Abigail is 10 months old!

Audrey loved picking the little flowers :)


Sweet!





BAHAHAHAHA

Double digits...wow! I cannot stress enough how fast this is going by. I'm sad...I really miss the quiet, cuddly newborn days. Abigail is all over the place and less and less like a baby each day. As I type this I have another window up for Evite (party save-the-date), Pinterest (party planning), and yet another for Shutterfly (birthday invitations). Sigh.

She's a crazy-fast crawler. She's pulling up on everything now. For the longest time she would pull up but not be able to get herself back down. In fact, we had to stop putting socks on her (and footed PJs) because her feet would slide apart and she'd be doing the splits, lol. I love to walk into her room and find her standing, just grinning from ear to ear! I had a dream the other night that she let go of the table and started walking around. I remember being so happy but thinking, "Hey, when did you take your first steps?!" Another sign that this is happening way too fast :(


Crazy hair!


That's better!



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Her hair is getting so long! It's starting to curl up in the back :)

She's cutting more teeth, I think on the top. She will absolutely not let us check so it's very hard to tell. For the past week she's had an awful diaper rash. I went to pick up the prescription diaper cream the pedi called in and it was $300! Needless to say we tried Triple Paste instead. That didn't rally work so the pedi called in a different ointment that we mixed with Desitin. It's lightening up a bit, but her bum is so red and every time she poops it seems to get worse. I'm going to take her to the dr if it doesn't get better in a few days. During diaper changes she grabs at it and I know it has to hurt :(

She mimics us if we make a sound such as blowing raspberries, sticking out our tongue, or making popping sounds. She says lots of consonant-sounds. She claps a lot and is waving again. She has the sweetest laugh and brightest smile. She's a lot less clingy, unless she tired or hungry she does great playing by herself. She loves all the toys Audrey used to play with- blocks, books, pretty much anything!


Her eating and sleeping habits haven't changed. She sleeps like it's her job! Loves to sleep in on the weekend and takes wonderful naps. Both girls are flexible enough that I can usually get them to take a nap at the same time in the afternoon (so nice when that happens!)

I ordered Audrey a new car seat so that Abigail could have the Coccoro. I'm waiting on the 2nd new car seat to arrive for Christopher's truck. Even though she's in her infant carrier, I've been taking her out of it when we go to dance and grocery shopping so she can get used to being "free." One good thing about having such a mild winter :) It's been pretty easy getting around with 2 by myself. Audrey likes to push Abigail in the stroller which is great because I can keep ahold of them both at the same time.


Watching dance class from the stroller


Grocery shopping (I need to find our shopping cart cover!!)


First time in a high chair

Our darling girl is getting so big and it's been so incredible to go through these milestones again. I just wish it wasn't happening so fast! I wonder when she'll take those first steps? Audrey was just shy of being 11 months in this video. I really cannot wait until Summer when I get to enjoy her all day, everyday!

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 :)