A Big Jump

Today was Audrey's last day of swim lessons for the session. She has improved so much, and she has gotten much more comfortable in the water. Travis came to watch her (my Dad always came to watch us on the last day of swim lessons and I loved it). When she first started, her "back float" was her clinging onto her teachers neck with her legs sticking up at a 90 degree angle out of the water. As you can see she has gotten better...

As a surprise, for Audrey's last jump in the water the teacher let her go all the way under water (I was hoping she would do it). Audrey was shocked at first but both me and the teacher were so proud of her that her initial shock turned into pride.

Sorry, this pic has some weird angles, but it is the best one of Audrey.

As a reward for going underwater I took her to Dunkin Donuts to get a Boston Creme (DD is another tradition that we had when I was younger). Audrey made sure to tell the man at the register that she went all the way under water.

Beach Trip

Travis has been hungry for a new surfboard for a few years. He wanted a smaller one for himself, and the idea of being able to go surfing with any guests that come to visit us was quite appealling (we have a spare one now). Saturday was a beautiful day, Phoenix refused to take a nap almost the whole day and Audrey was excessively whiny compared to her usual sweet self. The second I opened the car door and breathed in the ocean air I decided the trip was worth it. Plus, Trav found the perfect surfboard, so that was a huge plus. As you can see, Phoenix FINALLY fell asleep in the car.

A Laugh

We were driving back from the beach and saw this billboard (this is not my photo, but it is the same poster). I laughed for a good 5 minutes. Many people (myself included) are stressing about the current political happenings, but it felt good to see a little humor.

Best Buds

(yes, Audrey is wearing lip gloss)

Yesterday morning Phoenix was whining just a little bit (he has been an absolute angel lately btw) and Audrey said "Ooh, little buddy! Do you want your big stister?" as she held out her arms for him. She is always doing stuff like that with Phoenix. She loves playing with him and she loves to helping him stay out of trouble. In the morning they are both so excited to see each other that they just smile and laugh for about 5 minutes straight. It is the cutest thing. Before I had Phoenix I was worried about jealousy issues that Audrey might have with him, but obviously I had nothing to worry about (although she is very jealous that he gets to wear his pj's out in public and she usually does not). Car rides are also fun because Audrey and Phoenix play a lot of the time.

Defeat

After a much too long, and much too cold winter I thought we were out of the woods so to speak. Two Sundays ago we went to church, then came home and laid on blankets in our fenced in backyard and ate grilled hot dogs, chips, and soda. It was the most beautiful day we had had for months. Nothing beats the warming rays of the sun. It was glorious. We had a few more warm days, and then it turned cooler and cooler and of course the rain and wind had to join in. I had been dressing myself, Audrey, and Phoenix in shorts thinking somehow that wearing less clothing would make the weather warmer. It did not work. Today I admitted defeat, and put on a sweater, and I let Audrey and Phoenix wear pants. Have I ever mentioned that I really do not like cold/rainy/windy weather?

Stolen Artwork

I have seen these adorable tiny canvases at the craft store, and I have been trying to think of how to use one because they are so cute. I got the idea to do a rabbit silhouette for Easter, and I knew that Audrey would want it in her room after I was done displaying it on our mantle downstairs. But when I showed it to Audrey she immediately cleared a space on her "nightstand" (which is actually a TV dinner table) and insisted that the rabbit go there (she also insisted that her bracelet was in this picture).

Too Young to be a Dad

In high school I watched this lifetime movie called "Too young to be a Dad". It was about a teen pregnancy. I love the titles of Lifetime movies...they are always so cheesy and they basically give the whole movie away.

Anyway, today I was getting ready for the day and Audrey brought her baby doll in to my room where Phoenix was.

"Phoenix, I will be the Mommy and you will be the Daddy, OK?" Audrey said to him.

It is funny to think of Phoenix pretending to be a Daddy since he is still a baby, but he seemed to like the idea.



Can you see the similarities between their smiles?

The Perfect Hat

Audrey has the perfect hat for pretty much every occasion. Whether it is to go to the circus,

or to go to the store with Daddy (those tears are because she had to FIGHT to wear the hat)

or to finish off a hand picked outfit centered around her new rain boots (which she got extremely muddy).

Audrey has style!

Imagination

Audrey is at a really fun age now. She does the cutest things. One morning last week I woke up to her pounding on her bedroom door (I actually wake up to that every morning), when I went to let her out she said "Mommy! You came to the show!" I looked at her bed and all of her animals were seated and ready for the show to start. I dutifully sat next to them. There was an air mattress in her room and she used that for her stage. She began the show with a booming "Ladies and Gentleman!" She took turns with her animals and made them do all sorts of tricks (obviously she still has the circus on her mind).

Later that day she made an "ice cream parlor" in the bath.

The next day she saw some cheese crackers and decided that they would make good spongebob teeth.

Pick-up Line

Back in my youth when I would attend church functions we would all exchange really cheesy pick-up lines. I loved hearing new ones. One of my favorite ones was: "I went to EFY (a week long Mormon youth event at a college) expecting a spiritual experience, but I didn't expect to see an angel!"

Well, Joanna was at one of those youth dances a few weeks ago and yesterday I finally got to chat with her. I asked her if she danced with any cute guys and then she told me that she danced with this really awkward guy (who was so awkward that he had one of Jo's friends ask her to dance for him). The conversation was sparse, and after a minute or two Jo asked him what his hobbies were. He told her that he built computers. Then he asked her how many computers she has. After she told him, he revealed to her (in a proud manner) that he has 14 computers. That has got to be one of the best pick up lines of all time!

p.s. I FINALLY got the little guy down to sleep so hopefully I will have a chance to work on a spring banner for our mantle!

If babies...

...would just sleep when they are tired and be happy when they are awake the world would have more babies being born, and definitely less (if any) cases of shaken baby syndrome.

(yes, he does look like he has a uni-brow, but that I promise he doesn't!)

2 months ago Phoenix was a good baby, he would go to sleep when he was tired (for the most part) and all we had to do was swaddle him, and give him his binky. Then things changed. He fights going to sleep with all the strength he can muster up, he has to be rocked to sleep. When I say "rocked" I mean me or Travis has to hold him in our arms, walk around his room, bounce lightly up and down, and swing him in our arms from one side to the other all while patting his back until he falls asleep. He used to put himself to sleep for the most part, now we have to do all the work for him. He needs too many naps for what I can physically handle. I have always had back problems but now my back is in the worst shape (aka pain) of my life. He can stay awake for about 45 minutes and then he is so fussy that we can't do anything else with him except put him down to sleep. Yes, we have tried letting him cry it out (I do that about once a day), and yes we give him pain reliever and orajel. I wish he would either sleep when he is tired, or be tired less often. I feel like we can't bring him out anywhere, and I don't feel comfortable leaving him with a sitter because he might be too fussy. If anyone has any suggestions please let me know...

The good news is that Audrey is extremely fun and enjoyable to be around and she does her best to help out (she is always asking me if my back hurts and if I say yes she will insist on giving me a back rub). And Phoenix (as of 2 days ago) finally understands the concept of eating baby food. Instead of trying to shove the spoon in his mouth and then put the bottle in really fast so that he is more or less tricked into swallowing the food, he opens his mouth on his own and seems to enjoy eating it. Yay!

Cleaning house...again

Have you ever noticed that it takes a few hours (at least) to clean your house and only about 30 minutes to completely destroy it again? Or how as soon as you get all the clean laundry folded and put away there is a hamper filled with dirty clothes again? Whats up with that? I am not going to claim innocence...no one would ever describe as a neat freak (maybe the freak part, but certainly not neat), but I promise I am not as messy as my house looks most of the time. The reason for this post is that I had almost the entire house totally clean on Thursday, and somehow it looks like I haven't cleaned it for weeks. My friend told me that she has a chore chart for her four kids (the youngest is 3). I am definitely going to have to work one of those up.

Anyway, it looks like my day is going to be filled with laundry, dishes (shudder), and picking up random things such as poopy diapers and toys. Don't be jealous (unless you are so jealous that you will come here and do these things for me).

BIG little Fella

Last week Phoenix's 6 month sleepers wouldn't stay snapped. It took me a few hours to figure out that he was too big for them. Ever since then I have been thinking about how weird it is that he is too big for his 6 month clothes...then today I remembered that he is 8 months old. Ah-ha! That explained a lot. Sometimes I am so smart I scare myself!

I know my sister Jo will be excited that Phoenix is finally taking other binky's other than the green hospital ones. The other day he put his entire green binky in his mouth, luckily I was there to grab it out, but it still made me worry. So...I bought him the kind I used for Audrey (you should have seen the look on her face when she saw his new binky's...it was a mixture of jealousy and curiosity). He will suck on it when he is awake, but he kept spitting it out when I was rocking him to sleep today...so I think it might be a few day transition.

By this point he was getting annoyed at the flash...and I think he might be tired. I know I am! I am trying to get better at taking pictures of myself...I suffer from a disease called Itakewickeduglypicturesofmyselfitis. There is no cure yet, but experts have told me that through dedicated practice my condition can improve. Wish me luck!

Oven Failure

Anyone who knows me knows that I like to bake....treats especially. Well, on Sunday we turned our oven on to cook our Papa Murphy's pizza in (we bought 2 on Saturday, cooked one that night and saved the other one). The oven never heated up. Panic set in when Travis realized he would not be able to eat the pizza. He contemplated going to buy a toaster oven and cutting the pizza up and cooking the pizza one slice at a time (I told him that wasn't rational). The repair guy didn't come until Tuesday and he said that he had to order a new part. We threw the uncooked and uneaten Papa Murphy's pizza away that day. It had already been in the fridge for too long. I had to do it myself, I don't think Travis could have handled it.

It is Thursday and our oven is still not fixed. I have been thinking of all of the things I would bake if I could...banana bread, this new amazing recipe of chocolate chip cookies, Audrey wanted gingerbread cookies...hopefully we will get our oven fixed soon. I need some CCC's (Chocolate Chip Cookies)!

1st Day of Swim Lessons

Yesterday marked a monumental day in Audrey's life...her first day of swim lessons. I spent my summers in swim lessons, and I have many great memories. Also, I was a swim teacher for 5 years, so I take an extra interest in my kids swim lessons. I knew that Audrey would be a bit apprehensive, so I took her swimming last Saturday (Travis and Phoenix came to). This pool is kept at a toasty 88-90 degrees, and it has a great area for non-swimmers to play in. Audrey had so much fun that I literally had to drag her out of the pool. She was scared to take swim lessons but when I told her that she would make friends she was excited about it.

I was not impressed with the teacher, there was one kid who was actively drowning 2 different times...on the first day. Not cool. Plus she turned her back to the kids a ton...a definate no no, especially with young kids who cannot swim and can't touch the bottom for the most part. My heart rate was increased for the whole lesson because I was on watch for all of the students (did I mention I was also a lifeguard?). Luckily there is also a lifeguard on duty and he saw the kid drowning both times, so at least someone is on top of things. Despite all of my concerns Audrey had a great time and she made a friend. She was crying when we had to go (I was sighing in relief).


This is her "smile" at the end of class...like I said, she did not want to go.

Circus 2010

I got to take Audrey to the circus last week. I have only been to the circus one other time in my life, and that was when I was in 2nd grade. I remember liking the circus a lot back then, but I really loved it this time. Some of the things they (both the people and the animals) did were amazing! The theme song throughout the circus was "Don't try this at home"...it is a good thing that they sang that song because otherwise I would have tried pretty much everything once I got home(doing a flip through a hoop on fire, locking myself in a cage with a dozen tigers, etc). Audrey was perfect through the whole thing, she was cheering and clapping the entire time. The tigers were her favorite. I bought some cotton candy before the show started, you need to have cotton candy at the circus right? Well, this cotton candy must have been spun out of gold because it was $12!!! But the good news is that a high quality hat made of felt came with it, Audrey wore it the whole time. It kinda worked out because I didn't feel like I needed to buy her a souvenir (and trust me she wanted everything!). My camera died about half way through so I apologize that I don't have more exciting pictures. We had a great time, and I can't wait for the circus next year, hopefully Travis and maybe Phoenix will be able to come with us.