"It's MY Birthday!"

The night before Mika's second birthday, she got a fever and threw up on me. I immediately sent out a message to friends postponing her birthday party, and was up with her a few more times early the next morning. Despite not feeling 100% on her special day, Mika still seemed to enjoy herself--and caught on very quickly that it was HER day.

 

Of course, Big Sis needed constant reminders that it really was MIKA'S birthday, not hers--and that the presents belonged to the Birthday Girl, also. Sometimes she would ask to play with something right after it was unwrapped, and Mika would look her sister right in the eye and say, with great satisfaction: "NO!"

 

 

 

 

 

Still, Mika found plenty of generosity in her heart to eventually share the gifts with Ramona, and the two were happily fueled with birthday bliss for much of the day.

 

 

Happy Birthday, Mika-Chica! We have just loved having you these past two years.

Summer Montage

For a while, back in June, it was looking like summer might not happen for the Dixon Family. Pregnancy #3 seemed to be keeping all of us trapped in survival mode with no clear opportunities to escape. As I look back on pictures from the past three months, however, I see that summer did eventually unfold . . . slowly, at first, then with the Illinois road trip thrown in, and more and more summer-y activities packed in as the weeks rolled along.

Our family hiking list for 2013 is still puny compared to last year, but we did finally make it to Rocky Mountain National Park in August. Until then, Forest just had to be content with a climb to the top of Horsetooth Mountain with his friend Will at the beginning of summer.

 

Once I was finished with the worst of morning sickness, we managed some trips to the library, where we signed up for a reading program and found lots of superhero and princess books. (Mika's favorite for a while was "Bapian" (Batman).

With second trimester in effect, I realized I was perhaps depriving my children of swimsuit-type activities, so we planned a trip to Windsor Lake. The day we went, it looked more like Windsor Swamp--algae was so dense that the water was a murky green color. Surprisingly, my girls didn't seem to care, and jumped right in.

 

 They looked like little swamp monsters. I don't recall the last time swimming made them so dirty.

 

In July we made it to the Avago Picnic for Forest's work. Our kids may have been a little too small to fully enjoy the festivities, but they were both old enough to appreciate balloon animals and face painting.

 

 

 

 

 They also attended another Kid's Day at Centerra. This time we came early enough to beat some of the crowds.

 The girls got their first taste of cotton candy at this event. . .

 . . . but by this time they were both veterans of the face paint and balloon animal requests.

 

 

 

Ramona tried a water balloon toss with her friend Wyatt.

Mika and Grace found a giant tub of water and plastic animals.

 

 

Mission accomplished.

Below is documentation of our first family hike at Rocky Mountain National Park this year: Lake Irene.

 

 

Ramona on the trail, not too far from a doe.

 

 

 

By August I was also robust enough to sign both girls up for swimming lessons.

Ramona made substantial progress with getting her face underwater this session.

Mika, who did a parent/child class with me, seemed to think I was torturing her the first three days--but gradually started having more fun in the water by the end.

 

Some balloon creations from another Centerra Kid's Day: This time the girls requested "Rarity" and "Apple Jack" from My Little Pony.

 Yet another summer activity that emerged in August: Garage Band practice/performances with the neighbor kids. They called themselves "The Fire Girls."

They focused most of their efforts on covering (lip-syncing) Taylor Swift songs.

And here are pictures from family hike #2 for 2013: Bierstadt Lake. Got to take a shuttle bus up to the trail head.

Between the short legs of half of our crew and my ragweed allergies that weekend, completing this hike was beyond our collective abilities.

 But the views were still nice.

After doing that partial hike in the morning, Forest and I made it to part of a Ben Harper concert in Old Town Fort Collins that evening. We can't do it all, I guess . . . (as in, can't summit every hike or stay to the end of every concert) but I'll take the bits and pieces we do fit into our lives right now.

During the very last weeks of August, we finally made use of our HOA pool membership at Highland Meadows.

 

 

So . . . I think summer happened for our family after all, in some form or another. To put it in Ramona's words: "Go Team Family!"

Little Paula, 11 ounces

A couple of weeks ago, Forest, Ramona, and I got to see baby #3 for the very first time. She appeared to have a strong little heart, in addition to other vital parts, and was measuring a satisfactory size according to the ultrasound technician. We have since decided to call this child Paula--at least, that is what mom and dad have decided, despite Ramona's suggestions for "Necklace" and "Sally" (which are both perfectly acceptable names, of course).

Big Sis is thrilled to have another little sister, since that is what she was hoping for. Middle Child Mika seems okay with the idea of a baby in mom's belly, and frequently announces that she is carrying a baby in her belly as well. I am happy to keep up the girl-trend for our family . . . just praying that Forest can survive the year 2025 when the females of the house hit ages 12, 14, 16, and 40.