When Grandma comes

My mom came into town on the Wednesday before Anna's blessing. It's always so wonderful when she visits. We went to the Science Spectrum, a cool little museum here that is great for kids...it was so nice to have another adult along so I could care for Anna while Hattie had someone to interact with her.

My mom is so great at playing with kids. She would color with Hattie or play with Play-doh all morning and afternoon. Hattie never once asked to watch TV or a movie. And even now that Grandma is gone, she hasn't asked for TV much. On Saturday my dad and in-laws arrived for the blessing so it was a bit crazy for a while. But Hattie loved all the attention.

Sunday night I got a horrible headache. I never get headaches, and this one was so bad that I could barely turn my head or move my eyes without pain surging. After a long, sleepless night, we discovered I had a fever and limited ability to move my neck. Paul, having just studied neuro at school, was worried I might have spinal meningitis, so we went to the ER for the first time in my memory (technically I went when I was about a year old, but I don't remember). Four hours later after a CT scan, a few pokes, and some pain killers, they sent me home. It wasn't anything serious, just a bad headache. I feel a bit silly that we went to the ER for a headache, but since I never get them, it really did have me worried. Better safe than sorry.

So Monday was shot...I slept most of the day after coming home from the hospital. It was such a blessing that my parents were there to take care of Anna and Hattie...it would have been a lot more stressful. That's the second time in the last few months that my parents have saved us during a hospital stay...gratefully this one was just a few hours instead of 2 weeks!

Tuesday morning I drove my parents around Lubbock...not much to see! But Dad got a Texas Tech shirt and we went to a museum. Hattie was terrified of the dinosaur skeletons. She was either burying her face in Anna's car seat or saying "Close eyes!" the whole time we were in there!

We grabbed a quick bite to eat then took Grandma and Grandpa to the airport. Hattie cried half the way home.

It was so wonderful to be with my parents again. I'm excited to head up to Ontario for 3 weeks in December. I love being in Lubbock and having my own family, but I also love being close to my parents and siblings.

Anna's blessing day

We were finally able to bless Anna in church last Sunday. Being nearly 4 months old, she was quite a big baby on her blessing day, despite the fact that she was 6 weeks premature. There's nothing preemie about this girl now! My mom and Dad were amazed at how big she was. We were lucky enough to have both my parents in town from Oregon, as well as Paul's dad, sister Christina, and brother Daniel.

It was nice to have both my side and Paul's side of the family together. Hattie certainly got spoiled by grandparent attention!

Anna was blessed in the same dress as Hattie...I still think they look so much alike!

We regularly call our babe "Anna Banana" so we joked on the way to Church that Paul would mess up and name her Anna Banana instead of Anna Isabelle. Or we feared that when Hattie heard Paul say "Anna Isabelle" she would shout out "No! Anna Banana!" Gratefully, all went smoothly.

I love her sideways grin!

I love how Paul and I are also puckering up! Hattie is a great big sister.

Cooped up

Last week both Hattie and Anna were sick...actually, we are still fighting the last bits of a bad cold. Runny noses and coughs never seem to go away. Anna is still running a fever and has goopy eyes, but Hattie is her usual self. Because they were sick, we didn't leave the house much...and once they felt better I was babysitting Laila, so with three kids under the age of 2, leaving the house is a little more complicated. By Saturday, both Hattie and I were stir crazy. We ran a few errands and every time she saw a park she would shout, "KIDS!!" hoping we would stop to play. Gratefully, we had her little friend Callie over to play. It was an hour of heaven. Usually these two buddies have their moments of fighting and trauma, but Saturday they were angels. I think it was because Hattie hadn't seen her in so long. They just ran around chasing each other and being two-year olds. But I loved this video:


(If you notice, Hattie says that her sister's name is Callie, and Callie says her sister is Anna...Hattie usually doesn't miss that question so she was obviously having a great time)

I guess even little kids need friends.

Extra babes

For the last two weeks I have had my hands extra full. I have been babysitting Laila, a sweet 10-month old whose parents are finishing up their clinical rotations for occupational therapy. Although it is certainly more work, it hasn't been too crazy either. Hattie loves to have someone to play with all the time, and she is learning to share more than she ever did before. It does get crazy when all three girls are hungry at the same time or need to nap at the same time. Hattie and Laila often keep each other awake as they cry falling asleep. Or I have to nurse Anna while Laila and Hattie sit on my lap. But on an average day, there is usually only about 30 minutes of pure chaos. Besides that, it's been wonderful. I love having a little friend for Hattie.

But with this Hattie is becoming more bossy. The other day, Hattie spilled her Teddy Grahms all over the kitchen floor. I asked her to pick them up quickly before Laila got to them, since Laila is still quite toothless. Hattie said, "Mama try." So I got down to help her clean up. As Hattie reached down to pick up her first Teddy Grahm, she said, "Ugh. It's a big one! Laila, help me!" Already she's trying to pass the buck to others to do her work!

Candy, candy, candy, candy, candy, candy, candy!

This was the first Halloween that I ever dressed Hattie up. And honestly, she probably would have been fine without dressing up. She was certainly more into the candy than her costume. But I made her a tutu for her birthday, so it was a pretty simple costume. Thanks to Payless having a 50% off coupon, I even found her some little ballet shoes. And since there was extra tulle, I made a matching one for Anna.

Here we are at the ward Halloween party. Hattie was distraught that we stopped her from running around the cultural hall to take a picture. Anna slept most of the evening. But she made a sweet ballerina.

I took Hattie trick-or-treating around our neighborhood. We went pretty early so she could get to bed...she was coming down with a cold. But very few people were home, so we didn't get much. I won't complain, and neither will Hattie. She's just glad that she has some candy. When I would ring the doorbell, she would say "Tookie Treat" before anyone came to the door. And once she had one piece of candy in her jack-o-lantern, all she wanted to do was eat it and didn't really care much about getting more.

We only got about 7 trick-or-treating groups at our house. Every year I tell Paul to buy just one bag of candy, but of course he buys 4, so we've got all sorts of candy at our house, despite the fact that Hattie got so little while we were out. Paul is determined to get more into Halloween, and he's already planning our costumes for next year. It'll be our new tradition I guess!