December

The month of December was full of fun activities for our little family. Audrey and I started off the month by going to a mommy and me dance class. She loved it, and I loved watching her. She was such a natural! Disclaimer: I know she looks knock kneed and pigeon toed in this picture, of which she is neither, she is just going around in circles.
Audrey loves watching the movie, "12 Dancing Princesses" (shocking, I know) and at the end Barbie gets married and dances with her groom. While they are dancing Barbie puts her head back and arches her back...kinda like Audrey in this picture. Audrey grabbed this little girl and started dancing with her. All of a sudden Audrey pulls this move and then looks at the girl and says, "Married!"

Dave and I had a fun date night with lots of our fabulous friends and went to go see the comedian Brian Regan. If you ever have the chance to go see him, definitely go. He is so funny, and so clean, a rare thing these day! These are just some of the girls that went, the boys were all talking.

Regan had a little Christmas party with a fun ornament exchange and then we went to see the movie "Enchanted". Fun, fun night before everyone left for break. Let me rephrase that, before everyone left ME for break. They all seemed to go home leaving me here all by my lonesome!

Mindi had people over for one last get together after finals. There was numerous kids running around, numerous husbands talking dental stuff, and lots of yummy food. Thank you Mindi, it was so fun!

We did Christmas with my family a few weeks before Christmas. Audrey and Savy are opening a gift from D...a dress up trunk! This trunk will stay at D's house for her two granddaughters to enjoy. I'm sure Brother will get his fare share of time in these costumes too...maybe not by choice.

Dave and I took Audrey to Fentons in Oakland for the best toasted almond ice cream with the best caramel sauce. When Audrey was born I couldn't have any dairy for eight months, so you better believe I will be headed back to Fentons at least twice before this baby is born in case I can't eat dairy again. I love the look on Audrey's face...and her little belly sticking out...and her hand...

Dave had to study a little over break, and the weather was so terrible (the storm got so bad that our power was out for 44 hours - thank you Memor and Fafa for letting us come to your house!) so Audrey and I put on our "comfy clothes" and headed off on a little date together to the movies. It was so fun, and Audrey did so well. I let her pick out the treats, but she ended up not really liking the popcorn (which is fine by me, I ate the entire bag) but she loved the Slurpee. I love this girl...

Once the movie started she wanted to sit on my lap and she kept saying, "It's too loud!" She watched the entire movie like this...with one hand over her ear! We went to see "Alvin and the Chipmunks" and Audrey talked about the chipmunk movie for days afterward. That movie and the "CutCracker" (Nutcracker), the Barbie movie Dave rented for her.

I hope 2008 will be as much fun as 2007. We really had a great year and I'm looking forward to many more fun times in 2008.

Let's try this again...

So I tried to do this blog yesterday, and somehow it got erased right before I published it. I was in a sad mood yesterday because Christmas is over, and Dave's break from school is over. I purposely waited until yesterday to blog about Christmas and New Years so I could relive the memories and feel better, and I guess I get to relive them yesterday and again today!
We went to Dave's parents house the Sunday before Christmas. It was so great to be able to spend so much quality time with them. This is the picture I probably would have used if I did a Christmas card this year, and now you know why I didn't do a Christmas card.
Audrey loved watching Fafa's train go around and around and around...
The wonder of Christmas...

We opened a few presents on Christmas Eve, and Audrey LOVED her tent she got from her grandparents,
and I LOVED the quilt that my talented sister-in-law made for Brother!
Audrey didn't know how she felt about Santa coming. I guess the idea of a fat man in a red suit kinda freaked her out. On Christmas Eve, when Dave and I were putting her to bed she kept saying, "No Santa come!" I told her Santa was going to bring her presents and then she would say, "Yes! Santa come! Presents!" Then, "No Santa come!" She was so confused as to what she wanted. She finally made up her mind that it was okay for Santa to come and bring presents.

Christmas morning! Audrey had to make sure that Santa ate the cookies she decorated for him the night before, and of course he had. Santa was hungry for sugar cookies!
Whenever anyone asks Audrey what she got from Santa she always says, "Care bear!" When she pulled this out of her stocking, she came to me and put the care bare on my belly and said, "For Brother!" I think she thought since it was green it must not be for her. Welcome to a whole new pallet of colors little miss.
Audrey definitely "got" Christmas this year. We did Christmas with my family a few weeks before and Audrey would open one gift and want to play with it. It took her awhile before she wanted to open another one. By Christmas, she had changed her ways. She wanted to open, and play with, everyone's presents.

New Years Eve.
My fabulous in-laws let us come back over and party at their house for New Years. My sister Melissa and her little family, and our friends Jocelyn and Brady came to party with us. We played Rock Band most of the night and had a blast. They boys thought they were pretty good with their serious concentration faces...

but obviously the girls rocked the house. I'm not gonna lie. I'm a pretty good rock star, even with this humongous belly of mine.

Happy New Year Audrey girl. Off to bed, we didn't want to start 2008 off on a crabby note.

Happy New Year! We watched Dick Clark (heartbreaking) and the ball drop and drank our "sparkling" drinks.
Bruce and Marianne (aka Faf and Memor)

Mimi and Gooke (Melissa and Luke)
Jocelyn and Brady (Joslynn and Bady)
Dave and I (Daddy and Mama)
And of course we couldn't forget the darling sleeping babies, Audrey and Savy.
Happy 2008 everyone! This year will bring lots of change to our little family, with the most exciting being out little baby boy coming in March. Life is good.

ARRRRRGGGHHHHHHH!!!!

I just spent the last two hours doing a fabulous blog all about Christmas and New Years Eve and all of a sudden it disappeared! It's gone!!!! It was supposedly "autosaving" and everything. An entire nap time wasted! I might try again tomorrow.

B.O.A.R.D.S.

Since my camera is in the other room, and it is too cold in our apt to go get it, I will blog about what is totally and utterly consuming our life right now... boards.

B is for boards, the awful test that all dental students must take.
O is for overkill. Really? Dave (and every other dental student) has enough going on with studying for all his other classes (five finals in two days), scheduling his patients, seeing his patients, and spending time with us to have to stress this much about a test. Oh yeah, and there are three parts to it! He takes part two next year and then part three right before he graduates.
A is for Audrey. Dave has been studying at home in our glorious third bedroom, and Audrey is constantly neeeedddding something from him as an excuse to go see him. Usually she needs a hug or a kiss, and how can you pass that up?
R is for reward. The next time you go see your dentist, give him a nice pat on the back for having completed taking boards. Better yet, give him a pat on the back and give him one for his wife and every child that was born under the "board years". If you go see a specialist, give him two pats on the back (and two for his wife and kids) because he had to do amazingly well on the boards to specialize.
D is for Dave. I am so proud of him. He is such an example to me of really setting your mind to something and going after your goals.
S is for $$$$$. We have so many dental deck flash cards, books, and review material that I probably could have a new wardrobe with all the money we spent on these "much needed" items. The part that kills me is that you have to PAY to take these tests! And they charge you each time you change the date to take it (which we have done twice now). Oh well, such is life.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

Oh the weather outside is frightful...


But the fire is so delightful...

And since we've no place to go...

Let is snow...



Let it snow...



Let it snow...


Thank you for a wonderful trip to Tahoe Aunt Andrea, Aunt Ritz, Memor and Fafa!

Audrey's very first exposure to the snow...
Coming home. This was her first time ever watching a movie in the car. She was watching the "Train Movie" aka "The Polar Express". Very festive.

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

...and I'm not even blogging about it! Life has been pretty crazy. We moved, I am no longer managing, and I am loving my new life. Here are some of the fun things we have been up to:
Thanksgiving...
I am so thankful for my family. We had a great time over Thanksgiving and it is always fun to spend time together. The weekend before my sister Sara flew in to come see Jess. We had a great time eating and hanging out. All the girls in my family (minus my beautiful mom), with Jess sporting her new brunette look. She is feeling much better. Thank you so much for all your thoughts and prayers.

My cute parents.

I am so thankful for my sweet Audrey and my niece Savy. Aren't they cute in their food oriented PJ's? Savy's jammers are the ones that Audrey wore at her first Thanksgiving.

I am so thankful for our little brother-to-be. I am so excited for him to come to our family. 25 weeks.

My parents sent us out on a "Mission Possible" adventure. My mom watched Audrey and Savy and sent the adults to the mall with an envelope of money and someone's name written inside. We were to buy that person a gift, coming as close to the amount of money given as possible. We couldn't tell anyone who our secret person was, and we only had one hour at the mall. It was SO fun! We had to put our purchases in these big black bags so on the way home in the car no one would know what we bought. We all got some pretty strange looks walking around the mall with those bags. Aren't shoplifters supposed to be more discreet?

We gave each other the gifts we bought and it was fun to see who thought of what to give. Luke gave Dave the best shirt...yes Luke, you are bringing sexy back (kinda). The shirt he gave has him making a funny face and it says, "Hey Dave, I'm bringing sexy back". He won for best gift given and he should have...he had to make that face in front of lots of people at the mall!

Trip to see Santa...
Our playgroup ventured to the mall to see Santa. Audrey and I talked about it for two days, and she was so excited to go see him. That is until we actually got there and saw him. This was as close as she got to Santa, and every time I asked her if she wanted to sit on Santa's lap she would yell, "No thank you!" That night when Dave asked her about her trip to see Santa Audrey said, "No Santa's lap. Little bit scary." Maybe next year Santa.
After our amusing trip to see Santa we had nine moms and 11 kids eat at Olive Garden. I forgot to take a picture, but here is the proof of the yummy Andes mint Audrey ate in the car on the way home.
I love this time of year.

Tender Mercy

My baby sister Jessica is a freshman at BYU. A couple of weeks ago she starting have really bad headaches. These headaches progressed and pretty soon were unbearable. She also had pounding in one ear, and half her tongue was numb. She went to the ER at BYU and not even a morphine drip helped with the pain. No one knew what was wrong with her. My parents flew her home to see doctors here and after she was admitted to the hospital they were finally able to diagnose her with a brain infection, and an abscess in the infratemporal fossa. 17 doctors came to see Jessica during her eight days in the hospital. Brain surgery was a huge consideration, but the doctors said it wasn't fair to do to a 17 year old girl, unless they had exercised every other option. While the surgery could be successful, it could leave her face crippled. Many, many prayers were said on her behalf, and our family experienced a miracle. The morning the surgery was scheduled, the abscess had shrunk and surgery wasn't needed. She was able to have a PIC (peripheral inserted central) line put in and finally come home from the hospital. She is on lots of antibiotics, and will be for a few more weeks, but we are so grateful for this outcome. Thank you for all those who helped pray for her. We love you Jess. We now tease her that she is a college dropout on drugs!
Before inserting the PIC line. She was a little nervous!
Getting all set up. It has be to a sterile environment.
It was my job to help distract Jess during the procedure. I told her all sorts of funny stories about Audrey, but sometimes I got distracted and wanted to watch. She obviously, did not.
Finally all done. They don't usually let people in the room during the procedure, but since Jessica is still 17 and considered a pediatric patient, they let my Mom, Dad and me stay in the room. The whole thing took over an hour. We all had to wear masks. I ate a blue cheese burger for lunch and my own breath was killing me!
We are so glad you are feeling better and get to be home. Thank you Memor and Fafa for watching Audrey so I could be at the hospital so much. It is greatly appreciated.

Tagged

I have been tagged numerous times, but I CAN NOT think of six interesting things about myself! I am tired of stressing out about it, so here are six semi-lame things about me:

1) I can not, have not, and will not ever touch raw meat. Can't do it. Yuck. I can do it with gloves on, but not bare handed. It makes me ill thinking about it.

2) I really, really, really despise birds. I think they are the most disgusting creatures on the planet. They are basically flying rats.

3) I am VERY sentimental, to the point where it is weird. When I was packing my room to go to college I found the gum I was chewing during my first kiss in a zip lock baggy. I am getting better. Baby steps.

4) I did the splits (both ways) the day I had Audrey. My mom always told me that she did the splits the day I was born and that is why I am so flexible, so I thought I would pass that "gene" onto Audrey. I don't think that is going to happen with Brother!

5) I am a germ-a-phob, also to the point where it is weird. I sanitize all shopping carts and grocery carts before I let Audrey in them, I carry hand sanitizer in all purses and diaper bags and use it all the time, and I hate touching the hymn books at church.

6) I wear support hose on my legs when I am pregnant. I don't know how I do it because I am usually a claustrophobic person, but it feels SO good! My ankles throb and swell when I don't wear them, so it's like a corset for my ankles. I can't wear them when I'm not pregnant though.

Now onto the more interesting more, Audrey.
Six darling facts about Audrey:
1) She loves cottage cheese, broccoli and any kind of treat.

2) Her first four syllable word was Pocahontas. Her second was calculator.

3) She knows who goes with who. If I say, "Auni Mimi" she will say "Gooke", she knows Aunt Rachel goes with Uncle Ryan, Aunt Sara with Ben, Regan with Joel (and Maggie), Andrea with Matt, Jocelyn with Brady, Rocia with Emerson (and Jooya, Meia and Wockwel).

4) She loves to sing. She will sing her ABC's (when she washes her hands she sings her entire ABC's while scrubbing, I am passing my germ phobia onto her!), Ariel song, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Belle song, any song she can think of at any given moment. After the Primary Program on Sunday, she yelled out, "Audrey's turn!" She wanted to get up there and sing.

5) She loves to dance. We have dance parties almost every day where we put on fast music and we both dance around the house together (after we shut all the blinds of course). Her favorite is when she gets to wear her Cinderella dress.

6) She takes after her mother and all her mother's sisters in that she wants to know who I am talking to on the phone (it drives me crazy when Dave is on the phone and I don't know who he is talking to! I don't need to know what they are talking about, just who he is talking to). Whenever anybody calls, Audrey will say, "Who is it Mama?" or when I call someone she will say, "Who calling Mama?"

7) (Just to make up for lack of interesting things about myself) She wants to know what everything says. She will point to a car and say, "Car, what say Mama?" Then I tell her, "beep, beep". It gets pretty interesting when she points to a building and says, "What that Mama?" I tell her it's a building and she wants to know what the building says. I try to have her come up with ideas, but she wants to hear it from me. Any ideas on what a bridge says?

A baby changes things...

From my Baby Center emails:

Fifteen things that change when you have a baby

1. You finally stop to smell the roses, because your baby is in your arms.

2. Where you once believed you were fearless, you now find yourself afraid.

3. The sacrifices you thought you made to have a child no longer seem like sacrifices.

4. You respect your body ... finally.

5. You respect your parents and love them in a new way.

6. You find that your baby's pain feels much worse than your own.

7. You believe once again in the things you believed in as a child.

8. You lose touch with the people in your life whom you should have banished years ago.

9. Your heart breaks much more easily.

10. You think of someone else 234,836,178,976 times a day.

11. Every day is a surprise.

12. Bodily functions are no longer repulsive. In fact, they please you. (Hooray for poop!)

13. You look at your baby in the mirror instead of yourself.

14. You become a morning person.

15. Your love becomes limitless, a superhuman power.