Life is a Circus

We went to the circus last Saturday night! It was lots of fun, but I especially enjoyed just watching Arden more than anything. She was just fascinated the whole time. She waved her little arms and danced around on Preston's lap when the performers were dancing. She would clap after each act and say "More?" She also kept asking for the "Ewefanns!" and those were her favorite part. Here is a picture of them for you:

Preston liked the part where they had 7 motorcycles all going around inside a small metal ball at once (I thought for sure someone was going to die...sorry no pictures). I liked the acrobatic parts best. Daxton thought it was too loud and pretty much retreated into sleep as soon as it started. Good thing he was free.

Preston and I agreed that the funniest part of the circus was when they had a guy who climbed up to the "ceiling" (where they had all of their lights and stuff hanging...not the actual celing of the Energy Solutions Arena...but still pretty high up, at least 50 or 60 feet) and then turned upside down and "walked" along the ceiling by putting his feet a little rope loops they had strung out in a line for him. He was holding himself up using only the tops of his feet. That wasn't the funny part. The funny part is that while he was doing all of this, they had helpfully put a little tumbling mat on the ground far below him to "save" him if he fell. This mat must have been all of 2 inches thick. I am sorry, but what is the point? If that guy was going to fall, the little mat they had below him wasn't going to do anything except maybe keep a little bit of the mess he made when he hit from getting on the floor itself. I am soo glad he didn't fall! (I wonder if I could have got my money back?)

I hadn't been to the circus for years and years, and it is funny how your perspective changes as you get old. I remember when I was little how I used to beg and plead with my dad every time we went to the circus to buy me one of those silly flashlight things. I could never understand why he wouldn't get me one. I think he actually did break down once and buy some for us (thanks Dad!!) When I took Arden to the bathroom during intermission, she kept asking me to buy her one. No way was I going to spend $20 for a glorified flashlight!! :) What a mean mom I am. Anyway, here are the happy circus goers:

There was one part of the circus when they had 4 acts going on at once. They had an aerealist spinning around on a wheel in the air, a gymnast doing handstands on a ladder which got higher and higher, a couple of strong guys holding each other up with one finger and stuff like that, and a couple of contortionists doing things that made me say "ew." I remember thinking that it was silly to have them all go at once because I didn't know which one to pay attention to at what time. I guess that is like my life! Always too much to do, never sure which thing to pay attention to first. :)

On another note, Daxton went in for his 4-month old well-baby checkup yesterday. He is growing like crazy, and now weighs 17 pounds, 7 ounces (he is in the 87th percentile for weight) and he is 26 inches long (he is in the 84th percentile for height). He is doing really great and only cried a little for his immunization shots (I HATE those things). He is such a happy little guy, he has the cutest little giggle. We are going to start him on the solid foods this week, I can't believe he is so grown up already!!

Is it over?

Here are the two musketeers (sorry about the slobber)! I couldn't get both of them to smile at the same time, so that is why I had to put two pictures. Oh well. Maybe I could photoshop the two pictures together or something??

Anyhoo...Daxton is quickly catching up to Arden size-wise. She asked me if she could hold him the other day, and I had to ask her which part of him she wanted to hold, the top part, or the bottom part :)

Nothing too earth-shatteringly exciting has been going on for the past few days. We had a good but pretty quiet weekend last weekend. Preston and I went and saw "Ghost Town" on Friday night (it was cute!). Then, I got to have some girl time with a baby shower for my friend Nicole on Saturday afternoon and then "girls nite" with my sisters on Saturday night. We shopped for shoes and clothes and ate at Thaifoon (firecracker chicken and drunken shrimp...yummy!) and it was sooo nice to get out and go shopping without wondering under which clothing rack Arden was hiding under or watching Preston roll his eyes when I ask him to hold my purse while I try something on :) Thanks for watching the kids, Preston!!

Anyway, we are still fighting the binkie wars. Arden has stopped asking for the binkie, and is actually pretty proud that she is a big girl and doesn't use it anymore. She is sleeping like a champ at night, but sometimes naps are just hard. She is doing better, but on some days she just can't seem to figure out how to calm herself down enough to fall asleep. I guess it will take some more practice. So, my advice to you all is take the binkies away earlier (or just completely wuss out and wait until the kids give them up on their own...I am sure they won't take the binkies to college :)

The circus is in town (we are going on Saturday!) and some friends and I decided to take the little kiddies down to the Gateway mall for the 'Elephant Parade" yesterday. None of us had ever been to it, but I heard about it on the radio and it sounded like fun. So, a bunch of us went down, grabbed some happy meals and found a place to watch. Arden had been talking about the "Ewwefans" all morning. There were quite a few people waiting for the parade, and I even saw a news truck. "Wow, this is going to be good!" I thought to myself. Finally, we saw it coming! There were some clowns, some horses, some more clowns, some other performers (hard to tell what kind), some more clowns with lamas and goats, and then the elephants were last. They were all walking pretty fast so the parade itself took about 2 minutes to go by. :) I was kind of disappointed that it didn't last longer, and we all kind of looked at each other and said "Is it over?" It was. I asked Arden what she thought, and she looked up at me mournfully and said "No candy?" I guess the only other parade in her memory is the 4th of July parade where they threw tons of candy. Oh well. The kids did all got free bubbles from the circus people, so they ran around blowing bubbles while the moms chatted for a while longer, and it turned out to be a pretty fun day, even though the parade was by FAR the shortest one I have ever seen. Oh well...what do you want for free?

Daxton is officially 4 months old today! We have his doctors appointment next week, so I will give his exact measurements then, but my bathroom scale said he was 17 pounds last week, and I believe it. Here are his bear pictures for you:

Some of Daxton's favorite activities include:

• slobbering on himself, his mommy, and whatever else comes within his reach
  eating (obviously),
• staring at ceiling fans,
• watching Arden run around like a crazy person all day long,
• and having long, meaningful conversations with whoever will listen using only words like "ggggggeeee" and "aaaaoooooogggggg,"
• watching himself in the mirror, especially while taking baths. He just loooves watching that other baby in the mirror getting all clean.

Here are a couple more pictures of my big guy (Sorry, Dax, I couldn't resist)

Binkie Blues

So, Preston and I have been putting off taking away Arden's binkie for toooo long. We have been meaning to do it for months now, but just never have done it. The first (and probably most important) reason we have been stalling was FEAR. Yes, we are afraid to take a 2-year old's binkie away. I have been totally dreading it, because if you know Arden, you know that naptime and bedtime are the only two times of day when she is quiet and still, and those are very special times for me and my sanity! If I lose out on much naptime or bedtime, losing my mind is not far behind :) I decided today that another, mostly subconscious reason I may have been reluctant to take away Arden's binkie is that the binkie is the very last babyish thing she has left.

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Whatever the reasons, we have been making up excuse after excuse to put it off. First, it was, "Let's wait until we get back from vacation, she will need the binkie on vacation so she can sleep in the hotel room," then it was "Let's wait until after she is used to Daxton being around," then it was "Let's wait until she is all potty trained because we don't want to throw too many things at her at once." Well, I can't think of any more excuses, so we have been just waiting for the right time (which could have gone on indefinitely).

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Anyhoodle...yesterday, Arden was putting up a little bit of a fight over taking her nap like she occasionally does. Preston, thinking he had come up with the best threat ever, said something to Arden like "You can either stay in your bed and take a nap, or you can get out of bed and throw your binkie in the garbage." Arden smiled and said "Binkie in garbige!!" jumped out of bed, ran down the stairs and threw her binkie away. Preston was stunned, and didn't quite know what to do. But, we thought we would just go for it and see what happened.

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Last night at bedtime, she whined for her binkie a little bit, but she pretty much went to sleep without it surprisingly quickly. "Wow," I thought to myself, "we should have just done this months ago, that was easy!" She slept through the night just fine too! This morning as soon as she woke up she whined for it for a few minutes, but I distracted her with breakfast and everything was good. Then, naptime rolled around. She asked for binkie a couple of times and I explained to her (for about the 72nd time) that she is a big girl now and needs to learn to go to sleep without a binkie. She smiled at me, nodded her head, and said "No binkie! I a big dirrooh (girl)!" I thought that we were home free! However, that is when the whining REALLY started. She never asked for her binkie after that, she just kind of whined wordlessly for the next, ohhh...hour and fifteen minutes. I tried extra rocking, extra lullabies, everything. She finally went to sleep with no binkie! Yaaaay! I was frazzled, but triumphant!

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My happiness was short-lived, because she woke up about 45 minutes later (she usually naps for 2 hours or so), and I heard her over the monitor making some sad smacking noises with her lips. Then, she started in on the wordless whining again. I tried for another 45 minutes or so to get her to go back to sleep and finally gave up and let her be awake.

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So, we are now on bedtime #2 non-binkie. We usually start putting her down around 8:30, and she is usually down for the night by 9. It is now 10:11 p.m., and I just put her back in bed for about the 7th time. She still isnt' asking for the binkie, but she is having a really hard time going to sleep, and I know she has to be exhausted. Aaaand, there she is coming down the stairs again. I guess I better go and be mean mommy now. Wish us luck! Does anyone have any brilliant ideas about this? Or at least an estimate of how long it will take until life gets back to normal?

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At least it gives me something to think about besides our 401(k)s evaporating...

Don't Spoil the Fun

My mom sent me an email with the title "Don't Spoil the Fun." It has a form with a bunch of questions to answer, and I am supposed to fill it out and pass it on. I would hate to spoil the fun, so I thought I would just post it on my blog. If you don't want to spoil the fun, fill it out and email it back to me or post it on your blog. Or don't, up to you.

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? No (see #46)
2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? What time is it? I cried at church today when my friend Char was talking about how much she misses her little Mason.
3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? No! I have terrible handwriting. Always have had.
4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? Turkey, I guess. I would rather have peanut butter and jelly!
5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS? Yes. Arden is 2 1/2 and Daxton is 3 months.
6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD THEY BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? Huh? Are you asking me if I would be my own friend? Of course, I am awesome.
7. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT? Noooooooooo, I never use sarcasm! :)
8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yup.
9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? Yes, I would love to. I have never done it but if someone is willing to pay for me I will do it in a heartbeat.
10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? I like Cracklin Oat Bran, it tastes like cookies.
11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? I don't own very many shoes with laces. But if they do have them....no. Not unless I can't get my feet out of them without untying them.
12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? Physically? Not really. But I can carry Arden for longer than Preston can.
13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM? Ben & Jerry's Phish Food.
14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? Their faces (are they smiling?)
15. RED OR PINK? Red.
16. WHAT IS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? My lack of self control. Oh, and my skin.
17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? My Grandpa. (and Holly and Sandy!)
18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU? Yes , if they want to (that is kind of a dumb question).
19. WHAT COLOR SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? No shoes, pink toenail polish.
20. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? About 30 peanut M&Ms. I got a HUGE bag of M&Ms at Costco to use for Arden's potty treats, but I think I have eaten most of the bag myself. Did I mention my lack of self control?
21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? My iPod on shuffle. Current song: "Always Where I Need To Be" by the Kooks.
22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Yellow?
23. FAVORITE SMELLS? Baby smell (right after a bath), brownies baking, lilacs.
24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? My dad I think.
25. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? Yes! My mommy rocks.
26. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH? Football, tennis, hockey, basketball. I love to go to baseball games, but don't really watch it on TV unless it is the playoffs.
27. HAIR COLOR? Brown.
28. EYE COLOR? Green.
29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? Yes.
30. FAVORITE FOOD? Seafood (not sushi). I pretty much will eat anything if it is cooked.
31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? Happy endings, but I like scary movies too unless there is a lot of blood and guts.
32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? I watched "A Hard Days Night" yesterday on TV. Those Beatles are funny! There aren't any movies in the theaters that look good to me right now, the last movie I saw in the theaters was Batman.
33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? Brown.
34. SUMMER OR WINTER? Summer! (no contest)
35. HUGS OR KISSES? Both!
36. FAVORITE DESSERT? Probably depends. In summertime I like ice cream, in wintertime I like creme brulee or anything warm and chocolate.
37. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Amanda?
38. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Everyone else?
39. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW? I just finished "Breaking Dawn" by Stephanie Meyer. I am a little slow getting it, but I saw it at Costco for like $12, so I grabbed it. I didn't like it as much as the other ones, was that just me?
40. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? I don't have one.
41. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON TV LAST NIGHT? I didn't watch TV last night. Me and Preston went out to dinner, and my parents watched the kids.
42. FAVORITE SOUND? Daxton or Arden giggling.
43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? Beatles (but I like the Stones too).
44. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME??? Europe. My in-laws are currently on a mission to New Delhi, India, and Preston and I are trying to figure out a way to get ourselves over there to pick them up. THAT would be far from home.
45. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? I can tread water while holding my hands above my head for two minutes.
46. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Rexburg, Idaho because my parents were on vacation in Island Park. (my mom nearly named my twin brother "Rex" and me "Ida" but thankfully she decided against it.
47. WHOSE ANSWERS ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING BACK? Everyones!

Sick Kids

I don't have very much exciting stuff to discuss this week. Arden got sick at the end of last week. She had a small fever and a runny nose and a cough, and of course, was incredibly grumpy and clingy. I felt so bad for my poor little girl, it is so hard when there isn't much you can do to help! We gave her medicine for her fever and set up the humidifier for her cough, and she got over the worst of it after a couple of days...which is right when Dax started up.

It was Daxton's first time being sick, and he had the same stuff as Arden. The first night he started feeling yucky, he just cried and cried, poor little guy! I could see on his face that he didn't know what exactly was going on, but he REALLY wasn't happy about it. He wouldn't hardly eat, he just wanted to whimper and cry. After the first night he did a lot better, and now both of them are almost back to normal. They both still cough a little and have runny noses, but no more fevers and no one is grumpy (well...no more than usual). Anyway, because of the colds running around we have been staying pretty close to home, there is not too much fun stuff to do with two sick kids, and I have been trying to shield everyone in the neighborhood from getting it too. Luckily, I haven't got sick yet (knock on wood), and Preston has been out of town so he is probably safe.

Today is 9/11 and I didn't even realize it until nearly noon. I kind of felt guilty for letting it nearly slip by without taking a few minutes to remember that day, and to think about all of the people who lost their lives, especially the people who gave their own lives trying to save the lives of others, both in the towers and in the skies above Pennsylvania. I can remember that day so clearly. I had just started working for PricewaterhouseCoopers, and I was in San Jose, California for a 2-week long training session. Since I was on West Coast time, I didn't even wake up and turn on the news until both planes had already crashed into the towers. I remember the confused, numb, disbelieving feelings I had as I stood frozen in front of the TV in my hotel room, watching the towers fall and wondering how it could really be happening. Where were you that day?

Anyway, I will leave on a happy note. Here is Dax, feeling better!

His eyelashes are finally starting to grow in. I was wondering if he would have blond eyelashes forever, but they are finally starting to get darker. He is such a beautiful, happy baby and I feel so blessed to be his mommy!

The Unofficial End of Summer

Labor Day weekend has come and gone, and it really does feel like fall now, even though summer technically lasts until September 20th or something. (I always feel that those solstice and equinox days are off somehow. Especially the winter one. When December 21 rolls around and it has been snowing for 2 months and I wake up in the morning and the news anchors cheerfully tell me it is the "First Day of Winter!" it always makes me feel like throwing something at the TV. Anyway....)

It seemed like this year Labor Day weekend came in like summer and went out like fall. On Saturday night we were swimming in our friends' pool and BBQing on their patio (thanks, Nicole and Nate!!) and by Monday morning it was in the 40's and raining so hard we had to cancel our planned trip to the zoo (Sorry, Tiffany and other Nate!). Instead of going to the real zoo, we ended up at the Kangaroo Zoo, which is pretty much a warehouse full of those big, inflatable slides and bouncy toys. Not as educational as the real zoo, but Arden LOVES it and at least we were warm and dry. Here is a picture of Arden riding a dinosaur (hey, you can't ride a dinosaur at the real zoo, right?) I know it is blurry, but nearly every picture of Arden is blurry because she is bouncing up and down non-stop.

Arden had a great time following her cousins around, especially Grace, who is almost 3. Arden would follow her up slides and then slide down the same way Grace did. Apparently, Grace lost her balance at one point and kind of trampled another little girl while trying to get back up. Arden carefully watched it all happen and then went over and stepped on the little girl too. Tiffany, Grace's mom, was watching and said that neither of them stepped on the other girl very hard, and everyone was fine. That's my girl. She is so funny, and makes me laugh with the funny things she says and does. Arden has got the potty-trained thing down pretty good during the day, but I still put her to bed wearing pull-ups because she doesn't always make it through the night dry. One evening I told her to go and put on her pull-ups, and this is what she did:

She ran down the hall to show me screeching "I PUTTEM ON MY HEAD! I FUNNY!" I guess next time I will have to be more specific about where on her body to put them.

We were at the store today trying to find her a couple of long sleeve shirts (I realized on Monday that she has very few left that fit her). She is quite the little shopper. She would look through the racks slowly and pull something out (it really didn't matter what) and say "This a cuuuute shirt!" or "I no wike this one." She was so serious about it, I couldn't help but laugh. She even was trying to pick things out for Daxton, she loves to try to help him. She has an opinion on everything, and it is subject to change at a moment's notice. One day she will eat 3 muffins for breakfast, and the next day she will take one bite and say, "I can't wike it" and refuse to eat it. I guess that is just part of being 2.

Daxton is growing up too fast. We all survived the big move into his own crib. He sailed through it no problem, and slept just as well in his own room as he did in ours. I had a little bit of a harder time, and ran down the hall to his room a few times that first night to check on him for no reason. He is getting sooo big. I weighed him a few days ago on my bathroom scale and he is over 16 pounds now. He is such a happy little guy, and he is still sleeping great, which makes me happy too! I wish that I could just keep him at this age for a few months. He is just so dang cute and so happy (and so immobile)! He can already nearly roll over so I am sure it won't be very much longer and he will be wreaking havoc all over the house.

Dax is becoming quite a talker, like his big sister. His favorite thing is just to sit and have a conversation with anyone who is in the mood to talk. He will listen intently to what you say, and then smile and babble back to you "Mmmmmaaaahhhhgooooo! Oooh!" as if he is really trying to answer your question, which I guess he probably is. I am trying my hardest to say "mama" to him about 1,000 times a day so that he will hopefully say "mama" before "dada." Arden said "dada" waaay before she said "mama," so I am determined to win this time :). I will let you know how it turns out.

Well, I am going to try and enjoy the last few weeks of official summerdom as best I can! I love to be able to sleep with the windows wide open and listen to the crickets all night. I love to come out of a store or a restaurant and have it be warmer outside than it was inside. I love to eat breakfast/lunch/dinner outside on our deck. I love to be able to go and get the mail barefoot (ok, I do that in the winter too, but it is much less pleasant). I think Arden is looking forward to winter though. Whenever I ask her in the morning if she had any dreams the night before, she always tells me "I dream a Santa Claus! Em-eee-ems! (M&Ms)" Last year Preston's dad dressed up like Santa and gave all the grandkids M&Ms...it must have made quite an impression on her.

Also, congrats to my little sister Val, who ran her first half-marathon last weekend (of course, it was the Disneyland half-marathon)!