Genny dances...

Genny demonstrates the proper use of her new ballet slippers.

Funny....

Robert got this at church this week, and I thought it was funny. Click to embiggen....

The tiredness after Christmas.

Christmas Day at Grandad and GJ's house

Meredith and Parrish

GJ, Genny and Jocelyn

Troy, Parrish and Michael

Kolbi and Kinzie

Grandad and Audrey

Christmas Eve and Christmas morning

We spent Christmas Eve with Wendy's parents and had a fun time!

Here's Genny modeling her new purple jacket

And helping Pop to open a present

Audrey had fun!

The girls all dressed up.

Genny put out cookies for Santa and food for his reindeer. She also left him half of her candy cane.

Merry Christmas morning!

Genny got an "itty bitty purple doll" and a kittycat from Santa.

And Audrey got a riding toy.

Mouse house, part 2....

'Twas the

Night Before ChristmasAnd all through the house,
Not a creature was stirring......
Not even a.....

Happy Snowman

Meet our new friend!

Mr. Griswold....

My folks had a Christmas party to go to with a fun theme--Griswold family Christmas. My dad looks EXACTLY like Clark Griswold.... crazed squirrel and all.

Audrey thought the squirrel was awesome. She's pretty sure everyone should always have a fun toy attached to their back at all times.....

Mom is dressed as the boss' wife from the movie. And here they are with Genny!

AND today is my parents' wedding anniversary--Happy Anniversary to you!

Audrey says hello

Santa pics...

Pictures with Santa went rather well this year. See, Genny's (almost) smiling and Audrey.... well, she understands that the less she fusses, the faster that mommy will come back and retrieve her. Not that she's thrilled here. So while we're here, I thought it would be fun to put in the progression of Christmas pictures of years past. This one's last year when she was 2. Notice the iron bars of mom and dad's arms to keep Gen in this picture..... Robert looks a little tense.
And here is 2007, when she was 1. Notice the protective layer of green blankie.

And here we are at 3 months old, Christmas 2006.

Mice are Nice

Genny was given a book called "Mice are Nice." It's a cute little book about all the ways mice make wonderful pets. The pictures are cute. It rhymes. It's from her sweet cousin. But oh wait... it advocates mice as PETS!

So I didn't realize the danger of this book until yesterday. Genny announces....

Mommy! I want to get a mouse for our house!
Um, no sweetie.
But I waaaaaaaaant one. Mice are nice! {this is where I realized my huge mistake... the book!}
No, baby. Mommy doesn't allow mice to be in her house.

{Thinks intently for a while}

I KNOW! Let's build a little mouse house and put it in the backyard for the mouse!
And where would the mouse live?
Outside! In the mouse house! And.... I KNOW! We can get it some mouse toys and a mouse bed!
And what will it do?
{exasperated} It will PLAY with the mouse toys and SLEEP in the mouse bed, mommy!
What will it eat?
{extremely exasperated} MOUSE FOOD, mommy! I will get it a little bowl and fill it full of mouse food!
{thinks}
It will need water too. It can come and knock on Daisy's dog door and I will fill its little mouse water bowl.

But how will a mouse know to come live in our mouse house?
He will come knock on the front door and you will answer it and say "Hello, mouse! Come live in our mouse house."
But I might be scared. I might open the door and say "EEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKKK!"
No you won't Mommy. You won't be scary. You will be nice.

Dog discipline...

Today Daisy decided to be a dog thief while I was gone. Here's what stopped her. The car seat cover that wouldn't fit through the dog door. But she did try......She knew she was in trouble.
And so when we got home, she promptly put herself in time out.

she's a girl....

I bought Audrey this really cute blue sweater and hat set. So cute. And very delicate ... put it on her today. And everywhere we went people assumed she was a boy. How could anyone look at that face and think she's a boy? seriously..... but she looks fabulous in blue, I think.....

Audrey Kate is 9 months old!

Dear Audrey Kate, this week you are 9 months old!

It's not today. Mommy's a little behind. Sorry.

In your picture you are wearing your friend's clothes because you barfed everywhere at Pizza Hut. It's ok. You're so cute that no one even minded. And you have the wildest hair.... well, almost ever. Your sister's hair was weirder, but I think you win the wild department. It's almost magentic... everyone seems to want to pat your crazy hairdo!

You're quite the amazing crawler. Boy are you mobile! I think you are plotting to escape your crib. In the past 24 hours you have shredded the ties holding your crib bumper on, and when I put you in there for a nap, you crawled to the side and attempted to fit through the rails. I think you are really, really clever, little one. I'm not sure how I'm going to keep up with you!

You've started copying what we do, and so you've learned to wave at us. Or bang on your high chair when Genny shows you how to. Sister loves you so much! She wants to teach you all the cool things that big girls get to do. If it were up to her, you'd get to share all her meals and sit next to her at all times, and always hold her hand. And she's sneak you chocolate ice cream if she could open the freezer by herself.

Today we had a milestone that I didn't really think we'd have... ever. At least not for a while. You had a checkup today, and the prognosis was "she looks great. no concerns!" Good job, little tater tot.

Happy Thanksgiving to all you turkeys....

Happy Thanksgiving friends!

(It's a pumpkin, of course....made by my Genny) This year, thanksgiving is proving to be a little unusual.... Genny has the swine flu. And strep throat. And so instead of lovely pictures of my precious ones all dressed up and eating turkey, I am substituting alternate, yet festive, photographs of what we're doing this holiday....
Audrey's trying to crawl. She does better in reverse.
You can see my poor Genny in the background with her puke bowl. Yes, it's really, really sad. Poor baby.Here's one of Genny's pumpkin pictures from school.

Audrey's feasting on.... Froot Loops. She ate 2 and fed the rest to Daisy. So Daisy's feasting on Froot Loops as well.
Here's Genny's Picasso-esque turkey. We made him at home. I like how he has a thick coating of glitter...... cause he's artistic AND fancy.

And here's my teeniest turkey.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all, wherever you are.

grocery shopping

I try not to go grocery shopping. {I really shouldn't admit that.}

Let me amend that. I don't mind grocery shopping, but I try not to go with both girls. Because it's hard. Especially because I only go about once a week to 10 days. So I need a ton of stuff. And I have a list. And a full cart. And it's important that I get, you know, the stuff I need for the week. So we can eat.

Anyways...

This afternoon I found myself at Wal-Mart with both girls. Now if you put Genny in the upper seat and Audrey's car seat in the basket, there is only enough room for.... um, maybe 5 things. And you have to stash them strategically around the car seat and employees look at you like you're trying to steal stuff.

So it works better if you ask Genny to walk. But then you are guaranteeing that the entire store will know her name by the time you leave. "Genny, stay with me..." "Genny, don't touch that...." etc.

So I went with Audrey's seat in the basket and Genny as a free-range little girl.

So here's my top 12 events from today's grocery shopping trip. Just today, people....

12. Genny running toward me with a carton of eggs, full speed, yelling "EGGS! MOMMY, REMEMBER YOU SAID WE NEED EGGS!" {Why does she only use the all-caps voice in the store?}

11. Genny throwing as many boxes of Little Debbie snack cakes in the cart as she possibly could as I considered the prices of refridgerated biscuits.

10. Audrey barfing mid-store. Of course I didn't have a diaper bag. No place to store it.

9. Genny removing her shirt at the checkout. No, I have no idea why.

8. Genny running down the beer aisle screaming "BEER! MOMMY, YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BUY BEER FOR DADDY!"

7. The checkout lady scanning the beer and then taking a few moments to consider me before deciding whether or not to card me for said beer. All the while the checkout screen read "IS CUSTOMER UNDER 40?" and she clearly couldn't decide.

6. Wedging the beer between Audrey's feet and the front of the basket, deciding that was an acceptable place for it, and then listening to her kick them the rest of the trip. {clang, clang, clang}

5. Audrey screaming at the checkout when I removed her new favorite kick toy so we could pay for it.

4. Genny blowing kisses to the lobsters in the tank.

3. Genny's love for and ability to locate weird vegetables on the canned food aisle. She likes to make helpful suggestions. "MOMMY HOW ABOUT THIS?" (hominy) "MOMMY I LIKE THIS ONE" (collard greens) "MOMMY CAN I HAVE THIS?" (red enchilada sauce)

2. Putting Gen in time-out at the store for picking on her sister. Like a moving time-out, really.

1. Spending an hour in walmart and $133 only to realize by the time I got to the car that I had forgotten quite a few things. Drat!

Audrey, 8 Months

Before Audrey was born, I planned to write something each month about all the wonderful things she was doing. I had seen other blogs that did that, and what a neat idea! But then.... things didn't go exactly as planned.

I took the pictures, but I feared that no one would want to read what I had to write.

Audrey turned 8 months old over the weekend, and I'll get to her 8 month letter, but first we must start at the beginning. I have some catching up to do......
Dear Audrey, today you are one day old. You are so fragile and teeny. I love you so much and I'm terrified I can't take care of all your needs. I don't know why you showed up early, but I fear I have failed you horribly. What went wrong, baby? Try to keep breathing, and let's gain some weight so you can go home with us where you belong.
Dear Audrey, today you are one month old. I'm so glad that you are home with us. I'm also glad that you look just like me because otherwise I might be convinced that the hospital sent us home with the wrong baby. Oh how I struggle to know you, sweetie! I fear that I missed out on those first 2 weeks and may never catch up. I'm doing my best, I promise.

Dear Audrey, today you are 2 months old. What a beautiful little teeny thing you are! We rarely go anywhere since I am so worried about your health. I watch you vigilantly and keep you away from anything that might get you sick. And I'm doing that, baby, as best I can. Your monitor continues to go off, and I have become frightenly used to its sound. I thought I'd never get used to it, and now it's like a weird annoying pet. You are pretty attached to me, and even though I'm glad that you are attached to someone, I struggle to meet all your needs. Keep getting better, baby.

Dear Audrey, today you are 3 months old. This month we discovered you have a bad reaction to the caffeine you are taking to encourage you to breathe and keep your heart beating. I expect when you are older we will understand better how caffeine affects you. We took this picture before your daily medicine hit your system. And then after it did, you screamed the rest of the day. So we took you off the medicine since I couldn't stand to see you so very unhappy all the time. It helped, but your monitor has gone off slightly more than usual. But we watch you so carefully.

Dear Audrey, today you are 4 months old. You are starting to get bigger, finally! We have put you on some acid reflux meds that are helping you to feel better. I'm so sorry it took us so long to figure it out. We love you and we want you to be happy and feel good. Poor little thing, you've been through too much. I wish I could make it better.

Dear Audrey, today you are 5 months old. It is such a joy to watch you interact with the world! I think you are finally starting to feel a teeny bit better. You love watching your sister more than anyone else. She makes you laugh when no one else can. And what a laugh you have! You laugh exactly like Beavis and Butthead. It's hilarious. I'm so glad to hear you laugh, baby.

Dear Audrey, today you are 6 months old. Still on the monitor, but you are making a lot of progress. It no longer goes off hundreds of times a month; now we're just in the double digits. You are so beautiful, little one. I still struggle to know how to best take care of you, but we're doing better! You've taken an interest in toys now, and I love watching you inspect things around you. You grew 2 teeth this month! And this month you fell in love with your doggie, Daisy. She loves you. I love you too, baby.

Dear Audrey, today you are 7 months old. This was a big month, little one. Our friend the monitor left us for good. You are doing so well! And you started sitting up on your own. You have always surprised me with how strong you are. You started eating baby food, which you adore. And this month you went to formula. Keep eating, baby. One of these days you will outgrow your 0-3 month clothes.... This month you became much more tolerant of being away from mommy, which is good for both of us. There's so many people that care about you. And you've become more vocal. You crack me up. If Daddy doesn't immediately acknowledge you when he comes home, you actually yell at him until he does. And he's so glad that you are glad to see him...

Dear Audrey, today you are 8 months old. This month you have been working so hard to crawl, but your knees are just not willing to cooperate yet. Any day now they will! You have learned to eat crackers, but you prefer to use them as bait to coerce the dog to come talk to you. You've gotten more vocal this month. Your little squeals are precious. You've made it to 14 pounds, and we are proud of every single ounce! You've decided that the proper way to have your diaper changed is on your tummy, which is proving to be a challenge. You have a heck of an alligator roll! You think taking a bath with your sister is the most hilarious thing ever. And you've discoverd that taking your sister's toys is fun, too. You are such a different child than you were a few months ago--you're so easy and adaptable and pleasant now! You smile so much. I am thankful for every single smile!

See, we had to start at the beginning. And now I'm all caught up.

pictures yesterday.