Women's Weekend

The weekend after the Inc 500 conference was Women's Weekend. I've mentioned it before, but this was the real deal. For the first time in years we all actually went somewhere. This was the most exciting place of all, Mexico. We flew to Phoenix, rented a car, and drove to Shaun's parents house in Puerto Penasco. They were generous enough to let us overrun their house for the weekend. The weather was perfect, the water was warm, everything was perfect (except our car was broken into). We went out on Dennis' boat, we swam in the ocean, we walked on the beach, we saw dolphins, and snorkeled and of course had yummy Mexican food. Can't wait to do it again, once we have all saved up enough vacation days with our husbands :)

Here we are enjoying lunch and I'm sending a picture of it to Shaun, trying to make him jealous :)


This is our version of going crazy in Mexico. What silly mothers I have!


My sister Tammy buying presents for her kids from an adorable Mexican child.

Inc 500 conference

So the first weekend in October (I know I'm late in telling the story) I took Cecilia up to my parents house and drove to the airport to meet Shaun. The Inc 500 conference in DC had come! I had my dress in hand and a good book for the 5 hour flight WITH NO BABY! The first few hours were nice to read my book, but by the end I was going crazy. That was the longest stretch of time that I've had by myself (Shaun got upgraded to first class) to do nothing since Cecilia was born. I was missing my baby by the end of the flight and I was anxious to get going. We got a car, drove to a restaurant for dinner and then drove to the conference. They had a networking event that night at which we stopped by for a bit before crashing. Next day I went shopping while Shaun went to the conference. I was proud of myself for driving to a place I've never been, to the tux place, and back to the hotel by myself with no navigator and without getting lost. Shopping in Alexandria was fun, they have some quaint shops where I found the cutest coat for Cecilia. It is just a little big which is perfect because she will be able to grow into it this winter. After shopping, it was time to get ready. I was pretty impressed with how my hair and dress came out. I looked pretty good, we looked pretty good. Don't you think?

We are holding the award they gave Shaun. It is pretty cool. It looks like the magazine inside this plastic cube. It will look great as a paperweight on his desk. Congrats again Shaun and Dan!
That night we went to an after party at a club. It was so late by the time we got back to the hotel! I haven't been up that late since way before Cecilia was born. I'm sure before I was pregnant with her. We slept in the next day, but I just felt crappy the whole day from lack of sleep. And we didn't even drink anything! Boy am I getting old. Next day we visited with Shaun's partner and his family. It was nice to see them again, it has been a while. Then off to the airport and home. I was so happy to be home. What a whirlwind weekend! I was so glad we didn't have Cecilia with us! What a nightmare that would have been! Monday morning when I got her up she gave me a big smile and a hug. I was on cloud nine since this is not a cuddly kid and was probably the first time she has done something like that. And I hear she had a great time with grandma and grandpa. My mom told me this week she missed Cecilia. That tells me that it wasn't too much of a burden to watch her and they will probably do it again :)

I know I'm really behind

But I have a good excuse. I've had this monstrous cold for the last week that has wiped me out. I've gone back to the old you nap when the baby naps routine. I'm surprised at how tired this cold has made me. Although I think that is partly because I keep waking up coughing up a lung. But on the bright side my stomach muscles are in good shape.

So much has happened this month it is amazing! First let me update you on Cecilia and then I'll get to Shaun and I. Which for the first time have had more to say than C has :)

Cecilia has gone potty several times since that first time a few weeks ago. She goes about every other day and I'm sure we could do a better job at listening to her when she tells us she needs to go and run her in there. It is just hard to tell when she really needs to go and when she just says she does because it is a good distraction during dinner. Regardless, I don't think she will be potty trained anytime soon (maybe partly because mommy isn't ready to be consistent and partly because she still goes so much when she is asleep) and this will probably just drag out the process for a year. But I'm trying to be a relaxed parent and go with the flow. She has also started putting two words together. This child is a gabber! All day long she walks around talking to herself (and me). The other day she was on my bed and I told her be careful I don't want you to fall down and she looked at me "fall down." I said "yes don't fall down." Next day she is on the bed and looks over the edge and goes "fall down." I was impressed she remembered and was able to put the two words together. There are other examples, but I can't remember any right now.

I took her to the doctor last week for a checkup. She mentioned that Cecilia is the average height of a 22 month old. Yeah, she is tall for her age. She did really well during the shots. She of course looked at me like, "why did she just hurt me? And why did you let her?" I tried to warn her that she would get poked and after it was over she could have a binky. We never give them to her so this was a real treat. She cried and after the nurse was done I asked her if she wanted the binky and she stopped crying and said "Binky!" I was surprised that she stopped crying so fast, but I guess she is getting older and they are less traumatic. Anyway after I got the binky for her I laid her back on the table so I could get her dressed. She found the caps of the needles and looked at them for a minute and then jabbed her thigh with it like the nurse did. I thought it both smart and a little morbid at the same time.

Last update about Cecilia. She was able to go to nursery for the first time last week. I wasn't there, but Shaun told me she did great and didn't cry at all. She looked around at everything and all the toys and then they sat her down for a treat, which I was notified was fruit loops and she was happy as a clam. Shaun said he "hovered" outside the door several times to check up on her and other kids were crying and she would look at them like "why are you crying? this place is great!" All in all she had a good time and was a good helper at the end cleaning up. We both thought she would love nursery because she loves kids. I didn't realize the snack would be something like fruit loops, but I have to tell myself that it is ok to have a treat every once in a while and I'm sure that she will always love nursery if they give her special treats for showing up. On a side note, can I say I can't believe my baby is 18 months old and is going to nursery! She seems so young to be dropped off with a ton of other kids and three leaders. I wish I didn't have to teach my own class and could "hover" and watch what they do and how well the kids listen. I know they have some kind of a lesson, and the kids actually sit and listen to it. Pretty amazing! I can see Cecilia doing this, but some of the other kids might have a hard time sitting for more than about 2 seconds. I remember when Cecilia was in the cast and the primary president was saying it wouldn't be long before she was in nursery and I just couldn't fathom it. She has progressed so much since then! Shaun and I were worried about her not being able to get up and walk around with the other kids and here she is, Running everywhere! Talking! Time flies!

Doctor Appointment

So my last post about Cecilia going poopy on the potty reminded me that I haven't posted about our doctor's appointment. We had a follow up about her hip last week. Everyone always asks me if her hip is healed. Essentially the cast put it in the right place and kept it there hopefully long enough that the muscles and tendons would keep it there while the hip grows over it. Because it wasn't in the right place for those 8 months the growth of the hip socket is behind the right hip. So what they look at at these follow ups is to see that the left hip is still making progress and eventually over time it will catch up with the right hip. They take X-rays each time to see how things are coming. If they don't see progress then they will watch closer for a time and that is when she may have to have another cast. Let's all pray this never happens! This X-ray looked really good. Her socket continues to form over the ball, the ball is developing properly as well. The placement still looks good too. I asked the doctor what chance we would have of her having to have another cast at this point and he thought it pretty small (but of course there is still a chance). So just yearly checkups from this point to make sure it continues to progress and someday it will catch up to the right hip.

You'll never guess what C did today

She went poopy on the potty! Yes she is only 17.5 months old, but she is pretty much amazing. She has been telling us that she had to go poopy before she did it for about two weeks now. Actually the first time was in the doctors office and Shaun and I looked at each other like, "uh what do we do?!" After about the 4th time I decided I would go buy a potty for her and see what happened. I honestly didn't think she would go on it but I figured we needed one someday anyway. So we got one earlier this week and this morning she comes to me and says "poopy" and grabs her diaper. I asked her if she wanted to go on the potty and she nodded yes (which reminds me I need to get a video of this because it is the cutest thing ever). So I took her in there and sat her down. I figured we'll see what happens. She sat there for a while and so I got a book for her to read. I think this is why people like to read on the toilet. Their moms give them books to look at when they are young to keep them on the toilet until they go. Anyway a little while later I looked and Voila! I looked at Shaun and he looked at me and we said WOW! Then the praise began and of course a treat to the little genius. She got 4 M&M's. Which if you know me and sweets that is a real treat! Who knows what will happen next time, but for now I count this as one less poopy diaper I had to change.

Summer!

Life goes fast in the summer! We have been enjoying the weather and fresh produce. These are the times I look back on in December with longing. We had the opportunity to see both sets of grandparents last week. Cecilia says "papa" and signs grandpa really well but I think she was a little confused when we said grandpa for my dad in the morning and then saw Shaun's dad in the afternoon and said grandpa again. It is a difficult concept for a 1.5 year old to understand that two people can have the same name. But so fun to see so much family.

Shaun and I went to a fundraiser for the Living Planet Aquarium on Saturday. It was a lot of fun. I recently bought a dress for the formal banquet in DC for the Inc 500 conference and was able to do a trial run with my ensemble at this fundraiser. I learned I need more than 10 minutes to do my hair, makeup, and get dressed. But a few extra minutes in the car and I looked presentable. Next time I'll have to take a picture and show you the new hair style I learned. It is fun to get dressed up sometimes. The event was a La Caille, probably the most expensive restaurant in SLC. It is really gorgeous though. We were able to "gamble" for a while and then our winnings translated into raffle tickets for 4 prizes. Shaun and I did well with some major help from a friend of Shaun's but we didn't win any prizes. That is ok we were able to bid on some silent auction items and came home with some great Christmas presents and help a good cause at the same time. Win win. Plus we had fun and I learned I don't understand the first thing about gambling :)

Cecilia is adorable as always. She is really into the spices lately. She loves to take every spice off the shelf and put it on the ground somewhere in a pile. The really good thing is that if you tell her to put them away at the end she will! It gets lots of energy out running back and forth and she is really good about putting them right side up and fitting them all back on the shelf. It is so fun to watch her. Here is a short clip of it.



That is about all from our neck of the woods. Hope you all are doing well!!

Quick Bragging Session

So I just have to tell you the cutest thing Cecilia did this morning. Well let me "back" up (you'll get it it a minute). A couple of days ago she was looking at a book (she loves books by the way) and there was a page with different baby body parts, eyes, nose, ears etc. Well one new one we haven't taught her was "back." She pointed to it and I said "back" and rubbed her back. She put her hand on her back and said "back." I was a little surprised because she has never said that word. But she has been saying similar words like "book" and "stuck" so it wasn't that surprising. She has really gotten the "K" sound down which seems to me like a hard sound to make. Anyway I haven't practiced "back" with her since then. Well this morning she was looking at a book, "We're going on a bear hunt" to be exact and for those of you parents who are familiar with this book you will remember the last page has a picture of a bear walking away. You can see it's back. Cecilia looks at that page and goes "back!" and I of course praise her for the smart girl she is, which reinforced her and she repeated "back!" "back!" "back!" for about 10 minutes just to reinforce to me that she is so smart. She is only 17 months by the way. You can be duly impressed now.