Tomorrow is Christmas. It's practically here!

Holy cow, where has this month gone? Luckily this week has been nice and calm thus far. Last week was another story. I had a lot going on and both girls were fussier than normal. Ada had one of her worst tantrums ever at book club. I swear, those girls probably think she's a monster! Kate was fussy too and I even took her to the doctor, but they could find nothing wrong. Last night she threw up all over herself in bed, but she's been pretty good today. I'm glad most of the crazy stuff happened last week because it's been nice to enjoy the anticipation of Christmas. I feel like a kid again because I'm so excited.

One thing I did enjoy amidst the madness last week was baking. I made mint brownies, sugar cookies, and Swedish ginger cookies. Delish! I love baking (and eating the results). I've decided that my weak point in baking is presentation. I'm not the best at shaping dough or frosting things, but the taste should hopefully make up for it.

And now, a few funny things said by Ada lately:

*"Does Elmo match red crayons?"
*"Sophie's two just like me. She's awfully cute."
*I was trying to get her to sit down in her carseat so we could leave somewhere, and I told her to sit down before we froze our little bummies off. She replied, "Yours isn't little, yours is big."
*We have a Christmas book and CD with stories and songs. She's been listening to the CD lately as she falls asleep, and yesterday I was reading the book to her. There was a story about the birth of Christ. I was reading the part about the shepherds, and before I could turn the next page she said,"'Don't be frightened,' said the angel. 'I have wonderful news for you, and for all people. Tonight the son of God, who is Christ the Lord, was born in a stable in Bethlehem.'" I turned the page and those EXACT words were right there. How does she remember this stuff?

I can't wait to spend Christmas morning at my own house with my family. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Hell must have frozen over

Two nights ago I did something I told myself I'd never do: I signed up with facebook. I'm not sure why. It has been a difficult week with the kids. I was up late letting Kate cry it out in her crib, and I needed something mindless to do. One thing led to another and...

It's been on my mind lately because every other day Tyler comes home from work with something new (although not important) to say about my sister Angie in Chicago, her husband Hyrum, or our brother-in-law Neal in Kansas City that he read on facebook. I guess I just can't handle him knowing all this stuff that I don't. He likes to tease me about it, and I folded.

I'm not sure if I'm glad I signed up or not. I already waste way too much time on the 'net. I've said all along that I already keep in touch with everyone I care to, but I have already found an old friend that I had lost touch with. I guess at least one good thing has come out of it.

"I got robbed by a sweet old lady on a motorized cart"

Actually, it was two little girls selling Happenings books. They came to our door, we decided we wanted one, and we gave them $20. They said they'd bring it by in three weeks. That took me a little off guard because they had one right there, but they got my info and left. I should have gotten their info, because it's been probably three months now! Lesson: only buy them from people you know.

On a happier note, I'm so excited for Christmas! Last week we saw the lights at Temple Square and went to the Festival of Trees. Good times. Ada loves looking at all the Christmas lights. Christmas is so much better when you have kids! The older she gets, the more fun it is. I can't wait for Christmas morning. It's been fun to try and teach Ada a few new things about Christmas.

Just when I thought I was at my breaking point with Ada, she has slowly started to improve with her tantrums. They are slowly declining in number and severity. She gets really sad more often than mad lately. She's doing well binkie-free, but her naps went MIA along with the binks for about a week. Only when I started playing a Christmas CD with stories and songs has she started napping again. Phew! But she can play in her room for hours by herself, which helps even if she doesn't sleep. She decided on her own to sit on the potty and go pee-pee, but she hasn't made a habit of it yet. We just need to keep working on her. I have mixed feelings about potty training. On one hand, we won't have to pay for diapers or change stinky ones. On the other hand, I don't look forward to taking her to pee in public places and I don't look forward to accidents. It must happen, though, and I'm sure I'll be glad when it does.
I love our piano, but Ada gets mad whenever I play it. She wants to be the only one to do it. She also hates it when we sing. She's crazy! She totally cracks me up though. She loves to dress up every day. The other day she said that she wanted to "kiss Baby Kate's brains" and then kissed her on the head. I swear she has a photographic memory too. Tyler got a 'She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain' book from the library and after only hearing it a few times she can turn through the pages and say every single thing that lady does (she'll be juggling with jelly? She'll drink out of a dustbin? How does she remember these things?).
We have a new niece! Grace Korrin Dickson was born last Friday. That makes #10 for us (three on my side, seven on Tyler's, with one nephew on his side). Her big sister Ella is so excited. We've only seen her once, but she's a cutie. Kate now seems enormous.

My little trooper

Kate finally went in for her VCUG on Tuesday. I cried the night before. I was so worried because last time she had a catheter it was a most unpleasant experience, but this time she didn't even flinch. The girl who gave it to her was a lot more experienced than the nurses who gave her the first one I guess. She only started to get fussy when her bladder was uncomfortably full. The whole process was much more mild than I expected. But it turns out that she does have reflux, so she has to stay on antibiotics for at least another year, and then they'll do the test again to see if the reflux has gone away. Boo.Since Tyler's mom was watching Ada, we decided to take advantage of our time together. We ate dinner at The Mandarin and then did Christmas shopping for the girls. I'm so excited about what we got Ada. I told Tyler that I didn't know if I'd be able to wait until Christmas to tell her about it. I know she's gonna love it.Kate is five months old already. She is so active lately. She can sit up on her own (still a little wobbly) and she grabs at EVERYTHING. She's so interested in what's going on around her, which makes it a chore to feed her these days. We did give her some baby cereal a few times this week just for fun. She made lots of funny faces but took to it pretty well. She is still as happy and sweet as ever. Even though she hasn't been sleeping well at all lately (waking up at least three times a night), I could never get mad at such a sweetie. Her smile melts my heart. But good news: last night she FINALLY slept through the night since she's been in her crib! What a relief. I've really been feeling the lack of sleep lately. I hope she can keep up the good work. I'm excited for her first Christmas and can't wait to see her play with her new toys.

Oh Ada

I have so much I want to say about Ada that this may turn into a novel.

1. A few months ago my grandma gave Ada a stuffed Goofy toy. She was excited because one of her favorite TV shows is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. The excitement soon became an obsession. She can't go anywhere without that thing. She talks to him all day long, and I have to talk back in a Goofy voice, and she tells me what she wants him to say. "Mommy, can Goofy talk, and he will say..." All. Day. Long. Even on the rare occasion that she doesn't have him she still talks to him. "Am I playing with a ball, Goofy?" I'm sure people who don't know her think she's crazy.

2. She as of late begins every sentence with the word 'So'.

3. The first two lead up to this one: we picked Tyler up from work on Wednesday morning and met the McIntyres at the zoo for Free Zoo Day. On the way there, Ada asked, "So, does Baby Kate eat your milk, Mommy?" "Yup." Then she said, "So, I'm Goofy's mommy." The next thing we knew, she was holding Goofy's face against her chest and saying, "I'm feeding Goofy!" We couldn't stop laughing.

4. We finally decided to wean Ada from her binkie. All along we said we'd do it once she turned two, but we stalled because right around that time we moved and had a new baby. Lately she's been more attached to it than ever, so I thought it would be a disaster. So far it hasn't been too bad. She's napping right now without it and she went to bed last night sans her bink. She has asked for it and gotten a little bit upset, but nothing too terrible. Nothing like the fit she threw in the tub today because I had the nerve to actually clean her while she was taking a bath.

5. Even though she still hates sharing, she is learning to be polite. She tells Tyler and me 'thank you' all the time. She'll say it after the simplest little things. I'm so happy that my teaching is paying off. We're still working on getting her saying 'please' without being asked.

6. I bought cute sweater dresses for the girls and we took them to Kiddie Kandids Saturday night to get their pictures in them (we had a $20 credit that expired at the end of the year). Ada would NOT cooperate, but we got some adorable pictures of Kate. Ada can't handle posing unless she's alone.

7. She has such an imagination! She loves to dress up and is very good at pretending. She's fun to play with, but she can be VERY bossy. She plays very well by herself too.

Jingle Bells, Batman smells...

Max Hall laid an egg.

I'm not ready to give Utah's D too much credit for that win. BYU killed themselves. Hall forgot his teammates weren't the guys in red. Or he got paid off.

The best part about that game was that Todd Christensen wasn't the color guy.

Two good things did happen on Saturday: (1) I paid $1.69/gallon for gas. It's like I'm in college again! (2) We got a piano! I am loving it already. It's nice to have a piece of furniture to put in our front room. So the day wasn't a total loss.

Stuff

*On Tuesday I made cinnamon rolls from scratch. I'd never done that before. The recipe didn't make enough frosting, but they were still delish! Not good when you're trying to lose weight though...
*Right now my toenails aren't painted, but Tyler's are. Ask him about showering at the gym...
*I found Ada's stat sheets from previous doctor visits, and at four months, she and Kate were the same length but Ada was more than two pounds heavier! Crazy.
*Have I mentioned that I love Sesame Street? I watched this gem today:



*Tomorrow's big game has to be mentioned. I'm expecting a nail-biter. I wouldn't be surprised if Utah came away victorious, but I know the Cougs can win. We'll just see what kind of craziness ensues. I don't like to read much from the media and get caught up in all the smack talk, but I did read Graham Watson's prediction. She's been wrong about the Cougs before, so I hope she's wrong again. Also, several weeks ago on College Game Day, Lee Corso predicted that BYU, Utah, and TCU would all beat each other. Utah beat TCU, TCU beat Utah, so hopefully BYU can hold up their end and beat Utah! I won't be too devastated if BYU loses. A BCS bowl game will be good for the conference. Plus, it will be better for my marriage if Utah wins :).

November spawned a monster

I am having difficulties controlling my child (betcha can't guess which one). Today has been a particularly hard day. Ada gets mad at the littlest things, like my inability to "fix" a banana after I've already peeled it, or me saying that we're done playing catch and it's time to eat lunch. As a result, she's thrown things off the desk, climbed on the counter and spilled my water (on my phone, no less), scattered her crayons all over the floor, and thrown her alphabet magnets off the fridge. I've been sick the last few days, so I don't have the energy to put up with her shenanigans. I've done what I can to make her happy without giving in to her ridiculous requests (we even made a stinkin' turkey from a cut-out of her hand), but she's been left to scream-it-out downstairs in the pack 'n play more than once today. It's a good thing it's the weekend.

Unrelated, does anyone like my new playlist? I added it not because it seems everyone has one, but because I think that the type of music you listen to says a lot about you. If anyone is still trying to figure out what type of person I am, maybe this will shed some light. These songs helped calm me down today. And I put the list at the top so that everyone will be forced to listen (at least momentarily).

Long & lean

Kate is four months old today! I had to bear the elements and take her in for her check-up. I was very nervous to bring Ada along, but she did very well. She always remembers that there's a fish tank there and that was the only thing that got her to even consent to leaving the house (and getting dressed). She was mostly good the whole time we were there, even when she got a flu mist (good thing it wasn't a shot). We had to stay a while after so she could look at Nemo and Dori in the aquarium, but all was well.

Anyway, back to Kate. She did have to get shots, and this upset her very much. The worst part is that they were out of one shot, so we have to go back in a few days for her to get another. Boo. She measures in the 90th percentile for height and 26th for weight. Crazy. They ordered her VCUG (the test to see if she has urinary reflux), so we have to go back to PCMC next month for another catheter. Not looking forward to that. But the good news is that the doctor wrote a prescription for a different antibiotic that shouldn't give her diarrhea. Hopefully those blowouts that have ruined half of her clothes will now be few and far between.

I can't believe how Kate is growing. She's as happy as ever. She laughs a little bit here and there, but I'm waiting for a full-on giggle. She grabs at everything and puts everything in her mouth. I'm nervous about her becoming mobile with all the stuff Ada leaves around. She can almost sit up on her own. She is such a cutie. We've had a bit of a hard time with sleeping since we moved her to her crib, but she's improving. She didn't wake up until after 7:00 this morning! She's as sweet and fun as ever.

"Sporadic...try using it in a sentence."

*Last week while Tyler and Ada were doing this:


I was at Target with Kate buying these:


They look so much better than the sheer red ones (a different red from our wall) that the previous owners left. I think they add a lot to the room.

*I am DYING for a haircut. No matter what I do with my hair lately, I hate it. Thus, the wearing of ponytails every day (even though it's barely long enough for that). I think Tyler's afraid that I'll butch my hair, but I've just never been a long hair kind of girl. I'll have to wait until tomorrow because I'm home alone with the girls tonight. Tyler's going to the Utah/TCU game. I'm glad I won't be freezing my butt off all night.

*Does anyone have this phone?:


We bought it for Ada when she was a baby and it's ridiculously annoying. Any sort of movement will make it play the 'Shave and a Haircut' ditty. But when she barfed last week, this gem was one of the toys she puked on. I washed it and it stopped making noise. Hallelujah! Until it dried out and started sounding possessed (like the batteries were dying). Well, Ada just started playing with it and it started making a ticking noise. That won't stop. Like a bomb. Creepy.

*Tyler thinks that when I have multiple posts at once, I should schedule them to post over the next day or two. Well, I have no patience for that. Sorry to those who don't want to read three posts in one sitting.

It was a dark and stormy night...

The girls before all the fun started


Ada dressed as "a giraffe costume". I bet nobody's ever been that before! We had to force that thing on her, but she was happy once the candy started coming


I didn't dress like a man on Halloween, but I did whip out these babies (the only article of clothing I still have from high school). Having black and orange as your school colors comes in handy


LOVE the booty shot. The tummy and bummy were padded


Ready for some trick-or-treating fun


Tyler took both girls out while I passed out candy (he brought Kate back after a while). Ada didn't want to quit, even though it started raining. She was a trooper, even though her bucket got too heavy after a while and her legs could hardly take going up any more stairs


Adorable little sisters


We hung out with some of my family members at our house afterward and ate pumpkin spice doughnuts. Delish! I do love Halloween.

A party fit for a princess

On the 30th, my sister-in-law Morgan hosted a Princess Party for all her nieces and some cousins. Ada was so excited to go, and she had a blast. Morgan went all out with decorations, games, food, favors, and a movie! Thanks for a fun night!

Ada all ready to leave


Morgan with all the little princesses


Ada with her princess jewelry


Playing 'Pin the Crown on the Princess' (Ada pulled off the blindfold)


Quite the cake!

All Hallow's Eve

The week before Halloween, we went to a party at Tyler's parents' house. They have one every year and everyone gets all decked out for the occasion. Tyler was busy studying for his big test all day, so we showed up late and left early, but it was lots of fun!

Here's the skull cake I created:


Tyler and I are known for having good costumes, and this year was no exception:
Notice the painted toenails.

A close-up to see the make-up better:

I didn't think I made that great of a man, but when we were getting a group picture, Tyler was walking around the house looking for me even though I was standing with everyone ready to pose. I guess I looked man enough to fool him!

To illustrate my point of the good costumes, here are ours from the last several years:

I don't remember what we were our first Halloween (we didn't have our digital camera then), but this was our second year:

Does this look like Tyler? His mom didn't even recognize him!

A repeat, but with the addition of the 'hawk and a baby dalmatian

Last year: oldies with our kitty

Oh, the stench!

We had big plans to take Ada to Kangaroo Zoo tonight, but they were foiled by Ada. She threw a huge tantrum when I put her down for a nap and threw every possible toy on the floor. It was the messiest I'd ever seen her room. After a few hours I opened her door to start waking her up and smelled a foul stench. I figured it was diarrhea because she'd had that a few times in the last week. When she finally woke up and walked out, there was something all over her clothes. I went into her room and found several piles of vomit on her floor. Since her room was so messy, there were toys covered in it and it was all over her bed. I just about died. It was one of those times where you just freeze because you don't even know where to start. When I walked back out, she looked like she was about to start dry heaving, so I ran her into the bathroom and lifted up the toilet seat. I told her to throw up in there, but she turned and puked in the bathtub. After cleaning it out, I stripped her down, put her in the tub (she did have a messy diaper too), and attempted to clean up the mess. I picked up her clean toys, washed some that were covered in vomit, and threw some away. I scrubbed her carpet and threw her bedding in the washer. Luckily, Tyler came home a bit early with some Sprite and Propel. He was kind enough to make dinner while I finished cleaning up and bathing Ada. She seemed perfectly normal after her bath. She scarfed some Saltines and drank her "special drinks from Daddy", and then we put her in her pajamas and let her watch Nemo. Hopefully that's the last of it. Luckily she only had applesauce and carrots for lunch. Although it made for a disgusting display on her floor, I'm glad she didn't eat tomato soup or spaghetti.

Kangaroo Zoo would have been much more fun.

Ada Bada

Looking like Richard Simmons

Cutie

Gross black frosting Tyler put on her pancake

Kangaroo Zoo

Going down the slide

Not liking the giraffe costume

Sleepy head

Holding Goofy, her new Elmo

Stylin'

Make-your-own pizza. Can you guess which one is Tyler's?

Baby Kate

Three months old

Just out of the tubby

Nighty-night

What a cutie

Superbaby!

Death grip

Cute socks

Readin' with Mom

Adorable smile

Tryin' to sit up