Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone! We had a wonderful holiday. Audrey was really excited for Santa and even thanked him after she opened all of her presents Christmas morning (note the Santa in the background ...she turned to him and said "Thank you Santa" ...so precious). Now we're looking forward to our trip to Florida to spend the New Year with Grandma and Grandpa!

Here's the Christmas dress I bought her. She was adorable and some how I even got her to smile for the photo opp!

Ho Ho ...the Holidays!

I just realized that our last blog was for Halloween! I swear I don't know where the time goes! We had a really great Thanksgiving spending the evening with Sara's extended family, the Evangelista's. Dave's parents made us feel really welcome and Audrey had no problem feeling at home once Dave's dad introduced her to the "Toy" closet!


I experienced my first ever "Black Friday" shopping excursion. Krista and I were up with the chickens (...I really shouldn't say "chickens" since you have to be really brave to volunteer those large crowds) in search for a new toy kitchen set (...shh, don't tell Audrey)! It was a great success, especially since we got everything on our list in less than two hours! That wasn't the end of our shopping days though. Just last weekend Krista, Sara, Heather Z and I made an over night trip to Birch Run/Frankenmuth. We left the kids home with the Dads and/or Grandparents and headed up north for a much needed escape. This trip, I believe, was the first of an annual tradition as the "mom" get away! It's need after indulging Dad's hunting trips!


Audrey is talking a lot these days. She'll repeat just about anything she hears and has recently developed a joy for singing. She'll sing/hum "Twinkle, Twinkle little Star" and "Happy Birthday" and any giving moment, well unless I have a video camera in her face! She loves to watch Sponge Bob Square Pants and Elmo is still her favorite bud, but not as much as "Baby" though. Every night we read her a book and then she goes to bed with her favorite Elmo book and "Baby" by her side.


Christmas is right around the corner and I'm proud to say I'm actually ready for it! I was really excited for it this year, owing that to Audrey. We set up the trees the weekend after Thanksgiving but after catching Audrey with a bulb in her mouth one tree came down and the other one sits naked (aside for lights and an angel on top) in my living room. It will serve it's purpose come Christmas day and hopefully next year she' realize that bulbs are not edible!

Our best Christmas present though will be after the big day. Mike's parents are flying us to Florida to spend the New Year with them! This is Audrey's first plane ride so we're a little nervous but mostly excited that she'll get the chance to spend some of the Holidays with her Grandparents! It just so happens that my sister Heather and her family are also going to be in the same area for the New Year and Sara and Dave are going to drive in from Georgia to spend the day with us too! Audrey will be so excited to play with her cousins and will adore her baby cousin Lola!


I bought Audrey a Christmas dress and I vow to have her in it at least long enough for pictures so keep an eye out for that on our next Blog. For now, here are a few candid shots taken over the past few weeks. A few are from our trip to see Santa, who she likes as long as she's not on his lap! So different from last year!

Fall Fun

Here are a few pics of our recent Fall activities. We went to Westview Orchards this year which was a lot of fun with a huge playground and a lot of cute animals to see. I can envision this being a yearly tradition with friends just as is our trip to Yates Cider Mill. Our cider mill trip was definitely thinned out though this year as there were illnesses and business travels that interfered but those of us that did go had a great time. Unfortunately Halloween was a bust for Audrey since she woke up with a cold that morning that was eventually diagnosed as another ear infection. She did get to dress up the night before though to show off her costume (Minnie Mouse) at GG's assisted living community. She had a lot of fun struttin her stuff and even found a new friend in Jack the Mechanic.

Audrey has also found a new friend at home in Tia too since her main buddy George is MIA. George (the cat) has been missing for almost two weeks now but we remain optimistic that he'll find his way home. In the mean time Tia has taken up the slack and has befriended Audrey quite a bit. It probably helps that Audrey usually has some type of food in her hand and is conveniently at Tia's level. Audrey doesn't mind sharing though and loves to roam the house singing Tia's name. Tia's hearing loss is probably quite a blessing these days. Audrey has been talking quite a bit and has recently become the human recorder. She remains shy though so aside from Tia, mom and dad are usually the only lucky ones to hear it all.

Fall Season or Flu Season?

Whoa! I almost don't even want to blog about this past month because I'm afraid I may jinx our current situation. After a tough 4 weeks I think I can officially say that I believe Audrey is finally feeling better (...oh don't worry, I knocked on wood). We got back from vacation on September 12th and on September 15th Audrey got her first ear infection. To make a long month short, that was closely followed with loss of appetite, diarrhea, horrible diaper rash, the flu, croup and to wrap it all up another ear infection. She was in so much misery and hasn't been the happy little girl we're use to having around however I think she is finally starting to feel better. She finished her last round of meds today and, fingers crossed, we're on the road to recovery.

In the meantime she has picked up a few new words, and a phrase that she may have picked up from Oscar the Grouch. She says apple, bear, car, Tia (the dog) and can tell you, clear as day, to "Go Away." With the fall season upon us we are looking forward to some fun Fall Festival, starting this afternoon in Clawson. Next week we're planning a trip to Westview Orchards followed by our annual trip to Yates Cider Mill. It's a good thing Audrey loves the outdoors!

Here are some photos of Audrey sportin her Moccasins that she got from Grandma Billie. She loves to wear them around the house ...somewhere along the way she lost her pants though!

Autumn is in the air

I know, I know ...the sun is still shining and it's 80 degrees out however the sound of football fills the air therefore to me Fall has arrived! We just returned from our vacation up north and even the trees up there agree as they are already turning the pretty shades of red and orange.

We spent the Labor Day weekend with the St. Clawdale Park gang in Evart at the River Country Campground. Audrey is still a natural born camper. She loves to be outside and would spend all day in the water if we let her. The week following Labor Day we headed up to see Grandma and Grandpa Nelson in Lake City. This is were Audrey spent most of her days in the lake. She also went for her first boat ride and even took a short paddle boat ride along the shoreline. Then to wrap up our trip we spent sometime with Mike's brother and his family at their new cabin. Audrey had a great time with her cousins, Kendyl (4) and Lia (3). They played real well together and had no problems sharing toys and hugs.

Audrey is growing up so fast. Mike and I are amazed to see our precious little baby turning into a little girl right before our eyes. At her 15 month check up she weighed 25lbs and was 32 in long. At this time she was giving the MMR vaccine which I had some reservations about, and with good reason. About 10 days after the shot she developed high fevers for about 3 days in a row but luckily that was the worst effect. Aside from those fevers and a few sleep deprived nights she was back to normal in no time. She's talking a lot (okay, more like mumbling) adding a few words to her vocabulary like hello, ball, car, oh-no and has even recently said her first full sentence saying "mama go bye-bye" when I left the room. She loves to blow kisses to her dada (or anyone who asks for one) and is recently the best Tea Party hostess in town (all her stuffed animals say so). She can be quite moody at times, especially in the morning and tends to get really slap-happy after dinner. She still LOVES bath time, in fact so much so that I have to drain all the water from the tub before I can even think of prying her out. Once I do finally get her out she likes to air dry by running through the house in her birthday suit as I chase her with a towel ...she thinks this is the funnest thing! And then we follow up our bedtime routine with a book, which she has just recently started to show interest in, pointing to pictures and turning the pages. She's a big girl now and she reminding us every day!

Summer Fading Fast

Is it really August already? Where has the summer gone? So far Audrey has really enjoyed her first summer as a toddler with so many introductions to things like sand, lakes, pools and playhouses. She really loves to play ball, ride in her cozy coupe, and chase the dog around the yard.

We recently had a visit from Aunt Heather and baby Lola who came into town for our Grandma's 80th birthday party. Audrey loved her new baby cousin ...she gave lots of kisses (BFF Remi still got plenty of kisses too). Lola is a beautiful baby and a spitting image of her mama. I can't wait to watch them play together in the years to come. As for the party we had family and friends gather in our backyard as we enjoyed the beautiful summer afternoon.

It really seems that summer is fading fast. We have one more "planned" camping trip for Labor Day and then we're heading up north to spend sometime with Mike's family before we say goodbye to summer.

Keep On Growing

Last week Audrey had a check up to see how her vesicoureteral reflux has progressed over the past year (I blogged about this last July) and while I remained hopeful that the problem cured itself, I wasn't so lucky. She still has it however it is getting better, which is good news even though I wasn't convinced of that at first. We received the news immediately following the horrific procedure she's forced to endure while Mike and I aid in holding her down. It was hard when she was 2 months old but this time it was agonizing ...I absolutely dread next year! The news started to sound better once we met with the urinary specialist who told us that it's not uncommon for it to still exist after the first year (only about 25% cure within the year) and that her chances of having to have surgery are slim to none. So for now she remains on the antibiotic and we pray that her body fixes the problem as she grows some more.

To help brighten the rest of her day we spent the afternoon at the park with her BFF Remi. Even though Remi is still too young to play Audrey just can't get enough of her, and I get the feeling Remi has a soft spot for her too!

These boots were made for walkin...

It's official ...Audrey's walkin' and non-stop! For the past few weeks she was dabbling in it here and there but just last Thursday she decided it was going to be her main form of transportation. The bad part, she's teething too (molars) so there is a lot of built up frustration for her right now. She's grown quite attached to her dada and mama and has even developed a very dramatic, attention getting, whimper complete with the quivering lips and rubbing eyes.

We've had a pretty busy summer thus far. We had our second camping trip a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate, it was a bit chilly and rainy so we never did get a chance to do some of the things we had hoped too, like swim but we did enjoy the company with Aunt Sara, Uncle Dave, Aunt Krista, Uncle Randy and of coarse Audrey's BFF Remi. We also made a trip up north to spend some time with Audrey's Grandma and Grandpa Nelson. This is where we got to do some swimming! Audrey loved the water just as I expected however was not a big fan of the sand, at least not at first. She stayed safely on her towel and slowly eased her way to sandy beach.

For the forth of July we spent the day at the Partin's 4th of July BBQ. There were a lot of friends, family, food and non-stop fun! Audrey had a great time combing every inch of the backyard. She was so tuckered out by the end of the night she slept right through all the firework celebrations later that night ...and so did Mike and I!

Country Girl

Camping was Fun! Yes that's Fun with a capital F! We went camping at Dearborn RV Park over the Memorial Day weekend and even though we didn't do much we still had a great time. This was Audrey's first trip of the season and if I had to guess I'd say she she is a real fan of camping. Mike got a couple of hours head start to get the camper set up while Boo Bear and I headed up separately to arrive just in time for dinner at the site.

The rest of the weekend we went for bike rides with Audrey in her new bike trailer (thanks Grandma and Grandpa Nelson), wagon rides (thanks Aunt Sara and Uncle Dave) in her new Radio Flyer and we even took a little dip in the lake which was short lived due to the temperature, however I think she loved the feel of the sand in her toes. We're getting ready to plan our second trip of the season already, especially now that Aunt Sara and Uncle Dave have joined the camper family!

Audrey hasn't walked by herself yet however everyday she's getting closer. A couple of days ago she stood up from sitting to standing all by herself. She laughed once she realized what she did and continued to repeat the feat (which was good for me since I missed it the first time). Now when she does it she pauses at the surfer stance to build up some confidence and than stands straight up for about an 1/8 of a second. Hey, it's progress!

Audrey's cousin Lola was born this past Tuesday to my sister Heather. We've been waiting a long time for her arrival, especially since she came 9 days late! The sad part, we don't get to meet Miss Lola until Summers end :( ...but pictures prove that she is a beautiful little girl and we're so happy for her arrival.

Happy Birthday!

It's official! She's stuffed her face with cake so she's now officially a year old. We had a really nice day on her actual birthday spending some time at the zoo but the real party started this past Sunday when we had her birthday party at the Clawson Park. It was a little chilly (and windy) but the sun was shining and so was boo bear. She had a great time and really enjoyed be the center of attention during the big cake eating event. Thank you everyone for coming out to spend the afternoon with us ...and for all the gifts ;)















Thanks to Sarah for Audrey's (obviously) delicious cake. It was the perfect Monkey.

We're off for our first camping trip of the season. We're curious to see how much (if any) of it that she remembers from last year. She loves to be outside so I'm thinking the weekend is going to be a hit ...fingers are still crossed though.

Spring Time Chaos

Wow! What a crazy few weeks it's been! Audrey's best friend, Remi, has finally arrived! She's a beautiful baby girl and we're so happy she's finally here. Audrey may have been a little skeptical of her at first but we're certain they are to become the best of friends.

Audrey's birthday is right around the corner. We planned on taking her to the Zoo for the first time however with all this nice weather we've been having we just had to jump the gun. So while we anxiously awaited Remi's arrival last Saturday we passed the time strolling the Zoo. Audrey was amazed by all the animals she saw from afar but was really astonished when a Peacock cut her off right in her tracks! You could imagine her excitement to see such a big bird with long beautiful feathers ...lets just say it's a good thing she was buckled in her stroller.

So since the Zoo was such a hit (and we bought a year pass) we still plan on taking her again for her birthday ...what a treat to have a Spring birthday. In the meantime we have been planning and preparing for her birthday party at the park. I can't believe it's already been a year!

What's up Doc?

So the Easter Bunny visit didn't go over as well as Santa but can you really blame her? It's a huge rabbit, sitting on a huge chair, surrounded by a bunch of huge eggs ...kind of freaky, right? At first it was going good. She was smiling, looking at the bunny and then looking at me for approval. That happened twice until she finally realized the situation she was in! I scooped her up from the giant Easter Bunny and rescued her before a single tear streamed down her check. Now this only lasted maybe a total of 60 seconds but you would think the camera guy would of gotten at least one shot with a smile. Instead the best photo appeared to be just seconds after she realized what was going on but before the chin started to quiver.

Audrey is now 30 days shy of her first birthday. Mike and I look at her and no longer see a baby but a little girl growing up right before our eyes. She'll stand on her own for a short time and sometimes take a few steps if she's feeling really ambitious. She's pretty much given up baby food and has now been eating adult cuisines like grilled cheese, hot dogs, cheese and pastas. We're slowly replacing her bottle with a sippy cup and that seems to be going better than we had expected. At daycare she only drinks out of a sippy cup which means she's down to only 2 bottles a day.

We're looking forward to next month for her first birthday party, the arrival of her best friend Remi (...who still hasn't come out to play yet) and her new cousin Lola, and of coarse to the start of the camping season. Audrey's a happy camper!

Go Spartans!

Audrey was sportin' her MSU gear on Saturday (Thanks Aunt Shirley and Uncle Doug) and even though she couldn't stay up to see them win she was really excited to hear that they had advanced to the finals. Go Spartans!

Some quick Audrey updates:

*She climbs on everything which means she falls a lot. Most the time she just gets back up and starts all over again but there are a few falls here and there that need a little TLC repair.

*She said her first word the other day while looking out the front window with her dad. He likes to show her the cars going by while he narrates. After he pointed out yet another car she finally repeated him. So her first actual word (used in context anyway) was "Car". Her dad was so proud.

*As we've blogged before, she loves her baths however she's recently made them more challenging for me. Since she's started to stand that's all she wants to do and it's not easy to stand in a slippery tub. Explain that to a 11 month old! Needless to say, bath time has been cut short these days.

Now we're just waiting for the arrival of baby Remi. We're so excited and anxious for the arrival of Audrey's best friend!

Audrey The Water Bug

So it seems that our little boo bear has quite the personality. Below is a picture that captures her new bashful bow that she does when in the company of unfamiliar faces. I'm pretty bias but it's awfully cute and charming, enough to melt your heart.

At 10 months Audrey has a whole bunch of new accomplishments. She's now mastered crawling but with a twist. I'm not sure if it was from learning on hardwood floors but she's added a little kick to her crawl. To better explain, she crawls on one knee and uses her other foot to push off. I call it her kick start. Just in the past few days she's advanced to pulling herself up on furniture, well actually not just furniture but anything that will hold her. She tumbles a lot but she gets right back up to try all over again. Her curiosity has peeked so anything she sees she must go and investigate. She LOVES the animals. We're teaching her to pet gently however George (the cat) is the only one of the three that will tolerate her for a short period of time. He's even been brave enough on occasion to come up to her for a quick snuggle. Tia (the dog) is still a bit quicker so she's able to avoid her and then we have Gracie (the other cat) who hides all day until Audrey goes to bed and it's safe to come out. Audrey has also recently said "mama" and "dada" however it's more "ma ma ma ma" and "da da da da" but hey, you know, you gotta start somewhere.

One of her favorite times of the day is bath time. She's learned to splash and loves to have her hair rinsed with a bucket. She's going to be a water bug this summer I'm sure of it!

...and she's off!

We've got a crawler

My Funny Valentine!

Although it was only just over two weeks ago that I last blogged it actually feels like it's been years! So much to tell, so little time ...especially now that I'm working. I just don't have the luxury of bloggin' as I did during my days at home with the Boog Bear. My job is defiantly keeping me busy which is good because it helps the days go by fast. Audrey is doing great at daycare. She naps really good for them and loves watching the older kids play. Lady, the begal is her favorite. I watched Audrey gently pet her the other day. Something I know she'd love to do with the cats if they'd let her. The best part of my day is when I walk into daycare to pick her up and her face lights up. It's like she wasn't sure if I was going to come back and is surprised every time I do. I'm grateful for the few hours in the evening I have to spend with her before she's out for the night by 7:30pm ...and when I say out for the night, I mean all night. She's been sleeping through the night for over a month now (10 - 12 hours) except for the odd ball wakings that might come due to teething. Even then it only takes a few minutes of comforting and she's back down again. I guess it's true, you do eventually get uninterrupted sleep again.

As I mentioned earlier teething is still happening. She now has both her bottom teeth and her two top ones have also cut through now (...she's got a wide space between them, wide enough to make the doctor gasp but I think its cute). So now, with those teeth, comes biting. This is what led us to her next big milestone in life ...she's given up on nursing. It only took one night of biting when we both decided that it just wasn't working anymore. Well I think she was more convinced than I was. I was willing to give her another shot the next night but she didn't want anything to do with it ...perhaps she didn't like it when I yelped the night before. So just a week shy of her 9th month she was officially done breastfeeding. I have to admit I was a little sad about missing our end of the day feeding but not much has changed. I still get to give her the bottle in the rocking chair and she still fall asleep in my arms. The only difference ...I can take a night off if I need too!

We've started feeding her different foods now too. We've introduced Cheerios, bread, cheese, yogurt, and Ritz crackers (...she loves those, and Cheerios of coarse). The bad thing is that since we've introduced those finger foods she's been giving us a hard time taking the baby food from a spoon. She's little miss independent and wants to do it herself so needless to say eating can get pretty messing for both of us, and my kitchen (this is where Tia, the dog, finally becomes useful)! We finally discovered that if we let her have her own spoon the feeding session goes over much easier. We're learning, slowly, but we're learning.

We intended on taking Audrey outside last weekend to introduce her to the snow but we missed out on our opportunity when the 60 degree weather came. We did get a little dusting last night though so we're going to take her to put some flowers on my dad's grave for his birthday. I know he's always watching over her however I think he'll really enjoy seeing her playing in the snow for the first time. I'll take pictures and blog about it next week.

Below is a video of her new motor boat noise. I took her shopping the other day and she did that while sitting in the cart, as if she was driving. It was good entertainment for my shopping excursion. Dad thinks she's going to be a car buff like him. Perhaps she will.

Yeah for Audrey!

Audrey's first week at daycare is in the books! I thought this was going to be the start of a very stressful time for all of us, getting use to a new day to day routine, however the first week has come and gone rather smoothly. Plus, not to mention, the weekend before daycare we discovered another tooth rearing it's head but she's been a trooper. Her sleeping habits have even made a change for the better. She's up later which means she's sleeping in. This past weekend she slept in until 7:30am (...yes, anything past 6:00am is sleeping in)! She also took a 3 hour nap on Sunday. The first couple of days at daycare were a little rough but that was expected. She would only nap in Kelly's (daycare lady) arms however today, just six days into it, she napped for 2 hours in the pack n play. She still has a few challenges to overcome, like sharing a room at nap time for instance. For three days a week she has to share a room with a boy her age (Jaxon ...like her cousin Jackson) and they are both having some trouble getting use to each other presence. I assume, as does the ladies at daycare, that eventually they'll get use to each others noises and sleep right through them ...our fingers crossed anyway.
My job is going good. I picked up right where I left off and keeping very busy. I'm lucky enough to be able to leave a 4pm to pick up Audrey however I continue to work from home after she's down for the night. It's a small price to pay in order to spend more time with her before she goes to bed. She's changing so much each day that I'm afraid if I blink I might miss something.

Mike has taught her to clap her hands:

ummm ...Pancakes!

Audrey indulged in some pancakes over the weekend and we were able to get a quick (phone camera) shot of her excitement over the grand taste of buttermilk and maple syrup! Who knew solid foods could taste so good!

She's on the verge of crawling but we're not rushing it, for obvious reasons! Next week Tuesday will be her first day at daycare. I have been dreading this day ever since I first decided to go back to work however I'm starting to get some good vibes about it. Those vibes started Friday when I took Audrey with me to the daycare to get the enrollment papers started. As I went over the paperwork she sat playing and at one point all the children, who were all older than her by two or more years, circled her and sang the ABC's to her, almost as if they were serenading her. I wish I had a camera because Audrey's reaction to this was priceless! And then yesterday the good vibes continued while she spent some time with Danielle and Ella when I went to the doctors. They played so much in the hour that I was gone that Audrey actually fell asleep on the couch, something she hasn't done in almost 4 months. She then followed that up with a two hour nap at home (thanks Danielle)! I really hope this is the behavior that continues during week one of OPERATION: DAYCARE ...I'll blog all about it next week. Stay tuned.