Audrey's Blessing

Spring Break ended up being on March 8th through the 14th this year. Gotta tell ya, LOVED the time I got to spend off of school and just be a mom to my beautiful kids. Every year since we have been in Casper we always go to St. George for Spring Break. I absolutely love it. It is so good for my soul to be where it is a little warmer, and having my family right there. I always come back feeling rejuvenated and ready to tackle whatever Casper has to throw back at me!

Anyway, the Monday before we left for our trip James came home from work with a GMC Trailblazer.

That's right! We got a new vehicle for our growing family. I was sad to leave the Impala. We brought both our kids home from the hospital in that cute, economy friendly car, but we had to have space. I like to travel in the back seat when I have a newborn, and make sure their little heads aren't falling all over the place, and I wanted to be by Grant to entertain him, and make the ride a little easier for all of us! After all, we are in the car for 10 hours! I found myself actually looking forward to the drive, knowing that I would be close to my kids the whole way.

I had some fun taking pictures in the car on the way down. This Leap Frog learning pad saved our lives. Grant played with it the whole down. We had fun singing along to the songs it played. Audrey just slept off and on the whole way down. We stopped from time to time to feed kids and change diapers. A lot longer trips these days with two kids. It was fun though!

We left at about 3:00 in the afternoon. We left Cooper home by himself, with our friend Lyndi looking in on him every once in awhile to make sure he is okay. Thanks Lyndi! :)

We broke up the trip by spending the night in Lindon with James' brother's family. We arrived there at about 9:30 with an exhausted Grant (who did well the entire trip, but was up most of the time) and a tired and hungry Audrey. James and I managed to get both kids asleep, and we got some sleep for the next stretch of the drive. Travelling with two young kids is challenging. I know there are people out there with more than two, and I don't know how you do it! First of all, there is the endless bringing in things for the night. James is usually the one to do this, and I watch the two kids and make sure they don't get in his way. I have to say that I am grateful for James for doing this. It really is a lot of stuff just for one night. Bags, pack and plays, bassinets, blankets. Crazy. And the morning rush to get ready is also equally nuts. There is always something to be done, and I found myself feeding Audrey, and getting her taken care of, while James was the one who packed up the car, AND got Grant ready for the day. He is amazing!

We finally left at about 9:00 on Saturday morning. James' brother's family left the same time we did, and we made plans to stop for lunch. We ate at this Mexican Restaurant in Beaver that James and I always make fun of whenever we see it. It looks like it is just called Mexican Restaurant, but truly it is called Kan Kun Mexican Restaurant. The food was surprisingly good! Thanks to Paul and Robbi for picking it! Grant did well also. Lately, its been a toss up to see how well he will do in a public place like a restaurant! :) We finally made it to St. George in the early after noon on Saturday. We spent some time with James' family, and then with mine. Thats kind of a hard thing I think when we go on trips. I want to spend time with both families, but that's really hard! James and I usually go our separate ways for part of the trip. I guess that's what you get when you have both families live in the same town. Anyway, I was happy because my mom finally got to see Audrey again!

We stayed at my parents house. We put Audrey in their office, and this was the weekend where she started sleeping the whole night through! We are so blessed! She has been sleeping through the night ever since then.

Since the event we came down for was Audrey's blessing, here are some pics of her blessing. I wanted to get some of the whole family, but everyone left the church so quickly and changed out of everything, that we didn't get one.



She looks pretty in her dress. Funny story about getting her in it. She threw up twice in it just seconds after I put it on her. We had to put a bib on her to protect her dress before the blessing. Unfortunately, the only one I had in the diaper bag was this one:


A little blurry, but it's actually Grant's cowboy bib. The only one I had brought. :)

I was a little (okay, a lot) bugged that I didn't hear James' blessing for her. Grant decided to have a screaming fit in the middle of sacrament, so I had to dash out of the chapel, and missed the whole blessing. James gave me a recap at the end, but I was sad all the same. He usually does pretty decent in church.


Anyway, we had a luncheon at the Killpack's after it was over. We blessed Audrey in our old ward in Ivins, so we just headed on over as soon as sacrament was over. We had a great time talking and the food was delicious. Grant has a cousin about 6 months older than he is named Hunter. He and Grant don't quite get along well enough to play nicely by themselves, but they are getting better. They lasted a whole five minutes before things got a little out of hand! They will probably get along better next year, after the terrible twos are all over with!

Bugged

I don't know-something is wrong with my comment moderation. I had a number of comments that I published from my family and friends about Audrey, and I selected them all and pressed publish, and it only published like 5  out of 16. I didn't even get a chance to really read them. I am so sad, since I print off my posts and comments in a book at the end of the year. Truly I am so sad! If you know how to fix this,or can tell me how to get back my comments let me know. But I would love to know your comments about my new little girl, so if you posted would you mind posting again? I am so sad right now!

"Grand"parents

One of the many things I am grateful for, especially now that I have two kids, are grandparents! They are wonderful! During my maternity leave, both sets of grandparents came all the way to Casper to see our new addition! So grateful for this. I can't wait till we live closer, so visits from grandparents aren't so few and far between! Grant loved having them here, and I love that they got to see Audrey when she is still a newborn. I am writing this later than when it happened, and looking at these pictures make me realize that Audrey has already changed so much!






James' parents came up the first week in February. They stayed two nights before heading back to Utah, to go to baby Madison's blessing. Audrey has a cousin who is one month older than she is. Lucky girl! I felt spoiled by their visit. It was lovely to have someone else take care of babies while I could do other things. Grandma Shauna was wonderful with Audrey, and seemed to calm her down when she got to be fussy. Grandmas are amazing! They bought Audrey this cute little cherry outfit:

and they bought Grant one of his favorite things... a book! "Are You My Mother?" by Dr. Suess is now one of our favorites. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Killpack for visiting us when the baby was just a few weeks old! So glad you got to see her when she was still little!



Grant also enjoyed a little extra attention from Grandma and Grandpa. I love these pics of Grandpa Killpack playing with Grant. Too fun!

We also got a surprise visit from the other set of grandparents. My family, who was up in Logan for my cousin's farewell, decided spur-of-the-moment to take the extra six hour drive so they could see Audrey. Oh my goodness, to this day, I am so glad they got to come and see Audrey, when she was a new baby. I think my mom loved that she got to see her too!

We had a good visit. They arrived late on Sunday night. Audrey and Grant were asleep when they arrived at 9:45. Audrey must have sensed that someone was coming, so she woke up at 11:00 and my mom got to see her for the first time.

She even managed to give Audrey a bottle. I love grandparents. In case, I haven't mentioned that enough in this post!

I love how Audrey is looking at my mom in this picture. Too cute! We are so grateful to our families for taking the time to come see our newest addition.

Meanwhile....

Audrey turned one month old. She has already changed so much. She has gotten so big!

This bunting swam on Audrey when we first put it on her. Now she is as snug as a bug in a rug in it.

Mommy of Two

So far, I have adored being a mother of two healthy happy kids! Grant has been warming up to Audrey in that he no longer cries when she does, and he will gently pat her. I have been trying in these past few weeks of giving Grant some extra TLC, since I know he is probably confused about our new addition. We have read more books, played with more puzzles, sang more songs, and shared more treats than when he was just by himself. It's fun to watch him do new things. This week he fed himself the banana:

This is a huge feat, since he always comes to us and wants us to feed it to him. My little baby boy is growing up.
I am amazed at how fast little babies grow. I had forgotten with Grant, but I am reminded of this fact with Audrey. This outfit swam on her on when she was first brought home from the hospital three weeks ago. Now look at it:

It totally is too small! so not even fair!

She is a pretty little girl though!

So sweet! I love her chubby cheeks, and she has got a double chin. Audrey is growing so fast and has been to the doctor twice this week. The first was for her well-baby check up which she is indeed growing and developing at a healthy pace. She weighed 9 pounds 8 ounces at her two week check up. We also had to go back to the doctor this week because she has a goopy left eye, which we are taking care of with drops. So far both of my kids have followed suit-well baby visit, than something happens in the same week, and then we have to go back! Too funny!

James and I have been a little (okay, a lot) sleep deprived in the past few weeks. I don't know what it is about hospitals, but both of my babies have slept super well in the basinette at the hospital, and then we bring them home, and they want nothing to do with their basinettes. Finally, we have Audrey sleeping in the basinette, but for only a few hours at a time. I will take that though. Grant would only stay in his basinette for minutes at a time, before he finally would go for a few hour stretch.

Back to work has proven to be a challenge. I hate leaving in the morning, especially when I am feeding her. I am fine though, once I get in to work. :) My first week back wasn't as crazy as I thought it would be. James is making a huge purchase at his job, and is having to stay home and work on it, so he can get it done. So Grant and Audrey have been home with Dad my first week back. It helps put my mind at ease, but it is still hard to leave in the morning. I know Audrey is in good hands:

I love these new born yawns!

And Now We Are Four!

On this past Sunday, January 10th, we welcomed our new little Audrey into the world at 4:08 a.m. She weighed 7 pounds 8 ounces, 20 3/4 inches long, and is perfectly healthy and happy! She has already been so fun to have in our home. James and I were at our dinner table this past week thinking, "Wow, so THIS is what it is like to bring home a baby." When we brought Grant home, our circumstances were different, and we didn't get into a routine until Grant was two weeks old when all of the drama had ended. With Audrey, we get to ENJOY her more. She definitely looks like her brother, but I can also tell how much she looks like a little girl. So crazy. Her birth experience was also worlds different than from Grant's and I am a huge advocate for C-sections, which you don't hear often, but it's true. If I can have a healthy baby, and take all the recovery for my myself, than that is what will have to be. No thank you to blood transfusions, NICUs, hemorraging, and passing out. I am done. I hope all my kids can be born in the same way, and skip the drama. But anyway, I can't believe how small she is, and how fast she is going to grow up! Looking at Grant, he is still a baby, yet he is soooo big. Grant doesn't quite know what to expect with the new baby around the house. At first, he would cry whenever Audrey would cry, but, thankfully, that has stopped. Today he actually touched her, and we signed "baby" together, so hopefully he will come around.

The Saturday before she arrived was a long day. I had just started to have contractions at 4:40 in the morning. They would be 5, 15, and 30 minutes apart, and they kept coming all day. I stayed home the whole day ( we usually go grocery shopping), and I tried to keep my mind off the contractions by playing Word Mole on James' phone. I know it sounds silly, but it worked! I started to have heavy contractions after about 5:00. I was afraid to eat anything, but thought I should eat something so I had some garlic bread. James made spaghetti for dinner that night. I was thinking that we were going to go to the hospital that night, so I had James and our friend Greg Daly give me blessing. Can I just say how terrified I was? Our last experience was not the most pleasant, and even the thought of going through that same scenario was too much to even think about.

So after the blessing, the Daly's took Grant to their house, and James and I went to the hospital where I was hooked up to the machines and checked out. Only dilated to a 2 and not even close to being admitted. Funny since my contractions were 2-3 minutes apart. We left the hospital at 7:00 with the hopes of coming back in a half an hour to be checked out again. We left, and James took me around town, contracting and all, to Arby's and told me I should eat. Eating and contractions do not go well together. I managed to get down half of a roast beef sandwich. We drove home, where I tried to lay down and "forget" about the contractions. Didn't work. The Daly's brought over their exercise ball for me to sit on, and that actually helped out a lot. We left again for the hospital at about 9:30. Thankfully, when I was checked out again, I had made some progress and they admitted me at 10:40. Hallelujah! No fun being sent home. First thing, they did in the hospital was give me pain medicane. By this time, I was so tired! I usually go to bed by 9 or 10 and this was too late for me. After the pain medicane, came the epidural and after that it was smooth sailing! James and I managed to watch a little TV and catch some sleep. Around 3 0'clock in the morning our doctor came in and told us that the baby wasn't tolerating labor like she should-her heart rate was going down, and it was time for a c-section. All during this pregnancy I had been getting comfortable with the idea of a c-section. Grant's birth was so traumatic for me and the baby that repeating everything wasn't an option. We completely welcomed the idea of a c-section. So when the doctor said it was time, I was relieved! Audrey was born perfectly healthy, and I can remember James saying, "There she is!" I must have really been tired, because I fell asleep after that and woke up in the recovery room where there was just me and a nurse. I finally got to see Audrey at about 5:30 in the morning.

Grant got to come in and see Audrey on Monday. He wasn't sure what to think of his sister, and to this day, I don't know what he thinks! All I can hope is that he will warm up to her some day!My two sweet kids! I love that I now have two!Isn't she so pretty? I see Grant in her, but it's hard to tell who she looks like.

Proud new Dad!This kind of says it all about how Grant feels about Audrey.

Christmas 2009

James and I have truly loved this holiday season with our little baby boy. We were most excited this year thinking about our little Grant waking up on Christmas morning. For me, Christmas Eve seemed to just crawl by. I kept looking at the clock and thinking how it never seemed to change. I can't wait till Grant is old enough to do this too! We were missing St. George, so James went online and found a Cafe Rio recipe for their pork salad. My goodness, what and involved recipe! It took us all day to make them-we even went to Wal-Mart and found the tins to serve them in, because it just wouldn't be the same! The pork and the house dressing turned out exactly, but the recipe we found needs some tweaking as far as the beans and rice are concerned. It was a good meal though, and I am thinking this might be a tradition for us. We decided this year, that we could open one present on Christmas Eve. For Grant, we opened up Green Eggs and Ham the DVD, since this is one of Grant's favorite books, we thought he might enjoy watching it on TV. Well, not so much. Grant has never been one to sit in front of the TV (thank goodness). He wasn't that interested, needless to say, so hopefully when he's older he will enjoy it more, but I also think right now that he is getting that the book is always better than the movie anyway! :)

Grant still hasn't gotten the hang of opening gifts. I think we would still be sitting here waiting for Grant to open them, if we weren't right there to help him. I remember being the same way when I was little, so it will probably be awhile before he just tears into them!

Grant has a new favorite story to read. Twas the Night Before Christmas has been read so many times at our house, I think James and I both have the entire thing memorized. Grant loves it! Sad that it has to go back in our Christmas box till next year. I don't want Grant to get tired of it!

This was the first present from Santa on Christmas morn:ing. I think James had more fun showing Grant how to play with it, than Grant had learning about it! Grant finally did take a few shots right up close to the basket!

With all the toys Grant received on Christmas morning, he most played with the Hot Wheels cars that were left in his stocking. My boy loves his cars!

One of the first presents we opened was from Grandma and Grandpa Killpack-a glow in the dark shirt!

Grant loved his fire truck that he got from Grandma Jeanne, he didn't even wait for us to take it out of the box before he started playing with it!

Grant got a Mr. Potato Head kit from Santa.

Something kind of funny-we had to stop everything after a little bit to let Grant eat breakfast! This is probably the only year that this will happen! Grant had a waffle for his Christmas breakfast. James and I made crepes-well I made the crepes, James and I wolfed them down. James gave me a great gift-mixing bowls (we desperately needed some) and some new pans. My mom will appreciate this, because you have to have a really good pan to make the crepes in, and I was a little concerned about what I was going to use to make them in, so I got to use James' present on Christmas morning. Can I just say, too, that I am a wonderful crepe maker? They all turned out perfectly golden brown, and were positively delicious with my strawberries and whipped cream. What a great Christmas tradition. I'm glad that I got to make them and keep this tradition alive in my own home. When I was growing up and even today, crepes are a tradtion on Christmas morning with my family.

We had a great Christmas with just us up here in Wyoming. I can't wait for next Christmas, when our new little one joins us! How fun will that be?! :)

Our Holiday Season (so far!)

Our holiday season so far has been wonderful. We spent a few days in St. George for Thanksgiving, and we had such a good time. James didn't get off of work till 4:00 in the afternoon, so I had Grant jammied up, and the car packed and ready to go when he came home, so we could just leave. We arrived in St. George at 3:30 in the morning. It was a long car ride, and Grant did surprisingly well. He slept off and on till we got there, and then was lulled to sleep by the lullabies he listens too before going to bed. (Actually, it lulled everyone to sleep. We weren't the most quiet when we arrived! :)) We spent Thanksgiving day with the Killpack's. Dinner was wonderful, and as always, the conversation very interesting! :) Grant did well on this Thankful day, and we did take a few pics. He is in this stage where, he can't just smile any more, he has to try to smile, and the result is just funny. See for yourself:

We got to spend some time with both of our families, and even got to squeeze in a movie, New Moon, which we didn't find as intriguing as Twilight. We left Grant at home with my parents and he had a good time with them!
This month my friends Lyndi and Kelsey threw me a baby shower. It was so fun, and they did such a cute job. It was on December 12th, and we invited people from our ward to come. We got a lot of little baby girl things, and I feel so much more ready for her to come. Here are some pics of the shower, including the adorable cake made by a very creative lady in our ward. Her name is Katrina and she is an amazing cake decorator!



My friends Lyndi and Kelsey who threw me the shower.

Loving the snow just before Christmas! I am home with Grant, and I am totally loving this time that I get to spend with him before our new little one comes. We have had a good time. Grant loves to read. He will sit and listen to books any hour of the day. One day last week, I grabbed a stack of books from his room, and pulled him into my lap, and watched the clock. My 20 month old sat and listened to stories from 1:00 to 1:55. And not just any book either. He is loving The Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham, Dr. Seuss' ABC, and a new favorite 'Twas the Night Before Christmas.

James and I are most excited about this Christmas more than any other Christmas we have shared! We are both excited to wake up Christmas morning and see Grant open his gifts. It will be a fun Christmas this year. James bought Grant a much needed toy chest this week. I think Grant likes it. What do you think?

We brought it in the house and he spent at least 45 minutes playing climbing on it. Even a few days later, the novelty still hasn't worn off and he will be in his room just climbing all over it.

A few days ago, James and I took Grant to see Santa at the mall. Last year, Grant was thrilled with anyone that held him. This year, he was a little scared of the man in the red suit. It seemed to progressively get worse. Our poor Santa asked, "Did you get one yet?":

The first picture of Grant on Santa's lap.

The last picture of Grant on Santa's lap. I do have to say though, how authentic this Santa looked. It's a shame Grant didn't pose and smile like he usually does. Maybe next year, he will be warmed up to Santa.

This past Tuesday, we had a visitor at our house. Our friends, the Daly's, brought over their little girl McKinley to our house. Grant and McKinley had such a good time together, I had to take some pictures. They loved the wagon ride James gave them, and tried to pull each other around themselves. Too fun!

Still more to come! :)