Too Much Time On My Hands

I found this website where you can add "blingies" to your photos, so I couldn't resist doing this. I expect DFACS to show up any minute now!


Add Glitter to your Photos




We are getting ready to head over to the Korey's so Audrey can party with Emma! I'm sure we'll have some cute pictures tomorrow. Happy New Year!

The Chiken and the Lamp

Audrey got a cute little barnyard animal puzzle for Christmas. It was obviously not made in the USA, as evidenced by the "chiken" and the "lamp."

Christmas '07

We had what felt like a super long holiday weekend. Audrey spent the night with Grandma and Papa on Friday while we went to my company Christmas party. I finished my shopping before picking her up and heading down to Steph and Alex's for another Christmas party on Saturday evening.

On Sunday we woke up to find that we had a plumbing leak outside of the house. We seem to have some issues with water over here! This time, after Andy, Dad and Pete dug up the pipe, they discovered that an animal had chewed a hole in the PVC. Once they got that fixed, they found another small leak where the PVC meets the copper pipe. That leak is not totally fixed yet, but it's very, very slow so it's waiting for Andy to have time to finish the repair.

We spent Monday over at Grandma and Papa's. The boys were getting restless before dinner so we let them each open a present (Audrey was napping), and Ryan's cleaning cart was a big hit! For those that don't know Ryan, he LOVES to help clean, so when I heard that they made little cleaning carts, I had to get one for him. That kid vacuumed, dust busted and swept all night long. Later I caught him wiping his new scooter down with a wet wipe!



Audrey hasn't quite grasped the concept of opening gifts, but she had fun playing with stuff once it was opened. She got her first tutu from Aunt Tina and wore it with pride. She amused everyone as she cleaned with Ryan's mop in her tutu!



Santa came to our house and set most of Audrey's presents up under the tree. Daddy made us breakfast and then we brought her in to the living room to see her loot. She looked so cute playing with her new toys in her gingerbread man jammies with her wild bed head!



Later we went over to Grandma and Grandpa's. Audrey spent the whole time we were opening gifts just running around the house. This is the best picture I could get of her Christmas dress.



Grandma bought some new baby spoons that have a pretty steep curve in them and Audrey used one to eat a whole container of apple sauce! She did very good for her first time using a spoon and she'd get mad if Grandma tried to help her hold it! She wouldn't use one of our spoons today for Daddy, so Grandma is going to find more of her kind for us.

I had to go back to work today, so our house still looks like a toy factory exploded until I can get everything put away. I hope you all had a great Christmas too! Here are the rest of our pictures:

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One Year Checkup Stats

The one year check up did not go so well. Health wise she's fine (aside from her usual double ear infection, but more on that later), but she SCREAMED from the moment the nurse took her height measurements (which is the first thing she does) until we walked out the door.

Her blood and urine tests came back perfect and she's 20 lbs, 14 oz (50%) and 30 1/4 inches (75-90%). When the doctor checked her ears, they were both infected this time. As she whipped out her prescription pad to give us another antibiotic, I asked when we get to a point where we consider tubes. I really don't want to go that route, but I don't want the poor kid to have hearing problems from all of the damage to her ears.

The doc said not until she's had one a month for three months. I told her that we've had more than that, so she looked and Audrey has had 5 ear infections in 3 months! So, I got my referral for an ENT to see if they recommend getting tubes.

Then, the doctor inadvertantly made me feel bad because she pointed out that the ear infection problem started right about when Audrey started going to daycare. The constant snotty nose has lead to the fluid in the ears, which hasn't been draining properly and getting infected. So, now I feel even worse about putting her daycare. Ugh!

Birthday Weekend Photo Extravaganza!

We had a fun, crazy, exhausting weekend! Audrey got her birthday weekend kicked off with a small cake on her actual birthday. She didn't get too messy, but she enjoyed eating it.



On Saturday we went to cousin Tyler's 4th birthday party at one of those "jumpy" places. She was a little scared of all of the commotion at first, but she opened up after a few minutes. I never knew that the parents could kick their shoes off and jump too, so I think I had more fun than Audrey did!



Here are the rest of the pictures from Tyler's party:

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This is what we discovered in our yard when we got home from the party. That's our neighbor's house on the left and unfortunately, their back yard drains right into ours





Apparently it had been going on for a few hours and our backyard was like a lake. We didn't have any water all night and I was panicked because 1) we needed water to clean up and prep for the party and 2) we were having about 20 people over for Audrey's b'day party on Sunday! Luckily the water was on by morning so Andy and I got up early and cleaned and cooked like crazy.

Audrey was the little birthday diva at her party! She had fun playing with all of the kids, but she didn't want to sit next to me and open presents. I had to bribe her with food to keep her near me for pictures! Emma (who we think is secretly related to Ian after seeing them next to each other) was a very good audience member - every time we'd open a present she'd say "Oooh!" When it came time for cake, Audrey was poking one finger at it, so Daddy finally smashed her hand in it. She ate a little more after realizing what it was, but then she wanted down to go play.





This picture cracks me up - it's tough being the birthday girl!



If you are not tired of pictures, here are the rest from Audrey's party:

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All in all, it was a fun party and Audrey has already played with everything she received. When Andy picked Audrey up from daycare today, the poor kid was still so worn out that they told Andy that they found her asleep on the floor with her little butt in the air!

Happy Birthday Princess!

Happy first birthday to my little princess! This year has flown by so fast and your little personality is really shining through. You are quite the animal lover already and love to look at books. You are Daddy's brave little adventurer and Mommy's sweet little snuggler. You get a big old grin when you see Elmo and Curious George and whenever there is a Grandma around, you are a total Grandma's girl!

I love you, baby girl!

Gone To The Dogs

Everyone who has known me before Audrey knows that my dogs were my babies back then. I used to send out photos of them (this blog would probably be all about cute things that Roscoe did) and spoil them rotten. They have a fenced in back yard, a doggie door into a basement with dog beds, a futon, a fan and cable TV. They live better than a lot of humans do!

I never though I'd be one of those people who would reduce their dogs to secondary family members after having a baby, but I have.

They weren't too bad when Audrey was little bitty. It was annoying when they would scratch at the door while I was in the middle of nursing, but other than that, they were pretty good. Then, Audrey starting eating finger foods and moving around. The poor kid can't have a snack in the living room because she has to fight off two dogs and if I leave the room during meal time, they are up on her tray finishing off her dinner. I have a new rule that when Audrey or I are eating dinner, the dogs have to go outside. I never would have thought that I'd do that to them!

Now that she is walking and getting into everything, she requires even more attention, which means that the dogs are getting even less. This means that they are acting up for attention. Roscoe runs around with baby toys in his mouth, Hazel licks the sippy cup spouts, etc, etc. Tonight, while I was giving Audrey her bath, I heard Roscoe knocking something off of the counter. It was just a Kroger bag full of stuff that I needed to bring upstairs. Nothing was broken but the bag was ripped up. Then I hear him knocking stuff off the counter while I'm reading Audrey her bedtime books.

He knocked down and ate 36 iced sugar cookies!! And there was orange icing all over the kitchen floor! I went to a cookie party on Monday night and brought home a bunch of cookies, but for some reason Andy felt the need to buy a 48 pack of sugar cookies at BJs on Tuesday. Instead of putting them in the cookie jar, he left them on the island. Roscoe has a pretty far reach for having such short legs!

So, now whenever I am doing anything that requires full attention on Audrey, the poor dogs have to be thrown outside. Ugh!

In Audrey news, she has graduated from formula to whole milk. We ran out of Similac on Sunday and figured since she turns one on Friday, it would be okay just to switch her over to milk. She is doing fine with it although she refuses to drink it out of a sippy cup. She drinks juice and water out of cups fine, but will not drink her milk out of them. So much for packing up the bottles soon!

She also has a cold and has not been sleeping well. She is so congested that she can't really breathe when she's lying down, so I slept with her in her chair on Sunday night, Andy took Tuesday night and I was in her Lazy Boy all last night. She played pretty hard with the twins today and went to bed without a fight, so I'm hoping that she's so tired that she'll sleep through the night okay.

I can't believe she turns one tomorrow! I've taken a picture of her every month and am going to attempt putting them in a slideshow on her site, so be sure to check back tomorrow!

Say Cheese, Hold Still and Quit Eating The Props!

Picture day did not go as smoothly as it did when I had Audrey's six month photos made. Oh, how I long for the days when she couldn't move!

She kept trying to lay back against the backdrop, so they brought out a little sled to sit on. That didn't work. Then we tried a little bench, then a North Pole sign... not interested. The fake snowballs kept her interest for a little while.

I wanted some more generic pictures to use as her one year photos, so they brought down a different background and took the jacket off. They had a cute little wicker chair that Audrey kept trying to push around like a stroller, then they tried blocks which she tried to eat the whole time, then they brought out a little white desk. On the faraway versions of the each desk shot, her butt is in the air as she tries to escape. She fell off the back, then out through the front, then tried to climb on top on her knees.

In the end, we got some decent shots, but none of her cute big, open mouthed smile.

While trying to entertain her, I saw a molar poking through on the bottom right. I stuck my finger in and felt one on the top right and one on the top left. That explains some of the sleep issues that she has been having lately. We were always so proud that she slept through the night since 3 months old, but she's making up for it now! We have at least 2 or 3 nights a week that we have to go in there and hold her until she falls back asleep. Some nights she gets so hysterical that it's easier just to sleep with her in the Lazy Boy.



The princess is napping, so I'm going to go and try to get my Christmas cards mailed out!

Arts & Crafts

The daycare sent home Audrey's first craft projects last week. Although she didn't actually do anything, they are still cute! The girl in the baby room told Andy yesterday that Audrey is one of the quieter kids in the class, which is kind of surprising since she's so outgoing and chatty at home.

One new "skill" that I forgot to tell you faithul readers about is the limp-noodle trick. Do babies all take a class to learn this? Audrey pulled it out at Wal-Mart the day after Thanksgiving when I was by myself. Fun!

We have a super busy month coming up. Grandma H is skipping work to help me get Audrey's one year/Christmas photos made on Thursday. I hope Audrey is as agreeable as she was during her six-month photos. Hopefully we'll have some cute pictures to share at the end of the week.

Here is another rare photo of the two of us. I think Audrey looks extra cute in this one!

Mountain Mama

Audrey had her first overnight trip last weekend (if you don't count sleeping at the grandparents houses). We went up to a condo in the North Carolina mountains that Grandma and Grandpa F. rented. She had a pretty good time, although it was wet and cold so we couldn't do much outside. On the first day we played on the playground and went back to the condo to take a jacuzzi bath. On Sunday we went shopping in Highlands and hung out at the condo.

Audrey was the cutest baby in Sapphire Valley in her poodle coat from Miss Linda and her bear hat that Daddy bought!

Today she had her recheck for her ear infection and got her flu shot. Unfortunately, her right ear is still filled with pus, so we are back on another antibiotic. She took her flu shot like a pro though - barely a peep! Now, we have to go back for her 1 year checkup and the flu shot booster. Dr. Murad told me that we should just rent a room there next month - nice, huh?!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today was Audrey's first Thanksgiving. We ate at about 3, which is not a normal meal time for her so she didn't eat much, but I got some good pictures where it looks like she's eating a big Turkey Day meal!

She and Ian had a good time together. She loved getting in his face and they would stare and giggle at each other.

Later, Grandma F dressed them in matching jammies for pictures, and we had chaos similar to the chaos of the Baby Bulldogs photo. Audrey does not like to sit still anymore!

Here is a link to the rest of the photos:

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I've mentioned before how much Audrey loves her doggies. She usually stands to the side and "barks" with them when they wrestle, but a couple of days ago she decided to jump in on the action! Roscoe was wiggling on his back on the floor and kicked her over and she got back up and tackled Hazel. (So Grandma H doesn't freak out, I would like to note that the dogs stopped wrestling and sat still when the baby jumped in.) Andy was pretty proud of his tough little girl!

Blogging in Bed!

Yay - it's my first blog from my new laptop. Not much new to report, I just wanted to use my computer. I can insert the memory card from my camera right into the laptop (which may be old news to those of you who are more technologically advanced than me, but to me it's pretty cool!). I took the above photo this morning. When I went to go peek in on Audrey playing in the living room, I found her inside her toy basket. I hit the 'auto correct' feature on the computer and I think the colors look kind of weird, but the crazy hair is all hers!

I mentioned in the last post that I wasn't feeling well... turns out I have strep throat and a double ear infection. Luckily Audrey is on amoxicillan already so she should be safe from me!

She Has a Point...

Yay for Jennifer B for being the 1,000th visitor! Jennifer used to work with me but she abandoned me at that crappy place to move on to better things! ;)

Audrey seems to be doing fine with this ear infection. She hasn't had a fever since Monday and she's actually been sleeping through the night. Mommy, on the other hand, has been having sinus problems. I feel like my throat is on fire from all of the drainage. We're pretty pitiful over here.

Yesterday was Audrey's 11-month birthday (and my 31st) so we went to Atkins Park for dinner. Audrey did pretty good but she was ready to get down and run by the time we were done. Andy didn't want to be "those parents" with the wild kid, so he was being Big Bad Daddy.

Andy and Audrey got me my very own wireless lap top for my birthday/Christmas/Valentine's Day/Anniversary! I can't wait to get it up and running. I haven't played with it yet because I want to set it up when I don't have any interruptions (Audrey).

Audrey's newest skill is pointing. On Tuesday she pointed to Wingnut and then kicked her in the gut (I think that part was an accident). Then, she pointed to an Elmo toy in a Walmart ad that for some reason was on the floor. Housekeeping isn't my strong point lately. Anyway, a little later I brought her the ad and asked her "Where's Elmo?" and she pointed to him again.

This morning, when I went to go get Audrey out of her crib, I noticed that her diaper had leaked onto the bed. Then, I looked closer and she had brown around her mouth!! It was so gross! She probably thought that it was nice of Mommy to leave her a snack! Yuck!

Fever... in the morning, fever all through the night

We won't be making our trip to Columbus tomorrow. Audrey's daycare called me around 2:00 to come pick her up because she had a fever. (Side note: it makes your heart drop a little when you see "Daycare" on your caller ID. You know they aren't calling for something good. "I was just calling to tell you that Audrey is having a great day!") I suspected that her ear infection had never cleared up, so I took her straight to the pediatrician. Sure enough, her right ear is still infected pretty badly.

The doc said that there is tons of pus in there and that her ear looked "tense," so the drum may burst and I may see pus and fluid dripping out of her ear! She said this all very non-challantly. I asked her if I should call if that happened and she said no, so then I asked if I was supposed to just sit at home and freak out over pus dripping out of my baby's burst eardrum!

Anyway, we are on amoxicillan again, which she is so sick of so she fights it and cries every time she has to take it. This time, when I picked up the medicine, the pharmacy had put a sticker on the bottle that says "This medication may decrease the effectiveness of birth control pills." Audrey has a lot of explaining to do if she's on birth control!

Reminder - if you notice that you are the 1,000th visitor (the counter is at the bottom of the page), sign in and let us know!

Audrey's Online Singing Debut

We've been busy at the Farbotko household. Audrey had her first visit to the Georgia Aquarium last week with Grandma and Grandpa F. They said that the only things that scared her were when the scuba diver came over to the glass and waved and when Grandpa told her that a big grouper that was swimming towards them was going to eat her for lunch! I'll post some pictures when I get some.

Tonight Audrey is spending the night with Grandma and Papa H. so Mommy and Daddy can go out with some of Daddy's coworkers. I realized that I haven't been out without Audrey since early September when we took Jennifer to dinner, so I'm looking forward to having a few drinks and sleeping in past 7 am tomorrow!

Tomorrow Grandma and Grandpa F. and Uncle PJ are coming up to celebrate my 29th (hah!) birthday. Audrey's poor little cousin Ian has the chicken pox, so they won't be able to come up for dinner.

Here is a video of Audrey and Mommy singing Old McDonald. She got a little lazy with the last EIEIO because we had already sung it a few times before I thought to go get my camera. If you notice, most of her pictures recently are taken with her sitting in her high chair. That's because she doesn't sit still anymore and it's the only way I can get a good shot of her!

We are driving down to Columbus on Tuesday with Jenny to go see Christy's new baby, so we should have some good pictures next week!

**I just noticed that we are getting close to 1000 visitors! If you check the bottom of the page and notice that you are the 1000th visitor, leave a comment and let us know who you are. Odds are, it will end up being me. I log on all the time at work to look at Audrey's cuteness!**

Happy Halloween!

Audrey... I mean Princess Leia... had a fun first Halloween (even though her sleeves were too long)! Unfortunately with her illness this weekend, we totally forgot to carve our pumpkin, but that's okay!

First she ran into football star Tom Brady, then she went and visited some of her neighbor friends.

Here are the rest of the photos. The first one is from Burt's but Grandma H. just sent it, then there are a few of sleepy Audrey from this morning before you get to the Princess Leia photos. Jackson was very helpful - there are some cute shots of him showing Audrey how to pick out Halloween candy. This is his second Halloween, so he's an old pro!

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You Give Me Fever

We were supposed to have a pretty fun weekend, but Miss Audrey woke up cranky on Saturday. By lunch she felt like she was on fire, so I took her temperature and it was 102
.3. I called the nurse advice line and they said that they don't worry until the temp gets to 103. By 7 pm, it was 102.8 and she was miserable, so we packed her up and headed to the urgent care clinic.

They said that she had an ear infection and sore throat, possibly from an upper respiratory virus and prescribed some antibiotics.

On Sunday her fever was 103.3 at lunch time, so we had to skip Emma's first birthday party. Later we had to go to Aunt Steph's for her birthday and to meet Grandma F's cousins from Iowa and Audrey was miserable the whole time. That night her fever got up to 104 and it scared Mommy to death! We stripped her down and gave her some cold juice and Tylenol and she was soon feeling a little better.

Andy and I each worked a half day yesterday and today is my day home with her. The fever has been a little better but she's still very cranky and cuddly. We've been having to sleep in her room with her and I'm hoping she doesn't get too used to having to be held to go to sleep. Andy and I are hoping that we can someday sleep in the same bed at the same time again!

Here she is Saturday afternoon with jelly all over her face from her new favorite lunch, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

These are from Monday. She was feeling a little better and toddling around in her p.j.'s with her puppy.

In much better news, she learned how to play fetch with Hazel yesterday, much to the delight of Hazel! She was in the upstairs hallway and she dropped Hazel's ball through the stair rail. Hazel ran and brought it back to Audrey and they did this for about 5 more minutes. Every time Audrey dropped the ball, she would giggle and scurry over to my lap to wait for Hazel. It was too cute!

Hopefully Audrey will feel well enough to go trick or treating tomorrow! Check back soon for pictures of her in her costume.

The Great Pumpkin

Yesterday we took our annual trip to Burt's Pumpkin Farm. Audrey was not as thrilled as I thought she would be, but she still had a good time picking up bark and playing in the dirt. Somehow she managed to get much dirtier than the boys!

The pumpkin selection was not as good this year. I'm assuming it's because of the drought.

Here is Miss Audrey waving at the camera:

This picture cracks me up because Ryan is making the goofiest face!

And here is a link to the rest of the photos:

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Teething Pains

Tooth number 8 poked through this weekend and we are hoping that's why Miss Audrey has been having trouble sleeping lately. She's been waking up and just wanting to be held for a couple of hours in the middle of the night. It wouldn't be too bad if I could fall asleep in her rocker, but I can't, so I'm usually up until 1:30 in the morning because she'll scream if I put her back down.

Other than that, she's doing great! Her newest trick is climbing the stairs and she usually laughs like a maniac while she's doing it. Andy is right, she's going to be quite the adventurer when she's older - she has no fear and loves exploring everything!

This past weekend we went over to Aunt Steph and Uncle Alex's to grill out and watch the Georgia game. Audrey was the only girl (like usual), but she had fun watching the bigger boys play and she ate her first hot dog. On Sunday we went shopping with Grandma H for Halloween costumes (no luck) and we got a birthday present for her buddy Emma. Audrey loved playing with a little train set that they have out at Toys R Us. The train never actually drove on the track, but it was banged along the table and swung through the air - the poor passengers!

This weekend we are going to Burt's Pumpkin Farm, so we should have a ton of cute pictures of Audrey and her cousins!

Look Who's Walking!

Other than this major accomplishment, not much else has been going on in the Farbotko household. Tina, Amanda and I had a garage sale over the weekend and did fairly well. We were amazed at the stuff that sold - it wasn't the stuff that we expected to sell. For example, all of my cheap little turtle figurines sold, but Tina didn't sell any of the boppies that she had marked for a couple of dollars (they retail for $20) and Amanda didn't sell her $100 cappuccino machine that she had marked for $15. I guess it's really true that one man's trash is another man's treasure!

Here is a rare photo of me and my blue eyed kid who looks nothing like me. Well, she has my messy brown hair!

Dinner with Emma

Audrey and Emma decided that they wanted to get together for dinner, so even with Audrey's yucky rash, we met up at Cinco in Vickery Village. There is a courtyard outside of the restaurant that they played in after dinner. Audrey enjoyed picking the rocks up, dropping them, and trying to eat them - I think she got a few in. Emma wasn't so sure about it...

As it got darker, they (I'm not really sure who 'they' are) put up this big inflatable screen and were playing videos. "They" also had glow in the dark bracelets. Emma's daddy got her one and she really liked it!

Here is Audrey being swung around by her daddy. If you click back and forth really fast between the pictures, you will get the whole effect!

Her rash is still here. It was really bad when she woke up this morning and I was almost in tears thinking about having to leave her at daycare looking like that. I gave her two doses of benadryl yesterday but they didn't seem to do a thing. The rash was a little better this evening but if it still looks bad tomorrow, I may call the nurse advice line again and see if there is anything else I can do.

Splish Splash I Was Taking A Bath

This is what happens when Daddy is in charge of bathtime.

You get Alfalfa hair...

Then you get a funky mohawk:

Then it gets parted in the middle because Daddy thinks you need a new hairdo:

We have our first food reaction rash today. I noticed some little bumps on her cheeks last night and when she woke up, they were all over her body. They look like hives, but they don't itch. I tried strawberries out this week (which Grandma F is allergic to) and I think that's the culprit. The nurse at the pediatrician's office made me feel like a dummy. I told her that strawberries were the only new food she's had and she said "Is there anyone in your family that's allergic to them?" "Yes." "Plus, you know you're not supposed to give them strawberries until they are 2 or 3, right?" "No."

So, for those of you reading, don't give anyone under 2 strawberries! I looked on a baby food site (http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/ - great site!) and it said that strawberries are very acidic and may provoke a rash in babies even without food allergies.

In much happier news, I think we are going to be walking soon! Audrey has been taking about two or three little steps and is so proud of herself! Her record the other day was four steps before she lost her balance.