Audrey's World

Please visit our new site

2012-02-03T12:36:00.001-08:00

With all the big changes in Audrey's World, we've decided to move to a new "home" on the web also.

Please come visit us at: Adventures of Audrey & Lillian

Some Christmas Photos - finally I know!

2012-01-31T16:24:00.000-08:00

Things have been a little more hectic than usual for the last couple of months... We had a great Christmas and Audrey really enjoyed herself.

We moved out of our house and Audrey & I are now staying with her Papa until the baby arrives. Audrey is very excited to be a big sister! She is very sweet and talks about how she is going to hold the baby's hand and teach her to walk :)

Audrey is still doing really well and is so smart! She is little, but she speaks so clearly

Everything is going smoothly with the pregnancy and we are all excited to meet Audrey's little sister also. I'm due in 6 days, so hopefully it won't be too much longer.

Halloween!

2011-11-02T07:07:00.000-07:00

Audrey keeps getting more and more fun. I really enjoyed her excitement about Halloween and I can't wait for Christmas. I've posted most of these photos on facebook, but also wanted to share with Audrey's non-facebook fans.

We had a nice visit with Michael in Columbus this weekend and stayed with our friends Holly & Justin's - and Baby Dean. We went to the zoo for some Halloween festivities and Audrey got some practice trick-or-treating. It was neat to see all the kids in their costumes and Audrey had fun with her Daddy.

We were home for Halloween and Audrey was very excited. I was impressed at how well she did, she walked a long way and still had the energy to run the last block just for fun. She also surprised me with how well she did at the houses - people could barely get their door open before she exclaimed "trick or treat!" I thought she might be shy, but she was not at all.

She also made me laugh when we stopped by some friends' house and she needed to got to the bathroom. I told her she needed to ask, so she asked them, "Do you have a bathroom here?"

Lately I've noticed that Audrey's sense of time is starting to develop - she will refer to things that happened before today as "yesterday," although it might not have been exactly yesterday. She also likes to talk about the "sky" being up in the morning, and about it getting dark. Her imagination is also really growing and she will tell me little stories and play on her own and pretend she is playing with a friend or cooking in her little kitchen.

Next week we are driving up to Philadelphia for our last visit before we actually move. I'm glad Audrey is such a good traveler and hope she keeps it up!

Autumn with Audrey

2011-10-23T07:52:00.000-07:00

We have had a fun month so far. We had a visit from Audrey's Nana & Manny and Audrey had a great time with them as usual. She always enjoys cooking with Nana.

We also went to the Nashville Zoo last week and to Kentucky Down Under this weekend. We have been keeping busy on the weekends.

Audrey is very opinionated and has a lot to say. She really likes to choose what she is going to wear and now that she knows all of her colors, she wants everything to match - including her socks & underwear! She likes to point out when things are the same color and say "these go together!"

Yesterday I was cooking and was putting some bell peppers back in the fridge, and Audrey asked if I could put them in her backpack "for safekeeping." I don't even know where she came up with that! She is really into backpacks and talks about school alot. She was really upset yesterday that she couldn't go to school!

Here are some pictures of our adventures over the last few weeks. I still have some more, including pumpkin carving last night & will definitely have some more after next weekend when we get to visit Daddy & our friends in Columbus!

More photos & Audrey news.

2011-09-18T17:28:00.000-07:00

Audrey and I have had a nice quiet weekend together, trying to make up for my crazy work schedule lately. I had a really intense two-day trial last week and was in deep preparation for it last weekend.

Some of my favorite things Audrey has been saying lately:

- "I want much." to mean that she wants her cup full. I guess if too much is overflowing, she wants it almost at that point :)

- she still says "him's" for "he is", which I find hilarious.

Audrey is getting more and more independent. She especially likes to choose what she is going to wear, and try to put it on herself - she is actually pretty good at. Her style choices are rather amusing sometimes, but I generally let her wear whatever she chooses.

She recently became obsessed with having "tie-up shoes." We finally got some and they are a big hit. She also loves the sunglasses she got on our trip to Philadelphia, and likes to wear them inside or out.

In other news, I will be halfway through my pregnancy tomorrow and we have confirmation that the baby is indeed another girl! We are all very excited. Audrey came along with me for the ultrasound on Friday. I was nervous that she might have a hard time sitting still while it was going on, but she sat still in her chair perfectly with a very excited look on her face. She really enjoyed it.

We also had a great trip to Philly over Labor Day. We can't wait to move, although it looks like that won't be happening until February when the baby is born. We explored a little bit of the Italian Market (found Delicious cannolis!) and had a perfect day at the beach. Audrey's Avo Lista, Uncle Dave & Uncle Bryan also joined us and we had a lot of fun.

Here are some photos from our trip:

August Photo Catch-up

2011-08-17T08:56:00.000-07:00

Since Audrey fell asleep early, I thought I would try to catch up with some photos I've been meaning to upload! I am also finally feeling better. Over the last few weeks I've started to have more energy and it's great not to feel sick any more. It's hard basically being a single mom during the first trimester.

Everything is going well for Michael up in Philadelphia, except for missing us of course! His job seems to be great, and he has made some good friends already.

I am so proud of how well Audrey is doing. She can say pretty much anything she wants, and speaks so clearly. She has been learning her colors and shapes this summer and is starting to get some idea of numbers. I've been trying to get a good video of her lately to share how well she's doing!

She is a little joker and says such funny things. I need to make a list! Off the top of my head, some of my favorite things she's said lately are, "Mommy, I need my medicine, my allergies are hurting." She likes to say "I think it's [whatever], or something." And one of my favorite grammatical quirks is her alternative to the possessive "his" is him's. Too funny :)

Audrey is still really tiny, but she is healthy. She hasn't really gained any weight in the last 6 months, but she has grown about 2 inches. And she loves her fruit and vegetables. It's funny, but I sometimes worry that she's eating too much fruit and vegetables because she needs her fat & protein to grow!

Another wonderful thing about Audrey right now is how loving she is. She was always affectionate and gave lots of hugs and kisses. But now when she says she loves me, you can tell she means it :) She is very sweet.

On to the photos! I am posting some photos from our first trip to Philadelphia, and lots of other summer fun.

At Valley Forge in Philadelphia in May.

At the park in Media, where Michael lives.

Getting ready to go swimming!

Our trip to the Smokies with Daddy & Papa. We had a photo shoot in downtown Sevierville & played in the grass.

Hanging out at home.

At the Columbus Zoo, with Holly & Justin & Baby Dean!

At Kentucky Down Under with the animals. Audrey loved it, especially feeding the sheep.

With Daddy, getting ready for the water park!

Excited to go for a picnic!

The big, scary slide at the fair!

Still to come... photos from Audrey's photo shoot in Nashville, and our Labour Day trip to Philly!

Audrey's Summer Fun

2011-07-13T07:38:00.000-07:00

Audrey and I have been having a lot of one on one time with Michael up in Philadelphia. But luckily he's been back for one visit already, and he is coming home again today. Audrey is very excited to see her Daddy.

She is getting quite good at carrying on a conversation on the phone and we also like to Skype with Michael and with other family.

Audrey's speech is continuing to improve and she really has good manners! She will say "May I please have some apple juice" or whatever it is that she is wanting. Although when she's tired her manners do go rapidly downhill :) She has also been asking for candy more lately - partly because we've been trying to give a little more positive enforcement with the potty and partly because Mommy has been feeling pretty sick and keeping candy in the house more often.

Everything is still going well, and if I can just find a job in Philadelphia, we will move! But at the latest we will probably go up in January before the new baby is born.

Audrey had a great time when Michael came to visit over the July long weekend. We spent some nice time relaxing at home, went canoeing, visited a cave, and went to a local Australian themed mini-zoo. We had lots of fun. Audrey loved swimming in the river on our canoe trip and she also loved feeding the baby sheep at the zoo. She was telling everyone for days "I feed the baby sheep!" I've noticed her memory getting a lot better recently too, and she will talk about things that happened months ago.

I'm sure we will have more fun this weekend and will try to take more photos :) But here are some ones I haven't uploaded yet, including Audrey's first haircut! (Which was really just a trim)

At the park:

I thought these ones were funny - she likes to play with the wind from her humidifier in her room :)

Being silly outside - Audrey loves to "garden". She likes to dig in the dirt with her spoons.

Visiting Daddy in Philadelphia:

Time for a haircut!

We're Back!

2011-06-08T18:56:00.000-07:00

Audrey is still doing fabulously well, despite all the changes in her life...

For those of you that don't know already, we are moving to Philadelphia!! In fact, Michael has already moved to start a great new job and we are trying to find me a job so we can all be together again!

AND, as long as everything goes well, Audrey will be a big sister next February!

So our lives are in a major state of upheaval, but we are very excited and happy.

Audrey and I have been talking about the baby. She likes to say that it is "growing in the garden" or that it is hiding. She also likes to tell me to "get it out" because she wants to see it :)

She is still doing really well with the potty training, I am so proud of her. And it has been so easy. She is diaper free except for naps and at night.

Her speech is also great. She speaks in complex sentences, and started using the past tense this week!

I need to get a new cable to get all the other pictures off my cameras, but until then, I found a few pictures on this computer I haven't uploaded yet.

Audrey loves to drive. Almost every day when we get home, she wants to "drive Mommy's car."

We went to the zoo when Audrey's Nana was still in town, and Audrey had a great time. She especially liked the safari van.

Just hanging out at home :)

Spring has Sprung!

2011-04-04T16:34:00.000-07:00

It's April already, and Spring is here in Kentucky! Which means unpredictable weather veering between almost Summer and lingering Winter.

We had a picnic a couple of weekends ago, played outside and went to the zoo yesterday! Today we had powerful thunderstorms and lots of rain. But it's been a good spring so far.

Audrey had her two-year-old check-up last week, and did really well. She's still quite small, but keeping steady with her growth. She's about 31.5 inches tall and 24 pounds. Developmentally she's meeting or exceeding every goal - the doctor said her speech is already at the minimum expectations for a three-year-old!

Audrey's speech is still developing so quickly, and it's amazing how many words she knows and how much of it people can understand, even people who don't know her. She's also really starting to understand more about the world and we have so much fun talking with her.

We've also been lucky enough to have Audrey's Nana & Manny staying with us, so we've had a full fun house this last month.

And Audrey has made amazing developments in potty training, with almost no effort she was potty-trained almost completely in about a week! She is one smart cookie :)

I still have more photos & videos to upload, so check back soon!

Audrey trying out our new bedspread.

Picnic at Willow Grove, one of our favorite spots!

Somebody is TWO!!

2011-03-13T14:31:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it, Audrey is two already. We have had a great birthday weekend.

Last week Michael's mom & Manny came to to town, so they were here to celebrate with us on Audrey's big day.

We couldn't quite wait until Audrey's actual birthday for her big present, she was so excited we had to give her her bike on Thursday. She really loves it.

I took a long lunch and Teresinha and I took Audrey for her birthday portrait and to a mini birthday party at Charlotte's. Audrey was so excited to share her birthday cupcakes with her friends Kennick & Andrew.

On Friday evening we went out to dinner at our favorite restaurant - Garcia's. Audrey had a big feast and tore my fish tacos apart. And then she got the full Mexican restaurant birthday treatment with the big sombrero and ice cream on her face! She handled it really well and thoroughly enjoyed the dessert.

On Saturday, Michael's dad & brother Bryan arrived! Poor Uncle David had some immigration issues, and didn't make it to celebrate with us. We really missed him and thought of him all weekend.

Audrey's Avo wanted to buy Audrey a special present so we went out for lunch in Bowling Green and bought her a special bookcase. I can't wait to see it put together and I'm sure Audrey will love it.

We also put Audrey's height on the kitchen wall for the first time. I haven't had a chance to actually measure it yet, but she's over 24 inches. Last week when I weighed her she was about 24.5 pounds, which puts her between the 10th and 25th percentile - isn't that so great!

She has come so far, so fast!

We finished up Saturday by dropping by Audrey's Papa's house, spending some more time with her Nana and Manny, and playing the Kinect! We had fun.

Today we went out for breakfast and had a nice walk at Mammoth Cave. Audrey is currently having her first real nap in days, so I thought I would take the time update while her Avo, Uncle Bryan, and Daddy have a little fire outside.

Here are some photos, and I can't wait to see the portraits from Friday! I also will try to update with the rest of our L.A. photos soon.

Los Angeles - Day I

2011-03-04T21:17:00.000-08:00

Audrey and I are in Los Angeles. It was a bit of a last minute trip when we realized it would be her last opportunity to fly for free. The flight attendants were very nice on the way out and tried their best to save the seat next to me so that Audrey could have her own seat, but unfortunately every single seat was taken and Audrey had to sit on my lap the the whole way. She did really well though, and the people sitting in our row seemed impressed at how well-behaved and good-natured she was.

Although Audrey has flown many times before, this was the first time that she seemed to understand what was happening. She had a bit of a panic as the flight took off - we were seated by the window - but calmed down after a few minutes. Before we took off she had been really excited and kept saying "ride airplane in the sky," but as were taking off she was saying "want to get out!"

Once we arrived, Audrey and Adele started playing together immediately and have been having a great time. Today we spent the day at the mall, which is a much more pleasant experience in Los Angeles than in Kentucky. The mall included a park with fountains and a trolley, and Audrey and Adele had lots of fun running around - it was also a great photo opportunity.

Tomorrow - Disneyland!

Oh, and in other Audrey news - she has used the potty (toilet actually) three times this week! Way to go Audrey :)

Big Time in Glasgow

2011-02-27T19:47:00.000-08:00

I think we have experienced pretty much everything that Glasgow has to offer this weekend. We had a "big time" as they like to say here in in Kentucky.

On Friday night, Audrey got to spend some extra one-on-one time with Charlotte while Michael and I had a rare date night. We went to see the play "See How They Run" put on by the local amateur theater group, and it was hilarious. Then we went out to a Mexican restaurant with most of the cast - we had no idea that there was a restaurant in Glasgow that has a karaoke night on Fridays, and it was really busy. It was quite an entertaining evening, although neither of us sang.

On Saturday we went up to Louisville to keep Audrey's Papa company while he picked up a bookcase that he had purchased. We also went out to lunch at a great local Louisville spot, Lynn's Paradise Cafe (it reminds me of Sophie's Cosmic Cafe in Vancouver, but much bigger). I finally got the chance to play with my new hand me down Canon DSLR, and thought I got some really great photos!

Finally, today we played with the camera again. Audrey helped me with laundry, which is apparently really exciting for her. And we went to the circus!

I didn't really get any photos of the circus, but it was fun. Audrey was really excited by the elephants and the horses. She went on the pony ride and was so brave! At first she didn't want to let go of me for an instant, but she quickly pushed my hands away and held on for herself. She loved it and didn't want to get off.

I can't believe Audrey is going to be two! Time has flown, and she is still growing so quickly. Next weekend should be exciting too - Audrey and I are going on a whirlwind trip to Los Angeles for Audrey's last free flight before she turns two, and her first trip to Disneyland. I can't wait!

Hope everyone else had a great weekend too!

Audrey Update

2011-02-13T20:07:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone!

Audrey is still doing really well! She is so much fun and we are having a great time with her. Her speech is developing incredibly rapidly and it is so great to communicate with her more and more each day.

Just this weekend, Audrey sung the ABC song from start to finish. It's not perfect, but I'm still really impressed for a not even two-year-old!

Audrey is up to some four-word sentences now. Two of the most recent that I can think of are unfortunately from her recent bout of the flu - "I don't like it." and "I don't want it." She has lots of other sentences that she can say, but she said those two a lot when we were trying to take her temperature and give her medicine.

Michael has been spending a lot of time with Audrey and the new "You're Baby Can Read" program. I'm pretty sceptical of the whole thing, but I think it's great for them to spend the time together and Audrey seems to really enjoy it. One of the segments focuses on the zoo, so Audrey was extra excited when we went to the zoo today. She already has been talking about elephants, tigers and turtles, and really enjoyed seeing them in the flesh!

Audrey's other favorite animal at the zoo was the giraffe. She was a little overwhelmed at how close came, but then each time she saw a picture of a giraffe for the rest of the day, she yelled "giraffe!:

Audrey loves to read now, which makes me very happy. She will bring us a book, and ask us to read it to her. Her favorite book right now is "Hooray for Fish!" It's a neat book and we enjoy reading it to her every night. She has her favorite fish and likes to read it at least a couple of times before bed. The one she likes best seems to be the "gripy" fish, I guess because I always say "gripy" in a funny voice :)

I would say that Audrey's other favorite thing(s) right now are stairs. She is crazy about stairs! The only thing we have upstairs is our attic and laundry room, but she asks to go up there all the time! And she is quite upset if we don't let her... she is also really wanting to "do self" right now. So sometimes she doesn't even want to hold on at all. We've had a few battles, but overall she is pretty easygoing, or at least easygoing for a toddler :) There are certain things that are non-negotiable of course, and if she doesn't want to hold my hand when crossing the street or in a parking lot, she's learning that she doesn't get to walk!

Finally, Audrey is still very affectionate and so sweet. She stopped breastfeeding last month, and now only takes a bottle with warm water at night. She has been sleeping through the night really well in the queen size bed in her room. It is so great. Our only issues at all are actually getting her down, I have a bad habit laying down with her and falling asleep... but when she doesn't want to go to sleep, she tries to get attention... so the other night, she kept kissing me & telling me she loved me. It was so cute, but I had to ignore her as much as I could and remind her it was time for night night.

Well, that was quite an essay, and it's time for me to go night night! Thanks for reading!

Enjoy our zoo photos:

And dinner after the zoo. Audrey really wanted some ketchup and french fries :)

And a few photos from Papa's house:

Love the pigtails!

The Velveteen Rabbit

2011-01-16T20:31:00.000-08:00

My cousin Daniel & his fiancee, Denise, sent Audrey a really neat toy for Christmas. A velveteen rabbit based on the one in her short film. We had a little photo shoot with the rabbit today and got some cute photos, hopefully they will be able to use it in marketing the toy!

Final Christmas Photos!

2011-01-16T20:04:00.001-08:00

Audrey enjoying some fruit at Tia Fa's.

Audrey with Tia Fa.
Audrey with Michael's cousin Sergio.

I swear she was super happy, but this photo is hilarious!

Audrey's last Christmas present was a big hit!
Audrey did have pigtails for the first time, but they didn't last long enough for the photo.

Making a mess with hummus :)

Birthday party fun. Audrey was quite serious on the little merry-go-round, but as soon as it stopped, she said, "Again!"

I don't think this is exactly in the rules.
With the birthday boy. Happy birthday Grayson!

I Wish I Could Capture Every Moment.

2010-12-31T22:30:00.001-08:00

I have treasured my time off with Audrey, I'm just sad it's gone by so quickly. There are so many wonderful little things that she does that I don't want to forget. She is changing so quickly, and I'm sure I've already forgotten so much.

So, here are a few things I'd like to remember:

- her little goat noises when she was a newborn
- her cackling little laugh when she was smaller
- her big mmmmmmmmmwha, kisses right now
- she has just learned to say please, and when there is something she really wants (like marshmallows) that she shouldn't have, she'll say, "pease. pease. pease." Almost irresistible.
- the way she runs around the house, always in a hurry, but still not completely steady.
- she'll run into the room to tell you something very complicated that requires a lot of hand guestures, but despite her excellent speech, we have no idea what she's saying
- she'll sit down on any little ledge, wherever we are, and then pat the spot next to her and say "mommy sit" or "daddy sit."

Audrey is still doing fabulously well, and I just love seeing her develop and grow. Her vocabulary is growing rapidly each day, and she still has a wonderful, cheerful personality, although she's definitely asserting her independence more and more.

We hope you all had a very Happy Christmas & New Year.

Bread with Avo

2010-12-31T21:48:00.000-08:00

Photos by Baba

2010-12-29T13:06:00.000-08:00

Photos from our time in Kentucky with Baba, Aunt Chrystal & Cousin Adele:

Photos from our trip to Toronto:

More holiday fun!

2010-12-27T11:36:00.000-08:00

Since Audrey loves playing with her stroller, but since it's a little big for her to play with, we got her a doll stroller. It was a big hit! I'll post photos of that soon.

Audrey finally got to use her chalkboard that Michael built for her. It was fun seeing her and Adele try it out.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T13:58:00.000-08:00

Once again, sorry for the delay in posts. Life has been wild lately!

I don't have long to access the internet today, but I wanted to at least put up some pictures from our Christmas week so far! Baba, Auntie Chrystal & Adele arrived on Monday, and then on Thursday night, Baba drove up to Toronto with us. We had a fast and easy trip, despite Baba forgetting her passport at home.

Audrey had so much fun with her cousin Adele. And Adele seemed to have a good time too, especially now that Audrey is more and more interactive. They had a great time playing and opening gifts together.

I will post more photos soon!

Zoo & more

2010-11-15T19:29:00.001-08:00

Audrey and I had fun at the zoo last weekend. We had hoped that Michael would be able to go with us, but he ended up having to work. It was a really cold day, but I just bundled up Audrey, and she did fine! She was pretty quiet for most of our visit to the zoo, which is unusual. She was just taking it all in. She did get excited at one point about the geese and was really yelling at them.

This weekend it seemed like Audrey was learning multiple words every day. Yesterday, she was saying peaches, waffle and towel. Her pronunciation is really excellent.

Audrey is a funny little girl, and very active! Today she was climbing up on our ottoman and couch, and wanted to jump off. She would say, "ready...Two!" and jump. As far as numbers and letters go, Audrey is pretty much stuck on A,B and two. She will occasionally say a different one, but those are her favorites.

It amazes me each day how much I love her and how lucky we are to have her in our lives. She has come so far, it's really hard for me to grasp what tiny little helpless lump she used to be.

Happy Halloween!

2010-11-05T09:37:00.000-07:00

Audrey and I had a great time last weekend. Michael was up in Louisville all day Saturday and all day Sunday, so Audrey and I had lots of one on one time.

Here she is playing in the kitchen...

For those of you that don't know, Kentucky has a few oddities. One of those is that if Halloween is on a Sunday, you probably don't get to go trick or treating on Halloween, but rather on another day. Audrey didn't really trick or treat anyway, just observed, but it was on October 30th, not on the 31st.

She was cooperative about wearing her costume, but was a little overwhelmed by everything that was going on. We spent the evening on our friends' porch, and she quietly watched everything going on. She was interested in the candy though, and I did let her have a Kit Kat - when she was done, she wiped her hands all over her costume :)

For those of you who are fans of Audrey's cousin Adele's blog, you may recognize this costume from 2008:
http://allaboutadele.blogspot.com/2008_10_01_archive.html
Adele was just over 2 years old in that video.

Pumpkin!

2010-10-29T20:10:00.000-07:00

Audrey had fun helping with the pumpkin carving, although that mostly involved dancing with me while Daddy carved it :) She helped me pull out the pumpkin guts, and said "Yucky." She does like to be tidy.

Have a Happy Halloween!

(Please excuse the boxes! Michael has a big job tomorrow & it's all the stuff he is going to install).

A rare photo of me and Audrey :)

Audrey likes to lift big things and say, "Heavy!"

Vocabulary Explosion

2010-10-28T18:47:00.000-07:00

We've had another busy couple of weeks. Two weeks ago we went to Lexington and went to a wedding in a tobacco barn, which was neat. And last weekend we went to Morehead to visit Aunt Monica & Uncle Kyle.

Audrey is rapidly learning words everyday, and is now using short sentences. Her two favorite sentences right now are "I love you" and "I want that". She is a little chatterbox and seems to really like talking.

Audrey still loves giving kisses, but still hasn't quite figured out hugs...she takes hugs but doesn't know how to give them :)

I just wish I had more time in the day to spend with Audrey. It really makes my day better when I can go visit her at lunch.

At a wedding, I wish I had taken a picture of Audrey's whole dress, it was so pretty!

At the library. Audrey wanted to ride in the trunk :)

At the hockey game for Daddy's birthday...having a moment.

Hi everybody!

On a hike in Morehead, it was a beautiful fall day!

Beautiful Day, But no Turkey for us!

2010-10-10T18:19:00.001-07:00

We thought about doing thanksgiving dinner today, but couldn't find any turkeys. But we had a great day out.

Audrey wasn't too interested in the corn maze, but she loved everything else. She especially enjoyed the mini maze and the hayride. It didn't really feel like Thanksgiving since it was 90 F - 32 Celsius! I'm glad I brought our sunscreen. We took a bunch of photos and had a lot of fun.

Happy Thanksgiving! Love from all of us.

In her PJ's.

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!

2010-10-09T19:03:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how this year is flying by!

I had to go to a work conference this week, and it was really hard to be away from Audrey for so long. She is growing and learning so fast, I could see a difference even from being away for a short time. I missed her a lot.

She is saying so many words now! And she has such a funny personality, she loves to be silly and play. One of my favorite new things she says is "help me." She says it all the time instead of whining, which is good. Whenever she would whine before, I would say "say, please help me." So now, whenever she wants something she says, "hep me, hep me." It's pretty funny. And she still whines sometimes, but nobody's perfect :)

The weather is beautiful here right now. Tomorrow we have a family trip planned to a corn maze & hayride, I'm really looking forward to it. I think Audrey will have a great time.

Here are some recent photos.

Trying to make an escape...she is such a little monkey!

Audrey got dressed up to go to a wedding today, and I took advantage of the opportunity to get some photos. I think she was especially cute today :)

Audrey's 18 Month Checkup

2010-09-26T16:27:00.000-07:00

Audrey had a good report at her checkup on Friday. She is 21.5 pounds, which is the 10th percentile and is approximately 30.5 inches tall, which is between the 10th and 25th percentile. Audrey has a good memory and was a little anxious of everything that was going on when we got to the pediatrician's office. She protested everything including getting measured and the scale, so I'm not totally confident in the numbers, but it's close enough.

Thank goodness there will be no more shots until she's four, both she and I have had our fill!

I haven't really taken any pictures in the last week. We've all been a little sick and I was working late almost every day - which is very unusual. But I did get one of her first ponytail, her hair is really growing!

Audrey is learning so many words lately, and is saying two word sentences. The biggest word she's said so far is backpack, and almost perfectly. She's really mimicking what we say, it's so neat.

The weather starting to finally cool off a little here, it was in the mid 90's all week, but it going to be much more reasonable this week. We have tickets for a corn maze and hayride and we're looking forward to taking Audrey to that. Hope everyone is enjoying the beginning of autumn!

More California Photos

2010-09-18T10:36:00.001-07:00

We took so many photos on our trip, it's hard to get even a portion of them uploaded! We had a really great time, and Audrey really enjoyed her time with her cousin Adele and the rest of the family.

Our trip back was a little bumpier than our trip out, but it was still pretty good. Audrey did not sleep at all on the flight back and was a little hyper, but the worst part was when she vomited all over my lap halfway through the flight. It was worth it though, and we can't wait to go back!

Audrey is doing so well right now. She is a little chatterbox and I'm amazed at how many words she can say. A lot of her chatter is nonsense, but she communicates very well and definitely understands a large part of what we say.

Audrey just runs around the house now and is getting more and more co-ordinated. She falls down occasionally, but she is a tough little girl and often doesn't cry at all.

She is 18 months old now, it's hard to believe. She's due for her check up next week, more shots unfortunately. I weighed her at home, and will get confirmation at the check-up, but it looks like she is about 21.5 pounds, which puts her in the 10th percentile.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Labor Day - Part III

2010-09-06T20:11:00.000-07:00

The second day of our trip was in Palm Springs. We all went out for a big brunch at Sherman's. I guess I forgot to mention that our good friends Kyle & Monica met us out in California, we were so glad the could join us.

Audrey playing with Baba's purse.

Audrey did her best ever in a high chair, but she did have a moment of protest when she lost her straw.

We've had a lot of fun playing in Baba's pool. The sun is so powerful though it's hard to stay out for very long, even with loads of sunscreen and our hats.

Labor Day - Part II

2010-09-06T19:22:00.000-07:00

The final area we visited at the Getty was the children's zone. Audrey and Adele especially enjoyed the fancy little book corner.

Next we went out for lunch in Venice Beach. We had a fun meal at James Beach Bar (and enjoyed the fish tacos featured in the film "I Love You Man.") Audrey did not like the dry sand, something about the sinking surface freaked her out a bit, but she Loved the ocean. If I hadn't stopped her I'm sure she'd have dived right in!

At the end of the day, Audrey still hadn't had enough of the water and decided to climb into the bathtub.

End of August & Labor Day in California!

2010-09-06T10:05:00.001-07:00

Hello from California!

We are visiting Audrey's Baba and having a very nice family vacation. Hope everyone is having a great Labor Day long weekend!

Here are a few photos from before we left. Audrey loved "driving" this car at her sitter's house.

Audrey was great on the trip to L.A. She slept for the first hour and a half, so that helped, but she was really good the whole time. I guess I shouldn't have worried :)

Audrey was excited to see her cousin Adele. They have both grown up a lot since last time we visited. They've had a great time playing together.

On our first morning in L.A. we went to the Getty museum. We were only inside for a little while, but the grounds & architecture were really beautiful.

Funny Audrey

2010-08-25T11:04:00.000-07:00

Audrey is very playful & silly and we have a lot of fun together. She knows to expect the flash from the camera and makes some funny faces.

Yesterday we had a bit of a rough evening - I learned my lesson not to let Audrey play with bottles of spices. I thought she had a bottle of cinnamon, and it turned out to be cayenne pepper, yikes! I realized what it was once she started yelling and rubbing her eyes :( She was fine in the end after I flushed out her eyes, lesson earned.

Audrey surprised me in a more positive way yesterday also. When I was counting out the scoops of Rosie's dog food, after I counted two, Audrey said three. I wasn't sure if I had heard her correctly (it wasn't quite exactly three, more like twee) so I did it again and she said it again. She's quite the smart little cookie :)

Audrey is also starting to learn some of the alphabet, she really likes it when we sing the ABC's. She seems to just love any music at all.

Here are some photos of Audrey playing around this weekend:

Video

2010-08-22T20:05:00.001-07:00

Here's a video of Audrey from a couple of weeks ago. She really loves to dance!

Remember, if you can't see the whole screen, right-click on the video and choose "Watch on Youtube."

More photos

2010-08-21T21:08:00.001-07:00

Here are some of the photos I didn't manage to put up in the last month. Audrey is getting a little more into a routine and goes to sleep mostly on her own, so I have a little more time to do things like update the blog. Enjoy!

Blowing kisses.

With Kennick at Charlotte's house.

Feeding herself dinner.

Sorry we've been missing for a month again!

2010-08-20T09:56:00.000-07:00

Life has been pretty busy lately, we've done lots of fun stuff, but I've been so busy I haven't taken the time to load pictures on my computer. I borrowed a few from facebook to post today though.

After Audrey's Nana left, my mom, her Baba, was here for a couple of weeks and we had a really nice visit. We went to Dale Hollow Lake twice, once for a picnic and once on a houseboat. We also went to the water park and the wave pool. Audrey loves the water so we had lots of fun.

Audrey says all sorts of words now and is very active. She likes to climb, and stand on top of things, and try to pick up heavy things. She is very good tempered, even when she misses her nap. She is so interested in everything that sometimes she just doesn't want to give up and sleep.

She gives lots of kisses and is very sweet. We have a great time with her. Hope you enjoy the photos, I promise I will try to post again soon!

Audrey & Wilder

Audrey at the water park

Sailor Audrey & Uncle Dave brings a gift from Maria!

2010-07-14T19:41:00.000-07:00

We had a little modeling session with Audrey last weekend after she got dressed up for the local animal shelter's open house. I was really looking forward to putting this little sailor dress on her!

Audrey's Uncle Dave arrived on Wednesday. Audrey has been having a great time with him, and we're all sad that he couldn't come for a longer time.

We've had a busy & fun weekend. Yesterday we went to the farmer's market and the library. And then, last night we went out to a campground at Barren River Lake to visit Aunt Mo's parents who were passing through town in their awesome RV.

At the farmer's market, wearing a beautiful dress from Maria!

At the library.

Audrey's new swim suit from NYC from Maria. Too cute!

Audrey absolutely loved playing with the rocks at the campsite.

Wave & Delo!

Today we went exploring to somewhere none of us had ever been before. Nolin Lake, which is on the far side of Mammoth Cave National Park. It was a pretty lake with a nice sandy beach. Audrey & her Nana and I had a nice swim, and lunch was just about ready when a big rain storm hit and cleared the park out. Luckily we spotted a picnic shelter and were able to salvage our lunch. We ended up the weekend with homemade fajitas from the grill and ate dinner on the patio. It was a great weekend.

Audrey is a very good eater. She loves fruits and vegetables, especially blueberries and peas. But she also loves junk food if she can get a taste of it. Here she is enjoying some Doritos :)

Happy Canada Day, Mommy & Daddy's Fifth Anniversary, & Fourth of July!!

2010-07-05T20:14:00.000-07:00

We have had a really nice long weekend.

Friday was Michael's and my fifth wedding anniversary. Time sure does fly! We celebrated by going to a concert on the town square by the Louisville Orchestra. The weather was beautiful and we had a nice time, although Audrey was pretty determined not to sit still. Audrey and I wandered around and enjoyed the music and had a good time.

Last night we went to Michael's boss's house to celebrate the Fourth of July. It was another beautiful evening and they put on a great fireworks display - not that Audrey ad I got to see much of it because she decided she did not like them. She is pretty adventurous, but she definitely did not like the fireworks, they were a little too close for comfort I guess.

Today we went to Mammoth Cave National Park for a picnic and little hike. A deer came right by our picnic site and Audrey was very excited.

Audrey has been practicing walking and is getting better all the time. She definitely is understanding a lot of what we say and is picking up new words quickly. One of her favorites at the moment is "toes", usually said as she grabs our toes.

She still enjoys playing with purses and bags, and emptying and filling containers. This evening she picked up a little gift bag and walked out of the room with the bag on her arm saying "Bye," and blowing kisses. It was pretty cute :)

We hope everyone had a great holiday weekend!

She's Walking!

2010-06-24T08:59:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

Audrey has had a busy couple of weeks again. She is now walking very well, although she will still often hold her hands up for balance - it's cute, it looks like she's under arrest :) Luckily we had just put up a gate on the stairs, but I know there are lots of other things we'll be having to watch for now.

Last weekend we went to the Great Smoky Mountains for a quick trip. We had never been before, and we enjoyed ourselves. We also took Audrey to an aquarium for the first time, whcih she seemed to like quite a bit. She even touched one of the crab like creatures in an exhibit!

Audrey's Nana is still staying with us and Audrey is having a great time with her.

Audrey is learning so many new things right now. She especially enjoys light switches and drinking out of a real glass. I try not to underestimate her, because she keeps surprising me at what she can do. As you can see in the photos, she needs some work with her spoon skills, but she's doing really well!

If you ask Audrey a question she will usually answer "Yeah," no matter what the question is. She also says "tak you" when you give her something, which I think is very sweet. She isn't always sweet though, she really lets you know when she is angry. It has become very difficult to get Audrey out of the pool as she never gets tired of it and will put up quite a protest if we try to get her out.

She is a wonderful & funny little girl and we are having a lot of fun with her. Enjoy the photos and videos!

Enjoying her new stroller.

The whole movie doesn't always show up on the blog, if you right click on the video and choose "watch on youtube" you can see the whole thing.

Summer Weekend

2010-06-13T16:54:00.000-07:00

Audrey has had a fun weekend. One of her new favorite things is sitting in her toy box. She also got a new blow-up pool, and had a fabulous time splashing around. It's been very hot, so it was a nice way to cool off. She's still taking a few steps at a time and working up her confidence, but prefers to hold on most of the time. Hope everyone had a good weekend!

Helping with the garden:

More photos & videos

2010-06-02T17:42:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, here are a few more photos from our trip. The only real update is that Audrey took a few steps today, so that was exciting. She had a toy in each hand and wanted to move, so I guess she had no choice :)

Borrowing her cousin Daniel's car:

With Michael's cousin Sergio & his wife Liz

With Avo:

Sometimes I'll try anything to distract her so I can eat!

Back at home:

And here are some videos of Audrey dancing. Enjoy!

Memorial Day Weekend

2010-05-31T18:37:00.001-07:00

We had a very busy & wonderful holiday weekend. It was great to make the trip back to Toronto and see everyone. Audrey is getting closer every day to walking. a few times now she has started dancing without holding onto anything - she really enjoys music. She is also talking more and more. But my absolute favorite new thing Audrey is doing is blowing kisses, it's ridiculously cute. Sometimes she even uses two hands :)

I took a bunch of pictures on our trip, and here is a selection of my favorites:

Out for Thai food.

Fountains downtown in Toronto.

I thought we had found the secret to making Audrey walk after I put her down on the grass, as she did not want to crawl on it, but she didn't quite make it up :)

Audrey's been enjoying playing with purses & bags lately.

Back home today at Papa's pool. This was Audrey's first time really swimming in the pool, and she did so well! She seemed to have a great time, and was even let me put her under water twice & was okay with it!

There are more, but I couldn't get them all uploaded tonight. Hope you all had a great weekend too!

P.S. Hello to our fan in Uruguay!

Happy Victoria Day!

2010-05-24T09:11:00.001-07:00

I have to work today, no holiday for us in the U.S., but we are heading up to Toronto on Wednesday evening, so that's exciting. We're going to try to drive through the night so that Audrey will be sleeping for as much as possible of the 12 hour drive. On a much shorter drive on Saturday she was trying to escape from her car seat, so we want to minimize the stress of the trip as much as possible by driving at night.

Audrey is getting closer to walking, but still won't let go. It's pretty funny. I'm convinced that she could walk if she tried, but she insists on holding onto something. Unless she picks up two objects she's interested in, then she'll stand there quite happily not holding onto anything. Last night we tried to encourage her to walk from Michael to me, but she just drops into a crawl. I'm not worried about it, I figure this way, by the time she lets go she'll be an expert walker and won't fall down too much. She's quite a speedy crawler though, and can even zip around backwards.

Audrey is extremely vocal, and tries to mimic almost any word I say. She consistently says "uh" for up when she wants me to pick her up, she says her little friend Addie's name, and says "gop" alot, I'm not sure what that one means yet :) She also has been trying to say bottle, bird and ball. It looks like she will be quite a chatterbox soon.

She's also teething, but doing really well with that, we hardly notice any problems, othe than a little occasional clinginess. She has four teeth fully in, and at least two more are coming in.

Hope everyone is doing well & wish us luck with our trip, hopefully we'll have lots of good pictures! Here are some recent ones:

Audrey & her friend Wilder. Audrey likes to feed people.

I set up the piano for Audrey to play with and she really seemed to enjoy it:

I was organizing some of the toys that Audrey has grown out of, and thought I would see what she thought of her old bouncy seat. She looks so much bigger in it now!

And here are a few more fun ones, she is quite the little monkey and loves to climb on and stand on things.

New videos

2010-05-03T17:51:00.000-07:00

Hope you enjoy :) P.S. if you right click on the videos and choose Watch on Youtube, you can see the full image - it seems to be cropping it strangely.

We're back!

2010-05-01T14:07:00.001-07:00

Wow, I can't believe it's been almost a month! Audrey sure has kept me busy recently. She was quite sick at the beginning of the month, but is doing fine now. She had a double ear infection and scared us with a fever of 104 degrees along with a bad cough, but everything has cleared up now.

It seems like Audrey is changing faster all the time, and getting so mobile! She is very very close to walking, but doesn't want to let go quite yet. She practically runs around cruising though. She also loves to climb and stand on things, which is a little nerve-wracking. She started to climb out of her high chair today - scary!

Audrey is eating better and can handle almost any soft table food now. She definitely prefers table food to baby food, but she still eats a fair bit of baby food too.

Audrey's speech skills are improving quickly too. She can say all sorts of sounds, and babbles constantly. She can say Audrey pretty well, which I think is impressive, and says hi, bye, dada, daw for dog (kind of), "uh" for up. She's probably best at hi, bye-bye, and dada, and won't always say it, but she seems to understand more now.

Audrey is also getting better about understanding how things work, by trying out buttons and opening and closing things. Overall she is doing just great and is so much fun!

Probably my favorite newish thing that Audrey does, is "hiding" to pop out and surprise us. If you say "where is Audrey" she will duck down and hide, it's very cute :) She also will start clapping as soon as I begin to sing "If You're Happy and You Know it."

Here are some photos:

Audrey having dinner with her friend Wilder.

Here are some photos of Audrey playing around the house. Sometimes it seems like she won't stop moving! I made the mistake of holding her hand to walk at the store today, and she wouldn't let us pick her back up for a long time!

Hope everyone is having a great weekend! P.S. I'm uploading a couple of videos, should have them up by tomorrow!

Happy Easter!

2010-04-04T19:42:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter everyone!

Everything is going well down here in Kentucky. Spring has sprung & the weather is beautiful. We had a wonderful Easter weekend, especially since Audrey's Baba was here to visit!

Audrey is still cruising around, getting faster and faster all the time. She still falls down, but much less often than she used to. She is getting close to walking, but still prefers to hold on for balance.

Audrey loves to talk & babbles away most of the time. She pretty consistently says Dada and "doh" for dog, and bye-bye and hi. She also is getting pretty skilled at mimicking speech - last week she said Audrey almost perfectly, and we were pretty amazed! She has also managed to say Up a bunch of times, but doesn't say it all the time.

At her 12 month check-up Audrey weighed 17 lb 11 oz. Less than I hoped, but she is still on the same curve she's been on, so the pediatrician was happy. The pediatrician was also very impressed with Audrey's development and said that she is perfectly on target for her actual age. We knew that she was doing really well, but it was nice to hear it. So she's small, but doing really well. We are very proud of her. She still has a great happy personality.

Audrey had her first real illness this week, but has already bounced back. She had a double ear infection with a fever of 104 degrees, and they were concerned she might have pneumonmia, but luckily that wasn't true. She's been on some strong antibiotics, and they are upsetting her little tummy, but at least she's getting better.

To celebrate Easter Audrey went on her first Easter egg hunt, and also tried out a slide and swing for the first time. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon with our friends & family. I also included some photos from a couple of weeks ago of Audrey trying out a wagon ride. The photos of Audrey sitting in the grass show that she wasn't too sure about the whole situation, but I thought they were pretty cute anyway :)

Hope you all are doing well & the photos will be in the mail this week!

Audrey's Professional Photos

2010-03-25T08:39:00.001-07:00

On Audrey's birthday we had her photos done, and I'm really happy how they turned out. I got extra copies, so if anyone would like some, just let me know!

At Audrey's 12 month check-up she was smaller than I hoped, but still on the same curve. She's in the 5th Percentile, at 17 lb 11 oz. She is 27 3/4 inches tall. Still very little, but a long long way from 3 lb 8 oz.

Here are the photos:

Audrey's Birthday Party

2010-03-06T15:15:00.000-08:00

Audrey's first birthday party was today! It was a big success, but we are worn out! I will try to make an update tomorrow, but here are the best of the photos - and there are a lot of photos.

New Photos - Valentine's Day

2010-02-16T19:28:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures of Audrey from this past weekend, celebrating Valentine's Day, her friend Emory's birthday & watching the Olympics with her Daddy.

Audrey with Addie.

Just hanging out.

With her little friend Kennick.

Playing with the children at the birthday party, she had a great time.

Audrey with the birthday girl, Emory. Happy 3rd birthday Emory!!

Where does the time go?

2010-02-05T20:36:00.000-08:00

Time is just flying by lately! We are so busy, and Audrey takes a lot of attention! She wants to walk all the time, but still needs help balancing. And it seems like the rest of the time she is crawling around trying to get into something she probably shouldn't get into :) She seems to especially have a fascination for electrical cords and plastic bags, so we have to be vigilant!

We had a lot of snow for Kentucky last weekend and took Audrey out to try sledding for the first time. She was really only out for about 5 minutes because it was pretty cold outside!

Our friends' son Grayson was really sweet with Audrey and was even willing to give her a little kiss. But he was also a little scared of Audrey and she was chasing him all over.

This weekend should be fun - we're hosting a Super Bowl party - but I hope it will also be restful!

The jacket Audrey is wearing is just one of the really great gifts we received from our family friends Stuart & Dawn. Audrey now has an official NHL Maple Leafs outfit, as well as some official Olympics gear.

Audrey still loves baths, but has almost outgrown her little tub. We are almost ready for the big tub!

Happy Birthday Baba!!

2010-01-19T15:50:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to Audrey's Baba!

2010 is going great!

2010-01-18T10:37:00.001-08:00

Audrey is changing so rapidly right now. This weekend she started pulling up, and now she keeps doing it over and over. Along with the increased mobility comes falling down - but she is a tough little girl and recovers quickly.

Audrey is very vocal and talks alot, but doesn't seem to have any consistent words yet. She also loves to clap right now, and will lay in bed in the morning and clap happily.

We were sad when everyone went home after New Years, it was great to have so much family around and we had a really great time.

Here are some pictures and videos I didn't have a chance to post before:

Michael's Aunt Fatima & Cousin Mindy

Michael's Uncle Franco, Aunt Fatima & Mindy - they came by for one night on New Year's Day on their way back from Florida. We were really happy to see them!

Audrey getting piano lessons from her Uncle Dave :)

Reading with Baba.

Having fun!

Audrey with her friend Addie at her sitter's house.

And here are some videos, you can see how active she is getting!