What I love about Payton...

I love that she has her own style...

I love that she likes to play dress up sometimes... which actually isn't too often so it's fun when she asks me if she can be a Princess like Mommy!

I love her imagination. I was ignoring her trying to get some stuff done & she comes in & askes me to go on the train. We've gone on the Metro a couple of times so I thought she wanted to leave so I said 'Not right now'. A few minutes later she said that she got a big cho-cho train chair for mommy & realizing that I didn't know what she was talking about I went out to see what she was talking about. She was right, there was cho-cho train waiting for mommy & she said that is was going to the beach & then to the sand castles.

Arboretum...

There is nothing better than free admission... & having your best friend there too! Payton's best friend is Chloe & Sarah is mine.

It was such a nice day that I gave Sarah a call & we met at the Arboretum for lunch. We all had such a good time, we talked while the girls played!

Of course we had to feed the fishies, duckies & turtles. Actually what made me think of even going was that I notice my bread was getting a little moldy & instead of throwing it away... well we threw it away! :)

They are getting old enough where they are not quite as cooperative at taking photos... hey I was just grateful that I got the first one.

We will really miss them when they move away in a few months! :(

Make the Yuckies Go Away

Disclaimer: Talk of the Throw Ups, Snot & Loogies... Reader discretion is advised!

This morning Payton was complaining of a hurting tummy. She wouldn't eat & it didn't take long to figure out why. First came the dry heaving & then the Loogies. Payton & I are getting over a little cold that came with lots of flem. Sorry if this is TMI! I was constantly blowing my nose & clearing my throat & Payton just refused to do it. 2 nights ago my sinuses cleared & drained... Last night Paytons must have because she is 'clearing' it this morning.

After about the 4th or 5th time, after I talked to Donald to let him know what was going on & she came up to me as soon as I hung up with him & said 'Mommy make the yuckies go away so we can go see baby Hailey'. I told her we'd still be able to go & she relaxed, layed down & I took the first 2 pictures in this blog. She is so excited to go & has been talking about it since Sunday when she was told we were going.
Tomorrow we have plans to go to Utah. I'm 95% sure we are still going because I don't think that she is sick. She actually did the same thing in the hospital when she refused to cough up the congestion she had after surgery... but that was understandable & expected because it hurt her to do pretty much everything.

She's sleeping in the living room now so hopefully she'll wake up hungry & ready to start her day. In the meantime I have some stuff to do to get ready to go... Does life ever slow down?

UPDATE: I'm happy to report that she woke up smiling & laughing. It's amazing what a little nap can do! Now if she'll just leave me alone long enough to get stuff done... Yeah I guess I do require a lot.

8 Years Ago Today...

8 years ago today Donald & I were married....

8 years ago (actually almost to the hour!) we stood here & took a picture...

Sorry about the quality, the pictures were not digital way back then! :)

Who knew 8 years ago that we'd have such a full life with less than we planned on.... (more kids, just starting out a career, etc.)

I was only blond for about 4 months after we were married...

Here's to 8 more years of fun!

I love you Donald!

Before & After Surgery...

Above is right before surgery... below is about 4 weeks later. She's not as dusky (purple) as before.

Above are her hands right before & below are her hands right after. This was something that was amazing to me.

Feet right before... & below is after.
There have been changes that can't be seen in one moment. My favorite is that she can keep up with her cousin now. It took a little while for her to realize that she could but now she goes non-stop. Before surgery she would be able to play with him for 15 minutes or so & then would take a break, like sit down to look at a book or would go find an adult to seek sanctuary. But now I find her running in circles & jumping & being able to keep up with the energizer bunny.
Some people have even commented that she seems to be happier. I think that they are right! She sings all the time & is really into pretend play. It's cute because she is now disciplining her dolls (using the same words I do) puts them to bed & feeds them their dinner.
Currently we are slowly being weened off of her are surgery medicines (diuretics). So this is exciting. We are slowly going to be taken off so that we avoid fluid building up in her lungs, which is a common side effect of this last surgery. We are also on a low fat diet which means no butter, no oil & no cheese, basically less than 3 grams of fat per serving. Have you ever read the nutritional labels on food?... yeah there's not a lot that she can have right now. We are surviving pretty well. I have found several low fat recipes that are actually pretty good. We also use butter substitutes that are... decent. We found 1 non-fat cheese that Payton seems to tolerate. We are hoping to only be on this low fat diet for another couple of months.

The last new medication we are on is Coumidin, which is a heavy duty blood thinner. This adds a whole new level of 'joy' to our lives. We will probably be on this for the next year. We have to pay attention to any bumps & bruises that she gets, which she gets so much easier now & have to get regular blood tests to monitor her levels. Also if she falls & hits her head hard then it's off to the emergency room for us for a head scan. Yeah imagine explaining to her that she has to stay still while sitting inside a machine that makes noise, lets just pray that is never nessecary! Before surgery she was very careful but I'm realizing now that was because she really didn't have the energy to climb, jump, rough house & twirl. Twirling in the hallway is how she got her first big bruise that was right smack dab on her cheek. It's faded in this picture but you can still see it on her left cheek.
We are no longer on 'quarantine' which is great news. We still need to be careful about being around kids who are sick just because of cold & flu season. She will start going to Sunbeams as soon as her Dr. says the season is over. We were authorized to have another round of RSV shots so that was a relief. So hopefully you guys will see us around more often.

I realized that I hadn't done a post like this in a long time & since we are ready to be 'reintroduced' into the world we thought that we would let you know about what's going on. I'm sure I've missed something so if I did then comment & I'll fill you in. We are sad to have missed out on so much fun with our friends but are glad that is behind us now.

Marine + Tomboy = Girly Girl?

So anyone who knew me growing up knows that I was a tomboy. I didn't wear bows, skirts or necklaces unless there was a shark tooth on it. So I just have one question for you... Where did this girl come from? & How was I a part of making her?

I don't know how it happened but I have to admit something that my younger self never would have... I LOVE IT!!!

I love the bows... I love the necklaces... I love the bracelets... I love how she holds her purse... I love the squealing & the giggling, the dancing & the singing...

i love it, I LOVE IT, I LOVE IT!

What I love about it the most is that Payton loves it too. There is a huge key to her wanting to wear something that I have recently figured out... she has to choose it. So what I'm telling you is that she is also opinionated & stubborn... now those traits I know & those she got from me. So there IS more than just a physical resemblance.

Throwin rocks in the river

A few weekends ago Donald took Payton & I to Eaton Canyon. We went down by the river to throw rooks into the river (& Payton has talked about it every day since!). So I guess that means the trip was successful!
Payton was very serious about picking rocks, not every small rock was worthy of the river apparently.
Donald was very good at helping her not to fall which lowered my stress a lot.
Yeah in hindsight I should not have let her choose what she wanted to wear. This would have been a great picture but oh well... we'll just have to go back.
Her favorite part was that she found a rock with a stripe in it & she got to take it home. Aren't we the greatest parents ever... at least she thinks so.
If you haven't been I definitely recommend going to Eaton Canyon. To get there the entrance is just north of New York Drive on Altadena on the east side of the street. Park as far down as you can & follow the trail at the end of the parking lot to the river. Growing up there was always water but I don't know what it's like during the summer, but there's definitely water right now. If anyone would like to go let me know... Payton's been bugging me to go again.

I love to see the temple...

Payton & I went to the temple last week. She loves to sing the song so I figured she should see what she was singing about. She had so much fun.
It was hard to keep her from climbing & running around. I tried to tell her that we needed to be reverent but I lost that battle real fast.
When we got home she would only talk about 3 things. The fountain,
.... the flowers,
I don't know if it's just because I'm her mom but I think her facial expressions when she 'smells' flowers is hilarious.
And the 3rd thing she talked about were the people who were walking into the temple thru the temple doors. She likes to sing Chapel Doors & for a little while it morphed into Temple Doors... but it didn't last long.


I tried to get her to say Angel Moroni but we only got as far as Angel & then she'd just grin & giggle while I tried to get her to say Moroni. Oh well at least I tried.