Uncle Bill and Cousin Cindy visit

My Uncle Bill and Cousin Cindy came from Nebraska to visit. They were here today and yesterday. When they left, they headed to Houston to visit my mom. They're having a New Year's party and have a bunch of other fun stuff planned.

Cindy, Bill, and Audrey

Cindy and Audrey

Cindy helped me do a plaster cast of Audrey's hand and foot. Here she is holding her foot in the goop that dries into a silicone-like mold. After removing her foot, you fill it with a plaster mixture and it hardens into a 3D replica.

In the minute Audrey had to have her foot in there she managed to fling the mixture all over both of us. Fortunately it's non-toxic and cleans up well. The hand and foot statues have dried and we removed them from the mold. In a week I'll paint them with a glaze. Check back in a week to see how they came out. P.S.- they also sell a kit to do a casting of her toosh, but we decided not to put her through the embarrassment...this time.

I was finally ready to brave taking Audrey to a restaurant. I was backing out of the garage when we discovered I had a flat. So much for that idea. She probably had more fun playing with Bill anyway :-)

Too cute

Turn off the flash, Lady!

Tummy time isn't so bad after all!

2 minutes later...

Leave me alone or you'll get it!

This is my favorite onesie and the only one I've actually bought myself for Audrey (Thanks to all the baby shower presents, Grandmas, and Kylie!)

It may look like she's going to suck her thumb,

but she actually licks all over her whole fist...good times!

She recently started sticking her tongue out. She usually does this over and over for about 5 minutes straight and doesn't care who's watching. I wonder who taught her to do this???

...actually she learned on her own.

How dare you think that of Christopher!

Christmas at Home

We celebrated Christmas at home the day after we came back from Houston. Here's Audrey under our tree. We put it up in the loft this year since she has taken over our living room :-)

Time for presents!

We didn't buy Audrey a whole lot since we knew she would get so many gifts from her family. Chris got her two books- "The Way We Do it in Japan" and "Stories to Solve". Hopefully she'll appreciate his eccentic taste :-)

He also got her a book called "I Love You, Stinky Face"

Chris helped Audrey open the gifts I got for her.

I also got her a bunch of books- Ten Tiny Tickles, Counting Kisses, I Love You Goodnight, Peek-A Who, Moo Baa La La La, Where's Baby's Belly Button?, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (nursery rhymes)

We picked out this alphabet drum together. It says the letters of the alphabet in English and Spanish when you hit it.

One look at this book and she fell asleep. I didn't even have to read it!

Mr. Eccentric also got a 3d puzzle of a German Castle, a miniature statue of Stonehenge, ants for an ant farm he bought years ago, a Korean movie, and book called "Shinto the Kami Way".

I surprised him with this keychain with Audrey's picture.

Yep, Audrey is still passed out.

Chris got me this Mommy and Baby Angel statue. He also got me a snow globe with Audrey's picture, some Rachel Ray spoons and spatulas, a clock for the loft, something to make a flower topper to decorate cakes with, and a wooden charging station for all of our gadgets.

Still in dream land...

Chris signed all of his presents to me with nicknames he has for Audrey. Unfortunately I lost the one that said...To: My 24 hour buffet, From: Turdy (poot!)

First Road Trip

Prior to our trip to Houston for the holidays, Audrey had never been in the car for more than 30 minutes. We were a bit worried about how she would handle it. Here we are getting ready to go. She actually did really well. We didn't have to stop even once to take care of her, so we made it in 3 hours. She slept most of the way. We were really surprised and happy.

The car was jam packed with Christmas presents and baby stuff.

It turns out our luck traveling was too good to be true. Coming home we had to stop 3 times- first to feed and change a diaper, 5 minutes later to change another diaper, and 5 minutes later for a meltdown. During the last stop she screamed and cried hysterically for about 30 minutes. We tried everything, but couldn't calm her down. Finally I swaddled her and she instantly calmed down, but I knew I would have to unwrap her to fasten her back in her car seat safely. The SwaddleMe blanket advertised that it could be used in a car seat, but we could never figure it out. Finally, Chris realized that you had to put the wings of the blanket through the arm straps, put her arms through the straps, then wrap the wings around her body. It worked perfectly. She fell asleep immediately and we were able to make it home. This time it took 4 hours. Now, 2 days later she's still catching up on her sleep. I think we wore her out!

Christmas with the Woods

We went to Grandma and Grandpa Wood's house on Christmas Eve.

Aunt Jen, Uncle Allen, and Cousin Kylie were all there too.

Cousin Kylie (6 months) and Audrey (2.5 months)

Uncle Allen, Aunt Jen, Kylie, Daddy, Mommy, and Audrey

Grandma and Audrey

Grandpa and Audrey

The girls took turns passing out.

I'm so glad Grandma and Grandpa have a swing for us!

Kylie enjoyed tearing the wrapping paper.

Harlee got a present too!

Look at all my presents! Thank you so much!

Yay, Libras!