New York here I come!

So I'm headed off to New York tomorrow. I can't believe it's actually here. I've been frantically busy and nervous this whole week, but I went to the temple Thursday night, and have felt much calmer and have had a better perspective since. I'd love any prayers you'd like to send my way, especially on Tuesday, cause that's the day I hopefully become a millionaire. Wish me luck! (And Bracken could probably use some luck, too, what with the full time Daddy duty and all. I mean, he's a capable dad, but he's not going to get a break for 4 days.)

Camping at Sugar Pine Point

So here's some pictures from our recent camping trip with the Mills. We had so much fun. I'll write some more soon, but in the meantime, check out Ashley and David's blog.

Kids sing the darndest things

We were driving home from Grandma and Grandpa Mannion's house tonight, and Chloe started singing her favorite song of late.

I love my mommy
Oh yes I do-o
I love my mommy, I do
Oh mommy, I love you.

Then she repeats this with everyone she knows. Until she gets to Daddy. Then it changes to:

My daddy loves me.
Oh yes I do-o
My daddy loves me, I do
Oh daddy, you love me.

Tonight, since we had just left the company of her cousin, who can play a little rough, she added this verse:

I love my Syrus
He poked my eye
And then he bit me
Oh Syrus, he's a bad guy.

I laughed so hard I hardly noticed she managed to make it rhyme.

The skinny on Millionaire

Well, the skinny on Millionaire won't be me. Oh, I'll be on Millionaire all right, but I'm a bit frustrated with my prospective appearance. A couple weeks ago, right before I got the call scheduling my appearance on the show, I decided to finally commit and join Weight Watchers. I've been struggling with losing weight, and despite my best efforts to diet alone, I had actually gained a bit. So I began the plan, was really good about sticking to my points, and lost 2 pounds the first week. Hooray! And then I started to bloat. I thought, oh, it's just that time of month, the water will come right off as soon as my period starts. But it didn't.

And then I noticed my ankles looked like they were swelling. Which is kind of hard to tell on me since I have large legs. Usually, though, I do have ankle bones and I realized I couldn't see them. Or the bones in my feet. Or any indentations around my knees. Suddenly I put two and two together and realized that though the pain in my legs I mentioned a couple weeks ago had improved when I started taking iron, it hadn't completely gone away. No, it had moved down to my knees, making it almost impossible for me to squat or kneel, and unable to get up without using my arms. And then it had migrated down to my feet, causing them to ache and swell so much I can hardly put shoes on. And walking is not pleasant either. When I weighed in for my second week, even though I had stuck to my points strictly and exercised a lot, I had gained 3 1/2 pounds. I'm pretty sure it's all water.

I went into the doctor at this point cause I was a little freaked out. They did some bloodwork and it turns out the iron I took before wasn't enough. I am now really anemic, and hopefully increasing my iron more and adding vitamin C will help. I also picked up some water pills to try to stop feeling so sloshy.

I just can't get over the irony of the situation. I spend most of my time covered in dirt and food and snot and whatever combination of kid slime I've acquired in the average day. I often don't put on makeup and just slap a hat over my hair and call it good for the day, and it's fine with me. Vanity just doesn't register most days, and that's quite all right. But the one time I really want to look good, when I've been making the best effort I can remember to lose weight and take good care of myself, it all implodes. I realize that it all falls under pride, and the Lord wants us to be humble, but am I really asking that much right now? I just want to look good the one time I appear on national television.

It's not the first time the Lord has chosen to kill my vanity at a most inopportune time. When I was 16, my family moved to Utah. My entire life I had worn glasses, and been teased about them every time we moved, every new school I started. I was really unhappy about moving to Utah, but the one bright spot was that for the first time, I would be wearing contacts when I started school and wouldn't be stuck the the glasses label. The first day of school I was getting ready, and as I went to take my hard contact lenses out of the case, one snapped right in half. I was horrified. All I'd wanted was to start off the new school year looking nice, and there I was, stuck with glasses again. At this point, I would be totally cool with wearing glasses on TV, if only I didn't look like a beached whale.

Hopefully if I have to look bad, I'll get to win big. So here's the scoop on the Millionaire thing. I got a call inviting me to come be on the show on September 16! The date was a little awkward for us--we've got something big going on on the 20th, but it was kind of a now or never situation, so I went for it.

It's been crazy ever since trying to figure out lifelines and travel and trying to study all the random trivia in the world. I'll be heading out to New York on the 15th with both of my sisters! I'm so excited to be able to go with them. I don't get to spend nearly enough time with them, so just vacationing with them will be a thrill. I've also never been to New York, so that is super exciting. We won't be spending very long there, but I think we'll still be able to do a lot. I'll give you some of the details about the show after the taping, but I won't be able to disclose a lot until after it airs in November. I'll keep you posted about the air date. I'm super nervous. Suddenly I feel like I don't know anything, and when I play along with the show, I don't do nearly as well as I'd like to. I'm trying to have faith, though, that there's a good Mormon gameshow vibe in the air since there's finally a million dollar winner on Deal or No Deal, and she's LDS. Wish me luck!

Happy Birthday Addie!

Addie is one now! She had a wonderful birthday, I think. She even got to play with her own toys occasionally. We're working on teaching Chloe that Addie has rights and possessions, too.

Opening her first gift.

Enjoying her loot and repeatedly saying hi to the baby on the box. I think she was the most excited about him.

New hat and glasses.

Reading a new book with Dad and Chloe.

Enjoying her ball popper.

We celebrated Addelicious' birthday on Friday, August 22, and had a party on Sunday August 24 with family and friends. Addie had a great time. The theme of her party was "loud" since that has been the main adjective of her life.

There was a megaphone cake for the party

And small megaphones filled with noisemakers for the guests

And her own megaphone cake.

And party hats.

And presents

And bucket baths at the end.

I can't believe my baby is one! It has been a fast year, full of lots of learning. Addie has definitely been a learning experience, and increased my testimony that our spirits existed before we were born. How else could two little girls with the same parents be so different? Addie has also made me rethink my parenting skills for the same reason

Here's a few examples of why/how:

Chloe slept through the night at 2 months/ Addie didn't start sleeping through the night until about 6 months, and still wakes up at least one night a week.

Chloe is a great napper, and will drop anywhere, anytime when she is tired. The other day she fell asleep while we were shopping, and I took her out of the car, shopped, and put her back in still asleep 3 DIFFERENT TIMES!/ Addie will not fall asleep, will fight a nap forever, and if she does nap, will often wake up again within 20 minutes. She will also wake up and be wide awake and talking immediately.

Chloe likes other people and other kids, but has always liked to do things by herself and been a little intimidated by crowds/ Addie works a room. She immediately starts talking to whoever is sitting near us at church, and will rotate to make sure everyone gets a bit of her attention. And she loves to say, "HI!" The other night I swear I heard her say, "Hi" in the middle of the night, and then go back to sleep. I just kept my fingers crossed that she wasn't greeting a burgler or something, because if I had gone in to check, she would have started a whole conversation with me, and I wasn't up for that in the middle of the night.

On Chloe's first birthday, she picked a little at the frosting on her cake, but was otherwise unimpressed. I had really been hoping she would totally dive in, but no, hardly a mess./ Addie gave me everything I was hoping for, twice. Check out the next two slideshows for the details.

Addie's First Cake

Addie's second cake