Not my best morning, but I'm still the BEST girl

Rough morning.  I don't know what this crying-it-out thing is all about, but mama decided to give it a go this morning.  Ugh.  What a mess!  I usually cry for barely a minute when in comes daddy on his white horse to whisk me away to mommy.  Sure, I've been waking up earlier and earlier the past few days, and sure, I could tell mommy didn't love that, but is 5:30 really that much earlier than 7?  The chirping birds outside my window don't seem to think so.  Mommy finally got me at 6, but I was just so upset at that point that it didn't help.  Around 6:45 I finally gave up and napped until 7:45 when mama and I dragged our sleepy and worn-out selves out of bed and off to Haven's house for our weekly play-date.  I was in serious need of cucumber slices on my poofy eye-lids.  Ugh.

After Haven's we came back home for lunch and by then I had gotten over myself.  I got to sit in my newly painted big-girl high chair.  Mommy and daddy found this chair at a yard sale before I was born.  Daddy recently finished stripping the old paint off and grandpa Lenny painted it orange this past weekend.  I feel like a really big girl sitting in my chair and feeding myself while mommy fixes her own lunch.  #proudmonkey

Grandparents Visiting = Mommy Takes a Break

I loved having my grannie Annie and grandpa Lenny visit for the weekend and I hated to see them go.  Other than my commissioning, we had a wonderfully lazy weekend together.  I stayed up way past my nap time just so I could hang out.  Look at this tired face!

Grannie fed me oranges, chicken, cheese, and olives, she couldn't believe how much I ate!

Grandpa played with my toys and me.  I kept a close eye on that furry face of his, because every time he goes in for a kiss it tickles me!

And daddy painted the living room with the help of kitty kitty samo.

I don't know what mama did.  I guess she just took a couple of days off... and I can't say I blame her!

Pickin and a Grinnin

All of the time I spent picking at little specks on the carpet has paid off.  I was able to pick up pieces of chicken and feed myself dinner last night so efficiently that mama didn't have to feed me half of it herself.  This is a major mile stone in the world of a hungry baby.  Woop!  In fact, she could hardly fill my tray up with chicken as fast as I was eating it.

Mama also caught on to the fact that my legs have gotten a little long for my 6 month jammies, so she finally packed them up and brought out some new ones in the next size up... I'm so big :]

Commission Accomplished

Today was a really big day for me.  I was commissioned to God by my parents, family, and friends at our church.  The kids pastor gave a short gospel message, then each baby was introduced with his or her parents while their "life verse" was read aloud.  Next, family and friends gathered to pray and at the end we just mingled over snacks.  

My parents used the meaning of my name as inspiration for my life verse and prayer.  Audrey means "noble strength" and Alexandra means "defender of man."

My life verse is Exodus 15:2 "The Lord is my strength and my song and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him."  

The prayer that my daddy wrote for me says, "Dear Lord, please let Audrey grow up in the love of Christ, and let that love be her confidence and strength.  We pray that you would gift her abundantly to be an encourager, helper, and defender of those in need.  We pray that you would fill her with joy in your presence always, and that she would be a delight to you.  Let us, her parents, be obedient to your lead in her life and let us increase in love for each other, for Audrey, and for you."

The people that came to celebrate with me today were my parents, my grannie Annie and grandpa Lenny; my great grandparents Maurice and Paula; uncle Ryan, aunt Joy, and my beautiful cousin Olivia; Shelly Stewart; Tiffany and Matt Oettinger; Paul and Karen Manning; Bradd, Candace, and Oliver Nichols; Lance, Anita, and Sabena Molby; Jessica, Jon, and Levi Thommarson; and Josh and Carrie Hames.  Shelly and Eric Slonecker and Ashley and Ethan Welch were also there commissioning their awesome babies Marlee Joy and Nora.  

One last thing that made this day extra special was that I wore a dress that was my mommy's back when she was the cutest baby on the block.  Forgive me for all of the pictures, but it's easy to get carried away when it comes to playing dress up :]

Big G little g, What Begins with G?

Grannie is in town for my commissioning at church tomorrow and we went to the salon to get her a new 'do.

Late Night Play Date

When I woke up from my evening nap today my neighbor Averie was at my house.

Her mommy and daddy must have just dropped her off so she could play with me for a little while... how fun!

I showed Averie how to properly chew on toys.

Averie showed me how to share.

I showed Averie how to scoot around on her belly.

Averie showed me how to crawl on my knees.

We ended the night with our pacis, pink blankies, and Alex Trebek.

Kisses in the Morning

I'll Get You My Kitty

Milestone Mania: Waving and Pulling Up

Yesterday I gave daddy my very first wave.  Mommy and I were sitting on the curb across the street watching him chop down the pompos grass and I waved at him very excitedly.  I was really proud of myself and so was everyone else.  Daddy took a video of me, but he's waving too so it's kind of hard to tell if I'm really waving or if the camera is just shaking :)

Then today I pulled up for the first time.  You would too if someone set a basket full of your toys in front of you and you really wanted to see down inside!

Weeeeeeee!

Nine Months!

I'm 3/4 old today!  Nine whole months.  I recently found a new love for sleeping on my belly, and not too long after that I figured out I could scoot around.  It's still not a "crawl" in the traditional sense, but it's closer every day.  No point in getting hung up on the details if it gets me from A to B.  I sprouted my two bottom teeth about two weeks ago with ease.  I love to laugh at others and myself.  My favorite things to do are... turn any toy upside down in my lap and play the bottom of it like a drum, pull my car seat awning down forcefully and kick it with my feet, bounce up and down on my butt until I almost topple forward, and grab at the kitties when they come within reach.  I love to make kissy sounds with my mouth, and all of mommy and daddy's friends think it's the greatest.

I weigh 16 lbs 4 oz (20th percentile) and am 27 1/4 in long... er... tall?  (50th percentile).  Mommy and I saw a new doctor in the practice today and he was not at all concerned about my weight gain.  He praised me on everything, gave me a tongue depressor to play with, wrapped two of my fingers up with a sticky label to occupy me for a bit, and told me I could eat anything I want except honey.  Oh and... no shots this time, whew!

Photo shoot number 1: My Love-is-Blind Dog

Photo shoot number 2: The Gum ball

Chilling outside...

Look what I found... a gummm balllll!

Guess those are not for eating... yikes!

Wait but... don't take it away from me :(

I will get that gumball if it's the last thing I do.

Got it!  Don't even think about coming near it...

What's that?

Schoooool busssss... suddenly I have forgotten all about my gum ball :)

Florida Vacation

I learned a new word this weekend, a wonderful word: vacation.  

But before I get started, let me just say, "Happy Birthday!" to my mamacita.  We flew out on her birthday and look what Mr. Josh and Ms. Carrie showed up at the airport wearing!

I had to have a turn, obviously.

Ok... back to my story.  Vacation.  Vacation is where you play and nap all day from the comfort of your stroller and where all of your waking hours are spent seeing, hearing, and smelling wonderful things.  (Psst.  See my two bottom teeth making their debut?)

And mama was worried I would have trouble sleeping in the stroller... :]

Every time I woke up I was in a new world.  From the snow covered land of Hogsmeade to the brightly colored Seuss's landing, it was all amazing and fun.  

Vacation is also where you eat more than usual.  I was scarfing down 2 pounds of food a day instead of my usual 1!  I don't know what got in to me.  

I went on my first three rides ever.  First was the Caro-Seuss-El.  It seemed to spin awfully fast so daddy thought it would be a good idea if I rode on the stationary seat.  I think he was right.  Here we are pointing at daddy going round and round and up and down.

After the Caro-Seuss-El daddy left with Josh, and mama and Carrie took me on two more rides.  Too bad dad wasn't around with his better judgement.  The next ride we went on, One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, squirted water right in my face!  And the ride after that, The Cat in the Hat, spun me in circles with a lot of force.  In the dark.  With flashing lights.  And loud things.  And did I mention forceful spinning?  Yeesh.

I also went into Twister, Shrek 4D and Fear Factor Live with the adults.  All three shows were loud and scary.  I enjoyed the outdoor seating at Fear Factor Live though... shade and a cool breeze on a warm Florida day.

Last, but not least, we found my namesake's Hollywood Star at Universal Studios.  I hope you can tell how excited I am even though I'm covering my face.

On the last day of vacation we decided to take it easy.  Apparently rest isn't that common when you're on vacation.  I took extra long naps and hung out by the pool.  My first swim!  I'm pretty sure I'm made for fun-in-the-sun and I can not wait for summer to come back to North Carolina.  

Posing...

Sunbathing...

Testing the "waters" at the kiddie pool...

Playing in the big pool with dada...

Blowing kisses with mama...