32 Week Checkup

Today I went for what was supposed to be a 15 minute OB checkup. This baby girl likes drama (remember when they couldn't find her heartbeat at the 12 week appointment?), so I got sent for an unplanned ultrasound at this appointment too. My doctor was concerned because I have only gained 16 pounds (which is not enough for 32 weeks) and my belly was measuring at a 27 week level. He wanted to make sure that Baby Girl was growing okay.

When I was about this far along with Audrey, I was also measuring small because I was carrying so low. Considering how this one is always pushing on my bladder, I suspected that it was the same issue, so I wasn't too concerned.

After having to be worked into the u/s techs crazy schedule, 2 hours later I finally got another peek at Audrey 2 and sure enough, she is down very low. Everything looked great and I had to laugh when the tech said "Wow, she's got a lot of hair already!" It looks like we are going to have another long haired little girl!

The nurse that walked me up to the checkout counter was looking at my file, noticed the estimated weight that the u/s tech wrote down and said "Oh my! She's really big for 32 weeks!" I checked babycenter.com when I got home to see how much a 32 week fetus should weigh, and it says "Your baby...weighs almost four pounds." My baby, however, weighs 5 POUNDS, 3 OUNCES right now!!

I'm not sure how she can be so huge, yet I've barely gained any weight and am measuring small!

In Audrey news, she has been doing a lot of super cute girlie stuff lately. The other night, she was looking at my toenail polish and decided that she wanted to paint her toe nails herself. I wiped most of the polish off of the brush and let her have at it. She was so serious as she held her little feet up and tried to get the polish on her nails. Afterwards, she had to do her fingers too and was so proud to run and show Daddy her nails!

Last night, Andy stuck one of his tee shirts on her as a dress and she decided that her stuffed animals needed dresses too. She went to her shirt drawer and we had to dress up four of her animals. She told me that her mousie needed a new diaper and thought it was pretty cool when I took out one of her clean diapers and put it on her stuffed mouse. She had to run and show that to Daddy too!

She has also been talking about Baby Sister a little bit. There was something at the store that she was looking at this weekend, and when I asked her if she thought we should buy it, she said something about "baby sister, blah blah blah." I'm assuming she meant that baby sister needed it? Last night I asked her if Hazel slept on the blanket at the foot of her bed and she said, "No, baby sister." So she is either getting the concept that there is something called a Baby Sister coming, or she thinks Hazel is her baby sister!

Christmas '08

We had a fun, whirlwind of a Christmas this year. We went over to celebrate with the Hoffman side of the family on Christmas Eve. Audrey fell asleep on the way over, and while she was napping, we set up Grandma's new Wii that she bought herself... I mean for the kids! Audrey woke up just in time to come downstairs and bowl the first strike of the evening!

She had so much fun playing that she cried when the boys left. She kept saying "Tyler go home in Aunt Tina's car." It was very pitiful.

When she woke up the next morning, Santa had arrived! Here are a couple of shots of her playing with her new vanity set and with her plastic animals. She likes to give you an animal and make them have conversations, which usually go "What do you like to eat? I like to eat hotdogs!" Sometimes the animals kiss or play patty cake with each other too!
Santa brought some Nemo jammies, and she insisted on wearing the shirt over her clothes all day. Andy had to force it off of her in order to get pictures of her dress later in the day!

The Farbotko clan came up for brunch and presents that afternoon. Audrey and Ian both loved the Baby Snow White that Uncle PJ bought.

After Aunt Steph and Uncle Alex left, Grandma and Papa H came up for dinner. It was nice to have all of the grandparents around - I didn't have to cook or do a thing!

Yesterday, we took Audrey and the dogs to the Chattahoochee River park for a mini nature walk. Audrey kept asking me if I saw the river, but when Hazel jumped in for a swim, she said "Hazel's swimming in the ocean!" I learned yesterday that nature walks aren't much fun when 32 weeks pregnant - I pulled a ligament on my belly and had to pee so bad, and of course we were at a park without bathrooms.

When we got home, Andy took down Audrey's crib (which made me kind of sad) and set up her twin bed. We don't have a comforter for it yet, but Grandma Mary bought her some princess sheets, so we put those on with her crib comforter. She loved it! She didn't even care that her other bed was gone.

Andy read her a couple of stories and then had Hazel jump up on the foot of the bed (we won't let Roscoe sleep with her because he likes to lay on top of people). Besides the company, I think she likes to have Hazel in there because it gives her someone to boss around! Hazel kept getting up and scratching at the door, and we'd hear "Hazel, get away from the door! Hazel, get on the bed! Hazel, stop it! Mommy, Daddy and Roscoe are sleeping!"

The only time she cried is when Puppy fell off the bed, but she went back down after Daddy went in and saved him. We didn't put the guard rails on, but she didn't fall off the bed. This morning, Wingnut pushed the door open and she just sat on her bed until I went in to get her. While I was downloading the pictures off my camera this morning, she saw the pictures of her in bed and said "Oh! Audrey in her big girl bed!" So cute!

This weekend, I plan on taking down the Christmas decorations already so I can focus on getting ready for the baby, finally!

Here are some more Christmas photos. The aren't the best b/c it's hard to take pictures of moving targets!

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Getting Ready for Santa

We have all been busy getting ready for Christmas this week. Audrey kicked off the festivities by helping Grandma Mary bake cookies on Wednesday. The picture below is a pic of a pic that Mary sent over - we need to teach her how to email pictures from her camera! I love Audrey's apron - she looks very official and serious. Look out Martha Stewart!

On Friday, Audrey had her daycare Christmas party. I signed up to bring cupcakes, which I had every intention of baking, but ended up running to Walmart on Thursday morning and buying. She brought home lots of presents for us, including a book with all of the Christmas pictures that she's colored, an ornament and a card. I'm pretty sure the card is supposed to be a candle, but Andy thinks it looks like.... well, just use your imagination!

Audrey spent the night on Friday with Grandma and Grandpa F. because Andy and I both had our company parties that night. On Saturday morning, I finished up my Christmas shopping, picked up Audrey and then Grandma and Papa H. came up to babysit so we could go to two more Christmas parties. We went to one with some of my friends from high school/college and then one with Andy's college buddies. They (Andy's friends) had no idea that we were expecting again and were a wee bit shocked when I came waddling in. Andy apparently doesn't keep in touch with his friends very well!

Today, Audrey and Daddy went outside to ride Audrey's "motorcycle." Andy pushed her a little bit and then tried to teach her how to pedal, with mixed results.

After nap time, Audrey and I attempted to decorate the structurally unsound gingerbread house that I set up in the morning. Here is Mommy's side of the roof:

And Audrey's side:

And the finished product. I gave up after a little while and then realized that my door and window were crooked anyway. Maybe next year I will have more energy to decorate the house and Audrey will understand not to eat all of the decorations!

2 Year Check Up

Audrey and her sea horse went for her two year check up today. She is 28 lbs (50-75th percentile) and 35.5 inches tall (90-97th percentile) - still tall and skinny! The doctor asked her some colors and shapes and said that she has a good vocabulary and is ahead of the curve for her age. We already knew that she was a genius though! She is perfect other than her iron levels were a little low, so we have to start her on a 1/2 of a Flintstone vitamin a day.

Here are a couple of photos of her with some of her new birthday gear. Daddy bought her a monogrammed LL Bean backpack which she proudly wore to and from daycare yesterday.

Here she is wearing some fairy wings from her buddy Lynzie. She ran around saying that she was a butterfly and waving her wand at the poor dogs.

Apparently, butterflies use "motorcycles" to get around.

Audrey's 2nd Birthday

Our little princess turned 2 on Sunday - it's hard to believe! As challenging as we are discovering toddlers to be, it is fun to watch her little personality bloom. She goes from being super girly and wanting to be a ballerina with her tutu, to being a tomboy and playing with a Handy Manny tool set. And, of course, she still has her love of animals!

She slept in late on her birthday and it got too late to put her down for a nap, so we risked having her go through her party napless (she did great during the party). She had fun running around with her cousins and two girlfriends. When it came time for presents, I couldn't get her to come and sit with me. The first gift I opened was the Handy Manny tool box, and she was so excited. She brought it to Daddy to open and I couldn't get her to look at any other presents. Luckily, I had Tyler to help me open the rest.

The one gift that did get her attention away from the tool box was a stuffed sea horse. Andy and I have been telling the Grandma's not to buy her any more stuffed animals, but Grandma Carol hears Audrey talk about sea horses all the time and couldn't resist picking one up. Audrey carried it around all night and slept with him too! He also got to ride on her new tricycle, which she calls her motorcycle.

The Stevens boys aren't used to so much girly stuff and were a bit fascinated by it. Jack, aka Superman, put on Audrey's beaded necklace and bracelet shortly after he got here.

I bought Audrey a Disney jewelry box with play jewelry and makeup in it. While Audrey was playing with her toolbox, Tyler and Ryan were playing with the jewelry box. Tyler was pretending to put makeup on Ryan, asking him if he wanted to be pretty. Ryan really enjoyed the dress up princess jewelry - this picture will be saved until he is a teenager!

The evening ended on a sour note when we noticed (after everyone left, luckily) that something happened in the saltwater tank and all of the fish were dead. Audrey keeps looking for the fishies and we tell her that they are sleeping in the rocks. Andy is thinking about getting a real sea horse for the tank now that he has to start anew.

Audrey was also tough to get to bed since she was so overtired. She woke up twice in the night just screaming for no reason. We brought her in our bed the first time and she woke up again an hour later. It took us a while to get her back down (with the help of some Tylenol). We still don't know what was wrong - I guess she was just way too tired and overstimulted or else she was having baby nightmares. It's tough to be two!

On Monday when we got home from daycare, we walked into the living room and she said "Oooh... toys!" It was like her birthday all over again! Now Mommy gets to figure out where to put all of these toys to make room for Santa!

Here are the rest of her pictures. Thanks to Papa for being the party photographer!

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Elf Audrey

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Wake Up, Dammit!

Andy and I had a proud moment in parenting last night. Audrey was playing with some plastic animals on the coffee table. She would lay them down and whisper "Shh... they are sleeping."

Then, one by one, she would hit them and yell "Wake up!" and stand them up. Apparently, the tiger was having a hard time waking up, because when she got to him, she hit him and said "Wake up! Wake up, dammit!"

I have no idea where she would have picked up that language. She must have heard it in daycare (cough, cough).

Do You Have Poopy Pants?

A couple of nights ago, Audrey was struggling to fall asleep (as usual), so Andy went and sat in her room with her for a little while. I could hear her talking away over the monitor, so I had to turn it up to listen. She was asking Andy, Hazel and Wingnut if they had poopy pants. That seems to be her new favorite question. Then she said "Oh Wingnut! Do you need clean water?" She's coming up with creative stalling techniques!


A few minutes later, Andy came downstairs and I could hear Audrey happily talking away still. I asked him how he managed to get out of the room without her freaking out - he had left poor Hazel in there!


About 5 minutes later, Hazel came downstairs, which meant that Audrey had opened her bedroom door. Andy started walking up the stairs and she yells "I'm in Daddy's room!" She was so proud of herself for escaping!


The next morning, Andy got her ready for daycare while I packed a lunch and loaded up the car for daycare/work. When they got downstairs, Audrey asked me if I had poopy pants, then saw Wingnut and said "Good morning Wingnut! Do you have poopy pants?"

So, if you see Audrey any time soon, don't think that you might smell. She asks that question of everyone!

Audrey has taken a liking to a couple of the Christmas decorations. She has a light up Christmas tree that goes with a Little People set. She'll press it so it lights up and sings and say "Oh! It's beautiful!" I also have a little Nativity set that just has Baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph. She likes to take Mary and make her dance, and she'll carry Joseph around and calls him "Jofus."

I hope this holiday and birthday season doesn't send me into an early labor! They keep piling more and more on me at work, so I'm trying to do as much as I can from home while also decorating for Christmas, getting ready for Audrey's birthday party, finishing Christmas shopping... I'm tired just thinking about it!

Oh Christmas Tree

Audrey has had a busy few days. She went to the Georgia Aquarium with Grandma Mary, Grandpa Pete and Ian on Wednesday and had a really good time looking at the fish. On Saturday morning, we went to Tyler's 5th birthday party (how can my little nephew be 5 already?). He had a really cool clown there, but Audrey wanted nothing to do with her. If we could get her in the basement, she would peek around the corner at the clown, but otherwise she hung out upstairs with Daddy and Jack. He wasn't scared of the clown, he just didn't care and had more fun playing hide and seek with Andy and Audrey.

Audrey got to go spend the night with Grandma Carol and Grandpa Ron that night so we could go to a Christmas party. Standing around and mingling at parties is hard on my preggo back! To make matters worse, I slept on the living room couch afterwards b/c the upstairs heat went out. Andy can get it to kick on, but once it kicks off, the igniter doesn't work again. He has to go into the attic and relight it every time we need heat. I suppose I'll have to schedule a repair man to come out on Tuesday - yet another unexpected bill before Christmas and Audrey's birthday.

We finally got the Christmas tree up tonight. Audrey had no interest in helping, although she did think the garland was a necklace and tried to wear it around the house.

She sat next to the tree putting stickers on her belly while I put the ornaments up. She only grabbed a couple off, then didn't really bother anything.

Audrey doesn't get the concept that her stocking is supposed to hang off of the fireplace. She keeps wanting to wear it, so it is now covered in dog hair from her wearing it around the house!
And finally, here are some before and after pictures of her bathroom!

Non-Sleeping Beauty

For the past week and a half, Audrey has been having some sleep issues. I don't think it has to do with her two year molars, I think she is having separation issues at night. We've had to let her cry herself to sleep (we go in if she starts crying too hard - we aren't that heartless) and most nights she wakes up in the middle of the night.

Poor Andy gets stuck dealing with her because she will lay back down in her bed for him. She knows that Mommy is a softy, so if I go in her room, she'll sit up and say "Carry flower blanket, carry Princess blanket. Go to Mommy's room." Then she runs to the door and if its not latched, she'll run down to our room and climb in bed. We let her sleep with us three nights over the holiday weekend, but we aren't trying to make a habit of it!

I don't know if anyone remembers the bathroom remodeling project that I started in March. I got as far as removing all of the wallpaper and had just purchased the paint primer when I found out I was preggers. Andy, who works pretty much 7 days a week, got to take over and it's pretty much done (nine months later). He decided to update the brass hardware from the early 90's, so he got a new light fixture and faucet. The paint touch ups were finished this weekend and the jungle shower curtain is up. Now he wants to pull up the linoleum and tile the floor this weekend, so hopefully I'll have some final "after" pictures to post soon!

Once that is done, maybe we can start cleaning out the back bedroom so poor Baby 2 has a place to sleep when she arrives! We were pretty prepared for Audrey at this point in the pregnancy, but we haven't even started looking at furniture for the nursery. Plus, we were both working full time when I was pregnant with Audrey, so she has nicer furniture than Baby 2 will probably get! Poor Baby 2!!