MooneyWeb

Noah: 3 years old, Makenna: 19 months old
 
This was an exciting month as Noah turned 3 years old!!  It was the first birthday that he kind of understood what was going on.  He knows he is 3, he knows how to sing happy birthday and he knows he gets cake.  Of course presents were an exciting plus.  Plus, he knows so many people that have celebrated a birthday in the past month (Uncle Jarrod, Julian, Piper, Christian, Avo, Grandma Mooney, Grand Aunt Mary Ellen and Grand Uncle Bob and Dominic happy birthday!) that he was getting the hang of things.  We went to Red Robin for his birthday lunch and came home, had cupcakes, and open a present from mommy and daddy.  We had Noah’s Curious George Birthday party the next day with swimming, pinatas, pizza, cake and presents.  Noah had a ton of fun!  Noah also had his 3 year old doctors appointment and the doctor says he looks good!  He’s on target for talking  and  “listening” and is a healthy boy!  He weighed in at 33 lbs (71st%tile) and was 37″ tall (40th%tile).  Noah also had another big change this month in that he is using a big boy bed!  
 
Makenna had fun singing happy birthday to her big brother.  She loves that Noah will “read” to her now.  Noah has turned into a good helper for Makenna.  I’ve seen him get a tissue so she can blow her nose, he likes to “help” wash her in the bath.  I even caught her sitting on his lap in the rocking chair today singing “twinkle little star” to her.  They are typically concerned when the other doesn’t have their juice cup so they are always making sure each other’s thirst is taken care of (ask poor Sophia on the play dates, they get worried when she leaves her cup in a different room;).  They have arrived at a very sweet age and their interaction is quite entertaining.  A fight typically ensues when one person (usually Noah) has taken a toy away and you can hear very loudly and clearly from several rooms over, “Noah, NO, NOAH NOAH NOAH!!”  And if it is possible, Makenna’s vocabulary is still growing and getting more clear!  It is so sweet hearing her say “hey noah,” “ok”‘ or sing “ring around the Rosie.”   Makenna is an excellent eater; however, you wouldn’t be able to tell because she must have an excellent metabolism as she is a petite girl.  She has had a massive amount of teeth come in the past 6 weeks, 12 to be exact!!  I will be excited when she gets a break from those running noses and random wake up at nights from teeth pain!   We’ve had to reschedule her 18 month appointment a couple times but she will be heading to that next week.  Enjoy this months pictures and I will get back to watching Curious George for possibly the 100th time;)
 
July 2010 Pictures
Noah’s3rd Birthday Pictures

Makenna: 18 months, Noah 2 1/2
 
We started off the month with the kids first swim lessons in Parent/Tot classes.  I did lessons with Makenna for 30 minutes and Noah followed up with lessons with daddy.  Makenna liked some parts of swim lessons, jumping in the pool or playing ring around the rosie.  She didn’t like blowing bubbles and going under water and she made sure everyone knew this!  On the other hand, Noah LOVED just about every aspect of swim lessons (except for floating on his back).  He loved it so much that we decided to have him try out the next clas up, Tadpoles, a class without us.  We were a little nervous with how he would do but the class only had 3 kids in it.  He did great and he loved it!  Despite having a hard time listening to the instructor when asked to stop splashing he did really good! On his first day the instructor had to drag him into the water by himself.  After a few lessons in he was running to his instructor!
 
Noah and Makenna are also starting to play really well together.  We often here “come here Kenna, come here” or even, “NOAH, come here.”  It’s so sweet.  They sometimes play a hugging game where they both say hug, then they hug and they do it over and over again.  Of course they are brother and sister and after about playing together in a room by themselves for about 10 minutes Makenna will usually come out crying.  But Noah really is turning into a pretty sweet big brother.  He’ll get her juice cup if she asks (and she’ll do the same too).  As the little sister she can be demanding too, it’s pretty funny listening to her demand for Noah to get her something, “Noah, get paci.”  Makenna’s starting to get at that independent age, you hear her say “I do, I do, I do” a lot (I’m pretty sure she picked this up from Noah).  Noah has starting having conversations with us, it actually surprises me sometimes that I am actually “talking” to him and he has something to say in return.
 
We went on vacation to Seattle to visit my family, it had been 2 years since we were there.  The kids were soooo excited to go on the airplane, there was actually a count down going on.  We stayed with my mom while in Seattle and spent time with our new nephew Joaquin, and Justin and his family visit overlapped ours.  For the first time we did some touristy things during our visit. We went to the Woodland Park Zoo, the Seattle Aquarium and went on a boat ride to Bainbridge Island.  It was a lot of fun and I think the kids really enjoyed doing it.  We also had time to visit with a lot of friends and family and were there for Jarrod’s birthday.  Unfortunately, the kids got sick halfway through the vacation but they handled it well.  It was just a bummer because we had to cancel some visits with some high school friends.
  
Well I think that just about sums up our busy month.  I do want to give a happy birthday shout out to Jarrod.  I also want to ask for some thoughts and prayers for our friend, Todd.  He’s been having quite a bit of ups and downs with his cancer lately and they could use the prayers!
 
Here are this months pictures:
June 2010 
Seattle 2010

 
Makenna: 17 Months, Noah 2 1/2 years
 
This past month we had some great weather in AZ.  Our pool was still too cold to swim in, but the kids played in the water as much as they could (running through the sprinklers, splash pads and slip n slides).  We also went to the zoo, where Noah informed us that his favorite animal is the elephant… of course he also seemed to enjoy the monkeys and turtles.  The kids went to build a bear for the first time for our service project for Mom’s Club.  They each built a bear and the following week we went to a hospital and donated them.  I’m not sure Makenna and Noah fully understood what was going on but it was fun. 
 
We went to Sedona for the first time over Memorial weekend.  Our friends, the Wolf’s,  have a house up there and they invited us.  We had an awesome time, and as expected it was very relaxing and beautiful.  Noah and Makenna had a blast playing with Morgan and Ashely!  We went to a couple parks, went on a hike (yes, you can read that again, but the Mooney’s really did go on a hike) and just hung out.  Pretty much an ideal long weekend for us!
 
Makenna still shocks us everyday with her talking, of course this means she voices her opinion quite a bit.  She speaks her mind if she is “all done” or doesn’t want to to do something or wants to eat something specific (pop tart/cereal/french fries/strwberries are among her favorites to demand).  She is still very cuddly, loving to give hugs and kisses.  She has this obsessions with Go Diego, she just LOVES that show and always asks to watch it.  When it comes on she doesn’t hesitate to sing along.  Last month I mentioned we covered her windows to try and get her to sleep in longer.  It worked a little bit.  She seems to have set her internal clock to 6am now.  Which also means she is still taking 2 naps a day… one of those does overlap Noah’s nap which makes for some quiet time for me during the day! 
 
Noah also did some growing this month.  He seems to have his coordinaion down because I feel like he is more confident jumping off things, throwing and even doing a pretty good job doing handstands.  He’s even made some promising  advances in his potty/poo poo training.  He wears undies around the house and we are just looking for the right time to transition him into undies outside of the house.  While Makenna’s favorite show is Diego, I’d put Noah’s favorite as Curious George, he always wants to watch it!
 
Enjoy this months pictures:
 
May 2010
Sedona (Memorial Weekend 2010)

 
Makenna: 16 months, Noah: 2 1/2 years-
 
We celebrated Easter this month with Grandma and Grandpa Mooney, Grand Uncle Dick and Aunt Barb and Yvonne, Sophie and Lorena.  We had dinner and the kids went on an Easter egg hunt.  I was impressed with Noah’s Easter egg hunting skills and even Makenna got the hang of looking for eggs.  Steve celebrated his 32nd Birthday on April 8th, and we took a trip to the zoo during the month too.  It was starting to get hot this month but the pool isn’t warm enough to swim in yet so we got the kids a mini splash pad to cool down in and they are enjoying it.
 
Makenna has started to say a few phrases now… “come here mommy,” and ”Thank you,” “There you go,” “wash hands,” and ”all done” are regulars in her vocabulary.  She’s very sweet but is also developing a mischevious personality… she thinks its funny when you tell her no (Mommy and Daddy do not like this).  Makenna does well sleeping through the night but has a habit of waking up aound 5:30 in the morning.  As you can guess, I am tired of waking up this early and am trying anything to get her to sleep longer!!  Just recently I tried covering her windows up to make the room dark in the morning and I’m seeing some potential hope… 
 
Noah has been doing well this month.  He has been napping so well (which I LOVE).  He enjoys watching his Disney movies, playing outside, and splashing in the water.  There is a lot of “I do, I do” because he wants to do anything he can himself!  We are trying to get him to be a better listener, but we know he’s going through his terrible two’s so we are tying to be patient.  We even notice that he is trying to get his sister to do things we tell him he can’t do… where do they learn these thing!:)
 
Enjoy this months pictures!
 
April 2010  
Easter 2010

Makenna 15  Months, Noah 2 1/2 Years
 
We are well into April and this update is late.  But we have had a CRAZY month.   Between going to Las Vegas, South Carolina,  my birthday, St Patricks Day and even hitting up an Ostrich Festival we have kept BUSY.
 
In the beginning of March we flew to Las Vegas for the WCC tournament.  Despite having some bad luck on the trip, we had a lot of fun.  The airlines managed to break the wheels off our double stroller so as soon as we got to Vegas we headed to Babies r us for a  replacment stroller.  This happened just before we discovered one of our luggage pieces manage to break.  So leaving the airport to get a rental vehicle with a broken stroller, 3 bags (one of which was broken), 2 carseats, and 2 kids proved challenging.   And did I mention our camera dropped on the ground halfway through the trip only to never work again?  Luckily my mom was with us and we bummed her camera off of her (we will post pictures from that part of the trip after we have gotten them from her).  But, like I said, despite our bad luck we had fun.  The kids were excellent travelers and even good sleepers on the trip.  We went to two Gonzaga games, saw the animals at the Mirage, the Bellagio fountains, and spent time with Avo and the Shields and this was all in 2 days!!  We even ran into several friends from our college years.   Hard to believe its been 10 years since we’ve graduated from Gonzaga!
 
A couple weeks later we traveled to South Carolina to visit Justin, Michelle and their new baby Harper!  Chelsea and her boyfriend, Mario, were also there for a couple days.  The trip was very fun and relaxing.  We went on a carriage ride in Charleston and learned a bit about the history of South Carolina.  We enjoyed relaxing on their new porch and eating some yummy dinners.  Harper was a very good baby and Noah and Makenna got to spend some quality time with their Aunt, Uncle and cousin.
  
Makenna and Noah have done a lot of growing this month.  Noah is finally starting to see a benefit in having a little sister, he’s started to actually enjoy playing with Makenna.  There is a lot of “Kenna Mooney come here,” and then he snaps his fingers like he’s calling the cats to come over.   He is turning in to very good big brother,  running up to her room when she is crying and has awoken from a nap, making sure she has her cup or paci and giving her toys to play with, if she’s crying he sometimes pats her and says, “its ok Kenna.”  We can tell that Noah enjoyed flying on the trips because he likes sleeping with his airplanes and keeps asking “Airplane again?”
 
Makenna seems to have transformed into a toddler right before our eyes.  Her verbal skills have become quite impressive.  I just wrote down all the words she knows and was shocked to see the number jump abve 50!!  And as most of you know from Noah, I don’t give credit for words unless they are reallys said and said on their own.  Makenna’s age is really fun right now and she is trying her best to keep up with Noah.  She LOVES being outside, watching Diego, playing train and having a book read to her.  As long as our cat, Kaya, doesn’t jump in her crib, she sleeps through the night and is still taking 2 naps a day.  She is an excellent eater (often out-eating Noah).  She is still a “mamma’s girl,” but loves it when daddy comes home from work.  If anyone calls on the phone she assumes it’s always “daddy.”
 
All right, I think that just about covers are March.  You can click on the links below to check out the new albums we’ve added this past months to:
 
Las Vegas Trip (more to be added later)
South Carolina Trip
March 2010 Pictures