An End to Diapers?

The other day, the thought crossed my mind that I should start training Lily to go number two in the toilet.  I decided to pay extra attention to Lily the next couple of days and put her on the toilet whenever she needed to go.  Tonight was the first time.  Lily was uncertain at first, but cooperated.  I was thrilled that I had one less diaper to change!  Scott & I both made a big deal about Lily being a big girl.  She loved the extra attention.

I'm hoping this is the beginning of the end of poopy diapers!

Last Monday, Lily really scared me.  She had been sick for a week, but it got worse Sunday.  She threw up twice and hadn't had wet diapers.  I was really worried she was dehydrated.  I was told to worry if she became listless.  Well, Monday morning, she woke up at her normal time, but fell asleep again almost immediately.  Every time I tried to wake her, her eyes would open and then roll back in her head immediately.  This continued for over two hours.  I decided to take Lily in to the doctor's office and have her professionally evaluated.  They gave me the soonest appointment they had: 3:00 pm.

When Lily finally did get up, she threw up everywhere.  But when we went to the doctor's office, she acted happy & content.  Why can't she ever act sick & pathetic when I take her in?!  Her normal doctor wasn't able to see her.  I was concerned how Lily would react to a male doctor with facial hair (she is scared of men, especially if they have facial hair), which is why her normal doctor is a female.  But he didn't phase her one bit.  He was so kind and gentle with her!  The doctor validated my concern about her listlessness in the morning and no wet diapers.  He was very concerned with her throwing up.  He then showed me how I could tell for myself that Lily is hydrated:

* when you apply pressure on her finger tip it turns from white to red immediately

* when she cries, it isn't just sound, but tears, too

* her mouth is wet with saliva, not a thicker mucus

I thought I would share this information with other moms who might worry about their children being dehydrated.  Maybe it will save someone else a trip to the doctor.

I'm finally 27!

I know most adults dread turning another year older.  I'm the opposite.  I love it!  I'm sick of people mistaking me for a 21 year old, especially at work.  (I want people to take me seriously when I design their kitchen and ask them to hand over thousands of dollars.)  It seems like a week doesn't go by without a customer asking me how old I am.  If I'm in "one of my moods" I tell people I'm "approaching 30."  They don't need to know how slowly I'm approaching 30, just that I'm approaching.

Scott & Lily took me out to the Olive Garden for dinner.  The food was so good!  It was such a wonderful treat.  Lily ate a little food, and then played with her toys while we finished eating.  Afterwards, we had strawberry ice cream cake at home.  I know the cake looks homely, but the ice cream kept melting when I was icing the cake.  At least it was very yummy!

Some ladies at church took me out for ice cream the next day.  (It's the first time I've had a girls night out since Lily was born.)  The ice cream was really good, and the company was great!

My parents & Mickayla came up to visit us the following Saturday to continue the birthday celebration.  (Sorry Mom, Dad & Mick.  It's the only picture we had of your visit.)  We were able to show them our house.  Unfortunately, we didn't get to show them the park or much of Bellingham.  I guess they'll just have to come visit us again!  They took us out for dinner and then we finished off the ice cream cake at home.  (I'm grateful they didn't embarrass me at the restaurant by having anyone sing to me.)  Lily loved having Grandma, Papa, and Aunt Mickayla visit.  Mickayla played Lily's favorite game with her: run around the table.  Grandma spiced up the game by tickling the girls' bellies as they ran past her.

 

Thank you for all the gifts, phone calls, and emails.  It made the day/week very special.

The Finer Things in Life

My sister, Mickayla, gave Lily a darling tea set for Christmas.  The tea set is made out of thin metal, so it feel delicate but is durable.  I know Lily will get a lot of use out of it in the years to come.  She loves her dolls, and loves having things to do with her dolls. 

Lily & I invited all of her dolls down for a tea party today.  She was a good hostess: serving them all tea (water), and then taking their cups away when she thought they were done.  The party only lasted a few minutes, but was a fun break from normal life.  Maybe next time we'll invite her stuffed animals to join us and serve refreshments with the tea.

We'll have to keep practicing so that Lily can have real live friends over for a tea party someday.

P.S. The doll in the middle is Lily's newest & favorite doll.  Grandma & Papa gave it to her for Christmas.  She loves to carry her around the house and give her kisses.

Happy New Years!

Lily must have know there was something special about this day.  She postponed taking her nap until we drove down to Grandma & Papa's house, which made it where she could stay up until midnight with the rest of us.

When we arrived at Grandma & Papa's house, they were playing the craziest game I've ever observed: Curses!  They were each given curses of how they must respond to people throughout the game.  Blake had to keep his hands in fist formation, and give himself bunny ears whenever he spoke.  Justin had to act like Mr. T when he spoke; Brian had to play the air guitar and talk with a slur; Dad had to bock like a chicken and say "You rascally rabbit" every time he spoke.  Mickayla had to slap herself on the face whenever she read a card.  Mom had equally ridiculous curses, but I forgot what they were.

Grandma Tina came over in time for the New Year . . . which is when we broke out the sparkly hats, flashing wands, and sparklers.  Lily liked drawing designs in the air with the sparklers, but her favorite thing to play with was the flashing wand that played music!

 

Merry Christmas 2008!

This year, I wanted a quiet Christmas celebration with just the three of us. I wanted to be able to focus on building our own traditions and keeping the focus on Christ this season. Lily has enjoyed listening to us sing carols by candlelight for weeks now. She also has enjoyed all the nativity sets that we have around the house. (Although, she's been in time out many times for playing with the nativity pieces. She can't understand that the sheep and horse need to stay next to baby Jesus!)

I thought I had the start of a wonderful family tradition. I thought it would be fun to have a family slumber party in our bedroom! I invisioned us all sleeping soundly while cuddled together in bed, and then awaking refreshed and happy Christmas morning. I forgot that Lily sleeps sideways in bed, kicks Scott in the head through out the night, and pulls my hair and insists on breathing hot air in my face as she sleeps. I don't know as if we'll do this again!

Lily was excited when she saw her gifts. She loves drawing on her new desk/easel! The rest of her gifts faded to the background as she set up the perfect Lily art studio in our living room.


We were excited to talk to Reed (my brother serving a mission for our church in Brazil). It was fun to hear his voice again, and hear his Brazilian accent. I looked forward to that phone call all day!

I made my first pot roast ever this Christmas. Luckily, it turned out alright. (I tend to ruin food on my first attempt, so this was a happy surprize.) I wish the pretzel jell-o that I've made for years had turned out as well, but it was a disaster. Oh well. We still ate it even if the jell-o all sank to the bottom of the dish. (Lily loved the baked carrots, and pretzel jell-o.)

Scott's mom and step-dad joined us Christmas night. Lily was so excited to see them. She squealed as soon as she saw them at the door. She loved all the presents they brought her, too.

"The Family Christmas Shin dig"

Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without spending it with extended family. Scott's family (minus Chris & Ashley) had gathered in Seattle for an after Christmas celebration. Once the snow melted and roads were safe to travel again, we drove down to Seattle to spend time with them. We played games, opened gifts, and ate yummy food. (We love Maddy's soup!) I must say I was relieved we drew names this year for gifts, so there weren't as many presents to open. As it was, it took awhile to open all the gifts.

We played a rousing game of "Cash & Guns." The point of the game is to intimidate your opponents with your gun, so they drop out of the money pool. Scott's mom had no problem shooting her sons and husband for extra loot.

The grandkids had moments of blissful play and moments of difficulty as they struggled to share toys and play nice. (That's what happens when three kids all about 2 years old gather together.)

I can't help but share some of my favorite Lily photos. Her expressions are priceless! She's definately a character.

A day to play

Scott's family isn't much for planning. They prefer being spontaneous. The planner in me has to be reminded it's "vacation" and to just relax and go with the flow. After much deliberation, we decided to find new fun activities in the Seattle area. After compiling a list and taking a vote, we headed off to the Pacific Science Center.

All the kids loved the dinosaur exhibit. I thought Lily would be scared, but she proved me wrong. She roared whenever she saw a new dinosaur! We tried taking a picture of her with the dinosaur, but she wouldn't take her eyes off the dinosaur even long enough for Scott to snap the photo. The only reason she didn't throw a fit about leaving the dinosaurs was she saw giant balloons ahead! (Scott held her up so she could hit one of the balloons.)

Lily's favorite area was the toddler play area. There was a tide pool for her to touch sealife. (She thought the star fish's bumpy skin felt funny.) There was a fresh water play area, bubble making zone, music center, and play equipment. It was a tough decision on what she liked best. She was really torn between the fresh water play area and music center.


Scott's favorite area was the butterfly exhibit. He took some amazing pictures of the butterflies. Here are just two photos he took.

Scott thought my geeky side was showing through when I tried out the gyro bicycle. I thought it was fascinating how a spinny wheel could change which direction I rotated on a platform. (I guess I do have my geeky moments.)

After a long day of playing, it was time to go eat. Naturally, we hadn't planned ahead and made dinner reservations, so we had to drive around until we found a restaurant that had a reasonable wait time (1-1/2 to 2 hrs was not reasonable with children). We ended up at Ruby's Diner. The kids loved watching the trains go around and around. Dacian, Logan & Lily would oooh and ahhh as the train rounded the corner. After dinner, we rounded up the grandkids for a group photo. It took all the parents making silly faces and singing silly songs to get the kids to sit still and smile. (For those of you not familiar with the little cousins: Logan, Alexis, baby Lavinia, Dacian & Lily)

Lily's First Time Sledding (or rather tubing)!

So Candice and I were really blessed this Christmas season. As many of you know, money is quite tight for us due to my schooling and the bad economy that has affected Candice's hours. So we really didn't have a whole lot to spend on Christmas, so we had to make huge cuts. Well, this week we got an unmarked anonymous card in the mail from someone. Inside of it were substantial gift cards to Wal-Mart and Target and a note that said "For anything you might want or need this Christmas." Candice and I got a little choked up as another prayer had been answered from our Heavenly Father. Surely, he is looking out for us. If by chance that anonymous donor is reading this, God bless you and have a Merry Christmas. Candice and I are deeply grateful for your generosity.

Anyway, we decided to hang onto the gifts as much as possible by spending it on things that we need as a family. From one of our recent blog postings, you probably found out that we did not have boots or gloves for Lily. When it snowed last week, we had to put a pair of my socks on Lily's hands to keep her hands warm, and we had to carry her in the snow because she didn't have boots to walk in. Well, we found these cute gloves, hat, and boots at Target that were perfect for her. The picture above is Lily proudly sporting her new and improved snow outfit.

Another thing that we didn't have for Lily was a sled. They were all out of sleds at Wal-Mart, but they had snow tubes. I had never used one of these on snow before, but it seemed like a great idea. So we bought it for Lily as well. I didn't know exactly what Lily would think of it, whether she would like it or not. But as soon as I put her in it, she was smiling and laughing. It's made for two people, so the first couple of runs, I went with her to make sure she was safe (especially going off the jumps that some kids had made at the bottom that were really fun). But after a while, I realized that it seemed pretty safe; and Lily appeared to be enjoying it enough, so I let her go alone a few times. She just loved it. It was a fun daddy-daughter day. I'm sad that Candice had to work and did not get to go with us, but we need the money. So Lily, Candice, and I would like to just say thanks once again for making this a special and a merry Christmas holiday for us this year!

Four Legged Monster

Lily is obsessed with shoes. One day, she thought it would be funny to try them on her hands. I heard pitter patter of little feet ascending the stairs. When I looked up from my computer, there was Lily walking on all fours with shoes on her hands. We both found the moment quite humorous.

It Snowed!

When we first took Lily outside, she took one step outside and immediately turned to go back in the house. The wind made it feel like 1 degree Fahrenheit! After we started playing in the snow, Lily loved it!  (I couldn't find gloves for Lily, so we put a pair of Scott's socks on her.)




We had a good amount of snow, but it wouldn't stick together. I was hoping to make a snowman half the size of Lily, but the snow would not cooperate. Our snowman looks pathetic! At least Lily was excited to watch us build the snowman.

We don't have a sled, so we tried to improvise.  Scott pulled Lily on a garbage sack.  She thought it was pretty cool, until the sled slipped out from under her.  

Lily's first snow angel. Lily didn't understand what I was making her do, nor was she that impressed with the result.

It finally feels like Christmas!


Scott finished all of his classes on Wednesday, so we finally had time to set up our Christmas decorations! Lily loved helping us decorate the tree. She started out being a really good helper, and then she became more of a thief and a hinderance.




Lily loves to count the balls on the tree. We have to give her gentle reminders that she can look and touch, but not remove ornaments!


Lily was thrilled to help show off the finished product!

Simple Joys in Life . . . .

Lily is really good about giving me a guilt trip.  As soon as I try to leave her at the babysitters or Nursery (church class), she instantly sticks out her lower lip and starts wailing!  She has it down to an art.  Her lip starts quivering instantly.  It's super cute and very tragic all at the same time.

Today, I walked Lily to Nursery preparing myself for the guilt I would feel when I left her there.  The normal teacher was out of town, which only adds to Lily's uneasiness.  She started getting squirmy as we got near the classroom.  I was surprised at what happened next.  She ran into the room and didn't look back at me once.  I was thrilled!  No more guilt trips for letting her play with toys and kids her own age for two hours!

For anyone interested in getting a Kids Workshop apron from Home Depot . . .

The first Saturday of every month, Home Depot hosts a free Kids Workshop.  It's normally from 9 am -12pm.  You can pick up the aprons there.  (Normally you have to have kids with you to get the aprons, but my store is really lenient about that.)  If you bring your kid, they get to make a wood project with mom and/or dad that they can take home and paint.  They also get a pin to put on their apron. (Every month they have a new pin, so the kids can collect them all!)

My little helper!



Lily loves to help me in the kitchen. She always wants to wear an apron, but even with my best efforts they are so big on her that she ends up tripping. I decided to pick up a Kids Workshop apron from Home Depot for her. She was so excited when she saw it. She cried when it was time to take it off!

Lily was a lady bug for Halloween. Here she is on our front porch. She was the saddest lady bug ever at this moment.

We went over to Mike and Tiffany's house (they are friend's from our ward that we love to play Settler's of Catan with). Their daughter, Eva, is about Lily's age. And they love to get together and play. Eva was trying to make an escape when we took the picture, so that's Mike's finger trying to hold her down so we could get her picture. Ironically, the two girls were both bugs (lady bug and butterfly).

Here's a picture of Candice and Lily after trick-or-treating at a friendly neighbor's door. We only went to three houses because Lily didn't seem too impressed with the idea of knocking on stranger's doors out in the cold and begging for candy. But strangely enough, Lily got a lot of candy for only three houses. I think the people just thought she was cute and gave her extra handfuls.