Um... Remember in my last post how I said I would post pictures of Audrey's first birthday later that night or the next day?  Hmm... Two months later I'm just going to skip right to the good stuff and write a blog to Audrey to let her know what she's been up to and how she's grown from our little baby into our favorite little toddler. 



Dear Little Toddler Audrey,

Working Late with Daddy

Your dad and I are exhausted!  Between chasing you around and cleaning up your endless messes you keep us moving from sun-up to sun-down.  Your dad has been working over time at his job so there are nights where he's only getting 4 hours of sleep.  You would never know it while he's awake with you though.  He's always chasing you and tickling you and making you laugh.

Cooking Something Delicious

For your first Christmas we got you this kitchen.    Then, we got busy planning your first birthday party and didn't unpack it, SO we also got you this kitchen for your first birthday :)  Right now you enjoy emptying the pots and pans and stuffing non-cooking items in the cabinets (magnets, books, etc.).

Emptying Out All The Toys

You are also a CHOW HOUND!  You love to eat but you HATE to be fed.  You will only eat if YOU hold the spoon which means that eating is a production EVERY meal.  You are so darn cute though we just strip you down and toss you into the sink for a rub down if things get too out of hand. 

Delicious!

  

Chocolate Chip Pancakes!

I HATE ART PROJECTS!

You are not a fan of art projects.  I've attempted to "help" you color a picture but you end up throwing the markers onto the ground in a fit of rage.  For Valentines Day I "helped" you paint a Valentine for your dad and you were less than pleased.   Even when I gave you a paintbrush you were ill-amused.  You were very interested in trying to suck the paint off the tip and put up a protest when I told you that just wasn't the most nutritious of decisions.



   

All Done!

I wondered if perhaps you were like your father, and you liked to keep yourself tidy (unless it involves food of course).  I put the rest of your Valentines in a plastic bag with the paint and you seemed to enjoy that a lot more.  We made it through quite a few Valentines before you lost interested and started just waving them in the air to have me take them away.


You are so incredibly smart it amazes us.  Right now you know what a cow says (moo), what a horse says (neigh), what a dog says (bark bark), and what a snake says (sssss).  Mrs. Julia is teaching you to say what a wolf says but you still just bark like a dog for most other animals.   You sign and say "more" when you want something and wave your hands back and forth and say "no" when you're all done.  You say down for both down and up, you say "daddy" and "mom" You call Tober "Bobo" and you think everyone in a picture is "daddy".

You and Tober are best friends.  You both snuggle on his bed (gross!) and you follow him around when you're feeling frisky.  He' so patient with you he lets you poke him in the eye, stick your finger in his ear, pull on his hair, and flop on him when he's sound asleep.  You both like to wait at the door for when your daddy comes home but we have to pick you up because his tail will knock you over when he's excited.  You and he are in cahoots when you eat.  We have to put him outside because you will hand him food from your tray and then he will not stop pestering you.  It's nice to have a dog when you're finished eating because we let him inside and he licks the place clean.

I am so disgusted with how much you love Tober's dog bed that I made you your very own pillow pile to play with.  You love it.  You run in and flop on it, roll around, bury yourself and Tober, and LAUGH.  It was the easiest project to make and seems like a very solid investment.  Tober has decided he loves it just as much as you do so I'm planning on making him one of his very own.

One of your most favorite things in the whole world is reading books.  You love books.  You read them, you eat them, you carry them around, you hand them to people and crawl in their laps.  It's books, books, books.  Your favorites right now are "Moo, Baa, La La La" "Ooops" and "Ten Little Fingers, Ten Little Toes".  You could read those over and over and over and over and over and over and over....

It's springtime now and we have a little park near the house that you and I walk to (you in the stroller). You have become quite the walker so you just run around the park squealing and looking at everything.  It's so fun to take you places right now.  You are constantly talking, although we don't understand what you're saying yet, and you take everything in.  You are so sweet to anyone around you that we get stopped everywhere.  People will stop driving in the parking lot, roll their windows down and tell us how cute you are.  You just smile at them and say "hi" and that sucks them in even more!

We love you so much and are so proud to call you our daughter.  Hopefully it won't be two months until my next post!   No promises though, because once you're down for the night, so are we :)

Love,

Mom and Dad

Date Night

Party Prep

So, you'll have to bear with me.  This first birthday thing was a pretty big deal around this house.  No matter how much I'm trying to hold back I just can't help but share all of the wonderful pictures we have from that special day.  I posted the link to the online album, I posted some of my favs to Facebook, and now I'm blogging about them.  It's too bad my only readers are my Facebook friends and family because they have been, and will continue to be, bombarded with the same fabulous photos again and again.  But really... Can you BLAME ME??

So.  This post is all about the party prep. 

A month before the party Pinterest became my new best friend.  I probed all the great ideas other mothers had posted and made them my own.  I began with a gigantic one made from red and black cupcake wrappers for the door.  One night while my parents were visiting I plugged in the glue gun and got gluing!  The grip-it-and-rip-it in me was saved by the skin of my teeth that I had enough cupcake wrappers to make alternating rows.  Towards the end it was touch and go...


The next project was a banner that displayed all of Audrey's month-old pictures throughout the past year.  I had some FAB help from my brother and his friend Sarah getting it strung and ready for display.  It was so fun to watch Audrey grow next to her little ladybug.  She made quite the adorable decoration in my opinion. 


Next up was the birthday banner we made and displayed behind Audrey's high chair.  As we were getting the house ready we put Audrey in her high chair under her banner and took her picture.  Although she seems so big in our eyes it's amazing how tiny she still is compared to normal sized things. 


Last up, as far as decorations go was the banner for Audrey's high chair.  We had to get creative finding a way to make it stick since Audrey was able to blow through different amounts of tape.  In the end We went with hot glue.  By the time We had Audrey officially in the chair she was distracted by cake so the label lasted for a while! 

Audrey is one lucky girl because I spent MYYYY birthday working on the perfect ladybug cake.  I got the idea from a post on Pinterest but made it my own with the help of a cake mold from Sara (yes, there were 2 additional sarah's involved in this project.  We were one heck of a trifecta if you ask me...) I made a prototype the week before to make sure it was even possible to make a ladybug cake so we were a happy household full of cake and yummy treats. 

I can't take credit for the following party prep, but it sure did turn out great.  Scott sent flowers to my school for my birthday and the looked beautiful on Audrey's special day.  We ordered the most delicious food from our favorite restaurant for lunch, and the guests provided quite the display of presents!  
           

Happy Birthday to ME (and Audrey...)

30th Birthday Cake

It's been a busy weekend around Ward-Ward manor.  Audrey and I both celebrated big birthdays.  I turned 30 (gulp!) and Audrey turned 1 (gulp again!).  We were so lucky to have our family and friends here to celebrate Audrey's special birthday and Scott did a great job reminding people that I"m his "older" woman.

Everyone's Here to see ME of course!

Grandpa and Audrey

Audrey has had a great time being the center of attention (she gets that from her father I'm sure...).  Even with all the people in and out of the house and having a mixed up schedule she's been so pleasant and sweet.











She's such an easy flexible little girl.  Her uncle Brian and his friend Sarah were her babysitters on Wednesday and her Grandma and Grandpa from Florida were her babysitters on Thursday and Friday and she wooed their pants off :)

Three Generations of Big-Headed Wards

Scott's dad (Don) and Maria came all the way from Florida to celebrate with us.  Don has decided that Audrey's birthday will now be in July since visiting in January has become an annual event and it's a smidgen colder here compared to Florida.  He won't hear any complaining from me since I made sure everyone knew how gracious I was being as I was preparing for peanut's birthday on MY actual birthday.  Not only did she steal my birthmonth she also stole my day as I was baking and decorating for HER party.

Tebow Time with Grandmpa!

It's a goooood thing she's cute or else we would have some serious issues!

I think my headgear is slightly more appealing...

I don't know how Scott got lucky enough to have such a wonderful wife.  I spent my birthday at a BASKETBALL game cheering on the Bears in style.  It was the night of the slightly disappointing Broncos game so I made sure Audrey was there to represent.   

Tebow Time with Claws!

Audrey is such an easy going baby she doesn't even blink when she meets gigantic Tebow mascots.  She was just wishing he would have a conversation with her about the intricacies of the game. 

Taking a walk around the court.

Stopping to check-in with daddy.

Um.. Mother?  Did you say CAKE?

Happy Birthday!

The next day it was time to PARTY!  It was so much fun setting up the house for Audrey's first birthday.  She was so complacent (taking naps, smiling as each guest arrived...).  We had a friend of ours who is a professional photographer come over to document the event (so be prepared for another posting with probably a FEW more pictures...) but I just can't help myself posting some of the candids we got.  I made Audrey her very own cake knowing she would want nothing to do with it.  When we put it on her tray she barely touched the icing and then looked up at me like "GET THIS THING AWAY FROM ME!"  Scott and I did our best to convince her that the cake was fabulous and at one point she was a centimeter away from face planting but she caught herself and thought better of that choice.  I ended up putting a slice on her tray while we served the cake to the rest of the guests.  She managed to mangle that slice pretty nicely but was still able to get her birthday clothes back on with only a quick wipe down.

Oh My!  A PRESENT!

OOOOOOH!

Audrey is really into reading her cards. 

Presents!  HOORAY!

We were so lucky to have so many friends and family over.  A first birthday is the perfect excuse for this present hog to open lots of gifts.  She opened one, got distracted, and let me do the rest.  She was so cute looking at each toy and making a cute face and then got back to work playing with the paper wrappings.  It was a dream come true for me because I got to pretend the day was all about Audrey while I opened all the presents :) 























We had such a great day.  It's something I will always remember.  I give her a very hard time about taking all my birthday attention away from me but in all honesty I can't imagine it any other way.  This little girl may look a lot like her father but her personality is allll mommy.  There's no better way to teach her the importance of birthdays than to model it for her year after year.  I've already checked, and the year Audrey turns 21 I'll turn 50 (but it's in the middle of a week, so we'll have to work on that ...).  I'm already telling her how much fun she'll have celebrating that monumental occasion with her mother.  Just like my mom did for me, telling me how great it would be when she was my college roommate.

It's amazing to think that we've been parents for a year.  It's gone by so quickly and at the same time each day just gets better and better.  Only 363 more days until the next birthday extravaganza.  I think Scott's already stressed... :)

Birthday Girl!

A New Trend...

Audrey has started a new trend around this house.  Parents of other almost one-year-olds I'm sure you are very familiar with this very popular game.  It's called:  Empty Everything and Anything I Can Get My Hands On.  Each room in our house has a container of toys and books for Audrey to empty and spread about each day.  After she goes to bed "we" (meaning me most of the time since Scott works nights... CONVENIENTLY...) clean up the toys so the process can be repeated.  No one is safe.  We went to my mom's house for Christmas and Audrey found her stack of magazines...

 

 As we were attempting to pack for said Christmas trip Audrey also found my drawer full of tights and long underwear (my legs are always cold...).  She was mighty proud of the way that she unpacked the drawere and wrapped herself up in my garments.

 

 Happy New Year everyone!