*Smiley Makayla*

Hey, hey you!

What are you doing?

I just can't hold it in any longer....

I think I'm about to show you my gums...

...aka, SMILE!!!

Can being a mommy seriously get any better than this? There is nothing like a big old gummy smile from your baby! Just makes your heart melt!

Makayla is just so fun to be around, she's a pretty happy baby all around. I find myself thinking, "Can I just stop time at this stage, I don't want to miss something." She laughs, giggles, talks jibberish, makes noise just to make noise, recognizes our voices, rolls over and holds her head up so strong, and loves to try and grab our food/drink as we eat thinking that she wants some. Also, she wants to grab or touch everything in her reach whether it be a toy, a face, a hand, or whatever! Yesterday I was holding her and standing in her closet trying to pick out her outfit...well she look her long little arm and was grabbing the door and pulling it in so it was bumping me in the back! I mean, how fun can a door be? LOL, she's just so curious! Cornell and I like to think we have her cries figured out too...the hungry cry, the sleepy cry, the I just want to be held cry, the wet diaper cry, etc.

Next week she'll be 5 months. I'm getting really excited to start feeding her some baby food because I think she'll really enjoy it! The girl loves to eat! Breastfeeding is continuing to go well. I remember when I first started breastfeeding, and different moms would tell me what a great bonding experience it is and how much they enjoyed spending that time with their baby. Well, I'll be honest...I didn't find it very fun for the first couple months! I felt like I would spend about 90% of my day breastfeeding and it's just exhausting. Especially since Makayla was one of those, "my mom makes a great pacifier" babies. She would just take her sweet old time, maybe take a little nap if she felt like it...haha. Much better the past month or so....she gets right to the point and finishes in no time! And it really is a great bonding experience for us both, I love spendng that time with her. :)

Cornell started school last week...where did the summer go? I'm so excited for him though, this is his last semester and will graduate December 11. Yay!! But now that means he is busy busy busy with basketball too. I started a new job...i'm working as a nurse at Amazon.com. There is a fulfillment center about 15 minutes from us and its an evening/night shift. I love it so far, much better than my last job in the OR. And I was just freaking out about putting Makayla in daycare for such a long part of the day, 5 days a week. So this way, i am home during the day with her, and then when i'm leaving, Cornell is coming home to be with her all evening. We will need a little help when Cornell has bb practice but I like 2 hours of someone watching Makayla versus 9-10 hours. God just continues to be so faithful to us...

We have a computer now again so I will be updating more :)

Just my two favorite people...

Enjoying family time today! Happy saturday!

Our sweetie

Here's a few of my favorite pictures from my phone over the last month....

Watching baby Einstein for the first time...

So smiley on the 4th of July...

And blowing some spit bubbles! :)

Just hanging in her stroller...

Three months old and a video

Hello my friends! A little Makayla update...
She is changing on a daily basis. It continues to amaze both Cornell and I how fast she grows! She went to the doctor on July 7th....weighed 12.04 pounds and was 25.5 inches long( off the charts in length for her age)! She has blessed us with the gift of sleeping through the night for the past few weeks(since fathers day weekend) and it is WONDERFUL!! Sleep is a beautiful thing!
Makayla has also discovered that she has hands WITH fingers, wow so cool right?! She'll make a fist and just told her hands out in front of her and stare and stare, while really concentrating. It's adorable. Last week she started trying to roll over. She gets her legs and hips flipped over but gets stuck with her shoulders. Not strong enough yet :)
Things she loves right now....going for walks in her stroller, pacifier, getting swaddled at night, fisher price projector, sleeping on daddys chest, bath time, mommy or daddy holding her, and last but not least....breastfeeding!!! Definitely her favorite activity :)
Here's a little video of Cornell and Makayla...

Happy Birthday dad!

Makayla Grace Thomas

Alright, prepare to be baby overloaded!
I'm finally putting up pictures of Makayla...yesterday was her one month "birthday!" Seriously, where does the time go? I have always heard other mommys say how fast children grow up, but it isn't realistic until you have one of your own...she changes DAILY! I'm already dreading going back to work because I don't want to miss a thing!
Today was Makayla's one month check up...the stats are(just so I don't forget), 9 pounds 3.7 ounces and 21 and 3/4 inches long. Growing little girl. Now to the pictures(mom, dad, meg, and kel...don't get excited, you've seen all of these!)

1. This is right after she was born, she was maybe 1 hour old...

(I couldn't stop saying, "Look at her hair!!!")

2. One day old in the hospital

3. Home

4. I have sooo wanted a picture of our black and white hands holding her since I found out I was pregnant...didn't really turn out how I imagined but how do you seriously pose a newborn?!


5. Next to daddy's shoe...

6. First bath(was not a big fan!)

7. I think she's a little over 2 weeks old here...

8. Just checking things out, getting more alert last week...


9. How about that belly? ;)



10. And today after our bath time and before the doctors...

She seriously has the most perfect skin! I will look like a fluorescent light bulb in our family for the rest of my life! LOL...

Happy Mothers Day to all the mommys! I feel so blessed to be celebrating my first! :)

Catching up...

Wow! Where do I even begin? How do you recap the past 6-7 months of life when so much has changed?!

I really wish I would have been better about blogging during my pregnancy, that would be fun to go back and read now! Heres a few belly pics that I took to be sending Cornell while he was in Kentucky for school....

14 weeks

16 weeks

21 weeks

This was sometime in November(18-20 weeks) at my old job with my friend Erin....

22 weeks

22 weeks

23 weeks(Christmas time)

Then after Christmas, I finally got to move to be with Cornell in Kentucky. It was so so so hard the months before this to be pregnant and away from him. I drove to see him pretty frequently but the 8 hour drive got old, quick! To make a long story short...I got a job in an operating room in a nearby city, we found an apartment to rent, moved only the necessary items out here, and rented out our home(sniffle). We both miss Charlotte so much but will go back after this "season" in Kentucky! :)
These next photos are from my parents visit here in February. They came to watch a few of Cornells games and also helped set up the baby nursery!

31 weeks

"Pregnant" Cornell

After these photos I didn't allow anymore pictures to be taken of me! LOL...I got sooooo big I hardly recognized myself in the mirror! Especially at the end because I developed preeclampsia and was so swollen everywhere. I ended up being put on bedrest at the end of March(with only about 2 weeks to go til my due date)to help with the swelling. A few days later my doctor decided I needed to be induced. So on April 6th, after about 13 hours of labor, our sweet little girl was born. She is the most precious thing I have ever seen and I love being a mommy! I will post pictures of her next time!