Proper attire

I'm obviously going to have to work with Quinlynne on what is proper attire for certain occations. The morning of the 4th of July it was time to put up the big flag on our flagpole (which, by the way, my dad and I made shortly after September 11, 2001) in the front yard. I told Quinlynne she needed to get dressed. That obviously wasn't happening so I decided I'd settle for her to at least put shoes on. So, I told her, repeatedly, "Quinlynne- go put shoes on so we can go outside and raise the flag,". This, my friends, is my daughter's idea of getting dressed.

That's beautiful isn't it? She is wearing a pajama shirt, Little Mermaid panties, and pink snow boots (on the wrong feet). She thought this was very good. So, Grandi and I took her outside in the front yard, raised the flag, tried to teach her to place her hand over her heart, and say the Pledge of Allegiance. Awfully patriotic, isn't she?

sleep standing up

You've heard the saying "I'm so tired I could sleep standing up"? Well that really happened with Quinlynne. Sunday before last the little girl came home from church and was standing at a recliner. I happen to notice that she's awfully quiet. I look over, and the child is asleep standing up. I mean- she was dead to the world!

Mustang Sally

We have had Quinlynne's little tricycle for almost a year now. She would get on it and like it, and her feet would touch the pedals, but she just couldn't quite get the concept of actually having to "push" the pedals forward. To tell you the truth- this old back of mine just didn't want to lean over and push her all over, either. It also probably doesn't help that fromthe house to the street our driveway goes uphill a bit. That makes it a little difficult to start out. I also didn't get it because I know they have tricycles at her school and her teachers told me she rode those just fine. Hmmm...was my child doing something for attention?!?!?!

One day about a week or two ago Quinlynne had gone outside with Grandi to water the flowers. Grandi came to the door and told me to grab my camera. Quinlynne had actually gotten on her tricycle and was toodling around all over. Thank goodness!

Free concert???

A gal from our ward emailed me earlier this week and told me about a free concert that was going to be at a Tulsa City County Library. I was torn because I also wanted to take Quinlynne to the Blue Bell Taste of Summer that was this Saturday as well. (There is a Blue Bell creamery just about 3 miles down the road from our house.) Well- Mother Nature helped me make up my mind. It was just nasty weather today. it was raining, storming, humid and windy. Yuck. I decided to forego the Taste of Summer and go to the concert at the nice, indoor, cool library.

We went to see Eric Herman perform. Check out his website here. At first Quinlynne didn't want to get off me. She soon warmed up, though. Barbie had to go to the concert with us and Quinlynne had to show her to some of the kids there. Eric sang a song about having ants in your pants and the kids had a dance contest during that song. Quinlynne definitely participated and was so excited.

After the concert I signed Quinlynne up for her own library card and she checked out two books and a DVD. I don't know if she has the entire jist of a library yet, though. She knew we were at the library...she knew there were books there....and a neat rug inside a tree where there is a reading room.....but I don't think it all sank in yet.

Dallas Temple

Did I forget to mention that I went here for the first time, as an adult, on June 11th? Well- I did. With the help of a Young Woman from our ward to watch Quinlynne, Mom and I were able to go through a session. I am so glad I was finally able to go! What a neat experience.

Yes, we do have a temple in Oklahoma City and that is the temple we are in the district of. However, as a youth growing up, Dallas was always our temple. When I thought of going through the temple for the first time, I always thought it would be the Dallas temple that I went to. So....years later....I did go through the Dallas temple. So happy I went!

Thanks for going with us, Molly!

Some success

After an adult dose of Miralax, my daughter finally had an acceptable bowel movement. After everything I gave her what came out should have been liquid- but it was still quite solid. Poor thing. I have been keeping a pull-up on her since I have anticipated some poopie issues. I hope she doesn't start thinking it's okay to go poopie in her pants. However, we do reiterate "go pee pee and poopie in the potty" every time we put on a pull-up. So, keep your fingers crossed that things keep moving smoothly for my dear little one!

Trip to doctor

We had to make a trip to Quinlynne's doctor today. Quinlynne hasn't had a decent bowel movement in over a week. I was thinking that part of the problem was that she was having issues between going on the potty and going in her pants. I tell you, without going into too much detail- nothing much has been happening and it's been happening in her panties. She has also been picking at her bottom.

I have been giving her some apple juice, prune juice, and last night I gave her a glycerin suppository. All to no avail! So, this morning- after nothing productive happened I made an appointment at her doctor's office.

After waiting in the waiting room for an hour (when it wasn't busy and we were the only people there) and my daughter pooping in her pants we were called back. We went over Quinlynne's diet, looked at her bottom, and felt her tummy. (I had saved the poop she had just released and the doctor looked at that too.) We were sent down to the diagnostic center and Quinlynne had an xray taken.

OK- let me tell you, my daughter has the cutest little bones I've ever seen! She also had a LOT of gas in her upper GI area, and none in her lower GI. We got a call late this evening and the doctor had looked at the xray and determined that she is just severely constipated. I have given the child pear juice, apple prune juice, water, and apples this evening. I will try to get some Miralax for kids tomorrow and see if that will do the trick. Anyone else have any suggestions I have not already listed??

Oklahoma City Zoo

The 2nd day of our mini vaca dawned way too early for me. Quinlynne was a bear to sleep with during the night so my quality of sleep was not that great. We decided to get a bite to eat before we headed to the zoo. There was an IHOP next to our motel, but it looked crazy busy. So, we headed on down the road to Cracker Barrel. I do so love Cracker Barrel. As much as I wanted to shop inside, we rocked on the front porch so the kids wouldn't break anything inside. After our "20 minute" wait (I don't know how long it was- but I assure you it was a multiple of 20 minutes.) we were finally called. So, they take us into the dining room and they didn't even have a table ready for us. UGH! They got our orders wrong, it took freaking forever to get our food,e tc. Our "quick bite" was seriously a two hour ordeal.

With our bellies full we headed to the Oklahoma City Zoo. We saw Asian elephants that were trained. They even got Ranch dressing for doing special tricks. We saw Gorillas and Monkeys, Rhinos, a Bald Eagle, Bison, Bears, some ugly people, snakes, we fed the ducks and tons of other things. It felt like we walked around for 8 hours. I was hoping Quinlynne would take a nap early on. However, she held on and it wasn't until the end of the zoo that I looked down and she had her head covered with her blanket taking her nap. We thought we had seen everything. I got a message from Angie a few days later telling me we must not be very smart because she was looking at the map of the zoo and we missed a whole loop of the zoo! We missed the kangaroos, dolphins, etc. Sheesh!

Omniplex anyone?

Last weekend Quinlynne and I went to Oklahoma City for a little mini vaca with our friends Angie, and Martez and their sons Elijah and Isaiah. Angie and I had decided that Quinlynne and I would be at their house so we could hit the road shortly after 7 am. Angie said "If you can make it up that early." Oh my dear- those words came back to bite her in the butt. So, Quinlynne and I rolled into her driveway about 7:07. We got out and knocked on the door several times and I finally got my cell phone and called Angie. No answer. Angie called me back. My call had awakened them. Tee hee! So, we hit the road bright and early at 8:30. I guess Martez was trying to make up some lost time because this is what happened to us about an hour into the trip.

Somehow (I think it was because the Trooper thought the kids were cute) Martez got off with a warning for going 83 in a 75 and not being able to find the insurance verification.

We made it to the Omniplex Oklahoma Science Museum and let loose of the children. Seriously, I think we adults had as a good a time as the kids did, if not better. (The Omniplex is a hands-on science museum.) Quinlynne played with alligators in the water, painted her face, put her head in an alligator's mouth, and climbed a rock wall.

I enjoyed feeling the pressure waves of an earthquake and Angie enjoyed a nap in the planetarium and got cozy with the bronze bust of a man.

The kids loved playing in the gymnastics area. They ran and played on the mats, did the parallel bars, did sommersaults (sp?) and the balance beam. I tell you what, those kids were tuckered out after the Omniplex. Isaiah and Quinlynne fell asleep before we even made it out of the parking lot.

After a scene was made at dinner (I ended up taking Quinlynne to the restroom, popping her behind and making her stand with her nose in the corner....THEN taking her out to the car before I was done eating) we took the kids and ourselves to the hotel pool. Everyone enjoyed themselves, except for Quinlynne. She was fine as long as she was doing what she wanted. She did not like actually getting her entire body in the pool. She did enjoy "pushing" momma in the pool, then having me swim back to her. All in all, it was an enjoyable first day.

Isaiah's 3rd birthday

Isaiah is Quinlynne's friend. Isaiah's mom, Angie, and I went to high school together. We often joke that Isaiah and Quinlynne are betrothed. The kids have such fun together. It really is quite fun to watch them playing.

Isaiah's 3rd birthday party was at Seiling Park in Broken Arrow. That is the same place Quinlynne had her birthday party last year. It has a little splash pad and Quinlynne just loves it. She also loves the playground area where she can swing, and slide and just basically drive me nuts trying to keep an eye on her. She also loves to pitch a fit when it's time to leave.

One of the areas in the splash pad has buckets that fill up, then eventually tip over and soak the person standing underneath. I watched intently each time the bucket would tump over. It never got Quinlynne! She was always about 3 or 4 inches too far to the side and only got the "backsplash". At the end of the party though, she finally was an unsuspecting victim of the buckets!