Early Christmas Present

This year we got two early Christmas presents. One from the sky and the other from Grandpa and Grandma Ritchie. Cecilia loves both, as you can see.

Helping daddy "shovel."


Snow Angel, I know it is hard to see. But look closely.


Here I Cecilia opening her Christmas present and riding it around. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

A Parenting First

Cecilia has been going to Nursery for a few weeks now. For whatever reason Shaun has always been the one to take her and usually beats me to pick her up (since I have to wait for all the parents to come pick up their kids from my class). But I hear rave reviews of how well she did and how she never cries and always helps pick up the toys. Well yesterday I told Shaun that I would take her since the primary room is right across the hall. I think there was a little voice in both of our heads that said that wasn't a good idea but neither of us listened. So I pick her up and away we go. I thought she was an old pro now with nursery and when I got there all the kids were sitting in chairs in a circle listening to the teacher. I go to plop her in the empty chair and her legs do the splits in that way only spica kids can do, which means I DON'T WANT TO BE PUT DOWN!, screams "NO!" and starts wailing. I was shocked! This kids loves nursery, what is wrong? Then I remembered the warning bell in my head and pick her up to go find Shaun. I have heard several parents say they have to have the dads take the kids to nursery because they are less attached to them and won't cry when they leave. So I take her in the hall bawling and Shaun "happens" to be there and I look at him like "what is wrong?" He looks at me and says "you did it all wrong!" This is where the title of the post comes in. This is the first time I can remember where Shaun had a handle on some parenting skill that I obviously didn't. Not only that but I thought I did. I felt like a complete outsider even though my daughter was clinging to me with both hands and feet and crying on my shoulder. Shaun said "First you don't carry her in there, she needs to walk in on her own. Then you shove her in and close the door behind you." I was surprised! What do you mean you walk out and close the door behind you? I've only heard about how well she did and how she loves nursery. I assumed that meant she didn't have problems from the beginning. I thought I knew Cecilia well enough that if all the other kids are sitting in chairs, then she would want to sit in a chair too. How wrong I am! Shaun knows her better than I do because he had this figured out from the first try. What an odd feeling it is to think you understand the situation and then all of a sudden realize you are completely in the dark and someone else actually knows what is going on and is taking care of it.
After my mess up it was a feat to get her to go with Shaun and then as I'm sitting in primary I hear a distinct "NO!" and crying in the hall that only a parent knows. Shaun is trying to get her to go to nursery but I ruined it and he is having a harder time. I felt both guilty and confused at the same time. But at least I had the good sense to know that if I went to help I would just make it worse. After church I ask Shaun how it went and he said she was fine after I got her in there. I guess this is a job for daddy from now on since he does it right and mommy doesn't.

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.