So much! She has become such a good walker...it's hard to believe that she only took her first step 2 months ago. I'm researching walking shoes to get her for spring/summer. Any suggestions?
She is talking all the time, mostly trying to mimic our words. For example, if we say, "Thank you!" she'll babble something that sounds like 2 separate words...adorable!! I'm pretty sure in addition to mama and dada she can say cat and dog (Grandma can confirm!) She also loves to point, and that combined with talking overwhelms me because I know she's trying to "tell" me something *tear*. Communication gets better every week it seems. Oh, and she's really good at shaking her head "no" when she doesn't want something...like solid food.
Which brings me to my next update. She is a food nazi! She only likes chicken, pancakes, toast, & grilled cheese. She'll eat yogurt and any other kind of baby food you give her, but when it comes to real food, she won't even TRY it. She had spaghetti once, seemed to love it, but hasn't touched it since. We've tried pasta, fruits, veggies, everything we can think of. I'm a little worried that she's so picky but not quite sure what to do about it, except to just keep offering different food over and over. But until then Gerber will continue to get a good chunk of money from the Burns household!
She is getting 2 more teeth (possibly 3) for a total of 12 chompers :) Dad brushes them every night, she loves it! She is still an amazing sleeper and I do not take that for granted. She just rolls over when we put her down and within minutes she's out. On the weekend she is kind enough to let us sleep in. I'm pretty sure she wakes at 7:30-ish because I hear slight babbling...but she will just sit and play in her crib until we decide to go in and get her. I've awoken as late as 9:00, gone into her room wondering if she's till asleep, and she's just sitting there, smiling at me, all of her stuffed animals pulled down into her crib, lol.
Speaking of animals, she really, really loves her doggies. She giggles and tries to hide from them, pets them, feeds them Cheerios...
As usual, she is an absolute joy. I don't know it's possible to love something so much!
Watching reports of the devastation in Haiti is a real wake up call. It’s unimaginable what that country is going thru and as a mother/teacher it really hits home when I see children on the street with no food, no water, no shelter. GMA ran a story this morning about a 4 year old girl at an orphanage. Her adoptive parents are in Iowa and did not know if she was alive. Robin Roberts found the child and called the parents…they even got to see her as she slept outside on a mattress. At one point she was sobbing, and that did it for me! All I wanted to do was run home and hug Audrey, I can’t even imagine what those parents were going through.
We are so very fortunate to live in this country, to have the luxuries we have. Unfortunately it takes disasters like this to make us realize how good we have it. One of the many things I want to instill in Audrey is the ability to feel compassion and the desire to give to others in need. I don’t want her to take for granted all the things she has. I’m honestly not sure how to do that though, especially when children are so egocentric. I guess I have awhile to figure that out.
Please donate to the Red Cross. Haiti cannot get enough help right now. And I’m sure like me, you will be hugging your little ones a little tighter.
These pictures are exacty 1 year apart, how incredible is that?! It just goes to show how much babies change the first year. So amazing, kind of sad :(
What an incredible day! Audrey's big party was yesterday and so many people came over to help celebrate.
Our sweet birthday babe
Some decoration pics: Her colors were green and pink, with polka dots of course!
I made a giant cupcake and 2 dozen small cupcakes, but forgot to take a picture, oh well!
With her cousins, Bella and Skylar.
Still not loving Santa, she hid behind me when we opened this one!
Loved her cupcake and made a wonderful mess
Laughing at Grandpa
She loves the Happy Birthday song:
How lucky we are to have such amazing friends and family! I know she won't remember it, but she'll have tons of pictures to look back at. I hope she always knows how much she is love and cared for, not just by us, but by so many family members and great friends.
I got this great "Decade in Review" idea from the Bump 12-24 boards, but realized that my memory is super spotty...I can't remember which year most events took place! So here are the major events that happened from 2000-2009 (at least they're in order! I think...)
started college and working full time, got my first brand new car, met my future husband, learned a huge family secret, switched jobs (bank, loved it), Nana and Pop passed away, got a sweet little puppy dog (Zoe), got engaged and moved in with Chris, graduated college and started teaching licensure courses, traveled out of the country (twice, Bahamas), got married, did a bunch of student teaching, made new friends, lost touch with old friends, parents got divorced, lost more beloved family members (most of them way too soon), became a teacher, built a brand new house, made a baby, birthed a baby, raised a baby (successfully) her first year.
That's a whole lot of change in 10 years, some bad, most good. I have so many hopes and dreams for the next 10 years. I hope you all have a fantastic 2010, and that the New Year brings you much happiness!
Audrey had her one year wellness check this morning. She weighs 19.7 lbs and is 29 in tall. Iron is still low, so we're upping the iron drops to 2x per day and getting it rechecked in one month. She goes for another wellness check at 15 months (I'm writing this down here so I don't forget to make that appointment!) She's absolutely perfect in every developmental aspect, such a wonderful girl! She got 3 shots today, and as she was screaming, I took the opportunity to really get a good look at her gums. OMG...I thought she just had 4 top teeth, 3 bottom. Well, she has two more coming in, on top, on both sides, but they're towards the back. I never would have seen them had she not had her mouth wide open!
We've started her on milk (mixed with formula.) She's doing great with it and has even been off bottles for over a week now (we pretty much went cold turkey and she was perfect!) I'm sure giving up the paci won't be nearly as easy. She only takes it for naps and bedtime, so I'm not even going to worry about weaning her from that anytime soon.
Chris installed her car seat last night, and this morning she took her first car trip forward-facing. She loved it!
She's getting so big, so fast. Before we know it, it'll be time for another!
Between Audrey 1st birthday and Christmas, it was a very tiring couple of days! It's hard to believe that last year on Christmas Day we were in the hospital with a tiny newborn. The nurses brought her to us on Christmas morning in a stocking:
And here she is, a year later, walking to see all of her presents:
Eating a yummy Christmas breakfast
She wasn't really interested in opening presents, but she loved lounging on her new Dora couch!
She passed out while drinking her milk as we were leaving Mom Maw's. She had skipped her afternoon nap amidst all the excitement.
Last year our Aunt Karen asked the question: "Do Christmas presents get Christmas presents?" I think we now know the answer to that: Yes, yes they do!
Well, we made it! Audrey is still alive and well, survived her first year with us as parents. Yay us!! What an exciting day. We started off by serenading her with "Happy Birthday" when she woke up. Then she ate a special birthday pancake for breakfast:
The rest of the day was pretty normal: play, eat, nap, repeat.
We had family over for a special birthday celebration and it was so much fun! Dad made a spaghetti dinner (which she LOVED!) and we got to sing her Happy Birthday (again...and she was thrilled!) and of course we had cake and opened cards and gifts.
"SOOOOOO Big!"
Serious about spaghetti.
She ruled that cake!!
I think we have a favorite! Thanks, Aunt Sarah!!
She LOVED being sung to!
Writing her letter to Santa before bed.
She had a very special and wonderful first birthday. Thank you to all our friends and family who took the time to send cards and buy gifts (she was spoiled again on Christmas Day with tons of b-day gifts!)
I cannot believe how fast this year has gone by. She has grown and changed so much. I've experienced many different emotions since the day she was born, but the one that sticks out the most for me is pride. I'm so proud of our sweet Audrey Cate and the beautiful, fun little person she's developing into. I'm proud that Christopher and I are truly a team in raising our daughter. We've accomplished a lot together over the years, but Audrey, by far, is the best thing we've ever done. We love you, Sunshine!
