5 Months and Quite Adventurous!!

Makena is 5 months old and just keeps getting more fun and cuter every day!!

Here are some five month pictures. She can sit up pretty well on the couch and is working on sitting up on her own on the floor. She can balance a lot better on the couch.

Makena loves to suck on her bottom lip. She sucks it way in her mouth.

She got a little wobbly after a while.

We went to Lagoon for Grandma Jensen's birthday. Here are Jenn and Jace. Jace has no fear on the rides!!

I have such a pretty mom! Happy Birthday!!

Sorry Sideways

Makena always has one foot up on the tray. She likes to "munch" on her binky now.

We had fun on the Ferris Wheel!

Grandma Willis came over and got to feed Makena some rice cereal. She was so good for her grandma! For us she slurps and splatters it all over and then puts her hands in her mouth full of cereal and it just gets everywhere! Ha! But she did awesome for her grandma!

Mike and Dot came and spent the night and we went hiking up in the Uintas with them. Makena got to try out her new carrier from Grandma and Grandpa Willis. She LOVED every minute of the hikes.

Makena is well known for her big curious eyes! I looked over at her and just saw one big eye watching me. 

Well, then it started to rain and then SNOW!! If you look closely you can see that it is most certainly snowing. I put her blanket over the top and we hurried down to the car.

She was a good sport about it all!

It was so exciting that she was out the second we got back into the car. :)

Here are some fun facts about Makena:

• She has rolled from her stomach to her back several times but it is very unpredictable. Sometimes she just screams and cries when on her stomach and then randomly she will coo and roll over. However, she loves when I play with her legs while she is on her tummy. She also loves when I put her arms in my hands and help her crawl around. 
• At four months she discovered her high pitch scream and would use that to communicate. Now she has discovered joy in grunting. She grunts all throughout the day. 
• She coos and laughs a lot more now which is so much fun!! Her little laugh is adorable!!
• She loves to suck in her bottom lip.
• She is very good at reaching out and grabbing things and putting them in her mouth.
• We started her on a couple tablespoons of rice cereal once a day. 
• We are starting her on peas today! :)
• She eats about 30 ounces of formula a day. Eats about every 4 hours.
• She goes to bed at about 8:30PM. We wake her and feed her at 10:00 and then she sleeps until 7-7:30 AM. She takes a two hour nap in the morning. Fusses a little half way through, but I've come up with a system of binky and her little singing mobile that calms her and gets her to sleep another hour. The rest of the day she sleeps 1-11/2 hours in between feedings. She will usually skip one nap later in the day or only sleep for about twenty minutes.
• She weighs about 16 pounds.
• She has been sleeping in her crib for about three weeks now. 
• We have cut her Zantac down to just once a day and she has been doing great!! 
• She is a joy to have. She makes our lives so much more fun! We love that little girl!!!

I haven't really posted about our move to Wyoming. It is so beautiful here!! We love it! Tyler started his teacher trainings last week and I interviewed for and got a part time para educator position at his school. So I will be working 3 hours a day. We have a fabulous neighbor who has offered to watch Makena while I work. It is a great opportunity for me to get into the system so I can hopefully pick up a full time teaching job next year. But I will love and enjoy this time when I get to be with Maken most of the day. :) I am so excited for that! 

Tyler will be teaching 3rd grade at Uinta Meadows Elementary. He has 16 kids in his class. 16!!!! That is it!!! They seem like a really great school. It's a lot different than our last school, but it seems really awesome. It is a lot for Tyler and so I am really happy that I can support and help him during his first year teaching. 

Our neighbors are so wonderful here!! We have felt so welcomed already!! Goodies and Makena gifts keep trickling over. It is very nice and the view from the large back deck is incredible!! We love it here in Evanston! :) Come Visit!! We have a spare room!! 

Oooo, I just found out I can post pictures from my phone. So here is our house. Sorry cars are in the way...

Here is the view from our back deck.

 Huge Kitchen that I LOVE!!

Within just a couple days treats were being brought over!

She is sporting the beanie our neighbor brought for her!

First Time Swimming!!

Makena went swimming for her very first time at Seven Peaks in Salt Lake. Here are some cute pictures...

First she started with a nice nap.

Then daddy got her up to eat.

  

After eating she put on her new swim suit.

And hat!

And into the water she went. We started with just a little water.

And then things got serious! Big time water!!

She never cried nor smiled. She mostly just looked confused. :) We had fun! 

Baby, jobs, moving

So much has happened since the last post so here it goes:

Makena is an absolute joy!! She developed a bad case of Acid Reflux and Colic. Poor thing! She has to take Zantac each morning and night and it seems to really help.
She has been smiling away and has even started laughing which is the most adorable thing I have ever heard!
She has already been on three camping trips, two of which were freezing cold at night, but she survived and loves looking at all the trees.
She is an excellent sleeper. Generally, we feed her at about 9:30 PM and put her down and she wakes up anywhere from 6-7:30 AM. Then we feed her and she goes back down for another couple hours. Thank you sweetheart!!!
She has just started eating every 4 hours during the day instead of 3. She has grown so fast and I think her little growth spurt is starting to slow down.
She has started grabbing things and bringing them to her mouth.
She loves sucking on her little hands.
She just had her 4 month check up about a week and a half early because we are changing insurance...more on that to come, and here are her stats: 24 inches long and 14 lb 13 oz.
Everyone comments on her big eyes and "all that hair".

She is an absolute delight. We love her so much and are so grateful to have her sweet little spirit in our family!!

And SURPRISE!! We are moving AGAIN!! This is what all went down. I talked to my school about the possibility of me team teaching with another teacher that just had a baby. We would alternate days and watch each others baby on the days we didn't teach. The school had said they would work that out for us. Well, we would of course take a pay cut of half our salary. My friend texted one morning saying that it wouldn't work out for them. I was so bummed!! Well, an hour later I was teaching my reading class when our head director walked in. I had my class continue reading on their own and went back to talk to her. She asked what is up with Wyoming... I was confused and she told me she had just gotten off the phone with a principal in Evanston, Wyoming and just gave an amazing reference for Tyler. She said that she told the principal that she was really tempted to lie to him, but that Tyler is an amazing teacher and she told him he is in the top 10 of all APA. What a compliment!!! She said she was so sad, but that if it is what is best for us then she is happy for us. :) She is amazing!!! I tried calling Tyler but he was of course teaching so I texted him. He got only part of my text and was confused and excited and frustrated that we couldn't talk. We did phone tag all day and finally talked after school. He was called in for an interview. The principal said that our director had given the best reference of any he has ever heard.
Well, Tyler went in to interview. There were 287 applicants and only 14 were called for an interview. Well, Tyler came back a little beat down because it was a very grueling interview. He said he was very impressed with the school but not sure if they would be as impressed with him since their school is almost completely opposite of our school. Well, they called back the next day and said they had it narrowed down to 4 people now for the 3rd grade position. They needed more time and would tell him after the weekend. Then he got a call on Tuesday and they said it was now between him and one other person and either one they felt would be a perfect fit. So they did another quick phone interview and then said they would call back within the hour. Ahhh!!! We were going a little crazy because Evanston is exactly where we wanted to go if we were to move to Wyoming. The pay is so much better in Wyoming for teachers and Evanston is still super close to family. And it isn't a tiny town. It is a decent size. So we were really hoping, but either way it was a great learning experience. Well, they called back and said he got the job!!! I am so proud of him!! He obviously really impressed them!!
So we are moving to Wyoming and I am going to take a year off teaching to be momma and then hopefully get a job for the 2014-15 school year. We are so excited! We love Evanston already!! And it is only 50 minutes from Park City!
Now we are just trying to figure out what to do with our house here and if we want to rent or buy in Evanston. So we have lots of decisions ahead. But we are very happy and excited!
Tyler will only have 16 kids in his class which will be amazing since he just had 32 6th graders!!!
Anyway, we are very excited for all that lies ahead!

Here are some pictures of cute Makena.

Week 6

Makena has had a lot of family visitors! Here is her sweet Aunt Jennifer and cousin Jace. Jace loves to look at and softly touch his little baby cousin. He giggles at her tiny toes and loves to feel her hair.

Makena loves to look at the blinds as light comes in through the cracks. She could look at that for hours! She also LOVES her play gym. She kicks her legs and swipes at the hanging toys with her hands.
It is super cute to watch how much she loves that thing!

I have been sitting with her in front of a mirror and having her look at her and my reflection. She has really seemed to enjoy that too. She likes to look at herself when I hold up a mirror.

 Makena has recently discovered her tongue! She is always playing with it, pulling it in and out of her mouth. It is super cute!

 Makena is an excellent eater and sleeper at night! She eats every 3 hours during the day and averages about 5 oz. About a week and a half ago we stopped waking her up every 3 hours to feed during the night and have just let her wake up on her own. At first she was quite happy waking every three hours, but then she went to a four hour stretch, then five, and now she has gone six hours twice! Even then she cries, we feed her, put her back down, and she sleeps another three to four hours! She has her night and days figured out pretty darn well. Her naps during the day are a little more rough, but has no problem just eating and sleeping through the night. We have been implementing a lot of the BabyWise schedule for feed, play, sleep, repeat, until night just feed and sleep. Also, trying to get a full feeding in each time she eats so she isn't just "snacking". She is a healthy little baby and doesn't cry very much at all. We are very grateful!

Tyler just finished his teaching portfolio and has applied for graduation!!! WOOOHOOO!!! So he is done with school...until he gets his Masters, but he is planning on waiting a couple years. He has really had to discipline himself to get it all done so fast. He has been extremely motivated and I am so proud of him!!!

We are planning on staying in Utah one more year and then we will try to get jobs in Wyoming, Alaska, or somewhere overseas. We love Utah and the four seasons and the mountains, but the teacher pay and retirement just isn't there, so if anyone has some good connections for us please let us know!! :)

I start teaching again May 6th. Tyler's sister Emily will be coming over to nanny until the end of the school year. I am thrilled about this!! Then we will have the summer to be together and she won't have to start daycare until August! :) Also, we found a daycare that is about a two minute drive from the school so we can go visit during our lunch break and pick her up right after school and go back to finish prepping for the next day. :) So things are working out. :)

We are so in love with our sweet little baby! Everything she does is adorable! Tyler is such a good father and has been completely smitten since the first few minutes of her life when she grabbed onto his finger with her sweet little hand. I am so grateful for the ability to feel love and to have these family relationships on Earth!