7th Heaven and Cheese

We were watching 7th Heaven (TV show) earlier today...

Me: "7th Heaven is cheesy"

Travis: "It is so cheesy that if it was a pizza it would have quadruple the cheese."

Leave it to Travis to think of a pizza analogy.

Dr. Pep Talk

On Monday I had a Dr's appointment. I told Audrey that her and Phoenix were going to come with me. She immediately started to comfort Phoenix because apparently she thought he would be scared. When we got there she checked up on Phoenix every few minutes to make sure he was doing OK. After we got home she said "Mommy, I'm proud for you going to the doctor's!" (That's something I say to her)

Back in March it was me comforting her through the Doctor visits (both hers and mine). She gradually got better, but once Phoenix was born she put on a brave face and got over her fear.

That's Mine!

Yesterday we (myself, Audrey and Phoenix) were waiting at the WIC office. Audrey brought her pink purse with several toys inside it. There were two other children in the waiting area that were around Audrey's age. She willingly shared purse and other toys with the children, but then they started to take an interest in little Phoenix. Audrey came across the room saying "Hey, that's MY baby!"

Adventures with Audrey and Phoenix

Audrey loves to ride around on her bike with Phoenix. He likes it to.

Playing with food...

Audrey wanted to take a nap with Phoenix, she set up a little pillow (you may recognize it from the ones you see on an airplane...yes, I take them)and her pink blanket for them to share.

It is so cute to see how much she loves Phoenix. She talks to him like he is her age. I love it!

Bibery

When I started potty training Audrey (months ago) she picked it up really well. The only hold up (literally) was going #2. The other day Audrey told me that she needed a diaper (aka she had to poo) and I told her that if she went on her big girl potty I would take her to Chuck E. Cheese. She said "OK" then she sat down on her potty, did her business, and for the rest of the day she was talking about going to Chuck E. Cheese's. It was too easy, totally effortless.

Her favorite part was standing on the stage with all the puppets.

Most kid rides are totally lame, you put 50 cents into the slot and the ride will slowly move back and forth. Well, this horse was actually worth the money (and it was only one token). It moved up and down and back and forth. Audrey loved it.

Shopping Woes

I used to like shopping in all shapes and forms...but in the past few months I have increasingly avoided grocery shopping, and especially Walmart shopping. I used to go at least once a week, usually twice. Now I go about once every two weeks, less than that if I can manage. I think it has something to do with being scarred from my experiences of having Audrey as a shopping partner. Even when I go by myself I dread it. The bad thing about putting off a Walmart trip is that when I finally do get around to going, I have to get TONS of stuff because we are out of everything, which means I am in the store for way too long, and my cart gets extremely full.

Today I was forced to make a Walmart trip (we were on our last roll of toilet paper). And since I had waited so long since the last trip I had to restock basically all of our shelves with food. A girl actually pointed at my cart and gasped when she saw how full the it was (I stock up while I am there so that I don't have to go back for a while). After I paid for everything I was trying to hurry out. I was walking at a fast speed and just as I was about to turn to the exit I noticed lady heading into the store with her cart. It was a collision waiting to happen. So I stopped pushing the cart but I kept sliding towards her (foam flip flops + smooth flooring + really heavy shopping cart being pushed with as much force as I could muster = slippery situation). Luckily I stopped a few inches before I hit her, she was laughing. So basically, what I learned from today was that I really do need to go shopping more often to avoid stuff like that (but I really really really don't want to).

Luckily, my love for shopping as far as clothing, shoes, crafts, home goods, etc has been unaffected.

Don't mind if I do

A couple from our ward invited us over for dinner on Sunday. There were several other families there, and we were all having a good time. After we ate the kids went off and played and the adults stayed at the table talking. The hostess came up to me and told me that she found a puddle on the stairs, and Audrey's shorts were wet. I was... embarressed. Luckily, I had a diaper on hand so she had to spend the rest of the day in her diaper (I stopped bringing spare outfits for her when she was about 9 months old). Things were winding down, and the hostess had her two girls in the bathtub. I couldn't find Audrey anywhere so I went to see if she was talking with the girls while they were taking a bath. Audrey had stripped down to her birthday suit and she was in the bath with the girls.

Although Audrey definately broke some ettiquette rules, I love her child innocence.

S'more Cravings

For the past few weeks I had been craving something sweet, but I couldn't figure out specifically what I was craving. I tried ice cream, milk shakes, and tons of candy (we go through a lot of it in our house). I finally figured out what I was searching for: S'MORES! Ok, so ideally I would be able to fire roast the marshmallows, but until we get a fire pit in our yard (which won't happen till we buy a house with a big yard) I have to make do with what I have. I microwave the marshmallows and chocolate on the graham crackers, then I try to start the marshmallows on fire with a lighter. Usually they only burn for a few seconds. You know those people that stick their marshmallows in the fire until they are black? I am one of those people. I love burned marshmallows. Mmm, all this talk about chocolate and burned marshmallows is making me hungry...

Rach is signing off!

Sleeping Babe

There are two things that Phoenix (and me) both really like. 1) The boppy pillow, he loves to sit in it. A lot of the time he falls asleep when he is propped up in it (as you can see). 2) A musical sea horse that my sister got for him. It is like a glow worm but it plays the music for longer. It is awesome, and it totally soothes him.

Sisterly Love

Anyone who knows me knows that my sisters are my best friends. When I am with them I feel complete.

Sorry girls, this is the most recent photo I have of all of us! Obviously we need a new one (look at how young Jo is!).

When Audrey was born Leah was there to help me. She would hold Audrey, try to soothe her, try desperately to get rid of Audrey's hiccups, she gave me the help and support I desperately needed at the time. Leah kept me sane.

Joanna was here to help me when Phoenix was born. He was a much easier newborn than Audrey (no offence to her) and with Travis here to help me I could handle Phoenix. Joanna took over a lot of my motherly duties with Audrey. She was so incredibly helpful. Jo is stricter with Audrey than I am (that's a good thing). Jo did everything in her power to make things easier for me. I can't thank her enough for all the help she gave me. She stayed with us for almost a month. When she left last week the house felt quiet, and I felt like part of me was missing.

All of my sisters (I am lucky enough to have 4 of them!) are always there for me when I need it. I am so grateful to have all of them in my life. I love my sisters.

Beach Day

John (my bro, Brooke (his wife), and Michelle (my sister came to visit us last weekend. It was so much fun with most of my siblings there. We went to the beach on Monday and the weather was perfect, warm, but not too hot. The water temperature was great also. Travis let me play in the water a lot more than I usually do (nothing beats being with my sisters at the beach on a hot day). He still fit a little surfing in. We grilled hotdogs on the beach (yummy!). The annoying seagulls (shout out to Michelle) attacked some of us and we actually lost a few hotdogs because of them. They were very agressive. It was a very fun day.

Marbles, Kid Museum

Both me and Joanna like stuff like kids museums. We took Audrey to the Discovery Center in Binghamton NY last summer, and we had just as much fun there as Audrey did (maybe more...is that weird?). I thought it would be fun to try out the local kids museum here while Jo was visiting.

Jo had never been in a ball pit before, so it took about 15 minutes for her to work up an excuse to get in there with the little ones (we were waiting for Audrey to take her shoes off, which did happen).

After wearing the fireman hat for a few minutes Audrey found the leopard hat and she decided to wear that instead.

Audrey made me and Jo carry the swaddled pig around. We tried to ditch it a few times, but she noticed immediately.

Audrey had a great time. I still like the Discovery Center better, but that could be because it brings back fun memories for me.