30 December 2011

And It's A ...


This morning we had our 20 week ultrasound.  Even though this is our third pregnancy, going in for the ultrasound was really exciting!  Diana, our Ultrasound tech/nurse, was awesome.  She was really thorough and took her time with making all of the measurements and getting some really nice shots of our new baby.

This one is my favorite.  The baby's face is towards the sensor/camera - like he's looking right at you.


 

Yep, you heard me.  His face.  It's a boy!  

And  We.  Are.  THRILLED!


22 December 2011

Saturday Night Live Sketch

A few days ago, I was checking my email and then browsing some different news sites - getting caught up on current events and whatnot.  In my perusal, I found a link to a site that reviewed the latest SNL hosted by Jimmy Fallon.  Now, I have always been a fan of Saturday Night Live.  Sure, there have been years that don't quite measure up to the classics of the late 70s and early 80s... but there are always unexpected gems in every season.  This clip is a new favorite.

It's a sketch promoting a Michael Buble Christmas Duets album... and it is classic.  Jimmy Fallon's take on Sting, Justin Beiber, and especially Russell Brand is so hilarious!  The Kanye West impersonation is great too.  I have already watched it about a dozen times and it still makes me laugh just as hard as the very first time I saw it.

Enjoy!


21 December 2011

How To Be Lovely

In the last couple of weeks, the lyrics to this song have found their way into my head at random moments and I have found it to be just what I need.  It's from the 1957 movie "Funny Face" which stars the inimitable Audrey Hepburn, the amazing Fred Astaire and Kay Thompson.  It's my favorite Audrey Hepburn movie - the Gershwin music, the dancing, the stunning Givenchy fashion... it's just movie perfection!  

Here's "How To Be Lovely" from Funny Face:  Enjoy!




Sometimes life gets hectic or stressful and I lose sight of what's really important.  It's easy to let difficult (but ultimately insignificant) things grow in your perception to become overwhelming obstacles that you cannot overcome.  I've found in my life that when I can maintain an appropriate and more accurate perspective of the trials and difficulties in life that everything is much more manageable and I am filled with an assurance that everything will work out just the way it should.  It might sound like an over-simplification, but this familiar quote from Lou Holtz really is true:

 "Life is ten percent what happens to you 
and ninety percent how you respond to it."  


I saw a sign somewhere recently that put it this way:

"It is not happy people who are thankful.  
It is thankful people who are happy."

The attitude we bring to each and every situation will greatly affect our ability to manage... or not!  This song runs in a similar vein - if you can find the joys in life and focus on them, that joy will radiate through you and uplift those around you.  And, as an added benefit that makes you are more attractive person... one who others will love to be around.

So, how to be lovely?  My favorite bits:
You can't do it with makeup... you don't need dough or a college degree.

The best:
Make sorrow incidental.  
Let joy be monumental!



14 December 2011

Handsome Little Dude

Luke is 2 years and almost 5 months old.  It's hard to believe that he's that old!  He's turning into such a handsome little dude - little by little he's losing the baby-ish look and he's growing into a boy instead!  It's crazy!


A few of Luke's current favorite things:  He loves running around after Audrey, rough-housing with Dad, and singing songs with Mom.  His favorite songs are:  The Itsy Bitsy Spider, Popcorn Popping,  The Wise Man and the Foolish Man, and his most favorite is Three Little Monkeys.  Really, he loves any song that has hand motions that go along with it.  At bedtime, he loves for me to lay my head on his pillow with him and softly sing I Am a Child of God and My Heavenly Father Loves Me.  If I lift my head off the pillow, he gently puts his hand on my cheek and pushes my head back down on the pillow to continue the song.  It's great.  I love that quiet time, just the two of us - looking into each other's eyes and watching his eyelids get heavy.  It's the sweetest part of my day with him.


He loves to laugh and smile - that has always been the case though.  Even as a teeny tiny baby, it was so easy to get him to smile and laugh.  And it never ceases to brighten our days.



He's such a special little dude.  We are so glad that he's part of our family.



12 December 2011

Classic Audrey

For the last 4 years, I've been consistently amazed at the little girl we brought into the world.  Kids really do grow up to fast!  Lately, I've taken note of a few little comments that Audrey's made that I have found too hilarious not to document somewhere... and where better than here on our family blog?!

She really uses her own unique brand of logic and humor and I love it.  I love hearing her thoughts and feelings about different things.  I love seeing more and more into her personality.

The other night, after a particularly trying bath-time, as the kids were having a snack and doing some winding down play, Adam had briefly laid back and put his arm over his eyes.  Audrey asked what was wrong.  He replied that nothing was wrong, only that "Sometimes you kids make me want to jump off a cliff."  Without hesitation, Audrey looked at him and said, "You can't jump off a cliff. You're not a bridge."

How's that for logic?!  I couldn't stop marveling at how quickly she came to that little conclusion.

Then, a couple of weeks ago, Audrey was having a hard time wanting to go to bed, so we let her fall asleep with us, so we could carry her into her room when she was asleep (sometimes we're just too tired for the fight!).  Anyway, it was during a week when Adam was working on call, and before we'd taken her to her bed, but after all of us had fallen asleep, Adam got a call.  As he groggily got dressed, Audrey sat up and was very concerned about him, wondering where he was going and what he'd be doing.  He told her he had to go to work.  She sweetly, but quite authoritatively, said, "Dad, You need to put on your coat so you don't get cold."  He agreed that was a good idea.  Then she said, "And put on your shoes so you don't slip."  He told her that he would.  Then, as he was leaving the room, she had one last bit of instruction:  "Make sure you wear your seat belt, so you'll be safe."

That exchange just killed me - to see such a young thing worried for the well-being and safety of her dad - even as she was not fully awake.  She really loves her daddy.

But not all of her love for Adam is the tender kind.  She's got a little bit of tough love for him too.  The Saturday after Thanksgiving, Adam went to the nearby park to play some flag football with some guys from our neighborhood.  Somehow during the course of the game, Adam dove for the ball, in the process of catching himself from the dive someone ran over his thumb - dislocating it pretty significantly.  Luckily, one of the players is a P.A. who was able to pull the thumb back into place.  But he advised Adam to go home and ice it and then get to a hospital to have it ex-rayed, to make sure nothing was broken.  Audrey was very concerned and really wanted to come to the hospital too.  We asked Grammy to watch Luke while the three of us went to get the ex-ray.  While we were waiting for the results, Adam was lying on a hospital bed.  He was in a lot of pain, but he may have been embellishing the amount of pain just a little bit, maybe looking for some sympathy.  At one point, Audrey asked if he was ok.  He said no, that he was very sick.  She looked at him with exasperation, and said, "Dad, you're not sick. You just hurt your thumb."

And then, yesterday, during sharing time in Primary, Audrey was sitting on my lap - the class I teach sits right next to where her class sits.  The put on a little video depicting Joseph and Mary doing to Bethlehem and having Baby Jesus in the stable.  Audrey was whispering different things that she noticed as we watched:  "Look, she's riding on a donkey!"  "Oooh, sheep!"  Things like that.  When she saw the very pregnant Mary, she said, "Mom, Mary has Baby Jesus in her tummy."  I said, yes, that's true.  Then she looked down at my growing midsection and asked, "Mom, do you have Baby Jesus in your tummy?"  It was really hard not to laugh, but I assured her that, no I wasn't carrying Baby Jesus.  She had an indefinable look on her face - like going from confusion to confirmation of some kind of suspicion.  And then she said, "Yeah.  Mary had Baby Jesus in her tummy and mom has a regular baby in her tummy."  I loved it!


I wanted to include a few recent pictures of her that illustrate a little bit her budding personality.




Keep in mind I did nothing in the way of encouraging her to do anything - this is all her.


I'm not sure who she's channeling here...  Marilyn Monroe, perhaps?


I especially like that she's wearing two different shoes - both sassy in their own right!


She is such a joy to have in our home!


And, we're back to the kissy face pose... she's definitely one of a kind!