Cinderella Emilia

We got tickets to go see Disney on Ice a while back. We were able to take Vivian. Both girls really enjoyed it, I think. It was too dark to take any photos with my phone. Afterwards, there was a booth where they would take your picture with a plastic Ariel statue. I didn't want to pay the $15 for a crappy photo, so I promised to take her picture as a princess the next day. Here's how they turned out:

Naked babies

I love my naked babies. They are so perfect and wonderful and funny.

Mira has the littlest bum I've ever seen.  I can't get over it. hee hee

She has a birthmark on her shoulder that looks like a bruise and another one on the back of her left leg that looks more like a normal brown birthmark.

Emilia relaxing in the tub.

Fun hair.

Pretty sure...

...there's not much cuter than this. anywhere. on the planet.

I ate pie!

I realized just before Thanksgiving that I hadn't really updated everyone on the most life-changing thing that has happened lately.  Most of you know that I had been breastfeeding Mira and eating a fairly drastic diet because of her reactions to every formula out there AND the things I was eating.  I had been avoiding milk, soy, wheat, and eggs for about 5 months.  And if that had been the only issue, I think I could have gotten through her first year on my crazy diet without much issue.  HOWEVER.  Mira refused to eat solids--anything and everything we tried, she either gagged on so badly she would throw up everything in her stomach, or she would take one bite and stubbornly refuse to open her mouth again.  I also was getting no sleep.  Mira woke up every three hours day or night to eat.  Try not sleeping for more than 4 hours at a time EVER for 7+ months.  It takes it's toll, believe me.  Also, I was in a lot of pain because Mira was nursing so badly.  She would latch on and pull her head back with all her might, pop on and off over and over, try to roll over while still latched, etc.  And she wasn't even eating everything I was producing because I was getting engorged. AND when I took her to her 6 month check-up, I found out she was dropping in the weight charts, while growing in the height charts.  For those of you who don't speak "baby," that's bad.  Kids should remain fairly constant in their percentages, so as they grow, the follow a curve.  Mira wasn't doing that.

I thought I was going to have a mental breakdown.

Come to find out, most of those things were related.  To stave off going crazy, I decided to take Mira to a new doctor.  She was being seen by our family doctor, but I didn't feel like we were anything more than a number to slap a bandaid on there.  So I found a recommended pediatrician and took her in.  I told them up front that I didn't care if anything changed necessarily, as long as they listened to the problems I was having and told me I was doing what I was supposed to.  To my great joy, they did listen, and they helped make things better! To condense a long visit, I'll just say that they ended up suggesting trying to give her goats milk with vitamin supplements.  I didn't think it would work because of her reaction to cow's milk and an attempt by me to eat mozzerella goat cheese that ended in a rash for her.  But to my surprise, after a few days of giving her a few feedings of goat milk--no rash, no fussiness, no throwing up.  So I took the plunge and moved her over completely the Thursday before Thanksgiving.

Life is so much more manageable now!

I don't have to cook from scratch EVERY meal we eat (I still make most meals at home, but we can have a frozen pizza once a month, and I can use canned cream of chicken soup if I want to, instead of having to make it from scratch).  Mira is happier because she's not hungry all the time.  She immediately started putting on weight--I could tell she was chubbier within a week! She started SLEEPING better! For the first time since she was born, she has slept for more than 4 hours at a time (some nights even 7 hours)!

I feel like a new person!

She is still rather picky when it comes to solids, and I still am hoping for longer and longer sleep times, but all in all, I feel blessed that things are improving. (And that I got to eat pie at Thanksgiving!) Thanks to everyone who has loved and supported me in so many ways with this challenge.  I love you all.

sleep

When Mira gets over tired, the only way to get her to go to sleep is to lay down next to her.  Whenever Steve does this, this is the result.  It's just too cute for words.

Visiting the Nelsons

The first weekend in November we went to Colorado with Steve's parents to visit his sister, Nicole and her family. Their newest daughter, Kate, was being blessed, so we joined them for the occasion. I enjoyed the rather short 3 1/2 hour drive. The girls did well, though we probably had to stop more than Nick and Wilda had anticipated for dirty diapers, bathroom breaks, and food/nursing stops. We arrived Friday evening and relaxed, had a tasty dinner, and let the girls play. Then Saturday, we had a gourmet brunch of Creme Brulee French Toast (except me and the girls who had wheat-free waffles) before heading out for bowling and dinner out.

Baby Kate sleeping through all the noise.

It was Emilia's first time bowling.  With the bumpers and the ramp, she bowled better than everyone but Tristan and Dad.  I'm not sure she thought much of it though.  She seemed rather bored the whole time.

Bubby and Meg were troopers.  They were both tired by the end of our second game.

When we got home the girls played again until bed time and then the adults had some laughs watching Kid History on YouTube.  Sunday morning was the time change, so we were all up early with the kids.  We were ready for 9am church in plenty of time, which is nothing short of a miracle for my family.  After church I got a picture of all the girls on the couch together.  Meg was excited to be able to hold Mira. :)  We had pork tenderloin in peach salsa for lunch (which was delicious, by the way), and then packed up and headed home.  Thanks for a fun weekend, Nelsons!

the pumpkin patch and my cannibalistic pumpkin

Can you believe it's the 21st of November and I still don't have all my Halloween stuff posted yet? I'm so behind!

Before Halloween, I took Emilia, Vivian, and Mira to the Vinyard Greenhouse where they have a kid's cornmaze, tons of pumpkins, and other fun things for the young'uns to do. It was great to have Vivian along because she's a lot more outgoing than Emilia. She forged ahead and Emilia excitedly followed on a lot of these things.

Of course none of them wanted to walk, so Emilia and Vivian squished into the bigger seat on our double stroller.

Love these cuties!

Best friends holding hands through the maze. They were looking for the secret room with the Magic Beans.  It was really just a hard-to-find dead-end with a can of dried pinto beans in it.  Each kid could take one of the beans and bring it to the front desk to trade for a tootsie-roll.  That's kind of magic, I think.

They had a play area with this huge jack-o-lantern, a caterpillar you could crawl through, a castle with funny mirrors inside, and the straw house of the three little pigs.  The girls hung out here for a while and then on to...

 

the bounce houses!  Emilia was SO not going down this slide until Vivian did it with her.  Then they both went down like 10 more times.

That night, there was a "chili cook-off" and trick-or-treating as a ward (church) activity.  I made chili to put in the contest.  It was a little disappointing that it wasn't actually a contest, though.  No taste-testers! There were about 20 kinds of chili to try, though, so I guess that's something.  The girls were exhausted by the time the party was over, so I brought them home and they went to sleep almost immediately.  Alison came over as I was putting the girls to bed and we carved pumpkins while watching some episodes of Bones season 5.  Not my favorite season, by the way, even though it's probably my favorite show on TV.

I don't know if you can tell, but Alison did an amazing job of carving a Ninja Turtle into her pumpkin.

I decided to make mine a cannibalistic pumpkin.  Tee-hee-hee.  He's so fun!

I think that's it for my Halloween posts, so you all can heave a sigh of relief along with me. Ready, go! :0)

Steve's birthday

Steve turned 36 this year! He got to have two celebrations.  One with his mom (Nick was in Spain for work) where he got German chocolate cake.  His mom put all 36 candles on his cake.  Look at that blaze!

A happy smile from the Bubby Sue.

Steve blowing out his candles (he missed one) and Emilia waiting patiently for her cake and ice cream.  I don't know what it is about Grandmas but Emilia will eat her vegetables every time we're there so she can have dessert.

He also got to celebrate with Alison (whose birthday is the day before Steve's) at my parents' house.  He got brownies and ice cream there (and only 1 candle). 

Dylan and Mira playing on the floor at the party.

It was a pretty unexciting birthday, except for all the food, but I think he enjoyed all the presents he got.  I thought it was funny--he got a birthday card from his sister and family who live in Colorado (that's you, Strattons) where his nephew, Brant, wrote, "Happy Birthday, old man!" Lol.  Kids are so great.

Thanksgiving Point Barnyard Boo

The week before Halloween, Steve and I took Emilia and Mira to Thanksgiving Point's Barnyard Boo. They have all the regular petting-zoo-type animals, a few of which you can feed, but they also have Halloween themed games for the little ones spaced about the lawn area. The kids get a piece of candy for participating in any of the games, they can have their face painted and go on a wagon ride, etc. We went last year, too and it was even more fun this year because Emilia had a better idea of what was going on and more coordination to play the games. We are talking about Emilia here, so not a TON of coordination. But more than last year. :D

My first look at Mira after she woke up from the car ride. This girl's expressions are priceless. lol.

So are her smiles.

Steve facing off with the mean he-goat (the one that scares all the little goats into running away so he can have all the food--you know which one I mean).

Me and the cutest baby around.

Steve helping Emilia play Halloween croquet.  She loves things like this.  Before she loses interest, she's actually a pretty good little mini-golfer.

The whole fam waiting for the wagon ride to start.

Emilia still talks about how she got to have a kitty on her face.  She was pretty excited about it. I love that she can find joy in so many small things.

The face painting one and this one remind me of the movie Sabrina, when Linus says to his mother, "It's alright mother, I got my face painted and got my pony ride."

I decided this year that Halloween is a holiday for kids. It was fun when I was a child and it's fun again now that I have kids. Yea for candy smiles and feeling like a princess.

Steampunk

Sometime in the last two months (I'm too lazy to figure out exactly when it was), a photography group that I'm in had a steampunk photo shoot. (If you don't know what steampunk is, google "steampunk costumes" and you'll get a pretty good idea.) I got all gung-ho about it and thought we would use the costumes for Halloween. But Steve was far less gung-ho than I thought he would be, and I was a lot more busy, so we didn't make much of our costumes. Nor did I take many pictures. But I thought you might enjoy see the ones we did take. Alison did my hair and make-up, if anyone is wondering who did such a great job. :D

Pre-trick-or-treating party

Every year one of the ladies in the ward does a pre-trick-or-treating Halloween party. She invites a TON of people and has everyone bring something fun. The kids have pizza and play games. It's a fun way to start the festivities.

Here are Mira and Emilia in their costumes.  Mira is a mouse.  Emilia was her favorite princess, Aurora.

 It is nearly impossible to get these two to look at the camera at the same time!

The kids' tables.

Dancing to Halloween music.  Her friend Vivian was Belle--she's in the yellow dress, of course.

All the kiddos.  So many! I don't think I could handle a party for this many chillins!

After dancing, Aryn (the pointing one) had three stations in the back yard.  1-- throwing wet sponges at a monster poster...

2--Throwing bean bags at monster cans...

and 3--a dress-the-vampire sticker sheet.

Afterward, I took Mira home and Steve took Vivian and Emilia around the neighborhood trick-or-treating.  Mira was exhausted and went to sleep immediately.  Emilia and Vivian had a blast, mostly goofing off with some trick-or-treating in between.  Steve was out with them for over an hour and they came back with only about 20 - 30 pieces of candy.  Silly girls, everyone knows candy is the most important thing ever, right? :)