Tienna's First Nightmare

Tienna woke up at 4 a.m. crying for mommy.  I went into her room expecting that she just woke up and couldn't get back to sleep until I re-started her music (that happens sometimes...ugh...).  But then she said she was scared :( oh, my poor baby!  What could my little angel possibly be dreaming about?

Then she said, "Dora and Boots scared me!" "Dora scary!"

What the......Really?

Who on earth could possibly be scared of DORA!  She's the most gentle character on the planet!  She never even gets cross with Swiper.  And, Tienna loves Dora!  I worried that she would never want to watch Dora again...but the next morning she was right back at it.  So I guess she wasn't too traumatized. 

Done Nursing

That's it.  We are officially finished nursing.  Makes me so sad...she's my last one!  I'll never nurse another baby as long as I live.  I certainly had to document it.


Tienna nursed longer than the other two.  We made it to 21 months.  Mostly because I wasn't ready to close that chapter.  Neither was she.  In fact, she still asks for it, a week later.

Naughty Kids

Have you ever seen such misbehaved children?  Attacking a defenseless elderly man?  It looks like the small one is the ring-leader.

I blame the parents.

(this video is over a month old...but it had to be posted.)

Toot-nack

We are loving Tienna's baby talk.  Yesterday we had soup for lunch and the kids were getting a kick out of her saying "nummy poop."

I got a video of her talking about her fruit snacks...er, toot-nack.

Once a Princess, Always a Princess

Today Jenalyn said the sweetest words I've heard in a long time: "Mom, can we buy me a new tiara?". 

I was so sad when she out-grew princesses.  It's hard for me, watching her grow up.  But all it took was an invitation to her 4-year old cousin's "Royal" birthday party, and she immediately started planning what she would wear.  She's so excited!  Honestly, so am I!

Memorial Day 2012

Jenalyn made an interesting comment the other day while we were watching a show on TV.  She noted that all the Memorial Day commercials showed people having fun, partying, playing at the beach, etc.  She said, "Isn't Memorial Day about remembering the people who died?  Shouldn't they all be sad?"

Interesting that she picked up on that.  I love my girl.

At any rate, we did have some fun today.

We picked up Jenalyn's "favorite friend" (from her school class) and we went to Skate World

That was kind of a bust.  Quinne fell too many times and wasn't enjoying herself, and Corbin only used his skates to be tall enough to watch the "demo mode" on the arcade games.  Jenalyn was the only one who really liked skating (that's MY girl!)  So we didn't stay long.  We went to the mall and let the kids play at the little playground there.

Afterwards, we took Quinne home and then Grandpa John treated us all to dinner.  Towards the end of dinner Corbin and Tienna started to get antsy so I took them outside to play in the fountain.  They had so much fun!  And Corbin got "soakin' wet!" (I have a video, but it won't upload *pout*)

On our way home from dinner we stopped by the cemetery to remember our beloved Grandma Jan.  We miss her so much.  Oh how she would love seeing these kids grow.  I wish they had at least been old enough to form more memories with her before she left this earth.  Every single day we feel her physical absence in our lives, though we know she watches over us.  Can't wait to be with her again.

THIS is what Memorial Day is all about, right?

Dancing Queen

Tienna LOVES music.  When she hears it, she can't stop herself from gettin' down!

The other day we were in the grocery store parking lot and a car drove by with loud music and she started to boogy on the spot.

I know my opinion might be slightly skewed, but I think she's a pretty awesome dancer.

Easter Outtakes

Here are a couple more pictures from Easter that just HAD to be blogged:

Up until yesterday, my kids had no idea Silly String existed. Sad, right?

I asked Jenalyn to smile so I could take her picture. She gave me the most beautiful smile...and just as I clicked, she switched to this face! HAHA! Jokes, on YOU, sis! I'm posting this for the whole world to see :) I love my sugar bug!

Did someone say SUGAR?

I love this face! I love this dress. Just love everything about this picture!

Tienna has a proximity alert for Corbin. Whenever he comes near her, she SCREAMS! Well, usually. This apparently was a happy exception.

I saved the best for last! I told Tienna she couldn't have anymore candy. She has the greatest pouty face.

Easter 2012

Highlights from our awesome Easter weekend

• Grandma's Easter party on Saturday: lots of family, an Easter egg hunt, delicious food, and Jenalyn and I got to shoot a real bow! (Corbin was sick, so just me and the girls went this year. AND, I didn't have my camera, only my phone for pictures. *hohum*).

(Jenalyn thought this was the coolest!)

• Tienna's new shoes.

(I know, they're just shoes, but they make me smile!)

• Coloring Easter eggs.
  
• Planting jelly beans and seeing lolly-pops in their place the next morning! (amazing, right?)
• Bright-colored Easter Baskets.

• Silly String. It was fun for about a minute (which was about as long as it took for the kids to empty their entire cans!) ... then we had the joy of cleaning it all up. *LOL*
  

• New Easter outfits.

(This is the dress I made for Jenalyn for Easter when she was 18 months old. I was so happy that it fit Tienna this year!)

• MORE family time. Dale, Nancy, Miles, Will & Grandpa John came to our house for Easter dinner.
• I made the entire Easter dinner. This was the first big holiday meal that I have ever made by myself! I was really proud. I love cooking for people! Ham, twice-baked potatoes, green beans with bacon, tossed green salad, rolls, and deviled eggs. Oh, and jell-o salad that was forgotten and never made it out of the fridge *ugh*. Aunt Dale brought some delicious cake to celebrate Grandpa John's birthday, a week late ;)
  

Little Dancer

Tienna loves music. She's been boppin' to the beat for as long as I can remember. And every once in a while she'll sing me a sweet little song.

Corbin loves music too and every morning (he's in afternoon kindergarten), he turns on his music and races around the house. Tienna sees this as an opportunity to perfect her dance moves.

I've been trying for weeks to get a good video of her dancing. I have to be stealthy, because if she sees the camera, she rushes to see what I took a picture of. So I hid it behind my laptop and she didn't catch on. (I know. I'm brilliant. Although the quality of the video suffered because my location was limited.) Every time I'd look down at the camera...instead of watching her dance, she would yell at me! Check it out, it's pretty cute!



(This awful, make-me-pull-my-hair-out music is the soundtrack from Mario Galaxy. *UGH* Seriously! Who thought it would be a good idea to make a soundtrack from a video game! It drives me insane! And it's Corbin's favorite right now, so we listen to it around the clock.)

She's growin' up!

Tienna is starting to say simple words. She's taking after Corbin. He was an early talker too. Not Jenalyn - I don't think she was saying real words until she was about 2-1/2. But she baby-babbled like no one else!



It's so hard for me to get pictures of her these days because she's always moving. Especially when she sees the camera! She'd rather see what's on the other side of it than sit and say "cheese" (OH! That's another word she says - but only in reference to the kind you eat...NOT for the camera!) But I did manage to get this picture of her in the cute barrette Aunt Rachel made for her for Valentines Day (while she was strapped into her seat, so she had no choice but to sit still).
I love this little girl so much.

Lil' Sickie Lou

Tienna started throwing up Sunday night and hasn't stopped :( Today is FRIDAY! It does seem to be slowing down, but she's still pretty weak and wimpy. My poor little sweetie. I took her to the doctor on Tuesday and again this morning because she didn't seem to be getting any better. They took a urine sample...via catheter - you can guess how much she loved that...to rule out UTI. That came back negative.

Then they sent us down to the lab for blood work. They poked my poor little baby in her right arm and took all the blood they could milk out of her tiny little arm. Then they decided that wasn't enough, so they went after her other arm. It was horrible! I held her so tight, singing softly in her ear. But I don't think she heard me over her own screaming. It was truly heartbreaking. I never want to go through that again.

On a selfish note (yeah, I'm selfish sometimes), I had something planned for every night this week. I'm talking fun, social plans! Things I was totally looking forward to, because as a stay at home mom, I don't get grown up time with friends very often. And I had to cancel all my plans. So very sad.

But every time I held my sick little girl. Every time I was there to hold her after she just emptied her stomach, to wash her up and give her fresh clean pajamas, I felt like the most important person on earth. I was there to give her comfort, love and reassurance. And I could feel her gratitude for that. I could feel our bond growing.

We bonded over puke.

It was beautiful.

Tienna - 1 year old

Tienna turned ONE in October. She's not a baby anymore. She's walks and everything! If she wasn't so full of personality, I'd be sad about that. She is so much fun to have around.

She is crazy shy and she's pretty attached to her mama. I can't tell yet if it's just normal stranger anxieties, or if this will be a personality trait. I was very shy when I was little. But Jenalyn and Corbin will talk to anyone. And EVERYone.

Tienna turned 1 in the middle of our big move, so she didn't get much in the way of a birthday party. But we did manage to have a little celebration at Red Robin with Jason's Aunts. Here's a sweet video of her digging into her birthday...um...ice cream! I felt bad that the poor girl didn't even get a birthday cake, but she didn't seem upset about that at all.



Look at these chubber cheeks! (The manager at Red Robin gave her chocolate milk for her birthday ... and she loved every last sip of it!)

Just a couple days after her birthday, we got to celebrate her first real Halloween (last year we were just barely out of the hospital, so she didn't get to dress up).
She's just a wonderful little bundle of goodness, that brings a smile (and giggles) to everyone she meets.

I love you, Lu Lu Bird!

Utah Trip: Favorite Memories #4

Having spent most of my youth in Utah, Lagoon was one of the most exciting parts of my summers. There were company parties at Lagoon, end-of-the-school-year class trips to Lagoon, and Stake Lagoon days.

I was thrilled to take my kids there. And it was everything I hoped it would be. The memories of my childhood, combined with joy on their faces, was over the top for me.

The first ride I took Jenalyn on was the Mouse Trap. My dad told her it was *somuchfun* so she wanted to try it. She was absolutely terrified. It was fun to hear her nervous chatter throughout the entire ride. "OH my goodness. I'm freaking out right now! Is it almost over? I'm so scared! Holy cow!"

At the end of the day, Jenalyn declared that it's the second most funnest place on earth ... Disney Land is first. (Not that we know that first-hand, that's just what we've been told.) The kids are still talking about it. It really was that fun.

(It's possible that I drove this exact same car when I was Jenalyn's age. They've relocated the ride since then, but I'm guessing they haven't changed the cars. Very nostalgic.)

Utah Trip: Favorite Memories #3

Late nights at Cheryl's house making hair bows and flowers for our girls. I love crafting with my sister! And this time we didn't need Skype!

A Few of My Favorite Things

When we got to Grandma and Grandpa's house 5 days ago Tienna was terrified of dogs. All dogs. She faced her fear and is now best friends with Pappy.


I'm pretty sure I won the coolest aunt and mom award today because I played Mario Cart with the kids. I whooped hiney at it too! We were literally rolling on the floor laughing and hollering. There were some intense, close races.


The other day my sister Cheryl took a picture of Jenalyn and then showed it to her on her camera and Jenalyn said, "Ew, my eyes look funny. Don't put that on FaceBook!"


We were hanging out on the deck this evening waiting for dinner and Corbin climbed into my lap and sighed and said, "You're looking good tonight, mom!" and then threw his arms around my neck. He must have known I was missing daddy. He always tells me I'm beautiful.


Tienna and Grandma played with noses.

I love love love this picture.

Great Day at the Park

We went to the park today with our cousins, Parker & Dillon.

And left with some awesome memories.

Parker and Dillon each wanted a turn with the camera. I can't remember which one turned it on me. Little stinker! I don't know how to PhotoShop out my horrible farmer tan!

Laundry Help

Tienna likes to help with the laundry. By "help" I mean empty the laundry baskets onto the floor, creating more work for me. Good thing she's so cute, eh?

Fabulous Fourth

We had a rockin'-awesome 4th of July weekend!

We had a BBQ with Nancy, Cassie, Dale and Grandpa John.
We had Grandma 'Nee and Grandpa Jerry all to ourselves for 2 days.
We spent a night at the beach house with extended family.
We saw fireworks in Depoe Bay on the 3rd. In the cold, blustery wind.
We saw WHALES just off shore! (finally! I've waited SO LONG!)
We climbed 114 stairs to the top of the Yaquina Head Lighthouse.
We saw fireworks in Harrisburg, carrying on tradition that was started with Jason's mom, so many years ago.
Yes, it was a good holiday. I'm grateful for my family. My heart was full-to-bursting before we even saw the fireworks. Which, I love, by the way!

Eight Months Old

I can't believe she's 8 months already. She's practically a toddler now. She's so active.


She sleeps through the night, she has 5 teeth and eats almost anything I give her. She crawls, pulls up to standing, waves, giggles, smiles, and melts hearts everywhere.