Tender Mercies

This week I had some really neat experiences that I wanted to share.

Sunday morning Jeff was gone speaking in another ward. I was home getting the girls ready for church. We were having a rough morning. Aubrey was extremely moody and pushing my every button. Brooke just keep spitting up every time I turned around - and her dress was getting pretty disgusting. Anyway, after awhile I lost my patience. Which of course made Aubrey even more moody. As we were trying to rush off to church, Aubrey insisted that she wear underpants to church. She had only been potty training for a week and had only had one accident free day. I was certainly not ready for this. Especially since I needed to be in Primary and Jeff would be with Brooke. It would be difficult to check on her or clean up accidents if they occurred. But, I didn't want to send her a negative message about her abilities - so off we went, diaper free to church. Just as the meeting started, I realized I forgot something important that I needed for Primary. So, Aubrey and I rush back home to get it. On the way back she says she needs to go potty. We get back to church and I take her to the restroom. She did not like sitting on the big potty and wouldn't go. So, I hesitatingly interrupt the others ward's nursery class to see if we can use the little potty. She likes that one much better, but still won't go. So now I have a daughter that needs to pee, but won't because it's not her little potty. Nervously I take her back into Sacrament meeting. A little while later, she says she needs to go again, so Jeff takes her back to the nursery potty. She still won't go. Great I think, this is an accident ready to happen. After Sacrament I find out that I need to cover conducting and help watch a class during Sharing Time (both of these for good reasons - sick and hurt family members needed watching over). And on top of all of that - my back was just killing me. Probably from all of the stress - my back really takes the heat when I am stressed. Anyway, I left Sacrament feeling pretty fried and very worried about the whole potty situation. As I was heading to Primary after visiting the potty with Aubrey one more time with no success, I see my sister Summer in the hallway. I asked her what she was doing here. She said, "I don't know actually. I was sitting in Relief Society and got a strong feeling that you guys needed help at church today." What a wonderful blessing to know that Heavenly Father was watching out for me - and would bless me even though I had not been as patient with my children as I should have been. And what a sweet sister to hear the prompting and come running to help. So she took over Brooke duty and also visited the potty several times with Aubrey. Aubrey never did actually go at church - but she didn't have an accident - so I guess we can consider it a success.

So before I tell the next story here is a little background about me. I love my kids to pieces. I consider myself very careful with them - following all the safety rules. But, I am not a worrier. I can go out without them without a care in the world. At night, I happily put them down and am glad for my break. Well Monday night after the kids went down, I started working on a project and Jeff had the TV on out front. I kept hearing funny sounds that I wasn't sure was the TV or the kids. I kept going out in the hall to listen. Everything sounded fine but I just had an uncomfortable feeling. So, I decided to turn on the baby monitor. Usually it goes on when we go to sleep, because Jeff sleeps with a fan on, and it drowns out all sound. A little while later I hear Brooke making gasping sounds. So, I run into her room. Somehow she had gotten her head cocked so far back. It was almost touching her back. It must have been cutting off her airflow, because she was gasping for breath. She was also fast asleep and not even trying to move into a better position. Luckily she was fine and I was able to straighten her out and listen for a while to make sure normal breathing returned. I know that I would have never heard that gasping sound if the monitor was not turned on. I shudder to think what could have happened had I not gone in to check on her. I know Heavenly Father was giving me that worried and restless feeling so that I would put that monitor on. I am so grateful that he was watching out for me and my sweet little Brooke. I hardly put that girl down on Tuesday - I was just so grateful that she was alive and well. All I wanted to do was kiss and hug her all day.

Brooke is 7 Months

I can't believe my little Brooke is already 7 months. Where does the time go?

Brooke is truly our little angel. She has the sweetest and gentlest little spirit. She is happy, smiley and cuddly. She is getting so fast at the grabbing. Nothing is safe within her reach now. She is pretty determined when she wants something too. She is such a good eater. She gobbles down almost everything I give her. Her fine motor skills are starting to develop. She can pick up cheerios, but getting them into her mouth is still problematic for her.

My favorite thing to do with Brooke is rock her and sing to her. She will just snuggle right into me and reach up and caress my face. It is so sweet.

She just adores her sister Aubrey. The other day I was holding Brooke and Aubrey was sitting next to us. Brooke just kept reach out and patting Aubrey's cheeks. She was being soft, so Aubrey let her do it. She also will just watch Aubrey and laugh and laugh. Sometimes this annoys Aubrey and she'll say, "I'm not being funny right now Brooke."

Lately she has been into giving kisses. At church she grabbed my face by both cheeks and laid a big slobbery one right on my lips.

We couldn't ask for a sweeter little girl. We love you Brookie Bug!

She makes the above expression a lot. Jeff calls it her "President Hinckley face."

Nightmare on 13th

I am back tracking a bit.

Back on October 17th Jeff & I got to go to a Haunted House with Esther & Bryan. We went to Nightmare on 13th. It was really fun to get to go out. Jeff has been really busy, so we haven't gotten a fun night out in a while. The Haunted House was really cool. Lots of really awesome special effect. And it was fun hangin' with Esther & Bryan. Thanks for coming with us on really short spontaneous notice.

Jeff really loved this horseman. He moved up and down.

And of course since we were with Halloween boys - we had to do the Extreme version.

Jeff & Bryan have been scheming about opening their own haunted house. That would be a dream job for them! Now to only find someone to fund it!

Our Haunted Yard Pics.

Here are some still images from our yard on Halloween night. There are videos on the post below.

Our Haunted Yard 2009

Jeff does such a good job with our spooky yard every year. It makes Halloween so much fun! Aubrey did really great with the monsters and has been asking where they are the last couple of days. She's already excited for them to come back out next year! The video turned out pretty dark, so you can't see everything well. I'm also adding a day time version below, so you can see the props better.



Below is the yard during the day. Not as spooky - but more visible to the camera.

A Happy Halloween

The day the Buell home had all been anticipating, finally arrived. HALLOWEEN! We all love Halloween for different reasons. Jeff loves haunted houses and turning our house into a mini-haunt. (I enjoy his handy work as well) I absolutely love little cuties in costumes. And Aubrey pretty much loved it all. Especially the parties and trick-or-treating. Brooke didn't quite know what was going on - but we enjoyed having her in-tow and looking like a doll in her costume.

The day started out with Aubrey completely covering herself in baby powder. It was actually quite fitting for the day, because she looked very much like a ghost. I guess we could have turned her into a dead 50's girl. That would have been a little more ghoulish. The picture below was taken after we shook her pj's off.

That afternoon, Aubrey and daddy took a trip to the store for ice and dry ice. Then Jeff and Aubrey made our traditional homemade rootbeer. Jeff also made spudnuts the night before, which is our new tradition he started last year.

Aubrey was trying to catch the fog in her hands.

Then after dinner, I got to dress up my little ones for the final time of the season.

Zoe and Rachel met us at our house to go trick or treating. Both Aubrey & Zoe had been excitedly waiting for this all day.

Below is our crew right before we left.

And off we go!

At first the girls were so excited that they were running as fast as their little legs could carry them from house to house.

After a while they began getting distracted by yards and decorations. But, they sure did enjoy every minute of it.

When we returned home, Aunt Summer & Uncle Steve were there to see the girls in their costumes.

We all decided to head out trick or treating to a few more houses.

Then when we returned home again, we found Elliot & Katie and Esther & Bryan awaiting our return.

Aubrey was doing a little modeling for Summer & Esther's cameras.

Dancin' in her poodle skirt.

Modeling her flashy lighted pumpkin pin from Grandma Buell.

After playing with the family for a while, Aubrey announced that she was ready to go out again. Aunt Esther & Uncle Bryan happily took her to a few more houses.

By the time she was done, she had a purse full of candy.

Aubrey also very much enjoyed handing out candy to the trick or treater's coming to our house. And, all the adults at the house enjoyed watching people jump and scream at Jeff's monsters. (We did make a few little ones cry - and we always feel bad when that happens. Luckily it usually is just a few. We try and be careful with the scary monsters when it is just little ones coming to the door.)

Showing Uncle Elliot, "Aubrey's monster". She liked having her own mini monster, since all of the big ones are "Daddy's monsters."

It was a very fun night. We let Aubrey stay up until 10. We have monsters going off right outside her window, so even if we could have gotten her to stay in her bed, it would have been very difficult for her to sleep. Plus, that girl was wide awake all night. Even when I was getting her ready for bed I could feel her heartbeat pounding so fast. It was really fun seeing her enjoy herself so much. We also really enjoyed having the family come over and share in one of our favorite days of the year. Thanks everyone for celebrating with us!

I'll post some pictures & hopefully video of Jeff's handy work on the outside of the house in the next post.

My First Scarf

After finally completing Aubrey's hat, I had to make a coordinating scarf to go with it last night! I think she looks like a doll in them - I am so pleased!