**** That is not a knife*****

The first thing Mark said when he saw the video was "SHE HAS A KNIFE!" I thought I would make sure everyone knows I don't let my 1 year old have knifes. We decorated cookies for halloween. Claire and Ella had a blast. I wouldn't eat any of the cookies they frosted/licked/hand painted. I had to stop filming once she started frosting the chair. Claire insisted the halloween cats should be purple and pink instead of black. She also used enough frosting on her pink cat to frost 10 cookies. I love these babies.

Claire photoshoot

Claire needed a picture to take to back to school night for preschool this evening. As I went through the pictures we had I realized we don't take serious pictures. I figured her teacher wouldn't want a picture of her covered in food or something else funny. I took her outside to get a decent picture. 20 minutes later this is what we had. I'm not sure where she came up with most of this poses. It was very challenging to get her to sit still and smile long enough to take a picture. Hopefully one of these prints will work for her class.

Picture collage created with Smilebox

You know the Cream of Wheat is good when...

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after breakfast bathing is not optional.

DareDEvil EllA JanE

Ella Jane has learned how to walk. Unfortunately with walking she became the most dangerous baby I have ever met. She is completely fearless. Which ends up with lots of injuries. I took this picture of her this morning. You will notice she has cuts on her chin and forehead. A giant bruise on her cheek and her black eye is gradually getting darker. All of these injuries are from seperate incidences. I should have taken pictures of her knees as well. They are nice and skinned. I am afraid to take her out. People are going to think we are beating her. This girl is going to be the death of me.

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Ella dancing

She was distracted by me filming her, so she takes a minute to get dancing. I love it when she shakes her booty.

Ella's Birthday!

Oh my little Ella Jane is now 1. I can't believe it. It feels like I just brought her home. I wish they would stay little longer. We celebrated her birthday by having family over for dinner, cake and ice cream. Ella tends to be shy. She is such a Mama's girl. She doesn't even let Daddy hold her when I am around. I was surprised that on her birthday she knew she was the center of attention and loved it. She was bouncing and clapping all with a big cheesy smile on her face. I was so glad she didn't have to cling to me the whole time.

When it came time to blow out the candle on her cake, she wanted nothing to do with the candle but kept grabbing for handfuls of frosting. I ended up blowing out the candle and she dove face first into the cake. Forget using your hands, just lay your face in it and suck up the frosting. Its the way to go Unfortunately we missed the photo on that one. Claire loves telling everyone that Ella stuck her face in the cake. She even acts it out for them.

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We tried to get a picture of the back of her head. But she kept turning to look at the camera. She had tons of frosting plastered to the back of her head. She kept doing the "SOOO BIG" arm raise and rubbing her head, because it made everyone laugh. It took me 3 hair washings to get all the cake and frosting out of her hair.

She ate so much cake, that she had an upset belly the next day. Which wasn't pleasant for either of us. Note to self. Only let future babies have a mini cupcake to eat for their first birthday.

She loved opening the presents, mostly because she was the center of attention. She got lots of books. She loves sitting on my lap to read books. She is super in love with the touch and feel ones. She will sit on my lap for hours to read those.

A little on Ella Jane:

She is a very content crawler and has no intention on learning to walk.

Can stand by herself but won't do it unless you trick her so she doesn't realize she is standing alone. Then will quickly drop to the floor once she realizes you've let go.

says Mama and DD which means dada. Makes other sounds, but doesn't associate them with objects yet.

Loves playing with Claire. She will follow her anywhere.

Loves LOVES Loves music. She will bounce and sing along with just about any music. ( I have a video I took today that I will upload soon)

Is a foodie. If there is food anywhere near her, she better be eating it. She attacked Claire the other day to get the roll she was eating. Claire ended up crying on the floor with bite marks on her cheek. Ella was waving the roll triumphantly in the air in one hand and a handful of Claire's hair in the other. While squealing with joy. If you don't intend on sharing your food with her, you'd better hide.

Happy Birthday my beautiful Girl! We look forward to seeing you grow, just don't do it so fast.

Brownies fix everything

Things are starting to get back to normal around the Hansen house. Claire is recovered from whatever it was she had. She still has some rash/blood spots on her cheeks where the blood vessels broke from her being too hot. She is back to her normal full of energy and loving life self. I do miss the quiet afternoons while she napped while sick. I wish she would still take a nap and be healthy. Whats a mama to do?

Ella Jane is now on her 3rd day of antibiotics for ear infections yet again. Yep, since that last post we have been back to the doctor once more. I think this must be some kind of record. They gave her a stronger dose of antibiotics this time and she seems to be responding to them. I really hope this will clear it up. I really don't want to end up having to have tubes put in her ears. I believe this is the 5th set of ear infections in the last 8 months. I'm not sure at what point they say it is too many and make us see a specialist. Keep your finger crossed that we don't get to that point.

Claire loves baking stuff with me. She is constantly asking to make cookies or brownies. On monday evening, after a day of being stuck in the house with a grumpy Ella Jane. I agreed to back brownies with her. She was a good helper. She held the measuring cups while I filled them and then dumping them in the mixer. I think the reason she likes baking so much is that I let her have the beater afterwards to lick off. If she had it her way, she would get the whole bowl of batter to eat.

Since we have a pan of brownies on the counter Claire is asking for brownies for every meal. When I tell her no we don't each brownies for breakfast/lunch or dinner. She always follows up with a "WHY NOT?" I mean I completely understand her logic. Brownies are delicious why can't we eat them for every meal. But what kind of mom would I be if I told her I agree with her? I might have to make the brownies magically disappear into the trash soon.

Claire is on day 7 of potty no accidents. She is actually telling me when she needs to go. I think we might actually be close to being completely potty trained. She is still having issues with not liking to use the potty places other than home. But I am hopeful that it won't be much longer and we will be over that as well.

Oh and ELLA TURNS 1 IN LESS THAN 2 WEEKS!!! Where did the time go. I'm not ready for her to get big.

Really?

We've been to the hospital once for each girl in two weeks time. Really? Hmmmm... I know when one does something the other wants to do it as well. But I don't think this trend should continue.

Ella is a crawling maniac. She loves going up the stairs. We have to barricade the stairs and even then she will find a way to get up them. On Monday the 18th. Ella climbed the stairs into the kitchen. When she got to the top Mark called her name. She quickly looked up and tried to wave to Dada. She forgot to finish climbing all the way onto the kitchen floor. She tumbled backwards landing on her head 3 times and she toppled down. I ran after her (throwing and hitting her with the batteries I had in my hand) trying to catch her. I checked her before picking her up to make sure she didn't break anything. About 15 minutes after she fell she started blacking out and one pupil was dilated much larger then the other. I took her into the doctor. She had another black out episode there. The doctor then said she needed a Head CT. I don't know if he was trying to scare me or prepare me, but he gave a list of possible outcomes. For example: brain hemorrhaging, brain swelling, cracked skull. By the time I left the doctors office to head to Primary Children's Hospital I was crying. Mark was in taking a certification test for work. When I was unable to get a hold of him. I called my dad. He left work came and took Claire, then called my mom to have her go with me to the hospital.

We finally arrived at the hospital after getting lost, because the map the doctors office gave us was wrong. I was able to go into the room with her. I was to use the toys they had to try and distract her. They strapped her in that big machine. I felt so helpless. My poor baby. There is nothing worse then having your little one looking at you like save me from this and not being able to do anything. She is too little to understand it was important.

After what seemed like forever, the doctor came and told us her scans all came back normal. She just had a concussion. After all the possibilities the doctor had listed to me a concussion was a relief. We were given instructions to wake her up 1/2 hour after she had gone to sleep to make sure she was able to wake up. The rest of week was spent holding her. She refused to be put down. She cried if I even made a motion of bending down for fear of me putting her down. I am glad to say she is recovered. Her pupil is back to normal size and she is once again a stair climbing fool.

Now onto Claire. On Monday the 25th we were at the Zoo. We were sitting down eating lunch. Claire lost all the color from her face. I asked her if she was going to throw up. She just started crying saying she was sick. We put her in the car and she was asleep before we left the parking lot. By the time we got home she had a fever of 104. I did my best to keep her fever down and let her sleep a lot. Finally on Wednesday morning she was crying saying her ears hurt. So I took her in to the doctor thinking she might have ear infections. But she didn't. He also tested her for strep, but that was negative as well. He said it was just a virus and to keep giving her Motrin and Tylenol. Well yesterday, her fever jumped up to 105 and seemed to be uncontrollable as if that wasn't enough she broke out in a rash that was quickly spreading. I called the doctor back. They said to bring her back in right away. After evaluating her the said she now has 2 ear infections and a Urinary tract infection. I thought that was be the end of it. But apparently the rash isn't related to those two things. With her rash and the high fever. They told me she needed to have blood work done to be tested for MEASLES! What? How could she possibly have measles? She has all her shots, one of which I know is for measles. They gave a mask to make her wear and sent us up to Mckay Dee Hospital ER to get the blood work done. At least we didn't have to go to Salt Lake for this one.

Upon arriving at the ER we learned the Doctors office had called ahead. We were put in quarantine. They had the housekeeping staff waiting, and as soon as we walked out of admissions, they shut it down and proceeded to sterilize the whole office. We weren't allowed to sit in the waiting room or use an ER room because the couldn't afford to lose the space for 3 hours for the disinfection that would need to take place after we left. They shut us in a consultation room. When phlebotomists arrived, they came in full gear with face shields. It scared Claire to death. They sent in 3. One to take the blood (which was then labeled BIOHARZARD) and 2 to hold her down. I took her hand in mine and put my other hand on her head to keep her looking at me and away from the needle. She was so brave. She did cry a lot, but she didn't kick and trying to move away. She just held my hand. They had us leave the room and the staff had to leave their clothing in the room. We were then escorted from the premises.

Now it may just be me. But I felt like that was a little of an over reaction. I know measles is dangerous, but they treated her like she was a plague to be avoided. Doesn't make me feel very good about my poor daughter. And in all of this no one ever told me to wear a mask or any protective gear. Shouldn't they be worried about me and my family becoming infected or spreading it if I already am infected? The put a rush on her blood. Hopefully today we will get the results. I am hoping for negative.

She is still completely miserable. Her rash is spreading and her fever is staying around 103. Mark and my dad gave her a blessing last night. After which she seemed to get some relief. Its only 10:30 but she has already taken 3 baths. Any guesses on how many she will have before the end of the day? I guess anything is worth it to break the fever.

I am hoping that this is the end of our hospital trips for the year.

Baby in a sink

Ella is in love with bathtime right now. She is the happiest little girl when she in in the water. Bathing her in the sink is easier and safer, seems how she thinks she can put her face in the water. Plus look how cute she looks sitting the sink, I like her in there much better then dishes to wash.

Christmas

Then santa came to visit us. The girls (mostly Claire) were excited when they came down christmas morning and all the presents were under the tree. Claire helped Ella open her present. I think Ella was more interested in the wrapping paper.

Claire was so excited to get her Zhu Zhu pets and her Princessesesses. no that isn't a typo, that is how Claire says it.

It was a nice christmas. We went to breakfast at my parents house, came home for naptime then headed to the Hansen's house for dinner.