Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day! Makaela loves her Daddy something fierce, and rightly so. He's the greatest.

He makes everything more fun. Makaela laughs harder, smiles bigger and loves deeper because of this guy right here.

Nothing makes my heart happier than when I see these two together. Whether they are having a sing-a-long in the car, sharing pancakes, or playing soccer - every moment is cherished.

Father's Day 2014

My how someone has grown.

Father's Day 2013

I don't say it enough, but thank you for being you Tim. Thank you for always loving me and your baby girl. I love you.

Flight School Family Day

We've had both sides of the family in town on and off for the past week. It's been go, go, go but we've gotten to do many fun things and Makaela ate up all the extra lovin'.

Tim's family came into town first and got to be part of Family Day for Flight School. They even surprised Tim by bringing his Nana! It was wonderful to have her here to be part of such a big day.

This was back on March 14th when we got to go to the Stagefield and watch Tim fly! It was SO cool and surreal. I think it finally hit me that he is a REAL pilot.

I made Mak a puffy-paint shirt for the special occasion that said "My Daddy Can Fly!" and on the back I stuck a camo helicopter that I cut out. 

She was pretty stylish.

We spent the entire afternoon watching Tim take off, land, hover, autorotate and even got to listen to him call in over the radio from the flight tower (I'm sure I'm not using the proper lingo, haha). I put a bunch of videos at the bottom of this post for anyone who is interested!

Also, my camera battery was dead and the charger was no where to be found, so I only got some pictures on my phone. Tim's sister took a ton on her awesome camera, so as soon as we get those I'll add them to this post :)

The weather was absolutely perfect. Mak just became comfortable walking outside on cement and grass, and totally took it to the next level and was running around all over the place watching the helicopters. She ventured off on her own all day. See ya later mom. 

She stopped occasionally for a snack...

And to watch the 'copters with her cousin and her papa...

I wondered if the noise would bother her or if all the activity would scare her, but not at all! She loved pointing at the helicopters (cutest thing EVER), saying "vroom!" and following them along the fence.

It was a great weekend with family... filled with lots of delicious meals. laughs, and even a few birthday presents for baby Makaela :)

Daddy's Girl

I mean...does it get any cuter than that? These two have an unbreakable bond; the can't-wipe-that-smile-off-your-face, makes your heart feel like it might explode kind of bond.

Pictures like these deserve their own post, so they don't get swallowed up by my ramblings :) I love these two punks, and that is all. 

Reunited and it feels so good!

Daddy is finally home!!

It comes with the territory...the hubs is occasionally away from home for periods of time due to training. This summer he was gone for 5 weeks...in fact he had to leave the day the movers arrived with our stuff...great timing right? During those 5 weeks we were able to see him every Sunday for about an hour and half, and we got to talk to him on the phone 4 times. We looked forward to each of those moments. 

The training that he just returned from was 3 weeks and we could not see or speak to him at all :(

Fortunately, now that we live closer to family I had visitors to keep me company and help with little miss Makaela for a little bit each time Tim was gone. Although it always sucks being away from the hubby, it is nothing new and we try to stay as positive about it as possible! Keeping busy is key, I've found. 

I loved having my family come visit. My parents always cook yummy meals for me....like SUPER yummy. And of course I LOVE hanging with my little brother. He is the sweetest guy ever. He totally stepped into the role of "man of the house" while Tim was away. He helped with Makaela, took out the garbage, helped unpack (this summer) and helped keep things clean around the house. Best helper ever. 

Whenever Z comes to visit we are sure to make fun our priority. There is always a lot of ice cream eating, cookie baking and scarfing down of pizza....

The dogs adore him. The little fur balls crave attention and Z loves giving it to them. This summer poor little Taylor puppy actually got sick and threw up when Z left. Someone needs a lil doggy xanax..

One of our favorite things to do also included bowling. We always have fun doing this as a family....Grandma won of course. She does this little butt wiggle thing that cracks us all up. The first time we went this summer Grandpa kept baby Makaela entertained. And of course in pure Grandpa fashion, we went around and "showed her off" too all of the bowling center employees. 

This past time my mom came down and brought Z at the beginning of his Thanksgiving break. She stayed for a few days but then had to go back to work. My dad came down the last part of Z's break to hang with us and take Z back home. It sucked that my mom and dad's work schedule's didn't overlap, but it was great having Z here for his entire Thanksgiving break. 

Again we went bowling. I wore Makaela for 1.5 of the 3 games we played, and even managed to break 100 while doing so, hahah. 

I love bowlin' with my homies. 

We also made it to the Drive-In which is a blast. It's really neat having one close by!!

Z and I managed to squeeze in some serious tennis playing this past time too. You won't be seeing either of us at Wimbeldon but we had tons-o-fun, and Makaela enjoyed being outside. 

She was our official referee, however, we did catch her sleeping on the job a time or two....

It was a little chilly one day, hence the crazy outfit above. I didn't think the girl would need a coat in 'bama!

Makaela and Z are buds. She keeps her eyes locked on him at all times, and he gets a kick out of it. It is crazy to see how much she has changed in between visits from the fam!

Summer 2013

Fall 2013

 Thank you to all of my family and friends for always supporting us, especially when Timbo is away. We love you!!

Happy Veteran's Day!

Happy Veteran's Day to all those who have served or are currently serving. Our service women and men make the ultimate commitment and I am forever thankful for their courage and bravery.

They often miss out on special moments with family and friends....some miss the birth of their child, or spend an important birthday deployed to a foreign country... the list goes on. The fact that they so selflessly do so, often risking their lives, to protect our freedom is beyond admirable. Veterans are heroes.

I'm lucky enough to be married to a veteran.

He is strong and brave and he takes it all on while being the most amazing daddy a lil girl could ask for.  A real hero.

I'm so grateful for the life that we have. Thank you again to all the veterans out there. We love ya!

First time being sick

I was pretty excited by the fact that Makaela had never been sick, especially since we don't keep her in a bubble. I should have known it would only last so long though, and naturally she started to get sick the day before our Michigan trip....and was pretty much sick on and off again for all of October. Happy 6 months baby girl!

She had a runny nose and slight cough for most of the trip but never spiked a fever. Thankfully, my friend had an awesome Vapor Plug-In that helped baby M get some good sleep while we were there. I was obsessed with this thing, and ran out and bought something similar when we got home.

Once we got home she returned to normal for a few days then all of a sudden spiked a fever. The palms of her hands, her feet and her head were seriously on fire. All the poor girl wanted to do was snuggle.

Daddy was practically tethered to the couch because she was only comfortable sleeping on him like this. Fortunately, she never developed any symptoms other than the fever, but look how pathetically sad she looked....

She really wasn't whiny during this spell of sickness, she just wanted to be held and nurse all the time. Our routine during the 48 hours that she had the fever was pretty much to give her Pediacare every 4-6 hours as needed, keeping Vick's Baby Rub on her chest (even though she wasn't congested the scent seemed to soothe her) and keeping the Vaporizer plugged in. 

It was sad to see her so miserable, but we enjoyed all the snuggles. We are so thankful we were able to put things on pause and just love on this little lady for a couple days. 

Daddy Daughter Day and Mama's Big Night Out

Last weekend Tim surprised me with tickets to the KENNY CHESNEY concert at Century Link Field.  Him and his friend Carson coordinated the whole thing. Carson and his wife have a brand new baby, so the guys thought it would be nice for them to be on baby-duty and give us mamas a night out! Oh and did I mention they got us limo service?!? Well done fellas, well done. Any time I can go downtown and not have to worry about traffic OR parking is a winning situation... and the fact that we could drink margaritas on the ride up there...come on now - perfection.

The guys stayed at Carson's with the little ladies. We left at 4PM and as we were pulling away Tim frantically chased after the car and Charles, the driver, goes "uhh oh." LOL. Tim had a look of absolute panic on his face...

Tim: "Where is her binky?!??"
Me: "Hanging from her carseat cover..."
Tim: "Oh okay. That would have been bad. Have fun!!"

We had an amazing time at the concert. We enjoyed $10.50 beers, pizza, garlic fries and Beecher's mac and cheese. Yep, we had appetites. We moved seats in between each act and ended up pretty darn close!

Nevermind the fact that the people behind us spilled beer on us multiple times and the girl in front of us kept lifting her dress....it beat the creepy couple we were behind before (the lady kept stroking her husband's greasy, stringy long hair that was trying to cover his balding head).

The guys reportedly had a good time too! They exchanged birth stories (oh dear...) had a bonfire and I received this photo update.

Makae was sleeping when I got back to Carson's which was about 1045. Tim said she finished a bottle at about 900. She slept the whole ride home and then continued to sleep until I awoke her at 300 am. The guys sure did do something right!!! I asked Tim if he drugged her or dipped her pacifier in alcohol. I was seriously concerned, but apparently fresh air and bonfire fumes do the trick!! Daddy/daughter time for the win.

This video was taken the following day, but I just had to share more Daddy/Daughter time <3

Let me pencil you in

Makaela had a busy, fun filled day on Friday. The girl's social calendar is hot.

She got to go to work with Daddy for a few hours while Mommy went into the office. Just picture a bunch of grown men in camo swooning over the little girl. I know right? My heart melted too.

According to Tim's report she was a VERY good girl. I didn't have any doubts! That's a lie. I was a little worried.

After I picked her up we went on a Starbucks coffee date. Just mommy and daughter.  We had some time to kill before her next "activity" and I needed a lemon cake pop in my life.

After Starbucks we headed over to her 4pm photo shoot appointment. A local photographer who is working on establishing her business was doing eff-argh-ee-ee FREE 20 minute photo sessions. If you like the photos after she works her editing magic on them you can purchase prints from her website for darn cheap. Once they are available I'll be sure to share the link. 

It was a lot of fun and the photographer kept boosting my ego by saying what a doll baby Mak is. Here's a couple photos that I took while we were waiting for our turn.

The girl's a ham. Love her. 

....and a video because sometimes pictures just aren't enough.

Back to work...

Back to school  work, back to school  work...

After 30 days off that flew by, it's daddy's first day back at work. Noooooo!!!

In true Rocky fashion, he thinks he's the man of the house and primary caretaker. The dog has no faith in my parenting skills.

No joke, if Makaela starts fussing and I'm not tending to her within 4 seconds Rocky takes matters into his own hands  paws. And by that I mean I have caught him kissing (read: sticking his tongue down her throat) countless times this morning. To give him some credit, he has also pawed some of her animated toys to make them light up and sing for her. Thanks bud.

Taylor has stayed true to herself...

There's nothing sweeter...

There's nothing sweeter than....

Your baby girl staring into your eyes

Your baby girl gripping your finger with her little hand

Your baby girl reaching out in her sleep just to make sure you're still snuggling her

Your baby girl delicately petting your chest while she tries to fall asleep

Your baby girl nestled on her daddy's chest with her arms wrapped around him

Such an innocent little peanut, comforted by our love. It makes our hearts melt. You can see it when you look into her eyes that she trusts we will always take care of her, and she's right.

Mommy and Daddy love you today and everyday Makaela. You are breathtaking and our life is more beautiful with you in it.

Daddy-to-be

See that guy there on the right? He's going to be a great dad. 

I can't wait to see him with his little girl.

I couldn't ask for a better husband and friend to take this journey with.

Love you.