Christmas Dresses

December 14

Christmas Shopping

December 11

We decided this year that Anna was old enough to learn the joy of giving at Christmas. So we took her and Evie down to the Riverwoods to check out the lights and to pick out a gift for Evie.

We also bought Anna some red taffy, which is what is all over her face in these photos.

Evie was a pretty good sport, hanging out in Williams-Sonoma while Dan and I took turns in the toy store with Anna helping her pick out a present for Evie. I gave Anna three different toys to pick from and she picked a little plastic dog for Evie. Maybe it helped that I hid the toy as soon as we got home and wrapped it for Anna, but so far Anna hasn't taken the toy back from Evie or seemed to be otherwise confused about the idea of giving a gift. Of course, she takes Evie's other Christmas toys all the time so it just might be that those toys are more interesting than the one we picked out for Evie.

The Farm

December has been a hard month for the flu. It feels like I've been dealing with diarrhea and exploding diapers since Thanksgiving. Just when Evie started to get over that first round of the flu, Anna started throwing up and passed a new flu bug on to Evie, starting the diarrhea over again. When Evie was finally getting over that round of diarrhea, she got an ear infection, requiring antibiotics, which led to more diarrhea.

I shouldn't really complain because even though Evie has had exploding diapers for most of December, she usually only had two or three a day, so it wasn't like it was a constant flow. She did get lots of extra dips in the bathtub because sometimes it felt like that was the only way to clean her up. I learned to keep her in footed pajamas or sleep and plays so that the poop wouldn't drip all over my house. I think she's worn two different outfits at Church for the past four weeks because she has a blowout every Sunday. In fact, it's become a common thing for me to scoop her up and run out of a meeting, as I hope to get her on a changing table before there's too much of a mess. Thank goodness for tights! They also work well at holding in the poop.

With all this sickness, we spent several days at home, missing our playgroup and nursery. So Anna was feeling a little stir crazy. Dan agreed to babysit Evie one Saturday (Dec. 11) so I could take Anna to the Farm at Thanksgiving Point. The weather was fairly warm for December, so we had a good time checking out the animals. Several of them made Anna nervous though, so she asked for lots of "huggies" and I ended up carrying her a lot. 

I really didn't think she'd want to ride the ponies, but she surprised me. Most of the time I walked beside her, but she let me step away long enough to snap this photo of her riding Chief.

When we'd seen about everything, I suggested we go check out the reindeer by the water tower, but when I wanted to drive over there, Anna started to cry. She wasn't ready to leave yet. Being the great mom that I am, I bribed her with ice cream up at the Deli. They have these tiny cones that are the perfect size for Anna and their free for kids three and under. Of course, after she finished the first one, she wanted another and I didn't have anything left to bribe her with to get her home, but somehow we made it and we had a good time while we were there.

Snapshots in December

In late August or early September my point and shoot camera broke. It took me a few months to decide which camera I wanted to buy to replace it, but finally at the end of November I got a new camera and I've been having lots of fun catching random moments around our house again.

 I love high chair photos with messy faces, especially when it's such a cute face underneath the food.

 I've been reading about the different temperaments of children in Jane Nelson's book called Positive Discipline for Toddlers (I highly recommend it), and I've decided that Evie is more active than Anna was, but she's probably not super high on the active spectrum. But then the other day, I noticed her cuddling with her sheepie. Anna also started snuggling with her blankets about this age, so maybe it's a little more of a developmental thing than a temperament issue. I still think Evie is on the active side though.

 Anna loves getting packages and it was hard for her this month when so many came and Mom wouldn't open them while she was around. But then a package came with the presents already wrapped. Anna commandeered one of the boxes and called it her house. She put a few pillows in there and had a great time playing in it for a few days. She'd probably still be playing with it if we didn't take it out to the recycling bin after she fell asleep.

It's sort of hard to see in this photo, but Evie pulled the bag of Craisins out of the diaper bag and shook it until she had spread Craisins all over the floor. I heard her playing with the bag but thought it was closed. When I checked on her, I found her mouth full of Craisins and drool running down her chin. She was loving it.

 Anna helps Evie "pick up" the Craisins.

Anna hurt her mouth and told me she needed a band-aid. I guess the owie was right on her lip.

Dance Class

Anna started her dance class in September and at the beginning of December we got to go to a dance class demonstration, meaning that instead of watching Anna through the window, we got to sit inside the studio to watch. They did a few dances and then sang some songs. Her friend, Avery, is in her class too, so that's a bonus. She LOVES dance class. Even though she doesn't really know the days of the week, if dance class is canceled, she'll notice that we haven't been in awhile and start to ask. She likes to run around the house saying "shasee" which I think is her way of saying chasse.

Here are a few photos from her class demonstration. I can't wait for the recital with the costumes and everything. The costumes might make up for the fact that every week I dress Anna in the same black leotard and pink tutu, while the other little girls always seem to be wearing something new and much more exciting than Anna's uniform.

Grandma came and brought Anna a pink daisy.

Yesterday, as often happens, Evie woke up before Anna. After changing her diaper, I played with her for a few minutes until she became interested in a toy. Then I went back to the kitchen where I was making caramels and fudge. When Evie started to babble loudly (yell), I looked up to see that she had crawled over to Anna's closed bedroom door and was trying to stand up against it. I didn't want her to wake Anna up, so I ran over and brought her into the kitchen with me. I played with her again, and gave her some toys to play with. When she was distracted, I went back to assembling the ingredients for a batch of fudge. When I heard the slap of her hands as she crawled across our wood floor, I checked on her and saw that once again she was crawling as fast as she could over to Anna's door. I caught up with her just as she reached Anna's door and when I picked her up she yelled, "Nanna!" I guess Evie likes Anna even though Anna takes all her toys away.

Lately, we've been telling Anna that Dan is busy, but she always responds, "You're dizzy Dad?" Yup, Dad is dizzy and busy.

This morning we were on our way to the UPS store to ship a Christmas package to my grandparents. Anna loves packages and we've been getting a ton this time of year, almost every day. In fact, I can often hear the UPS truck coming because it's brakes squeal. If I'm fast enough, I'll try to get to the door before they can pound on it and wake all my kids up. For some reason, they always come during nap time and they always knock as if they've got a search warrant and they're coming in.

Anna also knows that it's always dudes that bring the packages. So as we were on our way to the UPS store and I was explaining that we're sending a package, not receiving one, she asked, "We're giving it to the dudes?"

"We'll probably give it to a chick," I told her, but then I decided that referring to the women at the UPS store as chicks isn't very liberated or feminist of me, so I revised my statement. "A lady. We'll give it to a lady."

"Oh, a lady chicken?" Well, not quite, but probably better than a chicken lady.

Dinosaur Museum

On our way home from California, we discovered that Evie had picked up a flu bug. In the middle of our  flight, I noticed a warm, wet spot spreading across the leg of her pajamas. It's not fun trying to clean up a baby with diarrhea in an airplane bathroom, but I'm just glad I had packed an extra pair of clothes for her. I kept her in her onesie for most of the flight home, saving the other outfit just in case she had another episode. Luckily, she didn't.

But over the next few days, she had several more episodes, and had several dips in the bathtub. We mostly stayed home, but Anna had been asking to go to the Dinosaur Museum. So that Wednesday (Dec. 1), I decided to risk it and head to the museum. Evie did really well, and I don't think I had to change her diaper while we were there. But when we were only a third of the way through the museum, I realized that Anna had come down with Evie's same flu bug. I'd been asking her if she pooped because I thought I smelled something suspicious, but she insisted that she hadn't. I now know that I should have checked her, because by the time I did check her, we were stuck in the middle of the museum and when I checked her, I ended up with poop on my thumb. But's that's probably too much information. I didn't realize that the only bathroom is outside the front desk, so I rushed Anna all the way through the rest of the museum, frantically hoping for a bathroom. I had to drag her past the sand pit and the water erosion exhibit/play area, but I promised her we'd be back.

I'm probably a bad mom since I let my sick kid touch stuff that other kids would be touching. Oh well. It turns out that most of the museum terrifies Anna. There are several dark, shadowy rooms that represent the beginning of time, and she doesn't really like the large skeletons. In fact the sand pit is probably the only part of the museum she likes, but she had a good time.

Looking for dinosaur bones

Snowy Day

We got home from California around midnight on Saturday. We might have been home a few minutes earlier, but Dan and I decided we needed a burger from In-and-Out. Unfortunately for us, the late crew struggled and that was the saltiest burger I've ever had. Sometime after we climbed into bed, a major storm hit and the snow continued to fall all day Sunday. Monday, Anna and I decided to go out and enjoy the snow while Evie took her morning nap. 

I think this is the first snowman Anna and I have built together. For his arms, I broke off twigs from my basil bush. He smelled pretty good. We used dried marigold buds for his eyes and a baby carrot for his nose. I tried to pull a carrot out of the garden, but the ground was frozen so I couldn't get any out. It's a good thing the weather warmed up a few weeks later so I could pull the rest of my carrots out of the ground.

Thanksgiving 2010

For Thanksgiving, we flew to Southern California and spent the holiday with Dan's parents. The weather was in the sixties, which was well above the cool temperatures in Utah (I think it was in the teens and twenties while we were gone). We even took Anna to the beach Saturday morning before we left and let her wade in the water. She loved it and, of course, she also fell a couple times so that by the time we left, she was drenched and covered in sand. We also spent a lot of time with Grandpa and Sandy, playing in their home.

 Evie has learned to shut her eyes when she thinks I'm going to take a photo. I guess she doesn't like that flash. But I've learned to wait until she opens her eyes again and then I take her pic and probably zap her with the flash too.

 Grandpa sharing his ice cream with Evie