Feverish...

This past weekend was crazy to say the least. I had a lot to think about as I headed into the weekend. Since we have had Audrey, it has been in the back of mind to do a new family picture with her in it. And of course, I can never decide what we are going to wear. So James and I planned an impromptu trip to the store to get everyone somewhat matching shirts/outfits for this photo session that we planned on Saturday. James thought maybe it would be a good idea to do it outside. So...Saturday arrived...a little dreary when I first woke up at 5:30 in the morning to get myself ready first, so then I could think about kids. Our photo shoot was at 9 a.m. And it turned out to be everything I thought it would be and more. CRAZY! First off, Grant just plain got up on the wrong side of the bed. He was acting strange. Not eating his morning banana/breakfast, and just being plain crabby. James and I in our frenzy to get ready just blamed it on his mood that morning. When we arrived at our destination, the park, Grant just wanted to move. He wanted to play on anything and everything while we waited for our photographer to set up her equipment. That's fine. He just wasn't quite ready to join us when the time came to actually shoot our pictures. We sat down on some rocks, and poor Grant. As our shoot was progressing his poor nose was getting runnier and runnier. Me and my thinking, is that he was running around in the not so warm weather and this was making his nose run. We managed to get some of James and Audrey, James and Grant, me and Audrey, and me and Grant. The whole family? Didn't happen! Grant's nose was just OUT OF CONTROL! We left about an hour and a half later, and right when we got home, we put Grant to bed. This is when things started to get interesting. When Grant got up from his nap, James went in to get him, and noticed that he didn't feel right. He started to take Grant's temperature, and while that digital thermometer kept going up, James kept saying, "Wow-he is really sick! Could this be right? 103.9. I called the doctor and of course got his answering service. Kay, before I go on, I have to say, that Grant getting a fever terrifies me. He has already had brain trauma and suffered seizures-anything to stop this temp. from going up has to be done immediately, and I wanted answers right then and there. So I chatted with the answering service person, who told me that they had to fax Denver, and did I really want to do this? Uh...Yeah-I do. I said, "yes, whatever, just tell me what I should do!" And she quite rudely told me to calm down. I just ignored this comment, while she told me that a nurse will get back to me in 30 minutes. The 30 minutes c ame and went. Meanwhile we put Grant in the tub, and got his temp to come down a few degrees. Forty minutes later, I was back on the phone with the same lady who said she would fax our info again. Frustrating. We finally got a nurse to tell us to give him some motrin, (which we already did) and she said that little toddlers if they still have a fever in three days to go to the doctor. Grant was feeling a little better by Monday, but the fever was still going strong. We took him to the doctor on Monday and found out he had coxiache virus, and a slight ear infection. Poor boy. I can't imagine having a 104 degree fever. He got some anitbiotics for his ear, and now he is so much better.

A Week in Our Life...

These past few weeks have been crazy. As you may have read in past posts, we have had sick kids, and doctors appointments till no end. Our afternoons have also filled up quite a bit. We have added speech therapy to our weekly physical therapy appointments. The speech therapist is named Casey and she comes once a week on Thursday at 1:00. She has had quite the time gaining Grant's trust, so her visits have consisted of playing with new toys and taking pictures of Grant's favorite things to hopefully help him communicate. He has a few words, but nothing like what a two-year-old should be saying. He needs some way to get his thoughts out, so we are thinking pictures might do the trick. (We have tried signing, but Grant has never seemed that interested in it.) I'm excited for the help, but a little impatient. It seems to be going slower than I thought.

I'm confident that Grant will get the help he needs. I just want to talk to my little guy to talk soon!

Also to throw into the mix-my aching back! What happened after Grant was born, is now happening after Audrey was born as well. My back has decided to take a vacation. It is getting better, but I am having to go to the chiropractor once a week, and it just adds to the confusion in our household. As long as I do my exercises, my back is okay. I just can't wait for it to be completely better, so I can enjoy my little ones more.

Both kids are doing great. Grant is not loving food these days. His diet consists of lasagna, cheese on bread, bananas, yogurt, and Nutri-Grain bars. Some days are better than others. He seems to go through phases.

Audrey seems to love what she is getting. She is all cheeks, and has rolls on her legs. She is super cute, and an absolute doll as far as disposition and personality goes. She is starting to laugh, and she LOVES to be spoken too. She is already cooing and babbling, and I can't wait until she starts talking to us for real. Truly, I am blessed to have such great kids, and a wonderful husband.

James is working so hard on finishing our basement. We are doing some of this ourselves (listen to me, I'm talking like I am also working on it), but it's James who does the work while I watch kids. He is doing drywall now, and is almost done with all of the walls. It looks great, and we are so excited for this project to be finished. He's down there most every night, so it's just me dealing with the little ones.

Audrey

Here is the latest on my sweet little Audrey:

She is a big eater-she loves what she gets and eats as often as she can

She is very observant-she loves to just look at all the things surrounding her

She's a smiley baby-seems to have a smile for anyone

She loves to be spoken too-as soon as you stop to do something else, she will cry

She has lost most of her hair-all that is left is a little patch toward the back

She can lift her head up really well-she's been doing that since she was about two months

She likes her Baby Einstein toy-she is occupied for a whole 20 minutes in it

She's a great sleeper-she's been sleeping through the night since she was two months

She has had one ear infection so far-but we managed to escape RSV

She loves motion-being rocked and body movements songs can really get her to smile

She adores her brown and pink polka dot blanket-she sleeps through the night with it

She's a great traveler-but when you stop at a light, things can get interesting

We are so lucky to have this precious spirit in our home. She is truly a blessing. I love being her mom and seeing her sweet little face when I come home from work. She can turn my day from cloudy to sunny in just one little twinkle of her eye. I can't wait to find out what her favorite things are, what can make her laugh, and to hear her speak. So looking forward to all these things.

Yes, my Audrey is one of a kind.

Grant's Second

I can hardly believe that my baby boy is now two years old. Where did the time go? It seems like yesterday that we were celebrating his first birthday. Grant had quite an eventful April. We had a family party for him on April 8th-his actual birthday. His day started off with a pancake shaped like a two-a tradition in our household. He received a new shirt to wear for the day, and he also received his present from James and I:

A big red wagon. Grant has a small wagon that he likes to pull around the house. He even likes to get in it and sit and read books. But it is too small. We thought he would enjoy this big wagon. We were right.

The weekend after his family party, James and I decided that Audrey was just getting too big for the basinet. So we switched things up, by giving Grant his own big boy bed, and Audrey is now in a crib. I had to do some coaxing for Grant to be sold on the bed. I went out and bought some sheets with planes and stars on them, and made a huge deal about finding the stars, and making airplane noises. It worked. Grant decided that being in a bed really isn't so bad. (He threw a major fit when we moved the crib into Audrey's room.)

Grant has been sleeping well in his new big boy bed-the only challenge is keeping him in there. He will stay in there when he is extremely tired, but often times, I will find him asleep on the floor, and I have to go and put him in his bed. Other than that, this move has proven to be a good thing. I think Audrey is also loving the extra room to spread out in her new bed!

The next weekend, I also threw a party for him and his friends on April 17th. Kay, I ended up planning WAY too much for these little ones. Grant loves cars, so our party was car themed. I drew a race track for them to race each other on. I made car coloring pages for each child to make a "car"d for Grant. Sounds like fun to me, but my two year old guests were happy just drawing on the whiteboard with dry erase crayons. It must have been too overwhelming for them. Oh well, live and learn!

Our guests included Caleb Madsen and Elizabeth Linford. Grant received a ton of new toys and books ranging from tractors to bubbles. Thanks for coming you guys! We loved having you!

I couldn't resist this picture of Audrey in one of her buntings. She certainly has grown over the past three months. I love her button nose and chubby cheeks! I also love getting to know her personality. She is a very bubbly baby, and seems to have a smile for everyone!

Just Things

I have adored being a mom these past few months even though I had to return back to work. Grant is growing big, and trying to speak. He is warming up to Audrey-he helps me burp her (by patting her gently on the back), he spins her around in her new toy:

He also likes to touch her hands and feet. It is so fun to see this. I hope they will be friends as they grow up together. Both of my kids have been sick this week. Nothing too serious-both of them had coughs. James has also had this sickness and he ended up staying at home on Tuesday. He also had to do something I have never had the courage to do...he took both of them to the doctor. He said the experience was everything I thought it would be and more. They were a handful to say the least! Poor guy! Grant had a slight ear infection and Audrey just has a cold. Both are feeling much better these days!

This pic was actually taken on this day. Poor James-he was pretty beat caring for two sick little ones, and then being sick himself! All are on the mend!

A few weeks ago, we had a perfect Wyoming day. The weather was warm and only a slight breeze in the air. It was actually pretty warm. Grant, Audrey, and I played out on our deck with bubbles, Grant's new wagon he got for his birthday, and bubbles. Grant absolutely adores bubbles. We have various kinds around the house, and Grant would love for us to blow them all day if we could. So fun! This day just reminded me how much I cannot wait for the summer to come! This perfect day was a teaser day. Our weather lately has been cold and windy. We are supposed to get rain tonight. Here are some pics of this super nice day:

James actually dressed Audrey this day. He put her in a cute yellow sundress. I thought that was pretty sweet!

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!