Scary Yellow Jackets!

Last night I took the girls on walk.  (I include Quique (the dog) in that statement).  We were attempting one of our normal routes which will sometimes include Q saying hi to one of her friends toward the end of our street where they have a rod iron fence surrounding their front yard with some ivy on the ground.  Q was waiting there for her friend Angel to come over when this swarm of about 20 or so yellow jackets comes up from the ground.  Tay was sitting on the front of the double stroller and I just started trying to push the stroller across the street and away as fast as possible and drag Q along with me.  As I am doing this, Tay is screaming, the yellow jackets are still swarming us now like chasing us.  It feels like some B list version of Hunger Games suburbia style.  I feel one sting and then another which means I know that Tay is screaming because she's been stung.  I pick up Tay who is in hysterics and we still have yellow jackets encircling us and I am trying to run away from them because I have no idea what to do.  I finally see one down her shirt and get that one away.  Q is acting weird so I know that she must have been stung a few times.  It was horrible!  And yet through all of the crazy hysterical screaming no one came out of their house, which was probably a good thing because I can only imagine how crazy I looked!

Luckily we weren't far from home so I pick up Tay in utter pain so I can only imagine how much she is hurting and grab the leash and the stroller and go home.  And yet this entire time Hannah hasn't made one peep or anything, so she probably just needed a bowl of popcorn to watch the show. We get home and Dustin makes it home 15 or 20 min later, thank goodness, because Hannah is still out in the stroller.  Taylor has at least 5 stings or so.  She's screaming and as a mom, it really is the worst feeling ever.  There is nothing worse than knowing that YOU (meaning me) put your child into harms way and then to watch them agonize and scream in pain and there is nothing you can do except wait it out.  And Tay is one that doesn't necessarily want to be held or cuddled while she is in pain so you just have to sit and watch; it is excruciatingly hard.  I will be totally honest and say there are times that Tay has put me through the ringer, but last night, I felt I had failed a little as a mom (yes I know there are worse things and you can't protect them from everything) and it hurt!  Motherhood stinks sometimes.  But when that door to her room opened this morning and those little footsteps came running into our room and she hopped into bed with us and was laughing about her bee stings, all of the hurt and anguish from the night before just melted away.  Gosh those little ones are resilient!

Newport

Well it's now been over a week since we've been back, but it was nice to get away for a week with Dustin's fam and apparently do the "Utah" thing and go to Southern Cali and really just relax.  (I say this because I think half the people at the resort were from UT). I think back to the last vacation we went on with Dustin's family to Hawaii when Tay was 16 months.  She was getting to that crazy age but it was my first real vacation with a child and I remember thinking that it really didn't feel like a vacation at all even though I was on this beautiful island and I was able to do fun things.  Even though there are two kids now and things are crazier, it's amazing how that mentality shifts because I was definitely able to relax and enjoy!

Taylor was in 7th heaven because although she didn't get to see Allie that much, she was hooked at the hip with Mia (two of her cousins who are the same age).  And although that usually equates to trouble, trust me you don't want to hear the stories, they were great and kept each other entertained.  I think in another life, Taylor would also love to have an older brother.  Since she can't have that and maybe never even a younger brother, she can harass and be harassed  by her cousins and that keeps her completely happy.

We started the first couple days off in Vegas.  I think Taylor's highlight was at the Silverado Casino when we went to see the Mermaid.  They have a huge aquarium with fish and large stingrays and then a Synchronized Swimmer (how fitting) that swims around in this really well done mermaid costume (I must say), it looked so real.  Taylor loved it.  She swims around and blows bubbles and kisses at the kids and Taylor just ate it up!  Who could have thought that I missed my calling Vegas.  Although I must say that I don't think my chest would've lived up to the right measurements to get the job...

And how can we not go to Southern California and not go to the happiest place on earth?  That would be unheard of!  We just went for one day so we made the most of it.  We got the girls up way early and Taylor was not happy about it.  In fact she was miserable.  Even after taking her on It's a Small World, she wasn't very happy.  But it's the power of a princess.  Amazing what the princesses can do.  She saw Aurora and we saw the first smile of the morning.  Then we waited in line to see a few more princesses.  After that, it was like happy Taylor had come alive.  Of course there were some other meltdowns during the day, but I'm telling you, watching her light up when she saw Ariel and then watching her during the parade, brought tears to my eyes.  The same for Hannah.  Hannah LOVED It's a Small World.  The first time she took it in, the second time, she wanted to stand up and was laughing and clapping.  Words can't express seeing delight like that in your children.  What a truly special and magical day!

Our fam with Grandma TT (Dustin's Mom)

The first smile of the day, although it was giddiness as she ran back to us

Pure joy

Tay and Allie on It's a Small World

Hannah taking in It's a Small World and Loving it!

Daddy and Tay Tay loving the Tea Cups

And of course we also made it to the beach a few times.  Tay is her mama's girl and it not a big lover of the cold water.  It's great to see the ocean in California, just not great to touch it!  So she stuck with the sand.  Hannah on the other hand could have cared less how cold it was and was walking with Daddy in the cold water no problem!

Tay's obsession with mermaids only continues...

Most of the cousins with Papa and Grandma TT

We also hit Balboa which had a great beach and some of the cutest shops, as well as an Angels game and lucky for Dustin and I they happened to be playing the Giants.  Unfortunately the Giants couldn't pull that one out, but at least we got to see them play this year!  It was a great trip, great to spend time with family, but most importantly Tay loved spending time with her cousins.  We were so glad to be able to do this!

Fam in Balboa

Most of the cousins watching cartoons one morning

Tay being Tay after high jacking Dad's hat and Mom's glasses

Bedtime is usually a fight every night.  We didn't have to put up as much of a fight this week.  Tay loved the Ariel doll her Papa got her from Disneyland.  It matched the Ariel jammies she was wearing.  One of my favorite things to do is watch my kids sleep, so sweet and so peaceful.

Happy Birthday to You!

In true Jamie style, I am "fashionably" late writing about my daughter's one year birthday.  Actually, those that know me know that there's really nothing fashionable about me, but it sounded good.  Anyway, we had two birthdays a couple weeks back.  And of course Daddy was out of town for both of them.  We started off with our sweetest dog ever Quique who turned 6.  Honestly she is one of the loves of my life.  I get so sad with each birthday because I know she's a dog, but I honestly cannot imagine my life without this pup.  She means so much to me!  So here is my darling Quique curled up on her favorite chair which is currently in storage because it was apparently detracting from selling our house.  She is curled up with a stuffed animal that Taylor had been playing with for the two or so hours before and now she finally got her turn.  Could she be any cuter?

Then comes to another love of my life.  Sweet, sweet Hannah.  My mom laughs at me because I think there were times when I was pregnant (my memory is fuzzy now) when I told her that I couldn't imagine loving another child as much as I love Taylor.  It was just over a year ago when I held that sweet precious baby in my arms and I think all of those fears were a distant memory within an instant.  She is so sweet and so precious and her smile will just light me up when I am really having a rough day.  And as much as I love my darling Taylor those rough days are a plenty.  It's just this beautiful sweet soul wrapped into this tiny body with the most beautiful blue eyes that just pierce right through you and let you know that it's all going to be okay.

Since Daddy was out of town, we decided to do a girl's night to dinner to a place the girl's love that Daddy doesn't which is Summerhay's Fish 'n Chips.  Tay and Hannah both love Halibut and Dustin is not a big fan of fried fish so it was perfect for Hannah's birthday dinner.

I almost got emotional at dinner because everyone was behaving and we were having so much fun.  We missed having Dustin, but it was a nice evening to just bond with my girls.

And even when Taylor and I were both finished eating, Hannah wasn't.  I tell Dustin that Hannah is definitely a mixture of our gene pools because the girl LOVES food and would seriously just keep on eating all day.  She's not loving fruit for the last couple of days so I think it's a phase, but besides that I really haven't found something that she doesn't like.  She out-eats Tay all of the time.  And even Tay is a pretty good eater depending on the day.

Once Daddy was back in town, we did a little birthday dinner at Grandma TT and Papa's house.  Since it was Cinco de Mayo, we did a little Mexican Feast Cafe Rio style.  I also made these cute double decker Taco Cupcakes that Liz sent me the idea for.  They were so cute and a perfect addition.  Of course I completely forgot to take a picture of the food!  But here's the cake and Hannah with her Grandma TT.

Here she is enjoying her cake wearing the same birthday crown Tay wore on her first birthday.

Here's Tay on her 1st B'day.  Which is funny because I swear Hannah eats more than Tay did...

I had to sneak a pic with my messy face little girl.

Hannah really is such a happy girl.  She is not your normal little girl.  She doesn't crawl and at the rate she's going, she probably won't walk until she's 18 months old, but she's completely content.  She just scoots around on her behind and she's actually become quite quick.  She is enamored with her sister and it's like she wants to be just like her.  Hopefully she won't inherit all of her personality traits. :)  But I must say that I couldn't ask for a better big sister for Hannah.  Taylor loves that girl so much and just wants to play with her all day.  I know that we will have our rough days in the future (I have a sister

She has become quite the daddy's girl and will just squeeze him and give him the biggest hugs.  When you ask for a kiss, you will get a nice open mouth, wet one right on the lips.  In the last week she has become obsessed with dolls and the maternal, nurturing instincts have kicked in.  And yet last night when Tay was trying to take her sippy cup, one of her blood curdling screams came out as she for all purposes said "No Way, Jose".  So there may in fact be some feistiness in this one too.  I was giving her a bath last week and then holding her afterwards just squeezing her, never wanting her to grow up.  I just love her so much right now and think she's just about as perfect as you can get or maybe I just know what's in store in the months ahead and I just want to keep her at this age forever.  Happy Birthday, Hannah!  To our second little miracle that we love more than she will ever know!

Easter

I love Easter! Especially when the weather is as beautiful as it was last weekend. It makes me feel like I'm home in Cali. It's the beginning of Spring which is just the feeling of new beginnings everywhere and of course the end of winter, which is my very favorite. And then most importantly the religious aspect, but I won't go into that here. Anyway, I just love love love Easter and this time of year!

This year Taylor was so excited about getting an Easter dress. I'm carrying on the tradition of my parents and getting the girls a new Easter dress every year. For some reason, she was set on a blue Easter dress until we found her pink one. Once we found hers, we needed to get one for Hannah and she felt Hannah should have an orange one. Not sure where she became so particular about the colors, but she seemed to be okay with Hannah's purple one.

Then Saturday night came the dying Easter eggs. Why do I like to do this again? I swear it just stressed me out? For some reason I bought one package that was a painting one, don't know what I was thinking with that, but it was disastrous and seriously just made me want to yell and scream (which I barely refrained myself from doing). Next year I'm just sticking with the ones that you drop in the dye and that's that. We're not getting fancy. The other kind was still getting all over our hands when Taylor was hunting for them the next morning. What was I thinking?

But Taylor LOVED Easter this year. The bad parent that I am used her dress and dying Easter eggs as a bargaining chip for the week because it worked. But she loved Easter. We talked to her about why we celebrate Easter and she really seemed to enjoy it all this year. It really is so much fun when you can truly start to enjoy the holidays with your kids and see them through the eyes of your kids.

Hannah's latest tricks:

She loves to dance every time we say "Hannah Banana"

She refuses to crawl. My dad calls her scooter because she scoots around on her behind. Is this stubborn child #2? I'll show videos of those another time...

Here are some pics that our darling neighbor, Hannah, who lives down the street took. She was so sweet to come over after church on Sunday to take these. Even more sweet to endure our family when Taylor informed her "My daddy has a p...s" you can fill in the blanks, I'm sure. I don't need the wrong hits on this blog, if you know what I mean. :)

Sisterly Love

The Fam, minus Quique, although she is walking around at our feet. :)

Gotta love those chapped lips she's sporting, along with some attitude...

My sweet baby girl

Bedtime

Bedtime can seriously be considered a joke at times in our house. I will admit sometimes things are as smooth as silk, some times things go okay and some times it's an absolute zoo like last night. It definitely doesn't help that the girls share a room, that takes a little more thought into the whole timing issue of things. I will say that as much as I can complain about it at times; Tay really is a good sport about the whole thing at 3 years old. She could be a terror as she is about some things, but when it comes to sharing a room with her sister she can handle it pretty darn good. Actually when it comes to virtually anything with her sister, she is pretty amazing. Everything else is a whole other story.

It's nice when Dustin is around (which really is most of the time) because he'll take one and I'll take the other. He tends to take Tay and I take Hannah. It's funny because I think we each think we drew the better straw so it all works. It's usually Tay down first and then Hannah down second, but Tay isn't always asleep when Hannah comes in and sometimes Hannah still needs to be rocked to sleep because I can't allow Hannah to cry herself to sleep when Tay is in there so in the last few weeks, Taylor has now insisted on being rocked after I put Hannah down. There are some nights when I curse it, but I do love snuggling with her and whispering sweet nothings in her ear. I thing I may break down and cry when she tells me she's a big girl and doesn't want to be rocked any more so I probably shouldn't ever curse those nights when I'm "not in the mood".

Here's a picture of her after she insisted on dressing herself:

There was another incident a few weeks back when Tay just couldn't calm herself down. Hannah had been down for about an hour our two and Tay had been coming out of her room constantly and we had kept putting her back down. Then it had been a little while and I thought that Tay was finally down until I heard Hannah crying and in the back of my head I knew what had happened, but my eyes had to see it to believe it. Tay had pulled one of her favorite daily activities, crawling into Hannah's crib! I was furious and explained to her how dangerous it was to do that at night. I honestly don't know how long she had been in there!

Then there was last night. Another night when Tay is running over the whole house with Dustin trailing behind. First reading with her, dancing with her, doing anything, but one of those nights when she has no desire to go to bed. It was a day I had had my fill of her and so when I put Hannah down and then she woke up crying and Tay wouldn't go down, then that was just it, I was done. So after multiple attempts of putting both Hannah and Tay down, I just put each of them in their beds/crib and shut the door. At first there was silence which made me know there was something up. Then there was laughing and talking back and forth. As mad as I was I couldn't help but laugh, but I just let it go and eventually, the two of them talked themselves to sleep. Dustin did go back and check to make sure Tay wasn't in the crib. It was a lot cuter thinking back on it today then it was last night.

And then there was last week. One of our favorite babysitters Annie was watching the girls while Dustin and I went to a dinner for Dustin's work. Annie apparently does a much better job putting the girls down than I do, because she never seems to have any problems. Anyway, Annie was asking if she could sing Taylor a song. Taylor's reply was "No, I sing you a song". Annie was so smart to record it and this was the song that she sang.

Memo (New)

Dustin has ingrained the Utah fight song into his daughter's brain so apparently when she doesn't know how to end a song, she'll just go with what she knows and end it like the Utah fight song, hence the "Go Utes" at the end.

I haven't forgotten about my other daughter, Hannah. She is 10 months and still refuses to crawl. She was up on her knees a couple of months ago and now won't even do that. She kind of just scoots around on her bottom if you even call it that. She is absolutely adorable and the sweetest thing and the best baby! Except for the fact she is not a good napper, but there are worse things. She is already a daddy's girl! She lights up when he walks in the room or when she sees him in the morning. I swear she is saying Dada to him, but nothing that even remotely sounds like Mama. Welcome to the world of motherhood of two girls!