NO TIME!

In an effort to preserve this little minute in time in Audrey's life while also preserving my sanity this post will serve as documentation for my daughter's incredible cuteness in the verbal sense, while also being bullet-ed and brief because I'm tired!

1. My mom had eye surgery (to repair a hole in her retina).  To protect the surgery spot they place an air bubble in the eye. Until that bubble goes away my mom was limited to being in the house, no working, no visiting grand babies, and no fun.  The bubble takes over a week to go away and after a week I called mom to get a daily bubble check.  On the day it disappeared, here is the conversation:

Mom: MY BUBBLE IS GONE!
Me:  YOUR BUBBLE IS GONE!
Audrey:  (said with a sad tone and sad face) My bubbles are all gone too :(

2. I was over come with joy the other morning when Audrey wrapped her arms around my neck and said "Mommy, you're my best friend."  The moment was short lived because she then turned to Tober, grabbed his neck and said "Tober, your my best friend".  Now, only Tober gets the love as her "best friend, forever."

3. Instead of saying I love you, Audrey says "I love you, too"  Even if she says it first.

4. In an effort to be potty trained we have begun bribing Audrey with m&ms.  This plan has backfired because she has learned the art of touching the potty chair for a millisecond (literally, I cannot reenact it as quickly with my old cracking bones), walking bare butt into the kitchen and helping herself to her treat. 

5.Audrey has learned to sing, and at the same time has never spoken in a hushed tone in her life.  Put these two together and you get a very loud mashup of Itsy-Bitsy-Black-Sheep-ABC-Rudolph-Twinkle-Star.  That is, until you ask her to sing for someone.  Then she says "I'm shy".

6.  Speaking of shy, we went to dinner and on our way out a busser was leaning over a table wiping away the food.  Audrey walked right up and slapped the back of his shin and toddled right out the door.

7. Also, speaking of shy, Audrey has taken to correcting other behaviors she deems inappropriate in public.  Take the lady looking at a sweater at J. Crew.  "NO LADY!  NO TOUCHING!".  Or the little girl picking a tooth brush.  "NO GIRL! NO TOUCHIN' MY BRUSHES!" or the kid at the restaurant "NO BOY! NO SITTING DOWN" followed quickly by "I'm shy..."

8. Scott and I went on our first overnight date away from Audrey.  She stayed with Grandma and Grandpa in Colorado Springs.  When we got home she was downstairs "resting" but all we heard was "I'M AWAKE I'M AWAKE I'M AWAKE I'M AWAKE" coming from the basement.

9.  Audrey wants to have nothing to do with Scott until it's time for bed.  He can't get her dressed in the morning without a complete melt down.  He can't pour her milk.  He can't say hello to her when he gets home from work.  He can't lift her into or out of the car seat.  But, as soon as the clock strikes 7:20 and bedtime begins, it's all about daddy.  "Daddy read books.  Daddy do milk.  Daddy brush (teeth).  Daddy rock you".  She has learned the art of manipulation - and it serves her well to have the softy of the family do bedtime - lasts longer and has a lot more rough-housing involved...

Valentines is not for WIMPS!

It's conference week at school folks.  Need I say more?

This weekend Audrey and I had our first Mother-Daughter meltdown moment of awesomeness.

All over Scott's home made Valentine.

Scott loves the idea of making Valentines from the heart, which is all fine and good and has meant a lot over the years but this year I was a little too ambitious for my own good.

I found the most adorable picture on Pinterest (of course) of a little girl holding an XOXO banner.  This little girl is NOT two years old I have determined because no parent of a two-year-old could get such a fabulous shot.  I have deemed it impossible.

Let me start this story by saying Audrey has found a new bestie - TIME OUT.  She visits time out often over simple things like wearing socks, a jacket, or trying to throw her potty chair around the bathroom.  Let me also say I have read the parenting chapter on giving kids choices so that any option is okay in the end.

Me:  Audrey, do you want to wear pink socks or purple socks?
Audrey: NO SOCKS (throws socks, runs away, makes loud and exasperating sounds).

Who was I kidding, thinking I could get her to hold a sign and stand in one spot so I could take her picture.

The optimist inside got the better of me.

Here's how it went down.

Me: Audrey, please hold this sign so I can take your picture for daddy.
Audrey: NO! (exasperating loud noises).
Me: Audrey, you will be in time out until you decide you can hold this sign.  You can decide where you hold it, but you will need to hold the sign so I can take your picture.

Timeout....

Audrey: I'm ready to hold the sign - gets up, runs to toys and ignores sign.
Me: Audrey, you said you were ready to hold the sign.
Audrey :NO! (exasperating loud noises)

Timeout...

I'm not kidding when I say this went on for 30 min.  Along the way I may have sharpened my tone a bit but that did not change the end result.  Timeout.  I also must confess I realized, about the 4th timeout, that this was the most ridiculous argument I could have chosen for the day.  When they say pick your battles, this is probably not one they were thinking of.  The rational woman inside of me said "Let her win.  This isn't worth it" but the teacher and stubborn mommy in me knew if I gave in, then every timeout would turn into a 30 min. battle and we don't have time for that in the morning with socks AND a jacket (pray for summer weather...SOON.... for my sanity!)

So, instead, we found middle ground.  I hung the banner above her, while in timeout, and took her picture.

Happy Valentines to Scotty!

  

Pink Party!

As most of you know the past few weeks have been quite eventful.  We had my grandfather's memorial, my step-dad is recovering from a heart attack (and doing QUITE WELL thank heavens) and Luke broke his arm in a blaze of glory attempting a dunk in his varsity basketball game (surprise!  You readers didn't know that one yet!).  In the midst of all of this we (it was definitely a group effort) pulled off a Pink Party to celebrate Audrey's second birthday.

Our Pink Party Family

I've posted about a million pictures of the attendees on Facebook.  This post is dedicated to all things pink that made the party so much fun! 

The theme came about last fall when I made some pink garland for a friends baby shower.  I saw an idea on Pinterest, played around with the sewing machine and set to work creating garland of all different colors of pink circles.  Even thought the theme was pink I also LOVE the color of an ocean-blue, and because Audrey is still small her friends are really my friends, and since she technically almost stole my birthday I make the final decisions and decided the theme would be pink AND a little ocean blue for good measure :)
The garland turned out beautifully, especially when professionally photographed :)

Pink Garland

Next I set to work planning a pink menu.  I knew I wanted rice crispy treats but then went out on the search for pink snacks to add into the mix.  We found berries, gum balls, m&ms, and made some cupcakes for good measure (thanks Valentines Day, for also choosing to color coordinate your colors with my birthday party plans!).  I was going to make some cake balls and had big plans for what they were going to look like but in the end, these were the first and really only thing to be cut.  My mom and I were able to knock out the rest on a Saturday as Bob was resting at home after a really long few days.  It gave my mom and I something to focus on besides worrying, and I'm actually really thankful for the tasty diversion.

*A Side Note.  I've learned I'm 100% a stress eater.  To prove this revelation, I can attest that I was left alone with a bag of blue icing.  Once I had decorated the cupcakes I proceeded to sit on the couch and squeeze and squeeze and squeeze the icing into my mouth until I was sick.  It was the best tasting icing and was well worth the stomach ache later in the evening





                         


 
  Audrey's favorite food in the world right now is M&M's.  Lucky for us we have photographic evidence that her hand, in fact, was caught in the candy jar.  We had the table set up a few minutes before the guests arrived and Audrey could be found happily perched beside the snacks in a very precarious position...


The final touch to the Pink Party was the pink birthday cake.  I saw an idea (again, thanks PINTEREST!) where the icing was piped in swirls all around the cake.  My step mom had a great recipe for a stiffer icing and it worked great!  My mom and I baked a vanilla cake, dyed pink of course, and mixed the thick icing.  I set to work making swirl after swirl and was really impressed with the final result!  This is the same icing that we made later, that I piped directly into my mouth, for the record, so it not only decorated well but tasted delicious! 

In the end the best part of the Pink Party was having my family in attendance and having all of my friends over for the afternoon.  I have a wonderful group of friends and they have wonderful and adorable kids.  It was a much needed break from some of the less pleasant things going on to spend a couple of hours really laughing and spending time with friends and family. 

Bir-day Cake

Today, January 13th, is my precious daughter's second birthday.  We celebrated with a pink party (the topic for a coming blog), friends, and family.  Since right now Audrey's friends are attached to my friends I concider today a birthday party for me, with the smoke screan of saying it was for peanut.  She had a blast chasing after all the "buddies", ate her fill of m&ms, and is still wide awake in her crib, even though we put her down 45 min ago, sitting up thinking about the festivities.

Today marks the end for a very tiring but happy ending week.

Last Saturday my grandfather passed away.  He was surrounded by my mom, aunt, and uncle, and his wife, my grandma.  The memorial service will be next weekend, where I get to see my aunts, uncles, and cousins and spend time talking and sharing stories about a wonderful guy.  Scott is making a video for the family to watch and we've been going through old family footage.  We've heard some great accents (I'm gon ged-it = I'm going to get it), seen an AWESOME sweat suit (mom...) and the same sweatpants on a cross country tour (uncle Pat!).  It's been really great to go back and see how lucky I was to have such a happy family growing up.  Something I don't want to take forgranted ever.

In other family news Bob (my step-dad) had a minor heart attack on Wednesday, which meant he had stents put in on Thursday, and, AMAZINGLY was home on Saturday.  It's not until tonight, after the party festivities are over, that I can truly tell you how thankful I am to have Bob back home with our family.  I left work early to go be with mom and Luke.  Scott joined us Friday, and we stayed with mom and Bob and Luke.  It was a blessing in disguise because I had a family effort supporting the birthday efforts, and everyone was able to make the trip up to Greeley to celebrate.  Once I'm finished with this post I'm planning on taking a deep breath, kissing my still-awake daughter good night, and getting some hopefully restful sleep.

Friends and family, I can't begin to tell you what an amazing two years it has been since Audrey came into our lives.  Although we are well underway into the Terrible Twos there is no one in this world I would rather watch throw a temper tantrum over the wrong milk cup or having to wear a coat in below-zero temperatures.

To Audrey, with all my love, you are smart, carismatic, precious, happy, vivacious, and your mom and dad's biggest joy in life.  We love you.  Happy birthday my daughter.

Audrey - 2 Months

Audrey - 2 Years

Stream of Thought

Holy Holiday Break Batman!  When I thought we were busy before, I had no idea what December had in store for our little family. This post serves to update on a few happenings going on around the Ward-Ward household.  Not all are wonderful news upon first reading, but trust me when I say each is positive in its own way.

1. We are attempting (quasi-attempting) to potty train Audrey.  We have the potty chair, the Dora pull ups, and the m&m treats.  Our morning consists of many trips to the bathroom to give pottying a "try".  So far our most productive day produced 2 successful potty attempts.  We average 1 a day.  And although Audrey can identify the planet Saturn in the Rose Bowl Parade she hasn't connected the idea that potty = m&ms.  She loves it when it happens and runs around the house all proud and yelling to anyone that will listen about her success, but hasn't made the jump to tell us when it's time.  I know the wonderful lady who watches Audrey will take off from where we left off and she'll be a potty pro in no time but this makes me a little sad.  I love this special time with peanut so much it's hard to relinquish such a task to others.  DARN IT for finding people who love and take care of her... What were we thinking??!!?? Then, I also think, why am I so excited to sit in the bathroom and yell about potty so much?  Perhaps this is a blessing in disquise!

2. I hate the thought of going back to work.  Tomorrow Audrey goes to her new pre-school in the morning (she'll go on Fridays) and it breaks my heart to be away from her for 3 hours when it's not necessary.  Again, it's a blessing that we found such a wonderful pre-school.  She gets to go with her best buddy and will have  a blast with the other kids but I selfishly want as much time as possible just to be around her!  Right now she's perfectly content coloring  and playing with an assortment of living room toys and I'll miss that.  It makes me long for summer vacation, which is MONTHS away! The positive aspect to this is I know she will be very happy being back with Julia and playing at Jan's, and I also remind myself how much I like the people I work with and how much I love the job that I do.  I sure will miss my squirt though.  It doesn't get any easier to go back to work, just more routine I guess.

3. My grandfather, who has battled Alzheimer for years, will likely pass away this week.  Although this is a sad time for our family, the timing has been a blessing.  Most of my family was on break and could come and spend time together and I had a lot more flexibility to drive down to Colorado Springs.  Anyone who has known someone with Alzheimers knows that the end is such a blessing  I have seen God's touch through my family this past week.

4. Our Christmas break was longer this year so I got to spend time with my mom, Bob, and Luke and my dad and Anne this break.  Audrey doesn't know what to do with herself now that she's not surrounded by grandparents but is sure lucky to have so many people who love her!

5. I still have 3 days before I go back to work and I plan on making each day count.  Audrey and I will watch Mickey Mouse, eat lots of snacks, color, organize the basement, and read lots of books in the next few days.  Even though I give her up for 3 hours tomorrow morning I get her back in time for a lunch date and a fun evening with dad.

6. Audrey turns TWO YEARS OLD in about a week.  I've been busy getting ready for her party and am so  amazed she's already 2.  She's amazing.  She talks my ear off and has so much personality it oozes from between her toes!  She's learned the art of flopping on the dirtiest of floors when we are running errands and she doesn't get her way, she takes her shoes off every opportunity she can, she sneaks Tober treats when no one is looking, all she wants to do in the morning is snuggle in our bed, and she loves to take pictures of her feet with the iphone.  I'm really looking forward to her birthday party next weekend.

7. I got two new pairs of jeans at the Gap for 23 dollars each.  I finally gave in a bought a bonified pair of skinny jeans and got another pair, bootcut, that will replace a pair I've needed to say farewell to for quite some time.   If you see me in the next few days I'm most likely wearing them, and most likely looking completely and totally awesome :)

There you have it.  All the things that have occupied my thoughts in the past 25 minutes.  Now it's time to snuggle, read some books, sing some songs, and relax :) 

 

December 11th - 17th : It's the Thought That Counts... RIGHT?

Holy goodness.  We have had one heck of a week.  Can I just say again how nice it is that I'm attempting the 24 days of holiday fun on a year when Audrey has no idea I'm making things up on the spot and calling them her Christmas Treat?  For example:

Planned for Saturday - ornament painting.  Only thing accomplished?  Shopping at Target and the Outlets.  Overheard in the car... "AUDREY!  We get to go to Target (like we do every other day.).  IT'S YOUR HOLIDAY TREAT!

We have managed to sneak in some actual fun that was intentional along the way, and even had some extra company join us for some of the festivities!

So - Here goes!

Day 11:  I came home from a run at 6:00 to find my dog outside and my daughter in the tub.  Today's holiday treat?  Toddler barf and early bedtime.  she wasn't sick (thank goodness) but made a mess none the less.

Toddler Barf Clean Up Party

Day 12: Audrey got to unwrap the new bath toy we got her (a bubble bath duck that goes over the faucet) but our baby soap was too thick so our attempt at a bubble bath was less-than-awesome (we have cute toddler tub pics, but sorry, not for the blog folks.).

Bath Duck

Day 13: SURPRISE!  Uncle David arrives.  That's your treat.  Sure, it was supposed to be popcorn and Mickey Mouse, but the time just slips on by.  I went to pick Dave up in Denver while Scott picked Audrey up from day care.  She fell asleep in the car on the way home and when she woke up to find we were on our way to dinner with Dave in tow she was less than pleased.  She does not like to be surprised with men in her life (a trait I hope she has when she's 16...).  She cried when Zach went with Scott to pick her up one day and seeing Dave unexpectedly threw her off her game.  She quickly recovered that evening and had a great day with Dave on Friday.  They read books, played dress up, ate a long lunch, and relaxed in jammies watching Disney movies.  Such a treat!

Dave is Here!

Day 14: The Greeley Griswalds - not planned, but definitely going on the list next year.  There is a house in Greeley that has a house decorated with 130,000 lights.  Every 30 min there is a show coordinated to a radio station broadcast from their house.  The owner walks the side walk dressed as Santa (BYE BYE SANTA) and hands out candy canes.  We drove up and Audrey jumped out of the car seat and said slowly...IIITTT'S BEEEAAAUUUTIFUUUUUL. 

Only the Fronts

On the 15th of December Dave, Sara and I went for a long run and by the time Audrey woke up it was time to head to lunch and for some quick shopping at the Outlets in Loveland.  SURPRISE!  Audrey, your treat today is a tortilla and looking at running shorts at Nike.  We also got to have dinner with my teammates, which was a lot of fun.  Audrey emptied all their toys and ate all their ketchup in an attempt to have a healthy dinner.  It must be officially documented that I also ate and enjoyed zucchini and hummus that night as well.  My own Holiday Treat.  

Audrey doesn't even know what a treat she got on the 16th of December.  Although I had planned on having a Christmas dance party that day she was able to cooerce her dad to watercolor with her (a side note:  Scott is amazing with creative play and rough housing but usually leaves the artsy-fartsy mess making to me) while I baked 4 batches of cookies with MY NEW KITCHENAID!  Scott thought he was so clever hiding my gift and throwing me off the scent, but he lingered a bit on the Kitchenaid aisle at Target and I convinced him to let me open my present early, since I was planning on baking and baking and baking that day.  I love my gift and really enjoyed breaking it in!   

           

     

I should also note that Audrey got a second, impromptu  holiday treat when we decided to find some breakfast after dropping David off at the airport.  We drove into downtown Denver and found a breakfast place that offered M&M pancakes!




You know I said they were for Audrey but I loved EVERY BITE of their deliciousness.

      
     

Dec 17th - Back on Track with actual-planned-and-implemented-holiday-treat-ideas.  Scott has to work a basketball game so I used this as an opportunity to get messy without having to worry about clean-and-neat-no-mess-daddy hovering over our creativity and free spirited innovations.  Ever since the hand-print fiasco of early December Audrey is a HUGE fan of painting, especially her appendages.  Tonight we used that to our advantage to decorate some new ornaments for the tree. Audrey got decked out in her painting shirt and got to work.  You can see she has a knack for color blending...

        

Happy Holidays!

Christmas Letter

The Ward-Wards are going green!  A friend of mine inspired this idea by going green on her blog and I thought it was a great idea.  I never have enough room on a 5x7 Christmas card to fit in all the pictures that represent a year and also know that most of the people who receive our cards also follow our family on Facebook so a year-in-review isn't necessarily needed.  Plus, I HATE KINKO'S this time of year.  I always go in ready to make my letter and leave two decades later with what I want.  Also, I hate it so much I procrastinate and avoid going and don't get my cards sent until February, when everything is out-of-date anyway (No offence to Kinko's.  It's not there fault, it's just my impatient-wanting-something-I-can't-do-on-my-own-so-I-spend-an-arm-and-a-leg-to-have-them-do-it's fault).  

Plus, I'm a realist and I know that our letter is only actually read by a small percentage of people anyway (thanks mom and dad :))  This way we have our year documented FOREVER and don't have to keep old copies in the basket-of-awesomeness (which is the only place I'm allowed to keep clutter in the WHOLE HOUSE!).

So!  Here it is.  The Ward's 2012 year in review.

In January our little precious perfect little girl turned 1.  As I type this and she's napping I can't believe how much has changed in the past two years.  I've never been more happy, more fulfilled  and felt more love then when she entered our life.  Looking over how much she's grown, changed, and learned over the past year is AMAZING!

Scott and I both turned the big 3 - 0 this year and to celebrate my parents helped us celebrate with a family trip.  We decided to head to sunny SAN DIEGO.  We had a great time at the zoo, seeing the ocean, meeting up with an old friend from high school, eating ourselves silly, watching 4th of July fireworks, and just spending time as a family.  This trip also documented our first trip to the minor emergency room clinic as Audrey had her first taste of road rash after falling face first out of the rental car (an HOUR after we got to San Diego).  We learned how to parent in a crisis and also got some great suggestions for things to do while we were in town from the amazing docs.  Audrey was a tank and barely showed her battle scars but it was memorable for sure. 

Scott started a new job in July as Director of Creative Services at UNCO.  This new endeavor has been a lot of learning and fun as Scott has taken on less of an SID role and more of a communications role.  He now is in charge of game day filming, team videos, designing billboards, media guides, magnets, flyers, etc.  It means no travel and a lot of time as a family, which we feel lucky to enjoy while we have the chance.

While Scott was enjoying his new job duties Audrey and I made the most of my summer vacation.  She took a music class, we met weekly with the other babies of Range View, played at splash parks all over the state, took mom-and-Audrey swimming lessons with our buddy Jackson, and went to a weekly toddler library class.  I had a harder time going back to work in August after spending so much time with my precious daughter this summer than I did after maternity leave.  Knowing how much fun we had enjoyed and watching her learn and play is something I look forward to for every summer of her life!  I don't know how long she'll let me carry her around the swimming pool, but I'll take it while I can.

Enjoying Library Time

Enjoying the Splash Park 

My Little Guppy

Some of The Range View Buddies

This summer Scott had the opportunity to travel with the UNCO women's volleyball team on a life-changing trip to Nicaragua.  They went to play different national teams but mostly to serve and participate in humanitarian projects.  Scott came back with a wonderful perspective of live and had so many stories to share.  He met some amazing people and came home with a suitcase nearly empty after donating all of his travel gear to the organization that guided them along the way.

To conclude a very busy summer a friend and I reached our goal of training-for and running a half marathon. I decided a year before Audrey was born I wanted to run a half-marathon with my mom.  Then I got pregnant and my plans went on hold.  Lucky Sara mentioned she also wanted to run a half marathon one afternoon and I latched myself onto her training program and got started!  We trained together for 13 weeks and finished the Georgetown Half Marathon on August 11th.  It was an amazing feeling, accomplishing something so athletic, while also making a life-long friend.  Sara and I still run every Saturday and are looking for the next race that deserves our awesome athletic presence.

5 AM - Getting Ready to Dominate

  My brother Luke is a senior in high school this year and for his senior trip he wanted to go to Disney World.  Audrey and I were lucky enough to get an invite (Scott had to work :( ) and at 4 am we loaded the car for our 6am flight and started the fun vacation!  I wasn't sure how my toddler would hold up on such an adventure but she was amazing.  She was not thrilled with meeting characters but managed to be brave enough to see Mini Mouse.  We swam in the pools, saw Scott's Dad and Step mom, ate lots of yummy food, rode lots of rides, played in another splash park, and spent lots of time as a family.  We wish Scott could have joined us but had a great time in the happiest place on Earth.  Audrey can talk of nothing else besides Mickey Mouse now that we are home and has learned to work the I Pod so she can watch her Disney Besties at any given moment.  I would also like to note that we did not start this vacation with a tumble out of the rental car.  No toddlers were injured in the duration of this adventure.



In October Scott and I celebrated our seventh year of marriage and our 11th year together.  We took Audrey to the pumpkin patch to celebrate our little family.  It's had it's ups and downs but nothing in the world could be better than the time we get to spend together.

We wish you and your families a very happy holidays and will continue to Facebook Stalk your lives through 2013.  We love getting all the Christmas cards and keeping up with growing families and feel so fortunate to have all of you in our lives.  We love you, Grandmas and Grandpas, Uncles, Aunties, Cousins, Great-Grandparents and Great Aunties and Uncles.  Thank you for all of your support for our growing family and for your love and friendship.  

Here's to an awesome 2013!