Happy Birthday to my Sister

On Saturday me, my mom, my sister Dana and her two friends and her mom-in-law and sister-in-law came to celebrate my sister's birthday by going to the Cheesecake Factory at Fashion Place Mall, The first time she went was when she came to visit me and Courtney in Boston. After we ate we headed for the General Women's Conference. After we parked the car my sister and her friend, Lynette took off ahead while I stayed and walked with my mom, as she had knee surgery and doesn't walk as fast as she would like. On our way there a gruff looking man stopped and asked "where are all you women going?" and we quickly explained that we were all going to the Conference that was for women. We were stopped at a crosswalk when my mom started walking because there were two cars who slowed to a stop and I wasn't sure if it was our turn to go and before I knew it my mom was starting to walk across when a car appeared out of nowhere and I thought was going to run her over so I put my arm across her so she couldn't go any further while the tires on the car screeched to a halt and she turns to me and tells me she stopped and she wasn't going to go any further (she has her version of the story on her blog but this is my blog and so this is my side of the "true" story).

My heart was up in my throat as I thought her life was going past me in a flash. Any way I'm just grateful to say she is ok and that the car could stop in time. We met up with Dana and told her the story while mom kept to her story and I kept to mine. We finally got to the Conference Center and saw people we knew and we got their you could feel the strength of the women gathered together. I especially loved being their with my mom and my sister. I loved after we sang "let us Rejoice" we sat down and I wispered to my mom, "wow! Now that's a women's choir!"


It was a special time to be with my sister. I have so many wonderful memories of her and what an incredible example she is to me. When I was probably 10 years old two things happened 1. I loved to wear her clothes and I would try to be helpful and wash them but I would wash her white shirts with red clothes and I learned pretty quickly that those two items don't work so well together in the wash. When I showed Dana what happened she would just calmly say, "Annemarie, please if you wear one of my shirts just let me wash it!" I thought she would kill me but she was incredibly patient with her younger sister who looked up to her in every way. #2. I remember when some of my friends and I would either be friends or they would not want to be my friend for that paticular moment and this one day was my friends b-day and I was invited but when I arrived all the girls came to the door and told me I wasn't invited and so I went home just crushed and hurt, during this time my sister was out w/ some friends and she felt strongly impressed to come home and when she learned what happened she told me to come with her and her friends and we went to Olive Garden, that moment my big sister became my hero and saved me from a deep depression I probably would have had if she didn't come to my rescue.

I will forever be indebted to her generosity, love and kindness. Dana forgives others so easily and gives people the benefit of the doubt. She loves a good party and she loves to shop and get the best deal in town and she normally finds it. Happy Birthday Dana! You truly inspire me.

Typical Morning

5:30am the alarm starts buzzing, another day starts again, big sigh, Courtney gets up to get ready for work as I pull the covers over me and try to get back to a deep sleep. After Courtney is all ready and dressed for the day he kisses me until I wake up and then we say our prayer together, hoping to sleep more I pull the covers over my head once more while Courtney tip toes to the kitchen hoping Andrew and Abbey will stay in their beds sleeping deeply.

Alas 6:30am arrives and Courtney very quietly opens the door to leave and the moment he closes the door so so carefully, Andrew bounds out of bed and runs to his door and opens and then SLAMS it shut and runs into where I am, again trying to sleep! and he demands, want breakfast, want breakfast. I tell him to come snuggle and so he endulges me for a bit then asks again, want breakfast, want breakfast. So I come to the conclusion as I do every morning that I just need to get up!!

I then tell Andrew that we need to make our beds and get ready for school and then his face just lights up and he says, " want to ride bus" and I say yes you will ride the bus today but we need to be very quiet so Abbey stays asleep.

Beds are made, breakfast is done, we say a little prayer together before we leave to wait for the bus and then what do I hear in the background, no not a firecracker but yes Abbey is awake. So I hurry and get her milk ready and we go to say good morning to Abbey. I open the door and Andrew rushes up to her crib and they both giggle and laugh together like two peas in a pod. I have the biggest grin on my face as I see how both Andrew and Abbey love each other and how they have the cutest smiles on their faces.

I get Abbey dressed and fed and then coats and shoes are on and it's time to go wait for the bus. As we get to the bus stop Andrew asks "want Book of Mormon Stories" and so we sing "Book of Mormon Stories" as we wait for the bus, Abbey loves to do the actions with her brother. Then we see the bus and Andrew jumps with glee as the bus comes. We wait patiently as the bus comes to a stop and we wait for the big squeak sound it makes. Andrew see's the bus and squeales with glee as he runs up to the bus with me holding on to his hand and Abbey at the same time while trying to keep my balance. Abbey is equally happy to see the bus, she gets all excited too.

Andrew lunges to take that first step on the bus and as he gets on the bus, Rose and Donna greet him and he says "good MORning". As they leave, we waive to him as the wind blows on us like a Tornado is coming, and then Abbey realizes two things Andrew is leaving and so is the bus and she starts throwing a fit and screams in the horror of it all, as I'm trying to waive goodbye and give blow kisses to Andrew while trying to hold on to Abbey because she I think wants to get on the bus with Andrew.

Then the bus is gone leaving an empty feeling, missing Andrew all ready. Abbey and I walk back home as the wind is pelting us down and throwing our hair (my hair) everywhere! Abbey walks up the stairs with me holding on to her hands and we play with her horsey which she pats on the rear and says "giddy up", "giddy up", I look at her and I'm amazed how her understanding and vocabulary is blossoming.

Everyday is truly a gift to spend with our adorable kids. I'm grateful for my kids but I miss those lazy days of sleeping in!!! maybe in 20 years I'll have the opportunity to sleep in but alas I'm afraid by then my internal clock will just wake me up anyway!

Anyone else miss the sleeping in days???

My protege'

When Andrew left for school one day we came back in the house and immediately she picked up my purse and off she went. My sister once told me that she had a little Annemarie and I

think I have a little Dana, why you ask? well Abbey loves to shop and put jewelry on much like Dana, me on the other hand I like to shop but not spend hours like Dana does.





but Abbey does have traits like her mom too..... Cleaning...... curse? or blessing?? I call it a blessing as when she's older I will have a helper. She already helps me by picking up her books, I think she see's me do it so many times that she just thinks it's a natural occurrence.

When I was mopping the floor she screamed until I gave her the mop and she did pretty good for a 16mo old.


This is Abbey taking a break from mopping to give herself a kiss. She's practicing for when she finds her prince charming!


Abbey is starting to take her baby Sara and Baby Jane and put blankets around them and hold them and rock them, it is so cute!!!! what a good little ma ma she is. She points to their various body parts and and says eyes, cheeks, nose, lips, ears, toes. It's so fun to see her communicating more and she loves her big brother they like to chase each other around.

It's so fun when Andrew starts laughing because his laugh makes Abbey laugh and while their supposed to be E..A..T..I..N..G.. their laughing at each other and thus lunch doesn't get over for a long... while!

Andrew's first week of school

Oh what a handsome boy waiting for the school bus! every time I mentioned to Andrew that school was going to be starting he said "want back pack" so he was excited to start. I have trepedation because it's hard waving goodbye to your 3 year old that get's on a big bus. Even after the first week I still get a lump in my throat when he leaves. After his first day when he got off of the bus he said "want to watch the bus" so of course we had to say goodbye to the bus as they left. I found out the bus is the best thing about school.

Andrew has done incredibly well from the time he started preschool last year to now. Back then he struggled to tell me what he wanted, he would stutter "I waaaaaaaa nt" and he would continue to say that until I repeated what he said "I want" and then he would say "I want....." and he would finish by telling me what it was he wanted. Back then he would echo everything we would say which at the time we were overjoyed with that because at 18 mo old he didn't say anything unless it was a random sound or he would say things once and wasn't able to repeat it. I remember he would stand in front of the fridge and scream and whine, then I would have to ask him while holding different things up until he would grab what he wanted. So echoing was huge for us to hear him say words.

He has recently started to say his own words and not echoing from what he hears as much. When were going places he'll say "hurry up mommy" because he's so excited to go. If Abbey's crying he'll go up to her and give her a kiss and say "it's ok Abbey". Just today after he came home from school he asked for a banana and while I was getting a banana he said "One pear" and there was only one pear in the dish among the bananas. Very exciting!!!

Andrew is doing so well at distinguishing emotions and he'll say to me "happy mommy" or "Mommy's Angry" and he says it in such a way that if I am angry it makes me smile and I tell him "mommy's happy now" and he'll then ask " I want an angry face" and then he adds "Angry" in the cuttest voice. I think he thinks having the angry face is a fun game to him because it makes mommy happy in the end. He'll look in the mirror and make different faces which when he was younger he didn't even like to look at himself. His teacher Miss Kristen told me his favorite book is about feelings and how he watches her face intently when she reads him the story, which is very good because the more eye contact the better!

The journey we have had with Andrew has not been easy, mainly worrying about how Andrew will be received with peers and sometimes how exhausting it is to keep up with him, sometimes his melt downs have been pretty unconsolable but one awesome thing I've been doing recently is I have him breath in deeply and then blow his breath out slowly and he does the hand movements with me and it calms him down within a minute.... that's WOW!! That's one of the huge rewards we get much like how he starts doing something on his own and he gains more independance for himself. One of the many things I have learned from Andrew is how to not take little things for granted. I remember hearing some moms say how much their child jibber jabbers and they wish they didn't talk so much, I'm so opposite I welcome any good word and I see this with Abbey as she says new words and talks up a storm in church I let her go for it. I love communication!!!! It's been so hard for Andrew when he gets hurt he has a hard time telling me what happened. There was an experience that made my heart literally sink and I wanted to put a bubble around Andrew but I knew I couldn't. Andrew was playing w/ a couple of his cousins and some of their friends one of them said "hey if you kick him he doesn't get hurt" and one started to kick him in the shins and at this point I ran into the room and stopped it immediately, I attempted to tell the kids that Andrew does get hurt even though he might not cry or run and tell me about it. I think that was one of the pivotal moments that hit home for me, some of the things we are going to have to face and deal with throughout his whole life and the fact I can't put some protective bubble around him, so I pray that his guardian angels will always be there to help protect him, which I know Grandma Allen is right there.

I was listening to Enya the other day and the song "If I could be where you are" just totally struck a cord to how I feel about Andrew and how at times when I'm talking with him he doesn't seem to know what is going on around him and that's when my heart breaks because I so desperately want him to understand what is happening around him and to him.

These are the words to the song: If I could be where you are, Enya

Where are you this moment? Only in my dreams. You're missing, but you're always a heartbeat from me. I'm lost now without you, I don't know where you are I keep watching. I keep hoping, but time keeps us apart.

Is there a way I can find you, is there a sign I should know, is there a road I could follow to bring you back home?

Winter lies before me now you're so far away. In the darkness of my dreaming the light of you will stay.

If I could be close beside you, If I could be where you are, If I could reach out and touch you and bring you back home. Is there a way I can find you, is there a sign I should know, is there a road I can follow to bring you back home to me.

We love our sweet little boy, he truly is such a strength to us. He brings such sweetness to our family.

Desperate for hair!!

So unfortunately my children have inherited both Courtney and my genes for no hair until at least 3 or so. So in my desperate attempt at trying to do something with the little wisps of hair that Abbey has I put her hair in pig tails on Sunday and I thought they were so cute.

When my sister saw them she thought it looked like one of those old me who pull their hair back into a pony tail, ha ha Dana. Needless to say I'm excited for the day when Abbey has hair for me to play with and learn how to actually do hair!

Until then I just tell her that she's so beautiful she doesn't need hair!