ESCAPE ARTIST

We were gonna wait to transition to the toddler bed until the house was finished, but... well...

See for yourself.

This girl is in the 10th percentile for height, folks. 

Granted, she's 75th for weight. Apparently it's all muscle!

And before you suggest that it was merely boost via the stuffed animal, think again. I took all the stuffies out and put her in again. She got out even faster that time. 

*sigh*

It's been quite the exciting naptime around here. 

I figured I'd coax the child into her sister's toddler bed (see that big twin mattress leaning against the left wall? Emily will use that now), and when I pulled her quilt back, there was a giant wolf spider hiding underneath. 

Alive. 

Just waiting for a victim.

I may have screamed. Just a little.

I herded the midget out of the room, as the beast fled over the edge of the bed.

A tentative and very girly hunt followed (thanks to my mom for lifting things off the floor while I stood nearby waiting with Kirby's hiking boot.) I even turned the toddler bed up on its side to make sure the thing wasn't hiding underneath in the slats.

We couldn't find it anywhere. 

Finally, I figured I'd put the room back together and turned the toddler bed back onto its legs. I tuned to say something to my mom across the basement and then turned back. 

It was there. On the mattress. Again.

It crawled under the skinny side of the mattress that was resting on the floor when I turned it on its side. 

This beast was too smart to live. 

So I killed it.

THE END.

Good story, huh? 100% true. I even made sure the thing was dead before vacuuming it up. 

Kirby will be so proud.

After removing all the sheets, and vacuuming the room, we now have a whole lot of this going on:

Getting her to sleep was no small task, but I think that's a story for another day.

Time for some Oreos, I think!

Cheap Entertainment

Because this story MUST be preserved and remembered for all time...

(Scene opens)

Emily and Sydney are playing quietly with blocks. 

Grandma Blackham comes over and sits by them on the floor, causing a small gap to form between the top of her pants and the bottom of her shirt.)

Two year old Sydney, concerned, stands up and shuffles over to Grandma Blackham.

Without reservation, she pulls back Grandma's pants and peers inside. 

"Poopy??"

(Blackout. End scene.)

Parasites. They happen.

Kirby served his mission for the LDS church in the good ol' state of Mississippi, so he didn't have any issues with parasites, like those serving on foreign soil often encounter. 

I haven't been to South America lately, but I've been suffering some typical symptoms of parasitism.

Extreme Hunger.

Weight gain.

Exhaustion.

Nausea.
Digestive struggles.

Emotional instability.

I went to the doctor to get a diagnosis, and it turns out I have managed to contract a parasite. 

The bad news is that it's going to take another couple of months to purge the parasite from my system.

The good news is that he's a pretty cute parasite. 

Don't-cha Think!?

What am I going to do with a BOY!?

P.S. Don't EVER--under any circumstance--google for images of parasites when pregnant. Or maybe ever.
Mmmm-K?

Just Because.

I'm way backlogged with photo editing. But I'm working on it. 

Just found these keepers--from November. 

Love the sequence. :) 

A New Purpose

***For your information: This post was actually written the week of Thanksgiving. For some reason, YouTube decided to make the default setting when you click to "share" one of your videos to share the entire playlist that video was in. Aaaaand... I just figured out how to fix it. Happy day.***

There was a time when I really wanted to have a blog that everyone loved to READ. Not just a "here what happened this week" sorta deal. But a blog that was honestly entertaining for people to read. I have found that with that particular expectation placed on myself, I put off blogging. A lot. Because if I didn't have time to make it awesome, I felt like I shouldn't bother. 

Well, I've decided to throw all of that out the window. We have grandparents who live hundreds of miles away who need to see pictures and videos of their grandbabies, for goodness sakes! My new "purpose" for my blog is to offer glimpses into our lives. Not a journal. Not brilliantly written. Just little snapshots of the cuteness, hilarity, and reality that makes up who we are. 

So. To start us off...

HOW CUTE IS SHE!?

I know I already posted a Halloween shot of both the girls, but I just love this one, too.

Sometimes Skyping with the grand-parentals can get a little... frightening. 

I know it looks like I'm grabbing her head. Totally not. That's all kirby. 

Emily turned 3.

Don't believe what they tell you about the terrible two's. They don't actually end. 

THEY JUST CHANGE INTO A WHOLE NEW MONSTER!

A really cute, loving, extremely opinionated and stubborn monster.

For her birthday we invited a couple friends in the ward. It was very last minute (as in, I texted their moms the night before...). We kept it simple. Pizza. Cake. Balloons. 

And I totally underestimated the fun the balloons would be.

The kids LOVED them!


And for those of you who saw this picture on instagram and thought

"HOW!?!?"

Well, here's how...

That's all the craziness for today. 

Thanksgiving is at our place this year. Time to buckle down and clean some toilets! 

Checking in.

Yeah, yeah. This is my typical "I can't believe it's been X number of months since I posted!" post. But really--I have just had so much else going on, blogging hasn't been a priority at all.

Emily turns 3 tomorrow.

Sydney will be 18 months just a week later.

Aaand... I found this super cute video of Sydney from a couple weeks ago. I was desperate to get out of the house, and needed to run to the post office. I decided to run to the one by the mall, and stop in for a bit of library-ing, pet store-ing and some unplanned frozen yogurt-ing. Our mall is awesome.

We went through a bit of a rough patch, Emily and I. She is very strong-willed, and she went through a particularly defiant phase, and I must admit I went through a particularly impatient phase. It was a rough, ROUGH time. It was one of those situations where I knew I couldn't do it myself. I prayed for patience, because deep down I knew I was most of the problem. Things didn't improve right away, and I don't know if she became less defiant, or if I got a crazy patience boost (most likely a little of both), but things have been so much better. Not perfect, obviously. It's life, and it never will be perfect, but at least we're not butting heads ALL. DAY. LONG. 

On another note--here are my adorable girls.

Not the greatest quality. I haven't edited my good ones yet...

Here's just a liiiittle bit of that defiance I mentioned... ;)

Alas. My bedtime has arrived. No more updates for now.

I have posted.

One Year.

The blog world is full of mother-related posts today, and I had to write one of my own. 

Mostly because all I can think about is what was going on in my life last Mother's Day.

One year ago on Mother's Day I was spending my third day in the hospital. 

It was the day they tried to wean me off the magnesium, hoping the contractions wouldn't come back. 

I was at 25 weeks and 5 days along.

It was actually a really good day.

My mom flew in to help out, since we were assuming at the time that I would be spending the remainder of my pregnancy on bedrest.

Kirby brought Emily in to see me in the hospital.

Debbie was my nurse, and she was the BEST. EVER.

I had four fresh bags of blood and two bags of iron sulfate in my body, so my energy levels were up.

Plus--I felt AMAZING without all that magnesium coursing through my veins. 

Seriously. That stuff is NASTY. 

It wasn't until the day after Mother's Day that things really started getting exciting. 

1am Monday morning the contractions came back with a vengeance. 

They hooked me back up to the magnesium, and doubled the dose this time. 

I got yet another ultrasound, after which my nurse decided I shouldn't be permitted to get out of my bed. 

Bring on the bedpan. 

I swear it was more work getting up on that thing than it would have been for me to just walk the four feet to the toilet, but whatever. It's one more thing I can add to my list of "firsts" during this experience... :)

Another first? Firing our OB/GYN.

Next first?

Ambulance ride to Legacy Salmon Creek Hospital.

Just in case our girlie pie did come, since their NICU was better equipped for the super premature babes. 

Tuesday the doctors decided to take me off the magnesium again and let nature take its course. That afternoon I was allowed fluids, so Kirby got me a smoothie from Booster Juice. 

That evening I was allowed food. I asked Kirby to make a run to Applebees to get me some sweet 'n' spicy boneless wings before they changed their minds, or I went into labor. 

I watched The Biggest Loser while indulging in a little piece of heaven. 

Oh, those wings are so good.

At 2:48am on Wednesday, Sydney was born.

2 lbs 2 oz, 14 inches long.

She's definitely our miracle baby. And we are so thankful. 

*Her worried face. Because it's adorable.*

Happy first birthday, Sydney!