Abigail's Newest Word

Audrey and I kept getting her to say, "Hi!"



What I love most is that whenever Abigail says "hi" Audrey gets this shocked look on her face and then she gets SO excited! She's totally amazed that she's taught her sister to talk :)

Easter Bunny 2012

Audrey was so excited to see the Easter Bunny this year. Abigail smiled when she saw him, but then got super-serious when I put her on his lap. She kept looking at him, then looking back at me :) This picture captures their personalities perfectly!

This is still my all-time favorite:

Things I Don't Want to Forget: Audrey Edition

I love this age! Audrey is so curious about everything and I love having conversations with her. She is such a sweetheart.

She's getting so good at saying, "Thank you," when someone gives her a compliment or says, "Bless you!" after she sneezes.

When I say something super sweet to her she says, "Awwww, thank you!" Hehe, it's so cute!

She still loves to stage things, only on a larger scale now. It used to be just her little figurines; now she's creating a "party" next to the couch with her dolls and other stuffed animals (they have hats, costumes, food and drink, etc.) Last night she set up her Little Tykes car with large measuring cups on the roof ("those are my sirens!")

She sleeps until about 7 on the weekends, then calls for me. When I go in she says, "Mr. Sun is awake!"





She, for whatever reason, will not poop on the potty. She's maybe gone 2-3 times (months ago) and we were really excited about it. When I ask her she just says she's scared. I don't know how to handle it. I know that she can do it, and she knows when she has to go. But she waits until she has a pull-up or over-night diaper on. To be completely honest it's not a big deal for me- I know she'll start going when she's good and ready. I just hope that's soon :)

She is still a super picky eater. I don't know how you can live off of peanut butter, toast and yogurt- but she is! One day I told her, "When you were little you loved chicken! If you don't start eating better you're going to get smaller and smaller." To which she replied, "Well maybe when I get smaller I'll like chicken again!" I didn't know what to say, lol.

She is very creative. Her comb is a magic wand, she's a mermaid when she's in the bathtub- her imagination just runs wild sometimes :)

She can be very affectionate. She often lays with Chris and me and tells us, "You're my best boy and girl ever! And Abby, too!"





She gets hung up on a song and we have to listen to it over and over and over and over! Currently it's "We are Young" by Fun.

She loves to dance. She wants to use the living room table as a stage.

She is so helpful. When Abby starts to whine for more toast, she gets right up and gives her some :) She's enthusiastic as well, a born cheerleader. When Chris was in the garage moving around/installing car seats, Audrey stood in the doorway the entire time yelling, "Go Dad! Great job! You can do it!" LOL!

She loves to wave and say "Hi" to the people in the drive-thru.

She has a new interest in her old baby toys. As soon as Abby starts playing with something new, Audrey all of a sudden "really needs it!"


Princesses need their beauty sleep!


Seeing Cinderella









I wish we could freeze time. I'd love to keep her this age forever :)

Abigail is (gulp) 11 months old!

Sending us kisses!




Can we say crazy?! It's not even funny how fast her first year has gone by. She's going to be ONE YEAR OLD next month and I'm such a mix of emotions. But all that aside, I am filled with total joy when I see her sweet face and hear her adorable voice. She definitely fills our hearts :)

Abigail had a really rough time with her upper teeth coming through (had the worst diaper rash ever!) From what we can tell she has her two front teeth and one incisor. She also now has 4 bottom teeth. Aside from the horrific rash, teething could've been a lot worse. At least she sleeps and eats just fine! She still has a great routine. Bottle in the morning, breakfast about an hour later. She takes a nice morning nap then has another bottle. Light lunch/snack then good afternoon nap. Has a light snack, a good dinner, and another bottle before bed. Bedtime is between 7-8. She goes down wide awake and sleeps all night :) She loves to sleep in on the weekends!

She's cruising everywhere! One of her favorite things to do is stand next to the ottoman in Grandma's living room. Grandpa hides and comes stomping in to get her. She books it around the ottoman, laughing and squealing like crazy, it's hilarious! She's cruising along walls and the kitchen cabinets. She loves her push toys and does well walking with those. She's recently been getting up on her knees and scooting forward (very funny to watch!) When you tell her to blow kisses, she makes a kissing sound. She is so smart! She tries to put her own shoes on and if you give her a brush she'll try to brush her hair :) BTW- I'm totally in love with her hair- it's getting so long and curly! Her bangs drive us crazy so I've been pulling them back with an elastic. I think we may have to get those cut!

She is VERY loud. Taking her out can be a challenge if our timing is off with naps/feedings. I feel like Audrey was a lot more laid back and quiet at this age. At restaurants and in the grocery store she's ok for a few minutes, but then she constantly needs something- a snack, a drink, attention, etc. She will absolutely not smile for strangers...she has a pretty stone-cold face most of the time, lol. She's in her big girl car seat now (rear facing) and doing well. If she gets fussy usually I give her a book or a toy and she settles down.


We saw Cinderella at the dinner theater and all she wanted was me and some snacks!

She says "Uh-oh" when she drops something, "Mama" when she's upset and wants me, "Da" when she sees Chris, and I swear she's looked at Eddie at least once and said "Dog." :)


She LOVES her "Da"!

She adores Audrey! Usually they play separately (I really want Abigail to learn how to entertain herself like Audrey did!) But when they do play together it's overwhelmingly adorable!





It seems that Audrey has gotten over her aversion to being touched by Abigail. She begged to have Abby join her in the car!


Audrey thinks it's funny to hold Abby's pant legs as she tries to crawl, lol. Abby tolerates it for awhile! I love how she gets something in each hand and crawls. That has to be uncomfortable!

"Help me."



I see slumber parties in their future :)

Some extra pictures from today's shoot (can't leave out sweet Audrey Cate!):



::heart melting::

As sad as I am to watch my baby grow up so fast, I am just loving each and every moment of seeing her learn new things. I so wish we could have 10 more sweet girls! Life surely doesn't get better than this. I truly feel that these past 4 years have been the best of my life. I love being a mom!

First Day of Spring

Beautiful weather, extra daylight and new dresses inspired me to snap pictures of my little loves on Tuesday afternoon:

March Madness

It's mid-March and there's just so much going on. This past week alone has been such a roller coaster ride of emotions. On Sunday Zoe went into diabetic shock and died late that night. We buried her right away and we were just devastated. We told Audrey on Monday as we were eating dinner. We were very honest with her, telling her that Zoe was old and sick, died and went to Heaven with other doggies. That she would not be coming back, it's just Eddie at the house now. She got a really sad look on her face and said, "Oh, dear." Then she offered me a chip :) I thought that was that, but then a couple days later she asked where Zoe was. I repeated to her what we had said, but then she said, "Maybe tomorrow." So then I really had to emphasize that Zoe was in Heaven and not ever coming back. She then said, "Will Heaven make Zoe feel better?" WOW...it was very hard not to cry as I told her, "Yes, Heaven makes everyone feel better."

My knees have been hurting since I started running a month ago. I really thought I had started off slow, with mostly walking (Couch to 5k.) Then I began having having awful pain in both knees. With acetaminophen and icy hot the pain was bearable but as soon as everything wore off I'd be in terrible pain again. They were also tender to the touch, so kneeling down was painful as well. I finally went to the doctor on Wednesday and sure enough, they're sprained. I was given a rx for steroids and percocet. I really hope I''m better soon- this pain seriously sucks!

My birthday was Thursday (31!) AND it was Gator Week! Our theme was Super Heroes. The kids were so cute and we all had fun dressing up for each day (Orange Day, Crazy hat/hair Day, Mix Match Day, Cape Day, then Super Gator Pride Day.) My brother Craig came to talk to the 3rd grade classes about safety and what being a hero is all about. He did such a great job and the kids loved him. They made him thank you cards and OMG they were hilarious!



Despite my knee pain I was a Gator Rapper for Friday's lunch...I made sure I was iced-up and ready to go for each performance! I just hope I don't pay for it all weekend :(


I took pictures of all my little super heroes, then they made me do it!




I super love my school :)
(Thanks to Mrs. Johns for these!)


Chris had to work late on my birthday so we celebrated last Saturday at Bonefish. Unfortunately Audrey wasn't feeling well. She started complaining at dance class about having a tummy ache, but then she later said she was feeling better. Then she fell asleep on the way home (not normal for her) and just wanted to veg out on the couch when we got there. She took a nap and woke up feeling fine. But when we met Chris at the restaurant she was awfully quiet as we waited to be seated (and she's never quiet, lol.) Through most of dinner she didn't want anything to eat and towards the end she said, "I don't feel good" and started to get whiny. Just looking at her we could tell she was feeling bad and she felt awfully warm. So we went home and straight to bed she went. She did have a 100 degree fever that lasted through Sunday morning but with Tylenol she kicked it by the afternoon. We're celebrating with the rest of my family this weekend and hopefully everyone will be well :)

The girls are great. Audrey is so funny and I just love having conversations with her and watching her play. She is hot and cold towards Abigail. One minute she's tickling her feet and hugging on her, the next she's barricading herself into the corner by the couch so that Abigail doesn't mess up her cookies that she made, lol.



I'm starting to see the beginnings of sibling fights. We'll be in the car and Abigail will start making crazy noises that annoy Audrey. Audrey will either a) mimic her or b) say, "Stop, pleeeeeease stop Abby!!" HAHA. I try to explain that Abby is just learning how to talk (she says "Uh-oh" and "Dada" and "Momma") but sometimes Audrey just gets annoyed. Oh well!

Abigail has the best expressions. I just love her sweet face!

She still walks on her knees when she pushes this toy because it's so fast...but she actually walks and pushes her play table (and she's starting to cruise along the furniture!)


Loves trying to get into the cabinets


She does so great in the cart when we're shopping


Totes relaxed :)




Audrey said she wanted to get in and read Abby a book. As soon as she was in she gave Abby the book and said, "Here, read this book Abby." BAHAHA


How cute are these?!


Abby has been getting as much use out of the play kitchen as Audrey!


Looking back to see if I'm watching :)


Trying to find an alternate path into Audrey's "house"




Audrey went to great lengths for this roadblock...

We're all crazy busy and I'm getting so excited for a full work day in April (a real true workday!) and then Spring Break. We all need it after such a lame winter. I won circus tickets on the radio (what what!!) and I'm hoping the girls love it. I'm so thrilled that we have more light in the evenings. As soon as my old lady knees feel better I'm taking the girls on walks and bike rides when we get home :)