2 Gross Experiences

1. On Sunday morning at 5 AM Lucy started crying. I went in to console her and see if I could get her back to sleep. I go to stroke her head and I feel that her hair is damp. I immediately turn on the light and as my eyes adjust and my nose starts to tingle I realize there is vomit all over Lucy and all over her crib and the 10 babies and animals that sleep with her. What a great morning suprise. We ended up throwing 3 babies in the garbage since babies don't come out of the washer so well. We even had to wash Lucy twice to get her to stop smelling like vomit. She even had a little rash on her cheeks because I think she slept in her stomach acids for a little bit. Fortunately, this was a one time occurence and only happened because she coughed really hard, or maybe she just ate too much junk on the airplane.

2. Last night we went to Costco to replenish our food supply and decided to grab a Caesar salad and soup for dinner. After we got home, sat down, and started munching on our salad something suddenly tasted really strange. I decided to spit the salad out, (I wouldn't usually do this but it tasted REALLY OFF) and there amidst the chewed salad bits was the weirdest looking bug I've seen in a long time. As soon as I saw the bug I had to spit a few more times to make sure that all bug remnants were out of my mouth. And yes, there was an extra bug leg hanging out in my mouth. SO FREAKING DISGUSTING!!!!!!!!!!!! We decided we couldn't eat any more bug infested salad and today I returned it to Costco, bug and all, for a full refund. John thought it was pretty amusing and kept trying to lighten my mood by telling me I was just like Bear Gryllis--on Man vs. Wild--he eats all sorts of bugs, animals, and gross things. I did not feel any better and I don't think I'll be able to eat Caesar salad for a while.

More Esther Prayers

Much of our family comic relief comes from Esther's prayers--they are so sweet and thoughtful. When we were at Grandma and Papa'a house last week she said in her prayers: "Thank you for Grandma, I love her so much!" And, "Thank you for Papa, he is the sweetest and kindest... and I love him so much too." She really does love her grandparents. Papa read her the Jonah and the Whale storybook and that night as she said her prayers she said, "Thank you that I'm not in the belly of a fish... .. because that's what happens when you run away from the Lord." I just love her simple understanding and the way she expresses herself. She's also been saying a lot lately in her prayers, "Bless the whole world!!!" I don't even know where she learned that but I think it shows the purity of a child's heart.

Flying with kids

I used to like flying. Then I had two kids and now it's pretty much an all around stressful experience--checking in, going through security (putting all your stuff in bins, taking off your shoes and your kids' shoes, folding up your stroller and placing on the roller, all while holding a heavy toddler), and sitting with your kids for two hours or more trying to keep them quiet and happy. Last week I flew to Utah for some family things and the travel went okay. On the flight there everything went fine until the captain came over the intercom and announced it was time for descent so buckle up, etc... This, of course, is when Esther decides to announce that she REALLY needs to go potty. I think I froze for a few seconds because I had no idea what to do. We're not allowed to move about any more but maybe I could stick a diaper under Esther but who knows if that would hold "it" all. So instead I just try to distract Esther with some fruit snacks and talk until we can land. As soon as we land and the seatbelt sign goes off we are up and walking to the back of the plane. The flight attendant was a little annoyed as she as trying to do her thing. I opened the small door to the restroom and Esther immediately states, "I'm NOT going in that potty." I try a few different persuasive measures but she is pretty stubborn so I just said okay and we walk back to our seats. As soon as we get there Esther turns to me and says, "I've got to use that potty." So we turn around again (by this time the flight attendant is REALLY hating us) and head back to the restroom. It's so small there's no way we would all three fit in there so I had to just leave the door open and stand in front of it while Esther "went." But don't worry, by this time we were the only people left on the plane. Once we finally got off the plane there was the challenge of no stroller (John forgot and I didn't double check) and my girls are NOT good long distance walkers. So I was holding Lucy most of the time along with my big purse, huge backpack, and a very whiney preschooler. By the time I got to baggage claim they were taking my bags with all the other lost or unclaimed baggage. Whew. I vowed Esther would have nothing to drink on the next flight and I would never fly again without a stroller. The way home was less eventful fortunately, although Lucy decided she was afraid of headphones and wouldn't watch one minute of Dora, thus requiring constant entertainment. Needless to say, it's good to be home and I'm trying not to think about the fact that I'll be doing this all again in three and a half weeks.

Beeping Heart

The other day Esther was jumping on the mini trampoline in our house. Then she got off and came to sit on my lap. I could feel her heart beating fast so I tried to explain to her about heart beats and let her feel it too. WOOOOOOO... big mistake! More then anything it freaked her out. She couldn't get it out of her head that it was a bad thing to have her heart "beeping," even though I explained over and over that everybody's heart beats and that's how we stay alive and it keeps our bodies going. Still, she was scared, she even teared up at one point. Then Esther requested to call Daddy and tell him about the mysterious "beeping." One of her questions was, "What color is the heart beep?" Consequently, I've decided to put off all further talk of body functions and organs till an older safer age.

My doggy daughters

One of Esther's favorite games as of late is pretending to be a dog. And if Esther is doing it then Lucy is loving it too. They even have dog names that Esther picked out for them. Esther always calls herself, "Baila," and she's a "girl" dog. She calls Lucy "Magazine," which is a "boy" dog name. I'm not sure why Lucy is a boy doggy but it's pretty funny to see them crawling around making doggy noises. At least there's not too much barking. Esther has also taking to name her little stuffed doggies that she sleeps with every night: Pink Marble for one and Silver Marble for the other. Those are her favorite colors and apparently Marble is a favorite name. It's so fun to see my girls really playing together a lot lately. Lucy is finally getting old enough to understand "play" and "pretend" a little better. It also gives Mommy lots more time too which is fabulous!

More Baby Love

Lucy LOVES babies. Every night she sleeps with at least three little ones, and two big ones, her otter, and sometimes a leopard, and dog or two. She doesn't usually like the babies to have clothes either. The one baby with clothes in the picture only has them on because they are sewn on. If we ever see babies at the store or at a friend's house she is all over it. It's funny because Esther has never been that way. She's more of a dog person, or anything girly like purses, jewelry, and princesses. I love their little personalities.

I had to take this picture the other day because it was so cute! Lucy hangin' with her little friends.
Esther wanted in on a picture too so she jumped in on the fun with lots of enthusiasm.

Halloween Highlights

After a delicious soup and homemade rolls dinner the girls were primed and ready for a short evening of trick or treating (we don't like them to get too much candy).


Here are my two cute ballerina's (we decided to have Lucy be one too because as a general rule she wants to do whatever Esther does).

Here's an action shot of the girls going up to a door. There was no getting tired.

When Lucy realized what trick-or-treating involved she was SO PUMPED!! This is her pure happiness face. She never got discouraged despite multiple falls from excitedly running too fast.

Esther had to hold hands with her friend because she did last year and since Esther was doing it, of course, Lucy had to have a hand to hold too!

Here's the loot! Lucy couldn't even take the time to smile she was so engrossed with her candy. We didn't quite manage to keep the candy to a minimum but being the sneaky parents we are we can slowly squirrel some of it away. Last year we talked Esther into trading her candy in for a present (the "Halloween Witch" makes the trade-a similar idea to the tooth fairy but the "Witch" about saving teeth) but this year she told me a week in advance that she did not want the "Witch" to take her candy. Lucy is too young to understand the concept but also too young to remember her particular stash of candy. There was only tears and confusion when we had to take her away from her pile and put her to bed. Ah, the joys of Halloween. I think it's kind of a weird holiday, fun for the kids but bad for their teeth and bodies.