A quick trip to Pismo

Chad's family had planned a family camping trip to Pismo from Thursday the 17th until the Tuesday the 23rd. Because of Chad's birthday, we decided to only go for a couple days so we could celebrate his birthday with our friends. We left after lunch and Hill (Chad's sister) and her friend Jamie went with us. Makenna slept through most part of the trip and we sang the entire way there.
It was cold there, but it was nice and quite a relief considering how hot it was in Fresno. Chad, Makenna and I went for a little walk to the beach and all we really saw were cars coming out of the beach (we were in Oceano). We didn't go on the sand or anything, it was just a walk!
Then we went back and had dinner by the fire. Makenna ate on her stroller and everybody was impressed and commented on what a good girl she is. She was just sitting there watching everybody, chewing on her grapes. She didn't cry once that night :) Everybody wanted to hold her and she was easily entertained by Jane's sweatshirt cord!
Hanging out with Meemaw after dinnerMrs. Jane had her turn tooPlaying with her sweatshirt cord (and I love the look in her eyes in thi spicture)
We had smores after dinner and sat by the fire after it got dark playing Loaded Questions. It was so much fun.
Chad making me a smoreCamden enjoying his
Sleeping wasn't the best. We forgot to bring a pack n' play, so Makenna slept with us on a very hard and pretty small bed inside a RV! But we survived!
Snoozing with daddy before getting up(Chad is touching the wall and Makenna is on the very edge. That's how big our bed was!!)
We had a big Father's Days breakfast of eggs, potatoes, bacon, sausage, biscuit and fruit and got our stuff ready and packed back in the car. Mom and Joey were leaving in the morning to go back to Fresno. We decided to go to Avila with Kari and her crew. Hill and Jamie decided to stay with us and enjoy the day :) Before leaving we went to play at the campsite's playground.
Now with daddyGoing for a walk on daddy's shouldresAnd she wanted to make sure she wouldn't fall
This was Makenna's first time at the beach. We let her crawl from the blanket to the sand and put sand in her mouth. It was so cute and so funny. She seem to enjoy playing with the sand but not so much when it ended up in her mouth!
After the beach we went to San Luis Obispo to have lunch and do a little bit of shopping before getting back on the road. We played our own version of Pyramid to keep us from falling asleep on the way back. It was a great day and we had so much fun, but we sure were glad to be back home. Makenna was in the best mood ever when we got home and so excited. I think she was glad to be home as well.

Baby proofing

Chad and I knew from day one that we wouldn't "baby proof" our house. We believe in letting her explore, keeping a close eye and letting her learn from her mistakes. Well, she is too young to understand and stop doing what she is doing when we tell her "no." That lead us to some baby proofing: not leaving shoes lying on the floor (because she will put them in her mouth), keeping doors closed (because she will explore), keeping the toilet lid closed (just in case we forget that door open), trying to vacuum every other day (so she eats only a descent amount of dog hair), and, now, keeping the dog's food and water bowls outside.

"Oooh, what is this?"
"It tastes like nothing, it must be for playing"
Splash splash
"Let me bring it a little closer"
"Oh, hi mommy!"

Chad's birthday

We went to Trelio with some of our best friends to celebrate Chad's 28th birthday. It was so much fun and it was sad when people had to go home because we wanted to "party" all night long!

"I'm thinking, I'm thinking..."Chad's dad and us (he drove us)Can you feel the love?The line up

9 months already?

Makenna is 9 months old today. I cannot believe it. How did it happen? It seems it just yesterday I held her in my arms for the first time and cried uncontrollably at the sight of my beautiful baby. It seems it was just yesterday I was changing her first diaper and wondering if she was going to scream like that every single time I changed her diaper. It seems it was just yesterday she gave me her first smile, that Tuesday morning right before I left to go to Mops. It seems it was just yesterday she rolled over on the family room floor while I cheered her on... Now she's crawling everywhere, pulling herself up on everything, and waving hi and smiling at everybody.

I wanted to register some of the things she's been doing lately, so later in life I don't forget when it happened... She started to pull her legs with her arms (kinda like an army crawl) right after she turned 8 months. A couple days later later she was crawling and fast and about week after that she started pulling herself up. That same week she learned to go to a sited position from crawling. She likes to pulls everything from the furniture to the floor so she can play with it. Last Friday, the 12th, we were sitting at the gym with Natalie when I saw her wave for the first time. She hasn't stopped ever since. She also started to eat by herself. She loves using her little fingers to put food (and everything she can find for that matter) in her mouth. Last week she moved into a big girl carseat and I think she likes it because she can see out the window.

On the negative side, girlfriend has been waking up at 5:30 am. We bring her to bed with us and she goes back to sleep. I'm hoping some blackout shades will help that (once I get it!)

Today I saw her doing "wawa" on her own.

Play date

We are so excited that our friend Jill is in town visiting. It give us a chance to hang out and catch up. It also gave Makenna a chance to have a play date. We got together with Jill last Friday at her mom's house and just let the kids play on the floor. Makenna was trying to teach Carson how to crawl. McKay and Bryce were excited to have a boy to play rough with. They were jumping and attacking Chad. And I'm sure Chad was also very excited to play with boys and not just a girl, who's too young to play rough!

"Are you sure this is ok mom? He's touching my feet!"
"Let me investigate this place a little bit"
Hey, no kisses. You two are too young.
"Hey, leave my eye on my face, please"
"No, I want it... Ok, we can share"
Chad playing rough with the older boys
Bryce had his turn
And so did McKay
"Wait daddy, I want to play rough too"
"My turn daddy, do something"
"Woohoooo"
"You are a baby, and a girl. Aaaaaaaargh"
"Makenna, you need you bow, and your binkie"
Time to relax after all that playing

Another baby to love

This is my friend Laura. I love her. Laura is an incredible woman. She is beautiful, brave, strong, honest, a great friend. I met Laura when I walked in her house! Chad and I joined a Life Group about a year ago and they met at Laura and Josh's house. She was so sweet and so welcoming. I love talking to Laura because she always has thousands of questions and we always end up laughing. She is an incredible mother. She is so laid back and her kids are so much fun. (I'm pretty sure God gave her some superwoman powers that she hasn't shared with us yet.)

On Tuesday Laura was induced to have her 5th baby and 1st boy. She was kind enough to let me go to the hospital while she was in labor (after she got the epidural) and we had a chance to chat a little bit. It looked like things were going pretty slow at that point. But at 7:40 PM they welcomed baby Joel Robert into this world. I'm so proud of Laura and so excited for her. She has some pictures on her blog and he looks so cute (and trust me, I would not say that if I didn't think so). I can't wait to see the little man.