Makena

UPDATE (5/11/25)

So, Makena is now a freshman.  She made varsity and started out primarily playing Centerfield.  Due to a player injury, she has spent the past couple weeks playing shorstop and has done quite well.  She's currently the lead off batter.  She also plays travel ball for the Ladyhawks and loves her coach, Annalisa.

In the fall, Makena played JV2 soccer for Westview and did well.  She's also currently maintaining a 4.0 GPA.

UPDATE (11/28/18):

Makena is now a big 3rd grader.  She plays rec soccer as well as both rec and competitive softball (Oregon Silver Bullets).  She takes ukulele lessons as well.  She is so creative, repurposing recyclable materials into games and other cool items.  She is a very kind and caring person with the biggest heart of anyone we know.

My goodness!  Makena is five-and-a-half.  She plays chess, does math, reads and writes.  She's definitely ahead of where I was at her age.  She begins Kindergarten in the fall and is looking forward to it already.  She will have full-day Kindergarten, so she will have more recess, specials (PE, music, etc.), and academic time as well.  She has one of the biggest hearts ever (even if she doesn't always show it to her big sister).

Makena still does all the things mentioned previously, but she is growing as well. She still hasn't mastered potty training, but she certainly has had a few times where she has gone in her potty chair. She still refuses to do her business in it though and freaks out if I try to make her. She is talking more and still loves dancing and singing more than anything. Her favorite song is "Tonight, Tonight" by Hot Chelle Rae.

Makena is getting to be quite an independent child, and by independent I mean she knows what she wants.  If you make her mad, there is no mistaking it.  She will take her bowl of applesauce (or whatever is handy) and propel it across the carpeted floor.  She will follow that up with banging her head hard on the floor to make it hurt in an attempt to garner attention.

When she is happy, there is nothing that can more quickly bring a smile to your face.  And don't forget to turn up the music...this girl has some unique dance moves that are sure to make her the center of attention on the dance floor.

Makena celebrated her first birthday October 28th.  She had a great deal of fun, smashing her birthday cake and throwing it against the wall and on the floor.  She has a full mouth of teeth now.  She started walking about a week before her birthday, and that girl can sure get around now.  She is starting to jabber quite a bit...just wish we knew what she was saying.  She likes to grab the TV remote and when we catch her, she pretends like she was bringing it to us all along.  She currently likes to eat freeze-dried yogurt, cheerios, green grapes, pineapple, and bananas.

Makena is currently fighting sinus infection #2 and ear infection #1. Other than that, she continues to be a happy girl. Her favorite food at the moment is mango cheeks. She also has a total of 6 teeth now.

Makena is now eating solid foods.  We fed her applesauce last week, which she didn't care for.  She puckered up as if she had eaten lemons.  THis week, she is starting on carrots and appears to like them much better.  She has cut her first tooth now, so it's only a matter of time before she starts biting us :)

At her last doctor's appointment, Makena was in the 75th percentile for her weight and 25th percentile for height.  She was hardly sleeping was always eating and fussy.  After switching her to soy formula, she has done very well.  She'll sleep for a solid 6 hours at night, isn't eating all the time, and is smiling and cooing all the time.

Our newest addition, Makena Grace Arnzen, was born Wednesday, October 28th at 11:16AM.  She weighed 7 lbs 12¼ oz, much less than Hailey’s 9 lbs 6 oz.  She measured 18 inches long.

As many know, Makena’s expected due date was November 17th.  However, due to Kristi’s preeclampsia, her doctor determined that it would be healthier for both mom and baby if Makena was delivered at 37 weeks.

The delivery was very quick.  We were expecting to go home the next day, but that isn’t what happened.  The pediatrician couldn’t feel the pulse in her legs, so he wanted to keep her overnight.  The next day, he still couldn’t feel them, so he had an ultrasound done of her heart and had it sent to Oregon Health Sciences University.  The results came back normal so he authorized Makena’s discharge.  As we were preparing to leave, we still needed to have her hearing tested and apparently they had to check her bilirubin (jaundice) level.

The nurse felt the level was high and contacted the on-call pediatrician who cancelled Makena’s discharge.  They made her sleep under UV lights all night and part of the next day.  She was so upset to be without clothing and blankets and have a mask over her eyes that she was kicking and screaming and busted the cuts on her feet open and was bleeding inside the incubator.

The doctor who came in the next day was not impressed with their treatment of Makena and ordered her to be removed from the UV lighting and authorized Makena’s discharge.  We finally got to leave the hospital about 7pm Halloween night.  As we were leaving, they forgot to remove the security tag on her ankle, so we set off the alarms.  They announced a Code Amber in Labor & Delivery and we were immediately surrounded by tons of people.

After getting that taken care of and loading up in the car, two nurses came running out to meet us.  They had one more tag they forgot to remove, and needed us to sign a paper.  After that, we were free to leave.  Daddy got to Trick-or-treat with Hailey for about 45 minutes when we returned to Bandon.