Discovery Park

Going down to Emily's house for babysitting has always been nice but it's even better now that the girls are getting older and so much more independent. We're always trying to think of new things to do with them to keep them entertained (and to tire them out) and Emily discovered this gigantic park just a few minutes drive from her house.

Seriously - how gigantic is this park? It is actually split up according to age: 2-4, 5-7, 8-10 or something like that. But the little signs didn't stop both girls from going all over the place. It was actually a little difficult keeping track of Lucy at this place and especially as the day went on, it got busier and busier and there were just a ton of kids there.

So Emily did Lucy's hair in a pony tail which looked cute from the back...but not so cute from the front. Her hair is just too short in the front so it flies away all over the place. 

Emily made sure to bring tons of snacks and lunch for the girls. 

They had these darling little hives in the little kids section. I love miniature places. 

And the swings are always a big hit (but the most effort for mommy). When is it that kids learn to pump on their own?

Both girls kinda matched each other in their dark jeggings, turquoise tops, and pink shoes (although Lucy ended up taking off her hoodie because it was a lot warmer than we realized). Lucy will NOT wear jeans - she will only wear leggings so I will have to invest in some jeggings for her since all the clothes she was wearing were borrowed from Olive. 

The biggest hit of the park for a ton of the kids (and especially Olive) was the tire swing. There was constantly a line there but it seems like a good thing for the kids to learn to be patient and wait their turns. Even Olive seemed to understand. But the tire swing went up so high and so fast that it made me nervous. Olive actually fell through at one point but it was when it was slowing down. Overall though, the girls did a really good job holding on. 

 Little puppies always make for good entertainment.

Lucy has discovered something new at Auntie Emily's house. Cold cuts. Specifically, ham. She loves it. Ham & cheese sandwiches are the new favorite lunch item. We don't keep cold cuts in our house very much but I guess I will need to now. 

She actually just ends up pulling out the ham and cheese from the bread. Here she has stuffed the entire thing in her mouth - I was afraid she was going to choke. She ended up spitting a huge mouthful out on the ground. 

Too bad we couldn't bring the dog over to eat it up for us. 

After we dragged the girls away from the park, literally kicking and screaming (okay, that was just Lucy that was doing that) and they had a nap, we headed out to Target so I could use some of my coupons that were expiring. Unfortunately, they didn't have what I was looking for but Emily treated the girls with some Dora puzzles from the dollar section. 

Saturdays can't get much better for a two year old.

Heidi's Birthday Party

I always love having an excuse to get together with friends and family and birthdays are one of my favorites. We were especially excited to help Heidi celebrate her birthday last Friday. Even though we (Lucy, Brandon & I) aren't technically related to Heidi (she is the sister to Emily's sister-in-law, Kim, who is married to Adam [Jared's brother] - got that?), we still consider her like family and see her often at family gatherings.

Heidi is one of the most generous, thoughtful persons I know so I had to think long and hard about a good birthday present for her. And what is better than baked goods - specifically yummy, chewy cookies!

We stopped by Ruby Snap to pick up a dozen cookies (and had a coupon to get a free one for me and Lucy to share on the car ride down). If you have never been there, you should go. These aren't just any ordinary cookies. First of all, each type of cookie is given a sassy, kinda old-fashioned name so it is like it has its own personality (I personally like Audrey although I've never tried Vivianna and that sounds very delish - check out the menu HERE). And they have new flavors coming out each month so there is always something new to try. To be honest, I don't go there very often (even though it is conveniently located on the way to my Target) mostly because these cookies are very indulgent. You seriously only need one or even just a half to satisfy your sweet tooth. Even Lucy only ate half of her cookie before giving it to me to finish. But it is fun and the flavor combinations are unique and don't just overpower you with sweet, but with more complex tastes (like bacon or a touch of chipotle!). It is best to get several flavors to share with people so you can try a bunch without being overloaded.

Everything about the store is just so sassy to me. From the cookie names to all the pin-up pictures, and the cute boxes. It reminded me of Heidi. I hope she liked them!

Kim organized the party and brought some lovely flowers. I love taking pictures of the presents all wrapped up so pretty!

The girls were in heaven with each other just playing. Not sure what they were doing up above - one legged downward facing dog?

 
Kim organized a breakfast-dinner. Best. idea. ever. Here she is finishing up the food preparations.

Kim also brought balloons for the birthday girl but Heidi graciously shared them with all the nieces for entertainment purposes.

It is so hard to capture a picture with all three girls happy and smiling. But since they all had their own balloons, it made it a little bit easier.

Heidi is the life of the party. She provides so much entertainment for the girls and they are just drawn to her. She always has some fun game to play that is so simple but the girls are thoroughly charmed.

Here was the delicious spread: fruit salad, potato latkes, french toast casserole, and tomato & prosciutto frittata. The potato latkes with sour cream and applesauce was my favorite. I had never had latkes before and was pretty apprehensive about the sour cream and applesauce toppings but it was so good!

These girls just couldn't get enough of Auntie Heidi.

 And what would a birthday party be without a little crying?

The girls of course, had to help Heidi open her presents.

We ended the night with monkey bread birthday cake.

Happy Birthday Heidi!

My yoga goal

I'm usually not one for goals. I didn't make any New Year's resolutions - mostly because my goals are much more general in nature. But this week has been my first full week back to the gym for over 7 months. I would go to the occasional yoga class during our renovation, but not nearly as consistently as I had before and I was going to a different gym with different teachers. So now I am back to my old routine and I am LOVING it. I still have plenty of little projects to do around the house but I'm not putting the gym on the back burner anymore. I'm a little sore from jumping back in (especially with the cardio/weightlifting classes that I did none of) but I feel really good. And I missed all my old classes and instructors so much.

On Monday, I made it to yoga with one of my favorite teachers and we practiced this:

Source

That my friends, is a yoga headstand. And that is something that would usually really intimidate me because I've just never been good at headstands or handstands and I have that ever-present fear of just falling over flat onto my back. But once my teacher instructed us on how to get into this position, I figured I might as well try.

This is how you do it - all core strength and pressure on your forearms instead of your head and neck. (Source)

And let me tell you, I was thisclose to getting it. And it felt really good. Not just the trying and almost achieving part but the actual pose itself. So I made a goal to myself that I would get this pose. Because I know I can. I'm going to practice at home with Brandon spotting me (even though I could have asked my instructor after class but I was a little embarrassed) and with Lucy safely out of the way. I've just been loving the new things we've been doing in yoga - it's so challenging but it all feels so good. Who knows, maybe I can even master this pose for my next goal which would be very difficult for my because I have really weak, inflexible wrists.

Crow Pose (source)

And this one next:

Bird of Paradise - it's harder than it looks with the bind. (source)

And holy crap, I'm not sure if I have ever even seen this one before:

Grasshopper pose (source)

Hopefully, I will have some cool picture of my own to post on my blog like that crazy mom in the picture above. At least reading from her blog as I was searching for pictures, it took her a while to master grasshopper. Wow, what a rock star! Here is just one more to make you go, "whoa".

(Source)

Visvamitrasana pose - I've never seen that in my life. And some people think yoga is just stretching. Sounds like the mom above is just doing P90X2.

Anyway, we all have to start somewhere. I'll start with mastering a headstand.

Planning a Princess Birthday Party

After Olive had her birthday party earlier this year, Lucy has been really excited for her own birthday party coming up in April. I think that this will be the first year that she actually "gets" it. Since Olive had an airplane themed birthday party, we've been asking Lucy what kind of birthday party she wants. Let's see if you can guess what kind of birthday party she wants.

I'll give you a clue - it is a animated princess with red hair.

I bet most of you guessed this girl:

Source

And you would have been right a couple of weeks ago. All Lucy wanted was a mermaid party (specifically Little Mermaid party, but we were trying for a more general theme).

But lately, the answer is this:

Source

You know who that is? It is Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. The main character from the Hayao Miyazaki film which is about a princess after the fall of industrialized civilization who flies around on a glider over toxic forests with giant insects trying to save her kingdom. I do think the story is a bit more interesting than the Little Mermaid but how the heck am I going to base a birthday party around that. Any ideas? Like pin the eye on the giant ohmu?

That my friends, is an ohmu. A giant insect from the toxic jungle. Source

Maybe I was a little too ambitious in trying to have a theme for Lucy's birthday. Perhaps it should just be food, cake, and presents with some balloons. No theme. Or maybe just go back to original mermaid theme. I don't know what I was thinking - I'm too lazy to put so much work in to a birthday party that is just a couple of weeks away. We'll see what I come up with...

Long Morning

This morning, Lucy woke me up and reminded me that her ear hurt. After giving her some ibuprofen last night, she slept through the night just fine and woke up happy. But I had a feeling that I should make an appointment with her pediatrician. But when I called the offices, I found out our pediatrician was no longer there and had moved to a different clinic. Fortunately, the new clinic she relocated to is actually a little closer to our home than the old one but still a bit of a drive. Lucy's pediatrician is in the same area where we used to live in West Jordan but since we moved to Salt Lake City, I haven't bothered to switch doctors because I want her to have consistency (she's been with this pediatrician since she was born) and we only go to the doctor a few times a year.

The clinic is brand new and not busy at all so I was able to get an appointment for 10:00 am. Lucy insisted on choosing her own clothes this morning (as she always does) and this is what we ended up with:

The same shirt she wore yesterday because she didn't want to change it, her bathing suit, and her new pink leggings over it, finished off with her snow boats (even though the temperature is lovely today, if a bit windy).

Since the pediatrician didn't have Lucy's records since they were at the old clinic, I reminded her that Lucy had chronic ear infections before she had tubes surgically inserted in her ear but that one of the tubes had already fallen out of the ear drum but was still in the ear canal and the other ear had a bead stuck in the ear canal that hadn't made its way out the last time we checked. I told the doctor that Lucy's right ear had been hurting last night and when the doctor asked her which ear was hurting this morning, Lucy pointed to her right ear again (so grateful she has such great comprehension! and that she is consistent).

Lucy was so good for her appointment - very obedient and listened well and she didn't seem to be scared at all. I didn't even hold her - she just climbed on to the exam table all by herself and listened to the doctor and I didn't have to do a thing at all. When the doctor looked in her ears, she confirmed everything I said. The tube in her left ear had fallen out of the ear drum and was still hanging out in the ear canal but it would make its way out eventually and just fall out.

She didn't see any inflammation at first in the right ear, but that is because the little bead that Lucy put in her ear sometime last year and the tube were still stuck in the ear canal with a whole lot of ear wax. She had previously tried to remove the bead from Lucy's ear canal last year but couldn't get it out so she said to just let it work its way out. But this time, she tried again and after pulling out gobs of ear wax, finally got the bead and tube out. Lucy barely flinched. But the pediatrician said that all the ear wax was probably affecting Lucy's hearing so she should hear better now (which is good to know because I swear, Lucy never seems to pay attention to what I'm saying unless I'm practically yelling and I thought she just wasn't listening). After she removed everything and she could see clearly, there was definitely some inflammation which meant she had an ear infection so we picked up a prescription.

So here is a picture of the ear wax/bead/tube mess and all the extra wax she had to pull out just to get to it. I wish I had something next to it to show scale but it was pretty small (I love the macro on my camera!). The doctor laughed when I pulled out my camera but I'm sure she must understand us bloggers. And I personally think it is pretty interesting. She even asked if I wanted to keep it but I declined. It was pretty gross.

Such a trooper!

 All the nasty ear wax was just wiped on the paper.

Very excited to get some medicine (which was pink after telling the doctor it was her favorite color). She even got to choose a free prize on the way out.

I'm so grateful we have such good health insurance and medical care. I think the doctor was grateful we chose to stay with her instead of choose another doctor from her old clinic too so that is nice to feel that gratitude. Lucy will be back in just a few weeks for her 3 year appointment too so it will be exciting to get all her stats (although they did weigh her at this appointment and she is still tipping the scales at just 26 lbs).

After Lucy's appointment, we headed to Target to get her prescription filled and then I picked up just a few things I had coupons for. Actually, I legitimately needed to get more painter's tape so it worked out. And then Lucy was starving because it was lunchtime so we stopped a McDonald's again on the way home because I had a coupon for buy one get one free chicken McNuggets and that is what Lucy requested (well, she wanted some chicken). Not the healthiest option but convenient and a nice little reward for Lucy being so good this morning.

And since I wanted to be extra productive this morning since I couldn't paint my closets like I planned, we stopped by the car wash to use a Groupon voucher but it didn't work. I was pretty annoyed and sent my complaint off to Groupon when we got back home. Lucy fell asleep in the car ride home and probably really needed it after a semi-rough night of sleep, a long day yesterday, a long morning today, and a new infection to recover from. But it was still a reasonably early nap for her (1:00 pm) so I could get this post up to inform you all and hopefully, get in at least one coat of paint for my two closets this afternoon!

I think this will be the second ear infection she has had in just over a year since she had her tube inserted. Let's hope she doesn't get so many more that she needs a second surgery to get them reinserted. But the best news from all of this is that she won't need these anymore:

Those are her custom made ear plugs she has needed to wear every time she went swimming or took a bath or shower. That is at least one less thing to worry about (even though she was pretty good about wearing them, but still liked to take them out - and one fell down the drain once). Good riddance!