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Dixie the Negotiator

The Culprit

Dixie has been honing her tactical negotiating skills as of late. A prime example involves a certain show popular among younglings called "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse". (On a side note, those Disney people are geniuses of the highest order in regards to their use of propaganda. Lil' Dixie, although not yet two years of age, is already a Disney addict!) Anyhow, each morning Dixie is able to watch an episode of "the Mouse". She will cuddle her Daddy in the bean bag and devote the entirety of her attention to that big eared rodent. Of course when it is time for the hot dog dance (an indication that the conclusion of the episode is approaching), she begs and pleads to be able to watch another. These pleadings have a decent success rate, although she is never able to watch more than two episodes during the morning.

The aforementioned pleadings are of course the most basic negotiating tool inherent in an two year old. However, Dixie is exhibiting a more advanced method of negotiating as of late. She realized that the afternoon is not a time that we allow her to watch "the Mouse", so she has developed different methods to achieve her goal of an afternoon cartoon. The other day she came up to Daddy, the weaker of the two parents as far as Dixie's charms are concerned, and fulfilled her aims in a most clever manner. She confidently held up her right index finger, looked her Daddy in the eye, and pleadingly said "One mouse, One mouse". Her Daddy, completely caught off guard by this new approach, quickly acquiesced to his daughter's demand. In order to feel like he still had some control of the situation, Daddy told Dixie that we could watch only one episode. To make sure she understood, Daddy asked Dixie how many Mouse's we were going to watch. Dixie's reply: Two!

Clever girl.

Mommy and Dixie watching the Mouse with Lulu napping

5 months & 23 month update

My little lulu is already 5 1/2 months old! She just the cutest little chubster you ever did see. She is right on track with development- shes rolling over, she is eating solid foods (just rice cereal & bananas for now), she giggles and is constantly babbling. I just love this girl! Lucy is completely enamored with her big sister Dixie. She always yelps with joy whenever dixie pays her even the slightest bit of attention. She is happiest when I put her on the floor right next to where ever Dixie is playing. Lucy and Dixie absolutely LOVE taking their bedtime bath together. I always ask Dixie, "Who do you want to take a bath with, Mommy or Lucy?", and without missing a beat she relies "Lulu" every time. Dixie is really a great big sister. She always gives Lucy kisses and hugs, and she shares her toys with Lucy, and piles up stuffed animals on top of Lucy while she plays. Its so fun watching their little relationship develop.

Lucy's sour face after eating the butternut squash!

Lucy is a rock star napper while driving, and is slowly learning to take daytime naps in her crib as well, although she much prefers the car. She is still waking up 2-3 times a night, which is really taking its toll on her mommy! Its a good thing I don't have to wake up early and make my self look professional for work in the morning, bc i think I would probably have a break down if that was the case! To all you working mommies out there, I salute you! On that note, to all you S-A-H-M's I salute you too.... this mommy thing is no joke!

Lucy is wearing 9 month clothing, and is filling it out well. I bought her a new Christmas dress size 6-9months from children's place, and the sleeves cut off the circulation in her chubby arms, so i had to cut them a bit to give her wiggle room.

Lucy eating a banana. Sean was scolded for the choking hazard.


Dixie is all about Mickey Mouse Club house. She begs for it all the live long day and it is driving me crazy! We have a Mickey Mouse chapter book that is a combination of short stories, and it is ALL dixie ever wants read to her. While I love that this girl has an avid interest in reading, I think I'm going to have to hide this book for a week or so!

Dixie decorating Cookies for the first *of many* times!

Oh, and Dixie has completely stopped napping, lucky me (not)! She is like the energizer bunny from the time she wakes up to until her head hits the pillow at bedtime. It is exhausting keeping up with her. I try to get out of the house on 2 excursions a day to keep her occupied. We are also getting some backyard play toys next week so that we can go outside without having to actually drive anywhere. I'm pretty sure i was just like Dixie as a child, so i guess this is my mom's payback!

One of our favorite places to go is the Farm at thanksgiving point. We go about twice a week and dixie is never bored of it. She feeds the goats and ducks. She goes for a wagon ride and a pony ride. And she just loves to look at all of the animals. Her favorite is the pony named ROxy. After a trip to the farm she talks about Roxy for the rest of the day. Dixie has the sweetest disposition ever. We just love this girl!

Dixie playing in the leaves


Oh, and Today Sean finished the last class of his Masters in Emergency Management, I'm soooo proud of him! This means that I can have my husband back when he is home! It will also be a nice blurb on the resume and a small pay increase at his job.
Congrats to my Seany sean!

( i would add a picture of him, but after searching it appears that since the girls came into our lives, the camera is always on them)

HALLOWEEN 2011

This Halloween was our first holiday in our new house in Orem, and it was Fan-freakin-tastic. It was Dixie's first year trick or treating and she got right into it. She said "treat", "Moo" and then "next" (as in the next house) for and hour and a half. My sister was surprised that I took Dixie out for so long (shes only 22 months old), but Dixie just loved it so much I just couldn't stop. I asked dixie about half way through if she wanted to stop at our house to say hi to Daddy and she was adamantly opposed and wanted to keep going! She filled her little treat bucket to the brim with candy and was very possessive of it the following week. My mommy heart melted when we went trick or treating. I was so excited for her that i felt like i was a kid again, seriously!




Dixie (the cow) and Lucy (the Dinosaur) with our neighbors. The 2 older girls dote all over dixie and lucy. It is just darling to watch. I remember being a 10 year old and i absolutely loved holding babies, especially my baby cousin Nicole, so I let these girls hold Lucy and play with Dixie whenever they want, because I know just how they feel. Plus I believe that babies are meant to be shared, because they bring so much joy to everyone.






This is Dixie after her hour and a half trick or treating adventure. She was the official Candy girl. She diligently sorted out her candy treasures at her nearby kiddie table and then when the doorbell rang with more goblins she raced to the door and gave them each a handful of candy. It got a little excessive so i had to start limiting her to 2 candy bars per goblin. But then I ended up with a ton of extra candy which i have been eating all week and gaining back any libbers I lost so i probably should have let her just dump handfuls into everyone's bags all night long! I would have been better off in the long run, I'm sure. Note to self, I must rid myself of the excess candy this week. Perhaps i will bag it up and dig a hole in the back yard. Then I can dig it up in the spring with dixie and she'll think that candy grows from the ground, HA!


Dixie and her bag of candy! Her first worldly possession!



Dixie and Lucy (my little goblins)!
I think this is such a classic shot. I got these done a week before Halloween at camera shy in Lehi. Its a great little no fuss kid's photo studio.

Halloween was so much fun this year, I just cant wait until Christmas. When is it ok to start decorating anyways?? I suppose I'll wait until the day after thanksgiving.... I cant wait. Living in a house is sooooo wonderful. Its seriously like a whole new world. We are Loving it!

so far so good....

its been about 3 weeks since our big move from Cali to Utah. The first week was a little rough as it was all cold and rainy outside and I had no friends to have play dates with. I was a little lonely for my friends, but loving our new house. Since then I've met our neighbors, had a couple of people over for dinner, had a play date or two, been to a couple of pumpkin patches, parks, and discovered the PG rec center which has toddler classes for dixie. SO... its been great!

We are loving the space of our new house vs our old apartment. Its so nice to have places to put everything and to have more than one room to play in (which is especially important when it is cold outside). Im loving the kitchen. SO wonderful. And once my sewing/hair room is unpacked im sure i will love it too. The garage is a mess of boxes... and we are working on it... but its a slow process with the girls to say the least.

Anyhoo, i just thought I'd let you know that all is well. I will post some pictures of our house once the boxes are unpacked.

Pumpkin Pie Theft 2011

Following a fabulous Sunday dinner conjured up by Eve, an unknown rogue desecrated the sumptuous pumpkin pie and fled the scene prior to the arrival of the security detail. Unbeknownst to the unnamed assailant, evidence documenting this dastardly deed was captured by a remote camera which was monitoring the unsecured location of said dessert. Below are detailed images of the suspect as she commits this heinous act. If you know the name and location of the suspect, please contact authorities immediately.

This image suggests that the suspect was possibly aware of the location of the security camera, thus leading us to believe it may have been an inside job.

The suspect left behind DNA evidence on the spoon pictured above. If such a spoon has been used in similar criminal acts, please forward the case number and details of the event to us.

Note the wanton disregard of proper pie consuming etiquette.

The scoundrel will pay for her deviant behavior once she is identified and apprehended.

The Monster

Oh the things parents will do to their children for entertainment. We will never be like that!

Lucy's 4 month photos

I have much to write about, seeing as we've moved from California to Utah. I must write a nice farewell letter to my first love (California), and tell you all about my new life :) But in the meantime, please enjoy these pictures of baby Lucy at 4 months. She was so good, and just smiled her little heart out. As you can see, my little Lulu is quite a chubba baby.... and i love every ounce of her!

hmmm. for some reason blogger is only allowing me to upload one picture! I will add some additional pics in another entry.

3 months & 21 months

My sweet baby Lucy has reached the 3 month mark! Where did the summer go?? Baby Lulu is such a happy happy girl. She smiles whenever I (or anyone for that matter) makes eye contact with her. She coo's like crazy and is often so loud I have to bring her into the bedroom so that she doesn't wake up Dixie after bedtime! I need to get Lucy's coo's on video, they are priceless.

Lucy Loves the outdoors and has logged many many hours in the bjorn during our morning park excursions. Often times she gets grumpy inside, so i try to feed her, but she wont eat. Then I take her outside and she immediately perks up. This girl just love fresh air, that's for sure.

Lucy still lags on the whole sleeping thing. All my friends tell me that their babies sleep 12 hours at 12 weeks... not mine. Lucy FINALLY had a 5 hour stretch for the first time last night, otherwise she has been consistently waking up every 2 hours. Because of this, I've kicked Sean out of the bed and I co-sleep with Lucy. I know most people shun this idea... but I also have a 21 month old that needs to run and play all day and I need energy to keep up with her in the morning. So yeah.... we snuggle all the night long. I really really really love our snuggle time, because I feel like I dont get to snuggle her during the day as much as I'd like too, or as much as I snuggled Dixie. And I start feeling guilty that im not giving her enough love and attention, so I think shes deserves to share my bed.

Oh, and lets not forget that Lucy is ginormous! Seriously, she's already tipping the scales at 14 libbers and that was a few weeks ago. She is super long and chubby. She's just the cutest little Buddha baby i ever did see. She has AMAZING neck control, in fact shes had it since like 2 months... and I have a suspicion that its really the chub holding up her neck rather than pure muscle strength... hee hee.

And onto my first love, Miss Dixie Mae. She is now 21 months old... only 3 more months until she's a two-two!! She is very inquisitive, loving, sweet, stubborn, determined and contemplative. On Sunday we were at church and she wanted me to hold her up to the water fountain, because she is obsessed with water these days. I told her "No", because I didnt want a big mess to deal with. She marched directly down the hall, into the sacrament room and grabbed a plastic chair at the entry way. She dragged the chair back down the hall, propped it next to the water fountain and climbed up it. I was so impressed with her thought process and determination that I surrendered and let her play in the water fountain for the next 20 mintues. Thats my girl, and I cant get enough of her.

Lucy's Baby Blessing -Aug 6, 2011

We were in Utah for 3 weeks in August for the Werner Reunion and Payne Mini Reunion (aspen Grove). Since we had so much family there at the same time, we figured it would be a great time to have Lucy Blessed. Rather than have her blessed in a random ward that we don't attend, we decided to do it at our Orem house with friends and family. It was wonderful. Little Lucy had a great turn out and we felt so loved. In her blessing it said that she would be a happy girl, and that she would bring happiness to those around her. She is already smiling her little heart out and Cooing like crazy. We love this girl! Oh, and just so you know.. Lucy is 94% weight and 97% height. I bought this little dress for her in the newborn size before she was born. By the time we blessed her she was 2 months old and she just barely squeezed into it. The top button wouldn't do up and I had to cut it off of her at the end of the party!
3 Cheers for Chubby babies!

Here are a few pictures. Looking at my pictures I really didn't get very many good pictures, so if you happened to be in attendance and have any good pictures, could you please email them to me? Here are the best ones I've got, enjoy!

Grandma Werner & Lucy


Mommy & Lucy


Our little family


Ivy & Lucy (Ivy is a love bug, and gave so much love to both Dixie & Lucy)

Aspen Grove 2011

What would any vacation be without the tantalizing tastes of Double Stuff Oreos

All the participating family members of Aspen Grove 2011

Grandpa Payne and lil' Lucy sporting the official reunion shirt

Momma and the girls resting by the cool stream

Ivy and the other cousins showered Dixie and Lucy with lots of affection

Big Sister Dixie

Since this is my "baby book" for both Dixie and Lucy, I thought I should tell the following story, for the record, you know...

Last Sunday at church we were in the lobby for sacrament meeting (as per usual), along with all the other mothers of toddlers. Lucy was sitting unassumingly in her car seat, when Max, who is 13 months old, took Lucy's pink blanket off of her. Dixie immediately gave Max a very angry face and said in a very angry voice, "Beebee, Beebee!", afterwhich she snatched the blanket out of his hands and promptly returned it back to Baby Lucy.

Sean and I watched this encounter and it just warmed our hearts for our baby girls. Dixie has taken on the "big sister" role so willingly without any jealously thus far, and she really loves her baby sister Lucy. Every morning the first thing she wants is to do is to go see the baby. During the day when the baby is sleeping in the other room, she wont stop talking about her, all i hear is "Beebee, Beebee!".

We hope they'll grow up as best friends, always watching out for each other in the face of life's bullies!

S*A*H*M

Just as I thought to myself, "Self, I think you're getting the hang of this" (in regards to staying at home and caring for 2 babies under 2), Dixie went and tumbled down the cement stairs in my apartment complex. I had Lucy strapped to me in the bjorn, so while I was able to get to her quickly, i could not physically carry her down the stairs, so i had a nice man do it for me, as Dixie cried bloody murder.

It's totally my fault she fell. I am always so careful with her, but tonight, i let my guard down. This other chatty neighbor, whom I dont know well enough to leave mid sentence was talking my ear off. You know the type... you cant seem to get a word in?? Well, I did my best to keep Dixie in sight while also listening to Mr. Chatty Kathy complain about the new apartment manger. I got nervous when she went for the stairs, but in an effort not to be rude to my chatty neighbor, I let him continue talking while I ignored my baby girl, ulgh. Then she fell and screamed, and my heart dropped. There was another neighbor (a daddy type) nearer to the stairs than I was, and he got there before me and scooped her up.

The good news is that she is fine. Its just cosmetic as she only fell down 1 stair, but they are concrete stairs, so had she really taken a tumble down the staircase, she would have gotten really really hurt. So, lesson learned-- My babies are far more important than my chatty neighbor's feelings, and I will be rude next time and leave mid conversation to stop my baby girl from danger. Im so sorry miss dixie, and Im so glad you're ok. I love you. XOXO

Here are a few pictures from the last 7 weeks, since the Arrival of Baby Lucy!



This is Dixie "organizing" the pantry. She loves to stack the cans up high.
Sometimes they fall on her little toes though, which doesn't make her very happy!




Baby Lucy with her name-sake Uncle Angel (Lucy Angel)



Grandma Werner giving baby lulu lots of grandma snuggles.




Lucy's first bath! This didn't happen until 5 weeks, as it took
forever for her cord to fall off. It smelt like rotting flesh by the
time it finally fell off! Little Lulu just LOVES bath time. She
doesn't complain at all until its time to get out.. then shes mad, mad mad!




This is dixie's tower of cans! Stack Stack Stack!
Hopefully she'll thrive on organization like unto her mama!



Daddy and Lucy snuggling. We just cant get enough of the newborn snuggles!




Auntie Poo Poo enjoying the newborn Lulu snuggles too!
This Auntie really saved the day when she came out to help
when Lucy was just 4 days old. LIFESAVER!




Cousin Sam and Baby Lucy! He was really good at holding
her and she just snuggled right up to him.



Auntie Adrienne, Ada & Sam with Baby Lucy



Mommy, Lucy and Dixie. I sure do love my little girls!

Forty Eight Hours Later

Sean worked a double shift over the last two days, which means I was solo with the girls for 48 hours. I know, I know, to some of you whose husband's travel regularly for work, this is probably no sweat. For me however, this is a big deal. I've only been a full time mom for 10 weeks now, so im still getting the hang of it!

Anyhoo... both girls are finally sleeping and I am about to join them. We had lots of fun, lots of messes, lots of books, a few tears and we all survived! But we sure did miss our daddy. We called in our pinch hitter (uncle angel)in the final inning tonight, and he came over for a couple of hours before bedtime to give me a hand, and he was wonderful! Thanks uncle Angel! You always know just when to swoop in and save the day.

I'll be so glad when daddy comes home tomorrow!

XOXO
Eve

Bath Time Giggles

Dixie was making herself laugh hysterically tonight in the bathtub. She filled up a cup with cold water and poured it over her head which sent her into a fit of giggles. She did this over and over again, probably 20 times. Cutest thing ever (but i guess I say that about everything Dixie does!). She kept wanting more, more, more, and had a fit when bath time was over.

This reminds me of a game Patience and I used to play in our tubbies together when we were young, in the white house (which has since burned down in the big slave lake fire). We would take turns sitting on the inside corner of the tub, while the other sister would fill up a big bucket of ice cold water and dump it on the other's head. We would see who could last the longest without going back into the warm tub water. I hope Dixie and Lucy will play this same game together one day. Keeping all of the water inside the tub of course.

Lucy's 6 week birthday

Today Lucy is 6 weeks old! I wish i could tell you how much she weighs now... shes a solid girl. Lots of chub on her thighs that i just love to kiss! Shes a little different than Dixie was at this age... here are the highlights

Lucy LOVEs her mommy a lot. She really doesn't like to be held by anyone else. She has only recently warmed up to daddy, but even he can hold her for 5-10 minutes tops before she wants her mommy again.

Lucy will not sleep in her bassinet. She simply Refuses. She'll be sleeping soundly in my arms for a good half hour, then the minute i set her down in the bassinet she abruptly wakes up and screams in protest. This has lead to many nights of me and Lucy in my bed and sean on the floor. (he prefers the floor over the couch). Im really not a fan of "family beds", but im just doing what i need to do to get some sleep myself. Plus I dont mind cuddling her all night long...

Lucy Loves the outside air and bathtime. When shes being fusy, I just take a little walk outside and she calms right down and stares up at the trees. She must like the shadows that they make. She also calms right down in the bath. Dixie used to scream when we bathed her and Lucy is the complete opposite. Sometimes If dixie is in bed and i need a little break, I'll put lucy in the tub for a good 20 minutes just so i can sit and stare :)

Lucy eats pretty much all day long. Its hard to keep up with this girl's appetite. My mom has suggested that I supplement with Formula, and I've tried, believe me. She took a bottle once, and since then she just refuses. I've even had my good friend who is an OT specializing in infant feeding try and she wont take a bottle from her either. But, we'll just keep on trying because this mommy needs a break!

Well, i think the hardest part of baby bootcamp is over now. Im really hoping for some longer sleeping stretches and more smiles :)

Sisterly Affection

Can you say Lucy in Dixanese?

Just a couple of pictures from Lucy's photo shoot a few days after her birth

This photo shoot would not have been complete without Dixie showing how happy she was to have a little sibling to shower her affection on!

Lucy's Birth Story

Lucy Angel Werner
8lbs 7ounces
June 5, 2011 @ 2:56pm

Since I always love a good birth story, including all of the nitty gritties- I share with you mine & baby lucy's! So, if you're not into the nitty gritties, you should probably stop reading now.

It was Sunday morning and I was 1 day past Dixie's official due date of June 4. Since I thought she would come 3 days early, just as Dixie did, I was fully expecting her to come on June 1. So, by the time Sunday morning rolled around, I was going stir crazy with no baby! I thought I'd have a new born to care for by now, and since I'd already been off work for 3 weeks I was prepped and ready to go!

On Sunday morning, I had a lot of bloody discharge, so I thought, Yeah, Today is the day! I wasn't feeling any cramping yet, but because of the mass amounts of bloody discharge and the fact that i was 1 day over D-Day, I was willing it to be the day. I called Sean (who was at work), and Angel, and got my stuff together... which of course had been packed for weeks at this point. Angel and Sean came home, and we all just kind of waited for my contractions to start.

I started feeling contractions around 10:30am. They weren't that painful, but they were consistent, coming every 5 minutes for an hour, Sean and I headed to the hospital at 11:30am while Uncle Angel stayed home to watch Dixie. At this point, the pain was still completely bearable... but i really wanted this to be the day... so although they probably could have sent me home, I went anyways.

We checked in and then we were sent to the observation room. The observation doctor asked my symptoms, and when i told her the pain was totally bearable she looked at me funny and asked in a rather rude tone, "So why did you come in?". I told her that my contractions were steady for an hour and a half at this point, so following my OBGYN's instructions, I came in. (you don't see your regular doctor at Kaiser HMO for Delivery, just who ever is on call for the day). So anyways, I felt totally stupid, until she measured me, and I was 6cm dilated and 100% effaced. She said, "well, you make this whole thing look easy", and then admitted me. Pheufffff.....I didn't feel so stupid after all.

At this point, I told the nurse I wanted an epidural. I had not been able to make up my mind about this for the whole pregnancy, as I figured I'd done it natural once, I could probably do it again?? But, 18 months was not long enough to forget the pain I felt with Dixie. The pain that can only be described as your body tearing in half from the bottom to the top....... and I just was not ready to deal with that again, so i told her to get me an epidural stat, as I would probably progress quickly. This was around 12:30pm.

The whole epidural process took a long freakin' time. They had to draw blood, send it to the lab, get an available anestheologist, ect ect. So by the time all of this was done, I was already in very heavy contractions coming every 2 minutes. But in the back of my mind, I knew that I wouldn't have to feel the worst pain of all (during pushing), because I'd have the magical epidural... so that got me through these contractions.

Then I Finally got the needle in my back and one tiny tinee "test" dose of medicine to make sure that the needle was correctly placed. At that point it was now 2:40pm, and i was LIVID, because the pain DID NOT go away and I was Feeling the exact same PAIN i felt with Dixie's labor. I was soooooo distraught... I abruptly asked the doctor and nurse... "So is this it? It's just not going to work?!?". The doctor answered as sympathetically as possible, that my labor had just progressed too fast for the epidural to take effect. So there I was stuck on the table, fully dilated and ready to push, with a needle in my back and NO MEDICINE. ARRGGGGHHHH!!! I remember saying a lot of somewhat mean things at this point. I was frustrated and ready to cry until I realized that I needed a new game plan if i was going to push this baby out.

So i focused and with the Nurses awesome coaching I pushed Baby Lucy out in 15 minutes flat, and she was born at 2:56pm. I do have to add that when the doctor realized how disgruntled I was with the fact that the epidural was not effective, she did give me unsanctioned doses of Fentenol via IV to take the edge off during the pushing phase. This definitely helped take the edge off. I still felt a lot of pain, but i was not screaming bloody murder this time around... and the nurse was a much better coach that last time, which also really helped me to push more effectively.

So then, Lucy Angel was born, and there was no more pain..... isn't it amazing how the pain just goes away so freakin fast, and then you have this cute cuddly baby to snuggle??

The only really great thing about this ordeal (besides baby Lucy of course) is that I didn't rip or tear from any orifice this time around... NO STITCHES!!!! I'm not quite sure how this happened, as Lucy is 1 lb 4 ounces larger than Dixie, and I did tear in various places with baby Dixie... which was traumatizing for many many months after birth. I think this was my little gift from god, since the epidural didn't work.

So thats it folks. The Down and Dirty. I dont think I'll be doing this again for a VERY long time... much longer than 18 months, I assure you! And next time, I will demand an epidural upon entry, and I will go to the hospital at the slightest contractions! I think people who do it natural are crazy. I've experienced this pain, and there is just no need for it. If you can get an epidural fast enough... do it. That's my 2 cents anyways... and that's coming from 2 almost completely natural births besides a hit or two of fentanol.


XOXO

Eve