Emma's Birthday Celebration with the Lavenders!

We celebrated Emma's and her cousin Tanner's birthdays this past Sunday. Emma had a great time and was able to figure out the present thing this year. It was a lot more fun than her last birthday when I had to open everything for her and she really had no idea what was going on. This year she got right into it the second she saw a present. As she opened her first gift (a Dora doll for the tub) she said, "Wow." She then immediately took it over to her cousin Tanner to show him, so excited to show it off. She then realized there was more and with each gift or card she opened she then took it to a different person in the room to show them what she got after saying wow. Emma had a great birthday. She received two snowman books, the Tigger movie, a sticker book and lots of stickers, gold fish crackers, and a stuffed snowman. Thanks to all the Lavenders for giving her a great birthday. We Love You!.

The Birthday Girl!

Wow!

The Birthday Boy - Cousin Tanner!

Tanner really did ask for a Snuggie - so he got one in his favorite team color.

He even modeled it for us.

Singing to the birthday kids - Emma was able to blow out her own candle this year without lighting her face on fire but due to a slow camera I missed it. Good thing I have another try this Sunday.

Emma got her very own cupcake which she then proceed to lick the icing off first before eating the cake part.

Because it was her birthday celebration she was even allowed to have two bowls of ice cream.

Cupcake Good!!

Happy 2nd Birthday Emma!
We Love You!

Life with a Toddler

Life with a toddler is never boring. On Sunday morning Emma woke up with red raised bumps on her legs and it was very clear she had been itching them because her skin was broken in places where she had scratched so hard. We kept her home from church and put anti-itch cream on to see if that would solve the problem. When she woke up from her nap that afternoon they had spread to her arms and face. So we quickly headed to the insta-care where we found out she had hives.

We think it is from something she ate. We went to a friend's open house on Saturday and Emma very quickly spied the cookies and ate some up. I believe one of them had macadamia nuts in it. So that might be the allergy but we're not sure. The doctor also suggested going back to the baby detergent and other things like that because she also has some eczema. Benadryl quickly made Emma feel better after we forced it in her mouth.

So that was Sunday. Yesterday after work I had some phone calls to make. During one of my calls I discovered Emma in the bathroom. I had left the door open by mistake. She had a cup full of toilet water. Normally I would only have been disgusted if she had drunk any but our toilet has an auto bowl cleaner in the tank. I don't think she had drunk any yet but I called poison control just to be on the safe side. They were very nice and told me not much chemical is released out of those and to just give her some milk to drink and watch for any signs of sickness.

I'm happy to report that nothing came of it and the hives are gone. Yeah! Now if we can just survive the rest of the week we should be good.

Baby Lavender #2

IT'S A BOY!!!

We had our 20 week ultrasound on Tuesday. This boy was not shy at all. The technician started at his head and was checking to make sure everything looked good and as she got closer to his abdomen his little boy parts popped up. She quickly moved off them and then made sure we wanted to know the gender before she went back because there they were. She didn't have to hunt at all. She said there is no question that this is a boy. We are very excited and happy that all is well with him and can't wait for him to join our family.

What a cute profile!

We were a little shocked that it was a boy though. We just think girl all day long at home because that is what we have. So in the back of my mind I thought it would be another girl. We have had to adjust our thinking a bit and get used to the idea. We we found out, Quinn and I looked at each other and said, "What do we do with a boy?" We don't know how to raise a boy but we will learn. I've been told they are easier in some ways (no accessories - you can even get away without combing their hair) and hard in other ways (very emotional in their toddler years, more than girls). I guess we shall see.

Everything on the ultrasound that look interesting was his umbilical cord only had two parts with blood flow instead of three. The technician and the doctor both said this is nothing to be concerned about it is just something they want to be aware of and will watch his growth a bit closer. The doctor said he will continue to do ultrasounds at 28, 32 and 36 weeks to check his growth, normally they don't need to do ultrasounds that late in the pregnancy. He will also hook me up to a fetal monitor while I'm in the office for my appointments started at 36 weeks. He doesn't think this is cause for a alarm he just wants to error on the side of caution.

Overall it was a very exciting and overwhelming day. For those of you who live in Utah and watch the news it was also the day that the Silver Eagle refinery had their explosion. This refinery is just two blocks south and just on the other side of the tracks that run behind our house. The explosion happen just as we were walking out the door to go to our appointment. It was the loudest boom I have ever heard and it shook the whole house. I immediately thought a train had crashed and Quinn thought a plan had crashed. We ran out side just in time to see the mushroom cloud of smoke started to dissipate.

We quickly exchanged cars with Quinn's Mom who had come to watch Emma. We threw the 72 hour kits in the car and asked her to take Emma to her house. Just this past January we were evacuated because of a fire at this same refinery. We didn't know if we would be able to get back into our house after the appointment. All is well though with us. They did not have to evacuate us, it doesn't look like our house suffered any damage. Quinn still needs to check on a few things. We only had two things fall off the wall. We were very lucky compared to our neighbors just 1-2 blocks south of us who suffered damage to their homes as the news has reported.

They say things come in three's. Well after our hearts got a jump start that morning and the good news of a healthy baby boy I decided to head to the grocery store. I set my purse on the seat got Emma out of her car seat. She immediately spotted one of those carts with the cars on front and wiggled out of my hand to make a beeline for it. As I lunged for her the car door shut on me. Me purse along with my keys, wallet and cell phone were all locked in the car. This is the first time this has happened to me. We quickly went inside and after a few calls my father-in-law got home and quickly came up and rescued us. Thank you, Thank you Craig.

What a day!!

Halloween!

Our pre-carving picture. If you're wondering where Emma's shirt went I took it off because she is sucking on a sucker. I was not able to persuade her to take it out and smile for the picture.

This is Emma's pumpkin, she was a little upset at first when I cut into it and then after she would not get any closer.

Our cutie, watching Quinn and I carve our pumpkins.





The finished products. All the adults that came with their kids trick-or-treating thought Quinn's pack-man was so cool and had to explain what it was to their kids.

Our cute but very tired Ladybug who had been dragged to four places and then taken up the street for a few houses. She definitely got what was going on but she let her Dad know when she had had enough. At the last few houses that they went to she kept saying, "Carry, carry."

Once home and after some dinner she had a great time running to the door everytime someone came, excited to see the kids. She also modeled this bike helmet she fell in love with at a garage sell because it had Elmo on it.

Emma decked out in all her Halloween gear!

The Zoo!

After leaving Emma the weekend before we decided to spend some quality time together the next weekend. After we all got our swine flu shot which Emma was very upset about we headed to the zoo. As soon as we got there she forgot all about her aching leg. It was a beautiful day and turned out not to be so cold! We were very excited to see all the baby animals that has been born since we were here last. The baby elephant, giraffe, tigers and snow leopards.

Petting a very soft chinchilla.

A four year old orangutan. He was cute playing all over his pen.

Watching from below.

Emma pretending she is a monkey - climbing on everything.

Getting up close to some kind of cat.

We were unable to see the tiger last time we were here - it was too hot. This time we got to watch as momma tiger paced back and forth in front of the fence. Her cubs were playing just below on the hill.

Emma kept on asking for the lion drinking fountains!

Still climbing - Emma didn't spend much time in her stroller that day. All she wanted to do was get out and walk at her pace, when and where she wanted. If was hard because she is so good at wiggling her little hand out of yours and if your not careful she is gone in a flash. I have now decided that yes I will be one of those parents who puts their kid in one of those backpack leashes. At least at the zoo I won't be frowned upon because every other kid I saw that day Emma's age was already in one.

We were very excited to also see the wolf this time. She is so pretty and Emma loved her. She loves signing the word wolf and howling.

Finally in the stroller!

The penguins were also not out last time we were here. Emma actually tried climbing up this fence to get to the pool.

Bugging Dad!

Baby Zuri - she is so cute. We stayed and watched her play for a while.

Playing at the playground - finally a place Emma could run free.

A fun bridge to fun across a million times!

What a cute girl!

Excited for the Train Ride!

Getting a little tired after a long morning.

You have to play with the big wet ball on your way out - you just have too!

Activi....ugh!

I blame Jamie Lee Curtis for the whole thing.

I see her all the time on TV, all bubbles and puppy dogs and smiles on her little green couch, just daring anybody to speak ill of their digestion. That's when she strikes. She's so effervescent about her digestive health that you actually believe she divides her life into pre- and post-Activia eras. And even though all she did pre-Activia was star in several blockbusters and garner multiple award nominations, and all she's done post-Activia is land a role in commercials selling Activia, we're led to believe that our lives are somehow unfulfilled unless we've tried this magic yogurt. Like if we haven't pooped with Activia, we just haven't pooped. Add to this a series of digestive health conversations between anonymous relatives which I had the misfortune of overhearing, and I guess you'll see why when Laura brought home a case of Activia from Costco, I didn't laugh her right out of the house.

(In the interest of a harmonious marriage, I will point out that Laura bought the Activia only because Costco was out of Yoplait, and that Laura was not one of the participants of the TMI digestive health conversations I overheard.)

I didn't have the slightest idea whether my bowels were good bowels or bad bowels. I didn't know if they needed anything from me, or if they were doing just fine on their own. The only thing I new about "regular" and "irregular" was that "regular" are the clothes I buy at Target, and "irregular" are the clothes I buy at Ross. But I kept getting these mental images of Jamie Lee wagging her finger at me, like I was somehow letting my colon down if I didn't start eating that Activia...and fast. In fact, Jamie Lee had me so brainwashed that I didn't even notice when Laura stopped eating the Activia due to some adverse effects on her innards. I just kept eating that yogurt and waiting for my world to change for the better. Darned if I was going to throw that yogurt away. It was a whole case! And since Laura dropped out of the Activia challenge, and we didn't think it would be a good idea to give a yogurt with some made-up substance in it to a toddler, it was up to me to eat the rest of it on my own.

After a few days of eating the yogurt, I didn't feel any different, and I kind of walked around with a smirk. "That's right, my bowels don't need any artificial enhancement." Especially anything called bifidis regularis. No way is that a real thing. Like Chevron with Techron, Certs with Retsin, or The O'Reilly Factor with Bill O'Reilly, it's just a made-up thing that can't possibly do anything, right? I mean, anybody can give something a fancy name. Computora keyboardicus. There. I just did it.

After awhile, though, the effects of the Activia were unmistakable. It started with a few ominous rumbles, but before I knew it, my small intestine had declared war on my large intestine. I thought for sure that this was just the "shock and awe" portion of the campaign for inner health, and that surely within a few days, my insides would sign some kind of intestinal peace accords, draw their boundaries at the Ileocecal sphincter, and exist again in the spirit of peace and harmony. But no! I felt like a washing machine on a permanant spin cycle. And as I ran (or, more accurately, kind of slid with my knees together) towards the bathroom at work, at home, at 7-11, or wherever else I was when my lunch decided to yell CHARGE!, I picture Jamie Lee Curtis again. Sitting there, with her legs tucked back, rapping with her friends. I too, was sitting quite a bit, with my legs tucked back. But I wasn't rapping, I was...well, I wasn't rapping. And there were certainly were no friends, unless you count the Super Friends. I did do a lot of comic book reading during this time.

That's when my image of Jamie Lee Curtis began to change. She was no longer effervescent, sitting on a comfy couch. She was standing in front of a background of flames, with red light cast on her, her head thrown back by her maniacal laughter. And she paused only to look at me and call me a sucker. Then more laughing.

If THAT'S what it's like to be regular, then call me irregular any day.

One day I noticed the rest of the Activia in the garbage can. I called Laura to formally protest her throwing out food like that, only to find that I'd been eating expired Activia for 2 weeks.

Now let's never talk of this again. And curse you, Jamie Lee Curtis!

A weekend get away!

Quinn and I were able to get away for three days thanks to our parents. Earlier this spring we has planned to visit Mesa Verde National Park with my family but we had to cancel because Emma and I had horrible colds. So Quinn and I finally made plans to go back and left Emma with her Grandparents. I hear she had a great time playing with her Aunt Carly and Aunt Annie and didn't ask about Quinn or I once.

I missed her a lot but was very glad we didn't have her along. Quinn and I had a great time but we spent the three days either in the car or hiking. So it would have been a very different trip if she had been along.

Friday morning we headed South. On the way to Cortez, Colorado which is the closest town to Mesa Verde we decided to stop and visit Hovenweep which is a National Monument on the Utah Colorado border with Indian ruins.

These people built there homes on the very sides of a ravine and even into the side of a huge boulder.

It was great stop and enable me to get out and stretch my muscles for real. My doctor warned me that I really need to get out of the car every two hours which is usually not a problem because I usually needed a bathroom break anyways.

This one is called Hovenweep Castle because it was the biggest and had a round tower.

Quinn was able to get away from work at a busy time by bring some of his work with him.

The next day he spent the whole day in Mesa Verde.

Our first tour was of Cliff Palace. Isn't it amazing that something like this is still around!

Cute Couple!

We were able to climb down one side pretty easily but to go out the other side we had to climb up narrow large stairs and two ten foot ladders. Very fun.

We just had time for a quick lunch out of the back of our car before our next tour.

Our next tour was of the dwelling called Balcony House. I couldn't get a picture of it because you start directly above it. After a short hike down we then had to climb up this 32 foot ladder on the side of the cliff. Please don't tell my doctor!

We also climbed in through tight spaces and up shorted ladders.

These kids are trying their had a grinding corn which is what the women spent a great deal of their time doing.

To get back up top we first had to go through a tunnel 18 inches wide and 12 feet long. In you go!

Here's Quinn coming out of the tunnel.

A view of Square Tower House!

Quinn coming out of a Kiva (underground sacred place).

Spruce Tree house was one we were able to walk down do by ourselves and explore a bit.

On our last day we decided to visit Four Corners while we were in the area.

Well this is it, a marble slab with flags surrounding it in the middle of now where.

We also had to stop and do some letter boxes on the way home. We found one near Newspaper rock. Amazing!!

We looked for another as we hiked up a ways but never found it. We did find more Petroglyphs though.

Thanks for a great weekend Quinn!!