Audrey is 15 Months Old!

I am so amazed at how fast Audrey is developing-- she is like a different kid every day!  Her vocabulary is exploding-- we hear a new word about every day or 2 days.  It's amazing!  Here's what life is like right now:

- first, words.  She is talking like crazy!  Here's what she can say now (new words are in bold type)
1. dada/daddy
2. dog (gog)
3. bye bye (die die)
4. play (pay)
5. mama
6. boat (this one is so adorable- every time a barge goes by she starts telling us!)

7. night night
8. all done
9. more
10.  mommy
11. snack (sounds like duck)
12. baby
13. uh oh  (said as she drops something, on purpose...again!) 



-She has learned how to stand from a sitting position without pulling up on something.

- She took her first steps on November 28, 2011, but isn't walking freely yet.  YET.

- She is in love with the Christmas tree but is very good about leaving it alone if I tell her not to touch it.  (MEANWHILE, Emily is NOT being very good about not touching the tree, lol!)

- She can do the motions to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star with me...love this!

- She dances ALL the time, whenever she hears any music.

- She had her Birth to Three evaluation last week and I have mixed feelings about it.  Despite the fact that we're still dealing with the swallowing issue, her skill level was too high and her needs were considered too low to qualify for the program.  I am not sure exactly what this means for us. Our insurance is likely not going to want to pay for another swallow study given that we have one that says she passed in September, but she obviously is still aspirating (since she still gets the nasty green nose, rattling chest, cough, etc., whenever she is given the wrong liquid to drink).  I was really hoping she would qualify for Speech Therapy through the Birth to Three program and she didn't.  :/  Our next appointment with the pediatrician is next Tuesday so I'll be eager to hear her thoughts on all this.

- She continues to be the sweetest, most loving child I have ever met.  I guess it's just that she and Emily are SO different in that respect- Audrey would gladly sit in your lap and play, whereas Emily would never have sat in a lap.  Even now it's hard to get Emily in my lap unless she really decides she wants to do it.  Audrey loves to cuddle and be held, doesn't try to get down, etc.  So sweet.  Also, this month she learned how to make a kissing noise so that is adorable.  I love it!

 - She has the BEST laugh.  Watch:




- She doesn't really like to swing.

That's all the news for now.  Stay tuned for holiday updates!! :)

Emily is 4 years and 1 month old!

I cannot believe how quickly the time is flying by.  It's almost December!  We are chugging along, enjoying our family and watching our sweet girls grow up.  Emily is 4 years and 1 month old now... how did that happen?? Here's what life is like with her right now.

- She has gotten extremely loving lately.  We, of course, love this, but it still catches us off guard a lot.  Nothing is sweeter than hearing her say, "Mommy, Daddy...I love you guys" completely unprompted.  Sweet girl.

- she LOVES riding her bike.  We have a bunch of great kids in the neighborhood and she has gotten to be good friends with them.  They all look out for each other and play outside when the weather is nice.  Looks like we have our own little biker gang out there. ;)

- she is being a bit more gentle with Audrey lately, which is nice.  We've had a lot of struggles with her wanting to hug Audrey too tightly, or trying to pick her up, help her walk, etc.  Audrey has decided she's not going to take it any more and has been rougher with Emily...oh dear. What's a mama to do? On one hand, I want Audrey to be gentle, but there's very little I can do to "punish" her for pulling hair, etc...on the other hand, I'm glad she's standing up for herself.  Double-edged sword for sure!

Somewhat gentle.

Judging by Audrey's face....not gentle.

- she likes dance class with Miss Melissa.  One week she even ran back into the studio and thanked Melissa (I didn't tell her to).  I was SO proud!

- she is OVER me taking her picture.  Can you tell? WHAT do I have to do to get a normal, non-strained, not ridiculous kind of smile???   :)

- she is becoming more empathetic-- always asking if we are ok, giving hugs if someone is hurt, etc.  It's very sweet.

- she's using words like definitely, actually, appropriate (yes, really), obey.... kind of funny to hear some of the words coming out these days!

- Some funny situations:
-- I was carrying a bunch of winter clothes into my room to put in the closet. Em looked at me and said, "You buyed all those new clothes for you?" I said I didn't and she totally didn't believe me and gave me such a hard time for having "buyed" new stuff....I swear, a Baby Paul if I ever knew one. ;)
-- she was looking through the Toys R Us catalog and said she wanted a Dora kitchen.  I explained that we already have a toy kitchen, so Santa probably wouldn't bring that.  She said the Dora kitchen could be "for Audrey" (clever kid!!)  I said that Audrey could just share Emily's kitchen.  Emmy said, "But Mommy, you know I'm not good at sharing!"
-- We have tried to institute a chore chart where she earns stickers for doing chores (making her bed [I help], brushing teeth in AM/PM, cleaning up her toys in AM/PM, and doing her breathing treatments in AM/PM).  After so many stickers, she earns a dollar. (If you want to get right down to it, each sticker is worth 10 cents).   On the first day I asked her if she wanted to earn some money.  She got very excited and said she did, so I said, "OK, come and help Mommy do a couple of things real quick."  She stopped dead in her tracks and said, "No, that's ok...I'm going to go watch my shows and you can just do it."  haha!  Also, another day she informed me that she "doesn't care about stickers and money".  She is too much, I swear.

We are super excited for the upcoming holidays- lots of fun things happening around here!  Stay tuned and as always, thanks for checking in on our girls!

Audrey is 14 Months Old!

Audrey Grace is just growing like a little weed lately! Hard to believe another month has passed. We have been super busy this month (as always) and have had such a great time with our sweet girl.  Here's what's happening this month:

- she is still pulling up all over the place but has yet to take her first steps.

- she can almost stand up alone (not from a seated or crawling position, but once she's pulled up on something else she will let go with both hands).

- she loves hull-less popcorn.

- she is trying to say more words this month- so far she has:
1. dada/daddy
2. dog (gog)
3. bye bye (die die)
4. play (pay)
5. mama

It seriously melts my heart to hear her using real words. She babbles ALL the time but it's nice to actually know what she's saying sometimes!

- she loves to play in Emily's room when we are home alone during the day...shhhhh!! :)

- she loves opening and closing all the drawers/doors in the kitchen.

- she is getting a little less sensitive about me telling her 'no' now...only crying SOME of the time, not every time.

- she plays peekaboo.

- if you ask her how big she is, no matter what she's doing, she'll raise her arms up to show you. Precious!

- she can walk all over the house with her push toys.

- she is an extremely messy eater.

- she is wearing size 5 diapers now.

- she is still napping 2 times per day, most days, although occasionally we can cut out the morning nap if we're running errands.


- she gets very excited to see the kids at church, Emily, Paul, and my in laws... kicking her legs and shrieking.  It's so cute to watch her!

- she is still very cuddly, thank goodness.  Earlier this week she fell asleep in the car and I carefully took her out and was carrying her to her room and she was awake but snuggled up to me...melted my heart.  She is just so precious.

- she LOVES going for rides in the pink car, and especially loves when Emily will ride her bike with us.  She adores Emily.

- she was the cutest peacock I've ever seen for Halloween.  She also hated the headband I made her wear for Halloween day. ;)

- she drinks through a straw cup.

- she is absolutely in love with my cell phone and will steal it at every opportunity.

That's all for now.  Be sure to check out the photos in the Audrey- Month 14 album for more pics! :)