Audrey and Her Daddy

 I love watching Chris and Audrey together. He brings out a different side in Audrey that I do not, a very silly side! Chris makes Audrey laugh and giggle more than I do and he thinks up random fun things to do with her. I'm so proud of the father that Chris is to Audrey; I'm so glad God chose him to be Audrey's Daddy. I'm so grateful that she will grow up with a strong Daddy keeping her safe and loved. She will feel secure and confident in herself, knowing who she is through Christ because of the things Chris will show and teach her. I'm so excited to raise up our kids with Chris! He is a wonderful man, husband, and Daddy!

Here are some pictures (many pictures, I even cut out several!) of these two silly ones throughout Audrey's (almost) 2 years of life.  

A few days ago...

Always wrestling around

Doin' what they do

Feeding Daddy some crackers

My personal favorite, because of how it captured the moment and because how shocked I was that Chris let himself get soaking wet!

2nd Father's Day

Always making her giggle

Love this

Silly Gooses

Daddy's turn!

Helping Audrey learn to sit!

He was wrestling her around way back then too!

I've always loved this one.

Chris really wanted Audrey to have her 1st icecream cone!

She how she loves him?!

I remember her giggles that day. So happy!

Daddy won Audrey a pig at the fair.

Nappy time.

1st Father's Day.

A natural Daddy

In their Sunday best.

1st horsey ride!

1st bath, I remember that he wanted to be the one to do it!

I always wanted to get that classic Daddy/baby sleeping picture, pretty sure this was our 1st day home from the hospital

Getting to know each other!

Audrey Joanne and Daddy meeting! Their 1st picture!

When I go get Audrey in the morning she usually says, "Daddy?" I say, "Where is Daddy?" Then she remembers and says, "At work!" When Daddy gets home, Audrey usually brightens up and either goes to see him or starts jabbering, telling him about her day. After supper, Audrey looks at Chris and says, "Belt?" This means she wants to go upstairs and 'wrestle for the belt' with Chris. It's very fun to watch them play!

Thanks for all you do Chris. I love you and Audrey does too!

Audrey's BFFs

Audrey hasn't had any choice in who her friends are, because they are the children of some of my friends. Regardless, she has come to know and really enjoy these friends! Just recently she has started mentioning each by name, randomly throughout her day. Something will make her think of one of her friends and she'll say, "Lukey?" or "Connor?" As if she's asking me if she can go play with them! Some of Audrey's friends were meant to be, because I have been friends with their Mom's for a long time and others have formed just because two ladies became moms around the same time, met, and decided they had a lot in common so they got their kids together! However we all met, Audrey and I truly enjoy getting together with these friends and their wonderful mamas.

*Audrey and Luke get to hang out a few times a month at Luke's house when I go to work in the afternoon! Luke's Daddy and I grew up in the same church, but I have come to know Luke's Mommy through church and MOPS over the years! I love watching these two together. Luke is several years older than Audrey and acts like a big brother to Audrey. He graciously lets Audrey terrorize his bedroom and play with all his toys. He makes sure she is safe, having fun, and taken good care of while she is at his house. For such a little guy, he is keenly aware of Audrey and is so kind to her. Audrey gladly says, "bye-bye" to me when I drop her off at Lukey's house, she can't wait to start playing*

*Emily is only eight days older than Audrey. I met Emily's Mama at my brother's wedding in October of 2009 because she and her husband were the photographers! We started chattin' and found out we were both new moms and had a bunch of things in common. We decided to get our girls together not so long after the wedding and have been doing so since! I love bouncing parenting ideas off Jen and seeing our 'twins' playing together. I always find myself wishing Audrey had a little dose of Emily's calmness (like on car rides!)*

 *David and Sammy Chesney have no choice but to be friends with Audrey, because their mama is my longtime, wonderful friend Kelsey! She and I grew up in church together, but became good friends in college as roomates. It's been fun to do grown-up life together, as we got married and had children around the same time. Audrey adores David and Sammy as well as their parents Kels and Jeff (who are now Audrey's Sunday school teachers!) There have been some jokes thrown around that the boys will have to fight over Audrey someday, haha. They'll be in consecutive grades in school as they grow up. So Kels, someday we'll have a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grader! Or....10th, 11th, and 12th grader, freaky!!!*

 

(Click on me to see better!)

*Caitlin and Connor (or Conna') as Audrey says, are 2 more of Audrey's buddies. They are the sweetest two little ones and Audrey loves to talk about them. Connor is only a few months older than Audrey and they'll be in the same grade in school. She mentions them both at the most random times. They have graced my home with their presences on several occasions! Their mama is a super fun lady (seems weird to say 'lady', but I guess we're too old now to be called girls!) who I met a few years back at church/MOPs. I  love hearing about what Allison is doing with her kids and bouncing ideas off her. She is very encouraging to me as I keep on learning to be a Mom!*

 

*Sweet, precious Zahra is my friend Diana's daughter. I met Diana way back at WSU pre-nursing school, as we had several classes together. We ended up in different nursing schools and parted ways for several years. Later on, I can't remember how, but we discovered we both got nursing jobs at Mayo! And, we both had baby girls! Diana initiated us getting together shorty after Zahra was born and we picked up our friendship were we left off all those years ago! Zahra is a few months younger than Audrey. It's fun to watch the girls together. They used to fail to even acknowledge each other but I have recently caught them being silly and actually 'playing' together! Diana is such a wonderful mom and I've been blessed to also learn from her great ideas in parenting*

I'm so grateful for all of Audrey's friends and their Mamas! It's fun to look back at the pictures and see how they've all grown over the past couple years. I look forward to more years of fun with Audrey's buddies!

Great-Grandma McAlister

I've always loved this picture of my Great-Grandma McAlister. She just looks like such a neat lady, and from what I've heard, she really was a neat lady. Grandma Mac, as she's referred to, died a year before I was born.

Verlene June (Shoden) McAlister

She's my Grandma Joanne's mom and my Dad's grandma. Each weekend up until at least late elementary school (I'm kinda guessing on the time) my Dad spent his weekends at her home. My grandparents packed up my dad, uncle Brad, and aunt Susan and drove over to Austin, MN each and every Friday and spent two nights with Grandpa and Grandma Mac. Whenever my Dad or aunt and uncle speak about that time of their lives, they seem to have nothing but fond memories.

This is my favorite memory that my dad tells: My dad was the middle child, and for some reason, every Saturday morning at his grandma Mac's house, he was the first one up. I think he liked being up first because he could choose his favorite cartoons to watch. He tried to tip-toe around the house to the TV room, being as quiet as he could so no one would hear him and wake up. But sure enough, a few minutes after he'd settled down to watch cartoons, he could hear his Grandma making him toast in the kitchen. I picture her lying in bed as a big smile spreads over her face when she hears my Dad trying so hard to be quiet. Being the loving Grandma that she was, she couldn't resist making breakfast for little Rick.

I hear that my Grandma was kind and loving, with a quiet-gentle heart. She didn't have anything bad to say and didn't complain. My mom didn't get to know her for too long, as she died a few years into my parents marriage, but even she has all nice things to say about Grandma Mac. It was a sad sad day when she died, too young, in her 60s.

I can tell that my Grandma Joanne still misses her Mom a lot. Sometimes she'll tear up and talk about how much her mother would have loved all of her great-grandchildren, and now even Audrey, that she never got to meet.

I'm not sure why it is, but I've always felt that we'd be close. Like if I had gotten to meet her and spend time with her, that we'd get along and have a lot in common. I feel like I'd love to be around her. I wish I could have met her.

Whenever I've been asked who I'd like to see in heaven, besides God of course, I say, "Grandma Mac". I'm not totally sure how heaven will be, but I really hope that I will get to meet her and that she will be this kindred spirit that I feel she is to me.

Despite wishing I could still have my Grandma Mac, I am anything from lacking in the Grandma department. I have grown up with the two most wonderful Grandmas a person could ever have: Grandma Mary and Grandma Joanne. They are the perfect pictures of a Grandma: loving, selfless, caring, giving, hospitable, generous, fun, goofy, and the list goes on. They're the backbones of our families, keeping us all together by opening their homes to us and making us feel welcome :) I love you both! And how lucky am I that my Grandmas are able to be a big part of my daughter's life as well :) Also, now my very own mother is starting a new generation of Grandmother-ness and she, of course, is fabulous. Hmm...I'm getting excited to be a grandma now, haha, ok I'll wait for a while.

Joanne Inez (McAlister) Hemmer

Mary Ilene (Thomas) Erickson

Thank God for Grandmas here and in heaven.

One to Remember

It feels so good to be home! I just finished my weekend at work. 8 hours on Friday, 14 hours on Saturday, and 12 more hours today, Sunday. It's exhausting and tiring, but it feels like a job well done and now it's time to go back to real life!

This weekend was nuts, we were so busy, getting admissions left and right. I'm so glad I'm not a charge nurse having to organize all the craziness.

Saturday was a day I'll never ever forget. About 1/2 way through my shift I met a patient who found out he need to have a somewhat urgent, unexpected surgery. I spent a few hours with him and his wife and sat nervously with them as they heard the risks of the surgery and what to expect. I imagined how scary it would be to start off your day like any other day and then a few hours later finding yourself waving goodbye to your husband as he's rolled away in stretcher down to the operating room. I helped bring this patient down to the OR and as he was being wheeled in the room, he was still telling jokes. As I walked away I remember thinking that he was a perfect patient: nice, funny, cooperative, positive....

A few short hours later I got a call that things were going very poorly in the OR and through a rare and unexpected sequence of events, my patient was most likely not going to live. My heart dropped to the floor and pounded in my chest for the next hour as I waited to hear more news.

As the clock hit 7pm and my shift was over, I got a call that I needed to bring the patient's wife down to the OR area to speak with the surgeon. I had somewhat secretly hoped this would occur after I went home, but that was not the case. I really did not know how I was going to tell this woman that we needed to travel down to the OR because her husband was dying. The next few hours were rather surreal as she got the worst, most unimaginable news of her life. She was supposed to see her husband in a few hours and now she would have to say goodbye.

We learn about death in school and are given tips on how to act/what to say, but when it actually happens, it's hardly something you can prepare for. Mostly, I just sat next to her, for 2 hours, holding her up and listening to her cry.

How unreal to lose your spouse. I cannot imagine the pain. And after all that, she looked at me and said, "I'm so sorry you're having to go through this, this must be the worst day you've ever had a work, but I'm so glad you're here." The worst day of work for me? Well....yeh, but wow, I can't believe she was even able to think about anything beyond her own pain.

Dealing with a patient's sudden and unexpected death was an experience I didn't really want under my belt, but I do feel like next time, I won't be so afraid. I got home 2 hours late that night.

I always say a prayer before work that God won't give me anything I can't handle. That night I was praying I'd get to go home before that patient died; I told God I couldn't handle telling that wife what had happened. But I guess God decided that it needed to be me and that with Him, I could handle it.

We usually don't meet our patients before they go to the OR, so if they don't make it through surgery, it's like hearing a sad story that has nothing to do with you. But it's completely different when it's someone you've met and started the process with. Sigh.... I hope it never happens again.

A Spontaneous Little Trip

When you live in the frigid, cold state of MN, it gets a bit challenging to think of things to do to fill the time with! It gets even harder when you have a little one. Once we've played with every toy, danced to music, read books, colored, watched Elmo videos on You Tube, it's time to get out of the house! I dunno who needs it more (probably Chris and I), but I can't sit inside all day. We covered the normal stuff today; we went out for lunch, visited Walmart, and of course, walked around the mall. As I wondered what we would do to fill our evening time, Chris declared that he had a craving for Dairy Queen! If you know my husband, you know he's not a big dessert guy. He eats sensibly and doesn't usually have many cravings. So, I was delightfully surprised when he suggested we drive to Zumbrota after supper to have DQ! It's nice to have a plan. So, after supper, we set up Audrey's DVD player in the car and took off. It's only a 20 minute drive (if even), but she was pretty happy to watch Elmo and Chris and I got to chit-chat in peace the whole way there and back! We thought it would be fun to let Audrey have her own treat. Luckily we discovered that DQ has 'mini' blizzards, so Audrey got a oreo one all to herself. She was such a good girl the whole time and seemed to like her treat. However, once she noticed her Daddy's 1/2 eaten cone, she really wanted that! (she loves cones). So Chris  and Audrey switched treats. At one point on the drive home I was watching Audrey watch Elmo. She saw me looking at her and gave me a tiny polite smile but then waved and said, 'bye-bye' to me, as if to say, "I love you Mama, but please turn around so I can enjoy my Elmo DVD!" I thought that was pretty amusing. It was a fun evening and whole day with all three of us together. I love Saturdays! I even got to go shop by myself during Audrey's nap! And the day ends with Audrey tucked in bed, Chris playing Playstation, cookies in the oven, and me relaxin'. Here's a couple pictures from this evening :)

20 Months!

It's so hard to believe we've had our little Audrey Joanne for 20 months! Looking back at pictures from those first few months, it's seriously somewhat difficult to remember that phase of life. People say it 'flies by' and while it doesn't feel fast when you're in the midst of it, it truly does pass so quickly. It's almost sad to realize how much I've already forgotten. Now she's 20 months old and doing something new everyday

Here is a list of things Audrey is up to these days....

She loves to color with her crayons while sitting at her new big girl desk from Grandpa and Grandma Hemmer.


She loves to play with her pretend jewelry.


She also loves to play with her new kitchen (to sum it up, she loves all her new toys!)


She loves playing/wrestling around with her Daddy.


Her handmade sled from Grandpa Gale has been quite a hit!


She loves to listen to her music in the car and in her room. She 'sings' along to Jesus Loves Me and currently loves Zaccheaus and This Little Light of Mine.

She know exactly what she wants to do and she's not afraid to try to figure out how to get it. My Dad calls her the 'master manipulator'. For instance, she says, "Snack...yes!" or "Elmo....yes!" Before anyone gets a chance to say no, she says yes. She's not much for playing alone or getting super absorbed in any one activity. She's constantly on the move and seems to always be thinking of what to do next. I wish she would happily play without me a little more, but I suppose I'll miss that when she's older. It's a challenge to teach her to obey, she's so strong-willed. However, most of the time, she is a very very good and sweet girl.

She is very polite. For some reason, please and thank-you, were very easy to teach.

She LOVES books.

She is saying new words everyday now. Today she said "man" "horse" and "orange" for the first time! She does some signing still, but says much more than she signs. It's getting kind of fun to try to figure out what she's trying to communicate to me. Mostly I know all her words. It took me a few minutes to figure out "ban-ya" She used to say "ba" for banana, now it's apparently a bit more sophisticated.

When I say, "A..." Audrey says, "B.....C!" And when I say, "One..." She says, "Two!"

When I write out her name, she say, "Au-dee!" and points to herself :)

She's growing out of her 24mo clothes and now has some toddler sizes!

She's 29lbs and I think like 33 inches (at 18months)

Well....I think I'll leave it at that!

It's been a joy watching this little person take shape, we love her so much! Here's a few more pictures from December.

Christmas morning

Cookies on the face

The one and only time Audrey actually willingly posed for the camera and was in a very silly mood!

Looking at Grandma's tree.

My pretty girl on Christmas Day

I almost deleted this because the randomness is almost too much to bear....

I never know what to blog about anymore. I used to blog all the time, like daily, when I was in college. Now, it's like I have no clue what to say. Maybe it's because there's so much going on my head, but not a lot of variety going on in the day to day living. And, since I don't to blab about my "feelings" and the day to day is a little uninteresting, I guess that's why I don't blog.

But ok, I'll try anyways. This blog has no theme (everyone's blog entries seem to have themes, so I feel pressured to come up with a good theme).

I just got home from work. I work straight evening shifts (minus the weekends) and I get off around 11:30pm. Chris is working a lot of early early shifts now, so he's in bed by 10p. On a normal night now, I find myself up alone, for hours at night. Usually, this would be fun. However, now all my favorite shows, House, Biggest Loser, TLC shows, are all on a break or done for a season, so there's nothing on TV to watch. I'm too tired to be productive and there's only so much time I can spend on facebook. So, this is the reason I am resorting to blogging, because I'm not ready for bed and there's nothing else to do!

I am beyond excitied for Christmas, yet I almost don't want it to come because as soon as it starts, it's over and regular life (and a 48 work week) begin again and the excitement is over. I thought this way as a kid too (minus the work week, but add in going back to school). I'm excited for myself, but I'm more excited to see Audrey experience Christmas. She was 8 months last year, so she'll be way more into it this year, or so I would imagine. I'm excited to see her open presents and peek in stockings and just interact with her aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents. It's a joy to watch other people enjoy Audrey. I love being able to share her with family. She also loves being with her extended family.

Christams Eve is the Hemmer Christmas. We go to Grandma Hemmer's house every Xmas Eve (minus a few random 'let's try someone else's house' years) This year will be slightly bitter-sweet, although I'll try to focus on the good, because my cousins won't be there :( They're breaking the mold and traveling to Florida to be with their other side of the family. Also, my brother may not be there due to his wife's grandfather's funeral earlier that day :( Poor Jenny. But we will still have fun!

Christmas morning will be my little family of three. I'm curious to see how Audrey will react to the pile of presents that'll show up in the morning. I bet she'll say, "wooooow" I'm torn between enjoying the moment for all it's worth and/or video taping. Maybe a little of both. I look forward to us all plopping on the floor in our jammies, taking our time, and opening our gifts to each other. I grew up with a special Christmas breakfast, but my husband just wants cereal, everyday, no exceptions, so I guess I get to give myself a break and make nothing cool for xmas morning. Although....maybe Audrey will appreciate that someday, so maybe I'll make something special for her and I, like french toast, my fav.

Later on, we'll go to the Erickson side Christmas. This is at my Grandma Erickson's house. This is one large clan, but not too large. My Grandparents have 4 kids plus spouses and between them there are 10 grandkids plus 3 spouses and a finace, one great grandkid! It's my favorite day of the whole year! We eat, open gifts and then just hang out and eat too many cheese and crackers. Fun fun, I hope it doesn't go too fast!

Then finally, a new tradition has emerged. On Christmas night we go to my parents house to have a little time with my parents, brothers, sis in law, and us. It is what used to be Christmas morning as a child, but now has become Christmas night with 2 spouses and a baby added! This is such a nice time too, just us, I can't wait!!!

Ok, well, that's enough about Christmas I suppose.

What else.....
Audrey is getting smarter and smarter. She's doing new things everyday and finding new ways to make us laugh. She says a few two-word phrases now. For example, she'll put a blanket over my head and say, "Mama go?" or when I ask her where Daddy is she'll say, "at work". She's also a feisty little girl. She loves to say no when we say yes. But to her credit, she does obey quite often too. She's more likely to get in crazy feisty moods when out in public...
We love her so much and it's a joy watching her grow, it's quite amazing watching a human life progress. The mind is so amazing. The things she picks up on and learns without much help from us is incredible. That little 20 month old sure know what she likes and what she wants and doesn't want.

She loves: her family, going to Target to see the babies in the baby aisle, running around the mall, going to see her friend Luke (who's mommy Jen watches Audrey for us several times a month), "playing with the kids", I call it, at church, MOPs, and at the gym, eating snow, taking baths, watching sign videos, watching short Elmo videos on you tube (haha, not sure how that started), wrestling with her daddy, coloring (or rather telling me what to draw for her), having snacks, reading books, looking through photo albums, saying 'bye' and pretending to leave by hiding behind things, bananas, yogurt, drinking from a straw, going to Barnes and Noble, and so on.....

Well, if you're still reading, congratulations. I guess I'll go off to bed now. Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas! I'm beyond grateful that God sent his son to earth as a baby so he could grow up and save my life. I hope you understand that too :)

~Brianna