The Gag Reflex

I'm so grateful Megan has such a wonderful gag reflex. I hate scrubbing my carpet, but hey, at least I've been able to avoid an ambulance call. It doesn't matter how hard I try to keep the floor clean, Megan can find anything. Kendra left a small toy in Megan's little peoples barn. I didn't notice it, but she gagged it out. whew! Megan has also found leaves that have been tracked in from outside and has puked them out each time too. The gag reflex only works against me when it comes to her food.

Kendra thinks she is big enough to pick up and carry Megan. She is a very sweet older sister but I have to watch her a little more closely.

Megan looked like a little sucker fish as she mauled the bowl. She is very messy and loves to feed herself.

After Easter I noticed a graham cracker bunny house. Kendra loves these things so I waited until it was 75% off and to our luck - it was still there! She had a great time decorating it.

Family Pictures

We had our pictures taken a couple of weeks ago and bought the CD so we could print what we wanted. Here are some of the highlights:

I was surprised at how uncooperative Megan was. Even though Kendra never enjoyed having pictures taken, she was a much easier baby to photograph!

Easter Weekend

We enjoyed our Easter weekend. Mark was home for the entire weekend (minus the priesthood session of conference) which doesn't happen very often.

For FHE on the Monday before Easter the girls decorated eggs.

Megan had a great time banging her egg on the table until it cracked.

We had an "after Easter egg hunt" this past week. Kendra and her friend hid the eggs in the backyard. This is how they were hidden:

For conference we printed a conference booklet, puzzle, and apostle cards for Kendra. We then built a tent so she could face the prophet - like they did for King Benjamin. She loved it.

For the first Sunday session of conference we have a tradition of eating monkey bread for breakfast. This year I added a whipped cream cheese frosting to it, and wow! It's so yummy!

I began teaching sign language to Megan about two weeks ago. I was surprised to see how quickly she picked up on it. She can already do two signs.

Kendra's favorite thing to play is Candyland and we play it everyday when Megan takes her afternoon nap. She also enjoys saying words, the first sound she hears, and what letter makes that sound. So glad the academics are coming along!

Vickers Idol

Kendra is our little singer. She sings at the top of her lungs everywhere we go - the airport, store, outside, etc. The people around don't seem to bother her until someone comments on her singing - then she stops....almost embarrassed.

She usually doesn't let us tape her, but this is what we got.

Peas Me No Likey

I don't remember Kendra ever making these faces while eating...

Blizzard Conditions

This picture is from Saturday. Can you believe it?!?! I never thought I'd see snow in New Mexico in the spring!

The girls in their sunglasses.

Food is not for eating - it's for playing with! Instead of eating her alphabet cereal she made words with it. She had fun reading that long sentence over and over to us.

Kendra moment:

Sometimes Kendra doesn't cooperate when getting dressed. She'll pretend that her foot has a mind of it's own and it won't go into her underwear. She says, "get in foot!" and then tells us that her foot won't go in. The other night as she sat on the floor Mark tried to pull her underpants on to her feet. She said her foot was being bad and wouldn't go into the leg hole. Mark then put out his hand underneath the leg hole as if he were holding something and told Kendra he had a cookie for her foot. She slowly brought her foot towards Mark's hand and it quickly grabbed the pretend cookie, ate it, and then pulled back. Mark continued to give her foot more and more cookies until her foot was lured out. Kendra then told Mark that her other foot, which was already through the leg hole, wanted a cookie too.

Shopping

Shopping with my two girls is usually an uneventful trip. They are very good; they never cry, fuss, or tantrum. They were still wonderful on our trip this week, but we had a couple of bloopers. Megan as I hold her into the store likes to play with the cell phone velcro closure on my backpack, (it's on the strap). I didn't realize she actually opened it so when I shifted my backpack my cell phone spilled it's contents on the hard store floor. I was able to put it back together - and it works - it's just a little slow and the back panel doesn't quite fit right. I'm debating wether to duct tape it or not. Then Kendra wanted to hang onto the side of the cart after she got her cookie (sample cookies - free and they keep Kendra happy for the first 5 minutes). As we passed the bakery section with all the donuts and cookies Kendra leaned back and the bakery goods fell ALL OVER the floor! Seriously? All but one package were just fine. But ofcourse the one package that opened and flung donut holes all over was the largest and most expensive...and ofcourse that would be the one I would have to purchase after I picked all the donut holes up. AND I never buy donuts. Not even at Krispy Kreme.


This week the weather has been gorgeous. It has been such a treat to finally play outside. We went to the park yesterday which we haven't done in months! The girls and I also began to trim our overgrown bushes and plants.


My sister came to visit last weekend. It's too bad that we live so far away from all of our family members and that we can't see them more often.

While she was here we played basketball. This is how Kendra likes to play. We chase the person who has the ball. Then she would say, "okay drop it!" She would then run after the ball and grab it before we could.

This is Kendra pouting. She doesn't tantrum anymore - just pouts. I love her face.

Getting Through

The last few weeks have been tough. It seemed that it wasn't just croup that affected them. It was all viruses rolled into one. Croup, flu, stomach bug, cold, etc. Kendra, after 2 1/2 weeks finally began to do well while Megan still has green snot. Megan was so congested that I had to suction her nose constantly. She couldn't eat or breathe without this being done. I hated doing this in the middle of the night. Well, last week I suctioned one to many times and she got a bloody nose! Scared me half to death. So it was just saline solution from then on out.

This was Kendra. She laid on the couch for three days and didn't want to eat or drink anything. This is very unlike Kendra. I know she's REALLY sick when all she wants to do is lay on the couch.


Here's Kendra when she felt better! She wanted to put makeup on. I really missed her.

Neither child has slept well since. Kendra woke up crying one night and Mark went in there to take care of her. She cried so loud and hard that she woke Megan up. So I went in with Megan. Now, when Kendra cries she makes herself vomit. I am always the one who cleans the mess. Well, I didn't think she actually threw up this time so when I was done with Megan I checked on Kendra and went back to bed. The next morning Mark called me from work...

"Kendra threw up last night."

"Oh she did? Did you get it in the bucket?"

"Yeah (pause) I didn't clean it though."

Gross. The bucket had dried up chodes in it. So Gross!!

Yesterday the weinermobile came to Smiths just a few miles from our house. Kendra wanted to see the giant hot dog car so we went. Then she cried when we got up to it because her shoe fell off. Then she wouldn't go inside although she had begged me to be able to on the car ride there.

I took a picture with our phone, but don't know how to download it. This picture is from the last time it came when Kendra was 3-4 months old.

Kendra did get a weinee whistle and sticker which made the trip worthwhile for her.

It Could Be Worse

There is an old children's book titled, "It Could Be Worse." It is about a man who is very unhappy when he comes home after a hard days work to a small, noisy home. He finally says that he can't take it anymore and goes to see the wise man. The wise man tells him to put more and more animals into his home until it is so chaotic he really can't take it anymore. Then the wise man tells him to put all the animals back outside where they belong. The next night when he comes home he sits in his rocking chair grateful for the peace.

This is so my life. A week ago as Mark and I went to bed I complained that I couldn't go on like this. I have been so tired with Megan. She still wakes up every two hours...sometimes she'll give me a 3 or 4 hour stretch, but mostly it's 45 minutes to 2 hours. I'm exhausted and last week I just felt I was at the end of my rope. And then that night Kendra woke up coughing and puked. (This is a common occurrence with Kendra, thus the bucket is permanently in her room). The coughing continued all night and for the next 3 days she laid on the couch not wanting to eat anything and fighting me on keeping her hydrated. Finally on Thursday she wanted to eat something. On Tuesday Megan got sick. By Friday I took both girls to the doctor. Kendra is finally on the tail end, although she still has coughing attacks day and night, tons of snot, and still sounds congested. Megan had a double ear infection. That would be why she woke up crying every 20 minutes on Thursday night! So, now I realize, like the book, that it can be worse. And I look forward to sleeping a full 2 hours before being awaken. I thought the kiddos would be better by today and am disappointed that I probably have another week.

Megan has an extremely sensitive gut. When we gave her the antibiotic for her ear infections the pharmacist told us to give it to her with food if it caused stomach upset. Well, with Megan that means give it to her with food. It didn't help as an hour later she continued to throw up until finally she puked bile. She then lay lifeless on my shoulder. So now we have another antibiotic that causes "diarrhea" and yes, Megan has that now. She is so full of snot that she throws up sometimes. But it could be worse. It definitely could be worse.

It's Official

Okay, it's official. I'm tired of sick kids. This has been the worst year for illnesses for us. Kendra has croup (my diagnosis, she sounds like a little barking seal). We are hoping that Megan won't get it.

Megan has slept a four hour stretch the last two or three nights. The first night we still awoke after two hours because Kendra woke up crying saying her feet hurt. And last night didn't matter either because Kendra is sick. I hope Megan finally is learning to sleep. I'm still crossing my fingers for a six hour stretch.

Last week Kendra rode her trike (it has a bucket on the back) to the dirt patch in our backyard. She filled it with dirt, and then brought it back to our sliding glass door where she made piles. She then told me that the piles of dirt were for the ants. She made homes for them to live in.

Megan now does like an army crawl and enjoys getting into anything she can. She especially loves our shoes...so gross!

The Dance

Our stake holds a Valentine's Day dance for adults each year. Mark and I went for the first time last Saturday. It was the first time we actually danced together.

These are our friends that we met up with at the dance. The friends in the middle moved out of our ward (but are still in our stake) about a year ago and the ones on the left are moving at the end of this month.

Megan is getting really close to crawling. Any day now. But for the meantime she just rolls all over the place. On Saturday I was upstairs cleaning while Mark was on the computer doing his Sunday agendas. Megan rolled under his chair and began to play with my jacket. Kendra wanted to play with sister and so here is the cute picture. Kendra kept putting her feet in front of the camera the little stinker!

When I make dinner I usually let Kendra watch one of her cartoons. (It's just so much easier this way!) Megan was on the floor and Kendra once again joined her. Megan seemed interested in the show for a few moments...and then rolled on.

Wedding

Mark and I arrived at my home in Oregon on the 14th. We had to get our marriage license on the 15th so we could be married on the 16th. Mark was sick when we got married. He was fine on the night of the 14th but on the night just before we were married, he woke the whole house up! In the middle of the night he hawked up a storm in the bathroom. My sister told me I should ask him if he was all right since he was going to be my husband. After I checked on him my dad came and asked him if he was okay. How embarrassing! But if that wasn't enough...

When we arrived at the temple Mark had forgotten some clothing, and seeing how his family was late, and he didn't have his wallet inside the temple, he had to ask his very soon to be father-in-law to pay for some rental clothes for him!

All of our family at the temple.

I fed Mark LOTS of cake!

This is my favorite picture! Mark is supposed to grab my garter. You can't see in the picture but my dad is standing just behind Mark. He was VERY nervous sticking his hands up my dress with his father-in-law standing right behind him!!