What a difference a year makes!

Easter Bunny pictures at the mall last year (March 2009):



Audrey was about 3 months old, too young to know any better. Fast forward to 2010:



Duuuuude. She was so fine as we waited the 30 minutes in line. As soon as I sat her down she flipped out. She slid right off of the bunny's lap and just screamed. I readjusted her and yelled, "Take the picture, it's fine if she's screaming!" knowing full well it would be yet another priceless picture to add to the Future Bribery File.

Documentation of the happy state she was in all morning:


Before we left the house


Playing with her flash card app while waiting in line


Making funny faces right before it was our turn.

Aaaaand some super cute videos:





Summary: I secretly like to torture my child in hopes of getting funny pictures. I prefer funny over cute.

Spring is here!!

Man do I have Spring Fever! The weather has been beautiful and that alone has had a big effect on everyone's mood it seems. I love being able to take the kids out to recess. I love that the sun is still shining brightly when I get home from work. I love driving with the sunroof open and not having to put a jacket on. I love new Spring clothes! One more week of school before Spring Break. We don't have plans to go anywhere, just hanging out at home will be vacation enough for me!

Audrey did great with her bunny pictures last weekend. They should be in soon! Here's a picture of her on the way to the studio:



She's been a very picky eater this week (not hungry one day, normal the next...not hungry at all for lunch but starved for dinner...) Tonight was great though! Chris made an amazing meat loaf. I put some on her tray along with some corn, and didn't offer her anything else. Of course she played with it at first, and just as Chris and I were finishing our plates, she started eating it right up! Then I tried something new that we picked up earlier today at Target: Happy Baby Mac and Cheese patty. Each patty has a full serving of "hidden veggies." Well, she LOVED it! I also bought the veggie tots which I'll try out tomorrow. I'm hoping she consistently likes these because I've been stressing about her lack of desire for real people food. While I'm bummed she's not eating whole fruits and veggies, this is at least a step in the right direction!



Chris got me an ipod touch for my birthday. I love it! I've been downloading tons of podcasts (I especially love the ones about LOST!) and some very cool apps. I downloaded a bunch for Audrey, my favorite being flash cards with sounds. She loves them and knows how to change the pictures by moving her finger across the screen. There's also an app that tells children's stories. She holds the ipod up to her ear and listens intently, it is so adorable.



Tomorrow we are going to see the Easter Bunny. I really don't know what to expect. She hated Santa and I don't see a ginormous rabbit being any different.

Spring Pictures

Since our portraits at JCP weren't stellar, I decided to dress Audrey up and try taking her picture at home, outside, where she could be free as a bird! The weather was gorgeous and all she wanted to do was walk up and down the sidewalk. She even tried running down the steep hill (such a daredevil!) I love how they came out.











Now I need some help choosing one for her Easter cards. Which is your favorite?

What a difference a year makes!

Check out these beautiful babies just one year ago:




Audrey (3 months) and cousin Isabella (2 1/2 months). All we did was prop them up on a blanket and they were good to go! Fast forward a year later and you have 2 very clingy, stressed out toddlers. I'm not sure why, but they wanted NOTHING to do with having their picture taken. We didn't even get one of them together in their dresses to compare with last year :( We did however, get a couple of cute pics with cousin Skylar (who is 5w older than Audrey.)





Here's Audrey last March (3 months):




And now!





Some Easter dress shots:











I didn't LOVE any of the shots, so we did our own shoot outside at home a few days later. I'll save those for another post!

Long overdue!

It's been quite busy lately as evidenced by the lack of blog postings. March started off great but then Audrey got sick. It started off as a cough, so dad took her to the pedi right away b/c her little cousin had bronchiolitis a couples weeks before. Turns out it was just a cold! So we did what any first-time parents would do: raid the pharmacy (or several pharmacies) and buy whatever claims to help ease cold symptoms (basically that would be anything that had a picture of a soundly sleeping child on the box.) Here's what we found to be very helpful:

-Vick's Warm Steam Vaporizer: we used this in her room 24/7 and it was great. I think it really helped her STTN.

-regular humidifier

-Vick's Baby Vapor Rub: not only did we put it on her chest and neck, but my SIL advised rubbing it on the bottoms of her feet and putting socks on...OMG, it worked wonders!!! I did this at night AND for naps.

-Little Noses Saline Spray & aspirator

-Tissues with lotion

-Tylenol

-Hylands C-Plus tablets. They're just like teething tablets but supposedly help with stuffy noses. Eh, I'm not sure they worked, but we used them anyway.

Nothing is more pathetic than a sick baby. Check her out:


In the morning, before we left for Grandma's. I started making sub plans the moment I got to school!


She was looking pretty rough by that afternoon. Good thing I took off the next day!


Chris bought her the warm steam vaporizer and first set it up in the kitchen. She likes waving the vapors towards her face, lol.

She started feeling better a couple days later so we went out to lunch with my mom and brother. Despite rosy cheeks and a runny nose, she was a delight!


Nana brought her a little wind-up chicky and she loved it!


Not the bow I had originally put in her hair, but just as cute!

She's been transitioning to one nap and still not a huge fan of most real-people food. Her growth has really halted since turning one. Her 15 month appointment is coming up and I plan to talk to her pedi about her diet. I don't know whether to cut out baby food and just keep offering the real stuff, or keep giving her baby food when she rejects real fruits and veggies.

She has a mouth full of pearly whites! Her top two canines poked thru last week. She looks so grown up with teeth. She's adorable and sweet and too much fun! She's pretty much running all over the place and loves to be outside. We celebrated my b-day last weekend and as we were waiting outside at the restaurant, she would just walk up to people, smile, turn, and run back to me, burying her face in my lap. She's bashful & outgoing at the same time.

Today we're getting her picture taken with real bunnies. It will either be really cute or really disastrous. Stay tuned!!

Tiny Dancer

Hello, March! There are so many things I'm excited about for this month. A few of them being my b-day, Daylight Savings, and Gator Week at school! In honor of leaving February behind, I put Audrey Cate in her new dress from Mom Maw...how CUTE is this?!?!



We've been doing a lot of dancing at night. A year ago one of my favorite things to do was swaddle Audrey up and dance around the living room with her. We danced to whatever was good on XM Radio (anything from Elvis to Eminem.) I still twirl her around the house, but now she's starting to get her groove on by herself, little Miss Independent!



Clearly, she loves dancing with her Dada:



I think we have a Bon Jovi fan on our hands!!!

Audrey is 14 months!

Today was spent at home with my two favorites! Chris and I cleaned the house. Audrey and I both napped afterwards for about 2 hours...I was exhausted even though I had slept 10 hours the night before...I did put in a full week of work, after all :) Chris made AWESOME fried chicken and we just spent the day relaxing.


Check out those chompers!! The ones in the back have been giving her a hard time all week. She's been a finicky eater and her diapers have been terrible (red tush!) And the drool, oh the drool! She woke up a couple times in the middle of the night (Tylenol and warm milk are my BFFs.)




She lurves her new gator purse. We got it while shopping with friends last weekend. We also got her first pair of Stride Rite sneakers! They ended up being only $10 (on clearance, then the cashier gave us a $5 coupon b/c she was "so darn CUTE!")


Blowing kisses!






So happy!

Audrey has gotten so good at walking, she practically runs now she's so fast! We met Chris at Target last night to do some grocery shopping and we let her walk around by herself. Ummmm, she was adorable and absolutely thrilled to be so independent. People kept stopping to talk to her, lol. I'm really loving this toddler stage!

For ME?!

I think I've been blogging for about 2 years and LOOK!! My first award :) I always enjoy reading comments and I especially love seeing comments from lurkers (eh, lurkers sounds creepy...let's call them first-timers!) Anyways, Stacia nominated me....so thank you Stacia for 1) making my day and 2) giving me another blog to swoon over b/c your Katelyn is a doll baby!

See for yourself!

Here are the rules:

1) Mention who gave you the award and include a link back to their blog.
2) List 7 interesting things about yourself.
3) Pass on the award to 7 other people's blogs and include the links.

7 interesting things about myself? It will be hard to think of 7, let alone interesting! But here goes!

1) I am obsessed with all things crime; tv shows, books, movies...I guess you wouldn't really expect that from a 2nd grade teacher. But if I weren't a teacher I'd definitely be a criminal profiler. My most favorite classes in college were my criminal and behavioral psych courses. I think we're most interested in the things we don't understand. Give me a good snack and a marathon of Forensic Files and I'm a happy camper!

2) I love Audrey Hepburn. Of course, that is who my Audrey is named after. I just adore her style, her grace, her generosity. Just looking at photos of her makes me happy! It is my wish that my Audrey lives up to her namesake.

3) I can't stand beer. Unfortunately for Chris, our bar tab is always unevenly distributed. I love martinis, margaritas, and daiquiris.

4) I'm enjoying motherhood MUCH more than I ever thought possible. I was eager but anxious to get pregnant. I really love children, but I knew that once we had them, our life would be devoted to raising kids, always putting their needs first. Turns out that I don't see myself sacrificing anything to have Audrey. Part of that is learning to go with the flow and that not everything will always be perfect. It's made me a much more grounded person...

5)...like my husband Chris! I have to admit that when we first started dating I wasn't too sure about his easy-going, laid back style. Everything was so simple for him! Not at all what I was use to. I have always admired Christopher. He is honest, respectful, and always true to what he believes. He doesn't sweat the small stuff and isn't impressed with material things. And he has the best sense of humor...I hope that Audrey marries someone like him, and that our son(s) turns out to be just like his dad!

6) I'd be a terrible SAHM. I can't cook (I don't know how to make scrambled eggs and I only recently discovered how to make grilled cheese.) I suppose I could be a good cook if I had more confidence because the few things I do make come out pretty good (especally my Jumbalaya, but Chris would disagree wholeheartedly on that.) Being a teacher affords me the best of both worlds...by the time our breaks are over I'm SO READY to be back at school!

7) Teaching is definitely my calling. I love going to work everyday. My MIL said just the other day, "Love what you do and you'll never work a day in your life!" How true. I believe that if you take the time to really get to know your kids and bond with them, the rest comes naturally. Yes, all the documentation can be tedious (even for 2nd grade...who knew?!) and you always seem to have more on your plate than you can handle. Sometimes you feel like you're just barely keeping your head above water! But I feel like I get a lot of support from other teachers and staff, and of course my family. And those kids are incredibly special to me!

Now, for 7 lovely ladies I bestow to you (upon you?) the Beautiful Blogger award:

Jenn's Journey: http://ournewbaby09.blogspot.com/

Shannon Lea: http://shannonlea-baby.blogspot.com/

Stacy: http://lovebabyhart.blogspot.com/

Eris: http://eris1995.blogspot.com/

Lauren: http://littlesweetp.blogspot.com/

CLML: http://babycouldmake3.blogspot.com/

Susan: http://sondermanncircus.blogspot.com/

All good things must come to an end...

Well, back to school tomorrow! It's been wonderful staying at home with Audrey the last 2 weeks. I've gotten a lot done for school and I feel re-energized! As a fellow teacher said, this little break couldn't have come at a better time! I am so excited to see my kiddos tomorrow...they make me so happy. And I know that Audrey will love being back at Grandma's! They've missed her so much :)

A few pics of our last day home together (I think our next day off isn't until Spring Break...see bottom of page for exact countdown, lol)









Thanks for the t-shirt, Mom-Maw! It's adorable on her :)

Have a great week everyone!!

Valentine's Day 2010

Happy Valentine's Day! I hope each of you enjoyed it with the people you love. I know I sure did!

For funsies, here's Audrey last year, her 1st Valentine's Day:

Eeeek! What a tiny little baby! And what a difference a year makes:


Getting ready to go out to dinner!







She was an angel at dinner! Which surprised us because she hadn't had an afternoon nap (she did fall asleep about 5 minutes before we got to the restaurant, in true Audrey fashion.)


Reading her Valentine's Day card from mom & dad (Dora!)

Love. That's what Valentine's Day is all about. And while I have always considered it a romantic holiday for couples, I have pretty much decided it's going to be about celebrating love as a family. Christopher is my Valentine, but sweet Audrey Cate is OUR Valentine, and will be until she's old enough to find someone worthy of being hers.

So, to both of my loves, a quote that sums it all up so nicely: "I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach." ~Elizabeth Barrett Browning

I taught today!

No, not at school, not my usual 2nd graders...Just because we've had a ton of snow days does not mean I'm slacking off! Look what I taught Miss Audrey today:



She's a quick study, I must say :)