Sunday, December 18, 2011

11 Months Old

Laying next to the ladybug is a thing of the past.
 Our little peanut is 11 months old.  It's amazing.  This time last year as we were getting ready for the holidays we could only imagine what this year would look like.    We started off with such a tiny little baby and now we have an almost walking almost talking person in our house! Our house has become a walking disaster zone full of rolling toys, gates, blocks, noise makers, bottles, cups, and clothes.

Even though Audrey is completely oblivious to Christmas it's been such a fun time doing holiday activities with her.  We made ornaments, we've made cookies and cupcakes, we've bought all the presents, shipped packages, and bought holiday clothes.  The only thing she's interested in is turning on the Christmas tree every morning with her dad.  She smiles in anticipation and then squeals as it lights up.  We may have a new permanent fixture in our house because Scott is a softy and I don't think he'll be able to pack up the tree when it makes her so happy.
Something interesting is over the





 The days go by so quickly with an almost one-year-old.  We wake up, have a bottle, have breakfast, play a little and then it's nap time.  After nap it's lunch, a 2-3 hour window to leave the house without taking an additional trailer or supplies, then it's back home for afternoon nap, dinner, and bedtime.  
Happiest girl!
 Audrey brings out the best in our family.  She's helped Scott relax about clutter and she's motivated me to be better about cooking and laundry.  I think I've loaded/unloaded the dishwasher more with Audrey being born than I have my entire life.  I used to work all day and think "I'm so tired!  How can I possibly unload the dishwasher?" and now I find myself thinking "Unloading the dishwasher will take a whopping 5 minutes and then I won't have to wash all those bottles by hand..."
    

Buckets are SO funny.
 As Audrey gets older and learns more and more new sounds she's surprised us with some silly accidental responses.  Yesterday I asked her if she wanted a diaper changed and her random conglomeration of babble turned into a  "Ummm...Yep".  Even though it's completely accidental it makes me so excited for when she actually is talking to us.  Such a tiny little bop with her own voice will just be incredibly, ridiculously cute. 
"OH MY GOSH I LOVE READING THIS BOOK!"

"Oh parents, you're so silly..."

"Skini-a-bunny"

This is how Tober supervises bath time.
I find myself being nostalgic of last year, whenever I see a baby bump but then I look in the rear-view mirror of my car and see a little hand flinging a sock up and down over the back of the car seat and I remind myself to appreciate these times, because this time next year I'll be nostalgic for one-year-olds.  I'm not sure I'll be nostalgic for the sleepless nights that one-year-olds present, but one never knows... 































Saturday, December 10, 2011

Making Ornaments

Getting my "workout" on
 Today our family set out to accomplish the first of many Christmas traditions - making ornaments.  Each year our plan is to make a new type of ornament to adorn our tree.  Since Audrey's not proficient with scissors or a glue gun we went a more practical route this year and went with an idea I found here.

Mixing Some Ingredients
It's a good thing that I'm so very strong because kneading the dough was probably the best workout I've had since... well... ever!  I had some great sous chefs in the kitchen.

Tip Toes!
DELICIOUS
Audrey is such a trouper.  All of these holiday traditions can wear a girl out!  She was really enjoying her alphabet letters, helping me spell out the directions on the fridge.

Hand Prints
Daddy Tries...
Audrey was NOT  fan of allowing us to have her hand for hand prints so the indentions are pretty weak.  With her foot she was a tad more obliging, but only because we could distract her with extra dough.

Perfect!
In the end the ornaments actually came out looking more like baby hands and feet than I thought they would!  They kind of perked up in the oven. 

It's been so much fun forcing helping Audrey enjoy the holidays.  It's also been fun to bring out all of her holiday attire. 

The dress she's wearing today was one of the FIRST things I bought for her when I was pregnant. I picked it out thinking she would wear it in July... but December is the next best month!  Long sleeves under short sleeves is very 'in' this year.

Great Success
Tonight, it's on to Audrey's first Christmas party.  We've already discussed taking it easy on the eggnog...

Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas!