What gets rid of Vaseline?

Just in case any of you were wondering about the question above I have the answer for you!!!!

But first it begins with a story.....

Last Wednesday Audrey and I were working in the kitchen. She wanted some raisins and I told her to go get them out of her room (she brought them in there earlier and set them on the edge of her changing table).  It had been a while since I had heard from her. Then I hear " MAAAMAAA, MAAAAMAAAA, Down... Down...."  I think to myself what on earth has she done.

I go into her room and she has pulled out her stool from her dresser (which I use as her changing table) and climbed on top.  She was wanting me to help her down.  I just thanked God that she asked for my help instead of trying that by herself. I'm really not wanting to experience head wounds quite yet.

That evening we were going to see Ki Ki and James (Jonathan's sister and her husband) and I was telling Jonathan about our day.  I tell him about how I found little red (Audrey) on top of her changing table. He then says... and I quote " Oh I taught her how to do that".  Really?!? Really?!? you teach our daughter how to climb on things?!? He then said that she wanted to change her baby's diaper so he showed her how to pull out the stool and stand on it to change the diaper, not to actually climb on the table.  (Is there a difference..... I don't think so....)

Okay so how does all this relate to Vaseline....

The next morning we were going to meet Ki Ki and Granna at Ki Ki's school for lunch.  We were going to leave at 10:30.  It was 10 and I still hadn't heard any noise from Audrey's room. I go in there to wake her up and this is what I find

 Everything from her drawers are now on her changing table

 500 Count hairbands all over her bed and floor

She says "Hi Mama" when I walked in. She looked like she had fever. Her hair looked wet and she looked sweaty.  I went to touch her head and when I brought my hand back I had a big glob of VASELINE on it.

Vaseline, yes you read that right!!! She had put Vaseline all over her hair, face, neck, arms.... everywhere!!
This was the best picture I could get of her, you can see how her shirt looks wet around the collar, yeah that's Vaseline... not water :)

Remember where I said we had to be somewhere at 10:30, well yes we now had a lot to do in very little time!! As I was racing around trying to get her ready for a bath these are the thoughts that were running through my head.

- A bath isn't going to do any good, this is greasy
- What gets grease out?
- Dawn gets grease out, but can you use that on a 2 year old?
- They use dawn on ducks during a oil spill... doesn't the commercial say gentle?

and on and on and on my thoughts went... I just kept laughing and laughing as Audrey was screaming in the tub. I tried my best to get as much off as possible (which was none at all). Get her out and try and use a towel to get more off (not so much) and try and get her dressed. Let me tell you this, you just think a baby is slippery when you take them out of a bath, just wait till they are covered in Vaseline.... that makes a very slippery baby!

We make it out of the house, on time I might add, and head to the school.  Her hair was so greasy it looked wet. It was slicked down around her scalp and then a little curl would come out, and her face just shined!!

So, to answer the question that I asked earlier... What gets rid of Vaseline?

T.I.M.E



And just in case you were wondering, there is now NOTHING left in Miss Audrey's drawers to play with, and the Vaseline has been put way way way out of reach :) Mommy learned that lesson, and daddy's teaching privileges have been suspended until further notice.

A Tale of Two Cities

Once again I'm so far behind I don't even know where to begin!! We have had so much change since the last post it was a bit overwhelming to think about where to start.  I decided just to copy our Christmas letter that we sent out this year.  

A Friedmann Tale of Two Cities:

It was the best of times. It was the busiest of times. Jonathan got a new job this year, and we now live in Houston, TX! He started looking for a new job last year in the Little Rock area but without any results. Early this year, he expanded his search to target Houston because of its large engineering industry and its more central location considering both of our families. We went about six months without hearing anything, and then the he got two calls in one week to setup two interviews for the same day! He got to pick from two good positions and has found a really great fit at Stewart & Stevenson in Northwest Houston working on a rail car mover called the Rail King. He has a lot more freedoms and responsibility as well as a great team of bosses to learn from. It was a very busy fall for us all. After Jonathan accepted the job, we packed up the house, found a place to live, put our house on the market, moved down to Houston, and he started two weeks later. However, it was obvious that God was orchestrating the entire ordeal, and it was a smooth transition all around. We are very blessed to have sold our house in Little Rock the first week of December! There are some parts and people in Little Rock we will always miss, but it has clearly been a great move for Jonathan’s career and our family.

Magen obviously had one of the toughest jobs this fall as she was not only supporting wife and mother of two but she also handled the majority of the transition details. She not only handled the stress for herself and the kids, but also packed, found a place to live, listed the house, transferred utilities, and countless other crucial tasks. Jonathan could not have done what she accomplished, and we could not have done it on our own. We are so thankful for how much help we received from friends, family, and strangers in both cities. Even though we are still settling into Houston, Magen has already established a busy weekly routine. She attends a weekly bible study, goes to play dates with other moms, and takes the kids to visit Aunt Karen for lunch dates at her school, while squeezing in girls nights here and there. She has picked up sewing as a hobby and loves it. It’s a great distraction from the mundane details of housework and a wonderful outlet for her creativity and generosity.

Audrey is now two years old.  We found out the same time of the move that one of her ears was completely full of fluid and making it difficult for her to pick up new words. We hadn’t caught the fluid earlier because she didn’t have any ear infections as a result from staying at home during the day. So in the middle of packing up the house, Audrey also got tubes in her ears. Since the tubes, we’ve noticed a dramatic increase in her speech, and it’s fun to hear her use words or phrases that she’s picked up without our coaching. We could really tell that all these transitions were taking a toll during the week of the move. However, as soon as we moved in and setup her room just like it was before, she was back to normal. She could tell that stability was being restored. She still loves her little brother so much. Just tonight Luke cracked up laughing watching Audrey playing. The kept feeding off each other, and we watched them laugh at each other for five minutes.

Luke is now eight months old and has his two bottom teeth.  He can now drag himself around the floor and is rocking on all fours, so we expect crawling to begin soon. He is still much larger than Audrey was at the same age and couldn’t be more laid back and cheerful. Until the last month he’s been a very quiet baby, but we’re starting to hear more and more of his voice as he starts baby-talking and screaming when his sister tickles him. 

Now that we are living in Houston, I figured it is even more important to "try" and keep up with my blog.  Audrey is daily doing something that makes me laugh and I know that friends and family would want to know about them too!

So here's to starting a new year and blogging!!! Wish me luck!!

Wordless Wednesday

I know I'm way behind.... What else is new? So I thought I would catch up with pictures.

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Such a big girl!!!

People tell you your kids grow up fast, but it always surprises me how fast!!!

Since I now have 2 in diapers I have been secretly wishing that is was time to start potty training Audrey.  I looked up online at different sites to see if she was ready.  Needless to say she showed NONE of the signs!! I was so bummed. At this point in my life I feel like all I do is crowd control..... change diapers, nurse, get juice/crackers, change my clothes from spit up, change Luke's clothes... and it goes on and on, and on a good day I get a shower :). So, my wishful thinking of eliminating part of my diapers was a no go.

However, a few weeks ago out of the blue Audrey pointed to her diaper said diaper and took my hand and led me to her room to change it for her.  I was shocked!! I just thought it was a fluke until she did it again. She would point to her diaper and walk to her room.  A few days later we were at my sister's apartment, she took the changing pad out of my diaper bag grabbed her diaper and then laid down and said diaper.  I was amazed at how all of a sudden she showing signs that it might be time to potty train her.

The next day we ordered a potty for Audrey and when it came in we let her open the box and made a big deal about it being her potty. She looked at it took it apart, put it back together, played with it. We then took it to her bathroom.  Jonathan's family was coming in town in a few days so we didn't do much with it.  We would go look at it, maybe sit on it for a bit while they were here, but nothing really big. I in no way wanted to force anything about this!!

Well, tonight I was changing her diaper and she started saying, potty, potty... so I took her, diaper less, to her potty. She sat down and we just sat in the bathroom and played with crayons and read books for about 7-9 minutes.  I couldn't believe that she would sit that long. Well..... all of a sudden she went!! I couldn't believe it.  I made such a big deal about it too! And if you know Audrey and had the pleasure of seeing some of her looks you can only imagine what she looked like :) She looked at me like I was crazy for making such a big deal about her going potty.

It is crazy how exciting "going potty" can be!! I couldn't be anymore proud of her. 

A Baby Story!

I know it has been a while since I posted, but it has been just a little crazy around here to say the least.  Here is the long overdo story of Luke's arrival and the weeks afterward.
I was scheduled to induce on May 4th. Jonathan's mom (Granna) had arrived the Thursday before to help take care of Audrey while we were in the hospital. I woke up at 4am that morning to shower and put my make-up on. You know, you have to look good for all the pictures :)  I slept so much better than I did with Audrey. 

We got to the hospital and they started my pitocin around 7ish.  The doctor came in about 9 and broke my water, and right after that I requested for my epidural :) After that things went pretty fast.

My epidural didn't work the way it was supposed to. It went up instead of down, so the more my labor progressed the more I felt.  I can handle a lot, but (and a very big but) I need to be prepared for it.  So, needless to say when I started to feel a natural delivery, I really started to panic because I wasn't prepared for my epidural to stop working.  A nurse came in and I told her my epidural wasn't working and she told me "well, there is nothing we can do about it now."  She was not my nurse and it really made me mad how she said it. Then, MY nurse came in and was a rock star. At first she was running around trying to get things together, because I was going so fast.  But after that she was by my side helping me through everything. Jonathan was there too, but he was trying to do his best to keep me from screaming "SHUT UP" at him this time around.  

When the doctor got there he was scrambling to get is stuff together, because I was ready to have this baby!! And in three pushes Mr. Luke Paul was here.  I was not messing around. So I went from 6cm to holding Luke in about 45 min, which was much faster than anyone was expecting, but there were no complications. I delivered 2 hours earlier compared to last time and those two hours really made a big difference in how much more energy I had afterwards.  He was 8 lbs 1 oz and 21 inches long. I had no idea he was going to be such a big baby.  I had asked the doctor he he could tell how big he was going to be and he thought around seven.  I knew I felt bigger and was a lot more uncomfortable with this pregnancy, and now I know why!!!

On a side note, Luke was born on May the fourth (be with you). YES! Luke was born on the official Star Wars day! I had no idea this would happen when we picked his name and hope he’s not scarred for life. However, Luke’s sci-fi grandfathers (and father) couldn’t be more excited about this coincidence and are claiming it is fate.

 

 

Audrey was in love with her brother from the moment that she saw him! She gave him tons of kisses and just could not get enough.  She kept saying baby baby over and over again.  The only problem that she had was that she became very very attached to her daddy. She needed lots of attention from him and didn't like to see him holding Luke.  After about a week she adjusted. But all in all she did great with having a new sibling in the family.

Audrey is such a big help.... After we got home I asked Jonathan to bring me the broom and this is what I found...

Mother's Day! Our friends, the Woodwards, invited us to share it with them!

I will post again with some more updates of the past month!! Stay tuned...  I have lots of pictures. 

Happy Easter

This year we had a very different Easter. We were not able to travel anywhere this year since I'm so close to delivery

We had an amazing church service with a great worship and message.

We then came home and had leftovers and worked on our list of things to do before Luke arrives (10 days!!!).







Happy Easter!!!!

Wee Wee Wee

Audrey has a new favorite book. Her Mawbell (my grandmother) got these small books with nursery rhymes in them.

This one is her fav!!

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37 weeks

This past week I have been full out nesting!! We have been cleaning out/adding shelves to all of our closets. We had moved everything outside in the garage, so this weekend our project was to clean it out.

I set up the pack n play so Audrey could sit outside with us. Jonathan put her bath tub in there with her to see if she would sit in it. He sat her down and she pointed to her book and asked for it...




Then she propped herself back and...







Needless to say she stayed like this almost the entire time laughing and reading her book to herself. It was the cutest thing. She did the same thing the next day.

Slowly but surely we are getting ready for Luke's arrival. We have a few more boxes in the house to go through and we are done. It's so nice to have a clutter free house!!

Audrey is walking more and more these days. She is walking more than she is crawling. She has her 18 month check-up tomorrow. We will see how much she has grown!

We are in the final countdown!! 2 more weeks today!!! :)

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Luke's Finished Room

I have finally finished the nursery!! It came out so much better than I even thought it would. I wrote a post about sewing the bedding and curtains a few weeks ago. Well now the room is completely done.

We got the pictures that Jonathan's grandfather painted framed as well as the navy pictures of his dad and grandfather.

I also added 3 pillows to the bed to help add color and tie in the navy theme. I sewed and appliquéd them all. Also, I had leftover fabric that I made a quilt for the foot of the bed.

Here are some pictures so you can see the final product!!








The flags above the window spell out Luke and the red pillow on the bed is an F.












All that's waiting is little Luke to be here!!! (about 2 more weeks!!!!)

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