Eight Hours

The past two nights Audrey has slept eight hours straight. It's been heavenly! I am cautiously optimistic that she is going to sleep through the night much sooner than her older sister. I consider sleeping through the night when they'll sleep a 10-11 hour stretch. Rachel didn't do that until she was 8 months old. I'm hoping that Miss Audrey will be there by 6 months - if not sooner! :)

In other news, Audrey has discovered her hands and feet. She can sit in her bouncy chair and entertain herself for quite awhile. It's fun to watch her move her hands and feet around and just stare at them in wonder. The other day she even accidentally grabbed one of her feet. I love watching Audrey as she discovers her world.

Computer Hog

Rachel has mastered the mouse, so the computer is taken up by her quite often. She loves to go to fisherprice.com and play the toddler games. Some of her favorites are click 'n color, who's at the door, snap 'n style, matching game, and animal sounds. On Saturday Andy got on the computer with Rachel and she enjoyed playing some of the games on kids.nationalgeographic.com. It's amazing to me that she can control the mouse. I guess it goes to show that this generation is definitely different from ours. I remember when the mouse first came into existence. It will be interesting to see how much technology changes in Rachel's lifetime.

Ladies in Red

Roomies

We finally bit the bullet and put the girls in the same room. The first month Audrey was in our room, then she was out in the hallway for a month, and now she's settled in to sharing a room with Rachel. We were a bit nervous about Audrey waking Rachel up, but so far it has gone quite well. We are amazed at what Rachel can sleep through. The one drawback is if Audrey wakes up around 6 AM it always seems to wake Rachel up as well and then Rachel's up for the day. Audrey will eat and go back to sleep until 9 AM, but not Rachel. Oh well, such is life! I guess I can't complain too loudly since Rachel will still take an afternoon nap. Audrey and Rachel will get to be roomies while we are out here in Holland. Then once we return home there's space for them to spread out, but my guess is by then they'll want to stay roomies.

21 Hours

Our countdown for our trip back home is down to single digits. We are definitely getting excited and can't wait for the next 9 days to go by. Although there is one thing we aren't looking forward to and that's the traveling that is required. I figured it out the other day and the time it's going to take us to travel from door to door is roughly 21 hours. Craziness! It will definitely be a relief when that 21 hours is over. It's too bad we can't be like Star Trek and simply say, "Scotty beam me up!". Wouldn't that be great! :)

Rachel has been into making lists recently. When she's goes to the grocery store with Andy she insists on having her own list as well. Andy says she follows behind him pushing her own little cart and holding her list. What a cutie! The other day she decided to start making a list of things she's going to pack in her suitcase. She loves to ask "what else?" as we talk about what she's going to pack. One thing she usually always says she's going to pack is games to play with grandma. So, her grandmas better be ready to play some games with her and I'm sure she'll want to play with her grandpas as well! :) Here's a cute video of Rachel talking about her list.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Valentine Excitment

Rachel has been excited all week for Valentine's. She received a valentine in the mail at the beginning of the week and has been carrying the valentine around all week long. So, ever since then she's been saying "it's almost Valentine's". Rachel even insisted on wearing her underwear with hearts on them one day in honor of Valentine's. It's been so cute to see her excitement. So, one can only imagine how excited she was when her daddy brought her home her own set of roses. Rachel received little roses and Mommy received long-stem roses. Here in Holland them come in tens, so we each got 10. I have come to the realization that I should probably be better about making these little holidays fun for the little ones. I remember my mom always making pink heart-shaped pancakes when we were growing up. She would also set our valentine treats on our breakfast plates. What good memories! I need to start making some holiday traditions in our home so that our children can have sweet memories to look back on as well. I think Andy's already got one started. My guess is that next year Rachel will be asking where her bouquet of flowers is! :)

Two Months Old

Audrey is two months old today. It's hard to believe two months have already gone by. Audrey had a check-up the other day and she's 22 1/4 inches tall and weighs 11 pounds 3 ounces. She loves to coo and smile. Her favorite place to be is in her bouncy chair when she's awake and in her swing when she's asleep. Audrey also really enjoys taking baths with Rachel. She loves to watch her big sister Rachel. Audrey can sleep six straight hours at night, but doesn't always choose to do so. Overall she's a happy baby with lots of smiles to give. We are all enjoying her and are so grateful she's doing so well.

Just like Mommy!

Rachel would play with her dolls before Audrey was born, but not as much as she plays with them now. She loves to swaddle her dolls, sing songs to them, change their clothes, and put them to sleep. So, it wasn't too surprising when I saw her feeding her doll the other day. Rachel's just doing what she sees her mommy do quite often. I was pretty impressed that she even utilized the boppy pillow. Rachel sure does make me smile!

Our Family

This is our family, according to Rachel. She really surprised me when she drew our faces and told me who was who. The order from left to right is Andy, Rachel, Laura, and Audrey. I like how she even drew my pupils. I was quite impressed that Rachel knew how to draw faces. When Andy came home tonight I asked him if he draws faces with Rachel and he doesn't. So, I guess Rachel has just figured this out on her own. I am continually amazed by my little toddler!

You know your baby's exhausted when...

...she falls asleep in her bouncy chair. Most mornings after being fed Audrey hangs out in the bouncy chair while I get ready for the day. Well, this morning I guess I took a little too long to get ready and Audrey fell asleep in her bouncy chair. So, I finished getting ready, turned on the monitor, and Rachel and I headed downstairs. Too bad it only lasted about 30 minutes. I guess once I wasn't making noise in the bathroom anymore she became concerned and woke up.

Hanitizer

Whenever there's lots of diaper changing going on the hand sanitizer is definitely utilized a lot more. So, Rachel has come up with a new word for the dictionary. She simply calls it "hanitizer". Personally I think it's a good combo! :)

An Ode to Audrey

We have a book of silly songs that Rachel enjoys. When Andy sung this song to Rachel back in December she thought it was hilarious and it has stuck. :)

Audrey's Blessing Day

Audrey was blessed today by her dad. She let out a little cry at the beginning of the blessing, but once she was bounced she settled right down. Audrey received a very nice blessing. She looked so precious all in white. We took a ton of pictures and these are some of our favorites. Audrey wasn't too excited about getting in her dress, but by the end of the day she was a smiley girl.