Roughin' It!

I survived the camping trip. We all did! It actually went a lot better than I imagined/ dreaded. The weather was beautiful during the day but almost freezing (literally) at night. Lou stayed warm in her tights, onesie, three layers of fleece pajamas, fleece hat, gloves and a few blankets. I got cold in my double layer pajamas, hat, and mummy bag. I am not sure how Curly survived. She refused to wear more than one layer of pajamas and refused to sleep in her sleeping bag. After she fell asleep I tried to cover her with her sleeping bag and blankets, but she kept kicking them off. The only time she had a fit about being cold was outside the tent during breakfast each morning when she refused to wear her coat. Curly and Lou (miraculously) only woke us up once each night. I have to mention that we have an embarassingly large tent. We got it super cheap and didn't realize it was super huge (it's a 12 person tent!). The nice thing about this is that Lou slept in her porta-crib on one side of the tent and Curly slept on the other.
Things were great during the day - 70 degrees, beautiful sunshine and scenery. Curly was a real trooper on hikes. If you've ever been to Zion you will know that it is pretty impressive that she hiked all the way up to the Upper Emerald Pool by herself. I was very impressed. Lou didn't particularly enjoy hiking because it meant she was strapped into the carrier. She much preferred crawling in the dirt and eating sticks and leaves.
I have been to Zion several times, but my husband has just been once. My grandpa grew up spending his summer in Zion while his father did research there. Fisher wanted to see some of the sights and places where grandpa used to play. So we visited the ghost town Grafton where grandpa's mother taught school. We did several short hikes and played in "Wiley Grove" which is a canyon with a stream running through it. The grove is just above the employee housing and my grandpa spent a lot of time swimming and making dams in the stream.
I guess I would say our trip was a success, (The adjustment afterward has been a bit rough with the girls) I don't know that I will be pushing Fisher to go again any time soon.

Grafton, UT (My mom painted a picture of this that hung over my grandma's fireplace)

Emerald Pool Hike - Curly walked right under those chains. AAH! Gave me a heart attack!

The Girls and I at Wiley Grove

Fisher and Curly playing in the stream

Canyon Overlook Trail

The Best of Times...

A lot of good, encouraging things have happened since that discouraging week! Let's see... Curly has often started staying in her bed at bedtime. The secret was playing music on a CD for her to listen too... I am not sure why we didn't try this sooner. She has also become more succesful with potty training. She's been pretty good since day one, but now is really good! Yay for Curly! And she has been kinder to her baby sister. She still bites her, but not as often. I think she has just developed and grown up a lot in the past two weeks. That sound wierd but is really true! I found them playing together like this the other day. Curly was sharing her castle with her sister. Makes my heart leap!

Lou has started crawling! The official day was one day before she became 8 months old, so her (soon to be) physical therapist dad is so proud that she crawled at 7 months : ) I just thinks she looks so cute as she chews on her tongue and smacks her lips while she focuses on moving all those limbs in sync. Aren't babies amazing!

My handsome husband celebrated his birthday last week. He is so great. Two of his best qualities (in my opinion) are his creativity and enthusiasm/dedication. He is a wonderful father and so helpful in not just playing with, but caring for our girls. We had fun celebrating his birthday, especially Curly. I think she enjoys birthdays more than the person who is actually celebrating and keeps talking about her birthday (it’s not until July)… This is Fisher’s birthday ice cream, maybe she is confused by the three candles?
Finally it is Spring Break!! So being the kind wife that I am, I decided I would do whatever Fisher wanted to (he is the student getting the break). We are going camping…aaargh. I love camping, but I am not sure if I will enjoy being in a tent with a baby and a toddler who both currently have night owl tendencies… So I probably won’t get any sleep for the next three days… wish me luck!

On the Other Hand...

It is pretty worthwhile when a sweet little voice says, "Am I your little sweetheart mommy?" and a chubby faced baby blows raspberries and smacks her lips while eating mushed green beans.

Frustrated!

I haven't been doing as much blogging as I would like because by the end of the day, when I finally have a few minutes to actually do something I would like to do (not that I don't like being with my kids all day), I am too exhausted to do much of anything...

This is mostly due to our spirited red-head Curly who has recently begun the practice of bullying her sister for no reason - biting, hitting, hair pulling, eye-poking... she doesn't need to be upset about something, she'll just do it whenever! That along with bedtime battles (mentioned previously), potty training, tantrums, and the fact that she is two years old are a bad combination. It doesn't help that 8 month old Lou is still waking up at least once each night and currently has a terrible diaper rash making her cranky (which is unusual for her).

I hope it doesn't sound like I am complaining, I accept that these challenges are the side effects of being a parent (and I wouldn't trade being a mom for anything). Mostly I am just venting and wondering if anyone has some stellar advice for me.

Headlines

In the news...

New and Old Cousins are United!

Lou got to meet her new little cousin, just three weeks old!
Curly loved playing with one of her favorite friends and cousin! They are exactly one year apart and are finally starting to play nicely together most of the time. This picture was taken after dinner at "Old Spaghetti Factory" in Spokane. Amazingly they were very well behaved and chowed down on all the yummy pasta.

Busy Mom Finds Time to Celebrate!

This is the scene that greeted me when I arrived home from a 10 day trip on my birthday. Thoughtful Fisher stuck every hat we own in the ceiling tiles with a sign reading, "Hat's Off for Lainey's Birthday!" He also made speech bubbles for all our framed pictures with a conversation about how "young" I am getting.
This is one of the three yummy birthday treats people gave me (Not to mention the Craigo's "Cookie Monster" I had with my family in Rexburg). This delicious Russian "Bird's Milk" cake was made by my sister. Fisher also made me a lemon birthday cake and my good friend Ashleigh made me a yummy huckleberry cheesecake - oh the calories! But it is my birthday, right! And I "don't eat the WHOLE cake!"

2 1/2 Year Old Girl Uses the Potty!

That's right, yesterday was "P-day." It actually went really well...only one accident so far... Curly thinks being diaper free is great and keeps jumping and dancing all around the house enjoying her new freedom.