Tiny Baby

We don't quite know where she picked up the term, since we usually use "little" or "small" as terms to describe something of a certain size...But somehow, with out being prompted, Audrey took one look at her new little baby sister in the hospital and made a very accurate description calling her

"Tiny Baby"

You hope your older child would have an easy adjustment to this new little being taking up a good part of the attention they've been getting...but you never truly know until the baby arrives...

She loves to help change diapers by handing us wipes.

She loves to try to tuck her in....while being closely supervised. (The phrase: "Not her face, just her body" is something Audrey now repeats when tucking in her animals since she hears it so much...)

Without fail, first thing in the morning or after a nap, she asks "Where Ellie Lu go?" wanting to see her baby sister.

She loves to lean in real close and look at her face-to-face.

She loves to "hold" her...

(Mommy holds her, just places her onto Audrey's lap)

She loves to help Mommy pat her back gently after a feeding.

She loves to collect baby socks from around the house to put them on her "tiny toesies"

She loves to soothe the crying baby by similar terms Mommy uses: "Baby, why you so sad? It's okay Ellie Lu. I pick you up. Come-mere..."

She loves her "Tiny Baby", and we love that she loves her.

See you in the Spring!!

Well....after another long overnight stay in the hospital this past weekend, we've once again decided never to let Audrey leave the house. This time we mean it. What starts as a little cold that the average toddler would get over after a few days turns into pneumonia/respiratory problems/dehydration...There really is nothing we can do to prevent this from happening again. Last October is when Audrey was first hospitalized for pneumonia, then two months later had some respiratory issues combined with ear infection combined with stubbornness to eat & drink thus making her once again totally dehydrating & needing an IV.....Well it's October folks, which means here we are again at the start of the cold sick season....

Let's look on the bright side, shall we?

At least it was only one night instead of two or three like the last visits...

At least Aaron was in town & was able to stay with me, switching off girls with whoever needed care/feeding...

At least Ellie was able to sleep in between feedings, thus giving us more time to care for Audrey...

At least Aaron isn't sick (all of us girls are now...)

At least it wasn't swine flu (they checked her for it..although that may have been easier to treat than getting pneumonia..)

At least she only needed to have 8 IV pokes attempting to get it in her tiny dehydrated veins this time (15 the first visit, 9 the second visit)

At least having worked in the ER gives you some benefits, like getting seen right away..having prompt care..having Ellie's congested nose checked out with out being checked-in (shhh...)

At least we've almost met our max limit for out of pocket expenses with hospital costs...

At least we're home now..

*

Audrey is doing much better, so we are very thankful for that. But we're getting awfully tired of going through these same motions. We continue to pray that her body will grow stronger and eventually be able to recover from simple colds on her own. We are thankful for modern medicine and the ability to heal her through antibiotics, and also for wonderful neighbors who care enough to, once home, bring us food each time we've had to go through this.

Aaron has since banned me from taking the girls to library "story time"...although her Doctor and I both think she got sick playing with all the toys in the waiting room of the doctor's office at Ellie's last visit--the day before she got sick. If the Dr is willing to admit she probably caught the cold there, you know those things never get washed. Eww.

So, we'll see you in the Spring when we shall remove the bubble from around Audrey we're about to put her in!!

Swiping, Wiping and Soothing makes you Super!

As this is the first week Aaron has gone back to work since being on Family Leave, we girls have decided to be busy little bees. To the Park, to the Dr. for Ellie's check-up, to Library "Story Time" one morning & to the Library for "Busy Hands & Feet" Music Time the next morning...going going going. It has been a lot of fun, and a lot less work than I imagined it would be. So far anyway....most likely due to the fact that I just strap Baby Ellie in my front pack and she sleeps the entire time we're anywhere...but still, even getting them both in & out of the car has been a fairly easy new adjustment.

However, our little sickie, Audrey Lynn (Who, Praise God, hasn't been sick in months!!!) can only handle so many new germs before her body decides to be sick again. Therefore, one of those visits outside of the home has given Audrey a little bug. No fever, which is great, but she has been a snotbucket for the past day and 1/2, but has been a very cheerful girl for the most part! (Again Praise God!!!!!!!!!!!) So yesterday when we were in need of some things from the grocery store, I fed Babycakes Ellie, stuffed my pockets full of kleenex and off we went.

It was a very successful trip, until we arrived at the check stand. My little trick when going grocery shopping with Audrey is to first stop somewhere and get her a small fry, we eat one or two on the way, but save the majority for when we are in the store.

When the fries are out, Mommy needs to be out of the store.

We arrived at the check stand and the fries were out.

Happiness quickly turned into frantic "Up on Mommy! Up on Mommy! Up on Mommy!" meaning the Big One was tired of patiently sitting in the shopping cart.

The Little One was beginning to wake up and was indicating she was hungry (as were my lactating "girls") with small little cries...increasing the more awake she became.

I felt like I had a fever all of a sudden, my pulse was racing, I started to feel anxious and hot.... I'm unloading groceries onto the belt, stealing grapes out of the bag at the demand of my toddler, I'm patting the tush of my tummy tag-a-long, Ellie in the front pack, swiping my debit card, wiping miss snotty nose with loads of kleenex falling out of each pocket, both dirty and clean (which were completely mixed up by that time) all while trying to make a pleasant small-talk conversation with the nice checker man about who knows what...

Then out of this chaotic fog he says:

"Wow, you're pretty much Super Mom!"

Thank you check stand man--I needed that.

Art School

Painting....Although more intrigued about the water changing different colors than actually putting paint onto paper.

We've all been there.

Non-toxic...right?

The Princess & the Pea

Mommy continues to firmly tell her to plant her little tush back on the chair, and to quit standing up

Mommy realizes she is still too little to accurately see her own masterpiece because of her shortness

Mommy creates a make-shift booster chair out of multiple chair pads from around the table.

Audrey sits still for 25 minutes, painting, not trying to stand up once.

Audrey loves having "Art School"

Mommy is finally able to enjoy "Art School"

Introducing Miss Ellie Lu

With open arms we joyfully welcomed

Ellie Lu

September 12th at 6:18am

Weighing a perfectly healthy 7lbs & measuring 20.5" long

A blessing to many including her Daddy, Mommy

&

Big Sister Audrey

Audrey-Pie

1 month old

2 months old

21 months old--today

My Dearest Audrey,

You have grown so much, you have learned so much, you have so much personality and have brought SO much joy into my life. How could it be that just a few short months ago you were a tiny newborn who I adored looking at? I could have studied your face for hours.

Your face is still my favorite sight. I adore looking at you even more now that I know you so well, my precious. I used to whisper to you all the time, "Do you know how much I love you?" I think you know now, but in case you have even the slightest doubt once your little sister arrives I want you to know that the spot in my heart for you will never be replaced, filled, or forgotten. I have a hard time understanding what it will mean for my heart to expand even more with another child. I know it will happen since I already love Ellie so much. We will all have to make room in our hearts for little sister. She already has such a huge advantage having you as her big sister. What a gift to her! You loving her could never be a better gift. I am so excited for us all to meet her, but I'm more excited for Ellie to meet you and to get to know you as well as I know you. You could not have been a more precious love to me in the past 21 months. We'll get through the next few months together, welcoming home baby sister. This could be one of our very last days together, just the two of us, so I wanted to thank you, sweet Audrey, for making me love being a Mommy so much more...

I'll Love you Forever,

Mommy

These are a few of her favorite things...

Audrey is such a silly girl. We've discovered she, so far, really doesn't need anything expensive to keep her happy. It's actually quite the blessing, as we are well-aware how much the toy industry is making off of many parents. From time to time Audrey will play with certain toys she owns, but for the most part it doesn't last long and she requests going right back to one of her favorite things... Although Audrey's birthday is 3 whole months away, I thought I would get a head start on mentioning a few items she would really appreciate as a gift...

Water. Really truly, just water. She daily asks to play with water. "Audie pour it?" she asks when we're near the sink. On occasion I let her sit up near the sink to play with the water. She would pour water back & forth all day if she didn't need to eat & sleep.

And oh does this girl loves ice! Let her roam in a bucket of ice at a friend's birthday party or give her a cup with a few ice cubes and you've got at least 20 minutes of uninterrupted time to get stuff done around the house.

Each additional ice cube gives you 10 more minutes...

"Audie like pouring water"

Any counter top will do. Just make sure your standing with her, please.

Again, more water.

Creek water...

Hose water...

Any box, really. Big or small, any size will do.

Audrey loves boxes to sit in, to sit on, and on many occasions to put on her head as a hat.

Any type of shoes will do. Not even new shoes. Actually, especially not new shoes. Just any shoes she finds laying around the house. Elmo slippers...Mommy's high heeled shoes...Too big hand-me-down shoes...Too small out grown baby shoes...Daddy's big work boots...

Trying to balance, let alone walk across the room, in Daddy's work boots is quite the skill when they come up past your knees.

Simply turning on the radio.

There is a frequent request for "Moe mu-sick?" in our home. Usually refering to turning on the radio, we've also discovered that she enjoys dancing to any type of music being played.

On this particular occasion she was dancing to our friend Nan's jimbay drum while Daddy accompanied on guitar. She has got quite the moves.

Anything she can pretend she's riding. The side of the tub, a big pillow, and most definitely brooms. Oh how this girl loves to sweep. We could be onto something here...encouraging her to clean the house for Mommy, perhaps?? So this is my reccomendation for a gift for Audrey...

Cleaning tools, please.

People, especially her Daddy.

Since Aaron has been gone a lot recently, on swat operations overnight, Audrey has really missed seeing him. Each morning that he has been home lately she runs to him and says with the sweetest little voice:

"Daddy's home!! Up on Daddy?!"

Then she lays her little head down on his shoulder and hugs him for 5 or so minutes.

It is a very precious sight.

Here she is with Mommy, just sitting near me watching while I put on make-up.

She is also a very big fan of other people in her life: Her "Grammas & Grumpas", her uncles & aunts (who she knows by name & often talks about...this mornings example: "Where Uncle Mike go? Uncle Mike is silly!") Her little cousin "Choey" = Chloe, and all the dogs in her life, Lucy-Puppy, Poco, Skidder, Shane, and "Diver".

She also likes seeing and asking about all of her neighbors and thanking the garbage man for taking our "stinky garbage" each week.

Audrey is definitely a people person. It's probably no wonder she speaks so well & has such a large vocabulary, besides the fact that her mother is constantly narrating the world around her, she would much rather be around people than to sit and play with toys.

So in case you still can't think of a good gift to get Audrey, let's recap:

Shoes, Water, walking anywhere, and giving her time & attention.

She is a pretty simple girl, if only she could keep her "want" of things to a minimum in those teen years... I wonder if handing her a cup of ice would work then too?

And no, not to throw it at her Mom...

Dear Ellie...

Dear Ellie,

Would it be possible for you to decide to come out soon, please? I am getting really anxious to meet you. If it's not too much to ask, I would really appreciate if your Daddy could be present at your birth. So don't you plan on coming out too fast, little girl, because lately Daddy has been a few hour drive away from us... Does it make me nervous? Of course it does, my little sweetheart. So how about you come in the next three days...do you think you could work on that? Daddy has to leave again on Monday, and I know he would probably not mind too terribly if he missed his week-long training. You must be pretty comfortable in there, Miss Ellie Lu. However, as much as your Mommy has gotten used to uncomfortable sleep, back & hip ache, and constantly staring at the calendar through out the day wondering when your birthday will be...I'd trade it all just to hold you. I love you dearly.

Love,

Mommy

PS You are really going to love your big sister. She's ready for you!

Life on the Farm

Aaron's parents live on 7 acres. What a great place for a kid (and grandkid!) to grow up on! Audrey's favorite things are

1. Animals

2. Being outside

3. Walking around

So, of course, she loves when we go visit Grandma & Grandpa "out on the farm!" There is so much to see and explore and so much room to walk around and visit all the animals. We always have fun saying hello to Grandma's horses & the cow, we like sitting on the stone donkey & cart, swinging on the porch swing, wandering through the beautiful rose garden, and of course pretending we're riding on Grandpa's tractor. She would stay out there all day just walking, walking, walking if we let her. I decided to bring my camera out with us on our latest visit to the farm to capture all of Audrey's favorite spots.

"Hi Cow! What you doing Cow? Mooooo!"

Very eager to give Mommy a handful of rocks!

Audrey's little Donkey friend.

Tractors are "too loud!" that's why we wear ear protection, just like Grandpa.

Even when the tractor isn't running.

"Can you hear me????" -Audrey

Cooling off in the water trough

Any kind of water will do, when you love splashing in water.

Even a dirty bird bath.

Mommy with her girls ;)