Nine Months Old

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Audrey is nine months old today! When Lori realized this, she said that she couldn't believe that we'll be having a first birthday party for Audrey in just three months. The past nine months has gone by so fast!

Little Audrey has been sick for the last two days so she didn't celebrate her big day in her usual style. She continues to be a happy baby though, even with a 103 temperature! She has a big personality and knows what she wants, which is usually what her big sister has, to be nearer to her big sister, or food. She has a few words that she is using: mama, hi (which sounds like haaaa), night night (nnn nnn), and uh oh. She has also said mommy once. She will wave to you if you say hi, bye, or night night.

Audrey also appears to have the Mimi and Boppa music genes. This girl will start to wiggle, bounce, and sway anytime music is on and she even tries to sing along. We love it! She is still not crawling but has found her way to get around - she lays on her stomach, grabs the blanket with her hands, and just pulls her body up to where her hands are.

Audrey is eating more and more solid food. This weekend she had her first steamed veggies and seemed to enjoy it. We got the results of her food allergy tests last week and the only thing that was positive was the dairy allergy. We were thrilled! We have dealt with the dairy allergy before in Ellie and most kids outgrow that one (Ellie did by 2 1/2). We have started her back on Cheerios and puffs, which is going well. The girl likes her food!

Today's photo shoot didn't go so well since Audrey is sick, but we took a few pictures anyway....

This is how she spent most of our photo shoot!

Spring weekend

We just got home from a fun weekend at Mimi and Boppa's house! Ellie loves it because she has so much fun there and we love it because we get to sleep in a little :-) Last night Lori and I went out for drinks with friends, a rare thing for us these days, and today we enjoyed the beautiful weather at a nearby park. Now we're getting ready for the week and the continued repair of our downstairs ceiling. We'll post pictures once the ceiling is done and we have flooring in place.

The group at the park - we met up with my friend and her family who we had been out with the night before. She and I have been friends since 8th grade!

Swinging Audrey

Mommy and Audrey

Ellie playing in the sandbox

Audrey's first slide

Ellie goes down the much bigger slide!

Sweet Audrey

Enjoying our picnic lunch

Here comes the sun!

The weather today has been beautiful so I took the girls for a walk and then to the playground for an hour. Ellie was so happy to be outside! She ran around the playground, doing all the things she couldn't do alone last year. Amazing! She also brought her soccer ball and had a good time playing with that. Lori has been working with her on kicking and stopping it; she's ready to sign up for the teams here next summer!

A short video of Audrey's first time in the swing - she loved it!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY

from our wee lass and our little leprechaun!

Circus

Yesterday we went to the circus! We took Mimi and Boppa for Boppa's birthday and also went with Ellie's BFF and her family. We saw the Zing Zang Zoom show by Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey - it was wonderful!

We were nervous about Ellie's reaction for a few reasons: 1) she HATES clowns; 2) she's not a big fan of loud noises; and 3) she really hates clowns. At the beginning of the show, she sat in her seat and was way more excited about the popcorn and juice box than about the circus itself. She is a very observant kid so we knew she was taking it all in but she wasn't reacting much to the activity. By the end of the show, she was clapping, laughing, and dancing in her seat with BFF. She even told us today that her favorite part of the show was the girl clown wearing the blue dress (I have no idea who that was!).

We had a great time watching the circus but even more fun watching Ellie watch the circus!

Our group before the show

Ellie and her BFF

Some of the amazing circus acts...

Mimi and Ellie

Ellie's eyes were glued to the action!

Photos by Boppa, March 13, 2009

Peek-a-boo!

I was playing peek-a-boo with Audrey today when she grabbed the blanket. She covered her face and when I said, "Where's Audrey?", she pulled it down and gave me the cutest look. It was adorable and a complete surprise to me! Later Lori took a video of us playing...

Blood draw

This morning we took Audrey for her first blood draw, which was needed to evaluate her food allergies. As you can tell by the bandages on both arms, things didn't go so well. They couldn't get a vein so they stuck her multiple times in both arms. Lori and I had to trade off holding her because it was so upsetting. There were three techs involved and when I was at the point of telling them to just stop, the third one finally got it. Audrey screamed the entire time and then slept in her car seat for an hour afterwards. The picture below was taken right after she woke up, in her usual sweet manner with no memory of this morning's traumatic events. Unfortunately, I have a feeling that Ellie will remember this for a long time. Note to self: do not bring other child to future blood draw appointments!

Audrey in action

This is a short video of Audrey just hanging out today, being her usual silly self....