Audrey Cate, Flower Girl!

My mom took some great pics of Audrey getting ready and walking down the aisle :)








Chris took this video:

Wedding Weekend

My sister's wedding was last weekend. It was incredible. On Friday the girls stayed with my dad until I left school. We changed and headed up to Fort Belvoir for the rehearsal. Audrey was thrilled that the chapel had a stage and she was all over it, singing and dancing. I was a little worried that she wouldn't be able to stand still during the wedding!



Afterwards we all headed back to Stafford to have dinner at Kobe. It was the car ride from Hell. My poor brother Scott rode with us and I know he regretted that decision, lol. Abigail was overtired/teething/cranky and she cried almost the entire time. It took forever because traffic going south on 95 that time of night is awful. Audrey was playing with her Fijit (the most annoying toy on the planet- thanks Pop-Pop!) And to top it off, Scott lost his phone somewhere in my car. He did learn how to make a bottle, though! He was such a good sport about it, trying to give Abby the iPod to watch videos and just being able to laugh about the whole crappy situation.

Dinner was great (I found Scott's phone in the diaper bag when I went to change Abby.) Abby was wonderful the whole time and Audrey was petrified of the fire. She spent much of dinner hiding behind my chair :)



On the day of the wedding I took Audrey to the hair salon where Kelly was getting her hair and makeup done. I loaded my car with things for the reception and then we met my dad for breakfast at Panera. We talked about our speeches/toasts and he started to get weepy (aww!) Then Audrey and I headed up to the O Club to decorate for the reception. I got lost once and by the time we got there I was starting to freak out about time. I was all by myself with a ton of stuff to do and a toddler in tow. Thank GOD Audrey is so good! She had the best time just playing on the rolling cart and with the bubble wrap :) I set up the tables, gift table, place card table, guest book table, packed everything back up and was able to get to the chapel a little after 1:00. Kelly was already dressed and she looked stunning. My good friend and photographer Stacy Hart arrived shortly after to take pictures. I got Audrey dressed and then finally I got dressed and touched up my hair & makeup. Then it was go time!

I was so nervous for Audrey. But she did so great. I think she was a little surprised at all the people looking at her and I really thought she was going to forget to throw the flowers. But she finally did and it was adorable. When she got to the end of the aisle she said something about making a mess and she turned around to pick up the petals, lol. I admit, I cried a little as she came down the aisle. Chris got her on video which I'll hopefully be able to upload soon.

My dad walked Kelly down the aisle and I cried again. The ceremony was beautiful and we (the bridal party) laughed a little as Kelly & Jeremy lit the unity candle because their hands were shaking so badly, haha. When it was over we went outside and blew bubbles for their exit. We all headed back in for pictures. Poor Audrey tripped and hit her stomach on the stairs so we had to leave for a few minutes. Juice and a Fruit Roll Up made her feel much better, thankfully. When the pictures were done we all headed to the O Club for the party!




The bridal party took pictures outside and then we went in for the last part of the cocktail hour. We were announced and then we made our toasts (I forgot half of mine, but it still rocked!) Dinner was yummy and Audrey couldn't wait to start dancing (so she didn't...she was pretty much the entertainment while everyone ate!) Kelly and Jeremy had their first dance and then it was time for the father-daughter and mother-son dance. There was not a dry eye in the house when Jeremy and his mom danced, especially when Dustin joined them towards the end. Jennifer passed away yesterday morning after battling cancer. Kelly & Jeremy had moved up the wedding several months for that reason and despite having such a short amount of time to plan, they managed to pull off an elegant, fun, and beautiful celebration.

Stacy did an amazing job (of course) and the website is here. I can't wait to see all the images she captured of this special day.

We got snow the very next day! The flakes were huge and it was so beautiful as it came down.









The next day there was a good amount that had accumulated so I dressed both girls (that was interesting!) Of course Audrey had to go pee shortly after she was dressed and I was in the middle of dressing Abigail :)


I love their expressions. Audrey knows she's about to go play in the snow. Abigail has never had so many clothes on at once.


She really was not happy about any of it.










March is almost here and on Tuesday Abigail will be 10 months old! Time is really flying and I'm totally counting down to Spring Break...1 month, 1 week, 5 days :)

Goings on

I've had no time, no energy and absolutely no motivation to blog lately. Winter is a giant annoyance. There is so much to get done every.single.day and I feel like I'm not doing a great job at any of it. One reason I can't stand winter. It's so dark and dreary I just can't get motivated. By the time the girls are in bed I'm exhausted and can't keep my eyes open to get things done. At school it seems like there are always meetings to attend and all I really want to do is spend time with my students and TEACH. I've gotten 2 new students for a total of 26 and it's pretty difficult to manage. I'm so wiped by 4:00. I definitely get a second wind though when I leave to get my girls. One of the highlights of my day is seeing their sweet faces. It's a bit challenging being home with them alone until Chris gets there. He works later and further away so by the time he gets home they are getting ready for bed. I'm very thankful they are so well behaved! They have a great routine and are so happy at night which makes everything run smoothly (99% of the time!)

At the same time, I don't know how I can complain. I have everything I've ever wanted and this is just...life. We're happy & healthy and that's all I can really ask for. As stressful as the past couple months have been with trying to balance work and home, I know that there will be plenty of downtime to come.

The girls are doing great. Audrey is obsessed with singing and dancing. She wants certain songs played in the car ("Love You Like a Love Song" is her new favorite.) She loves when I put the TV on the music channels so we can have a dance party. Abigail has been dancing, too :) She just wiggles back and forth and it's so adorable, lol:



She's alllll over the place and will only play by herself for a few minutes before whining to be picked up. I don't mind that she's lovey, but it does make getting things done very difficult!

I've been looking into preschools for Audrey next year. My hope is that she'll be accepted into the preschool at my school. Since it's a peer model program, she'll be interviewed and they'll want to see how she interacts with children who have disabilities. As much as I want her with me, I totally understand the need for her to be on par with her speech, language, and social skills if she's going to be a peer model. Fingers crossed that it will work out :)

Kelly's wedding is this weekend (yay!) and then I'm soooo looking forward to the 3-day weekend. I just want to get through February and March (Gator Week! Birthday!) and get more daylight in my life :)

Today we played in the little bit of snow we got on Saturday night:







I hope we see a little more before winter is officially over! She loved it :)

Abigail is 9 months old!

She's spent just as much time on the outside world as she did in the inside world. Mind blowing!

She is officially crawling the "correct way" on hands and knees. I've been leaving her pantless and sockless so that she's not slipping on the floors and it works. She is fast and always wants to go where she's not allowed (Audrey's room.) She can get herself into a sitting position (yay!) She's pulling up on her knees and gets one foot up but doesn't quite have the strength and/or coordination to get both. In time!




Her hair continues to get longer and lighter. I would love to hold off until she's one to get her first hair cut, but her bangs are always in her face! Thank goodness for hair clips (although lately she's been pulling them right out.)



She's clapping a lot and was waving for a short period of time. She holds her arms up when she wants to be picked up. Her face completely lights up when she sees someone she loves. But she's completely stone-faced when she sees strangers!




She's doing so well with food! She eats all kinds of great food for lunch at Grandma's house- casseroles especially. While I love that she's great with food it's hard to get people to accept that she cannot have sweets- Christopher is especially guity of this. No, she may not have ice cream or birthday cake. She is a BABY. And honestly, with her being so chubby (yeah, I said it) I don't want her to have any sweets at all (her first b-day and other special occasions will be an exception.) Audrey is so into sweets (like her mom) and I'm just really trying to do things better this time around.

She continues to be on a great schedule; sleeps in pretty late on the weekends. In fact, she might be wide awake and all we have to do is move her back to the middle of her crib, turn on the sea horse, replace the paci, and give her Mickey. She goes to bed wide awake and we rarely hear from her the rest of the night. Love it!

I still only see 3 bottom teeth but she's drooling a lot and loves to blow raspberries, spit, and suck in/purse her lips.



Her wellness checkup is this Friday and I'm anxious to see how much she weighs. I'm thinking she's close to the max height for her infant carrier. So far getting around with 2 has been a breeze with her in the seat. I have no idea how I'm going to cart around 2 free-moving children! Now that Chris is working every weekend I'm a little nervous :) Time is just flying by!

Happy 9 months, Abby-gator!

I'm raising Lady Gaga Jr.

One of her favorite things to do is sing & dance her little heart out. It's like she gets into the zone and she just loses herself, lol. This time she wanted Abigail as an audience (and the snowman, too, I guess!) I love how a) she only knows the chorus and just flubs her way through the rest and b) the arm motions and finger pointing are out of control! I think she's watching MTV when we're not looking.



I would just love to know what Abigail was thinking :)

Things I Don't Want to Forget

Abigail is 8 1/2 months old and she's reached a few milestones in the past couple of weeks: army crawling (she's super fast and makes room transitions!) In fact, if she sees you coming after her (or if she wants you!) she'll try to go faster, lol. It's really hard keeping her out of Audrey's room (aka Land of Lalaloopsy and all things chokable.) She's clapping and waving and gets into a sitting position all by herself :)



Audrey is super excited to be the flower girl in Aunt Kelly's wedding next month. She tells everyone. She wants to watch youTube videos of other flower girls. She really, really wants to wear the flower girl dress that hasn't even arrived yet. Kelly gave her some rose petals to practice with and she does a great job.

Yesterday Audrey and I were at Macy's paying for our things. She told the sales girl, "I have a baby. Her name is Abby- but sometimes I call her Abigator."

Audrey seems to want every toy she sees. But luckily instead of asking us to get them for her, she just says, "Maybe Santa will bring them." I'm thinking the Easter bunny will be a little more generous ;)

I love, love, love how Abigail sings. Right before I lay her down I rock her over my shoulder for a few minutes. She just sings so softly I never want to put her down! And now she'll sing in the car right before she falls asleep (she's always falling asleep in the car, even if she's just woken up from a good nap!)

Audrey is definitely experiencing the ups and downs of sisterhood. She can be totally enjoying Abigail one minute, then fending her off the next. She does not want Abigail around her creations. We're trying to teach her to give Abigail a toy to play with to distract her. But more often than not all we hear is, "Abby, no! Mom, come get Abby, she's getting my stuff!" A couple of times we've caught her dragging Abby away by the pant legs (sooo funny!)

Sitting up!

I had just put Audrey to bed when I went in to peek at Abigail. It was totally quiet so I expected her to be asleep. Instead I found her on her hands and knees, kind of rocking back and forth. I went to get Chris and when we came back she was sitting up!



She looks just as surprised as we were :)

She's been so close to getting into the sitting position for a while now, but our wood floors make it a bit hard because she's always slipping (which is probably why she will only army crawl!)