Pumpkins!!!

It's that time of year again, pumpkin carving time!  Yippee!!!  My family gathered Sunday night to engage in this yearly tradition that has become a mini-art show.

Jason did Edward Scissorhands.

Annie carved a sailboat.

Mom carved Elmo.

I carved Thor.

Jared carved Walt Disney.

Dad started carving a vampire Mickey, but I never saw the final product.  And then we Facetimed with Jori and she showed us all up by doing a self-portrait on her pumpkin!

Annie and Jason finished quickly enough that they got to babysit Leila while I worked on mine.

Jason and I still had 2 pumpkins to carve (from the Pumpkin Festival last weekend) and he was all pumpkined-out so I got to carve two more last night: Belle and Mickey & Minnie!

I'm not sure how this became such a huge tradition for our family, but I LOVE it!!!

Pumpkin Festival

Yesterday I managed to finish all of our Halloween costumes and we decided to celebrate by showing them off at the Heber Valley Railroad Pumpkin Festival.  The festival included activities like picking your own pumpkin, pumpkin decorating, face painting, a haunted train car, and a 40-minute train ride.

We made the trek to Heber and had a blast watching baby run around like crazy (like she always does when she is someplace new).  We picked out our pumpkins but opted to take them home to carve instead of painting them there.  We wandered through the not-so-scary haunted train car. And I enjoyed having people tell us how cute our costumes were (I put A LOT of work into them, so it was nice to have my hard work recognized).  One couple even asked to take our picture for themselves.

Unfortunately, while we were waiting for the train, baby would not sit still, fell down a couple times, and eventually started crying/whimpering and couldn't be soothed.  We thought she was tired because she didn't get her second nap in for the day.  Then we thought she was hungry.  Then we took her costume off in case that was what was bothering her.  Nothing seemed to help.  She didn't really want to be held, but she cried when she walked around too.  We were tempted to see if we could get a refund and just go home, but the train arrived at that moment so we decided to see if the train ride would help distract her.  And it did, sort of.

We loaded up onto the train and she settled in with a blanket on my lap watching Elmo on Jason's phone.  Some witches and mummies came through our car to entertain us and give out pumpkin cookies, which Leila really liked.  As we were going, I remarked that she wasn't really using her left hand much but thought that she was just content where she was at.

When the train ride was over, she started crying again as we were getting off the train.  We snapped one group picture outside the station and loaded her up in the car, at which point she really started letting loose, real tears and all.  We finally got her calmed down and distracted again, but I noticed she still wasn't using her left arm/hand at all.  Something was definitely up.

We got home and did our own evaluation of her arm and decided it was definitely hurting her as she started crying every time we moved it.  We thought it seemed worse around her wrist, but couldn't be sure.  It was helping matters that she was exhausted too.  So we gave her some Ibuprofen and put her to bed.  She fell asleep quickly and I was hopeful that maybe a good night sleep would help her feel better.  But a good night sleep was not to be had for any of us.  Right about the time the medicine was probably starting to wear off, she woke up screaming.

We soothed her, comforted her, and gave her another bottle.  I eventually got her to calm down snuggling with me in our bed while Jason made a late night trip to the store for some more medicine since we had used the last of it earlier.  When he got back we doped her up again and put her back to bed.  Total awake time for her had been about an hour and a half.

This morning she woke up in a happier mood but she still wasn't using her left arm at all.  She'd just let it hang  limply by her side.  I decided it was time to take her to a doctor.  We called the on-call pediatrician and were told that she had probably dislocated her elbow.  He said he would be in the office an hour and a half later and that we should bring her in so that he could take a look.  

She was still in a much happier mood and started using her arm a little bit more as she was moving around and playing during that next hour and a half.  By the time we got her into the doctor and he examined her, she was fine.  Didn't cry or whimper at all.  Doctor said that she most likely had popped it back into place on her own and would probably be fine now.  He did warn us that it was more likely to pop back out of place for the next 6 months so we needed to be extra careful.  He also showed us what to do to pop it back into place should it happen again.

A worrisome night for sure, but I'm grateful everything seems to have resolved itself.  She was using two hands on her bottle again before I put her down for a well-deserved nap.  And now, I may just go join her!

Halloween Cruise

Once we got back from Disneyland I was exhausted.  Something about Disneyland, not sleeping much or soundly for five nights (Leila doesn't sleep well on vacation), all of the playing before we left, or the stress of getting everything done to be ready to go on vacation had completely drained me.  So I barely left my house at all the next week except when I had to go into work and caught up on my TV shows.  Come Saturday night though I was ready to get out and do something.  So Jason and I decided to go on a Halloween Cruise down the Provo River.  Exotic, right?

Many, many years ago (sometime when I was in high school) my family went with another family to do this cruise.  I remembered that we went and I remembered going back to the other family's house and eating dinner in a pumpkin, but I couldn't remember much about the actual cruise.

It is put on by CLAS Ropes down by Utah Lake.  Essentially you get on this big platform boat (that holds about 40 people) then the "driver" pulls the boat up and down a section of the river using a guide rope that they've run down the middle of the river.  Along the way there is a house with the windows semi-blacked out to form a smiling jack-o-lantern face, over a hundred hand-carved pumpkins, some Halloween lights and witches.  A pirate even boards the boat and gives everyone a piece of candy!  As we returned to dock, the captain told us a "scary" story and sent us on our merry way.

It was a fun little activity.  I wish Leila had been just a little bit older so that she could grasp more of what was going on.  Instead we had to bribe her to sit still and be quiet with goldfish crackers.  The guy who was manning our boat was actually the owner of CLAS Ropes so it was interesting to hear him talk about starting the cruise up 14 years ago.  They also do a Christmas Cruise but I don't know if I'll be brave enough to venture into the cold.  I think the night we went was one of the last perfect fall nights we're going to get this year.

Disneyland or Bust!

Earlier this year we had planned to go to Disneyland with the Perkins late in September.  Then we went on a cruise and Jason had to more vacation time.  So I convinced my mom to take me instead.  But then the Perkins had to cancel and I was bummed.  Cars Land and all of the other DCA construction was done and I hadn't seen it yet!  Plus I was really missing Alicia and wanted to meet Brynn.

Thankfully they were able to come visit Utah instead AND my family was planning a Disneyland trip over Fall Break.  Jason was kind enough to let Leila and I go while he stayed behind to work.  So the day after Leila's party we joined my parents, Jori, and Annie for the drive to California.  We drove as far as Vegas the first night and then made it to the parks by midafternoon Thursday.  Ashley, Taylor, and Jared flew in Friday night to make our family almost complete (we missed you Jason!).  Leila spent the day in Oceanside Sunday as we said farewell to Jori, Jared, Ashley and Taylor, who all had to be home before Monday morning.  Then the rest of us drove home Monday.


Highlights:
*Cars Land-This is hands down my new favorite area of the parks.  It is SO well done and you really feel like you are in Radiator Springs.  The crowds were definitely thickest here and yet it never felt crowded.  They have some good restaurants and snack shops too.  I would be perfectly happy to sit and people watch here.  The new attractions were good too.  The Radiator Springs Racers is extremely well done and really fun.  Mater's Junkyard Jamboree has a great selection of fun music and my dad and I cracked up when we heard Mater speaking Spanish during the instructions.  Luigi's Tires is fun but is definitely my least favorite of the three.

*Halloweentime at Disneyland-While I love the Christmas decorations at Disneyland, I think I may like Halloween even a little bit more.  From the giant Mickey pumpkin on Main Street to the fall leaves and colors on the light posts, it is just festive and fun.  I also really like how they turn Space Mountain into Ghost Galaxy, but I prefer the original Haunted Mansion to the Nightmare Before Christmas.  I like how they focus on the fun part of Halloween rather than the gorey, horror part.

*Mickey's Halloween Party-This year my parents, Jori, Annie, Leila, and I got tickets for Mickey's Halloween Party Friday night.  We really had no idea what to expect and were pleasantly surprised.  Leila and I dressed up in costumes (she was a penguin and I was Minnie Mouse) and I eventually persuaded Annie to at least put on a lab coat and glasses.  We didn't ride a single ride in the hours we were in the park for this event but we still had a blast.  They had several Treat Trails you could go through and trick or treat for candy.  Each of us ended up with an entire bag full and we only hit about half of the stops!  They had special entertainment (like a ghostly barbershop quartet singing on a raft in the Rivers of America) and different decorations (eerie lights and fog machines).  There was also a Halloween Parade and really amazing Halloween fireworks (set to Disney villain's songs).

*Dancing in DCA-We watched (and recorded) Ashley, Taylor, and Jared doing Gingham Style just outside of Luigi's Flying Tires.

*The Dollar Game-My mom comes up with a list of things for us to try and spot.  Whoever spots something on the list gets a dollar.  We've played this game many times but I've never gotten that into it before, mostly because I could never remember the list and never saw anything before Taylor.  But I goy into it this trip and came away $15 dollars richer.

The biggest highlight was just being there with family.  Sappy, I know, but true.  I am sad our passes expire soon but am grateful for the memories we made this year.

I am also grateful my husband sacrificed spending time with his girls not once, but three times so we could fully enjoy our Disney time while he went to work.  Until next time Disneyland!

Leila Kay is One!

Yup, my baby girl went and turned one on me yesterday, and she's really not much of a baby anymore.

She now has 6 teeth (4 on top, 2 on bottom) which have all come in since mid-July.  Pretty much she's been teething every other week and especially when we're on vacation.  I still have a hard time telling when she's teething because she doesn't really act like she's teething.  Basically the only sign I usually have is that she stops sleeping through the night but even then is typically able to be soothed and put back to sleep.  That and she tends to get diaper rash when she's teething too.  Don't ask me why those would be connected.

She is definitely a walker and has been since August 27 when she took her first steps from me to Jason and back.  It was still a week or two before she would show off for anyone else (or even until we could get a decent video), but then it didn't take long before she decided that it's the only way to get around.

 She loves exploring and hardly ever wants to sit still anymore.  Whenever she is someplace new she has to explore every nook and cranny and take every nick knack out of its place, usually repeatedly.  She has also figured out how to climb stairs proficiently but still hasn't figured out how to go down.

She likes music and has taken to dancing even to music in TV commercials.  She still loves Elmo (as was evident at her birthday party) and would probably watch Sesame Street all day if I'd let her.  She also likes remotes of all kinds.  TV, game controllers, stereo, she's not picky.  She's not a huge binky fan but does like it while she's sleeping.  If I give it to her during the day though it serves more as a teether than anything else.

 She's on an all table food diet these days although she still prefers her fruits and veggies to her meat (unless it is shredded pork).  She also likes to pick out the green Apple Jacks over the orange ones even though they taste the same to me.  She LOVES bread and would probably be content with rolls for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

She doesn't talk using actual words yet (not even mama or dada on a regular basis) but that doesn't mean she doesn't know how to communicate.  She is very vocal and figures out new sounds all the time.  She has also started to become more interactive with people around her.  This is probably the developmental area I have been most concerned with but the doctor says her communication skills are average.  She doesn't talk much, but she understands and interacts.  That helped ease my concerns.

I took her into the doctor for her 12 month checkup and she certainly hit a growth spurt in the last couple months.  She weighed in at 22.2 lbs which is in the 83rd percentile (up significantly from her last visit of 17.77 lbs and the 48th percentile).  The doctor asked what had changed in her diet and the only thing I could come up with was an increase in how much formula she was drinking.  She's 29.5 inches long (64th percentile) and has a head circumference of 18.5 inches (94th percentile).  Doctor says she is above average in every developmental area except speech but even then he doesn't have any concerns.

My Darling Leila,

I can hardly believe one year has already come and gone.  And what a year it has been!  You have been to Disneyland two (going on three) times, St. George, Zions, Bryce, and Yellowstone National Parks, Idaho Falls, California to visit your grandparents, Florida (Disneyworld and Universal Studios), and on a Disney Cruise to the Bahamas.

You have grown in every way.  I have been blessed to be able to watch you through it all.  I watched as you rolled over for the first time.  I watched as you learned to sit up on your own.  I watched as you learned to crawl and then to walk.  I watched as you ate various foods for the first time.  I watched as you observed the world around you, soaking in everything you possibly could.

I love how observant you are.  You have always been fascinated with people and try to figure out what those around you are doing.  You are cautious when you are trying something new, often performing the new deed once and then refusing to repeat it for a couple weeks until you are more confident (you did this with rolling over and walking in particular).

I miss my snuggly newborn who would only sleep on my chest but I am just as in love with the adventurous toddler you've become.  I am grateful for the pure joy that you have brought into my life, as you do to all those who are around you.  And so, I look forward to what the next year has to offer as well as all the years to come.

Happy Birthday Leila!  I love you!

Love,

Mom