Festive October

I heard talk of people starting to listen to Christmas music in October. Not us. Last year we were in So. Africa where Halloween goes mostly uncelebrated, so we were excited to live up the Halloween festivities to the fullest all month long.

Happy Friday!

Plethora of Pictures

Here it goes:

Audrey had a few weeks early on that were pretty rough. Her little tummy had problems digesting and she was in pain (and screaming) nearly all the time. I tried every recommendation given to me, but ultimately it just took a little time for her system to mature and now she is Heaven to be around. Justin's expression in the picture is a good depiction of how we felt during those few weeks:

Audrey doin' her thang:

 

Family reunion at Bass Lake:

We had so much fun at our family reunion...it tuckered these two out!

Bryn chose to wear this princess outfit to church (the yellow skirt to match the yellow top is under the blue skirt which are both on top of her church skirt...haha). Yay for vacation!

Justin did a hilarious song at the skit night using one of Grandma's wigs and the bro-stache app

A little dirt never hurt

 The week of Cody:

Can't you see the plea in Audrey's eyes?..."Uncle Cody, will you share some of your frozen yogurt with me? Please, pretty please?"

Uncle Cody wanted a break from swimming, so Bryn patiently waited for him. *Note: If you ever need to cut someone's sun-bathing short, stand about 2 feet away from them and just stare. They'll be back in the pool with you in no time.*

Cody kept us smiling all week long.

The Nut Tree:

We met up with Grandad and Kim at the Nut Tree and had a great time. We loved everything, except for the train whistle (Bryn is plugging her ears).

Tea Parties:

Tea parties are a favorite past-time at our house. Grandma Suzu got us started on them at the family reunion. Now I am invited to tea nearly every day.

Audrey enjoys the tea parties too (pictured here with her cup and spoon).

This is a tea party with Grandma Suzu. She provides fancy hats for her guests to wear. Ooh, la, la!

Reading:

Passing on her love for reading.

Oh, how I LOVE this!

Sisters:

Enough time for a picture before church...impressive.

Oh me, oh my

Time flies. Like, seriously...fuh-lies! I can't believe babe #2 is already 2 months old. What?! For real. I wish I could blog her life/our lives more but my pc is so irritating to blog on; I just can't handle it. Any volunteers to fix my laptop? Anyone? Anyone?...

Last weekend was my brother's missionary farewell. Since everyone was together for that, we decided to bless Audrey that weekend too. It would be deemed a wonderful weekend if it weren't for BYU's horrendous loss to the Utes. Ugh.

The week before Cody's farewell Justin was in NY and (somehow) I convinced Cody to come stay with me for the week. We loved it! I asked him to please ditch Brazil and instead serve a service mission and come live with me for the next 2 years. Those Brazilians are so lucky! If I wasn't going to miss this guy to the maximum extent a guy can be missed, this picture pushed me to the limit:

We love you so much, Code! You're going to be an AWESOME missionary!

Audrey's blessing was beautiful. That said, I'm a bit concerned that she is only child #2 and (1) I didn't care about her being in a special dress for the occassion; and (2) when she proceeded to pee all over her dress minutes after the blessing I had no change of clothes for her, leaving her merely diapered for the remainder of the church meeting. The concern I feel over these two points is not for Audrey, but for subsequent children. If I'm already to this point of carelessness and unpreparedness for child #2, what is in store for #3?? Oh, I can't bear to think of it...

We Love Oma!

There is a homemade pie sitting on our kitchen counter. Our cupboards are stocked with Costco goodness (including, but not limited to: chocolate covered raisins for me and Oreos for the Mr...mmm, so delectable). And Bryn is wishing someone would take her to the park even though its uncomfortably warm outside. It's obvious that Oma was here!

Luck of the Draw

When it comes to decision making there are a number of methods that can aid in the process. We opted for Games of Chance in the naming of our second born. Let me explain the rules: First, narrow down the name options to two; Second, decide upon 3 Games of Chance with each individual game consisting of 7 rounds; Three, the victor is determined by winning 2 out of 3 of the games and wins individual games by taking 4 out of 7 of the rounds of play. Pretty simple, right? Who wouldn't use this method to name their child?!

The first game of chance in our competition was the ever-popular Coin Toss. We assigned names to heads/tails alphabetically. This game was won 4-2, no need for a tie breaking 7th round. Our second game was Drawing Names from a Cup. As luck would have it, this game was also won in just 6 rounds. Our victor was the same for both games, thus winning the competition and eliminating the need for game #3.

Introducing our victor {*Drumroll*} ...

AUDREY KATE

We love that grandparents have been able to meet her prior to her reaching 5 months of age (unlike big sister, Bryn)

Put it in the books as one of my favorite moments of all time: Bryn meeting her baby sister for the first time. She was completely delighted by her. She gazed at her, smiled at her, rubbed her hair, kissed her, and said, "Hi silly girl!" LOVED IT.

Simply stated, this picture makes me really, really happy. I love my family!

Born July 22, 2011; 12:06 pm; 7 lbs, 14 ounces

P.S. If you want to steal the attention of every staff member of the labor/delivery ward, show up to the hospital 9 centimeters dialted. Your room will be swarming in no time...trust me.

Whirlwind

Life has been moving at neck-breaking speed. My June disappeared, like seriously dis. uh. peered. While trying to keep up with this whirlwind life we have managed to stay healthy and happy, and for that we are grateful.

May brought the completion of Justin's 2nd Master's program, job interviews ranging from sea to shining sea, a NY Bucket List of things we wanted to do before possibly leaving to pursue a job offer, and good-byes to dear friends who were all leaving to fill residency positions across the country.

A Yankee's game, an absolute MUST before leaving the Bronx

Our Columbia Grad, whoo-hoo!

The graduation ceremony may have been a bit long, but the desserts at the end made it all worth it (waiting for Daddy to bring a spoon was clearly an impossibility).

While June really does seem to have vanished, I know it must have existed because I can name a list of things that happened during the month: Justin was offered, and accepted, a job in San Francisco; we moved across the country, bidding adieu to our beloved City Island and less beloved east coast humidity; we visited Justin's grandma, uncle, and aunt in southern California; we bounced between Chico and the Bay Area while searching for a place to live; we enjoyed some of Chico's summer attractions (One Mile, Covered Bridge, Farmer's Market, and of course Jon 'n Bon's); and Bryn learned to place her own order of "pancakes and apple juice" while out to breakfast with Grandma (a common occurrence during the month).

And now here's July. We are feeling a bit more settled and life is regaining a semblance of order, but with T-7 days 'til baby's ETA we're not anticipating this semblance of order to remain with us for very long. :)

We feel so blessed for Justin's new job, and although we're less-than-thrilled to be back in the state of CA (political/economic/educational mumbo jumbo), we are so happy to be closer to our families and have loved spending time with them over the past few days...weeks...months...however long it's been.

*Please excuse the scarce pictorial representation of the past couple months. A combination of computer and camera dramas, in conjunction with life's chaos, has resulted in minimal to share.

The Freakin' Weeken'

The weekend is upon us. If you have yet to schedule your plans for entertainment, you may want to consider staying in, kicking back, and enjoying the vocal stylings of Miss Bryn. This number is featured on one of her favorite movies, The Puppy Movie (aka 101 Dalmations).


If you happen to be unfamiliar with this song (you clearly do not live in my world), and you are unable to fully understand everything Bryn says (you very clearly do not live in my world), the lyrics are as follows:


At first you think Cruella is the devil
But after time has worn away the shock
You come to realize
You've seen her kind of eyes
Watching you from underneath a rock!


This vampire bat
This inhuman beast
She ought to be locked up
And never released
The world was such a wholesome place until
Cruella Cruella de Vil

City Livin'

Last week I dined with Queen Latifah.

Okay, I actually just saw her dining at a restaurant I wanted to eat at, but didn't because they didn't have a bathroom, and since my lovely womb tenant has me peeing nearly every hour the non-bathroomed restaurant was quickly eliminated as an option, even with Queen Latifah there, which is unfortunate because I love the Queen.

And I went to The Colbert Report.

Apparently you must be 18 to go to Colbert. I didn't have Bryn with me, so I didn't have a diaper bag with me, so I didn't have my wallet with me, so I didn't have any ID with me to prove that I was over 18. My enormously pregnant belly was not accepted as a legitimate sign of my mature age. However, I think the pregnancy factor may have softened the "bouncer's" heart a little as he did allow me to use his smart phone to look myself up on Facebook and accepted my Facebook profile as sufficient identification. And people wonder what's so great about Facebook...

Milestone

A few weeks ago Bryn got her first haircut.

This is the before. It was getting pretty long.

We went to a great kids' cuts place where Bryn got to sit in a car,

and watch Dora. She loved it.

A full salon experience, she even got blown dry and styled...ooh, la, la.

This is where I should insert the darling after picture for everyone to "ooh" and "ahh" at. Unfortunately, this marks the date and time when our camera finally decided to bite the dust. It's been struggling for awhile, but up to this point it has always pulled through. Sadly, there seems to be no imminent recovery this time around.

I'm not sure if it's the new 'do, the recently claimed 2-year-old status, the rapidly approaching big sisterhood, a combination of any of the previously stated, or something different all together, but Justin and I have been alarmed by how much of a little girl our baby is becoming. She has grown up so much just since our return from Africa. Insert cliche, yet oh-so-true statement about growing up too fast. Sigh. Right after the cure for cancer is discovered and the solution for world peace is established, will someone please figure out how to keep my children young forever?