Beach Day One!

We went down to the beach last Thursday but didn't actually make it to the ocean until Friday. Having a baby who has herself on a pretty strict schedule makes things a little less flexible than they used to be!

Audrey LOVED the sand, the waves, the pool, the wind, everything! We had been warned that she may not be too keen on it so we were ready to spend lots of time in the pool if necessary-- not necessary! Next year may be a different story!

Audrey and her Grandaddy at the indoor pool.

Beach Bound

We took off for Audrey's first trip to the beach last Thursday! We stopped at Granny and Paw Paw's to drop off Sweet Pea and for Audrey to get a chance to move her legs a bit before we continued on to San Destin. She loves to play in the rocks that my mom has out by the back porch so we spent a good amount of time back there just letting her play. Then it began to rain and we just let her keep on playing! She had so much FUN!! She especially LOVED trying to catch the rain as it fell off the roof of the porch! She was so stinkin' CUTE out there!!



More beach to come...

12 month check-up

We took Audrey to have her 12 month check-up today. She weighs a whopping 19 lbs 6 ounces and is 27 3/4 inches long. She is a petite little thing! While we were there, she recieved 3 scheduled shots as well as a flu shot. We have to take her back in a month to get another "booster" shot for the flu. Dr. L said that she was doing well and that she was "perfect", we agreed!

Headed to the doctor!
I had a ton of questions for him though! I asked him about feeding her (he said to focus now on food--not milk), bottles (he wasn't concerned about when she gave up the bottle-- he said not to stress about it. I LOVE HIM!), the H1N1 flu (not really worried about that either), her weight, her height, etc. (she's fine). Overall, the trip relieved some of my worries.

I did let him know that I was a bit worried about Audrey not eating any meat and he said that it was very common for children her age to not eat meat. He also said that one of his girls survived on cereal when they were her age. Basically-- she is getting what she needs! It was so much easier to feed her when she was strictly on a bottle. I knew exactly how many ounces she was eating and I didn't have to worry if she was getting balanced meals. Now, all I worry over is if she is getting enough veggies, fruits, etc. After seeing him though, I have calmed down a bit. I also worry about just giving her processed foods to eat but the child LOVES macaroni and cheese! She would eat it for every single meal if I were to put it in front of her. I'm working on coming up with more balanced, nutritious options for her. That is hard work for someone who doesn't COOK!! I'm learning though!

Big Girl Car Seat

Audrey got a big-girl car seat for her first birthday! We went to the fire department today and had the old one taken out and the new one installed. It was a bittersweet day for me. I know that is silly but I am a sentimental type...

Here the big girl is in her "baby" car seat. This is the pumpkin seat she was in when we brought her home from the hospital. Sniff. Sniff.


..And here she is in her big girl seat. She wasn't exactly fond of it to start with! She missed her old seat! She loves it now, though! It has a lot more cushion in it than her pumpkin seat does!

Happy Birthday, Dear Audrey

Audrey was born exactly one year ago today. She weighed 7lbs 6oz and was 21.5 inches long. She was perfect and still is!

First Birthday Party

Audrey will be one on August 21st. She shares her birthday with my Mother-in-law and my niece, Laura. Since that would be 3 celebrations in one weekend, we decided to have Audrey's party this past weekend. Both sides of our families came together to celebrate our precious daughter! It was a great day!

You should be able to click on each picture to enlarge it-- I think.

Look closely.. Audrey is wearing a pearl necklace that we gave her when she was born. Each year we will add another pearl to the necklace. She now has two tiny pearls-- so precious!


We used my Granny's milk glass. I don't know of a better time to use it than at a baby girl's First Birthday Party!


Audrey, Meredith Grace and Laura all wore this smocked dress for their first birthdays! So sweet!

Audrey loved her smash cake! She started out by sticking one little chubby finger in the icing and after that first taste, she stuck her whole hand in!! When she was finished, there was barely any cake left on her plate. She shared what was left with her Great-Grandmother Matthews and her Daddy!


She received many nice gifts but I think she liked the wrapping paper and tissue paper the best! We are still playing with it today!


Friday will be Audrey's actual birthday and I can't wait to celebrate it with her even more. Maybe she can finish off the rest of her real birthday cake then?

We will be traveling home to visit and celebrate with Clay's mom on Friday night, and then for a LUAU for sweet little Laura on Saturday!

Mother's Day Out

Audrey started Mother's Day Out yesterday! She will go twice a week from 9:00-1:00. I can't believe what a big decision it was for us to send her. I have worried over this and prayed about it for months! I know that it is important for her social development to be around other children her age but even though I know that, it is still hard to send her to someone else! I have learned a lot about what my students' parents went through and the trust they put in me when they sent me their children everyday!

We went Monday night to "Meet the Teacher" and we were impressed with both of Audrey's teachers. They were very kind and loving and that is exactly how I want them to be! We had to drop Audrey off in her classroom and then go to the sanctuary for Parent Orientation. When we left her, she cried just as she does when we leave her at the nursery at our church. When we came back to get her, they had her in one of those kidney shaped tables with seats in it and she was stuffing her face with goldfish!! She looked like she was having a grand time!


Clay and I both left feeling very good about our decision. We like the facilities, the teachers, the director and the security. Even though I felt good about it, the worries didn't end. Now that I had actually met the teachers, I began to worry over other things.

For example: would they help her eat? They said I needed to send finger foods for her and that she needed to be able to feed herself. That's all fine and dandy for those other babies but MY BABY likes applesauce for lunch and she can't feed that to herself. I sent the applesauce anyway-- with a spoon. They either threw it away or they fed it to her-- who knows?? Another thing: they said I needed to send her a nap mat. Seriously?? My 11 month old is going to sleep on a MAT?? Apparently she did it! I can't believe it! So proud! I know you other mommas can symphathize with the nap mat stuff. They told me 2 days before school started that she needed it. So you can imagine how upset I was that I wasn't going to be able to find her a precious little Bailey Boys nap mat and have it monogrammed within an inch of its life! That turned out to be in the best interest of our wallets, however! I bought a mat from the school and I actually like it just fine! When we brought it out for Audrey, she knew exactly what to do with it. How did she know this?


Her daddy loved her nap mat also. He loves his sleep about as much as Audrey does!

Her actual first day of school went off pretty well. She did cry a bit more than she does at church but I listened outside her door and it didn't take long for her to settle down. When I came back to get her at 1:00, her teacher said she had a great day and that she slept well. She did say that Audrey fell asleep sitting in that kidney shaped table during lunch! She said she laid her head on the baby's shoulder that was sitting next to her! She's going to send me pictures of that! I think Audrey was having a good time because she was smiley and giggly when I got her. On her daily report, the teacher said she was "cheerful". Yes, she is a cheerful, happy little baby!


Ready to go play!

Mrs. Gwen and Audrey on the first day of MDO!
Overall, we are pleased with Audrey's response to the first day. We think she's going to love getting to go play with someone besides Momma for 8 hours a week. I am excited about what she is going to learn and the little bit of a break for me doesn't hurt either! I think I have already filled those 8 hours a week up between now and Christmas! Clay and I can't recall a time that I have been alone in our house for more than 30 minutes (when he took her to Wal-Mart one time) since she was born. What am I going to do with myself?? I miss her already but OH THE POSSIBILITIES!! I have a TO-DO list as long as my arm. I think that next Tuesday will be spent cleaning (unless someone asks me to lunch and then it will be drop everything and socialize! Just kidding, Clay. Sorta.) I am actually looking forward to cleaning my house! Imagine that!

Big Girl

My precious baby girl wore big girl pajamas for the first time this past weekend! We were a little sad that she will no longer have those cute little footed PJ's on but she still looks cute as pie in her big girl pajamas! Plus, it makes it a little easier to walk without the footies! :)


Notice her shirt says, "I love Daddy". Yes-- this girl LOVES her daddy!! Sunday before last, she was crying when we picked her up from the nursery. The nursery lady handed her to me but noooooo, she wanted her daddy! The nursery lady even said, "Oooh, she's a daddy's girl!" Broke my heart....

11 Months

Audrey turned 11 months old on July 21st. I apparently forgot to make her 10 month post so this one encompasses both 9 and 10 month news!

New tricks:
*She took two steps on July 6th, she officially started toddling on July 17th (10 months--almost 11).
*Can say momma, dada, hey, hi, bye, shish-ee (Sweet Pea)
*Responds with "ack" "ack" when asked what the "goose" says.
Her see-n-say makes that sound for the goose-- sounds like a duck to me but we'll go with it!
*When asked to point to her nose, points to her head. Will occasionally point to her actual nose but most often points to her head. We are not helping her with this because we think it's cute-- we need to get serious though because she really will think her head is her nose!

*Likes to stick her finger in tiny places-- momma's nose, daddy's nose, cracks in the sidewalk, floor vents, screw holes, you name it!
*Loves to play in the dishwasher. She will come running from wherever she is in the house when she hears you open the door. If she doesn't make it to the dishwasher before you close it, she will scream and cry!
*When she was 10 months old, she would throw herself to the floor when frustrated, she's now recently started flailing backwards. This is quite a sight to see!! She will also pull what I like to call a "Pillsbury dough boy"-- she becomes limp and that makes it hard to pick her up!
*Loves any kind of music and loves to dance-- even to the "chi", "chi" of the water sprinkler! She will bob her head every time she hears it!
*Still takes two naps a day-- one hour nap at 9:00 in the morning and a 2 hour nap at 2:00 in the afternoon. She sleeps from 7:30 p.m. to 7:30 a.m. at night. About once a week she wakes up at 7:00 a.m.
*Wants to hold a spoon and feed herself. She doesn't want me to help her but she doesn't have the fine motor skills to accomplish getting the spoon to the bowl and then to her mouth. She tries hard though! It makes meal time pretty interesting!
*Drinks 3, 8 oz BOTTLES a day. She WILL NOT hold her own bottle nor will she drink milk from a sippy cup. It must come from a bottle. She will drink water from a sippy, just not her milk!?!?
*Starts Mother's Day Out next week. Mother's Day Out program's start registering students for the fall in January or February of the year they want to attend. So in order to get Audrey enrolled for this year (09-10), I had to register her last February. She's going to one at a church that is 3 minutes from my house-- I love that! Part of the requirements for her to enter the Toddler I class (which she is registered for!) is that she must drink milk from her sippy cup, feed herself and walk. Well, this baby WON'T drink her milk from that sippy cup!! She wants momma and daddy to fix her bottle, get her pillow ready for her, lay her back and stroke her hair as she eats. She wants no part in having to hold that bottle herself! I'm not sure what we are going to do next week. The program is only 2 days a week from 9-1:00 so I guess she may just have to have her midday bottle a little late. She will feed herself finger foods and she walks pretty well now so maybe they will excuse her little no-sippy-cup drinking self!
*Hands out kisses much more selectively than when she first learned how to "kiss". Now, her daddy and I have to BEG to get a kiss! I think we must have burned her out on that!

*Tries to climb on everything. Hikes her little legs up and tries to find footholds where ever she can, luckily she's not too successful at finding them yet!
*Will tear a magazine apart in nanoseconds-- complete with eating all the corners!
*Likes for me to read books to her but likes to eat them even more.
*Loves people, will smile and laugh at anyone who will pay her the least bit of attention. Unless you are the nursery workers at church. As soon as we start to pass her to them she cries and cries!!
*Throws her hand up to wave and says "heeeeeyyyy" to random people when she is in her stroller and passes them.
*Likes to "shop". I take her everywhere with me and she is the sweetest thing! She never cries or gets fussy-- as long as there are people to see and she's not hungry-- she's good to go!
*Eats more and more food from the table. Loves cornbread sticks from John's City Diner and my momma's homemade mac-n-cheese. We gave her that last weekend while I was home and she stuffed herself FULL of it. Then when she was finished, she licked her hands clean just like a cat would do! I bought her some that you make out of a box but I have a feeling it won't be as good to her as momma's was!
*Weighs right at 20 pounds- according to our scales which are always more than the doctor's.
*Is wearing size 18 month clothing.
*Still loves to swim and play in the water-- likes to dip her face in and take a drink!

Thank Goodness!

Thank goodness Paw Paw knows how to grow watermelons!