Makayla's surgery

 Pre-surgery: She was amazingly happy despite having an empty tummy. (warning- a few quesy-ness causing pictures)

 She loved playing w/daddy the hour before her surgery.

 Right after her surgery.  They put tubes in her ears & fixed her cleft palate.  The blue string on her cheek is attached to her tongue.  It kept it out of the way during surgery & kept it from swelling up afterwards.  She had it on for 20 hrs.  She ate and slept so much better once they removed it.

 my "bed," not that I slept much.  She woke every 2 hrs in the night to eat an ounce.

 makayla's bed.  She slept alot and whimpered when she wasn't sleeping.

 Loves her cuddles w/her daddy.

 While the blue string was on, she had to wear these arm bands so she wouldn't accidently pull the string.

 I brought an old blanket because I didn't want a new one to get bloody & she liked me rubbing her head w/it more than my hand stroking her face.  The greenish thing is oxygen to blow by her face while she was sleeping.

 We just stayed over night one night in post-op.  A closet w/a glass door & communal bathroom.  I didn't see much of other patients/parents.

 My Grandma & Grandpa Call who are serving a mission in SLC came to visit & bring me dinner.  They took these pictures.

The day after she came home from the hospital she started smiling.  She still wakes a couple times in the night, and complains when she eats, but she is returning to her cheerful self.

Makayla at 6 months

 I wanted to get some "leaf pictures" like I did with the boys.  I love this first one, with her eyes wide open, and the focus & color is beautiful!  even unedited! though I wish she were smiling.

 flowers just add so much

 in the sun, mom!

 Looking at leaves

 Looking at brother (she looks alot like Michael!  I will have to take a picture of them wearing the same outfit & post a side-by-side.)

 why are you putting leaves on my head, brother?!

 Happy girl has her cleft palate surgery on Monday. Yes, she is still in her jammies.  she's less spitty as of 2 weeks ago & doesn't go through 4 outfits every day anymore.

 Another serious pose

 There were several "smiles" w/her eyes half open like this.

This is as close to a smile as we got with her eyes open.  I think I like the serious ones better from this photo shoot though.

She doesn't seem to like rice cereal.  I wonder if its the grainy up her nose, or maybe I don't make it thick enough?  She LOVES pumpkin & yams.  I'm not consistent at giving her solids.  She takes 5 bottles a day (4 breastmilk, 1 formula) and goes 10-12 hrs between her last feeding of the night & first one the next morning.  (I feel so lucky!!)  She loves laying on her tummy playing with toys, spinning around on her tummy, and is so frustrated she can't crawl forward.  (I wanted her to wait until after Christmas for crawling, but I dont' think we are going to make it.)  We haven't worked on sitting up yet.

OH, and as I was putting the camera away, I turned back to her & there were 2 grasshoppers on her head.  GROSS!  I shewed them away as fast as I could, thinking later that might have made a good picture. But I had to save my baby girl!

Halloween 2012

 I am on top of these-posting them today!  This is how the boys were dressed for the ward halloween party.  It was so much fun this year. Usually we just do a chili cook-off, but this year, there was a pumpkin decorating activity, a maze (that Rob was incharge of setting up w/the young men), and trunk-or-treating.

 These 2 pumpkins grew in our garden- and we didnt' even plant pumpkin seeds.

 oh, we had 3 pumpkins...this was our first.  Rob picked it a little green & it oranged up nicely.

 Christopher's decorated pumpkin from the halloween party.

 Christopher has to wear a patch for 3 hrs a day to make his eye stronger.  The eye dr said it should be good in 3 months.  After 1 month it should go from 20/80 to 20/40.

 Michael and his pumpkin from the halloween party.

 The boys getting ready to carve.  This pumpkin came from our neighbor's house.  They didn't plant pumpkins either!

 front

 back

 I went to a costume karaoke night at pizza pie cafe with one of my best friends from high school, Mary.  I sang "eye of the tiger."

 christopher doing a maze at his desk on halloween

 in the parade at school

 doesnt look so scary now :)  I got to help out w/his halloween party & it was so much fun!  I brought frosting & 4 containers was too many.  I had 1 chocolate, 2 that I dyed orange, and 1/2 that I dyed green (saving half white for whatever I needed).  I would have been fine w/3...and still had left overs.

 michael's friend (not pictured) threw a halloween party & it was so much fun! he wore the thomas costume to christopher's school that morning & decided it was too cumbersome, so he wanted to be batman.

 with his pumpkin

 Halloween night, ready to go trick-or-treating.  I didn't realize how excited he was for trick-or-treating.  He told me he wanted to go to "Yophie's house FIRST"  Luckily the Mannings live next door.  Michael RAN from house to house.  He would give dad the treat bag to carry (they fell out of the bucket, so we switched & had Christopher carry the bucket.) from house to house, and he would run ahead.  but, he'd have to run back cuz he didn't have the treat bag.  Christopher wasn't as energetic, but had a good time.  (i wonder if he couldn't see well, so he was more hesitant). Makayla and I went for the first 45 mins, then we headed home...she was getting heavy.  We handed out candy to 32 kids.

 Makayla was a teddy bear.

 So excited!

 The force is strong with this one.

 our pumpkins

 playing on the floor while mom handed out candy.

what 2 hrs of trick-or-treating will get you.  Filled up the big white bowl & half the black bucket.  The weather was awesome again this year-close to 60 degrees