Tuesday, June 28, 2011

I love June

We just got a new computer- a Mac- and I have no idea how to use it. That's why there has been an insane delay in my posts. If anyone around here wants to give me some lessons, they would be greatly appreciated. I was looking through my much-needed- to-be-posted pictures and realized we had a very busy June around here, though at the time it didn't seem very busy. The days are starting to get nicer- if not yet sunny (they say in Portland that summer doesn't start until after the 4th of July, then it's basically perfect). Jade and I were spoiled by one of our friends (who actually used to babysit Jade) and she watched Peyton for us one night so we could go to dinner and a movie. We saw the new Pirates movie, and it was my first 3D movie. It was neat, but really it wasn't too different from a regular movie. I don't understand all the hype. We've been going on lots of playdates to keep busy- mostly the usual haunts- OMSI, Munchkin Playland, and now that the weather is bearable, we've been to the zoo and some local parks and splash pads. We've even been able to go to our Athletic Club and swim a few times (okay, 2 times). I even got to go see my nieces' dance recital, which was so cute, and made me so excited for when Peyton will be in her first dance recital!
We gave Peyton her birthday present a little early (not intentionally, but we almost got her to get rid of her binky, then I decided after a week of her not napping that I didn't really care if she has a binky or not- pregnant moms need nap time as much as preschoolers! So I hid a binky in her toy box and one day she "found" it and I let her keep it, so I wouldn't look like I back-pedaled on the no-binky issue. You win some, you lose some.) Anyway, her incentive was a Strider Bike, which we were going to give her for her 3rd birthday anyway, so she just got it a few days early. She rides it almost every single day. We are fortunate enough to live on a cul-de-sac, a rarity in Portland, and she gets tons of practice. She has actually gotten really good at balancing, and we think she'll probably be ready for a bike with pedals (no training wheels) by the end of summer. We got her a green bike, so it would be gender-neutral for future children, but she really wanted a pink bike (surprise, surprise). Before we gave it to her, I wrapped a bunch of pink ribbon around it- don't worry, nothing that would get caught in the wheels or anything- and put a Tinker Bell doll in the front. This was an instant hit, and she loved her "fancy" bike.
Peyton is going through a phase right now where she insists on choosing her clothes every day. This means she's wearing dresses all the time, even when she's riding her bike. So we end up tucking her dress into her bloomers so she can ride. She's my fancy little girly-girl. She also has been enjoying a lot of motorcycle rides with her daddy, something we obviously don't do the 8 months out of the year it's raining here, and which lately she has been requesting almost daily.
We had a great Father's Day at our house. I let Peyton choose Jade's Father's Day present (I got him 2 spare wedding bands, since we both don't want him to lose his original). She chose bubbles and gum, which ironically is what she asked for for her birthday. Funny how that happened. We let Jade sleep in and then woke him up with cinnamon rolls and fruit for breakfast in bed. Peyton sang Jade a special Father's Day song that she learned (nothing too fancy- "There was a girl who loved her dad and daddy was his name-o. D-A-D-D-Y, D-A-D-D-Y, D-A-D-D-Y and daddy was his name-o" to the tune of BINGO). Then he got to go to all 3 hours of church without any interruptions, since Peyton was running a fever, so we kept her home. This also meant he got to go to Sunday family dinner and hang out with his brothers and dad without having to worry about Peyton, which I think was a nice treat for him.
Jade and I invited our friends Nick and Michelle to go to the Couples' Twilight Golf Match at our golf club. This month's theme was cowboy, so we took advantage of being able to wear denim on the golf course, and dressed up in our cowboy clothes. It was so much fun, even though our team did not play very well. I was surprised that for a team consisting of 2 really good golfers (the boys) and 2 golfers that weren't half bad (the girls) we only shot par in a scramble format. Too bad there wasn't a boobie prize- we probably would have won it.
And the most exciting thing that happened in June was that Peyton had her 3rd birthday! (More on that later.) All in all, it has been a fantastic month, and we're looking forward to another gorgeous Portland summer.

Peyton was so excited to give Jade his Father's Day breakfast and gifts.
Somehow poor Tinky always gets suckered into silly poses by Jade and Peyton (okay, and me)
At the park. My little girl never wants to get wet. I don't blame her- the water is way too cold when it's only in the 70's (or even 90's) outside.
That's a pretty steep hill. We were concerned at first, but decided to let her learn through trial and error. Surprisingly, she has not fallen once yet.
She makes me laugh so hard when she picks up her bike like this and walks with it.
Peyton got her first bouquet of flowers from a boy! Actually they were from a man, but no one creepy. The man who owns the local produce stand that we frequent was there one day when we were buying some produce, and he heard me talking to her. He asked her, "Is your name Peyton?" She said yes, and he said, "Peyton you look so pretty today, you deserve some pretty flowers." Then he gave her this gorgeous bouquet. It was so sweet, and it totally made her day. Then he told me that I should enjoy her while she's young, because his little girl is 21 now, and it goes by so fast. Very sage advice from my produce-guy. He's so right- it goes by WAY too fast.
And now some recent Peyton Funnies:
-She started holding my face when she has something important she needs to tell me.
-On June 10, she told me “I love you” for the first time without me saying it first. It absolutely melted my heart! She noticed pretty quickly that I love it when she says that, and when she gets in trouble or is about to get in trouble, she usually says “I love you!”
-She calls her baby sister Sally, and says that her baby sister is in her tummy.
-We were going through security at the airport and since she doesn’t have government ID, they usually just ask her her name. This particular TSA guy asked her who I was. She looked up at me and said, “I don’t know.” I was shocked. The lady behind me was also a mom, and said “don’t you just love the things they come up with?” I looked at Peyton and told her to tell him who I was. He let us through, but I was a little scared we weren’t going to make it to our plane.
-She insists on wearing dresses all the time, even when she’s riding her bike.
-I asked her where her baby sister is, and she told me she took her out of her belly at Uncle Justin’s house.
-You smell like tomatoes. I don’t like that.” (I hadn’t even eaten tomatoes)
-I was wearing something casual and Peyton said, “I don’t want you to wear that.” I asked her why, and she said “I want you to look fancy. I want you to wear jewelry.”
-We put her to sleep at Justin’s house after family dinner. Jeremy noticed she hadn’t gone to sleep when he was putting Brek to bed. He opened her door and she was standing straight up in her pack-and-play and she said, “my music is off.” He turned it back on and then put her back to bed. I had told her that she needed to go to bed or she couldn’t have a treat in the morning (mother of the year, I know). When we went home, I told her that Jeremy had told me she was awake, and that she wouldn’t be getting her treat. She said, “I wish Uncle Jer didn’t tell you that. I didn’t want him to tell you that.” So funny.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Peyton's 2-3 year Funnies and Milestones

June & July 2010
-"Bunkies"- sprinkles
-"Careful, mommy, careful"
-"1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 9, 10"
-"ab, ab, ab, abc, c, ab, e, e, e"
-"1, 2, 3, pink, 6"
-she calls everything that she likes "pink"
-singing "happy birthday to you" totally unprompted, out of nowhere
-whenever she is really bugged with me, because she wants something, she'll breathe in and say "mom [pause] please [pause]"
-"hoed ju"- hold you (hold me)
-burps, then says "I burp. Pardon me burp"
-"tummy button"- belly button
-"thank you. welcome" instead of just "thank you"
-"Yay-dee gaga"- Lady Gaga
-"I want one..."
-sometimes calls us "Jade" and "Ash" (ie: "No, Jade, more fishies.") It's super funny, but we're trying really hard to break the habit.
-When we pulled into the pharmacy drive-thru, and when they sent me back the prescription (in a white paper bag), Peyton said "French fries please, mom"
-She loves to go through lists of all the people she knows. She's actually getting really good at names.
-I tried to get her to trade in her binky for a fish. It almost worked, but she wasn't quite ready. Now we have a pink and purple betta fish named "pink binky" and a pink binky.
-"I don't want that" or "I don't want it" every single time I do something she doesn't like. I guess it's better than whining or tantruming, but still.
-Lately she's been stingy with hugs and kisses. I'll say "Can mommy have a kiss?" And she'll say "No." And I'll say "okay", and she'll say "ONE" and proceed to give me ONE kiss or hug. I should note that she never denies her daddy a hug or a kiss. And he always gets more than ONE.

October & November 2010
-She has a killer memory (she doesn't get that from me. Maybe from her Uncle Jimmy).
-She remembers things from 3-4 months ago (especially injuries and birthday parties or the last time she wore a certain article of clothing).

-Wanted Noni to sing "bears" instead of "monkeys" in the song "5 Little Monkeys Swinging From the Tree." I guess she thought monkeys are too sweet to let them get snapped by alligators. She's her mother's daughter.
-When we went to pick my mom up from the airport, Peyton developed some sort of cough. It started off mild- she would just stop walking to cough. It got progressively more dramatic. By the time we got to the parking garage, she would stop, bend over (hands touching the ground), and cough- about every 10 steps. We tried so hard not to laugh (therefore reinforcing the fake cough), but it was so funny. How did she even come up with that?
-We were playing outside on our deck (well, Peyton was playing and I was reading). I let Peyton turn on the hose and play in the water. I didn't realize she had squirted the slide with water, but she tried to go down her slide; and she was wet and the slide was wet... She shot off that thing about 50 mph.
-She also started doing this weird thing while she walked- shrugging her shoulders up and down when she took each step. It was pretty cute, though I was really nervous it would become some sort of tick. Luckily she stopped doing it after the novelty wore off a couple days later.
-She loves taking baths in the sink, and every day (usually several times a day), she will ask for "bath sink"!
-When she is saying something and I can't understand her, she gets pretty frustrated. Then she starts talking really slow to me- as if I'm dense.
-My mom and I were feeding Peyton and she asked me where Roxy was. I started to answer her "Roxy..." and then I got distracted and trailed off. She got annoyed and tried to help me find my words- she said "is..." It was very cute.
-When she was doing swimming lessons in Las Vegas, she didn't really love it for the first few lessons. She would do everything her teacher Miss Melinda asked her to do, but after every exercise, she would ask "time for clean-up now?"
-In Las Vegas, we were sitting by the computer and Peyton was playing with Noni's wallet. She pulled out a credit card and said "charge card!" I think I might take her shopping too much.
-Last but not least... Peyton started dance classes today!! They are called "Tiny Tutus" It doesn't get much cuter than that!
December & January 2010-2011
-She has a "tell"... Whenever she's doing something naughty and I call her, she'll call back "noooo". I catch her every time. Also if she's doing something naughty and she thinks I'm about to catch her (even if I am nowhere near her), she'll start saying "yes, mommy, okay mommy," over and over. That's my dead giveaway that I need to go check on her.
-"I'm funny" or "Peyton's funny" (Usually when she's doing something naughty, not funny)



-"Holy Crap" (She's only said it once or twice, but I guess I should stop saying that)



-One morning I showed her the fog out our window. That whole morning she kept talking about "ribbons", and I had no idea what she was talking about. Finally I realized she was calling the fog "ribbons". Clever.
-We had our first toilet incident. Peyton was letting her "baby dolly" go pee-pee on the potty, and decided to let her go for a swim. I don't know how we've gone this long without other things going in the potty, but I'm really hoping it won't become a habit.
-"Hey. Whats up?"
-"What happened?"
-She's starting to pray now, with our help. It's really cute, especially when halfway through the meal she stops eating, folds her arms, and starts to pray by herself. Usually it's along the lines of "Father. Bless. Thank you. Daddy. Mommy. Tinky. AMEN."
-"Mommy there's no pee-pee on my vulva" (After waking up with a dry pull-up)
-I gave her some Crystal Light in her sippy cup. She came walking over to me after she drank it and said "It's very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very..." I think she lost track of her words because she paused and gathered her thoughts, then said "It's very, very, very- good." Very cute.
-While decorating the Christmas tree, I let her have hot chocolate. She chugged it, then cleaned the sides of the cup with her hands and licked off the drops. She looked at me and inhaled deeply and said "I LOVE HOT CHOCOLATE!"
-She's been going through this phase where she calls everything "little". "Little tree", "little house", "little car", "little kid". Most of the things aren't little at all. At the store, she was curiously watching an average sized guy stock shelves. She (loudly) asked me "mom, what's the little man doing?" I cringed. Luckily he was nice enough to pretend not to have heard.
-She's been calling us by our first names a lot lately. "Ashton look what I found." "Ashton I'm done!" I always say "mommy" and repeat the question, and she'll repeat it with "mommy", but a few minutes later she's back to calling me "Ashton". Maybe Jade and I need to start doing that really disgusting thing where we call each other "mommy" and "daddy". I've never appreciated a woman saying to her husband "okay, daddy, what do you want for lunch", etc. Too weird, but maybe it would get my kid to get the hint.
-In the car with Jade and I, she said something she wasn't supposed to say (I can't even remember what it was now, "pick your nose" maybe), and Jade turned it into "sloppy joes" and Peyton didn't like that- she said "Stop it." "Stop it right now." I have never had to try that hard not to laugh.
-Later that same night, I was talking on the phone to my mom and she was telling me a story. I said "That's so funny!" Peyton was in the room with me and she said out of nowhere "It's not funny." And that was funny.
-To grandpa, looking through his wallet: "Grandpa, where's the monies?" Grandpa showed her where he keeps his cash. Peyton: "Can I have it please the monies?"
-When we tell her something she doesn't like, she'll say "ST-OP IT" in a loud, whiny voice. It's pretty funny, though rest assured we are working on it.

February & March 2011
-I caught her in her crib, after waking up from a nap saying, "Hi Lace. How are you? What's up? Good. Where are you? At the party? Okay. Good. Bye." -She had her hand by her ear and was pretending to talk to Lacie on the phone.
-My friend Nicole complimented me on my hair. Peyton touched her hair and said "I have hair too!" She wanted some compliments too.
-We were out to dinner with our friends Bryce and Nicole. The waitress asked, "Did anyone save room for dessert?" All of us decline and Peyton yells "I do!"
-"I'm awesome, mom." "Yes, you are awesome. Who told you that?" "Madeline's daddy." (One of our friends told her she was awesome when he was substituting in nursery.) Then we asked her if we were awesome. Mommy was awesome, daddy was not awesome the first time we asked, but he was the second time we asked. Tinky was awesome, too.
-When counting, she sometimes counts up to the number "alerty".
-She got the flu and was throwing up. I had given her a little Gatorade. A few minutes later she starts telling me, "mommy I want more gator-juice."
-She was crying because I took her away from something she wasn't allowed to be playing with, and said, "You hurt my arm." "How did I hurt your arm?" "[sobs] You broke it!" (I carried her away in a cradle hold, not even by the arms.)
-I was lecturing Peyton about all her messes and could tell she was losing interest. Peyton interrupts me and says "I take off me pants." Sure enough, her pants were down around her ankles. She sees me look over and starts to laugh hysterically.
-Peyton J was over at our house on a playdate. Peyton said, "I love your hair, Peyton J. It's so pretty." SO cute!
-"Please hit you?"
-She still loves her binky. She will ask to go lay in her crib even when it's not naptime or bedtime just so she can have her binky.
-"No do me hair!" - every morning when I get her ready.
-She still has a mental block against the numbers 4 and 5. She goes straight from 3 to 6 every single time she counts.
-Peyton and I were over at the Janeck's house one morning for a playdate. The girls kept going into the bathroom and playing, so finally Brittney told them the rule was there could only be one person in the bathroom at a time. Eventually Peyton J wandered to the bathroom again, and I could tell Peyton Coy was about to follow her. I reminded her of the rule, but Peyton J kept calling for her. She kept looking at me to see if I was watching. Eventually I reminded her again about the one person at a time rule, and so she called out to Peyton J, "You need some help, Peyton?" and of course Peyton J said "Yeah. Come help me." I couldn't believe how manipulative they were! I was honestly shocked. How did they learn that?
-Peyton and I were taking a bath together, and she pointed to my nipple and siad "What's this called?" I told her it was called my nipple, on my chest. She said "Please pet it?" (That's what I've told her to ask people before petting their cats or dogs.) I was so taken aback. Later, I was reaching across the tub, and I felt a huge pinch- she had pinched my nipple! I was in shock. I couldn't stop myself from laughing, even though I knew I shouldn't be sending her the message that it was funny. But it was like she had just been waiting for the right time to pinch.
-"Please hit ____________". (usually Charlotte, Lucy, Henry or Taryn. I think it's because they're the closest to her age that aren't older than her.) The funniest thing is she usually asks to hit them when they're not even around. Also once she asked me "Please hit you with a toy." Holy cow.
-"You bossy mommy." "Oh, do you think I'm bossy? I'm sorry you feel that way." "You teasing me mommy." "I'm not teasing you, baby." "Daddy tease me."

March & April 2011
-Peyton was digging through my mom's H&M shopping bag. She pulled out a gray shirt my mom bought and said "(GASP) Oh... My... GOSH!" I can't blame her, H&M is a really good store.
-Jade finally got his iPhone from Verizon. Peyton has been really excited about it. One day she wanted to play with it, but he was using it, so she asked, "Can I babysit it?" Such a smarty.
-"Excuse us." Instead of "excuse me"- I think she has a mouse in her pocket.
-"My daddy works a lot." So sad!
-When we talk to her daddy throughout the day, and when he comes home from work, she always asks, "How are you doing daddy? How was your day? How was your work? It was not busy?"
I gave her some cough medicine (it's herbal, made from different honeys) and right after she finished it she said, "I feel better!"
-We were babysitting Baby Brek and she absolutely loved it. She followed him around trying to hold him, and she would say, "Hi buddy. How are you buddy?" She wanted to help feed him and change his diaper and everything! Then she told me, "Mom, I want to pet him."
-She has an imaginary cousin named Charlotte (in addition to her actual cousin named Charlotte). She will turn on her music in her room and pretend to be tucking Charlotte in, then shut the door behind her and say "Charlotte's sleeping." She also will blame things on Charlotte, like spills and whenever she does something she knows was breaking the rules. She'll say "Charlotte do it." She also sometimes tells me "Charlotte hits."
-When she woke up from her nap one day, I asked her what she dreamt about. She told me, "Jesus."
-She prays by herself now. It makes me smile every single time. Some time it's just spontaneous. She'll just fold her arms and start to pray. It's darling. One night she was playing with a rubber band that she had found, we asked her to say the dinner prayer, and she prayed "thanks my rubber band." Precious.
-She has recently started wiping off kisses. It started with Tink's, moved to mine, and now she even wipes off Jade's.
-She has a new "tell". When she's doing something she's not supposed to do, and we can't see her, she'll yell out "I'm not _____________ (insert illegal behavior)!" For example, she'll yell from her playroom "I'm not picking my nose!" Or, she'll be eating in her high chair and we'll be cleaning up after the meal and she'll yell, "I didn't throw my paper towel!" Dead giveaway, girl, every time.
-She picked up this gem somewhere... "Ugh!" I'm guessing I have my 15 year old sister to thank for that one.
-Every single day when Jade comes home from work, there is a race between Tink and Peyton as to who gets to greet him first. We can hear the garage open, so they know when he gets here. They will push each other and step over each other trying to get to him first. Peyton eventually worked out a really successful strategy; she gets herself into the laundry room (between the house and the garage) and will shut the door on Tink, so Tink is stuck in the main part of the house and she can see Jade without fighting Tink. It's actually a pretty smart move.
-She has started answering me in the affirmative with, "sure." It's not sassy, so it doesn't bother me, but I can't quite figure out where she picked up "Sure."
-Peyton has apparently inherited her father's salesmanship skills. She will now totally "sell" us on any idea that she has. My nephew started the same thing when he was about 4, and they started calling him the "Priceline Negotiator". I think Peyton is a mini-Priceline Negotiator. She will be doing something (say, playing with my makeup), and we will tell her that she's not allowed to play with that, and redirect her. Meanwhile, she'll make every effort to establish when she will be able to play with it. "Maybe I play with it later." "No, my makeup isn't a toy. You may not play with it later." "Maybe after nap." "No, honey not after nap." "Maybe when I'm 3." "No, honey, not when you're 3." The same goes for when she wants something, like to take a bath in the sink, or play with bubbles.
-I cannot believe what a little chatterbox my little girl is. I know part of that is genetics, but I whole-heartedly believe that my early-communication with her by sign language gave her a huge head start on her communication skills. That little girl can really talk! She will go on and on until someone stops her. Recently we were at the grocery store and the check-out lady was getting an earful from Peyton. She was asking her all sorts of questions and the lady said "Wow- I'm really getting an interview!" I told her she had no idea. Then Peyton started asking her about work, and what she did at work, and why she worked, and I told her everyone needs to work to pay the bills. Peyton said she works, so I asked her what she was going to do for work. The lady quickly answered, "She's going to be in broadcast journalism!" She is certainly cut out for the job!
-After shutting Tink in her bedroom, Peyton said, "Bye, Tink. See you later. I'm going to Utah."
-"Cupcake Scows" = Cub Scouts
-Jerai and Boyd were visiting, and we went to pick them up one morning. Jerai put Boyd in the car and he was having a tantrum (something we know all about in our house). After he stopped, Peyton said very matter-of-factly, "Aunt Jerai, Boyd is whining."
-Peyton bumped into something with her top half and said, "my boob!" Jade thought it was hilarious, but I was mortified. I only say "chest" around her. Where did she hear "boob"?
-In a prayer over dinner, she said, "Thank you for we can drive, so we can go places and we can go to the park..."
-Peyton has an absolutely phenomenal memory. 2 weeks ago we were at the grocery store, and she struck up a conversation with the lady who was bagging our groceries. It went like this; "What's your name?" "My name's Sally, what's your name?" "Peyton. What's your doggy's name?" (this is her standard order of questions every single time) "I don't have a dog." "What's your kitty's name?" "I don't have a kitty either. I only have a hamster." "What's your hamster's name?" "I just call him hammy." By this time, we were ready to leave, so we said goodbye. Today, 2 weeks later, we were at that same store, being checked out, and the same lady was bagging our groceries. Peyton said, "What's your name?" "Sally" "What's your hamster's name?" "What?" At this point I registered what she was talking about and told Sally, "She remembers you have a hamster and wants to know his name." Sally remembered now and said she couldn't believe Peyton had remembered that short conversation from 2 weeks past. I have a hard time remembering what I ate for breakfast the same day.
-Peyton has started asking me, "You want to hang out with me?" I'm taking full advantage of having her actually want to hang out with me. I know there will be a time when I'm not quite cool enough for her presence.
-She is on a name kick. I mentioned her standard order of questions: "What's your name?" "What's your doggy's name?" "What's your kitty's name?" One time the person didn't have a dog or a cat so she was quiet for a minute (obviously concentrating really hard), then asked, "What's your bird's name?" She also sometimes asks, "What's your daddy's name?" "What's your mommy's name?" What's your little girl's name?" She will ask this to everyone she sees. I am not exaggerating or kidding. She will stop people who are walking by us, she will ask people in lines, any employees of any place we are, children, adults, men, women, everyone! It's really cute and almost everyone is really nice about answering her questions and being gracious. I get lots of compliments on how social and friendly she is.
-In her quest to find out the name of everyone in Portland and their pets, she has learned about name tags. She obviously can't read them, but she knows that they say a person's name. She has an imaginary friend named "Sayar" who she talks about once in awhile. One time she asked me my name (usually I reply with something silly), then I asked her name and she said, "I'm Sayar. I have a name tag."
-She picked up this cute little habit of stroking my face and saying, "It's okay, darling." She will do it when I'm holding her or rocking her or laying down by her. It is the sweetest little thing.
-We went for a short weekend-trip to Eagle Crest, where we stayed at Jade's brother's vacation home. We went out to dinner there one night and Jade told Peyton it was time to go home and go to bed. Peyton asked Jade, "Where?" Jade told her we were going to Uncle Justin and Aunt Ashley's. Peyton said she didn't want to sleep there. Jade said that that was fine, she could just sleep in the car with Tinky. He then asked if she wanted to sleep in the house with us, or in the car with Tink. Peyton was quiet for a minute, thinking really hard, then asked, "I have my binky in the car?" She's a clever little thing. She always thinks really hard about everything. I truly am constantly amazed at how much her brain absorbs.
-Sometimes when she wants a lot of something (usually toys or food), I tell her she has plenty. Now if she asks for something and I tell her no, she'll pipe right up, "I have plenty?"
-Peyton knew Jade was leaving us one Saturday to go work, and she was so sad he was going. She said, "I don't want daddy to go to work." It was so sweet.
-Lacie (who is Peyton's absolute favorite person, even more than mom or dad) came to watch one of Peyton's ballet classes. Peyton didn't know she was coming, and she didn't notice Lacie walk in. After Lacie had been there about 5 minutes, Peyton finally noticed her. She gasped out loud and ran over to Lacie and jumped in her arms. Then she ran over to Miss Katie and said, "That's Lace! She's my friend!"
-Peyton asked me if she could get married, and go to the temple and be fancy. I told her of course she could. She said, "I want Cheyanne to go with me." Girl loves her auntie.
-Peyton said she wanted to go on the computer and I asked her why. She said, "I need to go on facebook." The ironic part is that neither Jade nor I are really into facebook. I think she picked that up from Cheyanne.
-Peyton (again) asked me if she could get married. I told her yes, she would get married, then asked who she thought she was going to marry. She told me, "Brock and Alec." I said, "Oh, you want to marry Brock and Alec? You can't merry them both, you can only marry one boy." Peyton told me, very matter of factly, "I want 2 boys." I thought to myself, "one is plenty." She told me later that day that “I want to marry Brock and Alec and Lacie and Uncle Frank and Abbie.” They do say you marry your in-laws, too!

May & June 2011
-"Peyton, where are you?" "I'm watching Tink's vomit."
-"No dancing mommy." "You can't dance now mommy."
-If I ask her her favorite color and I say it's my favorite color, too, she'll say "No it's not." Or if she says she likes something and I say I like it, too she'll say, "No you don't!" It's actually kind of cute, because I can tell she's not saying it in a rude or sassy way.
-Every morning after she's dressed, Peyton asks for "fume". This means her little girl perfume my mom bought her when she was a baby.
-Because I can already tell my daughter has my Type A/perfectionist/obsessive-compulsive personality, I've been working with her to not get worked up over the little things (something I still struggle with as an adult). Now when one of us has an accident of any kind she'll look right up and ask, "It's not a big deal?"
-Peyton LOVES doing dishes. After she eats or drinks something, she begs to do the dishes. I am pretending it's a privilege. I want to ride this one out as long as possible.
-My friend Lacie told me, "if you want to hear what you sound like, just listen to your kids." True, true. The other day I heard my sweet Peyton say, "What the heck?" I actually didn't think I said that one too often anymore, but it must have slipped out. Then today she was washing the dishes and dropped the sponge twice in a row. The second time I heard her say, "Oh, grief." I am pretty sure that was supposed to be, "oh, good grief", because that is one I say quite a bit.
-"I want to put them in a straight line." She inherited her mother's OCD.
Peyton really loves our next door neighbors' dog Tank. Any time she sees him outside running around, she wants to go pet him. One night our neighbors had some friends over and they were all sitting in their front yard talking and watching their kids run around and play. Peyton walked right over to all the adults and started talking to them and petting Tank. She was wearing play clothes (cute pants and a top with a headband in her hair, nothing too dressy). She told the adults, "I don't look fancy tonight." The next day she was wearing a dressier outfit with accessories, and when she went to go see Tank, she told our neighbor, "I look fancy today! I want to show Tank my fancy dress!" She also noticed that our neighbor had on dressy clothes and high heels, because she had just gotten home from work. She told her, "Miss Jana, you look fancy today. I like your fancy shoes." My daughter definitely notices when someone has made an effort with their appearance. One day she even told me, "I like your purple. You have pretty color on your eyeballs." I'm so happy she's a girly-girl.
-We went to the park and I let her choose her own outfit. She loved her top and wanted to show it off to everyone. We were feeding the ducks and geese and noticed 4 goslings. She said, "Goslings, look at my fancy dress!"
-We were at the pet store (one of Peyton's favorite rainy day places) and I asked her if she was all ready to go. She looked at me and said, "I want a frog or something." I thought it was so funny that she knew she wanted something, she just hadn't quite decided what that "something" was.
-She was playing with Tink and I was in the other room. She started whimpering a little and I asked her what was wrong. She told me, "I just got hurt by the couch." I wasn't sure I heard her right, so I asked "What?" She said, "I just got hurt by the living room!"
-I put her to sleep and after about 10 minutes I could still hear her talking to herself. I went in to put her down again, and she was standing naked in her bed. I asked her what she was doing and she said, "I'm doing zumba!"
-She said the cutest prayer tonight; "Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for the temple, thank you for we saw the kitty outside Lauren's house. Thank you for coyotes. Thank you for I don't like them. Thank you for church and the temple. Thank you for prophet. Jesus Christ, Amen."
-I told her she was my best buddy and she started to cry. I asked her what was wrong and she told me, "I'm not a buddy. Buddies are boys. I don't want to be a buddy." I asked her what she wanted to be and she told me, "girlfriend."
-She uses this darling soft high-pitched voice when she's asking for something. She'll say, "'Scuse me, mom..." or "can I please..."
-If I ask her something like when she wants to eat, leave, get ready, etc. she will answer "In 10 minutes."
-"I lub you"
-She self-compliments all the time, "I look fancy!"
-When she hides from us and we find her, or if we take too long to find her, she'll jump up and say, "There me are!"
-If I answer a question and she thinks I might be wrong or if I'm not sure of my answer, she'll ask, "or not?"
-If I say something that she knows is wrong, she'll correct me and then ask "I mean?" For example, she heard a dog bark outside our house. She asked me who was barking and I told her Tank. She said, "Tucker, I mean?"
-I asked her who the most precious and beautiful girl is. She looked up at at me and said, "Abbie."
-I asked her if she wanted some avocado. She replied, "I don't like avocado. I just like lolly pops."
-We went to my mom's church in Las Vegas and she told me she didn't want to go. I asked her why, and she told me "There's no Ab here." (She loves Abbie!)
-She started holding my face when she has something important she needs to tell me.
-On June 10, she told me “I love you” for the first time without me saying it first. It absolutely melted my heart! She noticed pretty quickly that I love it when she says that, and when she gets in trouble or is about to get in trouble, she usually says “I love you!”
-She calls her baby sister Sally, and says that her baby sister is in her tummy.
-We were going through security at the airport and since she doesn’t have government ID, they usually just ask her her name. This particular TSA guy asked her who I was. She looked up at me and said, “I don’t know.” I was shocked. The lady behind me was also a mom, and said “don’t you just love the things they come up with?” I looked at Peyton and told her to tell him who I was. He let us through, but I was a little scared we weren’t going to make it to our plane.
-She insists on wearing dresses all the time, even when she’s riding her bike.
-I asked her where her baby sister is, and she told me she took her out of her belly at Uncle Justin’s house.
-You smell like tomatoes. I don’t like that.” (I hadn’t even eaten tomatoes)
-I was wearing something casual and Peyton said, “I don’t want you to wear that.” I asked her why, and she said “I want you to look fancy. I want you to wear jewelry.”
-We put her to sleep at Justin’s house after family dinner. Jeremy noticed she hadn’t gone to sleep when he was putting Brek to bed. He opened her door and she was standing straight up in her pack-and-play and she said, “my music is off.” He turned it back on and then put her back to bed. I had told her that she needed to go to bed or she couldn’t have a treat in the morning (mother of the year, I know). When we went home, I told her that Jeremy had told me she was awake, and that she wouldn’t be getting her treat. She said, “I wish Uncle Jer didn’t tell you that. I didn’t want him to tell you that.” So funny.

Peyton's 3 Year Letter

My sweet angel baby Peyton,
I can hardly believe you're 3 years old! Actually, now that I put it that way, I can't believe you're just now 3 years old. You seem so grown up to me. People have been asking you if you were 3 for about 6-8 months now. This has been a fantastic year of learning and social development for you. You have always been quite outgoing and friendly, but this year you really developed your true, darling personality. There is no toddler left in you at all- you are all "big girl".
Over the past year, you have learned so many new things. You started taking dance lessons, and started actual pre-gymnastics lessons (as opposed to the kinder-gym type classes you had taken before). You learned to dress and undress yourself completely, with no help. You learned your sense of style even more this year- you have an opinion about everything you wear, from the outfit to the accessories! You became 100% potty trained right after you turned 2, and much to my delight, you never have accidents. You learned how to put on makeup and how to chew gum without swallowing it. You learned manners (and almost always use them), and you learned to talk in complete sentences (usually paragraphs). You learned that you have the ability to make people laugh, and you're always doing funny and silly things to get a good laugh out of your audience. You learned how to pray all by yourself. You also learned how to negotiate to get what you want. You have such an incredible vocabulary that you express yourself perfectly clearly.
You spend all your time with me still, which I love. You are getting better at playing independently, though you almost always prefer me to play with you. You don't have a very long attention span for things like coloring or play-doh or puzzles, but you absolutely love helping me do "mommy" things like cooking, cleaning, doing the dishes, vacuuming, or doing my crafty projects. The thing I like to do most with you is taking a bath or shower together, then cuddling while we rock in the rocking chair and read books. You LOVE to read books, just like me! You also love to play with your babies, or toys that you play with with mom or dad; your helicopter and airplane building set, your train set, and your blocks.
Your favorite things to eat vary depending on the week. One day you'll love something, and the next, you won't touch it. Phases you've gone through this year include Easy Mac, yogurt parfaits, turkey dogs with ketchup, cucumbers with spices on them, green and black olives, mostly every kind of fruit, scrambled eggs, mush, Cheetos, “cheeto chips” which are Doritos, Top Ramen, fruit leathers, bell peppers, parmesan cheese, buttered toast with no crust, and edamame. You are always in the mood for chocolate milk out of a milk box, gum, and “special treats” which could be any kind of sweet. You inherited your daddy’s severe sweet tooth!
You make me laugh every single day. You have such a silly side to you, and at the same time you can be very serious. You are very selective about the affection you show, but when you choose to show it, you melt my heart. In the last month you started to say “I love you” to me without being prompted, and every time you say it, it makes me so happy. The things you get into trouble for most are for being sassy to me, pushing the boundaries, and testing me. You’re always very quick to say you’re sorry, and you usually try really hard to make good choices, though sometimes you tell me, “I don’t want to make good choices.” Sometimes you choose to learn the hard way that bad choices have negative consequences. You’re very intelligent though, and every move you make is very well thought out.
Every day you surprise me with how grown up you are. I tell people you’re 3, going on 13. You seem like such a big girl to me, and you always act so much older than you really are. You have an incredible memory, and you are the most social child I have ever met in my life. You will stop complete strangers to chat with them about their families, pets, and to get their name. You are so outgoing and friendly. Everyone we meet absolutely loves you, and everyone compliments you on how social you are.
You still don’t care much for TV or movies, but you do like to watch our home videos, as well as mom and dad’s wedding video. The only other movie that holds your attention is your potty training movie, “It’s Potty Time.” Other than that, you don’t watch anything. Because it’s rainy here most of the year, we try to get out of the house as much as possible, so we don’t get cabin fever. Some of our favorite places to go are Pump It Up, Jr. (a warehouse full of inflatable play structures), Munchkin Playland (a cafe with soft climbing structures inside for preschoolers and younger), OMSI, the Oregon Zoo (when it’s not cold and rainy), the Portland Children’s Museum, the play area at the mall, Playdate PDX (a huge indoor playground), and Outdoors In (another indoor playground).
You have become a little bookworm, like your mommy. You love to read, and if I would let you, we would read 10 books every night before bed. Your favorite books are Bootsie Barker Bites, Go Dogs Go, Fancy Nancy, Olivia, Pinkalicious, Time for Bed, Don’t Lick the Dogs, Oh the Pets You Can Get, and our family scrapbooks. You don't like to draw that much, but when you do, you usually draw letters to people, that you narrate while you color. Your room is pink and green and very cute.
You still love your binky, and I have decided to let you keep it until you're ready to give it up. You only have it at naptime and bedtime though, so it's not a problem. Usually when you're upset, you ask for me and want me to hold you, and if you hurt yourself, you always ask for your binky and face blankie. We have the same bedtime routine we've had for years; bath, teeth brushed, book, prayer, and in bed. Usually you want special kisses before bed- butterfly kisses on each eye, an Eskimo kiss and a fishy kiss. You sleep from about 7pm to 7am like clockwork every night. You still take a nice nap during the day, too. At the beginning of the year it was a 3 hour nap, but right after you turned 2½, it became a 2 to 2½ hour nap, depending on the day. It's a great refresher for you and for me.
Your best characteristics are your amazing personality and your big heart. I am so happy to have you as my best friend. You make me smile and laugh countless times every day. Whenever I am sick, sad or get hurt, you have so much empathy. You just care so much about other people! I’m so proud of you every single day. You are growing up to be a terrific little girl, and I just feel so lucky to be your mommy.
I love you so much, angel. I don’t feel like anyone has ever loved anyone else as much as I love you. You are my whole wide world, and I wouldn’t want it any other way. Your daddy and I are so happy and feel so blessed that you chose us to be your parents. You are the love of my life!
I love you,
Momma

Sunday, June 5, 2011

The Road to #2

*This might be a TMI post, so if it feels awkward to read details of our fertility struggles, feel free to skip this post. I don't want anyone to feel like I'm over-sharing, I just wanted to document what we went through and how it all turned out.*
When Peyton was just over a year and a half old (around Feb. 2010), Jade and I decided it was time to start thinking about expanding our little family. I went to my doctor to make sure I was ready for another pregnancy, since I had been having some issues with pain and irregularity in my cycles. This was what prompted my laparoscopy in April 2010, where we discovered I had PCOS. So in February we technically "started trying", or went off the pill. After my surgery, we realized that because of my PCOS, my body would not likely ovulate on its own, so in May I started taking Clomid every month to make me ovulate. My body reacted perfectly to the Clomid, and I ovulated multiple eggs every single month I was on it. Unfortunately, we still were not able to become pregnant. After 4 cycles of being unsuccessful, we started to see an absolutely wonderful fertility specialist, who is a close friend of my OB/GYN. We decided to try the Clomid for a few more cycles, since I was reacting so positively to it, and in the mean time, we had Jade tested to see if there was something wrong on his end. His tests came back with pretty bad news- he had really low sperm count and non-progressive motility, which meant they weren't "swimming". The urologist couldn't find any known cause of the problem. That worried my doctor, because that can make conception extremely difficult, even with intra-uterine insemination. So that was our next step- to give IUI a try. We tried unsuccessfully in December, and then had Jade tested again in January. This time his test results came back perfectly normal, for the first time in 3 months. That was very promising. (Later we learned it was most likely internal stress from his kidney stone and ankle surgery that caused the problem.) On January 13, I went in for a second round of IUI. At this point, our doctor told us that if IUI didn't work this second time around, the likelihood of it ever working was small, and our next step was to consider IVF, which is much more invasive, difficult and expensive. We were really praying it wouldn't have to go that far. On Jade's birthday (January 25) I went to the doctor's office to have my blood drawn for the pregnancy hormone. The 4 hour wait for the results was very long, and I was trying so hard not to get my hopes up (again). When the nurse called, she said she had "interesting" and "hard" news. The IUI was successful; I had the pregnancy hormone in my body, but the levels were far lower than they should be. She said there was a small possibility that the embryo implanted late, and that's why the hormone levels were so low, but more likely the low levels meant that the pregnancy was not viable. I went in 2 days later for another blood draw, and they told me basically the same thing. I had the hormone, but the levels were just really, really low. I went in 4 days later for a third draw and this time the hormone level was normal, but they were still pretty skeptical. They thought the pregnancy was either ectopic or if it was in-utero, it was not viable. I came in 4 days after that to get an ultrasound before my 2 week trip to Las Vegas. The doctor told me that since I was only about 6 weeks along, we would definitely not be able to see any kind of baby or heartbeat or anything, but we would at least be able to see if it had implanted in the right spot. If it was in the tube, my trip to Las Vegas would be cancelled and I would be getting a D&C immediately. Fortunately the embryo was in my uterus, and I was a little relieved, though my pregnancy was still considered high- risk. I wasn't able to exercise, and I needed to take things really slowly. At this point I hadn't told anyone yet- even Jade. I just wanted to know what was going on before I told him. Plus, Jade always wants to keep things a surprise as long as possible (for example- he didn't even tell his family he had a girlfriend until we were already talking about getting married, and when I was pregnant with Peyton, he didn't want to tell anyone- he just wanted everyone to find out when I was about to pop!) so I figured why not trick the trickster? I was kind of an emotional wreck at this point- I wanted so badly to be pregnant (we had been trying for 11 months, and I had been on fertility drugs for 9 months!) but I really didn't want to get my hopes up. For the first 9 weeks, it didn't even seem real to me. I couldn't even really consider myself pregnant. It was a really crazy situation.
The day after we got back from Las Vegas (February 24), I went in for another ultrasound. This time I was about 9 weeks along, so I knew we would be able to actually see the fetus, hear its heartbeat and know for sure whether or not it was a viable pregnancy. I told Jade he needed to come with me to my appointment to "discuss options" to keep trying to conceive. I figured it would be a great surprise if the news was good, and if the news was bad, I definitely wanted him there as moral support. So we went into the room and the doctor right away said "Well you're about 9 weeks along now, so we'll be able to see some good stuff on this one." I couldn't even look at Jade. The doctor started the ultrasound, and right away said "Well there's the baby. Everything looks great." Jade grabbed my hand and had the biggest smile on his face. The doctor pronounced my pregnancy totally healthy and normal, and I was released to my normal doctor. After the appointment Jade told me that he was so surprised. He couldn't believe I tricked him. Naturally he wanted to trick everyone else, so we decided to wait a few months before we shared our secret.
I feel so incredibly grateful for this pregnancy. It has greatly increased my patience, which has always been a struggle for me. I feel like I had so many ups and downs to get here, though I know it is much more difficult for many couples. I feel lucky we didn't have to do anything too extreme, and that we didn't have to "try" for an extremely long time (though while we were in the process, it seemed like we had been trying forever). I'm grateful for great doctors and modern medicine, which made this all happen a whole lot faster than it ever would have happened on its own. I'm grateful for a loving husband that travelled the road with me, and was a fantastic example of patience (if Jade would have had it his way, I would have been pregnant when Peyton was a year old). I'm so grateful that while it was difficult to become pregnant, this pregnancy has been healthy and normal, and I feel fantastic. And most of all, I'm so excited to get to be a mommy to another beautiful baby girl.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Vegas!

Aaah, Las Vegas! It is so comfortable for me to be there. There's some combination of being taken care of by my mommy and the familiar desert landscape and the wonderful, dry heat, that feels so good to me. I love it! Jade had a big business trip to go on (2 weeks), so Peyton and I flew down to Las Vegas for some serious Noni time. It was amazing.


The first few days were a real disappointment. It was a spring storm there, which usually I would love, but since I was trying to escape the clouds and rain, it was a downer for me. What made it even worse was that Portland was having an unseasonably beautiful few days. I couldn't believe my bad timing. As soon as it cleared up I felt much better, and Peyton and I hardly spent a minute inside that wasn't absolutely necessary. My wonderful mom heated her pool to around 90 degrees, so we spent hours swimming and playing around in the water. Peyton really improved on her swimming, and while I would never consider her completely water safe yet, I at least feel like she is a competent swimmer. My mom spoiled me rotten by taking Peyton at 7am almost every morning and letting me sleep in until 8 or 9. That was amazing. I took advantage of Peyton's 2 hour afternoon naps and sat myself out in the sunshine and reread the Twilight series. I didn't even think about all the productive things I should have been doing. I just relaxed. It was great. I cooked dinner almost every night and forced a resistant JC and Chey out of their rooms and to the dinner table. It was really nice to spend time with my family.

Peyton and I had a few playdates- one with my cousin's wife and 2 cute little daughters, one with my girlfriend Alicia and her 5 month old son, and 2 with my mom's friend and her twin boys that are just a couple weeks younger than Peyton. Peyton played so unbelievably well with the twins. I was shocked. She actually was engaged with them (not just playing by herself) and she was so sweet. None of her only-child bad habits manifested themselves! She even played a game of catch with one of them, which she has never done before. Darling.

We went out to eat a few times at my favorite Vegas restaurants and we did a little bit of shopping (only a little bit). We went to a big Memorial Day party that my mom's community put on, complete with fireworks and bounce houses and carnival games. Peyton had a blast. And Peyton finally got her hair feathers that she's been talking about nonstop for about 2 months. My mom and I went to the movies once and saw Something Borrowed, which was darling. Basically we just had a super relaxing, really enjoyable vacation! (And I was able to soak up some much needed sunshine.) I'm so excited and ready for summer!!

PS- While we were gone, 20,000 honey bees moved into our house. I'm so glad we were gone! That was lucky timing. Lucky the bee man came and took care of everything while we were out.

My mom made brownies one night when we had Papa and Nana over. She let Peyton lick the whisk. I'm pretty sure Peyton thought it was the best thing ever.Usually my little fishie went skinny dipping. (She asked me to call her my little fishie.)So excited about her feathers, she couldn't stand still for a picture.Pretty much sums up our entire trip...Peyton and I experimented a little with stunting. She LOVED it- and I'm not just saying that because I want her to be a cheerleader (though I do). She kept asking for "more, and higher!" My arms got a killer workout.This picture was on our last day, packing up. She climbed in the suitcase. She has the greatest skin and gets so dark, despite SPF 60 every few hours. Lucky girl. She learned "watching goggles" in gymnastics, when the coaches needed the kids' attention, and halfway through our trip she started doing them while she would swim. I think she got confused with swim goggles. It was super cute to watch her try to scoop with her arms, while still using her goggles.


I can't wait to go back!!