Life After Death

For anyone who doesn't believe in the existence of God or life after death, here are a few reasons to consider otherwise. When Jade was a baby, she would often stare at this one corner of our town home and just laugh and laugh. Our cats frequently stared at the same corner and meowed. When Jade was two, she refused to sleep in her room because of the person in her closet with no feet. (That room is now the office.) When she was three, she told us about a family she had before us, the ages of the family members (using some numbers she did not know yet), and explained how they had all died in a fire. She has told us about the mom she used to have, and that her baby died too, just like ours. (She was referring to our miscarriages.) When we hear a strange noise or have an unusual smell in the house, she says it's because "someone must be visiting." And the most recent occurrence was a few months ago. We were reading her children's bible before bed and she was asking how Jesus was able to perform his miracles. I told her we won't know until we die and go to heaven. She insisted that she used to know, but then she came down here to Earth and now she can't remember anymore. Interesting.

The Renaissance Festival

Last weekend we went up to Larkspur for our annual trip to the Renaissance Festival. For those that aren't familiar with it, the festival takes you back to 16th century England, where you can enjoy the more romantic side of that time. There are shows, storytellers, musicians, rides, games, shops, and the famous jousting arena. And don't forget the all important turkey leg! Everyone is dressed in 16th century apparel and their look is complete with their english accents and very crude behavior.

Justin was a Ringwraith from Lord of the Rings (it's hard to tell without the hood, but he looks pretty scary when it's on). Jade was a woodland fairy, and I was a maiden. Notice the long hair. Justin was kind enough to put extensions in for me. My husband rocks!

"I'm in the market...as it were."

Captain Jack Sparrow

Jade and I on a pirate ship ride. No electronics to power these rides! Four men push the wheel in the middle to make us spin around.

No fairy costume would be complete without some face paint.

Oh, Baby!

I realized that I haven't made an update on Erica in a while, so this blog is about her. At her two month checkup, which was about three weeks ago, she weighed in at 10lbs. 7 oz and was almost 23 inches long. I'm sure by now she is well over 11lbs. She is about average for growth, but compared to how small Jade was, she seems so chunky! She's got rolls everywhere! She had her shots, which is always difficult, but I think she cried less than a minute. I'm sure it was harder on me than her anyway. Her neck is a bit tight on the right side, a condition called torticollis, but it is very mild. We stretch her neck every day and at this point she does not need physical therapy. Erica is becoming more aware of things around her and loves to watch and interact with her sister. She smiles a lot and it's directly related to things we do with her now. She is also starting to grip objects and likes to pull her blanket over her head. She is still a very happy baby and if she would just sleep, she would be perfect! We thought we had figured it out by swaddling her tightly at bedtime. For a while she was doing great, only getting up once or twice to eat. Lately, in addition to those feedings, she has been very restless again and needs to be rocked back to sleep. Sometimes every hour! It is very exhausting and it makes it very hard to function during the day. Thankfully, on days off I can take an afternoon nap with the girls. The house is a total disaster (not that it was that clean before), but if I don't rest, I pay for it later. Erica is completely on formula now. Around six weeks, she started needing more than I could produce, so we started mixing formula with the breast milk and eventually phased it out. She has been on the Enfamil Gentlease (for her gas) for the last few weeks. It's a little disappointing and some aspects of bottle feeding are less convenient, especially the night time feedings. As a whole, though, things are getting easier. And they are getting easier more quickly than they were when Jade was this age. We do consider ourselves very lucky to have two wonderful girls!

Oh, those hot summer days!

Celebrating the 4th of July in style.

Making some mud in the front yard.

How sweet!

(Outside with Aunt Natalie)

"Um, I'm not so sure about this."

The Great Sand Dunes

Last weekend we had our third annual camping trip to the Sand Dunes. We went with our brother and sister-in-law and their kids. We always have a great time and this year was no exception. We decided it would be better not to take Erica just yet, so she stayed with my cousin for the night. It was a great opportunity for Jade to have some one-on-one time with us. We arrived around noon, so we quickly set up camp, ate lunch, and headed straight for the dunes. The kids had a fun time playing in the stream, digging holes, building sand castles, and climbing the mountains of sand. When it began raining, we decided to clean up and head back to camp. (The rain was short lived, thankfully.) Cleaning the sand out of hair and all the crevasses was a bit challenging, but we managed to get it done. No camp trip is complete without a campfire and s'mores, so that's how we finished out the night. The next day we took a hike to a nearby waterfall. We all had a great time and were plenty worn out after we returned.