Best Father's Day ever!

We were so grateful that Mia held off making her debut until after Uncle Nate returned home from the Netherlands, and thought that anytime after his homecoming would be a welcome time for her to join our family.  Obviously if she'd been born before Nate got home from his mission that would have been fine, but this way we were able to spend lots of time with family for such an exciting event.  The final Blackhurst sibling returning home from his mission.  What a wonderful day! And just in time for Lydia's fourth birthday. Even better.

Well, anytime after that would have been awesome, but if Mia was going to follow in her sisters footsteps, then we could expect her to stay put until much closer to June 20th.  Lydia was two days early.  Sophie was three days early.  So it stood to reason that Mia might be four days early. Perfect. June 16th would be a great day to have a baby.  But June 16th was a Tuesday and both Lydia and Sophie were born on a Sunday, so the 14th would be even better.  Another Sunday baby.  Sounds good to me.  Besides that, I have a newfound respect for mother's of summertime babies and hoped to spend less pregnant days in the suffocating heat.  Not that any of us really get to make that call, but it's amazing how much time can be spent wondering about and hoping for a timely birth date.

As it turned out June 14th came and went.  And then June 16th came and went and Mia showed no sign of being anything but content to stay where she was. On a side note, the 14th brought a rather unexpected event in Sacrament meeting.  Right in the middle of one of our neighbor's talks what appeared to be bright red confetti flew through the air only to land on the floor, our bench, and finally my lap.  Jon was counting attendance and Lydia was sitting on a nearby bench. I was grateful that it was just Sophie and me when the explosion occurred.  I touched the goop and discovered immediately that it would likely stain whatever it came in contact with.  Sophie reached for it before I could stop her and her finger turned bright red. What ensued was chaos. quiet chaos, but chaos none the less.  The brothers who had caused the mess were in and out with paper towels trying to clean it up. My friend looked over and thought Sophie had puked up the bright red something or other, and one of the brothers whispered as quietly as he could that he was going to replace my now stained and ruined dress.  His mother was the speaker and kept calm through it all. By the time we'd cleaned up everything the best we could Jon and I looked like bank robbers and the "stuff" had soaked through to my skin.  We found out that a stress ball was to blame for the horrid display and it turns out that it didn't stain. I'd never have believed it if I hadn't seen it myself.

As each day passed I started getting a little more anxious.  I kept asking Mia if she was okay in there.  I ran three miles on the 13th and couldn't get myself to run the following week.  She was moving, but apparently content to stay put.  On the evening of the 19th we had spicy café rio.  Spicy food seemed to do the trick with Lydia so I was hopeful Mia would respond to it as well.  Nothing happened.  For dinner on the 20th we had spicy chicken.  It was amazing to me to reach Mia's due date and still be very pregnant. Maybe she would be born on the 21st and be birthday buddies with her cousin Milo! That would be lovely but I wasn't getting my hopes up. 

I realize now that I was having very irregular contractions starting on the 19th for sure (maybe even as early as the 18th), but they were so irregular I didn't recognize them as such.  Jon and I watched The Hobbit (maybe the first one...? I wasn't terribly focused on the movie) and went to bed late.  I couldn't sleep so I stayed up reading Harry Potter and at about 1:15 my water broke.  There was no question about it.  I was just relaxing in our bed when suddenly my pajamas were soaked and our sheets as well. I turned to Jon and said, "I'm pretty sure my water broke... yep... I'm sure."  Jon called his mom immediately and we both started running around like a couple of crazies. Yay!  She was actually going to be born on a Sunday.  And not just a Sunday, Father's Day! But I wasn't thinking much about that at the time.  In fact, the Father's Day cards for Jon and Grandpa and Grandpa that the girls and I had made and written in were definitely not on my mind, though at one point I had decided to pack them if we did end up going into labor on Father's Day. Oh well.  We'd be sure to deliver them another day.  I felt pretty tethered because with every step I took more fluids came gushing out and I was having a hard time feeling like I could wander from the bathroom. 

Thankfully Lydia and Sophie had had their backpacks packed for days and days.  Each morning Lydia would come downstairs and ask if Mia was coming and if she and Soph were heading to Grandma and Grandpas.  She and Sophie fell in love with some newer Daniel Tiger episodes where Daniel's mom has a baby and he becomes a big brother to baby Margaret.  The girls would sing the songs and get really excited about their baby sister. I loved seeing their excitement and especially how sweet they were with each other.  Well, she and Sophie would wake up to find Grandma there in the morning and she'd be able to tell them the exciting news.  So their stuff was ready, but Jon and I (considering how much time we'd had with her arriving after her due date) were completely unprepared.  We threw our stuff together, Jon's mom arrived and rushed us out the door, "you don't want to be having her on the freeway!!" and we raced off to McKay Dee hospital.  Jon didn't bring his pajamas, we left the car seat and the lovely newborn outfit I'd picked out for Mia was still folded neatly in her closet where it had been for at least a month now.  Oh, and blankets for her? Nope. I forgot those too.  What were we thinking??! But we were going to meet little Mia.  And soon!  I was sure about that.  She'd be the first morning baby. Let's see.  Sophie's labor was 14 hours, but this time my water broke and don't they come faster with each new baby? We'd be meeting her sometime this morning, I was sure of it. 

We rushed out the door, I was sitting on towels and counting the minutes between contractions so I'd be able to tell the nurse what was going on.  We got to the hospital, parked and hustled to the main entrance.  Locked.  Oh right.  It's 2:00 am.  Again, what were we thinking?? So Jon ran back and got the car while I stood on a corner waiting for him, hoping we'd be where we should be soon.  We drove to the emergency entrance where I was quickly given a wheelchair and asked to please not have my baby in the elevator.  Apparently that had happened there very recently.  Well, we checked in at the front desk, were taken to our room and discovered that I was only dilated to a 2.  Oh boy.  So after making sure that Mia's heart rate was fine Jon and I walked and walked and walked the halls.  My nurse told me she'd check me every half hour or so.  So we walked some more.  When I was checked again I was barely dilated to 2 and a half.  So, we got up and walked some more. More and more and more.  Jon told me all about work projects and that made the time go by pretty quickly. We actually witnessed several women being turned away. That wasn't fun.  My nurse's shift had ended so we had a new nurse (she was amazing! She reminded me of our friend Rani and was just so comfortable to be around) and she was okay to let to me walk longer, so we did.  Closer to an hour and a half.  Maybe two hours at which point I was only at a 3. By this time we were thinking we should have tried to get some sleep instead of spending these middle of the night hours walking, especially since it appeared we would be waiting for much longer than anticipated to meet our little darling. The thought of having Mia on the freeway was completely laughable by now.  My nurse told me that we needed to get me started on Pitocin (it was already 8:00 am and I no longer hoped to have Mia before the afternoon) and I cringed a bit.  Going naturally with Sophie was awesome, but I hadn't forgotten the final three hours or so when I was stuck at a 9 and my doctor recommended a shot of Pitocin to speed things along.  Things intensified so much once it was in my system and I wasn't eager to start that when I was only dilated to a 3 and wanting to go naturally so desperately, but what choice did we have?  Things were not progressing and I was a little concerned about infection at this point since it had been several hours since my water broke, so we started me on Pitocin.  The most difficult part about this was that I was tethered.  I had a five or six foot radius to work with which made walking much more challenging, so I ended up sitting on an exercise ball instead.  I felt like that was helping, but every two hours or so when my nurse checked me I had barely progressed. My doctor came around 2:00 (he'd delivered a baby around midnight and assisted with another delivery and had been alerted that I was in the hospital around 2:00 a.m. when I had checked in.  I can't imagine that he'd gotten much sleep) and I was only at a 6. And barely at that.  Pitocin was increased from 2 to 4 and I was reassured that once most women hit a 7 things typically speed up considerably.  Sigh.  I got this.  No worries.  I can hang in there as long as Mia does.  But it was almost 3:00 and 14 hours of labor.  I was sure Mia's labor wouldn't be longer than Sophie's, but that shouldn't have surprised me.  I'm learning even more so that each baby and labor and delivery is unique and that I should expect to be surprised, but when my doctor came in and found out that I was almost at a 7 he said he was going to call it a 6 and a half.  That way we could keep laboring and not think about alternative means to get Mia here.  He told me that I was still progressing on my own, despite how slow things were going, and that he never wanted to talk to me about C-section, but if my progression were to stop that would likely be the plan, so 6 and a half was what he would record.  Okay, I'll take that. I should mention that during one of my contractions my doctor tried to stretch me a bit to move things along.  Again, thank you.  Anything to expedite the proceedings.  Well, by about 5:00 pm and after being mostly distracted by The Princess Bride, I was thinking that an epidural might not be a bad idea.  I was pretty spent.  Jon has never really understood this determination to deliver naturally (you wouldn't go the dentist and refuse to be numbed, would you?) but he fully supports me in it and knows how much I want that for the baby and for my recovery.  So when I started faltering and weakening and suggesting that maybe an epidural was the way to go he helped me breathe through the contractions and became the best cheerleader I could have hoped for.  The nurse came in and saw me trying to hide my tears.  Instead of upping my Pitocin again maybe we could turn me on my side to use the stirrups to speed things along.  Yes! Absolutely.  Again! anything that might help. Talk about intense! But I kept at it for about a half hour and was praying that the next time my doctor checked me I'd be ready to push.  Or even if I was just at an 8 that would be incredibly comforting. Sometime in the 6 o'clock hour, probably closer to 7:00 my doctor came in checked me again.  I'd decided before the next check that if it was going to be another five hours of intense labor I'd better request an epidural.  I didn't have much of anything left in me.  So, when he checked me and said that he thought I was ready to push I was ecstatic!  He had to wait for one more contraction to verify that, but when he did and confirmed that it was go time I was thrilled! The end was in sight and we were going to meet Mia soon.  Really soon it seemed. So I pushed and she crowned.  And then I pushed again and she was halfway out.  My contraction was almost over and my doctor said, "keep pushing! She's just about here!" And she was! She was crying, Jon cut the cord and then she was on my chest and she was just so beautiful! And it was amazing how I wasn't hurting anymore.  It was shocking to me how cold the room suddenly was.  It was unbearably cold (Jon had been freezing, but had put up with whatever temperature I thought I had needed) and I was shaking and shivering, but it didn't matter.  She was here.  My doctor had remarked that her cord had only been 8 inches long.  Based on the responses he was given, this wasn't common.  Umbilical cords average about 24 inches long, so 8 inches really was remarkable.  My doctor kept telling me how strange my labor had been.  It seemed like a first baby labor, not a third, but seeing the length of the umbilical cord offered an explanation.  Perhaps Mia couldn't be born because she was held so close to everything else and until it could all come together she had to stay put...  We don't actually know why things moved so slowly, but that explanation makes sense to me. She actually didn't tear me up at all, but the afterbirth did.  Barely.  Just a scratch.  So when all was said and done, labor was about 18 and a half hours.  Jon sent a text to family at 7:24 "she's here." She was 6 pounds 12 ounces and 19 inches long.  Born on a Sunday just like her sisters and beautiful.  In fact, she was the most beautiful baby Dr. Stanley had delivered in a very long time. And we couldn't agree more.

Lagoon!!!

Jon and I have been curious to see how our girls, specifically Lydia, would do at Lagoon.  Would they like the rides?  Would they tire quickly? Would the crowds overwhelm them? So for Lydia's birthday we decided that a family trip to the amusement park would be worthwhile. Just to see how they would handle it.  Our sweet neighbor works there and got us cheap tickets and so Monday Jon's mom joined us for our little adventure.

I'm also amazed at how fearless our girls are.  Especially Sophie! Lydia wanted to ride some of the rides alone (wait, what?!), and I suppose Sophie followed her lead when she did that, but at age two it blows me away that Soph would be willing to ride these rides by herself.

They loved Puff the little fire dragon (which they road on again and again and again), the boats that went in the water, these animals (especially the dragon and elephant) that would go up and down as they spun through the air in circles, and almost every other ride they went on.  I should mention that Lydia has been wanting to fly for weeks.  In a plane, or like Rainbow Dash. Doesn't matter to her. If only she had wings!  So we told her that when we went to Lagoon she'd get her chance to fly. And did she ever!

Far and away the favorite for both girls was the Carousel.  Total Carousel Love with these two.  Sophie found and fell in love with a kitty.  And unlike many other animals, there was only one kitty to be found and it seemed to be popular with all the other little girls.  So unless we were first in line, Sophie didn't have a chance at getting what she wanted.  She cried pretty hard when the kitty had been claimed and I put her on a frog. My mistake. So we switched her to a horse just before we started spinning. It cheered her up immediately. Lydia loved the zebra and the dog, and probably would have been happy to ride them all day. Sophie too.

Lyds also got to ride some swings that Sophie, disappointingly, is not quite tall enough to ride yet.  Next year Sophie.  Next year.

Oh!  And I better not fail to mention the fountain.  Water.  What is better than water on a hot June day?  They loved that until a Lagoon employee told them they couldn't run around barefoot in the water.

Let's just say that I'm amazed at what this little adventure did for their confidence, and I wish that these pictures gave you a better feel for the giddy excitement we saw written all over their faces!

Piggie Party!

 

One of the things I love about Lydia is how excited she gets about anything she's interested in.  Six months ago she decided that she wanted a house birthday cake. I'm not sure what brought that on, but we started looking for a cake that she'd approve of and she seemed pretty happy about it until the idea of a rainbow cake popped into her head.  This was before her cousin Simon's birthday and I'm convinced that her original design didn't look anything like the wonder Aunt Lizzie came up with.  We had drawn up some plans and she was really excited about all the pretty colors, but when she saw Simon's cake she fell in love with it and I knew I'd struggle to turn out an acceptable replica.  Good thing she suddenly wanted to be a pig farmer when she grew up because in planning out her life it is only natural that we get that started by celebrating her fourth birthday with pigs. Only natural.  It's also been decided that not only will she be a pig farmer, but Sophie will care for horses, Dad will take care of sheep and I'll be in charge of the cattle ranch.  Oh, and Mia will be watching over ducks.  She's thought of everything.  Again, why not start now?

I wish I could say that the day went super smoothly, but I created some hiccups that could have been avoided.  Note to self: don't make chicken pot pie on any future birthdays.  As far as the birthday girl was concerned, I think the day was a success and she was pretty oblivious to my stress level.  She got to play with Uncle Nate, fresh off his mission from the Netherlands, Aunt Abby, Uncle Derek and Aunt Jess that morning.  She also got to choose her bath color (pink, so appropriate) when I bathed her and Soph that afternoon.  And she started taking note that the birthday girl got to make more choices than perhaps she might get to make on any ordinary day.  She chose an episode of Sophia the First that she's rather fond of, much to Sophie's dismay.  Soph doesn't like trolls and this particular episode had several.  Being able to choose shouldn't be new to her, but when she heard "since you're the birthday girl, you get to choose what kind of fruit we get for lunch" her ears perked up and she chose to enjoy it!

Cake making and decorating went on for the better part of the day with Lydia helping here and there, and taste testing the pig cupcakes before the party started was essential. Partly I was worried that they were a baking disaster and partly Lydia had been incredibly patient in waiting to sample the pink marshmallows that would be used for the pig snouts and ears. Unfortunately, by the birthday girl's standards, the Pink Lemonade marshmallows were disgusting.  Bummer.  At least the cupcakes tasted yummy enough.  Even with the buttery buttery cream cheese frosting which was melting everywhere as Jon and I frosted them. Jon took over frosting the big pig cake while I decorated the cupcakes.  I love the textured look he came up with.  I also love that Sophie has called dibs on Aunt Cathy's cake pan for her giraffe birthday party next March.  Just in case you were wondering. Clearly birthdays are kind of a big deal at our house. :) 

Aunt Abby, Aunt Sarah and Milo arrived later that afternoon and the kids had a nail polish party.  Even Milo got into the action with his lovely painted toes.  We were able to enjoy dinner and had plenty of time to spare before guests started to arrive.  Aunt Amber lent her pig collection (something that Lydia has really enjoyed whenever she spends time with Aunt Amber and Uncle Isaac) to Lydia for the party and they really set the tone.  Besides loving the balloons, the girls each chose a favorite pig that became her buddy until the party really started.  We loved having so much family there to celebrate Lydia's special day.  Aunt Abby started spreading the word that it would be fun if everyone were to wear pink to this pig party, an idea she came up with when I told her the theme of the party.  I'll be honest, it was really fun to see all that pink!

When Lydia started opening her gifts it was pretty clear that she was not super excited about her new clothes (first gift opened) but after that I loved seeing the quiet excitement that is so characteristic of Lydia, especially around lots of people, radiate from her from that point on.  I loved the pig gifts from the Talbots, Stotts, and Isaac and Amber.  Lyds loves having her little collections and this pig family will be thoroughly enjoyed. When she opened Bolt from Grandma and Grandpa Frazier I thought she might raise that quiet excitement to a much more audible level, but she kept didn't and she really didn't let on just how thrilled she truly was.  I'd say the evening was a success with her blowing out her candle and playing in the backyard. 

I've loved her anticipation of this milestone.  Turning four meant that she really was becoming a big girl. She's been telling us for months that she'll no longer need to wear bibs.  She'll no longer need help when using the potty.  She's been very curious about how different she'll look when she's four as opposed to three. And though she hasn't outright stated it, apparently turning four meant that she is now in charge of changing Sophie's diapers...

Lydia is a joy.  I am so impressed with how fast she is!  And I tire watching her race from one end of our backyard to the other. Where does all her energy come from? She pretends to be Rainbow Dash from Ponies and flaps her wings at the same time. That's another thing I love about her.  Once she gets into character it's not easy to pull her back to reality.  She's determined to continue being a puppy, or a troll while Sophie is Sophia, or Pound Cake while Sophie is Pumpkin Cake, and I'm Pinkie Pie and should be chasing after them or Baby Snow White and Sophie is Princess Sleeping Beauty making food for Baby Snow White. She has a fabulous imagination and I love that about her!  She still loves books and I'd be lying if I didn't say that I love love love reading to her and Sophie before they go to sleep each night.  I did discover her imagination put to use in a way that gave me pause.  I'd fallen asleep a few weeks ago in the afternoon and when I woke up I was told not to go in the kitchen.  Unfortunately for Lydia it was laundry day and I needed to rotate the loads that had been going.  I explained this to her, walked into the kitchen and discovered a river flowing (not literally) from one end of the hardwood floor to the other.  She'd wanted to make a river for her duck Ralph.  So creative. So her.  She's a do it yourself kind of girl and yet so not okay!  The nice thing about her escapades that day is that we were compelled to clean a floor that had been needing a cleaning for days. She loves water and I'm so glad that it's summer because being outside and getting wet isn't a problem.

This little lady has one heck of a memory too.  She's been talking about her missing papa pig (one that she got for her second birthday) for ages.  He disappeared over a year ago.  And then there's her missing black dog.  Also disappeared about a year ago.  We're not sure we'll ever hear the end of that one.  Jon had a great idea to get her some little dogs for her birthday.  The hope was that they'd replace her little black dog and she'd be able to let him go.  She loves them (it nearly broke her heart to give one set to her classmates the day they celebrated her birthday at school.  She didn't know she'd get to keep her own set on her birthday) and has made little families out of them- the Dalmatians, the hot dog dogs, among others, but she still talks about the little black dog.  The other day she brought up the bad spirit at the Utah game while she had a baby sitter.  What?!  I was so confused.  Then I remembered the game that was around Halloween and how costumes were encouraged.  Someone dressed up as what appeared to be a Dementor.  She was an evil spirit.  I vaguely remember trying to explain that to her and that was her take away. Halloween was months ago!  This was the first time I remember her bringing that one up.

Recently my favorite thing with her is our conversations.  I'd been at Young Women's one night and the next day she started talking about Joseph Smith losing his leg.  Jon had started reading the Doctrine and Covenants with the girls the previous night and they'd learned about him getting the marrow cut out of his bone.  It's been interesting, again, to better understand her take on things.  She also talks about what it's going to be like to return to Heavenly Father and how she doesn't want to make Lucifer happy by making mistakes. When she grows up she's going to have a dog.  She can't wait to learn to drive.  She'll eventually grow to be too big to fit in our house or our car.  She wants to be a mommy and hopes that her kids like her cooking.  Love that!  Can't imagine why that's a concern for her. ;)
 
I know that Sophie being born totally rocked her world.  I love that though the two of them have their moments, they're also really cute when they play together and I love hearing their conversations.  Before Sophie could talk Lydia would try so hard to keep her happy and ask her questions she could answer.  Now that Sophie is a chatterbox she doesn't need to do that anymore and they really are sweet with each other.  For the most part anyway.  I think she really is excited about Mia and I hope that her excitement helps Sophie transition to being a big sis more easily than it was for her.  Sophie definitely goes off of Lydia's leads and we saw that the other day (more on that in another upcoming post) when we took them to Lagoon for the first time.  Both girls are talking about sharing things with Mia and Lydia talks about what she thinks her favorite color will be and who she's going to look like, her eye color and hair.

She suddenly seems so grown up to me.  She's gained this confidence that I think we all want in our kids.  She turns and makes sure she can see us if she isn't super close, but she no longer has to be by our sides.  We went to a park near our home and she was running around holding hands with two of her classmates from school.  Love that. I couldn't believe how fearless she was at Lagoon, or how eager she was to jump into the spraying water at splash pads.  The splash pads aren't so surprising with her love of water, but doing it on her own definitely is.  Oh.  And she has taken it upon herself to become my personal hairstylist.  She came up with this crazy awesome do the other day.  I regret not capturing it on camera. She loves to help me cook, but what I love more than almost anything is that when Jon asks Sophie if she wants to snuggle with him on movie night and she says no, Lydia always tells him that he can snuggle with her.  I love how sensitive and reassuring she is.  I know she prefers it when people are happy, but finding a way to help make things better is really impressive.  Like I said, so grown up!

We love our Lydia!  She was singing "I hope they call me on a mission" in the bathtub the other day.  And I hope they do call her on a mission one day!  She'd be fabulous!  "Whenever I think about Pioneers" is her primary song choice each night after we read scriptures.  She adds so much to our family and I love that about her!

Little Chatterbox afterall

Sophie used to call Jon "Nana" or "Nanny" and it kind of seemed like she just wanted to get a reaction out of us, but Jon wondered if there wasn't something more going on.  Could she say her "d's"?  Was she just not hearing them right? I didn't think much of it at first.  I figured she'd pull something similar to Lydia and start whipping out full on sentences when she was ready.  But then it seemed like she was using incorrect letters more and more often when she would try to talk and I started worrying.  I was trying not to compare her to Lydia, but we don't have a lot of experience with anyone else learning how to talk so I found myself doing it against my better wishes. I also didn't want speaking to become frustrating for her, but I worried that it would get frustrating for me trying to understand her before it bothered her.  I was reading to her one day while Lydia was at school and before Jon had left for work and she would point to pictures in the book and he or I would say what they were.  She pointed to a boy and I asked her to repeat boy and she wasn't able to do it.  She'd attempt to repeat what we'd say on each picture (something new for her.  She used to simply refuse to give it a go) and get a beginning or ending sound right and sometimes the middle sound, but usually not the whole word and definitely not anything really coherent.  Anyway, we were worried enough at this point to have her tested.  Fortunately Jon had had his wits about him at her two year check up and so we knew what we needed to do.  Her doctor told us to take her to our elementary school where they should be able to test her.  He told us that he'd write a note if they needed one, recommending her, but that it probably wouldn't be necessary.  Well, when I went to the school they told me that I needed to schedule through the district.  When I called them it took a few days to connect with the right person, and at that point they told me that they were about a month out.  This was the beginning of April and so May 12th became this huge day for us and felt so far away!

It amazes me now to think of the progress she made in the weeks following our scheduling this appointment.  She would get frustrated when I couldn't understand her after she'd repeat herself two or three times.  At least I think she must have been frustrated; however, she'd just laugh at me and give up despite my best efforts to encourage her to continue helping me understand.

And then suddenly she was speaking in full on sentences. I think that Jon and I were aware of what was happening, but when both sides of our family noted how chatty Sophie was when we spent Sunday dinner with them it was very reassuring.

I was sent a bunch of paper work in the mail from the district and the more I filled it out, the more embarrassed I became.  My answers to their questions were very different from what they had been when I'd cried on the phone the this poor district employee.  I called her the Thursday before Soph's appointment confirming that we'd be there, but had mentioned that I'd wanted to talk to her personally.  I planned to call again on Friday but didn't remember in time.  Fortunately she called me Monday, the day before the appointment, and I told her that I felt horrible canceling, but that we didn't think Sophie needed to be tested anymore.  She was so nice about it, telling me that they celebrate cancelations.  She also said that had we come in they would have been really nice, and probably would have teased us a little bit too, asking "so... why are you here?"  And then reassured me that if something came up we knew where to reach them.

Ever since then Sophie has just increased her vocabulary like crazy!  I love the way she enunciates.  I love seeing her progress.  I was really excited when Lydia learned to talk, but because we were so worried about Sophie I feel like every new word is more exciting than it otherwise would have been.  Watching her try new words especially after she wouldn't even attempt them has been so fun for us.

Some of my favorite Sophie phrases lately include:

I not a baby. I a princess. I Sleeping Beauty.
My. Heart. Is. Broken.  My kitty bloke my heart.
Not today. (In a sing songy voice).
Daddy! Oh no! Your flower! (The girls have given their dad this lovely toy flower and apparently find it bothersome that it doesn't go everywhere he goes.  When it's left at home and Sophie sees it that is what she says.  And then she sets it on his pillow for him to find when he gets home from work.)
I made it myself! (Referring to her pink bracelet, which broke...  And now her watch.  She often credits Jon with having helped her.  I'm really not sure where this started, but it's cute and imaginative for now.)
I have no time for this!
It's all my fault.
Daddy forgot his hat! (She notes this each time he mows the lawn. Unless he remembers his hat, like today! In which case she says Daddy wearing his hat!)
I a girl. You a girl. Lydia a girl. Mia a girl.  Daddy not a girl.  Daddy a boy.
Mr. Milo Man threw his soup on the floor! (Followed by laughter).
Zacorra has scary eyes. I don't like Zacorra.  She say "beware. Beware." I don't like her.  (She's a My Little Ponies character and has apparently made quite an impression on little Soph).

When Grandpa Blackhurst comes to read stories to the girls he always says the title and author before beginning to read the book.  It's stuck with Sophie so much so that I hear her starting her books with a title and author. Doesn't matter if she isn't right.  She says whatever she says with confidence! A few days ago she repeated, "Hannah Potty Book. By Mark Brown. (Bwown)" over and over again while "reading" the book the best she could in between announcing the title and author.  We sure love Arthur books at our house!

Anyway, apparently we worried much more than we needed to.  And that's okay.  Every day has been so delightful listening to her world of words increase.  The conversations she and Lydia have are adorable. I love our little chatterbox.

Easter this year

Just had to mention that Easter was awesome this year.  It was so fun to celebrate my birthday and watch General Conference the same day we celebrated Easter.  I loved what I heard from the talks that were given and am so glad that we are able to watch them again or read them over and over long after Conference ends. 

I don't know how much the girls understand about what Easter really means and is all about, but we sure enjoyed watching them hunt for Easter eggs!

Happy birthday to our little monkey!

Sophie's two!!! She's growing up way too fast! We've eagerly anticipated today for months now. Lydia knows the order of birthdays in our home and talk of Sophie's big day has been much looked forward to.  She even reminded Jon that "today is Sophie's birthday!!" when he came home for lunch.  What I love most about Lydia's excitement is how much it's rubbed off on Sophie. Would she have been as excited about her birthday if Lydia hadn't been so excited for her?  I have no idea, but I feel pretty confident in saying that she would not have been aware that something awesome was coming without her big sister wanting to celebrate her and this milestone.

A few weeks ago I tried to get Sophie to tell me what kind of cake she wanted.  It was pretty easy.  She's been into the Lion King for months now and fallen in love with Simba and Nala. I found a lion cake, showed her the picture and got a very enthusiastic response from her.  Done and done.  Or so I thought.  And then about a week or two ago Sophie started pointing to our calendar exclaiming, "eeee oooooh!!" She was referring to the little pink monkey Uncle Jarom and Aunt Brittany gave her for her first birthday that was featured on the calendar. She loves it!! One of her recent favorites.  She also has monkey pajamas and requests them nightly.  Nothing else is acceptable.  I'm not sure why the thought of a monkey cake hadn't crossed my mind prior to a few days ago, but it hadn't.  Anyway, I found a monkey cake that I thought I could replicate, showed Sophie the picture and got the go-ahead.  I even had her confirm that the lion cake was a no-go.  No problem.  We can do a monkey cake.

So while Sophie napped Lydia and I busily worked on creating a monkey masterpiece.  Not one monkey, but two.  I'll admit that my confidence in turning out an acceptable cake is lacking (especially after last year's bear cake disaster) so having a back up was comforting, but Lydia reminded me that we were having lots of guests and that two cakes might be necessary for when the party started.  Aunt Abby thought it fitting that there were two cakes because the birthday girl was turning two.  Whatever the reason, I felt reassured that we couldn't go wrong with our plans.  Lydia was a big help.  She'd encourage me and then question why I hadn't done a particularly important feature like the eyes.  We made a a great team.

I should mention that before Jon left for work this morning Sophie saw the big balloon bouquet that he'd purchased the night before.  She immediately went into her happy Sophie dance which is my favorite with her!  And if you've been privileged enough to be near her when she breaks into that dance you know just what I mean. The grins, the giggles, the palpable excitement as she bounces while spinning.  I can't get enough. The morning went well.  Lydia went off to preschool despite concerns about missing out on the festivities and when we picked her up, Sophie ran out to meet Lydia in the middle of the street where she gave her the biggest hug imaginable.  I'd have loved for it to have gone on and on except that a car was coming.  And we were all in the middle of the road.  Once home we finished up the morning with both girls helping to bake the birthday cake, and before we knew it, it was time for Sophie's nap.  She didn't want to sleep and fought it well, but eventually she was out. We used our time as well as we could and then Sophie was awake and clearly excited about what was to come, so we crowned her with her birthday tiara and placed her sash over her shoulder.

Before long family started to arrive and we gathered for cake and ice cream.  We lit the candle and sang to Sophie, who was in my arms at this point, and in response to the singing she crawled up my tummy and then buried her face into my shoulder, not especially thrilled to be the center of attention.  She surfaced at the end to blow out her candle, or tried anyway.  After her attempts she and I had to blow with all our might before we succeeded in getting that flame to die out.  Unfortunately Lydia missed out on this part because she'd been overwhelmed by the number of people in our home.  More on that later.  Soph wasn't super into eating her cake or ice cream after she consumed the monkey's ear (a donut) so we moved on to opening presents.

Sophie cracked me up through it all.  First she ripped off a piece of wrapping paper about the size of a quarter and the next thing I knew I was opening her presents for her!  Oops!  But she'd giggle or gasp and just get so excited about everything she opened.  When she opened a Lion King book she jumped up when she saw Rafiki, and squealed when she opened another Lion King book that came with puzzle pieces.  Her dress-able bear and squawking monkey brought grins and giggles and through it all she got better at ripping off wrapping paper. We had quite an assembly line going with Sophie handing Lydia torn paper and Lydia handing it to Aunt Stacey who collected it in a plastic bag.  Despite Soph's improvement, all the little ones wanted to help her discover what was waiting for her on the inside of the wrapped boxes and they did their best to help speed things up.  We had to pass around Milo the Mouse (A Use-Your-Words Feeling Book) because it was so much fun to rotate Milo's facial expressions and find what he was feeling when he made a mess or found a bubble bath.  These books and animals and the blocks she got will be hours of fun in the coming days. She wasn't too sure about the bubble blowing lawn mower, especially when Conner turned it on and let her know how it worked, but I'm sure it will grow on her and when we're all outside and the bubbles are flying it'll be much more enjoyable.

Things calmed down after presents.  Jon measured Sophie on her awesome growth chart, we chatted and played for a while and then Lydia, who you'll remember didn't want to join the multitude at the start, stood guard at the front door and tried her best to block people from taking off.  The party wasn't over as far as she was concerned and maybe if nobody could leave it didn't have to end.  A special thank you to Uncle Isaac for taking our family picture and for coaxing a smile out of Lyds with the promise of staying to play for a few minutes.  The girls loved that and Jon and I were able to get some cleaning done too!

Things were going so well until we asked the girls to get their pajamas.  Lyds pulled out her Dora jammies and suddenly Sophie was asking for "Memo" (Nemo) pajamas.  She'd been drinking out of a Nemo cup earlier and that's the only trigger I can think of for bringing on this demand/meltdown.  This little tantrum confirmed how tuckered out we thought she might be after all the excitement.  She got so upset and worked up that nothing I tried calmed her so I went looking through her 2T clothes (which haven't been transferred to her closet yet) searching for an acceptable pair of pajamas when I found some princess ones.  They eventually became a suitable substitute for Nemo.  This little lady has some serious opinions about clothes.  She's our little fashionista and prefers to pick out her outfits each morning especially if I try to find something for her first.  She lets me know if she doesn't approve of what I choose and moves on to other things right away.

I love how much sweet Sophie loves books.  She's a little book worm and several times a day I find her gathering a stack of books for me to read to her.  It's one of my favorites about her.  One of many.  Her sense of style kills and impresses me.  Her hugs make me melt; I cannot get enough of them.  I love that occasionally she's besties with her big sis (when she isn't tormenting her) and wants her to read to her, or hide with her or surprise Dad with her.  It warms my heart when she runs up to Lyds, grabs her by the hand and pulls her somewhere for an exciting adventure. I love her sassy personality, her nicknames for Dad and her animals, the animal sounds she makes and her learning to speak.  Learning to speak on her terms.  She won't ever try to say what we want her to say.  I figure she'll say it when she's ready. I do love that she says, "Bye Baby" everyday at lunch as Jon heads back to work.  Not sure how that started, but I think it's adorable.  Some of her favorites lately include swinging, sliding, dressing up like Rapunzel, Mr. Peabody and Sherman, singing Popcorn and Daddy's Homecoming, stashing her treasures in one of many special hiding places (a wicker basket, the pantry or a certain kitchen cupboard to name a few) and hide and seek with her sister.  Some of her favorite books include Flat Stanley and the Haunted House, We're Going on a Bear Hunt, There's a Monster in my Closet, Pinkalicious  books,  Goodnight Moon and Pirates Don't Change Diapers.  Among others.  She's so much fun and so full of surprises.  I love this little firecracker and what she adds to our family.  We're so lucky she's ours!!!