Troy and Nancee

Daddy-Daughters Date

2011-12-23T19:50:00.003-07:00

I took the girls out for a few hours to spend some Daddy time with them and give Nancee some sanity. I thought some of the hilarity that spewed forth from Erica tonight was definitely blog-worthy, so here it is.

We started by going to Pei-Wei, which is not on Nancee's favorites list, but it is on mine. Since I had a coupon and no Nancee with me, dinner was a no-brainer. After dinner, (which consisted primarily of fortune cookies for Sadie,) we went up to the north side of town to the Winterhaven Festival of Lights. This decision was last-minute, since Erica actually slept on the drive to Pei-Wei (after vehemently fighting a nap a few hours before). This nap was the only way she could survive Winterhaven, and even then her survival turned out to be questionable at best. She made it about half a block.

Luckily, what were the best two houses were in that half a block. Guess who's favorite this one was:

Erica could name every Disney Princess couple there. The picture's not great, but it's also not too bad considering I was holding a squirming 1-year-old at the time.

Then we came to this house. I love the programmed lights choreographed to music, but this one took it to the next level with a lit fountain too. Click here to see a video of it.

It's too hard to tell in the dark, but Sadie is dancing her head off. She wormed her way to the front of the crowd, cheering and clapping at the end of each song. Way fun. We had been at the festival of lights for all of 10 minutes, and Erica was already whining to go back. We did stop at the princess house again, at which point Erica proclaimed it to be better than the fountain house. I planned on taking a ton of pictures, but the picture you don't see is me with my arms full carrying both girls out of Winterhaven. Not enough arms for pictures.

Despite my efforts to get all her pee out in the restaurant, and despite the fact that I had been carrying her for a while, Erica said "all this walking is making my pee come. I have to RIGHT NOW!" I quickly walked to a Quik Mart. Think of whatever pops into your mind when you hear the words "gas station bathroom", then hit the 3rd world country bathroom button a couple times, and you have the bathroom that the 3 of us found ourselves in. It was more like a chemical storage cellar with a toilet. The linoleum was missing in most places, there were cans of oil and de-greaser on a precarious shelf which Sadie started to inch towards, and the room had about 3 square feet of floor space. Erica saw the bright side: "Wow! It smells good in here! and look! It has ducks! I like this bathroom!" I guess some of the heavy cleaners on the old shelf and the 40-year-old, peeling duck wallpaper had more value than meets the eye.

Then the conversation on the drive home:

Erica: "Daddy, can you talk to me about boys and girls? Please?"
Me: "Sure. What do you want to know?"
Erica: "What if you put the wrong stuff on a baby when it came out of your belly and you didn't know if it was a boy or a girl?"
Me (interpreting this as a question of controlling gender at birth): "Well, you were a girl spirit before you were born so you got a girl body, and I was a boy spirit before I was born so I got a boy body."
Erica: "How does the baby get in the mommy's tummy?"
Me (figuring I'm perfectly within my right to dodge this question for another few years): "Well, when a mom and dad are married and they are ready to have a baby, the baby grows in the mom's belly."
Erica "But how does it get in the mom's belly? Can you talk to me about it daddy? Please?" (That's a direct quote. It's like she KNEW I was hiding something.)
Me: "... ... (then repeated previous answer.)"
At that point I was saved by McDonalds: "Look! A play place!" Conversation diverted.

Then we talked at length about how she was scared to have a baby, and she's scared it will hurt. All things I want her to be deathly afraid of until she's 25. Then she cried a bit about how she missed being 3 years old. We talked about time, and how you can't speed it up or slow it down. Erica asked if time is a special machine. It's interesting seeing how her mind works. I also thought it was cool when we looked at some really tall trees with lights in them and she said "I wonder how they got the lights in those trees." She's a thinker.

Well, at least I thought it was a blog-worthy night. Thanks for reading, if YOU'VE survived this post with no nap.

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-12-04T09:57:00.003-07:00

This year we decided to stay warm for Thanksgiving and not leave Arizona. We did a trip to my brother's house in Surprise, Arizona. It was filled with lots of games, food and cousins playing.

We kept things simple and split the work in making the food. It turned out yummy and non-stressful.

Sadie slept through most of the dinner, which I didn't complain about. She, of course, wouldn't touch any of the delicious food and instead opted for canned, chicken noodle soup for dinner.

All the kids helped shuck the corn.

Lincoln is only 2 months younger, but he is much taller. These guys played awesome together.

Thanks to my sister-in-law, Eden, who organized and photographed the event. Otherwise, I would not have had any pictures to post.

Cute Logan!

Erica - a model in the making? I promise I didn't tell her to stand that way.

Top 10 Things...

2011-11-21T20:34:00.016-07:00

...I should blog more about, but probably won't:

10. In May we got rid of the green one (it took about 10 minutes on Craigslist) and bought the gray one. I LOVE IT!!

9. Videos, videos, videos. I have uploaded some videos on our YouTube site if you want to check them out - the most recent uploads include Halloween, Erica's cheer camp, a boating trip (Troy wakeboarding and Sadie tubing) and more of the girls' dancing.

8. Lake Roosevelt. In early October, our family took a boating trip north with some friends. We had a blast. You can see the link in #9 for some videos of Troy landing a backroll and 360.

7. I ran a 7k Breast Cancer Awareness Race. No pictures, but I averaged a 9:30 pace/mile. My best yet. I was so happy, and tired.

6. I've never been one to care too much about what I wear. I've (finally) been feeling a little frumpy lately, so I had an "intervention" from friends and we did a "What Not to Wear" experiment. We went through my closet and threw out half my clothes. Then, they took me on a shopping spree. Ideally, I would have before and after shots, but I must stay true to the title of this blog post.

5. One of my best friends since I was 13 years old came to visit. It was so great to see her again. She was playing in a National Tennis Tournament. Coincidentally, my sister-in-law was playing in the same tournament. So, my brother's family, my parents and my sister also came to town. It was a fun weekend. You can check out a better post about it here.

4. Halloween time consisted of multiple parties, which meant multiple costumes. Sadie also discovered the joys of trick-or-treating, one of which meant a fat lip if you ran too fast to the next house.

3. Lincoln and Logan's Lego Birthday Party. We drove to Phoenix the first weekend of November for my nephews' birthday party. My parents were there too. You can get better details/pictures and check out the awesome decorations here and here.

2. A Visit from Troy's Parents (O-ma and O-pa). They helped so much, especially when I had the flu. We miss them already - even Erica said so.

1. And, the answer to the question I've been mostly commonly asked this past 2 months ("How is it having Troy work from home?") - AWESOME! Check out his latest app Hungry Santa - and it is FREE.

What do I do in a bad economy? Quit my job.

2011-09-30T07:08:00.009-07:00

It's time for Troy to write his semi-annual blog post! And yes, I quit my job. My last day of stable paychecks is Thursday. And we couldn't be more excited!

I started making iPhone apps about 2 years ago for fun, and for a little extra cash. I quickly got hooked, and found myself coding apps during almost all of my spare time, and constantly thinking up future apps to develop. Now that my app development business is stable, I'm taking it full time. Needless to say, I can't wait to have a 30-foot commute from my bed, work on my own schedule, have complete control over my projects, and simply love what I do every day. Nancee can't wait for me to be the dad at home more so she can spend a bit more time on her legal practice.

We're both financially risk adverse people, but we've done our homework and we're in a good spot to go for it.

On a related note, my new app "Dino Digger" is now in the iTunes app store and the Android market! I've done a lot of beta testing with Erica and her friends, and the kids love it. Even Sadie likes it. The concept is simple: dig up dinosaur bones, build them into dinosaur skeletons that respond to touches and shakes, then bring them to life and interact with live, animated dinosaurs.

For iPhone / iPod / iPad:
DinoDigger

For Android:
DinoDigger

Here are some screenshots:

If any of you know kids with iPads (based on my family's experience, they always end up being used most by the kids), spread the word. It's now how I'm feeding my children!

Troy is older than 4

2011-09-22T21:50:00.005-07:00

Troy is also a September birthday. Again, my sister was on top of things and already did a blog post on his exact birthday.

Troy's favorite treat is chocolate chip cookies, so we ate those instead of a cake. I promise he got more than one.

As you get older, birthdays are not as exciting. He had to work and he asked for socks for his birthday - that is such a dad gift. He did get a day out boating with the boys.

We are blessed to have Troy in our lives. He is a wonderful husband and father. He is patient, talented, hard-working and funny. Happy Birthday!!

Erica is 4

2011-09-22T21:36:00.004-07:00

Erica turned 4 a couple of weeks ago. My sister managed to do a great blog post about her on her actual birthday. I am attempting to catch up.

We love having Erica - we have some of our greatest highs of parenting and, of course, some of our lows. Erica has really grown up into a little girl this past year. We are beyond the toddler stage and it is fantastic.

She is potty trained and is mostly dry every night. She speaks very well and is very inquisitive. She wants to know about everything, including things like death and cavities. She asks, "why" a million times a day. And "what if..." questions, for example, "what if you don't love me", "what if I don't get bigger", "what if (fill in the blank with the opposite of whatever I was just talking about)".

She goes to preschool three times a week and does one activity a week - either gymnastics or ballet. She LOVES both. We just finished up her ballet class and you can see videos of her recital here and here. We will start gymnastics again soon and she is very excited.

She is a great big sister to Sadie. She is very patient with her and they play well together. She is very tolerant of Sadie destroying a lot of her things. Sadie idolizes her.

When she is well-rested and in a good mood, Erica is so funny and a great kid. She listens and minds well. She is a fantastic artist, which she definitely inherited from her dad. She is a bit of a drama queen and very girly. I am a little worried about how that will play out when she is a teenager. She is a really great girl and comes with a lot of intensity.

We decided to throw her a real birthday party. She had about 15 friends over. She is a great friend to others. She is sensitive to their needs, she shares and apparently, according to her preschool teacher, she is popular at school. I guess there have been a few tears shed by other students if they can't sit by her.

Erica's party consisted of games (planned by Troy) - such as pin Pascal on Rapunzel's hand and throw water balloons at Erica's dad.

Then we let the kids decorate their own cupcakes. We had a rainbow selection of frosting, candies and a dog to clean up the mess. Thanks to my brother and wife who helped with the cupcakes.

After cupcakes, Erica opened presents with lots of little helpers. I think this was her favorite part.

When she opened our present, she said, "These are the biggest ballet shoes I've ever seen."

We let the kids wind down with the movie, Tangled. All in all, I think it was a successful party.

Seattle - September 2011

2011-09-22T20:38:00.002-07:00

At the beginning of September, we took a week long trip to Seattle. Troy's cousin was getting married and all of the family was going to be in town. We decided that the best time to travel is summer. We get away from the heat and our parents live in climates (Seattle and Pocatello) that are cold in the winter, but perfect in the summer.

First on the agenda was making sure Erica touched the "princess" dress.

The reception was at a waterfront property at sunset. It was beautiful!!

While in Seattle we we took a ferry to Blake Island. It was in the 70s and perfect. We hung out there all day playing on the beach, taking walks, eating and trying to sleep. We just enjoyed being with family. Erica especially loved playing with her cousins.

Another day was spent playing on the lake. Troy's parents resurrected an old boat and the boys attempted to wakeboard in the worst conditions I have ever seen. Picture Labor Day on Lake Washington. It was more like the ocean and the boat had as much power as a jet ski. It was still fun and the kids got a tube ride as well.

Troy's parents also set up a swimming pool in the backyard. Even Opa enjoyed playing in it.

We had a great time and it passed too quickly.

Monsoon Storms

2011-09-22T20:25:00.002-07:00

One of my most favorite things about living in Tucson are the crazy monsoon storms we get in the summer. It will be over 100 degrees and out of no where these dark clouds roll in. We get a huge downpour, with tons of lightening and thunder so loud it shakes the house. The storms are over pretty quickly and then the weather is usually a pleasant 80 degrees or so for the rest of the day.

Here are some pictures of us playing in the storms.

Sadie loves the thunder. Erica gets a little nervous, but has been surprisingly brave about it. A few weeks ago it hailed and we went out and ate the hail balls.

In case you were wondering, yes, Erica is wearing just underwear under that jacket.

Sadie 18 months

2011-09-22T19:53:00.004-07:00

Sadie turned 18 months at the end of August. She is such a joy in our lives. She is very happy and laid back. She loves to laugh and explore. She plays well with her sister (when her sister is in a good mood). She eats fairly well and she is finally sleeping through the night. She was having an awake time around 5am, but it is now about 6am, so we are keeping our fingers crossed it stays this way.

Stats:
Height - 31 inches (26%)
Weight - 21 lb 6 oz (10%)
Head - 47 cm (61%)

Sadie doesn't say too much. She signs about 15 words and says about 10 words (eat, shoes, ball, bubbles, bye bye, hi, etc.). She still can't identify mama, but she definitely knows Erica and Kayla. We are pretty sure she knows who dada is. Although when I asked her to point to dada on the plane, she pointed to a maintenance worker, so who knows.

Sadie is quickly earning the nickname, "Destroyer" in our household. Among her list of casualties are a Kindle holder, Erica's drapes, the CD player in the car, numerous walls and floors (she loves to color on everything), some of Erica's toys, books, etc.

It is interesting how different our girls are, yet they get along great. Erica was (and still is) a very needy child - she constantly needs attention, to be touching someone, to be talking to someone and to have someone help her. Sadie is an independent spirit. She could care less if I am in the room, she will go where ever and seems to figure things out on her own. It is a great relief to me to have a child like this.

Of course, there is always the flip side - anytime we are in public, Sadie is off running. Erica never left my side, so that is a new challenge. Also, Erica was much better about communicating at this age, which helped to avoid a lot of frustration. Sadie is not so great at communicating, so we are now entering the tantrum phase, where she falls to the floor in tears if I don't understand or let her have what she wants. At least she gets over it quickly.

Sadie also LOVES to climb. Currently, every chair in our house is laying on the floor to prevent ER trips for Sadie. She still manages to climb on couches, beds, boxes and anything else she can find.

Sadie loves to play in the backyard. One of her favorite things to do out there is eat dog food. I tried for awhile to stop her, but I have given up. Does anyone know if it is toxic? So far it actually seems to be helping with digestion.

Sadie has a great sense of humor and I look forward to her personality to develop. She idolizes her sister and follows her everywhere. She loves to play with the dog and loves to look at books, especially with pictures of animals.

We Love Visitors

2011-09-22T19:31:00.002-07:00

We have been so lucky to have both of Troy's sisters visit us this year. First we had Molly when her baby was just a few months old. Unfortunately, we don't have any pictures of this, but it was great to meet our newest niece.

Next we had Sonja come with her husband Jordan. Our kids were spoiled!! You can tell they had a fantastic time.

We miss them both, but were lucky enough to see them in Seattle this month. More on that coming.

Career Goals

2011-08-16T09:08:00.002-07:00

Apparently, Erica has lofty career aspirations. She informed me on the way to preschool this morning that she wants to be a "box writer." And what does a box writer do, you ask? Well, they write on boxes and send them to people, of course. At least we won't have to pay for college.

Idaho - July 2011

2011-08-09T21:32:00.008-07:00

I had the chance to go visit my parents (Tutus) the last 2 weeks of Idaho. I also got to see my only sister (who just happened to have picked the exact same color of toe nail polish I was wearing even though we were miles apart), 2 of my brothers (there are 4 more) and their families. It was non-stop fun, so be ready for picture overload.

We did lots of swimming and eating.

I ran a 5K with my brother (in crocs) and his 2 boys. They were quick.

We saw a 24th of July parade and gathered enough candy to give out at Halloween this year.

More swimming and playing with cousins.

We played at the gym.

We celebrated an army-themed un-birthday for everyone in the family.

We ate sucker the size of our heads.

We invaded Tutus bedroom when he was trying to nap.

We snuggled with Papa Tutu.

Aunt Natalee created the best scavenger hunt ever. The kids loved it!!

We played with Mama Tutu.

We ate.

I got to run in this beautiful scenery or just look out the window anytime I wanted to see it.

We played at Outer Limits - this great arcade/play area/mini-golf place.

I got to see a great friend from Ukraine who now lives in Idaho.

We got pedicures.

We did more swimming. In was hotter in Idaho, than in Arizona some days.

We took baths in Tutus' great bathtub.

And, not even pictured, we did fireworks, celebrated my dad's birthday (Papa Tutu), went to the zoo, did bonfires, drove a golf cart and 4-wheeler, played with dogs and cats, shot guns, went to a movie and flew kites. If you've made it this far, you can check out some videos of the trip here.

Cousins

2011-08-09T21:19:00.002-07:00

A few weekends ago we got the chance to visit my brother in Surprise, AZ. He's the closest sibling to me at 3 hours away. My siblings are all over the US - California, Idaho, Utah, Texas, New York, North/South Carolina and Arizona. So, it is nice to have at least one close. The other great thing is that our kids are about the same age and get along well. It was so fun and we hope they let us intrude again soon. We tried to get a picture of all 4 kids together, but you can see how successful that was.

Zonked Out!!

2011-08-09T21:15:00.002-07:00

This is what happens when I send my girls out with a baby sitter so I can get some work done. Erica rarely falls asleep in the car, so I had to get a shot of this one. Now, if only I could figure out how to make this happen.

Mission President

2011-08-09T21:08:00.003-07:00

Troy and I served our missions at the same time in Donetsk, Ukraine. We were lucky enough to visit with our Mission President and wife a few weeks ago. They were (and still are) a great influence for good in our lives and we think of them as second parents.

33rd

2011-07-06T22:04:00.008-07:00

Thank you Troy for that super sweet post. Thanks to everyone else for all the phone calls, cards, emails, fb posts, texts, etc. It was a great day! Nothing too eventful, but it was still nice.

I took the girls to get haircuts on my birthday. This was Sadie's first. She cried more during her haircut than she does for shots. It is a little boyish, but we don't have much to work with yet. It's better than having it hang in her eyes for now.

The most exciting part of my day was getting some gourmet cupcakes from Safeway. They were YUMMY!!! I have been on a total cupcake kick lately (as in the last 2 years). Here is what we got:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!! (:

If anyone is interested and doesn't already know about it, I have started uploading all our family videos on YouTube. You can check them out here.

Pantano Wash After Monsoon Storm

2011-07-04T20:28:00.000-07:00

Happy 33rd!

2011-06-30T20:02:00.003-07:00

I'm commandeering "our" blog on Nancee's birthday to let everyone know how awesome my wife is. I know, I know, you're all thinking "but Troy, we already know she's awesome." That may be true, but none of you know HOW awesome she is. Let me divulge...

She is very patient, as anyone can attest who has seen her with 2 crazy girls. She doesn't believe that she's very patient, but she is, and that leads me to my next point:

She's humble and caring. These just seem to go together with her. She always serves her family first before attending to her own needs.

She's so good at seeing things in the light of reality, with a level head and cool logic. She has really helped me understand that there are many different sides to any one issue.

She's so dang smart. She's everything from a meaningful and entertaining conversationalist, to a lawyer who graduated cum laude (for those of you like me who didn't graduate with fancy Latin words next to their names, that means "with honors.")

She's fun to hang out with, play games with, talk with, and do just about anything else with. She does cool stuff. I'm so glad she goes snowboarding and wakeboarding with me.

She's hot. Don't deny it.

She's way better at blogging than me. If you've made it this far into my post, you'll probably agree with me.

She keeps our house as organized as possible with the previously mentioned 2 crazy kids, and cooks bang-up meals and desserts.

I love you, sweets!

Sadie 15 months

2011-06-29T17:46:00.007-07:00

It is blasting hot in Arizona right now, so we spend our days watching movies and swimming. Nothing too exciting to blog about. Sadie did hit her 15 month milestone, so I wanted to catch that one. Actually she is 16 months now. Oh well.

Stats:
Height: 30 inches (34%)
Weight: 20 lb 9 oz (16%)
Head: 46 cm (52%)

Sadie is a joy to have in our family. She is always happy and easy going. She has 5 teeth now and knows about 5 signs.

The only thing she really says is "...ere ooo owe" Translation - "Here you go." She does say bird now and then, ball and bye bye. We don't have mama, dada or much else yet.

She LOVES playing with her older sister and Erica is a much better older sister than I ever was. She is usually pretty patient with Sadie and let's her play.

Here is our make shift sandbox for the summer.

Sadie is our little climber. The dryer is one of her favorite places.

One day I heard her whimpering. I found her in her bedroom like this. She had climbed on a box, climbed on the bed, climbed on the dresser, pushed everything off and realized she couldn't get down. We've had to do some major child proofing with this one.

And, saving the best for last, Sadie is our little dancer. I would like to compare her skillz to those of Elaine Benes.

A Picture is Worth a 1000 Words...

2011-05-26T21:58:00.004-07:00

*Click on the picture to expand it if you want to read all the text.

Sadie Learning to Eat with a Spoon

2011-05-22T09:22:00.002-07:00

"I think it goes something like this."

"This doesn't seem quite right."

"Forget it, this is too hard."

"Spoons are overrated."

Live action video of the spoon eating

Family Easter Pictures

2011-05-15T20:10:00.003-07:00

Rattlesnake Surprise

2011-05-15T20:06:00.001-07:00

Over Easter weekend we were cleaning the weeds out of our yard when we came across this lovely surprise. It's the closest I've ever been to one. It even rattled at Troy. The neighbor boy came over in his army boots to help kill this thing. Thank goodness we got it before it made it to the backyard.

I am now officially PARANOID of snakes.

Easter 2011 Weekend Festivities

2011-05-15T19:34:00.007-07:00

I was enjoying reading everyone else's blog so much that it inspired me to catch up on mine a bit.

We were lucky enough to have my mom in town for Easter weekend. It was so great to have her here, even though she didn't feel well. My kids were totally spoiled with Easter surprises.

Erica scored the unicorn pillow pet that she had been asking for. She has appropriately name it, "Pinkalicious Cupcake Unicorn Horn Pet" and she, unfortunately, does not allow for shorter nicknames.

We went to my neighbor's for our annual Easter Egg Hunt.

I tried to help Erica with finding a few eggs. She informed me that she didn't want the eggs I had pointed out. I realized it was because they were the WRONG COLOR! Notice which colors were okay to pick up? Seriously? Does it matter what color chocolate is wrapped in? Apparently so. Sometimes, the only way I know we are related is because I actually birthed her.

Enjoying the loot!

Easter Sunday morning, we had baskets and dresses (from my mom) waiting for the girls. Erica woke up first.

Sadie signing "eat" when she saw the candy.

Basket hats

Sadie was not a fan of Peeps.

County Fair 2011

2011-04-21T18:10:00.006-07:00

On Monday night we made our annual trip to the (dusty, dirty) Pima County Fair. Erica was tall enough to go on a lot more rides, but not necessarily brave enough.

I used to love amusement parks, but I am finding that as I get older, I get more motion sick. For example, the Ferris Wheel. Yep, got a little dizzy on that thing. Maybe it was the 13 mph winds and my legal mind wondering how much a lawsuit would be when this thing collapsed. Erica enjoyed it as long as I was holding her tightly.

Then we skipped the kiddie roller coaster and opted for the imitation Dumbo ride. Any guesses why Erica wanted to go on this one. I'll give you a hint - PINK, PINK, PINK!. At least they were all pink.

Next we tried the merry-go-round. As soon as her horse started to move, she wanted off, so Troy and she got to spend the entire ride sitting in the carriage-type seat that doesn't move. Glad it was Troy's turn for that one.

We spent the majority of our tickets on the jumbo slide. We went on that at least 5 times. I only have video though, no pics.

She also really wanted to go on the spinny dragon thing. I volunteered Troy for this one too. Unfortunately, it was actually crowded by the time we got to it. She really wanted to go on the pink dragon (surprise!). Erica scoping out the pink one.

After waiting four turns, it was finally their turn. Of course, there was only one other person in front of her, but she chose the pink dragon. Erica ended up with the purple dragon. You can tell she is thrilled. But wait - I won't disappoint...

Troy, being the nice and patient father that he is, volunteered to get out of the purple dragon and sit out another round so she could get first pick of the pink dragon. (It looks like Troy really wanted to ride in the pink dragon too.)

We did find a cool, spinny boat ride that only made me a little sick. I had to really focus on one point. I was proud of Erica for putting her arms up.

And, the last ride was...I don't know what it was, but Erica got to sit in the pink one. Who knew I would have a daughter that loves pink so much.

To sum up Sadie's fair experience, since she was too little to go on any rides, she was either running away from us...

...or strapped in her stroller so we wouldn't lose her.

It was fun times and we will probably go back next year.

Surprise!

2011-04-11T21:32:00.002-07:00

We went to visit my brother and his family in SURPRISE, Arizona (and, no, I am definitely NOT preggo.) I am stealing all these pictures from my sister-in-law's blog. We had a great time and hope to visit again soon.

Their backyard

Eatin' cookies

Erica and Lincoln are great buddies. They are only a few months apart in age. I'm glad they got to hang out.

Showing off her ballet moves

Movie time

Belly time

Logan checking out Sadie

Keepin' it Real

2011-04-11T21:07:00.003-07:00

I hear some people complain that blogs aren't reality, that they portray some kind of false, wonderful life. My theory is that we only are blogging about those things we really want to remember.

The following pictures are not significant or interesting, they just portray a snapshot of our life right now, for better or worse.

We all got colds and then the flu a few weeks ago. We were grateful for friends that dropped off food. We were grateful for iPods that occupied our daughters.

We go outside a lot to help pass the long day. I try to get away with napping on a blanket on the grass, but that usually doesn't happen. I end up having to rescue Sadie from eating something.

I give my kids ice cream (and other treats) to also help pass the long day. I gave up on trying to keep Sadie's clothes clean. She goes through a couple outfits a day.

I think I am a clever mom for turning a tent on its side to give my kids a new activity. I am a cool mom for letting them eat inside the tent (right?).

I take random pictures of my children for something to do.

I think I need to be more creative. Any ideas?

2011-03-27T14:32:00.002-07:00

Erica has really been into coloring lately. We have to limit her to a couple sheets of paper per day, otherwise we would be responsible for half the rain forest depletion. I usually end of recycling most of them, but have saved a few gems. We also decided to start sending some of these masterpieces to other people. Who knows, maybe they will be worth something someday. (: She usually spends her time drawing princesses, rainbows, flowers, etc. However, the other day, she decided to make one for a boy at her preschool. We were very excited about this drawing:

Maybe there is hope that we won't be obsessed with princesses forever?

Got It - Sadie Laughing

2011-03-26T20:45:00.000-07:00

On the Good Ship Lollipop

2011-03-25T09:35:00.002-07:00

Here is her second dance. This time she is in the front, second from the left.

"A" You're Adorable

2011-03-24T20:13:00.002-07:00

Erica had her dance recital a few weeks ago. She got to perform 2 numbers. This is the first dance. She is in the back on the far right.

Work and the Ramifications

2011-03-24T19:28:00.005-07:00

If you happen to read Facebook, you may have seen this picture of me trying to work a few weeks ago. I've started a solo law practice specializing in estate planning. I work part-time from home (about 10 hours a week). Some days are more successful than others. I am open to any suggestions on how to balance the mother-work roles. I enjoy both and I am still trying to figure it all out. I'm grateful to a very supportive spouse who is making this possible. He gets stuck with dishes and house cleaning a lot more than he used to.

Maybe this is what happens when mom goes to work...

Sadie becomes a daddy's girl.

My kids may be seen with baggie clips as accessories to their clothing.

Erica has to teach Sadie how to walk.

We get great visitors, like Aunt Alice and RP. Okay, that really has nothing to do with my work, but we are glad she came to visit.

Erica gets a little more frustrated with mom not spending every waking moment taking care of her.

I have to come up with things to keep the kids occupied, like swimming in March...and yes, Sadie is eating a rock in this picture.

Snow Day

2011-03-24T11:34:00.004-07:00

The day after Sadie's birthday, we got a snow day. It only snowed once this winter and it melted away within an hour...and that is why I LOVE Arizona.

Snow angels. The kids usually learn how to do sand angels instead.

Is that Troy's dad wearing shorts? Yes, yes it is.

Oma and Opa

The front of our house

I love pictures of snow on cactus

A tribute to Calvin and Hobbes

Jumpin' on the trampoline

Family Photo.

Sadie Turns One

2011-03-21T20:40:00.005-07:00

I can't believe it's almost been a month since her birthday. With family visiting, working and just plain laziness, I have failed to get around to the blogging. So, here is a little bit about our baby.

Nicknames: Sader(s), Baber(s), Sadie-Baby, Sader-Bader

Words: "Dah" - Dog and "uh-oh". That's it!! (Sometimes she says, "mama", but I don't think it is for me.)

Signs: bird, dog, more, all done, milk, eat/food, bye

Making Cake #1

Eating Cake #1 - Think she liked it?

Food Likes: breads, bananas, CHOCOLATE, formula, water, Cheerios, Kix, avocado, cheese, yogurt, ice cream...rocks, leaves and dog food.

Food Dislikes: baby food, apple juice, milk

Teeth: Only 2 on the bottom

Cake #2

Physical: Walking all over - getting fast, climbs on stuff, takes things out of cupboards

As of today*, these are her stats:
Head 45 cm - 42%
Height 28.3 in - 17%
Weight 19 lb 4 oz - 16%

*Her 1 year appointment was originally scheduled last month, but we canceled, thinking we were going to go snowboarding instead.

Health: Lots of earaches and colds these last few months. Seems pretty good otherwise.

Ice Cream is a success

Personality: Super sweet, mellow and quiet (unless it is 6am and she is trying to wake her sister up). Every now and then she comes over for a hug or to be held for a little bit and then she is on her way. She loves to explore and seems to have little if any separation anxiety. I consider this a huge blessing.

Sleeping: On a good night she goes down between 7 and 8pm and wakes up between 5 and 6am. We don't always have good nights. She does take 2 good naps during the day.

Present Opening. Any suggestions on how to help the older kid understand that the toys are NOT for them?

Things she likes to do: swinging, NOT movies, walks, being outside, swimming, looking at animal books, putting things in her mouth, exploring, going to new places

She also has the cutest little laugh, but we are yet to get it on film. We'll keep trying.

Oma and Opa Visit

2011-03-21T20:14:00.003-07:00

In February, we were lucky enough to have Troy's parents come visit. We had a great time with them and miss them a lot. Here are some of the adventures we went on:

"A Safari?"

"A Pony Ride". It was initially just for Erica, but she got scared after a few minutes, so we gave Sadie a try. She loved it. Erica did better at pulling the pony.

"Sabino Canyon" - A beautiful tram ride up the canyon and a nice walk down. There were little ponds of water to stop and play in for breaks.

"Pima Air & Space Museum" - I've been wanting to go here for 4 years and finally made it. Thanks to Oma for watching the girls so we could go. I have a dream of flying in a fighter jet someday (just as a passenger). I think this is the closest I will get.

And, of course, "Beauty School".

Butterfly Freedom

2011-02-16T21:20:00.002-07:00

Yesterday we decided our butterflies were reaching maturity (meaning they were probably going to die soon), so we headed down to the pond to set them free. Erica was very excited.

She even touched one. I was very proud of her.

Sadie wasn't sure what to think.

I even touched them. I was very proud of me.

It wasn't until the walk home that Erica realized we weren't going to see them anymore. She cried and cried, then she insisted I take a picture of her crying...so here is Erica missing her butterflies.

Valentine Traditions

2011-02-16T21:10:00.002-07:00

When Troy was growing up, his dad would always blow up a bunch of balloons for the kids to find in the morning. He wanted to continue this tradition and I thought it was a good idea (except the part where we blow up the balloons). So, after purchasing an air compressor, we ended up with this...

All pink, of course. The static from the dry Arizona air made for some crazy hair.

Troy has never purchased flowers for me...at my request. I always prefer chocolate. So, this was my Valentine treat this year. I was VERY happy!

Side note: As a Christmas present, I sent Troy to Seattle a few weekends ago to snowboard with his brother. Unfortunately, he hurt his knee and only got to snowboard half a day. While he was gone, Erica finally let me do her hair for church. I had to get a picture so he would believe me. It only lasted about a half hour.

Sadie Walking

2011-02-02T20:41:00.001-07:00

The Girls Update

2011-02-01T20:54:00.004-07:00

Erica helped me with my Christmas present.

Erica has a love-hate relationship with Sadie. She either wants to do everything with her (drink milk, crawl, etc.) OR we hear, "Stop looking at me!" "Your too loud!" "That's mine!"

Sadie on the other hand has an ambivalent relationship with Erica. True to Sadie's easy going personality, I can almost see her mind saying, "Whatever."

The newest poster girl for Shelf Reliance Products. Not really, but at least it got her to eat peas one night.

Trying to get Sadie to watch movies. She's just not all that interested (another thing different than her sister). I know I should wait until she's two according to some experts (or all of them), but why deprive her of the joys of Elmo and Barney. I've really missed those characters this past year. (:

We heard about the Butterfly Garden from a friend and thought it might be nice to give the girls at least one non-princess present. It has been awesome to watch, even for us. It's amazing how they all crawled to the top and formed cocoons within hours of each other.

Then, about a week later, they pop out as butterflies. Erica is explaining their life cycle to them as set forth in the notable, "Very Hungry Caterpiller" textbook.

Some things we've had to get used to with Sadie that we didn't encounter with Erica:

1. EVERYTHING goes in the mouth, especially those with more gag-like qualities such as little pebbles, leaves, fake grass and her personal favorite - feathers. Those are hard to get out.

2. She opens cupboards and pulls things out. This is much better than crying at my legs. I love that she makes a mess.

3. She doesn't feel a need to be close to me all the time. She crawls away from me to go exploring. It's great for now.

4. She doesn't do much communicating. We are just starting to get some sounds and movements that could possibly be considered words or signs, but only to the listening parent, I'm sure. At least she is happy most of the time.

5. Only two teeth barely peaking through on the bottom. I think Erica had a bunch of teeth by now.

6. She sleeps great in her car seat.

Post-Christmas Activities

2011-02-01T20:38:00.002-07:00

My main Christmas present from Troy was a "Day Off". What's that you say? Well, it goes something like this:
1. Go see a movie.
2. Go out to dinner.
3. Check into a really nice Hilton hotel for the night.
4. Go play some tennis on their fancy courts.

5. Go swim in the hot tub.
6. Go get some ice cream AND a smoothie.
7. Stay up until 3am doing girl talk.

8. Sleep in as long as I want. No monitors. No middle of the night feedings (yes, we still do that sometimes, unfortunately. Thus, the need for a "Day Off".)

9. Go get bagels.
10. Go play more tennis.
11. Go get a massage.
12. Go give my husband a big kiss.

For New Year's Day, we drove to my brother's house in Phoenix. He has 2 boys the same age as our 2 girls. The older kids play GREAT!!!

We left our kiddos the next day and took off for a wonderful snowboard vacation at Sunrise Park, Arizona. There was lots of fresh snow and we had a blast. By day 3, my body could barely make it down the mountain. I was so sore and had no endurance.

Here is a video of my snowboardin' skillz. You can check out Troy's view in the next post as he cruises down doubleblack diamonds, through the trees, at breakneck speed. Think I'm there yet?

A ginormously, huge, amazing thank you to my mom and dad for driving the girls back to Tucson and watching them for four days. We never could have done it without them. The girls had a fantastic time and so did we. Hope my parents weren't too worn out by the end of it.

Troy Snowboarding

2011-02-01T20:37:00.000-07:00

A Very Merry Christmas

2011-01-13T21:09:00.003-07:00

We decided to spend this Christmas at home. We didn't travel anywhere (not because we didn't want to see family, but because of the time, expense and effort involved). We had a wonderful Christmas. It was very low stress and it was so fun to see our girls open their presents.

The loot (pre-kids)

Opening gifts took all day. We took lots of breaks to play with each thing. It was a good way to spend the day.

Even Kayla got a treat.

Erica's loot:

Sadie's loot:

Merry Christmas

Pre-Christmas Celebrations

2011-01-08T21:32:00.007-07:00

Erica fitting neatly inside the Christmas tree box.

Some of Sadie's favorite places to play

Dad's Office

Under the MegaSaucer

We made a Gingerbread Train this year. Erica was very excited about all the candy.

Decorating the train consisted of Troy doing it, Erica eating all of it and Nancee keeping Sadie away from it.

Sadie trying out the newest baby toothbrush/teether from my mom's company. This one is the Baby Sharky Brush.

The girls' favorite thing to do together. They drink milk and Erica imitates all of Sadie's actions.

Christmas Eve pajamas. Sadie preferred to eat hers.

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-12-01T11:58:00.009-07:00

Every other year, Troy's side of the family gets together for Thanksgiving. Each year we've been adding spouses and babies. It was a full house, but tons of fun. This weekend of fun is possible thanks to Troy's generous grandfather.

Troy's immediate family, spouses, kids and grandpa.

Grandpa with his great-grandkids.

How many father-in-laws do you know that will bust out Spice Girls on RockBand. "If you wanna be my lover, gotta get with my friends..."

Erica slept next to her cousins in the basement.

An awesome advent calendar from Aunt Alice.

Love the hat.

We also had a baby shower for Troy's sister Molly while we were there.

Erica "helping" unwrap gifts.

Julie "loves" animals, especially hairless cats.

Can you believe I actually helped to make this. Well, ok, I held the ribbon while Sonja glued it. Does that count?

It was COOOO-OOOLD!!! The first day we arrived, I think it was a high of 16 degrees. Plus, we had a ton of snow. This is Erica's first REAL snowman, as compared to her snowman from last year.

Troy and old fam.

Troy and new fam.

What is all this white stuff?

These sisters crack each other up.

Is this really frozen?

A Full House, minus Uncle Jessy.

Grandpa keeping warm.

Ahhhh, I love vacation.

Mom, can't we afford real Otter Pops?

I'm swinging in the snow, I'm swinging in the snow...

Relatives are the best!!

Good morning sleepy heads.

Sadie - Almost 9 months

2010-11-18T22:06:00.002-07:00

I'm actually ahead on blogging. Does that ever happen? I just know that when Sadie actually turns 9 months, it will be between Thanksgiving and Christmas, so I don't know that I will get around to the post then.

I don't have stats, but I do have a cute picture and video. Sadie loves to crawl all over the place now. She does more of an army crawl where she drags herself with her arms. She plays really well with her sister. She doesn't have any teeth yet. She loves real people food better than baby food.

She doesn't sleep great yet, but at least she is happy when she is awake. She says, "mama...mamamamamam" a lot. I don't think I can count it yet. She recently started pulling herself to standing on anything she can get to. However, she hasn't figured out how to get back down. We've had a lot of bumps, bruises and crying from dollhouses, chairs and other various things falling on top of her.

She is such a content baby. I really, really appreciate that. She is so easy to take anywhere or just to leave on the floor to play with toys. I can't believe babies like this really exist. For the first time, I'm almost a little sad to see this stage of life passing so quickly. I am excited to see her personality develop though.

Happy Halloween

2010-10-31T21:07:00.006-07:00

(Thanks for the picture Sonja)

The actual costumes

Sadie's costume lasted about 30 minutes. No one even got to see her in it.

Erica was so excited to be a chicken this year. She talked about it all the time. I was really surprised she didn't want to be a princess. She got the chicken costume from her aunt a few years ago, but she can still squeeze into it. Her costume lasted about an hour and then she got too hot. Yes-too hot. This is Arizona. So we returned home for costume number two.

This lasted another hour. Not a bad idea. Do a costume switcheroo and you can hit up houses twice. Many of the houses were dark this year and it seemed like only 3 year olds or high school kids were trick-or-treating. Erica had a blast, even though she was a little scared of some of the decorations.

What do you call 9 people in a 3 bedroom house?

2010-10-24T15:28:00.012-07:00

Answer: Our life in October.

Troy's brother is in his 4th year of medical school and he had a one month rotation in Tucson. We convinced him to bring his wife and 3 kids along. That made for 9 people in a 17oo square foot home. Some people called us crazy, but we had a blast. We would totally do it again.

They were great house guests. They left my house cleaner than when they came. The kids entertained Erica all day long. We had constant activities and entertainment. We miss them and we are so glad they came.

If you are interested, here is some serious picture overload of the last month.

Matching dresses

I was trying to get the girls to hold up their fingers for the year, "2010". It didn't work out so well.

Trying to crawl like Sadie.

What happens when you finger paint a rock and then let your baby eat it?

Flossing was a favorite activity.

I think they were acting as caterpillars.

Skyping with Aunt Sonja.

They loved it when Troy made forts (or "forks" if you are Erica...she also calls the game chess, "chest").

Snuggling up after swimming.

Noah wanted to take a picture of Sadie's messy face.

We went to open gym.

We went to the zoo.

Watched movies.

Went boating a few times. This was after a serious microburst of a storm. Everyone was drenched. (I missed this trip because I was in Utah.)

We decorated for Halloween.

They had fun together.

They played dress-up and danced and danced and danced.

They bathed together.

We will miss them. (Ha Ha Julie. I beat you to a post.)

Girl's Weekend

2010-10-24T15:20:00.002-07:00

The second weekend in October I had my first real girl's weekend getaway in Vegas. My college freshman roommates got together for the first time in 15 years. It was a total blast. We are all married, have kids and are so grown up. I can't believe how much has happened.

We stayed up until past 3am the first night. I don't think I've done that since my college days. We talked about doing a lot of stuff, but we really just ended up talking, talking, eating and some more talking. I thought I would get to sleep with no kids, but I probably slept less than normal.

These are inspirational women. They taught me a lot 15 years ago and again this weekend. I look forward to our next reunion.

Papa's Funeral

2010-10-21T20:16:00.008-07:00

The first weekend of October, I had the privilege of attending my grandfather's funeral in Salt Lake City. He was my last surviving grandparent. I will miss him, but I am glad he no longer has to deal with physical suffering.

The funeral service was filled with beautiful music and speakers. It was wonderful to see so many of my family members all at once.

My oldest brother with 2 of his kids

Two more brothers and some nieces.

More brothers and a sister-in-law (okay, 1 is the same as the picture above, but I really do have 6 brothers)

Another brother and sister-in-law

My one and only sister

Some more sister-in-laws and nieces

My 2 best cousins growning up

The graveside service was beautiful as well. My Papa was a WWII Veteran so he had a flag over his coffin that was folded and presented to the oldest grandson bearing his last name. There were also some gun shots and a bagpipe player playing Taps.

My immediate family members that were able to attend.

Following the services, we were grateful to be able to return to the church for a luncheon provided by Papa's ward. I know it took a lot of time out of their Saturday to prepare the food and serve us. It was greatly appreciated.

Here is my mom and dad at the luncheon.

It was a very quick trip, but I am so glad I did it. We were able to spend some more time as a family together on Sunday (while attempting to watch General Conference). We are grateful to the Claytons, who let us stay at their house.

Oceanside September 2010

2010-10-18T14:06:00.005-07:00

In September we decided to do a long weekend getaway at the beach. We spent hours searching for something and finally came up with this great place in Oceanside. It was a little one bedroom condo right on the beach. Since we went in late September, we got off season rates. We were also lucky enough to have Troy's sister come along too.

This was such an awesome trip. I would love to make it an annual tradition.

Right outside our door was a beautiful view of the ocean and a sand pit that Erica played in for hours. Guess we better get a sandbox now.

A short ways down the boardwalk were 2 different parks. We spent hours swinging and playing on the playground. Even Sadie liked to swing. I didn't mind pushing this time either because I had a beautiful view in the background.

The water was a little cool for me, but I did get in once. Apparently, a huge swell came in the day we got there. The waves were about 10 feet high. Even Troy wouldn't go all the way out, so I know they were big.

Sadie loved the sand too and came away with minimal ingestion of sand.

Family Pic

We are making more of an effort to get pictures of the two of us together.

Troy pondering how he can quit his job and move to the beach.

Molly was a huge help. We are so glad she came along. Can't wait to meet her new baby in December.

Another family pic

Make-shift high chair. Didn't work out so well.

Sadie slept in the closet of the one-bedroom condo (about 350 square feet) and Erica slept in the kitchen on some couch cushions. Comfy!!

Troy's 31st Birthday

2010-10-18T13:36:00.002-07:00

Troy celebrated his 31st birthday in September. I attempted to use my creativity in making him a cake. That's always a risky business. It's supposed to be an ipod with his balloon maker app. Can you tell? Didn't think so.

He celebrated by going to work. We did at least make it to dinner on the weekend. Sorry it wasn't your best birthday. At least you got some wakeboard bindings.

Happy Birthday Troy!!! I love you.

Sadie at 6-8 months

2010-10-17T20:00:00.002-07:00

So I started this post when Sadie was 6 months. Then, I decided to wait until she got her stats. Normally, you get those at 6 months, but my parenting skills are losing in Round 2 and we didn't get in until 7 months. Then life happened and suddenly she is almost 8 months. Ooops. So, anyway, here is a post about our sweet Sadie.

As of today, here are some things she can do - sit for quite awhile without help. I still put pillows behind her 'cause she falls every now and then. She can rock on her hands and knees. She scoots around by pushing forward on her legs. She hasn't figured out the alternating motion for crawling yet, but it is close.

She eats all sorts of solids. She is not a big fan of veggies or meats. She loves fruits and grains. She is definitely more picky about foods than Erica. She still has about 4-5 bottles/day (6oz each).

She sleeps typically from about 7:30 -5:30. Not bad, but I wish she would make it until at least 6am more often.

She is very happy still and we are so grateful for that. She is starting to notice when we leave the room and is getting a little fussy about that sometimes. Let's hope she does not have as much separation anxiety as her older sister. Don't want to do that again.

She really likes to be outside - just sitting in the grass or going for walks in the stroller. She seems to be pretty content wherever she is.

She is very interested in the textures of things. She is entertained for hours each day by checking out new objects. She loves to touch and feel things. Sand is one of her favorite. She doesn't put too many things in her mouth though.

She does not have any teeth yet. I've been thinking that they were coming for about 4 months, but still nothing.

Her hair is lightening up, but it does not look like she will be as blonde as her sister.

She takes 3-4 catnaps/day. I am trying to transition her to 2 longer naps/day, but that doesn't always work with our schedule.

Sadie's stats
26 inches (40%)

15 lb 11 oz (28%)

42 cm (23 %)

Erica's stats (had her 3 year appointment at the same time)

35.8 in (20%)

30 lb (43%)

At their appointment, Erica got one shot and cried for the next 45 minutes. Sadie got two shots and cried for about 45 seconds.

Papa: December 23, 1923 - September 29, 2010

2010-09-30T12:59:00.002-07:00

Goodbye Papa. We love you and will miss you. We are so glad you get to be with Nana again.

Great Aunts

2010-09-23T20:46:00.002-07:00

My girls are blessed with many great aunts and great-aunts. We were lucky enough to have Aunt Molly (Troy's sister) come visit us for the week. We are so excited for her little girl to arrive at Christmas. Yay for girl cousins.

Molly smothered the girls with attention and helped me out a ton at home. We miss her tons and wish she lived closer. She even made little stuffed bunnies for each girl.

Thanks to Molly, we were all able to get away last weekend to visit the beach. I'll do a separate post about those adventures. We miss you Molly!!!

3 Three III

2010-09-23T20:19:00.002-07:00

I have about 4 million blog posts in my head. I will attempt to get 4 of them done in the next week or so.

First up - Erica just turned three. Yeah!!! We had the obligatory professional cake decorated by TegTap Company (aka Dada). If you can't tell, it is a pink princess.

An elaborate serenade by family and neighbors. She still doesn't know about birthday parties with friends. We are trying to keep her in the dark as long as we can about that.

She was lavished with riches...

...and jewels.

In all seriousness, it was a great day and we had been talking about it for over a month. She loved celebrating and is already looking forward to next year. She even scored a few presents from her awesome baby sitter.

Here are a few highlights about Erica right now for those who want a more in depth coverage. We have a doctor's appointment tomorrow, so I will get stats then.

She threw her pacifier in the garbage. This was also talked about for at least a month. She does better when she has time to prepare for things. She did fine the first night and I thought we were home free. The next couple of days, she cried and said she missed her pacifier. We didn't cave and she seems to be doing better now. She did ask if she could have it back when she turns two. I assured her she could.
She attends preschool 2 days a week and absolutely loves it. So do I. She loves learning, loves the friends and I think especially loves the snacks and play time. She is the youngest in the class, but seems to be doing ok as far as I can tell.
She is about to finish up her first ballet class. She thinks it is the greatest thing ever. Her first dance recital is on Saturday, I will post some pictures of it later.
She is OBSESSED with princesses and princes. She requests multiple "Erica/Ariel stories" everyday. This essentially involves Erica taking the place of Ariel, Ursula tying her up with seaweed and Prince Eric saving her. I'm getting a little concerned about such stories. She never seems to remember the part where Ariel saved Prince Eric. Hmmm.
She finally walks into nursery and doesn't look back. I never thought this day would come and now that it is here, it doesn't seem like all the separation anxiety was as big of a deal.
She is about 95% potty trained. We still have an accident every now and then, but she does pretty good.
She loves Barbie/princess toys, books and movies. She likes to do art projects. She loves to jump on the trampoline, swing, swim, dance and do gymnastics.
She is getting a lot better about playing on her own and not needing mom for every little thing.
She says a lot of funny things since she has started preschool. The other day she said, "I just can't resist" without any understanding of what that means.
She repeats herself a million times. It is really trying my patience and I'm not dealing with it very well.
She does great with Sadie. If Sadie is playing with something Erica wants, Erica will take it away and give Sadie something else to play with. She loves to make faces at Sadie to get her to laugh. She is getting better about using a quiet voice when Sadie is asleep. She loves to do things with Sadie like take a bath and eat. Now, if only we could get her to nap with Sadie.

Overall, this has been a great year for Erica. We didn't have a "terrible" age two. I hear three can be worse. She is by no means the perfect child and we have our typical struggles, but she is a good kid and we love her. We are grateful for the spirit she brings into our home. She is a little joke-ster and a sweetheart. I am looking forward to watching her grow more this next year.

Prechildren v. Postchildren

2010-08-27T12:51:00.002-07:00

(Inspired by a great article a friend just sent me about why you are so busy when you stay home with kids all day long.)

Getting up in the morning

Prechildren: Set your alarm. Snooze if you feel like it. Eat some cereal. (Total time: 10-20 minutes)

Postchildren: Get up anywhere between 4:30-5:30am. Rush into the baby's bedroom before she wakes up the toddler. Feed her a bottle. Change a poopy diaper. Toddler wakes up before you get a chance to snooze again. Make breakfast for the toddler with the right kind of cereal and milk in a sippy cup. Take toddler to the potty. Eat some cereal. Put baby back down to sleep. (Total time: 3 hours)

Showering

Prechildren: Hop in the shower and shave your legs if you feel like it. (Total time: 20 minutes)

Postchildren: Put a movie on for the toddler and hope that she doesn't destroy anything while you are in the shower. Check on toddler and hope that she doesn't wake up crying. Shower as fast as possible. No chance of shaving your legs. (Total time: 10 minutes)

Walking Out the Door

Prechildren: Grab your keys, wallet and phone. Walk out the door. (Total time: 1 minute).

Postchildren: Pack up diaper bag for the children. For the baby you need to fill up bottles, the formula container, make sure you have a clean burp cloth, change of clothes, enough diapers and wipes. For the toddler you need snacks, a water bottle and a change of clothes in case she has an accident. If it will be a longer trip, you need a blanket and pacifier for the baby to help her sleep. You need some activities for the toddler (i.e., DVD player, ipod, crayons, etc.). Make sure toddler has gone to the bathroom. Feed the baby before you go and change her diaper. Grab your keys, wallet and phone. Strap both kids into their car seats. (Total time: 1.5 hours).

Running to the Post Office

Prechildren: Get the package. Take it to the post office. Mail it. (Total time: 5 minutes)

Postchildren: Try to manage a package, a car seat, a toddler and a diaper bag (filled with all the things listed above). Hope people are nice enough to open the door for you. Mail the package. On the way back to the car you have to stop and look at the red diamond sticker in the window, do a balance beam walk along the curb, talk about the "hot air balloon" hanging above Quiznos and why you can't ride in it, but you can go drive by it. Strap kids back into the car. (Total time: 25 minutes)

Grocery Shopping

Prechildren: Drive to the grocery store. Buy your items. Put them in the car. Drive home and put them away. (Total time: 1 hour)

Postchildren: Drop toddler off at dance. Rush with newborn to the store. Park near a stray cart so you don't have to haul the 25 lb. car seat very far. Put baby in and rush through the store before dance is done. Baby starts crying. Debate whether to feed her, decide you don't have enough time, give her a pacifier and hope it works for 10 more minutes. Decide not to get half the things on your list because you don't have time. Rush out to the car and throw the groceries in. Mash the banana and probaby break a couple eggs. Drive to pick up toddler. Baby is screaming. Drive home. Baby is sleeping. Leave the car running. Take toddler to the bathroom. She pees all over the freshly cleaned toilet seat. Change her clothes. Get her something to eat. Bring in some groceries. Baby wakes up. Put frozen food in freezer and cold stuff in fridge. Leave remaining groceries strewn around counters and hope husband will help put them away when he returns home. (Total time: 1.5 hours)

Lunch

Prechildren: Make a sandwich. Eat it. Read something while you eat. (Total time: 15 minutes)

Postchildren: Make a hot dog for toddler just the right temperature. Cut it up into little pieces. Stick a straw in the juice box and drink some of it so it won't squirt all over her fresh outfit when she grabs it. Spoon feed baby some chicken mush. She doesn't like it. Try some pears. She eats only half of it. Give her a bottle. She spits up some of it on your clothes. You don't bother changing because you know it will happen again before the day is over. Read toddler some books and tuck her into bed. Put baby down to bed. Make a sandwich. Eat it. Read something while you eat. (Total time: 1 hour, 15 minutes)

Blogging

Prechildren: You don't have time to blog. (Total time: 0)

Postchildren: Begin a blog post. Internet stops working. Restart computer. Start typing. Both kids wake up. Keep typing anyway. Go put pacifier back in baby's mouth. Hope toddler falls asleep eventually - at least she is staying in her room. (Total time: 30 minutes)

Cleaning House

Prechildren: Do 2 loads of laundry. Wash a few dishes. (Total time: 30 minutes)

Postchildren: Do laundry for 4 people. Wash bottles and dishes. Clean up toys. (Total time: 1 hour, 30 minutes)

Dinner

Prechildren: Make dinner. (Total time: 30 minutes)

Postchildren: Toddler wants to eat at 4pm. Give her a snack to hold her off. Baby is awake and needs to eat again. Feed her a bottle. Place baby on floor with some toys to entertain her. Toddler wants to help make dinner. She insists on dumping everything into the bowl herself and stirring. She needs her hands washed. Baby is crying and needs to be moved to the Bumbo for a change of scenery. Toddler is done helping, but dinner is not ready. You put a movie on for toddler to entertain her while you finish. Eventually dinner gets made. (Total time: 1 hour, 30 minutes)

Bedtime

Prechildren: Watch a movie and/or read a book. Go to bed at midnight. (Total time: 2 hours)

Postchildren: Feed baby, change her diaper, turn on her ceiling fan, turn on her humidifier, make sure she has a pacifier and blanket. Set up bottles to use during the night. Turn on white noise maker. Put her to sleep. Replace pacifier every 5-10 minutes until she is asleep. Read toddler books, brush her teeth, take her to the bathroom, put on her pjs, say prayers, turn on her night light and white nosie maker. Explain to toddler why she doesnt need to be scared. Return to toddler's room to get her a drink of water. Return to toddler's room again for some nonsensical reason. Eventually toddler falls asleep. You are too tired to watch a movie or read a book. You go to sleep at 9:30pm (Total time: 2 hours).

My Fairy Princess

2010-08-22T19:28:00.020-07:00

You would think that such a girly title could only mean that Nancee is writing this post. Well, actually, if you knew Nancee you would know that she isn't girly enough for such a title. And since Erica thinks that "flowers" start with the letter "G" and all Sadie can do for communication is grunt and spit, that leaves Troy as the author by reasonable deduction. Yes, I shelved my space ship shoot-em-up game to make a Fairy Princess app. And I happen to be proud of it.

Check it out in the app store!

Also check out my new website for all my apps, www.tegtap.com

It started with us trying to find a good princess game in the app store for Erica, only to find they were all lame. In these other apps, the princesses just stood there in the same motionless pose the entire time, and the clothes all had the same pose. Plus it was hard for Erica to navigate. So I tried to fill that empty princess app void by making a cool, 3D-animated, interactive, easy-to-use princess dressup game. Thank you, Nancee, for getting me my wacom tablet. I wouldn't have been able to do the artwork in this app without it.

Here are some screen shots:

Video:

For a little while, it creeped up to be the #105 ranked app in the Kids Games section of the app store today! Thanks to all my family and friends who have helped spread the word via facebook, blog, email, phone, word, and/or telepathy. I really appreciate it. It would be great to get the extra visibility that comes from being in the top 100.

Thanks for checking it out, and tell iPhone/iPod/iPad owners with little girls about this app... or any iPhone owner who secretly likes fairy princesses.

Happy Anniversary - 7 Years

2010-08-17T11:43:00.004-07:00

Here's why I love Troy:

(2003) He taught me how to love board sports.

(2004) I've had the best Halloween costumes for the last 7 years.

(2005) He's romantic.

(2006) He takes me to Hawaii.

(2007) He's a great dad.

(2008) He takes me to Disneyland AND he likes animals.

(2009) He eats the food I cook.

(2010) He gave me 2 beautiful daughters.

*Things I learned from doing this post: We need to take more pictures together.

Preschool

2010-08-08T13:54:00.002-07:00

I have been waiting almost 3 years for this day and it was all that I had hoped for. (: Doesn't that make me sound like a terrible mother? If it helps, Erica had a good time too.

Erica started preschool last week with Ms. Laura. She goes 2 days a week for 3 hours each day. She is in with a great group of kids. The kids are all older and will be starting Kindergarten next year, so she is very "mothered" by the other girls. She's young enough that she actually loves this kind of attention.

Her teacher is wonderful too. She has all sorts of activities for the kids, worksheets, play time, animals and the most important - princess dress-up clothes. I think for Erica it is just one big playdate right now. However, she was able to tell me the sound that the letter "C" makes, so I think she is learning too.

While she is gone, I spend my time working on legal stuff and taking care of Sadie. I have loved this one-on-one time with Sadie. I'm also loving the time to do a little bit of work. I love Erica, but she is ready to have a few days with friends and structure. I'm ready for a few hours to do my own thing too. Then, she is so tired when she gets home, she has started napping again. It's just been awesome is the best way to describe it. I hope it stays that way!!!

Things we've been up to this summer...

2010-08-02T14:16:00.003-07:00

Erica starts preschool tomorrow and we are both so excited. I hope the transition goes well. Here is a smattering of pictures that describe what we did all summer. And by "summer", I mean it's what we do no matter what the season.

"Yum, this flour tastes good, mom."

"If I can't see the camera, it can't take a picture of me."

"These are all my friends. I especially like Prince Phillip."

"My favorites: gymnastics, dad's ipod and rain boots. In fact, I'm in such a good mood, I will let mom put 4 million clips in my hair."

"Gotta love jumping in the sprinkers."

4/5 Months and Vacation

2010-07-31T14:48:00.005-07:00

Sadie just passed her 5 month mark, I was a month late on getting her into the doctor's office. Second mom syndrome? Anyway, here are her stats:

Height: 24.3 inches (29%)
Weight: 14 lb (40%)
Head: 40.5 cm (22%)

She is such a joy to have in our family. She is sleeping through the night and she just sat up for her first time a few days ago, if you count 1 second as sitting up. We've tried rice cereal, but she is still not sure what to think about it. She puts up with Erica in her face all the time and actually seems to enjoy the attention. This picture describes her best:

We also recently took a trip to visit my parents. My dad was celebrating his 65th birthday and they just completed their new home. Here is a view from their home. It's beautiful!!

This trip was a chance for Erica to play with a lot of her cousins. It was a quick trip and we, unfortunately, didn't see as many people as we wanted. Thanks to everyone who helped us get around.

I was a little terrified to fly by myself with the two girls. I had barely made it to the grocery store for the first time by myself and now I was flying across the country, with a lay over. I planned for the worst, used pull-ups and had strangers hold Sadie. We had some typical meltdowns and owies, but in the end, we made it without too many problems.

We got their Friday evening and my dad picked us up. He drove us 2 1/2 hours to their new home. The next morning (my Dad's birthday) we all went to breakfast at a local restaurant. Then we went to a 24th of July parade and a fair. Erica liked gathering candy at the parade and petting the baby goats at the fair.

That night we had a birthday party.

Erica's cousins played with her non-stop. It was amazing. I'm used to having that girl by my side all day long. She went for hours without seeing me. It was great! These girls love all the same things she does - princesses, Barbies, kitties, etc. They provided all the creativity and energy for watching Erica. Erica really misses them - can you tell why?

The next day we all hung out and had foil dinners together. We also got to meet the newest member of the Phillips' family - Esme. This is Roo and Annie's daughter. She makes Sadie look like a giant.

On Monday we went to an arcade. This was Erica's first time. She didn't quite grasp the concept of winning tickets until she realized she could use them to buy candy. She ended up winning 100 tickets in one of the games.

After the arcade we went to a water park. She spent most of her time like this:

The next day we just played around the house and packed up. We were spoiled with great food, baby sitters and lots of stuff for the girls.

Silly faces:

Who wears it better?

My dad drove us half way back to the airport on Tuesday. We had about 30 minutes to stop in and say hello to Troy's Grandpa. He hadn't met Sadie yet.

I have no pictures of the rest of the trip, but these are some highlights:

-We met up with Troy's mom for a few hours because we happened to find out that we were in town at the same time.

-We stayed at my brother's new house because he lived closer to the airport. His poor wife was so nice to throw a BBQ at the house that evening we arrived, had 8 kids sleeping at her house that night - only 3 were her own, let me sleep in her bed while she took the couch and then she drove me to the airport the next day. What a great sister-in-law.

-We also met up with one of my long-time friends Jenn and saw her 3 kids. She came to the BBQ. We just happened to be in town at the same time too.

-If you've made it this far in the blog...The airline snapped the handle off my stroller. Um, is breaking 3/4 inch plastic pipe normal wear and tear? I will be writing the airlines about that one. At least it happened at the end of our trip on our very last flight and Troy was there to help me out.

Bedrooms and Painting

2010-07-14T17:22:00.005-07:00

I have never painted rooms before, but I really wanted to paint the girls' rooms. In the beginning, I didn't even know that primer was white and I had to watch a YouTube video about how to tape a room.

I had a great group of friends who helped me figure it all out, lent me supplies and even came to help paint. Thank you, thank you. I never would have been able to do it without them or my husband.

I had planned to have their rooms all done before Sadie came. However, she decided to make her entrance 3 weeks early, which put our plans on hold. Now, after 5 months, I feel like we are pretty much done.

SADIE'S ROOM: Light purple, animal theme, Troy installed a ceiling fan.

ERICA'S ROOM: Pink walls, multi-colored bedspread with matching decorations (still working on that), pink curtains, Troy installed a ceiling fan.

These Girls Crack Me Up

2010-07-09T20:54:00.003-07:00

(most of the time). Here are just a few random happenings I don't want to forget about.

SADIE

We love to go boating (although it doesn't happen nearly as often as we would like). I am not comfortable taking Sadie on the boat yet, so last time we went, our lovely neighbor watched Sadie for us. She has an awesome camera and captured this great picture.

Sadie is 4 1/2 months old now. She probably weighs about 13 pounds. I have her check up in a few weeks and can get more accurate stats. It's terrible, but I was so much better about keeping track of Erica's milestones. I even have playdates recorderd from Erica's first year. I am just now trying to catch up on Sadie and I only have about two things written down. It's not that those moments are any less important, its just that things are so much busier now. It really comes down to "should I feed you guys or write some things down". By the time evening rolls around, I barely get a blog post out now and then.

Anyway, as for this week, Sadie is taking 3-4 naps a day, she drinks about 6 ounces every three hours. She usually sleeps through the night (about 8pm to 6am). She is very smiley and laughs a lot. She loves to watch her older sister. Recently, she has started to demand a little more attention. Overall, she is just a very pleasant little baby and we are so happy to have her.

ERICA

What to say about this one?!! She gives me my highest highs and my lowest lows all in the same day. She is an extremely happy girl and loves to joke around if she is well-rested and in a good mood. Thank goodness, this mood is increasingly more present. She loves to dress up, play with princesses, Dora, doll houses, Barbie, etc. She has also discovered the art of picking her nose.

When she is tired or out-of-sorts, we have many challenges. She reverts to saying (meaning whining about) things we love to hear, "I can't stand up", "I can't, my legs are wobbly/slippery", "I can't...[something that she's been doing by herself for months]".

She starts dance and preschool in a month. I can't wait for her to become a little more independent and try new things. I am also anxious about how she will do with being away from mom. That has always been a challenge for her. Hopefully, the transition won't be too tough. Swim lessons has been like pulling teeth this summer. She has great teachers, but she has serious anxiety about new situations.

The other morning, I heard Erica talking in her bedroom, which she usually does after waking up. We peeked inside and she had the blanket over her head. She was singing, "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" and doing the actions over her blanket. It was pretty funny.

Last weekend I decided it was finally time to clean out our couch cushions. I was fearful of what might be growing there. It ended up being the best part of the day. Everyone should do this with their kids:
1. You find all sorts of their treasures that have been missing.
2. Your dog finds all sorts of treasures to eat.
3. There is a big pile of cushions on the floor that act as a great jumping pit.
4. In the process of returning the cushions to the couch, you can build a fort.

Some Erica quotes (Aunts - help with this one):

-If I ask her to do something, "I'm busy." Hmmm, where did she learn that one?

-"Hold you me." This is a progression from what used to be "Hold you", but she has since realized that "me" should be in there somewhere.

-"You wanna read me an Erica story?" She loves when we make up stories about her.

-"You wanna share with me?" Used when she wants something you are eating.

Favorite Foods: Milk, Lucky Charms, Raisin Bran, apples, fruit snacks, raisins, ice cream, chocolate, cookies, chips, beans, meat, cheeseburgers, hot dogs, Otter Pops, watermelon

Favorite Movies: Dora, Barbie movies

You Know You Watch Too Much Dora When...

2010-07-01T21:31:00.003-07:00

#3 - Your 2-year old can tell you the name of an episode within 5 seconds of turning it on.

#2 - Your mother sends you this for your birthday:

#1 - Your husband sends you on a Dora Adventure for your birthday celebration:

If you can't read the text, he sent me out to lunch by myself (no kids) at Beyond Bread. Then I got to have a foot massage. Troy's sister watched the girls while I was gone. It was an amazing birthday.

(All those dots are to designate the length of time Dora waits in silence after asking a question).

Thanks Sweetie. I love you!!! I had a great birthday.

"I'm so sad. I miss Sonja."

2010-07-01T21:05:00.002-07:00

We were so lucky to have Aunt Sonja/So-So/Troy's sister come visit us for a week. We got to boat, swim at the Cove, go on a million errands, eat a million Otter Pops (literally), jump on the trampoline, do slip-n-slide, play with Barbies/princesses/PlayDough, watch princess movies, etc.

On top of all that, she watched the girls so Troy could take me to the Melting Pot for my birthday and while I went on a birthday day out.

Needless to say, we miss her terribly. We had so much fun with her. The title of this post is what Erica said to me all afternoon the day Sonja left. I agree.

She brought princess presents for Erica and made cute headbands and a onesie for Sadie.

Amazingly, Sonja finally convinced Erica to put her hair up. I've been trying for years, but apparently the Aunt has the magic touch. Erica is already prepping for her ballet recital that is in 3 months.

Note: What NOT to wear to The Cove:

Barbie Had Her 50th Birthday

2010-06-28T13:03:00.000-07:00

A Sister's Intuition

2010-06-21T21:36:00.004-07:00

I had a sweet and funny post all planned out in my head. Now I am irritated with QuickTime and how it infiltrates every aspect of my computer, yet doesn't seem to offer any beneficial value. For example, you are not watching a cute video of the sisters together because of this stupid program.

Instead, I will just tell you a story I want to remember. A few days ago Sadie was acting really upset. She cried for about 2 hours straight. If this was Erica as a baby, that would be nothing out of the ordinary. However, Sadie hardly ever cries and is easily pacified. (Go ahead and hate me, I would). So, out of frustration of not knowing what to do, I asked Erica, "What's wrong with Sadie?"

She replied very matter-of-factly, "It's her ears." Duh!!! Why had that not occurred to me. She is just getting over a cold and experience with Erica taught us that every cold ends in an ear infection. I took Sadie to urgent care and she, of course, had an ear infection in her right ear. Thank you Erica for solving that mystery.

Since I am already irritated, I will add in the story about how I stopped by CVS pharmacy minute clinic on my way to urgent care. FYI - They don't see children under 18 months. And, to the nurse at the clinic, "NO my daughter is not suffering from colic, but thanks for the suggestion." Too bad a 2 year old knows more than you do.

Disneyland May 2010

2010-05-30T21:31:00.002-07:00

My parents caravaned with us over to California last week for a quick vacation.

Bad Idea #1: Take a potty training two year old on a road trip.
Solution: We brought a kiddie potty in the car and just had her use that along the way.

We stayed in Temecula the first two nights near my brother's house. We got to swim in their awesome pool and see their oldest daughter in a play. It was fun, but we didn't see nearly enough of them.

We spent one morning at the beach.

Bad Idea #2: Erica has issues with constipation, so we gave her a children's laxative before going to the beach.
Solution: She has a traumatic poop experience at the beach, but I will spare you the gross details. Let's just say her new Ariel swimsuit cleaned up great.

The next day we drove up to Disneyland. I had great plans to have her meet the princesses and make this the best day of her life.

Bad Idea #3: Take a potty training kid to Disneyland.
Solution: We waste the majority of the day to sit on various public toilets throughout the park (including the special little ones at the baby center) with no success. We return to our hotel for nap time and have two more accidents.

Bad Idea #4: Taking a newborn on Small World = Overstimulation
Solution: Cover her eyes for the entire ride.

After naps, the rest of the day went a little better, she loved the rides and got to meet her princesses. Sadie was a dream baby and caused no problems. However, we decided to forego Disneyland a second day as originally planned. We still had one more night in our hotel, so we googled to find out things to do in Anaheim

Good Idea #1: Adventure City - an amusement park specifically for little kids. Hardly any height requirements, close proximity of rides, clean and a 6th the cost of Disneyland.

Good Idea #2: Buy Erica a sucker to eat for the 8 hour drive home.

May 2010

2010-05-30T21:11:00.002-07:00

Erica and Sadie are getting along great. Way better than we expected. I know that can change at any minute, but we are grateful for this time. Sadie is turning out to be that perfect baby you hear about, but don't really think exists. She seriously only cries if she has a need - food, diaper or sleep. She smiles all the time and is wonderful. It's great we had her second because we really appreciate her.

Last week, my dad, mom and sister came to visit. It was the first time my sister has ever been to our house. It was so great to have them and we hope they come back soon. The girls loved having Aunt Natalee here (as you can see by Sadie's smile), and so did we. She just graduated from Idaho State - Congrats!!!!

Erica likes to put make-up on. Surprise, surprise. We usually do a light lip gloss and maybe some blush. The rest is pretend. One day we were pretending to put mama's make-up on. Yes, I do actually own some, I just don't use it. I heard Sadie wake up and went to get her. Upon my return to Erica, this is what I found:

Erica's latest thing is to have us tell her "Erica stories". We tell her stories about things that she has done, things she's going to be doing and make up the rest. Some of her favorites involve her wearing princess dress or touching rocks that turn into diamonds. I should write a children's book at this point - We tell at least 5,000 a day.

High Maintenance?

2010-05-28T15:37:00.002-07:00

Public Potty Training

2010-05-24T10:44:00.003-07:00

I'm sure Nancee will post a killer blog entry of our trip to California last week, but until then, you get an amusing Erica story from me. If you were in a certain public men's restroom in Temecula, CA a few days ago you may have heard this conversation occurring in the stall next to you:

Me: "Ok Erica, time to do some pee."

Erica: "Nope."

Me: "You don't have to go pee?"

Erica: "Nope."

Me: "Well, dada does." (I commence relieving myself)

Erica: "Is the pee coming out?"
I hold your hand and help it come out.
Do you like going pee, dad? It's your job - going pee is your job.
You're a good pee-er. I so proud of you.
(flush)
bye-bye, dada pee."

Yes, there were lots of other guys in the bathroom. And yes, I was laughing the whole time. You can probably tell from this conversation some of the methods we have employed in Erica's potty training.

Pet Peeve...

2010-05-15T21:19:00.001-07:00

...Sugar Cereals pretending to be healthy. I'm not eating Apple Jacks to get my fiber.

More Erica Funnies

2010-05-10T21:35:00.002-07:00

-Today I was trying to explain to Erica that we all have jobs. Her's is cleaning up, mine is doing the dishes and laundry, dad's is going to work and fixing cars. She is struggling with cleaning up her messes. After I explained all this, I wanted her to repeat it so it would sink in more:

Me: Erica, what is dada's job?
Erica: Going to work.
Me: What is mama's job?
Erica: Sleeping.

I gave up after that. We were laughing too hard.

-Erica is learning to put her pants on by herself. Today she ended up with both of her legs in one pant leg. Instead of getting frustrated, she started chanting, "I'm a mermaid, I'm a mermaid."

Happy Mother's Day

2010-05-09T23:03:00.002-07:00

I have been sick all weekend with a sore throat/possibly strep throat. I think there is nothing worse than being sick and having to take care of kids. (Except maybe being sick and having to take care of sick kids). Thank goodness no one else has caught it...yet.

Anyway, Troy has taken care of the girls all weekend, including getting up at night with Sadie. On top of all that, he let me take a nap today too. It has been a good Mother's Day.

Sorry for a million posts in one night. I find I am constantly drafting up posts in my head, but I never get around to blogging them. Hopefully, I can keep up a little better, but I doubt it. Time to sleep!!

Sadie: 2 1/2 Months

2010-05-09T22:46:00.002-07:00

I can't believe we've already had Sadie for 2 1/2 months. This time is passing so much quicker the second time around. I don't know if it is because we've already done it or if we are so much busier with two.

The newborn stage is not one that Troy and I really love. Erica was a tough baby. She didn't sleep well and wasn't very happy for the first 3 months of her life. Later we found out it was probably because she was starving. Anyway, we were expecting Sadie to be just as tough. However, she has turned out to be quite a blessing.

I've heard of people saying they had a baby that only cried if they were hungry. I didn't believe them. Well, Sadie is turning out to almost be that good. She really only cries if she needs something - food, new diaper, to be held, etc. She can usually be pacified if we put a bottle in her mouth or hold her. It's amazing. She has already given us some four hour stretches of sleep too. She is seriously such a great baby. I joke that the Lord gave us an easy baby because he wants us to have another one. (:

It is definitely tough having two babies, but we have been blessed with so much help from friends and family to make the transition easier. The hardest part is getting up in the night with Sadie and then not getting a chance to take a nap because Erica doesn't take one. Often I will put a movie on for Erica and try to sleep. She watches way too much TV right now and I feel guilty about it, but many mothers reassure me that I shouldn't. Thanks for the support. Any other ideas would be welcome.

We are enjoying the baby stage so much more than we ever thought we would. Sadie has a special bond with her daddy. It is so cute. You can already tell how much she loves him. Erica could have cared less about Troy until she was about a year old.

The latest with Sadie is that she started smiling. I love it!!! It just gets better from here on out.

Erica: 2 1/2 Years

2010-05-09T21:52:00.003-07:00

I'm often told by parents with older children to cherish and enjoy this time when my kids are young. They say it passes quickly and that I will miss it. I really doubt I will miss the newborn stage, but I would definitely like to freeze Erica at this point in time. She is such a joy in our lives and is so fun. So much has happened over the last 2 months, but I have not had time to blog about it. I will touch on a few highlights.

The biggest news is that she is potty training. (When does it switch to potty trained)? She hasn't had an accident in over a week, thanks to lots of candy and prizes. By the end of this process she is going to be obese and we are going to be bankrupt. She has not used a public toilet yet, so I'm scared to go very far with her.

She says the funniest things:
-She put her socks on by herself the other day and I said she was a big girl. She said, "I big, I wear Molly's earrings." (She really wants to wear earrings).

-I often tell Erica that if she eats her healthy food, she will get a treat. She has caught on and sometimes sets up her own limitations. For example, tonight she said, "I eat beans, I get chocolate milk. I drink chocolate milk, I get candy." Wish I got rewards for drinking chocolate milk.

-"I barefeet". Makes sense.

-After peeing on the big toilet, Erica said, "I pee on big toilet, like Mama, like Sonja, like Elmo."

-I was trying to get Erica to take a nap. This is a rare event now, maybe once every two weeks. I told her to try and close her eyes. She said in all sincerity, "I can't do it."

Erica is OBSESSED with Dora. She can even count to ten in Spanish (sort of) thanks to her. She is also constantly on the look out for Swiper coming to take her stuff. Anyway, there is a Dora book where she goes to the carnival. Ever since we read it, Erica was asking to go. Thank goodness the Pima County Fair came to town not long after that. Erica loved it!!! She wanted to go on all the rides. Her favorite were the ferris wheel, merry-go-round and big slide.

Erica used to just sleep with a pacifier at night and then she wouldn't ever need it the rest of the day. Well, around the time Sadie showed up, Erica has become addicted to her pacifier ("pacifoo"), blankie and stuffed animals (bobbit cat, purple panda, Barney and Carrots). A kitty has since been added to the collection. She carries these around with her all day and it is hard to convince her to get out of her pjs. I can't blame her. If she isn't in her pjs, she is either in a dress, swimsuit or the latest - naked!

Erica loves playing outdoors in the water, on the swings or jumping on the trampoline. Inside she loves to color, play with stamps and cut with scissors. She also loves to read books to herself, play with her princess collection, watch movies, bring me pretend food from her kitchen or help me make real food in the kitchen. The latest thing is to take off all her clothes and play with water in the kitchen sink. She has really learned how to entertain herself a lot better, which has been a great blessing for me since I don't have as much time to play with her.

Erica is brilliant about remembering things. I read her a new book a few weeks ago. She pulled it out the other day and remembered the name of the dog in the book. I didn't even remember there was a dog in the book. She is always doing things like this. I'm a little worried. I need to be very careful about what I say to her.

There are so many more things to write about, I think about potential posts all day long, but this is all I can remember at 11pm tonight.

Sisters

2010-05-09T20:52:00.002-07:00

No one told me about this, but one of the greatest joys as a parent is seeing your children interact. Erica has been surprisingly wonderful about the addition of Sadie to our family. Erica used to get very jealous whenever I held another baby, but she has done very little of that lately. She is always concerned about Sadie whenever she cries and she will ask where Sadie is if she can't see her. Erica is not too much of a help, but she has tried feeding Sadie a bottle and reading her books. She is good about putting the pacifier in Sadie's mouth if I can't get to it right away.

Sadie also loves her big sister. She is always looking at Erica and has given Erica the biggest smiles so far. She puts up with Erica touching (mauling) her and doesn't seem to mind Erica being in her face.

I hope things stay this way. I hear it goes downhill once the baby starts crawling. We'll see.

Troy's Family

2010-05-09T11:24:00.001-07:00

After my parents left, we were blessed to have some of Troy's family come visit. Both his parents came (Oma and Opa), his sister (Molly) and her husband (Brad). We had a great time with them and miss them lots. They helped so much with the kids, getting us some reception for our TV and putting new tires on our car. We are so grateful for all their help and hope they come again soon.

Sadie's Blessing

2010-04-04T17:00:00.007-07:00

Even though we blessed Sadie last week, we never got around to taking pictures. We decided to take them today instead.

Sisters (and a purple Easter bunny)

This is my favorite.

Aunt Molly made this beautiful quilt for Sadie.

How it really is when you take a photo shoot of a baby.

Oh wait, this is my favorite too.

Family Photo

Happy Easter and General Conference

2010-04-04T16:44:00.002-07:00

I love General Conference weekend. Nothing like listening to great speakers in your pjs. As a bonus, this weekend also happened to coincide with Easter. On Saturday we did an Easter egg hunt in our lovely backyard that Troy has worked so hard on.

Yes...Erica did pick out her own clothes.

Somehow, the Easter egg hunt also involved taking stuffed animals for a swim.

On Sunday, Erica received an Easter basket with all of her favorite things - toothbrush, floss, candy, nail polish and chapstick.

This is a typical moment at anytime while we are trying to listen to conference.

Happy Birthday Sonja

2010-04-01T15:07:00.002-07:00

Happy Birthday Sonja!!! I normally don't do shout outs for birthdays, but Sonja is so diligent about doing it for everyone else, I wanted to wish her a happy birthday today. She is the one down in front with the cat. (You know your family loves animals when they make it in your photo.) We love Sonja and wish she could be here. Hope you have a great day.

Mama and Papa Tutu...

2010-03-18T19:59:00.009-07:00

...aka my parents...aka SPOILED!!!!

My parents just spent the last week helping us adjust to a life with two children. We have been totally spoiled and we miss them tons. They made us dinner and dessert every night, took Sadie during the night, played with Erica during the day, sent us on dates (including snowboarding), did dishes and laundry, worked on our yard, etc. We have no way of expressing how grateful we are for all that they did.

Remember my dad just had surgery on the same day Sadie was born.

How many 62 year old women do you know that will jump on a trampoline?

Sadie saying, "Mama Tutu, time to wake up."

Mama Tutu put make-up on Erica every day. "Lucky you" as Erica would say.

For part of their visit, my parents took Erica to Phoenix for a few days to play with her cousin Lincoln. She had a great time as you can tell in the pictures. We really enjoyed some one-on-one time with Sadie too.

I just really liked these pictures.

When Tutus aren't around to help, this is how we get by-Erica reading her books and Troy playing Snood on his ipod while feeding Sadie.

Professional Pictures

2010-03-06T11:34:00.002-07:00

If you are not sick of looking at pictures of our daughters yet, check out this blog:

http://rey2cuteblog.com/

We had a professional photo shoot done and I am so happy about how they turned out. Of course, I am biased, but you gotta check them out. Reyna did an amazing job!! Thank you!!

More Pictures

2010-03-04T14:37:00.005-07:00

A visit from Auntie Melisa on Saturday morning. She is expecting any day now.

She brought me these beautiful flowers, which were lovely to look out when you are sitting in bed for 2 days.

Erica and Troy came to pick Sadie and me up on Sunday morning. Before we left the hospital, Erica had to sing "Popcorn Popping" to Sadie.

Some friends brought us lots of food to eat that night and had decorated our door. They even took Erica for a few hours to give us a break. It was wonderful.

When we got home, we had a Big Sister celebration for Erica. She requested a big, pink, frosted cupcake.

I even got a surprise mint cake. Yum!!!

On Tuesday morning, Erica showed a little more interest in Sadie and actually wanted to hold her. I didn't have time to comb her hair, but here is our first informal photo shoot.

Troy took the week off work and has been amazing Mr. Mom. He's been doing all the dishes, laundry, cleaning, etc. He takes the night feedings. He plays with Erica. Is there anyway I can keep him home every day? This week is going way too fast. Sadie absolutely loves her dad and he is so cute with her. I always catch him cuddling her whenever he can and jumping up to take care of her.

The problem is that I think she likes him better. On the two times where I've been in charge of Sadie on my own, she does nothing but cry. I was up for 4 hours last night with her to give Troy a break. As soon as he took over, she's been an angel ever since.

Troy giving Sadie her first bath on Tuesday.

Getting ready for a real photo shoot. We did that this morning. I will post a link as soon as they are ready. I can't wait to see them.

Sadie Jane

2010-02-26T19:13:00.006-07:00

You know all those pictures of women who have just given birth, yet somehow their hair looks nice, they have makeup on and they look fantastic. Well, this is what you really look like after giving birth:

Here's the labor story. I am 3 weeks early. Last night I started getting some Braxton Hicks contractions, but nothing serious. A few contractions woke me up in the middle of the night, but again it was not anything consistent. This morning, I couldn't walk around without feeling pressure and it was really uncomfortable.

7am - Texted my lovely neighbor to see if she could watch Erica all day.
7:15am - I've had 3 contractions by now. I tell Troy to get Erica over to the neighbor because we had to leave for the hospital. I wasn't sure if I was in labor yet, but with how fast Erica came, I wanted to be safe.
7:45am - We are on the road to the hospital. This is seriously the longest drive of my life. The hospital is normally 45 minutes away, but Troy was going over 85. He even got flashed by the photo-cop. Go Troy.
7:55am - By the time we got on the freeway, I knew this was the real deal. I layed in the back of the Jeep trying not to freak out like last time. I really worked on breathing and focusing.
8:15am-I am dying of pain and we are still not to the hospital.
8:25am-We arrive and I climb into the wheelchair. They wheel me into the room and I am begging for an epidural. That's all I want. Drugs, drugs, drugs. They check me and say it is too late. The baby was crowning and it was time to push. My doctor wasn't even there yet.
8:30ish-The on-call doctor breaks my water and it surprisingly feels better. For a moment.
8:35-My real doctor shows up and for some reason that makes me feel so much better.
8:45-After ten minutes of excruciating pushing, Sadie Jane came into the world and is beautiful.

She was 6 pounds, 10 ounces and 18 inches long.

I remember that when Erica was born, Troy had such shaggy hair. I've been meaning to cut it this time around, but when you are nine months preggo, you don't feel like standing on your feet for that long. So, here is the proud, handsome dada, unshowered, with shaggy hair and all.

Here she is with her eyes open. I had a horrible migraine after giving birth and it took at least an hour for it to go away. A little medication and food did the trick. I feel so much better this time around.

They are now letting family members under 12 come to the hospital again. Our neighbor brought Erica over for a few hours. I was surprised at how well Erica did with Sadie. I'm sure that will change soon, but she was super cute with her.

Helping to feed Sadie:

Thank you sha-sha for saving us!!!

Our first family photo.

My girls. Erica kept commenting on how pretty my hospital "dress" was and that I am going to marry a prince in my dress. I figure anyone that would marry me in this get-up was definitely a prince.

I love technology. I gave birth less than 12 hours ago and here I am at the hospital blogging about it. That is amazing.

When we phoned our parents to share the good news, we found out that my dad went to the hospital at the same time. He had surgery today and is recouping from some kidney stones. He seems to think he is in as much pain as I was. We will never know.

Thanks for all the emails, texts, facebook comments and phone calls. We appreciate all the love. We are all doing well, just tired.

Popcorn Popping

2010-02-15T21:08:00.005-07:00

BalloonMaker

2010-02-13T20:23:00.003-07:00

Troy has released a second application for the iphone/ipod touch. This one is called BalloonMaker. You can make and pop balloons. It's fun for kids, but it can be addicting for adults too. Check out the BalloonMaker blog at http://www.balloonmakerapp.blogspot.com/.

January Happenings

2010-01-31T19:54:00.002-07:00

We had a hail storm the other night and Troy and Erica went outside to play in it. There was actually enough ice for Erica to make her first snowman. She was VERY proud of this snowman!! I love that she is still wearing flip flops, but at least I put some mittens on her.

For some reason, Erica loves to sit under the table with the dog. They are becoming great buddies. She will even go outside by herself (i.e., without me) and play with Kayla for a little while. It is wonderful!!

Erica helping me make donuts. This was my first try at making them. They turned out a little greasy and ended up making me sick. I think I will just stick to buying them.

Stream of Thoughts...

2010-01-20T19:52:00.004-07:00

I am copying a post idea from a friend. I really liked reading about her thoughts for the day.

On living in Arizona:
-I love that it is the middle of January and we can be outside in sandals and short sleeve shirts.
-I miss living close to family.

On being a mom:
-How do you not love this?

-I stop loving it at about 3pm when she won't take a nap and I'm exhausted.

-I really stop loving it at about 5pm when she is super whiny and Troy won't be home from work for another hour or so.

-Should I really look forward to bed time with so much anticipation?

-Why do I feel so guilty putting a movie on? Am I just giving up on being a mom for a little while or is it okay to waste my child's brain so I can have a few moments of sanity?

On working:

-I know I just passed the bar and I'm trying to get set up to do estate planning, but is that really the best thing to be doing right before having a baby?

-I really want to put Erica in day care or preschool a few hours a week so I can have some time to work. Why do I feel guilty about that?

-Would working part-time really bring me satisfaction or do I just see it as a break from being a mom? Are those the same?

-What if I like working way more than I like being a mom?

On being pregnant:

-I am grateful to be pregnant, but I am so uncomfortable.

-Am I really ready to have a second kid in seven weeks?

-What if I really hate it?

-Am I going to get the house ready before she shows up?

On my spouse:

-Am I the only woman who feels like her husband has to work too much?

-I really shouldn't complain because he works less hours than most people I know. Then I just feel wimpy because I still complain.

-Why do I still want him to do things for me when he gets home, even though he's been gone for 10 hours and is sick? Why can't I be more self-sufficient?

-I wish I could hang out with him all day, every day.

And if you are just reading the picture captions, this is how I found Erica a few weeks ago after trying to get her to take a nap. Who knew a box of tissues could entertain her for an hour. At least I got to take a nap while she did this.

What a Difference a Shirt Makes...

2010-01-10T15:28:00.004-07:00

...and a pair of cute pants.

Beginning my 8th month

Another shot within 24 hours. Gotta love the flattering pjs.

Unmotivated

2010-01-05T19:32:00.011-07:00

Ever since returning to real life, I have been completely unmotivated to cook, clean, blog or pretty much do anything productive (if blogging counts as productive). Can I blame this on pregnancy? Ok. Thanks.

In light of my current mood, I am doing a massive picture blog for the last few weeks of December. I could break it down into smaller, creative and interesting blogs, but that is just not going to happen. Feel free to read each and every detail, skim through the pictures or "mark as read" immediately. Enjoy!!

To get us excited about our trip to Seattle for Christmas, Troy's dad sent us a snowboarding DVD. Troy got the best Christmas present when Erica kept asking to watch the DVD and pretended to snowboard. Of course, this could not be done without her permanent purple sidekick.

Erica and I tried to get the house clean before we left town. She enjoyed the mopping part. I think we did more dirtying than cleaning, however.

Erica finally caught on to what presents are. She was very excited to open one with Pooh Bear wrapping paper. Nice choice, Alice. We still have the book on her bed to read at night. She loved it.

We spent just over a week in Seattle and we're spoiled with so much family time. Erica had so many great cousins, aunts, uncles and her grandparents to entertain her. I don't think I've ever gone so long without her needing to be by my side. Should I be happy about this? You will notice in all of these pictures that she is rarely without some kind of princess dress on. It was an absolutely necessity to always be dressed up as a princess/barbie of some kind.

Even the dog, Ringo/Bingo helped to entertain. Yes, that big, white fluff in the background really is a dog.

Troy spent the first part of his vacation like this. He was working desperately to get his iphone/ipod game in the itunes store before Christmas. He barely made it.

Erica learned how to play "Hungry, Hungry, Hippos", but we are realizing that she is not the competitive type. She had more fun putting her marbles back in the center of the game so she could try to catch them again. She didn't care/understand about getting the most marbles. It was just cute to watch her play with her cousins.

Since it was so much colder in Washington, we let Erica open one of her presents early. A pair of mittens. We told her they were from a snowman. She insisted on hugging and profusely thanking the stuffed snowman sitting next to her on the couch. She really liked the mittens.

One night we all went to see the Christmas lights at the Botanical Gardens. They were beautiful. I was expecting to see just a bunch of lights in the trees. Instead, they created plants and animals out of Christmas lights. It was amazing!!!

We also spent 2 nights up at White Pass before Christmas. We stayed in this huge cabin, with a kitchen and big open room on the main floor and a ton of bunk beds on the second floor. Troy got to go snowboarding, I got to hang out in the warm cabin and eat and Erica got to dress up like a princess and play with cousins. I think we were all very happy.

Erica was scared to sled down a hill by herself and I wasn't about to hop on the sled with her and my big belly. So, we resorted to pulling the kids around the parking lot in a sled. They seemed just fine with that.

One of their favorite games to play was Super Barbie. This consisted of dressing up in princess dresses and knocking down the enemy with light sabers. It was a huge success.

She was also very excited about finally being allowed to jump on the bed.

We returned back to Seattle on Christmas Eve. We spent Christmas morning opening gifts at Troy's parent's home. Erica was thrilled to get so many great gifts. In fact, we haven't even opened the presents we bought her yet because she has so many other new and fun things to play with.

Here she is thanking Oma and Opa for her purple fairy Barbie. This doll has already entertained her for hours. I don't think I ever even owned a Barbie growing up. This was by my choice. We are so different, but I find her girly ways very cute.

Aunt Sonja made the girls these beautiful tutus and tiaras. Erica was, of course, very excited to get them.

Troy's mom is making me this beautiful quilt. I LOVE the colors in it.

We spent the last few days at Troy's brother's house. He has three kids who took great care of Erica. Since Troy got to spend time snowboarding, he sent me on a night out with his brother's wife. We went to this amazing crepe restaurant and stuffed ourselves. It was wonderful. We didn't come back until the kids were asleep.

ShatterBall!

2009-12-28T15:30:00.007-07:00

My first iPhone/iPod Touch app is (finally) done, and it's up for sale in the iTunes App Store. It's called ShatterBall. It's fun to see my game up for sale. I'm relieved Apple accepted it the first time around. I have spent a lot of time developing it, especially the past couple of months, which meant sacrificing sleep. I suppose that will just get me back into the sleep schedule that I'll need to re-adopt when the new baby comes. In the mean time, I can finally catch up on some sleep now that it's in.

Nancee has been a great support, and Erica has been a great beta tester (even though she hasn't made it past level 1 yet.) If you have an iPhone or an iPod Touch, check it out! Just search for "ShatterBall" in the iTunes App Store. If you buy it ($0.99), please leave a review!

The Worst Interview Question Ever

2009-12-14T16:04:00.008-07:00

This past weekend, Troy's sister, Sonja, and her husband, Jordan, came to visit. Jordan had an interview at a school in Mesa and they asked the following question. How you would respond?

"A dump truck pulls up to your house and dumps the biggest pile of paper clips you have ever seen in your front yard. The driver pulls away and you have no way of getting a hold of him. What do you do with all the paper clips?"

I am glad my future does not rest on such silly questions.

We were so glad to have them visit. Erica loved playing with them. We even celebrated Jordan's birthday while they were here.

As you can see, she LOVED her Uncle Jordan. We hope he gets into the school here.

We've also been prepping Erica for Christmas. She is catching on quickly and already loves to open presents. We just did a gift exchange with the neighbors and she was lucky enough to score some Dora dolls and fairy movies.

Happy December!!!

2009-12-01T17:08:00.002-07:00

I love this time of year. It's filled with good food, seeing family and vacation from work. We spent Thanksgiving in Phoenix with my brother's family, my parents and my sister. I want to hire my sister as a nanny. She read books to Erica and put make-up on her. Erica LOVED her!!

Not the greatest picture of us, but the only one I have of Troy and me together. Notice no toddlers in the picture? We strategically planned to meal to happen during nap time. It was a wise move.

Erica enjoyed snuggling with her Grandpa Tutu.

We stayed at my dad's brother's house. He is currently working as a mall Santa. Doesn't he look realistic? Erica was convinced that he was the real Santa.

Blogging Books

2009-11-17T20:34:00.003-07:00

I've been thinking about what I want for Christmas and I've decided to print my blog into a book. There are a ton of websites out there that claim to do this, but I turn to my fellow bloggers for real advice. Have any of you done this yet? Were you happy with the results? What companies/websites do you recommend? I would appreciate any input.

And, in other news, here are some more pictures of Erica for those who are interested:

Halloween:

Zoo Day:

It's Another Girl!!!

2009-11-03T21:51:00.000-07:00

20 weeks:

A Child's Prayer

2009-11-03T19:57:00.003-07:00

I just put Erica down and she said her first real prayer. I have to write it down before I forget...

Heavenly Father,

Thank you [for] dada,
Thank you [for] mama,
Thank you [for] Erica,
Thank you [pause...I point at my belly to suggest "baby". She looks at it and decides instead to say] Barney,
Thank you [for] Kayla (our dog),
Thank you [for] food,
Thank you [for] milk,
[I try ending the prayer, but she insists on the very important last line]
Thank you [for] princesses.

Dance Off: Troy versus Erica

2009-11-02T21:56:00.002-07:00

Should I be Worried?

2009-10-30T11:40:00.002-07:00

So, this is what Erica does when she goes to play at the neighbor's house...

Top 10...

2009-10-25T15:20:00.003-07:00

Signs I Might be Pregnant Again:

10. I got special permission to bring snacks into the bar exam and to sit next to the bathroom.

9. When I tell Erica I am going to the bathroom, she says, "Mama, Bleh!!" to mimic my throw up sounds.

8. I could eat more food on the cruise than I ever have in my life. I've never gained a 1/2 pound a day, for 4 days in a row, before.

7. My regular clothes stopped fitting a lot sooner than the last time I was pregnant. (That could be because of number 8).

6. I no longer want to sleep in, even when I actually can, because it is too uncomfortable to lay down anymore.

5. "Rolling out of bed" has taken on a literal meaning.

4. Everything stinks.

3. I decided I like to throw up in the shower better than in the toilet.

2. What's a belly button?

1. I have an ultrasound scheduled on November 3rd to find out what we are having.