Tulsa Zoo

July 31, 2010

As told by Daddy:
Before Grandma Linda flew back home to Idaho, we met Kylie's cousins, Paeton and Braden in Tulsa and took them to the Tulsa Zoo. Seems like a good idea, right? Not such a good idea when most of the zoo is outdoors, during one of the hottest summers in recent history.

Even though it was hot enough to make a scorpion sweat, we had a great time! It was Kylie's first experience at a real zoo and she loved every second of it. (She has been so interested in animals lately.) If it wasn't the "ah-ahs" or the "turdles," she was laughing, screaming, and chasing around her favorite cousin, Paeton. Kylie and Paeton had a great time together. Paeton loved carrying Kylie around the whole zoo. It was great to get the cousins together for a day at the zoo.

Baby Emily, being just shy of a month old, had a hard time staying cool. It is hard to keep a baby cool when she either has to be in our arms, in the car seat, or in the stroller. Luckily, Grandma paid $12 for a cheap fan/spray bottle that we mounted on the stroller to blow on Emily and keep her cool.

We began the zoo experience with an observation of the monkeys. It was the closest building to the entrance and the nearest air conditioning. This impulse to find a/c quickly became habitual.

After the monkey house, we jumped on the train to the other side of the zoo to catch the feeding of the penguins. As soon as we got off the train we ran to the nearest building with a/c. You'll notice from the pictures that we didn't spend much time outside. We drank a lot of water, saw lots of cool animals, and had a great time with Grandma, Paeton and Braden. My favorite animals were the elephants. They were thrashing around a big tree branch to knock the leaves to the ground, then they'd scoop up the leaves with their trunk. Another elephant was eating hay inside and would take big drinks of water out of this little watering ditch. Finally, one of the elephants took a big tree branch for a swim in their elephant pool. It was pretty cool to see these massive animals "live on stage"!

Grandma Linda and the grandkids walking across the bridge, on their way to the Tulsa Zoo!
Emily did a lot of this at the Zoo: trying to stay cool!
Kylie is getting good at saying "Cheese!!!". Now we just need to work on her not looking so frightened when she does it...
Paeton loved hanging out with her little cousin Kylie.
We sure miss spending time with these kiddos.
Mama did good at keeping Emily cool and comfortable throughout the day.
Kylie loves cluck-cluck's.
This monkey was leaning right against the glass and I wanted Emily to have a picture with some of the animals so I put her right next to the glass. I guess she wasn't amused.
There was a lot of this throughout the day; Paeton holding Kylie and Kylie laughing with happiness!
So in love...
"Where have the taken me? It is flippin' hot out here!!"
No trip to the zoo is complete without a picture on a large metal animal.
I'm gonna hope that it is good luck to kiss the bronzed tortoise...
There was an empty pavilion on our way to another exhibit and it had a/c so of course we had to go inside for a while to cool off. The cousins ran around entertaining themselves while the adults mapped out a route of the shortest distances between air conditioned buildings. Once again, Kylie loved every second!
Up close and personal. This eagle was standing in this spot because there was a fan blowing to his left. I guess they place the fan their to give them an opportunity to cool off? You could tell these birds were not liking the heat. Maybe that's why you never see Bald Eagles in the wild in Arkansas.

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"Mama? Cah? Pah? Aye!"

July 30, 2010

Roughly translated, that title means, "Mommy, can we get in the car and go to the park? Yes!" Kylie loves the park as I've mentioned on here many times before. Unfortunately, it's been so stinking hot here lately that we haven't dared to spend time outside during the day so our trips to the "Pah" have been very limited. But when Grandma Linda was here and that meant Kylie got spoiled and was able to stay out past bed time just to go to the park. It was still in the low 90s but there was at least a breeze and the sun was on it's way down so it was bearable and I really don't think Kylie noticed the heat at all. She and Grandma played while Emily hung out with Mommy and Daddy.

We knew it was probably time to head home when Kylie stopped mid step to lay down on the stairs and said, "Nigh nigh!"

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Emily Grace @ Three Weeks Old

July 27, 2010

Emie had her three week check up last week and as Dr. Harvey put it, "She looks perfect." (That's right!) She is eating great and growing fast. We can already tell that she is starting to fill out a little even though she is still so tiny. Here are her stats from her three week check-up:

Age: Three Weeks
Weight: 8 pounds 10 ounces
Height: 20 1/4 inches

Some things I never want to forget about Emily at three weeks old:

  • you LOVE to cuddle! If we could, you would cuddle on my chest all day long and be so content (and I would be too) you are my little cuddle bug and I love it.
  • you still love to curl up in a little ball and have your legs pulled up to your chest most of the time.
  • you prefer to sleep in your bassinet unswaddled with your arms up over your head. 
  • you grunt, alot! Especailly when trying to poop or sleeping.
  • you are becoming so curious about the world around you and are starting to follow mommy with your eyes.
  • you can sleep in just about any position, including sitting up 
  • you have more gassy smiles than any other baby I've known, and I love it!
  • you smell so yummy!
  • your eyes are turning a pretty shade of blue
  • and your hair is definitely a pretty shade of RED!
  • and did I mentioned I love cuddling with you?!?!

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Weren't you supposed to be sleeping?

July 26, 2010

Today, during what was supposed to be naptime, I popped my head in Kylie's door to see if she had fallen asleep yet and found this:

I guess she wanted to read but it was a little too dark in her room... This little girl cracks me up! I'm sure you could probably guess it based on the number of toys in her bed and the obviously NOT tired look on her face, she didn't end up taking that nap today...

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Small Victories

July 23, 2010

We're completely on our own this week. My mom left Sunday and since then, it has been just me and my two girls (I love saying that). And I must say, I've been doing pretty darn good with this mother of two thing. I think it's all about the small victories in each day. Like, every day this week I have gotten both girls and myself up and fed, cleaned and dressed and all before noon. That is HUGE! Or it feels that way at least...

My girls are definitely making it easy on me too though. Emily is the most amazing baby! She only cries when she's hungry and she is so content to just cuddle or sit in her swing while I play with big sister. She had even started sleeping for longer stretches at night which is fantastic! And Kylie is such a great big sister! She loves to help me take care of Emie with everything from diaper changes to burping. She loves her baby.

I love these little girls and I am so happy they are mine!

(This one of Em was one from her newborn session... which I still need to post....)

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We Miss You, Mimi!

July 21, 2010

My mom (aka Mimi) left Sunday night after Em's blessing and we are missing her terribly. On Monday morning, Kylie woke up bright and early and the first thing she said to me was, "Mimi???" I had to tell her Mimi went on the "up up" (aka airplane) to Mimi's house. Her reply was, "Ohhhhh, uh huh..."

We all loved having Mimi here with us. She was such a big help, entertaining Kylie while I was tending to Emily, cooking us spectacular meals, being a great shopping buddy, and as always, being great company. Before Mimi left we made sure to do a little Mimi/grandbaby photo shoot. It's kind of turned into a tradition I guess... Here are just a couple of the cute pictures we got:


We miss you, Mimi! Come back soon!

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Emily's Blessing Day

July 20, 2010

On Sunday, July 18th, 2010, Emily Grace was blessed in church in front of her family and friends. Daddy did such a wonderful job; it was such a beautiful blessing. I wish I could have written it all down to remember forever. It is such an amazing experience being able to listen to the blessings of the gospel being promised to your little girl and to have her know that she has a family that will love her and be with her forever. I am such a proud mommy and wife and I feel so blessed.



We were able to bless Miss Emily before Mimi had to return home to New Hampshire and we are so glad she was able to be there.

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