Adjusting

We don't have too much to post about lately. I'm still just adjusting to 2. I wonder if I'll ever feel like I have it "under control" or like I have a handle on things. Right now, I don't think that's a possibility. Jade went away for 3 days and 3 nights, and I thought I was going to go nuts. Peyton has been pretty good through these last 6 weeks, but for some reason, she took complete advantage of the absence of a parent, and she gave me a run for my money. I did accomplish something while he was gone- I conquered my fear of going out with the 2 girls, and took them both to the grocery store! Granted, it was a really quick trip- I only got about 5 things, but still...

Piper is doing well. She's not a great napper, but she is a great nurser, and even though she still wakes up twice in the night to eat, she always goes right back to sleep without any problems, so I'm grateful for that. I temporarily lost my mind while Jade was gone, and decided it would be a good time to start (Baby Whisperer) sleep training her [like I said, crazy!]. She's doing ok, and I'm exhausted but hopeful. Also, the doctor is treating her for reflux. She's been on it since Monday night (11/7), so it's still a little early to tell if it's effective, but I really think it will help her feel a little better. Maybe she won't be so grouchy all the time. And, she has baby acne/cradle cap. Major. The cradle cap is crusty all over her head, neck and ears, and the acne is on her face, shoulders, arms, chest and back. When she grows up, I'm going to keep the photographic evidence of it in a drawer, and threaten to show them to her boyfriends if she gets too teenager-y. I have mom-goggles, so I can see past the skin problems, but I do hope it clears up soon.

We celebrated Piper's best friend/5 days apart cousin Layla's Blessing and Jade's grandmother's 89th birthday. And I got extra courageous and took both the girls out for the first time on a play date. We went to Pump It Up, Jr. with my friend Brittney and "Peyton J" and Gwen. It actually went really well! The big girls played so well together there that I didn't have to worry about Peyton, and Piper just slept in her car seat until it was time to eat and be changed, then went right back in with no complaints. I consider that a huge success!

:

:

Cute puberty

She's wearing one of my old nighties!

Mutti with most of her great-grandchildren

One of my favorite things about preschool is the craft projects! They're all over Peyton's playroom.

The Rest of Our Trip

After our fun weekend with my mom and sister, Jade and I spent the next 6 days in Huntington Beach, for his company's yearly incentive trip. We stayed at the absolutely gorgeous Hyatt Regency, which is right on Huntington Beach. New York Life booked the whole entire hotel out, so it was just our group that was there, which made for a very cool experience. Jade had a few meetings a day, which gave me time to practice going out with 2 children by myself. I had some success, but mostly we just stayed in the hotel room while Jade was gone. We were spoiled at the hotel- the staff was gracious and the food was really good, too. Our first day we laid at the pool, then went to the welcome dinner, which was unbelievable. The second day was Halloween. We took Peyton to the beach for awhile, and that night they threw a huge Halloween party for the kids while the parents went to the awards dinner. Peyton had the best time at the party. I went to check up on her (under the pretense of checking to see if she needed to go potty), and when she saw me she said [in the sweetest little voice], "Go back upstairs, mom." She met an older girl who was also dressed as Dorothy, and she loved her. That night when I was saying the prayer, Peyton interrupted me and said, "Say we're thankful for the other Dorothy, mom." It was really cute. The third day we spent awhile at the beach, the pier and the farmer's market that was going on. Then we invited our good friends Eric and Maddie, who live close by, to come to our hotel and sit in the hot tub and make S'mores. We all had a good time, but Peyton probably had the best time. The fourth day Jade had a bunch of meetings, so I took the girls to the pool. That night, New York Life bussed us all over to Disneyland, and they closed the park 2 hours early to everyone except the 1,000 people in our group. They had a dinner for us, and kept the rides in Frontierland and Adventureland open. It was pretty cool going on the Thunder Mountain roller-coaster and Indiana Jones without any lines. Peyton had a great time in the beginning, but even though she had a second, late nap, by 10:00 she was exhausted. The last day we hung out at the pool, Jade did the little water slides with Peyton, which she loved. She came out of the water after about 15 minutes and was so cold she was shaking. I asked her if she wanted to go warm up in the hot tub and she told me no! She was having too much fun with her dad to stop. That day (November 3) Piper had her first intentional smiles! They were directed at me, which made my heart melt. We left Thursday night and drove through the night to northern California. Jade made a bunch of work stops, and by 3 we made it to Medford, OR, where we checked into our hotel room and totally crashed. We went to bed at 7:40 that night. The next morning we stopped by our friends' house for breakfast. Peyton and their little girl Taylor are the same age. They hadn't seen each other in about 3 years. The girls were really cute together. It was hard to tell who was more girly- or more sassy. (That's not a good thing.) We made it home by dinner time, and even though we had a really great trip, we were all glad to be back. It was really intimidating taking a 3.5 year old and a newborn on such a big trip, but I'm glad we did. Not only did we have a lot of fun, it gave me confidence in being with 2 kids at once. For the first time since Piper was born, I thought to myself, "I can really do this!" It was very encouraging.

:

:

Part of the dinner was a Balboa Bar-bar. They had ice cream bars and frozen bananas that they hand-dipped in chocolate right in front of you, then rolled it in the toppings of your choice. YUM.

I love this picture

Big Dorothy and Little Dorothy

Peyton was so happy to have her face painted.

My little girl loved the beach! She was so content.

The Bells

Jade took this picture while on the ride. I can totally tell in this picture why everyone says Peyton looks like Jade. Usually I think she looks like me.

The dogs were really cute with Piper, signing "baby" and "little" and holding their hearts.

Peter Pan

Can you tell she was ready to go?

First smiles! Thank goodness I had my camera sitting on the counter.

Every time we walked around the hotel, Peyton walked on this little wall like a balance beam. I had to document it, because she probably did it 10 times a day.

Peyton, Tripp, Taylor and Piper. Peyton didn't realize Tripp is almost as big as her!

Just a few hours away from home. My little baby was absolutely exhausted from our big trip.

Sea World

On our second day in California, we decided to make the drive down to San Diego and go to Sea World. My favorite exhibit (the sting rays) was closed, so that was really sad, but besides that we had a great time. Highlights of the day were the dolphin show, the sea lion and otter show, feeding the seals, petting the baby sharks, Peyton petting the Nemo fish and the starfish. Sea World had trick or treat stations for the kids and Peyton absolutely loved getting the candy. Unfortunately, on the very last exhibit we left our stroller at the entrance, and someone took almost all of the candy out of the bags. Peyton was pretty disappointed. I felt like I dodged a bullet.

Peyton's Happiest Place on Earth

We left Portland on Wednesday and drove to Southern Oregon, making business stops along the way for Jade. It took us about 8 hours total, and surprisingly the girls did pretty well. We had a strategy that ended up working beautifully: we put their car seats on either side of the car and left the middle seat open so I could just jump back whenever I was needed. Thursday we drove all day (again making work stops), and ended up in central California just before midnight. We woke up early Friday morning and made the drive to Anaheim, to meet my mom and little sister at Disneyland.

It was fantastic! We had the best time, especially Peyton. The park wasn't too crowded because they were closing early for the annual Mickey's Halloween party. The whole park was decked out with pumpkins and other Halloween things, and they had special (rare I was told) appearances by a lot of the Disney villains. My favorite villains were Drizella and Anastasia (of Cinderella fame). Right when we walked through the gates, Peyton's eyes lit up. I hate to be so cheesy, but really it was magical for her. We went straight to Fantasyland, and Peyton chose the Carousel first (she rode it 3 times). Cheyanne and her friend Emily took her on Dumbo next, which was Peyton's favorite ride in the park. She did Alice in Wonderland with my mom, sister and Emily, and the Teacups with Jade and the girls. Then we went and got seats for the parade- we couldn't have gotten much better seats (I was a team player and sat and reserved them. One of the downfalls of needing to nurse so often). Peyton thought the parade was the most incredible thing ever. She was transfixed. Mesmerized. She was dressed up as Snow White, and the Snow White in the parade saw her, waved at her, blew her a kiss and put her hands up by her heart. Peyton's jaw dropped to the floor. She did however ask me about 5 times "Why isn't this a candy parade?" I think she thinks candy-throwing is a necessary part of a parade. After the parade, we went to Toontown and let her play for awhile. Jade and I even left Piper with Noni and took Peyton on Gadget's Go Coaster. She loved that one. The girl is fearless. Then we took her on the Mark Twain riverboat, had her face painted and went on the jungle cruise. Our last ride of the day was the Astro Orbitor, which Jade and I squeezed into so we could both ride with Peyton. By the end of the day, Peyton was definitely ready for bed, but she was so happy. I had a great time watching my little girl have the time of her life. It was a great day. Enjoy a picture overload!

:

:

On the bus from the parking lot. Can you tell how excited she is?

Peyton wasn't too sure about the Mad Hatter at first. I wondered why, because he's not one of the scary characters, and Peyton asked me, "Why is he mad?" The poor thing was concerned that he was mad at her. It was hard to explain to her that mad also means crazy. And crazy means silly.

Peyton loved spinning the teacups

She surprised me by high-5-ing the Genie

Peyton was so intense.

The wave

SO cute