Oh Mexico

All right, so we're back from Mexico - and oh my, it was the best holiday ever! At least for me. The only thing missing was my wonderful husband! We really really missed him. But I'm so grateful to my mom and brother and my Aunts and Uncles and cousins for helping me with my girls! Everyone was so kind and loving and helpful! The resort we stayed at was fabulous! Really, it was the most beautiful place ever. Our villa was literally on the beach and just a stones throw from the water. We slept to the sound of waves crashing and woke to a beautiful ocean every single day. We boogie boarded in the water, we swam in the pool, we ate in restaurants, we went shopping and sight seeing, we went zip-lining through the canopy, we relaxed, and mostly, we just enjoyed each others company! Seriously, we had so much fun!

This was the first time either of my girls had flown on a plane, so I was quite nervous. But thanks to Westjets amazing tv's on each seat, Hailey was easily distracted pretty much the entire flight. And thanks to Paige's sweet personality, she just slept or played and cuddled in my arms the whole time. Our flight home was even better because we had extra room and the flight crew let me take Paige's carseat on and gave her her own seat. So she really was a dream...even during our 5 hour delay in Saskatoon. Both Hailey and Paige did so well - and I was so grateful for all the praise from all the other passengers. We didn't get home until 1am on Saturday, which could have been a complete disaster, but wasn't. Anyway, here's a little (well huge) photo journal of the trip:

So like I said, the resort was beautiful! See the big villa in the middle? The top two floors? That's where my aunt and uncle and their crew stayed. See the two windows to the left of their villa on the top floor? That's where they had us staying! GORGEOUS!!

The view from our villa was gorgeous too! Day:

And Night:

The resort Restaurant was fabulous...and had another amazing view:

And the people eating there were pretty neat too!

We did a lot of swimming in the infinity pools:

And a lot of playing at the Beach:

The sunsets were beautiful every day:

Paige was soooo cute:

Hailey was so fun (and she may have made a new best friend in her 2nd cousin Roel)!!

We had a little zip-lining adventure in the canopies:

We did a little bit of shopping (p.s. if you click on this picture you might see a little surprise sleeping in the basket of the stroller):

And finally, I enjoyed the company of my best buds:

Overall it was the perfect Holiday...and I hope to return here someday. Thank you so much Rita and Randy for letting us be part of this Holiday!

Wow...

It has been a really really long time! Wow. I think I sort of forgot about this place - and the saddest part? I have no pictures to add right now. Our computer died last month, which means, I can't upload pictures to the computer. I can add to Ben's laptop - but it's his work computer and I never really get a chance to go on it. So, one day I will upload all my pictures to the computer and post a billion pictures. Until then, I'll just write a few things about my girls for my records.

So Hailey:

She's almost 2 1/2 and boy can she talk! Seriously, she is a chatterbox...and the beauty is that we mostly understand it. She is big into pretend play right now. All her baby's have to have naps, and meals (even milk from...well you know where). She likes to pretend sleep (bed times and naps), and play animals. The best is her dog impression - she has to lick everyone and everything! She's also big into monsters - but not in a scary way. She just likes to run around fake screaming and hiding form her monsters. Oh - the hiding! This kids LOVES to hide! The dryer was her most recent spot...oh the joys. She's trying really hard to wean off her daily naps and I'm trying really hard to keep them going. The only problem is that when she naps she doesn't want to go to bed and then wakes up early! The jury's still out on what we'll do here. All I know is I'm not good in the mornings. She's growing up soooo fast! So fast that she is even changing Paige's diapers for me - multiple times a day. I still have to 'fix' them up a bit, but she's really doing a good job. Speaking of diapers - I may just be the worst mom in the world. Hailey is potty training herself...seriously. And I'm not encouraging it. I'm just so not ready for the running to the bathroom gong show it will be. But I think it's going to happen sooner then later. Most days she doesn't wear diapers in the morning and she goes to the bathroom all on her own - no reminders from me or anything. She poops and pees without problems! Honestly, this is crazy to me! But Hailey has really been the easiest kid when it comes to things like this - she slept through the night with no problem, she took a bottle without even thinking twice, she weened from the bottle without looking back, she transitioned to a toddler bed in a night and now she's potty training herself. Now before you get jealous - just remember I have Paige too!

So, Paige (she's 5 months). Well she is the sweetest little thing ever - really I just adore her. But man oh man is she work! She's a bit sensitive and really likes no one other then Ben or I. Seriously, she makes strange like you wouldn't believe. She is also so addicted to her soother and can not sleep without it. She has sleep troubles at the 45 minute mark without fail. She falls asleep easily and then wakes up exactly 45 minutes later - like clockwork! The good thing is she goes right back to sleep as soon as I pop a soother in. But really, it's a bit frustrating. But she's still so great! Right now she's sleeping 10-11 hours consistently at night without eating - and then I usually feed her and get another hour or two. Which is good I think. She still sometimes wakes for a paci replug, but that's ok I think. I'm still not sure what to think about this paci thing. Hailey sucked her thumb - which meant she self soothed from such a young age. So I don't know if what Paige is doing is normal or not. But it's working for us. On the developmental side of things, I think she's doing great! She rolls from her back to her tummy (but not tummy to back...she gets to frustrated and then just cries), and now she's starting to sit up! Ahhh - when did she grow up? We've also started giving her a bottle once in a while - I'm still breastfeeding, but I love the freedom of a bottle every once in a while. So I'm sooooo glad she'll do both for now! Oh - and just like her big sister, Paige got her first tooth at 4 months old. And now we're working on tooth number two. All I can say is "WOW" she is NOT a happy teether! But at least we're getting it out of the way! Gotta be positive right? We're going to start solids in a few weeks here - and I don't think Paige could be any more ready. She is so wanting to eat what I am. Almost there!

Anyway, that's my update for now! My girls really are so fun. I love them so much, and even better, they love each other so much! They're going to have lots of fun together - I know it. Maybe they'll fight a bit - but I can take that! They're just so cute!

p.s. when I blog again - I hope it's pictures of our little trip to Mexico we're taking next week. The girls (H&P), my mom and I! How fun hey?? And a little bit crazy!

a picture update

Our lives have been busy....we've been sick (like I mentioned in my last post), the computer crashed (which means we HAVE to buy a new one) and the rest is here in this post:

Hailey forgot to read the fine print on the wipes sticker cover ("remove completely...and keep off your baby sister's face") Paige obviously didn't mind.

We decorated for Halloween:

We went to he corn maze:

We had a baby shower for this special lady and her cute baby boy (with decorations and food by JEMA...Julie, Elaine, Meagan and Angie):

It snowed and Hailey had lots of fun:

I made Halloween costumes:

We went to a Halloween Party:

My girls (and Kyla) completely cooperated in my photo shoot:

We went trick or treating:

We curled Hailey's Hair:

And finally, we baby sat Jaxson...and Paige and him stared at each other:

ETA (edited to add): JEMA....so yeah I'm a loser. I just made this up on the spot - I'm not quit cool enough to have a code name for the girls I hang out with. But if we ever plan on being professional party planners we will need a name...and how cool is JEMA?? ha ha ha

Wow...that has got to hurt

"wow...that has got to hurt" - as spoken by my doctor when I went in for a suspected (and now confirmed ear infection)

"Has she really puked 70 times in the last 24 hours?" - as spoken by the Urgent care nurse when we brought Hailey in for the non-stop puking she endured for 3 days straight

"She really is the perfect doll" - as spoken by my mom while everyone was sick and Paige just hung around and smiled...like the perfect doll she is

So, if you're wondering where we are? That's pretty much a summary of the last three weeks. It's been a constant battle of the sicknesses. First with Hailey's stomach virus, then my stomach virus, then Hailey's cold and pink eye, then my cold and my pink eye and my ear infection. The good news is we don't have H1N1, the bad news is we seem to have everything else. But honestly it could be worse. Now I've got to madly get things together for Halloween this coming week. It's sort of been on the back burner these days, and now I'm stressing about the unfinished costumes I decided to make. So I may disappear again until that's done...but I'll come back with pictures of all my cute decorations and the girls in their costumes. I promise!

Cheers!

Alright...time for a little bit of an update. Things have been busy but slow around here. I've officially started up piano lessons for the year and I have 5 students. So that makes things busy. But then we've been spending a lot more time at home, getting the girls back on schedules after the craziness of summer...which makes for a few slow days. I'm also starting to feel human again. It takes me a few months after a baby to really feel like I'm a person again...part of it is that I'm sleeping again (9-10 hours a night...and even one 12 hour stretch - woohoo!!) and part of it is because the pregnancy hormones are GONE!! Yay! Also, Paige really has turned into such a wonderful baby! I took her down to Kalispel for a quilt retreat with some girls from my ward last weekend and she was just a dream! She had two moments that involved just being tired of sleeping in her carseat all day and just wanting to be in a BED! So once I got her swaddled and into her own bed she was fine....in fact, she was perfect!! So really things are going great!

Hailey is such a capable big sister. She doesn't even think twice about her new role. In fact the other day she was sitting watching her show on the tv while I was feeding Paige. When I came down stairs she was so wrapped in her show that she didn't even notive me. So of course I thought I'd mess with her a little. I brought Paige up to her and put Paige in Hailey's arms just to see what she'd do. Hailey immediately put her arms around Paige, held her soother in and went back to her show. I was shocked and amazed...but I guess she's just a natural.

So a few weeks ago we blessed Paige...and in typical 'me' fashion, I didn't get a single picture of the entire day. So a few days later I put Paige back in her gown and snapped a few pictures. What a doll!

And onto really exciting diaper news (no Hailey isn't potty trained...I haven't even started), we have been duct taping her diaper on though! Cute hey? She decided this summer to start taking her diaper off at night and then wetting the bed...which always results in a tired, cold and wet toddler at 3am. So what do good parents do? We duct tape the diaper on...thus ensuring a long and dry night. Anyway I had to take a picture for memories. You can see her little bit of duct tape peeping out of her pj's.

Besides all these exciting things going on in our lives (duct tape is exciting right???), we've just been hanging out with the girls...isn't this one sweet?

And these two definitely love each other:


Oh - here's the best story of the week. Yesterday Hailey and I were sweeping the kitchen floor. I was minding my own business when suddenly Hailey rammed her broom up against mine and said "cheers". Ahhh, how does she know these things?? Seriously, this age is soooo fun!!

This picture is a total dejavu for me. I'm pretty sure I've seen pictures of all my dolls lined up together...my little sister Sarah included. In my mind Sarah was just as much mine as my dolls weres - and it appears Hailey thinks the same way. Great minds really do think alike...which makes me wonder if all Hailey's dolls will all be named Hailey - just like mine were all Meagan. I have a vivid imagination as you can tell:)


And finally, we pulled out the exersaucer today for Paige's first try. Both girls had a blast. Oh Hailey, she's got to be in on ALL the action.

I was just thinking... I never talk about Ben on here. And since I plan this to be somewhat of a journal I should include him once in a whil. He is part of the family you know. So, Ben. What to say? Hailey and him have become quite wonderful little pals. They watch Transformers more often than I should admit. He's been really amazing at accommodating all my girls nights out and has even taken both girls for me a few times so I could get out alone!! Wonderful. Besides that, he's really really busy at work. Busy!! We love him and we miss him! Wouldn't it be wonderful if Dad's never had to work?? But still made money? That would be the life - at least until he starts getting in my way. Anyway, that's it for now!