Tiny steps

I just watched Makenna try to take her first step. I was sitting on the floor with her and she was standing at our ottoman and was trying to get to the couch, which is maybe a foot away. For her I am sure it is a mile away. She kept letting go of the ottoman and trying to reach for the couch. Again and again she would do this and jabbering away while she did it. It was cute to watch her try and figure out if she could do it. Then suddenly she went for it and down she went, face first into our rug.

I think she is almost to the point of walking! She has only been crawling for about a week but she is ready to run and play with Kayle. They are growing up way too fast!

P.S. We have a horrible connection with our wireless so photo uploads are on a brief hiatus until I put them on a cd, in case you were missing recent photos :)

Cheese stuffed meatloaf

If you love cheese and meatloaf then you will definitely love this recipe. I found it in a magazine and thought Brandon and I would enjoy it!

1/2 C milk
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 C crushed cornflakes
1/2 C finely chopped onion
3 Tbsp finely chopped celery
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground mustard
1/2 tsp rubbed sage
1/4 tsp pepper
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1 cup sour cream
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese


In a large mixing bowl mix the first 10 ingredients together. Crumble beef over mixture and mix well. On a large piece of foil, roll out beef mixture into a square on the foil. Spread sour cream to within 1/2 inch of edges. Then sprinkle with the cheese. Roll up, jelly roll style, peeling away foil as you roll. Seal seams and ends and place seam side down in a greased baking dish.

Bake uncovered at 350 for 65-75 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes before slicing.

Now, with that all typed out, I did tweak the recipe a little bit. I didn't have cornflakes so I crushed some croutons that I had and I added my own spices since I didn't have any that the recipe called for. It still came out delicious!!! Brandon and I loved it! I served it with mashed potatoes, salad, and some rolls and we had a great dinner.

Enjoy!

teething pain

Makenna is teething again! She has four teeth on the bottom and is getting her two top teeth on the top, as I said before, I know. BUT that is on my mind right now. It is so aggravating to try everything and nothing helps. This morning she woke up at 5 am screaming :( I laid there for awhile listening to her and I could tell she was in pain. Typically we let her cry herself back to sleep, and we will not go in her room until at least 6am. I knew, if I didn't go in she was going to cry for about the whole hour. So, I went in and grabbed her and tried to nurse her back to sleep. That didn't work, so I gave some Tylenol and her pacifier. That still didn't work, we had a grumpy baby on our hands. Finally Brandon gets the gas relief thinking maybe that would do something. It did for about 2 minutes and then the screaming began again. UGHHH. By this time it is about 5:45 so I finally just put her on her tummy on our bed and rubbed her back and she was out. She slept til 7:30! Normally I do not put her on her tummy, a big no no, but that was what she needed. After the teeth break through then she is fine but getting past that point is so tough. Ahh, the joys of parenting.

Getting back into the swing of things

As I was just reminded about my lack of blogging I thought I should do it now before I put it off another three months. Since my last post a lot has changed. We moved, Kayle has started preschool, Makenna has four teeth, (and is getting two top teeth), and we have gone through a dog and now have a kitten. So with all of that where do I start... No clue. I guess maybe first I should start with the move and then go from there.

Our move went great, no problems. You take a chance when you have the Navy move you but thankfully we didn't have any issues. Our stuff arrived on time and all together with a few minor things broken that I didn't care about. Kayle and Makenna did great in the car. Brandon and I are very lucky to have kids that travel well since we will be doing it the rest of our life! During the last 30-40 minutes of our traveling Makenna would get fussy but the big sister Kayle would step in for us! She laughed (and you have to hear it, it is something I cannot describe) and Makenna would stop crying and focus on Kayle. It worked like a charm every time!!

Anyway, we are settled in now I guess, although Brandon and I still have not done anything to our bedroom which bugs me but that is another story. Every other room is done and put together. Maybe someday I will post pictures. We love it here and are so thankful everyday that the Navy is paying us to live here and allow Brandon to have a stress free two years before going back to the fleet. Come and visit us, we have a tiny room with a bed for guests.

With that, I promise to write more, it is a pinky promise!! :)

Do you really care?

I honestly have not posted anything in a while because my friends have much cooler blogs than I do but sometimes I just want to sit and type, and that is usually when something gets posted on here. You must know that I just type, I never re-read anything, although I do spell check when done :) With that said, enjoy my ramblings.

We have less than a month to go before we leave Virginia and I am super excited to leave. I like it here and have made GREAT friends but we are excited for the next chapter in our life. I am ready to have Brandon home for at least 18 months and for him to be duty free during that time. Wow, we might feel normal. Although being in the military does seem normal to me it will just be nice to have a little consistency! Cannot wait, we leave May 29th!!!

Kayle is doing very well using the potty. We still have accidents but she knows when she needs to stop playing and take a potty break. She usually does it without my reminders now! Going out in public is still another issue but she doesn't mind the public potty like I do so that is good. Kayle is growing up so fast, too fast! Her vocabulary has grown and speaks much clearer now. She wants to know about everything and asks what everything is. Brandon and I have began spelling alot so she doesn't know what we are talking about. She wants to do everything her self. She says, "I do it myself!" and when she thinks something is gross her response is, "I can't like that!". Definitely entertains me during the day. The best part of the day is when she tells me I am her best friend, I hear it at least once a day. I love it. I love being a mom because of things like this. She truly wants to please me and is always asking if I am happy and doing well. LOVE IT!!

Makenna is already 6 months old, time flies by way to fast. I am enjoying everything with her right now. I am slowly starting solids and not rushing it, I guess knowing that she is our last one, I want to savor every moment. Breastfeeding is going great and I know that when that stops, that is it. So, not rushing anything! Her two bottom front teeth have came through finally after months of constant drooling and extreme fussiness! We are no where near a schedule with her. I have not pushed anything since we will be moving and everything will be crazy anyways. She loves jumping and standing or playing in her exersaucer. She does enjoy her tummy time more than Kayle did but still prefers her back. She has only rolled over from back to tummy and then tummy to back once. I swear she did it to show me she could do it (I kept bugging her to do it), and then that was it. Oh well!

Anyways, thanks for reading. Oh yeah, Makenna is only 10 pounds less than Kayle right now. Does anyone else think that is weird??!!?

I tried something new today!

For those of you who really know me, I normally do not try new things. I like my normal routine and normal foods but something at the grocery store caught my attention. Star fruit. It caught my attention because it was on sale. I love anything on sale so I thought I would try it. Kayle loves fruit but she is also picky. Well, I cut it open, (I had to read directions on how to do that), and then got all the seeds out and tried a tiny bite. To me a tiny bite is ok just in case it is not so good. I was pleasantly surprised. It reminded me of an apple mixed with a pear I guess. Kayle didn't want to eat it but was really amused with the shape. I am shocked that I would give it a chance but glad I did.

My thoughts

I have not written in awhile, busy with other things I guess... Life :) We sold our house and close on the 30th. It is very exciting but also a little sad. This home is where our children were born, celebrated holidays, and began our Navy life. So many memories! I am excited for the next phase of our life though. Monterey, CA here we come. New adventures and new memories.

I have also started (again) to potty train Kayle. Except this time it is for good, I am sure of it. She has been doing great and really loves to please her mommy. I love to watch her get excited about doing her business. It is not a fun process though, very tedious and constant monitoring. Well worth it though to get her out of diapers hopefully.

I don't know what else is going on. Life is good though :)