Sweet Moments

Today is sugar cookie day at the Cotnoir house! I'm bravely mixing, rolling, cutting, baking, icing, and decorating sugar cookies with 2 toddlers. Crazy but fun. This morning, we baked and rolled out our cookies. The girls were covered in flour (I forgot to put aprons on them) and the floor was a mess. Audrey kept getting mad and throwing the dough on the floor. I was trying to remain calm, but my type-A, perfectionistic personality was making my blood pressure soar. Deep breaths. Sophie did really well cutting out shapes. I suppose all that play-dough time has really paid off.

While the girls napped, I iced the cookies in white. I also prepped the icing in baggies for them to mix up to make different colors. Here are a few snapshots of our day.

Cutting out our cookies...

Waiting for them to cool. Looking good so far!
Iced and ready to mix our colors and decorate! The snowman on the left sacrificed himself for the cooks.

Sophie loved decorating and having some special time with Mommy while Audrey slept. She was so focused!

The final product and one proud little girl!

A Snapshot

So little time…I’m trying to learn more about photography and get out of auto. I need more time, or to be a better steward of my 24 hours, and make room for study and practice. I have been practicing more with the girls and Sophie is a good sport about it. I’m not good at all indoors yet (darn low light!) but am improving with outdoor shots. I am hoping Santa will be kind and bring me a sweet 50mm f/1.8 lens. That would be a nice incentive to get better quickly!

As for our latest news, Audrey is becoming more verbal each week. She attempts several new words and often I recognize it before she gets too upset with me. She loves to chase Cody and have him chase her for a treat. She loves the Bye Bye song from our visits to the Baby Gym (our nickname for My Gym). And she LOVES her milk still. We are in the process of kicking the milk-to-bed habit. Most nights are pretty good, but if she doesn’t eat well at dinnertime, there is a battle ahead!

For Sophie, she was very sad at preschool on Thursday because when they passed around the offering bucket in chapel, she did not have any coins to give. Bad mommy! So I will be more diligent about putting some money in her coin purse each week. During our prayers last night, I asked her what are some ways we can show God’s love to others and she said to sing Twinkle Twinkle because that’s what she sings to Audrey when she is cries. So thoughtful! She is also sleeping through the night now pretty consistently (Halleluiah!) and is not playing with poop. Life just gets better every day!

Anyway, here are some of my favorite photos this month.

After enjoying a PB&J.
Audrey's new hobby.
Sophie strung every card as a gift for Daddy after his big hunting trip.

Posing while Mommy plays with her camera.

Caught a sweet smile.

It's Fall Ya'll

To celebrate this amazing fall weather, the girls and I visited the Dallas Arboretum with some friends. They had a blast checking out all the pumpkins and cool pumpkin houses and arrangements. It was beautiful! I am trying to learn how to take better pictures with my camera, so this was a perfect opportunity to practice. I had a hard time getting shots of them because they were constantly running away from me and toward more pumpkins or looking down at the pumpkins. But I did get in a couple of cute ones (patience – the pics are at the end of my ramblings).

I’ve noticed that Sophie is becoming quiet the attentive big sister. I watched her share her yogurt with Audrey by feeding her like she’s a baby doll. Audrey just loves it! They play ‘chase’ quite a bit these days and giggle while they run after each other. Audrey has learned to say no and does so with her whole heart: “Nnnnnnoo!” It’s her new favorite word. And Sophie has decided it’s more fun to poop in the potty than play with it on the floor now that we’ve reintroduced the lollipop incentive. Thankful I found a Groupon for carpet cleaning! That’s the big update in our little world.

Me and my girls at the pumpkin patch!

For more photos, check out my Facebook link at http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150354387609764.370738.822694763&type=1&l=8980464db7.

This and That

September just zipped right on by and I barely breathed. It was a crazy, busy month with Benoit’s tonsillectomy and recovery (still underway), his mom’s visit, and the start of Sophie’s school. I need a break already! But life is good and I’m a blessed woman. Here are a few things for which I’m thankful.

Sophie loves school and dove right back in. There is NO crying or whining when it’s time to go. She’s practically running in and I’m watching the other moms kiss and hug their kids while mine is apparently ready to be rid of me for a few hours. I’m very happy that she loves it and wants to be there to play and learn. She is getting so growny and the other day she colored a picture and then put in on the fridge for display. She also went on a ‘big kid’ playground this week shaped like a rocketship. There were older kids on it (and it was probably 30 feet high) but she went right to the top to play with them. An older girl, probably 6 y/o, tapped her on the arm for tag and she got upset. She slowly walked her way down nearly tripping on her bottom lip, I swear. It was so sweet and sad. I just hugged her and told her the girl was playing a game and then we went over to the smaller playground.

Audrey is getting rather chatty these days and while her words are not very clear, her meaning is. She signs ‘milk’ and ‘please’ while saying ‘peees’!!! So adorable. And she LOVES milk. She’s infatuated with it to the point that she doesn’t want to eat food. Just give the girl some milk and call it dinner, she doesn’t care. When we have snacktime (which she calls ‘nack time’), Sophie usually takes Audrey’s food because she’s not eating it and then announces, ‘Audrey share with me!’ I suppose that’s one way to teach sharing.

And here are some of our new Halloween decorations. It is October, after all!

A family portrait!

Playing in the sandbox and concentrating so hard. Sweet little memories.
Sophie is not big into dress up but rather enjoyed being a princess at a playdate.

My favorite people!

I ain't afraid of no ghost!

Spooky!

Back To School

I love fall. I love being outside again. I love a crisp breeze. I love the anticipation of hot chocolate and butternut squash soup and holidays. And I love back to school! Sophie had a great first day and was very excited to meet her new teachers and friends. Only 1 girl from last year is in her class so everyone else is new to her. She came home and talked about playing with trucks and making snakes. Definitely new exposure! Here are a few cute snapshots of my big girl ready for her first day of 2 y/o preschool!

PS - Sophie's sleep saga continues. We are about to move Audrey back in our room and retry the cry-it-out method. I'm just too afraid to do it with Audrey right next door and then have to deal with two wide-awake babes at 3am!

Ready with her lunchbag, "Ellie" the Elephant! And yes, Ellie must wear bows too!
Warming up to Miss Stacy, who actually lives on our stree!
Arms crossed, looking around, getting comfy. But holding her own. Love this girl!

Naptime Crafting

Last year at Sophie's school, the kids gave offering each Thursday in chapel. I didn't find out until the end of the year that Sophie was not able to open her coin bag that I had made. I really didn't think she would be able to (it was a drawstring bag) but I didn't think she would try either. But apparently she always wanted to do it and couldn't. So this year, I made her a new coin bag for her chapel money that has a velcro opening. Now that she's older, she will also need to do little chores to earn chapel money. She LOVES to play with coins and Benoit has a tub of coins in one of the kitchen drawers and we always have to shoo her out of it. So today, I told her that she had 3 chores to do to earn coins:

1. Make her bed


2. Put her toys away


3. Put her clothes in herlaundry basket.

Today, she has earned 2 coins, which you can find in the little coin purse below. I made the cute fabric flower to match the interior lining of the bag. Pretty cute, right!

To make one of your very own, check out these tutorials. I skipped the quilting section but otherwise, this is exactly what I did.

http://www.valeriecustomquilting.com/patterns/free/QuickNEasyCoinPurse.pdf

http://www.makeit-loveit.com/2011/08/full-and-textured-fabric-flowers.html

Weekend in Review

Whew, what a weekend! Benoit and I have decided to try a few new ideas to help Sophie sleep better at night (and hence, the rest of us too). We started last week with a 30 min quiet time before movie time, during which she falls asleep. I wake her after quiet time and she can watch a movie until Audrey wakes up from her nap. Friday night was particularly bad and she woke up countless times and never seemed to be able to settle down. I never really slept after 3:30am.

So on Saturday night, we decided to try a 'wait and see' approach to night time wakings. We put Audrey to bed in a playard in our room to keep her from waking up when Sophie goes nuts later that night. Around 10:30pm, Sophie woke up and started crying. I did not go in but we just waited for 5 minutes to see if she could calm herself down. She did not, so Benoit went in. She then went totally nuts because she only wants me to come in at night. We are also working on getting her more used to Benoit coming in at night so he'll be able to help more. Then after 5 more minutes, I went in. Initially, it took a while for her to sleep but I only had to go in 1 more time that night. She woke again, but was able to calm herself. Then Sunday night, I only had to go in at 4:30 am. Not too bad! Maybe we're on the right track finally!

As for Audrey, she had a rough morning yesterday. She woke us up gagging at 5am (remember, she is in the playard in our room). But she did not get sick and went back to sleep. At 6am, she and I got up and snuggled on the couch while she drank her milk. Twenty minutes later, she projected it all over me and the couch. Twice. Gross. And smelly. She didn't get sick anymore that day but did have two gross diapers that morning, so must have been a little bug. We canceled our brunch plans at the Gaylord (we'll go next weekend) since she was not feeling well. She was quite grumpy, but who could blame her.

Otherwise, a good weekend. We went to the dog park, stopped at Dunkin Donuts for a small treat, went to the pool with the kids, hung out at the mall a bit. It was a nice family weekend. I even got 2 pairs of running shorts (though I don't run) for the start of my birthday week! That means I'll look cool at the gym today while I hit the elliptical Thanks hubby!

Today begins Sophie's last full week home before she starts back to school so I planned a fun activity for FUN WEEK! Today we went to the Pump It Up and bounced around on some cool inflatables. Sophie had a blast but Audrey was a little unsure of it all after 15 min. Very unlike her, so maybe a little tired from yesterday's craziness. And here is my fave moment of the day....hand holding in the car. Sigh.

Go in the kitchen

"Go in the kitchen, mommy!" directs Sophie. Not because she's hungry, thirsty, or thinks that's where I belong. But rather because she wants to do something she's not allowed to do and wants me to leave so she can get away with it. She wants to jump on the couch. She loves to pull all the pillows off the couch and jump from the armrest (from a standing position) to her tummy on the couch. Often with Audrey in the way. I just think it's funny, but the responsible mommy part of me has to step in and make sure she doesn't get hurt. Hense, no jumping on the couch.

Bonus, here is a pic of Audrey climbing into her old carseat while I'm typing today's entry. Cute!

Ok, so it’s been a while. But I’m back on the wagon and ready to go. So let’s catch up….

Sophie is 2 ½ years old now and has developed quite an imagination. She often talks to her ‘friends’ and names them. There are a variety of them – crocodiles, Swiper (the fox from Dora), Sara (???), and on and on. She likes to have them follow her around the house and eat cookies or cook with her. She has also been waking frequently at night for about 5 months and we wonder if this is all related. I get up (yep, she doesn’t want Benoit) every night 1-4+ times. Usually she wakes at 1am/3am or 3am/5am. But some nights it’s every couple of hours. This week, I have slept 1 night with only 1 waking. So I’m a little zombie-ish, but making it. We are trying a new nap routine starting today and hoping it will help. She has not been taking a nap for the last 2 months b/c we have so much trouble getting her to sleep at night. Now she zonks right out, which is amazing b/c we have our evenings back starting at 8pm but then wakes several times at night. So we wonder if she’s overtired. Today, she had a 30 min quiet time (she fell asleep after 15 and I let her sleep for 30) and then a movie while Audrey finished her nap. So crossing my fingers for a new/better routine with better night sleep.

Audrey is 14 months and is more verbal every day! She is signing a ton of words, mostly animal related and usually accompanied by noise. She can sign dog (see below), more, light, milk, bye, blow a kiss, bird, gorilla, elephant, giraffe, monkey, pig, hot, and please. Her first verbal word besides mama/dada was two weeks ago and she said ‘peees’ when she signed please. New verbal words include bye, yuck (when we change her diaper), ball, bath, and uh-oh. She is so pleased with herself when she communicates with me and I’m so proud of her for saying so many words. She has not said any French words yet, but last week, Benoit asked her to bring him his bike helmet in French and she did. She is super smart and just a joy to be around.

As for me and Benoit, we are doing great. Just getting the family back from Vermont to visit Brad and Emily (Mom got to come too!). Benoit is feeling much better but having setbacks occasionally. He has gained back 15 pounds and actually wants to lose 5 again. I think he looks great but he wants to get down to his goal weight and stay there. I can totally understand! I’m focused on getting Sophie ready for school in a couple of weeks and deciding how Audrey and I will spend our time, other than running errands. I’m considering a gym class for her or pool time. But I want to maintain a good schedule that will be fun and challenging for her while giving us some good mommy/daughter time.

For visual interest, I’ve added a few of my fave photos from our vacation below. I’m still waiting to see if my photos I accidentally deleted can be recovered, so I’ll add more another time.

Audrey making her dog sign while sitting on a dog.

The view from our back patio at 'The Swallow's Nest'.
Nana and her girls!

Brad and me in giant chair, awesome.

Home Improvements

Happy Summer! I've been in the redecorating mood lately and just finished new pillows for the living room (photos not uploaded yet). Thanks so much to my mom for my Mother's Day gift card, with which I bought some gret fabric for new curtains in the dining area. Don't you love it? I do. here is a close up and wide shot.

I love summertime, even in the Texas heat! So we spruced up our back patio and we're ready for some summer grilling. Woo hoo! Note my new herb garden (ok, it's a pot, but it's a start) which I'm super pumped about.

How is it possible?

How is it possible that I'm planning a first birthday party for Audrey? I am amazed how fast year one goes by. It's bittersweet...I'm so proud of my walking, talking bundle of love but I'm also so sad that she's growing up so quickly. It's hard to even imagine how little she was and it really wasn't that long ago. Here are five things I know (and love) about my little Audrey.

1. 
   
   She loves the sandbox. And sometimes, she just can't resist having a taste test.


2. 
   
   She snuggles up on her side with her baby blanket in her arms to fall asleep, and she is an amazing sleeper. She falls asleep quickly and hardly ever wakes during the night. What a wonderful treat for this sleep-addicted mommy.


3. 
   
   She loves Cody. For the longest time, she would crawl to wherever he was just to pet him and smile and giggle the whole time Poor thing, each time she made it to him after all that hard work, he would just walk away.


4. 
   
   She's a climber. She started climbing about a month ago onto Sophie's bed. Then Sophie's little rocking chair. Onto the ottoman and into the chair. From the laundry basket onto the couch. She's a brave one.


5. 
   
   She points like a gunslinger with both her pointer finger and her thumb. And she grunts at whatever has caught her attention 'guh, guh'. She's starting to sign and communicate with us, which is so much fun. So far, she's signing 'more', 'fan', 'bye', 'hi'. And she saying 'mama' (love!), and 'dada'. Fun!

Lastly, here is a proof of the adorable birthday party invitation for Audrey. We're having a very small get-together and hoping for a intimate, special day for our youngest. Sweet, sweet moments....

Try and Try Again

All month I've been trying to get a cute picture of Audrey with her '8 month old' sign and have had little luck. She is so squirmy and I can't get her to sit still long enough to get a photo. Here are the best of the crop so far!

In this session, she just kept trying to crawl towards me.
Here she kept making funny faces or wanted to grab the sign.

Yummy!

This is the best one I got....But if you look close, you'll notice she has a black eye...her first shiner! Darn you, bathtub!

A Winter Day

After church last Sunday, we came home and took some quick photos with the girls in our Sunday best. It was super cold and we had on winter clothes, which is hard to imagine now that it's 75 degrees outside! Can you believe it's February? I'll have to add my 'spring' pictures soon...but I'll save that for another day. Enjoy!

PS - Sophie is in the den telling her baby dolls to go to timeout right now. I keep hearing 'No ma'am! Go timeout! Go timeout right now!' lol

Me and my girls.
Mommy and Audrey snuggling.

Sophie posing for the camera...a little model in the making.There is that model pout. She practices a lot.

Benoit and Audrey being quite adorable together.

Woo Hoo! Sophie's Two!

How do I suddenly have a two year old? It seems like just yesterday I found out I was pregnant for the first time and now here I am with two precious little girls. What a blessing. I thought Sophie would enjoy a Winter Carnival with her friends and so a theme was born. Snowman invitations, blue/white/silver everywhere, and tons of 'carni' games to boot. We had a snowball toss, photo booth, hockey shootout, guess how many gummy bears, go fish, tattoo parlor, penguin pickup, and polar bear knock down. Everyone got tickets and a goodie bag to collect all their hard earned prizes, also winter themed. I think all the kids had a blast and I know Sophie enjoyed the party. She especially enjoyed her cake...we've been hearing about cupcakes all week long! She has definitely formed an association between birthday and cupcakes, I assume from preschool. And she's always pandering for one. But she is the birthday girl, after all, so why not.

~

Though she will not likely remember this party, I hope she remembers that she has friends who care about her and parents who are proud of her and love her endlessly. She's an amazing little girl full of feisty fire, sweet snuggles, and great giggles. How much fun to watch her grow up!

Front door sign...super cute!Sophie's birthday plate!Getting ready for the cake - she seemed to know just what to do.Yum! She really liked her cake.Family picture - it was a great day!Sophie playing at the 'photo booth' with her friend, Levi.Enjoying the 'hockey shoot out' game.