July 2011 - Making Dinner

So I'm super behind and its going to take a few posts to catch up. These pictures were taken back in July...

I am still amazed at how early Lily started playing pretend.  By 8 mo old one of her favorite things to do was pull herself up on her kitchen and play with the dishes as if she was making something!

The only "food" we currently have for the girls' kitchen are plastic eggs from Easter. lol. But Lily LOVES playing with them and putting them in the pan to cook.

I think one of the reasons Lily has learned so early on how to play pretend is because she watches Crystal play with herself a good portion of the day. Crystal LOVES "making dinner" for everyone.

Crystal wants Lily to play with her so much. She loves it when Lily sits at the kitchen with her stirring the latest concoction

 She even tries to sit at her level so they can play TOGETHER!

 Lily eating her egg.

 Both girls playing with the dishes.

Lily 9 Month Stats

So I know its been a super long time since I blogged, and I'm WAY behind AGAIN! Between moving, family reunions/trips, and fun at the pool, I haven't had time to sit down and blog! :-) Maybe sometime in the next few weeks I'll find time to sit down and get a few posts done. But today its all about LILY!
We took Lily to her 9 month well check today (and to get her 6 month shots... we were a little behind because of sickness, but finally all caught up!). She is healthy and growing perfectly! The doctor was surprised at how close she is to walking already. He didn't seemed concerned about it, but she's already losing weight from being so mobile which doesn't usually happen till about a year. He just told us to make sure she has more FAT in her diet! That's right... you read correctly ... the doctor doesn't think my chubby baby is fat enough! LOL! He even suggested in a month or two to start putting BUTTER in her oatmeal just for the extra fat! He wants us to slowly introduce eggs, cheese, and meat and then make it her main source of food rather than baby food because the baby food has very little fat in it to help her gain weight to keep up with her mobility.  He also did an iron test today which came back very low. He said he thinks the anemia is just because she's breastfeeding and nothing serious. She will be taking an iron supplement until she's old enough to get it from other foods.

Here are her stats and a few cute pics of my gorgeous 9 month old:

Weight: 18 lbs 8 oz 35%

Height: 27 inches 30%

Head: 41.6 com 5%

 Crystal and Lily rocking on the rocking horse!

Crystal has started to play more with Lily. She can't wait till she can walk and play Ring Around the Rosie with her! In fact she's tried a few times already... it never ends well. LOL.

FAMILY PICTURES 2011

We have discovered that its too hard (especially with 2 small children) to take our own family pictures, so my really good friend Julia Fullmer agreed to help us out and take some pictures for us!

FAMILY

 

LILY

CRYSTAL

 THE GIRLS

Easter 2011

Yes I know I'm behind! Easter was a long time ago. We were in Idaho Falls and had a great time!

Friday night. Putting her colored eggs in her basket for the Easter Bunny to hide.

Grandma Gordon and Crystal showing off their colored eggs.

Setting out baskets Friday night for the Easter Bunny to fill!

The Easter Bunny came Saturday Morning. He even remembered Lily this year! :D

Crystal looking through the stuff she got.

Crystal showing Lily the toys the Easter Bunny brought for her.

Easter Egg Hunt at Grandma and Papa Cook's House

Still looking for eggs!

Resting for a minute. This Easter Egg Hunting is hard work!

By the end of the day she was a pro at it. She searched for eggs that the Easter bunny hid Saturday morning, then more hunting at Grandma Cook's and AGAIN that night at Grandma Gordon's house.

Here is a video of some of the events.

 Crystal's not happy in this pic, but these are the dresses Grandma and Papa Cook got the girls for Easter! Aren't they cute?

 These are the girls after our trip wearing the PJ's Grandma and Grandpa Cook got them for Easter.

This is a picture of the girls with their cousins. These are the dresses Grandma and Papa Gordon got them for Easter! I'm LOVING having fun dressing them the same now that we can get matching clothes in Lily's and Crystal's size.

The Good Samaritan

The most wonderful thing happened to me Thursday night. I went to pick up a pizza from Little Caesars to take to Ty at work which is a huge task when you have 2 small children. When I was little it was okay to leave the kids in the car for 2 minutes while you ran in to get a pizza, but now you get the police called on you, or worse someone tries stealing your car and taking the kids with them. Needless to say I went into the pizza place with my arms already full. I ordered a special they had for a pizza, crazy bread, sauce, and a 2 liter soda.

I had all if it and Lily in my arms and decided I was just going to have to trust crystal to walk to the car without holding my hand (don't worry I was totally prepared to drop the pizza if she ran in front of a car). Almost immediately though, Lily started grabbing at the sauce and crazy bread and I could see only disaster could ensue. I was desperately looking for a place to set things down to save the sauce that Lily now had in her grasp when a lady who was waiting for her order came over and asked if she could help. I gladly accepted. I was just going to have Crystal hold the sauce so lily couldn't get a hold of it, but the very kind lady offered to walk out with me to the car. I was so grateful for this lady's small act of kindness! It seems silly that a woman walking marinara sauce to my car would make my whole day, but it did!

(I know I promised pictures last week but our internet is too slow to upload them right now. We are moving to a different apartment in two weeks and will have better internet, so I'm going to have to wait till then to do it. :D)

Wronged At Walmart

At the risk of sounding like a child tattling on someone who cut in the lunch line, I just HAVE to share what happened to Ty and I in Walmart Saturday night. But before I do I'd like to share a few tips to avoid this EVER happening to you. 1. Avoid Utah all together. Honestly, I realized this could happen anywhere, but many Utahans act in person the same way they drive: Completely inconsiderate with a serious ME attitude. (I hear this is only the case between Salt Lake and Provo - and believe that could easily be true, so I guess avoid the salt lake-provo area ;-)) 2. If that isn't possible, as in our case, DON'T EVER go to Walmart on a Saturday night. 3. And finally if you really MUST go to Walmart for that last minuted Sunday dinner item or Saturday night ice cream, NEVER EVER EVER EVER go to the Walmart in Orem. In fact it would probably be a good idea to drive a few extra miles to the Lindon or Springville Walmart WHENEVER you need to go to Walmart because the Orem Walmart is possibly the worst Walmart I've ever encountered (that's a whole other story though).

By the time we got what we needed and headed to the register at Walmart Saturday night, it was already eight thirty. Less than half the lanes were open. The lines were HORRENDOUS. Lily was SOOO tired. And Crystal was grumpy. So we made our way to a center lane that seemed to have the shortest line. Our spot in line landed us right next to the $5 DVD bin. The people in front of us, the people in front of them, and Ty and I were perusing through the movies as we waited in line.

Ty stayed standing behind the cart and would push it forward as the line moved. When it got to a point where the line had moved everyone but us away from the bin, Ty pushed the cart forward leaving about a 2-3 foot gap between the cart and the lady standing in line in front of us. We were still looking through them hoping it would help the time pass (it had already been 5-10 minutes) when a college student in a handicap electric cart (with 4 of his friends in tow) squeezed the nose of his cart in front of us. Ty and I just stood there jaws dropped staring at them but they refused to even look our way- even after Ty pushed the cart right up behind the electric cart they were using. The kids cart didn't even fit in the gap Ty had left, but as soon as the lady (who used to be right in front of us) moved forward he drove his cart completely in front of us! All 5 people didn't even look back.

I tried very hard not to be upset and tried desperately to believe they really had no idea what they had done. I thought well maybe the kid on the electric cart really didn't feel well and needed to get home, or that maybe somehow it really didn't look like we were in line. So I looked at the people behind us in line. They were - of course - digging through the DVD bin... in about the exact same spot we had been when this happened to us ... with - shockingly enough - the same gap between them and us. I stepped out of line to get a different view of the situation. Unfortunately it didn't make me feel any better. They definitely looked like they were in line. And if I thought it were questionable, they were close enough to the line that I wouldn't DARE get in front of them without asking if they were in line first. So it was true. These five students had really just pulled in front of a young family with 2 small GRUMPY children (who does that?!?! REALLY!?!?!).

We'd already been in line for a good 10 minutes and it didn't look like they had a lot of stuff anyway, so I calmed myself down thinking that it was only going to take 2-3 more minutes TOPS and it wasn't going to kill us to just wait it out (Which was really hard by the way. Its one thing when you get cut off when driving, then the car is gone in seconds and you move on. But standing in a long line at the store, we just had to sit there and stare at them for another 10 minutes... or more. Yes that's right ... more than 10 minutes.

As it turns out (once it was their turn) most of the stuff being bought belonged to 3 girls in the group. They rang it up as one transaction, but then wanted to use 3 different debit cards. So the cashier had to figure out what the 1/3 of the total was and the girls began sliding their cards. REALLY? (At this point Lily had decided she'd had enough and was SCREAMING in her carseat. Ty had taken Crystal elsewhere because she was NOT going to stand in line any longer!) The first girl paid and the second girl's card wouldn't work on the machine, so the cashier took it to run it on his end. As he was sliding the card he dropped it behind the keyboard and down into the neck of the stand. SERIOUSLY? THIS CAN'T REALLY BE HAPPENING? The cashier couldn't reach his hand down far enough to get it. Neither could anyone else in the group and yes they ALL tried. Even the "sickly" one in the handicap electric cart who didn't seem handicap or sickly at all as it turns out - NOT EVEN A LIMP! He went and sat back in his cart while the others figured out what to do. (This made me feel more upset because I couldn't blame it on him not feeling well and needing to go home anymore).

This is when I heard his friend ask him (remember Lily was screaming still) if it was worth it leaning his head over to point in our direction. I heard him respond something about the line ... I don't know what he said exactly. I was too shocked at the fact that they had indeed known what they had done, but had been above standing in line like the rest of us and waiting their turn! Wow! Again I will say it: REALLY?!?!?

Well after about five more minutes and some squeezing hands through different opening in the register, one of the girl's finally managed to get the card out. The second and then third girl paid. Then the other two bought what they had in two different transactions and it was finally our turn - 5 transactions later than it really should have been (Lily still NOT happy!)! It was like having FIVE people cut in front of us in an already LONG line!

From the moment it happened I realized it wasn't going to do any good to feel anger towards them when it was just making me feel horrible. I'm sure they left the store without giving the situation another thought. My hurt feelings weren't going to affect their lives in any way, just mine and mine alone. So yes I have told you my story of how I was once greatly wronged at Walmart. And yes it has made me feel much much better (I don't know why ... but ... well ... it has ... lol). Now I just hope next time it happens I will handle it with a better Christ-like attitude and avoid the bad feelings all together.

Sleep?!?! Who needs sleep? Not Lily...Or so she thinks!

Okay, so I have gotten extremely far behind on my blogging. I've been struggling keeping up with the housework lately let alone having time to blog! The girls have been keeping me on my toes and Lily has been especially clingy lately. She's gotten to the age where she likes to play with her toys by herself, BUT I have to be sitting right there next to her while she does it. Why? I have no idea, but I remember Crystal going through the same phase. Lily also hasn't been sleeping well the past few weeks. She wakes up around 2-3 am and screams and throws fits till 5 am. Ty and I have been tag teaming so we've both been losing sleep (not that anyone in the house can sleep with her screaming like that) Ty has been Superdad and gets up with the kids in the morning after long nights with Lily while I sleep in. But sleeping longer doesn't really seem to make up for the lost hours at night. I wish we could get her to understand that a dark room means its time to sleep, NOT time to play! She'll figure it out eventually though. But until then we have decided we need to separate the girls so they don't keep waking each other up.

This is how we've decided most nights are panning out these days:

Crystal makes whining noises in her sleep (she's done this since we brought her home from the hospital. Super noisy sleeper). The noise eventually wakes Lily. Lily thinks it must be time to wake up and play. Mommy/Daddy goes in to give Lily her binky/comfort her/ tell her to go back to sleep. Mommy/Daddy goes back to bed. Two minutes later Lily begins to SCREAM because she doesn't want to sleep, she wants to play. After 5 minutes of screaming, Crystal is finally awoken to the banshee noises coming from Lily's crib (Crystal is a VERY deep sleeper, but even she can't sleep through Lily's screaming). Mommy/Daddy goes back into the room to comfort Lily and try to lull her to sleep. Screaming continues. Lily joins Mommy and Daddy in their bed (this worked for a few days but not anymore). Screaming continues. Lily is put downstairs in the living room to scream at her hearts content. Screaming continues for a good 15-30 minutes. Daddy goes to give Lily her binky and comfort her. Lily calms down. She spends the rest of the night between Mommy and Daddy in bed. Mommy and Daddy don't sleep very well. THIS MUST END.

So we are moving in a month to a different apartment that has three bedrooms. We are hoping she will sleep better without having Crystal in the room waking her up at night. This isn't the only reason we are moving though. The owner of our duplex doesn't care for it well. After 4 leaks in the roof over the winter, the owner finally replaced the roof but refuses to check for mold in the ceiling/walls. Immediately following the roof replacement, the kitchen began flooding from the foundation. Instead of fixing the yard which is the cause of the problem, they chose to run the water to the neighbors side of the duplex. In my mind its just delaying the inevitable instead of solving the problem but whatever. The bathroom has needed work done on it since we moved in, but NOTHING has been done. We are tired of our pleas being left on deaf ears. So we will move. We LOVE our neighbors! We LOVE the location. We LOVE having our own backyard and not having people above or below us. But we have decided its worth giving it all up to have slightly more decent living conditions. The new apartment will have people above us and I hope they LOVE children because they will be hearing some screaming now and then... especially when doomsday comes. And I'm not talking about the end of the world people ... okay well I guess it depends on who you ask. To Crystal it might be the end. She's on her last binky and when it breaks/gets lost, she will have to be ALL grown up and start sleeping without it. YES that's right my 2 1/2 year old still has a binky. We are working on it...