April Fools Snow

This is no Joke! Check out the snow that accumulated today, April Fools Day! It's been warming up so nicely and then all of a sudden this:) You can either be totally bummed that it's snowing again, or be super excited that you got one more chance to play in the snow and build your first snowman!

A Chilly Morning With Animals

Today Brady decided that we don't have enough family days. It's totally true, with both of us working, and Brady getting his photography business going, there are not a lot of days where we can get out together as a family. So he suggested we make a day of it and head out to the zoo. It was a great idea! We've never been to the zoo when there has been so much action! We got there when it opened, and today was a fairly chilly day, so all the animals were out and active this morning! We got to see all 3 baby tigers playing... I say baby cuz they are not even a year old yet, but you can see from the pic how big they already are! Did you know that apes really do thump their chests and scream? It's true! Tino must have thought Ansley was cute, cuz we were walking up to his exhibit and he was just chilling out in the sun, all the kids were watching being quite bored. Once we got there though he decided to come out of the shade and talk to Ansley make motions to her and then thump his chest just like you see in the movies! It was awesome! Then once he said his piece he went right back to leaning up against a post and relaxing. We even got to see the baby elephant and her mom doing tricks! I must say that normally when we go the only fun animals are the orangatangs, which most of you know can be pretty hilarious! So bundle up everyone and head to the zoo early!

Sparkly Ears

BLING!

This morning Ansley woke up and excitedly stated, "I got earrings Mom!"

That's right, I finally went and got her ears pierced:) She had been asking me for a while and I told her we could when she was 2 cuz I figured I could just get both girls ears done at that point. But then someone told her that it would hurt so she got scared, so I put it off. But now it's obvious Shirley's not going to get hair soon either, so girly earrings here we come!

Everyone asks... HOW WAS IT? It's honestly just like when they get shots at the doctors, painful, but VERY short lived tears. So for the first time I officially get to say that Shirley got something FIRST:) I'm sure being the second child she won't get to say that very often, but she got her ears pierced first. That wasn't the plan of course... I didn't want Ansley to see her cry, but in the end I think it worked out for the better. Ansley knew it was going to hurt, but seeing how quickly Shirley calmed down I think helped her. Ansley sat in my lap during the process and was so terrified of how it was going to hurt she screamed when the girl cleaned her ears saying that it hurt. Of course I said are you sure... You don't think that maybe it was just cold? Then she didn't want the girl to draw a dot on her ears, so we had Ansley draw on the girl (the girl was awesome!), Ansley thought that was pretty cool. But still terrified I told her she didn't have to do it if she didn't want to. She cried saying that she wanted to go home, I said OK, but she stayed, she sure is brave, she knew what she wanted, knew it was going to hurt, but stuck through it. So punch, it was done. Lots of tears, but then the mirror... thru the tears was a huge smile, a grin ear to ear. "I like them Mom, I like my earrings, sparklies!" The first cleaning that night she claimed that it hurt, but I think it was just the memories from the afternoon because all the cleanings today were fine. She was just happy to have sparklies in her ears. She really enjoyed showing them off, so next time you see her make sure you check them out!

It honestly makes my little baldies look totally girly and SO ADORABLE!!! Seriously... I was kind of shocked at the difference:)

It's Hard To Grow Up

Especially when you have a younger sister that plays with all of your 'old' toys that are now 'NEW' again way more fun to play with! These toys are obviously way too young for Ansley, and HELLO!!! too small!!! I don't know how I even get the tray on that seat when she wants to sit in it... though it's hilarious that she is stuck in there and can't get out without my help:)

It's interesting though to think about how at this age kids are dying to grow up and do things on their own, yet at the same time fight growing up by acting like babies. This morning she was playing with Shirley, laying on the floor like Shirley, asking to be held like Shirley. Then her 5 year old cousin comes over and she wants to be just like him, following him like a puppy dog, and copying his every move. In the end she became herself... playing with her dolls, eating with a fork, and watching an Elmo movie in Mommy's bed with her chocolate milk and cookies. (Yes normally it's Hannah Montana, but tonight Daddy found an Elmo movie and she got hooked and went to bed late!)

3 Months & 80 Degrees

Shirley is 3 months! (well 3 months and 1 week) I took some cute snap shots of her this afternoon before we get to busy to get her all important 3 month portraits. I like the way they turned out, though I'll need Brady to adjust them a little, but I know I'll HAVE TO WAIT FOREVER, hint, hint:)

Can you believe it snowed this weekend and then got up to 80 today!!! It was so nice!!! We finally took a walk, and the girls loved it. It's so nice to have it finally warm up. Ansley is anxious to go out every possible minute she can, it's definitely been too long for her to be couped up, especially w/o leaving much cuz of a new baby! And then I took her to St. George and teased her with warm weather there... man I'm a mean lady! This week though Shirley has started to take to basking in the sun:) She's had a couple of fussy moments as they both battled a cold this weekend, but when I took her outside she cheered right up. Today on her walk, she was so tired but couldn't go to sleep cuz she was so happy to be outside!

A Sunny Weekend

We decided to get out of the icky air of the Salt Lake Valley and head for Sunny St. George! It's still cold down here for my blood, but in the sun it feels great, and you can breath outside! Even though when I come down here I still have to work a little, it's nice to just get out of the same old funk! It's been relaxing and fun for me and the girls. However Ansley has been asking to go home, I think she misses her Daddy and her bed, so I guess it's time to start packing up and make the short adventure back.


How fun is it to have a daughter like yourself? Hopefully she only picks up my good qualities. This particular quality Shirley picked up Brady hates because almost every picture we have of us on vacation I'm wearing my sunglasses. I can't help it though, the sun is bright! Shirley must think so too because we were outside playing and she was crying until I put on her sunglasses to help with the glare of the sun. Look how happy she became! You would think most 2 month old babies would scream when you try to put on sunglasses, she loved it! Almost to a giggling state! I also noticed since we've been down here that she is growing into my smile, the skinny upper, and fat lower lip. I always joked that I got my mom's upper lip and my dad's lower... she got the same. We pulled out some of my mom's baby pictures the other day and Shirley looks just like her, everyone always says that I looked just like my mom too. It's hard to tell at this age, with our age difference, but it pictures it's what everyone says.


So Ansley might not look like me, or anyone in my family, but she had definitely picked up parts of her personality from me. It's fun to see her exasperated, cuz when she is she acts just like how I act when I am. She likes to wear her sunglasses all the time too, and has enjoyed learning how to put them on top of her head like I do. And she loves to craft with me! This weekend we bought some stickers and glitter glue and she went to town. I got this great pic on my phone of her totally concentrating on the squeezing the glue bottle wearing nothing but a diaper, totally classic!

Shirley's Blessing

What a wonderful day! The week leading up was quite fun for me. The week before was Ansley's Birthday and her Big Birthday party, so this week we got to focus on Shirley and her life. Can you believe 2 months has already passed?!? I can't she has grown up so fast, she is such a beautiful girl, and still so happy. Each day my love for her grows more and more! The priesthood ordinance of giving a baby a name & a blessing is one of my favorites. Something so special, sacred, and individual. Leading up to the blessing Brady is always nervous, not nervous for speaking in front of everyone, but nervous to know what Heavenly Father wants him to bless his daughter with. He did such a great job! The blessings he bestowed upon her are priceless! And giving her a name... the name of my Grandma Shirley whom I love so dear, and Brady's Grandpa Winter who holds a special place in his heart. We hope that she takes all of their wonderful qualities and weaves them into her own individual personality. I made Shirley her own blessing dress, just like I did for Ansley, so that she can have her own heirloom to pass on to her own daughters. I LOVE Shirley's dress!!! I added a touch of pink and it made it perfect! We had so many friends and family there to share in our joyous occasion, and we are so grateful for each and every one of them in our lives. I was hoping to get her pictures this week, but Brady caught the swine flu!!!

Ansley Turns 2

So in just a few short hours Ansley officially turns 2! The past week it has been quite obvious... 'I do it on my own!' This statement has been made off and on the past few months, but it became her slogan this past week. In most ways it has been a blessing so far. Since Shirley was born it has been a little hard to help her all the time, not really hard actually, just a little frustrating when she asks for help on the easy things she's had no problem doing for a while. Now though she likes doing most things on her own which is wonderful for me and Shirley, fun to watch, and at the same time a little scary as she tries the navigate the stairs without the railing. Last Sunday was when it became obvious she was turning two, this is the day she began getting into things without asking. Lotion is her all time favorite as she enjoys caking it in her hair:) Right now I'm enjoying her new found independence, I'm sure in the near future I will start to be aggitated. Hopefully though I'll be able to remind myself that it is just a stage and something she needs to go thru to gain her independence, build character, and learn.

Yesterday we had a Hannah Montana all Glitter Birthday Party! Some would say why do you go thru all the trouble for something they won't remember... EASY ANSWER! For myself!!! I had so much fun!!! I know Ansley did too, it was so enjoyable to see her play with all the glitter, dance to Hannah's music, dress up like hannah montana, blow out her candles, and thank her friends for all the wonderful gifts. All the mom's seamed to enjoy themselves too, and the girls will live their memory thru the awesome pictures Brady took. Check them out at his flickr site, link to the right:) When it was all over Ansley and I sat down on the couch and giggled. I asked her if she had fun, and there was an immediate 'YES!' and 'I love you Mom!' and even 'Thank You So Much!' 'I loved my Hannah Party Montana!

Movie Theatre

I love being a mom. I know, I know, I say that everyday, but it couldn't be more true after a day like today. The beginning of this week I came up with the idea of taking Ansley to the movies. She has become such a couch potato these past few weeks. I don't blame her either, being all couped up because of keeping Shirley healthy, and of course that gross icky inversion air! Then with me working, what else is she to do. So her current favorites are Hannah Montana, Beauty & the Beast, the Grinch, Aladdin, Mary Poppins, Stick It, Tinker Bell, Tinker Bell & the Lost Treasure, Finding Nemo, with the occasional Mulan, Little Mermaid, & Lion King thrown in:) We've tried a couple of others so that we have variety, but those are the ones she seems to stick to. Anyways she does really good at sitting thru movies, it's quite funny actually to see her playing, and then pause because one of her favorite parts is on. She'll sing and dance and talk back to the movies, I love it!

So today I had to go out for my follow up doctor appointment and thought it would be a good day to try Ansley's first time at the movie theatre. We woke up excited for our day. We went to the doctor's office and I could not believe how good both girls were. Shirley slept pleasantly and Ansley listened to everything I asked of her. She even took a minute to sit on the floor with one of the nurses outside of the office while I chatted with the doc. I couldn't believe she didn't scream for me when the door closed. We had quite a bit of time between the doctor and the movie, and we didn't have time for breakfast before we left, so I thought it would be fun to go to McDonald's. When she saw where we are going she got so excited and squealed that she got to play with the piano. How do little ones have such great memories? So we had breakfast and played for an hour. The movie was supposed to start at 11:50 so I allowed myself plenty of time to take care of both girls and get settled in. Ansley took her time walking to the movie theatre once we got out of the car... she was just happy to finally be outside after all this time, and since she'd never been, she didn't really know what I was saying when we were going to the movie theatre. When we got inside though she was mesmerized.

When was the last time you took in the whole movie theatre experience? I don't think you realize the tall ceilings, the flashing lights, the food stands, and the ticket counter, it's all just common place to us, but totally new to Ansley. Sadly though we realize we'd read the movie time wrong and so we would have to come back for the 1pm show. I was devastated, how could my well planned day go so awry! What was I going to do with an almost 2 year old and a 6 week old, postpartum told me just to cry, but lucky enough I get more sleep with Shirley and was able to keep my emotions in check.

I decided to just do a little bit of grocery shopping to kill the time, and you would of thought Ansley had won the lottery when I mentioned the idea to her. She loves grocery shopping, and what a treat since she hadn't been in so long. She got to ride in the car cart, carry her own basket of groceries, and buy a package of Tic Tacs. She was in heaven. Finally the hour was spent and we were back onto our movie adventure. She took even more time outside of the theatre this time as she found the water fountain and wanted to play. But I finally got her inside, and with the same in awe reaction we slowly made our way to the bathroom, the concession stand for popcorn and root beer, and eventually to our theatre.

As we made our way up the stairs to our seats she asked, "At the Jazz Game?" It made me realize that of course she should do good during the movie, she's been to a couple of Jazz Games and has been great! I got her the booster seat, handed her the popcorn and soda, and she was content. Of course this was just the beginning. She watched as all other movie goers arrived and found their seats. Didn't pay too much attention to the advertisements on the big screen. And just chatted away till all of a sudden the lights dim, and the screen turns bright, and a huge boom sounds out in the theatre. Ansley doesn't scare easily, but she certainly was scared, she had no idea what was going on, so she grabbed my hand and looked at me for reassurance. Once she realized everything was OK she was amazed. I cannot count the number of times I looked over and saw her happy with her jaw dropped so far her chin touched her chest:) Needless to say she loved it. She participated just like she does at home, laughing, screaming, talking back, and staring. How did I luck out to have such a good little girl? What other girl that is a week and a half away from turning two would sit through a movie like she did?

Now for Shirley... I can't say that I was worried, or nervous, cuz she is such a good baby, hardly ever crying, sleepy, and just content. But I didn't really know what to think because there was no way we would have ever attempted it with Ansley. We've had quite a few friends that said they had gone with their babies and it was a piece of cake. Sure enough with Shirley it was. I fed her, patted her, and held her, she was in heaven, mommy got to hold her the whole time:) What I loved though... since our movie time got changed it happened to be one of her awake times, and as I held her I could tell she was wondering what was going on. It was dark, but noisy, so I finally decided to turn her around so that she could see the movie, and she seemed to love it! Every time I looked down at her I could see her eyes moving around with the action on the screen.

As I said before, I LOVE BEING A MOM! I just hope that when we have more children that I take the time with them that I do my two girls, and relish in all of their firsts (and mine!)
BTW- we saw Disney's The Princess & The Frog.

Proof

I figure when they are older I might need proof that they liked to play together and that they shared their toys with each other. Ansley loves having her sister around. If I lay Shirley on the floor, or place her in her bouncer Ansley is immediately by her side. She wants to lay down with her, hug her, kiss her, put a mawkie (blankie) on her, giggle with her, and more when she's laying down. When she's in her bouncer she likes to share all of her toys, currently all the food from her kitchen gets piled up around her. Sometimes she tries to feed her the strawberries, other times she tries to entertain her by standing on her step stool and singing and dancing for her. Whatever it is that Ansley wants to do though Shirley accepts, most of the time happier than when Ansley is not around. Shirley could be fussy, or crying, but as soon as Ansley comes up to play she stops and just watches as Ansley plays. You'll see a smile creep up on her face as she arrives and contentment as she stays. These two love each other now, however everyone tells me to just wait. When they get older they'll fight all the time, not want to share a thing, and want to be away from each other as much as possible. I don't doubt the fighting and having a hard time sharing, but I hope that they always love each other and can be each others best friends. Here's to hoping, and here's to the proof in case I need to remind them:)

Similar Yet So Different!

Shirley is only a month old, yet at a month you can already tell so much...

Ansley - had to be held all the time and was (still is) not a good sleeper
Shirley - has to be held all the time when awake and is a great sleeper! (last night 7:30-2:30, then again today 10:30-3:30)

Ansley - acid reflux & milk aversion ---totally squirmy and unhappy
Shirley - acid reflux & milk aversion ---sucks but still happy and smiling

Ansley & Shirley - born looking exactly the same, a day later, looking nothing like sisters except the eye color and friar tuck hair (bald on top, long around the back & sides)

Ansley - fair sensitive skin
Shirley - olive soft skin

Ansley - chunker after 1 week
Shirley - maybe this week will be the last week of newborn size jammers

All this and more after only one month... It's fun seeing the similarities and differences, as they grow older I'm sure I'll see more. One similarity I hope for is that Shirley will pick up on Ansley's personality. I love her thousand expressions and boisterous, yet stranger shy personality. One difference I hope for is that Shirley is not the screamer Ansley was! Lucky for me the best similarity so far is that they both seem to love me beyond measure and that's more than any mom could really hope for!

Smiley Shirley

Some of you have heard me rave about Shirley and how she's been smiling for a little while already. I keep trying to get my favorite smile, but all you mom's know how hard that is. It's her really big, open mouth smile, with down turned cresent moon eyes. Truly adorable, and will be captured on digital film soon!!! In the mean time this smile that Brady was able to capture yesterday will have to do.

I've Been Waiting For This Day

Ansley always seems to have SO much energy! Well I guess that most kids her age do right? Anyways I love it when I see kids have so much fun playing that they get so tired and just crash right on the floor where they are playing...

Monday's are my major work all day, don't take a break day, so Ansley sadly has to play by herself all day. She does really good, not whining or crying, I'm a mom who can actually talk on the phone:) So today is just like any other Monday, she watches movies, plays with her new kitchen, plays with Shirley, her babies, Elmo, you name it, anything to keep herself entertained... So I'm sitting at the table working on my computer when all of a sudden I swear that I hear snoring! I'm not kidding!!! I look over and sure enough she had laid down on the blanket I leave out for Shirley and had totally passed out watching a movie! On a side note... the movie was The Grinch, one of her current favorites:) I couldn't believe it! Some days she doesn't got down for her nap till 3pm and it was only a little after noon. I debated whether I should pick her up and move her to her bed or just let her sleep there. Hmmm, an uncomfortable nap, and possibly short, or when I try to move her she wakes up and then doesn't take a nap at all. I opted for leave her, and it worked too! She slept for almost 2 hours, at one point she woke up, and you could tell she thought about getting back up and playing, but decided she was too tired and went back to sleep:)

So sadly I continued working and just smiled to myself, glad that at least I get to work at home so that I don't miss moments like this.

Jinx!

Shirley started off as such a sweet, content little angel. So different from Ansley! Ansley came home, had one great night to make us think that we were the luckiest parents in the world with such an easy baby, but night 2 told us differently... Shirley however went thru night 2, 3, 4... all the way to 2 weeks and we truly were thinking man are we lucky. But two weeks hit and Shirley started grunting and squirming and all the same things as Ansley. Of course we jinxed ourselves by saying constantly what a good baby Shirley was.

But wait! We had seen this before... the Hickups, the choking, coughing, gagging, squirming, and unhappy all day, of course she must have reflux like Ansley did. Off to the store so that we could do the simple Gavascon test again, sure enough, reflux was the problem, easy fix though, medicine... K Been there done that.

Hmmm still not totally happy... definitely a difference though. Then the start of the slimey stool followed by the tears from me. You know what this means don't you... That's right another huge Ice Cream Party 6 months from now!!! Ya, happy news for you, but for those of you not familiar with Ansley's first 6 months and the reason for our last ice cream party, I have to go off of dairy. The girls aren't allergic, or lactose intolerant, they just have a problem digesting it during their first 6 months. Some say why don't you just use formula then. Simple answer... I would have to use a special formula too ($$$) and I love breast feeding. I love my daughters more than anything in the world so it's totally worth it to simply go off of dairy for such a short time:)

A week later and now we are back to our happy content baby girl. She still has to deal with reflux, but it doesn't hurt anymore. So she's all smiles, and let me tell you she has the cutest, widest, grin any little baby could possibly have!

Where does the time go? I can't believe she's going to by 4 weeks old on Tuesday! Happy New Year!

No, No.... OK!

Ansley is like most kids her age, loves to say NO! Most of the time she doesn't even think before she says it. We often find her saying no, then thinking about the question we asked her and realizing that she actually wanted to say yes:)

The other night we were on our way home from seeing the Christmas Lights at Thanksgiving Point (totally not worth it btw!) and because of her constant No's, Daddy started asking her...
-Do you want Daddy to give you a Million Dollars?
NO!
-Do you want Daddy to throw you a Big Wedding?
NO!
-Do you want Daddy to buy you a Car?
OK!
...Wait the answer wasn't No! We started laughing so hard! Not only did she say OK, but she proceeded to be specific and tell us that she wanted a Green Truck, and she wanted it now! She had a fit that we weren't giving her the Green Truck then and there, she couldn't understand why Daddy would ask if he wasn't going to give it to her.

Now thinking about it later we wondered if it was really that she wanted a car or that Daddy used the word Buy, cuz she does know the meaning of the word buy. However we also contemplated this... we love how smart Ansley is (really for a 2 year old we can't believe what all she understands), but really how smart is she if she didn't realize that she could buy the Big Wedding & the 'Green Truck' with the Million Dollars?