Birthday Girl.

Vivian turned ONE on Saturday. Yeah I can't believe it either. She had a great birthday with family and friends. She loved opening presents and would have preferred a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting instead of the chocolate cake with white frosting to dig into. Oh well I learned my lesson.

So just a couple of things about Vivian.

1. She weighs in at 23 lbs and is 31 inches tall.

2. On her Birthday she had two teeth and walked about 25% of the time, 4 days later she walks 75% of the time and is about to break her 4th tooth.

3. She is allergic to peanuts :(

4. She is a little picky about food. Loves French toast, bananas, natural cheetos, key lime yogurt, fruit cups, crackers, chocolate, bread, pizza, and pickles. She likes strawberries, cereal, grilled cheese, and corn. She does NOT like quesadillas, peas, mac & cheese, juice, and other things that aren't coming to mind. She will put new foods in her mouth and then roll them out with her tongue.

5. When she is finished eating or doesn't like something, she drops her food on the floor.

6. She says a few words. Mama, DaDa, uh-oh, Ava, dog dog, hello, that (with a pointing finger to something she wants, and baby.

7. She L-O-V-E-S stuffed animals. If she sees one she has to hug it, pat it, and kiss it and then adopt it as hers. She sleeps with one every night and won't let me get her out of her bed with out it. So of course she really liked her giant new bear.

8. Vivian is a little monkey. She tries to climb into and onto everything. Once she climbed into an empty tub head first. When her feet left the ground she just used her hands to walk herself in.

9. She has been pulling Ava's hair since she was 3 month s old. At the beginning I'm sure it was just a natural reaction to grab onto whatever. Now she does it on purpose. At least once a day I am consoling Ava and scolding Vivian for this meanness.

10. She takes one good nap a day, between 2-3 hours.

11. She loves her bath, but always wants to stand up.

12. She is mostly laid back, but does throw fits about things she feels strong about.

13. She can spot a super soft fabric a mile away. It might be a coat, a rug, a robe, and she insists on touching it.

14. She pretends to count in the tone we count in, but just repeats two, two, two....

15. She is a great dancer and loves music......any kind.

16. She is a good traveler in the car and air.

17. She got her first cold a couple of weeks ago, how lucky am I?

18. She likes to snuggle.

19. She almost always wakes up happy, and half the time poopy!

20. She is a perfect fit in our family and we all love her very much.

Halloween Bugs.

Behind again on Blogging! Here are a couple of pictures of Halloween. Ava was a butterfly and Vivian was a spider. I wasn't in town for the trick or treating, but I heard it was very cold with a lot of wind. Matt and the girls went with our neighbors across the street. They made it around the block. Ava and I played pretend trick or treating for a couple of weeks until her candy was gone. Even Vivian got in on the action and would hand out candy to Ava for pretend trick or treating.

November in Arizona

So what a great time of year to be in Phoenix. Some of my sisters and mom came to visit me and we tackled a big a project. With the expertise of my sister Rachel, we painted the kitchen cabinets black. There was a lot of sanding, priming, painting, and installing that took place. When I have the photo's of the finished product, I will post before and afters. We did sneak in a little fun too. Oh and thanks again Mom, Rachel, Kate and Lori. We missed you Jess and Michele. After my family left, Matt and his family came out and we spent Thanksgiving dinner out on the patio. There is a lot more to this 3 week trip, but I can't cover it all now.

Our Girlies.

So I had to snap a few pictures for a project my sister Jess is working on. These had the potential to be great and someday I'll duplicate this photo shoot with better smiles, bows in their hair, shoes on ALL feet, dry grass, and more than a couple of minutes of good lighting. Oh who am I kidding..........photo shoots don't happen that often at my house. Maybe I should just say "Someday I'll get a handle on having TWO children!" and then maybe I'll get to more cute photo shoots, and blog more, and file more, and write my Thank yous (sorry to those reading this that know I owe them a hand written Thank you) :)

September Travels

The Girls and I headed out on a travel adventure in September. My sister, her girls, and my mom met us in Boise, ID. We visited Grandma Great, my cousin Lacey, and my Aunt Diane and her boys. We then all drove to Logan, UT, stayed a couple of nights, and hung out with our sister Kate. Then back in the Van for a drive to American Fork, UT. We stayed a night with my super fun college roomie Suzie and her family. And then varoom were on our way to St. George to visit with my mom, my sister Michele, and Rachel and her two kids. It was a great time. I'll be adding a few pictures soon. A HUGE thanks to all of our hosts and my dear sister Kate and her family who lent us her mini-van and made this whole trip possible. Oh yeah and then I headed to Phoenix for a week. Yeah, September was a blur.

Ava's 1st day of Preschool

Ava started preschool last month. And she is lucky that one of her best friends is in her class. She can't wait for school every week and loves her teachers.

TP Mess

Vivian had a good time with the toilet paper back in Setember.

Vivian's New Tricks

If I don't document, then I will forget. She'll be 9 month s in a week!
Vivian started crawling a few weeks ago. Right now she just wants pull up and stand up on everything. Needless to say her forehead has a couple of bruises from her "No Fear" attitude.
She no longer sleeps through the night. Okay maybe once or twice a week.
She refuses baby food and loves to feed herself. She has gotten good use out of her two chompers that she got when she was 6 months old. She even gave me a little nibble on my shoulder last week. Ouch! I still have a bruise.
She laughs a lot and seems to try and mimic words. I say "stinky poops" and she says "puh, puh" or I say more and she mimics "mah, mah" anyway it seems like she is trying.
She LOVES Ava. When they are in their car seats, Vivian reaches her hand out and tries to grab Ava's arm or hand.
Vivian is tall like her sister.
Vivian finally decided to take a bottle. It has been One month. She took one her first 10 weeks of life and then refused. I tried nearly everyday until that magic day. She is still nursing 1 1/2 times a day. It won't be long until she is all done. Luckily she isn't biting me in that area anymore.
She really likes baby Einsteins. Sometimes if I can't settle her down in the night (not sure if it is teeth, gas, or upset tummy) I can put a DVD on and she stops crying.
Vivian's hair is short and sparse, still not enough for a pony tail yet.
She is spunky and silly and pretty easy going.

Cabin Fever

We were invited by a neighbor to spend time at their cabin/cottage up north. It was a wonderful time and perfect weather. This is their little guy who is a year older than Ava, and just a wee bit smaller :) I have more on this post, but I haven't down loaded those pictures yet.

A little post to prove we are still alive. We took a trip to Phoenix AZ over Fathers Day. This is our family before an early morning hike.

Keeping the 2nd Alive.......

So I am thinking my first child was determined to test my every nerve today. Just a few things she did to Child #2. She chewed up a cracker an attempted to give her baby sister a little taste. Vivian just started on rice cereal this week and we have gone OVER and OVER the fact that Child #1 should not EVER feed the baby.
Next naughty scenario .....she gave the baby a little nibble on her finger and I did the politically incorrect thing, and nibbled back.
Hmmmm..........what other naughtiness happened........ Child #1 poured a glass full of water on the baby's head while she happily played on a blanket. Soaking the baby's clothes, blanket, and carpet. YAH! I am amazed that ANY 2nd children make it to their 1st birthdays!

Mexico 2009-Doing Mommy;s Hair

One thing Ava loves to do is hair.........one thing I hate getting done.........my hair! But I let her because she loves it so much. Matt even lets her do his hair with pretty pink bows and all. she would do this for hours if I could stand it. My head is ultra sensitive and my hair is super snarly (sp?). Anyway Ava is spraying my hair with some detangler. Future hairdresser........Maybe!

Mexico 2009-Eastside

Ava building in the sand.
Ava and her cousins.

Grandma wrapped Ava up like a little burrito. Ava was gazing up at a coconut tree and told grandma that she thought their were pineapples in it......so observant.

The kids eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and banana's.

Playing ball with dad in the ocean.

Vivian taking a little nap in her pop up tent.

When the weather is stormy at the north end of the island, you can always head to the east side and it is usually sunny and calm. It was definitely sunnier but still a little windy the day we went over to the east side. The kids loved playing in the sand and the ocean and didn't seem to mind the wind too much. Vivian spent her time hanging out in a shade tent that also kept her out the wind. This tent was a great buy at Target for $14.99 . We used it several times with Ava and the best thing is it folds up like those sun shade things you put in your car.

Mexico 2009-Night Out

We were able to go to dinner, just the two of us, several times while we were in Mexico. The first night we were in town, we went to dinner with Matt's sister and husband to a new restaurant called "Kinta". Incredible atmosphere, fabulous food, great music, and very reasonable prices. So when we were deciding on dinner we would talk about going to other restaurants and always end up at "Kinta". I am still craving that place. I hope they will survive until we go back for Christmas.

Mexico 2009-Princess Bed

Every year when we would visit Cozumel, Matt's family would fantasize about buying a place in our favorite vacation spot. In 2007 Matt's parents and sister took the plunge and bought a beautiful condo on the ocean. Matt's parents and sisters family were gracious enough to let our family stay in their master suite. We all slept well listening to the ocean waves. Ava slept in this blow up princess bed that she got for Christmas and wore her princess jammies (courtesy of my sweet cousin Lacey) that matched her bed. We had to prop pillows on the edge because she would fall off in the night. We are so lucky that Matt's sister and his parents shared their second home with us.

Mexico 2009-Vivian

This is where Vivian did most of her sleeping.
SUPER STAR!

Vivian Sucking on her fingers.

Looking a little greasy from eczema lotion, but happy!

Vivian loved Mexico. She couldn't actually tell me this, but I could tell from how amazing she slept there, and hardly ever cried. This was the the first time she had been in the outdoors without being covered by a blanket. When we stepped off the plane she just kept looking around with wide eyes. We were lucky to get amazing weather. It was never to hot or humid. Her scaly skin didn't need the maintenance it does at home. It was on this trip that I realized that Vivian is a really , really, good baby. (I will say that since we have been home her sleeping is not as good.....maybe she is craving the sound of the ocean waves.) At home Vivian sleeps in her swing, so we were happy that her car seat did the trick.

Mexico 2009-Sand Play

Doesn't Vivian look like a movie star. He caught a fish off the pier and was so excited he gave it a kiss!

The girls playing in sand.

A different morning in the sand.

Every morning the girls would play in sand right after breakfast, while the boys went fishing.

Mexico 2009-Cousins

Eating Banana Splits before bed.
Ava playing the game Sequence with help from her cousins.

Vivian's cousin will be a great babysitter someday. She put Vivian to sleep.

All 4 cousins the last day they were in town.

We always go to Cozumel Mexico every year to break up the winter. We had to get a passport for Vivian before we could go this year. We went for two weeks and Vivian was 12 weeks old and Ava was 2 1/2 when we left. The girls traveled great. Ava was lucky to have her cousins there for part of our trip. She feels like such a big kid when she is with them.

Bumbo Time

Vivian started using her Bumbo when she was 10 weeks old. She has always been a very strong baby. I finally snapped a picture of her in it when she was 12 weeks old. These pictures crack me up because she had these three different faces on in a matter of a few seconds. Ava is always pulling out the different things we have for babies and saying "Let's put Vivian in this toy". It is always her idea first. Because Vivian is so good I'm not always searching for another item to keep her happy for 10 minutes, like I was with miss Ava. Oh yeah this was also the day that Vivian also started grabbing at toys, also Ava's idea. She loves grabbing this little elephant and sucking on his trunk.

'

Staying Warm

On a cold day (Feb 23rd) before we headed outside I snapped a couple of pictures. Some thing about Vivian in this hat was cracking me up, but at the same time she looked pretty cute in it. Ava wanted to join the photo shoot too. It didn't last long. Isn't Vivian cute even when she is crying?

Friends for Dinner

The girls ride bikes and look cool in their sunglasses.
Vivian chillin' in the pack n play.

We had some friends over for dinner in mid February. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I am way behind on my blogging. Our friends have two little girls about the same age of ours. The older girls played in the kitchen, tent,bikes, etc... They were super silly, and hit a point where they were laughing about everything. The babies just hung out.

Thumb Sucker??

Vivian started sucking her thumb on February 9th. She sucked a finger on the first day she was born. Ever since then she would drag her fist down her face from her forehead to her mouth trying to get a finger in there. Every once in awhile a finger or thumb would end up in her mouth, but February 9th was the first day she could get her thumb in her mouth consistently.

Just Like Mom in Sooo Many Ways.........

Ava got a cute pink robe for Christmas. When she opened it she said "oh like mama's robe". The other day when she got out of the bath, I wrapped her hair in a towel like I do. She couldn't stop looking in the mirror.

Two Months Old

Long legs that are getting plumper.

I was trying swim suits on Vivian on her two month birthday and snapped a couple of pictures. I think this suit is adorable. The bottoms were a little loose, but it should fit this summer. I can't believe it is size 12 months. Here is the lowdown on Vivian at 2 months.

-13 lbs and 24 inches long at her two month appointment.

-Eats every 3 to 4 hours during the day.

-Sleeps swaddled in her swing and in our room.

-sleeps through the night usually 8 to 10 hours at a time. (I really hope posting this doesn't jinx me!)

-smiles constantly and also coo's quite a bit.

-loves to listen to her music and watch her mobile.

-very content. She doesn't have to be held constantly. In fact enjoys hanging out on a blanket and stretching out and kicking her long legs.

-she has a pretty strong case of eczema. Aquaphor healing ointment has made a world of difference, and we apply it twice a day.

-she's a spitter. We don't even walk into the next room with out a burp cloth.

-She take the gumdrop nuk if she is hungry, but doesn't need it or want it to go to sleep. She is also constantly trying to get her thumb or fingers in her mouth. but isn't consistent with it yet.

-Just starting using her bumbo (or as Ava would call it her "Bum Boat")

We are amazed at how different Vivian is from Ava. I called Ava my "tricky" baby. She needed lots of tricks, we just had to figure them out. So far I'd have to say Vivian is my angel baby. I have to remind myself often that Vivian is in the other room hanging out or she reminds me with a cute little squawk.

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Lotsa Babies!

Ava loves her all of her babies. some of them have names (mostly baby Jon), but they all have titles. There is Naked baby, Loud baby, Baby Sister, Ava doll, Thumb sucker, Little Baby, etc... She feeds them (yes under her shirt), burps them, wraps them, reads to them, and puts them to sleep. And she likes them to have their own blankets (this could have something to do with her major attachment to her own blankie). This day in February she said she was taking her babies for a bus ride and then she put some of them down for a nap on my throw pillows and some inside the cabinet.