Audrey is dealing with a random fever and we're really not sure what is going on. It started Tuesday night when her fever spiked to 102.9 and it's been a roller coaster of temperatures ever since. Fortunately she's not showing any other illness symptoms, but if she's still feverish in the morning we're heading in to the doctor to see if he can impart any wisdom on the situation. I'm sure it is nothing but I hate seeing my little S.B.G. so miserable.
I am really starting to fall behind on my blogging. Aside from dealing with a little sickie, we have had so much going on the last couple days and I really need to get it documented soon or I am sure to forget everything. Hopefully my parents will be coming in town this weekend (yay!) so I'm going to make a point to finish ALL my photo editing & blogging.
We had some friends come over for dinner tonight and we were hanging out on the back deck while the kids played with the sprinkler (more on that in another blog post). Audrey was busy squatting down picking up a toy boat (say that 5 times fast) and before we really even what happened, she stood up on her own for about 15-20 seconds! When she realized she was standing up she squatted back down again, but she did stand back up again for another 15-20 seconds! A huge round of clapping & cheering later, she immediately went back to crawling around like a speed racer & showed little signs of wanting to stand up any more, but I saw her stand with my own two eyes. And I had witnesses. And my iPhone.
Last night Audrey & I were getting ready for bed - changing into pajamas & having our ritual quiet time in the bedroom (reading books, playing with quiet toys, etc.) while she winds down at the end of the day. Miller/Daddy was giving the yard a quick mow so Audrey was more interested in the loud sounds coming from outside her window than she was in her books. She was being so adorable standing and watching Daddy out the window that I wanted to grab my camera and snap a picture or two. When I came back into the room with my camera in tow, she was suddenly more interested in the camera strap than she was in looking out the window. I couldn't get her to sit still to take a picture and she kept getting thisclose to the camera.
At least it's in focus.
We also checked out a new sprinkler park yesterday. It was met with a huge, "Meh." She still managed to get completely soaked, but I don't think she was entirely happy about the situation.
Lots of other updates coming soon (including those pesky birthday party pictures. They are done...I'm just collage-ing some of them together so the post isn't 57397 pages long.
Ugh. It was hot outside today. Luckily, I headed out to (yet another) sprinkler park to hopefully let Audrey have some fun in the water. Almost all of our previous attempts at sprinkler park action have been met with mixed reviews so I really wasn't expecting too much this afternoon...I didn't even bring a bathing suit! After a quick picnic lunch I let her have at it in "white trash" fashion (rocking a swim diaper & a t-shirt). Much to my surprise she loved every.single.second of it. She was crawling around and checking out all of the little sprinklers and even allowed herself to get splashed in the face a few times! I don't know what sparked the change in her attitude, but I am SO GLAD that we found a sprinkler park she enjoys. Hopefully this will translate to some of the other parks a little closer to home, but regardless I am glad we have found a place that we can mark off as a success.
Of course, I didn't have my camera with me today -- I assumed it was going to be a bust and didn't even bother grabbing it as I left the house this afternoon -- but I managed to snap a single picture with my iPhone.
Look at her having a blast! Love it!
Birthday pictures are done -- I'll blog about the party eventually.
After a crazy, jam-packed weekend Monday morning was almost a relief. Almost.
It wasn't until after her bath today that I realized I still hadn't taken Audrey's LAST (::sob::) monthly picture!! The last little sticker came out of the package and what a bittersweet moment it was. I'm sad that this cute little monthly ritual is over, but I'm honestly GLAD that I don't have to remember to take these damn pictures anymore. She is WAY too mobile these days to try and get a picture of not only her face but a sticker on her shirt, too. But fear not, my friends - I persevered and got a couple cuties.
Well, little S.B.G, we made it. 12 long, but seemingly quick little months. I absolutely boggles my mind that literally one year ago today we were settling in for our first night home from the hospital with your teeny, tiny little self. We have all come so far and I'm so excited to see where we are headed. Cheers to you, S.B.G. You're pretty awesome.
Little S.B.G. turns the big oh-one tomorrow and I have been up to my eyeballs in birthday party prep. It was days like today that I am actually thankful that I am unemployed & have awesome parents (and in-laws) that will keep the almost-one-year-old occupied the entire day while I literally go from one end of town to the other crossing off the 6749275967363759 things on my list.
There are only a handful of things remaining on the list that will (hopefully) get crossed off tomorrow before go-time and then it is time to kick back, stress the entire party that everyone is having a good time relax, and celebrate our little one!!
Audrey is 11 months, 4 weeks old & 1 day old (and will be 1 TOMORROW!!!)
Maybe not everywhere, but she was definitely soaked.
Audrey's latest birthday present arrived today (thanks, 阿婆 & Grandpa!!) and we wasted absolutely no time whatsoever getting it all assembled & set up on the back deck. She was a little apprehensive at first; only dabbling a couple fingertips...
...but before I even knew what was happening, she was splashing & squealing & loving every second.
I am so glad she enjoyed the table -- it is sure to get a lot of use during the hot, hot summer!!
Audrey is 11 months, 3 weeks old & 4 days old (and will be 1 in 5 days).
Little S.B.G. is going to be one in a week. Seven days. NEXT Saturday. Ho.Le.Crap.
Not much has really been going on in Audrey-land (except for frantic, crazy, first birthday party planning). It was kind of overcast and gloomy the last couple days so we pretty much confined ourselves at home. After the crazy playdate-filled last couple weeks, it was a welcome change to just hang out at home in our pj's most of the day.
The sun finally decided to make an appearance today, so Miller & I took Audrey to the pool for some legitimate water action instead of the usual sprinkler-park action I keep trying to impose on her. The pool was met with mixed emotions...she was okay sitting in the shallow end, but really didn't want to do much else. Any attempts on our part to get her to play with the sprinklers & other kiddie "attractions" were met with little enthusiasm. Unfortunately I forgot to bring my camera, so there are no pictures -- but we are definitely going to keep trying. It's only going to get hotter outside so trips to the pool are most definitely going to kick into high gear as the summer progresses.
After getting home and pretending to take a nap, Audrey was milling around the house in her typical fashion doing pretty much everything but play with her toys. She has a room FULL of toys and she is more interested in Riley's tiny toybox of goodies.
One of Audrey's favorite things these days is to stand & bang on look out the windows. The window sills are just the right height for her to pull up and she's got a great view of the trees where the squirrels are always hanging out.
I've always been curious as to what it looks like from the other end, too.
Audrey is 11 months, 3 weeks old & 2 days old (and will be 1 in 7 days).
Plans for her birthday party have kicked into overdrive - as fast as I can cross something off the list and attempt to breathe a small sigh of relief, 58395 new things are added. Fortunately most of the stuff on the list include items that are 100% absolutely necessary not that important for her party to be a smashing success.
Our soon-to-be-one-year-old doesn't seem to notice that she's getting any older and fills her days with pretty much the same stuff we do every other day. Her babbling is really starting to kick into high gear - lots of "dadadadadada" (why not "mamamamama"????) and you can really see her little sponge-of-a-brain absorbing everything around her. She still chases Riley around the house desperate for him to play with her; Riley still hasn't forgiven her for all the hair & ear pulling - although there have been ever so brief moments where it looks like he's mustering up the strength to give her a second chance. We remain hopeful. She still isn't standing unassisted and freaks her freak when I try to let go so it's clear that she isn't ready yet, but if you hold her hands and walk with her you can pretty much get her up to a run. She still only prefers about 4 books off her bookshelf and is perfectly happy reading them over & over (& over & over). And her favorite toy of the moment? A $.49 moose we picked up from IKEA.
We've continued Skype-ing with my parents and Audrey really looks forward to her regular chats with 阿婆 & Grandpa.
Other than that, things are pretty much status quo. I wanted to snap a couple candids of Audrey playing this morning and as soon as she heard the camera beep, this is what I got:
What. A. Ham.
Audrey is 11 months & 3 weeks old (and will be 1 in 9 days).
I had full intentions of posting this yesterday, but Blogger was down most of the evening. BOOOOO.
So, I am officially 30. Does it make me old? Or is 30 the new 20? Either way, I really couldn't care less. I turned 30 yesterday (officially at 11:15PM, thankyouverymuch) and it was awesome. I had an AMAZING weekend with the hubs, spent some time with my parents (and gave them the gift of 24-hours of Audrey time), and capped of the day with some kickass family time - just the 4 of us. [And by four I mean Miller, me, Audrey and Riley. Can't forget about the Duder.]
I am so thankful for everything that Miller put into my birthday plans. I threw him for a major loop when I kept going back & forth on whether or not I was ready/willing/able to spend the night without Audrey (for the first time!!). It wasn't until just a couple weeks ago that I was willing to commit - with the caveat that we had to stay in Austin in case I freaked my freak and needed to go home. So Miller cashed in some hotel credits and got us a room at the luxurious & über-swanky Four Seasons Austin. We left Audrey in my parents' ever-capable hands and spent the afternoon lounging by the pool.
How could we not, right???
After a relaxing afternoon, we got all fancied up and enjoyed an INCREDIBLE meal at Restaurant Jezebel. It was one of the best meals I've had in a really long time, and I absolutely loved that it was a small, quiet atmosphere where Miller & I could actually have (and enjoy) conversation - some of which may or may not have included our beloved S.B.G. After lots of good food, great wine, and an incredible dessert involving Johnny Walker Black ice cream (that was so good Miller appropriately said, "I would punch someone in the face for this ice cream") we lazily walked back to the hotel.
I will admit that I had a bit too much wine and promptly passed out upon our return to the hotel so the "I miss Audrey and can't sleep" was kept to a minimum, but I did sleep pretty restlessly. Let's blame the wine.
After sleeping in (hellooooo 9:30!) we packed up our stuff and headed out to breakfast at Juan in a Million. We were prepared for a wait (because, let's face it - there is always a wait) but we were promptly seated after 4.3 seconds. Awesome. Breakfast was amazing and we immediately headed home to spend the rest of the day with S.B.G.
After she woke up from her (longass) afternoon nap, we took Audrey's new cozy coupe for a spin (an early birthday present from 阿婆 & Grandpa)...
Headed out to enjoy the sprinklers at the Domain...
And went to the neighborhood park for a summer ice cream social. Audrey got a couple bites of strawberry ice cream (yummy!) and had a BLAST swinging in the swings. As evidenced by her infectious laughter/squeals.
I used the excuse of going to the park to finally try out a back carry using the mei tai and even though you can't see her entire face, it's pretty clear that Audrey loved it.
And if you're still reading this...wow. If it's not obvious enough, I had an AWESOME birthday. My 30th birthday was great & I am so very, very blessed to have been able to spend it with my awesome hubby & freakishly awesome daughter (and to have my parents around was nice, too!). If this is any indication of what birthdays will be like going forward, then I am ready to keep getting older!!! :)
Miller & I decided to take our friends up on their invitation to spend the weekend at their lake house on Lake LBJ. I was a little apprehensive about carting us, baby, dog, and all necessary gear for a three day weekend - sure, we've driven to Houston a million times and stayed at my parents' house with baby & dog in tow. But there are a lot of comforts of home that are already there that make our trips a lot easier. Shoot. We even keep a stash of dog food at their house so we have one less thing to bring!
But we packed up the truck (and we surprisingly didn't have to bring that much stuff - I think our days of overpacking for the baby are happily over) and headed out. It was a glorious weekend filled with sun, sand, boating, lake time, beer, friends, food, baby laughs, not that much sleep, games, happy dogs, happy babies & happy parents. .....and now for the pictures.
On Saturday we headed out on the boat for a little sandbar around the corner and let the kids & dogs out to play in shallow water. Audrey was initially a little apprehensive about the water and really wasn't sure about the whole water/sand combination.
We eventually made the decision to take the life jacket off (the water was really shallow and we were going to be near her at all times) and it was clearly the right choice.
Audrey had a BLAST crawling up/down the sand bar while the water splashed all around her. I have never heard so many squeals of delight in such a short amount of time.
And after all the crawling was done, Audrey was perfectly content sitting & playing in the sand.
On Sunday it was more of the same, but Audrey was less than thrilled with the idea of playing in the water (again) so we just spent the afternoon hanging out on the boat (in the shade).
Safety First...don't forget the sunscreen!!
Love them. ♥
All in all it was a GREAT weekend. I am so glad Audrey handled the weekend like a champ and really made it an enjoyable experience for everyone.
