Matt & Karisa

Forget July, even August flew by! It's about September, and I'm just starting to post memories from July. Wowza--summer seems to pass so quickly. But I'm happy to say that we've had FUN reasons to fall behind on blogging. ;)

"This is not what I had anticipated."

During K week, we decorated a pretend kite. She was pretty sure that she was supposed to just hold the string and the construction paper kite would fly dutifully around the house. ;)

Life became radically more tolerable when Mommy put the "kite" on a stick. :)

For any of you who may have to do the plaster cast thing for an infant in the near future, we double-wrapped her (regular diaper under a swim diaper) to soak them off in order to keep the plaster from getting lodged in uncomfortable places.

We definitely started seeing motor development scooting right along. She's not so much a "sit still" kind of baby anymore. :)

I really have no idea what the face is about. You'd think she saw an alien coming out of the fridge or something...

A quick glimpse of those cute and chubby little legs!

This is for all of you who have wondered what Matt would look like in Dave's clothes. ;)

Matt's a good sport to help Dad mow whenever we're around, but we just never know when that will be, so it's not like Matt has extra clothes along. So he borrows Dad's. Neat.

Looks like she didn't quite finish her nap. ;) But she's ready to go for a quick swim before heading to the podiatrist for new casts.

Daddy was showing her this "really neat" watering can and started to dump some on her.

And she just submitted to it. So not my child. ;)

She's such a big girl!

4th of July

Friends and family came to hang out on this very hot 4th of July. Makenna was in casts, so we kept her in the shade as much as possible (she really hates to be kept inside when she knows everyone else is having fun outside).

"But, Grampa, look what they're doing over there."

She couldn't get in the pool because of her casts, but Grampa tried to oblige her as much as he could.

Baby Analise was over and was able to enjoy the pool with Mattaya. Mattaya LOVES to have company in the pool. :)

Everyone who walked into the room had to do a quick double-take! (or triple or quadruple...like, did Valerie forget to shave this year?!) ;)

Homemade Blizzards on the patio before games.

Waiting for Josh to come back from the neighbor's yard so we could start games.

After games, there were SMORES. Analise sensed the fun (or the chocolate) and decided to break her slumber to join us.

Loves, loves, LOVES to drum!

Loves, loves, LOVES to swing!

Last year we went to the playground EVERY DAY. This year, it has been difficult for me to find a time that they're both AWAKE and neither is in the middle of a meal! But Daddy has been good about trying to make it happen right before supper.

Who IS this?!

That's what I'm thinking, too. Matt took pictures of this boy at the playground who was jumping out of the swing repeatedly. Many pictures. No idea who this is. Oh, my husband.

Now THAT'S my kid! Check out that bedhead!

I was laughing at her and taking pictures. Mattaya was filled with compassion and while gently attempting to pat Makenna's hair down was saying, "It's okay, Kenna. There you go."

Mattaya loves to "hold" Makenna.

Makenna: "I have a bad feeling about this."

And for good reason, my Baby!

Yum! Carrots are like candy!

She has been using those heavy casts as counterweights as she rolls, so she now looks like she's doing cartwheels when she rolls around!

We hosted a benefit garage sale with a bunch of friends. GOOD TIMES! Mattaya was thrilled to play with all the toys that had been donated.

Makenna: "I'll take this."

She discovered that she likes lima beans. Mattaya discovered that she can pawn food off on Makenna. Hm.

Another quick dunk before having new casts put on.

(Anyone else feel like this casting bit has been going on FOREVER?)

Hanging out.

Analise: "Here's how you do it."

Makenna: "Looks like fun."

There were a few pairs of rollerblades for sale, so the boys took them for a spin.

These garage sale days were also beastly hot, so the kiddos hung out inside most of the time.

Analise took the trike for a spin. ;)

Yes, I DO know it's uncool to wear socks with sandals, but do YOU know that if the sandals hurt her feet she will just take them off? So socks with sandals it is! ;)

Lack of traction made it impossible to practice walking.

Showing off. Mattaya loved having so many friends around 2 weekends in a row. She very much came into her "look at me" stage.

Hangin' in the shade with Gamma Dooley.

Can you say, "Cumulonimbus"?

"Look what I did, Mommy!"

Came in after nap to find that she had removed a cast. Again. (Near her right elbow.)

She was pretty pleased with herself.

Getting the hang of the sippy cup.

Tasting a Garden Tomato Crunchie.

"Here, Mom, YOU eat it."

"I made a funny joke."

She LOVES the bath.

Wow. So I walk in after her nap to get her up and see shredded Kleenex EVERYWHERE (this picture was taken after a significant amount of cleaning had already been done). Initially I just walked back out, because it was too funny. After I had gathered some composure, I went back in and asked her what she had done. "I feed the ducks," she proudly declared. She proceeded to demonstrate how she had ripped up the Kleenex, and tossed it over the side of the bed to feed the ducks like at the zoo. Composure gone. Hand covering mouth. Trying SO hard to be serious so she knows to NEVER do this again. But so so so SO funny!

Hayden (our neighbor boy) turned 4 and invited Mattaya to the party. His pool is bigger and deeper. Fun! Notice she's a LITTLE tense. The water was much colder (we usually fill ours from the sink so it's not the almost frozen stuff from the hose). Mark (neighbor) plopped her right in, and she just froze. She didn't move. She didn't speak. She was just STUNNED. But she adapted after a couple minutes and LOVED it. :)

No pool for her, but she got to enjoy a swim shoe and some Cheerios on a beach towel. ;)

Matt's first attempt at tomatoes. They're more than twice that height now and have 3 fruit.

Our friend Angela (Analise's mom) is quite the baker and offered to come make donuts with Mattaya. It may LOOK like Mattaya is doing CPR on the dough, but she's really pushing down "leely hahd" (really hard) on the cookie cutter. ;)

The dough rose, then Angela deep-fried the donuts.

And dipped them in glaze! YUM

Men vacuuming the lawn.

Huge bummer. Mark and Mandy's glass patio table spontaneously shattered into a million pieces. Matt and Josh went over to try to help with the clean up.

Earlier we had gotten out all the balls so Analise could have a ball pit in her Pack N Play. Makenna got to have a taste of a mini ball pit in the laundry basket.

Fun!

One Sunday morning on the way out the door, I heard Matt yelp. I asked him what happened. He said, "I stubbed my toe. On this!" (and he stuck the cast around the corner for me to see). What a STINKER! We've been calling her The One-Cast Wonder because of her amazing ability to simply SHED a cast at will.

She was pretty excited about dropping the cast.

Mattaya was just happy that someone took a picture of HER for once. ;)

Diced pears for the first time.

"Take a picture Taya"

What we inevitably hear if we take a picture of Makenna.

"Hmmm, I'm not sure I care for this texture..."

"But I LOVE the flavor!"

Mmmmm, ice cream cone!

Mattaya: "Take a picture of me, take a picture of me!"

Makenna: "My sister is such a ham."

They both appear to be well-aware that Gramma is a crazy driver.

The party favor bag from Hayden's party had some tattoos. She was pretty proud of it. Seemed strange to see a dark crazy dinosaur on my sweet little girl. ;)

M is for mug. And McQueen, Minnie, Mickey Mouse, monkey...

And anything served in a mug is "coffee".

Daddy and Mattaya planted a "garden" in the sandbox.

"Now THIS is something I can sink my teeth into."

Enjoying a biter biscuit.

"Hmmm, what are these things?"
(Introducing diced apples.)

"Kind of squishy."

"I'm not sure I like this!"

"Eh, whatever. It's food. Give me some more!"

Introducing the bat and ball. Quickly became golf.

And then sword-fighting? Or wood-chopping?

"Bring it on. Whatever it is, I can take it."

(introducing a meat...chicken, I think)

"I'm a little nervous!"

"Ewwwwww!"

"Let's do it again."

"Oh yuck. It really is gross."

"I'm a big girl. I can swallow it down."

We could tell she didn't really like it, but she also didn't refuse it. So she had a few bites, but we didn't make her eat the whole thing.

Trying to pull up. Tricky with casts.

Diced peaches. She eats by the handful no matter what the food is. Any idea where she got that, Grampa Dave and Uncle Luke? ;)

"I have this feeling like something is on top of me."

skirt --> bear walk

"Do I look tired to you?"

Peeking

Pouty face

Just wanted to stand.

Free at last from the wretched casts!

Makenna: "I have no idea who this goon is, I swear."

Her "bye-bye" wave is the same limp-handed "wave" Mattaya had. ;)

The cast collection

In 8 weeks, she shed 5 casts.

We took Mattaya to the state fair parade (Gramma kept Makenna). The highlight for Mattaya was not the candy nor the floats. No, it was the dog named Henry who we sat near us (no, we didn't know the owners until our daughter's behavior necessitated an introduction...they were super nice...and so was Henry).

Thankfully, our friend Hudson came to enjoy the parade which helped distract Mattaya from the dog!

She's sooooo not a fan of loud noises. Which made much of the parade seem traumatic until she learned to plug her own ears.

And plugged they were! Often.

Hudon liked Mattaya's snack. ;)

Makenna was going to take a quick bath at Gramma's before heading home. This is not "the usual". Usually only Mattaya gets a bath at Gramma's. This was a slight rupture in Mattaya's expectations which led to their FIRST bath together!

Makenna: "Why is this person in the bath with me?"

Makenna: *scream*

I scream...

Mattaya: *scream*

You scream...

We both scream for...bath time?

Mattaya didn't have a clean shirt along (because I was not planning on her taking a bath, of course), so I tried my hand at fashioning a shirt out of a dishtowel. Meh.

Pretty typical "you-want-me-to-sit-but-I'm-just-going-to-go-ahead-and-start-crawling-away-now" pose.

"Haveen fesset agevah"

Translation: "Having breakfast together."

Mattaya loves to share meals WITH someone. Even if it's just her Baby Big Bear. She goes about cooking and serving the meal so sweetly. She goes through the motions of eating and stops every so often to help Bear eat. Too cute.

"Bing meshage fum da lohd."

Usually, Daddy is the camel, and Mattaya is Jonah bringing a "message from the Lord". Daddy wasn't home. So Mattaya is the camel, and Bear is Jonah. ;)

So we bought a tee to help with the ball and bat concept. ;)

"Was that right?"

N is for nine, noodle, and night.

So unfortunate that I didn't realize the nine was backward until AFTER she had glued the noodles on it. *sigh*

Yes. I know. Pitiful. She has a pool, but she's back in the rubbermaid. The thing is that it's a Herculean effort for me to haul out the pool and get it filled. And that takes time. Impromptu is much more doable with a rubbermaid. And SHE LIKES IT.

"What did you just put in my mouth?"

(pretty sure this is beef)

"Mommy, there's something yucky in my mouth."

"Whoop, I think it's coming back up..."

Another bite...

"It's in there..."

Here's the Dennis Brown Bar that Makenna wears at night now that she's finished with the serial casting. Each shoe is fixed to the bar at a specific angle prescribed by her podiatrist.

"Now how do I escape this?"

She has only escaped twice so far. ;)

She took to it just fine, really. Nothing like the horror stories we had heard. She cried the first 2 times we put it on, but Matt let her crawl around in it for a while, and once she figured out how to move around with it on, she was just fine. I guess some kids struggle to sleep with it on, but it has actually HELPED Makenna, because it keeps her from climbing around or getting her legs stuck between the bars of her crib and such. HOWEVER, now she HAS figured out how to get stood up in her crib even with the brace on. Go figure. And she does occasionally wake up because she's gotten herself tangled into some odd configuration she can't seem to wriggle out of (literally, like her feet are up by her head, or she's lodged in a corner mid-roll). Overall, though, she's not had a bad time of it at all. And we were just in last Friday to check her progress with the doctor, and he was AMAZED at the amount of progress in just a month of wearing the bar! PRAISE GOD! We'll check back with him in 2 months...