8 months old

Miss Makayla turned 8 months yesterday. Its gone fast. I knew it would. It went fast with Aiden and time is going even faster with Makayla. So what is Miss Makayla up to these days you ask? Well here's a small list to satisfy you curious readers.
-She is so very close to crawling. She can get up on all fours but she can't figure out how to move forward. She rocks back and forth and then scoots backwards.
-As of yesterday she can now get herself into a sitting position from her tummy.
-As of Saturday she started feeding herself puffs. I'm really excited about this because it keeps her more entertained at the dinner table and another few weeks and I'll be able to give her some table food.
-She sleeps all night (generally) from 8pm to 6am. She likes to eat at 6am and then go back to sleep until around 8am. Although this morning she slept til almost 9am.
-She loves to squeal and can reach pitches I didn't know were possible.
-Makayla absolutely loves her brother (Aiden is a bit taken with Makayla as well). She LOVES it when he jumps up and down to make her laugh. And to my surprise she thinks its funny when Aiden gives her a crushing hug, clobbering her over and making a Makayla sandwich between the floor and himself.
-Makayla plays really well with toys. Unless she's tired or hungry I can plop her down in the middle of a bunch of toys and she can keep herself entertained for quite a while.
-She enjoys riding in a stroller, whether it be shopping or jogging. She likes to look around and take everything in.
-She is in love with her daddy, giggling when he walks in the room.
-She has one tooth and the second looks like it will be through today or tomorrow.

Makayla is a joy to us. We thank God for both of our children everyday.

Grandma Seifert

This past week was a difficult one for us. We spent last weekend in Chicago with Kreg's oldest brother Kent. We had a great time with Kent, which included a trip to Ikea for me, Kreg finally purchasing his birthday present (a wireless ear piece for his phone. note: his birthday was in July), a visit with another one of Kreg's brother's (Kristopher), a nap, and a trip downtown Chicago to visit my beautiful and most lovely college roommate Miss Heather. It was a great Saturday. However, upon arriving back at Kent's house after our downtown Chicago excursion we got a phone call that Grandma Seifert (Kreg's mom's mom) had peacefully passed away in her sleep that day. We were all shaken and not expecting such news.

Yes, she was almost 91 years old but when we went to Pennsylvania and visited her , just last month, her worst problem seemed to be the annoying arthritis she had in her hip. (God has our days numbered, doesn't He.) She was a lovely woman and I am glad I got to know her. I am so so very thankful we took a trip east this summer...and so recently too. God is good. I will always cherish the pictures I have of Grandma holding my children, especially the pictures of her with Makayla, her great granddaugther. And she LOVED holding Makayla. She would just sit and giggle the whole time.

I can still hear the giggle. God's timing is just perfect. A week before she passed she got to hold her other two great grandchildren, as Kreg's brother Kevin and Jessica took a trip out to see them. And grandma was feeling so good they even took her to church for the first time in years. How awesome that the Sunday before she was face to face with Jesus she got to worship with the body of Christ one more time. Gives me chills just thinking about it.

So Wednesday night my mom arrived to stay with our kids and Kreg and I and two of his brothers left for eastern Pennsylvania at 9:40pm. (His other brothers and wives were a few hours ahead of us) We drove through the night, arriving at 8:15am and tired as we were on Thursday it was a joy that we could be there. We wouldn't have had it any other way. Kreg's mom said how humbled grandma would have been to have all of her grandchildren there to celebrate her life. And as hard as it was to say goodbye to grandma it was definitely a celebration as well. Because she is in the presence of Jesus. And she lived her life for the Lord. At her funeral so many described her as a prayer warrior. When she would tell her grandson's she was praying for them they knew she truly was. She had a list and everyday (ever since Kreg's mom Darlene could remember) she would go before the Father in prayer each morning and pray, pray, and pray. What an example she was to all of us. We will all miss her but thankfully we live with hope and assurance. Hope that we will see her again in Heaven and assurance that we know she is with the Lord now. Thank you God for the peace of eternal life.
This is a picture of Grandpa and Grandma taken just last week. Grandma is holding my nephew James. What breaks our hearts is how much Grandpa is missing his wife of 62 years. You can just see the love in his eyes for his lovely bride.

We got back from Pennsylvania early last evening. And for just a moment I have to brag about my mother. It was hard for me to leave Makayla, seeing as I had only ever been away from her for 4 hrs or so. But knowing my kiddos were with my mom was the best reassurance I could have. When we returned last night the kids were fed, bathed, and ready for bed. Dinner was in the crock pot. Fruit in the frig. And an apple pie on the stove!! The house was clean and picked up. And even my bathroom rug was washed and clean! There were some new clothes for the kids for this fall and even a new toy for each of them. What a mother I have! When I called her and told her we needed to go to Pennsylvania and didn't think the kids could do a 48 trip like that there was no hesitation on her end to keep our kids. And she was even willing to take two days out of her busy schedule and stay up here at our house. Yes I definitely think I needed to brag just a little.

It won't be long now...

Nope, it won't be long until this little one is crawling. Not only is she pushing herself up, she is scooting backwards. The poor thing gets so frustrated when the toys are right in front of her and she moves farther away.

Some people say "uh oh you're gonna be in for it when they start crawling." I disagree. I loved it when Aiden started crawling because he could entertain himself for a while, with no help from mommy. And Makayla will be much happier when she can crawl. Not only will the toys no longer get farther away from her when she moves but she will be able to crawl over to her brother...and bug him! (something I can tell she desperately wants to do)

Finally.....

Finally...Aiden, Makayla, and I are over the colds we came down with LAST monday. Way too long to be battling a cold.
Finally...Makayla went down for her afternoon nap today with no tears. For some reason this week she decided she no longer wanted to nap so all week I have listened to her scream and pretty much had no breaks since several days I didn't get her to sleep until Aiden woke up. But I've been working with her, using a bit of tough love and a few new ideas I tried today, and "ta-da" both kids asleep right now and no tears....FINALLY!
And Finally...I am getting around to posting again. Its been a long couple of weeks. We've had some fun times the past couple weeks but we were battling some pretty nasty colds and with Makayla's whole nap issues we've had some rough days. Thus I have not felt like posting (to be honest) and have had no time.

So let me see if I can catch you all up on the past couple weeks:
Last Tuesday Aiden got to go for his first airplane ride. Kreg's family has a small 4 seater airplane. So Kreg, his dad, and Aiden flew over to Decator, Illinois for the Farm Progress Show. Aiden loved it! So here he is in the backseat of the plane with Kreg's dad, Tim, and then checking out the cow with HUGE horns, the mini combine, and by the end of the day out cold!





Then over Labor Day weekend we went down to my parents house to visit with my grandparents, visiting us all the way from Washington State. It was so good to see my grandparents again. I miss them and really wish they lived closer. We played some great games of Yatzee (my first time actually), sat around and watched the kids play, and ate lots of really good food (thanks again Mom!). Saturday we also took a little mini trip down to Brown County, IN where Kreg's family and close family friends were vacationing for the weekend. It was nice that it worked out for us to be both places over the weekend.
So here's a few pics:
Me and my baby girl

A Family photo

My Grandparents with Aiden and Makayla, and their cousins Luke and Rachel. Obviously the kids were not excited about this picture. Look closely and you'll see Makayla is trying to squirm her way out of grandpa's arms.

And Four Generations


Over the past two weeks Makayla has also finally mastered the art of sitting up by herself. She LOVES to sit up and play with her brother now. I also noticed today that her first tooth is breaking through. I know what you're thinking...duh Stacey maybe that's why she hasn't been napping well. And you're right. It very well may be (I really did not think she was getting any teeth yet). But I also think she's just been starting to explore her independence and see how far mommy will let her push the envelope. i.e. She's starting to throw little fits if she has a toy taken away from her or we don't let her put something in her mouth. I do not think it will be long until she is crawling either. Just this week she figured out how to scoot backwards and today I saw her push up on her knees for the first time. She really really wants to be mobile so we'll see what happens over the next few weeks.

And Aiden continues to amaze me with his vocabulary. He understands so much. Its fun to talk with him. He has turned into quite the movie buff lately. If I'd let him I fear he would sit in front of the tv all day (don't worry I don't). He is very into counting things and his new thing is bargaining. He doesn't quite understand how it works but we're ok with that. For example, we say "Aiden you need to eat 1 more strawberry and then you can be done with dinner." And he will reply "No three, I only want to eat three." OK Aiden have it your way. Three it is. :) He's at a fun age. He also loves to play baseball right now. I'm invisioning T-ball in just a few short years. And of course any day Aiden gets to help daddy on the farm is a fantastic day in his eyes. We are just a couple weeks out from harvest so Aiden will really get his fill of tractors then.
I think that should pretty much catch you up. Below are a few random pics of the kiddos. The first one is Aiden and Kreg in front of the sprayer and water truck.

One of Makayla's favorite pass times is eating her feet. (Lori this picture is for you.) It is often a race when we are feeding her food to see if we can get the spoon in her mouth before all 5 toes get in.

And lastly a cute picture of my kids together. This is Makayla's "straight line smile." I love this smile. I can hardly get enough of it.


Sorry for such a long post. Hope you enjoyed it. I will try and do better at updating more often.