July

We all enjoyed having Hyrum home from Europe!  He had to work a few days clearing his last unit, then took a long weekend.  Then he started his new job (which was different than what he thought/hoped, but will be better in the long-run.)  We made plenty of time to play.

One of the first things we did was go for a walk.... except I was walking with the girls in a double stroller and Hyrum was running with Tiago in a stroller.  Tiago kept asking to get out and run with Hyrum, which was adorable. 

Over the summer the kids were in a gymnastics class.  The big accomplishment of the class was learning how to do a somersault, so nothing too intense.  The timing worked out perfectly so Hyrum could go watch their last class.  It's nice when he can be involved in these things occasionally.

 

My kids finally went to the dentist. I put it off for a long time because I didn't trust that my kids would even let the doctor look in their mouth.  But a few months ago our insurance changed and automatically puts you on a family plan if you have kids.  So since I was paying anyway...

I found a very kid friendly office and my kids all loved it.  The waiting room was a bit like Disneyland and everything had an underwater/treasure theme.  Siena was the only one that cried while they were cleaning her teeth, so they used sunglasses to distract her.  (And of course there were TV's in the ceiling... times have sure changed!)  After, they each got to pick out a treasure, and luckily there were no cavities.  

One interesting thing I found out is that both Mila and Siena are missing an opposite tooth.  (I knew they were both 1 short on the bottom, but I thought it was the same one.)  It got me thinking about "mirror twins"-- when the egg splitting occurs late in the game you can get opposite DNA, like birth marks on opposite sides of the body, even organs in some cases.  My girls didn't split late (they had 2 separate sacs) but I've heard that a lot of identical twins have their hair swirl in the back going different directions (that's true for my girls.)  Having an opposite missing tooth (which is also genetic) makes me wonder what else is mirrored.

I apparently made dinner and dessert one night... that's big news, because I rarely cooked while Hyrum was deployed.  And these are the candy bars I requested Hyrum bring me from Germany.  Out of the dozen he originally sent, I ate these last because I didn't have high expectations.  But they're now both my favorite and I spent $2 at my grocery store yesterday buying another coconut one.

Over the long weekend, one of the fun things we did with the kids was hike at Garden of the Gods and then visit Manitou Springs.  The kids are old enough to walk around on their own and do short hikes without complaining, so it was surprisingly enjoyable. (Mila is in gray, Siena in red).

Manitou Springs is a town next to Garden of the Gods that's very touristy--they have these arcade rides we've visited several times, and delicious fudge and ice cream.

The next day we went to the zoo in Pueblo, about 30 minutes south of us.  The zoo here in Colorado Springs is pretty amazing, but also amazingly expensive.  We could all go to this other zoo for less than $25.

I normally don't like taking pictures of animals, but these monkeys were hilarious!  They sounded like ambulance sirens.  And the two of them were competing to show off their best tricks for the guests.  My kids were completely entertained and loved mimicking the monkey noise for weeks.  

Siena and Hyrum.

Our last big fun outing (ie: expensive) was going to see Cars at the movie theater.  Seriously-- how is a morning movie more expensive than the zoo??  It was the girls' first movie, and Siena was in and out several times.

We took advantage of Baskin Robbins $1 scoops on the 31st.  It was really messy and there was a lot of crying and fighting.  

Tiago went to his school to register for pre-school.  He wanted to carry his new backpack everywhere.

I took this picture after Costco one day because I thought it was hilarious with them all back there drinking soda and watching something on the DVD player.  I usually bring sippy cups for them to split a soda 3 ways, but I obviously forgot so they each got their own.  It's SO worth it to have quiet kids while I shop.

The month ended with Hyrum leaving for his first of many Army training this fall.  Back to doing the bedtime routine on my own after a few weeks off!

ANOTHER trip to Utah... but finally with Hyrum

On a Friday in July I got a phone call from Hyrum telling me to come home ASAP.  (I was at Costco, naturally.)  He was just back from his first morning at his new job.  He had met with his new boss, and they discussed when he could take vacation.  So when I got home, Hyrum basically said, "If we want to take any vacation before Christmas, we have to do it next week."  [Their unit is gone all. the. time. for training... so there would be no other opportunities]

We debated back and forth (for 10 minutes, because they his lunch break was over), and ultimately decided to leave the next morning for Utah.  Mostly, Hyrum needed the down time after a stressful deployment and before preparations for another deployment.  And he wanted to see family.  (I obviously saw plenty of family in my multiple trips over the last 6 months. haha)

[A sad glimpse into my life: the only hiccup this unplanned trip caused was needing to find a teacher for my class on Sunday... no other plans for the next 8 days!]

So here we are, ready for the drive--Mila looks completely relaxed watching a movie.  The kids did okay.  Having two adults in the car makes a world of difference.  It's been long enough that I've blocked out the bad parts of the drive, which can't be said for some of my previous drives...the scars of those run deep.

Two days after getting to Utah the girls started feeling sick.  Mila was grabbing at her ear and crying herself to sleep during a nap.  We ended up taking Mila and Siena to an urgent care center, and they both had ear infections.  Mila literally cried all the way from the waiting room until we drove out of the parking lot after.  Meantime, I was also sick and had no voice for the whole week.  So with two kids screaming, I was whispering to the doctor, "I think they have ear infections... Ignore my voice."  None of us could hear each other over the noise.

Fortunately with a lot of pain killer they started feeling more normal... Hyrum and I left for a 2-day getaway to Park City while my mom watched the kids.  We obviously didn't have much time to plan this escape (and it was a far cry from the beaches of Aruba that I'd hoped for post-deployment) but it all worked out great.  We went to the Salt Lake temple, toured the Beehive House and ate at their restaurant, before driving out to Park City.

It had been SO hot in Salt Lake that I envisioned spending two days laying at the hotel pool.  But Park City was about 30 degrees cooler, so I spent many hours in the indoor-outdoor hot tubs instead... even better than being pool side.  And as a bonus, our hotel had a dry sauna and a steam room. And we never bumped into anyone else using them.  It was perfect. 

We spent Wednesday hiking at Deer Valley.  You can pay to take the ski lift half-way up the mountain and then hike the rest of the way to the top.  I wasn't counting on it being so cold, but once we were moving it wasn't a problem.  It was nice to have such a great view without having to hike the first half of the mountain. The rest took a little over an hour and was beautiful.  It was a breeze for Hyrum (he actually felt the urge to run up a super steep hill) and I just survived.  I don't love hiking, but I like the environment and endorphins, so I'm learning to be okay with it.  

I'm not sure why I even bothered with a jumping picture (even though the background was fantastic):  I scroll through a dozen pictures of my attempted jumping where I look absolutely ridiculous.... and I still barely look like I left the ground.  Of course this is Hyrum's first attempt.  I credit my photography skills for that.

After, we got to enjoy a warm kid-free meal, and hot soup and grilled cheese was perfection.  I'm pretty sure I spent the afternoon in the hot tub.  Hyrum probably excised.  I think we made goals and plans together, but didn't write them down, so I'm sure they'll happen.  :)

On the way back to Farmington we met up with Amie and Jorge for a double date eating Thai food.

The rest of our trip was a lot of relaxing.  The kids had a blast playing in my parents house and seeing cousins.  They fought a little less-than-normal with Talia, and enjoyed all the attention from their older cousins.  I didn't take many pictures of them all together, but they got to go swimming a few times (in a regular pool, and many times in the backyard blow-up pool).

The biggest treat of this trip for Hyrum was probably playing so much soccer.  Usually on our trips he has a hard time pulling together enough people to play.  (Especially on weekdays.)  He was able to play several times, once with all of his Colombian friends that live here.  And we could actually see the field they were playing on from my parents' house (using binoculars.)  It was convenient that when Hyrum wasn't answering my phone calls I could just watch to see when they had left.

The night before we left we invited Matt and Kayla over to play games.  Matt can't play in the basement without either building a huge train track or making something crazy out of legos.  He also made the mistake of hauling the kids down the hallway in a plastic container.  Then he was stuck doing it for the next 15 minutes.  Rookie.   After dinner we roped them into playing games which was a surprising amount of fun, best expressed by Matt when he was leaving:  "I had every intention of leaving 2.5 hours ago."

Until next time, Utah!  (Hopefully it will be a few more months!)

Mila & Siena update

I want to remember a few things about this stage the girls are in:

-We almost never use the stroller anymore.  (Who thought that day would come?! not me.)  Occasionally we'll use it to go for a walk, but they usually jump out at some point and leave me pushing an empty double stroller.  When we go to the gym or the store, they just hold my hand walking in, and then wander freely inside.  They LOVE holding Tiago's hand.  

-Another milestone is that they act like they like each other.  And they're protective of each other (when they're not busy pulling hair and pushing... the hair pulling has slowed down, hopefully coming to an end.)  A few weeks ago in their gymnastics class, a little girl took the circle mat Mila was sitting on.  Mila threw a fit and tried to get it back, and Siena immediately came to her rescue, throwing a fit, too.  It was quite the uprising.

-Princesses!! The girls started reading some of my old Disney books and are obsessed with princesses.  Siena is particularly enamored.  When we were playing at the library, she wandered over to the magazines, found a kid magazine with Cinderella on the cover, and sat reading it for several minutes.  They are utilizing the dress-up clothes they got for Christmas, often requesting to be "Barbie", "Sofia", or "Cinderella."  (Although they pronounce it "pincerella".  Another funny pronunciation they have is "Seepy Booty" for Sleeping Beauty.  

-In general, they're talking quite a bit.  A lot of what Mila says is gibberish still, but when they really want to communicate they can.  Two funny things Siena says frequently are grabbing my face or touching my hair with both hands and saying "Boo-diful".  And making dramatic statements like, "This sooo heavy!" (a small empty box) or "He soo funny!"  Mila likes to have conversations (much of which I don't understand) but it makes her smile so big to be talking.  

-I don't remember their first words (shame on me) but I remember about 6 months ago, before they were saying much more than "Mama" and "Papa", I bought a huge box of fruit snacks at Costco.  I kept them in the pantry (which has a thing on the handle so the kids can't go in).  One morning I saw Siena pounding on the pantry door saying "foot snacks" over and over.  I thought, "She can't really be saying that..."  But maybe that was her first real words!  I think I've written this before, but she also pronounced her name "Si-nena", and still kind of does. 

-They know who they are now!  If they're at day care and someone asks, "Who is Mila?"  They correctly identify themselves.  If you ask their names, they can tell you.  This is huge!  Because previously, if I didn't tell the adults present who was who, no one knew.  (They even would claim to both be Mila.)  Tiago still can't really tell them apart, but he also doesn't ever try.  We've noticed he just refers to them as "The girls."  Or individually, "That girl."  I'm trying to help him realize they are different, and have names.  

-They went about 2 months without napping (back in April/May/June) and all of a sudden they're back to long naps every afternoon.  I think they stopped napping while they were teething, plus they were in the same room and kept each other up with their talking.  I tried separating them during nap time (with a pack&play in Tiago's room) and it's kind of been a miracle.  I almost don't even know what to do with myself in the afternoon.  Mila is SO good about just laying down, drinking her milk and falling asleep. I don't even hear a noise from her room.  Siena is more problematic, crying out 3 or 4 times for help  ("Papa!!!"  Or "More milk!!"  Or telling me she needs her diaper changed.)  But eventually she falls asleep too.  It makes for a little bit later bed time, but it's a fair trade off for happier kids. 

-Siena is kind of obsessed with Hyrum.  The first night he was gone at a training after coming home from deployment Siena laid in her crib at night whimpering and saying, "Want Papa!"  She pointed to the door asking for him.  We go through a similar routine almost every night he's not here.  (Way too many.)

-They like to carry their blankets all over.  Yes, plural.  As babies they never really had an attachment to blankets. They had so many that I put two in each crib to see if they'd take to one.  (I did that with Tiago, and he became obsessed with his blue one.)  But now the girls are just obsessed with two blankets each.  They used to be in the cribs only, but now they pull them out and drag them around the house. 

-They love to sing!  And always have.  But now they can actually sing the words to several songs.  Their favorite is "Child of God."  They also like Silent Night, If you're Happy and you know it Clap your Hands, the mouse song from Cinderella, all of Mary Poppins, and Hi-Ho from Snow White.  Their nursery leader loves them for it.

-I'll end with one of my least favorite phrases of the moment, "Hold you!!"  (Which really means hold me.)  They say it all the time.  And I tell them, "No, I'm not going to hold you."  I try to just hold them when I'm sitting down, but it also happens in public when they're screaming and I'm trying to calm them down or listen to something.  When Hyrum wants to drive me crazy he just starts saying, "Hold you! Hold you!"  

Pictures of Siena (she was completely naked, but I cropped because this is the internet!)

Pictures of Mila, making one of her favorite faces