Grandma Helen

On December 29th, 2011 Ryan's Grandma, Helen Baumgartner, passed away. It didn't come as a surprise, she was 91, and the last few weeks were very evident, but it's still always tough when it actually happens.
I was glad I got to know Helen for 8 years of our marriage and when I first met her she was a very smart, funny lady who's body was giving out much sooner than her body. She had lost her eye sight and her hearing quite a while ago but she always knew exactly who we were and was up to date on all that was happening in our lives. I'm honored that she was present at our wedding and got to know Andrea as long as she did.

The last time Ryan and I visited her was in October and she was the same old Grandma, was even kicking a ball down the hall with the grand kids, it's amazing how quickly things can change.

Ryan and I love trips to Cedar City, it's so nice to spend time with Ryan's brother Matt and his family. This time was different, no trips to St. George, no shopping, just a lot of family time, and time spent remembering Grandma :)

Each of the grand kids and great grand kids were able to write what they remember about Grandma on a note and place it in the casket. Ryan's note made me cry, he really is a sentimental guy even though most people would never know it. The things I remember about Grandma Helen is that she always wore a dress, she made cookies with gumdrops in them (which I had never experienced before), she could remember so much, and one day her and I were sitting alone and she told me all about her wedding day. She could remember every detail, the name of the store she bought her dress from, that her Mom didn't want her to buy a new dress, so she had to buy it with her own money, how most people gave them gas coupons for their wedding present. Made me realize our economy isn't quite as bad as we make it!

Grandpa wanted all the women in the family to go through Grandma's jewelry and Sara and I both agreed that our daughters should have some type of jewelry that belonged to their Great Grandma. The both of us also picked out a broach to were to the funeral while we sang a duet as part of a medley with the grandchildren.

Matt and Sara were such good sports to let us stay with them during the funeral, they immediately went from their Christmas/Anniversary trip up here to having relatives stay with them down there. I never tell them enough how much I appreciate the visits we have and what good hosts they are (hopefully Sara reads this post). Andrea just loves playing with her cousins and it takes her a few days to adjust being back home and entertaining herself again. I'm always sad I don't take more pictures while I'm down there, I know Matt does so I'll have to ask him for some.

Here is Meryn and Andrea in the bath and Daddy and Andrea wearing their shades before the funeral.

Christmas

Yes, it's about time, I'm finally posting about Christmas. This year was so fun with Andrea! All month long she loved looking for "Christopher Pop-in-Kins" each morning, he is our elf spy sent by Santa. She loved doing the count downs each morning and she had a lot to do... Move the mouse to a different pocket, pin the bear to a different location, put an ornament on the countdown tree, change the dice to a different number on the nativity, and eat a chocolate.

Christmas Eve we spent with family. We watched Arthur Christmas at the movie theatre with Grandma and Grandpa Lee, Matt, Sara, Peyton, and Meryn. Andrea didn't make it all the way through the movie, it was during nap time, but the rest of us still enjoyed it. We also had dinner with the Lees, looked at some lights, and opened our Christmas Eve pajamas.

When Christmas morning finally came Andrea didn't even stop in our room, she headed straight for the living room where Daddy was watching TV, but she noticed the new presents pretty quickly. Santa didn't go overboard this year, which we are all happy about.

Andrea received:
A teaset
Mickey's Shoe Garage

 New clothes
A Mobigo and two games
A suit case and sleeping bag from Grandma and Grandpa Lee

An Elmo puzzle from Grandma and Grandpa Williams
A doll and me dress from Grandma and Grandpa Williams

Ryan received:
A remote control car

A model truck with paints and glue
A sattelite receiver for the bedroom
An ipod alarm clock
A new bathroom reader
A new sander from the Lees
New gloves from the Williams
Kristy received:
Pearl bracelet and earrings (from Shane Co)
An ipod docking speaker for the TV
A home made jigsaw puzzle box built by Ryan

Boots
Picture frames for the hallway
A new bedset from the Lees
A new wallet from my parents

Christmas day was sure a frenzy with church interrupting things ;) I can't believe we had to go take the sacrament on Christ's birthday. After church we had lunch and more presents at the Lees. After that we were all exhausted and had a nice nap. We later stopped by my brother Eric's house to see what Santa had brought Brigitta and Roland.

I'm glad I wasn't sick this year, and although Ryan was feeling a little nausaus Christmas Eve he made through the holiday without incident which is pretty good for us!

Goodbye Tessy

Sunday we had to say goodbye to Tessy. Wednesday she started showing signs of pain (shaking, not jumping) but we assumed it was a sprain or a sore muscle. I was giving her Andrea's ibuprofen and that seemed to help but by Sunday she could hardly stand. When we called the vet he figured it was her back, and Ryan and I can only assume she might have fallen down the deck stairs while going potty. By Sunday afternoon her pain was so bad that we both knew we should end her misery.

 I wanted to give her all her favorite foods but she couldn't even stand to eat them. We had to carry her in her bed to the truck and of course then she got excited to go for a ride and did all she could to stand and look out the windows.

Ryan couldn't stay in the room while the doctor gave her the shot, it was his doggy after all, he was the one who wanted her and babied her. I, however, didn't want her to be alone while she passed, so I held her until the end.

It's still tough... I cried when I saw her footprints in the snow, I cried when I put Andrea' ibuprofen away, I cried when I was making tuna for Andrea and no doggy paws came running. She was a great dog, and mine and Ryan's first baby. Some things to remember about Tessy:

She never barked, only when dreaming would we hear an attempt at a bark.

She loved to play hide and seek with us. It always seemed to be Sundays after church that either Ryan and I would wait to open the kennel while the other one hid. She was always so excited to run up those stairs and search for us.

She got fed 4 times a day and she could tell time better than any of us. When it got to be feeding time she would crawl out of bed and start nudging our hands with her nose.

She was a cuddler, when she saw a blanket on the couch she took that as permission to come snuggle.

She loved her ears rubbed, she would moan and tilt her head.

She was obsessed with tuna, anytime we opened ANY can she would run to the kitchen hoping she got to lick the tuna can.

She never played with toys... she couldn't care less if you threw a ball her way or waved a dog toy in front of her she was too refined for that kind of thing!

She would sneak in Andrea's room and jump up on her bed during the day.

She would steal food from Bracken and Andrea when they got distracted.

We love you Tessy and you will ALWAYS be in our hearts! You blessed us with your joy for 7 out of the 9 years of your life and I hope we made your life a good one.

Christmas Fun

We actually made it to see the Temple Square Christmas lights this year! I thought going on a week night would be less crazy so we decided to go last Wednesday. I think there really is no good time to go... not only was it the youth groups activity that night, but we also saw 3 school buses who unloaded even more teenagers for some kind of performance.

I could go into all the details of the night but let's just say that between no parking, two trips back to the car, inconvenient bladder needs from Andrea, too many teenagers, and it being REALLY cold... it will be a while before we do it again. Ryan got some really beautiful pictures of the temple that I'm excited to print and frame.

Andrea was more impressed by the releasing of birthday balloons through the skylight while having dinner at the Garden than she actually was with the lights, so I think we'll wait for HER to ask us to go again.

Later that week Andrea and I got into the Christmas spirit by decorating a gingerbread house. Now I am not one to make home made gingerbread, cut it, make frosting no no no. Costco had a pre-build one with candy and frosting included. That's my kind of project!

Andrea ate more candy than she actually put on but she really did a good job when she did actually place them on the house.

She's a Small Wonder

There are things I am always telling myself to "never forget" about my little girl but I'm afraid I will, so I'm going to blog a few of them:

1. She is always singing... real songs, made up songs, it doesn't matter. I know she gets this from me, and I know I got it from my Mom. She even plays right along when I make up a song. For instance, if I sing "Let's go get your PJs on, do da do da" to the tune of Camptown races, she will sing right back "No, no, no, no, no, no, no do da do da".

2. She named her Baby doll "Sauel", pronounced like "Samual" without the M. Don't know where she came up with that, and this is the only baby she has named, of course it's the oldest and most worn out doll that she's attached to.

3. She LOVES puzzles, she would do them all day long if I had the patience. 12 piece puzzles she can do all on her own but more than that she needs to be handed a piece that can connect somewhere at the moment. Even when I do my 750, 1000 piece puzzles she loves to help and gets a few matches!

4. She has, what the doctor called, a "geographical" tongue. She gets ringworm-canker looking spots on her tongue randomly.

Here you can see one of the sores on the left side. The doctor said they don't hurt her but they will probably just make her taste more sensitive. Which leads me to my next quirk...

5. She will only drink milk if it has orange juice in it. 3/4 milk, 1/4 oj. It's been this way ever since she switched from formula and I've tried plain milk again occationally and she won't have it. Other than that her tastes are quite advanced for a 2 year old. She LOVES tuna, tomatoes, cooked carrots, and will try anything. The only thing I've found that she doesn't like is marshmellows, what kid doesn't like marshmellows?! Mine.

6. She rubs her ear while she drinks. It's usually her right ear but she'll switch if Ryan or I start rubbing the left one just to tease her. Ryan noticed this about her quite a while ago. Here is a recent photo, and one last Christmas.

Yes, she is a small wonder, but I love all her little quirks and look forward to experiencing all that her personality has to offer!

Halloween

Halloween started for us on Friday, it was our ward's trunk or treat. The night before Ryan warned me that he might miss because of a big project at work. So I threw my big "you've missed the last two Halloween's because of work" tantrum and I think it worked. He was home by 4:30 the next day and I was very glad he got to be part of the fun this year! I stayed by our trunk and passed out candy and let Ryan enjoy taking Andrea trunk to trunk. The ward also had chili for dinner, a fishing game, a cookie walk, and a mini maze. I was very impressed by all the work that went into the night, thank you 3rd Ward!

It was fun to have my brother in the ward this year and have Amy and the kids at the trunk next to ours, they dressed as Batman characters and their trunk was the bat cave.

Saturday morning we all carved our pumpkins. Andrea chose Mickey (of course), Ryan thought he would try Perry the Platypus from Phineas and Ferb, and he had to out-do us both by using his exacto knife kit to carve through just the top layer. I chose a simple ghost but I'll show them both next year!

We continued our Halloween weekend by having Mummy hot dogs for lunch and baking some pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.

When Halloween rolled around on Monday Andrea got her costume on to visit Grandma and Grandpa Lee, and Grandma LaVelle. By the time we drove out to Kristi's she was out! She woke up enough to go potty, but I guess she had too much excitement for one night. Each year she understands the holiday more and more and I'm afraid this was probably the last year that I got to choose what her costume would be :(

Bedtime Wishes and Fishy Dreams

As you all know the Andrea-bed-couch struggle has been ongoing for some time now. I decided it was time again to try and get to her to sleep in her bed again. This decision usually comes when she will no longer sleep through the night on the couch either.

Ryan has wanted to get Andrea some fish for a while. She gets so excited whenever we encounter a fish tank at a restaurant or the doctor's office. I finally agreed that if she would sleep in her bed for 10 nights she could get some fish.

The qualification for a sticker on the chart was simple... she had to wake up in her bed. So yes, there were several nights that I had to take her back to bed, and sit there with her for a while. There were also some unsuccessful nights when she asked to go back to the couch. So it took about 2 weeks to get the 10 stickers, but she did it! And 6 of those nights were undisturbed genuine full nights in her bed, I can't believe it!

She ended up getting 3 fish, a snail, and we are still looking for a "pink mermaid" decoration that she thinks the tank needs. When we ask her the names of the fish they are "Mommy" "Daddy" and "Nemo". I just don't like that "Mommy" happens to be the biggest one!