A Day at CALM

We got a great deal on a family membership at CALM here in Bakersfield. For $14 we were able to get a year long membership for our whole family. But that's not all, the family membership comes with free admissions and discounted admissions at several museums and zoos in California (including half off at the LA zoo and free admissions to China Lakes Naval Museum and even a zoo in Texas!). Anyway, if anyone else is curious about this great bargain, check it out here. There's also some great deals on Catalina ferries on that site (I know some of my blog visitors might be needing those this upcoming summer...) and the Monterey Bay Aquarium (if anyone's heading up that way).

And for the mom's out there, explore that site a bit further and there's discount spa treatments available in town. Check that out here. There's also Vegas trips, California hotels, Frugatti's gift certificates, and other steals and deals worth investigating.

Anyway, we've had the certificate laying around for about a month now and decided we should probably go activate it. So James woke up early and we made a trip out to CALM. It was a fair way to spend the morning. Cadence exhausted herself, which, of course, was the whole purpose of the trip! She was fascinated by the large white pelican outside of the reptile house, the first animal we saw. It took a lot of coaxing to get her to leave that display. She could've cared less about the snakes and was thrilled with the fish. She couldn't pick out any of the birds of prey, but she did see the bald eagle (kind of hard to miss). And she did see a falcon eating what was left of it's dinner (luckily she didn't recognize what it was). The bears were being boring so she could care less, but the turtles were moving and she loved them.

Her favorite part was the children's area with the goats, rabbits, and pony. She refused to follow us back out to the main part of the zoo and had to be carried and as soon as she was put down, she tried running back inside. When we wouldn't let her do that, she then insisted on pushing Megan's stroller for us. So James and I stood on either side holding a handle and steering while she pushed. We strolled by what will soon be the mountain lion/bobcat exhibit and bypassed the overcrowded children's playground.

Next time, we'll have to have some cash on hand so that we can try out the children's train ride! And, hopefully, next time I'll have figured out where Cadence stashed my camera so I can share lots of pictures. Right now the only picture I have is on my phone and I haven't figured out how to get those onto the computer yet.

Too cute not to share

Recently, Cadence has wanted to contribute more to taking care of Megan for me. She'll happily burp Megan for me whenever she sees her sister on her belly. She'll offer Megan drinks from her doll's bottle or from her own sippy cup and always offers her food to her sister as well. She figured out the top buckle of the car seat and always wants to buckle her sister in. If Megan gets fussy because we're taking too long to get moving after putting her in her car seat, Cadence'll squat down and entertain her. She'll even offer her special blanket for sharing if Megan's fussy (though she throws a fit if Megan is using it while NOT fussy). And recently, she's also begun wanting to hold Megan, even though Megan is now only a handful of inches and pounds smaller than her big sister. Still, it makes for some cute pictures (obviously Megan looks a tad bigger because she's closer to the camera, but the size difference is really minimal now...):

(the blurry hand is because Cadence was patting Megan's belly)

Easter Day has come and gone

A relatively quiet Easter has passed here in the Smith Household. We did fill Easter baskets for both girls, though most of what was in Megan's basket has been commandeered by Cadence. I had them up on the table in an effort to have Cadence wait to go through them until James was awake and could enjoy her going through it. Of course, in the few minutes it took me to get Megan out of bed, she saw the baskets, climbed up onto the chair and began going through it. Her favorite things were the books that were tucked in each basket.
She was confused about the camo eggs that we bought. She knew shaking them made a cool noise and she was okay with that for awhile. Then I opened one for her. When she saw that it had actual candy inside she was thrilled. She couldn't get the others to open, so she'd eat a few m&ms and then go back to trying to figure out the secret. One dropped and it popped open as it hit the floor. Before I knew it she'd thrown the rest on the floor in an attempt to open them all.
Of course, we had to take at least one picture of Megan. She posed nicely with the stuffed bunny that was in her basket. She's always the one that'll smile with almost no work on my part. She spent Easter morning laying on the floor.
We decided cinnamon rolls would be a good breakfast for Easter/General Conference. Cadence loved the cinnamon rolls. She ate two of them on her own and then tried to climb onto the table to get to the pan that had the rest of them.
The rest of the day was pretty quiet, as well. We enjoyed General Conference. Cadence would always stop whatever she was doing once the choir started singing. The singing is always my favorite part of General Conference. But I also really like pretty much every talk given Saturday morning. My favorite was the second one, can't remember who it was by. But I really enjoyed it, nonetheless.

After General Conference, we went to Nana's house for dinner and birthday cake (Aunt Robyn turned 17 a week ago). Cadence has her two top canines and her fourth molar all threatening to cut through at any given moment. Her Motrin wore off about the same time we got there. However, she loved the pancit and loompia. She probably overate, though, because she turned up her nose at the cake and ice cream. Between teething and probably a sore tummy (we tried limiting her chocolate intake, but she kept sneaking more. I don't know how she got her hands on it all the time!), Cadence was miserable as the night wore on.

No pictures of Nana's house, but Nana did get a video of us using Megan as a toy and playing keepaway with Cadence. We'd put Megan in her walker. Her legs are still too short to reach the ground. Cadence loves pushing the walker around though and Megan eats up any attention her big sister gives her. Of course, being the cruel adults we are, we began pushing Megan around the room and keeping her out of Cadence's reach. Megan thought it was great. Cadence was laughing until it lasted a little too long. When it went on too long for Cadence's choice, she threw herself to the floor (carefully, since Nana has hardwood floors) and cried. Oops.

We finally got Cadence home, in the bath, read her a book, sang her a song, and snuggled her a bit. Then we said prayers and she was tucked in and passed out within moments. I came out from putting her to bed to find James entertaining Megan (World of Warcraft addict in the making!):

Just life

Nothing too exciting going on here. Saturday we went to lunch at Johns Incredible Pizza. Cadence loved having access to so much food. I got her a plate with mandarin oranges and two slices of pizza. She gobbled up the oranges and wanted more, but satisfied herself with the pizza until I'd fetched her some more (along with some peaces, a cheesecake sweet, and some rice). Afterward, we got about $5 worth of "tokens" and tried to find some things to entertain Cadence. For the most part she hated all of it, except for the merry-go-round. It was going fast enough I couldn't get a clear picture of her on the horse until I jumped up on the rider so that the background blurred, instead of her.

Megan has finally discovered her thumb. I'm not sure what to think of this. So far Cadence only sucks her thumb when she's tired and has her blanket with her. I am hoping that getting rid of the blanket might break the thumb habit when the time comes. Hopefully Megan follows the same trend, except she hasn't yet developed an obsession with a blanket yet... On another happy note, Megan's also discovered toys! Finally! She could've cared less about them, but suddenly today she was grabbing them and chewing on them. I'm pleased. While I love that she loves people, being able to put her down and let her be entertained by toys is going to be a life saver.

She's rolling. Well, she has the ability to roll, she just prefers being on her side so she'll roll onto her side and chew on whatever blanket is the nearest. I've tkaen to tossing a blanket over her because she loves chewing on them so much. Of course, both girls are stripped down to diapers by the time dinner comes around nowadays, so no overheating. It may only have had a high of 76 in Bakersfield today, but with the sun hitting our glass patio door in the afternoon, it's a fight to keep my living room at 80 degrees.

My goodness my girls are getting so big, though. Megan stretched out to her full length today and I was astounded. She'd put on 7 inches by her 4 month appointment. I should measure her and see if she's grown any more. And I suppose we're getting to the point that I should consider introducing solids. She has no apparent interest in food, though. Although I did give her a taste of brown gravy the other day, just a bit on the tip of my finger. She tried to suck my finger off. However, rice cereal is not as tasty as brown gravy, so she may not be as eager...

And finally, Cadence's camera obsession resulted in some recorded video. There was a cute minute long one where you could hear her babbling and talking, but it was all black screen since she'd dumped it to go through the rest of my purse. So we'll share this six second ditty with a good shot of her leg and diaper:

Perfection is...

... 2 o'clock in the morning, half-asleep, rocking in a chair, nursing one daughter and watching as the other one stirs in her sleep.

... coming through the door after only being gone a moment and being greeted enthusiastically in fluent gibberish.

... 8 o'clock at night, one daughter sucking her thumb in her crib and cooing herself to sleep, the other being rocked as we sing "I am a Child of God", on the verge of falling to sleep but fighting it with all she has.

... that quiet moment when two fussy girls have finally settled down, one being rocked in one arm and the other content to snuggle against your side with her blanket.

... 7 o'clock in the morning, walking into the nursery and being greeted by two little girls that starting grinning, giggling and talking just because they see it's you.

... a squeal of laughter simply because you crossed your eyes and made a funny sound.

... 7 o'clock at night, listening to one daughter point to her sister's eyes, ears, mouth and nose and having the little sister grin big because she loves the attention from her big sister.

Yes, my day's are pretty much overflowing with perfect moments. I am so very blessed.

Daddy's extra day off

James was supposed to go do something in LA this Monday, but circumstances had him have to put the trip off until next week (we can hope). Anyway, since he'd requested the time off using his personal hours, he figured he might as well take the day off and spend an extra day with us. We were all pretty happy with that arrangement! He works such long, weird hours, that sometimes it seems we just don't have enough time with him.

To celebrate, we went to Hart Park for an impromptu picnic. We wanted somewhere that Cadence could run around and let me take all sorts of cute pictures. And James also wanted to let Khloe explore somewhere beyond our patio and the grass under our stairs. So we packed ham sandwiches, juice boxes, cookies and goldfish and went for a drive. We picked an area near a play set and let Cadence sit on the table for easy access to her food:
Megan wasn't left out of the fun. She spent a bit of time in her car seat while we all ate, but we got her out and let her enjoy the sunshine and fresh air and be passed around from person to person (which she always enjoys). She was so content she didn't fuss the entire time, even though her lunchtime feeding was pushed back by nearly an hour.
Cadence loved the swings. She probably spent half the time we were at the park being pushed. Naturally, the one doing the pushing had to try to grab her toes, tickle her belly or growl at her as she got too close. It only made her laugh even more:
We let her romp around the play set as well. While she preferred running around on the grass and sand, she's recently become fascinated with stairs and showed off her latest achievement by climbing up the stairs to the slide all by herself. Well, Khloe helped... She tried to show Cadence it was possible to do it without holding on the bars, but Cadence decided she preferred her way for now.
At the top of the slide she, James and Khloe goofed off for a bit, then James got her set up to go down the slide. She loved it, so long as someone was there to catch her at the bottom of the slide. Khloe also went down the slide in James's lap, but she wasn't nearly as thrilled when she reached the bottom:
After we'd done everything at the play place, we walked across the park to check out the ducks and geese and maybe feed them some leftover goldfish crackers. Cadence was fascinated by the water and insisted on pointing it out to her dad (in case he hadn't noticed...)
We didn't get to feed many ducks or geese. We did have two follow us for awhile and we did toss some crackers to them, which they gobbled up. However, Cadence was more interested in testing out the duck's floating ability. She was very curious as to whether she could just walk off the edge and onto the water. We decided to not let her explore that particular curiosity too far. Since she was rather insistent, we had to leave after only a short time. She was not very happy, until she noticed all the flowers on the ground along our way back to the car:
Ultimately, that was the highlight of our day. We had a visit to the bookstore where Cadence, Megan and I flipped through every pop-up book they had in stock. And a trip to Walmart and FoodsCo for a few things. We also tried Jamba Juice, but Cadence was getting fussy at that point and didn't want any of it. Turns out, her fourth molar is popping through and the second half of her most recent two is also cutting. She was a pretty miserable little girl by the time bathtime rolled around.

Her misery was only made worse when neither James nor myself understood what she was crying for for the last hour before bedtime. All we knew was she was inconsolable and kept stopping to say, very clearly "bye-bye". Finally, we figured it out and let her go play outside in the grass for the last few minutes before bathtime itself. She wasn't too happy with us for bringing her back inside, but once she was in the water with her sister she was happy once again. And she always loved our bedtime story routine, complete with a few primary songs and a prayer before she got to lay in bed and talk to Taz (who always keeps her company as she falls asleep, it's rather sweet, actually).

Cadence has an obsession with cameras and cell phones. I understand it's a common fascination. She's figured out the playback capability of the camera and is quite skilled at pressing random buttons to figure out what they do. Behold, Cadence's budding photography skills:


And before I end this, I got a new diaper bag in the mail to replace the icky ones the hospital sent me home with. Only took me a year or so to actually buy one for myself, but... it's tote style, which I prefer (not a fan of too many pockets). It's big enough to fit as much as I might need without being overstuffed. It comes with a separate little bag for diapers and wipes so I don't have to lug the whole thing to do a quick diaper change. And... it's pretty, lol.

A day at the park

We had ourselves a bit of a nervous moment recently. I was busy nursing and trying to sooth Megan and letting Cadence do her own thing. When I finally got Megan down for her third nap of the day (she has three naps a day, we finally had a schedule!), I came out to find Cadence holding an open, empty bottle of children's Motrin. Uh-oh! There was some spilled on her clothes, but not enough to explain the empty bottle. My first ever phone call to Poison Control was made and I was told she'd be okay and just keep an eye on her. On the plus side, if she was teething at all Friday night, neither of us noticed! :-)

Saturday morning, we drove up to Porterville to visit with some of James's family that we rarely get to see. I was eager for Cadence to get to play with her cousin Sydney, because they're so close in age. Unfortunately, Sydney wasn't feeling too well, so she didn't come. We did get to watch Cadence's cousin, Talon, play. But he's about six years old and could care less about playing with his toddler cousin. So Talon flirted with all the pretty girls at the park, Cadence enjoyed the open area to play, and Megan smiled and talked to every aunt, uncle, and grandma that wanted to hold her. We blew bubbles, ate sandwiches, chatted, played on the playground equipment, and had a pretty nice little afternoon at the park.

I must admit, I was a bit nervous driving home as our car accident in October was when we last drove home from Porterville. However, we arrived home safe and sound and I breathed a huge sigh of relief and celebrated with some pizza from Pizza Hut because I was too lazy to cook dinner. :-)

Today we drove out to Taft for some more family togetherness. Cadence got to try out her hand at sidewalk chalk and loved it. She's really gotten into scribbling recently. My books and walls have suffered from this new skill of hers, but so far we've kept the permanent markers out of reach. She had a great time being outside and scribbling. It combined two of her favorite things (at least two of her most recent favorite things. Favorites change rather quickly nowadays).

Anyway, tomorrow we get an extra day with James! It's making all of us pretty excited. With how busy his work is lately, it seems like the weekend just isn't long enough for us to absorb enough time with him to last us the whole week. Not sure what we're going to do to make the most of the day, but we'll have to do something fun! Which reminds me, I should charge my camera's battery so I can be sure to document the day.

On a completely unrelated note, while browsing the non-friend random blogs I like to keep an eye on, I found this amazing post. The author is usually pretty funny and takes very little seriously, but this post was great. I'm sure the finer points of our religion might butt heads, but there was so much good in this post, I could not help but agree with every single point being made. Manswers: Youth Pastor Advice

Megan's 4 Month Checkup

Bright and early this morning, and naturally, I slept in. I had enough time to get a bit of breakfast in Cadence's belly, get both girls dressed and run out the door. Which meant when I finally had some breathing time while waiting for the doctor in the exam room, I caught sight of my reflection and actually winced at how unkempt I looked. Not even re-doing my ponytail could disguise the fact that I'd rushed out the door without a care as to how I looked.

Oh well, such is the life of a mother of 2, right?

Anyway, oddly enough, though it was Megan's appointment, it was Cadence that cried through the whole thing. I think she's officially traumatized, as far as doctor's go. Once we were in the back hallway and she recognized where we were at, she started screaming. She twisted so hard to get out of my arms that I almost dropped her when we first walked into the exam room. And she sat in the chair crying as we got Megan's measurements.

At this point, I was able to distract her by letting her scribble on the back of my 4-month checklist that they gave me. And she was just fine... until the doctor came in. And then she was screaming again. Luckily, the doctor took Megan off my hands and did the entire exam while I held Cadence. Thank goodness at least one daughter is easy-going! Megan talked to and smiled at the doctor the whole time. She thought the exam was fun.

Cadence continued to glare suspiciously at the doctor until he left and then.... the nurse came in carrying the needles and Cadence threw the biggest fit of all. Megan didn't know what was upsetting her big sister so much until her legs were pinned and it was too late to protest. Of course, she was happy and talking again almost as soon as I picked her up and kissed her cheeks. She's such a sweet, content little baby! I am so lucky, I swear. She was all smiles and grins and I got her re-dressed and buckled into her carseat and she happily went to sleep as we drove home.

Anyway... funny how Cadence takes over my post about Megan's check-up. But, Megan is growing well. She's definitely taller than her sister:

Last appointment:
Height- 24"
Weight- 10 lb 8 oz

Current:
Height- 26.25" (97th percentile)
Weight- 13 lb 4 oz (50th percentile, right on the 50%)

(For comparison's sake, Cady's 4 month stats were 25" and 13 lb 9oz. So again, Megan is longer and skinner)

The doctor had nothing but good things to say about Megan. No concerns that he could see. No heart murmurs, no breathing problems, good head control, good spirits. I think he spent more time making silly faces at her than actually examining her. What can I say? It's just too easy to fall in love with my little girls.

Sinus Infection

Saturday morning, Cadence woke up with a fever. Her underarm temperature was 100.8. She was instantly doped up with Motrin and when she started feeling warm again ever 4-6 hours we'd give her another dose.

Since we were unsure what was wrong with her, we kept her home from Church on Sunday when she woke up with the same fever.

She was fine all day, and then, suddenly, she wasn't. She started screaming and fussing and was inconsolable. I couldn't touch her without her freaking out. If I pressed against her ear she jerked away and screamed. Her underarm temp was 101 and it was still going up when I just turned it off, gave her to James (with the Motrin) and went to call the nurses advice line. They said if she wasn't better within an hour of taking Motrin to bring her in.

Well, an hour later, the thermometer still crept up to 101 and kept going. So we dropped Megan off at her Nana's house and took Cadence across town to Kaiser's urgent care. It was a relatively quick visit. She had a water bottle as a toy for the entire visit and managed to spill a fair portion of it all over me at one point. We saw a nurse, first. Naturally, by this point, her fever had gone down so they recorded only a 98.7, which is still a full degree higher than her normal temperature.

In the end she was diagnosed with a sinus infection, due to the chronic runny nose she's had for several weeks that I've dismissed. So I guess I'll have to do better about keeping that runny nose kept clear. Cadence will hate it, but it'll be better than getting a second infection. For now, though, she's on antibiotics and Motrin.

Fabulous Friday - March 12, 2010

Back again with Fabulous Friday. I completely forgot last week. I remembered around Saturday afternoon, though.

This Friday wasn't didn't have quite as much fabulous as last time. I don't even have pictures to share. However, I did have a fair bit of fun. First on the fabulous agenda was sleeping in until almost 8am this morning. As a mom of two under two, that is a pretty fabulous start!

All morning, the girls and I were out and about. First we went shopping for our fabulous dinner. James is on a mildly extreme diet recently (nothing unhealthy, just very strict). He has to get as close to a certain weight as possible by next weekend, so he's been on a very limited diet. I happened to find a recipe that would follow his diet and decided to give it a try. So we went shopping for a few ingredients that we were missing.

We also stopped by the LFR consignment sale. I was hoping to find an affordable crib to replace Megan's crib, but they had only one in stock by the time I got there. I assume they had more yesterday, but this is a 3 day sale only, and once it's sold, it's sold. I did, however, pick up four VHSs: Anastasia, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Prince of Egypt, and Mulan. I also got my hand son five Winnie the Pooh board books to add to Cadence's library. The grand total for my purchases? $16. I could have gotten it for 50% off if I'd waited until tomorrow, but there's never any guarantee that any of it would be there tomorrow.

For moms that read this in time: they are having a 50% off sale tomorrow. It starts at 10 in the Montgomery Ward shopping center on F street, near the DMV. If you have a few spare moments, go check it out. Tons of clothes, several baby carriers/wraps, toys, and other baby items. I might swing by tomorrow and see if any of the more expensive toys are still in stock and half-off (not everything is half off, only items that have the word "Reduce" on the price ticket, which the majority of them do).

The rest of our Fabulous Friday was spent at home. We had pizza for lunch, made dinner before James went to work. Then all of us sat down to watch Mulan, including James. So we had a bit of a family movie afternoon. Obviously Megan had no interest and Cadence's interest faded as the movie dragged on, but she did stop and listen to every song and then continue singing when the songs ended. Cadence and I also watched Anastasia with Megan, but she lost interest rather quickly, since it was too close to bedtime for her to have any attention span worth mentioning.

To top off my fabulous day, both girls went down without a fuss and were sleeping peacefully by 9pm. And to add to James's fabulous day, he's getting off of work early. He's still working past midnight, but he might actually get to go to bed before I'm getting up for the day this time around.