Christmas Holiday

I have written this post three or four times on my phone using the blogger app and all of them have been deleted.  If anyone has any recommendations of a different app that works on an iphone I'm all ears.  I'm sure the fourth time I write this post won't be nearly as creative as the three before it as I'm sick of writing it.

Cecilia has really been enjoying this Christmas season.  I feel like it is the first year she is old enough to get into it.  We pulled out the ornament advent calendar and she got a sticker one from preschool and we have a paper chain.  She remembers every morning to do them and it has become part of our morning ritual.  She also loves a book of Christmas stories my mom gave me several years ago.  She takes it everywhere she goes in the house.  Cecilia has also been talking about Santa coming.  We saw him in the mall a few weeks ago.  I was so proud of her because she walked up to him and sat on his lap with out any reservations.  When he asked her what she wants for Christmas you will never guess what she said.  Toys you might say?  Nope.  A doll?  Nada.  A little sister?  Has one of those.  No, she asked for "A Greenish-Blue Sweater." Yes you read that right.  A Greenish-Blue Sweater.  Where she came up with that, I have no idea.  She is so funny sometimes.  I can't imagine the things Santa must hear from kids.  Luckily Santa found a "greenish-blue" sweater to put under the tree.  Merry Christmas everybody!

Cecilia's first horse ride.

In November we went to Mexico to have an early Thanksgiving with the Ritchie's.  Mike and Shannon came up from Argentina.  It was so fun to see everyone!  While we were there grandpa got a horse ride arranged for Cecilia.  She got on and rode like a champ!  Mom was nervous about her being by herself but the horse was really calm and she had no problems.  Good job Cecilia!

GG with the GG kids.

My grandma Ritchie came to town and visited her great-granddaughters.  It was so fun to see GG!

Vivian giggling

One of my favorite times of the day is getting Vivian ready for bed.
For some reason she is always super giggly (unless it is too late). I
am guaranteed a belly roll after I take her shirt off and tickle under
her chin. She has also started to play peek-a-boo. I hope this makes
you smile!

Park City

Shaun and I took the girls up to Park City this weekend for a get away. We had tickets to see Paula Poundstone up there Saturday night. She is a comedian that is my favorite panelist on wait wait don't tell me. It was definitely the highlight of our weekend. We needed a good laugh after the weekend we were having. It is usually very relaxing and fun for us to stay up in PC. But it turned out to be exhausting. It all started with Vivian not napping Friday so me rushing to get packed so I could give her a nap in the car on the way. Unfortunately she fell asleep about 3 minutes before we got there after screaming so hard I thought her head was going to explode. She has never screamed so hard in her life! My nerves were on edge for the whole weekend. Cecilia on the other hand was such a good kid the whole time and even fed herself pasta in a restaurant! (She hates eating in front of people.) She and Shaun had a lot of fun while I futilely tried to get Vivian to nap :). It snowed most of 3 days so there was lots of snow to make angels in. And they went swimming outside! The pool was heated of course and Shaun said it was really nice. It's not everyday you get to swim in the snow. Although it wasn't as much fun to come home and shovel a good two feet off our giant driveway.

Cecilia tracing

When Cecilia started preschool this fall she started bringing home papers that she has traced. A letter, or number, or shape. I noticed a vast improvement from last year. She gets right on the line. As I've praised her she tells me she wants to trace more. So we've found different pictures online to print out. One day a few weeks ago we printed out the whole alphabet. She went down for quiet time with the paper and a pen. When she came out she had traced the whole alphabet by herself! Oh and look at how well she did! Can you see how she is right on the line for all but one letter! It's an understatement to say I was impressed.

Halloween

Happy Halloween all. Sorry it has been so long since I've posted. I'll get into the excuses in another post :). All is good in the Ritchie home. Vivian is growing at an alarming rate and Cecilia is as sweet as ever. I'm so lucky she loves Vivian so much. It has made adjusting so much easier. The only hard part is dinner and bedtime if Vivian doesn't nap well. It is hard to keep her happy until I can get Cecilia in bed. Anything that doesn't go according to plan frustrates me. We'll see how this week with the time change goes.

We had a good Halloween. Cecilia enjoyed trick-or-treating. It took catching up to her friends to get her to not be so shy. But by the end she actually said "trick-or-treat." I call that a victory. Heaven knows she doesn't need the candy. Which she has way too much of. At the end of the night I put my head in her bag to see what she got and it just smelled like Halloween. That mixture of candy brings back memories of when I was a kid freezing in a blizzard (happened every year). That definitely didn't happen this year. It was so hot I was uncomfortable in a long sleeve shirt and took Vivian out of her bear costume after a few houses. Our friends let us try the devil horns on her. Pretty cute devil huh? Cecilia's fairy costume was perfect, isn't she so pretty?

Our house

A few weeks ago the designer who helped us furnish our house brought a photographer to take pictures for her portfolio. They turned out amazing! Looking at these makes me fall in love with our house all over again. Check them out. http://www.tdhid.com/charleston

Cecilia takes some pictures

Maybe it is just me but these make me smile. Cecilia asked to borrow my phone to take a picture of Vivian with purple baby. When I got it back there were about 20 pictures taken. This is a sampling. Isn't she so funny?

Vivian blessing

The last weekend in August we blessed Vivian at our church on Sunday.  The whole weekend was spent getting ready.  Lots of food was prepared (how it takes that much time to prepare for sandwiches that people are going to assemble themselves is beyond me), the house was cleaned, and Vivian's dress was laundered.  Shaun did a great job on the blessing and Vivian was adorable in her dress.  He held her up after the blessing for the congregation to see and she happily looked around at everyone.  After church we all came back to our house for lunch.  It was so nice to get together with extended family on such a nice day.  Thanks to all of those that could make it.  Vivian and Cecilia both loved the attention. Vivian crashed (see below) and Cecilia was sad when everyone left.  Unfortunately we were so busy visiting we didn't get many great pictures.  These are the best ones :)

Oregon

We were able to go to Oregon the first of August for our annual trip.  It was so much fun.  We started out the trip with lunch at our favorite "junk food" restaurant, Burgerville.  Where we got our Tillamook cheeseburgers, Oregon grown vidila onions onion rings and fresh Oregon raspberry shakes.  So yummy!  Then we went Marionberry picking with Shauns cousin Cherice and her daughters.  Cecilia loved to play with them.  She is between their ages and loved playing with both of them.  Here she is holding Madelines hand and in the stroller with Jacklyn. She followed Jacklyn around like a puppy dog and was a mother hen to Madeline.








After we left Cherice's house we drove down to Silverton to stay with Shaun's aunt Renee and her husband Doc.  Renee was so nice to play with Cecilia.  Once she warmed up to Renee she couldn't get rid of her.  I'm sure she was happy to see us leave and get rid of her shadow.  Here she is doing triple duty, holding Vivian, drawing with Cecilia and talking to Shaun.



On Saturday we went blueberry picking.  It was the hottest day of the year in Oregon, temp over 100.  Of course that is the day we decided to go blueberry picking.  We tried to get out early, but after going to the wrong place it wasn't as early as we would have liked.  We tag teamed the girls and between us picked about 25 pounds of blueberries.  This was an organic farm so we had to pay double what we did last year, a whole whopping $2 a pound.  Compared to the $2 for 4 oz you can get here I'd say we got a good deal :)



Saturday night we went to Shaun's aunt Barbara's house for dinner.  Shaun's grandma, Gee Gee as she is known by now was there too.  It was so nice to spend the evening with lots of family.  It was the first time they have met Vivian and she got lots of attention.



After leaving Renee and Doc's we visited Gee Gee one more time and headed up the Oregon coast.  It was supposed to be a 2.5 hour ride that somehow turned into 9 hours.  Between stopping for gas, the bathroom, feeding Vivian, and a mandatory visit to the Tillamook Cheese Factory it was an all day event.  There is still an hour we can't account for.  Such seems to be our life these days.  Anyway the cheese factory was a lot of fun and super yummy.  We bought a couple of cheeses that we can't find here and enjoyed some fabulous ice cream.



Cecilia eating her strawberry Tillamook ice cream.

The drive up the coast was beautiful and cold.  It was at least 30 degrees colder than Portland!  But so beautiful.  We drove through the forest and fog that accented the trees to make them so lovely.  I didn't get a picture of it because at that point we were just trying to get to the hotel.  We also saw the ocean, it seemed like a wilder coast than I've been to before.  We didn't even stop to put our feet in.  We'll have to go back another time when we have more time to enjoy it.  Monday we got our pictures taken in front of the Goonies house.  As children of the 80's Shaun and I were surprisingly excited to see it.  Then we went to Fort Clatsop where Lewis and Clark wintered on their expedition.  It was fascinating to see and think about their monumental expedition.  Wyoming has several landmarks of their expedition, including one in Green River so it was fun to see the end so to speak.  Then we hurried back to the airport to get home.  Another fun filled vacation to Oregon.  Can't wait for next year to do it all over again!

Brigham City Temple Open House

Two weeks ago we were able to go to the Brigham city temple open house. My sister and her family live up there and invited us to go. Taking our girls up there was worth the drive and time off Shaun had to take. Cecilia knows the primary song "I love to see the temple". It was fun to sing it with her and change the words from "go someday" to "go today". It was a beautiful building. Cecilia liked it and kept pointing out small details the rest of us didn't notice. She has such an eye for that. Unfortunately it was super busy so we didn't get to really stop and look at everything. It was amazing how many people must go through it! Here we all are outside the front doors.

You'll never guess where Cecilia fell asleep today

Halfway in her bedroom surrounded by the things she was playing with
for quiet time.

Unita

The other weekend we went up to Mirror Lake to go mushroom hunting.  An old coworker of Katie's has found porchini mushrooms growing wild up there in years past.  Unfortunately when I went up with him last year there was still snow on the ground.  Hence no mushrooms.  This year we thought the conditions were right and had a free Saturday afternoon.  Fortunately both girls fell asleep in the car on the way up.  Doesn't Cecilia look like she is 13 in this picture?  

It was colder than we expected so it was a short hike. We found a few mushrooms, about 4 different kinds. But none that we knew what they were and no porcini. It was still a beautiful drive and hike up to a mountain lake Then we ate back what calories we burned and more with Grannies burger, fries, and a shake on the way home.

The girls

Cecilia really loves Vivian and she is really good with her. I frequently find her whispering to her, pretend playing. I hope she enjoys playing with her when Vivian gets older and wants a say in the play. She also likes holding her but can rarely hold still long enough to do it. Here they are in a rare moment where both are awake and happy and Cecilia held still long enough to get the whole thing on camera.

Real Salt Lake

Last night Shaun's company got tickets to a Real Salt Lake soccer game. We got a babysitter for Cecilia and took Vivian. It was so much fun. Soccer is one sport I enjoy watching. It goes back to high school days when I was a manager for the boys soccer team, sitting on the sideline taking stats in a Wyoming blizzard freezing my you-know-what off. Fun memories. Anyway this game was much more pleasant. The weather was perfect and RSL won!

Round two with DDH

Last week we had Vivian's hips checked for DDH.  The same condition Cecilia had.  The pediatrician recommended we get our future babies screened just in case.  Well unfortunately Vivian also has it.  The real benefit of catching it early though is she won't have to do the cast.  As I mentioned before, if found early enough they can do a harness instead of the cast.  Additionally it may only be for a month and then just during sleep for another month after that.  I was surprised to hear the doctor say that, but they grow so much at this age, and there isn't a bunch of stuff between the ball and socket that a month may be enough.  Given our experience with Cecilia being in a cast for three months we are really counting our blessings with this one.  We can take it off for baths and diaper changes and give her an hour of play time a day.  We can take it off and wash it, and we can still see and hold our squishy baby, granted she isn't quite as squishy with it on.  All things we couldn't do with Cecilia.  But if this is the bad gene I pass on to my children, I'll take it, as it is completely fixable.

Katie's favorite dessert

Mmm.  Fruit desserts are her favorite.  This one especially.  A fake blueberry cheesecake that takes no time to whip up.  Love summer!

Vivian's favorite sleeping position

This is Vivian's favorite sleeping position. Arms straight up. It has been pretty much since she was born. She doesn't like to be swaddled. She loves to stretch out. No wonder she felt so cramped inside.

Earrings

Cecilia came to me today and said she had earrings in. This is what she meant by that. She has also said "gummy balls" for gum balls and "sprinklers" for sprinkles recently. Sometimes they are just too cute to correct. Like when she says "goobies" for boobies.

Update

Vivian is 5 weeks old now. Time flies. We are all adjusting well. Cecilia has been really good with her and loves to talk baby talk to her and get right up in her face. It is like she thinks she is blind and deaf. I keep telling her to talk normal but she doesn't get it. Oh well, she loves her, that is what matters.  I think Cecilia adjusting so well has helped all of us adjust quickly. We are a family of four now.  Sleep is pretty good. Vivian is usually up until about midnight but then sleeps for a couple of hours and eats and goes back down for another couple hours. Shaun is nice enough to let me sleep in an hour or two and gets up with Cecilia. One exciting piece of news is Vivian started smiling last week. It sure melts your heart when you see that for the first time. She has such a cute smile. Each day she smiles more and more and it gets easier and easier to get her to do it.  Of course she smiles at mom the most.  This girl is smart, she knows where the food comes from.  We were able to catch it in a picture yesterday. It is fleeting, no time to get the perfect picture so they are a bit blurry, but you can still see the adorable smile.

Introducing Vivian Hazel Ritchie

Let me just start by saying I have worked on this post three times and all or part of my changes were not saved. That is some of the reason why it has taken so long to write.

We want to introduce you to the newest member of our family, Vivian Hazel Ritchie. She was born on June 2nd at 2:42 pm. She weighed 8 pounds 15 ounces (yeah, almost 9lbs, big girl). Everyone is doing well and we are so happy to have her in our family. I was initially worried she was going to be our stubborn child because she wouldn't come on her own. I had a doctors appointment on Wednesday and the doctor was surprised she hadn't come yet. He told me to come back Friday if I hadn't had her yet. Well Friday came and no baby, even after lots of walks. The doctor was surprised to see me. He told me he slept in his scrubs expecting me to call and knowing he wouldn't have much time to get to the hospital. In fact throughout this whole experience he kept making comments about how fast the labor would be and I didn't really take him seriously.  Anyway we (I) decided to to wait one more day to see if she would come on her own and if not we would have my water broken. I woke up Saturday thinking what a stubborn kid she was. She just wouldn't come on her own!  So we went in hoping breaking my water would give her a nudge and kick start labor. Boy did it ever!  Vivian was born an hour after labor started. It was fast and intense.  It felt like one long contraction.  It was good I wanted to have a natural labor because there wasn't time to get an epidural.  About the time I would have wanted one the nurse was getting the room ready and calling the doctor to hurry and come deliver the baby.  A few minutes later she was born.  It was then that I changed my mind, this child isn't stubborn, she just knew I didn't want to have her in the car on the way to the hospital so she waited until I was already there before she got the show going.  Here are a few pictures.

Mom, dad, and Vivian leaving the hospital

First bath

Big sister combing Vivian's hair

Big sister loves to hold and talk to Vivian

Superwoman!

Mike and Shannon Ritchie Open House

In April we had an open house for Shaun's brother Mike and his wife.  They got married in January in Washington DC but there was lots of friends and family that couldn't make it so they had an open house here.  Shaun and I coordinated the event which we hosted at our house.  The weather cooperated so we were able to have it outside.  I think everyone had a nice time, I know we did!


The happy couple!


Centerpieces we made for the open house.  A friend gave me the idea for hot air balloon centerpieces and I just had to do them.  Don't you think they look good?


Big hot air balloon decorations lining the driveway to guide people to the open house.

Mike just before he released one of the giant balloons.  It was quite fun to watch the balloon disappear into the sky and see who could watch it the longest.  I think Shannon's sister won.  Surprisingly we never saw it pop, it just kept rising and rising and rising until you couldn't see it anymore.


The Italian soda bar was quite a hit.  Next party you plan you should have one of these.

The dessert table.  We gave out the "R" sugar cookies as a favor.  They were pretty tasty!  We also had several hors d'oeuvres that were really yummy but I didn't get a picture of them.  Happy wedding Mike and Shannon!