Family updates

As usual it has been awhile since I've written. But I find myself with
some extra time without the girls so maybe I'll get caught up. We are
in lake Powell sans kids. Boy you have a lot of extra time when you
don't have kids around :)

I got here earlier today on a friend of Shaun's plane. It was a great
way to go. An hour and a half and poof, Lake Powell. Sweet Shaun drove
the boat down. What a sweet man.

Here I am in front of the plane. And a couple of shots from the air.

Update

It has been a while again since I posted.  I'm going to start with the most recent and then work back.  First we had two exciting things happen last week, one from each of the girls.  The first was Cecilia swam the whole width of the pool by herself during swimming lessons.  She has been doing lessons for about 2 months or so and each time I can see improvement.  It is amazing.  So she would scoop and kick for three strokes and then flip on her back to catch her breath and then flip back over and do three more strokes, the whole width of the pool.  I was so proud of her.  Here is a video of part of it.

The other exciting news is Vivian is walking!  She has slowly learned to go back and forth between Shaun and I and each time would go a little farther before getting down and crawling.  But last week she wasn't coached into walking and decided to take some steps by herself.  Since then she is easier to coax into walking but she still enjoys crawling best.  She can get around a lot faster crawling.  But I feel we can call it that she walks.  Even if it isn't all the time.  My babies are growing up...

Blueberry Girl

As you know we recently went to Oregon. Well I thought picking blueberries deserved it's own little post. Cecilia's favorite food is blueberries. She picked up on the sign for it really quickly. So we were so excited to take her blueberry picking. Unfortunately they weren't very ripe so we didn't get very many, but it was still fun to take her. She didn't understand the ones on the ground were not good to eat. So we had to watch her very carefully and she got pretty frustrated with us. We eventually took her away from the berries to alleviate the frustration on both sides :)

Update

Well Vivian is certainly in a growing spurt. Since her birthday she has learned how to eat with a fork, drink from a straw sippy, slide down the stairs (which I'm really happy about) and stand by herself
for a significant amount of time. She has yet to learn what she is supposed to do once she is standing, namely take a step and walk. But I'm happy with that because I still love to see her crawl, which she
does really fast now. Vivian really has a mind of her own and I feel is already getting frustrated with not being able to communicate it. So we have tried to do more signing with her lately. Maybe that can
stop the incessant whine she has also started. We are beginning to see how different Vivian and Cecilia are. Vivian is much more adventuresome and Cecilia is much more careful. The first time I let go of Vivian to let her stand by herself, she giggled. Cecilia would have cried and grabbed for me. It's funny how different people can be even at 1 year old. Cecilia helps me a lot with Vivian. She frequently
stands behind her on the stairs as that is now Vivian's favorite place to play. It drives me crazy sometimes, I don't know what it is about the railing on that second or third stair that she finds so
fascinating. But to her credit she has only fallen three times, two of which Cecilia has been there to catch her. Which, if you knew how much of the day she spends on them, is pretty good.

Cecilia started a summer program at a preschool near our house last week. It only took her two days to decide she liked it. She LOVES to play with other kids. Play dates are never long enough for her.
Especially with our neighbor girl Claire. She would happily spend every waking moment with Claire if she could. She does a great job taking turns with other kids and playing with them and not against
them as can happen so often. Cecilia has also started swimming and dance this summer and loves both of them.

Well that's about it from our end. I'll have to get a video of one of Vivian's accomplishments, til then you'll have to make do with this adorable picture of her after playing outside.

Video of Vivian eating her birthday cupcake

Vivian was really excited about her birthday cupcakes. She started whining the minute I brought the plate outside. I couldn't even get the paper off because she was so antsy for it. And she loved it. See
for yourself.

Vivian Turned 1!

My baby is 1 year old!  She decided to start her birthday with a bang.  She cut a tooth (and was up for 4 hours in the middle of the night with it), learned how to crawl up the stairs (do you know how many staircases we have in our house?!) and learned how to pull herself up to standing (in her crib when she is supposed to be sleeping and hasn't learned how to sit down) all the week of her birthday.  It was a fun and exhausting week.  She has really changed since she learned how to crawl.  She is so much more curious now and loves to explore.  She LOVES to crawl up the stairs so it feels like I spend my day either pulling her off them or standing behind her as she climbs.  Cecilia is such a good big sister and helps me lots with Vivian on the stairs.  She still loves to play with her (sometimes too much).  But I can see the beginning of the battle between toys is in our near future.  Then the real work starts.  But for right now we are enjoying our little girls.

Vivian sharing her birthday cupcake.  She loved it! Notice there isn't much mess? That's because she ate it, not smeared it!

Birthday presents! 

Crawling!

Vivian can crawl! Thursday she started rocking on her knees. Then Friday she moved her knee forward a couple of different times and even once moved both knees. Then Saturday she took three steps at a time and here is a video of her yesterday. I am so excited! Finally I have a baby that crawls! Cecilia never did because of the cast. She did a bum scoot then walked. I've been looking forward to this day for years! Remind me of this in a few months when I'm sick of chasing her around. Now I have to go finish baby proofing my house :)

Happy Easter!

I hope you all had a nice Easter. Ours was a whole week of events. Cecilia has been really excited about Easter this year. I think it has a lot to do with her personality and partly to do with spring coming
and partly because her birthday is close to Easter (last year it was on it and this year it is more than a week different, but still close). I also enjoy Easter and Easter egg hunts. So a few weeks ago when Cecilia asked me for the millionth time when Easter was coming I asked her if she wanted a birthday party or an Easter egg hunt with her friends she immediately said Easter egg hunt. So last Thursday we
had over a few friends and had a great party. Cecilia and I filled 100 eggs the day before and we dyed real eggs with Shaun on Tuesday. It was a lot of fun getting ready. Then I hid the eggs all over the yard
Wednesday night after Cecilia went to bed. I mostly did it then so she wouldn't have to stay inside while I did it in the morning but once Cecilia noticed them in the yard she screamed "THE EASTER BUNNY CAME!" About 15 times in a row jumping up and down. I certainly didn't mean for her to think the Easter bunny did it, especially since she helped me fill them, but who am I to ruin her fun? If she didn't think it through then I'm certainly not going to crush her. So the Easter bunny hid the eggs. I wasn't feeling super great that day with a cold that wouldn't budge, but seeing her so excited made it worth the effort. Once the friends came we colored chicks and bunnies until everyone was here then we rushed outside to do the hunt. And hunt they did. Cecilia and Danica took at least three more trips around the yard looking for more eggs after they were all found. Fun was had by all. After the hunt we made egg salad sandwiches and peanut butter and jam sandwiches and veggies and fruit for lunch and played outside until everyone had to go home. The weather was gorgeous, and after this long cold winter was SO welcome to sit and play outside. After everyone left Cecilia asked me "how much longer until Easter again?" I told her it wasn't even over yet! Saturday we drove around town chasing after Easter egg hunts. The community ones are crazy as you may remember from last year. So we weren't too broken up about missing the whistle where the kids run out on a field and fight over a few eggs. Cecilia got to see the Caffee's and the Easter bunny and Madeline was nice enough to share one of the three eggs she got with Cecilia. The Easter bunny visited our house again on Sunday with a few eggs for each Vivian and Cecilia and a basket of toys. All in all it was a fun action packed Easter week. Topped off by new Easter dresses for church.

Kitty

Vivian saw and pet a cat for the first time at my parents house last
Friday. She was SO excited about it. Like whined for it and
practically leaped out of my arms at it. It was the cutest thing!

Phoenix

Two weeks ago, after all the illness in our house we decided to go somewhere warm for the weekend. We headed to Phoenix and stayed in a resort with 5 heated pools. We went swimming, had fun with Shaun's family and ate some yummy food. Vivian enjoyed playing with grass for the first time (she liked it a lot better than sand). Cecilia had fun swimming (as did I). And we all enjoyed the warm sun.



Shaun's sister and husband were generous enough to watch the girls while we went out to dinner with Shaun's parents. We went to a restaurant called Elements where Shaun knows the chef. He treated us like kings and we were all stuffed by the time we left. Here we are with him and the desserts.  Super yummy, thanks chef Beau!

The only bad part was Shaun got sick for a day.  But he is a trooper and after sleeping felt better the next day.  Here's hoping we are all healthy for a bit!

Sick Household

This month began with a punch. Vivian got the worst cold I've seen. The poor kid had SO much drainage out her nose! It was literally constantly running.  Thankfully it didn't turn into an ear infection so the worst of it was only three days then she started to get better. And she was able to take some great naps and sleep it off (just like Shaun can).  Then Cecilia got the stomach flu for the second time this winter (I've also had it twice). But it hit her really hard. The poor kid was throwing up night and day for two days before I said enough is enough. I saw in her the look that I get when I'm pregnant and need an IV. I called the doctor and talked to the nurse and she told me if she gets too dehydrated, take her to Primary children's hospital to the ER and they would evaluate her and possibly give her IV fluids. After I got off the phone I knew it was time to go. I called Shaun and told him. Luckily we had a babysitter that could come, so I put down Vivian for a nap and left her with the babysitter and took Cecilia to the ER. The poor kid was so lethargic that it took her a full minute to respond to me when I told her what was going on. I drove her to the hospital and they checked us in right away. Gave Shaun and I tags with our picture and name. It was pretty high tech. Then took us right back to a room and after a few minutes the doctor came in. She said she would give her an IV just from looking at her and said they would do blood work to see how dehydrated she was, if she was bad, they needed to keep her overnight. She asked me if I wanted her to give Cecilia "something to calm her stomach".  I said "Yes" with no hesitation. For two days (and nights) I heard nothing else but "my tummy hurts!" and "I want a big drink!" The poor kid was so thirsty. It killed me to see her go through something I've gone through that was so hard.  I remember dreaming about water and looking at Shaun drinking it without abandon.  I felt guilty drinking around Cecilia and wanted nothing more than for her tummy to settle and take the water she wanted so badly.  The doctor prescribed Zofran.  Which is what I take when I'm pregnant. It was very surreal. Cecilia was a champ while they put the IV in and I was really impressed at how efficient they were. Primary's is the best. We are lucky to have them so close. Cecilia started feeling better soon after the IV fluids started (she got half a bag). The Zofran kicked in quickly too and she was downing sippy's in no time. Her eyes lit up when the doctor said she could have juice and drink it as fast as she wanted (she had two cups in about 10 minutes). They ended up keeping her overnight and gave her another half bag of saline on a slow drip. The doctor told us she thought it would be a good idea to keep her but that it was up to us.  I said yes, if you think she needs it and will give her more fluids then lets do it.  It again threw me back to when I was pregnant and needed help getting back on top and stayed in the hospital for 4 days until I had enough fluids that I could keep something down.  Shaun stayed with her while I went home and slept with Vivian. I don't think either of them got much sleep. Cecilia came home and took a 4 hour nap (if that doesn't tell you how sick she was).  But the extra fluids were worth it.  Cecilia made a slow recovery. I was hoping she wouldn't throw up again after she came home but that wasn't the case.  We had a few more bouts and had to take it really slowly.  But there was one day about a week later that I think she ate all day long and finally made up some calories.  Luckily the girls didn't swap illnesses (but Shaun had a touch of yucky about a week ago and I was pretty drained for a day too).  I've reaffirmed hand washing,  hand sanitizer, and cart wipes at the grocery store.  Hopefully we are done with illness in our house for a while.  We've really had a hard time with it this winter. 

Vivian's terrible cold.  Poor red puffy eyes and nose and blotchy face. 

Just after Cecilia got hooked up.  Poor sick kid!

Cecilia showing off her IV.  

Mmm avocado!

Boy this kid loves to eat! She hasn't rejected anything yet. She is even getting good at picking up slippery things like avocado. Isn't she adorable?!

Amelia Bedelia moment

Have you ever read the Amelia Bedelia books? We have been reading them lately. They are all about the confusion that comes from sayings that are not meant to be taken literally. "Amelia Bedelia draw the drapes". So she sits down with a pad and paper and sketches them instead of closing them. Well we had one of those moments today. I looked at Cecilia and said "boy, you did a number on your hair. We will need to fix it before your play date". She goes "I want to see!" And runs into the bathroom to look in the mirror. She comes back disappointed and confused and says "I don't see any numbers. Where are they?" I laughed so hard, once I realized what I had said.

Happy Valentine's day!

Vivian has been doing this adorable nose scrunch when she smiles lately. And she started babbling yesterday. It is the cutest thing. It's all I can do to keep myself from gobbling her up!

Update

It is time for an update!  We are all doing well.

Shaun had a huge event last week that I think he is still recovering from.  He put on a huge 3 day event for 150 people in conjunction with Sundance for the Entrepreneurs Organization he is a member of.  The Utah chapter invited 150 other EO members from around the world to come and enjoy Sundance.  Shaun organized everything including the film screenings, transportation, food, housing, speakers and fun activities (an Iron Chef dinner, skiing with Olympians, parties on main street Park City and more!) It sounded like a huge success and while Shaun enjoyed it I think he is happy it is over.



Cecilia is doing well.  We started a "movie-earning chart" this week.  As she cleans, feeds herself, tries a new food etc. she earns a sticker.  Three stickers means she gets to watch a movie.  I was getting very tired of her continually asking for a movie and this is the solution we came up with.  Hopefully this will be a good solution, if we can stick with it.  We went to a store yesterday and she pestered me until I bought "something" for her.  This was the first time this has happened like this and I was wishing for the good old days when I could just say "That's not for us" and get away with it.  Time I came up with a more grownup response.  She is almost 4 already.

Vivian is doing really well too.  She loves her mama and her mama loves her.  She has a particular whine for me when I walk in the room that says she wants me to pick her up.  It is still endearing, though I'm sure it will get old soon.  She has been sitting up since right before Christmas and last week started picking up food and getting it into her mouth.  She loves feeding herself.  She loves food.  She can't wait until she can eat real people food like the rest of us.  I'm really hoping feeding Vivian foods Shaun and I eat will get Cecilia to try them too.  I can only hope.  Anyone have any advice on how best to approach this?

Nothing new with me.  Stomach flu last week for the second time this season but it wasn't nearly as bad as last time.  Hopefully we can keep the awful flu that is going around out of our house.  I'll feel it a miracle if we do.

I forgot to mention we recently went to Cancun as a family.  It was so much fun and the only reason to come home was so we could sleep in our own beds.  Sleeping in the same room was a challenge, especially when the girls go to bed so early.  The first part of the trip we spent on an island that you could drive golf carts around on.  It was so much fun and I think I could really get used to driving a golf cart all the time.  We will definitely have to go back someday so I can drive the cart more.  The weather was also so nice and hard to come back to the freezing cold and snow here.  Of which we have a ton.

Playing in the pool on Isla Mujeres

Playing in the fine, soft white sand.  Cecilia felt it was so nice, she could swim in it.

Standing in our shared driveway after the last storm a few days ago.

Hair!

Look whose hair is long enough for a clippy!

Katie Ritchie