Temple Attendance

Tonight Greg and I took the girls (along with much of my family) on the walk through tour of the new LDS Temple in Draper. Both girls were on amazingly good behavior, and it was really fun to take them through and see their eyes light up at the sight of giant chandeliers and amazing windows and stained glass. A few of the highlights were:

Image from here.

• Annie being so excited about going all day. We were in the car with Aunt Lacy earlier on a Costco run, when Annie would suddenly call out enthusiastically, "We are going to see a temple! Yay!"

• Annie's color astuteness. Looking up at the magnificent white building as we approached, I asked Annie, "What color are temples?" She stared at it for a few seconds and responded, "Looks kinda grayish to me."

• Upon entering the temple, Ellie let out a squeal of delight. To which Annie sternly whispered, "Shhhh Ellie! We're whispering!" She also counseled Ellie to "be quiet please" and to "be reverent" several times. I tried to keep her from getting too loud, but I'm guessing God is a big fan of children's laughter in His home, even if it is a usually reverent place. Annie is a shockingly good whisperer. It's amazing how well she can control her voice. I've been informed that she sang "I'm a Little Tea Pot" several times throughout the tour, so quietly only the person holding her could hear the words.

• Which brings me to the adorableness that was Ellie during the long tour. She babbled, squealed, cooed, flirted, giggled, laughed out loud, squeeked and mumbled the entire time. The complete stillness (shocking with literally dozens of people in any one room at a time) was pierced by the sheer joy in my 8 month olds laughs. People around us just watched her and smiled and quietly laughed at her attention grabbing antics. Anytime we passed someone on the tour who'd taken a minute out to sit down and rest or to enjoy their surroundings, Ellie would look at them, cock her head to one side and squeak or coo until she had them laughing. An older couple who'd been walking behind us for quite some time stopped us before we left to inform me that my daughter had made their day, and they had quietly laughed the entire time watching her joyous reactions to everything and everyone she saw. AND, to top it off, the sweet baby actually even fell asleep in my arms at the end. That may not sound like much to some of you, but I can pretty much count on one hand the number of times my baby has fallen asleep in my arms (sans nursing) in the last six months. Melts my heart.

• Getting to ride a bus from a local Church building up to the actual temple. Annie thought the bus ride was about the coolest thing ever. We were reminded to take a 'blue' bus back when our tour was over, assuring us we would get back to the right building and be able to find our car again. The tour guide referred to our bus as "Babe the Big Blue Bus." Annie has a new best friend in "Babe." She talks about him at length, telling us how he was picking up other kids to bring them to see the temple, and then come back for us. When we got on the bus about three hours from the time we started this whole adventure, Annie looked around for a second and said, "This isn't Babe. Babe had to go see his Daddy bus, so this bus came for us instead." It was actually a different bus (I could only tell 'cause this one had a TV at the front where the other one didn't.) Annie spent the rest of the 5-6 minute drive back to our car telling us all about Babe going to see his Dad. She seemed really happy for him, not the least bit miffed that we ended up with another bus.

• Annie commenting on the 'daddy cows' in the baptistry.

• The celestial room. The ceiling is unbeliveably high and beautiful, with a gigantic chandelier hanging down. Annie was fascinated. She had to ask her Uncle David to "lean her back more", and he held her cradled in his arms so she could stare up at the ceiling in awe. Spending most of my time trying to keep my adorable, yet somewhat distracting, 8-month old from being too noisy, I kinda lost some of the 'wow, this is a temple-ness' to the 'wow, this kid is loud-ness' that was my focus at the time. All that slipped away, if only for a second or two, as I held my baby in the celestial room and one thing came into my mind. "Family. My family." I couldn't have been in a more beautiful place, surrounded by my loved ones.

• Annie saying, "There's a lot of pictures of Jesus here, huh?"

• Afterwards, asking what Annie's favorite part was and getting the answer, "The cookies at the end." It's official - I've definitely raised a Mormon; a refreshment-loving Mormon.

Cousins

One New Years Day we got together with the girls' only two cousins (who normally are located clear across the country), so of course I took video . . .

Here's Ellie & Nathan just layin' around (he's 8 weeks younger than her -- notice they have the exact same hair) . . .



I just downloaded a whole tape of video off our camcorder . . . so expect a video clip a day or so for the next week! Enjoy!

Annie & the Terrible Twos

The following pictures are to remind me how much I love this kid.

Even when she poured cup after cup of water smack dab in the middle of my kitchen floor. Peed in her panties three times. Left a giant pile of crap (literally) in the middle of her bedroom floor. And used a sharpie on multiple surfaces of our home.

Sure is cute though . . .







(And she hasn't taken up a vampiric life . . . the brown drool in all these pictures is caused by M&Ms . . . seriously, how much brown drool can two M&Ms make!?)

Anxiously Waiting . . .

So, today's the day that TAMN announces the winner of the makeover contest. As most of you know, I nominated my friend Rachel and she was one of the finalists. I think I've checked my email like 40 times already this morning, and I'm thinking half of seriouslysoblessed's web traffic this morning is me clicking over there every 5 minutes.

I'm pretty sure Rachel didn't win . . . but my guess is she was a strong second. And I'm totally cool with that. She will get a makeover for sure, probably some other fun prizes (I'm hoping portraits, maybe some clothes), but I think Emily will win. And I'm really happy about that.

Rachel is just as deserving as any of the other women on there, of course; and as far as lives really sucking right now, Rach definitely has that one down . . . but really, this contest didn't mean to her what it meant to some of the other contestants. It seemed to mean more to me and the others who nominated her . . . almost as if we were willing the universe to just let ONE thing in her life go right. But really, she's in a fog right now. Understandably, her life is so chaotic, traumatic, scary, difficult and different right now, making it so things like makeovers and prizes are barely registering. When you're trying to figure out how to keep an eight month old from losing any more weight; to eat when he won't take a bottle all day long at a babysitter's, and now wants to nurse all night long, and you have to get up early and get you both off to the babysitter's and work, I guess it's hard to look to anything else besides just making it through the day. Hopefully a makeover will make her feel a little bit more herself, more human, more woman. I'm hoping the prizes she'll get as a runner up will have some positive, uplifting influence on her . . . I really think they have the power to make her feel a little better. Maybe make her feel a little better about herself. But really, only time is going to heal such deep wounds, and right now, time is going awfully slow. I've gathered all the sweet and supportive comments I could find on seriouslysoblessed for Rachel, and will give them to her. And really, right now I think that will help her out more than a hotel stay in Provo will right now.

Congrats to whoever wins . . . they were all completely deserving, but my fingers are crossed for Emily!

Edited to add: Emily did win. Congratulations to her! Rachel will still be overwhelmed with goodies though, her prizes including:
Nummy nummy Cafe Rio, $30 GCs to Shade Clothing, the cutest hoodie ever, jewelry of their choice from The Pretty Kitty, darling earrings from reader Kayci, AND some babe-them-up pampering (thanx to Metropolitan Salon in Provo, Lunatic Fringe in Salt Lake, Jacque at Visage Skin & Beauty Bar in Pleasant Grove and Cultures Salon in Clearfield), AND they each get family photos (thanx to Alli Easley, Blue Lily, Jessie Alexis Photography and Gemstone Photography).

Edited again to add: My sister Talina and I had both nominated Rachel . . . we ALSO get hoodies and pericures!

Thanks to Alli Easley of Easley Photography and Annemarie at Culture's Salon in Clearfield for the photos and makeover for Rachel!

Old School Baby Fashions

I think there is so much cute baby stuff out there . . . I see outfits for the girls that make me think to myself, "Why don't they have that in my size?!" Cute, hip outfits (with sassy berets and whatnot) that seem far more stylish than anything back in my photo album. But really, I'm pretty old school. I love when my babies look like babies. I tend to prefer warm, cozy sleepers to jeans on Ellie. I love the handmade dresses and crocheted outfits that got passed down in my family. And Ellie's newest ensemble is this adorable white number that a friend of Ellie's Grandma Ruth so thoughtfully gave us. LOVE IT!

Chest X-Rays

What a difference a year makes!

Annie had to have chest x-rays done today. Last year we had a nightmarish experience with all things leading up to and including a chest x-ray. It was awful. The mere thought of the whole ordeal was flashback/nightmare/PTSD kinda stuff.

Today, it was nothin'. Annie sat very still on a little chair (rather than being strapped into a medieval torture device), and our only issue was trying to get her to exhale sharply. It took some coaching. In fact, I sat next to her on the floor and walked her through it as the x-ray tech did her thing back behind the partition while holding Ellie for me. But really, Annie was just so happy to be wearing a Bugs Bunny hospital gown and being the receiver of a cool "I Got an X-Ray" sticker, that it was one of the highlights of our day.

Annie loved this whole trip to a new doctor. A whole new office staff to flirt with, a new doctor to impress, a new nurse to 'ooh and ahhh' over her and her adorableness. She was the model patient, and racked up all kinds of 'what a great little patient' loot. Squeaky green frog toy. Stickers. A tongue depressor. (She was really excited about that one. She told me we would go home and write "A-N-N-I-E on one side, and E-L-L-I-E on the other.") This was our first time taking Annie to a doctor who deals specifically with Asthma and Allergies, and I kinda regret not doing this before. He just seemed to 'get' all her symptoms, and what I was talking about as I described Annie's various issues. And as an added bonus, he was so cute with her, and she was such a little show off. Counting. Spelling. Counting in Spanish. Coaching her little sister how to play with bead toys. Singing her address. Singing her address loudly to the tune of Elmo's World.


The downside of the outing is that it is pretty much confirmed now that Annie has asthma. (The chest x-rays was to compare one small area on last year's pneumonia x-rays that the asthma doctor didn't think fit with pneumonia and made more sense as a sign of asthma . . . turns out that 'area' still shows the same a year later, so that just added to our asthma diagnosis.) Annie is being started on a twice a day preventative inhaler. And we were given a regular rescue inhaler to use as needed. Doc Taylor said we shouldn't really expect to use this much, since so far she hasn't shown 'dramatic' symptoms . . . just very regular mild symptoms. Can't believe my two year old is being treated for asthma. And excema. And allergies. Stupid genetics.


And because the whole experience has made me think about our initial chest x-ray experience, I'm including the following for those of you who didn't live through the "Chest X-Ray Nightmare of 2008" (and, you know, everyone else who forgot about it because it wasn't their kid and it was just a really long, rambly email sent by me to you almost a year ago) I have included the chest x-ray email from last year. It is long. And rambly. That's twice you've been warned. You're under no obligation to read it, it's just here for those who want to compare and contrast the freaked-outed-ness of a mother who's kid is getting a chest x-ray for the first, then second, time.

February 12, 2008

So, Annie had what I would describe as a really bad day yesterday. It started early (really, really, really early), like 4AM type of early, with a cough that woke her up whimpering and crying. Around 5AM, as the coughing was getting worse, she couldn't get back to sleep on her own, so I went in and cuddled with her on her twin size bed in the other room (we're working on transitioning her from the crib to the bed before the new baby gets here . . . I'm thinking, at this rate, we may just end up with a second crib!) (we did end up with two cribs) with the humidifier blasting right on top of us, and me holding her more upright so she could breathe and sleep easier. It worked a little, getting her an extra hour or so of sleep, and me an extra 15 minutes. We slept cozily under the warm blanket, but in the morning found that the top of our blanket (and the carpet) were drenched from all the humidity . . . the plus side was that her hair was about the cutest, curliest I've ever seen it . . . mine on the other hand was just frighteningly frizzy.

Anyway, so Annie then spent all day coughing. And I mean ALL day, it was so relentless, she just coughed nonstop. Poor kid. She'd cough so hard it would make her throw up. Naptime didn't work out at all, she couldn't sleep for very long, and I brought her into my bed to try and get her to get back to sleep, but she'd just wake up coughing in a panic, crying and thrashing, until she'd wake up enough to calm down. We pretty soon realized a nap was futile, despite the best in humidifiers and Vicks VapoRub. And, those of you with small children know, apparently all cough and cold medicines are supposed to immediately kill your toddler upon consumption, so have been taken off the market with the advice to just suction their nose and get them in moist air. I spent a big chunk of the day trying to get a message into Annie's doctor's office, trying to get her in, and to find out which contraband cough medicine I could give her and in what dose . . . but, Annie's doctor was out of the office yesterday, and I didn't hear back from another doctor until a little later who said, "We can't get in her today in our office, so I'd get her into KidsCare as soon as they open at 5PM." (On the topic of 'no drugs', the KidsCare pediatrician told my Mom and I, "Yeah, there's no medicines for her to take, we can't recommend any of the over the counter cough suppressants, and we don't prescribe anything for a child this young . . . although, [hushed voice, check both directions for anyone who could overhear] I'd probably give her some Benadryl tonight, just so she can get some sleep.")

So, Annie, me and Grandma Karine, headed into KidsCare right as it opened, and were seen pretty quickly. It started out so innocent enough . . . "a little congestion's making her chest rattle, but not too badly . . . her pulse ox is good . . . I'm hearing a little wheeze, but not much . . ." I was expecting the look of, "You're wasting our time," and the "New mothers tend to overreact" speech and the "There's not anything we can do about infections, we don't just prescribe antibiotics for everything," lecture (which I've never asked for before, but they always seem to go on the defensive with what they deem 'antibiotic seeking Mothers' . . . hey, I'm anti-killer-undefeatable super bugs too! I only want to be given antibiotics if needed, I just want to rule out them being needed!) When I was surprised by, "We're just gonna go ahead and get a chest x-ray, just to check some stuff out."

Do you have any idea the horrific, medieval torture device-ness, involved in giving a 20 month old a chest x-ray?! And, top it off with the fact that because I'm pregnant, I can't be anywhere in the room, so I had to leave my little girl as she's strapped into the most evil looking contraption ever and told to hold very still. The greatest blessing of the night was that as I was leaving for the doctors, my Mom had called and asked if I wanted her to come along, since Greg was at work, so fortunately for Annie, Grandma was there (to hold Annie's arms firmly in place above her head as she was strapped in around her head and waist into a tall plastic tube, and then had her face smooshed up in the evil tube of torture . . . I wouldn't be surprised if Grandma had nightmares last night!)

Upon completing this whole x-ray thing, which we hope to NEVER have to repeat, I got really worried for the first time when the radiologist turned and looked at me as she was examining the x-rays and said, "She's only been coughing for 2 days?" in disbelief (and a little disgust, like I just hadn't been paying attention to my obviously very ill daughter. And really, the coughing had only been an issue since 4AM that morning.) My Mom and I just looked at each other with looks of, "Crap, that can't be good," and started getting anxious to see the doctor again. I should add here, that this coughing came on VERY suddenly. Annie had been getting over a cold last week, and would cough occasionally at bedtime as she was trying to go to sleep, but nothing unusual (as she's almost always congested with allergies, the congested cough at night isn't weird at all for her). Sunday morning she coughed a little more than usual, but it quickly went a way, and for the entire three hours of Church I don't remember her coughing once (and I called both of her nursery teachers, to confirm I'm not just a ditzy Mother that the radiologist seemed to deem me, and both of them said they couldn't remember her coughing a single time throughout all of nursery.) She coughed a little that evening, but nothing indistinguishable from the 'Did you eat those Cheerios too fast?' kinda coughing. Then, as I mentioned in the beginning, 4AM rolled around Monday morning, and that's when it hit.

We got back in with the doctor he reassured me that she didn't have the 'bad' kind of pneumonia, since the x-rays didn't show one big mass of infection, he did go on to talk about, 'stringy, odd wisps of white' showing up on the x-ray, and he said something about it looking like something else . . . this is where it was good that my Mom was there yet again, because I felt all reassured about it not being pneumonia, when my Mom was able to read through all of what he said and ask him outright, "So, you do think it's pneumonia then?" I was like, "Crazy woman, aren't you listening, he said it wasn't pneumonia!" And he responded to her, "Yes, I think it might be atypical pneumonia, I have another radiologist looking at it and getting back to me." Yep, totally would've missed that without my Mom. He then said he was concerned about some of the 'wheezing' he heard earlier, and again as he checked her chest for the second of approximately 100 times. Or 5 or 6, I don't quite remember. And he made some comment about asthma and family history. Um, I don't want to hear it's at all asthma related . . . she's too young for me to want to even start to deal with this . . . I especially don't want to hear it's pneumonia and asthma! So, they got out the nebulizer for a breathing treatment. While the nurse was standing right there, Annie was calmly sitting in my arms, acting as if there was nothing to get upset about as Mom held a plastic mask up to her face. The nurse commented, "Wow, she's doing so well for being so young!" Of course, the nurse left and I got to spend the next little while with Annie screaming and writhing in my arms as I'm trying to keep the mask up against her face. Good times.

Her coughing did get better (for a little while, although, not really significantly), and the wheezing was gone, so they started her on steroids, and gave us our very own nebulizer for home, prescribed to us for a year ('which you can rent to own' the nurse informed us . . . I don't think she realized the extent of my 'it couldn't have anything to do with asthma denial,' because all I could think about was how quickly we could return this thing once she was all better and never, ever, ever needed another breathing treatment again.) We're supposed to give her breathing treatments every four hours if she's wheezing at all. Then he started to talk to us about RSV . . . and how there wasn't anything they could do about it except give oxygen and suction in the hospital if it gets that bad. I was a little confused . . . pneumonia, possible asthma problems, and RSV?! Make up your mind, doc! Unfortunately, that was his basic diagnosis in the end . . . he thinks it's pneumonia AND RSV, with some asthma thrown in for good measure, although he said, less reassuringly, that it doesn't require hospitalization "yet". We're supposed to keep an eye on her, and expect it to get worse before it gets better, and check in often with her pediatrician to make sure he breathing isn't getting worse and her oxygen is staying up. She was started on antibiotics as well, but the doctor isn't really sure what kind of pneumonia she has, so it may or may not be effective. The last thing the nurse said as we were leaving was, "Please watch her really closely tonight." So, guess how well I slept last night! I was up really often, with the monitor on high so I could hear her breathe. The good news is we had a really, really good night (compared to what we were expecting). Around midnight (about the 6 hours since the steroids were given, when they said they should take affect), her coughing really calmed down, and she was able to sleep most of the night until 6:30 this morning. I love Benadryl and steroids! Which is what time it is now. Annie's sitting here, coughing (but not as badly as last night, so here's hoping we're already on the upswing!) and watching Elmo as I type this. She's not wheezing, that I can hear, so I'm waiting a little longer, until Greg wakes up, to determine for sure if she needs a breathing treatment . . . and so he can be the one to give it to her!

Last night when we finally got home from the doctors, my Mom ran out to the pharmacy to pick up our new stash of drugs (and the Benadryl, since I didn't currently own any such contraband) and Greg's parents came over to visit Annie and bring us all kinds of nummy food so we didn't have to worry about meals for the next few days. Greg took this to heart, and rather than have oatmeal or cereal for breakfast, he had Costco's Chicken Parmesan. I don't often think of bringing food to people unless they've just had surgery or a baby or something, but oh my goodness, it is one of the single greatest things when you're stressed and tired and don't want to deal with making food! And way tastier than the frozen dinners I was planning on sending with Greg to work.

So, anyway, keep Annie in your prayers . . . and I apologize if she's been anywhere near your kid in the last few days! I really had NO idea she was sick . . . no matter what the evil radiologist who straps kids into plastic tubes seems to think!

Oh, quick update, I found out my doctor wasn't in yesterday (or today), because him and his wife are adopting a new baby, and the baby was born yesterday. So, can't be upset at all for him not being in the office . . . I can be super annoyed with the receptionist who informed me he probably couldn't get back to me for a few days, and left it at that, until I reiterated that the InstaCare doc thought my kid had RSV and pneumonia and she could get another doctor in the office to call me back TODAY!

February 13, 2008

I just wanted to send a quick update to let everyone know how Annie is doing...She's doing amazingly, remarkably, miraculously well. We received a call from the Doctor confirming that it was definitely pneumonia. But you'd hardly be able to tell by looking at her. The steriods and antibiotics they have her on are doing wonders. We are not out of the woods yet... after a frightening coughing fit she had this morning, we had to do a breathing treatment. But she seems just find 90% of the time. Thanks to everyone, for all of your concern. We are hoping to be back to normal as soon as possible.

So, there it was . . . Annie's sickest moments thus far in her life, as well as my memories of her fabled chest x-rays.

Unrelated, I just had this picture on my phone from the other day. I just liked it, thus it's appearance of my blog.

Proud . . . and Tired

So, Annie came into our room early, early this morning . . . sometime before 6AM. She had to pee, and was just informing us she was headed into the bathroom. Incredibly impressed that my two year old woke herself up to use the potty before morning, but couldn't help groggily thinking, "Kid, this is why you sleep in a diaper!"
Annie did go all day yesterday in panties without a single accident . . . and can surprisingly go like 4-5 hours between needing to use the potty (that last hour or two I'm a nervous wreck, just waiting for find a puddle somewhere). Still very stubborn though, I think anytime I gently reminded her about the potty, she held off another half hour or so before she would go and use the bathroom.

Ellie will probably end up crawling eventually. This week she finally decided that being on her tummy isn't complete torture. I mean, she still doesn't like it, and will roll over onto her back pretty quickly, but she has at least showed some indications that she 'gets' that this tummy thing will eventually lead to some form of mobility. If put up on her hands and knees, she'll bob around for a second or two, then lunge towards something she wants. Then roll over onto her back. She has even put herself from sitting onto her hands and knees a few times in the last few days, which is amazing progess for our tummy-hater. So, she may be mobile one day . . . at which point I will predictably complain, "Remember when you could leave her on the floor in one place and come back and she'd still be there!" (As I've been typing this, she actually just dived from sitting onto her tummy to get to some of Annie's playing cards to eat.)

Ellie is also becoming quite the eater. Not that you can tell from her still-shy-of-15-pounds body. She LOVES fajitas. Onions, peppers, chicken. You'd think the kid is in heaven. She ate twice as much guacomole and beans than her big sister the other day, and will chow down on raw tomatoes until I'm afraid she'll turn red. Paper is still her favorite though. Particularly playing cards and books.

She's getting awfully chatty lately too . . . babbling all through Sunday School AND Elders' Quorum Greg informs me. His favorite part is that it's becoming increasingly a very clear "da da da da da." Annie even commented this morning, "Mom, did you hear that? Annie just said 'DaDa!' We should call Daddy."

Oh, and on a personal note. Am I the only person who loves talking in Sacrament meeting? Like LOVES it? Seriously, it bums me out I only get to do it every few years. Greg and I spoke this last Sunday, me speaking 25 minutes of our allotted time, poor Greg getting to improptu butcher his talk down to five minutes. (I'd TOLD him to only plan on 5 minutes, but the silly boy (who should know me better by now) still planned ten.) I don't know what it is, but I totally look forward to it all week, and then feel like a complete ROCK STAR when I'm done. I love the accolades, the teary eyes complimenting me on a job well done, the handshakes, hugs and back pats. The whole thing. Rock Star! Yeah, I'm pretty sure my complete lack of humility about the whole thing negates any blessings I would have received for faithfully following through with my assigned task, but for now, I'm cool with that. (Rock Star!)

Miss Independent

So, the potty train derailed for a little bit. One day it was like Annie wasn't cool with it anymore, and to prove it, peed in her panties three times in about as many hours. At one point she was up to the table as I was cleaning up lunch and just announced suddenly, "Mommy, I peeing." And lo and behold, a second later there was a puddle forming under her chair. Sigh. Well, frankly, with this stubborn of a kid, I'd already decided this has to be all her (since I'm not allowed to mention trying to go potty, the mere suggestion throws her into a rage and tantrums that give the terrible twos their meaning.) So, I simply put her back in diapers and we've continued on with life the last day and a half. And it's still amazing to me how fiercely independent my child is. This morning at one point, she went into the bathroom, took off her diaper, took care of business, managed to put BACK ON her still dry diaper (how she did this, and so well, I still don't understand), and washed her hands and went back to playing.

Then tonight (as probably the single most effective stalling tactic for bed we've seen yet), she came downstairs where Greg and I were and informed us she had to use the bathroom. She was holding her potty that she'd dragged down the stairs with her. I asked if she needed any help, to which she responded (predictably), "Nope, I can do it." Then she disappeared into the bathroom with her potty in tow. She came out a few minutes later and asked for the pretty smelling soap Grandma Karine bought her that day (hands smelling of raspberries is the best potty motivator we've found . . . unfortunately it only works really well within 20 feet of, or within two hours of contact with, Grandma.) I came in to find her up on a kitchen chair she'd apparently dragged in there earlier, already back in her diaper for the night, WASHING the potty seat out, then washing her hands, climbing onto the counter to get the hand towel from the higher rung since the lower one was already in the wash, she then reassembled her potty, flushing the toilet, turning out the light and dragging her freshly cleaned potty back up the stairs.

So, I'm done trying. Annie knows what she's supposed to do and how to handle it all, so when she wants to do it, she will. When I ask her to do it, I swear it just pushes her back another day, so I'm done. I'll be supportive when she wants me to be, gently remind her in ways I can sneak in, and just wait to see what happens. Someone call me when my kid is completely potty trained.

After one more trip to the potty, Annie is now in bed. She is currently calling out through her sobs from her torture chamber (her bed), "Mommy, where are you? I love you and I like you, why aren't you here?! I DON'T LIKE SLEEPING MOM!"

Our Daily Reminder:
Have you voted yet?
Vote for Rachel at: http://seriouslysoblessed.blogspot.com/2009/01/makeover-finalists.html

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE VOTE!! (And pass it on!)

Everyone, please go to Seriously so Blessed and vote for my best friend RACHEL to win TAMN's makeover contest.
Rachel has gone through one hell of a year . . . below is my initial submission, but we had to scale it down to 100 words or so for the actual nomination that's on the Seriously So Blessed website . . .

My BFF thought she was getting her happily ever after when she got married. Turns out she couldn't have been more wrong. Her husband just left her and their baby with nothing . . . 'cause it turned out he was leading a double life & was cheating on her. A lot. With men.

He made her feel worthless & ugly, but she's strong, beautiful and amazing. She's just totally forgotten. The jerk even had the nerve to tell her 'if only' . . . if only she was a better wife. If only she was nicer. If only she was more beautiful. Then of course he'd stop scamming on random guys. Whatevs. He was a mean, twisted individual who was cruel & abusive, and she deserves a chance to start off this new year with a fresh start and a little boost of self-esteem!

She has to go out & get a job to support her son, (and eventually snag a new, better man!) Her husband constantly told her she was worthless, driving her nearly to the point of giving up, and yet here she is, starting her entire life over again, trying to make the most of a horrible situation for her six month old son. TAMN, help us show her what a beautiful little Mommy she really is!

PLEASE pass this on to anyone you know who'd be willing to go vote . . . feel free to link to this or Seriously, just help me get the word out to vote for Rachel!
Thanks so much!

These Are the Moments . . .

My girls are playing together on the floor on the other side of the room. I've longed for these days, when my two children would entertain each other, their laughter mingling, being friends.
Ellie's peals of baby laughter keep filling the room and melting my heart. More than anything because each squeal and giggle is a direct result of her big sister's antics. Annie is being the perfect big sister, setting up a tea party for all her dolls and her little sister. She even went downstairs and got some baby 'puffs' for Ellie to eat, six of them are perfectly laid out on Ellie's plate.

Oh, wait . . . she's getting ready to pray (She just asked Ellie to fold her arms.) Let's listen in . . .

"Hello Heavenly Father. Thank you for this day. Thank you for Annie and Ellie and eating'. And Jesus help me have happy. ELLIE! Don't eat yet [snatching a plate from Ellie's mouth], I still praying! Thank you for our bodies. Thank you for my babies eating baby stuff. Thank you for making us happy! Hey Mom, look at me, I'm saying the prayer! 'Cause we are going to play eat. Hey Ellie, FOLD you arms, we are saying prayer!!" HA! This is awesome . . . why do I not have a video camera set up and ready to go at all times!?

Now they're playing peek a boo, and Ellie seems pretty convinced her big sister is the funniest human being who has ever lived or peekabooed.

I really am having visions of them playing together for hours, being the best of little friends. I'm also purposefully blocking out all the memories of me and my sisters beating the ever-livin' crap outta one another. 'Cause sisters love each other unconditionally. All the time. Right?

Giveaway . . .

For those who might be interested in a duo-stroller . . .
http://inevergrewup.net/giveaway-25-bumbleride-indie-stroller/
(or even for those who'd be interested in entering for it and just giving it to me if they win, y'all should enter too!!) :-)

Zoo Day

For my sister Talina's birthday, the girls and I, along with Talina and her husband David, headed out to Hogle Zoo on Monday morning. It was on the cold side, but we bundled up and it was a really great day at the zoo.

Highlights:
Checking out the lazy gorillas, Annie told Uncle David that "the Momma gorilla is just chillin'," much to the amusement of other zoo goers around us.

She lamented in the giraffe building (saddest enclosure at the zoo), "Oh baby giraffe . . . why did you have to grow up?"

Annie was very happy to learn that the elephant likes to make snowballs and eat them too!

After spending some one on one time with Uncle David she came up and informed us, "Aunt Talina is a genius . . . because she married Uncle David."

Annie's dime she found at the front gate will apparently save like 125 acres of the rainforest since she donated it and all. Wish land was that cheap around here.

Uncle David got stuck in the giant egg in the playground. Annie pointed and laughed. There's a picture of it later on in this post.

You Know What Sucks . . .

When you have never, ever, ever gone over on your cell phone minutes in the 10+ years you've had your own cell phone, then you get a bill in the mail for $389 because you went like 680 minutes over last month. You hadn't even thought that you were using more minutes, but now in retrospect you're thinking, "Oh, that whole time I was homeless and trying to fill my days taking the girls on errands and to fun places, I talked on the phone. A lot. Forgot about that . . . So, where exactly do I come up with an extra $300+ in this month's budget?"
Yeah, that sucks.

Your cable/phone/internet bill comes the same day. You spent a ridiculous $249 last month getting everything set up in your new house, but they've tacked on another $25 in random 'hook up' fees, and then the "Special Bundle Offer" they advertised so heavily easily costs $35-40 more a month than they say once everything is added together, and now you're staring at a $170 bill that is also much higher than your original monthly budget allowed (of course, the monthly budget is already pretty much screwed after the cell phone debacle.)
Yeah, that sucks.

When your daughter who is perfectly able to use the bathroom, all on her own I might add, decides that it is for the best to poop in her panties, then go downstairs and play with toys for 15 minutes until her Mom catches on and wrangles her into a bathroom to get cleaned up. Twice today.
Yeah, that sucks.


When your husband's work announces that in those 66 layoffs, his job is included.
Yeah, that sucks.
BUT, then they say that they like your husband and he's a good worker, so they've found a way to keep him employed, moving him into another position. So even though his engineering job is gone, they're keeping him on under another title. And this title may even have an extra week of vacation every year.
You know . . . if one thing was gonna go right today, I'm awfully glad it was that one!

Like Mother, Like Daughter . . .

I was finishing getting ready, Ellie was napping and Annie was in my room playing games online. As I came back into the room, Annie turned excitedly, and shouted out, "Hey look Mom! I found the baby doll I want! Let's order it!"

Yeah, don't know how exactly she got there, but there she was, my two year old . . . shopping online. This bodes well . . .


It is awfully cute though . . .

Starting to Annoy Me . . .

My Mom was always big into 'holiday outfits'. Growing up that usually meant some fantastically coordinating poofy dresses for my sisters and I for most major holidays. Nowadays it means I can usually sucker my Mom into buying 'holiday outfits' for my girls if we just happen to take her with us to Target or something the week or two before the next holiday when there's cute baby outfits on display. Is that evil? :-)




This year though, Valentine's Day clothing is really beginning to piss me off. Everywhere I've gone I have found the cutest little short sleeve dresses, tee-shirts and short sets. Did everyone in the clothing industry fail to notice that Valentine's Day is in February!! You know, WINTER! Maybe this'd work just fine for Busca's girls down in Arizona, but for us, I'm expecting it to be in the 20-30 degree range over this particular holiday, and it would kinda be negligent parenting to stick Ellie in a pair of shorts and a 'dress' that barely covers her diapers.

Has anyone else noticed this seasonal discrepancy? Does anyone else find this odd?

The New and Improved Me . . . Now 2.4% Smaller!

Christensen Family Biggest Loser - One Week Down

Despite eating nothing but junk and fattening stuff and candy for the whole weekend (but it was OK, 'cause my whole family was there eating it too, so I knew they weren't losing either), I had a surprising 2.4% weight loss! I kinda felt disappointed for a split second, thinking of the 4, 5, and 6% weight losses I've seen on the actual Biggest Loser competition, then reality hit and I was like, "Holy Crap! I just lost X.X lbs, in one week!" (I can't put my actual weight loss here, 'cause I already put the percentage . . . and geeky math people, like Talina and Greg, could easily figure out my actual weight, which is totally uncool of them. Geeks. Nobody but me and my doctor should see those numbers on a scale . . . and Lacy, of course, she is officiating "Christensen Family Biggest Loser 2009".)

This was especially exciting, 'cause I didn't do anything 'crazy'. (Like the nothing but chicken and orange fruits diet . . . I dropped 10 lbs in on week on that once!) I added some protein, especially to my breakfast. Added more veggies. And did some pathetic excuse of Tae Bo a few times this week, some resistance band training while I was nursing, and went on walks since the weather was nice. And today I'm going to be walking around the zoo for hours . . . that'll be my workout, because I am especially sick and tired of Billy Blanks right now (worst aerobics instructor ever, but I love the actual Tae Bo workout! My sister suggested turning the TV on mute, putting on real music and trying it. May do that.)

Oh, totally cool calf workout that makes you feel the burn . . . while in a rocker or glider feeding a baby (like at Church), I flexed my calf and did mini 'presses', keeping the chair back and 'pulsing', first on my toe, then on my heel. (Does this make sense?) By the time I was done and off to Sunday School my calves were all tight and mildly achy. Then they kinda turned to Jello during Relief Society. Now they just feel good. Might need to start nursing Ellie in a glider at home now!

Unrelated to my amazing weight loss. Annie is a potty training genius IF my Mom is around. For me she just poops in her pants. (The peeing thing though, she pretty much has that down!) I even suggest using the potty and I'm met with big girl sized tantrums. My Mom suggests it and it's like they're off on some fun adventure together in the land of porcelain.

Oh, and a bit of a miracle . . . Annie fell asleep last night on the way home from my Aunt's house around 6PM . . . we got home and Greg gently transferred her to her bed, we both weighed the pros and cons of letting her stay asleep (pro: more rested, therefore more pleasant Annie . . . con: what if she slept straight through and decided to wake up 3AM.) Good news is she did sleep straight through . . . 'til 7:15 this morning! That's amazing!

This is Starting to Freak Me Out . . .

So, this is what 'Tummy Time' looks like at our house:


Each and every time I've pretty much EVER set Ellie on her tummy, you would think we were torturing her most cruelly. The child learned to consistently roll herself off of her tummy at around 4 weeks old, so we've seen the same pattern for 7 months now . . . set Ellie down on her stomach, freak out screeching followed by promptly flipping herself over and glaring at me through her tears like, "How dare you do that to me!"

So, here we are at nearly 8 months old and I don't think we're anywhere near her being able to crawl. She hasn't built up any of those muscles, and I don't know how to help her or encourage her to do the things she needs to that will eventually lead to crawling? And I feel very much at fault. I don't know what to do differently. I set her on her stomach a few times a day (although admittedly there have been whole weeks where I didn't set her down more than once or twice on her belly because of the tantrum that always follows such abusive action on my part.) "Put her down when she's in a good mood, right after she's napped and ate," is the advice I hear most often. Which makes me want to shriek, "Ya really think I'm setting attempting this when she's hungry, tired and grumpy . . . just to make it more fun! Of COURSE I'm doing this when she's in a playful mood!" Of course, she doesn't stay playful for long as soon as she realizes what I have in mind for her. I try laying right there on the floor with her, she just screams, flips herself over and screams at the ceiling. I try putting her down with a toy just out of reach, she buries her head in the carpet and screams. I try laying her down on her tummy and scattering some toys and just leaving the room and letting her wail while I get something like the dishes done, and I come back to the room to find her sobbing up towards the ceiling like she's lost everything and her life is over. What do I do?! I remember feeling like Annie was a late crawler (she started crawling right around the time she turned 8 months old), but she also pulled up to standing on EVERYTHING she could get her hands on. I have a ton of pictures of her younger than Ellie is now, standing herself up against a large bouncy ball and pulling up onto her hands and feet and just resting her head on the floor like, "Wow, this is cool. Don't know what to do with this new skill, but look at me!" And up on her hands and knees ready to explore the world. I feel like Ellie is so far behind Annie physically, and I feel like it's 100% my fault. I didn't try hard enough earlier on to really do the tummy time thing. That's the hard thing about having a colicky baby who screams most of the day (it was a huge issue with Annie too, she just got over it a little quicker, so caught up faster). Your only chance of calming them down is using every comforting technique in your arsenal, and it sure as heck doesn't include laying them down on their own. It's holding and rocking and soothing. Plus, I was kind of afraid of Annie squashing her or something, so I didn't put Ellie down as much on the floor as I did Annie (screaming or not). So, I feel like I've gotten my daughter off to an unnecessarily slow start, and I feel bad about it. And it's freaking me out. I've spent a lot of time lately looking at pictures of Annie at this same age and just marveling at how much more active, physical and capable she seems than Ellie, and I keep asking myself, "What have I done different? What can I change now? Will Ellie suddenly decide one day that all this moving around on her own seems like it could be a fun thing and just start trying to crawl?" (That's pretty much how it seemed to happen with Annie. One of the reasons I haven't pushed 'Tummy Time' with Ellie more was Annie hated it with a passion too, had no patience for it whatsoever until one day it seemed like something just clicked and she realized, "Hey, this'll eventually get me mobile," and she just started to enjoy being on the floor, trying to get on her hands and knees and before we knew it, she was crawling. So, will that just happen with Ellie? Or, do I need to push it more? Do I stick her on the floor, like it or not, and let her scream? Will that finally just piss her off enough that the toy is just out of reach that she'll lunge for it? Or will it further solidify hatred for all time spent on her belly?

I thought I should add, she's not like a complete lump or anything either. She's been sitting up perfectly for months. And Ellie can roll over both ways, when she wants to. She's standing more and more up to her activity table . . . tonight even letting go with both hands and standing completely unassisted for a few seconds before plopping backwards onto her butt (she looked as shocked and pleased as her father and I did!) She's just starting to pull up more on her own, but only if she has a hold of my fingers -- I don't have to help her or anything, it just has to be a person she's holding onto, she won't try pulling up on inanimate objects or anything . . . she needs the illusion that she's being helped, the chicken. :-)

As much as she hates her tummy . . . she is really starting to love standing up . . .

She's even starting to get more adventurous, moving away from the table and towards me if she's done playing. She is just barely starting to get the whole 'taking steps' thing . . . which is different for us, since Annie pretty much came out of the womb wanting to stand up all the time, loved to 'walk' holding onto our fingers from way younger and was starting to walk around the Activity Table as soon as she learned how to stand up to it.

This was just Annie dancing tonight. I thought it was cute, and thought I'd throw it in.

So, did anyone else have a hard time with the tummy/crawling thing . . . any advice that will hopefully work and save my sanity and soothe my guilt nerves?

Edited to add: I should probably add (since I probably rambled way too far from my actual point) that my problem isn't really that Ellie's not crawling yet . . . I don't think 8 months is in anyway cause for concern as far as a 'delay' for crawling. My stress is that I'm not seeing ANY signs of any preparing to crawl, no pre-crawling skills if there's such things :-).

How Much Fun it is to Ride . . .

Today we went on a sleigh ride up at Hardware Ranch up by Logan to see all the Elk. Annie is now well educated about these animals, telling me the whole drive back to our house how the boy ones have antlers (not horns, I was brutally rebuffed by Annie and Grandpa Robert when I made that mistake earlier) but the "girl ones just have ears on their heads." And we can now spot Elk poop from a mile away.

We were warned sternly and repeatedly before the sleigh ride that we would not be able to get out and retrieve any dropped items for any reason whatsoever. So, there was much discussion among my family what would happen if we dropped a kid overboard, would we really just continue on, stopping for no reason. Then Jovanny's binkie went flying off into the Elk's feeding grounds, lost and gone forever. Lacy almost dived overboard to retrieve it . . . I think mainly because she was the one who had to drive the two hours home with the now binkie-less kid in her car. (Turns out he did have a spare in the car, so he slept on the drive home, like normal babies do.)
We, obviously, took lots of pictures, which I will of course share with all of you!

Here we all are (minus my Dad who's taking the picture. And Ellie who's in Star's lap by hidden by Greg) before our sleigh ride began . . .

Star's holding Ellie (who looked much like Maggie Simpson does in her snow suit) off to the left, then Talina, Annie, Cody and Lacy. I have pretty much the coolest siblings in human history. You may think yours are, but that's just because you don't have mine. Sorry, it's true. :-)

Cody, being all, "I'm 17." As my Dad was pointing out to Annie how you could tell who the young male Elks were (by their single antlers), Star only heard this part of their conversaion, "So, Annie, how can you tell who the young boy one are?" To which Star piped in, "The moodiness." :-)

Ellie and I in a ton of shadow, but I really liked the picture anyway.

My adorable family. With two very bundled up pink girls.

I don't know why, I just LOVED the "Teen Angst" shots I got of Cody today!

Annie's favorite winter past time: eating snow.

Semi-unrelated, but since we're in the midst of potty training it's pretty much all we're focused on in our family. Annie wore pull-ups on this trip. And despite hours on end in vehicles, and public restrooms as her only option, Annie left our house at 8AM with a new pull-up on, and when we got home at 4PM she had a perfectly clean and dry pull-up on and several successful trips to strange bathrooms under her belt. This kid is amazing (I say that now, but I very much expect poop on my carpet or something tomorrow.) She got a brand new fairy princess dress up costume as a reward (I'd bought it cheap after Christmas and had just been looking for an excuse to give it to her.)

One Pair of Panties, Down the Drain.

Literally.

Annie had another poopy accident earlier today, and this time did it while I was out of the room. So, she decided to take matters into her own hands (literally too, ewwww.) I came down to find her in the bathroom, almost an entire roll of toilet paper that she'd been using to clean off her legs in the toilet. I helped her get cleaned up the rest of the way. Crossed my fingers and flushed the toilet, hoping all the toilet paper wouldn't clog. Shampooed select areas of our front room carpet. Then went to start laundry. It was at this point, as I was gathering the various rags I'd been using to clean, I realized something was missing, "Hey Annie, where were your panties?" "Oh," she replied, "I'd put them in the potty." Crap.

Things that remind me how much I love this kid though:
She's made up her own little song to sing her address. Impressive.
She came and sat on my lap earlier and said, "Mommy, let's play 'Rock a Bye Baby', I'll be the baby!"
She keeps trying to entertain Ellie, talking in the funniest high pitched voice as she coos, "Look at you Ellie! You are so big! Look at you! Look what a big girl!" Ellie just grins ear to ear.
How she's looking over this blog post as I type and pointing out all the A's, N's, I's and E's.
How when my Dad came over today to play board games with her, she kept 'accidently', or not at all accidently, using her game piece to knock over his whenever she passed his on the board. Then would laugh uproariously.
How when Ellie wakes up from a nap, Annie screams, "MOM! She's awake!" Then rushes in there and talks to her through the crib until I finish what I was doing (washing out poopy panties . . . the ones from earlier that didn't go down the drain).
How she brought me a size 5 diaper for Ellie while I was changing her earlier. When I pointed out I needed a littler one for Ellie, Annie looked at me for a second, obviously not wanting to go run another errand, then smartly said, "I decided I'd share with Ellie. She can have mine. It's OK."

Potty Progress

I told Annie I'm going to write on my blog how well she's been doing with potty training . . . she stood next to me as I pulled up my blog and was saying, "Mom, now type A-N-N-I-E . . . type it Mommy, A-N-N-I-E." She's pretty please with herself :-)

Anyway, we did not have a single accident yesterday!! And my daughter's fiercely independent streak is even coming in handy . . . she went into the bathroom this morning, I heard her "as she pee-peed in the potty," (Annie is narrating this for me, so if it's in quotes, it's her exact words), "As she went to the bathroom one more time." Then I heard a small "splash in the toilet, then I know, uh, to bath my hands because they are dirty. With peanut butter." (That last part actually has to do more with breakfast, she went off track while telling her story when it reminded her of her messy hands). Anyway, my words, more directly . . . then I heard the bathtub turn on as Annie washed out her own potty. Then I heard the toilet flush. Then I heard her drag her step stool over to the sink, wash her hands, and then she came out of the bathroom drying her hands off on a hand towel. Then she walked back over to her computer and started playing her letter game. Not a word of encouragement, advice, instruction, anything from her Mom, all this went on while I was feeding Ellie in my room, just listening in.

Of course, the flip side of that independent spirit is if I even mention the word 'potty' when she wasn't already thinking of it, I'm met with shrieks and tantrums. It's kind of a miracle we're doing as well as we are, since all the books I've read are all, "And have them sit on the potty once every 20/30/60 minutes for at least 5/10/15 minutes until they produce something." Annie would freak out if I tried to show anywhere near that much control. Not one single time have I been able to 'talk' Annie into using or sitting on her potty. I guess this is karma or payback or whatever, being that I was the two year old who notoriously told her parents, "I can poop in my diaper if I want to, you can't make me use the potty. I get to choose, you can't make those decisions for me." Any wonder I have a bit of a stubborn, my-way-or-the-highway kinda kid? Didn't think so.

I just asked Annie if there was anything I should add to this post.
"A-N-N-I-E," she responded. Then asked in a whisper, "Mom, did you get that, A-N-N-I-E?"
Oh, "Add M-O-M, and H for Hilary."

Unrelated to bodily functions or letters, Annie was singing "Do You Know the Muffin Man?" yesterday. For like the fortieth time. (And I'm using fortieth in a biblical kinda way, when it just means a whole lot, possibly WAY more than 40. According to the all knowing internet, "A 40-something time period, whether days, months, or years is ALWAYS a period of testing." True of "Do You Know the Muffin Man?" singing as well.) After the umpteenth singing of the line, "Who lives on Drury Lane," Annie got a small grin on her face and belted out the words, "Who lives on HILARY Lane!" (In Annie-ese, Drury and Hil-rry rhyme quite nicely.) She laughed for like five minutes.

Edited to add:
I start getting my hopes up, then Annie poops in her pants, about one minute after I'd read her books while she sat on her potty for 15 minutes or so. How do you keep potty training setbacks (which will be many and often, I'm sure. It's all part of the process) from demoralizing the both of you? Any advice you veteran trainers?