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

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

A Sister's Intuition

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

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

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?

Public Potty Training

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.