Let it Snow!

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

On Thursday of last week I was driving into my dad's office & while looking at the mountains that had a little snow on them the thought came to me... I want to go to the snow! So I called Melissa & asked if she would want to join in on the idea. She was all for it so Friday we drove out to Redlands & drove up the back road to Big Bear. We stuck the kids in the very back & put on a movie. To get their attention I had to slap the window. Payton spotted the snow first.We went up to where they required chains & turned around & found a little neighborhood. We found a spot & hike up a little incline & when the kids refused to walk any further (about 10 yards off of the compacted snow) we stopped. I started to make my first 'Frosty', yes I'm deprived, I grew up in So Cal, what can I say.
The kids stayed right where we put them down. It was pretty funny.

I expected the gloves not to stay on but I was surprised when she only took them off 1 time.
Cute little Casey!!! He was the only one that enjoyed the snow without tears!
We used what we had & I think that Frosty turned out wonderfully.
Only after singing did we get a smile out of Payton
Another funny reaction to us singing... it's not that we sound funny she just makes these crazy faces sometimes. Below is a video of Ryan. As sad as it is when we got back we watched it several times & just laughed. So cute.

Eventually Ryan got to where he would touch the snow & this was the only time that Payton acted comfortable.

It was short lived because on our way out I wanted to take a picture with Payton & well it didn't go like I had hoped.
SO SAD!!!

In an effort to get a picture I went back to her comfort zone & got one where at least she wasn't crying.
Ryan being more comfortable with the snow gave Frosty a kiss. We couldn't get him to eat the snow, even though we tried very hard.
It wasn't until we got to the car that Payton decided she wanted to take a walk by herself.
It was definitely worth the drive & even though we were there about 40 minutes or so, it was enough to tire the kids out. I think with 1 extra person & a little bit more time we would have had Payton & Ryan playing a little bit more.

She loves on her monkey

Someone asked me the other day if she still uses her monkey & I told them that 'she loves on her monkey' any time we go anywhere. Not every time but almost every time we get in the car she asks for her monkey & proceeds to love on him.With hugs & kisses we start out our trip. Sometimes it doesn't last very long but sometime she cuddles with him for up to 20 minutes.
She's a good friend always checking to may sure both his eyes are there & that his ears are clean.
If only we all had friends like that, who cared so much about us!
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Bad Mommy Guilt

Monday, January 28, 2008

So lately I've been swamped with managing & what that means for Payton is watching a lot more TV then usual. Usually she watches about 3 hours of TV, which according to her pediatrician is still a lot but there's no way around it. She has 3 favorites... Her #1 fav is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. 2nd fav is Little Einsteins & a new one that she likes is Backyardigans.

Here is a video of her watching Little Einsteins. She doesn't this every time. And lately she's been walking around patting her legs, tummy & arms (which is a different part of the show) & when I catch her doing it she smiles & looks a little embarrassed, which is the cutest part of the whole thing.

Also I usually don't let her sit that close to the TV. She's usually on the couch.

Trantum...

So Payton has starting throwing tantrums. I finally got it on camera. I'm not looking at her while she's doing it, which is the only reason that she stopped at the end & lost interest.

It is the same every time. She throws herself down (which usually isn't like it was in the video). After going down to her hands & knees she usually does this belly flop thing onto the floor. Then she beaches herself (which I think is hilarious, or at least I did before it became a part of her tantrum) & then after she rocks over to her back she hits her head on the floor. Also when she's on her back she will stomp her feet, but when she does that she usually distracts herself enough, & starts playing, so that she doesn't hit her head on the floor.

Yes during this all I do is sit by & don't make eye contact, which makes it end a lot faster. If I talk to her then it just keeps going. The only time I do react is when she is on the tile & I quickly scoop her up because I don't want her to bang her head on it, which she will & she has before. I'm not sure if she has caught on yet, well I know that she hasn't because if she did then she'd throw all of them on the tile.

I love my 2 year old!
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She wants what she wants when she wants it....

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Lately I have been very busy managing, from apartments flooding to hot water going out, it just seems like it's been one thing after the other... actually that exactly what it has been. :) So the night that the hot water went out in our building guess who wanted to take a bath! Payton would not take no for an answer, so being the loving parents that we are, we gave her a bath. I filled up the bath (maybe 2 inches high) & started boiling water using all 3 of the pots below.Payton being the patient 2 year that she is waited until the bath was warm enough... NOT!!! So after she had a complete conniption fit Donald stuck her in the bath. She stood there & cried (because it was so cold!) & Donald told her, 'okay then lets get out' so she squatted down. She cried again as she hovered just barely over the water. Donald would tell her it's time to get out & she'd get in a little farther. Every time a new section of body would touch the water she'd start crying again. Her toes, feet & hands were purple & she was obviously miserable but Payton was going to take a bath no matter what. Can anyone say STUBBORN!
This is all happening while I'm heating up water on the stove. I'd pour the hot water on the opposite end of where Payton was & Donald would move her down to that end after mixing it it a little. We did this 5 or 6 times before Donald said that it was warm enough to start washing her.
As you can see she is starting to wash herself & she wants to do it. She is getting to be such a big girl. Now if only she'd change her own diaper, then we'd really be in business!

When we weren't paying attention...

Payton loves to stack things. I think I posted about it earlier when she did it with soda cans. Anyways we were scrambling to get dinner ready because bedtime was quickly approaching. Don't you love her sense of fashion! Actually she had a cute dress on & wanted some crystal light & in an effort to not stain her new dress she was stripped down. Hey it happens, & quite often in our house, but only with Payton... not us.This stack was taller than her & I love the variety of what was stacked. After stacking the last green bean can she shrieked & got our attention. Honestly when did she have time to do that. Whenever Payton is doing something & we aren't paying attention she let's us know so that we can participate too.
Actually this is a trait that has helped us 'learn' how to be better parents. Let me explain... she KNOWS what she is suppose to do & not do. Their have been about 4 times in the past 6 months or so where Payton has come up to us & given me the look, "I've got something in my mouth". Each time a found money, coins from pennies to quarters! Yikes is right! From the first time we went thru the house & found all the coins & have been pretty good since. I'm just so grateful that she comes to me.
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Chili's

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Donald took Payton & I out to dinner this last weekend to Chili's. We called ahead & were seated within 5 minutes! We knew that Payton would love the chips & salsa & we were right. She chowed down on them. Their salsa has a little bit of kick to it but Payton loved it anyway.She was so good the whole time. Once the food arrived she stay in her seat with very little persuasion required. I asked Payton to smile for the picture & this is what I got. It's not a reaction to salsa or anything like that... this is Payton a perfect picture capturing her quirkiness.
Payton has become quite 'chatty' lately. I love the jibber-jabber. I thought that we would skip over this phase all together & was disappointed. We just figured that she would be one of those kids that would start talking in sentences but so far not the case, at least in sentences we understand.

Cousins

These two are so funny when they are together. We went out to Redlands for Stake Conference, all of Southern California had a satellite broadcast & since Donald didn't have any Young Men responsibilities we decided to head out Saturday & stay thru Sunday. It was nice to get away & spend some time out with them.

Sunday morning we were getting ready, rushing last minute thru Hicks style, & it got quite enough to hear giggling coming from the bathroom. I had visions of the toilet & toilet paper (Payton's new fascination) but I was happy to see that Ryan was being a positive influence on her. They were brushing their teeth. So Cute! When they aren't squabbling over a toy they are inseparable!
Payton had a hard time during the last 1/2 of conference. About an hour into it she decided that she was done. So Donald walked with her for the first 1/2 hour or more & then I did the rest. I vote to hear from the Prophet first! It was hard to hear all of his talk, Donald completely missed the first half of his talk & I caught bits & pieces of the last 1/2. It is always good to hear from the Prophet, no matter how much you actually are able to listen to.
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Arboretum

Monday, January 21, 2008

We haven't been to the Arboretum in a long time, we always had things going on. So this last week when the free day came up again we jumped on the chance. Payton loved seeing the peacocks, I didn't have to point them out to her, she was pointing them out to me.There is a waterfall & I usually let her out of the stroller when we are there. Usually she will watch the waterfall for a while but there was the chick there chanting or something so Payton steered clear of her. Actually is was quite funny Payton walked up right behind her & did her 'do you hear that' face while she partially cups her ear/point to her ear & sat there listening. Payton looked really confused, looked at me for some sort of explanation & decided to fore go the waterfall this time. It was all I could do to stop from laughing. There were several people around me that started to laugh when they saw her reaction. I love this kid!
She took off up the road & I've found lately that if I chase her she goes farther but if I just wait she comes back.
Payton LOVES Granny Smith apples. She really likes things that are tart like lemonade as well. She chowed down on this for about a 1/2 hour & when I went to take it away from her before putting her in the car seat I noticed she ate through the core. Yes apparently it was that good. I tried several times to get her to turn the apple but she didn't want to hold the wet part in her hands.
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Twirly Girly

Sunday, January 20, 2008

My little Payton loves to twirl. She thinks she is hot stuff when she's doing it. Sometimes she even 'winds up' by swinging her arms back & forth before she starts twirling.
That is the face of success... & of someone who loves all the attention that she gets. Can someone say spoiled?
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In a funk....

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Sorry about the lack of posts. From flooding apartments to Payton being sick I've felt like lately my time is not my own. It seems like I can see an end in sight so hopefully I can be more on top of posting. I've got a lot of pictures to share in the next few days so they may be out of order.

To give you an idea I just today put away my Christmas stuff. Yes it's long overdue & I've even had the boxes ready to fill for a little more than a week. Yeah so my life is slowly returning to normal. Hello Normal Boring Life... I've missed you!

Thanks - Jenn

Shots are not fun....

Payton has to get shots every month to help protect her against RSV (a respiratory virus/infection that if it gets bad can really damage the lungs. So if Payton were to get it that would be extremely bad). She gets 6 shots, 1 given every month. When she was an infant she only needed 1 shot but now that she weighs more she needs a bigger dose so she actually 2 shots, one in each leg. This year we had to go to a hospital to get it, where last year they came to the house. It was really convenient that they would come to us but it's better for Payton because there are 2 nurses there to give them both at the same time.These pictures were taken right after. Payton gets whatever she wants in the 15 minutes after the shot is given because we have to hang out so that they can check the injection site. This day she wanted my camera but by the time I got it out she wanted to leave. So since it was out I snapped off these 2 pictures.
Below was a little later that day. As you can see she's totally recovered... except for when she sees her band aids & whines a little & points to them. The band aids are off now & she still remembers.
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Rockin' crazy


This was taken the same day as the Goodnight Moon video. Only this was taken about an hour later. When she's in there I leave the monitor on so I can hear what's going on. She was giggling so I couldn't resist going in there armed with a camera.

Goodnight Moon

One of the things that we have to do before bedtime is read Goodnight Moon. She has to wave bye to everything. In the video you can also hear the extent of her vocabulary which right now is not of the english or human language.

She feels like such a big girl when she can look thru a book by herself. Actually since we moved her books in her room I have found her in there just reading.
The day that I took these pictures I walked by her room & saw her in there. So I grabbed to camera & here she is.
Although she has a chair in the room that is just her size, when she reads she likes to sit on the pillows by the foot of her big girl bed.