Audrey is 1 year old!

They took her official weight and length at her 12-month wellness check (no shots!):
Weight:  22.6 lbs (~70th percentile)
Length:  31.5 in (~95th percentile!)

Clothes:  18 months
Diaper:  Size 4

Food:  We can officially start transitioning Audrey from formula over to whole (Vitamin D) milk.  We're transitioning gradually, starting off with 1 or 2 bottles per day of milk instead of formula.  Each week, we are going to switch out 1 more bottle a day until she is completely off the formula.  Can't wait until then!  Dr. Tess said that obviously Audrey is a good eater so he was pretty laid-back about her eating schedule/routine.  He told me that we could continue with our current routine, 3 solid food meals a day with 5 milk/formula bottles (or sippy cups) throughout the day, and test out new things to get her to eat more table and solid food than milk/formula so she gets the majority of her nutrients from solids.  We'll work up to that. Sometimes at dinner we feed her the solid food first and then follow with milk/formula.  We'll start doing that more regularly in the near future.

Sleep:  Audrey sure sleeps well at night.  It's all that moving around all day... that girl is on the go constantly!  She sleeps straight through from 8pm-6am (or later sometimes on the weekend).  She also has been consistently taking a 2 hour nap from 11am-1pm and snoozing for about 15 minutes on our way home from daycare.  Well, maybe I should clarify... she takes a good, consistent 2 hour nap at home on the weekends, and at daycare it's more like 90 minutes.

Teeth:  Audrey still has about the same # of teeth - 2 on top, 4 on bottom - and they are growing in a lot more.

It was an exciting month for Audrey!  She officially took her first steps on September 17th, 2012.  And now... watch out!  That girl can walk.  And quickly.  For about 1 week now, she's been walking the full length from the loft into our (Carl and my) bedroom.  She loves climbing into and on top of anything she can... diaper box, laundry basket, toy stroller, her toy box... anything.  She also loves pushing things... again, diaper box, laundry basket, toy stroller, and also a cool toy that Grandma & Gramps Patton got Audrey as an early birthday present.

Playing in the diaper box

Climbing in the laundry basket

Here is a video Gramps took of Audrey pushing that toy on 9/29/12 while we were visiting their house:

Audrey taking a couple steps, 9/23/12:

Doing "The Frankenstein", 10/4/12:

10/14/12:

This past month, we also did a lot to prepare for and celebrate Audrey's 1st birthday.  We took pictures with a professional photographer, Carl and I took her pictures at home with a "smash cake", and we also had a big party with friends and family!  I will post separate posts with her 1-year pictures and of the birthday party.

I cannot even believe it has been 1 year since Audrey was born.

I was looking at the clock on the morning of her 1st birthday at 5:56am on 10/15/12, and I got a little emotional thinking back.  Exactly 1 year ago at that exact time, Audrey was born.  That was such a special day... really, truly the happiest day of my life.  This first year has been a journey, and I would go back and do it all over again with our little Audrey Bear.  She is a joy and so laid-back and such a wonderful little girl.  What a blessing to Carl and me!  I love her to pieces!  And I know Carl feels the same way.

The birthday girl!
10/15/12

10/15/12

Our Birthday Girl!

Audrey opens her birthday presents from Mom & Dad:

Eating a Birthday Cupcake:

It was an exciting month, and our Audrey Bear is proving that she steals our heart more and more each day... if that's even possible.  There is so much laughter and joy in our house, and that little girl is usually the center of it.

Happy 1st Birthday, Audrey!

Audrey is 11 months old!

Dancing to Pandora on Auntie Ash's iPhone

Can you see my top 2 teeth?

Weight:  22.5 lbs (approx)

Length:

Clothes:  12 months & 18 months (12-18 months)

Diaper:  size 4

Food:  I believe that 22.5lbs is in the 90 percentile for 11 months - wow!  Needless to say, Audrey is a really good eater.  :)  Seriously, she will eat anything she can get her hands on.  Tonight I was eating a cheeseburger while she was having her "dinner bottle", and she was pretty persistent about having pieces of my cheeseburger.  She's had a lot of table food over this past month:  steak, chicken, soft vegetables, fruit, taco meat, lettuce, cheese, bread.  Really anything I'm eating, she gets to taste.  She even had more birthday cake this month as we celebrated my birthday.  1 more month and she'll be eating her own cake!

Sleep:  Audrey, again this month, was a consistent sleeper!  She's still sleeping very well from 8pm to 6am (sometimes longer on the weekends!) every night.  And she's napping pretty consistently, too.  She's been sleeping at least 90 minutes during naptime recently.  That's really good for her.  She is on-the-go constantly during the day... I think she wears herself out!  

Teeth:  Audrey now has her front 2 teeth on the top and 4 on the bottom...6 teeth total!  About 2 weeks ago, Audrey's b.m.'s were really loose and consistently leaking/exploding out of her diapers.  Even the big diapers!  There were many outfit changes, some extra baths, and many "you got this one" arguments between Carl and me! Oh, I'm just kidding... it was a team effort.  ;)

Here is a video from this past month.  Just a typical night at our house... Audrey wanted to show us all of her tricks!

Maci Whetstone turned 2 on August 18th, and Audrey and I went down to their house in Maroa for the party.  It was the first time that Maci, Audrey, and Colby Marr were together.  Look how well they played together!  

Note: It is impossible to get a picture of all 3
paying attention at the same time!

The party was a safari theme. Loved Maci's
giraffe headband and cute dress!

On Labor Day, we spent our day off at the Brookfield Zoo with Adam and Laura Hardy and their twins.  It really was a lot of fun!  Audrey is such a people watcher that she cared more about the kids and people than she did about the animals.  

Brennon & Adalee Hardy (9 months), Audrey

Audrey started swim lessons this month at the Lockport Park District.  She loves the pool, doesn't mind going under water, and loves chewing on the rubber ducky toys.

(Sorry the video is sideways... I can't find a way to "flip" it)

More pics from this past month:

"I love my Daddy!"

Audrey's Sox hat... from Grandma & Grandpa Larson!

Audrey loves Gramps' kisses

Reflecting...

Auntie Ashley love at Cacciatore Stadium watching
Auntie Amber play in the DePaul softball alumni game

Auntie Ash and Auntie Ber

Audrey is 10 months old!

Weight:
Length:  

Clothes:  Size 12 months (9-12 months).

Diaper: size 3
Over this past month, we’ve come to prefer Pampers over Huggies.  They smell so good (well, when they’re clean) and really do a good job of “holding in the big ones”.

USA!  USA!  Audrey watching the  London
Summer Olympics in her patriotic diapers

Food:  Audrey is on the same feeding schedule as last month.  She’s getting better with the baby food with “textures” and chunks.  Depending on what it is, she’ll make funny faces and sometimes won’t eat it, but she’s been overall more accepting of it lately.  She still loves her puffs and biscuits and really any table food that we’re eating.  Anytime she’s sitting next to me while I’m eating, she drops her pacifier, looks at the  food, and opens her mouth.  So funny.

Sleep:  Such a change from last month’s update!  Audrey slept like a log, consistently from 8pm to 6am every night this past month.  She wasn’t up at all during the night.  And sometimes on the weekends she sleeps in until 6:30 or 7 – wow!  I really think our new sleep routine (letting her fall asleep on her own) is better for her.  In general, Audrey doesn’t cry anymore when she lays down in her crib to fall asleep.

Naps:  She is more consistent in her napping during the day.  On the weekdays (at daycare), she goes down for a nap at 11am.  She has always just put herself to sleep during naptime and usually sleeps an average of an hour.  Some days it’s less, like 30 minutes… and sometimes it’s more, like 2 hours!  She also naps in the car on the way home from daycare.  Some days she continues sleeping even after we get home.  We have been trying to keep this routine at home, too, on the weekends.  We read her a book or sing her a song and then put her down in her crib around 11am, and then she’ll take a late afternoon nap either in the car as we’re out and about or in her crib if we’re home.  We try and gauge her tiredness (rubbing her eyes and pulling on her ears or burying her face) to determine what time her late afternoon nap should be and just put her down when she’s tired.

Bedtime:  At night, we read a few Bible stories or a few books, say 3 prayers, and then sing 2 songs.  Then she goes in her crib (on her stomach, naturally) and I pat her back and sing the ABC’s.  She’s awake when I walk out of the room, and doesn’t even make a peep.  Carl and I take turns putting her to bed, and I know he has a similar bedtime routine with her.

She’s always been a happy girl, but she has really been happy and pleasant during the day with this more consistent sleep schedule.  I’m glad!

Teeth:  I noticed another tooth broke through just recently!  So Audrey now has 3 bottom teeth now.  About 3 weeks ago, Audrey had a fever and was cranky.  More cranky than I had ever experienced with her ever.  She was just miserable.  And, even though we couldn’t see any teeth coming through, we attributed it to teething.  She slept a lot during that time (long naps and full night’s sleep), but when she was awake she was really unhappy.  I was thinking that maybe it was her top teeth moving down, but now that I’ve seen that 3rd tooth on the bottom, I think we have our answer!  Those darn teeth.  Poor gal.

Audrey got to spend a lot of time with her Grandma Larson over this summer.  Grandma Larson was able to watch Audrey 2 days a week over this summer.  But unfortunately Grandma Larson is back to school now.   It was a short summer!  Audrey likes daycare and doesn’t mind being back, but I know she really enjoyed her time with her Grandma this summer.  They did a lot of fun things like walks, going to the park, running errands, going to lunch.  How fun!

It’s a lot of fun around our house these days.  Audrey is so much fun to play with.  She is so happy and playful and just a joy!  She keeps us on the move, but it’s a lot of fun.  I can’t really predict when she’ll be walking, but she is definitely moving around with a lot more ease everyday.  She will now “walk” a couple steps along the bathtub or the couch or the railing up in the loft while she holds on.  Here is a pic of her opening her toy chest.

Some of the new developments this month:

• Audrey waves “bye, bye” on her own
• She babbles words now like “mama”, “ma”, “dada”, “ba”, “baba”; not sure if it’s intentional and that she knows what she’s saying, but I’ll take it.
• She pets Chief (instead of only pulling his hair)
• She squeals when she’s excited, like if I chase her and Carl up or down the stairs
• She loves crawling through the tunnels and playgym at daycare, and most days she makes sure to do a loop as she crawls over to greet me at the door
• She does loops around  and around the downstairs in her walker and always finds a way to knock over Chief’s water bowl
• She loves carrying things (purses, bags, blankets, towels) over her shoulder… both when she’s playing on the floor and when she’s in her walker
• She likes to sleep in a corner of her crib, and always on her stomach

First day-trip to Chicago

Playing peek-a-boo with Mommy & Daddy:

Grandma Larson's Birthday:

Happy Birthday, Grandma!

Helping open presents

"Grandma, what are you doing?"

She’s a whole lot of fun, and keeps us laughing and smiling everyday!  Happy 10 months, Audrey!  We love you!

Audrey is 9 months old!

Weight:  20 lbs.
Length:   28.25 in long
She’s in the 50-75th percentile for height and weight!  Dr. Tess kept saying, “She looks awesome!”

Clothes:  Size 12 months (9-12 months).  She can still wear 2-piece outfits that are 9 months, but almost all 9 month onesies are too small for her

Diaper: size 3

Food:  Audrey still gets around 28 oz of formula each day (in 5 bottles) along with 2 feedings of vegetables and 2 feedings of cereal & fruit (between 3 feedings of solid “meals”).  Right after she has her 9am bottle, she gets cereal mixed with a 3.5 oz fruit pack; after her 1pm bottle, she gets a 3.5 oz vegetable pack; and for dinner she gets a 7 oz formula bottle, as many vegetables as she will eat (usually around 3-3.5oz), and then as much fruit and cereal she will eat (usually about 1-1.5 oz).  Dr. Tess is pleased with her weight and said to keep up the current routine where primary nutrition comes from formula and solid food supplements.  We will just let her eat as much solid food as she wants.  This won’t change until 12 months; at that time, we will feed more solid food and supplement with whole cow’s milk.  She’s very interested in table food these days!  Over this past month, she’s had some bread, tortilla, chocolate chip cookies, twizzlers, chips, cheese, cheeseburger, chicken, pasta and a lot more.  Really healthy food, huh?  :-\  She will try anything that I’m eating!  But what’s really funny is she’ll eat any table food we give her, but if we give her any baby food with “textures” like chunks of carrots or chunks of pasta she makes the funniest faces and flares her nostrils and sometimes spits it out.  She is unphased by the “real” solid food, but spits out the solid baby food.  She still loves (like can’t get enough of) her puffs and biscuits.  Just think, in 3 short months she will get birthday cake!

Sleep:  Almost all last month, Audrey was up during the night.  Most of the time, it was a quick fix like a pacifier just to fall back asleep.  But there were a couple times that Carl had to really work to console her to get her back to sleep.  After Audrey’s bath each night, we start our bedtime routine.  Typically Carl gets to spend this time with Audrey, but this past month we switched a couple nights.  See, Mommy-phase.  We’ll read her a couple books and maybe sing a song and say a prayer.  We end up rocking with her until she falls asleep (usually we fall asleep too).  It could be a lengthy process to get her to bed because a lot of times she will pop up wide awake as soon as we lay her down in her crib.  I talked to Dr. Tess yesterday at her appointment and he said there is no time better than the present to let her go to sleep on her own.  Dr. Tess’ advice was to be consistent with naps and with bedtime.  We decided not to wait, so last night was our first night with this routine.  Carl read her 2 bedtime stories, said a prayer, then laid her down to bed fully awake.  She was not a happy camper for about 20 minutes, then she quieted down a bit and was sound asleep after 30 minutes.  She’s such a flexible and easy-going baby and I’m hoping she adapts to this new routine soon.  It’s so hard to hear her upset!  She did sleep ALL night last night, so that’s great.  A little part of me is sad that we won’t rock her to sleep anymore.  But we’ll share other special times with her.  Our baby girl is growing up!

Look at my 2 bottom teeth

Audrey has several new “tricks” from this past month:
• She can give "high-fives"
• We say, "Audrey is *so big*!" and she raises her arms above her head to show how big she is
• She puckers and smacks her lips; I think this started when she ate a tart cherry fruit and she's been doing it ever since
• She makes this new face where she crunches her nose and laughs and blows in and out of her nose real fast
• She claps her hands
• She plays peek-a-boo by covering her face with a blanket or towel and then uncovering her face and surprising us.

She is getting stronger everyday.  She loves her walker and has been sprinting around in the bottom floor.  She puts her hands up and just runs.  It makes us laugh so hard.  Gramps Patton said she looks like ET, and Carl calls it “The Frankenstein”.  I guess I could sum it up by saying she’s doing everything fast these days… jumping, crawling, walking, pulling up.  She has become the “greeter” in the Infant Room at the Daycare.  Whenever the door opens, she crawls so fast to greet the people at the door.

Audrey’s getting really brave lately, too.  She will pull herself up on everything and she can stand up with the support of only 1 hand.  Then she’ll bend down to pick things up, sit down from a supported stand, and even let go completely while she’s standing up.  She falls right away when she lets go, but her balance and strength is really progressing.  I have a feeling she will be walking in the near future.  Watch out!

She’s in a phase right now where she’s a total Mommy’s girl.  I love it!  I can’t get enough of it, and have decided I’m going to live it up.  Hopefully it lasts through her teenage years.  I can only hope…

She sure is a “people-watcher”.  I keep telling Carl that she gets this from him, which we all know is not true at all…that’s totally me.  Whenever we take her out to a restaurant or to a ballgame, she stays entertained just watching everyone else.  Even in her stroller, she sits all the way up instead of sitting back and is so alert looking all around.  She is so curious and intrigued by other people.  Doesn’t want to miss a thing!

Happy 9 months, Audrey bear!  You make us so happy!  We love you!!

Giving high-five's

I want to go to AMI!

Audrey got to see a Bandits win against the USSSA Pride.
Auntie Amber hit the game-winning RBI double.

I love my Auntie Amber!

"It is way past my bedtime"

Out to dinner before a Bandits game

Father's Day 2012

I love my Daddy!

Grandma Patton's birthday, 7/7/12