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!