Parenting is weird

It's weird some of the thoughts you have as a parent towards a child. The other night, I couldn't help but think of what an awesome little girl we have. Now I know that isn't a bad thing, but let me explain the situation.

Ellie goes to bed around 8:00 pm. Last Wednesday or Thursday we put her down like normal. She wasn't fussy or any trouble; just simply jama's on, teeth brushed, prayers said, lay her down, and she's out. We didn't hear a noise from her. About 11 when Jake and I were heading to bed, I stopped by her room to add an extra blanket (we turn the thermostat down at night). As I walked in, I knew something was wrong by the smell.  I called down to Jake because Ellie had thrown up.  The best/worst part was she was still asleep. So Jake woke her up and went to go bathe her. I proceed to clean the crib and throw all the sheets and blankets into the washers. Once she was all clean (now about 11:30), we bundled her up minus the pink blankie, and brought her into our bed. She rolled around a bit so I just picked her up and put her into her own bed, freshly cleaned with Clorox wipes and new sheets plus a little Febreze sprayed in the room.  She laid right down and went back to sleep. We didn't hear from her again until morning. HOW AWESOME IS THAT?

But as a parent that feeling wears off quick enough once they've pulled a dirty diaper from the garbage or ripped pages from a book or when they continue to climb into a jump toy just to cry to be taken out again.

To eat or not to eat

Yesterday was one of those days when I truly understood why some animals eat their young. The day started out OK. Ellie actually ate almost 2 whole pancakes. After eating she started playing and then throwing tantrums.  Her new thing is climbing on everything. Recently she has figured out how to climb into her jumpy toy. Once she is in there, she starts crying to be taken out.

Love this face.

Here is the video of her climbing in. Listen for the crying after. She really hated that I just recorded this and didn't help her out.

She tried to hit me twice after taking away some of daddy's things that she wasn't supposed to play with. I decided I was tired of it so I put her in her crib and she fell asleep. I figured she was just sleepy from trying to get rid of one nap.

After the nap, we ate lunch. First thing she did was dump her noodles down the front of her. Normally that is something she does once she is done eating and no one listens to her pleas to be taken out of her chair. After a little eating, she was out playing and managed to climb on the tucked in chairs around the table. She likes climbing on the kitchen table.


She was fussing because she couldn't get up or down, so mom takes the picture.

Sometime during the rest of the day she took another nap (because mom just wanted her away for a bit), pulled the lid off a highlighter and drew on her mouth, climbed into the Tupperware cupboard and emptied it, reached onto the counter (which I didn't know she could do) and pulled raw chicken off and onto the newly cleaned floor, threw dinner onto the ground, hit me at least once more, and threw a few more tantrums for crackers, drinks or whatever.

Even with all that, she still wanted me to put her to bed that night and cuddled with me while drinking her night bottle. I guess that's why humans don't eat there children. I am just hoping this isn't an early start to the terrible 2s. She still makes me laugh.


Ellie in her moo-moo a goo-goo after a bath.

 

Ellie sitting in the cupboard, emptying the Tupperware. Yes, this makes me laugh...sometimes.

Manitou Springs

For Friday's adventure, we took off to Manitou Springs which is located about an hour south just outside of Colorado Springs. Manitou Springs has several natural mineral springs, which in years past (and I mean many years past) were known their healing qualities. Early Indian tribes, especially the Utes, considered the soda waters sacred but many explorers later detailed the boiling springs. The area was founded in 1871 and was the first and foremost watering place in Colorado until the early 1900's and many sick or invalid people came to drink of the healing waters.

Along with the springs, there is a quaint old town with stores lining the streets. Most of the shops are what you would expect; handcrafted, Indian, or old fashioned items. There was a blown glass shop, a toy store, a clock and knickknack seller, handmade soaps, and souvenir shops.  Also was the world famous Penny Arcade.

Oh the things you can see for a penny.

Yes Jake did put in a penny to look at the Sultan's Harem. You'll have to ask him about it.

I don't know if they open the shops at different times or if they even use them but there were about 5 store spaces filled with video games from all times. Outside were the ride toys. I was amazed by the shear volume of items they had.

Outside the penny arcade, this is about 1/4 of the rides on the walkway.

As part of the tourist attraction are the 9 piped springs; we saw or walked by 5 of them. You are allowed to sample the water. During the summer months they keep sample cups stocked next to each of the springs. I gave Navajo Spring a taste with my fingers. Yep, tastes just like soda water.


Ellie and I standing by Cheyenne Spring.

In one of the shops, they had cups and a pump to bring up some water so we sampled a bit more. Remember these are mineral soda springs so not just your regular soda (carbonated) water. The each spring contains some or all of the following minerals; bicarbonate, calcium, chloride, copper, fluoride, iron, lithium, mangesium, manganese, potassium, silica, sodium, sulfate, and/or zinc. Sounds yummy, huh? Ellie pulled an awesome face on the second sip. (She took a second to make sure the water was really that bad tasting.) The lady at the shop said it is just a taste you have to get used to.

Nearby is Pike's Peak, one of the 14-neers. Near Manitou is a cog railway that you can ride to the summit. There is also an old rail line, rails removed and only the ties remain, that is called the Manitou Incline. It is sometimes considered part of several hiking trails in the area but technically on private property. Depending on how far you want to hike the distance is between 2-4.5 miles with vertical gains between 1100 - 2200 ft.


This is the dirt path on private property to access Manitou Incline.

 

Jake and Ellie at the beginning of the Manitou Incline. Hiking anyone?

Yes, the top of the trail can be seen on the hill in the background on both pictures. The town seems a little confused about whether on not you can/should climb it. One person told us about it and gave basic instructions to get there. When we couldn't find it, another person "didn't tell" *wink wink* where to find the entrance.

After we drove down to Rudy's BBQ. I sometimes have a hard time with BBQ because it is so expensive, between $7-$12 a pound depending on which cut of meat you ordered. Also to cater to more people, they no longer smoke the meats in the BBQ sauce. You add that after. Other than that, the meat was tender and delicious. Ellie really enjoyed the sausage. The sides were plain tasting; corn and potatoes didn't have anything special about them.

Mile High Marketplace

Now that we are back in Denver, it is time to continue our Friday afternoon activities. Last Friday we went to Mile High Marketplace, Denver's year round outdoor flea market and farmer's market. I have wanted to go see what it is like for a while but we were busy doing other things. Luckily for us, there was wonderful weather on Friday. It was in the 50's so walking around wasn't a big deal.

Mile High Marketplace wasn't exactly what I expected but I imagine that part of it was because it's January. More than half the stores/booths were closed. The farmer's market wasn't that great but I imagine it's hard to grow too much during Denver winters. There is an entire open air section where there isn't a building covering but sectioned off spots on the ground for people to sell stuff.  This area looked like a bunch of people came out with garage/yard sale items to sell. It was a little weird. Then again, if space only costs $70 for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday it could be worth it so that its easier for people to find your yard sale.

It did make me laugh to see an Asian shop owner with signs written in Spanish.  Jake was curious and wants to know if flea market lingerie is more dirty.

We did find some cute shoes for Ellie. Hopefully things look a lot better in the spring and summer because I really enjoy flea markets. Although I did have a feeling that reminisced of the Utah State Fair.

Because it didn't take long to walk around, we drove out to the Colorado Mills Outlet mall. It is a newer mall here that mixes high end outlets with your regular outlets (more like Tanger in Park City). By higher end, there is a Neiman Marcus and Sachs 5th Ave outlet store in this mall.

It was a nice low key day but great to be out and walking around. Ellie really enjoys having the extra space to run around. Not to mention, she really loves running up and down ramps. She would have stayed on this one ramp at the mall all night but we were ready to leave after she spent 20 minutes running up and down it.  Then she climbed up and sat on some big chairs out in the walkway and then climbed down and then back up. She cried almost the whole way to the car because we picked her up and made her come with us.

New Year's Fun

New Years was rather low key for us this year. New Year's Eve was spent with Annie and Brian at their house. We enjoyed a quiet dinner (as Macy and Kelsey were staying with Grandma and Grandpa Kartchner). After dinner, we enjoyed some games; Carcassonne and then Wii Resort. Carcassonne became a little heated when Jake force Jeff, Annie and I to share a city and then he had a hard time trying to decide whether it would be worth it to screw all of us over by the placement of one of his tiles. He decided to not be a jerk (I know amazing, right.) but it most likely cost him the game because we finished this city and earned something like 30 points each. 

My parents showed up just in time to celebrate the New Year. We said cheers and kissed and went back to playing games. After 2-3 more Wii resort games Jake, Ellie and I made the drive back to Wanship.

On New Years day, we went sledding with the Watterson family.  This is something we have done for the past few years now. We go to Soldiers Hollow and sled the fun way. We had a huge group set to go (so we could pay the group discount rate). Unfortunately our time was from 4-6pm making it freezing cold (around 5 degrees or so). We took Ellie. She was so bundled up. She had on 3 shirts with her double layered coat, 2 pairs of pants with her snow pants, 2 pairs of socks with snow boots, and a hat with coat hood but it was so cold that she was quickly frozen.  We did make one run down the hill with her. She seemed to like it; she stopped crying on the ride up the hill and the ride down the hill. Luckily, Annie (who hates the cold) had come and was sitting in the lodge with Braden and Kelsey. Ellie sat and played with them.

Brian, Macy, Stef and Jeff came also. I think just about everyone in our group spent a little time in the lodge warming up. It was only about -5 degrees outside by the time we were done. We still had a lot of fun though and made sure to cause a few problems and entertain the people who worked there. I am sure they remember us each year.



Jake riding up the hill.

Me riding up the hill.

Our cute frozen family after sledding.

Ellie playing in the car on the ride home.

After, the Watterson clan headed back to Steve and Connie's for the traditional New Year's Day dinner; delicious chicken kiev, rice, homemade eggnog and of course Watterson family dinner conversations. These dinner's are such great memories and I am glad I can be a part of them. I think it is real fun to have family traditions that aren't common, like on New Year's day.

Bigger, Faster, Stronger

Jake and I watched this documentary last night and I found it very informative but somewhat disturbing. This documentary was released in 2008 and is about a young man's quest to found out the truth about steroid use and America's obsession with becoming bigger, faster, and stronger. I would recommend watching this if you use or know someone who uses steroids or if you are simply interested in exercise and nutrition.

I wasn't too stunned with the information about steroid use at all. The most unsettling things really didn't deal with steroids that much. Back when the big baseball steroid problem broke out and Congress became involved with banning the use of steroids. This movie states that Congress spent more time talking and debating steroid use in baseball than they had spent talking about health care, the Iraq war, and a few other hot topic items. SERIOUSLY!!! Not to mention all the experts that came into Congress stated there were no studies that showed effects of steroid use and suggested that steroids should NOT be banned. Congress IGNORED the experts and banned them anyway. The guys narrating speculates that it had something to do with the fact that it was during President Bush's administration and that he was the owner of the Texas Rangers at the time that Jose Canseco played (who admitted to using steroids and testified he believed that everyone associated with Ranger management including the owner had at least some idea of the steroid use).

I have my own opinions about steroid use, but it bothers me that Congress ignored experts and signed laws.

Another part that bothered me deals with Orrin Hatch and Utah.  Once upon a time, supplements were regulated by the FDA, just as all other drugs and food products. Meaning testing for the safety of the products, regulating who can make them and how they are made, as well as dictating what the labels should say. Supplements are no longer regulated or tested by the FDA before they are sold.  Actually, supplements are only taken off the shelves if the FDA can prove they are harmful.  According to this show, Utah is the nations largest supplier of nutritional supplements and it was Orrin Hatch who lead the campaign to the deregulation of supplements. So now anyone can make a supplement and list the ingredients as "proprietary blend" and sell them.

I don't mean this as a crusade against Orrin Hatch or anything of the sort. I did study exercise and sport science with a number of nutrition classes and some of this information bothered me.

One point they did make in the movie is why are steroid, specially anabolic steroids or performance enhancing drugs, so bad in sports when doctors prescribe speed-like drugs for kids in school so they can study longer and harder and Air Force pilots are required to carry "Go" pills with them. These drugs are also "performance enhancers."

It was just a lot to think about and just another reason why I don't normally watch documentaries, or the news for that matter.

Christmas Festivities

Christmas time can be so great but then again it can be challenging. It is definitely just as stressful for close-knit families as it is for families who put up with each other because of the Holidays. There is so much expected for the Holidays and plenty of things I didn't plan or think about before.

We spent Christmas Eve with my parents and family, minus Annie's family. We had a delicious steak dinner with some excellent homemade wassail. We played a few games dealing with Christmas and then as he has been doing my whole life, Santa made a quick drop early at the house. Next had to prepare for the 50+ people trying to fit in my parents' house the next day. That meant making food and setting up tables and chairs. Then it was off to bed.

Somewhere in the middle of the night, Ellie throw up. Since I am a fairly light sleeper, I heard her and woke Jake up to help (which he wasn't a huge fan of). I picked her up and carried her upstairs to wash her off. Jake grabbed all the blankets in Ellie's bed and brought them up. After new pj's and a quick bath, it was back to bed.



Santa brought Ellie a pillow pet which she likes to lay on.

We woke up and continued to set the house for the family, all my mom's siblings with their kids and grand kids, or at least those who could make it.

We then took some time to open presents. Ellie didn't seem too excited about the presents at first but I think its because she really didn't understand what was going on, until we started to open them.


Ellie picking and choosing presents to unwrap.

We then had a Gledhill traditional Christmas breakfast that consists of eggnog (both store bought and homemade), sausage, and of course Pull-aparts (most people know these as sticky buns).

We opened more gifts once Annie, Brian and their kids came over. 

She did eventually open this present. She did quite well at opening gifts.

 

Chef Ellie here to make your food.

 

All the married daughter got aprons and the granddaughter received aprons that matched their mom's.

Once that was all done, it was time to pack all our stuff and move up to the Watterson residence. This became quite a trick as my mom's family started to file in and fill up the house. We ate a bit but took off quickly to spend the rest of the day and our stay in Utah up "at da Wanship."

The 4 Runner was packed to the top. I wasn't sure how we were going to bring everything home to Denver as we had left a bit at my parents while we stayed with Jake's parents. (Spoiler alert; Jake is amazing at packing cars and everything made it home.)

Once we arrived at Watterson's, we unloaded a few things but then opened more presents. I didn't know where the camera was packed at this time, so I am still waiting for pictures from Marc and Cassie.  Jake's family was a little more low key. Siblings coming and going to other family functions but there was good food and lots of love. We had a great time that day just eating and talking.  Ellie and Becca played and pretended to share toys (they kept fighting over each others strollers and babies).

It was stressful trying to work everything out and move, but even with the stress I still love spending time with family, especially at the holidays.