A Bouncy Bouncy Bouncy Bouncy Baby

Dan LOVES his exersaucer. Dan LOVES to bounce. Anything that he can hold on to and bounce up and down makes him very happy.

Double Whammy!

And the day after we recover from the stomach flu, we are smacked down with coughs and colds. Poor little Nicole's sweet high voice is all low, froggy, and raspy. She coughs herself awake in the night and we are miserable again. We haven't gone anywhere since Christmas because, well, we've been sick and haven't left the house. I don't know where we picked up this second sickness.

I'm telling you, if someone is sick around us, we WILL catch their sickness. It is inevitable. My family has the worst immune systems ever. Sick people just need to stay in their homes and quarantine themselves and stop passing on their diseases! I'm obviously mad about getting sick one day after getting better.

So... This is Christmas?

Christmas Eve we packed up our kids, our pies, our fondue, and our jello salad and went to our first event, early christmas dinner with the Derington's at my brother Jake's house. My brother Jake hosts this event every year and we were extra lucky to have it there this year since Jake was out of town up until the even this year.

It is always a fun time that includes food, gifts, and just spending time together. I was really proud of Nicole this year. Nicole has a lot of social anxiety, especially in a crowd, but this year she actually played with the other kids and had a fun time. She really likes her cousin Keira who is close to her age. I saw them walking around holding hands and it was just so stinking cute!

I tried to get a picture of the girls together, but they were so busy looking at each other that they wouldn't look at me.

Little did we know that this party would get us all sick. Not just my family, but also my parents and my sister Marie's family. I don't know where it all orginated, but 9 of the 16 guests got the stomach flu within 48 hours of this party. Oh yeah, it was definitely a Becky holiday (I notoriously get sick on holidays and during travel).

After my family party, we headed to Momma Kimball's house. We did a white elephant gift exchange with Matt's family and we all stayed the night at Momma Kimball's house.

Nicole actually did really well with this too. On the fourth of July, we tried staying over night at Momma Kimball's and it was awful because Nicole just wouldn't sleep, but she did really well and slept in until 7am. Dan on the other hand, woke up many times in the night. We all survived though.

My little family was of course the first ones awake and we woke everyone in the house up because we were staying downstairs and had to walk all the way upstairs and past everyone to use the bathroom in the morning. And Nicole likes to ask a lot of questions and doesn't know how to do it quietly.
"Are we going to the bathroom?"
"Is it dark?"
"Is there a bear in there?" (Uncle Carlos is a loud snorer)

So, since everyone was awake, we started with stockings. Momma Kimball made a stocking for all the grandkids and put a bunch of toys inside, so Dan and Nicole got a lot of stuff between their grandma stocking and their "Santa" stocking. And, they got so wrapped up in stocking stuff that they got all side tracked from the real presents.

Nicole is wearing her Christmas pajamas in these pics, but Dan is not because he peed on them before I was able to get a picture of them. I had all these plans to have the kids in cute pajamas on Christmas, oh well.

After stockings, we ate a yummy breakfast of sticky rolls and quiche. Then, we opened presents. The kids got a LOT of toys. Like more toys than I would have liked, but I packed up a BUNCH of their old toys when we got home so there would be room for their new toys.

Nicole's big toy of the year was a treehouse for her Little Petshop animals.

Dan's big toy was a spinning car track... thing.

I only got a pic of Nicole's toy.

Nicole loved her gifts and it was a fun Christmas morning... until church. We went to church with Momma Kimball and Nicole was a terror! I guess the excitement of Christmas was a little too much because she could not sit still or be quiet and we ended up leaving early.

We spent the rest of the day at Momma Kimball's because the Kimball's had a big Christmas dinner. The dinner was great (until I was throwing it up later). Nicole had a hard time though because we had opened some of her new toys for her to play with and her cousins also wanted to play with her new toys. Nicole is not very good at sharing new toys (but what child is really?). Her cousins had gotten new toys too, but their parents had taken them away right after they got them, so the only new toys out were Nicole's and it was a fight to play with them. Now we know, if other parents take away the new toys, we must too.

We headed home in the evening and it was a relief to finally be home in our own house. I put away the toys, unpacked our stuff and we went to bed. And then woke up a couple hours later to my sweet baby boy throwing up. And an hour after that, Matt was throwing up, and an hour after that, I was throwing up. We spent the next 12 hours trading turns in the bathroom and holding Daniel over the sink to throw up. There is nothing worse than watching your baby dry heave.

Nicole, luckily, did not wake up throwing up. She woke up with a fever and didn't throw up until later in the day on Monday. It was a horrible, violent, awful stomach flu that took about 30 hours to pass. On Tuesday morning, we were all done throwing up, but still retained our fevers. I spent most of Tuesday washing vomit laundry and trying to recover and clean up from the stomach flu.

So, two days of my holiday were spent sick and it was awful, but I am glad that I was with my family and that I was able to be there to take care of my kids while they were sick since I rarely get to do that. I like to be the mommy and take care of my kids. Matt, of course, deals with sickness a lot better than I do and was a lot better at taking care of everyone than I was. Matt's a super daddy/husband.

So, the holiday was good... and bad, and over. I'm excited to be well and finally get to play with my kids and their new toys... and my new toys (Just Dance 3 and Metroid oh yeah!)

Lights at Temple Square

Last Saturday we had time to do whatever we wanted because Matt is done with school for the semester and that means that Saturdays are no longer filled with massive amounts of homework. Also, it is winter, so Matt doesn't have to do yard work on Saturday. This is definitely the best time of year. I love having so much time together as a family.

We decided to make the long trip up to Salt Lake to see the lights at Temple Square. Nicole LOVES Christmas lights. Every time we get into the car, she asks if we can see the Christmas lights, even when it is day time. We have to tell her it is day and the lights aren't on yet and then her heart is broken and she breaks out in tears. So, we thought it would be fun to go up to see the lights at Temple Square.

The kids don't travel well, so we don't often take long car rides with them. Nicole has some sort of triggered response to be hungry when she gets in the car. It is weird. The second I strap her in, she is saying she is hungry, even if she just ate. So, we brought my new tablet (more on that in a separate post) for her to watch a movie while we were in the car. There were still some meltdowns in the car about the tablet, but at least she wasn't asking for food every three seconds.

We got up to Salt Lake around 6pm and it was packed! We thought that we would park at the conference center, but the parking lot was reserved for an event (most likely that Christmas play they do). So, we drove around for a while looking for parking and ended up parking at City Creek mall. We bundled up the kids and ourselves, got out our amazing stroller and headed over to Temple Square.

The crowds were out of control! There was just a throng of people mulling around the square. We got into the heard and moved with the people, but really weren't able to pause to observe the lights because if we stopped, we would ebb the flow of traffic behind us. So, we just moved like a herd of people.

Nicole was one unhappy passenger in this stroller ride. We don't have gloves for her this year and her hands were getting to cold. So we told her to put her hands in her pockets, but then she started crying that her face was cold. She was wearing her hood from her coat, but refused to wear her owl hat, so her face was getting cold. It was seriously cold out. We had piles of blankets on Daniel and had his heavy carseat cover on and we didn't even open it to check on him. We figured if he wasn't crying, he must have been happy.

Anyway, we finally made it away from the temple and went to the north part of the square where they have a lot of different nativities and the crowds were a lot less and we were finally able to get a few pictures. The pictures are really bad of course because Nicole could not get over her cold face and was throwing fits.

Look up Nicole! "No, my face is cold!"

Okay, she kind of looked up for this one, but not at the camera. And yes, she is wearing snow pants when there is no snow.

Here's a peek at Dan in his car seat all bundled up and drinking his warm milk.

Here is an unfortunate picture of me

Nicole was not posing for any more pictures.

So, after being there for about 40 minutes, we headed over to Deseret Book to use the bathroom before going home. That is one thing I have had to train myself to do with a newly potty trained kid. I always have to remind myself that we have to find a bathroom before we go anywhere. Otherwise, inevitably, Nicole will say she has to go right when we start driving somewhere.

Even with all the tears and the cold, Matt and I enjoyed our jaunt at Temple Square. It is fun to get out and try new things, even though it is challenging with two small kids. If we were always afraid to go somewhere because it would be challenging with the kids, then we wouldn't go anywhere at all.

Camera Time!

Every time we get out the camera, Dan gets really excited and starts yelling. I don't know why he does this, but it is really funny and usually results in a good picture.

Nicole is the complete opposite. She is the worst picture taker. I delete more than half of the pictures that I take of her because they are so bad. Here are some examples:

Drunk on Milk Nicole

Nicole thinks opening her mouth is smiling. But she just can't keep those big eyes all the way open.

Just waking up Nicole?

Cough cough!

I guess Nicole will just have to practice how to take a good picture just like her daddy had to do.

Who Likes Oranges?

Dan likes oranges.

It was an orange massacre. Also, he cried when we took the oranges away. And then he needed a bath. But he loved those oranges!

Car Troubles

About a year ago, the brakes on my car were making weird sounds and seeming not to work as well, so my savvy husband changed the break pads on the brakes. After he changed the break pads, the breaks definitely worked better, though they started emitting a loud squeally noise.

Then, earlier this year, my car didn't pass inspection because the stupid e-brake light stays on all the time regardless of whether the e-brake is on. So, my husband once again used his mad skills and replaced the back breaks.

After this, the front breaks started to make this horrible grinding sound. I was afraid every time I drove my car because this grinding sound made me wonder if I would get in my car one day and the breaks would stop working. But, my husband found himself very busy this semester (17 credits and full time dad) so he promised to fix the breaks when the semester was over.

Two days ago, I got in my car to leave work, put my car into drive, heard a weird clunk, put my foot on the break pedal only to find no resistance on the pedal. So, I coasted over to a parking spot and slammed that break pedal down. The car stopped... too soon. I wasn't quite in the parking spot. So, I tapped the gas pedal and... nothing happened. The car would not move forward. I pressed harder, but the car would not move. So, I pressed even harder and I inched forward into the spot. I called it, my car wasn't going anywhere.

I called my wonderful husband who had thankfully finished his semester the  day before and therefore was not in classes like he normally would be and he came to pick me up. He tried the car and as he tried to move the car, I saw smoke coming out from the drivers side front wheel and then I saw something fall off the car. It was the break pad. It had literally melted and broken off the car. That probably would have been bad if that had happened while I was driving on the freeway home from work. So, I'm counting my blessings there.

Matt diagnosed the problem as the brakes and came back the next day to replace the brakes. I got to try and entertain the kids at my desk while he was out working on the car. Dan apparently loves to sit under my desk and laugh at the cords to my computer. 

After an hour of trying to fix the brakes, Matt declared that it was the caliper (whatever that is). So, he went and got the part and fixed that too, because he is amazing. So now, I have brakes that work, a car that works and I am a happy girl. I no longer need to be afraid while driving my car. And thank goodness I have a husband that can fix something for 100 dollars that could have cost 500 dollars.

Preggo Comparison 2

Sarah 38 weeks

Marie 38 weeks

Becky 38 weeks with Daniel

One of these things is not like the others.

Mother's Intuition

Yesterday Dan was sitting on the couch next to me. Then, Anne said something about Olivia being really tired. I look over at Dan and he looks really tired too. I say, "Dan is really tired too, he is falling asleep right now."

And then, right as I said that, his head fell and he fell asleep. He, of course, jerked up his head in reaction to falling asleep while sitting up. It was like I had magical mommy knowledge because he fell asleep right as I said he was falling asleep!

Being a good mommy, I picked him up and let him rest his head so that he could actually sleep without his head dropping. I must have mother's intuition right? I'm amazing! I wish we had had a camera rolling while this happened though because it was really funny.

Full of Excuses

Nicole is the queen of excuses to not fall asleep. Every night we play the game of putting her to bed, her coming out with some excuse and then putting her back to bed. We put her back to bed about 5 times a night. Here are a few of the excuses that Nicole has come up with for getting out of bed.

• I need a drink. (We keep a sippy next to her bed to remedy this one)
• I need to throw up. (We keep a throw up bowl next to her bed for this one. Only once has she actually needed this one.)
• I need to go potty. (This one is totally legit and we let her go as many times as she wants. Don't want accidents in the bed!)
• I miss you. (Hard to resist this one!)
• I need a song.
• I need a book.
• I need a show.
• I'm hungry. (To which we always respond that she should have eaten more at dinner.)
• I'm scared. (She has two night lights and a stuffed seahorse that lights up AND she had Dan's mobile in her room now.)
• I love you!
• I need to sleep on your floor. (We let her sleep on the floor of our bedroom when she wakes up in the middle of the night. She thinks she should sleep there all the time.)
• I need to say prayers.
• I need to brush my teeth.
• I need to brush my hair.
• I need a clip (in her hair).
• I need my pacifier. (Yes, she is still using a pacifier at night. She usually hides it and then comes crying that she has lost it, even though she knows exactly where it is.)
• I need my kitty/ducky/hippo/rhino/bear/Kailan.
• I need Dan.
• I have itchies.
• My legs hurt.
• My bum hurts.

And, last night, I guess she had run out of excuses because she came into our room and I said, "What do you need?" and she said, "I need something." And then, she ran back to her room crying.

8 Months

I totally missed my 7 month post for Daniel, but that's okay, he didn't really accomplish much at 7 months.

Dan is still our super smiley and happy little man. He loves to play with Nicole and watch Nicole play.
Dan has started getting particular about toys. He knows what he wants and when Nicole takes a toy away from him, he screams like a little girl and then cries. It is really loud. We are working on not stealing toys.

Dan's favorite thing ever is eating! I make his baby food and he loves to eat solids! His favorite foods are mangos, avacado, pears, and apples. He also really loves cherios. He can grab his own snacks and shove them into his mouth in handfulls. Dan eats three solid meals a day and 4 bottles a day. He is a good fatty baby. I don't mind feeding him so often, but I do not like changing 5 poopy diapers a day. When Nicole was Dan's age, she really didn't eat that much, she was mostly a nursing baby and only had one poopy diaper a day. Those were good times. But, of course, Matt does the majority of the diaper changes. He's a good sport about it.

We gave Dan a haircut this weekend and it ended up WAY too short in my opinion. Matt used the clippers to sides of his head and now he looks like a little blond baldie. I'm a little sad about it and I hope his hair grows out again soon. But, if it grows at the speed it has been growing, it will be another month. Darn baby hair growing so slow!

Dan can sit up all on his own and he loves tummy time now. He puts himself in tummy time and likes to roll all over the floor. The days of leaving him on the bed are over because he is just too rolly polly. He is not crawling, and does not seem like he is anywhere near it, but that is fine with me. Once they are mobile, I have to start baby proofing again. We have been lax since Nicole is all older and less likely to lick a socket.

Dan can finally hold his own bottle! It makes all the difference since he still wakes up in the night for a feeding and I can just hand him his bottle rather than hold it for him. It makes for much easier feedings.

Here are a few of Dan's other accomplishments:

• Dan can give five.
• Dan can say: Ma ma, Da Da, Ba ba, and Hi
• Dan can wriggle out of his bouncer and bumbo, so we don't use them much anymore. 
• Dan loves to watch tv with his sister. He loves Blues Clues and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

Also, I caught him doing this in his playpen.

Toilet Confessionals

I don't know what it is about the toilet, but it makes Nicole very honest. She starts to confess things while she is sitting on the toilet. So, don't tell Nicole any of your secrets because she will spill the beans during her toilet time.

Nicole on the toilet with Mommy helping her.

Nicole: Mommy, me and Daddy built you a new purse.
Me: What?
Nicole: Daddy and me. We made you a new purse. It is brown.
Me: Hmmm....

Outside the bathroom, I relay to Matt the conversation that Nicole and I just had.

Matt: What?!? Nicole! That was suppose to be a surprise for Christmas. We don't tell Mommy secrets.
Nicole: Yeah, don't tell Mommy surprises.

On a different day while Matt is in the bathroom with Nicole.

Nicole: Daddy, Mommy and me found your watch!
Matt: You found my watch?
Nicole: Yeah, we found your new watch.

Matt comes out triumphant because he too now knows his Christmas gift.

Moral of the story. Don't go shopping with Nicole if you don't want her to tell what gift you are giving.

One Year Ago Today

We lost Dad Kimball a year ago today. We miss him very much. Today is a sad day for us as we remember him and miss him.

Nicole, Mom, and Dad Kimball

The things I remember most about Dad Kimball, in the short time that I knew him is that he was quiet, but funny. I only knew him while he was sick and I wish I had known him when he was healthy because the way the Kimballs tell it, he was always full of energy and life. He was happy and loved his kids and his grandkids very much.

We are all so grateful to get the time with him that we did get. I am especially grateful that he was here for our first child and got to know her and love her. We try and remind Nicole about her grandpa often. Although Nicole called him "paquwa." 

We know that Dad Kimball is no longer in pain, no longer fighting the cancer and is happy though he is not here with us. We miss him.

Word/Link Wednesday?

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/ztw0zWhqm6KcFtfSn7q6

Riverwoods

Last Friday, we took the kids to the Riverwoods to see the Christmas lights. Nicole is obsessed with Christmas lights. Every time we get in the car, she asks to see the Christmas lights. We drove by some lights up behind Nielson Park and she said, "Wow! These lights are amazing!" Silly girl.

So, we went to the Riverwoods and Nicole was very excited.

We had to bundle up really warm because it was cold outside!

We walked around for a while and looked at the lights. There was a live singer and we gave Nicole a dollar to drop in her guitar case. But, when Nicole got up to the case, she tried to grab the money that was inside. I stopped her and tried to get her to drop the dollar in, but she did not want to let go of that money. I had to pry it from her hand.

They also have Santa at the Riverwoods and the line was super short, so we took Nicole to see Santa for the first time ever. We haven't taken her before because the Mall Santa's cost money to get a picture, but this Santa had no such requirements.

Nicole did great! She wasn't afraid and asked Santa for a Snowman for Christmas. Funny girl.

We headed over the the Blickenstaff's toy store and Nicole had a lot of fun in there. But, it was packed! Filled with kids and parents. A very popular place to visit.

Nicole sat on this little bike that you move the wheel back and forth and the bike moves forward. She figured out how the bike works right away. Matt and I were both surprised because she still hasn't figured out the pedals on her bike. It is fun to watch her learn new things.

After the toy store we headed over to Provo Beach Resort to watch the surfers. Nicoley tried some surfing herself.

Nicole was mildly interested in the surfing. After letting her watch for a while, she asked us, "Can I give it a try?" and then we laughed because she says funny things and told her no.

It was a fun night at the Riverwoods. We didn't purchase anything, but just got to walk around and enjoy ourselves for free! Great family night.

Yes or No?

Situation 1

Me: Nicole, will you take this bite (of delicious dinner that I made).
Nicole: No
Me: Nicole, can you stop saying, "No"? I like it when you say, "Yes," it makes me happy.
Nicole: Yes?
Me: Yes.
Nicole: Yes! *takes bite*

Situation 2

Nicole: Mommy, can I have a sucker?
Me: No.
Nicole: Mommy, stop saying, "No," you need to say, "Yes."
Me: *sigh* Yes.

Situation 3

Nicole: Mommy, can I feed Dan?
Me: No.
Nicole: You said, "No"? *cries and throws fit* Daddy, mommy said, "No!"
Matt: Yep, she did.
Me: Nicole, the answer is no, you can't feed Dan, he's just a baby, he can't eat that.
*continued crying*
Me: Time out.

Situation 4

Nicole: Mommy, can I have a graham cracker?
Me: Yes.
Nicole: The answer is yes?
Me: Yes.
Nicole: Get it for me!

Situation 5

Nicole: I went potty, do I get a candy?
Me: Yes, but we have to wash hands first.
Nicole: I don't get a candy? *cries*
Me: Yes, you do, but you need to wash hands.
Nicole: I don't need to wash hands.
Me: Yes you do.
Nicole: The answer is No?
Me: The answer is Yes!
*finally washes hands, followed by candy*

Situation 6

Nicole: Mommy, I da da watch the food cook.
Me: No, Nicole, it is too hot at the stove.
Nicole: Mommy said, "NO!" *cries*
Nicole: Daddy, I da da watch the food cook.
Matt: No, it is too hot at the stove, you will get burned.
Nicole: Daddy said, "NO!" *cries harder*


I'm starting to hate the word "No."