September 2019- Audrey's Blessing & First day of 1st grade

Audrey was blessed on September 1 when she was 3 weeks old. We blessed her on this day since my parents were in town.

Audrey wore the same dress that Ava and my sisters' daughters wore. She was alert and happy all morning and during her blessing. 

 Brent blessed her that she would be a beacon of light and use her creativity for good. She has been the sweetest little girl in her few short weeks and does not cry very much. She is not a complainer baby. She does not cry even if she needs a diaper change, and she only whines when she's hungry. She is such a good baby!
Our friends the Wilsons came to the blessing.

 Ava and Max- the cutest friends!

 It was also Ava's half birthday that day, so of course we had to celebrate with cupcakes and a few presents.

 Everyone, except for me, went to the arboretum.

The day after Labor Day was the kids' first day of school, and the day my parents went home. Audrey started smiling this day, when she was about 4 weeks old.

 Ava had an assignment to decorate a doll like herself.

 Coen really wanted to as well, so I traced the same one for him. This entertained the kids for a long time, luckily, since they had been throwing tantrums.

 Dainty Audrey.

 The full mattress for our bunk bed came into Costco and Brent went to pick it up. Now the kids could sleep in their beds- they were so excited! Coen doesn't sleep in it all night though. He is going through a phase where he often comes into our room because he's scared, and then he sleeps on our floor.

 Brent noticed the bunk beds had gone on sale even more when he was picking up our mattress, so we got more money back!

On Friday night we watched President Nelson's birthday celebration. It was a fun night for our family where the kids were in good moods and we enjoyed the awesome music. We made a blanket pile and ate candy while we watched.

 To help with Ava's tantrums and difficult behavior, I scheduled lots of playdates at our house after school to give her something to do.

 Audrey smiled for our selfie!

 Coen was looking so cute, I had to take his picture.

 Ava started gymnastics and my friend takes Ava for me. Ava came home from gymnastics SO happy- she told me, "I did so well!" My friend was texting me during the class and was laughing her head off at Ava because she said Ava had no fear and just dove in and was a crazy girl, just flinging her body everywhere.

 Audrey looked so cute in this little outfit!

 Coen took this one morning. I thought I would include it because this is what my life looks like right now! I try to read my scriptures during Audrey's morning feed.

 Little girl ready for an outing to her first movie.

 We went to see the Lion King with graduate student families. Audrey watched the movie for a while and then nursed and went to sleep.

 Our friend came to help fix our rain gutter that needed to be nailed in again. Thank goodness for nice friends! We don't have a ladder...

 We went on a walk to enjoy the nice weather. Right around this time is when I started feeling a little more normal and back to real life, when Audrey was 5 weeks.

 To help with the kids' behavior, we made them sticker charts where they each earn stickers for doing things like sleeping in his bed all night (Coen) and not stomping feet and tantruming (Ava). Coen earned a date with dad and they went to Costco.

They also bought a new laptop for Brent.

 Audrey is so smiley, it's brightens our day!

 Big eyes.

 Coen looks so huge now. He has grown a lot and is finally starting to outgrow his 2T pants.

 I took Ava and her friend to gymnastics and got to see Ava in heaven, climbing, bouncing, and jumping on things.

 These two sure love their baby sister!

 The sky was gorgeous one evening:

 My phone is filled with pictures like this- I just can't stop taking pictures of my pretty baby!

 Another thing we did to help with the kids' behavior was to not allow TV or screens anymore, except for special occasions or weekends. I feel like I was equally as punished with this move (haha) but it REALLY helped. They were being such terrors as soon as a show was over. Now instead of asking constantly to watch a show, they just play. We read a lot more too. We slowly started getting our Ava back.

 Audrey started getting a little chubbier.

 We had some friends over for dinner and games.

 We had the Wilsons over to dinner and then Brent surprised me with tickets to Downton Abbey while the Wilsons babysat for us.

Here are the kids before the Primary program. It went really well and the kids each said their parts without being scared.

Like I was saying, my phone is full of these pictures because she's just so cute and I love the baby phase.

 I took these pictures while reading outside with Coen, who has suddenly found himself the middle child of our family, poor kid. He has developed quite the temper and become mischievous. I'm not sure if this is a "threes" phase or if he'll turn back a little sweeter and calmer!

 We carpool with a friend down the street. It is suddenly quite the ordeal to do school pickup when I have Coen and the baby. Sometimes I put Audrey in the front baby carrier, but that takes a while to get her in and out of her car seat and into the sling. I'm happy when Brent's working from home and I can leave the baby when I do school pick up!

 We had the missionaries over for breakfast on one of the days when Brent was on break and he made them waffles.

Smiley Audrey

 I did some CPE classes and joined in any work trainings throughout the month of September. Audrey hung out by me like this:

Her cuteness is only a little distracting.

 Ava looked adorable in this outfit I bought her. She has a self-made rule that she will only wear dresses, skirts, or "skirt-shirts." Luckily this shirt qualified as a skirt shirt.

 We went to a school social for Brent's department at a professor's house. Poor Ava fell out of a tree there and was sore for a few days.

 I thought Audrey looked like an ostrich in this picture haha.

 Audrey's first time to Target :) She smiled when we walked in, so I think she likes it as much as we do.

We babysat the Wilsons and they had a great dance party:

 Audrey is a hit at church and gets passed around. This 10 year old boy especially loves her and she was smiling right back at him.

Watching mommy while I listen to a meeting.

 Let it be known that when Audrey was doing her huge smiles at Brent, he said to me, "you're right, those do make it worth it." This sweetheart is oh so loved in our home.