Trace's Birthday Party

Trace had a fun time at his party. He had a ball theme. I made a basketball cake and a soccer ball cake plus a little cupcake sized basketball for him. It was his first experience with sweets. Plus he is just beginning to feed himself, so it took awhile for him to decide if he wanted to touch it or not. However, once he got a few bites of it he was all in and made a mess to prove it! He had fun ripping the wrapping paper covering his gifts. His big gifts were an ice cream truck and a climber. I can hardly believe our little man is one!

"Oh No You Didn't..."

The day began just like any other day, when I told the girls "go potty so we can leave". Kianna obediently went into the bathroom and then I heard IT, the toilet flushing. Now I knew that there was absolutely NO WAY that she had actually gone potty, wiped, stood up, and flushed the toilet within the 10 seconds it took for her to enter the bathroom and for me to hear the toilet flushing. Sure enough, she had flushed the toilet just for my benefit so that I would THINK she had gone potty when she really DIDN'T. I had suspected this rebellious act of deception on several other occasions, but this time I caught her in the act and boy did she look GUILTY! Does deception really start at just 3 years of age????

Happy Birthday Trace!!!!

Our little man is ONE!!!! One year old and so many accomplishments:

• Walking: Trace's record is ~15 steps including starting and stopping. Now that he is feeling better I anticipate he will really take off.
• Sign Language: He consistently signs "all done" and today he signed "milk". Time will tell if that was accidental or not...
• Table food: Trace is still a little partial to baby food, but is gradually finding more and more things he enjoys eating. He really likes Spaghettios, Cheerios (starts cheering when he sees the box), crackers, and oatmeal.
• Sippy Cup: Trace has one sippy cup that he will consistently drink out of and that is it! Otherwise, he still prefers bottles.
• Feeding himself: Trace has mastered the art of feeding himself Cheerios and is working on getting other food in his mouth as well. He still doesn't have his pincher grasp down pat (thumb and index finger), but uses the fist full of food technique instead. Whatever works! He is also quite good at holding his own bottle and sippy cup these days.
• Whole Milk: This past week he started drinking whole milk instead of formula/breast milk.
• Teeth: Trace has 6 teeth, four on the top and two on the bottom.
• Personality: Trace has tons of personality. He enjoys playing hide-n-seek in which he attempts to hide part of his face with his hands. Very cute! He loves being tickled. He also loves to laugh and make really loud noises, especially in the car. Trace really gets excited when Daddy comes home from work. He immediately wants Daddy to hold him. It is precious.
• Toys: Trace continues to enjoy walking behind his push toys. He also loves opening and shutting doors, which means that he loves playing in the playroom with the house and kitchen. He still enjoys sliding toys along the carpet. Trace also enjoys dumping things out (essentially making messes), whether it be puzzle pieces or his shapes. He also really likes balls, especially banging them together.
• Climbing: Trace loves to climb the stairs! He also has fun climbing all over Daddy when he is lying on the ground...

Trace has been such a blessing to our family. We all simply adore him. Happy Birthday Trace, we love you little man!!!

Stomach Flu

Last Tuesday (1/12), Trace came down with a BAD case of the stomach flu. It was so bad he was getting up to four baths a day and I was doing 3 loads of his laundry each day. Most stomach flu symptoms seem to last about 1-3 days, but his lasted 5 whole days! The poor little guy would drink pedialyte/water and milk, but otherwise wouldn't eat. Instead of playing, he would lay his head on the ground next to his toys. We felt so bad for him. It was so hard watching him feel so miserable. He was supposed to have his family birthday party on the 16th, but we had to reschedule it as he was still vomiting. He was one sick little dude. Then on Saturday, on top of the stomach flu he began getting cold symptoms and began screaming through his naps. I took him to the doctor thinking that he might have another ear infection. However, the doctor said his ears looked GREAT and thought his screaming was due to his stomach still being irritated! Unfortunately, his lack of interest in toys, wanting to be held constantly, and screaming through his naps continued for 3 days. I'm telling you I was ready to pull my hair out this past week. It was one rough week!

Thankfully today has been much better. He still has a yucky nose, but is finally able to sit down by himself again and play with his toys. He has his appetite back and is no longer screaming through his naps. I'd say that is a great birthday present in itself!!!!

Trace Started Walking

Trace took his first two steps on December 26th and since then his record has been seven steps. He loves to walk behind objects, but has not been real interested in walking on his own until today! This morning when I stood him up he took off and easily walked 11-15 steps and since then has continued taking lots of steps. Trevor came home for a few minutes over lunch and got to witness it for himself. Our little man is off and walking...

Fun Times in Park City, Utah

The Gingerbread House

Deer Valley
The Canyons

Trevor and I just returned from a ski trip/romantic getaway to Park City, Utah. It is always fun getting away just the two of us, although at the same time it is always tough leaving the kids behind. However, we knew they were in good hands, as they were with 4 of their 6 grandma's over the four days we were gone. That makes for some fun times to be had! Our time in Park City was spent eating, skiing, shopping, and watching movies. We stayed at a bed and breakfast called "The Gingerbread House", which was more of an experience than expected. I'm big into reading reviews on just about anything I'm thinking of purchasing. So of course, having read the reviews on "The Gingerbread House" and with them being favorable, we booked it for our stay. Upon arrival we were shown to our room, which is where the excitement began. Our room, which was described as a luxurious suite with a fireplace, was definitely not sweet. In fact, it was so small that the only place we could open our suitcase was on top of our bed. Need I mention that the fireplace was not IN our room, but instead was OUT in the living room area shared by all. Our room had a queen sized bed which filled the entire room leaving little more than a foot of walking space around the bed. Frustrated about our room, we debated what to do. I finally decided to mention our dissatisfaction with our room size to the owner. She was very accommodating and said that a couple was leaving in the morning and after she cleaned it we could have that room for the rest of our stay. In fact, for the same price as our undesirable room we received the "luxurious suite" we had been anticipating complete with a fireplace and beautiful view. Apparently, we had been stuck in the old portion of the house before. Enough said, the issue was resolved and all was well. Although, we did have some laughs and some additional fun navigating the half pipe shaped driveway and roundabout. It was especially funny when we went to dinner that night at a really nice japanese restaurant and were seated in a REALLY small room. I guess small confined places was the theme for that day...

We spent Tuesday skiing at Deer Valley Ski Resort and Wednesday at The Canyons Ski Resort. We had a great time skiing. Both locations were gorgeous. The pine trees and aspens scattered throughout the mountains were snow covered and beautiful! We definitely had a chance to enjoy the beauty of God's creation at its best. On Wednesday, it snowed about 5 inches, so we skiied in some fresh desert powder, as the locals call it. Trevor and I discovered that we were definitely not in ideal skiing shape. We both had extremely sore muscles after the first day of skiing, so were only able to ski about half the day on Wednesday. Our evenings were spent catching up on movies. We watched "The Blind Side", "Invictus" and "Avatar". We had a great time in Utah, but were ready to come home to our little ones by the end. Nothing surpasses their smiling faces and arms around us when we walk through the door...

Merry Christmas 2009

Our morning began with Kaylee proclaiming that Santa Claus had come at 6:40 AM. Kaylee reported that Santa had written a letter, filled our stockings, and left presents including an unwrapped doll highchair. They crawled into bed with us for some cuddle time as we waited for Trace to wake up around 7:30 AM. Prior to Trace waking up we had monkey bread in the oven, hair combed, presents distributed, and read about Jesus' birth in their children's bible. It was fun watching the girls get so excited.

Top gifts this year are as follows:

• Kaylee: Ariel doll, Hally-Target's version of the American Girl Doll (much cheaper), Lego house set, purple robe, and dresses. The growth chart that Aunt Sam made was awesome too!
• Kianna: Polly Pocket rollercoaster, turquoise robe, Tinkerbell pajamas, Batman and Spiderman dolls, and the growth chart that Aunt Sam made was awesome too!
• Trace: He enjoyed sliding some boxes across the floor, otherwise was quite indifferent. Although, the growth chart that Aunt Sam made was awesome!
• Keri: City Looks gift cards-Day of Beauty here I come. I also love the engraved charms for my charm bracelet (names of all the kids plus Trevor and I). Very cool!
• Trevor: Framed Sports Illustrated magazine with the Hawkeyes on the cover.

We had a fun time celebrating with our families throughout the week. We spent the 17th at Stacie's house celebrating while my sister, Shelli was in town. The highlight from this evening was seeing how excited everyone was to see the photo calendar I had made. We went to Grandma Sue and Grandpa Wayne's house for a nice meal on the 22nd. We attended our church's Christmas Eve Eve service on the 23rd where Kaylee sang "Away in a Manger" with two of her friends. They did a nice job. The 24th was spent with Trevor's family and the 25th with my mom's side of the family. We are blessed to have our families in town, so that we can easily celebrate with them. We closed off the evening by watching "The Nativity". It was a great end to the day! I leave you with one question, "Could they make toys any more difficult to get out of the boxes?"