Monday, January 28, 2013

Audrey's Baptism

Audrey was baptized today.  It's such a special day--basically more of a dedication than anything else.  We are making a dedication to raise her as a Christian and to be examples of Christ's love to her.  It was a very exciting but crazy day!  
The kids and I had a delish breakfast with my parents like we do every Sunday, and I had to run to Target to get a few last-minute party supplies.  Once I got back to the house, I collected the kids and we headed to church. 

I hadn't gotten Audrey dressed in her gown yet because I was a little nervous she might pick that outfit to have a major blowout diaper.  Thankfully, even after I changed her into her gown, she held off on the poop and had no issues whatsoever!


With her Honey. 


Parker was practicing his push-ups. Totally appropriate.


Sweet angel baby. 


Back of the bonnet.

 

Us!  Of course, the kids are not capable of looking at the camera. 

 

Me and my sweetie baby.  And my sweetie baby hairs.  Do you see them?  I had major post-pregnancy shedding and I have new hair growing back that is just kind of doing it's own thing all the time. 

Thankfully, the baptism was scheduled for early in the service.  I'm not sure we could have made it even a minute past when this all went down.  Audrey was past due for a nap, and Parker was not very happy that he couldn't sit with his daddy by the piano.  Ralph had us come up to stand while he read through the baptism service in the hymnal.  


Our lay leader, Doug, and Pastor Ralph.

  Our family--compact.  

She was soooooo sleepy. 

  
"What name has been given this child?"


"I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."

Post-baptism prayer. 


Blurry but had to include this.  After he baptizes babies, Pastor Ralph walks them up and down the aisle a few times and has the congregation sing to them.  Audrey was cooperative so it worked very well.  It's definitely a very sweet moment. 

Like I said, I had to leave the service immediately after we sat down.  Parker started crying actual real, sad tears because he wanted to be with Ry.  I knew Audrey was very tired anyway, so I took both of them to the parlor room in church and fed her and let her sleep for a little bit while Parker and I just talked.  When church was almost over, we re-entered the sanctuary and stayed for the five minutes that were left in the service.  

Audrey with Uncle Bryan, Uncle Paul and Granddaddy after church.  

At this point, we took a group picture.  That is another post all by itself.  Be excited for that one!

We had a little get-together at our house after church to celebrate, so everyone headed right on over.  We had tons of food and a really great time.  I was so happy to finally be able to relax that I didn't take that many pictures.


Of course, I got one of my cupcakes--haha. 


Opa loves this little girl!

 
Omi and Opa got Audrey the absolute sweetest little angel necklace.  Love it!

Hey, sweetie. 


Daddy and his girl. 


Audrey with Mona! 

All of the rest of the pictures were from Audrey's "official baptism portrait session" with me.  hahaha!  I wanted to get a few good ones of her in her dress because she will definitely never wear it again, and we have a canvas of Parker on the day he was baptized in the same spot in our living room.  I was pretty happy with the pictures.


  

  


Absolutely precious and so, so sweet.

Friday, January 25, 2013

Randoms


I took these pictures last weekend and just didn't seem to have time this week to go through them and edit.  I finally had a sliver of time today and took care of it. 


Little Miss can really keep herself occupied pretty well now.  We can sit her with a basket of toys and she likes to sit and take every last toy out.  She loves the monkey that's hanging out of the basket in this picture.

Notice how she's holding on to his tag on the left? 


She is getting better and better at pulling herself up to stand.  A little scary but so exciting!  


"Hey, Momma!  I'm being a good girl, I swear!"


Just chewing on the monkey's tail.  That and the tag are her two favorite parts.  

Last Sunday Audrey took her first bath in the sitting up position.  She never wanted to lay down anymore in the "infant" part of the tub.  She was very excited about sitting up and did her fair share of splashing!


Apparently she really likes chewing on the washcloth.  It's funny how different she looks with her hair wet and not standing straight up!  Also, I'm loving the toe sticking straight up.  I found a picture of myself as a baby with the same toe position.  Will have to share that soon. 


Splish splash!

As I've mentioned several times before, Audrey and Parker really do love each other so much.  Parker has been very gentle with his sister since she was born, but he has started to realize that she can take a little more aggressiveness in terms of playing.  He grabs her and pulls her on the floor (only a couple of feet) if she's crawling toward something she shouldn't be.  He will also grab her and pull her into his lap to "hold her."  This was their position watching a little TV the other day:

 Love them both sooooooooooo much. 

Monday, January 14, 2013

The Weekend

This past weekend was a very busy one for us.  On Saturday, we had a work party to go to near Richmond in the afternoon, so we traveled up to Short Pump in the morning to do a very tiny bit of shopping.  The trip there was great--both kids slept almost the entire way there.  We couldn't have asked for better cooperation from them! 

When we go to Short Pump, it's almost always on the way to go somewhere else or in conjunction with other stores, so I usually hit the same few stores kind of quick--Janie and Jack, Saxon Shoes, Pottery Barn Kids, Crate and Barrel, and the Gap.  This trip was no exception.  The only place I made a purchase was Janie and Jack for a few clearance pairs of socks and tights and one cute clearance summer outfit for Audrey.  I could drop soooo much money in that store--their clothes are so sweet and well-made.  Their regular prices are way too expensive, though, so the only purchases made there are well-clearanced (yes, it's a term--haha) items.  Here is the only decent photo taken from Saturday:


Me and my girl in the bathroom at Pottery Barn Kids!  haha.  Their bathroom is great for diaper changing.  

After Short Pump, we headed to the team party.  The trip there involved a few winding roads that really affected me for some reason.  I haven't felt that nauseous from a car trip for a long time.  We finally arrived at the party after about 30 minutes of driving and a stop at the grocery store.  It was a nice social gathering at the team leader's house for Ryan's work, and we stayed for a couple of hours before heading home. 

The kids both slept the entire way home, and I also slept for a good portion of it.  I still felt a little ill when we got back in the car, so it felt good to "sleep it off" and wake up feeling pretty refreshed.  We got home at about 5:30 and had to change and freshen up to go out to dinner with our some old but also new friends.  My mom and sister came over to watch the kids because they are awesome :), and we left to enjoy a really great dinner.  

Sunday was a "regular old Sunday".  Haha.  The only exception was that I was singing a solo in church, so I had to be there early with Ryan for the first service and then also attended the second service.  After church, we had lunch at Uncle Al's and headed home to finish taking down our Christmas decorations.  Seeing them all over the house was really stressing me out, but there had not been enough time to get them done before that!  The kids both took great naps, and when they got up it was basically time to go to Omi and Opa's for dinner.  Before we left, Audrey had a little floor time to practice her crawling. 

 
 

 At Omi's, Parker's thing right now is to play with Renee and I's old Lego's.  He absolutely loves them!  I tried to get a picture of him but they turned out a little blurry.  I will try again next week.  Usually he plays with them until it's time for us to eat, and Audrey just gets passed around from person to person during this time.  They all can't stand to hold her :) 


 
 
 Granddaddy sure does love his grandbabies!

Omi really outdid herself this week with the desserts.  I have been trying so hard to keep away from most desserts and sugar and have actually done pretty good.  Before I decided to do this, I told myself that I would allow myself to indulge just a little on Sundays.  So glad I made this rule beforehand because she had made my favorite dessert, Apple Cake, and had also made the most incredible banana bread I've ever had.  They were both so good that I felt compelled to photograph them!

 
Seriously amazing.  Yum.  When we got home, we got the kids in bed and settled in to watch a little bit of the Golden Globes and then Downton Abbey.  DA is our favorite show right now and truly lives up to all the hype around it!  It has turned into a great Sunday night "treat."  Another fun weekend completed! :)

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Audrey is Seven Months Old!

Audrey

You have actually been seven months old since last year, but the 29th fell on the Saturday of a busy weekend where getting your balloons for your pictures just didn't work out.  So these pictures were actually taken on January 6th.  I also didn't really get any "extras".  Not to worry, though, I will take plenty more of you this month I am sure.  Here's what's going on with you:

  • At the doctor's office last week, you weighed 16 pounds and about 14 ounces (can't remember exactly--bad mom!) and you were 28 inches long.  Growing much?  You are definitely a tall one but seem skinnier than your brother was at this age.  
  • Over the last month you've been diagnosed with having RSV as well as two double (or just one long, continuous) ear infections.  The only sign of sickness you've shown is coughing and having a runny nose.  We would have never known that you had one ear infected, let alone two, because your disposition has remained the same--happy and sweet!  
  • You wear a size 3 diaper, and I am currently in the process of changing your cloth diapers over to the next notches because they were too tight in the legs.  In general for clothes, you are wearing a 9 months size.  It's all for length!
  • You no longer use your pacifier AT ALL.  Yay!  This was not something we planned or forced in any way.  When you were super congested, we would try to give it to you and you got so mad.  We tried several times and you never wanted it, so we just stopped trying!  There has been no need for them at all, so I threw them all away.
  • You can officially sit up on your own (as evidenced in previous pictures from Christmas-haha)!  Right before Christmas, we worked on this "skill" and you caught on pretty quick with the assistance of us and the boppy pillow.  It's a new type of play that you like.  

This was the first time that taking these pictures really required a second person.  Thankfully your Daddy was there to help!  You kept trying to climb over the side and front of the chair, and  I was not within arm's reach when taking the pictures.  I was lucky to get the "official" picture above because most of them either looked like this picture.......or this one:


Tons of movement and not a lot of light!
  • You are almost crawling.  Like probably only a day or two away from full-blown crawling.  So exciting but WHOA crawling baby alert.  You've been doing a military crawl version where you use your arms to pull yourself forward, but in the last couple of days you've started with the getting on all fours and actually rocking to find your balance.  It's happening and you will be super-fast and super busy.  Eek!
  • You have been sleeping much better.  We've been putting you down for bed anytime between 6:30 and 7:30.  You usually wake up once before we go to bed and then one more time sometime in the middle of the night.  This is great improvement and I am so thankful for it!  
  • Your favorite toys right now are any that you're not supposed to play with.  haha!  I can put a bunch of your toys around you and you will turn around and look for one of Parker's choking hazard toys and start working your way over.  You really like to play with things that aren't toys at all, like cups or spoons from the kitchen.  You do like the little vanity I got for you and you also like the little teething-type items.  
  • Speaking of teeth, there are still none coming through.  That is all there is to say about that! 
  • We have been feeding you "solid" foods on a more regular schedule.  You're now having cereal three times a day with an accompanying vegetable or fruit.  So far, you've had bananas, peas, carrots, green beans and pears.  We've also given you a few puffs to feed yourself and you've eaten a few.  You haven't really been a major fan of any of it other than the cereal, and lately the cereal is hit or miss!  We will keep at it and I'm sure you'll come around soon.
  • You have started kicking your legs around in the bath and making a big mess!  Daddy doesn't like messes, and he's the one that gives you your bath, so you might need to tone that down a bit. :) 
You are our sweet princess and we love you so much!