A Lot of Random Stuff

Since I am trying to procrastinate cleaning as long as possible, I thought I would post some pictures of what we have been up to lately.


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This is a picture of Audra with her "babies." If you ask what their names are, they are "Baby" and "Baby." They are quite often "sick" and she has to give them medicine, sing to them, and put them to sleep a lot. (I know this because I am the doctor, and I am the one who prescribes such measures. Though, they must not be working since they continue to get sick).
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Then this is Audra sleeping. She is now putting just about everything she owns in bed with her to sleep with. It is pretty funny, but I can not imagine it is very comfortable.
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In a previous post, I mentioned how Audra had nicknamed Claire, "Guppy." We have enjoyed this and encouraged this. The other day, however, Audra said, "No, her name is 'Poopy'." We nixed that name and have ceased encouraging her further in naming Claire. We could possibly nickname Claire "nonononononon" since now she goes around church and the house saying that constantly, however.

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In other news, my Dad goes in for surgery on Friday to remove his tumor. If you could please pray for he, my mom, and the surgeon we would all greatly appreciate it!!!!

And one last thing: is anybody else having problems with Bloggers editing????? It is driving me crazy how it keeps changing the formats and not posting what I have typed in the format I have typed it in. Any suggestions????

Now off to clean...

Who Is Cuter?

Answer: The one with the red shirt.

I Can Do Hard Things

A friend introduced me to the blog of Patrick and Ashley. They are a couple who lost their 18 month old daughter about a month ago in a drowning accident (I know...always these horrible sob stories). But, Ashley just posted this and I thought I would share because I LOVE what she has to say, and it is a great reminder that when times are tough, we CAN get through it! With the Lord's help, we CAN do ALL things!
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So here is her post:

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My friend shared her so called "motto" with me. "I CAN DO HARD THINGS." I say it to myself over and over everyday.
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Life is hard, but we must endure it. Sometimes I feel sorry for those around me trying to support me. I know they try to figure out how I'll react to different situations beforehand. But I must admit that predicting the outcome must be nearly impossible, because I have no idea how I'll react until I'm in the moment.
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There have been some places I knew would be difficult to visit without Preslee. The first night back from PCMC, Pat begged me to visit the canal. After much hesitation, I took Pat's hand and walked outside his dad's house with him. As we approached the canal, the anxiety and fear quickly disappeared and we were both filled with a strong peace. I felt almost as if Pres was saying, "mom and dad I was just fine." At that moment I was able to forgive myself for going out on a date that night and not being there for her when she needed me most. This experience taught me that avoiding the places which make me think of Preslee isn't going to help me in any way. So these last couple of weeks I've geared up and visited many of the places that I have sweet memories of her. I tell myself, "I CAN DO HARD THINGS" right before I go in. Sometimes I am able to do it, and other times I leave with tears streaming down my face. But then the next time I go doesn't seem so hard.
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Or it's those times that sneak up on you when you never expect it- and for a split moment you forget she's gone. Like when I went to Subway and found myself ordering extra extra olives, because Preslee loved olives! Once I sat down to eat it, I started collecting them to give to her when it hit, she's not here...
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So yesterday as I left zumba, I noticed I had missed a call from Pat's brother Jamie. He isn't a morning person so I knew his wife Linsy, who is almost a week over due, must be in labor! She was and had checked into EIRMC, where Preslee was life-flighted the first time. The thought of that hospital brought back strong emotions. I stewed over the information and wondered if I could handle going to the hospital, and to see a new baby. Lately, I haven't wanted much to do with any babies. Then suddenly the phrase popped into my head, "I CAN DO HARD THINGS."
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When I walked in and saw little Ivy, I was overcome by so many different emotions. I immediately longed for my baby. My arms literally ached to hold Preslee. As Ivy was handed to me, I felt such a peace. I could have held her all night. Newborns come with just a little bit of heaven and for a moment I felt as if I was holding the next best thing to Preslee. She has a strong little spirit. Then I was filled with such a hope that Pat and I won't be empty nesters for long. Even though I know the next baby won't fill the void, it will definitely help.
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When you find yourself in a difficult situation remember the phrase, "I CAN DO HARD THINGS." It's possible. Life is hard, we just have to learn how to plow through it.
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We couldn't be happier for Jamie and Linsy to experience Parenthood. She's beautiful. Welcome to the fam Ivy! We love you!
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Me again...sigh! When times are tough, I am going to remember that: I can do hard things!!!!

Claire Update

Here's a quick Claire update. Of course, she is as cute as can be- that's obvious, right?

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She is now running everywhere- no longer walking. Actually, walking only lasted about 2 days before she decided that was too slow. Both my girls are early runners, late talkers- Claire still only just babbles, hardly ever any words. But, every time she babbles Audra likes to run over to me and say, "Claire just said Audra!"

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Audra has come up with a nickname for Claire: Little Guppy. I have no idea where she got this from, though I am guessing the Little Mermaid tv show. Where else would there be a little guppy? At any rate, we have encouraged this terminology because we love that Audra came up with it herself, and it is pretty cute. Even if Claire isn't really a fish.

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Most days, Claire is only taking 1 nap. That is a bummer because it makes showering more difficult, BUT it is making her sleep in until about 7:30 instead of 6:15, so that is a wonderful trade off! Even if I smell bad sometimes.

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She LOVES being outside and downstairs in the basement- where all of the toys are. She also loves wrestling with Audra. This is really cute. Basically it is just Claire sitting on top of Audra's head. They both think it is hilarious and laugh and laugh.

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Claire also loves to climb. This has led to her having many headaches, I am sure, because she falls. A lot. Outside of forcing her to wear a helmet all the time, I am not sure what to do. One place she loves and she can climb and fall all she wants is Jumpstreet- an indoor playground with trampolines and bouncy houses. We went there on Saturday because I have what I am calling "Park Fatigue." (Seattleites, don't hate me when I tell you this). Ben wanted to go to the park on Saturday. I wanted to vomit when he said that. I am so sick of putting on sunscreen and sitting out in the hot sun! I needed a break!!! This was not great news for Ben, who sits in his office all day everyday, but he understood and was happy to go to Jumpstreet. It was a fantastic decision- Claire was absolutely GLOWING the entire time because we let her do everything she wanted! It was a perfect Claire paradise. And Audra had a great time as well.

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Oh, I know you will all be surprised at this next part. Guess what her new favorite food is? FISHY crackers! I think that is a mandatory favorite for little ones!

Audra's Take #3

Audra gives me such great material to work with on these posts!
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Audra likes to sit at the piano and make up her own songs. It is incredibly cute...usually. Here are the songs she came up with the other day (remember, this is sung in a beautiful melody she composed and accompanied by her wonderful piano skills):
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I don't need Jesus.

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A few minutes later:

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I don't need mommy.

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A few minutes later:

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I don't need Nephi.

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(He is a prophet in The Book of Mormon).
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I wasn't sure whether to reward her creativity, spank her for her obvious pride, or lecture her for her lack of understanding. In the end, I decided she was three and let her be. But I will be watching her!

Audra's Take #2

Last night while putting on Audra's pajamas, she said:

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"I don't want to climb a mountain tomorrow."

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Being the dutiful mother that I am, I went and crossed it off our to-do list!

Audra's Take

Yesterday while I was changing Claire's diaper this conversation with Audra transpired:
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A: Mommy, I don't want to eat poop.
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Me: That's good, I don't want you to eat poop either.
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A: (with a big sigh) OK.

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Phew! I am glad that is settled!

Baby Steps

You thought this was going to be a post about Claire, didn't you? Nope, it's about me- letting go of my not-quite-so-little-girl-anymore Audra. One baby step at a time.

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Today Audra started ballet/tap class. It is the first time I have dropped her off with strangers to be taught by a stranger. She was great, though! She was so incredibly excited to go to dance class. She would not stop talking about it all day yesterday and today. She kept asking, "Mommy, can I go to dance class?" She will be going once a week for 45-minutes, and I have to admit: this is so fun for me to watch her do this! She LOVES to dance! I would be very surprised if she ends up going into sports, because her interests at least right now are on dance and music. But, we will see! Preparing for class this morning:

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Admittedly, this video may only be fun for the Grandma's to watch. It's Audra dancing before class. She will often ask, "Mommy, can I dance?" which means she wants me to turn the music on so she can dance around the living room. I always say yes, because I could watch her dance ALL DAY LONG!

Here she is in her class- there is just a small window that parents can watch through, and it has a glare so the pictures are not great. BUT- I just discovered I can turn pictures into black and white on my editing program so that made them look much better. FYI, there will probably be many B/W photos forthcoming!

Audra is the one with the criss-crossed back.

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After class, we got in the car and Audra said, "I love dance class!" Yup, I think we found her niche!

Random Acts of Not-So-Kindness

On my long drive to Utah, I listened to a book on tape. The book was titled, "The Actor and the Housewife." It is about a Mormon housewife who becomes best friends with a famous actor. It was OK, though certainly not on my top 10 list.
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But, an analysis of the book is not what this post is about.
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Instead it is about one small side story . In the book, the main character makes 2 pies a week to give to people from church or in her neighborhood who might need some cheering up for whatever reason. I thought that was a pretty cool idea, and pondered if I should start doing something like that. I eventually decided there are hundreds of different ways to serve, and it was OK that my way of serving was not the pie-baking kind.
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But yesterday I found out a friend was going to have a hard week due to some medical treatments she is receiving. I thought, "hey- I can bake her something to let her know I am thinking of her!" Plus, I had a coupon I was dropping off at one of my best friends homes' and thought it would be fun to give her some as well.
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I grew up baking quite a bit (Christmas treats in particular!) and am relatively confident in my baking abilities. That was my first mistake.
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In my mind I envisioned making beautiful cinnamon rolls:

I don't know why, but I decided it had to be cinnamon rolls.

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Unfortunately, my beautiful rolls turned out more like this:

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Burnt, and well, not too super tasty (for the record, this is not my actual roll, and they weren't THAT burned). Rather than throw them out, I decided to turn lemons into lemonade. I wrote a note to my friend with health problems and told her I hoped my horrible baking skills would at least bring a smile to her face, and to Arienne- I will just apologize for making you suffer!

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In the future, I think I will stick to baby-sitting instead of baking!