Baby's First Shiner

First of all, here are the rest of the beach pictures:

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On Monday, Andy picked Audrey up from daycare. They were out back on Audrey's swing when I got home, and I heard Andy say "Mommy's home. She's going to be pissed!" I turned the corner and see that my baby girl has a black eye! You can see the bruising under her left eye and by her nostril and this morning, I noticed that a blood vessel had burst on the inside corner of her eye.

The daycare workers told Andy that she was climbing on something and fell off right onto a toy. I understand that kids get hurt, but I just wonder why no one was watching her better and, although Andy disagrees, I think they should have called me and told me what happened. I just think an injury that bad deserves a warning call so you aren't shocked when you go pick up your baby and she has a shiner! Plus, she had to have smacked her face pretty hard for it to cause all of that bruising. They didn't even have an accident report filled out when Andy got there.

On to happier news, my little girl finally enjoys playing dress up! Before we left for the beach, I bought her a ladybug costume from someone off of craigslist. She found it last night and I put the dress and antenna on her. Andy brought her to the mirror and she smiled and bounced up and down – she loved it! I took the headband off since she usually doesn’t like things on her head and she yelled “No!” So, she pranced around in her ladybug dress and antenna until dinner time!

This morning, the first thing she did was bring me the bag and say “Ladybug!” She also wore it for a while this evening. This was the best picture I could get before she tried to steal the camera from me:

One more week until the big ultrasound! Think blue for Andy's sake!

Not Quite A Beach Bum Yet

On Friday, we spent the morning at the playground, where Audrey insisted on using the big girl swing instead of the baby swing. It gave Tina and I heart attacks, but she had a blast! We didn't make it down to the beach until after nap time. Audrey preferred to play in an inflatable boat that Uncle Jason filled with water.

Andy tried to carry her into the ocean, but she freaked. He then thought it would be a good idea to just drag the boat into the water. Jack wanted to go in with her, so Andy and Jason took them out. They didn't get very far, partially because of the toddlers freaking out and partially because a wave came over the boat and washed Audrey out! Luckily, she landed right by Jason and he could grab her quickly. She barely went under, but she was done with the ocean after that! Ryan was the only brave one who would go out in the boat.

On Friday evening, we brought the kids out to play on the green and Jan took some pictures. Jack spent a good deal of time trying to hug and kiss Audrey while she ran from him giggling.

Audrey tried to get a hug from cousin Tyler too, but he wasn't up for it.

That night, Jan and Steve stayed in with the kids while Tina, Jason, Andy and I snuck away to dinner. On Saturday we spent the morning at the beach and the afternoon at the pool. Audrey just played in the sand again and got brave enough to go chest deep into the pool. Tina, Tyler and I took Audrey out to get some pictures on the beach at sunset before the GA game started.

I've got about 4 billion other pictures that I'll have to upload to Shutterfly another time. :)

Hello From Rosemary Beach!

Audrey saw her first palm tree at the Florida Welcome Center yesterday. She calls them mum frees. So cute! We arrived at the beach around 2:30 beach time and Aunt Tina immediately grabbed Audrey, stuck her swimsuit on, and took her to the pool while Andy and I unloaded the car. We are staying in the carriage house over the garage, so it's nice to have our own little private suite, complete with kitchenette.

We got our swimsuits on and went to the pool. Audrey wasn't too keen on getting in the water, even though the pool is heated and is much warmer than being out with the cool fall breeze. She was content sitting on the steps and playing. When we could get her in the water, she clung onto me so tightly that I didn't even have to hold her.

After a snack break up at the house, we took Audrey down to see the ocean for the first time. Jack came along with us and Ryan briefly showed up to bring Jason his cell phone, but he didn't want to get his (Ryan's) iphone sandy, so he headed back up to the house with his Gram.

Audrey LOVED the sand. The best way to describe her in the sand is to imagine a pig wallowing in the mud. She rolled around, stuck some in her hair, put it all over her legs, and of course, tasted some! When she finally looked up at the water, she said "Wow!" She got her toes in briefly but was too content to roll in the sand.

Where's Jack? I'm pretty sure it's illegal to climb sand dunes, but that didn't stop him!

After a yummy dinner by Jan and a bath with Ryan, we had to lay in our bed with Audrey until she crashed, then Tina and I went down to the boardwalk to look at the stars. I forgot how many you can see at the beach! It is so dark and quiet here, then if you look to the left, you can see Panama City practically glowing because it's so built up. It looks kind of tacky - I'm glad we aren't staying there!

Audrey woke up a little earlier than she normally does (that's why I'm up so early posting). Unfortunately, a little early translates to 5:30 am beach time! I think we'll both be having naps today! I guess I better get dressed soon. Ryan said he's taking us out for chocolate covered doughnuts with sprinkles this morning, then once it warms up, we are going to see if we can get Audrey into the ocean!

Here are the rest of the pictures:

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What's Up?

That's Audrey's new favorite question to ask the pets and her stuffed animals. It's pretty cute seeing her walk over and say "Hey Hazel! What's up?"

She is a total parrot lately and comes up with new stuff to talk about every day. The Little Mermaid is quickly becoming her #2 favorite movie, and tonight she was walking around singing "unnuh sea" (translation: Under the Sea). She also asked for her CD's in the car, then flipped through the book and picked one out to listen to. That kind of sucked because we usually listen to Mommy's ipod. ;)

My belly is really popping out and I'm only 18 1/2 weeks. It's funny how cautious you are with the first pregnancy as compared to the second pregnancy. I wasn't brave enough to drink coffee until pretty far along with Audrey, and now I have to have my morning cup. Besides my vitamins, this baby's main source of calcium is via a nightly bowl of ice cream instead of a glass of milk. I was also careful not to lift much or do anything strenuous last time, but that's hard to do with a toddler. I can totally tell the wear it's taking on my body. I am exhausted at night (especially the nights after I've been home with Audrey all day) and the ligaments around my belly are very sore and easily pulled. Ouch! I'm pretty sure I had a Braxton Hicks contraction last night, but luckily it was only one.

When I am resting at night, this baby is a real kicker. I've been feeling him/her a lot this past week, mostly at night when I can relax. Audrey was never super active in my belly but I have a feeling this one is going to beat the hell out of me when it's bigger!

We are leaving bright and early in the morning for Rosemary Beach! Hopefully no one will mistake me for a giant whale. ;) I'll be bringing my laptop so I plan to post some pictures over the weekend. Keep your fingers crossed that Alabama and Florida have gas, unlike us!

Spoiled Much?

Yesterday Audrey got Wiggles tickets as an early b'day present, and Aunt Tina stopped by this morning with another one! She spotted this at a consignment store and wanted Audrey to be able to enjoy it while the weather is nice.



Audrey was so excited to see it (she loves the cars that the boys have), and even more excited that Aunt Tina had stopped by without her brood! She made Tina play with the car, then she drug her into the house to look at the fish. She just started saying "Aunt Tina" and cried for her when she had to leave.


We went out after nap time to drive around some more, then Audrey threw my magazine down, stuck her cup in the cup holder, and stole my chair. Doesn't she know that I'm pregnant?


Then she had to sit a while and ponder life:



Right now we are watching Nemo on the big screen for the first time. The colors are awesome - I'm even enjoying it for once! Along with the nicer picture, we get more channels with the HD box. I love the Noggin channel because they have Blue's Clues on right about the time I need to make dinner, so it makes a nice babysitter! I would, however, like to know where Max & Ruby's parents are. Ruby is always cooking and taking care of Max. She sends him to the store by himself too! Geesh!

It's Only Wednesday?

Grandma and Grandpa F are in Hawaii for 10 days (lucky ducks!), so Audrey has to go to daycare all three days that I'm working for the next couple of weeks. We started out on Monday with a notice that there are two confirmed cases of Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease at the daycare, so we have to watch for painful blisters on Audrey's hands, feet and mouth. That sounds like it would be a lot of fun.

Our day today started out with Audrey waking up at 4:45 am. Andy was working an overnight shift, so I just brought her into my bed where she tossed and turned and talked until I finally got up an hour later and started getting ready for work. When I picked her up from daycare, she had two fat lips. She tripped over a baby swing shortly before I got there and busted both of her lips open. Are we going to survive the next couple of weeks?

Audrey is talking up a storm lately. She typically yells at Roscoe that he's a "bad dog," because apparently that's what I yell all day, but yesterday she walked up to Hazel and told her that she was a "good boy." Poor Hazel - people always think she's a chocolate lab, and now Audrey thinks she is a boy!

We got some new fish for Andy's saltwater tank, and while we were at the aquarium store, she was fascinated by a sea horse, but Andy said that they are too hard to take care of. When we got home, Andy was showing her the new fish and she turned around and said "Where's the sea horse?" Way to go Daddy! We'll have to find a mechanical one that swims around the tank! She also has to say "mornin" and "night night" to the fish and any four legged pets that she sees each morning and night.

I took this picture on my phone last week. I took Audrey with me to my 16 week ob check up. She was coloring on a piece of paper before we left and had a death grip on the pen, so I let her keep it and continue coloring in the car. When we got to the doctor's office, I turned around and her whole face was hot pink! Luckily it was a gel pen so it wiped right off with a diaper wipe.

She also got into my makeup bag while we were waiting for the midwife and I looked down and she had dark red lipstick smeared all over her face. That didn't come off quite as easily!

In more exciting news, Audrey got an early birthday present from Miss Jan and Mr. Steve today - we are going to The Wiggles concert in November with her cousins! This will be Audrey's first concert and since we watch The Wiggles most mornings, I'm sure she will love it. Andy is already trying to pawn his ticket off on Grandma Carol, but I know Audrey will love to have her Daddy there (plus then I won't have to hold her the whole time!).

I'm feeling Baby #2 move more and more lately, which is reassuring. I hate having appointments monthly because I start getting panicky and scared between them. Silly, I know, but I can't help it. I still can't find where I stored that stupid doppler machine!

Well, this post is long enough. Can you tell that there is nothing good on TV tonight? ;)

Andy's Birthday (Photos courtesy of Tyler)

Andy's 31st birthday was on Thursday, so we had both families up on Saturday to watch the Georgia game. We bought a 65" HDTV from Tina and Jason and got it all set up before the game - we are loving the TV (Andy fell asleep watching it on Saturday night). This is the best picture I could get of Miss Busy in her cute little cheerleader outfit:








I was too busy to take pictures during the party, but luckily Tyler found my camera and snapped a few shots for me! Not too bad for a 4 1/2 year old! I added the fuzzy picture that Ty took of the salt water tank because the stand was Andy's b'day present. Audrey LOVES it, but she makes me go and look at the fishies with her every time. I had to go get her bathroom stool for her to stand on b/c she kept trying to stand on me so she could see in.

"When is it my turn to take pictures?" - Ryan

ENT Checkup (or The Longest Hour Ever)

Audrey had an appointment today to have her ear tubes looked at. Here is how I envisioned the appointment going:

Audrey sits on my lap. The nurse looks in her ears and says "The tubes look good." We leave.

Here is what really happened:

As soon as we get into the exam room, Audrey poops. Her diaper bag is in the car because we were supposed to be in and out really quick (see above). The nurse comes in, we sit Audrey on my lap and she freaks out. A second nurse has to come hold her head while I hold her arms and body. Left tube looks good, right ear is full of wax so she can't see the tube. We have to go down the "microscope room" to get the wax out.

We lay Audrey on the table and a third nurse has to come and hold her legs while I hold her arms and torso and nurse #2 holds her head. They keep saying "She is so strong!" Nurse #1 can't get the wax out, but says that the tube looks like it might be coming out, so we are sent down to the audiologist.

The audiologist needs to put puffs of air into her ears; if the air goes in, the tubes are okay, if not, they are blocked. Audiologist #2 has to come in and hold arms down while I hold the torso and head so Audiologist #1 can stick the air puff things in her ears. Left ear okay, right ear not.

Luckily, the doctor who put the tubes in happened to be in the office today, so they ask him to take a look to see what's going on with the right ear tube. At this point, I can't stand the poop smell any longer and don't want the doctor to have to endure the odor, so I ask if I can go out to the car and change her diaper.

Once we have a clean butt, we head back to the microscope room. Three of us held Audrey down while the doc looked in her ear. Her doctor is very soft spoken, so he's talking to me and telling me what he sees as he's working, but I can't hear a word he's saying over the shrieking. It turns out the right tube fell out and was just hanging out in her ear canal w/a bunch of gunk stuck to it. He pulled it out and said that the ear drum is healing nicely and there is no fluid behind it, so as long as she doesn't get multiple ear infections this season, we're just going to leave that right tube out.

We were so exhausted when we left there that we headed straight to Cold Stone Creamery and split some ice cream. We both felt much better afterwards! And I learned to always have diapers handy.

Playdate with Emma

This morning we got up and met Emma at her neighborhood playground. The whole way there, Audrey was saying "Play with Emma?" She had a good time running around, jumping on the swinging bridge, climbing the stairs and the best part, snack break. The only thing she didn't like were the swings. She's never been a big fan of the baby swing we have hanging off of the back porch either. Here are the girls getting ready to go down the double slide together:

And here is Audrey peeking down from the bouncy bridge:

The rest of the photos are here:

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Nature Girl

Andy was feeling brave on Sunday and loaded up Hazel, a basset hound with a heart condition, a 21 month old and a pregnant lady and headed to the woods. We went to a wildlife management area about 15 minutes north of here and had a little hike.

In the middle of the hunting area, there is this little graveyard. It was creepy because most of the headstones you see are of infants and children.

Audrey had a good time, although she kept talking about baby ducks. There were no ducks there, but whatever. She either got to ride on Daddy's shoulders or she followed Hazel around. I love this picture of the dogs getting a drink after our hike. Oh, and Audrey is in there somewhere too! After the dogs got their drink, I turned around and found her belly down on the dirt with her face in the dog bowl. I swear that kid thinks she's a dog half the time. I have been telling Audrey that there is a baby in my tummy to try to prepare her a little bit for February. Last night, I asked her what was in my tummy, and she lifted my shirt, pointed to my belly and said "There's a baby." I told her to tell Daddy what was in my tummy, and she lifted his shirt, pointed to his belly and said "There's a baby." Ha, ha, Andy is fat too! (just kidding honey)

Audrey has been kind of processing things we tell her while trying to discipline her. For example, she'll stick something in her mouth, and then say "Don't eat that." The other day she was pressing buttons on the Bose ipod speakers and was saying "Don't do it! Don't touch that." It just cracks me up that she says these things while she is performing the offensive act!