Sleeping Beauty Card

I am so bummed because I thought I had a picture of Payton holding this card. My mom found this Sleeping Beauty Card that plays the song "I Know You" when you open it. Payton loves that song so much and got a huge smile on her face when she opened it. She must have played that song over and over again for over an hour. She finally fell asleep with the card open laying against her face in the car. It was so cute!

Payton is two!

Today was all about Payton.

Dave has continued on the tradition of taking the birthday girl (or boy) to McDonald's for breakfast. I guess he and his dad did it when he was younger. Anyway, Payton was so excited and had lots of fun.

Every Thursday our ward has a play date. Auntie Jen was nice enough to make cupcakes to take along and share with her friends. I think they were a success. :o) I love this picture because it was really the first time I saw Payton playing with other kids instead of just along side them.

We let Payton pick what she wanted to have for dinner. Yup you guessed it Apple Juice and Waffles!

She actually blew out her candles...By herself!

Present Time!

She is such a sweet little girl. We love her so much! Happy Birthday Payton!

Bongo is leaking mom.

Payton, Lincoln, and I were all in the living room. Payton had wedged herself between the couch and the rocker and was playing nicely. I had just laid Lincoln down on a blanket and was doing my best to entertain him. When from behind me I hear the sound of a cat hacking.

When I hear one of the cats hacking I usually run for them as fast as I can and try to get them off the carpet and onto floor be it hardwood, tile, or linoleum because cat barf is much easier to clean up when on floor than when on carpet.

The cat hacking was Bongo and he was on the couch...NO! I jump up off the floor and grabbed him to at least get him of the couch. His claw got stuck in the blanket he was laying on. I got it free and tossed him on the ground. He landed on Payton's beloved bubba (blanket)...NO! Grab him and toss him again. He landed on the receiving blanket Lincoln was playing on...NO! Grab him and give him another toss where he finally landed on the carpet. Mind you the whole time he is heaving.

I thought I was safe and that he hadn't actually puked up anything until he landed on the carpet. But just then Payton says, "Mommy Bongo is leaking!" I just looked at her and laughed saying, "Yes, Bongo is leaking." Where does she come up with this stuff? Then I turn around and see that he had "leaked" down the side of the couch and all along the path that I had moved him.

Thank goodness for the spot bot!

Milk

While Payton was eating breakfast I was nursing Lincoln. All of a sudden she stopped eating and said, "Lincoln drinks milk from mommy's booby." I said, "What?" Then she continued, "Baby Bow drinks milk from Payton's booby."

Visit Teaching and Poop

Laura Hamish and I visit teach the most wonderful women! When I say wonderful I mean WONDERFUL!

One of the women we visit teach is Tracy Marr. She is always very welcoming and always lets us bring our little ones. Even more she always sets out toys for Payton and Caeden to play with while we visit.

Our last visit was a little exciting to say the least. Lincoln was getting a little fussy so I stood up to bounce him a little. All of a sudden I smelled it...I looked down at him and said "Did you go poo poo?" Tracy looked up at me and said "I don't see anything. Whoa, kitchen sink! Kitchen sink!" As I looked down I saw poop oozing out of his diaper over my hand and down my pant leg. Yuck!

He got a second bath in the Marr's sink that day.

On a side note, I had walked to the visiting teaching appointment that day. I did have a change of clothes for Lincoln but not for myself and had to walk all the way home with poop stain on my shirt and pants. Nice!

That's not Tropicana

Black Bear diner has the best orange juice ever!

Dave, my sister, and I plus all our kiddos were having breakfast there and I was having orange juice with my meal.

I made the comment about how good the orange juice was. I mean I went on and on about how this tasted like fresh squeezed and that it definitely wasn't Tropicana. Only to look up and see a Minute Made orange juice dispenser... At least we all got a good laugh.

I still think that they have to add fresh squeezed OJ to the Minute Made. It was so good!

Park Play Date with Caeden

I have been having so much fun during the play dates with my mom and cute little niece, Caeden.

Our ward has a play date each Thursday and when the weather is nice they rotate to different parks each week. One week we went to Ramac Park, Payton loved this little picnic table they have under one of the play structures, she stayed there pretty much the entire play date. Well, we decided to go there and have a little picnic. The girls were in seventh heaven...

Until they weren't anymore. LOL

Caeden decided she was done with her PB&J. I had to take the picture. She is so cute!

Lincoln has his first tooth!

Wait! Is that another one...Yup. He has got two teeth.

Around noon when we were all at the park I spotted the first one poking through and around 3:00 I caught a glimpse of the second one. Yikes!

Boy are they sharp too. Every single time I nurse him he bites me. I think he is doing it on purpose...to see me jump out of whatever chair I am in.

This is the only picture I could find where you could even sort of see them. Lincoln is on the Left and his buddy Dylan is on the right.

Funny Day

Sunday was just one of those days. I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall to watch myself.

Dave had to pick up his family from the airport in the morning so I was heading off to church with the two kidlets by myself. To start we have a pet gate in the hallway to keep the cats confined to a portion of the house. It is an extra tall gate, which surprisingly they have not tried to jump over, with a little swing open door to walk through. The door is not quite wide enough for me to fit the car seat through so to get out I either need to lift it up and over the gate with Lincoln in it or just put him in it on the other side of the gate.

Sunday I opted to lift him and the car seat up and over the gate only to realize that I had forgotten something back in the part of the house that was on the other side of the gate. I was already loaded down with the diaper bag and other misc. items so I decided to set Lincoln down before heading back through the gate for it. As I bent over to set him down the weight of what I was carrying put pressure on my hand which pushed the button on the water bottle I was carrying which then caused a fountain of water to pour on poor Lincoln in the car seat. He sputtered a bit and started crying. Yikes! How often does that happen? I am glad I am not a coffee drinker.

At church I got us all sat down and Lincoln started to squawk. I headed for the Mother's Room with Payton in tow to nurse him. Dave got to church while we were in there. Once we got back into the chapel and settled down Lincoln started spitting up. When I say spitting up I mean a river flowed from his mouth. I have no idea how I got away unscathed but I did. The spit up traveled down a fold in his clothes and ended up puddling in my hand. Seriously no more would have fit in the cup my hand made without spilling over. It was really disgusting.

At this point I thought good grief what else is going to happen.

Well, I ended up driving Dave's Dad's car to visit some family. When we got to the house I couldn't get the key out of the ignition. I looked everywhere for one of the release switches and found none. I tried calling Dave for suggestions but no answer. After turning the key to the on position and back to the off it finally came out. Weird. Well when I got back in the car to leave the car did nothing when I tried to start it. Nothing not even a sputter. I call Dave after a few minutes of trying different ways to start the car with no success. I am very frustrated at this point and tell Dave that his dad's car is stupid and that I am never driving it again. Then he says, "Hmmm, is the car in park?"...silence...laughter...I am such a dork. I never put the car in park and wouldn't you know once I did it started up just fine. What would even make him think of that?

Anyway, at least all these things made me laugh at the end of the day.

Oatmeal Cookies and Fingernails...

Friday morning I thought it would be fun to make cookies with the girls. Basically I put the ingredients into the measuring spoons and cups and they dumped them in the bowl. Then again there was the butter...I asked them if they could unwrap the butter to put in the batter. They unwrapped it alright and Payton had also started eating it! Yuck!

It was also fun to watch them try to put drops of cookie dough on the cookie sheet. I think we let them do about three each then took over. We would have been there all day.

They loved the finished product!

While the cookies were cooling, we took the girls out to paint their nails. We thought that the toenails were such a hit that the fingers would be too. We even bought little decals to put on their nails.

What we discovered...1) Toenails are much easier than fingernails. We ended up with polish in hair and on faces. They are very wiggly. 2) Decals do not stay on very well especially on toddlers even with a coat of clear polish over the top. I think both girls' decals were gone by the end on dinner time that night. I wonder just how many of those decals were ingested. 3) Never underestimate a 2 year old's ability to open a bottle of finger nail polish. Payton decided her big toe needed another coat of paint (see picture below).

Good Times!

Pancakes and Toenails...

I have been putting reminders in my phone of things that happen each day that I want to remember to blog about. I wish I could get a schedule figured out so that I could blog each day and not feel like I need to catch up all the time. Oh well...

Last week I asked Payton if she wanted to help me make breakfast, we were having pancakes. She was very excited about helping and even drug the chair over to the counter by herself. I had her measure out the Krusteaz mix, add the water, and stir. I should mention that she tried to eat the mix powder, spilled half the water on the counter and decided after two stirs of the spoon that she was done. LOL We had fun making them and then fun eating them!

Caeden and mom joined us for part of breakfast, Caeden wanted to partake of some of our yummy pancakes too. :o)

My mom and I have decided to try to plan more activities for Payton and Caeden on the days we hang out to try and prevent the pushing and hitting that happens when they are just free playing. It was such a beautiful day we decided to go outside. Payton had fun taking "Baby Bow" for a walk in her stroller and later Caeden enjoyed pushing around an empty stroller. Hee! Hee! Lincoln decided to relax and take a snooze in the fresh air.

I actually found an article on baby center about planning successful play dates. They had a lot of good ideas one of which was how to avoid conflict by putting away your child's favorite toys and also to plan breaks like baking cookies or reading a book. My mom and I are trying to implement some of these ideas into our play dates.

After a little while of just letting the girls run around playing we gave the girls pedicures. Payton was so excited she wouldn't let me put socks on her for two days! I wish I was better at painting nails...but who can tell on a running two year old if the nails are perfect.

So cute!

Camo has a swollen Head

Camo (or Happy as Payton calls him) is my brother-in-law's gecko.

The other day I had this feeling that I should go in and check on him. To my surprise he had a deformed head.

To make a long story short...We took him to the vet and it turns out that he has an ear abscess. The vet prescribed a antibiotic that you have to give him orally. Ummm. I don't do reptiles. I am glad Ashley and Steven don't mind handling him.

Poor Camo!

Whew! What a day.

Let me start by saying that I am exhausted. Today started off to be a very trying day and fortunately ended better than it started.

Lincoln and I enjoyed a very leisurely morning. He seemed very happy, it was nice. He even went down for his first nap before Payton woke up. This is where it started. Payton got up and pretty much had a problem with everything. She didn't want to use the potty, didn't want me to change her diaper, didn't want to take a shower, didn't want to put on clothes, didn't want to brush her teeth, didn't want me touching her hair, didn't like the way I was preparing her breakfast. I could go on but I think you get the idea. ;O) Terrible Twos anyone!

Her crying and carrying on while I was doing her hair woke Lincoln up from his nap which put him in a bad mood. Today was probably not the day to try this new hairdo from www.girlydohairstyles.com, a double french braid with a zig zag part instead of a straight one. Not bad for my first try.

Anyway, I had two crying children part of the way through getting Payton ready, all the way through breakfast and several bouts throughout the day. My nerves were definitely shot, thank goodness for primary songs. I just kept singing them, which reminds me that I need to look up the words to several songs...I know I am singing them wrong. At least Payton and Lincoln are too small to realize it.

Potty training has taken a major jump back. It is like Payton doesn't even try to make it to the toilet anymore. I guess I don't blame her. She doesn't have a very good example. When did I start losing bladder control? Half the time I didn't even realize I had to use the restroom. Why not...two crying children and peeing my pants make for a wonderful day. Ha! Ha! Anyway, Dave and I have decided to start using the regular diapers again instead of the pull ups...on Payton, not me ;o) (they are way too expensive to use for a child that isn't even trying).

This afternoon while I was nursing Lincoln I noticed Payton sit down with her doll "Baby Bow", a mini boppy pillow, and her security blanket. She proceeded to nurse Baby Bow on both sides and then burp her. I wish I had had my camera at my finger tips. It was so cute, she was talking to her baby the whole time saying what she was doing, just like what I do when nursing Lincoln. This makes me giggle. The day is looking up.

Both kids take a nap at the same time. The day is getting even better.

When Payton wakes up she just wants to cuddle with me. Did I have a tough morning?

Lincoln wakes up, is all smiles and has a lot to say. This was the best day ever!

Easter

Holidays are so much more fun with little kids.

Our morning was a little rushed with taking Dave's family to the airport, getting us all ready, doing Easter baskets, and getting out the door and down to Gilroy for General Conference. We were late for conference...

Payton had so much fun going through her baskets. Yes baskets, from Auntie Kaye and Grandma too. It was almost like a mini Christmas. Lincoln had baskets too, Payton enjoyed going through them as well. :o)

Gotta love those bunnies. Thanks Auntie Kaye! Isn't it funny how the child that would usually be the most difficult to get a good picture of was smiling and looking at the camera and then there was Payton who kept making silly faces.

We watched General Conference at my parent's house. I have to admit that I didn't get a single thing out of conference. Between Lincoln and Payton my attention was everywhere besides listening to the conference talks. I am so glad they print them in the Ensign so I can read them later.

The girls had a good time yesterday. The end of the day was a little hairy as neither of them took naps. This morning is proving to be a bit of a challenge too. :o) Anyway, they both ate lots of Easter treats from their baskets and watched The Little Mermaid. As always they were very cute!

Decorating Easter Eggs

I wish I were one of those mom's that had cool little things planned for each little holidays. Nothing extravagant, maybe just a little craft or cookies to decorate. As it is, I am the mom that looks at other people's blogs and says, "man, that was such a great idea".

Fortunately for me or better yet Payton Dave's mom, Michelle, is just that kind of mom and had picked up a Easter Egg Decorating Kit. Ashley, Payton, and I had a great time decorating eggs. Both Payton and I had multicolored hands for the rest of the day, Ashley was more experienced and was able to keep her fingers out of the dye. ;o)

We made deviled eggs out of some of them for dinner last night and are planning to make egg salad sandwiches with the remaining eggs. Yummy!

Breaking Point!

To make a long story short...

My niece Caeden has Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease and has exposed Payton and Lincoln to it...

Lincoln has been on a hunger strike for the past week. He has gone from eating every two hours on both sides to hardly ever. Sunday he nursed 4 times in 24 hours. Yesterday he ate at 2 pm and didn't want to have anything to do with eating until around midnight. At the same time he has been the fussiest little guy.

Payton started up with a runny nose and fever Wednesday and has been battling something ever since. She has been very sad.

We are waiting to see if Payton ends up with Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease and are wondering if Lincoln had/has it.

I just keep telling myself that everyone has their breaking point. Yesterday Payton and Lincoln spent the majority of the day crying. No real naps were taken and if there was a nap it wasn't at the same time the other kiddo was sleeping. so basically no break from the crying...

Around 6:45 last night I hit my breaking point. I had Ashley put Payton in her crib and I put Lincoln in his crib then called Dave and asked when he was going to be home. He said 5 minutes and then asked why. I told him that both kids were crying and that I had put both of them in their beds and was not going near either of them until he got home. He laughed and said, "Oh, OK. I will be right there."

All the crying was getting to me. I just needed a break.

I am so proud of myself for not losing my cool.

Don't cry mom

Payton has started hiding in our closet. It is really cute because she will shut the doors to the point they are almost closed. You can see her peeking through the crack waiting for you to find her.

The other day she went to hide in the closet while I was changing Lincoln's diaper. When I was done with the diaper change, I decided to hide from her and let her come find me. I got down on my hands and knees on the opposite side of the bed that she was on and called for her to come and find me. Well, I have never been good at hiding because I always start giggling, I think it is a nervous habit. She heard me and thought I was crying and in the sweetest voice said, "Don't cry mom" over and over again. It was so cute!

He found his hands...and feet!

He has officially found his hands and I am pretty sure his feet. It is so cute to see him sitting there with the cross eyed look staring at his hands.

The little horse is one of the toys Payton has loved since I bought them. It came in a pack with four other animals and was how Paton started learning the different animals and their sounds. Anyway, it did take some convincing but Payton has agreed to let Lincoln play with them. LOL

The reason I think he has also discovered his feet is because he will be sitting in the bouncy chair, swing, or just on the floor and will lift up his feet and just stare at them. Man he must have some tight abs. :o)

March 29, 2010

Great America

This past Saturday we went to great America with my sister, Anthony, Caeden, and a few other friends. It was a beautiful day.

I can't believe how big Payton is getting. I remember taking her on the Merry-Go-Round at Gilroy Gardens last year, she had a death grip on me the whole time. Now a days she goes on all kinds of ride by herself with no fear. Check her out!

Going to an amusement park with little kids is a totally different experience than just going with adults. With a potty training toddler you notice how filthy those bathrooms really are and instead of running to the biggest and best roller coaster you run to Lucy's Wild Ride in Peanut Land. LOL The most exciting ride I went on all day was the snail racing ride. And I have to admit that I don't handle the round and round rides as well as I used to.

I am so glad that there were several kid areas at the park. The first area we went to you had to wait in line for about 30 minutes to go on a ride. Can you imagine doing that all day long with your kids. NOT! Anyway, the second area we went to had a bunch of rides and you could basically walk on to any of the rides with no wait. I am so glad we ended up in this area, Payton loved all the rides and had so much fun.

Can you tell that they had a great time?

He Laughed

Lincoln laughed. It was the best sound ever.

He was just starting to get sick and was really fussy. There was a brief moment when he was smiling and then...he laughed.

March 26, 2010