Worth Every Penny

We just got home from a nice, long weekend in Scottsdale. Here's how it all went down:

Stevie was running with French Toast Mafia in Ragnar Del Sol (you may remember that I did it in 2010). He left on Thursday evening and I was off on Thursday and Friday for the Rodeo so Friday morning the girls and I headed up to the Phoenix/Scottsdale area.

After dropping Pancake off with Grandpa Steve (thanks, Grandpa!) we headed straight to the Phoenix zoo. We had never been there before and were ill prepared for its size but we had a great time!

**They really do have real animals at the Phoenix Zoo but Shyla was much more interested in the fake ones. She liked to look at the real animals for about 4 seconds each then continue on and she is in a phase in which she thinks every bird is "going to get Shyla."

Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures but my friend Rachel and her family came to our hotel on Friday evening for dinner and catch-up time. It was a lot of fun! I don't talk to Rachel as often as I should, but when we get the chance to get together it seems as if no time has passed.

The thing about vacationing with kids is that you have to plan for plenty of down-time at the hotel. We had a great room and plenty of play-time there.

There is also a playground right down the street! We went there twice!

Harper is becoming a really great crawler!

Then on Saturday afternoon we met Stevie and FTM at the finish line!

Shyla was a great helper all weekend! She liked rolling her suitcase in from the car and she discovered that she likes to push Harper in the stroller.

On Saturday evening we took a walk and ended up at a campfire where they were roasting marshmallows and making smores. Shyla wasn't sure what to think about them because they were so sticky and we didn't give Harper any so she had to eat her toes.

After the smores and playtime with the giant chess-set, it was bath-time which results in Shyla wearing the robe that was in the room. Then home on Sunday afternoon and time to get ready for the week ahead.
Shyla continues to make me laugh with the funny things she says.

• At the playground I said, "what's up buttercup?" which led to her saying, "what doing butter mommy?"
• In the elevator I told Shyla, "I sure am proud of you" to which she replied, "I proud of you too, Mommy."
• When I told Shyla that we needed to eat a good breakfast for energy, she said, "good for my bones too."

Vacations, especially with kids, can be expensive and stressful and exhausting. But, I truly had the time of my life with my girls and I wouldn't change a minute of it!

It was truly worth every penny.

What's been going on....

We have been super busy around here. But even when we are busy we are having fun!

Ash Wednesday

Today is Ash Wednesday. It is also the beginning of my Rodeo Break!

After picking up the girls today we went to St. Pius to get our ashes.

Harper and I left with ashes. Shyla left with the name of yet another priest added to the list of priests she has yelled at.

Harper is 7 Months!

Today my baby-girl is 7 months old.

She is the happiest baby ever.

She smiles and laughs, grabs everything you're holding and tries to put everything in her mouth.

Speaking of her mouth, there are no visible teeth yet but she's definitely working on something in there. As a nursing mom, I feel she can wait as long as she'd like!

She is crawling-ish. She scoots and army-crawls and rolls to get wherever she wants to go, and I think she'll be crawling for real within the next few days/weeks.

Her eczema has cleared up but we are still lotioning her up each night. She sometimes sleeps all night and sometimes she wakes up to eat. Sometimes I like it when eats because it's nice one-on-one time for us.

Harper is doing great at daycare but I miss her so much each day and I hate dropping her off. I love each and every moment with her and I cannot believe it has been 7 months already!

Valentine's Festivities 2012

On Sunday morning Stevie and I ran in a Valentine's Day Couple's Relay at the UofA. My parents went with us to watch the girls while we ran. It was fun (and short)! Following our run, Shyla participated in the kids run (while holding onto her candy).

Meanwhile my dad got some good Harper time. I think he also spent a great deal of time telling both girls that's where they'll be going to college.

Then it was time to get ready for the actual Valentine's Day. Although I lead a crazy, hectic life (did you see my last post?) I made the insane decision to make Shyla's valentines. Monday night, as I was gluing and tying ribbon and hole-punching fruit snacks, I was wishing I had spent the $5 to buy the store-made ones, but they turned out pretty cute.

On Tuesday, Valentine's Day, my girls both wore red and actually posed for a picture together.
In other news, it snowed at school on Valentine's Day. The kids were wired on sugar and then it snowed which made it nearly impossible to conduct class. I was glad when 2:50 rolled away it was time for dismissal. That's when my phone rang and I saw "daycare" on the caller ID. Uh oh! Shyla had a temperature of 101.8. I immediately left to get her. I gave her some tylenol and we drove to grandma Barbara's house where she threw-up in her cupcake. She spent today with my mom and had a great day!

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone!

Just Keep Swimming

My life is super busy right now and I feel overwhelmed.

But it's amazing how all those thoughts fly out the window when I get to see and snuggle my babies after work.

I just keep telling myself to, "just keep swimming."

Harper's 1st Ear Infection

Does this look like a sick baby to you?

She certainly didn't look ill to me.
For the past few weeks we had noticed that Harper had a rash on her belly and back. It was sometimes worse than others and it stopped at her diaper. I (wrongly) assumed it was a rug burn because she spends a lot of time on her belly and she is trying to crawl and scoot and move in anyway possible.

When they started questioning it at daycare I grudgingly made an appointment for her to see Dr. Terry. I didn't want to be "that parent" who goes to the doctor over ever scratch and bump.

Within seconds of looking at the rash (which was actually not as vivid as it sometimes was) he diagnosed it as baby eczema. Each night since we have washed her with Dove soap then lubed her up until she's a slippery baby. The rash is gone. Bad mommy. I should have known better.

While we were there, though, Dr. Terry did a quick exam on her. Turns out her left ear was infected so she is now on amoxicillin and we are on high-alert after everything we went through with Shyla's ears. Silly baby; she never ever told me that her ear hurt! Bad mommy. I should have known.

But, seriously, isn't she just the cutest?

Our 2nd trip to see the ducks

Grandpa Steve really likes to walk around at the Sweetwater Preserve and we like to go with him. Last weekend we went for the 2nd time, before heading over to his house for dinner and playtime.

From Facebook

A few status updates that make me chuckle and that I don't want to forget.