Us

Here are some ramblings:

• My birthday was last week and everyone was very nice to me. Abby was very attentive and Briton posed especially well for the picture of us opening the nice new casserole dishes he picked out for me.
• I had a tender moment watching Abby and Mike dancing together last night. They looked so sweet and she was smiling such a "real" smile. Sometimes when I take her picture and ask her to smile I get a fake squinty smile, but it is so cute to see her genuine smile. (Not that we don't see it regularly. We do.)
• For a couple weeks, Abby was choosing an animal for us to be each day. It started on Christmas Eve when we were sting rays. We have been camels, lions, kitties, spiders, cows, crabs, etc. Yesterday Mike was a daddy elephant, I was a mommy spider, Abby was a baby lion and I think that Briton was something like a baby cow. We aren't animals everyday anymore, but she sure has a fun imagination.
• My baby has become especially irreverent during the Sacrament. (I know he is only 11 months.) The problem is that he has come to realize what the Sacrament is (not necessarily what it means) and he loves it! (That is such an understatement.) He lunges for the brethren passing the Sacrament and makes a lot of noise in the process. Having said that, our stake has made a very concerted effort to help members of the stake realize and remember the importance and sacredness of the Sacrament. I find that I am getting more meaning out of it lately than perhaps at any other time in my life (even with a very excited baby).
• We (the kids and I) went ice skating with some friends last week. I had a crazy idea that even though I haven't been ice skating in years, I could just put Briton in the hiking backpack, strap on the skates and support Abby and I around the rink. Hmmm...didn't work quite that well. Even without trying to help Abby, I was quite wobbly. Luckily we had a friend sitting on the bleachers with some of the littler kids who was willing to watch Briton. The rink had some little walkers that kids could push around. Between the walker and me, Abby made it around the rink at least once. I made it around (without the walker) a few times. Next time we'll bring dad!
• Abby has gotten very proficient at getting on her full winter gear all by herself. She loves to go sledding across the street and I am trying to do better at allowing her to. (Sometimes it is just too cold outside and seems so not fun to get myself and the baby all dressed up, but it pays off.) They both have a lot of fun on the sleds and the hill in the empty lot on our street is the perfect size for them. (She can even drag her sled up all by herself!)
• And...guess who took his first step yesterday??? We can stand Briton up in the middle of the room and he'll stand there for several seconds. He took one step yesterday as Mike and I were trying to get him to walk back and forth between us. He also kept saying, "Hi" whenever we'd say "Hi" to him. He is very cute.