Baby Update!

Makenna is getting bigger and bigger.  At her 2 month check up she was 12 pounds 4 ounces and 21 1/2 inches.  This put her in the 75th percentile! The highest Noah ever was...was the 25th percentile! lol.  She is still a pretty good baby.  I feel bad because she always seems to be gassy.  Hopefully as she gets older her stomach will get stronger and she will be able to handle milk better.  Her 2nd month was spent just getting bigger.  She did smile a lot more and laughed a couple of times.  At two months Daddy was the first to make her laugh.  There was something that happened ONCE and then never again, but was pretty cool.  My mom and brother Jeff were talking to her and they kept saying "Hiii,"  "Hii,"  to her....well sure enough if she did not say "Hiiii" right back.  I am not joking at two months old! lol  If I did not have them as witnesses I don't think anybody would have believed me.  Of course she has never even come close to doing something like that again, but I think she said her first word at two months old! lol She also started wanting to be standing on her feet a bit more.

At three months she started reaching for toys and trying to put toys and her blankets in her mouth. :)  She is always sucking on her hands and is already a slobber bucket just like her brother was.  She is a joy! Here's her three month shot and then one of her helping daddy with homework.

 Noah is doing good too.  He helps me with his sister by playing with her and talking to her.  He thinks in order to talk to Makenna he has to be as close to her face as possible though.  And he is often pulling on her arms and hands a bit rougher than I would like.  But she is a trooper and tries to get him back...take a look. She is already holding her own! :) ha ha

Noah is learning more every day and talking even more too.  The other day he told me, "Mom I love you so much."  It warmed my heart.  He has recently learned what the words man, woman, boy, and girl mean.  And he is such a trickster.  With a mischievous smile he says mom, you are a man and daddy's a woman.  Then he laughs because he knows he got it wrong. He jokes with things like that all of the time.  He is a sweet kid who loves to joke around.

It is soo hard trying to get pictures of them both looking at the camera and smiling.  Hopefully for Christmas cards we will be able to get at least one!  I love my children sooo much!

Tithing and Gratitude

As of late our family has been blessed tremendously!  Tommy and I have so much to be thankful for and we have a wonderful story of the blessings of tithing that happened to us recently.   I really feel that I should be home with my kiddos.  I want to be home with them and I feel that Heavenly Father wants me to be home with them too.  Especially from when they are babies until they go off to school.  I figure I won't ever get that time back and I want to enjoy it while it is here.  I can always go back to work in the future and definitely plan to when my youngest goes off to school!  However, and of course, the decision for me to stay home also meant that I would be decreasing our income from two people bringing in money to just one.  However, we made our decision and noticed that we were blessed in many ways and things worked out very well for us the first year or so that I've been home.  Tommy was making good commission and I was able to substitute teach here and there and I was tutoring.  This little extra bit helped and we were doing pretty well.  Well suddenly we had some extra expenses, Tommy was not making very good commission, and I had a baby and could not substitute teach.  So we were definitely stretched.  Well at the beginning of the year Tommy and I made the decision that we would pay a FULL and honest tithe.  We have always tried to be full tithe payers, but had missed tithing on a few pay checks here and there in the past.  It was mostly due to forgetfulness, but nevertheless. Well we resolved to not let that happen ever again.  So even on weeks where we forgot and had to double up the next pay check's tithing with the one before, we still made sure that we paid it.  It was hard at times, but we immediately began to see blessings...especially in those of having enough money for me to continue to stay home.  Things were going great from January to October.  However, in October we really started to struggle.  Money was getting tighter and tighter and I was stressing out.  I had even applied to work nights from home with U-Haul.  We had to continue to dip into our savings and our savings was slowly starting to deplete.  I was very worried and could not help, but feel freaked out.  Tommy and I were both praying that we would be okay.  One time I was feeling extra stressed and was trying hard not to grumble.  I got on my knees and as I was praying the lyrics to a church hymn came to my mind.  The hymn is Because I Have Been Given Much.  This part of the song came to mind during my prayer:

"Because I have been given much, I too must give.  Because of Thy great bounty Lord each day I live.  My glowing fire, my loaf of bread, my roof's safe shelter over head..." 

 I immediately felt repentant for grumbling.  I had food to eat, warm clothes, and a beautiful house to live in.  I resolved to put faith in God and to be thankful for the MANY things I had been given in my life.  Soon after that, Tommy got paid and even though it would completely WIPE out his pay check and then some, we still paid tithing.  I had to keep telling myself, "faith proceeds the miracle, faith proceeds the miracle." LOL  :)   Well a couple days after we paid it Tommy received a call from one of the higher ups of Chase Bank, where he works.  She said that she had an opening for a position and for some reason could just not get him out of her head.  She said that he had the particular skills that she needed and asked if he was interested.  This job would GREATLY increase our income.  Tommy was thrilled and said he was very interested.  A week later he was hired!  What a blessing!!!!  And we feel it is a particular blessing of paying a full tithe.  We will now have MORE than enough money.  I will just need to remember that other part to the hymn..."Because I have been given much, I TOO MUST GIVE!"  And that is definitely the plan.
Needless to say this Thanksgiving we had even more than usual to be thankful for.  We are so thankful for a loving Heavenly Father who is watching over us.  He blesses us everyday in more ways then we can imagine and this is just one of those BIG HUGE blessings too.  We are indeed a thankful family!

Because I Have Been Given Much

Fun in Tucson!

The last weekend of October was a lot of fun for our family.  Tommy's sister Heather and her family came all the way down from Montana to visit.  Noah had a BLAST with his cousin Sawyer who is just 8 months older than him.  They played all day and had a great time!  Sawyer has a real sweet smile and both boys were definitely smiling most of the time they played together.

Sawyer tried to show Noah how to use the potty like a big boy, but nevertheless my son although slightly more intrigued still has no interest in being potty trained.  Hopefully soon! We went to Tucson with them and the first night celebrated our niece Baylee's 14th birthday.  I met this girl when she was 5 years old and can't believe she is 14 already.  What a sweet, beautiful girl she is and always has been.  Time definitely flies by.
Here she is with Makenna!

At the party Tommy's brother Johnny and his family came over and Noah was able to play with his cousin Morgan as well.  She is around 22 months old and a sweet little cutie too. Look at her precious smile. I definitely have some good looking nieces and nephew! :)

Then that Saturday we celebrated the 60th Anniversary of Tommy's Grandparents.  I love his Grandparents, they are such great people.  And I especially love how they are still very much in love, flirt with each other, and tease each other after so many years of marriage.  I love it and hope to be the same way in 60 years with my hubby! See what I mean...

We all had a really great time and were sad for all of the fun to end! ;)  We were able to get a few other great pictures from the day.  Including just Tommy's parent's grandkids and all of the Starits' family.

Plus look at the super cute shot of my little man! He is so handsome.

I also love this one with Makenna and her great Grandma Mehringer.  So sweet!  It was a great weekend for sure!

Happy Halloween 2011!

We had a low key Halloween this year.  We were unable to attend our ward's Trunk or Treat this year because of some other family things going on so all we did was trick or treat on the 31st.  Tommy was feeling pretty sick and so I took the kids over to my moms.  Grandma and Makenna walked down her street with Noah and I and then Noah and I did a few more blocks on our own.  He was super cute.  He said, "Trick or Treat" and "Thank you" to every person.  It was funny because at first he was not sure what was going on and when the first person we went to, opened their front door he proceeded to let himself in.  I had to grab him real quick!  After that he caught on pretty quick to the trick or treating gig.  He loved looking at all of the other kids around and said hi to most of the people that crossed our path.  He was given many compliments about how beautiful, cute, and charming he was...he was one cute, scary pirate! :)  We decided to have him be a pirate this year because as you can tell from the picture below he can put on a dang good pirate face, "Arrr!"  After each house he would say, "Let's go to another persons house now."  It was cute.  Also, even though his candy bucket was getting heavy, he refused to let me hold it.  I think he was afraid I would eat some of his candy!  Which I already have of course! ;)

Makenna was cute in her ghost Halloween onesie and bow.  She had fun passing out candy with Grandma and Papa Timmons.  Or at least she was "passed out" while they passed out candy! I think she enjoyed her first Halloween. :)

I love my two little cuties!

My Little Man and Some Great Pics!

I decided I would write a little bit about my little guy because Makenna got her own little post and I figured I need to write more about him too.

He is 2 and 1/2 years old and makes me crazy and laugh pretty much every day!  I know he is mine, but that aside you cannot help but notice that Noah is extremely smart for his age.  He talks quite a bit more than other children his age and actually has since he was around 22 months.  I think it is because he has an excellent memory and does not forget anything.  This helps with his vocabulary, which is pretty extensive for a two year old.  He loves puzzles, coloring, and the movie Cars.  We decorated his big boy room with Cars and his bed is Cars.  He also loves Barney.  He is a bit stubborn, but super sweet too and we wouldn't have him any other way.

Here are some cute phrases that Noah has said recently:

• We live near a farming community and it occasionally smells strongly of manure. :)  One day in particular Tommy and I were commenting on the smell and Noah says, "Hmm it smells like cow farts out here."  Tommy and I busted out laughing.
• When Makenna still had her umbilical cord stub Noah noticed it for the first time when I was changing her and was astonished.  He had a concerned and grossed out look on his face and gasped, "Mama, somethings wrong with her pee pee."  Another thing that had me laughing!

He is such a fun little boy and I'm so glad he is mine!
We were lucky and extremely fortunate enough to have a lady in our ward take a few practice shots with her really nice camera.  The pictures turned out soo good!  I'm not sure she needs to practice anymore. She took the pictures of Noah above and here are a few of my favorites of Makenna:

Pumpkin Patch!

On October 22nd we decided to go to a pumpkin patch.  We ventured to the Tolmachoff Pumpkin Patch because it was a little closer to home. We arrived a little before noon, which happened to be when it was really hot outside. Definitely won't do that again, it was just a bit too hot!   We will be sure we get there first thing in the morning and are finished by noon next time.  Noah had a lot of fun though.  He was able to pet farm animals, play in dried corn, go down a slide made out of a trough, go through a corn maze, ride a train, and some other fun little things.  He definitely had a lot of fun.

It was interesting...he was scared to come close to the chickens, but did not hesitate to go up and feed a pony. Who knows? lol  He liked the little goats too.

His most favorite attraction was to climb little ladder steps up a small barn and then go down the trough slide.  There were a lot of kids in that and he loves to be around other kids, so it was right up his alley.  You could hear his loud laugh above the other kids.  He must take after him mommy, who is also known for her loud laugh! :)  Hopefully it won't get him in trouble in school as much as it got me!  Although I'm sure my sweet boy will never talk and laugh during class when he isn't supposed to, right? :)

Anyways, our first pumpkin patch was a lot of fun, if not a bit hot!  We decided to get a cheaper pumpkin somewhere else, but Noah had fun looking at the pumpkins.  We decided to put Noah on the train by himself, and he was fine until he could not see us anymore and then he started crying and crying for his mom.  So the lady pulling the train had to stop and she had him ride with her the rest of the ride.  Hopefully next year he will be brave enough to do it by himself! :) 

Makenna had fun too, she mostly just stayed in the stroller soaking up the hot sun.  All in all it was a pretty fun time!

Here are a few more picture of our day!

Mini Corn Maze

John Deere

 

The Newest Member of our Family: Makenna Rose Starits!

I  have decided to start my blog with a post about Makenna!  She is the most recent, amazing, thing that has happened to our family.  Being pregnant with my son Noah was a breeze compared to Makenna!  However, Noah was colicky and had acid reflux, which made him a difficult baby who cried A LOT!  And so far Makenna is one easy baby!  She loves to be left alone (which is great when I want to get things done, but sad when I want to cuddle). :)  Her pregnancy was more difficult than Noah's, with the hot, almost unbearable desert sun beating down on my voluptuousness (hee, hee) , swollen with water body.  Her pregnancy was more difficult with the severe lower back aches, and the continuous desire for sleep.  However, so far she is a wonderful baby and completely and totally worth every minute of the last few months of miserable pregnancy! ha ha 
My due date for Makenna was August 26th.  Her pregnancy seemed SO long because I had my son at 36 weeks and was told by my OB that the chances of that happening again or even SOONER were very likely.  So I thought I was going to have her WAY before she came which happened to make the last month even more treacherous. :)  I decided to put myself out of pregnancy misery and opted to be induced on Monday, August 22nd.  At 39 weeks and 3 days pregnant.  We were called into the hospital around 2:00 A.M. and were situated in our room by 4:00 A.M.  After my first round of labor inducing gel, Tommy and I went for a walk around the hospital.  Soon enough I was having pretty consistent contractions and things took off from there.  The contractions were painful, but seemed to be a lot worse with my son Noah.  When I was almost 7 cm dilated I was given an epidural and within minutes I was 10 cm dilated and ready to push.  Right before the doctor came in to deliver Makenna...my mom, Tommy, and I threw out guesses for how much she weighed.  Tommy and my mom both guessed around 7 pounds.  I guessed that she had to be at least 8 pounds because I had been carrying her around and knew she was much bigger than Noah ever was.  He was born 6 pounds 4 ounces.  Well when the baby was born the doctor and nurses commented on her size right away.  She was a nice, big baby! However I think all of our jaws dropped when she weighed in at 8 pounds 12 ounces. She was definitely a nice, big baby!   She was 19 1/2 inches long, just like her brother was when he was born.  (Well her brother went down to 17 1/2 inches after his massive 2 inch cone head went down! lol)  I remember thinking that she looked like a little Mexican baby! :).  As I was looking from my hospital bed and she was crying away, I couldn't help but think she looked a lot like my Grandma Medina, who is my Dad's mom.  It was funny because once she calmed down she immediately started rooting.  She was searching the air around her for food!  ha ha

They brought her to me to hold for the first time and tears filled my eyes.  She was perfect, she was FINALLY here, she was my daughter, and I already loved her so much.  She sure was chunky!  I loved it!  My second child and first daughter was born August 22, 2011 at 10:23 A.M.   My new little bundle of joy barely fit in her newborn diapers or clothes because she was so big.  She was still so tiny, but did not seem as fragile to me as Noah did.  It was very soon discovered how very STRONG she was.  It was  and still is a wrestling match changing her diapers and clothes.  I guess the kicks and punches hurt so bad when she was in my tummy for a reason, she can sure pack a punch! This girl is strong and that is one of the first things any body who holds her notices.  Most people think she looks more like me.  She is dark like me in complexion and hair, but her eyes still look blue at two months old, so we are excited to see what color they end up being.

When Noah first met her we had him sit by me in the hospital bed.  So he was snuggled next to me and then we both held Makenna, with her mostly on his lap.  He looked at her and with his small, two year old fingers, he very tenderally and softly touched her face and head while saying quietly, "Awe, awe."  Then he said with his small voice, "She's beautiful."  It was so tender and just about broke my heart it was so sweet.  I will have to remind him of the first time he met his sister when he is picking on her and pulling her hair in the future. :) Since bringing her home he is still very good with her, MOST of the time.  If Makenna is crying he is the first to let me know with the following sentences, " Makenna's crying mom!  I think you need to change her diaper."  It cracks me up every time.  He will sometimes say, "I think you need to feed her."  But almost ALWAYS if she is crying it's because...."You need to change her diaper mom."  I sure love Noah.
Makenna's first month was spent sleeping, sleeping, sleeping!

On her one month birthday we were holding our breath because that is when Noah began to cry non stop! But she remained a good, sleepy baby, only a little fussier in the evenings, but still an angel. It took her until she was a month old to smile at us while awake!! Apparently she did not find our silly faces and baby talk very amusing up until that point! lol  She also began to coo back at us during her first month.  She was 10 pounds 4 ounces at her one month check up and 21 1/2 inches long.  She is a super strong baby and has amazing neck strength. 

Her cheeks are cute, chubby, and kissable and we look forward to what her 2nd month of life will bring!

We all love you Makenna Rose!