The Bakersfield Curse

We were so fortunate to have Mike's sister Melodee out to visit and help out for a couple weeks. She was such a big help especially with Emma. Since the end of my pregnancy, and trying to get Vivian to eat well, Emma has had a serious lack of physical activity. Melodee was nice enough to give our energetic 2 year old some more attention.

Unfortunately we have decided that there is a serious Bakersfield Curse. (Do NOT let this information deter any of you from coming to visit) :) Both times that Melodee has come to visit she has gotten sick, and my Mom developed a terrible cold when she came to visit as well. We're not sure what's in the water out here, but it's sure not fun. Although Melodee wasn't feeling well she was a lot of help and it was nice spending time with her. I don't know how I'm going to handle this coming week, I've gotten very spoiled with all the help I've been receiving. Luckily Vivian is doing 100% better at nursing and is now up to 7 lbs. We are also working on getting her on a better sleeping schedule. We use the "Baby wise" system which worked pretty well with Emma. Vivian sure is a lot easier to put down than Emma. Emma cried all the time so we became somewhat immune to the sound.:) Although we hate to hear her cry, 5 minutes of fussing will hopefully be beneficial to her being able to learn some self-soothing strategies in order to sleep better.

While Melodee was here she, Mike, and Emma were able to go up to the Trail of 100 Giants and Dome Rock.



Someday Mommy will get to see these huge trees as well. Emma had a good time and came back with a few scrapes and her first bee sting. I guess there were a few people who got stung up at the ward camp out.

I also wanted to post some of these funny pictures of Emma. She LOVES to play dress up and the last time we went to the CALM aka Bakersfield zoo, the animals were actually out and about, and this turtle came to give Emma a kiss.

Emma's favorite animals are the bears


An actual RoadRunner


Who knew porcupines could climb trees?



An actual picture of Vivian with her parents. She wasn't too happy.

We're still here

So I realized that it had been awhile since I last posted, but our days just seem to melt together. We are pretty much occupied by the same things; feeding, pumping, trying to sleep, "trying" to balance a newborn and toddler, and enjoying the blessings these two kids bring to our life. Everyone keeps asking me how Viv is doing and I guess I don't think there has been too much progress because it has definitely been slow, but she really is doing so much better. We are only supplementing her a couple times a day and she is becoming better at this whole nursing thing. We think she is getting bigger, she doesn't have saggy skin anymore, but a few fat rolls instead. She continues to be a sweetheart, unless she is gassy. We have had Aunt Melodee out for a week now and she will be here for another week. It has been nice to have an extra set of hands, and someone to give Emma a little bit more attention. We are realizing more and more how easily Emma is thrown off her schedule. The littlest things can really set her off. When someone new is watching her she likes to test her limits, typical I know, but it is just very interesting. She is sure a sweetie though, all day long she will say, "I love you too", even when we haven't said I love you first.:) She is so inquisitive and loves people. When Melodee arrived she was so excited and came running back into the kitchen to "introduce" me to our new visitor, "This is my mommy!" she exclaimed. Oh, it just cracked me up that she didn't realize that we had already met.:) This post is complete rambling but oh well. Mike, Melodee, and Emma went up to the ward campout today and so I have all day with just Vivian. There are so many things that I want to get accomplished when I know that what I should be doing is catching up on some good sleep. Hopefully I can find a balance of both. It will be a nice quiet day, although I'm already missing my cute fam.

New Stuff

So after my last post we went to the doctor and found out that Vivian had only gained 2 ounces in 10 days. What! We thought she was doing so well, she was finally having wet and poopy diapers. How discouraging. He decided to run some more blood tests as well as give her an I.V. to help with dehydration. I felt like the worst mom ever! It's hard enough watching your little baby getting needles poked in her, but I just felt like it was my fault, like I wasn't feeding her or something. I sure have been trying. So we are having to supliment her with bottles, and unfortunatley with all the craziness going on my milk supply is starting to wain. Oh the joys. Hopefully she will have gained some more weight this week. I also wanted to post a few more cute pictures of my yahoo's.



Not quite sure what is going on here.:) She loves to make this funny face when she says "cheese".