Hot Hot Hot!

It is hot. About 100 degrees the last four days. We've been surviving on fans, kiddie pools and sprinklers. Erika loves her pool....the sprinkler is still somewhat of a mystery to her. She likes it, but I think it might be a little too powerful for her to really enjoy. It reminds her too much of the scary shower she had to endure when we went fishing. Mom and Dad get a kick out of it though!

Token Wyatt picture. He doesn't like the heat.

She won't go through the middle, just the edge of the water fountain.

Daddy helped persuade her to go through the water.

Getting braver!

Daddy shows her how it's done.

After sprinkler time and a bath, Erika thought it was still sunny inside so she wore her hat as she climbed into her rocking chair, her new favorite past time.

Dancing Queen

Erika loves to dance. Whether the music comes from the stereo or a TV commercial, she's moving as soon as rhythm gets her! Here are some videos of her dancing. Please note, she doesn't quite have rhythm down, but she sure does like to move her feet! The second video, she thought break dancing sounded fun so she plopped herself on the floor and started moving her feet in the air. So cute!

Ok, then when I was uploading these videos, Erika got one of her toy tubs off the shelf and sat in it. That was too precious to not take a picture of and share with everyone!

Pseudo-Hat

Taking after her Daddy, Erika puts almost everything she can get her hands on onto her head. Yesterday, she wanted nothing more than to wear her purse on her head like a hat. It was really cute yesterday when Matt made it stay just perfectly on Erika's head and she wore it around the house last night. It's not so cute this morning when she wants to wear the purse as a hat again and I am not as skilled at making it stay on her head. She's not too happy with me right now.

Here's a cute video as well. I have been working with Erika on her animal sounds. She has "woof-woof" down, because she hears it daily. She has a Noah's ark toy that has elephants, zebras, and lions. I don't make elephant sounds well and I wasn't sure if a zebra just sounds like a horse so we started with lions. Erika quickly picked up that a lion says, "Roarrrr". However, now she thinks everything says, "roarrrr".....even Aunt Sarah! I asked her last night if she can say "Aunt Sarah" and she said, "roarrr". Here's a sample of her animal sounds.

Swimming

It was really hot here today. The perfect day for Erika to try out her swimming pool! We filled up the pool a couple hours before she got in it to let the water warm up. After her nap, we doused her with sunscreen, put her in her swimsuit...and then waited around for the water to warm up. It was freezing! So, we boiled a pot of water, added it to the freezing water, and came up with cold water for her to swim in. She loved splashing around, but the water was a little too cold for her and she kept having to catch her breath. Daddy got in the pool with her and reassured me that the water was indeed cold. Here are some pictures of her first backyard swimming excursion. The last picture is post-swimming. The socks were to help warm up her freezing cold skin!

Tears....A Lot of Tears

Erika had to have blood drawn today to check for lead levels and if she's anemic or not. I put it off for a month and a half, hoping the doctor would forget that I didn't actually take her in. No such luck. So, this morning, I confidently walked into the lab with a feeling that this wouldn't be as bad as I thought. I was wrong. My good thoughts went away when they told me they were taking blood from her arm instead of her leg. Erika always gets her shots in her thunder thighs and it doesn't bother her too much so I was expecting them to use her thighs to get the blood as well. The technician was really nice and tried her best to be quick, but she couldn't find a vein in Erika's arm. She poked and prodded while Erika was squirming in my lap trying her best to get away. After deciding she wasn't going to find a vein in the first arm, the technician gave up and started working on the other arm. Bad idea. Erika already knew what was coming so she wasn't interested at all in sitting still for the second attempt. The technician finally poked through a vein and then we waited while two vials were filled...Erika screaming and sobbing and hiccuping the entire time. When it was all done, she got a Grover sticker and I let her play in the drinking fountain while she calmed down. It was not a fun experience, but I don't think she needs to do this again...hopefully ever. As we left the lab, I debated whether or not to get a Blizzard to calm myself down. I deserved it. Here are some pictures of the results of the two armed blood draw.

Another cute picture...Wednesday night I decided was a great time to have Erika try feeding herself spaghetti. I'm not sure why I picked that night, it was not a good decision. At least I was smart enough to undress her so she wouldn't get sauce on the clothes she was wearing to church. I forgot, however, that Erika loves to put food in her hair. We had to bathe her before leaving for church, she was a mess!

Weekend Pictures

Ok, so no one is sad about not receiving pictures with the last post, here are some new ones from this weekend.

Matt got Erika up on Saturday morning and instead of fixing her peacock hair right away, he decided to take pictures of it. I like her cute messy hair because it means that it's actually growing on top of her head and not just on the bottom like a mullett!

On Saturday, we went to Jacob's concert in Spokane. Erika liked running around the library, but did not like the loud music from the concert. As soon as the guitars and drums started, she started shaking and then crying. We took her into a hallway nearby and got to listen to the concert while she ran around. Sunday, we woke up with 7 band members in our living room. Erika tried her best to be quiet for them, but failed. She did, however, wear a very cute sailor dress to church. She doesn't sit still for pictures anymore, but I did my best to snap a few shots while she played in her walker before we put it away until the next baby.

Finally, Erika has recently decided she needs a security object to carry around the house. She never cared before about blankets or stuffed animals or anything, but now she must have one particular blanket with her. Our good friend, Allyson, made Erika this adorable blanket when she was born and I started putting it in her bed with her to get her to nap in her crib, which worked wonderfully! Now, as soon as Erika wakes up, she grabs on to the blanket and carries it around the house with her. She loves it!

Makes My Heart Skip a Beat

Sorry, no pictures with this post, just a story. But it's a good one.

This morning, I woke up, showered, then listened to the baby monitor to see if I had time to dry my hair or if Erika needed some attention. She was making some noise, so I went to get her out of bed. Little did I know that she doesn't need my help to do that anymore. When I opened the door to her room, I found her sitting by the door. That's right, out of her crib and sitting by the door. I have no idea how that happened! In the past couple of weeks, she has shown interest in climbing on things...she puts her leg up on the couch or our bed and acts like she wants to climb up them. This is the first major victory she had with climbing. When I saw her out of her crib, I scooped her up and examined her for any cuts or broken body parts, but none were found. Erika seemed a little scared when I got there and I think she wasn't sure what had just happened either! Now I'm nervous about her doing it all the time. I hope nap time remains as restful as it has been, but I'm thinking that if she doesn't want to sleep, she'll climb out of her crib and start playing in her room. When I called Matt to tell him this story, he suggested we get some chicken wire to put over the top. I know they sell netting to put over cribs to keep animals out as well. I never wanted to treat my child like an animal, though! I guess we'll see if this is her one and only time to escape....somehow I don't think it is!

Baby Doll

Erika has lately enjoyed taking care of her baby doll; wrapping her in a blanket, walking her around the house. I'm hoping her gentleness and kindness to the baby doll will also be shown to her new baby sibling and she'll be an awesome big sister! This morning, I was excited to see how loving she was toward her baby doll, until she apparently got tired of the doll! Hopefully she won't throw the baby when she gets tired of it!

Hat

Going along with her love of wearing items on her head, Erika has lately become infatuated with Matt's baseball caps. She loves wearing them! Since they are so big on her, she wears them backwards and looks out the little hole in the back. So cute! She's only run into furniture or the walls a couple times with a hat on. Here are some pictures.

This morning, we went to West Valley Days, a community event in the town where Matt works. His company was sponsoring a booth on how to make paper. It was a cute little festival, but the weather did not cooperate at all! It poured down rain and was really cold. Even though the weather was gross, there were quite a few people there. Erika liked watching all the kids at the park. She also saw McGruff the Crime Dog. I think she was confused why he was walking like a human and not like Wyatt. We only stayed for about 20 minutes before we decided we were cold and wet and went home. Maybe next year the weather will be better.

Dress Up

Whenever I fold laundry, Erika "helps" by taking clean clothes off the couch and walking them around the house before depositing them somewhere, usually full of dog hair. Thanks Erika! Today, when the laundry came out of the dryer, she decided she wanted to wear some of Mommy's clothes. She took my swimsuit bottoms and put them on her head and has been wearing it around the house ever since. I think it might be a permanent accessory to her outfit!