What a month

We've hit the fun month of February and have so much we're looking forward to that I can't hardly remember what we did in January. . . wait, yes I do. . . next to nothing since we were sick for most of it. :)

The girls and I spent a lot of time at home and thanks to God's grace of a mild winter so far, we were able to get out for walks even during the fevers, stomach bug, ear infections, cold viruses and sinus infections. Luckily I only go the virus for a couple of weeks of it but poor Brad, he got it all right along with the girls! Seriously, it was quite a bummer of a month. We did, however, find some creative ways to keep entertained. You'll see some of the pictures below but here's a recap:

Addy and I made gingerbread cookies (this shouldn't seem like a big deal but baking is such a non-essential that it just doesn't happen in our house unless Brad does it!). . . I decided to let go of some control and let Addy make her own cookies. I figured I'd either have to sweep up a few crumbs or a bunch. So I let her go at it. :) Are you proud of me?

Addy started a gymnastics class for 2 year olds. Talk about herding cats! Addy loves it and after just 2 classes she's already doing some of the things she's learned at home. Hopefully it will help her coordination. :)

We built Addy's first snowman that unfortunately someone rolled down our grass hill not long after we made it. Addy was so bummed. :(

The biggest news on Addy is what is coming up this weekend. . . drum roll please. . . potty training! We've been doing a little of it but we're doing boot camp starting Friday morning. We're doing the Potty Training 1-2-3 method where we put emphasis on staying 'clean and dry' by using the potty. We've gotten all our supplies and in order to give Addy some sense of 'Feb 10th is the day we have our potty party,' we made a paper chain that she gets to tear a link off each day until the big day. Brad's even staying home from work to help with Elsie so I can be more focused on Addy. She is so excited (especially when she tasted the chocolate covered raisins and nutter butter cookies she gets as a treat for staying clean and dry!). She keeps wanting to put her training pants, pull ups and big girl underwear on every time she sees them. Yes, she's motivated and ready. February 10th is just the goal I set for myself to get ready for the change! :)

Elsie's been working on a lot of things: getting new teeth (she now has 4 and 2 more are just about to peek through), starting to sign "all done," trying to pull up on things(note the bruises on her forehead when she tried to pull up on the toy shelf and fell over onto it!), learning all sorts of new faces like 'shy face' where she puts her chin to her chest with a big smile on her face when someone she loves talks to her. Or, she does 'foreheads' by putting her forehead to someone else's forehead that she loves. She's started giving slobbery kisses and just last night she surprised us by picking up a little puff snack and putting it into her mouth like it was the easiest thing ever. I was sure she dropped it because she did it so fast. Just a couple of weeks ago she didn't have the coordination for that. She is changing so fast and she is just the happiest baby ever. I can't believe she is 9 1/2 months old already.

Addy continues to love on her baby sister so well. She calls her 'sweet girl' and is always ready to help feed her and give her toys. The have so much fun together.

Brad and I have spent most of our time trying to stay up with all the changes our girls bring to the table. But, we have enjoyed our weekly date nights and we even got to go see the Mission Impossible IMAX movie a few weeks ago. I will say, we spent the first few minutes feeling really old because it was too loud, too fast and way to big! :) Seriously, we could hardly follow the action. I guess it has been too many years since we've seen a movie on the big screen. IMAX might have been a bit ambitious. By the end I think our senses had adjusted and we enjoyed the flick.

I mentioned that the month of February is a big one and that's because we have birthdays and Valentine's day to celebrate, potty training to do, Grandma Bursch is coming to visit and Brad has a business trip. And that's just the out of the ordinary stuff. Plus, we've got to pack that all into just 3 weeks. I guess we're getting to make up for the very low key month of January.

We just hope we can all stay healthy to enjoy our plans. . .

Happy New Year

We've been busy around here, as I'm sure you have, with celebrating Christmas and starting a new year. We spent Christmas in New Mexico and enjoyed our time with family. The girls traveled well (as we drove 10 hours down and 12 hours back) especially considering we only spent 4 days in NM.

We spent time with my Mom's sister, Zana, and my Grandpa Hulsbos a few days before Christmas and then with my Dad's family Christmas Eve and Christmas day. We stayed with Mom, Dad and Jenny at my Aunt and Uncle's house (even though they spent Christmas in VA). I think we spent most of our time opening presents and eating. :) Addy had a ball and Elsie loved getting so much attention from everyone.

Since we've been home we've tried to get back in the swing of regular life. We've welcomed the new year with vomit, strep and ear infections already so we figure we ought to be good and healthy for the rest of 2012.

Some news on the girls. . . Elsie started crawling Friday and got her first top tooth last week. She is such a happy baby and she loves playing with her sister and 'touching foreheads' with those she loves. She's learning 'no pass' to keep her on the rug or a blanket and she's learning 'inside voice.' That kid has quite a scream!

Addy is quite a little person these days. She is very helpful with Elsie and is enjoying learning to cook. She also surprised us last week by telling us she had to go to the bathroom during dinner with some friends. When I took her, not knowing what to expect, sure enough, she went to the bathroom. She's gone a few other times since then and seems to be starting to get it figured out. She's talking constantly these days so we're working on listening. :) She'll ask the same question 62 times over and over without taking a breath let alone waiting to hear the answer to the question. I'm working on not losing my cool over it. . . I think it's how Brad feels when he talks to me sometimes. :)

Brad and I are working on getting a little bit of a life back these days. We've committed to a weekly date night and we're spending Saturday mornings taking turns who watches the girls so we can each get some alone time out of the house to do something we WANT to do, not just something we have to do. So far so good. . .

Here's a video of the last month or so.
Enjoy!

Adventures. . . big and small

We meant to post this before we left town for Christmas. . . oh well.

The several weeks have been full. Full of travel, full of activities, full of family and full of . . . well, everything else that goes along with raising 2 young girls.

Early November brought the death of my grandpa, Papo Bursch. He turned 90 in September and decided shortly after that he was finished with his worn out body here on earth. He was a wonderful man and it's hard to imagine we're about to celebrate Christmas in NM without him. Oh the memories of him dressing up as Santa for all the great-grandkids. I'm only sorry my girls won't remember him. I'm grateful that he's with the Lord in glory.

After spending a week in NM with family, we ended up driving straight to Gunnison to celebrate Thanksgiving with Mom, Dad, Jenny, Aunti Zana, Great Aunt Evie and Grandpa Hulsbos. We had a great time in the Colorado sunshine and while it was a long 2 weeks away from home, it was good to be with family.

(yeah. . . you can ask Brad about why the Slease family is wearing hats. . . )

The girls with their Great Grandpa Hulsbos.

The day after we returned to UT from Thanksgiving, Brad flew to Houston for a week of work. He had a great time and we had a major windstorm that knocked out the power in 1/2 our house for 2 1/2 days. :) Oh yeah, below freezing outside and everything. Several houses on our block had 1/2 power and so luckily we could run space heaters (since of course the 1/2 that was out was the fridge, freezer, furnace, and various strange lights throughout the house). What an adventure. . . or a nightmare. At any given moment it felt like one of the two.

We did get out of the house for some beginning Christmas celebration stuff. Primary Children's Hospital does a fundraiser each year where people donate decorated Christmas trees, gingerbread houses, wreathes, quilts, playhouses, etc. to be auctioned off to donate the money to the hospital. We went to see the trees this year and WOW. Here's the girls with the Snoopy tree.

After Brad returned from his week in Houston, he took off 2 days later for a week in Southern California. Yeah, rough life for him. He had lunch in Malibu, slept in a nice hotel room and went to Wood Ranch BBQ. We didn't do much while he was gone except get ready for Christmas and do 'projects' for Addy's school. It actually was a relaxing week and I had a lot of friends reach out to us to keep us company with Brad gone.

Now we're preparing to celebrate Christmas while trying to maintain the true meaning of Christmas in our mindset. We've done a lot of talking with Addy about Jesus' birth and we've also tried to explain cultural Christmas traditions (like Santa) after people asking her what she wanted Santa to bring her for Christmas. All she could offer people as an answer was a blank/bewildered stare so we thought we might want to explain the Santa thing. Now she wants to meet Santa. Oh well, trying to teach history to a 2 year old might be a bit deep.

Anyway, we've made yummy Grama Juice Christmas cookies, visited Christmas street to see the lights (our neighbors across the street have a better display than all of Christmas Street put together. . . oh yeah, the lights are coordinated to music!), and we've had a few Christmas gatherings. It has been a blessing to have Brad home this last week and to be together as a family again in preparation for Christmas.

We hope your family has a very Blessed Christmas as you recall the good news the angels proclaimed to the shephers "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will bring great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord." (Luke 2: 10b-11) We know this news has brought great joy to us and we pray it will bring great joy to you this Christmas.

Fall Fun!

We've had a fun few weeks full of fall fun. Halloween was lots of fun with our little ladybugs and we've kept busy with crafts, baking, canning and outings. Here's a little slide show of the last few weeks.

Elsie has started sitting up pretty well now and she has her two bottom teeth peeking through her gums. She's a pretty good sport about trying new foods but she is giving me a run for my money with blowing raspberries of food at me. We're working on 'not talking with your mouth full' with both girls. :)

We hope you are enjoying fall. . . or maybe it's turned winter where you are. It's beginning to feel like winter here. Feel free to pass on any ideas about how to survive winter with 2 active little ones.

Oh the girls God has given us

Sisters! We are so blessed that they really do love each other. I think Addy still doesn't realize Elsie is her own person and not just a toy I brought home for her to play with. Things could get interesting when Elsie starts to disagree with Addy. We'll start praying about that now.

Well, I think we're officially on our way to winter. We pulled out all the hats, coats and gloves and now Addy has a whole new toy basket to play with. Unlike last year she can put on her gloves and hat herself so it's dress-up time all the time!

Just in time for the cold winter I got a new bike. Hmm. Actually, Brad 'gave' me a new bike when I got my master's degree (6 years ago!) but we never actually got it. I just always felt like the bike I've had since I was 12 still worked so why get something new. Well, after a few frustrating weekends of trying to get out for a family bike ride and my bike failing to function, we upgraded me. I've ridden 3 times since we got it on Saturday and yesterday I even pulled the girls in the trailer. 50 extra pounds is a killer for someone who hasn't really exercised since being 9 months prego and swimming 2x a week (if that even counts as exercise!). It was really cold but the girls were bundled and I was sweating plenty to get up the itty bitty hill to the park. Hopefully we'll be able to bundle and ride even through the winter.

We dedicated Elsie Mae to the Lord at church on Sunday and celebrated by having Uncle Scott, Aunt Deb and Cousin Matt over for steaks after. They brought a cake and Addy really wanted to put candles on it so.

. . we did and we sang Happy Birthday to Matt & Addy. Elsie was sleeping so she didn't mind. :)

Yes, that is a big, pink bow on Elsie Mae AND she is wearing shiny shoes! I'm getting so much better with accessories. :) At least for the girls. Thank you Grandpa Hulsbos for the pretty dress for Addy!

Elsie is working on sitting up and does pretty good. She doesn't even mind face plants because usually she's trying to get to a toy out of her reach anyway.

This is a new one for us. Elsie likes to try to reach for things on the table (yes, her bouncy seat is on the table) when she's in her seat so she sticks her head through the toy bar to be able to reach further. She often gets stuck and can't get back. This was one such time. :)

Elsie had her 6 month check up today and she weighs 15lbs 3 oz (35%)and is 26.8 inches tall (90%) and her head is 16 inches around. She's growing like a week and is changing so fast!

What?!

Here's an update on our super happy baby. . .

Elsie threw us a look during the last few weeks. I'm still recovering. Once you get used to a baby sleeping well, any night waking feels next to death with the dread that she might be picking up a bad habit. Well, for Elsie, it was nothing but hunger but man, she nearly killed me! Elsie started waking up several times a night and talking a while but then falling back asleep. As a mom, I spent that time awake listening intently to her noises to make sure she was ok. Brad? He slept through all of it. Then, late last week she started crying when she woke up. We did all the checks (dirty diaper? no. wedged in the corner? no. too much daytime sleep? maybe.) one thing was sure though, she was hungry. How did I figure it out?

When I picked her up to check her. . . she about sucked my face off. I'm not baby whisperer but that one was clear. So, I started feeding her at crazy hours when she woke up crying and we started making rice cereal for her. (I love that I know how to make all the baby food so that it's second nature to me! Babies really are easier the second time around.) Elsie's been reaching for food and smacking her lips when we eat so I figured she'd love starting food for herself. Well. . . Here's Elsie's first bite. . .
She wasn't so sure. But, if you remember Addy's faces. . .

Now Addy will eat anything so long as we tell her it's ok to eat. Brad likes to take this a little far. . . smoked oysters, greek olives, wasabi peas. . . just to get a reaction. She'll try anything. The only things she really doesn't like (and you do get a pretty funny reaction when she does eat it) are eggs and zucchini squash. Last night we had fried rice and spring rolls and she asked for more crabs (they were shrimp) and more dip (spicy peanut sauce) to go on her bowl. She kept telling me it was a bit spicy but she just drank more milk and kept going.
Here's Addy with her spicy asian cuisine.

Here's Addy making binoculars to watch the birds in the neighborhood that God made on the 5th day of creation (our Bible story right now for her preschool stuff).
Finished product. We did go bird watching before lunch today but I think most of birds have headed south. Oh well. We'll go visit the ducks at the park to see birds on Friday and the fish at the aquarium tomorrow to see the fish God created on Day 5. Both of which were Addy's ideas for field trips. :)

These girls are so much fun! What a blessing!

Beautiful Fall Colors

Seriously, where do we live?! Last week we had our first snow of the year. Have we even had fall yet? Actually, I think this week could count as fall. It's been beautiful. But last week. . . rain, snow and bone chilling cold. So, we did some bundling and headed outdoors. We are still paying for it though. . . the girls have colds and even Brad is coming down with something now. Is that just an old wives' tale?

OK, side note about that hat Elsie is wearing. . . I had her propped up on the couch when I was helping Addy get ready to outside and she managed to twirl the hat around so that the flower over her ear ended up over her nose. I just died laughing at the poor kid with her eyes covered and a big blue flower over her nose. If only I had had a picture of that!

We recently returned from a week in Gunnison where we experienced brilliant Colorado sunshine, beautiful fall colors, fun outings and adventures and great visits with some old friends from Colorado, Brad's parents and my parents. We packed in the fun and are still recovering from it! Below is a slide show of photos. There are a few tree pictures. . . but really, it was so beautiful!





Addy is enjoying being '2' and we are having fun doing a home school preschool curriculum a friend told me about. We're doing art projects together, learning songs and Bible stories and practicing her manners and fine and gross motor skills. It is so great to have meaningful and purposeful activities to do together. I'm sure this will be a lifesaver this winter when we're stuck inside. (http://www.abcjesuslovesme.com/ for the free online curriculum for 2 - 4 year olds)

Elsie is Addy's #1 fan and loves to play with her. She's rolling over quite proficiently now and chews on everything she can get her hands on. She's a bear to nurse because she's so easily distracted and really just wants to see everything that is going on around her. Elsie is working on sitting up on her own but her favorite thing is to 'jump' up and down while you hold her under the arms. She loves music and if she's crying, she stops immediately and gets a huge grin if someone starts singing. If there are hand motions or instruments involved, even better. Elsie loves being in her exersaucer for Bible story time using the flannel board with Addy and she jumps up and down and squeals during our songs. Since she's almost 6 months old, I think we'll start rice cereal with her this weekend. I froze a batch of cereal for her this morning so more on that to come.

Brad and I have had the opportunity to get involved in a Bible study with some friends from church and we're enjoying doing that together. We're studying 1 Corinthians and we've had some great conversations so far. We're also starting to feel a little more capable of managing life with 2 small ones and so we're working on getting back in the groove of an organized life.

We hope fall is treating your family well!