4.5

OYou are a big sister now. You were so excited while I was pregnant and you love your baby brother. You always want to hold him. Until he cries. Then you are done. I don't blame you, he is a screamer. 

You are such a big girl now. I think you have lost the last of the baby fat you were holding into. Your limbs are long and thin. Your face has changed. You are so beautiful. I love you everyday so much. 

When Charlie poops in his diaper you say he "pooped-ed". It's adorable. 

Your dad and I want to freeze you right now. You are funny, sassy, smart and sweet. We adore you. 

32 Months

Audrey bear, you have grown up so much. You are really something these days. So smart, bossy, funny, and sweet.

You say:

I love you soooo much

What is going on here?

Pock-i-sauce instead of popsicle

Abs-a-tushy instead of absolutely

Things are "super far away"
Hey everybody - you say this if trying to get someones attention and are being ignored

You love the dogs, until you don't. You love the disney fairy movies. You are a dancing machine. You spend a lot of time in the pool.   You love your floatie.

You eat noodles everyday and you call all variations..."mac and cheese". You also like peas, berries, grapes, any kind of chip (especially with salsa) and most of all, chocolate. 

When you wake up in the morning you tell us the "sun came up" (very excited).  You tell all kinds of stories. Some we can follow. Almost all include the story line of a slip and fall down ending with crying.  (Audrey slip, fall down, cry). 

You are hilarious and sweet and also really frustrating. You are intentionally funny at times.  Things have to be a certain way or else you lose it. Do not try to change the routine on Audrey.

You love being chased around the house.  "chase me.  chase audi.  run.  fast."

You love your pink dress. And pink shoes.  And you are starting to wear your fairy underwear instead of a diaper. You started a new preschool at Castlehill. Ben is in your class and you seem to really like it. Your teachers are Mrs. Fleming and Miss Desi. 

Everyone loves you. You really are something so special.  I can't wait to see what you do next. 

26 Months

These last six months have been awesome.  You are developing such a huge personality.  You are funny! You love making jokes and making other people laugh. 

Some things you love to do:
-go in the jacauzzi with Dada.  You can blow bubbles and submerge your face now.  You love jumping, playing with cups and floating on your back and tummy (with Dada's help).
-Race! You count to three (you can go all the way to 7 now!) and shout "Go" and then you are off.  You are getting so fast.  And you always tell Mama.."Fast, fast"
-carry bags and purses and other "stuff".  Sometimes you have so many things in your hands that you can barely walk.  Almost always included: baby, baby's blanket, Goodnight Moon and at least one purse. 
-eat berries, ice cream, soup ("soups") and noodles of any sort

-school! You are a catapillar at Lamb's Gate this year. And you love it. Miss Julie is your wonderful teacher and your best friends are Carolien, Mason and Isiah. 
- open gym class- you are great at hanging on the bar, walking on the balance beam and jumping on the trampoline. 

Your current favorite movie is Cinderella.   You just got over loving The Sound of Music and we still watch it, Despicable Me and Wall-E a lot. 

You have learned the art of negotiation, sort of.  Whenever you want something and we say no, you say "One?, please!" and stick your little pointer finger out.  It cracks up both us.  You have also started requesting "2 minutes" when we tell you it is time for nap or bedtime. 

We lost your baby sister this week.  Her name was June and she was born at 19 weeks old.  We miss her so much and are so sad.  Part of the reason we are so sad is because we wanted you to have a sister so badly.  You would have been 2.5 years apart and I think you would have adored your little sister.  I imagined that you would have helped Mama take care of her.  You would have been protective and sweet with her.  

Mama and Dada just adore you and have so much fun watching you grow and learn new things. 

20 months

You are such a smart, funny girl these days.  You can say so many words including: mama, dada, mamadada, willy (wrigley), mur-mur, momo, (Murray), up, down, wa-wa (a favorite of yours), ball, sit, more, and many many more.  You are a bossy little thing and constantly are telling everyone what to do (signaling "come on" with your hand, telling us where to sit and so on).  You love kisses and blowing raspberries.  You absolutely love the pool at our new house.  Dada and I were just talking about what to do thus afternoon and were discussing going swimming.  A minute later you came back into the family room holding your swim outfit.  I guess you made that decision for us :)  We love you so much and are having so much fun watching you grow.

We have a new bedtime routine. We eat dinner, go for a walk down the street, watch Sesame Street with a snack, take a bath, read a story in the rocking chair and then go to sleep.  You have added a final task onto this routine and require that your stuffed Elmo be tucked in with your mini blanket.  You sometimes make me tuck him in over and over again.

In July we went on a trip to Big Sur, CA and San Fransisco.  Your Uncle Carl, Aunt Sara and cousins visited for two nights and our friends Eric and Micah and their kids visited for a day.  We took trips to the beach which you generally did not like because you seem to hate the sand and the wind.  But we fed you snacks to try to keep you happy.  We took hikes through the woods, tried to carry you in the Ergo but instead carried you in our arms because you also decided that you hate the Ergo.  We saw massive Redwood trees.  We hiked to pretty beaches.

In SF we walked the streets and rode the trolley.  We walked up and down steep hills with Mom and Dad holding your hands.  You stopped at a store with some loud music to do a little dancing.

we went to cabo, landens wedding, vegas, moved to tucson........

16 Month Update

You started walking on February 21st and you have not stopped since.  Your first real steps were between Dada and I in our living room.  You went back and forth about 10 times before you got tired.  Now you are off and running.  You like walking around our neighborhood.  The first few times we did this, you held onto my finger and we walked together but quickly you decided you wanted to try this whole thing out on your own.  Now, you won't be seen holding anyone's hand.  You also mainly like to walk directly into the middle of the street and you get furious if we try to keep you on the sidewalk.  You collect the tops of acorns and try to fit as many as possible in your tiny little mitts. 

You can say: up, dada, mama (baba), dog (da), woof (ooff), neigh, ball (ba). 

You love airplanes and point at the sky whenever you hear one. 

You love taking everything out of the drawers in the bathroom and spreading it around on the floor.  Same goes for the kitchen...

You don't really love any food right now other than blackberries (which you can cram in your month at an alarming rate), but you will tolerate hot dogs and macaroni and cheese.

You hate having your diaper changed.  This is a daily battle that usually ends with me chasing you around and trying to stick a diaper on a moving target.


You sleep pretty well at night these days; from around 8 pm till 6 am on a good day.  You sleep in your crib with your Elmo stuffed animal that Dada bought you at the gift shop at his hospital. 

Speaking of our favorite red monster, you love Sesame Street. You stomp your feet and dance whenever we put it on the tv. 

We love you so much.   We must give you 100s of kisses everyday.  And now you can give them back.  You like to give smooches to us, the dogs and sometimes the walls. You also give great hugs and are my little cuddle bug. 

52

One year old! This year has flown by and it really seems like just yesterday we were bringing you home from the hospital.  You were so little and you still are! Your Dad and I just adore you so much.  We had a birthday party for you with some of our closest friends in Dallas: the Brattons, the Beals, the Grinsfelder and William, Landen and Shawn.  I made you a cake that took multiple attempts. In the end it was prettier than it was tasty.  Monica made decorations and decorated the cake-- all in a strawberry theme since that is your favorite food.  You played with William and munched on bell peppers during the party.  You wore two dresses and we took a ton of photos.  I can't wait to see what the next year brings! 

51.

A new park opened near our house and we have been spending lots of time there.  During the day we play with your friends in the children's area and in the evenings we lay out a blanket and have a picnic dinner from the food trucks.  You love to be outside and enjoy pushing your stroller around on the grass and crawling all over the place.