15 Months

2 feet, 5 inches
(I've been rocking my tiny Toms a lot lately, thanks Aunt Sarah!)

Alright guys, here I am again to give you some important updates. I realize I'm a little late, and I blame it on my mom. She's been too busy with house projects to help me with my post. So, how about we just jump right in with some details on things that are rocking my little world right now.

#1 Bubbles. Love them. They almost make me want to crawl. Instead I just scoot in a circle and reach my arms as far as they go. Good enough.

#2 My farm magnets. Especially when the pig snorts at me. Makes me giggle every time (and my mom's got a video to prove it.)

#3 Relaxing. I've recently discovered the joy of kicking back with my feet up on the table. True comfort.

I'm also a big fan of relaxing on the couch. Especially while watching PraiseBaby. And I've been getting to watch a fair share of that lately. One day my parents both got sick and took turns napping while the other got to lay on the couch and watch my videos on repeat. It was a pretty awesome day. Then I got sick and have been having to do a lot of nebulizer breathing treatments, and I seem to have negotiated a deal with them that I'll be still and keep my mask on only if I get to watch my show. Not bad. But here's me just chillin' with my milk:

#4 Credit cards. My mom has been letting me hand the cards to the check out person at the grocery store for a while now, and we all think it's pretty cute. Now I know it's my job, so I can even open her wallet and get the cards out myself. Then I learned that at Sam's Club I have to give them two cards. Big responsibility! Here I am waiting patiently while the people in front of us finish checking out. Yes, I kept my hands up the whole time. I didn't want to mess up!

#5 Reading. It's been a favorite pastime for a long time, and my special reading chair makes it even better. Here I am with my bedtime stories. (And check it out, I can even read upside down!)

I also decided this month that getting my diaper changed is a perfect opportunity to get in a little extra reading. This book is Pat The Bunny, one of my personal favorites. Those two kids can do so many things...

#6 Basketball. My little bathtub hoop is pretty much awesome. I can put all sorts of things in it. Put everything in, take everything out, repeat 10x... That's my routine, and I'm sticking with it.

#7 Talking to Grandma on Skype. Here's a screenshot of me giving her a cheesy grin:

And here's me typing her a special message when she couldn't answer:

#8 Stickers. These beautiful pieces of art are from Carina. I'm kind of fascinated by them and like to point at all the shiny stickers. Then the other day I decided to put some stickers all over Mama while I was sitting on her lap. We thought it was pretty hilarious. We just went to Michaels yesterday and got me hundreds more stickers to play with, so, Carina, get ready for some awesome art headed your way!

#9 My chalkboard. It's the side of a kitchen cabinet which means it is right at my level. As you can see here Mama joined me in some doodles, but I dominated that lower right corner.

#10 Walking. But only while holding both hands! If you let go of one I'll either stand there and panic or sit down refusing to move another inch. I've got balance issues, what can I say? 

#11 Pointing. I point at everything. I don't even know why half the time.

#12 Feeding myself with my spoon or fork. It's a little messy, and takes a while but I'm getting pretty good (as long as Mama helps me get the food on the spoon/fork...that's the tricky part.)

#13 The sound of a the garage door opening. That means Daddy is home! I give a squeal and do a little jig. I just can't help myself.

#14 When my parents make goofy faces. Believe me, you would think it's funny too.

#15 Dogs. We have several that live with our neighbors, and watching them run around their yards is mesmerizing. Just hearing them bark from inside our house is enough to get me excited. I even learned to say "woof" because I want to communicate with them so badly. (sometimes, though, I just get out the "ffff" sound.)

#16 Food with strong flavors. I'm especially digging tuna, pickles, and garlic hummus right now. And I think I could happily eat bananas every day of my life.

#17 Hugging my mom's knees. Physical touch is my love language. (Oddly enough, this is also the position I take when I'm throwing a fit, just not quite so lovingly. I've definitely got a feisty side...)

look! hair!

Words:

I mentioned that I can say the word "woof" now. Well, I also say "uh oh". And I use it quite liberally. 

It sure does sound like I ask "what's this" a lot, but that would be impressive. My parent's still answer me, though. So that's nice.

Here is a list of more words I understand but don't say yet:

-giraffe, socks, nose, belly (will point to all of those, I've almost got ears and eyes too) (Mom's side note: when we ask her where her belly is she lifts up her shirt to poke it and then stares at it in disbelief and pats it like she's amazed that it's so big. We're right there with you, Babe.)

-yes, please, thank you, amen (my amen is just two forceful claps instead of the real sign language motion that I learned at Bible study, but good enough)

-gentle (my parents have me stroke their face softly when I am too rough with my hands, and now when they say "gentle" I know what to do.)

-dog

-hug, dance, wiggle, splash (yep, I'll do all of those on command, most of the time)

-milk (I finally know sign language for milk, and I'm getting pretty close on please, and thank you.)

And here are some random things I do:
- I know how to put the stars back on my stacker. I hadn't played with it for a while, then we brought it out and I stacked them like I'd known how to do it all my life. I can put the pegs in my pound-a-peg board too, and I'm getting better with some of my puzzle pieces. (I'm a fine motor girl, not large.)
- I know that my socks and shoes go on my feet, but try as I might I can't seem to put them on myself.
- I like to pretend to put lotion and hand sanitizer on when I dig them out of my diaper bag. Rub, rub, rub! I was entertained by this game for at least 20 minutes on my last plane flight.
- I like to sniff. I sniff flowers, my parents, food, or nothing at all. It's an underrated sense.
- I also like to blow my nose. Or at least pretend to do what Mama's doing with her tissue. And then I shred mine to pieces. That's even more fun.
- I like to trick my mom into thinking I'm going to sleep on the carpet, then I lift my head and giggle and show her that I was just pretending. She might have me figured out after the 17th time in a row.
- I know how to put Mama's watch on (not clasp it though). She thinks it's pretty funny that our wrists are practically the same size. See:

it is a little loose, but not much

Now for some things I especially dislike:

#1 I hate, hate, double hate the NoseFrida snot sucker. My mom just started using this torture device this month and loves how well it works, but I scream and writhe and twist and kindly ask her to just let me practice blowing my nose again. (Jamie, start young on Finn, and maybe you'll get him used to it. For his sake I'm sorry my mom recommended it.)

would you want someone sticking that thing up your nose and sucking your brains out? I didn't think so.

#2 My nebulizer. Unless I get to watch PraiseBaby. Then I tolerate it.

#3 Cantaloupe and strawberries. Mom says I'm missing out. We'll see if I come around.

#4 Saying "please." Hence why we're going with sign language for this one. All my parents want is a verbal "p," but I just can't do it and it makes me frustrated. I'm afraid they're going to withhold the food if I can't perform, and it gets me all tongue-tied (and angry). 

#5 Planes. Well, maybe not all planes, but the two that we were on for our last flight to CA were not my favorite. They made me drench myself and my mom in vomit 5 times. (Lucky dad got to miss out on this one.)  It was pretty awful. I've probably got a 75% record of puking on planes. But, then again, I puke on land as well, so maybe I shouldn't blame the planes. 

Speaking of pukes, I think my stomach has begun to figure things out! Since coming back from CA I've had two separate 1 week stretches with no vomits! Pretty impressive since we were used to losing at least one (often more) meals a day. I think I was 7 months old the last time I was puke-free for so long. Fingers crossed I can keep it up!

No that I've mentioned that trip to CA, let me fill you in on what that was all about. I got to go to my first wedding! It was for my mom's cousin, but unfortunately I was too chatty (ok, maybe fussy) through the actually ceremony, so my mom and I stood in the back and I missed out on some of what was going on. I still loved it, though. Especially because they had a little toy boat that I got to ride on once it was over. And I got to wear a fancy dress (given to me by my great-aunt and uncle when I was born) and see some of my favorite people. Then I hung out with a nice babysitter while my mom got to party and eat really yummy food.

See that awesome outfit on the guy in the background? The theme was Bermuda and almost all the guys came dressed in the traditional Bermuda suit. If anyone reading this has pictures of our guys in their attire feel free to pass it along. My mom decided not to take any pictures for some reason.

Oh yeah, and I'm chewing on my finger in that last picture because my 11th tooth just came in. It's the first one that's come in without it's mate, so hopefully we'll be expecting #12 soon.

The day after the wedding my mom went to San Diego to celebrate the upcoming birth of my future husband. He's making his debut in June, and I can't wait to meet him.

I got to hang out with my grandparents, aunts, and uncle that day. I was a good girl. I got to play catch, sit on lots of laps, and even empty the entire contents of Aunt Marie's purse. She's got a lot of cool stuff in there. I held each item up to my forehead when I got it out so I could use my sixth sense to determine what it was. 

We left the following day to go home and see Daddy, and I am pleased to report that I did not let the plane get to me on the trip back. No vomits and lots of napping. That's much easier for everyone, especially the poor folk sitting next to us. But I don't think I'll be on a plane again for a couple months...until that nightmare trip out can be fully erased from my mom's memory. Good thing I'm so cute and funny that things like that don't linger for long.

Alrighty, that about does it. Hope everyone's enjoying their spring weather as much as I am! Talk to you later :)

Audrey

Easter!

Easter was such a joy-filled day for us. And, as you'll see my the number of pictures below, I had a great time trying to capture some of that joy. 

The day began with Ryan heading to church early to practice with the worship team (which he recently joined. Learning ten songs between the Good Friday and Easter services kept him busy for a while, but we have loved getting to listen to him practice at home). Audrey loved seeing him up there and was a good girl during worship before getting to go play with her friends in the nursery. 

When we got home our brunch went in the oven and Audrey had her lunch. I had been putting most of her food in Easter eggs for a while, and she just thought it was great fun to open it up and find the goodness inside:

Mmmm. Tangerines!

Finished that side.

Now time for the other.

This is just too yummy.

I seriously love it!

Want some, Daddy?

How about you, Mama?

Okay, the rest is for me :)

(On Monday she decided that she still preferred her food in eggs, so she grabbed an empty one off the table next to her and began to fill it with her string cheese. Silly girl.)

I also couldn't resist making her her very own mini banana bread. 

(The ground flax seed substitution for eggs is a life-saver!)

She was quick to discard of the useless bunny topper.

Get that out of here...

Now, let me take a look at this...

Oooo, it's sweet and sticky.

How can I expedite this process?

Daddy, will you help me?

Sure, I'll gladly demonstrate.

Now you try.

Excellent!

Are you positive that you're ok with me having all this?
Because I'm ready to stuff my face...

And then, like the good little bunny that she is, she eagerly ate all of her carrots.

She was goofing around with Daddy making a BIG  mouth :)

Then is was time for her nap and our lovely brunch date in the dining room. We don't have many meals without her anymore, so it was really nice to get a good leisurely hour to eat and talk. When she woke up from her nap she was really cranky and ended up wanting to go back down for another hour. No complaints there... Except that I kept watching the rain clouds roll in and was certain we were going to miss our chance to take her outside for a little Easter egg "hunt." Luckily, she woke up before the rain started, so we got to do this: 

If you could see her face you would know that she wasn't exactly loving this.

It was another case of the "I'm-not-a-fan-of-new-experiences" thing she's got going on.
The grass, the prickly bush, it was just a bit too much.

Finding yogurt melts in the egg helped.

Want some, Daddy?

Then it was back inside to check out her Easter basket! 

It had some cute books from Target's dollar bins, a slinky (also from the dollar bin), some shirts and sandals bought on sale a year ago (not originally intended for her Easter basket), eggs filled with Cheerios, goldfish crackers, & yogurt melts, and her first chocolate bunny! The basket itself was a re-purposed one I have had for a while, but even with everything being cheap and kind of pieced-together last minute I think it turned out cute :)

For a while, all Audrey cared about were the eggs:

shake, shake, shake

I'm such a pro at this Easter egg thing.

I think I'll have another one.

Until she discovered the slinky:

What is this crazy thing?

Then the shaking began. At first it was with a very serious face like she was really concentrating on figuring out what it was all about. 

Then it slowly changed into a big grin once she realized that it's just about shaking, and that's what she does best.

And then we introduced her to chocolate :)

I think it's safe to say she was a fan.

She got so into the ears we were worried she would end up biting them off, so we flipped it around and she gnawed on the feet for a while. 

wash it down.

The eggs and books didn't hold such an appeal anymore after realizing they don't taste like chocolate.

Then we did a little photo shoot inspired by last year.

2.5 months old

She's grown a bit :)

blowing a kiss

and a kiss for her bunny

Quite possibly my favorite picture to date :)

We ended our day with a family reading of the Easter story in Audrey's Jesus Storybook Bible. It's such a great Bible for kids and adults. We love it. We can't wait until next year when she can begin understanding a bit more of what the day is really all about. Because, as much as I love the eggs and bunnies, my kids are going to know that we are really celebrating our resurrected Christ. In the words of the final song Ryan sang at church:

Christ is risen from the dead

Trampling over death by death

Come awake, come awake

Come and rise up from the grave

Christ is risen from the dead

We are one with him again

Come awake, come awake 

Come and rise up from the grave

Oh death, where is your sting?

Oh hell, where is your vicotry?

Oh Church, come stand in the light.

The glory of God has defeated the night.

Oh death, where is your sting?

Oh hell, where is your victory?

Oh Church, come stand in the light.

Our God is not dead. He's alive, He's alive!