{Gilroy Gardens Take II}

Ever since we went to Gilroy Gardens the first time, Evette had been frequently asking about going back because we didn't get to go on all the rides due to little Miss Miriam and her fever.

So this last weekend we decided to go back and finish what we had started! [we got a membership anyways soooooo no big deal!}

Evette loved it just as much, if not more, than the first time around!

And look who was happy as well as beautiful that day!

We also discovered the little water play area that they have there. Unfortunately we did not bring a swimsuit, fortunately we just took of her little leggings so they would stay dry and let her run around in her panties. Close enough to a swimsuit right? Then we rung out her shirt and she marched around the rest of the park commando. Awesome. Unfortunately we did not get any pictures of the water area because I was holding Miriam's face [she falls asleep pretty well if you cradle her face in your hands] while Sean was making sure that Evette didn't get lost or go down the massive water slide.

 Watching the trucks working on another ride! She was fascinated.

 

Afterwards we stopped for pizza in the little town of Gilroy.

It was a fun day!

{Evette Lately}

Can we talk about Evette, please? It's been a while since I've written an update on how she's doing... probably since her second birthday.

She goes to bed anytime from 7-8pm, depending on how tired she/we are :) and wakes up between 6-7am. We've tried pushing her bedtime back in hopes of getting her to sleep in more, but she still wakes up at the same time and just wakes up cranky - so early risers we are.  She still naps everyday (95% of the time...) for 1.5-3 hours. She is insistent upon wearing pajamas for nap time and taking her ponytails/hairclips/braids out. It's tiring. So every day I have to get her dressed and do her hair twice - anyone with a toddler knows that that is quite an ordeal. But she still naps, so no major complaining over here. She also tells us about her dreams - which every night/naptime involves dolphins. It's funny.

She loves to eat and sometimes even eats as much as I do. In the morning she gets up with Daddy before he goes to work and they eat breakfast together while I savor the last 20 minutes in my warm bed. After Sean leaves for work and I feed Miriam I go to eat breakfast and she usually asks for breakfast again. She can put away 2 eggs and a piece of toast and jam for breakfast like it's nothing and then ask for more. Some of her favorite foods are tacos, eggs, sushi, and yogurt. She's a champ and loves to try new foods as long as their not too spicy - although she has a pretty high tolerance for spiciness.

Her verbal skills are incredible. She forms very complex sentences yet expresses herself very well. Some words that she uses frequently that I think is amazing are: probably, instead, and though. Who even knows what the word "though" actually means? It's incredible. For instance, she says things like:
"Where my Georgie? (toy dog) He prob-bly lost..... prob-bly lost at park"
"That makes me sad, though....."
"I don't want carrots! I want apples instead!"
Lately she's been very good about talking about feelings. Hers and others. It is incredible to get this little glimpse into her mind and soul. Here's a few stories/conversations to give you an idea of her verbal/social awareness.
The other day we had to go to a party store to buy some little dinosaurs for her dinosaur day at school. They had ittybitty grocery carts at the store - just big enough to cram the Miriam-filled carseat in it and so Evette had to walk beside me. Before we went into the store we had a good chat about the fun things in the store, but that we weren't going to buy anything but the dinosaurs and that she had to be an extra good listener. As I was looking around for the dinosaurs, Evette would find something cool, pack of bubbles, sunglasses, any other number of cheap trinkets, and bring it to me to see. I would oo and aww over it and then ask her to go put it back and she was always very good to do so. Right as we were leaving she found a ball that she loved. She ran down the aisle to show it to me. This was our conversation:
"Wow! What a cool ball! It's so colorful! Can you go back down the aisle and put it away?"
*looks at me in disbelief*
"Can you please go put it back? It's time to go"
*turns around slowly, her head drops, and she slowly walks down the aisle and drops the ball in the basket. She turns around slowly. Looks at me, with watery eyes, and then runs back to hug me*
"That makes me sad, mom!"
"I know baby.....I'm sorry. But look - we're going to buy these dinosaurs and we're going to dig for them in the garden with your school friends. Ok? That'll be fun, right?"
"YES, MOM! LET'S DO IT!"
I was so impressed with her! Even though it broke her heart to put the ball back, she did it, and she talked about how it made her feel. So sweet - so sad - and so quick to turn around :)  I bought her some chapstick  at the checkout counter to tell her how proud I was of her and for what a good listener she was.

She also has an incredible memory. She'll tell us stories about things that happened MONTHS ago that we haven't brought up since. It's incredible.

A couple days ago I woke up from a very very horrible, scary, awful dream - so much so that for the next few days I was sick to my stomach about it. When Evette ran into our room to wake us up, I was so shaken and told Sean that I had a horrible dream. I was basically in shock and just sat in bed. Evette came up to me and said, "You had a bad dream, mom?" "Yes, I had a very bad dream...." ".....do you want some snuggles?" and she came up and snuggled with me in bed. What a sweetheart.

She also likes to make lists or schedule of things for us - wonder where she got that from *cough justlikemom cough*. For example, I'll say "no, you can't have a snack now, we're going to first go to the library, then have lunch, then it'll be naptime and AFTER your nap time you can have a snack." and she'll respond with, "Ok, mom, FIRST I have a snack, then library...and then snack....and then.....lunch time!" as she is holding up her fingers one at a time as she lists them off :)

She's very friendly and loves to play with other kids. Right now she is running around outside and playing with the "big kids" in our quad. She's the only girl to about 7 boys all over the age of 5. She can hold her own with them! They play swords, and chase, or they push her on her trike, or catch...whatever. She is good and tries to figure out the rules to the game and they are very patient and understanding with her. We've also made a couple other little friends in the area and through church and she loves playing with them!

Books. Books. Books. Books. Books. Her favorite thing ever. Books. We can sit and read for 2 hours straight and she'll be engaged the whole time. Asking questions, pointing out things in the pictures, filling in the blanks.... She has a large number of our books practically memorized. She loves to read. Loves it. We've recently stepped up our game on reading the scriptures and every night we read them together as a family. We started the Book of Mormon and we read a couple verses each night. Evette LOVES it. We say a phrase and then she repeats it. She's very good and I love hearing her say long words that are found in the scriptures. She likes to get the mini hymn book and pretends it's her scriptures. She sits down, opens it up, pulls out the ribbon marker and says "Ok....where are we....oh here! and it camepass....." Seriously adorable. She also has pulled out regular books during the day and says to me, "Ok mom, ready? Ok - say 'please help...'" and wants me to repeat what she says. She's awesome.

Selective hearing. Yes - at this age already. It's killing me. How is it possible that you can love someone so much and yet they can make you bang your head against a wall? We've tried so many things....any advice that has worked for you other parents we'd be glad to hear it.....and don't tell me just wait til she's 16 because we're not sure at this pace if we're going to make it that far :)

She is an artist in every sense of the word. She watercolors like a champ - one of our favorite activities. She is so meticulous and purposeful about every brushstroke. They don't look like anything in particular, but the process she takes to get there is awesome. I can see her progress and it is truly inspiring. She has a vision and she is true to it. I love her paintings. She loves markers....I don't - so those are a rarity. Any sort of crafty thing, she loves - beads, pompoms, scissors, glue, pipe cleaners.....you name it. She also loves music. She loves to sing, although she rarely does so when prompted, and knows the word [or sounds lol] to every Frozen song and a couple dozen other songs. She loves to play the piano and to turn anything into an instrument. We've recently made a guitar and drum and she loves to march around the house while singing.

This is a rock

 This is rain

  This is the world

 The earth - California is the blue part

Evette is the BEST big sister ever. The best. I dare you to find two sisters who are better friends than these two. Evette cannot wait for Miriam to wake up each morning, sometimes she helps with that and then they are both all smiles and giggles. Evette loves to sing her songs, read her books, give her toys, cover her in kisses, hold her hand, help give her baths, everything.... Nobody can make Miriam smile and giggle like Evette and nobody can make Evette smile and giggle like Miriam can. Sweetest sisters.

She's such a big girl and I love watching her grow! She teaches me so much about myself and the world around me. I am forever grateful and incredibly humbled and kinda scared to be her momma.

{Beach Visit}

On Wednesday it was a beautiful day - ideal, in fact. So my friend Lizeth and I took full advantage of that and went to Half Moon Beach for the morning with our babies.

I love the ocean ..... it makes my heart happy. I was so nice to spend time on the warm sand, listening to the waves, and watching our kids play nicely [usually :) ] together while we chatted.

Check out these cute babies in matching swim suits!!

Memes enjoyed the beach! Look at her rocking her little goldfish dress :)

Sweet sisters soaking up some sun

Lizeth and her pretty babies :)

Evette loved to roll around in the sand and make "sand angels" lol

We liked to go down to the water and splash in the waves - it was FREEZING!! but the kids enjoyed it!

We packed a few snacks for the kids to enjoy while we were there...

... but then this nice couple brought over half of a humongous pizza that they weren't going to take home with them and offered it to us! Bonus! It was a delicious chicken, clinatro, onion, something pizza. Amazing.

Miriam was happy watching everyone play

Headstands in the sand... I tell ya what - it was quite the adventure getting all the sand out of her hair and every crevice of her little body. I learned a good trick from some friends of mine, ya ready? Baby powder helps to get sand off of your skin! Once we got back to the car we stripped the kids down and rubbed them with baby powder and so much of it came off! It helped keep the car clean and the kids more comfortable on the drive back home.

   

We had an amazing time! Any other warm days we have this summer we'll spend at the beach again!

{ER visit}

So on the night of Sean's birthday celebration my calf started hurting - a lot. At first it just felt like a charlie horse but it didn't end up going away despite trying to stretch it out which got me worried. I have Factor V Leiden which means I'm more prone to blood clots - which is what I thought this could be. So I called our clinic to speak with the nurse on call and she spoke to the doctor on call and they agreed that I needed to come into the ER to have it looked at and possibly get an ultrasound on it.

Joy.

I was so nervous and scared! I felt like a ticking time bomb and that the blood clot would break loose at any second and go up to my brain and kill me. Yup - I automatically think of the worst possible scenarios. 

So we called up a friend of ours to come and stay at the house with the babies while Sean and I drove down to the ER.

Oh man - what a crazy place! I have never been to the hospital for myself.....as you probably remember, I'm one of those crazies that give birth in bathtubs and not in a hospital. I've only been in a hospital a few times that I can remember - visiting friends who have had babies, or about to go into surgery, and I'm sure as a kid I went when my siblings were born.... but that's about it. So it was a very new experience for me.

It was crazy. All sorts of crazy people with all sorts of crazy things going on - I don't mean to be not sensitive or rude, but I was completely taken aback by the whole thing. It was just a totally foreign thing to me.

After waiting for a while to be seen the nurse examined me and said, "Oh yeah, you're going to be here for a while! You'll probably need an ultrasound and the technician isn't here so they will probably need to call him in ...yada yada yada..." Awesome.

I went back and they gave me my gown and I got my own couple square feet of curtained off "privacy". Awesome.

More waiting for the doctor. He felt around my leg, asked me questions....basically said it didn't look like a clot or feel like a clot but because of my risk factors he wanted me to get my blood tested. Awesome.

I was getting worried about Miriam because that sweet baby cannot go more than 3 or 4 hours without eating....and she hadn't successfully taken a bottle... So we were debating about whether Sean so go home and bring her back so I could nurse her or what when we got a text for the nice lady at our house that said that Miriam drank the milk we left for her like a champ and went right back to bed! She said that if all kids were this easy she'd have a dozen more. HA! Awesome news! The little one can take a bottle and we CAN go on dates that last longer than 2.5 hours... huzzah!!!

At this point I wasn't scared any more and Sean and I were having a grand old time together! Just him and and me and nothing in particular to do! It was awesome - no sarcasm this time!

The guy came to draw my blood and he was HILARIOUS! I told him I would probably cry when we drew my blood because I always do that. 

He said, "ok, your husband will take you out for ice cream afterwards."

 "No, really.... I always cry... I would rather have a baby than have my blood drawn...and I've had two!" 

"Seriously! two!? two?!" 

"I know I know....."

"Well, good thing I'm a blood drawing Ninja"

"Really? A ninja?"

"Yup - got a certificate and everything!"

This conversation carried on for a bit while we was prepping me - LEAST painful blood drawing experience EVER! I seriously believe he was a ninja. I didn't feel ANYTHING! They usually are digging that needle around and cause all kinds of pain and bruising and my arm will ache for days. not cool. But this Ninja guy - awesome. As he left I told him that we'd pay him extra if he hurried along the process for us - he agreed :)

We decided to fall asleep until the test results came back which were predicted to take an hour and a half. Good news for us - only took 30-40 minutes - the ninja pulled through! Results came back negative! I was all good. It was nothing.

Not exactly how we wanted to spend our evening, but it was an adventure! The next morning my leg didn't hurt one bit and I was completely back to normal.

What a night!

{Happy Birthday, Sean!}

I decided that we would celebrate Sean's birthday a day early this year since I had an appointment the night of his actual birthday. Moving it up a day totally surprised him - which I don't get to do very often - so that was fun.

Evette and I worked on the Happy Birthday banner for him - we cut and painted the letters together. She loved working on that.

 

Here's Evette working on the card she made for Daddy. It said, "I love you...." and on the inside, "This much!" and we drew a little picture of her with really long arms and we traced her hands on the ends. We put Miriam in there, too :) She loved painting it for Daddy!

 Here's the old man! Isn't he good looking :) We didn't have any candles so we just used our Bath and Body Works Honeysuckle candle for him to blow out - HA!

I made a delicious Blackberry white chocolate cake roll - a fun new recipe that I will for sure be using again!

Evette was a fan!

Sean was a fan!

We had a fun little birthday celebration together as a family!

{Anniversary and Birthday}

5 years, baby! 5 years of marriage on April 30 - and it's been great. It's been quite the adventure - both got our undergrad degrees, traveled the world, had 2 beautiful babies, have called 4 different places "home", we've covered a lot of ground in the last 5 years.... and it's been the best adventure of my life. I love this man with all my heart and soul - he makes me a better person.

5 year anniversary symbol is wood - 

We decided to keep things simple this year due to our major move across the country - but we both managed to get eachother something sweet - we love food, we love eachother, and we think right along the same lines. I gave Sean the one on the left and he gave me the one on the right.

The next day was my birthday. I turned the ripe old age of 24. I don't want to talk about it. I don't want to hear how old I am or what a baby I am. I'm planning on writing a book about age and getting older - it's something that I think about quite frequently. The end.

1 year ago on my birthday I found out I was pregnant with this little angel - best birthday present :)

Low-key for my birthday - Sean had to work a little later and with 2 babies and at this point we hadn't found any babysitters....we went to the local "heidi's pies" down the street for dinner. Quite appropriate, no? NO! it was gross. Like Denny's...but worse. oops. 

They did have a zillion different kinds of pie and the pie was decent, but never again... never again my friends.

  

We'll be going out soon [sans kids] to make up for it lol.

On Saturday we went to Gilroy Gardens as our "anniversary celebration". It's an amusement park designed for kids aged 3-8. Evette LOVED it!

Unforuately, not long after we got there Miriam started screaming and crying, and she never does that. She had a fever and it was horrible. At one point during the day I was on the phone with a nurse trying to figure out what to do with Miriam while running through the amusement park dragging Evette behind me trying to find a bathroom for her while leaving Sean with a screaming baby. It was not awesome.

We cut our trip short to get her some Tylenol and then she was much better.

Happy Anniversary and Birthday lol.