Een!

Avery likes her little brother.

The other day we were getting ready to go to the park and she was so excited. She got down on the floor, right up in Evan's face, and exclaimed, "Een! Een! We're going!" 

(She pronounces his name in two syllables, but without the V sound)

Every night after I put Evan to bed, I come down stairs and Avery will put her finger to her lips and say, "sshhhh, Een sleeping".

Then we usually have to go and peak over the crib at him.

I wish Avery wasn't so blurry in this picture. They are so sweet.

Laying on the Floor

Here is the view from the floor when you lay down next to Evan:

If you are wondering what's with all the self portraits...when my kids are older, I want them to know that I was indeed hanging out with them. Of all the millions of pictures I take, they should know I was in the same room.

Plus I love pictures of me with my babies.

Dresses and Nose

Avery gets so annoyed when I try to take pictures of her before church. But I think she looks cute.

For her birthday, she received two dresses from both grandmas.

On the Sunday of the nose incident, she was wearing this one. (Gma Larsen hand made it, btw)

It was covered in blood. Sad.

That night I soaked it in cold water, and after washing it...good as new.

Luckily she wasn't wearing this one from Gma Sorensen that day.

I don't think the blood would have come out as gracefully.

Wait a second...something's missing.

Speaking of her nose,

...the band aid turned into a bit of a collage after 5 days.

And now you can barely see the scar. It is healing so well.

I'm glad that's over.

Sick Day

This is what it looks like when I am so sick, I stay in bed, and Jimi takes over.

I do not like laying in bed listening to my family downstairs without me.

And even worse than that, I got dehydrated and didn't have anything to feed Evan. And that boy would rather starve than take a bottle. He went 8 hours without eating.

When I eventually made it down stairs, Avery brought me a blanket and said, "cozy". Then she went and got me a straw for my 7-up. What a sweet girl.

The next day I felt better. We watched a lot of tv (including the USA game...so fun! Avery and I were totally celebrating together), and I was only allowed to kiss feet.

I hope no one else gets the bug.

But let me tell you something...being sick wasn't that bad. I am used to being nauseated for 9 months, so 9 hours was no problemo.

It also reminds you how wonderful being healthy feels.

Sunday

Everyone wants to sit next to daddy.

(Evan is a few weeks old in this picture)

This father's day had some goods and some bads...

good: G and G Larsen came to visit.

bad: Jimi had to work all day.

good: Avery's gift she made in nursery is adorable and hanging on the fridge.

good: World cup, nap, daddy's finally coming home!

bad: His car overheated, grandpa had to go rescue him.

bad: We have the worst cell phone coverage ever.

good: For father's day, Jimi got some candy bars, a crown, and the air conditioning turned down to 75 for the whole evening.

good: G and G Larsen decided to stay another night.

good: We took an evening drive up to the top of Bootleg Canyon. Kids in pajamas, everyone snug in the car.

good: We walked around pointing at the moon, airplanes, stars, and planets. Watched the sky turn dark.

good: On the way home, we saw a rattlesnake. Jimi got out of the car and threw a rock at it. He's never heard one rattle before, so for father's day, it rattled at him. 

good: Called my dad. He and my mom went to a Beach Boys concert this weekend. Asked him what planets are visible this time of year.

good: Jimi, my dad, Jimi's dad.

The State of the Household

The other day Jimi said about Avery, "she is an apple from my tree".

Two things she does just like Jimi:

1. Chews straws to smithereens.

2. Is a cozy fanatic. Getting cozy the other day on the couch (pillow, blanket, pasi, dolly), she kicked her legs in excitement as I parachuted the blanket on top of her and squealed when I tucked her in.

Last night I put Evan to bed at his usual time, 6:00pm (when the sun is still up, loud and proud).

He didn't wake up until 5:00 in the morning!

I had forgotten what it feels like to go to sleep when it's dark, and wake up when it's light.

I got 7.5 hours of sleep in a row! You can't imagine how refreshed I feel. I only woke up once, checked the time, and went back to sleep immediately. Good job, Evan.

He is grabbing stuff, rolling on his sides, and "talking" like crazy. I love his giggle.

And have you noticed how round his head is? It's a perfect circle.

Piper is afraid of Evan's medicine.

When I shake it up and unscrew the cap - she bolts.

Don't ask me.

My postpartum hair is falling out like crazy. So if I bring you a casserole for dinner, there will be a hair in it.

Also, I am loving the World Cup. It is so fun to watch. The only negative: it reminds me of a crappy parent from when I coached.

An example of why this parent was/is crappy: after beating Silverado for the first time in Basic Soccer history, she wrote me a hate letter describing what a horrible coach I am for not playing her daughter the whole game.

See? Cozy fanatics.

What a Pain

Hi.

I have thrush.

I have to get my mouth swabbed before and after every feeding. I hate it. My mommy hates it.

My mommy also has thrush.

She tried Nystatin for about 3 weeks, but THAT didn't work. Middle of the night, writhing around in pain. Watch the clock because it usually only lasts an hour.

Then we tried some "all purpose nipple cream" that we got from a fancy compounding pharmacy. Ummmmm...it didn't really work.

swab

feed

swab

apply creams/ointments

whine

 writhe

repeat.

Called up Dr. Natalie in tears. Now we are taking oral Diflucan. Please please work.

Because if it doesn't, Evan will no longer be a breastfed baby. He'll have to drink that yucky stuff out of a bottle.

Found

Evan found his toes!

Go!

Avery squats down thusly,

waits for you to say, "1..2..3..GO!",

and takes off running.

(with her elbows bent and her wrists flopping around)

Hey, get back here you two!

---

Saturday Jim and I went on a bike ride at Cottenwood. He described it as "slalom through the cactus".

And the weather was a dream. We were eyeballing a desert rain storm that looked like it was going to get us, but it never did. I love those storms. You know the kind where you can see the rain? Pretty.

Thanks Jamie and Andy for taking care of our babies! Remember you said we should swap kids every month? Remember that?

Happy Birthday Jimi!

Raise your hand if you love daddy!

I do! A lot!

Me!

Me!

I do too.

What do you love about daddy?

Avery: "When he has to work late and doesn't get to see me all day, he comes into my room when I'm asleep, picks me up, and holds me for a few seconds. He misses me."

Evan: "He makes me giggle when he spits his tongue at me."

Piper: "I like that he pets me all the time. And cleans up my waste in the backyard."

Me: "He would rather be home with me, Avery, and Evan than be anywhere else in the world."

See the border? Jimi did that. Can you tell where he started and where he ended?

4 Months

4 months old

Evan and the bear have the same expression in this picture.

3

2

1

0

Food Jag

I sure hope little girls can survive on "tap tap" (chocolate milk) because that is pretty much the make up of Avery's diet lately.

I have tried many tricks to get her to eat. On this day, she wanted to eat her sandwich under the table. 

She didn't end up eating it. Just little nibbles.

Here, try eating your blueberries behind the curtains.

It's totally frustrating when I make dinner for her and she won't eat it.

She prefers food that comes in shiny,

crinkly

wrappers.

One of the rules of durmabond is you can't get it wet (so no bath or rainbow park), or sweaty (so no going outside at ALL since it's a thousand degrees out there).

For entertainment, I took her grocery shopping with me yesterday. I let her walk beside me instead of riding in the cart. She was so funny, marching around with a bandaid on her nose.

She reached up, took a banana off the shelf, held a quick "banana phone" conversation, and then put it in the cart.

She carried around an avocado for awhile until we walked past the marshmallows. She ditched the avocado and asked me to open the bag, please.

So for the rest of the shopping trip she snacked on multi-colored baby marshmallows.

Poor Avery

We took our first trip to the ER last night.

Dana blessed her baby and then we had dinner at her parents' house. Just as we were getting ready to go home, she fell on the steps up to the door and cut the bridge of her nose.

I am not good at seeing my child bleed. Jimi was at work.

I have butterflies so bad right now thinking about it.

Long story short, Dana drove us to the ER. Brent took care of the two newborn boys while we were away.

Two hours later we were done. Durmabond.

I wish they could durmabond my butterflies shut.

She is recovering just fine. Same old shenanigans. As I was trying to get a good picture of her face, she was climbing on and off the couch.

He is the cutest.

If we had an "anxiety-o-meter" in our house, my level would be higher than Piper's. Just to give you an idea.

I am not opposed to putting my children in bubbles.