Bumblebee Birthday Party

On Saturday we had Paige's birthday party.  I did the Bumblebee theme since she is our Bumblebee.  My uncle and aunt where in town.  My Uncle Mike is called "Uncle GUM" by the girls (Great Uncle Mike) and my Aunt Charlene is called "Auntie."  Of course, my mom was here.  The girls call her "Nanny."  Uncle GUM made pork ribs and I made all the fixings to go with the dinner.  Presents were a blast with overstimulation and a huge mess.  Everything a 3 year old birthday should be.  Both girls played in the wrapping and toy mess for a couple hours.  It was perfect.

Me with The Bumblebee

Card that makes sounds

Loads of Tinkerbell from Nanny 

New books from Uncle GUM

Hailey donning the Tinkerbell gear

Bumblebee Cake

Recorders from Brian and Me.  We bought both girls one, which are the same, same, same. 

Royal Carriage from Auntie

Blowing out candle.  She loves to have "Happy Birthday" sung to her.

July 29

This will always be a special date.  This year our Paige Aubrey turned 3 years old.  The morning started with a trip on Mama's part to Dunkin Donuts to get a special "Birthday Donut."  The pink strawberry frosting was a hit with both girls but both left the glazed donut part.  We stayed at home for the day and swam while Hailey napped.  We also made cupcakes.  They were suppose to be Bumblebees, but I lacked the correct frosting tip and Oreo cookies for the wings.  So they aren't as cute as they could have been, but they tasted great.  We can ask Paige how old she is and her reply is, "three years old."  It's super cute.

As a Mama, I will reflect a bit on my day three years ago since I started this blog late. Paige was a scheduled c-section, so Brian and I knew she was coming. She was a c-section because she was in the breach position.  We checked into the hospital at 5am to prep. I was never in labor however had contractions that only the monitor could pick up. I never felt them. We were on time in the OR at 7am and Paige was born at 7:28am. The moment we heard her cry brought tears to both mine and Brian's eyes. Brian then followed Paige to the nursery while I was being "put back together."  Brian made sure the nurses brought Paige to me right away (within 2 hours of birth) because I wanted to breastfeed Paige. The first moment I held her was wonderful (very scary too, as I had never held a newborn before and she was soooo tiny at 5lbs, 14 oz). I will never forget that moment and finally seeing and touching her. We planned and waited so long for that moment and were so grateful for a healthy baby girl.

Birthday Donut

Birthday Cupcake



Chair

This little chair lives at my mom's house now.  It originally was my aunt's (she is now 63 years old) high chair  and it has since had it's legs cut down.  I remember it being in my own bedroom for years when I was a child.  I have a pic of Paige in it too.  This is Hailey the other night at my mom's house. 

Brian's birthday

Brian's birthday was on Friday and Paige & I made a lasagna and brownies and he was able to open his presents from us.  Here is Hailey eating her brownie and ice cream. 



We then had the family party at my mom's on Sunday.  We BBQ'd steaks and had an ice cream cake.  Yummy. 

Swim Lessons

This week the girls had swim lessons through the city at Hamilton Aquatic Center.  Hailey and I did the infant-parent class and Paige did the "Shrimp" class for 3-6 year olds (yes, I was able to get her in the class despite her not being 3 yet.  I have my ways!  Haha).  The classes were at the same time so it worked out great.  Paige really excelled in her kicking and breathing under water and now swims in our pool from one side to the other without a life jacket.  Hailey can go under the water and swim a bit to me, can hang on the wall and pull herself out of the pool and can fall down, go under the water and stand herself back up.  I'm really glad I made the effort to get them both out the door and to the pool by 8am each day this week.  It was really worth it.  I think both girls improved, gained swimming confidence and it helped me to feel safer in the water with them too.  Great experience.  Will do it again next year but in more advanced classes. 

Water Extravaganza

For the last day of summer school Paige's school had a Water Extravaganza day for the students.  Mrs. Hawley invited me to attend and said that other mothers would be there.  I was thrilled because I really need some outside adult interaction.  I am also lucky enough that my aunt is visiting this month and could watch Hailey while I went.  I was also excited to see how Paige behaved at school too.  They had a big water slide, Paige got a little scared, but then I said that I would go down it with her (despite not having on a swim suit.  Am I cool mom, or what?!) then she was fine.  She said it was still a little scary but had fun anyway.  They also had water tables with splash balls and bubbles.  Inside they had fishing, hula hoops and Hula Coolers, which Paige ate about 5 of.  Mrs. Hawley said the recipe was online.  It appears to be relatively healthy.  I'll probably make it since she liked it so much.  I did meet one other mother, but she works from home while her little girl is in school.  So, really no luck in meeting someone in my same situation.  Paige was just Paige at school.  She did her own thing (very Montessori) and listened to her teacher.  She played with the other kids well and seemed to have fun.  Good to see that she's just herself. 


Going down the slide



Water table with splash balls

These are the Hula Coolers.  Help yourself in Montessori. 

Paige eating what is her 4th or 5th Hula Cooler.

Hula Hoops

15 mos Well Check

Our Pediatrician moved to a different practice which would be a trek from our house.  I love her and now really miss her.  She and I had the same outlook on raising kiddos and she had cared for the girls from Paige's day 1.  She went through the horrible time I had at 18 mos with Paige in not eating and very low weight.  So she knew all the background.  Today we meant with a Nurse Practitioner at the practice for Hailey's 15 mos well check, but it was just not the same.  I so wish she knew the struggle I went through with Paige to get her to eat to know that I am thrilled I am with Hailey's eating habits and that I don't worry at all about her.  Instead the Nurse Practitioner made me question Hailey's intake because she had dropped a bit in percentile.  Ugh. 

Hailey is very healthy and hitting all her milestones.  She was quite impressed that Hailey uses a spoon or fork with all meals.  I discovered that the callouses on her big toes are not callouses, but instead are what could be the beginning of ingrown toenails.  We will start soaking and pulling the skin away on those little toes.  But all healthy.  She also got two immunizations, the DTaP and HiB.  I gave her some Tylenol prior to going and she seemed to handle them well so far.  She is now done with immunizations until age 5.  Yeah!  (Except for flu shots, which are wonderful.)

Here's Hailey's measurements: 

Wt:  19 lbs 6 oz = 5%
Ht:  31 inches = 60%
Head circumference:  17 3/4 cm = 25%

These are Paige's measurements at 15 mos:

Wt:  19 lbs 9 oz = 7%
Ht:  29 3/4 inches = 25%
Head circumference:  17 1/2 cm = 25%

Looks like they are pretty similar in growth.  Interesting that Hailey is still taller.  Wonder how big sister will handle it if her little sister is taller than she?  Fun stuff. 

Birthday Poster

For Paige's birthday at school this year, we are doing it early since they will be on summer break for her actual day.  Her school discourages treats and encourages a Birthday Poster which goes with their theme of "Celebration of Life."  It has pictures of Paige's life, family and fun things she likes to do.  I put it in categories:  Family, Milestones, Dress Up, Play, Garden, Swim & Holidays.  I wrote a little narration to go on the back, but of course, the printer is out of ink, and I can't trick it to think it has ink.  UGH!  Mrs. Hawley will just have to figure it out and Paige will need to be helpful.  Her school also suggests that a can book be donated to her classroom which you can write her name, birthdate and a message.  Mrs. Hawley asked for "Ten Little Ladybugs" by Melanie Gerth. 

Here is Paige decorating the poster with glitter glue, stickers and markers. 

We worked on it outside.  I wasn't sure how messy it would be. 
She did great!

Final Project (without the narration on back)

Apron Strings

The saying is true.  Hailey literally holds onto my skirt or shorts if I don't pick her up when she wants it.  She will follow me around the kitchen holding onto whatever I am wearing waiting to be held.  It's very endearing and one day I will miss it.  But I seriously have things to get done.  I'm sure it's only a phase and she will grow out of it soon.  Or perhaps she is telling me that I do need an actual apron to wear all day since I get so messy!?! 

Yet another Who's Who & Which is Which?

Had to post these two pics of the girls wearing the same dress which was given to us by a dear ole friend. 

Hailey

Paige

Car Travel

I will keep this light and funny, however traveling with Two Girls is no picnic.  We drove, yes drove, from Chandler, AZ to Durango, CO last week…with both girls.  We had hoped that Hailey had outgrown the lack of desire to sit in her car seat, but nope, not yet.  They each had their own DVD player and Paige did great, except for the fact that she always wanted to watch what Hailey was watching.  The both suck on pacifiers, but continuously “loose” them (most likely THROW them).  And they both get hungry.  So despite my desire this trip to not spend it in the backseat, I instead spent it backward in the front seat changing DVDs, scrounging for pacifiers, and looking for and feeding snacks.  We stopped at a fast food playground and for food, but seriously, do you think my two children would eat?  No way!  This was a wasted hour stop for sure, because, I still had to be turned around in my seat trying to feed them something for the next 4 hours.  Because by then they were “fussy”, yeah, we’ll use that word, from lack of food.  They did not sleep one wink the entire trip.  We left at 12 noon (really 11am, but had to pick up Paige from school first) and arrived at 8:30pm.  Yes, EIGHT AND ONE HALF HOURS, in the car, with both girls. 

It was wonderful to finally arrive at Brian’s folk’s home and to see everyone.  We let the girls say hi but quickly put them in the tub and to bed.  As we needed a BREAK and to RELAX.  The week was nice in that we got to spend time with family and the girls got to see everyone.  Paige loves her “family” as she refers to everyone.  They each got to share special moments with Granny & Papa which is the whole reason for the trip.  There were some drawbacks in that the river was too high to play in at their house so that really messed up my planned activities for them every day.  But we improvised with an inflatable pool and a walk up the river for some play time.  We also had a busy Independence Day with tons of festivities to do in the town of Durango.

The trip home might have been worse than the trip there.  Hailey cried nonstop from Gallop, NM to Flagstaff, AZ.  Brain had reclined their car seats for this trip.  We thought for sure it would help them to sleep better.  We discovered that in this position, Hailey cannot poop.  Hence she cried for 3 hours.  When we got out of the car and she was standing, she finally was able to go.  Poor thing.  So frustrating for a mom when you don’t know what is wrong and you try everything, but still the crying.  I didn’t even think of pooping!  Paige however, managed to sleep the entire three hours with Hailey crying next to her.  Man, to be almost 3 years old again!  We made it home and it was wonderful for everyone to sleep in their OWN beds and OWN rooms. 

So, yes, traveling to relative’s for visits important and we will continue to do it.  However, we are experienced to know that car rides of this length are no fun for anyone.  We may just spend our accumulated miles for the next trip and fly.  3 hours from door to door with no driving and some flight attendant service sounds perfect. 

Independence Day

The day was full of festivities with lots of things to do in the town of Durango.  We woke up and went to the  Pancake Breakfast. Which was really nice, we got to sit at a nice table under the gazebo.  Then we went for a little walk over the bridge to watch the train go by.  We  came back home and the girls played in an inflatable pool since the river is too high to play in this year.  Then we went to a parade downtown. They handed out candy, so that made Paige really happy.  The adults ended the day by going to the fireworks show ALONE! It was a really nice day. 

Granny & Pappa & The  Girls

Paige& Mason in the pool

Parade route

Vacation Fun

These are just some silly candid pictures from our last few days here at Granny and Papa's house.  The girls are having a great time. 

Fun riding toy

Anything better than a popsicle from Papa?

Swinging from a chain?  Sure...Fun!

Waiting to wave  to the train

Hailey riding in the wagon.

Granny's Flowers

Granny has the most beautiful flower garden around her house.  I'm amazed every year at what she creates.  This year Paige got to "help" Granny plant some flowers.  She even got special gloves.  Hailey joined in on the fun too. 

Granny & Paige on the back porch

Granny & Paige in the side yard with the flower cart

Hailey helping to plant

Comfort

I need to post this before I forget.  The other night Paige was upset about something and Hailey went to get Paige her Snugglie and bring it to her.  It has be the opposite until now, Paige has always gone to get Hailey her Snugglie when Hailey was upset.  It was such a sweet sisterly thing and neat to see in the opposite sense.  They are growing up and growing together.  Very sweet. 

River time

We are in Durango, Co this week visiting Brian's family.  Brian's parents live on the river but it is so high this week that the beach that is normally there is covered by water.  So I took the girls for a walk along the walking trail in town and found a little beach area along the river where they could play for a bit.  They had a ton of fun!  And it was nice for Mama to get them out and burn some energy.  Good day. 

HIGH Animus River

Pretty view of the tracks and river

Circus

We took the girls to see the Ringling Brothers Barnum Baily's "Fully Charged" circus on Sunday last week.  They both actually did well considering we went 5pm which is dinner time and then 7pm for bath and bed.  They loved watching the animals the most.  We saw horses, elephants, zebras, and tigers.  I particularly liked the human performers who did things much like the Cirque de Sole.  The costumes were awesome and the dancing girls wore facinators which were really cool to see in person.  It was a great show and one that we will probably return to every year. 

Ring Master entering

Tigers.  12 in all.

Clowns.  Always great at a circus.

Hailey and Me out front

Brian and Paige