Sunday, December 13, 2009

Ho Ho Ho!


It was like something out of a movie. One started crying, then the other one started, then we parents laughed histerically until we realized that our kids got the other kids in line crying too. So we bought our picture and scurried away laughing. Bah, Humbug!

Thanksgiving

Grandma and Grandpa Wood, Aunt Jen, Uncle Allen, and Cousin Kylie all came to visit for Thanksgiving.

Audrey's first Thanksgiving turkey. She gobbled it up along with all the fixins.


Can she handle a turkey leg?


Naw, you can have it, Grandma!

The next day we took the kids to Kiddie Acres. They rode a pony for the first time. Kylie was all smiles.
...and Audrey wasn't!

Daddy, get me off!


Waiting to go on the carousel

Again, we see who the adventurous one is

Back at home on solid ground

Bookworm

It is insane how much this child loves board books. A few months ago she didn't really want us to read them to her. She would just climb under the end table with a bunch of books and spend about 15 minutes at a time flipping through them and looking intently at the pictures. Not anymore. Now whenever one of us is sitting on the floor she climbs into our lap, forcefully grabs one of our wrists and holds it with one hand while she shoves a book into our palm with the other. Then she impatiently grunts until we start to read. When the story is over she climbs down and goes to get another book. If there aren't any other books around we just have to reread the one we have....over...and over...and over again. A sitting usually covers 10-20 stories and we read at least 3 times a day. She never gets tired of it.

Yum!

I don't think we'll make spaghetti again for a while


Lounging and munching on Puffs


Why do all kids try to eat like dogs....even if they rarely ever see how dogs eat?

Yay for sippy cups!

I know...all the Coke pictures are getting a little ridiculous. It's just so funny how she pretends to drink out of the closed sodas. She even swallows and lets out a refreshing sigh afterwards. Chris always gets two out of the fridge so she can have one. If he forgets, she takes his and slobbers all over it so he has to get up for a second one anyway. She often keeps one in her toy box too.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Fairy Princess

Halloween this year was a bust. Audrey wouldn't go down for her nap at her regular time, then by the time she got up it was too late to do anything and she was cranky anyway. She had 4 teeth come in this month! So we just dressed her up in her costume for a few minutes and called it a day. It itched her and she couldn't wait to get it off. Maybe next year when she knows what candy is we'll have better luck.

Welcome Cousin Caleb!

My brother, Adam, and his wife, Erika, welcomed Caleb on October 14th. We were happy to visit them shortly after his arrival. He's a beautiful little boy!

Audrey and her new cousin

Me, my brother, Audrey, and Caleb


It's a little scary to see us holding two babies :-)

Sunday, November 8, 2009

New Developments

Audrey is now really getting around. She can walk much better and for much farther now, but she still prefers to crawl.

She can pretty clearly say 'bye' and wave, which she does whenever anybody (herself included) climbs the staircase. She also does this when she sees the Price as Right models waving on TV and to everyone we pass as we leave a store.

She can clap (she's been doing this for awhile), and can drink from an adult cup if Mommy helps her, though she's still having trouble with the sippy cup. She finally drank 4oz from the sippy cup yesterday. Mommy drank water out of it for a few minutes and that made Audrey want it. After she wanted it so bad she was crying, Mommy replaced the water with milk and she happily drank up. It's the same story with the adult cup. Whenever Mommy has a glass of water she has to share it with the suddenly thirsty Audrey.

She also tries to dress herself, and makes attempts at putting on shirts and socks.

To illustrate her newfound talents, here's a few pictures, mostly taken on the same day within the course of an hour or so.



Here she is going through Mommy's wallet. She's an intrepid explorer and is now scaling the furniture. She can get onto the couch and chairs without help and sometimes even tries to climb up their backs. She also wants to get on top of the end tables once she makes it onto the couch. Mommy draws the line at end tables.



She likes to hand things back and forth. Usually toys, but Daddy's coke will do also.



Here's the aforementioned chair climbing. Note that both the chair and ottoman rock back and forth while she's doing this. She's absolutely fearless. The black footrest that she's standing on slides into the ottoman. If we slide it in, she knows how to pull it back out again.



She's building a fort behind the glider, where we can't easily reach her, and stockpiles all sorts of stuff there. Here she's pulled mail off the end tables and dragged it back there to add to her collection.



A brief intermezzo.



Here Daddy was laying on the couch watching a movie, and Audrey decided she wanted to hold the remote control. So she climbed onto the couch, then onto Daddy and took it by force. Force, meaning she pinches his nipples and pulls out his chest hair. Ouch!

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Audrey's 1st Birthday!

I can't believe our little girl is one! I can honestly say this has been the most magical year of my life. I never could have imagined how much we would love being parents. A few days before her birthday it hit me that we spend a lifetime celebrating our own birthdays and to be honest, after 32 years they're not such a big deal anymore. This birthday will always be different to me, more special than my own. Although she'll never remember October 9, 2008, I will never forget how I felt that day and what it means to me. She'll get the cake and the presents and the parties and the kisses, but inside I'll always think of this as my day to celebrate.

So...her birthday was on a Friday, but we didn't do much because we were saving the festivities for all the visitors coming to see her the next day. On her birthday she wore a special birthday outfit and devoured her first cupcake. We had fun playing and just spending time together at home.




The next day we had a little party for her. Grandma and Grandpa Wood, Grandma and Grandpa Izland, Aunt Jen, Uncle Allen, and Cousin Kylie all came from Houston. Also, our good friends, Christy, Eric, Molly, Owen, Jennifer, and baby Lila came over. Thank you everyone for coming to celebrate with us! And thanks to Allen for taking all the great pictures! It was so nice of you to capture it all for us.

I painted this special birthday plate for Audrey to use every year on her birthday. Unfortunately, the glaze was defective and chipping so this will sadly be the only year. I also baked her birthday cake. It's a round 4 inch tall fondant cake with an 8 inch 3-D teddy bear on it. He's holding a #1 made out of sugar cookie.


The back of her plate.

Presents! Thanks to everyone that brought and sent gifts. We truly appreciate it and Audrey is enjoying all of the goodies.

Grandma and Grandpa Wood with their two favorite little girls.


Grandpa Wood has truly embraced his new life as a grandfather. Come one, come all!



It looks so much worse from this angle!



Cake!




Pumpkin Patch