Summer’s End. August 3, 2022

Summer’s End. August 3, 2022

Initially Andrew was supposed to be leaving for JRTC this month. However, he ended up having foot surgery a couple weeks ago. Several months back he dropped something on top of his foot and it caused bone spurs to grow. The surgery was to remove the bone spurs. He will be on medical leave until later this month, maybe longer. I hate that he had to have foot surgery, but I’m not at all disappointed that he gets to be at home. The doctor said the surgery went well, and Andrew seems to be recovering as expected. He is no longer having to take pain medication, he is now able to take a shower (if you know Andrew this is a huge deal!), he can wear flip flops and go places (as long as it’s not too far to walk).

In the midst of Andrew being down with his foot, the kids and I have continued to enjoy the rest of our summer vacation. I can’t believe that summer break is almost over! Emma and Samuel have been taking swim lessons the last couple weeks. This year has gone much better than last. Emma has finally learned to swim! WHOO-HOO!! Samuel is well on his way to learning. He learned important things like how to kick his legs and make ice cream scoops with his arms. 🙂 He probably would have learned as well had I been able to take them to an actual pool and practice with them. It was too difficult for me with Audrey, so we will have to try again next summer when she is bigger.

We also went to visit Auntie Leah and Uncle B this past weekend! This is always a lot of fun. The kids love to play games, and hangout. Leah has the most beautiful flowers! I couldn’t help but take some pictures. 🙂

No summer would be complete without playing in the rain. Luckily it decided to rain some last week! Not storms, but the kind of rain you could play in. The kids were soaked head to toe, and having a marvelous time!

Over the past week I have spent one on one time with each of the kids (with Audrey as our tag along. 🙂 ). I don’t get to do this very often, but I love it when I do. They are growing so fast, and they are each growing into their own little person. David wanted to have lunch at Old Chicago pizza, watch I Love Lucy episodes, and then we went school shopping. I can’t believe he is going into the 3rd grade! He is way smarter than me. He soaks up everything like a sponge! Emma wanted to eat at Steak and Shake where she ordered a Banana milk shake and grilled cheese sandwich, and then I took her school shopping too. She starts Kindergarten in a couple weeks! Boo-hooo-oooo!!!!! Even though I know she is more than ready, and has been for a long time, I’m not sure I am ready. I had to take her clothes shopping because she will only wear what she likes. I have long ago learned to just let her wear whatever she picks out (within reason of course). Sunday is the only day that I demand to pick out her dress for church. During the week she dresses herself. I have stopped buying her clothes without taking her shopping with me because it would just be wasting my time and money. (I know, she’s only five! YIKES!! I’m going to need a lot of prayer when she is older!😬 ) She ended up picking out two dresses, two pairs of leggings, a shirt, a pair of shoes and some socks. The girl knows what she likes! I can’t wait to see what she decides to wear on her first day!😄 For Samuel’s day out, I took him to a play place in town that has a slide and ball pit. He loves it. When he wore himself out, he was ready to go to Sonic. He ordered a grilled cheese sandwich and a strawberry slushy. He’s is so funny. He is the sweetest, most affectionate child. He can also be the most aggravating. I do believe it’s because he feels the need to keep up with the older siblings, plus get attention because he is no longer the baby. It’s not easy being three, let alone being three with three other siblings!

Love,

PK

Tribute to Fred. July 24, 2022

Tribute to Fred. July 24, 2022

I don’t like blogging about sad events, but nevertheless they are a part of life. Sadly, a few weeks ago, we had to say goodbye to our sweet cat and good friend Fred. He was not that old of a cat, so I think that makes it somewhat harder to understand. We don’t really know exactly what happened. One day he was fine, the next he wasn’t. We think he had a stroke of which the cause we do not know. Both cats were inside during the turn of Fred’s health. We can only surmise that perhaps Fred and Ethel were playing and Fred fell off the stairs, or perhaps was running so fast that he ran into something and hit his head. It was not uncommon for them to play during the night hours. The kids and I happened to be out of town visiting my parents. Andrew was home at the time and found him the morning after, and took him to the doctor. The left side of his body was not functioning properly. We held out hope for a couple weeks that he would recover, but instead he kept getting worse. He reached the point where he was hiding from us for long hours. One night I found him laying in the middle of a pile of stuffed animals in David’s closet after searching for him for almost thirty-six hours. It was then that I knew he was dying. David and I wept over Fred that evening because we knew our sweet cat was not going to get better. The kids were able to love on Fred the next morning before Andrew took him back to the doctor. The veterinarian told us there was nothing we could do, and that he was probably in pain. Andrew stayed by his side as they put him to rest.

Fred was such a sweet kitty. He would cuddle with us on the couch. He loved soft blankets, and would lie down anywhere where there was a plush blanket. I often cover up with a blanket in the evenings when I’m sitting on the couch, and he would always come lay down on me. He was great at catching unwanted critters. He would often come up to the door with a mouse or a mole. Fred and Ethel were very close as they were together from birth. Ethel seemed to distance herself from him though several months back when Fred had to spend the night at the vet. due to a urinary infection. So while I’m pretty sure she misses him, it’s hard to tell. In fact, Andrew and I joke that maybe she pushed him down the stairs on purpose so she could claim all the cat treats for herself. 🙂

We will always love and miss Fred!💔

PK

Summer Travels. July 12, 2022

Summer Travels. July 12, 2022

It has become a family tradition for us to rent a beach house or condo with Jim and Alesia once a year. We look forward to this time together, and love spending it on the beach! In the past we have gone either in late spring or early fall. We love this time of year to go to the beach because it is less expensive, not so hot, and a little less crowded. This year, however, we chose to go over the week of July 4th. The beach house where the kids and I stayed for a month while Andrew was at CHBOLC was available and at a great rate. Plus Andrew had block leave, so we decided to take vacation because who knows what the fall will be like. I must admit I was pretty nervous about the eight hour drive with an almost three month old. We decided to break it up into a two day bit, driving around 4 hours each day. Audrey did amazing for her age, and I was relieved that she did so well throughout the whole trip. She slept well at night too in her pack and play, which made Andrew and I both happy!

While we did have an amazing time at the beach, because well, it would be difficult for it to be any thing else! It is the beach after all! We did have a couple hiccups. Alesia and I plotted to have family pictures with cute patriotic outfits. We dressed the kids up, had them looking all cute, everyone was happy. We walked down to the beach. It was hot. Two of the kids suddenly decided they didn’t want to take pictures. I’ll let you take a guess at which two! No amount of bribing or threats was going to change their minds! We took what pictures we could, but to my disappointment none of the pictures with the kids really turned out. The one with all of us above was by far the best one!🙄 Sigh!! Why is it so difficult? It would have taken all of five minutes if they would just cooperate! So to my disappointment we returned to the beach house. I give up!

The other curveball in the week was Samuel. One day we were out on the beach and almost literally with the snap of a finger he went from playing and being excited about going down to the beach, to throwing up on the beach. I don’t know why or what, but it seems he contracted a stomach virus. After it was off his stomach it took a couple days for him to reach normal again because he would complain about his tummy hurting. Fortunately, no one else got sick while on vacation!

On the way to the beach we stopped at the U.S.S Alabama. Andrew and David especially loves this! We toured both the ship and the submarine. We were blessed to hit it right after some rain showers, so the temperature was cooler and skies cloudy. Otherwise we would have melted. The guys love the big guns, and the mechanics. I like seeing the more personal, lifestyle side of it. It’s basically a small town on a boat! Impressive to me. I sure do respect those who lived and do live that type of life to protect our freedom!

We love Dauphin Island! It is a small, quiet island. Even over the fourth of July, when it is at its busiest, it’s still not all that crowded. You can enjoy a family friendly beach environment. This was Audrey’s first beach trip, and her first fourth of July! 🥰 The fourth was our first full day at the beach. It was slightly cloudy, with a few showers around, but still a great beach day. The kids had a blast! That night we walked down to the beach to watch the fireworks!

Even though I didn’t get all the posed pictures that I wanted, I still captured a lot of great smiles! The natural ones that came from laughter over a fun time. The beach water was so warm! You could just walk right in and not twitch. We loved swimming in the ocean, and it was the best way to beat the heat! The suns rays are really intense in July. Andrew and I both burned the first couple days. 😅 That’s why we are wearing shirts in the picture below! 🙂

The kids love to visit the aquarium on Dauphin Island. It’s considered a must every time we go. Even though it is a small aquarium, it has a lot of fun things for the kids. They love seeing all the native sea life, and petting the stingrays.

The beach is our happy place! Until next year!

Love,

PK

Last Single Digit!

Last Single Digit!

David is 9!!! How is he nine?!?! I feel like a broken record on repeat! I simply cannot help but wonder how nine years have come and gone. When I look back on all the memories we have and see how he is growing up, it makes me want to treasure the years to come even more because I know they will go just as quick.

My Baby is 9!!

David wanted a birthday party with friends and family. He wanted a destination party, and he wanted Harry Potter for the theme. I had never planned a destination party before, we have always had them at home or at grandparents. I did some research on places around here to have birthday parties. I discovered that it is expensive at some places to have a party! I couldn’t believe that places like DEFY and Chuck E Cheese wanted around twenty-three dollars per child with a minimum of ten, and that was the basic packages. I’ll let you do the math, and maybe we are just cheap when it comes to spending, but that seemed really expensive to me. We don’t even spend that much on gifts per child at Christmas! I’m not judging people who choose to have parties at these places, or how much they choose to spend on their kids by any means! I totally get wanting to give your kid the birthday party they want. All I’m saying is I wish places would make it more economical for parents. I had to simply explain to David how much money these places wanted, and that it was more than we wanted to pay. I am proud to say he was very grown up about it. I continued searching for a more economical place to host his party. I am glad to say that I finally found a black light mini golf place that he was excited about and that was more in our budget. I did not want to have his birthday party at a park with the one hundred degree weather we’ve been having!

The black-light mini golf and laser maze/ Harry Potter themed birthday party was a success! 🙂 David said it was his best birthday party yet. 😊 The Harry Potter theme was fun! All the kids had goodie bags with some party favors that included a wand and HP glasses. 🙂

I did not make the cake this year. I ordered it from the commissary, and I was really pleased with how they did! It looked exactly like I requested and it tasted so good! David loved his cake! When we sang happy birthday to him he had to conduct us with his wand. He was such a hoot! He was so excited about everything I think he barely ate a slice of pizza and couldn’t eat all his cake though. He was to into playing all the games to take time to enjoy his food.

We have only been here for one school year, and I am glad to see that David has made friends both at school and in our neighbor hood. He was so thrilled to have some friends at his party! We were also happy that both sets of grandparents were able to make it too, along with Auntie Leah and Uncle B, and his cousin Robbie! David and his G-pa share the same birthday! It worked out that we were able to induced labor and David was born on Jim’s birthday. I love the picture of them standing back to back. 🥰 David was also super excited that his cousin Robbie was able to come to his party and spend the night with him. They don’t get to see each other very often since we moved and so they had fun catching up.

The summer is going by quickly! I can’t believe July is almost here. Andrew’s birthday and our beach trip is coming up this weekend! We are so excited!

The picture below is of the kids enjoying some downtime after the busy weekend. Emma and Samuel had been playing dress up.

Emma started her piano lessons last week! I am excited for her as she begins this journey. I hope she loves it too!

Love,

PK

Summer Bucket List! June 6, 2022

Summer Bucket List! June 6, 2022

Summer time, I am loving it! There are so many fun things to go and do this time of year, but what I love most is not having to go and do anything. I like being able to sleep later (or at least know that sleeping later is a possibility if I didn’t have very young children waking me up 🙂 Ha! ). I like not having to leave the house by x time to get kids to school. I enjoy spending time doing fun activities with the kids. Since Audrey is so small, our summer bucket list does not include a lot of long trips, but rather fun things to do around the house and in our local community.

We went to try a new restaurant down town last Sunday evening, and had to wait quite a while for a table. Luckily there is a park area just walking distance from the restaurant, and so we had a fun time watching the kids play. The weather was beautiful and not too hot as long as we were in the shade. Audrey had fun talking to her mama. 🙂

There have been a couple of pretty hot days, and so we made it out to the splash pad! The kids had a fun time. I’m sure we will be visiting the splash pad again. 🙂

David and Emma had a blast at Vacation Bible School this weekend! The theme was “‘HayDay; Growing in Friendship with Jesus”! They talked about how much fun the crafts, music, and stories were, but they both loved game time! The games were what they talked about the most. David also says he made a good friend. Samuel was too young, but will be able to stay and participate next summer. He got to spend some special time with Mom. 🙂

We will be doing a lot of library and story time this summer too. Our local library does a great summer program!

Emma says she wants to have a lemonade stand. So we will plan to have a lemonade stand at some point this summer.

David has a birthday coming up soon. He has been into Harry Potter lately, and so I am going to do a Harry Potter themed party. We have allowed him to read and watch through the Goblet of Fire. He will have to wait a while to finish the series. He is growing so fast! I am also thrilled to announce that David loves “I Love Lucy!” I am so happy to have someone to watch “I Love Lucy” episodes with! We are slowly working our way through the seasons together. 😊💗

Mostly the kids have been playing in their little pool in the back yard. Playing with water guns. Blowing lots of bubbles. Playing with sidewalk chalk, and riding bicycles and scooters. Emma is learning to ride her bicycle without training wheels. I predict she will be an expert by the end of the summer. 🙂

What’s on your summer bucket list? I would love to hear about your different activities and ideas!

Happy Summer!

Love,

PK

Last Days of School! May 26, 2022

Last Days of School! May 26, 2022

We spent the week wrapping up the end of the school year with an award ceremony and a graduation. Yes, they do full on graduations for preschool these days. 🙂 As ridiculous as it seems, at least in my husband’s opinion, it is super cute and worth the photo op! It was nice to go and see David’s 2nd grade award ceremony on Monday. He received two awards, for reading and math. We are so proud of how well he did at school this year. It was his first year back in the classroom since his kindergarten year, which he didn’t get to finish at school. So we have no pictures of David in cap and gown for his kindergarten graduation. It makes me a little sad to think that when he graduates high school we won’t have those specific pictures to look back on. I am thankful though that he had terrific, wonderful teachers that helped us through the pandemic. David loves school! He even wants to do his imagine math games at home during the summer he says, so he will be ready for third grade! 🙂

David excels in reading and math! He hates tying his shoes! Ha!

Emma’s birthday is in October so she had an extra year of preschool. We did preschool at home during the pandemic. This year was spent going to a parents day out program two days a week mostly so she could be around other kids. Emma did great at her graduation, even though she said she was nervous on stage. 🙂 The kids marched in, sang several songs, said the pledge of allegiance, the days of the week and months of the year songs, and then they each said what they want to be when they grow up. Emma said she wants to be an artist. They then received their medal and diploma. 🙂 She says she is excited, but also nervous about starting kindergarten this fall. I know she is more than ready and will do exceptional.

We are looking forward to lazy summer days, and fun activities together. We celebrated the last day of school by getting lunch at Freddy’s! They have the best smash burgers and shoe string fries. Not to mention the frozen custard! 🙂

David found a four leaf clover on our walk the other day, and then I found one too! It was our lucky day! Maybe that luck will continue! 🙂

On our first list of summer activities: strawberry picking!! We did this one a little early to pick the strawberries while they are at their best! We went with Leah and Brandon, and then hung out with them a while. We had a great time! The strawberries taste amazing! I made Ree Drummond’s strawberry ice box cake! It was so delicious! Perfect for a summer time dessert.

Love,

PK

Mom’s Day May 15, 2022

Mom’s Day May 15, 2022

Please forgive my lateness in posting. I am a little busy these days! I guess better late than never though. Last Sunday we celebrated Mother’s day. I am so blessed and thankful to have my mom around, and that we were able to celebrate this day together. I love that we currently live close enough in proximity to both my sister and parents that we can all get together easily over a weekend. I am being spoiled by it, I’m sure. 🙂 I am blessed to have a loving and caring mom. She has always been supportive of my endeavors. I appreciate my mom so much more now that I am a mom. It makes me realize all she went through! Thanks mom! 🙂

My sister took some great pictures, and I am always good at stealing them for my posts (with permission of course). 😉 I love the picture of Dad and Mom below. 💕 They are so great! They have been together a few plus decades. 🙂 They enjoyed lovin’ on the grands!

I love that we had so many bodies sitting on our sofa! The only ones missing are my bother and his family! They live rather far away, and their kids are mostly grown. My oldest niece and nephew are making their own way in the world, but it would be wonderful if one day soon we can squeeze everyone in!

After lunch chill out!

Andrew and the kids showered me with mother’s day gifts. I was given some beautiful flowers, a new cookbook, and a jar of fresh peach preserves. 🙂 I was also given lots of hugs and kisses! Below are a few random pictures taken from mother’s day, and the previous week. I love all my babies, and I’m very proud and blessed to be their mom!

Proverbs 31. I think of my grandma Betty. Every year on Mother’s day she would read the virtuous woman passage. Precious memories!

Love,

PK

Mom Struggles. May 5, 2022

Mom Struggles. May 5, 2022

Happy mother’s day to all mom’s everywhere! There are many ways to be a mom, and they are all encompassed with their challenges, struggles, endless love and precious moments. Anyone who has been blessed with the amazing gift of having a newborn knows that it also comes with its challenges. No matter if it’s your first baby or your fourth! For myself, infancy is the hardest stage. (So far anyway. Not sure how those teen years are going to go! Nail biter! 😅) Probably because there are so many demands on a new mom. The biggest being sleep deprivation. Let’s face it, it’s been MONTHS since you had a great eight! If you are like me, you woke up at least a couple times during the night for at least a couple months before baby was born. You gave birth, and then was expected to stay up for the next several hours caring for this beautiful baby that was miraculously curled up inside of you. You finally come home from the hospital where you can possibly get some sleep without someone coming in and poking around on either you or your baby. If you are lucky your baby will let you sleep for an hour and a half at a time! This becomes normal for you for at least the next several weeks.

All of our babies have been different about their sleep when “newborn”. David was difficult because he was our first, and neither Andrew or myself had a clue as to what we were doing! Ha! Poor baby! I tried WAY too hard to feed him, and in doing so we both struggled with sleep and feeding. We supplemented with formula for David because I couldn’t produce enough milk. He was nine months old before he finally started sleeping through the night. It’s why I have pumping PTSD, and now only pump out of necessity. If I were not going to be around to feed my baby on demand, we would definitely be using formula!

Emma was our easiest baby. She rarely ever cried, and didn’t have any stomach issues. I was more comfortable and confident with myself, and produced more milk the second time around. Things just agreed with her, and she was sleeping through the night at four months!

Then there is Samuel! That boy still doesn’t sleep through the night consistently at three years old. He had reflux when he was an infant, and it came to a point where we finally decided to give him medication for it. The reflux kept him from being able to lay on his back after feeding, so he would wake up consistently after feeding and we would be up trying to burp him and soothe him back to sleep. He also had projectile spitting up, more than what is considered normal. After a year he had outgrown the reflux and was able to come off the medication. However, he has always been a terrible sleeper. We recently started giving him the kids melatonin gummies before bed. I can say that I did see a difference in how much he would wake up in the night. He does still occasionally get up, but it is not nearly as much. I guess he is just one of those people.

Now there is sweet Audrey. She seems to be a little bit of a mix between Samuel and Emma. I know that doesn’t exactly make since, but I’ll explain. She has more stomach issues than Emma did, but overall she is sleeping really well. (knock on wood!) She is super fussy when there is gas in her tummy though! The infant gas drops seem to help her enough that she calms down after it is all off her stomach. She has generally been sleeping from around 8:30 to midnight, and then wakes up again around 3:30ish, and 6:30ish at which point I get up to start the day. I consider that great sleeping for life with a three week old!

This post is not a rant, and it is not a complaint. It is me merely admitting to the fact that being a mom is not always easy. It is one of the most challenging tasks any one can undertake. In the same breath it is also one of the most rewarding. It is a paradox that only mom’s can truly understand. That is why we mom’s need to stick together! We need to lift up and encourage one another. It doesn’t matter if we see eye to eye on the many different ways of parenting. We are all facing the same challenges and struggles. It would be great if we were more open and accepting about it. We don’t always have to be picture perfect. We are MOMS!

Audrey had her first bath this past week! Andrew has always given our kids their first baths. In general, he has been the one to bathe them when they are infants. I am so lucky to have Andrew around! He is such an amazing dad!

Audrey can smile! 🙂 I don’t know for sure, but it seems she is doing this much earlier than our others did. Yes, I take a lot of pictures. We are loving all the cute outfits and bows!

We are adjusting to being a family of six. It is an adjustment for the kids, as Audrey requires a lot of my time and care. It’s is equally difficult for myself at times. Figuring out how to juggle a new born and divvying up my time between everyone and household tasks. I have found it is best for everyone to try to keep the routine we were previously used to as much as possible, however, I am having to be a little more creative about how the kids spend their time. I am not able to just go outside or play with them at any moment. We are trying to take our afternoon walks, and the weather is starting to warm up enough that the kids can play outside more. The first picture is of Emma and Samuel doing a kids yoga video. It’s super cute to watch because they really get into it! On our walk a couple days ago we found a baby bird. David HAD to rescue it! We brought it home and put it in a box. It must have jumped out and is trying to fly because later the kids found it in the yard. Hopefully it survives. There have been a few warm days and the kids wanted to play in the sprinkler. I always love it when they get to do this! Maybe it’s nostalgia, as I remember playing in the sprinkler.

Happy Mom’s Day! You Got This!

Love,

PK

Easter 2022!

Easter 2022!

Audrey’s due date was initially the weekend of Easter. Easter is a very special day because it’s the day we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus and the promise of life he has given us. This is what we believe and teach our kids. Yes, they love the Easter egg hunts and candy, but we do our best to instill in them the reason for Easter is Jesus resurrection from death to life. Easter is one of the most celebrated Sunday’s of the year! I love Easter, and there was no way I was going to miss Easter service short of something catastrophic. Thankfully Jim and Alesia were with us Easter morning to help us get out the door! Everyone was dressed in their Easter best, and we were off to church!

The Saturday before Easter we were busy making some preparations for the big day! Alesia brought some Easter eggs for the kids to paint! The kids had fun painting their eggs, and then later had an egg hunt planned by Grand-mama and G-pa. (I have never been into the whole dying eggs thing. I didn’t grow up doing it, and so maybe I just don’t understand the fun or purpose of it. Maybe I just need to be convinced that it’s something worth investing my time and eggs on! 🙂 )

In the middle of caring for a newborn and everything else, I managed to make deviled eggs, yeast rolls, and my favorite pig pickin’ cake recipe. (This cake has many different names. I can’t remember what my grandmother used to call it, but it is my favorite! I make it almost every Easter because it reminds me of her.) Unfortunately, I didn’t remember to take pictures before everything was mostly devoured. Hopefully when Audrey is a little bigger and things get into more of a routine I can get my brain back, and remember to do things like taking food pictures for my blog! 🙂

Easter service was wonderful! It was revitalizing to hear the Easter music, sit together with my family, and watch the kids participate in the Easter activities. (Audrey did well, and was mostly happy. She remained covered in her seat a majority of the time. It’s a good thing babies like to sleep in those things!)

Easter afternoon Leah and Brandon came over to visit Audrey! Leah and I had fun taking some baby pictures! I should say Leah took some amazing pictures! 🙂 Here are a few of my faves! She’s beautiful! 🥰 I know, I’m prejudice!

Love,

PK

Meet Audrey Renee!!! April 19, 2022

Meet Audrey Renee!!! April 19, 2022

I know I am several blog posts behind at this point due to pre and post birth exhaustion. I have not had the energy to do anything other than necessary tasks, but I am starting to feel more like myself each day. We are so blessed, and I am thrilled to announce the birth of mine and Andrew’s fourth child, Audrey Renee Kjorlaug! She was born on Saturday April 9th, at 7:45pm. Weighing in at 9.1lbs, and 21 inches long. We induced labor, so that process always takes longer, but once things kicked in everything went as smooth and fast as expected. There were no traumatic surprises. We are most thankful for a healthy, beautiful little girl!

The kids were in awe as they came to the hospital to see her for the first time, and each one has their own thoughts, understanding, and emotions about adding a new member to our family. David has been through this two times before and he remembers, so he hasn’t really twitched at all. Even though he has asked to hold her a lot more than I expected. He seems to be pretty proud of her. Emma, while she has done this before, doesn’t really remember as much. She was a little hesitant at first to hold Audrey, but finally did. She loves to help pick out Audrey’s clothes for the day. Samuel is the one I worried about the most because he was the baby. He is mommy’s little guy, and the last couple weeks he has not wanted to let me out of his sight. However, he has done much better than I thought he would. He loves giving her kisses, and helping to throw her diapers away. He has only asked once if we could put her back inside my tummy! 😅😳😄 None of them like to hear her cry, and so I have had to explain multiple times that babies cry because they can’t talk, and that’s their way of communicating. They try to help sooth her by giving her her pacifier. Audrey then immediately spits it out, and mommy is summoned. 🙂

There were some pretty proud grandparents around too! My parents were able to come and be with the kids while we were in the hospital, and then brought them up to visit afterwards. Andrew’s parents were able to come and help out during our first full week home from the hospital. I’m really thankful to have that kind of family and support system! Andrew has paternity leave for a couple more weeks, and so we are adjusting and figuring things out as a family. I love the pictures of our dad’s holding Audrey. They are always a little nervous around the newborns. 🙂

Here is a picture dump!🥰 (Bringing Audrey home from the hospital. The kids made a welcome home sign with Grand-mama for Audrey. Proud biggest brother. Me and my girls! Emma finally wanted to hold Audrey! Beautiful precious angel!)

Stay tuned for another blog post soon! I am excited to share our Easter adventures!

Love,

PK