2006

We started the year off with a lot of doctor's appointments for Makayla. She is still not walking and has a hard time standing and putting pressure on her legs. We met with her neurologist - Dr. Lloyd - in December 2005 and he did a MRI of her brain checking for signs of Kawasaki disease in the arteries of her brain as well as to see if there was too much cerebral fluid. We were very happy to hear that everything looked okay, there was a little extra fluid but we were assured that it was normal for her age. At the beginning of the year we had an additional MRI of her spine and everything looked great there also. So we learned that there is no physical reason for her not to be able to walk but she is going to do it in Makayla time! We left Dr. Lloyds office with appointments with a Physical Therapist, Opthamologist, and encouraged to meet with the Early Intervention program with the school district. She started physical therapy and we found out that her muscle tone is very low so we work on exercises all the time - playing is therapy you know! Her eye doctor - Dr. Larsen - let us know that she has Strabismus which means that the muscle alignment is off and would probably require surgery to correct. We opted to have the physical therapy through the Early Intervention program and feel like it is the best thing for Makayla right now.


This is the first ice cream cone that Makayla ate by herself - if you can't tell she enjoyed it!


This Easter was lots of fun! We had to help Makayla lots to get her eggs but it was worth it to see how excited she got over getting them. Actually the first egg hunt we went to she was taking the eggs out of her basket and putting them back, this left them fair game for other kids. We worked hard to teach her to keep them in so we could take them home!!


It is soooo hard to wait for the tub to fill up ;o) Makayla loves the tub.


Finger painting!

She did not want to touch the paint at first but by the end she was loving it! We made lots of pictures that day.

Clint's Brother Chane was married to Holly in Hawaii this spring. Nana and Papa Brown brought her a hula outfit for a souvenier! What a silly girl!

We went camping at the family campground in Henefer, UT Memorial Day weekend, and had lots of fun with the family. Makayla had a blast playing with Nana's rollers and playing with Austin and Kaitlyn.

When June rolled around it was time for Makayla to have her surgery to correct the muscles of her left eye. We met with the doctor, nurses, and anesthesiologist in our room to talk over the procedure, and so Makayla wouldn't be afraid to go with them - and that was not a problem! She went right to the doctors and waved to us over his shoulder as she went into the O.R. I cried but she didn't - go figure! The surgery was successful and she tolerated the sedation just great. The bad thing was it is common to want to itch your eyes when you are waking up but we had to stop her so she didn't undo what was just done - we had a power struggle that first day but she did so great!

Moon Lake

Makayla had lots of fun at Moon Lake this year, fishing with Daddy, going on boat rides - she fell asleep during most of them! - and playing on the beach. As she crawls like a mad-woman everywhere she goes she was pretty dirty by the end of the trip!

Family pictures on the way out of the campground to go home!

Mayfield

This was Makayla's first ride on a 4-wheeler with Grandpa Andrews. She fell asleep! We were down in Mayfield for the weekend and had lots of fun. I think Badminton was the hit of the weekend!

Messy Eater

Eating yogurt is a messy business!

Dakota is home!!

May 7, 2006 Dakota Jacob Larsen was born as a preemie and came home in August of that year. This was the first time Makayla got to meet him in person right after he came home. The first time she got to see her best friend!

Remote thief! Makayla loves to steal the remote and your spot on the couch when you stand up. So if you are at our house be warned!

It is amazing how much damage one little girl can do to a cupcake!

Deer Hunt! Clint got a deer this year Wahoo!! Makayla and I did not join Clint for the Hunt this year but he had fun and got a deer!

Happy Halloween!
Carving pumpkins and Joey and Tim's house. Makayla had fun playing in the pumpkin guts, YUCK!

Makayla was Boo from Monsters Inc. for Halloween this year. We have heard so many times that Makayla looks like Boo, so we made it officially happen.



This is a super cool pumpkin that Clint carved for Makayla of Uniqua from the Backyardigans. Makayla is doing better walking and can walk assisted. She started using a reverse walker to help her get around. She doesn't really like to use it because she can crawl faster - but being a mean Mom I make her and she is doing better! We went trick or treating and she thought it was pretty cool to get treats and candy from everyone she came across!

Happy Birthday Makayla

We can't believe that you are 2 already! She picked Backyardigans for her party and we had it at our house in the biggest part of the house ... the garage! We put carpet down and got our tables and chairs out, and it worked out just fine. She got some great presents and just about a new wardrobe! Happy Birthday

Poor sick Makayla :o(


Makayla frequented the doctors office every 2-3 weeks from July to December (I am not exgaggerating either!) and usually it was an ear infection and infected throat. In December we were able to get tubes in her ears and her tonsils and adenoids out all in one surgery. Nice to have it done at once but the recovery was not so nice. For a while only her Cabbage Patch Baby made her happy. It took several weeks for her to get back to her good old self. Hopefully it will help her to stay healthy!

Yup that's right ... still not a fan of Santa's! She is ok when you tell her that Santa is the one who put stuff in her stocking but when she sees him, game over!

We had SO much fun this Christmas. Santa brought a wagon for Makayla and she had to sit in it all day. She opened her presents in it, watched her new movie in it. We were pretty surprised that she didn't fall asleep in it for nap time! She was spoiled this Christmas and got some fun toys and a TMX Elmo that she was excited about until he falls over laughing. She would cry everytime because she thought that he was hurt! She is very sensitive. It took some time to get to the point where she enjoyed playing with him. At first she had to be about 4-5 feet away for her to not start crying! We had a great Christmas and feel very blessed.