My Little Stinker!

We had a brand new bottle of this stuff this morning. That was until Melody woke up with a fever, along with a runny nose, and complaining that her mouth hurt (which I took to mean her throat hurt). So, it looks like she has gotten her first cold. I knew it was bound to happen someday and I am so lucky that I got to have a cold free baby for 2 years. On the down side she screamed for about 20 minutes until I convinced her to take some medicine. About an hour later she had calmed down and was contently sitting on the couch watching Toy Story 2 drinking strawberry milk, and eating eggs. So I go in the kitchen to get a drink of water and when I return she has somehow taken the cap off the Motrin and then proceeded to drink half the bottle. Part of me is now saying she'll be fine and the other part is freaking out! So I grab her and take her upstairs and we wake up Derrick (who is still sleeping because he is working nights). I tell him what happened and he says to take her to the emergency room. I'm thinking that is a little drastic at this point and opt to call the poison control center first. So I call and the lady on the phone (Kathy) asks me some questions about her age and height and does some calculations and assures me that she will be fine. She said the worst thing that will happen is that she may vomit if she has not eaten for awhile. Kathy was really great at calming down a somewhat panicking mom by telling me that 95% of the calls they receive are for the exact same thing and that toddlers are just too smart for those child resistant (haha) caps. She was so sweet that she even offered to call back in an hour to see how Melody was doing. Luckily Melody never threw up, her fever broke, and she was her happy little self the rest of the day (I guess that is one benefit of her doping herself up). To be safe though we stayed home from church so we could keep a close eye on her. She is now safely tucked away in her bed after many hugs and kisses from mommy and daddy thanking the Lord for keeping her safe! Now if I could just get over feeling like a bad mom for leaving it out in the first place life would be great.

Birthday Pictures!

These were taken a few days after her birthday!

"I Eat Cake!" says Melody!

On her birthday we let Melody eat some more of her cake from her birthday party! She was so cute eating it...she wants to dive in so much, but she is way to "lady like" to take the plunge!

Derrick ate that big chunk not her! This was the biggest bite she took the whole time she was eating it and she only did because I grabbed a fork and took a big bite! She tries so hard to be like her Mommy sometimes!

She prefers the frosting more than the cake! Just like her Mommy! Yummy! Yummmmy!

Little Miss Dainty!

After seeing all these adorable pictures of yummy cake and frosting I'm sure you want to enjoy some of your own...so...go ahead and splurge! Melody gives you permission!

Flood!

The night before Melody's birthday Derrick was getting ready for work and then comes down stairs declaring to me that the toilet overflowed and the bathroom is now flooded. Perfect timing since he had to get out the door! ThingS like that always seem to happen to me! So I go upstairs and there is about two inches of water all over the floor...I guess this is one way to scrub the bathroom floor!

Birthday's Galore!

The last week in July and the first week in August were busy birthday weeks in our family. Within two weeks we celebrated five birthdays! It was crazy! It started with Derrick's dads on the 23rd when we went over for dinner and cake! Then came Philip's (Derrick's brother) surprise party and Bubba Gumps in Anaheim. Followed by Mallory's party at Friends 2 B Made. Then we kicked off August with Derrick's birthday on the 1st and Melody's on the 5th! We have been to so many parties lately if you say the word Melody gets soooooo excited!

To celebrate Derrick and Melody's birthday we went with the in-laws and my parents to Johns Incredible Pizza Co. We LOVE Johns and so this is where Derrick chose to go! Melody didn't care where we were she was just happy to be eating cake and getting presents!

The pizza place had a dessert bar so we didn't really need a cake, but I thought Melody should have one! Who says you can only have your own cake when you turn one? She loved eating the frosting off the most even though the cake was chocolate and she can't seem get enough chocolate!

Here is a few pictures of the them opening presents! I was helping Melody with hers and so I entrusted the picture taking to my mom. I now have learned not to do that because 1) she takes the picture only after the present is already opened instead of during and after, 2) she only takes pictures of one honorary guest, and 3) she only takes pictures of the first 3 or 4 presents. So what you see below are the only pictures I even have!

Melody and her cousin Ashden after she opened

her new Dr. Seuss book! She loves this book!

The only picture we have od Derrick opening a present!

I wish she would have taken one of him

opening his Wii Rock Band! Stop on by our house

if you are ever in the mood for a good laugh!

We try, but we are not Rock Stars! HA! HA!

Melody loves to see how many different

ways she can put on her clothes!

The Princess now has her very own

Disney Princess back pack on wheels!

There are very few times when

you see her without it!

After we gorged ourselves on the buffet, sang happy bithday, and opened presents we headed on over to the games. Again, somehow I only ended up with a few pictures...maybe I need to hire someone to follow me around.

Here is Melody and I playing Deal or No Deal!

We won 100 tickets!

They have a little kids play area and Melody would spend

all day hereif we would let her (I admit sometimes I am tempted).

This is her going down the slide,

which is the only slide she will go down unaccompanied.

We had so much fun spending time together and celebrating the lives of my wonderful husband and beautiful little girl. It is so hard to believe that she is already two. Time goes by way, way, way, too fast. I thank my Heavenly Father every day for blessing my life with both of them. Everyday brings more joy to my life because of them!

Getting Dressed!

One day last week Melody decided she wanted to dress herself. I had just changed her diaper and had to go to the bathroom before I had a chance to get clothes for her. A few minutes later she ran in the bathroom and this is what she had on. It was so funny I grabbed the camera and now I'm sharing it. Hopefully it won't be too embarrassing for her when she is older!

Friends 2 B Made

For those of you who do not know this about me I am an only child but I never have really felt like one. On my moms side of the family I am the oldest of 22 grandchildren and we all lived close to each other growing up so it seemed like there was always another kid at my house. Well up until the last five years only 4 of us were girls. In 2003 one of my uncles remarried and his new wife had two girls and then two months before Melody was born they had a baby girl and one of my other aunts had a girl last June. Needless to say for all of those years there were so few girls, us girls had to stick together. My cousin Mallory turned 11 in June and her and I have pretty much been joined at the hip since she was born. She is more like my little sister than my cousin in so many ways. She has always wanted to be just like me and since she was a little girl has always loved coming to my house. When I got married and moved to Washington it was so hard on her...the poor thing cried herself to sleep for weeks and would call me almost everyday in tears because she missed me so much. Mallory came to Washington when Melody was born and now those two are inseparable as well. When Melody was really little she would not laugh for anyone besides Mallory. We would try and try and she wouldn't even chuckle (occasionally we would have success, but it was rare). As soon as she saw Mallory though she would light up and no matter what Mallory did Melody would almost fall over from laughing so much! It was the cutest thing I've ever seen. Anyway, Mallory had a little birthday party at this little store in Ontario Mills called Friends 2 B Made. It is owned by Build a Bear and is essentially the same thing but instead of making stuffed animals you make dolls. She really wanted to invite Melody...it was rather cute that the only person she really cared about being there was Melody. They changed the date twice just to make sure I was able to bring her. Melody's favorite things to play with are baby's/dolls so she was in seventh heaven at this store! Here are some pictures from the days happenings.

The finished product! Melody named her baby Megan after Mallory's baby sister! Melody loves Megan just as much as she loves Mallory! There are many mornings when the first thing she says to me is, "Go buh bye in car, see baby Megin an Maory." (I love the way she says Mallory's name!)

At first Melody wasn't too sure what was going on. I think she was a little overwhelmed by the whole thing so she just clung to Mallory. They do this little ceremony type thing with these little hearts where they repeat this little saying and then you make a wish, kiss your heart, and put it inside your doll. Melody was still unsure about all that was happening at this point so this is a picture of Mallory helping her kiss her doll's heart.

After they put the heart in their doll they step on this peddle to put the stuffing in the doll. It took Melody about five minutes of us encouraging her to step on the peddle before she would even get close to it. Then she still wouldn't step on it until I asked Mallory to step on it with her. So here is Melody finally stepping on the peddle to put the stuffing in her doll!

They played a little simon says game while they waited for all of the girls to stuff their dolls...Melody was trying so hard to play with them. It was so cute to watch because she was always one step behind, but she absolutely loved it!

Will she grow up to be a cosmetologist like her Grandma Palmer?

After she finished her own hair she moved on to her dolls hair! I don't have a picture of this but later she also did Megan's hair (her cousin, not the doll's again.)

Taking her baby for a joy ride! We had to pry that wagon out of her hands!

Group shot!

Melody had such a great time! I am so thankful Mallory and Megan are part of our lives. These three little girls will always have each other to play with and lean on. Mallory is such a sweet spirit with such a strong testimony of her Father in Heaven. I can think of no one better for Melody to aspire to be like. Already in her short 11 years of life she has faced some challenges where she had to make difficult choices and she always made the right ones. Mallory, Melody and I love you so very much and we are so proud of all you that you are! Thank you for sharing this special day with us and for all the love you give to us everyday! We love you!