Life with Two Girls: July 2012

Monday, July 30, 2012

Pacifier Fairy

We finally made it happen. The pacifiers had to go! So today the Pacifier Fairy came for a visit. I had them gather up all their "pac" and put them in a special gift bag for the Pacifier Fairy. While the girls were swimming tonight she made a visit and took them, but left some comforting stuffed animals. She left the following note:

Dear Paige & Hailey,

Thank you so much for the pacifiers. I’m excited to give them to little babies. You are both big girls now and I know that you will be great! I hope these bears give you comfort.

Lots of Love,

The Pacifier Fairy

July 2012

Bedtime actually went well. They both made a few whines and requests for their pac but in all went to sleep with no difficulty. So far so good! We'll see how the rest of the night goes and how nap time goes tomorrow. Wish us luck!

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Unthinkable

The girls were playing so well tonight and having so much fun. So much that I let them go upstairs to play while I tried to get all 5 loads of laundry folded before bedtime. Brian was in the office working. I could hear the girls giggling, trying on dress up clothes and just playing. Things seemed to be going well. I had almost two loads folded when I asked Brian to head up to check on them. This is what he found...

They had gotten into a sealed package of infant grooming gear that included scissors. It was located in under the sink in the cupbaord in a plastic bin. They really had to scrounge to find it. Hailey's bangs are completely chopped off. First, I was mad at them and did sternly asked them "why?!" and "what do we use scissors for?!" (I serisoulsy cannot say how many times we have said "we only use scissors to cut paper." They know!!!!) Then I got calm. Then I got mad at myself for not watching them. Such guilt. I feel horrible! And so bad for Hailey because her hair has not been the fastest in growth her 28 months on earth. But the mom guilt of getting mad at them and not watching them really overwhelmed me. I still feel a heavy heart a couple hours later. My positive discipline did not show up very well in this situation.

So tomorrow I will head to the hair salon with both in tow to see what they can do to fix Hailey's bangs. I think they may just be able to cut the bangs further back to cover those that are so short. I'm hoping anyway!

1st Olympic Event

The 2012 Summer Olympic games kicked off on Friday night in London. NBC is the station that is covering the games and they have develeped a really nice website that gives you times of events based on your location and cable provider. I browsed through it the other night and picked some that we might enjoy watching. The first today and the first game the girls watched was Equestrian Dressage. I love this event. I was able to practice it as a kid myself while taking English riding lessons. I call it horse ballet. The girls liked watching the horses too.

As a side note, Paige was born four years ago this week while the Beijing Olympics were going on. As a mother with a newborn and new to everything that went with it, I was able to watch most of the events live. I saw Micheal Phelps win every medal that year LIVE. Yes, there is a big time difference between Beijing China and Chandler Arizona. UhUm.

July 29th

Today is Paige's actual birthday. We just had a little birthday song this morning with a special pink frosted donut. We will do her party next Saturday, once Mama gets things together after vacation and Uncle GUM will be in town. It amazes me that four years ago today I was handed a perfect child and given the opportunity to care for her and raise her. I am thankful everyday. I feel so increadibly lucky.

Paige at 7:28am, the time she was born.
She had just come out of the bathroom.

Birthday donut with candle

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Finally! Family pic

Finally on day 6 of our vacation we got a family pic. Whew!

River Walk

I took the girls down to the local river walk trail in Durango this morning, just for some different views and exploring. When we arrived the train was coming by so we got a bonus view! The girls had fun looking at flowers, rocks, the river and all the people who appeared to be regulars down there. Not sure we'll return anytime soon...rude bicyclists, non family oriented people, icky smells and a very poor walking trail.

Monday, July 23, 2012

Lion's Den, Durango, CO

The girl's oldest cousin, Tara, is showing interest in being a photographer. She took some pictures for an internship she had at this locale in Durango called the Lion's Den. She was kind enough to take the girls up to take their pics. I can hardly wait to get hers back after she edits them. These are some I caught myself while she was shooting. The girls were so good and had a ton of fun!

Crazy & Lovable Cousins

Just some fun pics of the girls enjoying cousin time.

Tractor Ride

Brian got out Papa's tractor lawn mower and hooked up the trailer to it to give the girls a ride to the river to hunt for more frogs. Hunting frogs really has been the highlight for Paige this trip. She has named them "Ice Cream", "Flower" and "Butterfly." She had so much fun catching them and holding them...in fact so fun to give them all mass internal injuries. Luckily they are abundant in population here.

Hunting frogs

Caught some!

Brian's Tiger Birthday

Brian shares the same birthday as his cousin Jay. They are one year apart. As kids they always shared their day. This has been the first time in many years they were together for it. They enjoyed the day at the river beach and then we got to go out for a sushi dinner with only adults! The girls stayed back with Granny, Papa, Aunties and cousins. Earlier in the week when I told the girls that Dada's birthday was coming up, they both said they wanted him to have a Tiger themed birthday party. So I ordered a Jamocha Almond Fudge Tiger shaped cake from Baskin Robbins. This is Brian's favorite flavor. They did a great job creating the cake.

Canoe Rides

Life by the river requires a canoe. Brian got it out to take everyone for rides. Paige and I loved it. Hailey isn't as fearless and thought twice. We rowed (ok, Brian rowed) all around the bend and cove. We saw horses, geese, fish, frogs, tadpoles and of course paddle boarders.