Audrey 101, 201...and 301!

Warning: This is a LONG post so if you choose to read it, get comfortable!

Audrey is doing the funniest, cutest, and even sassiest things lately. She keeps us on our toes, laughing, and on edge at the times it is too quiet. Here are some things (okay a lot of things) to know about Audrey.

1. If she is going to apologize to you but doesn't REALLY want to, she will say, "Sorry Hallie boops." Or, "Sorry, Mommy." (when it's supposed to be Hallie). She will basically add some word after sorry so she isn't really apologizing. 

2. You will always hear her ask her babies if they need to go to time out and if they need a spankin. Know that we do not spank her as much as she would make it seem. ;) This measure is rarely taken.

3. She has been known to miss Zeb lately and gets really sad at bedime. She used to go to bed no problem but during the week of Zeb's trial he got home around her bedtime. When he put her in bed she would hug him and not let go. She is known to fall asleep within minutes, still hugging her daddy.

4. She will tell you out of the blue that she loves you. I love it. I also love it when she kisses me out of the blue. A few minutes ago she kissed me on the forehead.

5. She loves her sissies. She wants Claire and Hallie to sleep with her but they never go to bed, so Claire and Hallie sleep in the guest bedroom. She will do all she can to get you to let them sleep with her and you have to be on guard. The other night as it was nearing bedtime she said, "I want to sleep Hallie's bed." I told her no and that she was sleeping in hers. She held her hand out and said, "come ere, let me show you somethin" She pulled me into her room where she had brought in Claire and Hallie's pillows and blankets and placed them on each of their beds. It was the cutest thing ever. She just wanted her sissies to sleep with her! How could you say no to that?

6. You'll hear her say, "Kind of really..."

Like, "It's kind of really hard, "When she can't quite do something. I love this phrase.

7. She might tell you to, "Stop your attitude." I tell her that when she gets a little mouthy and she informs Hallie, Claire, and even me to stop our attitudes. Yeah, it's funny but when she says it to me it doesn't fly.

8. Beware that she may pull up my shirt to see my tummy, so watch out! She LOVES to see baby Julia. My tummy has to be bare or she can't see Julia. She talks to her, tries to give her things through my tummy and LOVES to feel her kick. The other day Audrey was sitting in my lap and Julia was kicking like crazy. As soon as Audrey felt her kick we would laugh. It was hilarious and so much fun. She loves to listen to her "heartbeep" at the Doctor's office. She'll ask out of the blue if we can go listen to Julia's heartbeep. She is obsessed with babies and loves to be the mommy. It's so sweet.

9. You may see her without pants. She loves to take off her diaper and until I pinned her onesie closed she would waste so many. I would find her all over the house with no diaper and her bottom bare (or she would snap her onesie back on without a diaper). At one point during naptime she wouldn't go to sleep. After a long time she finally called for help. I went in and there she was stuck on the window sill, wedged between the bed. Lo and behold her diaper was off and she was sitting in a puddle of pee. Nice.

I am back and forth with Potty training. We move and Julia comes so soon I wonder if it will stick. Oh the decisions. 

10. Don't leave anything around she could color with. She has taken to coloring on walls, tables, and the most recent: books. I used to say to myself, "Who lets their kids color on the walls?" Well, I am definitely eating those words. I can't believe how resourceful she is with finding a pencil or crayon and how quickly she can do some damage.  When it's quiet, the question at our house is, "Where is Audrey?" She also loves to color on herself with makeup!

11. She will sing and recite things on demand. After hearing us do the Articles of Faith at bedtime, she memorized the first one. I love to hear her say it.  It's precious.  She has improvised and made up her own words to, "I love to see the temple." She says, "I love to see the temple, I'm going there some way. To read the holy Scriptures and to pray." 

If she puts her babies to bed she sings twinkle twinkle. She is very entertaining.

12. She is quite the second mother! It is very sweet when she is in the nurturing mood and not the disciplining mood. ;) If something is wrong with anyone she says, "It's okay." "Oh, it's okay," rubs your cheek and gives you hugs and kisses. She is a doll. 

13. She may ask you if your frustrated if she hears you sigh. She used to constantly ask me my emotion when I sighed. "You frustrated mommy?" "Tired, mommy?" And she wouldn't stop asking until I picked an emotion. I guess she understands emotions more now since she rarely asks.  It was so cute when she did it.

14. Her name is Audrey. If I tell her, "I love you, Angel." She sweetly says, "I'm Audrey." If I say, "Goodnight Sweetheart." She says, "I'm Audrey." Whatever term of endearment I use, she informs me, "It's Audrey."

15. Last but not least, she often says things under her breath. If you accidently bump her she'll say, "Oh Mom. Man. You just bumped me." Oh, man is said quite frequently and always makes me laugh. This morning she was put out and muttered, "Gosh Dangit." Yikes. I guess you know what I say when I am extremely bugged. I die when I hear this, which luckily has only been a few times. I need to watch it...there is always someone listening!

Thanks for all the fun, Adurey! We couldn't love your intense personality any more! We love you!

Best $3 EVER!

As most of you know this last month has been crazy with Zeb's fivc day trial, Barbri Classes until 9:30 and everything else on our plate. I got a text message from my friend Samantha that said there were some princess shoes at Walmart on clearance. The girls didn't need shoes but they were $3. I went over and picked some ballet flats and realized this could all work to my advantage.

Meet the behavior chart. I had Claire work on obeying the first time I asked her to do something and each time she got a sticker. After 25 stickers she got the prize! 

Hallie worked on whining for the same prize. Let me just tell you how great this was. With Zeb not getting home until they were in bed it was amazing to have this chart to help me. If I heard whining I would ask Hallie if she wanted a sticker and it worked like magic. So many times they just did what I needed and it was fabulous. I did it the week of Zeb's trial and it took them a week to get the 25 stickers. It was so nice to have them working on changing a behavior and it helped me stay a lot more patient!

Here is Audrey asking if she gets a sticker. Totally clueless but catching on a little. ;)

Now there was a slight oversight on my part. I didn't get any for Audrey. They didn't have her size and the whole idea I thought would be over her head.  I did get an extra pair just to have and soon realized what a mean mom I was to give the girls their prizes and give nothing to Audrey. She kept trying to open their boxes and saying, "That's Audrey's?" Thank goodness for the spare! 
As you can see the shoes were not only steal for $3 but they came with gloves, a purse and bracelets.

Best $3 EVER!

Just for Julia

I have gotten so many things for Julia I feel spoiled. I will say it is really fun to have a few things that are just for her. I am so excited to have another little girl and am going to go all out on dolling her up! 

When I was in Utah my mom and I (and my sis Angie) went to the fabric store and picked out the fabric for Julia's quilt. A week later we left and not empty handed. My mom pieced, sewed, quilted, and bound the quilt to send home to Texas with me. I was SO excited. Here it is:

I absolutely LOVE it. I love the colors. Love the pattern. Love the quilting. Isn't my mom amazing? ;) (The picture does the quilt a lot more justice if you click on it!)

Here is the print that it's backed with. One of my favorite ones!

If you click on this I think you can see the flowers that my mom quilted in each of the squares. I am still amazed she just feeds the fabric through the machine and free hands each flower. 

My little sister Stephanie had bought some girls clothes in case she was having a girl. Well, after finding out she's having a boy she gave me the stuff! I love her taste and am so excited for the new clothes!

I about died when I saw these onesies. The collar, puffed sleeves, and ruffles are so cute. And I LOVE the argyle pattern and butterflies. How cute are they?

I love these pants! The belt is awesome.

This outfit I think we will bring Julia home from the hospital in. The outfit is up to 7 pounds so it might actually fit her. Who doesn't love pink and brown. The booties are my fav.

Thank for the adorable clothes Steph! I absolutely love them.

After finding out I was having a girl I was dying to ask Rachel if she would make me a blanket with the awesome fabric she uses. It's Michael Miller and the blankets she makes are amazing. I tried to have her let me pay her but she won that fight. 

She brought it over to my house the other day and I was so stoked. How cute it this blanket?

She also brought me 10 bows she made for Julia. I had bid on her service at the service auction for Relief Society and won 5 bows. Well, she made me double. Could she be any sweeter? Love 'em!

Zeb brought me this sweet afghan on Sunday. A sweet friend, Jeanette in the ward crocheted it for Julia. I love the color and how soft it is. 

Now the story behind this massive amount of flower clips and hair bows is that I was a little excited about having another girl and went CRAZY! I had so much fun making them for Julia and can't wait to see them on her. 

I love the way they turned out! And I especially love just changing the clip and reusing the headbands. Thanks for your help in teaching me how to make the bows, Rachel. And Ang, if you had known how many flowers I would make after you made me some, maybe you would have thought twice. On second thought, Zeb would have wanted you to think twice!

Needless to say, Julia has been spoiled with gifts just for her and she isn't even here yet! Thanks everyone. I love everything!!!

Christmas Time in Utah

While we were in Utah we went to Gardner Village. I had never been before so we went with 3 of my sisters; Amanda, Angie and Stephanie (we wish you could have come Em)! I loved seeing the cute little shops. The best part were the little elves tucked in places. The decorations were so fun. 

Here are all the cousins that went.

After freezing outside at Gardner Village we went to dinner at Rumbi's Island grill. Then we were off to Temple Square. It was FREEZING but worth it. The girls had looked forward to going to see the lights from the moment we got to Utah. Each day they would ask what day it was until it was Friday...the day we were going. Then they screamed for joy!

Audrey with Aunt Michelle (Zeb's sister).

Claire and Hallie with Aunt Stephanie (my sister).

The highlight of the trip was seeing the Christus. Claire was SO excited and asked if she could have her picture framed. It was so sweet.

Zeb was a trooper throughout all the picture taking.  "Just one more," is a phrase I use WAY too often. 

I loved seeing my little sis and her TINY tummy. She was 23 weeks here and I was 27 weeks. It's so fun to be expecting together. She gave me the CUTEST baby girl clothes (she is having a boy and had purchased a few girl items). I LOVE them. My mom also pieced and quilted Julia's baby blanket while we were there. I will post that another day. It deserves it's own post! ;)

We had a GREAT time in Utah and are so happy we got to go. It was more than I could have hoped for to see my dad and get a lot of time with him before his round of chemo Christmas Eve. The girls were healthy the whole time and actually didn't get sick until the day we left. What a blessing to be able to see him so much. We ended up cutting our trip short so Zeb could get back to all his work but we had a great time while we were there.