I have to say that I was made for quarantining- staying home with my family and not having to go anywhere is totally ok with me. The only thing I really miss is school for Ava.
Ava has become obsessed with Harry Potter- she constantly asks questions about the story and acts it out during the day. Every night before bed I read about 5-10 pages of the book to her. It has been really fun to have this to look forward to each night. I snapped some pictures of the faces she makes as I read to her.
Audrey still doesn't say too many words yet- mostly "uh oh" which she uses all day long! She finally really started calling me mama when she wants my attention. She sometimes says "ma ma ma." She doesn't say dada yet. She says "more" and "bath" with her sign language. Here is a video of her saying "cheese."
We make sure to get outside just about every day so that we don't get cabin fever.
Working from home is the best.
Since Ava has been on such a Harry Potter kick, we had a Harry Potter pizza party with our friend Karen. She brought them Harry Potter tattoos, glasses, and even made butter beer.
I had a new experience related to work- I was summoned to give my sworn testimony related to a client and audit I worked on a few years ago. Thank goodness for COVID (in this instance), because I didn't have to fly to SLC or NYC to give my testimony- I did it from the comfort of my own home! I prepped with attorneys for a couple weeks beforehand and then the actual deposition day lasted 8 hours with just a 30 minute break for lunch. It was intense questioning for hours, but it went well. And I hope to never do it again :)
Audrey's squat dances make us all laugh. Here's a video:
On Coen's birthday, Ava woke up in a bad mood. She was not looking forward to the day and gave me this note. It reads, "why does Coen get all the intention? Did you got any presestns for me? Can I choose something? Love Ava" We had a talk about being kind and being happy for other people, and luckily she cheered up when her friend came over later on. Oh Ava!
That evening we sang to Coen over Face Time with the grandparents and he blew out a candle in his chocolate chip cookies. He wanted me to dye them blue, but they turned out green :)
I discovered something that captured Audrey's attention and she sat still for 30 minutes! She peeled off all the stickers from a sheet.
I splurged and some new stockings for us!
Audrey climbs up on the couch all the time. We haven't figured out a way to stop her, even with our gates. She does fall off occasionally, but she just jumps back up and that hasn't deterred her.
Every night before bed I read books to Audrey. She really started enjoying them this month and loves the lift the flap books. She also really likes me to sing her songs before bed.
One day Audrey got into our bouillon and ate some of it! I was working and could hear Brent downstairs saying, "no!! yuck! Stop! Oh Audrey!" Apparently it made her throw up and then she stepped in it.
My work had told me to go out to dinner since they had a dinner in SLC. Our governor in Oregon announced a 2 week freeze where restaurants would be take-out only, etc. So Karen came over and babysat and we went out to Outback for a real date!
A cute picture Coen brought home from preschool:
Ava in her Harry Potter dress up clothes.
Coen's preschool teacher sent this to me on his birthday. These are his two favorite friends.
I love to walk to the end of our street to see the sunset.
Audrey is always putting on people's boots. We finally had to hide these because she kept getting frustrated and crying when she couldn't walk properly in them.
We decorated for Christmas a little earlier this year, probably like most of America!
This little giraffe shirt is so cute.
We bundled up and went on a long walk one Sunday. We have gone on so many walks during covid times!
Brent got creative and put the baby gates around the bottom of our tree. Audrey was not happy about it.
Audrey, always trying on people's shoes!
Audrey woke up at 5 am quite a few times during a week. I was so exhausted. After a week I felt two molars pop through on the bottom.
Because her squat dances are so entertaining, here's one more video:
Here is a video of Audrey running on the couch:
I stopped nursing Audrey once and for all on November 13. I transitioned her pretty slowly, so she didn't have too hard of a time with it. She climbed into my lap a couple times wanting to nurse, but we just snuggled and she was ok.
I love giving my babies baths. It's a chance to slow down (since they can't run anywhere!) and be grateful for their perfect little bodies. Also freshly bathed babies is one of my favorite smells ever.
Here's a video of Audrey learning a new skill from Ava:
Messy spaghetti face:
Audrey and the places she ends up- it's an exersaucer we were getting ready to take out to the garage.
Coen came home in this turkey hat, so proud.
On Thanksgiving we went for a bike ride while our turkey cooked and Audrey slept.
I kept our dinner pretty simple- we had turkey, potatoes and gravy, rhodes rolls, sweet potato casserole, green beans, and jello.
After dinner we read the notes out of our gratitude jar.
That evening we played games and had pie with Karen.
The places I find Audrey- on our table drinking out of Ava's water bottle. Do you see the orange F in the background, there on the table? I put some of Coen's preschool projects on the table for decorations. Ava asked why I put a letter F on the table. Coen said, it's for "Fanksgiving!"
I got our Christmas card designed and ordered:
The day after Thanksgiving, we finished the first Harry Potter book!
We babysat the Wilsons. We are going to miss our date exchanges! Ava set up school and was the teacher, of course.
Audrey was jealous when I held the baby and wanted to climb into my lap.
Coen wanted to wear all of these accessories. I'm going to miss it when he's not my little dude anymore and doesn't want to dress like this!
The kids decorated the back of all of the Christmas card envelopes. Each person got a different design!
We tried to get Audrey to wear a bow again. It didn't last long.
We went to the Wilsons for our last hurrah. We are going to miss them so much! It was so nice to have another family that was in our shoes, getting a PhD at the University of Oregon. Our kids loved to play together, and the adults always had tons of fun when we got together too. I'm going to miss talking to Diana, swapping recipes, our general conference get-togethers, our date night swaps, and just learning from her example. She has come to my rescue so many times here in Oregon where I have no family, so I'm feeling super sad about them moving.
Snuggles before bed.
Coen's preschool teacher leaves a schedule out for the parents to see. Their gingerbread week was super exciting- they baked real gingerbread men that "ran away."
Our turkey turned out delicious! Although Coen said "I'm sad about the turkey. I wish it was alive."
I took Ava shopping at Kohls and she was my little consultant, giving her opinions about the different shirts I held up. She told me, "Mom, I have three different things I think about when I tell you if I like something. 1. Do I like the color? 2. Is it soft? 3. Does it look good?" She looked at a pile of distressed jeans and said, "Don't even think about getting these jeans. Every single one has holes in them!"
Since we finished the book, we got to watch the Harry Potter movie! Ava LOVED it.
Ava says her best friend in the whole world is Max. At dinner one night she prayed that the Wilsons would be safe when they move and that Max would make lots of good friends at his new school. I thought that was so sweet and selfless of her to want him to make new friends.
We were there to celebrate Wes' birthday, and they were nice to host us since they were in the middle of packing their house!
Here's the whole gang!
