Ah, Saturday!

Life has been really busy around here lately so every Saturday is a wonderful break. Yesterday was an especially wonderful day to spend time as a family. It was a gorgeous Colorado day too!

Our day started out with a trip here....
Hazel talks about the temple all the time so we wanted to take her around the grounds. She LOVED the fountain. (And I love this picture. Sometimes her face reminds me of one of those porcelain dolls)
Then we took some family pictures in front of the temple. If you look closely in this picture you can see the baby bump...

Hazel also enjoyed running around the grounds. It was a wonderful start to the day. I loved feeling the peace of the temple and watching Hazel enjoy herself so much. She cried when we had to get back in the car and kept saying "No all done temple!" What parent doesn't enjoy hearing those words?


Next stop was Mike's volleyball tournament. He is currently coaching a club volleyball team of 18 year old girls. They had a tournament this weekend at the convention center in Denver, and sadly Hazel and I hadn't seen them play before so we were excited to go. It was "pink day" in support of breast cancer so Mike got to wear a lovely hot pink shirt:)

The girls played hard but only won 1 of the 3 games we saw.
My parents joined us, and Hazel had fun with "Gam" and "Gampa!" Hazel loves them to pieces. Of course Gram had to bring her some Oreos which she thoroughly enjoyed!
My mom also helped me turn one of the team shirts in to a little dress for her so she could be their little cheerleader. It turned out soooooo cute! Too bad she wouldn't smile for her picture.

Last, but not least, was the bouncy house.... Between the 2nd and 3rd game we took Hazel over to an area with bouncy castles and mazes. At first she wanted nothing to do with them and refused to get in. Once we convinced her it would be fun, she had a BLAST! They were closing for the night so she only got a few minutes in it before we had to get her out. I've never seen her so upset. She kept saying "Jumpy bed, jumpy bed" and crying big, fat alligator tears. It wasn't until I took her back to show her that they were deflated and had gone "night-night" that she finally calmed down.
Despite the minor melt-down, it was a wonderful day!

Fancy Hazel

I LOVE that Hazel likes to be fancy. She wears a necklace pretty much everyday because she asks for one.

The other night she went all out. She's so cute I had to share:)

Sickness

Poor Hazel had a pretty rough week fighting a nasty case of bronchitis. She had a mild case about a month ago that cleared up quickly with an antibiotic and an inhaler, but this one wasn't so easy.

Monday I took her to the doctor because I heard her wheezing again. They put her back on the inhaler and also started her on antibiotics for an ear infection. By Tuesday night she was actually worse (barely sleeping, not eating, and coughing so hard she would throw up.) I've never seen anything more sad than a toddler who is terrified because they are throwing up. She would just look at me and say "Mommy, yuckies!" while bawling her eyes out. It broke my heart so much I just let her puke all over me.

Because she obviously wasn't getting better, on Wednesday Mike took her back in to the doctor. This time they put her on nebulizer breathing treatments. Thankfully she's finally feeling better! She hated the nebulizer at first, but she's starting to get used to it. She calls it a "necklace" and will tell us "no nec-ace" or "all done nec-ace." Too cute!


Poor Mike was sick too with an adult form of the same thing. I'm so glad they're both feeling better (and that I can get some sleep again and stop doing laundry). Modern medicine is a wonderful thing.
On a brighter note, yesterday was the monthly ASL session (see here) at the Denver temple and there were a total of 12 deaf members there! It's so exciting to see the program grow!

It's a ......

BOY?

(you'll have to zoom in on the picture to get a better look, but I honestly have no idea what we're looking at)

Confused? So is everyone, haha. On Tuesday I went in for my ultrasound. The tech was going along telling me about each part as she scanned. Then she left the room and got the doctor (not my doctor - another in the practice who is an expert with ultrasound.) Of course I was worried that something was wrong with the baby. The doctor just doesn't come in during your ultrasound otherwise, right? Thankfully, the baby is perfectly health. The tech just wanted a second opinion from the doctor on the gender.

The way the baby was lying, she was getting a clear shot of the genitals but couldn't quite tell. They both agreed it is probably a boy but some of his little boy parts were just moved in a way that made them out of the shot. This doctor said this isn't uncommon and it's nothing to worry about.

I saw my doctor right after and she agreed there's no reason to worry. She also said she can order a second ultrasound so we can know for sure (love my doctor). But she warned that the insurance might not pay for it because it wasn't "medically necessary." I called the insurance yesterday and they have no limit on the number of ultrasounds! So we get a second look March 29th. Hopefully the little one will cooperate better this time:)

Either way, it's a stinking cute baby! And I'm half way done! So far this pregnancy has been going great. I've still been more tired than I was with Hazel and frequently fall asleep around 9. I think being more tired this time around has something to do with the wild one I chase around each afternoon after working a full day:) We can't wait to meet the little one.

Sisters

No, we haven't found out the gender of baby number two yet (check back Tuesday for that exciting announcement). I'm talking about Hazel and her furry sister Kiara....

These two have become quite good friends. Hazel will give Kiara kisses, rub her belly, and bring her leash when she thinks she needs to go potty. Kiara in turn has to sit on the floor of Hazel's room every night while I tuck her in for bed. They are a pretty cute pair:)

Recently Hazel has been really in to dressing up in pretty skirts from Grandma Teri. Well, she always wants me to join in the fun, but I obviously don't fit in any of her skirts. One night I casually suggested Kiara could wear one and it stuck. Now every time Hazel dresses up poor Kiara gets a skirt too. That dog is a good sport!
Kiara does enjoy playing with Hazel by chasing her around. They run and Kiara chases Hazel as she laughs hysterically. Hazel will then get Kiara a toy, wrestle with her, etc. I love to see they entertain each other.
Best of all Kiara is amazing with Hazel and never growls or snaps at her. When she's had enough she simply walks away and goes to her kennel and we know it's time to reign in Hazel. They are quite the little pair!

Who Knew....

Who knew that a pair of Elmo socks and a package of playdough (both from the dollar section at Target) would be the PERFECT Valentine's Day gift for this little one?
We got these the Friday before Valentine's day and Hazel wanted to put them on as soon as we got home. She wore them all night and all day Saturday:) At her insisting, I had to wash them so she could wear them again on Monday. While wearing them she points to her feet about 106x per day to say "Elmo socks." So cute! This little girl LOVES Elmo (but only in books and on socks. She doesn't like his voice on TV).
As for the playdough, Mike didn't want to get it because he thought Hazel was too young. She proved him wrong by playing with it for 45 minutes straight the first day (and every day since). She doesn't try to eat it or mix the colors (a girl after my own heart!) Her favorite things to make are frogs and ducks.


I love that with a $2 present Hazel had the best Valentine's day in the world. Now that is what Valentine's day should be about. Forget boxes of chocolates and overpriced flowers. It's all about the simple things in life. I know Mike and I had the best Valentine's day just watching her enjoy her gifts (and eating yummy home-made heart shaped French bread).

Poor Brain-Washed Child

Daddy Daughter Date

On Friday while I was at work Mike took Hazel to on a little date. Hazel has been wanting to go to the zoo for several weeks but every day we could go has been too cold (as in below 10 degrees too cold). Since Friday was 40 Mike decided they would go to the zoo. Hazel was so excited! She kept signing and saying "zoo!" all morning. Apparently while they were there she wanted to keep going back to the giraffes:) She loves giraffes!



On the way home they stopped by the figure skating hall of fame where Mike got managed to talk they in for free, haha. I love how Hazel is posing in this picture:)
I also love how great Mike is with Hazel. It's sometimes hard for both of us to be in somewhat reversed roles right now, but it's giving us both good experience. He does a great job making sure Hazel is well cared for and having fun. I love these two! Glad you guys had a fun day:)

One Silly Girl!

Skiing!

Yesterday my parents and I went skiing! Harrison's good friend Katy came with us. They were co-presidents together their senior year in high school so my parents have kept up their friendship while Harrison's on his mission. I was anxious to get up skiing because I got my new skis for Christmas and I hadn't had a chance to try them out. I had to go before I got too big (don't worry - I was very careful and didn't fall once).

Unfortunately the roads were terrible getting up there. We barely made it up one of the hills and so we decided to detour to Keystone instead of driving all the way to Vail. The drive was certainly worth it because the snow was great and we had a blast!

I LOVE my new skis:) It took a bit to get used to them and adjust to my different center of gravity. We didn't take any pictures of us actually skiing, but we did stop at the snow fort in "Kidtopeia" and got some pictures there...
You would have thought my parents were teenagers again the way they wanted to play. My dad had to go down the slide (and broke a buckle on his boot in the process....)
Then they had to sit on the throne. Haha, I love my parents! Thanks for taking me skiing with you and for the skis!