Blizzard of '09

On Friday night (12/18) it began snowing non-stop, literally as we got home that evening. There had been talk about the storm ALLL DAAAAY, which made for a very crazy day at school! My 2nd graders were so excited. We made our snowman ornaments and wrote our Christmas cards just in case we didn't come back before Winter Break (which was supposed to start Wed, 12/23.) Sure enough, Saturday night they cancelled school for Monday and Tuesday, leaving us with a full 2 weeks of Winter vacation (which, seriously, is how it should have been in the first place!) Anyways, I'm bummed that we didn't get to have our Holiday party. I was really looking forward to decorating cookies and singing all the Christmas songs we learned (my kids especially loved Feliz Navidad!) But of course I'm super happy to have more time at home with my sweet girl. Here are some pics!








Every time I stood her up, she wanted to walk to me...


...see!


LOVED this!





It's been a long time since I went out and enjoyed the snow. As kids we used to go to the school and slide down the massive hills, come back home for some hot chocolate and freshly baked cookies, where a warm fire would await us. Audrey's still too little to "play" in the snow, but I'm looking forward to years and years of enjoying the snow again and making it memorable for her and her little brothers and sisters!

Stepping it up for Dad's Birthday

Soooo, it was exactly a month ago that Audrey took her first steps. Since then she has gotten so good at walking, mostly when holding your hand, cruising, and pushing her push toy. Well today she started letting go and walking by herself, without any prompting! I'll be completely honest, as wonderful as it is to see her walk, I am dreading the days where she won't crawl anymore. She is the cutest little crawler!! I love hearing her hands and feet move across the floor and watch her smile as she gets closer to what she wants. I love watching her pull herself up and explore. I'd be totally happy with her crawling for another few weeks.

But I am very proud of our sweet Audrey Cate. The look on her face as she walks towards you is PRICELESS. She has really learned to slow down so that she can actually make it more than 4 steps. And when I scoop her up in my arms she laughs and gets so, so excited. How can I not love that??





I love watching her push this toy around...I think she's so smart, the way she knows how to back up and maneuver it.


Today we got pounded with 2 feet of snow! I cannot wait to get Audrey Cate all bundled up and outside. Hopefully tomorrow the wind will have died down enough for us to get out and play!

What a difference a year makes...part 1

In honor of Audrey's 1st birthday coming up (WHAAAAA???) I'm starting a new series of blog entries. I really enjoy comparing our lives from year to year. Example: This time last year we found out we were pregnant! Or, this time last year I looked like a cow!! It's so fun to see how far we've come (especially that now I don't look like a cow anymore...most days:))

So, here is a picture of me last year in front of the tree. One of the very last photos taken of me while pregnant:



It's a little blurry, but trust me, that's a good thing. Notice how I am as wide as our tree. Zexy.

And here I am a year later, with that bundle of joy in my arms:



A year ago I had no idea that the little person in my belly was a GIRL. A sweet little girl we'd come to know as Audrey Cate, the most beautiful person we'd ever laid eyes on. Now we look at her and can't imagine our lives any other way. She is truly the best Christmas gift!

My Christmas List

It's funny how your wish list changes when you have a child. Almost everything I would like involves Audrey:

*picture frames from BBB (the ones where you can slide out the pictures, which makes it super easy to change them often)
*one of those cool level thingies that help you mark where you want to hang photos and shelves
*a Sham Wow & a Shark (for cleaning up the trail of puffs and juice and drool)
*a big, fluffy bathrobe for the days we don't change out of our PJs
*Therma scarf (it has pockets which inevitably end up filled with baby stuff)
*a heated throw (I would say this is for snuggling with Audrey...but let's be totally honest, it's for staying warm while watching Audrey play)
*a new memory card for my camera (because I took over 9,000 pictures of Audrey's first year and I'm pretty sure I'll surpass that amount during her 2nd)
*a Smart Mom teething necklace (because I really, really want to preserve the pretty necklaces Christopher has bought me over the years)

What I am looking forward to most of all is seeing Audrey unwrap all of her gifts. While this is not her FIRST Christmas, it is certainly much, much different than last year. It is our first Christmas home as a family :)

Busy, Busy!

Audrey will be one in just 3 weeks and she has some cool new tricks. She loves playing with Eddie and Zoe. She chases them around, plays peek-a-boo with them while she's in her high chair, and tries to pet them:



She thinks they're hilarious, yet they do absolutely nothing. I do everything but stand on my head for a laugh and SOMETIMES i'm rewarded for all my hard work. She's starting to shake her head "no" more and more to communicate what she doesn't want (for example, if she doesn't want to be picked up...b/c she's busy playing with dogs.)







I've been busy myself. Audrey's party is soon and I've been having fun planning. I even made a practice giant cupcake:

The colors will be different, but I'm really excited how it turned out! It actually looks good if you don't look too closely :) This is an insanely busy time of year...and it's going by waaaaay too fast.

Tutu cute!!

Tiny dancer:

The tree is up!

Audrey loves it! She doesn't bother with it too much (unless I force her to sit next to it...you know, for photo ops.)

We've graduated from pulling things out of the cabinet to actually getting INTO the cabinet!

So much to be thankful for...

We had a very busy Thanksgiving! We visited with 3 sets of grandparents, cousins, aunts & uncles. It was exhausting! But I was reminded of how much we have to be thankful for. It's hard when we're so busy with day-to-day life to stop and be grateful for what we have. Everyday I look at our sweet Audrey and I am so thankful for everyone and everything I have in my life. There's nothing like looking at the face of your own child to make you take pause and give thanks for everything that helped bring her here.







Being away from home all day was rough on Audrey. She had a meltdown during Thanksgiving Dinner so Dad took her and got her to fall asleep. She napped a total of 90 minutes, most of which was in her car seat. She also has her 5th tooth coming in (top right.)

The countdown until Christmas Break officially begins! 26 days :)

If this doesn't make you laugh...

then you are dead inside:

Busted!

This is the reason a baby needs her own cabinet in the kitchen:







Leaving the scene of the crime...with evidence.


Girl needs to learn how to pick up after herself.

What a big week!

So what started off to be a terrible week is turning out to be pretty awesome. On Sunday Audrey woke up with a terrible runny nose (first one ever.) She took a good morning nap but absolutely refused her afternooner. She has been such a solid and routine sleeper that I was completely thrown off. Luckily her nighttime sleep was uninterrupted (lucky for ME.) I was worried that she had a cold but when I looked at her gums, there were 2 white teeth getting ready to poke thru!! Pretty exciting. So now Audrey has 2 bottom and 3 top teeth. At what point do I need to worry about braces?

Tonight we were playing after dinner and trying to get her to stand by herself. I was taking regular snapshots...





...when all of a sudden she took TWO steps!! Chris and I looked at each other like, "Did that just happen?!?"




So, we're pretty excited. I'm still completely dreading the walking phase, but it's just so much fun when you see your baby do new things! What a fun milestone...

Time is flying by!

Not much to report on the Burns home front. Audrey is great. Soon she'll be one, which means I need to start planning her birthday party. Then of course the holidays are right around the corner. It's such a busy time of year, but I love it.


In deep conversation with Papa




"MMMMMMMMMMMM"

10 month photo shoot

Such a doll baby!!

Happy Halloween!

Audrey is so cute as a ladybug, it's scary!!



We had pictures taken with her 2 cousins, Bella (9 months) and Skylar (11 months)








We had a busy day! We spent the morning at my school's Fall Festival. She loved watching all the games and seeing all the kids. Then we celebrated Grandpa's birthday by going to Captain Billy's for dinner. She was exhausted by the time we got home and slept like a rock. Next year we might actually try trick-or-treating!