we were getting ready for her "Bye Bye Binky" Party. She was so excited about it! She talked about it all day and was pretty ok with throwing them all away. I told her that for every binky she threw away she would get a present in place of it. She had four binkys so she got 4 presents. She got a couple books, some necklaces and bracelets, a new bedtime bunny and a donut! She was more than happy to throw them away and said bye to them and everything! It was great.....Then bedtime came. We were expecting it to be a long night, so I put her to bed kinda late in hopes she would be more tired, but after crying for almost 2 hours she finally fell asleep....for about an hour. Then she woke up again and I felt so bad that I held her for awhile and she was awake for about another 2 hours before FINALLY being totally out at midnight. Even when I was holding her she was still whining and crying. It was sad! I guess 4 hours is a good starting point. It can only get better right?? Im really hoping she can adjust to this. It was hard listening to her be so upset. IF anyone has any suggestions on how to make it any easier, Id love to hear!




































In other news, we celebrated Jon's Birthday this month. His Birthday was on the 5th, but because of his crazy school schedule we didnt get to celebrate it until about a week later. We just had a little party. His parents came over for dinner and then we had a cake. It was nothing big, but it was good! I'm really proud of Jon. He does so well in all his classes and this has been an especially hard semester for him. He is so good about studying and working. I dont know if I would have that kind of stamina! He is such a great husband and father. Im so lucky! I only got one picture at his party and its not that good. It was on the wrong setting and then my camera died. So this is all Ive got.

Its Halloween Time!

One day while driving in the car listening to the radio, there was a commercial and they kept saying "Its Halloween Time" all spooky ghost like. Ever since Makella heard that she's been saying it. So she was ready for Halloween! This is one of my favorite holidays and so I wanted it to be such a great day and for the most part it was! We woke up and I made makella some jack o lantern Pumpkins. It was kinda silly, but she was SO excited that there was a face on it and that it had chocolate! So it was worth it.

Then we were going to run some errands and on our way out, my neighbors invited us to go with them to Macy's for some morning trick or treating. It sounded a lot better that errands so off we went! She didnt have her costume on yet, but at least she had her cute outfit on! I have really enjoyed out new neighborhood and all the awesome people in it! It was fun to get to know some of the ladies a bit better! Plus, Makella really loves playing with all the kids.

So after that I finally got around to running some errands and when we got home makella was literally begging for nap! "Get a banket momma, get a banket. Take a nap, so tired" She refused to eat anything so I just put her down. When she woke an hour and half later, she was a mess! She had a fever and was non stop crying and just plain miserable. So this was her for the next 4 hours:

She didnt want anyone but her dad so he was forced to sit there with her for about an hour. They both looked pretty miserable. She got some tylenol and finally around 4 o clock she decided she could eat and she started to feel better! Im pretty sure she is teething!
So after that I got her all dressed up in her wonderful spacegirl costume, which my mom made and I was sooo excited for her to wear it! Its adorable! Then Jon's mom stopped by after work to see her. She had a pretty funny costume so it was fun to see her and it helped makella be a little happier! She insisted that Grandma Nena go trick or treating with her, so off we went! She got the hang of trick or treating pretty quick! Here are some pictures of the evening.

We went trick or treating for a whole hour and she loved it all! He bucket was getting so heavy that dad had to help her! Jon said it was one of his favorite halloweens because he got to take her and they had a really great time! Plus, she got a lot of good candy that he got to enjoy with her! :) After that, Karianne and Larry and her brother Jon came over and hung out. Karianne has a lot cuter pictures of Ella because my camera decided to die. Anyways, we got pizza and watched a scary movie to end the night. It was a lot of fun! I hope everyone else had a great Halloween too!

Fall Fun

**This is probably going to be pretty long, reader beware!**

Its been awhile since Ive really posted about anything and I kinda have a lot of catching up to do, so bear with me. There are lots of pictures! Ive really been loving this past month. Its just been perfect! Im really not a big fan of summer and all the heat (especially in our new apartment), so Ive been waiting and waiting for it to feel like fall and cool down a bit. It seemed like summer was never going to end over here because it was so warm all the time. But Finally this past month, its been wonderful! Its so cool during the day and almost cold at night. I love it! Plus, where we live, we have 2 big trees in our front yard and they are the first ones on the street to lose there leaves. So rather quickly they turned yellow and then gave us wonderful leaf piles to play in! Makella had a blast playing in all the leaves!

The changing of the leaves and the weather has just put me in a pretty good mood and we have just been having fun whenever we can! At the beginning of the month my mom drove down with Val and her kids so Valerie could see her family. We went to the aquarium with them and had a great time! Then my mom came and stayed with me for the weekend. It was really fun to have my mom here for a couple days! Then a couple weeks later me and Karianne got the opportunity to see Jamie before she went back home from her mission! She was in South Salt Lake for her mission and they had a final testimony thing for all the missionaries that were going home. It was a really neat thing to see Jamie there. She was totally in her element and had sooo many people who love her and appreciate the work she has done. It sounds like she was a fantastic missionary and made some really good memories. There was a lady there who came up to Karianne and I and was crying and she thanked us for being Jamie's friends and helping her get into the gospel becuase Jamie had had such a good influence on her family. It kinda suprised me at first because I didnt really see how I helped her so much. Jamie was always such a good example to me has helped me in so many more ways than Ive helped her! Im just really grateful to have her as my friend! I only got one picture from that night because I kinda forgot that I had my camera, so I took a quick picture before we dropped her off. Anyways, It was really neat!

The Everyday Stuff

These are just some random pictures from the other day. Makella was having a pretty good day and was being pretty funny! I try to take her places and show her things throughout the week, but usually we have the most fun when we are just playing at home!
After we made cookie dough, she got to have her own spoon, Yummy!
When I told her we were going to make cookies....haha I love this face!
These entertained her for a good half hour! Thats pretty good!
She is getting so grown up!
Helping make the cookies!

Best Friends!

So last weekend Amiee came down here to see the football game with her family. Me and Karianne got to hang out with her for far too short of a time, but it was still so much fun! We had chocolate fondue and just talked and Laughed and had a great time! It was awesome to get to hang out with my best friends! These girls are the best and we are all pretty much crazy when we get together! Just like the good ole days! I havent laughed so hard in a long time! Thanks for coming Amiee!

Mmmm....chocolate!

This is a pretty typical Amiee shot! haha jk Amiee!

The girls!

Yeahh....

Im not so cute in this one, but Karianne is!

And just to throw makella into all this, here is her fantastic funny face! She thinks its hilarious!

Hawaii!!

This was out big trip that we have been looking forward to all summer! We went with Jon's whole family to Kauai. We had such a great time! We stayed for a week and did everything we have ever wanted to do. We did a whole lot of snorkeling, which I really love to do! I had never done it before this trip, but I loved it! We went to some of the prettiest beaches and some gorgous waterfalls. We also took a boat around the Napali coastline to do some snorkeling and on the way there, we were able to see dolphins that came right up and swam with the boat for awhile. I was so excited about that! I loved being able to see them so close. Also, at another place we went to, I got to see some turtles and swim with them and touch them. It was awesome! We did some kayaking on a really pretty river and then you hike to a waterfall and we swam under it and everything. Overall, it was perfect! We had such a good time hanging out with Jon's family and getting some time to ourselves since Makella got to stay with my mom and dad (She had an awesome time too!). We were both ready for a break, so even though we missed her like crazy, it was definetaly worth it! My camera is super lame and I think is just about broken for good, so I didnt get very many pictures of all the fun things. I have to wait and get more from my sister in law. But here are some of the good ones I do have!

This was the first beach we went to. So pretty!

The brothers!

She's a mermaid! Malia is such a good traveler! I was amazed! She's adorable!

Out to dinner with the family. Plumerias are my new favorite flower!

Angie and Ryan on our kayak trip. I loved this part of the river, it was awesome!

You always need a pretty flower!

The hike from the kayak to a waterfall was through this really pretty forest!

This was the canyon and it was soo gorgeous. It went on forever and there were sheep jumping all over the rocks. It was really pretty.

The boatride around the Napali Coast. I think this was my favorite activity. The boat was so fun!

This is a monk seal. They are super rare in Hawaii, but they will come and just sleep on the beach for days, so we were pretty lucky to get to see this guy!

The family!

One of the many pretty waterfalls in hawaii!