Baby Jeff's Ears

Our sweet little Baby Jeff is nearly perfect.  He is calm, patient, his cry is perfectly volumed, his face is squeezable but not too fat, and he seems to love us.  There is, however one thing about Baby Jeff that I would change, given the chance.  His ears.  His ears have been T-R-O-U-B-L-E since he was 4 weeks old.  He was pretty hysterical and fevering and he would not lie down EVER.  I took him to the doctor and said "I think he might have an ear infection." The nurse laughed and said babies this young don't get ear infections...Then to her shock and horror, I was right.  The doctor told me she had never, and she meant NEVER, seen a baby this little with an ear infection.  I told her that I had, her name is Marilyn.  Every 3 weeks since then, we have been back to the doctor (whom we all know by name, and we are also known by name).  We have seen every doctor in the clinic, every nurse practitioner, and probably close to every nurse.  We did this for about 4 months, going to the doctor every 3 weeks, plus well visits.  Finally they gave me the green light for putting tubes in his ears.  With Marilyn they made us wait until she was almost a year, but this time I was sure to push it a little harder.  His ears were worse than Marilyns had ever been and as much as I love the doctor's office and loading everyone in the car and visiting the night clinic all the time, I was ready for tubes. 

Our check in time at the hospital was 6:00 am.  We were welcomed by smiling nurses and were well taken care of.  I felt a little weird putting a gown on Jeff, he is quite obviously too small for a hospital gown (are you ever big enough for one?) He was delightfully happy and smiling the whole time.  It sorta made me feel like I had dreamt up these ear infections and was putting my baby through surgery for no reason, but the doctor checked his ears right before they rolled him away and said it was a good thing we were there, he had another ear infection on the horizon.  WHEW!!

see that cute dimple? hmmm...I love him!

We made it through! I couldn't believe that from the moment they took him away to the moment they handed him to me again it had only been 31 minutes, it seemed longer.  He was hysterical for a few hours after surgery but once he fell asleep he stayed that way for 3 hours.  (the first and last 3 hour nap of his little life). 

Marilyn was so patient all day long, she played so well by herself so I could tend to our Buddy.  She is such a good big sister. 

If only she didn't get an ear infection 3 days later and we had to start this whole thing over again with her literally 3 weeks later...

Stuff We Have Done Lately

We have done some super fun things lately because the weather is warming up and we are busting out of our house to be outside and play in the sun.  Here are some of them..

The carousel opened...Marilyn was obviously elated!

These are my friends, Brittney and Tracina, and their babies Adiana and Layla.  All the babies are 2 weeks apart! We go to the park alot these days too...with our friends

Marilyn loves to rock her heart sunglasses...

Jeff LOVES (as much as a baby can) his sunglasses that the Easter bunny gave him...so cute!

Scored this little number at a yard sale...so proud!

Marilyn still is a dress up enthusiast, and while she is reading books her wand still needs to be held...usually in her toes!

We go and feed the ducks sometimes!

Jeff started eating rice cereal, at first he was not quite sure about it...but now he LOVES it and oatmeal and a few vege's...why does have have to grow??

Marilyn loves on her brother a little too much, but how can I stop her?? Marilyn, please stop kissing your brother?? no no no, that doesn't work...how about this? Marilyn please stop loving all up on your brother?? no no no, all I can say is "everyone needs space Marilyn, even baby Jeff..." and we do our best every day! That's the way our little life is I guess...haha

Bye Bye Binkie

Well, now that Disneyland is over...(boo boo boo, still crying) and we are adjusted back to normal life again, I knew it was time to get rid of Marilyn's binkie.  She has been seriously attached to her bink's since the moment she was born, we have brought down the craziness by only letting her have it at nap time and at bed time...but she is almost three (OH MY FREAK) now so she is getting way to big to keep it around.I thought I would get rid of it when she saw that Baby Jeff had a binkie, but he didn't help out at all and really won't take one at all.  Now, I pondered about how to do this for a while because I have heard some serious horror stories about getting rid of binkies.  I thought obvioulsy, since Marilyn is strong willed (to say the least) it would be horrendeous.

 I knew she would scream all night long and throw long drawn out screaming fits crying hysterically for her binkies!! I started by having her watch Elmo's "Bye Bye Binkie" episode, hoping it would get into her little cute head that this is ok, because she is big now.  I had dreams about the day when we would have to take this monumental step. 

Marilyn woke up me up out of one of these dreams, on a Tuesday morning and said to me "Mom, lets send my binkie's to Baby Peter because I'm big now." I shook my head and realized what she said and to my great shock and surprise, that was it...

We went to Target that moment (for fear she would realize what this meant) and bought a box to decorate and put them in.  So we colored and sang the "Bye Bye Binkie" song Elmo taught us. 

Then we ran around the house and collected all the binkies. 

Then put them all in the box one by one, and continued singing the song. 

We taped the box up and sang the song a few more times...

Then we took it to the post office and Marilyn told the mail lady all about how she was big now and she was sending her binkies to her cousin Baby Peter.  The lady had everyone in the post office applaud for her and everyone in the room told her how big she was and how proud they were.  She told them, "thank you, only babies need binkies"

I will admit it, I cried a little because even though this is a necessary step in her little life, it is the last real BABY thing she had left.  She is huge now and even though I am depressed about her not being my teeny tiny baby anymore, I am excited to see what life with this big girl will be like! It is like starting over, we all have to figure things out all over again. 

If you are wondering, she hasn't asked about the binkie since we left them at the post office.  We have had no crying tantrums or even whimpering tear about giving them up.  She really is a big girl. 

A little more MAGIC

As anticipated, here are the left over pictures!

California Adventure (aka Princess Lunch)

We got three day passes to the Magical Kingdom so we spent the first two in Disneyland and then we convinced my parents to hit up California Adventure with us on day 3.  We got a late start however because I got my hair done and that always takes longer than anticipated.  (I have to throw that in because obviously anyone reading this blog will notice my new do and wonder why I didn't say something...you know who you are) anyway, now I look like this...

pretty fabulous bangs right?!

Ok ok on to the real stuff, California adventure was AWESOME! I have only been there once and it was just opened so it was not nearly as cool as it is now...

I also would like to show off a little dress I made for Marilyn.  We made reservations for the PRINCESS LUNCH (WOW) and I knew Marilyn would want to dress up (because going to Target is a reason to dress up at our house) but I didnt' want her to wear a uncomfortable tacklicious princess dress so I made her this Belle dress out of a jersey knit and I am super proud of it...She loves it so so so much and wears it often.  But she had to save it for the Princess lunch at Disneyland, and it was seriously greatly anticipated!

Grammie and Marilyn met Sully from Monsters Inc.  - Marilyn thought he was "big and huge but nice"

We walked around California Adventure and went on the Toy Story ride and swapped kid watching so all the adults could ride the roller coaster.  We had a blast walking and talking and taking in the fun atmosphere and being with my parents.  We felt so lucky they both took off work to come and be with us and the kids and see how adorable they were in Disneyland.

The lunch was absolutely AMAZING. The food was delicious (but everything is delicious at Disneyland right?!) So it wasn't about the food...

Marilyn could not understand quite what was about to happen, I tried to tell her this is where the princesses eat and that is a magical princess lunch place where all the princesses are there at one time.  But W-O-W was she surprised and amazed when Belle popped out and came dancing to our table!  

Belle was perfect, she grabbed our stunned Marilyn and gave her sweet huggies and told her she was beautiful.  They talked about their matching dresses (and Miss told her I made it haha) Marilyn had to snap out of it quick because it didn't stop with just Belle, we were only beginning!

 Cinderella was DARLING too, Marilyn told her how beautiful her dress was and that she loved her sleeves.  She told Marilyn what a beautiful princess she was and Marilyn was sure to tell her she was a princesses because she was wearing a crown.  (They had crowns ands tickers at the tables when we sat down for her to color and play with...so she loved that!)

 These pictures are a little out of order SO SO SO sorry...

Ariel was at the entrance to the restaurant.  You walked in upstairs and when your table was ready you walked down a round stair case and there was Ariel.  Marilyn ran through the crowds of people and before I had even gotten down the stairs, much less gotten the camera out she was hugging Ariel asking her all about her friend Flounder and if she liked her legs.  Ariel was nice enough to hang on to her while I got my camera out so I could snap these shots...

Next was Snow White.  Marilyn loved her collar.  I think she was a little stunned at this point that every person she had ever dreamed of was real  and standing right in front of her...

Sleeping Beauty was super nice and sweet to Mar too, Marilyn could not believe it!

They gave us these super cute pins (that Missy still wears with pride) and we wore them proudly all day !

Look at my cute mom, she wanted a picture of this amazing California scene...love her!

Basically Disneyland changed Marilyn's life.  You can't (still a month later) go an hour without her telling you something about Disneyland, about how the Pirates ride and Winnie the Pooh scared her or how she met the princesses or how she was excited or went on the tea cups or how Grammie was there or how great her friend Haven was or how she saw the parade.  It was amazing and we are so happy we were able to take her, it will be remembered FOREVER. 

DISNEYLAND!

All I can say is OH MY MAGIC, we went to Disneyland.  We talked to Missy a lot about Disneyland, but seriously how do you explain something as magical and amazing as Disneyland to someone whose life experiences include Walmart and Grammie's house.  We tried to explain that Disneyland is a place where Cinderella and Snow White live and meet little girls like her all day and there are these humongous things called rides that you can sit on and go fast or slow and look at things.  But as expected we were unsuccessful at explaining what this thing called Disneyland actually was.  I think she started to get some sort of idea that it was special because she started saying things like "at Disneyland there are beautiful princesses and giant ice cream cones" and "When we go to Disneyland, Belle will love me and give me beautiful kisses". We knew that she at least knew something was happening. 

We went to California with our good friends the Records.  They have a little girl just older than Marilyn named Haven.  Marilyn is OBSESSED with all things Haven, she has been heard saying these things. "Mom, Haven has BEAUTIFUL feet, when I am big like Haven my feet will be so beautiful too" and often at bed time we hear these words "Mom, tomorrow we can go to Haven's house!" or "Remember, Haven? She is my friend" It is cute to hear Marilyn talk so highly of someone, she seriously loves Haven and Haven is a seriously good sport having Marilyn follow her around and want to do EVERYTHING she does. 

We left St George on a Tuesday night and drove to my parents house.  The plan was to go to Disneyland Wednesday and Thursday and then go to California Adventure Friday, then relax Saturday and drive home Saturday.  We arrived in California and then we got the kids to bed and started getting ready for the amazingness that was to insue in the morn. 

We woke up early and got our selves ready and drove our little buns to DISNEYLAND.  We walked in the park and Marilyn was screaming "MOM, I'M EXCITED".  She couldn't even sit in the stroller there were too many things to look at.  We walked down Main Street and I couldn't help but feel just so so so excited for Marilyn.  This is what we have been talking about FOREVER, this is the happiest place on earth, this is Disneyland. 

(Quick pause from Disneyland's greatness, how amazing is my green stroller?

Best yard sale find EVER!)

Quick little family picture at the most amazing place ever, Sleeping Beauty's castle! Marilyn couldn't believe it was real!

The first ride we went on was the carousel (but seriously? we have one of those at home so I didn't freak out on the pictures on that one)  The teacups were next, and did not disappoint.  Once she realized what this thing called a "ride" was, she was completely into it and she was fully ready to experience the mania. 

She also went on the Alice and Wonderland ride...which she thought was a little scary because it was a little dark, but she was so brave and made it!

After all this excitement we decided to put Mar in the stroller and take a little break from the amazingness.  We found a very special person and we didn't tell Mar but we were waiting in line to meet Princess Aurora.  She was having a snack and drinking some juice and talking about Haven and then the person in front of her moved and she got her first peak of Sleeping Beauty herself! She said "Mom- She is so so so beautiful! Sleeping Beauty lives here! Look look look!"

(here she is waiting aimlessly for something)

If you know Marilyn at all, you know she is OBSESSED with all things princess.  This literally meant the world to her.  She would wait all day to meet these princesses and they absolutely did not disappoint. 

We also met Snow White which was equally wonderful. She was DARLING with Marilyn and asked her questions and Marilyn was almost too amazed to speak.  She tried to tell her about her beautiful friend Haven and how princesses were her favorite thing ever, but all she could say was "You have beautiful beautiful hair" It was adorable, she was adorable...I loved watching (ok I cried, I am "mom-enough" to admit it)

Who knew there was a petting zoo at Disneyland?

Marilyn had to stop to color Grammie a picture...obviously a complete and total necessity!

Jeff came too, and was amazing the whole time.  I mean how can you have a face like this and have anyone do anything but fuss over you.  He was PERFECT!

Then we waited in a ridiculously long line to meet Tinkerbell.  She was cute...but it seemed the line was about 9000 times longer than necessary.

We also met Tinkerbell's friend, this fairy (who is she?) She was nice, Marilyn liked her wings and makes sure everyone knows that she didnt' have any shoes on but she did have an owie on her foot...I didn't notice it but she might or might not have had a cast on!

Marilyn LOVED Tarzans Tree house! She loved running as fast as she could across the bridge and finding all the cool things inside! She went up and through that thing about 20 times. 

(Surprise! These are not from Tarzan! Silly Disneyland!)

We went on the Jungle Cruise and Marilyn saw this REAL elephant! Craziness right!? It is amazing that they could put a real elephant inside Disneyland...but alas, here it is! (haha) This is Tom's favorite ride! (who knew) Our tour guide was hilarious as ever and we LOVED it!

Jeff perked up and smiled for these particularly adorable shots! He was so good all day long, I couldn't believe how great he was!

This is the whale ride, you know? The one where you are swallowed by the whale and end up in the darling miniature land of all the Disney stories? Marilyn was convinced we were seeing the real Aladdin's palace and the real Sleeping Beauty just shrunk down to this adorable little size. She also spotted the lamp from Aladdin!

Her favorite ride (by a long shot) was the "Singing kids ride" aka Small World.  We went on it a bunch of times and every time she spotted all the characters inside! She still talks about how she saw Jesse and Woody and Wendy and Peter Pan and Mulan the warrior princess and Cinderella and tons of others in the ride! And how crazy adorable is it that she calls it the singing kids ride? We could not figure out what she was talking about for half of the first day, but once we got it we got it and we will forever know it as the singing kids ride!

 Here we are waiting for the parade, kinda sickening that she is laying on the floor, but mostly adorable and I was tired so we took a good bath after. 

This is a camera (can you see it?) She was taking pictures while waiting for the parade!

I am positive I missed a few pictures and memories, so I am SURE there will be a follow up post because that's the way I roll.  We will definitely remember this week for a long time, it was special to do this for our little family.  It was our first official family vacation and it will be remembered for sure! Thanks Records for coming with us...because it wouldnt' have been as fun without you! Loved this!